"The Owners of Kinship" investigates how kinship in Indigenous Amazonia is derived from the asymmetrical relation between an "owner" and his or her dependents. Through a comprehensive ethnography of the Kanamari, Luiz Costa shows how this relationshi...

In anthropology as much as in popular imagination, kings are figures of fascination and intrigue, heroes or tyrants in ways presidents and prime ministers can never be. This collection of essays by two of the world's most distinguished anthropologist...

Kay Kaufman Shelemay's impact as a mentor and colleague to a generation of scholars shines brightly in this wide-ranging edited collection. Shelemay took the field of ethnomusicology by storm with her bold and historically rich ethnography of Ethiopi...

Yoruba culture has been a part of the Americas for centuries, brought from Africa during the transatlantic slave trade and maintained in various forms ever since. In "Oduduwa's Chain", Andrew Apter explores a wide range of fascinating historical and...

Though New York's Lower East Side today is home to high-end condos and hip restaurants, it was for decades an infamous site of blight, open-air drug dealing, and class conflict – an emblematic example of the tattered state of 1970s and '80s Manhattan...

Gathering for the first time all of Claude Levi-Strauss's writings on Japanese civilization, "The Other Face of the Moon" forms a sustained meditation into the French anthropologist's dictum that to understand one's own culture, one must regard it fr...

In this gustatory tour of human history, John S. Allen demonstrates that the everyday activity of eating offers deep insights into human beings' biological and cultural heritage. We humans eat a wide array of plants and animals, but unlike other omn...

David Grazian's riveting tour of downtown Philadelphia and its newly bustling nightlife scene reveals the city as an urban playground where everyone dabbles in games of chance and perpetrates elaborate cons. Entertainment in the city has evolved into...

In this intriguing blend of the commonplace and the ancient, Jean Bottero presents the first extensive look at the delectable secrets of Mesopotamia. Bottero's broad perspective takes us inside the religious rites, everyday rituals, attitudes and tab...

Table of Symbols Foreword Part One: The Mystery of the Woman Cut Into Pieces 1. At the Scene of the Crime 2. A Clinging Half Part Two: From Myth to Novel 1. The Days and the Seasons 2. The Daily Round Part Three: The Canoe Journey of the Moon and...