Cultural Anthropology: A Perspective on the Human Condition - Softcover

This introduction to the major subfields of anthropology explores the interplay of biological and cultural forces shaping human nature, human society, and human history. Cultural creativity and human agency are seen as part of the human biological (evolutionary) heritage. This biocultural approach is evident throughout the text in the authors' consistent examination of both interpretive and materialist factors.

Emily A. Schultz is Associate Professor of Anthropology at St. Cloud State University and editor of the anthropology journal City and Society. She received her Ph.D. in anthropology from Indiana University in 1980. She did fieldwork in Cameroon, and has also worked in Ecuador and Costa Rica. She is the author of Dialogue at the Margins: Whorf, Bakhtin, and Linguistic Relativity, and is co-author of three anthropology textbooks. Her special interests are language and culture, globalization, and the anthropology of science and technology. Robert H. Lavenda is Professor of Anthropology at St. Cloud State University, and is director of the Latin American Studies Program. He received his Ph.D. in anthropology from Indiana University in 1977 and has done fieldwork in Venezuela, Ecuador, Costa Rica, and small-town Minnesota. He is the author of Corn Fests and Water Carnivals: Celebrating Community in Minnesota, numerous articles on festivals and play, and is co-author of three anthropology textbooks. His special interests are play, festival behavior, world view, culture and communication, Latin America, and North American culture.