Companion Encyclopedia of Anthropology: Humanity, Culture and Social Life

by Tim Ingold (Editor)

* Provides a comprehensive survey of contemporary thinking in biological, social and cultural anthropology and establishes the interconnections between these three fields.
* Useful cross-references within the text, with full biographical references and suggestions for further reading.
* Carefully illustrated with line drawings and photographs.
'The Companion Encyclopedia of Anthropology is a welcome addition to the reference literature. Bringing together authoritative, incisive and scrupulously edited contributions from some three dozen authors. The book achieves an impressive breadth of coverage of specialist areas.' - Times Higher Educational Supplement
'Recommended for all anthropology collections, especially those in academic libraries.' - Library Journal
'This is a marvellous book and I am very happy to recommend it.' - Reference Reviews

Genres: Anthropology, Philosophy, Reference

1164 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1994

About the author

Tim Ingold (born 1948) is a British social anthropologist, currently Chair of Social Anthropology at the University of Aberdeen. He was educated at Leighton Park School and Cambridge University. He is a fellow of the British Academy and of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. His bibliography includes The Perception of the Environment: Essays in Livelihood, Dwelling and Skill, Routledge, 2000, which is a collection of essays, some of which had been published earlier.

Reviews

[Malcolm · Rating 4 out of 5]

To claim to have read it would be disingenuous. I have dipped into into it and have consulted it and will continue to do so.

Anthropology is a funny subject. It is not archeology and it is not sociology. Entries you might expect to be here are not. So you have to look elsewhere.

It is a companion, in that the entries comprise essays within broad themes. And there are only three of these: Humanity, Culture and Social Life. It is an encyclopedia in no way that I can discern. The essays are not ranked alphabetically.

R S Binford gets a mention, but only just. Durkheim, as you would expect, gets far greater; 15 entries in the index. Although the Frankfurt School does not get a mention, thankfully Weber does, with 6 entries.

Material culture gets fairly substantial coverage; materialism only the briefest mention. The sister subject, social anthropology, is orphaned with quite insubstantial coverage. Editor's choice, I guess.
Dualism, by contrast is quite nicely served with regard to artefact and dualism's relationship to temporality.

Agriculture, the topic that had me consult the companion recently, has 14 entries, including an optimistically entitled entry, Green Revolution. But then when you consult the entry [p1061] it is cynically placed between quotes. A unintended post-modern touch, perhaps.

It is difficult to know who the publisher intends as the audience. Such a volume cannot hope to provide for the specialists, unless it is as an at-hand aide de memoire for areas in which they are not specialists.

Such a volume does, however, provide for the educated lay person, which is why I own it. To get this kind of quality of information on line, you have to pay subscriptions. The cost of the book by comparison is a bargain.

And its utility to the lay person?

With some subjects it is difficult to know where to start. Take, for example, the nation state. The articles in the book will act as a vital stimulus to the searcher to get the cognitive process working, allow the gathering of thoughts together on the topic and acting as a guide as to where to look next. As such, the book is an invaluable resource.

Rutledge are to be commended in producing reference works such as this. I snap them up whenever I see them.