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We live in an era marked by an accelerating rate of species death, but since the early days of the discipline, anthropology has contemplated the death of languages, cultural groups, and ways of life. The essays in this collection examine processes of—and our understanding of—extinction across various domains. The contributors argue that extinction events can be catalysts for new cultural, social, environmental, and technological developments—that extinction processes can, paradoxically, be productive as well as destructive. The essays consider a number of widely publicized cases: island species in the Galápagos and Madagascar; the death of Native American languages; ethnic minorities under pressure to assimilate in China; cloning as a form of species regeneration; and the tiny hominid Homo floresiensis fossils ("hobbits") recently identified in Indonesia. The Anthropology of Extinction offers compelling explorations of issues of widespread concern.

Table of Contents

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  1. Cover
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  1. Title Page, Copyright
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  1. CONTENTS
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  1. Acknowledgments
  2. p. ix
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  1. INTRODUCTION. ACCUMULATING ABSENCE
  2. pp. 1-16
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  1. PART 1. THE SOCIAL CONSTRUCTION OF BIOTIC EXTINCTION
  1. 1. A SPECIES APART
  2. pp. 18-38
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  1. 2. FROM ECOCIDE TO GENETIC RESCUE
  2. pp. 39-66
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  1. 3. TOTEM AND TABOO RECONSIDERED
  2. pp. 67-86
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  1. PART 2. ENDANGERED SPECIES AND EMERGENT IDENTITIES
  1. 4. TORTOISE SOUP FOR THE SOUL
  2. pp. 89-102
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  1. 5. GLOBAL ENVIRONMENTALISM AND THE EMERGENCEOF INDIGENEITY
  2. pp. 103-123
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  1. PART 3. RED-LISTED LANGUAGES
  1. 6. LAST WORDS, FINAL THOUGHTS
  2. pp. 127-142
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  1. 7. DYING YOUNG
  2. pp. 143-162
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  1. PART 4. PREHISTORIES OF AN APEX PREDATOR
  1. 8. DEMISE OF THE BET HEDGERS
  2. pp. 165-199
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  1. 9. DISAPPEARING WILDMEN
  2. pp. 200-218
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  1. EPILOGUE: Prolegomenon for a New Totemism
  2. pp. 219-225
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  1. Notes
  2. p. 225
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  1. References
  2. pp. 225-226
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  1. Contributors
  2. pp. 227-228
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  1. Index
  2. pp. 229-243
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