The Anthropology of Numbers

The Anthropology of Numbers PDF Author: Thomas Crump
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 9780521438070
Category : Mathematics
Languages : en
Pages : 216

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Book Description
Numbers are an important feature of almost all known cultures. In this detailed anthropological study, Thomas Crump examines how people from a wide range of diverse cultures, and from different historical backgrounds, use and understand numbers. By looking at the logical, psychological and linguistic implications, he analyses how numbers operate within different contexts. The author goes on to consider the relationship of numbers to specific themes, such as ethnoscience, politics, measurement, time, money, music, games and architecture. The Anthropology of Numbers is an original contribution to scholarship, written in a clear and accessible style. It will be of interest to anthropologists who study cognition, symbolism, primitive thought and classification, and to those in adjacent disciplines of psychology, cognitive science and mathematical social science.

The Anthropology of Numbers

The Anthropology of Numbers PDF Author: Thomas Crump
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 9780521438070
Category : Mathematics
Languages : en
Pages : 216

Get Book Here

Book Description
Numbers are an important feature of almost all known cultures. In this detailed anthropological study, Thomas Crump examines how people from a wide range of diverse cultures, and from different historical backgrounds, use and understand numbers. By looking at the logical, psychological and linguistic implications, he analyses how numbers operate within different contexts. The author goes on to consider the relationship of numbers to specific themes, such as ethnoscience, politics, measurement, time, money, music, games and architecture. The Anthropology of Numbers is an original contribution to scholarship, written in a clear and accessible style. It will be of interest to anthropologists who study cognition, symbolism, primitive thought and classification, and to those in adjacent disciplines of psychology, cognitive science and mathematical social science.

Numbers and the Making of Us

Numbers and the Making of Us PDF Author: Caleb Everett
Publisher: Harvard University Press
ISBN: 0674504437
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 308

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Book Description
“A fascinating book.” —James Ryerson, New York Times Book Review A Smithsonian Best Science Book of the Year Winner of the PROSE Award for Best Book in Language & Linguistics Carved into our past and woven into our present, numbers shape our perceptions of the world far more than we think. In this sweeping account of how the invention of numbers sparked a revolution in human thought and culture, Caleb Everett draws on new discoveries in psychology, anthropology, and linguistics to reveal the many things made possible by numbers, from the concept of time to writing, agriculture, and commerce. Numbers are a tool, like the wheel, developed and refined over millennia. They allow us to grasp quantities precisely, but recent research confirms that they are not innate—and without numbers, we could not fully grasp quantities greater than three. Everett considers the number systems that have developed in different societies as he shares insights from his fascinating work with indigenous Amazonians. “This is bold, heady stuff... The breadth of research Everett covers is impressive, and allows him to develop a narrative that is both global and compelling... Numbers is eye-opening, even eye-popping.” —New Scientist “A powerful and convincing case for Everett’s main thesis: that numbers are neither natural nor innate to humans.” —Wall Street Journal

The Social Life of Numbers

The Social Life of Numbers PDF Author: Gary Urton
Publisher: University of Texas Press
ISBN: 0292786840
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 294

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Book Description
Unraveling all the mysteries of the khipu--the knotted string device used by the Inka to record both statistical data and narrative accounts of myths, histories, and genealogies--will require an understanding of how number values and relations may have been used to encode information on social, familial, and political relationships and structures. This is the problem Gary Urton tackles in his pathfinding study of the origin, meaning, and significance of numbers and the philosophical principles underlying the practice of arithmetic among Quechua-speaking peoples of the Andes. Based on fieldwork in communities around Sucre, in south-central Bolivia, Urton argues that the origin and meaning of numbers were and are conceived of by Quechua-speaking peoples in ways similar to their ideas about, and formulations of, gender, age, and social relations. He also demonstrates that their practice of arithmetic is based on a well-articulated body of philosophical principles and values that reflects a continuous attempt to maintain balance, harmony, and equilibrium in the material, social, and moral spheres of community life.

Outline of a Theory of Practice

Outline of a Theory of Practice PDF Author: Pierre Bourdieu
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 9780521291644
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 260

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Book Description
Through Pierre Bourdieu's work in Kabylia (Algeria), he develops a theory on symbolic power.

The Anthropology of Power

The Anthropology of Power PDF Author: Angela Cheater
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1134650477
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 232

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Book Description
An edited collection which examines the theoretical issues surrounding power, and particularly empowerment, which uses ethnographic analysis as its basis. It takes material from the Middle East, Canada, Columbia, Australasia and various parts of Europe and Africa. It looks particularly at the extent to which traditionally disempowered groups gain influence in postcolonial or multicultural settings, and at how power relates to economic development, gender and environmentalism.

Reckonings

Reckonings PDF Author: Stephen Chrisomalis
Publisher: MIT Press
ISBN: 026236087X
Category : Mathematics
Languages : en
Pages : 265

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Book Description
Insights from the history of numerical notation suggest that how humans write numbers is an active choice involving cognitive and social factors. Over the past 5,000 years, more than 100 methods of numerical notation--distinct ways of writing numbers--have been developed and used by specific communities. Most of these are barely known today; where they are known, they are often derided as cognitively cumbersome and outdated. In Reckonings, Stephen Chrisomalis considers how humans past and present use numerals, reinterpreting historical and archaeological representations of numerical notation and exploring the implications of why we write numbers with figures rather than words.

