An assessment of current trends in Marxist anthropology, thiscollection of essays reflects both the unifying force of Marxist thoughtand the diversity of contemporary anthropology. Linked by a commonapproach-a shared commitment to Marxist analysis-the contributorslook at a variety of phenomena, including the problems of labor andwork, in terms of a coherent theory of Marxism. Examining political,economic, and ethnic situations, the authors discuss social structures,ideology, and class formation. This unique volume warrants the attentionof both Marxists and non-Marxists in anthropology and ofscholars in other fields.

Anthropology is a discipline very conscious of its history, and Alan Barnard has written a clear, balanced and judicious textbook that surveys the historical contexts of the great debates and traces the genealogies of theories and schools of thought. It also considers the problems involved in assessing these theories. The book covers the precursors of anthropology; evolutionism in all its guises; diffusionism and culture area theories, functionalism and structural-functionalism; action-centred theories; processual and Marxist perspectives; the many faces of relativism, structuralism and post-structuralism; and recent interpretive and postmodernist viewpoints.

Some of the most prominent social and cultural anthropologists have come together in this volume to discuss Maurice Godelier's work. They explore and revisit some of the highly complex practices and structures social scientists encounter in their fieldwork. From the nature-culture debate to the fabrication of hereditary political systems, from transforming gender relations to the problems of the Christianization of indigenous peoples, these chapters demonstrate both the diversity of anthropological topics and the opportunity for constructive dialogue around shared methodological and theoretical models.

An assessment of current trends in Marxist anthropology, this collection of essays reflects both the unifying force of Marxist thought and the diversity of contemporary anthropology. Linked by a common approach--a shared commitment to Marxist analysis--the contributors look at a variety of phenomena, including the problems of labor and work, in terms

This book examines the uses made of anthropology by Marx and Engels, and the uses made of Marxism by anthropologists. Looking at the writings of Marx and Engels on primitive societies, the book evaluates their views in the light of present knowledge and draws attention to inconsistencies in their analysis of pre-capitalist societies. These inconsistencies can be traced to the influence of contemporary anthropologists who regarded primitive societies as classless. As Marxist theory was built around the idea of class, without this concept the conventional Marxist analysis foundered. First published in 1983.

Decolonizing Anthropology is part of a broader effort that aims to advance the critical reconstruction of the discipline devoted to understanding humankind in all its diversity and commonality. The utility and power of a decolonized anthropology must continue to be tested and developed. May the results of ethnographic probes--the data, the social and cultural analysis, the theorizing, and the strategies for knowledge application--help scholars envision clearer paths toincreased understanding, a heightened sense of intercultural and international solidarity, and last, but certainly not least, world transformation.

Marxist theory has been an undercurrent in western social science since the late nineteenth century. It came into prominence in the social sciences in the 1960s and 1970s and has had a profound effect on history, sociology and anthropology. This book represents an attempt to gather together Marxist perspectives in archaeology and to examine whether indeed they represent advances in archaeological theory. The papers in this volume look forward to the growing use of Marxist theory by archaeologists; as well as enriching archaeology as a discipline they have important implications for sociology and anthropology through the addition of a long-term, historical perspective. This is a book primarily for undergraduates and research students and their teachers in departments of archaeology and anthropology but it should also be of interest to historians, sociologists and geographers.