January 5, 2001

Studying the 'Anthropology of Friendship'

By PETER MONAGHAN

Friendship can be troublingly complicated in day-to-day life. Anthropologically speaking, friendship hasn't been sufficiently distinguished from other kinds of personal ties, argue the authors of the essays collected in The Anthropology of Friendship (Berg Publishers). The book's editors, Sandra Bell and Simon Coleman, both lecturers in anthropology at Britain's University of Durham, suggest that now is the time for a closer inspection of friendship, particularly