Bethany Usher is Associate Professor of Biological Anthropology at SUNY Potsdam. She earned her PhD from Penn State University in 2000. She has been teaching introductory and upper division classes in biological anthropology, including Human Origins, Human Osteology, Primates, and Anthropological Genetics, for eight years. She is committed to excellent and creative undergraduate education, and was awarded the SUNY Potsdam President’s Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Advising in 2005. Her research interests are in bioarchaeology, anthropological genetics, demography, paleopathology, and osteology; she has conducted research in Virginia, Arizona, Pennsylvania, and Denmark. She was… a Fulbright Scholar to Denmark in 2006. She presents her research frequently at the American Association of Physical Anthropologists and Society for American Archaeology national meetings.
Brief Table of Contents List of Figures Using This Book: The Anthropological Questions Chapter 1: What is Culture? Chapter 2: How Do I Learn About Culture? The Naturalistic Question Chapter 3: What is the Context for This Practice or Idea? The Holistic Question Chapter 4: Do Other Societies Do Something Like This?The Comparative Question Chapter 5: What Was This Idea or Practice Like in the Past? Chapter 6: How are Human Biology, Culture, and Environment Interacting? Chapter 7: What Are the Groups and Relationships?The Corporate Lineage Chapter 8: What Does That Mean? The Interpretive Question Chapter 9: What is My Perspective? The Reflexive Question Chapter 10: Am I Judging This? The… Relativistic Question Chapter 11: What Do the People Say? The Dialogic Question Afterword: Putting It All Together Works Cited Detailed Table of Contents List of Figures Using This Book: The Anthropological Questions Notes and Queries, Part I Notes and Queries, Part II The Anthropological Questions How This Book is Organized Anthropology and the Other Disciplines of Human Behavior What is Cultural Anthropology? The Topics of Cultural Anthropology Why Think Like an Anthropologist? There’s No Substitute for Experience The Exercises Notes and Queries, Part III Exercise 1: Who Are You? Exercise 2: Where are They? Exercise 3: What You Already Know Recommended Reading Chapter 1: What is Culture? Fishy Culture, Part I Overview A Definition of Culture Fishy Culture, Part II Culture, Subculture, and Ethnic Group Culture and Race The Characteristics of Culture As Cultures Change, "Culture" Changes What Isn’t Culture? Summary Fishy Culture, Part III Exercise 1: The Embarrassing Incident Exercise 2: The American Family Exercise 3: Being Multicultural Exercise 4: Race Classification Recommended Reading Chapter 2: How Do I Learn About Culture? The Naturalistic Question Heavy Meddle. Part I Overview Heavy Meddle, Part II Can I Observe Without Disturbing? Fieldwork Informants Fieldwork''s Rewards Fieldwork Methods Anthropology: The Science of Culture? What Ethical Principles Guide Anthropologists? How Do We Enforce Ethical Research? What Ethical Guidelines Should Students Follow? Summary Heavy Meddle, Part III Exercise 1: Analyzing an Ethnography Exercise 2: Participant Observation Exercise 3: The Impact of the Observer Exercise 4: Inferring Culture From Behavior Recommended Reading Chapter 3: What is the Context for This Practice or Idea? The Holistic Question Everything Relates to Potatoes, Part I Overview Everything Relates to Potatoes, Part II A Holistic Image of Culture Types of Holistic Connections Cultures in Regional Context Culture in Scalar Context Holism in the Field Embeddedness Economics, Holistically Speaking The Challenges of Holism Summary Everything Relates to Potatoes, Part III Exercise 1: Economics in Ethnography Exercise 2: The Embeddedness of Reciprocity Exercise 3: Holistic Approaches to Jokes Exercise 4: Life in Context: A Sociobiography Exercise 5: What Kin Terms Are Linked To Recommended Reading Chapter 