This volume comprises the collected work of the noted anthropologist, Professor N. Subba Reddy. At the end of 60 years of academic life, during which the author attended or organised a number of conferences and symposia-both at the national and international levels, delivered some endowment lectures and key-note addresses, and published a number of papers at home as well as abroad, he chose to bring out this collection of 30 papers, organised into three sections.

The first section reflects on what light anthropology can throw on the larger concerns about humanity as a whole, such as:

the interactions between biological and cultural processes
human motivations and their socially approved fulfilment
the widening of human horizons culminating in globalisation
common human rationality in the midst of cultural diversity, and
interactions between generic human nature and environmental forces.


The second section comprises critical essays on some important theories and issues which no student of anthropology or sociology can afford to overlook.

The third section looks at certain ethnographic studies conducted by the author, each representing an important facet of social, economic, political or religious life among the tribal and rural communities. They combine sound field observations with an appropriate theoretical analysis.