Embark on a riveting intellectual journey with Liberatheism: On Freedom from God(s), as anthropologist Dr. David Eller concludes his groundbreaking trilogy on atheism, envisioning a future liberated from the age-old debates about the existence of deities. Dispelling misconceptions about atheism, Dr. Eller navigates belief, faith, and anti-theism, urging a reasoned challenge to the melodrama surrounding atheism. With a fearless critique, Eller explores the broader impact of religio...

This clear and engaging guide introduces students to key areas of the field and shows how to apply an anthropological approach to the study of religion in the contemporary world. Written by an experienced teacher, it covers major traditional topics including definitions, theories, and beliefs, as well as symbols, myth, and ritual. The book also explores important but often overlooked issues such as morality, violence, fundamentalism, secularization, and new religious movements. The chapter...

This accessible book introduces the story of ‘social science’, with coverage of history, politics, economics, sociology, psychology, anthropology, and geography.Key questions include:How and why did the social sciences originate and differentiate?How are they related to older traditions that have defined Western civilization?What is the unique perspective or ‘way of knowing’ of each social science?W...

This book provides a comprehensive introduction to psychological anthropology, covering both the early history and contemporary state of the field. Eller discusses the major themes, theories, figures and publications, and provides a detailed survey of the essential and enduring relationship between anthropology and psychology. The volume charts the development, celebrates the accomplishments, critiques the inadequacies, and considers the future of a field that has made great contributions ...

The fifth edition of Cultural Anthropology: Global Forces, Local Lives offers a clear and readable introduction to the field of cultural anthropology, with a special focus on how digital technologies and social media function as prime global forces that are nevertheless used, adapted, transformed, or ignored by people in their everyday local lives.This thoroughly modern textbook challenges traditional views of anthropology by positioning it as uniquely qualified to analyze...

This concise and accessible introduction establishes the relevance of cultural anthropology for the modern world through an integrated, ethnographically informed approach. The book develops readers’ understanding and engagement by addressing key issues such as:What it means to be humanThe key characteristics of culture as a conceptRelocation and dislocation of peoplesThe conflict between political, social and ethnic boundariesThe concep...

This book unites the burgeoning scholarly literature on not-believing in various disciplines into a proposed new field of apisteology. It demonstrates that not-believing—like not-knowing—is a worthy and distinct subject and not merely a vacuum where belief (like knowledge) is lacking. Several contemporary issues appear repeatedly in the book, such as conspiracy theories, vaccine skepticism, climate change denial, and fake news. Each chapter begins with a vignette on one of these topics and...

In the post-Cold War era, the most common and often the most violent conflicts are ethnic conflicts. Many people, including many scholars, see ethnic conflicts as a return to the past, as contests between ancient and well-defined groups with long-standing grievances and animosities. Jack David Eller argues instead that these conflicts are a defining phenomenon of the "new world order"--that they are, in many ways, modern-day inventions based only loosely on "traditional" cultures and hosti...

This book addresses the standard topics of race, ethnicity, class, and gender but goes much further by engaging seriously with issues of language, religion, age, health and disability, and region and geography. It also considers the intersections between and the diversities within these categories. Eller presents students with an unprecedented combination of history, conceptual analysis, discussion of academic literature, and up-to-date statistics. The book includes a range of illustration...

Beyond Liminality: Ontologies of Abundant Betweenness examines the concept of liminality in the social sciences and humanities, and advocates for a more critical use of the concept while offering more precise alternatives.Originally conceived in response to the near-universal ritualization of changes of status (i.e., "rites of passage"), liminality was a welcome and much-needed correction to the reigning static and structural models of culture at the time. However, it soon...

What really happened on the first Thanksgiving? How did a British drinking song become the national anthem of the United States? And what makes Superman so darned American? Every tradition, even the noblest and most cherished, has a history, nowhere more so than in the USA, which was born with a relative indifference, if not hostility, to the past. Most Americans would be surprised to learn just how recent – and controversial – the origins of their traditions are, as well as how those orig...

The Anthropology of Donald Trumpis an edited volume of original anthropological essays, composed by some of the leading figures in the discipline. It applies their concepts, perspectives, and methods to a sustained and diverse understanding of Trump’s supporters, policies, and performance in office.The volume includes ethnographic case studies of "Trump country," examines Trump’s actions in office, and moves beyond Trump as an individual political fgure to consider larger structura...