The Anthropology of Numbers

Thomas Crump (Author)

9780521438070, Cambridge University Press

Paperback, published 15 October 1992

212 pages
22.8 x 15.2 x 1.5 cm, 0.355 kg

'Crump has soothed, stimulated, and occasionally transported me in the contemplation of numbers and mysteries.' Eric Korn, The London Review of Books

Numbers are an important feature of almost all known cultures. In this detailed anthropological study, Thomas Crump examines how people from a wide range of diverse cultures, and from different historical backgrounds, use and understand numbers. By looking at the logical, psychological and linguistic implications, he analyses how numbers operate within different contexts. The author goes on to consider the relationship of numbers to specific themes, such as ethnoscience, politics, measurement, time, money, music, games and architecture. The Anthropology of Numbers is an original contribution to scholarship, written in a clear and accessible style. It will be of interest to anthropologists who study cognition, symbolism, primitive thought and classification, and to those in adjacent disciplines of psychology, cognitive science and mathematical social science.

List of illustrations
Preface
Acknowledgements
1. The ontology of number
2. The cognitive foundations of numeracy
3. Number and language
4. Cosmology, society and politics
5. Economy, society and politics
6. Measurement, comparison and equivalence
7. Time
8. Money
9. Music poetry and dance
10. Games and chance
11. Art and architecture
12. The ecology of number
Notes
References
Index.

Subject Areas: Social & cultural anthropology, ethnography [JHMC]