Conrad Kottak

Conrad Kottak (born October 6, 1942 in Atlanta, Georgia) is an American anthropologist. He earned his Ph.D from Columbia University, and he did extensive research in Brazil and Madagascar, visiting societies there and writing books about them. He then wrote several textbooks (see list below) such as Window on Humanity: A Concise Introduction to Anthropology; Madagascar: Society and History, and Anthropology: The Exploration of Human Diversity and Cultural Anthropology, which are often used by colleges and high schools in the United States. He is currently an anthropology professor at the University of Michigan, where he has been teaching since 1968. He believes that various American legends and stories, such as Star Trek, Star Wars and the Thanksgiving story are growing into a type of mythology which someday might be comparable to Greek, Roman, or other stories which today are considered to be myths.

Kottak has received several honors for his work. Among these awards is an excellence in teaching award by the College of Literature, Sciences, and the Arts of the University of Michigan in 1992, and the AAA (American Anthropological Association)/Mayfield Award for Excellence in the Undergraduate Teaching of Anthropology in 1999. He was elected to the membership of the National Academy of Sciences in 2008.^[1]

Books by Conrad Kottak

• Madagascar: Society and History (1986)
• Researching American Culture: A Guide for Student Anthropologists (1982)
• The Past and Present: History, Ecology, and Cultural Variation in Highland Madagascar (1980)
• Prime-Time Society: An Anthropogical Analysis of Television and Culture (1990)
• Assault on Paradise: Social Change in a Brazilian Village (1999)
• Anthropology: The Exploration of Human Diversity and Cultural Anthropology (2003)
• Physical Anthropology and Archaeology (2003)
• Mirror for Humanity: A Concise Introduction to Cultural Anthropology (2004)
• On Being Different: Diversity and Multiculturalism in the North American Mainstream (with co-author Kathryn A Kozaitis) (2003)

The list is from his profile at umich.

References

• Kottak, Conrad. Window on Humanity: A Concise Introduction to Anthropology. "About the Author" (pages xxvii-xxviii)

1. ^ U-M anthropologist elected to National Academy of Sciences. University of Michigan News Service. May 1, 2008.

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Name	Kottak, Conrad
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Date of birth	October 6, 1942
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