Publisher's Synopsis
Broadly speaking anthropology - the study of the bonds of human social relations - is divided into two different but related fields: physical anthropology and cultural anthropology. Physical anthropology focuses basically on the problems of human evolution, including human palaeontology and the study of race. Cultural anthropology includes the study of archaeology, ethnography; ethnology; social anthropology; and linguistics. Until now, the field of cultural anthropology has not been represented in its entirety by an academically accepted broad-based reference work. Because expansion and changes in the field over the last 25 years have been great, and because the study of cultural anthropology on the high school, college and graduate school levels has never been more popular, the time is ripe for a synthesis of the field on a grand scale, in the form of an authoritative, 4-volume encyclopedia.;The project is unparalleled in its coverage - over 400 essays; its scope - providing concepts, themes, practical information, methodology, research results and statistical information; and its authority - written and edited by renowned anthropology experts.
