Cultural Anthropology Tutorial

Author: Tian Zhaoyuan, Editor-in-Chief
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-03-14
Features: Where do you come from? Where are you going? Who are you? These questions are naive yet profound. Since the birth of humanity, people have been contemplating them without a moment's pause. Myths or totems symbolize humanity's speculations about its origins and express a desire to understand itself. Historians, philosophers, and others have examined the self from different perspectives, yet they still remain puzzled by human selfhood. Thus, anthropology was born—humans needed a specialized discipline to study themselves. In the over 100 years since its inception, anthropology has produced many renowned scholars, and humanity's understanding of itself has made significant progress! Cultural anthropology is a discipline that originated in the West. Today, it has entered the knowledge system of the Chinese people, bringing new perspectives and horizons, as well as new research methods. This book is a college-level textbook on the fundamentals of cultural anthropology and human issues, designed for required or elective courses in humanities anthropology programs, as well as for quality education in science and engineering disciplines. The book adopts a tripartite structure of "Basic Theories," "Classic Topics," and "Contemporary Perspectives," combining theoretical exploration with field knowledge and integrating knowledge dissemination with humanistic pursuits for the future. It represents an exploratory achievement in the development of new-century university textbooks for humanities.