This volume takes stock of the current status of the comparatively new discipline of `Anthropological Demography', and discusses its major methods, its main strengths, and its chief limitations. It includes contributions from both mainstream demographers and foremost anthropologists, all stressing the necessity of a shared agenda for each discipline to progress successfully and avoid marginalization. While the unique research and personal satisfaction afforded by `participant observation' is described, the book also highlights the potential contribution to the understanding of demographic events of much more than the field methods of traditional anthropology. In particular, it stresses the insights possible from qualitative focus group interviews, from longitudinal studies and from a greater interest in `armchair' anthropology, in which demographers complement their quantitative findings with qualitative information and understanding gleaned from a careful reading of the anthropological literature, in the form of both ethnographies and anthropological theories. In addition, it stresses the larger world of the ideal anthropological demographer: a world that includes the cultural context of course, but also takes into account the historical and political forces that condition so much individual behaviour. But the book is also a critical venture. It includes therefore considerable discussion of the common limits of the purely anthropological approach for understanding demographic events and processes, especially from a larger policy perspective, at the same time as it emphasizes the crucial role of the anthropological approach to designing policy that is potentially effective as well as socially and culturally sensitive. It reiterates the often complementary role of anthropological demography and also discusses some specific questions in demographic research which it does not as yet seem to have the capacity to illuminate. The book is aimed primarily at demographers wishing to broaden their research agenda and deepen their understanding of demographic behaviour, but it also hopes to convert mainstream anthropologists to take a more active interest in demographic issues. Both disciplines, after all, have a common intense interest in the kind of life and death issues that they can fruitfully explore together or by using one another's research methods.

Tibetan Transitions uses the dual lenses of anthropology and demography to analyze population regulating mechanisms in traditional Tibetan societies, and to document recent transitions from high to low fertility throughout the Tibetan world. Using the author’s case studies on historical Tibet, the Tibet Autonomous Region, the highlands of Nepal, and Tibetan exile communities in South Asia, this book provides a theoretical perspective on demographic processes by linking fertility transitions with family systems, economic strategies, gender equity, and family planning ideologies. Special attention is devoted to how institutions (governmental and religious) and the agency of individuals shape reproductive outcomes in both historical and contemporary Tibetan societies, and how demographic data has been interpreted and deployed in recent political debates.

Revised papers originally presented at the Brown University Conference on Anthropological Demography, Nov 3-5, 1994.

Publisher Description

This book focuses on the status quo and current trends concerning ethnic issues in China, and seeks to promote the equitable and harmonious development of Chinese and other nationalities around the world. Drawing on representative empirical studies and case studies, it describes the spatial structure and evolution of China’s populace, and analyzes the distribution of and legislation on its spatial development, which has been conducive to the scientific formulation of national population policies. After assessing the development of China’s populace, the book analyzes the future prospects with regard to achieving the goal of a prosperous society and balancing the population in a comprehensive way; puts forward some constructive suggestions on the modernization of the populace; and constructs a new knowledge system for national development with Chinese characteristics. The book combines qualitative and quantitative analysis and employs empirical, speculative, comparative, and comprehensive methods to make full use of modern science and technology, so as to promote ethnological research into a broader development path. Its goal is to objectively evaluate the development of the Chinese populace and provide objective facts and data to support those readers who are interested in its nature and evolution.

Cultural anthropologists can be an intellectually adventurous crowd: open—even eager—to building bridges across disciplines in the name of understanding human behavior and the human experience more broadly. In this first-of-its-kind book, Caroline Brettell explores the cross-disciplinary conversations that have engaged cultural anthropologists both past and present. Brettell highlights a handful of conversations between the discipline of anthropology on the one hand and history, geography, literature, biology, psychology and demography on the other. She also pinpoints how these exchanges address three enduring issues of anthropological concern: the temporal and the spatial dimensions of human experience; the scientific and the humanistic dimensions of the anthropological enterprise; and the individual and the group/population as units of analysis in research. Anthropological Conversations offers detailed accounts of particular ethnographic methodologies and findings (and the theoretical trends informing them) as a means of grasping the big-picture issues. Brettell clearly shows that, by engaging with other fields, cultural anthropologists have been able to think more deeply about what they mean by culture; through this book, she invites readers to continue the conversation.

Volume detailing the effects of the molecular revolution on anthropological genetics and how it redefined the field.

The Anthropological Demography of Health explores the combination of anthropological and demographic approaches to public health research, charting the growing body of research that combines ethnography with quantitative models and methods in the field of population health.

Demography is the study the study of population size, distribution, composition, and density. Sarah Harper discusses the key theories and methods involved in studying population trends and movements, considers how our current global population came about, and addresses some of the future population challenges of the 21st century.

"Within this book, readers will find insightful theoretical analyses and detailed micro-level studies that broaden our understanding of pressing contemporary issues through an anthropological lens. Each paper within the book contextualizes its findings within the larger societal framework, providing a comprehensive view of the situations being examined. This book's particular strength lies in its emphasis on decolonizing anthropological knowledge, exploring the nuances of stigma from an anthropological perspective, highlighting the significance of religion as an ethnic marker, exploring the problems and prospects of writing indigenous ethnohistory of tribes and indigenous people, illuminating food culture through an anthropological lens, examining borderland markets, and exploring the connection of biology and society within the realm of health issues."