Readings in Cultural Anthropology and the Contemporary World: Critical Perspectives provides students with a carefully curated selection of articles that address the principal issues inclusive in the history of the discipline, including globalization, gender, race and ethnicity, kinship, language, and climate change.

The anthology is divided into six units. The readings in Unit I address the history of the cultural anthropology discipline and its all-important and central concept of culture. In Unit II, students read selections that address race and ethnicity, including historical and contemporary conceptions of race and the highly politicized US-Mexico border. Unit III focuses on economic anthropology with readings that discuss women as economic agents and the economic factors and consequences associated with migrants.

Unit IV is about political anthropology and includes two readings that criticize some of the stereotypes associated with leadership among Indigenous people. In Unit V, the readings distinguish sex as biological for gender as social constructs and examine the reality of gender-based violence. The final unit explores the world system and globalization, including readings that cover a range of topics from the internet to the globalization of fast food to climate change.

Readings in Cultural Anthropology and the Contemporary World is an ideal primary or supplementary resource for courses in cultural anthropology and anthropological theory.