Cambridge Handbooks in Anthropology – serie

Attention to the body is an exciting emerging dimension of anthropological research. A collection of diverse conversations contributed by a global team of scholars, this Handbook is a state-of-the-field survey of the anthropology of the body, revealing dialogues between anthropological traditions that inform the study of the body. A focus on the body has animated subfields such as the anthropology of religion, medical anthropology, and the anthropology of performance, and rekindled interest in kinship and materiality. Chapters are organized around six central themes - flesh, motion, formation, knowledge, management, and entanglement - giving readers a holistic sense of the diverse analytical possibilities within the anthropology of the body. Showing the unique combinations that material and metaphorical aspects of the body take across different ethnographic and epistemic contexts, this Handbook is essential reading for students and scholars of social, cultural, and medical anthropology.

Presenting twenty-nine original chapters - each written by an expert in the field - this Handbook examines the history of kinship theory and the directions in which it has moved over the past few years. Using examples from across the globe (Africa, India, South America, Malaysia, Asia, the Pacific, Europe and North America), this Handbook highlights the power of kinship theory to address questions of broad anthropological significance. How have recent advances in reproductive medicine fundamentally altered our understanding of biological properties? How has globalization brought in its wake new ways of imagining human relatedness? What might recent shifts in state welfare policies tell us about those relations of power that define the difference between 'functional' versus 'dysfunctional' families? Addressing these and many other timely concerns, this volume presents the results of cutting edge research and demonstrates that the study of kinship is likely to remain at the core of anthropological inquiry.

Presenting twenty-nine original chapters - each written by an expert in the field - this Handbook examines the history of kinship theory and the directions in which it has moved over the past few years. Using examples from across the globe (Africa, India, South America, Malaysia, Asia, the Pacific, Europe and North America), this Handbook highlights the power of kinship theory to address questions of broad anthropological significance. How have recent advances in reproductive medicine fundamentally altered our understanding of biological properties? How has globalization brought in its wake new ways of imagining human relatedness? What might recent shifts in state welfare policies tell us about those relations of power that define the difference between 'functional' versus 'dysfunctional' families? Addressing these and many other timely concerns, this volume presents the results of cutting edge research and demonstrates that the study of kinship is likely to remain at the core of anthropological inquiry.

The tense but enduring engagement between anthropology and gender and sexuality studies has had profound effects upon anthropological theory and practice. Bringing together contributions from an international team of authors, this Handbook shows that anthropological work has taken inspiration from feminist and LGBTQI movements to create a transformative body of research. It provides an accessible, state-of-the-art overview of the anthropology of gender and sexuality whilst also documenting its historical emergence, highlighting the varied impact gender and sexuality studies have had on anthropological theory. It is split into five parts, with each chapter introducing a contemporary anthropological theory through in-depth ethnographical discussion. It features intersectional, black, and indigenous authors, providing a forum for established and emerging voices to gesture towards futures of anthropology of gender and sexuality. Authoritative and cutting-edge, it is essential reading for researchers and students in anthropology, and will set the agenda for future research in the field.

Material culture studies is an interdisciplinary field that examines the relationships between people and their things: the production, history, preservation, and interpretation of objects. It draws on theory and practice from disciplines in the social sciences and humanities, such as anthropology, archaeology, history, and museum studies. Written by leading international scholars, this Handbook provides a comprehensive view of developments, methodologies and theories. It is divided into five broad themes, embracing both classic and emerging areas of research in the field. Chapters outline transformative moments in material culture scholarship, and present research from around the world, focusing on multiple material and digital media that show the scope and breadth of this exciting field. Written in an easy-to-read style, it is essential reading for students, researchers and professionals with an interest in material culture.

Material culture studies is an interdisciplinary field that examines the relationships between people and their things: the production, history, preservation, and interpretation of objects. It draws on theory and practice from disciplines in the social sciences and humanities, such as anthropology, archaeology, history, and museum studies. Written by leading international scholars, this Handbook provides a comprehensive view of developments, methodologies and theories. It is divided into five broad themes, embracing both classic and emerging areas of research in the field. Chapters outline transformative moments in material culture scholarship, and present research from around the world, focusing on multiple material and digital media that show the scope and breadth of this exciting field. Written in an easy-to-read style, it is essential reading for students, researchers and professionals with an interest in material culture.

The 'ethical turn' in anthropology has been one of the most vibrant fields in the discipline in the past quarter-century. It has fostered new dialogue between anthropology and philosophy, psychology, and theology and seen a wealth of theoretical innovation and influential ethnographic studies. This book brings together a global team of established and emerging leaders in the field and makes the results of this fast-growing body of diverse research available in one volume. Topics covered include: the philosophical and other intellectual sources of the ethical turn; inter-disciplinary dialogues; emerging conceptualizations of core aspects of ethical agency such as freedom, responsibility, and affect; and the diverse ways in which ethical thought and practice are institutionalized in social life, both intimate and institutional. Authoritative and cutting-edge, it is essential reading for researchers and students in anthropology, philosophy, psychology and theology, and will set the agenda for future research in the field.

Shaped by important shifts in the field and a global pandemic, this Handbook provides a fresh look at the anthropology of death. It is split into five parts, with chapters examining how deathcare happens and the kinds of relationships that arise between the living, the dying, and the dead; how rituals change and also endure; and how societies make sense of and live with death - both everyday and catastrophic. It draws on theories of social death and necropolitics, as well as death's materiality and more-than-human experiences of death and grief, inviting a broader understanding of the subject itself. With contributors from within and beyond the fields of anthropology and death studies, it bridges gaps in scholarly dialogues around life from death and death's afterlife of mourning and memory. The ethnographically grounded individual studies combine to underscore why death matters in new and urgent ways beyond concerns of just human life.

What is race and how does it structure our contemporary world? This Handbook offers a groundbreaking exploration of these urgent questions, providing a critical, global perspective on the anthropology of race and ethnicity. Drawing together cutting-edge research across subdisciplines such as physical anthropology, cultural anthropology, archaeology, and linguistics, it emphasizes the key roles of colonialism and the discipline of anthropology in shaping our understanding of race and demonstrates the instrumentality of race/ethnicity in the reproduction of local and global inequality. The chapters show how a variety of issues are deeply rooted in global structures of race and power - from the rising popularity of genomics to police brutality and the rise of the far right in the West. Providing new theoretical frameworks and innovative methodologies reshaping the discipline of anthropology, this Handbook is a vital resource for anyone interested in the complexities of race in the twenty-first century.