How to Think Like an Anthropologist

December 18, 2017
Engelke (God’s Agents), professor of anthropology at the London School of Economics, leads a haphazard tour of culture and civilization in this scattershot primer on the field of anthropology. Relying primarily on the historical aspect of anthropology and the work of pre-WWII anthropologists, Engelke touches on the 19th-century German concept of kultur and summarizes the evolution of cultural theory. In attempting to make this information comprehensible to readers, he includes digressions on such topics as the TV series Downton Abbey, a 1990s Christian movement in Papua New Guinea, and computer-based algorithmic trading in London. Engelke attempts to address misconceptions about such topics as fatwas and linguistic communication, but the interpretations aren’t as fully fleshed out as some readers may hope. He also offers some anthropological tidbits, such as the importance of the “Bovine Mystique” in Basotho culture. Some important topics, such as race and identity, are merely touched upon. Though little of the literature surveyed is new, some modern anthropological work is mentioned, including that of medical anthropologist Margaret Lock, who studied the concept of death in Japan and contributed to the International Forum for Transplant Ethics. Engelke’s mixture of anecdote and survey is a decent introduction to the field, but falls short of its title’s promise.