Showing titles in Anthropology

In this innovative celebration of diversity and affirmation of individuality in animals and humans, Joan Roughgarden challenges accepted wisdom about gender identity and sexual orientation. A distinguished evolutionary biologist, Roughgarden takes on the medical establishment, the Bible, social science--and even Darwin himself. She leads the reader through a fascinating discussion of diversity in gender and sexuality among fish, reptiles, amphibians, birds, and mammals, including primates. Evolution's Rainbow explains how this diversity develops from the action of genes and hormones and how people come to differ from each other in all aspects of body and behavior. Roughgarden reconstructs primary science in light of feminist, gay, and transgender criticism and redefines our understanding of sex, gender, and sexuality. A new preface shows how this witty, playful, and daring book has revolutionized our understanding of sexuality.

Hvorfor insisterer vi på at dele mennesker op i normale og unormale? Antropologen Christian Groes gør op med idéen om, at nogle hjerner skal fixes, tæmmes eller isoleres. Vi skal i stedet lære at sætte pris på det anderledes. Han drømmer om et overskudssamfund med ligeværd, omsorg og plads til særpræg. Gennem begrebet neodiversitet beskriver han udviklingen af normsamfundet og det skiftende syn på de naturlige varianter i hjernen. Bogens budskab er, at det ikke er de neurodivergente, der er syge eller forkerte, det er normsamfundets indretning, der skal ændres.

This travel guide ensures a richer and more meaningful experience abroad with tips on understanding Thai culture, from its ancient roots to modern developments.

In The Vegan Matrix, psychologist, longtime vegan advocate, and organizational head Dr. Melanie Joy explores a serious problem in the vegan movement - unexamined privilege - and looks at the struggle to communicate effectively about this problem in a way that helps offset it.

The field of folklore studies is over two centuries old, and it's full of amazing insights about human behavior, creativity, and community. Folklore studies is as interdisciplinary as it gets, squished somewhere between anthropology and linguistics and religious studies and comparative literature and more. It’s all about the informal human interactions, the million tiny acts and stories and beliefs and arts that function as social glue even if they seem beneath notice.

In The Animal and The Thinker, the world-leading, pioneering neuroscientist John Duncan explains that each of us is not just one person – we are two. On one side are our animal instincts, built on the sophisticated needs of human life through evolution, but struggling to navigate the complexity of modern life. On the other side is our rational brain which calculates and cogitates, but is often helpless in the face of bigger questions of meaning and purpose.

The exemplary life of a noble soldier/statesman, a description of ancient Germany, and a discussion of oratory are the subjects of three short masterpieces by the brilliant Roman historian, Tacitus.

Brought to you by Penguin. Humanity has often found itself on the precipice. We've survived and thrived because we've never stopped moving... In this eye-opening book, Johannes Krause, Chair of the Max Planck Institute for the History of Humanity, offers a new way of understanding our past...

The picture of classical antiquity most of us learned in school is framed in certain ways - glossing over misogyny while omitting the seeds of feminist resistance. Many of today's harmful practices, like school dress codes, exploitation of the environment and rape culture, have their roots in the ancient world. But in Antigone Rising, classicist Helen Morales reminds us that the myths have subversive power because they are told - and read - in different ways.

A tour of global practices that will inspire American parents to expand their horizons (and geographical borders) and learn that there’s more than one way to diaper a baby. Mei-Ling Hopgood, a first-time mom from suburban Michigan - now living in Buenos Aires - was shocked that Argentine parents allow their children to stay up until all hours of the night. Could there really be social and developmental advantages to this custom?

Over vast expanses of time, fire and humanity have interacted to expand the domain of each, transforming the earth and what it means to be human. In this concise yet wide-ranging book, Stephen J. Pyne - named by Science magazine as "the world's leading authority on the history of fire" - explores the surprising dynamics of fire before humans, fire and human origins, aboriginal economies of hunting and foraging, agricultural and pastoral uses of fire, fire ceremonies, fire as an idea and a technology, and industrial fire.

In the mid-1970s, Misty Knight burst onto the pages of Marvel Comics. Before Storm, Shuri, or Riri, Misty opened the doors of comics as Marvel's first Black woman superhero. A detective and martial artist with a bionic arm that gives her heroic strength, Misty personified the undercurrent of independent Black media and the budding post-soul culture. First appearing in 1975, she broke down stereotypes to become one of the backbone characters of the Marvel Universe.

When philosopher and traveller Will Buckingham’s partner died, he sought solace in throwing open the door to new people. Now, as we reflect on our experiences of the pandemic and its enforced separations, and as global migration figures ever more prominently in our collective future, Buckingham brings together insights from philosophy, anthropology, history and literature to explore how our traditions of meeting the other can mitigate the issues of our time.  

Tracking deep into our evolutionary history, anthropological science has begun to unravel one particular feature that sets us apart from the many, many animals that came before us—our uniquely long childhoods. Growing Up Human looks at how we have diverged from our ancestral roots to stay ‘forever young’—or at least what seems like forever—and how the evolution of childhood is a critical part of the human story.

New Zealand—Culture Smart! helps you get to the heart of this diverse and multicultural nation. It examines the impact of history, religion, and politics, while tips and vital insights into Kiwi attitudes, customs, and social life will help deepen your experience of this country and its fair-minded people.

In Grocery, bestselling author Michael Ruhlman offers incisive commentary on America’s relationship with its food and investigates the overlooked source of so much of it—the grocery store. In a culture obsessed with food—how it looks, what it tastes like, where it comes from, what is...

It is where Fidel Castro raised money to overthrow Batista and where two generations of Castro's enemies have raised armies to overthrow him, so far without success. It is where the bitter opera of Cuban exile intersects with the cynicism of U.S. foreign policy. It is a city whose skyrocketing murder rate is fueled by the cocaine trade, racial discontent, and an undeclared war on the island 90 miles to the south.

Books preserve ideas, yes, but they also provoke new ones— they are true tools for thinking. In The Idea Machine, Joel J. Miller shows that books are one of the most important but overlooked factors in the making of our contemporary world.

“There is no good reason why human societies should not be described and explained with the same precision and success as the rest of nature.” Thus argues evolutionary psychologist Pascal Boyer in this uniquely innovative book. Integrating recent insights from evolutionary biology, genetics, psychology, economics, and other fields, Boyer offers precise models of why humans engage in social behaviors such as forming families, tribes, and nations, or creating gender roles.

This is the first thoroughly revised edition of The Rape of the Nile—Fagan’s classic account of the cavalcade of archaeologists, thieves, and sightseers who have flocked to the Nile Valley since ancient times. Featured in this edition are new accounts of stunning recent discoveries, including the Royal Tombs of Tanis, the Valley of Golden Mummies at Bahariya, the Tomb of the Sons of Ramses, and the sunken city of Alexandria (whose lighthouse was one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World).