Investigating Culture: An Experiential Introduction to Anthropology

As a teacher, I used this book during a semester course for college students who admitted to have no idea what anthropology was, and the results were, overall, very positive. They found it interesting and pleasant, and they read and summarized all nine chapters, totaling over 400 pages. Its forte is that, rather than adopting the formalistic approach of conventional textbooks, it engages students, capturing their attention at the experiential level. With simple language, it provides a straightforward introduction to what is to do ethnographic fieldwork and to think anthropologically, leading students to learn, not only about "other cultures", but also, and mainly, to reflect upon their own ethnocentrism. However, due to such an experiential focus, the book misses important anthropological concerns with macro-analysis, structuralism and history; it also misses a minimally systematic discussion of classical topics, such as religion or economy. And, some of my female students found that the author's recurrent discussion on gender exploitation was excessive and even tiresome. Finally, though it is understandable that geographic expertise may limit one's ability to discuss other world cultures, I expected a wider and better variety of examples, beyond rural Turkey, patriarchy and the author's (and close colleagues') own excerpts. I was stunned with crass mistakes, such as claiming that Brazilians love tango (rather than samba), to name just one among several blunders. Having said that, I still maintain that this book yields good results among undergraduate students. I'm not sure I'd employ it in privileged institutions such as U. Chicago or Ivy League, but certainly so in more modest colleges. In any case, the book is quite original, providing an innovative approach to learn the discipline. The supplementary articles at the end of each chapter are a very good idea. I hope that the author fixes, calibrates and improves this interesting book in future editions.