Revel for Anthropology

Christopher R. DeCorse received his B.A. in anthropology with a minor in history from the University of New Hampshire, before completing his M.A. and Ph.D. degrees in archaeology at the University of California-Los Angeles. His theoretical interests include the interpretation of ethnicity and culture change in the archaeological record, archaeology and popular culture, and general anthropology. Dr. DeCorse has excavated a variety of prehistoric and historic period sites in the United States, the Caribbean, and Africa, but his primary area of research has been in the archaeology, history, and ethnography of West Africa. Dr. DeCorse has taught archaeology and general anthropology in undergraduate and graduate programs at the University of Ghana, Indiana University of Pennsylvania, and Syracuse University, where he is currently professor and past chair of the Department of Anthropology. His academic honors and awards include: the Daniel Patrick Moynihan Award for Outstanding Teaching, Research and Service; the William Wasserstrom Award for Excellence in Graduate Teaching; and the Syracuse University Excellence in Graduate Education Faculty Recognition Award.

Dr. DeCorse is particularly interested in making archaeology more accessible to general audiences. In addition to the single-authored physical anthropology and archaeology textbook The Record of the Past: An Introduction to Physical Anthropology and Archaeology, he coauthored with Brian Fagan, the eleventh edition of In the Beginning: An Introduction to Archaeology, both published by Prentice Hall. Dr. DeCorse's academic publications include more than sixty articles, book chapters, and research notes in a variety of publications, including The African Archaeological Review, Historical New Hampshire, Historical Archaeology, the Journal of African Archaeology, and Slavery and Abolition. A volume on his work in Ghana, An Archaeology of Elmina: Africans and Europeans on the Gold Coast 1400-1900, and an edited volume, West Africa during the Atlantic Slave Trade: Archaeological Perspectives, were published in 2001. His most recent book (2008), Small Worlds: Method, Meaning, and Narrative in Microhistory, coedited with James F. Brooks and John Walton, deals with the interpretation of the past through the lense of microhistory.

Raymond Scupin is Professor of Anthropology and International Studies at Lindenwood University. He is currently the Director at the Center for International and Global Studies at Lindenwood. He received his B.A. degree in history and Asian studies, and anthropology, from the University of California-Los Angeles. He completed his M.A. and Ph.D. degrees in anthropology at the University of California-Santa Barbara. Dr. Scupin is truly a four-field anthropologist. During graduate school, he did archaeological and ethnohistorical research on Native Americans in the Santa Barbara region. He did extensive ethnographic fieldwork in Thailand with a focus on understanding the ethnic and religious movements among the Muslim minority. In addition, Dr. Scupin taught linguistics and conducted linguistic research while based at a Thai university.

Dr. Scupin has been teaching undergraduate and graduate courses in anthropology for more than 30 years at a variety of academic institutions, including community colleges, research universities, and a four-year liberal arts university. Thus, he has taught a very broad spectrum of undergraduate students. Through his teaching experience, Dr. Scupin was prompted to write this textbook, which would allow a wide range of undergraduate students to understand the holistic and global perspectives of the four-field approach in anthropology. In 1999, he received the Missouri Governor's Award for Teaching Excellence. In 2007, Dr. Scupin received the Distinguished Scholars Award at Lindenwood University.

Dr. Scupin has published many studies based on his ethnographic research in Thailand. He returned to Thailand and other countries of Southeast Asia to update his ethnographic data on Islamic trends in that area, an increasingly important topic in the post-9/11 world. He is a member of many professional associations, including the American Anthropological Association, the Asian Studies Association, and the Council of Thai Studies. Dr. Scupin has recently authored Religion and Culture: An Anthropological Focus, Race and Ethnicity: The United States and the World, and Peoples and Cultures of Asia, all published by Pearson Prentice Hall.