The Modern Anthropology of South-East Asia: An Introduction (Modern Anthropology of South-East Asia)

This is a comprehensive introduction to the social and cultural anthropology of South-East Asia. It provides an overview of the major theoretical issues and themes which have emerged from the engagement of anthropologists with South-East Asian communities; a succinct historical survey and analysis of the peoples and cultures of the region. Most importantly the volume reveals the vitally important role which the study of the area has occupied in the development of the concepts and methods of anthropology: from the perspectives of Edmund Leach to Clifford Geertz, Maurice Freedman to Claude Levi-Strauss; Lauriston Sharp to Melford Spiro. Cover Half Title Series Page Title Copyright Contents List of illustrations List of abbreviations Preface Introduction Maps 1 South-East Asia: a field of anthropological enquiry? 2 Anthropology and the colonial impact (1900–1950) 3 Anthropology in the period of decolonization (1950–1970): the American tradition 4 Anthropology in the period of decolonization (1950–1970): the European tradition 5 Social and economic change: ‘peasants’ as part-societies 6 Ethnicity, identity and nationalism 7 Ecology and environmental change 8 Gender and the sexes 9 Urban ways of life 10 Conclusion Appendix: list of ethnic groups Glossary Bibliography Author/name index Subject index This is the first comprehensive introduction to the social and cultural anthropology of South-East Asia. It provides an overview of the major theoretical issues and themes which have emerged from the engagement of anthropologists with South-East Asian communities; a succinct historical survey and analysis of the peoples and cultures of the region. Most importantly the volume reveals the vitally important role which the study of the area has occupied in the development of the concepts and methods of anthropology: from the perspectives of Edmund Leach to Clifford Geertz, Maurice Freedman to Claude Levi-Strauss; Lauriston Sharp to Melford Spiro In our teaching in South-East Asian anthropology we had both been aware for some time of the lack of accessible, readable, theamatic undergraduate teaching texts on the modern anthropology of the region, and specifically on the effects on local communities and societies of process modernization and globalization.