An Introduction to Human Evolution and Culture

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Author: Robert J. Muckle,Laura Tubelle de González

Publisher: University of Toronto Press

ISBN: 1442608633

Category: Social Science

Page: 420

View: 2359

One Man's Journey Through His Human Ancestry

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Author: Donovan Webster

Publisher: National Geographic Books

ISBN: 1426206046

Category: Science

Page: 304

View: 8447

Donovan Webster brings his vivid journalistic gifts to a new subject, tracing our deep genealogy using cutting-edge DNA research to map our eons-old journey from prehistoric Africa into the modern world. With the same genetic haplotype as many white American males, Webster makes an ideal subject—he is a genuine Everyman. While his voice and spirit are unique to him, in exploring his own ancestry, he shows us our own. Drawing on National Geographic’s Genographic Project, the largest anthropologic DNA study of its kind, Webster traces centuries of migrations, everywhere finding members of his now far-flung genetic family. In Tanzania’s Rift Valley, he hunts with Julius, whose tribe speaks a click language, and wanders the ruins of ancient Mesopotamia with Mohamed and Khalid, now Jordanian citizens. In Samarkand, Uzbekistan, eastern frontier of his ancestral roaming, a circus ringmaster becomes both friend and link to his primal bloodline. Webster’s genographic quest leads him to contemplate what traits he shares with those he meets, and considers what they and their ways of life reveal about the deep history of our species. A lifetime of journalistic travels among a wide range of cultures furnish Webster with a wealth of colorful threads to weave into a story as particularly personal as it is universally human.

Life as a Cultural Anthropologist

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Author: Barbara Gallatin Anderson

Publisher: Waveland Press

ISBN: 1478607726

Category: Social Science

Page: 180

View: 857

Ten cultures! Barbara Gallatin Anderson brings to life a range of cultures from the tribal Hmong to a United States military base. With humor and a precision born of hands-on familiarity with the regions involved, she draws the reader into startlingly real identification with other peoples worlds: France, Denmark, Thailand, India, Morocco, Japan, Corsica, China, Russia, and the United States. Every chapter gives us insight into the ways we identify with basic anthropological themes, the challenges of applied fieldwork, and the impact of change. To a surprising extent the reader becomes the anthropologistwith all the highs and lows that are part of life as a cultural anthropologist.

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Author: Matthew Engelke

Publisher: Princeton University Press

ISBN: 1400889529

Category: Social Science

Page: 336

View: 5222

From an award-winning anthropologist, a lively accessible, and at times irreverent introduction to the subject What is anthropology? What can it tell us about the world? Why, in short, does it matter? For well over a century, cultural anthropologists have circled the globe, from Papua New Guinea to suburban England and from China to California, uncovering surprising facts and insights about how humans organize their lives and articulate their values. In the process, anthropology has done more than any other discipline to reveal what culture means--and why it matters. By weaving together examples and theories from around the world, Matthew Engelke provides a lively, accessible, and at times irreverent introduction to anthropology, covering a wide range of classic and contemporary approaches, subjects, and practitioners. Presenting a set of memorable cases, he encourages readers to think deeply about some of the key concepts with which anthropology tries to make sense of the world—from culture and nature to authority and blood. Along the way, he shows why anthropology matters: not only because it helps us understand other cultures and points of view but also because, in the process, it reveals something about ourselves and our own cultures, too.

Second Edition

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Author: Robert J. Muckle

Publisher: University of Toronto Press

ISBN: 1442607858

Category: Social Science

Page: 304

View: 2156

The second edition highlights recent developments in the field and includes a new chapter on archaeology beyond mainstream academia. It also integrates more examples from popular culture, including mummies, tattoos, pirates, and global warming.

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Author: Merrill Singer

Publisher: Left Coast Press

ISBN: 1629580449

Category: Medical

Page: 320

View: 2364

This book synthesizes the flourishing field of anthropology of infectious disease in a critical, biocultural framework, advancing research in this multifaceted area and offering an ideal supplemental text.

Menstruation and the Origins of Culture

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Author: Chris Knight

Publisher: Yale University Press

ISBN: 030018655X

Category: Health & Fitness

Page: 592

View: 4810

The emergence of symbolic culture is generally linked with the development of the hunger-gatherer adaptation based on a sexual division of labor. This original and ingenious book presents a new theory of how this symbolic domain originated. Integrating perspectives of evolutionary biography and social anthropology within a Marxist framework, Chris Knight rejects the common assumption that human culture was a modified extension of primate behavior and argues instead that it was the product of an immense social, sexual, and political revolution initiated by women. Culture became established, says Knight, when evolving human females began to assert collective control over their own sexuality, refusing sex to all males except those who came to them with provisions. Women usually timed their ban on sexual relations with their periods of infertility while they were menstruating, and to the extent that their solidarity drew women together, these periods tended to occur in synchrony. The result was that every month with the onset of menstruation, sexual relations were ruptured in a collective, ritualistic way as the prelude to each successful hunting expedition. This ritual act was the means through which women motivated men not only to hunt but also to concentrate energies on bringing back the meat. Knight shows how this hypothesis sheds light on the roots of such cultural traditions as totemic rituals, incest and menstrual taboos, blood-sacrifice, and hunters’ atonement rites. Providing detailed ethnographic documentation, he also explains how Native American, Australian Aboriginal, and other magico-religious myths can be read as derivatives of the same symbolic logic.

