Comparing Cultures

'Comparison is almost as fundamental to the human mind as air and water is to the body. It is therefore puzzling and paradoxical that anthropology, which was founded as an explicitly comparative discipline, has often been ambivalent, reluctant and even hostile to comparative research. This extremely timely book reinstates comparison as a key element in anthropological theory and methodology, demonstrating a variety in comparative strategies which reflect the diversity of anthropology itself and, indeed, the human world. Highly recommended.' Thomas Hylland Eriksen, University of Oslo 'This book engages with a welcome and timely project: restoring comparative perspectives to anthropology. By exploring the challenges, dimensions, and complexities of comparative methodologies, it illustrates how critical comparisons can inform theory and illuminate underlying political economic and institutional processes.' Nina Glick Schiller, Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology 'Comparison is almost as fundamental to the human mind as air and water is to the body. It is therefore puzzling and paradoxical that anthropology, which was founded as an explicitly comparative discipline, has often been ambivalent, reluctant and even hostile to comparative research. This extremely timely book reinstates comparison as a key element in anthropological theory and methodology, demonstrating a variety in comparative strategies which reflect the diversity of anthropology itself and, indeed, the human world. Highly recommended.' Thomas Hylland Eriksen, University of Oslo 'This book engages with a welcome and timely project: restoring comparative perspectives to anthropology. By exploring the challenges, dimensions, and complexities of comparative methodologies, it illustrates how critical comparisons can inform theory and illuminate underlying political economic and institutional processes.' Nina Glick Schiller, Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology