Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

8 results found

Malinowski, Bronislaw

(Encyclopedia)Malinowski, Bronislaw brŏnēˈslŏf mălĭnŏfˈskē [key], 1884–1942, English anthropologist, b. Poland, Ph.D. Univ. of Kraków, 1908. Working in the field of cultural anthropology, he gained reno...

Trobriand Islands

(Encyclopedia)Trobriand Islands trōˈbrēăndˌ, trōˌbrēăndˈ [key], small volcanic island group off SE New Guinea, part of Papua New Guinea. Kiriwana is the largest of the group's 22 islands. Yams, pearl shel...

Firth, Sir Raymond William

(Encyclopedia)Firth, Sir Raymond William, 1901–2002, British social anthropologist, b. Auckland, New Zealand. He was educated at Auckland Univ. and studied with Bronislaw Malinowski at the London School of Econom...

Frazer, Sir James George

(Encyclopedia)Frazer, Sir James George, 1854–1941, Scottish classicist and anthropologist, b. Glasgow, educated at the universities of Glasgow and Cambridge. He is known especially for his masterpiece, The Golden...

functionalism, in anthropology and sociology

(Encyclopedia)functionalism, in anthropology and sociology, a theory stressing the importance of interdependence among all behavior patterns and institutions within a social system to its long-term survival. It was...

mythology

(Encyclopedia)mythology [Greek,=the telling of stories], the entire body of myths in a given tradition, and the study of myths. Students of anthropology, folklore, and religion study myths in different ways, distin...

magic, in religion and superstition

(Encyclopedia)magic, in religion and superstition, the practice of manipulating and controlling the course of nature by preternatural means. Magic is based upon the belief that the universe is populated by unseen f...

Natives, North American

(Encyclopedia)Natives, North American, peoples who occupied North America before the arrival of the Europeans in the 15th cent. They have long been known as Indians because of the belief prevalent at the time of Co...

Browse by Subject