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Author: James Peoples,Garrick Bailey

Publisher: Cengage Learning

ISBN: 1337515809

Category: Social Science

Page: 480

View: 3013

HUMANITY: AN INTRODUCTION TO CULTURAL ANTHROPOLOGY, Eleventh Edition, offers a solid framework centered on globalization and culture change. The text's engaging narrative provides new ways of looking at many of the challenges facing the world in this century, as students examine ethnic conflicts, globalization of culture and language, recent debates about gay marriage, increasing inequalities, population growth, hunger, and the survival of indigenous cultures. Throughout this highly acclaimed work, Peoples and Bailey explore the diversity of humanity and clearly demonstrate why an appreciation and tolerance of cultural differences is critical today. Important Notice: Media content referenced within the product description or the product text may not be available in the ebook version.

The Evolution of Ideas (and Ourselves)

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Author: Jonnie Hughes

Publisher: Simon and Schuster

ISBN: 1439110247

Category: Science

Page: 320

View: 8944

We humans pride ourselves on our capacity to have ideas, but perhaps this pride is misplaced. Perhaps ideas have us. After all, ideas do appear to have a life of their own. Many biologists have already come to the opinion that our genes are selfish entities, tricking us into helping them to reproduce. Is it the same with our ideas? Jonnie Hughes, a science writer and documentary filmmaker, investigates the evolution of ideas in order to find out. Adopting the role of a cultural Charles Darwin, Hughes heads off, with his brother in tow, across the Midwest to observe firsthand the natural history of ideas--the patterns of their variation, inheritance, and selection in the cultural landscape. In place of Darwin's oceanic islands, Hughes visits the "mind islands" of Native American tribes. Instead of finches, Hughes searches for signs of natural selection among the tepees.--From publisher description.

The Secret Lives of Hair

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Author: Emma Tarlo

Publisher: ONEWorld Publications

ISBN: 9781786071613

Category: Health & Fitness

Page: 416

View: 7807

Hair - we all have it, but have you ever really thought about it?

Evolutionary and Life History

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Author: Richard G. BRIBIESCAS

Publisher: Harvard University Press

ISBN: 0674028783

Category: Social Science

Page: 320

View: 8891

Males account for roughly 50 percent of the global population, but in America and other places, they account for over 85 percent of violent crime. A graph of relative risk of death in human males shows that mortality is high immediately following birth, falls during childhood, then exhibits a distinct rise between the ages of 15 and 35--primarily the result of accidents, violence, and risky behaviors. Why? What compels males to drive fast, act violently, and behave stupidly? Why are men's lives so different from those of women? Men presents a new approach to understanding the human male by drawing upon life history and evolutionary theory. Because life history theory focuses on the timing of, and energetic investment in, particular aspects of physiology, such as growth and reproduction, Richard Bribiescas and his fellow anthropologists are now using it in the study of humans. This has led to an increased understanding of human female physiology--especially growth and reproduction--from an evolutionary and life history perspective. However, little attention has been directed toward these characteristics in males. Men provides a new understanding of human male physiology and applies it to contemporary health issues such as prostate cancer, testosterone replacement therapy, and the development of a male contraceptive. Men proves that understanding human physiology requires global research in traditionally overlooked areas and that evolutionary and life history theory have much to offer toward this endeavor.

The Search for Our Human Origins

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Author: Ian Tattersall

Publisher: Macmillan

ISBN: 023010875X

Category: Science

Page: 266

View: 3690

An award-winning Museum of Natural History curator and author of Becoming Human traces the evolution of homo sapiens to demonstrate how they prevailed among other early humans because of their unique cognitive ability, in an account that also explains how their superior mental abilities were acquired. 40,000 first printing.

Human Adaptation and Space Colonization

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Author: Cameron Smith,Evan T. Davies

Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media

ISBN: 1461411653

Category: Science

Page: 290

View: 9184

Emigrating Beyond Earth puts space colonization into the context of human evolution. Rather than focusing on the technologies and strategies needed to colonize space, the authors examine the human and societal reasons for space colonization. They make space colonization seems like a natural step by demonstrating that if will continue the human species' 4 million-year-old legacy of adaptation to difficult new environments. The authors present many examples from the history of human expansion into new environments, including two amazing tales of human colonization - the prehistoric settlement of the upper Arctic around 5,000 years ago and the colonization of the Pacific islands around 3,000 years ago - which show that space exploration is no more about rockets and robots that Arctic exploration was about boating!