The Emergence of Number

The Emergence of Number PDF Author: John N. Crossley
Publisher: World Scientific Publishing Company Incorporated
ISBN: 9789971504137
Category : Mathematics
Languages : en
Pages : 222

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Book Description


Ritual and Religion in the Making of Humanity

Ritual and Religion in the Making of Humanity PDF Author: Roy A. Rappaport
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 9780521296908
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 566

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Book Description
Roy Rappaport argues that religion is central to the continuing evolution of life, although it has been been displaced from its original position of intellectual authority by the rise of modern science. His book, which could be construed as in some degree religious as well as about religion, insists that religion can and must be reconciled with science. Combining adaptive and cognitive approaches to the study of humankind, he mounts a comprehensive analysis of religion's evolutionary significance, seeing it as co-extensive with the invention of language and hence of culture as we know it. At the same time he assembles the fullest study yet of religion's main component, ritual, which constructs the conceptions which we take to be religious and has been central in the making of humanity's adaptation. The text amounts to a manual for effective ritual, illustrated by examples drawn from anthropology, history, philosophy, comparative religion, and elsewhere.

Overlooking Nazareth

Overlooking Nazareth PDF Author: Dan Rabinowitz
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 9780521564953
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 244

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Book Description
A sophisticated and engaging ethnographic account of the Palestinian citizens of Israel, and the first since the 1970s, Overlooking Nazareth examines specific situations of friction, conflict and co-operation in Natzerat Illit. This Israeli new town is built on formerly Palestinian land, just outside the biblical town of Nazareth, and has a population of 25,000 Jewish Israelis and 3,500 Palestinians. Dr Rabinowitz has written widely on the current political situation in Israel and has conducted extensive fieldwork in Galilee, and he describes his study as a guided walk along a border, a sketch of interfaces 'where the complex, often paradoxical aspects of the border situation are negotiated and acted out most vividly'. He highlights the extent to which anti-Palestinian sentiments for which the town is known actually reflect widespread views of most Israelis. This is a major contribution to our understanding of the confrontation between Israelis and Palestinians. It offers powerful critique of reflexive anthropology and offers fresh insights into notions of ethnicity and identity, nationalism and liberalism.

A Companion to the Anthropology of Reproductive Medicine and Technology

A Companion to the Anthropology of Reproductive Medicine and Technology PDF Author: Cecilia Coale Van Hollen
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
ISBN: 1119845386
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 566

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Book Description
Provides fresh perspectives on the past, present and future-facing contributions of the anthropology of reproduction. A Companion to the Anthropology of Reproductive Medicine and Technology provides a timely and comprehensive overview of the anthropological study of reproductive practices, technologies, and interventions in a global context. Exploring the medical and technological management of human reproduction through a sociocultural lens, this groundbreaking volume reviews past and current research, discusses contemporary debates and recent theoretical developments, introduces key themes and trends, examines ongoing issues of equity, inclusivity, and reproductive justice around the world, and more. The Companion brings together essays by multidisciplinary scholars in fields including sociocultural anthropology, medical anthropology, reproductive health, global public health, Science and Technology Studies (STS), gender and sexuality studies, critical race studies, and environmental studies, to list but a few. Five thematically organized sections address reproductive practitioners and paradigms, global reproductive health and interventions, reproductive justice, the life-course approach to the study of reproductive health, and the future of reproductive technology and medicine. Using clear, jargon-free language, the authors investigate pregnancy and childbirth; fertility treatments; birth control, contraception and abortion; COVID-19 and reproduction; reproductive cancers; epigenetics; social discrimination; gender and sexualities and reproduction for LGBTQIA+ communities; race and reproduction; migration and reproduction; reproduction and war; reproductive health financing; reproduction and disabilities, reproduction and the environment; and other important contemporary topics. A cutting-edge guide to the modern study of reproduction, this groundbreaking volume: Provides an overview of the links between anthropological study and progressive work in medicine, healthcare, and technology Addresses both the challenges and opportunities facing researchers in the field Identifies gaps in current scholarship and offers recommendations for future research topics and methodologies Highlights the importance of ethnographic research combined with critical engagements with other disciplines for the anthropology of reproduction Explores the impact of socioeconomic conditions, environmental challenges, public policy, and legislation on reproductive health outcomes Traces the history of the field and demonstrates how anthropologists have engaged with issues of reproductive justice Part of the acclaimed Wiley Blackwell Companions to Anthropology series, A Companion to the Anthropology of Reproductive Medicine and Technology is an essential resource for undergraduate and graduate students, researchers, and scholars in medical anthropology, science technology and society, cultural anthropology, ethnology, and gender studies, as well as medical practitioners, policymakers, and activists involved in global and public health and reproductive justice.