Cultural anthropology: References & Edit History

Additional Reading

Histories of anthropological science include T.K. Penniman, A Hundred Years of Anthropology, 3rd ed. rev. (1965), which covers all of anthropology; and P. Mercier, Histoire de l’anthropologie (1966), which covers only cultural anthropology. The principal textbooks are M.J. Herskovits, Man and His Works (1948); F.M. Keesing, Cultural Anthropology: The Science of Custom (1958); and J. Poirier (ed.), Ethnologie générale (1968). In cultural anthropology—aside from two works by the “fathers” of the discipline, L.H. Morgan, Ancient Society (1877); and E.B. Tylor, Anthropology: An Introduction to the Study of Man and Civilisation (1881)—some of the classic general works are Franz Boas, The Mind of Primitive Man (1911), and Race, Language and Culture (1940); Bronislaw Malinowski, A Scientific Theory of Culture, and Other Essays (1944); A.R. Radcliffe-Brown, Structure and Function in Primitive Society (1952); A.L. Kroeber (ed.), Anthropology Today (1953); Claude Levi-Strauss, Anthropologie structurale (1958; Eng. trans. 1963); G. Balandier, Anthropologie politique (1967; Eng. trans. 1971); and M. Mauss, Oeuvres (1968). Studies of individual peoples that have become classics include W.H.R. Rivers, The Todas (1906); M. Granet, Fêtes et chansons anciennes de la Chine (1919; Eng. trans., Festivals and Songs of Ancient China, 1932); Bronislaw Malinowski, The Argonauts of the Western Pacific (1922), and Coral Gardens and Their Magic (1935); A.R. Radcliffe-Brown, The Andaman Islanders (1922); Margaret Mead, Coming of Age in Samoa (1928); Franz Boas, The Religion of the Kwakiutl Indians (1930); R.F. Fortune, Sorcerers of Dobu: The Social Anthropology of the Dobu Islanders of the Western Pacific (1932); R.W. Firth, We, the Tikopia: A Sociological Study of Kinship in Primitive Polynesia (1936); M.J. Herskovits, Dahomey: An Ancient West African Kingdom (1938); E.E. Evans-Pritchard, The Nuer (1940); and E.R. Leach, Political Systems of Highland Burma: A Study of Kachin Social Structure (1954).

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  • Paul Mercier
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Article History

Type Description Contributor Date
Article title updated for style. Nov 06, 2026
Modified link of Web site: Discover Anthropology - Social and Cultural Anthropology. Mar 17, 2024
Corrected display issue. Sep 08, 2022
Media added. Jan 23, 2019
Add new Web site: Discover Anthropology - Social and Cultural Anthropology. Mar 06, 2016
Add new Web site: Victoria University of Wellington - Cultural Anthropology. Mar 06, 2016
Add new Web site: Buzzle.com - What is Cultural Anthropology? Jul 31, 2014
Added new Web site: Brian Schwimmer - Cultural Anthropology. Oct 16, 2007
Article revised. Mar 02, 2001
Article added to new online database. Jul 26, 1999
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