Being prejudiced is usually taken to mean having hasty and poorly founded feelings and opinions, usually negative, that are based on too little real knowledge and careful consideration. Definitions, however, are not explanations. The Origins of Prejudice is a short and unconventional book that shows you step-by-step both how and why all of us who are human often rely uncritically on what we believe to be true. The book directly addresses prejudice, discrimination, and harmful beliefs, asking why humans develop biased views about others and how these attitudes shape social conflict. It is highly relevant to contemporary debates about racism, polarization, and misinformation that are particularly pressing in today’s divided political landscape.
E. N. Anderson is Emeritus Professor of Anthropology at the University of California, Riverside. Recent publications include Caring for Place (Routledge, 2014) and Everyone Eats (NYU Press, 2014).
Kelley Coures served as the executive director of the Department of Metropolitan Development for the city of Evansville until his retirement in 2024. He has received several awards for his social justice work within the city. He is an LGBTQIA+ activist and the author of Out in Evansville – An LGBTQ History of a River City (History Press, 2023).
Carla Guerrón Montero is Professor of Anthropology and Director of the Center for Material Culture Studies at the University of Delaware. She is author of From Temporary Migrants to Permanent Attractions: Tourism, Cultural Heritage and Afro-Antillean Identities in Panama (University of Alabama Press, 2020).
Tory L. Schendel-Vyvoda is curator of the Evansville African American Museum and adjunct instructor at the University of Evansville. Publications include Feminist Perspectivism in Schuermann’s Medieval Latin Epoch (Atchison, 2024).
Tobias Schwörer is Senior Lecturer at the University of Lucerne. He has conducted fieldwork in Papua New Guinea and his publications include the co-edited book The Ending of Tribal Wars (Routledge, 2021).
John Edward Terrell is Professor of Anthropology at the University of Illinois and Regenstein Curator of Pacific Anthropology at Chicago’s Field Museum of Natural History. Recent publications include A Talent for Friendship: Rediscovery of a Remarkable Trait (OUP, 2015).
