What are the best books to read about anthropology? Classics in the field...?

Question

thanks, thinking of going into that

Answer 1

margaret meade, david attenborough

Answer 2

Mikey has some good points. The problem with classics in this field is that they become outdated. The anthropologist in question may have faithfully recorded the data as he or she saw it, but interpreting this data is the trick. Understanding a culture as foreign as that of the Aborigines of Australia is a real challenge.

But Frazer's "The Golden Bough" is a gem for containing arcane info about peoples from all over the world. He isn't considered a real anthropologist, because he did no field work - he was an armchair scholar - but he sure was learned.

Answer 3

Mead, turnbull, evans-pritchard, malinowski, radcliffe-brown, geertz, morgan, tyler, spencer, weber, marx, gramsci, leslie white, julian steward, marvin harris, eric wolf, giddens, bourdeau, braudel, ruth benedict etc

Answer 4

Lewis Henry Morgan, Franz Boas, Margeret Mead, Jared Diamond, Alfred Kroeber, Lowie, Geertz, Levi-Strauss...

but 2 things to keep in mind about the classics: they tend to be very outdated and often somewhat racist. Also, they can be extremely boring! Anthropology is a wonderful, exciting field, so don't be deterred by the bland writing of some of the older writer. I just graduated with an anthro degree and I LOVE my field, but having to read some of the older stuff was a challenge.

Answer 5

James Frazer' The Golden Bough is the best

Answer 6

Classics that you will have to read if you decide to pursue Anth. may include works by: Claude Levi-Strauss, Franz Boas, Clifford Geertz, and oddly enough for modern colonial Anthropology, Gramsci (an Italian Marxist, known for a collection of writings from prison- his works really apply mostly to Sociology, but we are holistic and take something from everything).

Answer 7

I would say no to Margaret Mead, because she was manipulating her data to fit preconceived notions.  I would read Richard Dawkins the selfish gene to understand how people possibly work at an evolutionary psychological/biological level.      Jared diamond's books are fairly popular, though I've heard arguments for and against Guns, Germs, and Steel.  I would recommend Eric Wolf's Europe and a people without History if you want to learn about colonialism's effects on various world cultures (it's dense and written in the 70s, but still relevant today).

The movie "first contact" is racist, but you can get an idea of what old school anthropologists were thinking.