Evolutionism and Cultural Anthropology  traces the interaction of evolutionary thought and anthropological theory from Herbert Spencer to the twenty-first century. It is a focused examination of how the idea of evolution has continued to provide anthropology with a master principle around which a vast body of data can be organized and synthesized. Erudite and readable, and quoting extensively from early theorists (such as Edward Tylor, Lewis Henry Morgan, John McLennan, Henry Maine, and James Frazer) so that the reader might judge them on the basis of their own words, Evolutionism and Cultural Anthropology is useful reading for courses in anthropological theory and the history of anthropology.

Evolutionism in Cultural Anthropology: A Critical History

Politics & Social Sciences

Carneiro, Robert L.

Carneiro, Robert

Anthropology

Westview Press

<p>It is some years in the future, and Pope Urban IX, pontiff of the Roman Catholic Church, after reigning for thirteen years, has suddenly died of a massive heart attack. From every corner of the globe, 77 cardinals converge on the city of Rome, where they will gather in the Sistine Chapel to elect Urban's successor. Ballot after ballot, the leading candidates vie with each other for the papacy, only to falter and fall by the wayside. Finally, after endless maneuvering and many ballots, one of them gains enough support among his fellows to emerge as the 267th pope. Although fiction, this account of the deliberations of a conclave of cardinal-electors is based on a close study of conclaves in the past. Rich in authentic detail, the story is nonetheless imaginative, filled with intrigue and suspense, the outcome remaining in doubt until the very end. Other novels have been written about conclaves and papal elections, but this is the only one that follows the actions of a conclave, detail for detail, from beginning to end, with each ballot tabulated and the results announced and debated by the assembled cardinals. In addition to presenting the traditional religious ritual involved in electing a pope, the novel is filled with colorful incidents of papal history, as well as the daily comings and goings of the cardinals. Though forced to live in rough-hewn pine cubicles, constructed for the occasion in the Apostolic Palace, the cardinals are nevertheless surrounded by some of the world's greatest art, which greets them during the days they must remain in strict seclusion, until a new pontiff is chosen. The author, Robert L. Carneiro, is an anthropologist who has written extensively in his own field, including two books, The Muse of History and the Science of Culture (2000) and Evolutionism in Cultural Anthropology (2003). This, however, is his first novel.</p>

In Solemn Conclave

Literature & Fiction

Contemporary

AuthorHouse

<p>The curator of a major museum tells about the creation of an exhibition, from beginning to end. Never before has the design and installation of anthropology exhibit been described in such detail. Not only are technical matters discussed, such as how to simulate a tropical rainforest in miniature and how the noxious fumes of urea formaldehyde are blocked from harming the specimens on exhibit, but there is also an endless recounting of stories about the various exhibits: Thus we read of a mother who is engaged in funerary endocannibalism, sifting through the shed of her cremated infant daughter, looking for every bit of bone and tooth which she will grind up, mix with banna drink, and ingest... we see shaman blowing tobacco onto a straw doll to bring it to life and help him in drawing a missing soul away from the evil spirit who stole it...the curator tells how he came to have in his office enough curare to kill ten thousand monkeys...then there too is Ogomigi, the dreaded double-headed vulture who devours the souls of dead Kuikuru Indians. And there is a lot more...</p>

THE MAKING OF AN EXHIBIT HALL: Bringing to Life Amazonian Indian Culture

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