Ethnographic Essays in Cultural Anthropology: A Problem-based Approach

1. Understanding Differences and Similarities, Heather Young Leslie and Mike Evans. 2. Using Indigenous Knowledge to Manage the Environment, Leslie M. Johnson. 3. The Social and Cultural Construction of Meaning, Marcia Calkowski. 4. Patterns of Family Relations, Barbara J. Michael. 5. The Creation of Social Hierarchy, C. Roderick Wilson and James Yost. 6. The Cultural Construction of Violence, Lincoln Keiser. 7. The Cultural Construction of Poverty, Ann Miles and Christina Sonneville. 8. Beyond Dilbert: The Cultural Construction of Work Organizations in America, Marietta Baba. 9. The Ethnography and Literatures of Small Nations, Donald Bahr. 10. The Cultural Construction of Death, Sharon Hepburn. Glossary.

This collection of ten mini-ethnographies takes a problem-based learning approach, focusing on contextual and cumulative learning to enhance student understanding of the fundamental concepts of cultural anthropology. The problems covered in the text range from how anthropology contributes to an understanding of human similarities and differences and why people believe different things to inequality, violence, poverty, and death. Each problem is explored in the context of a particular society, including Canada, Ecuador, Indonesia, Kohistan, Tibet, Tonga, the United States, and Sudan.