Easy Reading Anthropology
Barley, Nigel 1992 (1983). The Innocent Anthropologist: Notes from a Mud Hut. Prospect
Heights IL: Waveland Press.
A humorous account of Barley's first field experiences among the Dowayo of
northern Cameroon — an introduction to the real life of a cultural anthropologist
doing research. See also Barley, Nigel 1986. A Plague of Caterpillars: A Return to
the African Bush. Harmondsworth: Penguin.
Bowen, Elenore Smith, 1964 (1954). Return to Laughter. New York: Doubleday
A moving account, and the first introspective one, of what it is like doing fieldwork
among a "primitive" people, in this case the Tiv of Nigeria.
Castaneda, Carlos 1998 (1968). Teachings of Don Juan: A Yaqui Way of Knowledge. New
York: Washington Square Press.
An account of Castaneda's five-year apprenticeship to Don Juan Matus, a Yaqui
Indian sorcerer in New Mexico. Castaneda discusses his use of peyote to induce
hallucinations and these are intimately connected with Yaqui philosophy and
mythology. See also Castaneda, Carlos, (edited by Jane Rosenman) 1971. A Separate
Reality: Further Conversations with Don Juan. New York: Simon & Schuchter.
Castaneda recounts his return to Mexico, and a world of magical experience.
Chagnon, Napoleon A. 1996 (1968). Yanomamo: The Fierce People (5th edn.). Burlington
MA: Harcourt College Publishers.
A personal and graphic account of Chagnon's experiences living among the
Amazonian Yanomamo. A classic
Donner, Florinda 1992. Shabono: A Visit to a Remote and Magical World in the South
American Rainforest. San Francisco: Harper Odyssey
A narrative of archaeologist Florinda Donner's life among the Yanomamo as their
way if life is gradually destroyed. Donner seemed to "go native".
Mead, Margaret 2001 (1928). Coming of Age in Samoa: A Psychological Study of Primitive
Youth for Western Civilisation. New York: Harperperennial Library.
A description of adolescent girls growing up in Samoa which questions the values of
our own culture. A classic.
Mukherjee, Bharati, 1999 (1988). The Middleman and Other Stories. New York: Grove Press.
Fictional accounts of immigrants from Italy, Trinidad, Israel, Vietnam, Afghanistan,
and the Philippines living in the USA. Won the 1988 National Book Critics Circle
Award for Fiction.
Raybeck Douglas, 1996. Mad Dogs, Englishmen, and the Errant Anthropologist: Fieldwork
in Malaysia. Prospect Heights Il: Waveland Press:
A spirited account of his fieldwork in Malaysia.
Shostak, Marjorie. Nisa : The Life and Words of a !Kung Woman. Cambridge MA: Harvard
Univ. Press.
Am emotional and vivid story of the life of Nisa, a member of the !Kung tribe of
hunter-gatherers living in the Kalahari desert, told in her own words.
Weiner, Annette B. 1988 The Trobrianders of Papua New Guinea. Austin: Holt, Rinehardt
and Winston.
An account of the culture of the Trobriand Islanders illustrating the value and
meaning their yams, social relations, traditions and beliefs are for Trobriand women.