Social Anthropology

In this fascinating book, Terry O'Connor explores a distinction that is deeply ingrained in much of the language that we use in zoology, human-animal studies, and archaeology - the difference between wild and domestic. For thousands of years, humans have categorized animals in simple terms, often according to the degree of control that we have over them, and have tended to see the long story of human-animal relations as one of increasing control and management for human benefit.

Overlooking the Border continues the dialogue surrounding the social history of Jerusalem. Based on ethnographic fieldwork, the book juxtaposes Israeli and Palestinian personal narratives about the past with contemporary museum exhibits, street plaques, tourism, and real estate projects that are reshaping the city since the decline of the peace process and the second intifada. As sites of memory, Jerusalem's homes, streets, and natural areas form the setting for emotionally charged narratives about belonging and rights to place.

人類は今、新たな進化の段階に突入している。産業革命は社会を変えたが、IT革命は人間の心を変えようとしているのだ。

Una storia prima della storia. Ossa fossili, denti, manufatti, siti preistorici e dati genetici per ricostruire l'evoluzione di un gruppo di scimmie antropomorfe che, intorno a 6 milioni di anni fa, in Africa, intrapresero l'intricato percorso evolutivo che diede origine alla nostra specie.

What can fossilized teeth tell us about our ancient life expectancy? What can big data on fossils reveal about farming's problematic role in human evolution? How can simple geometric comparisons of skull and pelvic fossils suggest an origin to our social nature? In Close Encounters with Humankind, paleoanthropologist Sang-Hee Lee explores some of our biggest evolutionary questions from unexpected new angles. Through a series of entertaining, bite-sized chapters, we gain new perspectives into our first hominin ancestors, our first steps on two feet, and more.

Based on two years of fieldwork and interviews with 71 Midwestern Americans, the Waskuls' book is a reflexive ethnography that examines how people experience ghosts and hauntings in everyday life. The authors explore how uncanny happenings become ghosts and the reasons people struggle with or against a will to believe. They present the variety and character of hauntings and ghostly encounters, outcomes of people telling haunted legends, and the nested consequences of ghostly experiences.

In this powerful classic, the eminent Swiss philosopher Max Picard argues that though the “flight from God” is not a phenomenon unique to this age, man has nevertheless put himself and society in an extremely dangerous situation with the progressive secularization of Western culture. In the age of faith, Picard says, a man had to make a conscious decision to separate himself from the world of faith. Today, the world, not just the individual, is in flight, and men must extricate themselves from modernity and make a deliberate decision to find and affirm faith.

In How War Began, author Keith F. Otterbein draws on primate behavior research, archaeological research, data gathered from the Human Relations Area Files and a career spent in research and reflection on war to argue for two separate origins. He identifies two types of military organization: one which developed two million years ago at the dawn of humankind, wherever groups of hunters met and a second which developed some 5,000 years ago, in four identifiable regions, when the first states arose and proceeded to embark upon military conquests.

Die Archäologie ist ein faszinierendes Abenteuer, das uns die Türen zur Vergangenheit öffnet und die Geschichten längst vergangener Zivilisationen ans Licht bringt. Dieses Buch nimmt dich mit auf eine Reise, die weit über staubige Ausgrabungsstätten hinausgeht. Es zeigt dir, wie die Werkzeuge der Vergangenheit unsere Gegenwart formen und warum die Geschichte kein statisches Gebilde, sondern ein lebendiges Puzzle ist.

L'histoire de l'univers et de la vie - Un fascinant récit qui évoque l'histoire de l'univers, du monde, de la vie et de l'homme. Cette histoire Yves Coppens nous montre qu'elle est celle d'une transformation incessante faite d'extinctions et d'innovations, d'une adaptation et d'une évolution face à des milieux changeants. L'homme, la conscience et la culture. Les grandes étapes et les principes guidant cette longue évolution sont expliqués jusqu'à l'apparition de l'homme.

Because of rapidly aging populations, the number of people worldwide experiencing dementia is increasing and the projections are grim. Despite hundreds of millions of dollars invested in medical research, no effective treatment has been discovered for Alzheimer's disease, the most common form of dementia. The Alzheimer Conundrum exposes the predicaments embedded in current efforts to slow down or halt Alzheimer's disease through early detection of presymptomatic biological changes in healthy individuals.

