Why Humans Have Cultures

Explaining Anthropology and Social Diversity

By: Michael Carrithers

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Paperback | 1 December 1992

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230 Pages

Dimensions(cm)
19.84 x 12.85 x 1.22

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Why Humans Have Cultures examines three basic questions: what unity underlies human cultural diversity? What are the origins of that diversity? How can we understand it? The author argues that it is the ways in which people interact--rather than technological advances--that have been of crucial importance in human history. In this thought-provoking book, Carrithers draws on ancient and contemporary examples to show how this perspective forms a solid foundation for the study of culture, society, and history.

Industry Reviews

A stimulating contribution to the debate on the nature of human nature--extremely well-presented.--William Lipe, Washington State University

...presents a complex problem in an entertaining, but lucid format.--Greg Campbell, University of Montana

[An] excellent discussion of questions basic to anthropology.--Daniel Amos, Pacific University

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The Question	p. 1
One strand	p. 4
A second strand	p. 7
A third strand, and all strands together	p. 9
The Great Arc	p. 12
The great arc	p. 13
Sea shells	p. 17
Between	p. 19
Europe and the people without history	p. 23
Metamorphic life	p. 29
The question again	p. 31
Beginning to Make History	p. 34
Darwinian demands	p. 36
The basic sketch	p. 41
Social intelligence Mark II	p. 43
Social and technical intelligence	p. 44
The selective advantage of sociality	p. 45
An evolutionary ratchet	p. 46
The invention of history	p. 49
Three tales	p. 50
The Anatomy of Sociality	p. 55
Intersubjectivity	p. 55
Mind-reading	p. 58
Politeness	p. 60
Pedagogy and aesthetic standards	p. 63
Creativity and repetition with constant variation	p. 66
Speech and stories	p. 71
Putting it back together	p. 74
Reading Minds and Reading Life	p. 76
Research programmes	p. 79
Narrative thought	p. 82
Oedipus Rex	p. 85
Making events	p. 87
Recapitulation	p. 91
The Bull and the Saint	p. 92
The philosopher and the story-teller	p. 95
A short, sharp story	p. 97
Ambiguities	p. 100
Siddhasagar again	p. 103
A disagreement	p. 107
Paradigmatic thought again	p. 110
Imagery	p. 114
Metamorphosis	p. 117
The Agganna's world	p. 119
The mysterious Agganna temporarily disassembled	p. 122
Reassembling the Agganna	p. 124
Brahmans 0, Monks 1	p. 125
Kings and Brahmans 0, Khattiyas and Monks 2	p. 129
A delectable skin of earth	p. 132
The world in a mirror	p. 139
Holding up the mirror	p. 142
The Bugbear, Science	p. 146
Art or science?	p. 150
The bugbear, science	p. 152
Intersubjective pattern recognition	p. 155
Human patterns	p. 159
Narrative patterns	p. 165
Evans-Pritchard vs. Sperber	p. 170
From consensibility to consensus	p. 174
An Untidy Box of Sweets	p. 177
Is it bigger than a bread-box?	p. 178
Plaster of Paris	p. 182
The ultra-natural	p. 187
An untidy box of sweets	p. 192
The beginning	p. 197
Notes	p. 200
Bibliography	p. 205
Index	p. 211
Table of Contents provided by Blackwell. All Rights Reserved.

Why Humans Have Cultures

Explaining Anthropology and Social Diversity

At a Glance

Paperback

Industry Reviews

Shipping

How to return your order

Defective items

You Can Find This Book In

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