Cultural Anthropology in a Globalizing World

Integrating current material on globalization, gender, class, race, ethnicity, and other contemporary social issues throughout the book, Barbara Miller's Cultural Anthropology in a Globalizing World text engages students with compelling ethnographic examples and demonstrates the relevance of cultural anthropology to their lives. Rich examples of gender, ethnicity, race, class, and age thread through the topical coverage of economic systems, the life-cycle, health, kinship, social organization, politics, language, religion, and expressive culture. Each chapter highlights applied anthropology and provides students with practical tips about how they can use anthropology in their everyday lives. The last two chapters address the urgent issues of how migration is changing world cultures and the importance of local cultural values in shaping international development policies and programs. This book, based on Miller's full-length Cultural Anthropology text, will generate class discussion, increase faculty-student engagement, and enhance student learning. Through clear writing, a balanced theoretical approach, and engaging examples, Miller stresses the importance of social inequality, cultural change, and applied aspects of anthropology throughout the book.

"Cultural anthropology is exciting because it CONNECTS with everything, from FOOD to ART. And it can help prevent or SOLVE world problems related to social inequality and injustice." - BARBARA D. MILLER Barbara Miller is Professor of Anthropology and International Affairs, and Director of the Culture in Global Affairs (CIGA) Research and Policy Program, at The George Washington University. She received her Ph.D. in anthropology from Syracuse University in 1978. Before coming to GW in 1994, she taught at the University of Rochester, SUNY Cortland, Ithaca College, Cornell University, and the University of Pittsburgh. Barbara's research has focused mainly on gender-based inequalities in India, especially the nutritional and medical neglect of daughters in the northern part of the country. She has also conducted research on culture and rural development in Bangladesh, on low-income household dynamics in Jamaica, and on Hindu adolescents in Pittsburgh. Her current interests include continued research on India along with attention to the role of cultural anthropology in informing policy issues, especially as related to women, children, and other disenfranchised people. She teaches courses on introductory cultural anthropology, medical anthropology, development anthropology, culture and population, health and development in South Asia, migration and mental health, and culture and security. She has published many journal articles and book chapters and several books: The Endangered Sex: Neglect of Female Children in Rural North India, 2nd ed. (Oxford University Press 1997), an edited volume, Sex and Gender Hierarchies (Cambridge University Press 1993), and a co-edited volume with Alf Hiltebeitel, Hair: Its Power and Meaning in Asian Cultures (SUNY Press 1998). In addition to Cultural Anthropology in a Globalizing World, second edition, she is the author of Cultural Anthropology, fifth edition (Pearson 2008) and the lead author of Anthropology, second edition(Pearson 2008). Barbara launched a blog in 2009 (anthropologyworks.com) which includes her thoughts on important findings and debates in anthropology, a weekly feature covering anthropologists in the mainstream media, and guests posts. You can also follow her via Twitter @anthroworks.