Engaging Anthropological Theory

Mark Moberg is Emeritus Professor of Anthropology at the University of South Alabama, USA, and has taught anthropological theory over many years. His research centers on labor, Fair Trade, and environmental politics in Central America, the Caribbean, and the United States. Among his other books are Slipping Away: Banana Politics and Fair Trade in the Eastern Caribbean (2010) and Fair Trade and Social Justice: Global Ethnographies (with Sarah Lyon, 2010).

Praise for the previous editions:"Moberg does a masterful job of weaving together historical context, anthropological theory, and present-day issues and sensibilities. Rather than standing at a critical distance and taking potshots at our disciplinary ancestors, Moberg shows students clearly how anthropology’s ideas and theoretical stances have arisen out of, and made sense within, their historical and geographical contexts. His style is engaging, readable, and often laugh-out-loud funny. How often can one say that about a theory textbook?"–Julie Adkins, University of Texas at Arlington, USA"While other textbooks on anthropological theory give token accounts of the socio-political influences and historical contexts that produced ‘ruling ideas’ on the nature of society and the origins of cultural diversity, these processes are the central focus of Moberg’s unique analysis. Moving beyond biographical sketches and historical vignettes, the book is a lively exploration of how ‘paradigms and politics’ of the past and present inform anthropological thought."–William L. Alexander, University of North Carolina Wilmington, USA

• List of FiguresList of TablesList of BoxesAcknowledgments1. Of politics and paradigms2. Claims and critiques of anthropological knowledge3. Anthropology before anthropologists4. Theory and practice to change the world5. Heirs to order and progress6. Spencer, Darwin, and evolutionary tales for our time7. The Boasian revolution8. Culture and psychology9. Functionalism, the pure and the hyphenated10. Anti-structure and the collapse of empire11. Evolution redux12. Contemporary materialist and ecological approaches13. Symbols, structures, and the “web of significance”14. Postmodern political economy and sensibilities15. The contemporary anthropological momentReferencesIndex