For courses in Peoples and Cultures of Latin America found in departments of Anthropology or History. This reader is a part of the Exploring Cultures series. Designed to expose students to some of the most important critical thinking by anthropologists across a wide range of issues, it examines Latin American cultures from a number of different perspectives. Very accessible and perceptive, it covers a wide range of topics -- beginning with a general overview of Latin America (observations about size of land mass, geography, population size and growth rates) and then highlighting some of the cultural characteristics that permit us to talk about "Latin America" -- balancing the incredible cultural diversity with some of the overriding features that give at least the appearance of "similarity."

Table of Contents:
I. INTRODUCTION.  1. Introduction to Latin America: Its Land and People.  2. Rudolfo Stavenhagen, Challenging the Nation-State in Latin America.  3. Carlos Fuentes, The Mirror of the Other. II. PREHISTORY.  4. Anna Roosevelt, Lost Civilizations of the Lower Amazon.  5. Clark Erickson, Applied Archaeology and Rural Development: Archaeology's Potential Contribution to the Future.  6. Michael Harner, The Enigma of Aztec Sacrifice. III. AMERICA'S IBERIAN HERITAGE.  7. George Foster, Culture and Conquest.  8. Eric Wolf, Sons of the Shaking Earth. IV. ETHNICITY.  9. John Kicza, The Indian in Latin America. 10. Charles R. Hale, Inter-Ethnic Relations and Class Structure in Nicaragua's Atlantic Coast: A Historical Overview. 11. Conrad Kottak, Assault on Paradise. V. GENDER. 12. Evelyn Stevens, Machismo and Marianismo. 13. Norma Chinchilla, Women's Movements in the Americas: Feminism's Second Wave. 14. Helen Safa, Women's Social Movements in Latin America. 15. Michael Whiteford and Ruth Alden, Changing Gender Role Attitudes Among Women in an Urban Mexican Neighborhood VI. SOCIAL STRUCTURE. 16. Richard Adams, Brokers and Career Mobility Systems in the Structure of Complex Societies. 17. Arthur D. Murphy and Alex Stepick, Social Inequality in Oaxaca. 18. Samuel Stone, Aspects of Power Distribution in Costa Rica. 19. Andrew Hunter Whiteford, Changing Life Patterns: The Elite of the Valle of Pubenza, Columbia VII. RELIGION. 20. John K. Chance, Changes in Twentieth-Century Mesoamerican Cargo Systems. 21. Diana De G. Brown and Mario Bick, Religion, Class, and Context: Continuities and Discontinuities in Brazilian Umbana. 22. Christian Smith, The Spirit and Democracy: Base Communities, Protestantism, and Democratization in Latin America. VII. HEALTH. 23. Linda M. Whiteford, The Political Economy of Health in Latin America. 24. Sidney M. Greenfield, German Spirit Doctors in Spiritist Healing in Urban Brazil. 25. George M. Foster, How to Stay Well in Tzintzumtzan. 26. Joseph Bastien, Adaptive Strategies of Bolivian Herbalists to Biomedicine. IX. ECONOMICS, NEOLIBERAL REFORMS, AND TRADE AGREEMENTS. 27. Kenyon Stebbins, Tobacco or Health in the Third World: A Political Economy Perspective with Emphasis on Mexico. 28. Mark Ritchie, Free Trade versus Sustainable Agriculture: The Implications NAFTA 29. Frank Cancian and Peter Brown, Who Is Rebelling in Chiapas? 30. Eliana Cardoso, Privatization Fever in Latin America. 31. Lynn Stephen, Accommodation and Resistance: Ejidatario, Ejidataria, and Official Views of Ejido Reform. 32. Donna Chollett, Culture, Sweetness, and Death: The Political Economy of Sugar Production and Consumption. 33. J. Douglas Uzzell, Mixed Strategies and the Informal Sector: Three Faces of Reserve Labor. X. ENVIRONMENT. 34. Marc Edelman, Rethinking the Hamburger Thesis: Deforestation and the Crisis of Central America's Beef Exports. 35. Elizabeth Dore, Capitalism and the Ecological Crisis: Legacy of the 1990s. 36. Peter Rosset, The Greening of Cuba. 37. Kevin Healy, Political Ascent of Bolivia's Coca Leaf Producers. 38. Katharine Milton, Civilization and Its Discontents. XI. POPULATION MOVEMENT AND CHANGING CITIES. 39. Carole Nagengast and Michael Kearney, Mixtec Ethnicity: Social Identity, Political Consciousness, and Political Activism. 40. Suzana Sawyer, Phantom Citizenship and the Prosthetics of Corporate Capital: Maria Aguinda, et al. versus Texaco, Inc. USA. 41. Douglas Butterworth and John Chance, Latin American Urbanization. 42. Alan Gilbert, The Latin American City. 43. Arturo Escobar, Conclusion: Imagining a Postdevelopment Era.