With two out of every three Americans overweight or obese, scientists are studying how excess fat changes physical and mental health, demographers are calculating how it's shortening life spans, and economists are debating the impact it has on America's productivity and global competitiveness. But how weight affects intimacy and sexuality is barely discussed. Yet, it's a question of high importance for the tens of millions of Americans who are overweight or obese and having difficulty sexually and romantically.

From the family to the workplace to the marketplace, every facet of our lives is shaped by cooperative interactions. Yet everywhere we look, we are confronted by proof of how difficult cooperation can be - snarled traffic, polarized politics, overexploited resources, social problems that go ignored. The benefits to oneself of a free ride on the efforts of others mean that collective goals often are not met. But compared to most other species, people actually cooperate a great deal. Why is this?

From the first steps of our prehistoric ancestors, to the development of complex languages, to the intricacies of religions and cultures across the world, diverse factors have shaped the human species as we know it. Anthropology strives to untangle this fascinating web of history to work out who we were in the past, what that means for human beings today, and who we might be tomorrow.

While millions of believers around the world are finding their understanding of Christianity to be outdated and untenable, Matthew Distefano has managed to paint the gospel in such a way that even an atheist could appreciate its beauty. Rather than a message of rapture, or rewards and reprisals, Distefano presents the good news of what God has done in history to stem the tide of our own violence and evil - inviting us into a whole new way of living and being in this world.

Big Bone Lick: The Cradle of American Paleontology recounts the rich history of the fossil site that gave the world the first evidence of the extinction of several mammalian species, including the American mastodon. Big Bone Lick has played many roles: nutrient source, hallowed ground, salt mine, health spa, and a rich trove of wonders. Stanley Hedeen presents a comprehensive narrative of Big Bone Lick from its geological formation forward, explaining why the site attracted animals, regional tribespeople, European explorers and scientists, and eventually American pioneers.

Who lived in Texas over a thousand years ago? In Porch Talk, John Erickson and his archaeologist friend Doug Boyd investigate this question while explaining the art and science of archaeology for middle listeners. On the Perryton ranch, John and his friends unearthed a ghost town that dated back to around 1300 CE. For more than twenty years, they worked together on this and other prehistoric sites, sharing a fascination for the ancient people who occupied the area. How did these people work, play, and survive?

Perché ci sentiamo sempre stanchi? Perché facciamo fatica ad addormentarci o ci svegliamo di continuo? Come possiamo aiutare il corpo a riposare?

Antonella Viola ci introduce ai ritmi circadiani, ovvero le oscillazioni delle funzioni di tipo fisico e comportamentale che seguono il più antico e meraviglioso orologio del mondo: l’alternanza di luce e buio. Il sonno, la temperatura corporea, la fame, le difese immunitarie e persino il dolore sono tutti soggetti a questo ascendente.

Un viaggio nel mondo dell'antropologia attraverso dieci parole – essere, convivere, comunicare, dove e quando, crescere, specchiarsi, rappresentarsi, donare, credere, nutrirsi –, per avvicinarsi a una disciplina che può aiutarci a interpretare il rimescolamento sempre più rapido della realtà cui stiamo assistendo e comprendere meglio ciò che accade nelle nostre città, strade e vite. L'antropologia culturale, nata come studio delle culture dei popoli lontani dall'Occidente, oggi ha allargato il suo campo di azione fino a occuparsi del qui e ora.

Das biologische Fundament ist der erste Teil von Hoimar von Ditfurths „Der Geist fiel nicht vom Himmel“, er behandelt folgende Themen: Einzeller als Hirnsonden (Vom Spürsinn der Mikroben - Woran stirbt ein Paralytiker?) / Biologische Vorentscheidungen (Ein Akt der Abgrenzung - So wenig Außenwelt wie möglich - Die Anziehungskraft des Bekömmlichen) / Paläontologie der Seele (Eine aufschlussreiche Zusammensetzung - Lebende Fossilien) / Bewusstlose Geborgenheit (Ein neues Bauprinzip und seine Folgen - Die Erfindung der Nervenleitung - Vollkommenheit im Kleinen) / Vorzeichen des Kommenden (Nervennetze speichern Programme - Abbilder der Außenwelt).