4: Do Other Societies Do Something Like This?The Comparative Question Big Parties, Part I Overview Big Parties, Part II How Shall We Compare? What Can We Learn By Comparing This to Others? Will We Murder to Dissect? Shall I Take the Participant’s or the Comparativist’s Perspective? Summary Big Parties, Part III Exercise 1: Comparing Two Cultures Exercise 2: Q and R Comparisons Exericse 3: Emic and Etic Perspectives Exercise 4: A Comparison of 400 Cultures Exercise 5: Time Budgets – Yours and the Machiguengans’ Recommended Reading Chapter 5: What Was This Idea or Practice Like in the Past? The Temporal Question A Chicken-and-Egg Story, Part I Overview A Chicken-and-Egg Story, Part II Cultures Have Histories The Temporal Question has a History Asking the Temporal Question What are the Precursors of This Practice or Idea? What are the Processes by Which This Practice or Idea Changed? Sources and Methods What Causes Culture Change? Thinking About the Future The Systems Approach The Historical Comparative Approach The Delphi Method Summary Chickens, Part III Exercise 1: Enduring Historical Patterns Exercise 2: Pronoun Change Exercise 3: Syncretism Exercise 4: Futures Research Exercise 5: Explaining Change Recommended Reading Chapter 6: How are Human Biology, Culture, and Environment Interacting? The Bio-cultural Question It’s Me Stomach, Miss, Part I Overview It’s Me Stomach, Miss, Part II Thinking in Systems How Does Culture Respond to the Environment? How Does Environment Respond to Culture? How Does Human Biology Respond to the Environment? How Does Environment Respond to Human Biology? How Does Culture Respond to Human Biology? How Does Biology Respond to Culture? Which Came First? What’s the Adaptive Advantage of That? Summary It’s Me Stomach, Miss, Part III Exercise 1: Student Dietary Patterns Exercise 2: The Built Environment Exercise 3: Culture Shapes Biology Exercise 4: Culture Change in Biological Terms Exercise 5: Culture Adapts to Human Biology Recommended Reading Chapter 7: What Are the Groups and Relationships?The Social-Structural Question Pollution is also a “People Problem," Part I Overview Pollution is also a “People Problem," Part II What is the Structure Made of? What Does the Social Structure Look Like? How Does the Structure Influence Behavior? The Individual and Culture How is Power Generated and Exercised? The Band The Headman and the Chief The Corporate Lineage Summary Pollution is also a “People Problem," Part III Exercise 1: Structural Rules for Family Formation Exercise 2: Ego-Centered Social Networks Exercise 3: Diagramming Kinship Structure Exercise 4: Chinese Kinship Structure Exercise 5: Formal Organizations Exercise 6: Relations in Social Structures: Roommates Exercise 7: Relations in Social Structures: Friendships Recommended Reading Chapter 8: What Does That Mean? The Interpretive Question What An Oil Spill Means, Part I Overview What An Oil Spill Means, Part II Culture is Symboling Eight Questions About Meaning Meaning in Languages Meaning in Social Action Meaning in Myth and Ritual Key Symbols Myth World View Summary What An Oil Spill Means, Part III Exercise 1: The Meaning of an Artifact Exercise 2: Magical Rituals Exercise 3: What Terms of Address Say Exercise 4: Translating an Event Exercise 5: Root Metaphor in Medicine Exercise 6: Ethnolinguistics Recommended Reading Chapter 9: What is My Perspective? The Reflexive Question Taking Tiger Mountain, Part I Overview Taking Tiger Mountain, Part II Positions on a Landscape What’s Wrong with Scientific Anthropology? How Do Others See Us Anthropologists? Studying Your Own Kind How To Be Reflexive How Shall I Show That I’m Right? Summary Taking Tiger Mountain, Part III Exercise 1: Positions on a Landscape Exercise 2: Team Ethnography Exercise 3: The Ethnography as Mirror Exercise 4: The Satirical Epiphany Recommended Reading Chapter 10: Am I Judging This? The Relativistic Question Green Peas, Pa