Harsh Light, Soft Focus

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Author: James L. Peacock

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

ISBN: 9780521004596

Category: Social Science

Page: 156

View: 2076

A revised version covers new topics and reflects recent changes in perspective and language.

Busting Myths about Human Nature

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Author: Agustín Fuentes

Publisher: Univ of California Press

ISBN: 0520285999

Category: Science

Page: 304

View: 7662

There are three major myths of human nature: humans are divided into biological races; humans are naturally aggressive; and men and women are truly different in behavior, desires, and wiring. In an engaging and wide-ranging narrative, Agustín Fuentes counters these pervasive and pernicious myths about human behavior. Tackling misconceptions about what race, aggression, and sex really mean for humans, Fuentes incorporates an accessible understanding of culture, genetics, and evolution, requiring us to dispose of notions of “nature or nurture.” Presenting scientific evidence from diverse fields—including anthropology, biology, and psychology—Fuentes devises a myth-busting toolkit to dismantle persistent fallacies about the validity of biological races, the innateness of aggression and violence, and the nature of monogamy and differences between the sexes. A final chapter plus an appendix provide a set of take-home points on how readers can myth-bust on their own. Accessible, compelling, and original, this book is a rich and nuanced account of how nature, culture, experience, and choice interact to influence human behavior.

Anthropological Perspectives

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Author: Amit Desai,Evan Killick

Publisher: Berghahn Books

ISBN: 1845458508

Category: Social Science

Page: 228

View: 4101

Friendship is an essential part of human experience, involving ideas of love and morality as well as material and pragmatic concerns. Making and having friends is a central aspect of everyday life in all human societies. Yet friendship is often considered of secondary significance in comparison to domains such as kinship, economics and politics. How important are friends in different cultural contexts? What would a study of society viewed through the lens of friendship look like? Does friendship affect the shape of society as much as society moulds friendship? Drawing on long-term ethnographic fieldwork in Asia, the Middle East, Africa, Latin America and Europe, this volume offers answers to these questions and examines the ideology and practice of friendship as it is embedded in wider social contexts and transformations.

Evolution of Brain, Cognition, and General Intelligence

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Author: David C. Geary

Publisher: Amer Psychological Assn

ISBN: 9781591471813

Category: Medical

Page: 459

View: 2104

"Geary also explores a number of issues that are of interest in modern society, including how general intelligence relates to academic achievement, occupational status, and income."--BOOK JACKET.

Cultural and Biocultural Perspectives

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Author: Alexandra A. Brewis

Publisher: Rutgers University Press

ISBN: 9780813548906

Category: Medical

Page: 209

View: 7139

In a world now filled with more people who are overweight than underweight, public health and medical perspectives paint obesity as a catastrophic epidemic that threatens to overwhelm health systems and undermine life expectancies globally. In many societies, being obese also creates profound personal suffering because it is so culturally stigmatized. Yet despite loud messages about the health and social costs of being obese, weight gain is a seemingly universal aspect of the modern human condition. Grounded in a holistic anthropological approach and using a range of ethnographic and ecological case studies, Obesity shows that the human tendency to become and stay fat makes perfect sense in terms of evolved human inclinations and the physical and social realities of modern life. Drawing on her own fieldwork in the rural United States, Mexico, and the Pacific Islands over the last two decades, Alexandra A. Brewis addresses such critical questions as why obesity is defined as a problem and why some groups are so much more at risk than others. She suggests innovative ways that anthropology and other social sciences can use community-based research to address the serious public health and social justice concerns provoked by the global spread of obesity.

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Author: Brian Boyd

Publisher: Harvard University Press

ISBN: 0674053591

Category: Literary Criticism

Page: 560

View: 1544

Brian Boyd explains why we tell stories and how our minds are shaped to understand them. After considering art as adaptation, Boyd examines Homer's Odyssey and Dr. Seuss's Horton Hears a Who! demonstrating how an evolutionary lens can offer new understanding and appreciation of specific works. Published for the bicentenary of Darwin's birth and the 150th anniversary of the publication of Origin of Species, Boyd's study embraces a Darwinian view of human nature and art, and offers a credo for a new humanism.

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Author: Luke E. Lassiter

Publisher: Rowman Altamira

ISBN: 9780759111530

Category: Social Science

Page: 235

View: 4830

Lassiter's accessible introduction to anthropology encourages students to evaluate its relevance in our increasingly complex world. Part I focuses on the underlying assumptions and concepts that have driven anthropological theory and practice since its modern inception. Part II explores cross-cultural human issues showing how anthropological studies offer relevant insight into human beings and valuable models for thinking and acting. Invitation to Anthropology is an ideal text for undergraduate students, easily supplemented with case studies in anthropology.