ABSTRACT

This lively text by leading medical anthropologist Elisa J. Sobo offers a unique, holistic approach to human diversity and rises to the challenge of truly integrating biology and culture. The inviting writing style and fascinating examples make important ideas from complexity theory and epigenetics accessible to students. In this second edition, the material has been updated to reflect changes in both the scientific and socio-cultural landscape, for example in relation to topics such as the microbiome and transgender. Readers learn to conceptualize human biology and culture concurrently—as an adaptive biocultural capacity that has helped to produce the rich range of human diversity seen today. With clearly structured topics, an extensive glossary and suggestions for further reading, this text makes a complex, interdisciplinary topic a joy to teach. Instructor resources include an extensive test bank and a study guide.

part I|84 pages

A Systems View of Human Adaptation

chapter 1|12 pages

Anthropology and Complexity

chapter 2|15 pages

Genetic Adaptation

chapter 4|18 pages

Emergence of Culture and People Like Us

part II|78 pages

Socio-Political and Economic Factors

chapter 6|20 pages

Foraging

A Human Baseline

chapter 7|19 pages

Agricultural Revolution

Another Great Divide

chapter 8|17 pages

Epidemics and Immunities

chapter 9|20 pages

Political Economy of Health Disparities

part III|92 pages

Meaningful Practices

chapter 10|23 pages

Stress, Meaning, and Health

chapter 11|25 pages

Culture in Practice

Embodying Gender

chapter 12|16 pages

Body Ideals and Outcomes

chapter 13|18 pages

Kinship

So Relative

chapter |8 pages

Conclusion

Respecting Connections