Epidemics and anthropologists

This guest editorial reflects on the role of anthropology in the recent outbreaks of Ebola virus epidemics in West Africa and the opportunities and challenges in contributing to the management epidemics in general.     

Statistics for anthropologists

David Hurst Thomas. Figuring Anthropology: First Principles of Probability and Statistics. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1976. xi + 532 pp. Tables, figures, appendix, exercises, references, and index. $13.50.     

Women anthropologists look at women

Michelle Zimbalist Rosaldo and Louise Lamphere, eds. Woman, Culture, and Society. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1974. xi + 352 pp. Figures, tables, references, and index. $12.50 (cloth), $3.95 (paper).     

Mexican anthropologists in Postrevolutionary Mexico

Cynthia Hewitt de Alcántara. Boundaries and Paradigms: The Anthropological Study of Rural Life in Postrevolutionary Mexico. Leiden Development Studies No. 4; 1982. 355 pp. (price not given) to be republished by Routledge and Kegan Paul).     

British anthropologists and African railwaymen

R. D. Grillo. African Railwaymen: Solidarity and Opposition in an East African Labour Force. New York and London: Cambridge University Press, 1974. xi + 215 pp. Figures, tables, appendixes, bibliography, and index. $15.00 (cloth).     

Medical anthropologists examine populations in transition

Janes, Craig R. Migration, Social Change and Health: A Samoan Community in Urban California. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1990. xiv + 197 pp. including references and index. $35.00 cloth

Swedlund, Alan C. and George J. Armelagos, eds. Disease in Populations in Transition: Anthropological and Epidemiological Perspectives. New York: Bergin and Garvey, 1990. viii + 386 pp. including chapter references and index. $57.50 cloth     

我们今天要纂修一部什么样的清史

在党中央、国务院的亲切关怀下 ,清史纂修工程已正式启动。要顺利地、高质量地完成这项新世纪规模宏大的文化工程 ,必须团结和依靠全国清史学界以及其他有关学科专家的力量 ,同心同德 ,群策群力 ,共同奋斗。特别是对修纂工作中的一些重要问题 ,必须充分发扬学术民主 ,集思广益 ,博采众长 ,在百家争鸣的基础上 ,通过认真的讨论争辩 ,逐步取得共识 ,才能够形成较为理想的方案 ,作出比较科学的判断。在当今这个时代 ,我们究竟要纂修一部什么样的清史 ,就是需要认真讨论的重要问题之一。我想对这个问题 ,提出一点自己的想法 ,作为一家之言 ,参加…     

Oil age ethnographies: Alaskan anthropologists address the world

Fienup‐Riordan, Ann. Eskimo Essays: Yup'ik Lives and How We See Them. New Brunswick, New Jersey: Rutgers University Press, 1990. xxii + 269 pp. including notes, references, and index. $25.00 cloth, $11.95 paper.

Jorgensen, Joseph G. Oil Age Eskimos. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1990. xix + 401 pp. including appendices, bibliography, and index. $40.00 cloth.

Oswalt, Wendell H. Bashful No Longer: An Alaskan Eskimo Ethnohistory, 1778–1988. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1990. xviii + 270 pp. including notes, references, and index. $21.95 cloth.     

Nutrition and food production: Not as anthropologists see them

Hamilton, Sahni, Barry Popkin, and Deborah Spicer. Women and Nutrition in Third World Countries. South Hadley, Massachusetts: Bergin and Garvey, 1984. x + 147 pp. including notes, appendices, and references. $24.95 cloth.

International Rice Research Institute. Report of an Exploratory Workshop on the Role of Anthropologists and Other Social Scientists in Interdisciplinary Teams Developing Improved Food Production Technology. Los Banos, Philippines: IRRI, 1982. 102 pp. including references, workshop summaries and recommendations, and list of participants, (n.p.) paper.     

Mountain anthropology and mountain anthropologists: The comparative study of populations at high elevations

Baker, Paul, and Corneille Jest, eds. L'Homme et Son Environnement à Haute Altitude: Environmental and Human Population Problems at High Altitude. Cahiers Népalais. Paris: Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, 1981. 163 pp. including plates and bibliography. n.p.

Cook, David Noble. The People of the Colca Valley: A Population Study. Dellplain Latin American Studies No. 9. Boulder, Colorado: Westview Press, 1982. xx+101 pp. including bibliography and index. $15.50 cloth.

Poffenberger, Mark. Patterns of Change in the Nepal Himalaya. Boulder, Colorado: Westview Press, 1980. v+116 pp. including maps, bibliography, and index. $20.00 cloth.

Millones, Luis, and Hiroyasu Tomoeda, eds. El Hombre y Su Ambiente en los Andes Centrales. Senri Ethnological Studies No. 10. Osaka: National Museum of Ethnology, 1982. v + 307pp. including plates, maps, and bibliography, n.p.

Lehmann, David, ed. Ecology and Exchange in the Andes. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1982. v + 245 pp. including bibliography, glossary, and subject and author indices. $47.50 cloth.

Skar, Harold A. The Warm Valley People: Duality and Land Reform among the Quechua Indians of Highland Peru. Oslo Studies in Social Anthropology No. 2. Oslo: Universitetsforlaget, 1982. v + 350 pp. including plates, appendices, bibliography, index, and glossary. n.p.     

Language and politics: Investigations of language and speech by social and cultural anthropologists

Anderson, Benedict R. O'G. Language and Power: Exploring Political Cultures in Indonesia. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1990. vii + 305 pp. including index. $44.95 cloth, $14.95 paper.

Merlan, Francesca and Alan Rumsey. Ku Waru: Language and Segmentary Politics in the Western Nebilyer Valley, Papua New Guinea. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1991; xvii + 387 pp. including appendices, notes, references, and index. $59.50 cloth.     

What do we know about the punctuated equilibrium theory in China? A systematic review and research priorities

The punctuated equilibrium theory (PET) shows that government policy is mostly stable with occasional drastic change, which scholars attribute to institutional friction and limited information processing capacity. Although the existing PET literature predominantly focuses on democracies, scholars have started to apply the theory to authoritarian countries. Autocracies are a fertile testing ground for the theory's underlying mechanisms because they appear to experience less institutional friction but more informational restrictions than democracies. However, PET studies on autocracies are still rare. To deepen our understanding of the PET and the policy process beyond democracies, we conduct a systematic review of 88 Chinese language PET journal articles. We show that Chinese language PET research is increasing. Contrary to the English language PET literature, most Chinese studies are qualitative, while a key similarity is the weak operationalization of PET core concepts. The reviewed studies confirm a punctuated equilibrium pattern of policymaking in China but provide only limited evidence for more intense punctuations compared with democracies. Future PET research on China ought to use long-term data sets and examine institutional friction and information processing by policymakers. We also argue for more international exchange and comparative research to advance our understanding of the policy process in China and other autocracies.     

Many voices: Medical anthropologists explore the meaning of health,illness, and cure

Franz Boas organized and shaped American anthropology. No academic discipline of similar scope owed so much to just one person. Within three decades of coming to the United States from Germany he had trained the anthropologists who established its place within the universities and redirected its tone and ethos as well as its theories. The biographies under review help us understand the background, aims, and drive of the man. We shall consider, in particular, the impact he had on the political and ethical tone of the field, the prevalence of women in it, and the importance of his scientific background.     

What You Don't Know by What You Do

F.H. HINSLEY et al. British Intelligence in the Second World War; its Influence on Strategy and Operations. Volume II. Cambridge and New York: Cambridge University Press, 1981. Pp. xvi, 850. $39.50 (US).