This engaging and straightforward text allows students to enhance their awareness of changes happening throughout the world, all by examining the microcosm of a single community. The book contains four case studies, each featuring the author's exploration of a different initiative intended to effect community change. Unlike other accounts of globalization, the ethnographic reporting seeks to capture the thoughts and feelings of villagers in response to outsiders attempting to bring changes to the way they shape their personal identities and pursue their livelihoods. Topics covered from an anthropological perspective, in coordination with the discussion of social and cultural change, include: economic development; organizational and workplace culture; politics; religion and ritual; race and ethnicity; post-colonialism; the use of esoteric language; social structure and family life; cultural heritage archaeology; indigenous healing; migration; popular music; and romance tourism.