ABOUT THIS BOOK

This concise introduction to social and cultural anthropology has become a modern classic, introducing countless students to the field and the tools it offers for exploring some of the most complicated questions of human life and interaction. This fourth edition is fully updated, incorporating recent debates and controversies in the field, ranging from globalization and migration research to problems of cultural translation and the challenges of interdisciplinarity. Effortlessly bridging the gap between classic and contemporary anthropology, Small Places, Large Issues remains an essential text for undergraduates embarking on the study of this field.

AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY

Thomas Hylland Eriksen is professor of social anthropology at the University of Oslo and a member of the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters. His books include Ethnicity and Nationalism, A History Of Anthropology, Globalisation: Studies in Anthropology, and What Is Anthropology?, all published by Pluto Press.

REVIEWS

“Authoritative, challenging, accessible, up to date, this is a splendid introduction to modern social anthropology. I would press it on anyone who wants a better grasp of the diversity of human ways of living. And it is a must-read for students.”

— Adam Kuper, London School of Economics and Political Science

“This classic volume is quite simply the best introduction there is to social and cultural anthropology. Deeply grounded in the history of anthropological thought, it is also thoroughly up to date. More than that, it is unfailingly engaging, clear, and accurate. There is no better place to go to begin to learn why anthropology has been and remains a vital discipline in the contemporary world.”

— Joel Robbins, University of Cambridge

“Small Places, Large Issues shows us Thomas Hylland Eriksen in his admirable triple capacity as an anthropologist: the scholar, with depth and breadth of knowledge, and with a critical sense; the statesman, negotiating with fairness between anthropological camps; and the journalist, with a sense of what is new, zooming between close-up and big picture, and writing clearly about it all.”

— Ulf Hannerz, Stockholm University

“This wonderfully lucid introduction to social and cultural anthropology readily captures students’ attention. By delineating the past and present development of the discipline, Eriksen underscores continuities and challenges that inform the practice of anthropology in today’s world. In presenting anthropology as a means for elucidating large issues through the analysis of small places, the book speaks eloquently to anthropology’s intellectual vibrance and practical value.”

— Noel Dyck, Simon Fraser University

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Series Preface
Preface to the Third Fourth Edition
1. Anthropology: Comparison and Context
2. A Brief History of Anthropology
3. Fieldwork and Ethnography
4. The Social Person
5. Local Organisation
6. Person and Society
7. Kinship as Descent
8. Marriage and Relatedness
9. Gender and Age
10. Caste and Class
11. Politics and Power
12. Exchange and Consumption
13. Production, Nature and Technology
14. Religion and Ritual
15. Language and Cognition
16. Complexity and Change
17. Ethnicity
18. Nationalism and Minorities
19. Anthropology and the Paradoxes of Globalisation
20. Public Anthropology
Epilogue: Making Anthropology Matter
Bibliography
Index