The Anthropology of Real Life: Events in Human Experience

My introductory cultural anthropology students and I started reading this book in early September this fall. I kept wondering what real events had influenced my students' lives. After September 11th we used Salzman's framework for studying real events and how they shape people's lives to predict how 9-11 would influence us and change our lives. This book really has something to say about how events do influence us--whether we come from kinship-based societies like the Baluchi of Iran or from class-based societies like the Sardinians of Italy. If you have ever tried to think about how a forest fire, a bombing of a local factory, or a kidnapping or vendetta has influenced your life or those around you, then you can really relate to the shape of violence in the everyday lives of the Sicilians. Or perhaps you can relate to a small squabble that turns into a major feud between groups, as in the case of the Baluchi herder whose camel strayed into another man's date palms and partook heartily. This introductory anthropology book really does explain how events influence the lives of ordinary folks. It sure gave me and my students lots to chew on after 9-11.