Political Anthropology

A revised and updated edition of the textbook considered to be the seminal work in the genre by the late Ted C. Lewellen, a pioneer in the field, this book represents the new must-have for professors of political anthropology.

This refreshed fourth edition of the classic Political Anthropology: An Introduction offers an up-to-date, comprehensive overview of political anthropology that covers its history, the major research findings in the field, and its theoretical concerns in both the past and present. It provides a substantial expansion of the coverage on the topic of globalization as well as new material on some of the entities that have taken on former state functions, including NGOs, multinational corporations, financial institutions, transnational "soft law" governance organizations, and technocratic elites. The research findings on all of these actors are discussed, shedding new light on such broader concepts as transparency, finance, measurement, and bureaucracy.



In addition, this new edition features a new chapter highlighting recent research in political and legal anthropology that focuses on language and discourse and explores the relationship between language and power. The general message is that language is not simply the vehicle for expressing underlying realities, but a primary means for constituting such realities.


* Presents newly updated coverage and current examples that enable an understanding of political anthropology that is relevant to the 21st-century world

* Provides a substantial expansion of the coverage on the topic of globalization

* Ideally suited for course adoption for political anthropology classes at the university level