Readings in Cultural Anthropology: Classic and Contemporary Perspectives provides students with an engaging and diverse collection of articles pertaining to cultural anthropology. The text encourages readers to compare traditional and modern readings on specific topics related to anthropology to better understand how the discipline has evolved into what it is today. 

The opening chapter presents students with an overview of cultural anthropology, highlighting its unique characteristics and how it has changed over the years. The following chapters are divided into units. Unit One introduces core concepts and methods used in anthropology, including culture. In Unit Two, students read selections on a range of topics, all relating to how people and groups have been defined and understood both within and outside anthropology. The final unit features readings on the institutions and practices that have contributed both to community building and inequality and violence across the world. 

Designed to help students discover new ways of understanding people, as well as how their lives are shaped by sociocultural frameworks, Readings in Cultural Anthropology is an ideal resource for courses in cultural anthropology.

Robin Conley Riner is an associate professor of anthropology at Marshall University, where she teaches courses in cultural, linguistic, and legal anthropology. She holds a Ph.D. and M.A. in anthropology from UCLA. Dr. Riner’s current research, funded in part by a WV Humanities grant, investigates killing in contexts of war and seeks to improve understanding of contemporary combat experiences in order to better facilitate veterans’ transitions into post-deployment life. She is the author of Confronting the Death Penalty: How language influences jurors in capital cases.