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Contrary to the declarations of some anthropologists, matriarchies do exist. Peggy Reeves Sanday first went to West Sumatra in 1981, intrigued by reports that the matrilineal Minangkabau--one of the largest ethnic groups in Indonesia--label their society a matriarchy. Numbering some four million in West Sumatra, the Minangkabau are known in Indonesia for their literary flair, business acumen, and egalitarian, democratic relationships between men and women. Sanday uses her repeated visits to West Sumatra in the closing decades of the twentieth century as the basis for a new definition of matriarchy. From the vantage point of daily life in villages, especially one where she developed close personal ties, Sanday's narrative is centered on how the Minangkabau conceive of their world and think humans should behave, along with the practices and rituals they claim uphold their matriarchate. Women at the Center leaves the reader with a solid sense of the respect for women that permeates Minangkabau culture, and gives new life to the concept of matriarchy.
2011 Edition with a New Afterword by the author The venerable and often misquoted phrase "Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned" continues to haunt American women who accuse men of sexual harassment and rape. In this bracing study of American sexual culture and the politics of acquaintance rape, anthropologist Peggy Reeves Sanday identifies the sexual stereotypes that continue to obstruct justice and diminish women. Beginning with a harrowing account of the St. John's rape case, Sanday reaches back through British and American landmark rape cases to explain how, with the exception of earliest colonial times, rape has been a crime notable for placing the woman on trial. Whether she is charge...
Applying data from over 150 tribal societies to scales developed to measure power and dominance, Sanday offers answers to basic questions regarding male and female power. The view that emerges conforms to no particular theoretical perspective.
A new approach to understanding the phenomenon of ritual cannibalism through a detailed examination of selected tribal societies demonstrates that the practice is closely linked to people's orientation to the world, and helps distinguish "cultural self."
Addresses the conflict, contradictions and ambiguities that are often encountered in field research.
A classic. Fraternity Gang Rape is a fascinating analysis of how all-male groups such as fraternities or athletic teams may create a rape culture where behavior occurs that few individuals acting alone would perpetrate. The new Introduction and Afterword shed light on how this pernicious problem continues today, insightfully illuminating the complicity of society in the failure of accountability for acquaintance rape."--Mary P. Koss, co-editor of No Safe Haven: Male Violence Against Women at Home, at Work, and in the CommunityPraise for the First Edition"A powerful and important book.--Contemporary Psychology"Full of insights .... an important contribution .... written in accessible prose an...
Anthropology and the Public Interest: Field work and Theory provides an understanding of how culture affects human lives, and uses this understanding in formulating and implementing domestic social policy. This book defines basic research as contributing to theory, knowledge, and method that contributes to the advancement of social science. Organized into four parts encompassing 19 chapters, this book begins with an overview of the greatest potential payoff for the advancement of social science and for enlightened social programming. This text then presents an insightful discussion of why cultural differences among people have gone so largely unrecognized. Other chapters consider the cultural or language processes of contemporary U.S. populations. This book discusses as well the changing environment that gave rise to the tremendous growth in academic anthropology. The final chapter deals with social indicators research and discusses the potential role of anthropology in such work. This book is a valuable resource for anthropologists.
Explains the flaws and limitations of a strictly biological model of rape, and argues that traditionally stereotyped gender roles are grounded more in culture than in differing biological reproductive roles. [back cover].
It was a crime that captured national attention. In the idyllic suburb of Glen Ridge, New Jersey, four of the town's most popular high school athletes were accused of raping a retarded young woman while nine of their teammates watched. Everyone was riveted by the question: What went wrong in this seemingly flawless American town? In search of the answer, Bernard Lefkowitz takes the reader behind Glen Ridge's manicured facade into the shadowy basement that was the scene of the rape, into the mansions on "Millionaire's Row," into the All-American high school, and finally into the courtroom where justice itself was on trial. Lefkowitz's sweeping narrative, informed by more than 200 interviews a...
This pathbreaking collection of intellectual biographies is the first to probe the careers of thirteen early African-American anthropologists, detailing both their achievements and their struggle with the latent and sometimes blatant racism of the times. Invaluable to historians of anthropology, this collection will also be useful to readers interested in African-American studies and biography. The lives and work of: Caroline Bond Day, Zora Neale Hurston, Louis Eugene King, Laurence Foster, W. Montague Cobb, Katherine Dunham, Ellen Irene Diggs, Allison Davis, St. Clair Drake, Arthur Huff Fauset, William S. Willis Jr., Hubert Barnes Ross, Elliot Skinner