Kategoria BISAC: Biography & Autobiography >> Social Scientists & Psychologists

For the late Fuad I. Khuri, a distinguished career as an anthropologist began not because of typical concerns like accessibility, money, or status, but because the very idea of an occupation that baffled his countrymen made them and him laugh. When I tell them that anthropology is my profession . . . they think I am either speaking a strange language or referring to a new medicine. This profound appreciation for humor, especially in the contradictions inherent in the study of cultures, is a distinctive theme of "An Invitation to Laughter, "Khuri s astute memoir of life as an anthropologist...

For the late Fuad I. Khuri, a distinguished career as an anthropologist began not because of typical concerns like accessibility, money, or status, but because the very idea of an occupation that baffled his countrymen made them-and him-laugh. "When I tell them that 'anthropology' is my profession . . . they think I am either speaking a strange language or referring to a new medicine." This profound appreciation for humor, especially in the contradictions inherent in the study of cultures, is a distinctive theme of "An Invitation to Laughter, " Khuri's astute memoir of life as an...

A tribute to Jane C. Goodale, Pulling the Right Threads discusses the vibrant ethnographer and teacher s principles for mentoring, collaborating, and performing fieldwork. Known for her ethnographic research in the Pacific, development of the Association of Social Anthropology in Oceania, and influence in the anthropology department at Bryn Mawr College, Goodale and other contributors renew the debate in anthropology over the authenticity of field data and representations of other cultures. Together, they take aim at those who claim ethnography is outmoded or false."

The anthropologist Margaret Mead garnered fame and generated controversy in a full life that spanned most of the 20th century. She was a maverick with a strong and sometimes difficult personality, and this biography follows her from childhood years in Pennsylvania, to college days with her pals nicknamed the Ash Can Cats, to tutelage under the preeminent anthropologist, Franz Boas, at Columbia, and her fieldwork in the South Pacific, starting in Samoa when she was 22 years of age. Private and public are interwoven, with coverage of her marriages, close friendships, writings, and career...

"Behind these pioneering women lie a wide range of fascinating and inspiring life stories. Though each of their tales is unique, they were all formidable scholars whose important contributions...