Applied Anthropology

Focuses on the use of the methods and theories of anthropology to solve the practical problems of human communities. It addresses a wide range of problem-solving practices in both development action and applied research. The core of the book is chapters focused on specific practices such as evaluation and action research. In addition, there are chapters on history, employment strategies, and ethics.

This edited volume provides a cross-section of the cutting-edge ways in which archaeologists are developing new approaches to their work with communities and other stakeholder groups who have special interest in the uses in the past.

A significant update of the 1990 classic state-of-the-art handbook on medical anthropology. With new chapters on AIDS, psychology and emotion, nutrition, and bioethics, the text reflects the changes in medical anthropological theory and practice since the late 1980s. Chapters from the first edition are revised to reflect current trends and to include recent references. This work demonstrates the creative expansion and diversity in the field, amidst efforts to explore the individual sickness experience in the context of local cultures and global political and economic dynamics.

The field of medical anthropology is a discipline that incorporates the perspective of a wide range of approaches--from anthropologists, sociologists, epidemiologists, physicians, nurses, public health administrators, biologists, and many others, including the general public--to health care. This approach places culture and cultural relativism at the forefront and center of every model, and examines the ethics and fairness of health care issues associated with the African American population.

Development has too often failed to deliver on its promises to poor nations. The policies imposed from above by international agencies and state bodies have frequently not met the needs of ordinary people. Development agencies have therefore been searching for some time for alternative approaches. One of those being pioneered is 'indigenous knowledge', which aims to make local voices heard more effectively.This thought-provoking and challenging collection focuses on how anthropologists can define and use indigenous knowledge in situations where it must meet the demands of development while not compromising anthropological expectations.

In 80 entries this work provides an introduction to the key ideas of cultural anthropology. In each article--culture, race, materialism, semiotics, "primitive," etc.--Winthrop provides a balance between describing a concept's contemporary theoretical relevance and tracing its development, including the broader intellectual context transcending professional anthropology. Thus the article on "interpretation" discusses St. Augustine, Schliermacher, Dilthey, and Gadamer, as well as Geertz and Evans-Pritchard. That on "ethnology" treats Boemus, Acosta, and Prichard as well as the Boasians. The article on "nature" contrasts the Greek concept of physis with the Roman natura. Though this is a work of synthesis rather than of original historical scholarship, Winthrop quotes primary sources as much as possible, to let the key figures speak for themselves.