SEVENTH EDITION

CONFORMITY & CONFLICT READINGS IN CULTURAL ANTHROPOLOGY

James P Spradley

David W. McCurdy Macalester College

ш HarperCollmsPublishers

I Culture and the Contemporary World 2

II Culture and Ethnography 14

/ Ethnography and Culture 21 JAMES P. SPRADLEY

To discover culture, the ethnographer must relate to the informant as a teacher.

(

2 Eating Christmas in the Kalahari 30 RICHARD BORSHAY LEE

The "generous" gift of a Christmas ox involves the anthropologist in a classic case of cross-cultural misunderstanding.

3 Navigating Nigerian Bureaucracies 38 ELIZABETH A. EAMES

In Nigeria it's who you know, not what you know that will get you permission to do fieldwork.

4 The Pretense of the Neutral Researcher 48 MARY ELLEN CONAWAY

Informant expectations make it difficult for the anthropologist to maintain a neutral research identity.

I l l Language and Communication 60

5 The Sounds of Silence 65 EDWARD T. HALL a n d MILDRED REED HALL

The frown, the smile, the dilated pupil, the distance at which we converse, and other forms of nonverbal behavior all serve to convey meaning in social encounters.

6 Shakespeare in the Bush 78 LAURA BOHANNAN

Cross-cultural communication breaks down when the anthropologist attempts to translate the meaning of Hamlet to the Tiv.

7 Race, Culture, and Misunderstanding 89 THOMAS KOCHMAN

Different styles make for misunderstanding when black and white Americans attempt to initiate sexual relationships with each other.

8 Worlds Shaped by Words 103 DAVID S. THOMSON

To what extent does Whorf's hypothesis that language creates reality apply in daily life?

IV Ecology and Subsistence 118

9 The Hunters: Scarce Resources in the Kalahari 123 RICHARD BORSHAY LEE

Contrary to the generally held belief that hunter-gatherers live a hand-to-mouth existence, the IKung and many other hunter-gatherers work less and eat better than many other people.

10 Cultivating the Tropical Forest 139 RICHARD K. REED

South American governments could learn much about tropical forest "development" from the Amazonian Indians who live there.

11 Pastoralism: Beating the Odds in Arid Africa 150 J. TERRENCE McCABE a n d JAMES E. ELLIS

Traditional pastoral practices win out over government development schemes when it comes to coping with drought in northern Kenya.

12 Mother Cow 157 MARVIN HARRIS

India's religious restrictions on cattle slaughter evolved to ensure an adequate supply of this valuable animal in an intensive agricultural society.

V Kinship and Family 172

13 Matrilineal Kinship: Coming Home to Bokelab 177 MICHAEL A. RYNKIEWICH

The implications of matrilineal descent emerge when a Marshall Islander returns home to secure land, establish a household, and gain power on his native island.

14 Polyandry: When Brothers Take a Wife 190 MELVYN С GOLDSTEIN

By marrying one woman, Tibetan brothers preserve family resources and the "good life."

15 Divorce and the Four-Year Itch 198 HELEN E. FISHER

The economic independence of spouses may determine divorce rates among societies, but a biological reproductive cycle may control rates within them.

16 Uterine Families and the Women's Community 208 MARGERY WOLF

To succeed in a traditional patrilineal family, a Chinese woman must form her own informal uterine family inside her husband's household.

VI Roles and Inequality 216

17 Children's Roles: Young Traders of Northern Nigeria 221 ENID SCHILDKROUT

Children take on an adultlike economic role in a society where their mothers follow a custom of seclusion.

18 Society and Sex Roles 229 ERNESTINE FRIEDL

Given access to public resources, women can attain equal or dominant status in any society.

19 Symbolizing Roles: Behind the Veil 239 ELIZABETH W. FERNEA and ROBERT A. FERNEA

The women's veil stands for everything from personal protection to female honor in Mediterranean societies.

20 Poverty Is Being Poor 248 THOMAS GLADWIN

Poverty prevents poor people from acquiring the resources they need to move up in the American class system.

VII Economic Systems 256

21 The Impact of Money on an African Subsistence Economy 261

PAUL J. BOHANNAN

The Tiv of Nigeria had organized a nonmonetary exchange in three separate spheres — subsistence,

prestige, and women in marriage — an economic system that broke down when the British introduced general-purpose money.

22 Men and Jobs 273 ELLIOT LIEBOW

The limitations placed on him by poverty make it difficult for the black "corner man" to fill a job valued by the larger society.

23 Business Friends 293 ROBERT BRAIN

Common reciprocal practices such as gift giving and feasting are not only found in tribal societies but are useful to market-oriented executives as well.

24 Subsistence and Market: When the Turtle Collapses 299 BERNARD NIETSCHMANN

The world demand for green sea turtles thrusts Miskito Indians into a conflict between cash and subsistence.

VIII Law and Politics 310

25 Yanomamö: The Fierce People 315 NAPOLEON A. CHAGNON

The Yanomamö of Brazil base their authority structure on claims of fierceness, which are validated by a series of increasingly violent encounters.

26 Friend by Day, Enemy by Night 324 R. LINCOLN REISER

Kohistani villagers living in northern Pakistan lead a tense life as unmanageable feuds disrupt social relationships.

27 Poor Man, Rich Man, Big-Man, Chief 334 MARSHALL D. SAHLINS

Melanesian political structure, based on the personal influence of a "big-man," cannot reach the size and

complexity of the Polynesian system that ascribed the right of authority over a large pyramid of kinship groups to a chief.

28 Big-Men on Capitol Hill 349 JACK MCIVER WEATHERFORD

Like Papuan big-men, congressmen use "pork" and "kin" (staff) in a long process to gain power.

IX Religion, Magic, and World View 358

29 When Technology Fails: Magic and Religion in New Guinea 363

PHILIP L. NEWMAN

A New Guinea highlander unconsciously treats the anxiety caused by his wife's continuing illness with increasingly strong magic.

30 Baseball Magic 373 GEORGE GMELCH

American baseball players employ magical practices as they try to ensure successful performance.

31 Navajo Medicine 384 DONALD F. SANDNER

Like Western psychiatrists, Navajo healers use symbolic ritual to re-create a sense of harmony.

32 Cargo Cults 396 PETER M. WORSLEY

Religion serves to revitalize culture for Melanesians devastated by colonial induced change.

X Culture Change and Applied Anthropology 404

33 Steel Axes for Stone-Age A ustralians 410 LAURISTON SHARP

The introduction of a hatchet-sized steel axe changes Australian aborigines' authority structure, economic exchange, and view of the meaning of life itself.

34 Progress and Tribal Peoples 425 JOHN H. BODLEY

Tribal peoples must be given self-determination as they face the powerful forces of development that threaten their continued existence.

35 Cocaine and the Economic Deterioration of Bolivia 447 JACK MCIVER WEATHERFORD

The world market for cocaine robs Bolivian villages of their men and causes problems for health, nutrition, transportation, and family.

36 Using Anthropology 459 DAVID W. MCCURDY

Professional anthropologists are doing everything from ethnographies of automobile production lines to famine relief, but even the neophyte may be able to use the idea of culture in everyday life.

Glossary 473

Index 481