With Elementary Forms of Religious Life (1912) the soci0logist ?mile Durkheim formulated the most influential social-science theory of religion to date. Pivotal

Purity and Danger is acknowledged as a modern masterpiece of anthropology. It is widely cited in non-anthropological works and gave rise to a body of applicatio

With the rise of science, we moderns believe, the world changed irrevocably, separating us forever from our primitive, premodern ancestors. But if we were to le

This volume is a reassessment of Malinowski's work by a group of his former pupils and colleagues. A frank evaluation, not a eulogy, it examines the real and la

A sceptical introduction to theories of gift exchange -- The awkward legacy of the noble savage -- Gathering thoughts in fieldwork -- Keeping relationships, mee