Think Like an Anthropologist

For over a hundred years, researchers in the field of social and cultural anthropology have traversed the world—from urban agglomerations in Africa to the suburbs of London, Beijing, or Barcelona—collecting everything from the most mundane to the most mysterious evidence of how people organize their lives and express their values. Matthew Engelke, a professor at the Department of Religion at Columbia University, demonstrates, through numerous theoretical arguments and facts, why anthropology is important: it allows us to better understand others with their differing views and beliefs, and thus better understand ourselves.