The Encyclopedia of Social and Cultural Anthropology provides a unique guide to the ideas, arguments and history of the discipline which discusses human social and cultural life in all its diversity and difference.
Theory, ethnography and history are combined in over 230 substantial entries on topics as wide ranging as race, postmodernism, witchcraft and essentialism, magic and methodology.

Areas covered

* History of anthropological research, colonialism, orientalism and occidentalism, theories of culture and society
* Kinship, gender and family, marriage, the body
* Ritual and religion, language and linguistics, poetics, literacy, aesthetics, film, museums
* Relations with other disciplines (e.g. archaeology, sociology)

Structure and key features

Comprehensive coverage - over 230 substantial entries provide detailed information on every major idea, individual and sub-discipline of social and cultural anthropology. The entries give insights into anthropological thinkingand definitions of specific terms.
International and up-to-date - over 100 international contributors, all experts in their fields, write clearly yet provocatively. They provide a variety of perspectives on crucial debates in anthropology today.
Covers key terms, ideas and people - the Encyclopedia eliminates the need to refer to other books for specific definitions or biographies. It contains a glossary with short explanations of more than 600 key terms and ideas. A biographical appendix details the lives and work of over 250 important figures in the history ofanthropology.

Unique interdisciplinary approach - this is the only encyclopedia of social and cultural anthropology to cover fully the many important areas of overlap between anthropology and related disciplines, from history and literary studies to social psychology. Such topics include semantics, evolutionary theory and the influence of social theorists such as Marx, Durkheim and Weber. No other encyclopedia takes such a broad approach.
Highly accessible and easy to use - alphabetically organized and with extensive cross-referencing and indexing leading readers to specific definitions and explanations. Fully annotated primary and secondary bibliographies focus on established classics as well as recent works and provide further reading signposts to aid research.