What anthropology textbook have you been assigned?

Question

If you are (or have taken) an introductory course in Anthropology, what was the name and author of the main textbook you were assigned (include the ISBN if you have it)?

Same question for cultural anthropology--what was the main text?

Same question for a combonation Intro SOAN course--what was the text?

Specify how happy you were with the text and the title of the course, please.

What were you taught in the course? How were you evaluated/tested? Were you satisfied?

Answer 1

For my Cultural Anthropology 101 I was assigned readings from Faces of Anthropology: A Reader fro the 21st Century, edited by Kevin A. Rafferty and Dorothy Chinwe Ukaegbu (ISBN 0-13-154054-8).  The course was really "all over the place," and many people didn't like that approach.  But Cultural Anthropology is difficult to approach systematically, especially if it's a mere introductory course.  We were given a broad overview of the big names, the discipline's history, different theories and paradigms that change over time, and a little about sociolinguistics, which is generally separated along with Archaeology (in the UK it exists as its own discipline, but in the US, alas, it rarely is) and Biological Anthropology (lots of bone analyzing and evolution).  Our teacher gave us 4 "reader responses," short papers (4-5 pages) discussing a theme presented in the readings.  Classes were discussion-based and we were tested in 2 exams to articulate anthropological arguments based on discussions and readings.  I wasn't a fan of the reader responses; I'd rather have gotten more in depth in the material.  Because that's what you have to do with this stuff.  Cultural Anthropology is based on the principle of cultural relativism, that cultures must be studied within their own cultural framework and to make that info intelligible to your audience.  I recommend studying texts focused on an area of the world you're interested in.  You gradually assimilate the main principles.  My favorite anthropological texts were Islam Obscured by Varisco (a post-modern response to Clifford Geertz's Islam Revealed) and Fundamentalism and American Culture by Marsden.  You'll find that an "all over the place" strategy is the best in assimilating the tons of anthropological material out there.

Answer 2

My intro book  for physical anthro was Core Concepts in Biological Anthropology by Agustin Fuentes (2007).

We actually didn't need to read the book for the class. We just used it as a supplement for whatever she said in the lecture. But I liked the book, I read some of it anyway so I could do better on the test. Some topics in the class were: genetics, evolution, human biology, primates, human evolution and history (the different classes of humans before the modern homo  sapiens) etc.

We took 4 multiple choice tests, each non-comphrehensive and equally graded. It was only hard because there was so much material to cover. So I studied a lot and got an A. Hope this helps!