Purity and Danger is acknowledged as a modern masterpiece of anthropology. It is widely cited in non-anthropological works and gave rise to a body of applicatio

Mary Douglas’s seminal work Purity and Danger (Routledge, 1966) continues to be indispensable reading for both students and scholars today. Marking the 50th a

At the center of contemporary struggles over aggressive policing practices is an assumed association in U.S. culture of blackness with criminality. Rima L. Vese

This is the first full length account of the life and ideas of Mary Douglas, the British social anthropologist whose publications span the second half of the tw

Offering a new and controversial interpretation of Leviticus this book sets out an anthropological perspective on the Jewish purity laws.