Applying Anthropology: An Introductory Reader

Podolefsky, Brown, and Lacy, editors

Overview and integrating with Living Anthropologically:
Sections 1.1-1.7 on Human Nature and Race

Buy on Amazon, Applying Anthropology: An Introductory Reader

To my knowledge there is no other single introductory reader attempting to deliver this much coverage. Still, some of the selections are very dated, and some selections from previous editions were better than the current offerings. I have yet to find an acceptable alternative for a four-fields introductory course, so I continue to use this anthology.

1.1 Human Nature and Anthropology

a) Horace Miner, “Body Ritual among the Nacirema”

Like thousands of anthropology professors in a time-honored tradition, I begin the course with the Nacirema article as a way of talking about anthropology as an investigation into human sameness or universals, and differences or particularities, emphasizing that those things which make us the same are also the things we see as most different. I introduce the idea from Renato Rosaldo’s Culture & Truth that Miner’s article could also be seen as a critique of ethnographic writing, a warning to be careful about over-generalizing and locking people into timeless descriptions. I also emphasize how Miner overlooks power differentials in ethnocentrisms–for more on this, see Micaela di Leonardo’s sections on Miner in Exotics at Home.

For a PowerPoint presentation on “Body Ritual among the Nacirema,” click here–

b) Bruce Bower, “Slumber’s Unexplored Landscape”
Bower’s article can make the Geertz point of beginning life with the same natural equipment but ending with deep cultural and historical patterns. Bower can also be pushed toward talking about how patterns become biological. Bower makes it sound like an anthropology of sleep is about to open into an exciting new field, but I have not seen much follow-up work, and when students have tried to do additional research, the references seem thin.

For a PowerPoint presentation on
“Slumber’s Unexplored Landscape,” click here–

c) Laura Bohannan, “Shakespeare in the Bush”

Bohannan’s article can also make the point about universals but with deep cultural particularities. Bohannan’s article remains useful, especially for students who have just finished reading Hamlet for high school. The article should be retitled, and it can reinforce a problematic us-versus-them divide. See the interesting reflections by Kerim Friedman at Savage Minds on how different audiences within the Tiv might have reacted to Bohannan’s retelling.

For a PowerPoint on “Shakespeare in the Bush,” click here–

1.2 Evolution and natural selection, anthropologically

a) Robert Root-Bernstein and Donald L. McEachron, “Teaching Theories: The Evolution-Creation Controversy”
b) Benjamin Z. Freed, “Re-reading Root-Bernstein and McEachron in Cobb County, Georgia”

I use these articles to introduce evolutionary theory. Although they have some good points, they have serious drawbacks. Root-Bernstein and McEachron present a too-simplistic and glorified view of science. They write of natural selection as if it produces absolute fitness, not mentioning how fitness is only within a specific environment. Their examples of “useful knowledge” from evolutionary theory seem mostly to be about pests evolving pesticide resistance! Also, they resolve the evolution-creation dilemma far too neatly, as simply a question of separating each sphere. They may end with a call for science to be “humbly aware” (p.14), but the tone of the article is not humble. Freed’s “Re-reading” seems to basically validate what Root-Bernstein and McEachron said and does not deal enough with the specifics of Intelligent Design.

1.3 Racism and biological anthropology

Charles E. Orser Jr., “The Challenge of Race to American Historical Archaeology”

Oddly, the only article in Applying Anthropology to discuss race as economic-political inequality is by an archaeologist. It is also one of the most difficult articles in the anthology, and so I usually save it for later in the course. Still, it comes closest to discussing structural racism.

1.4 Human skulls: Boas head shape studies revalidated

Meredith F. Small, “Our Babies, Ourselves”

I use Small’s article to stress how babies are “neurologically unfinished” (p.191) and how the finishing occurs within a particular social environment. However, this point can easily get lost in the rest of the article which students often read as endorsing all different kinds of childcare practices. The article does not address how some practices might be less about culture and more about poverty and necessity: certainly leaving children in the care of young siblings may be a “cultural” difference, but it may also be a response to less-than-ideal circumstances.

For a PowerPoint on “Our Babies, Courselves” click here–

1.5 Race revival

Jared Diamond, “Race Without Color”

Diamond’s article is a great example of traditional race debunking. Diamond writes assuredly that science has discovered the truth, as certain as the earth orbiting the sun, but it will take time and education before those truths are accepted. And who better than Diamond to do the educating (see the blog-post and comment stream for Mismeasuring Gould). However, despite Diamond’s formidable reputation for clarity, the message can be confusing, and the title leads some to believe Diamond is really talking about ways to categorize race without using skin color. Diamond’s article can now also be used to illustrate a traditional race debunking consensus which is in jeopardy–see Is Race “Real”?

For a PowerPoint presentation on “Race without Color” click here–

1.6 “Race Reconciled” re-debunks race

Unfortunately nothing useful in Applying Anthropology to confront the race revival. Dick Gould, “Identifying Victims After a Disaster” has interesting material on forensic anthropology, but does not discuss the intricacies of forensic identification.

1.7 Race becomes biology

a) Sarah Blaffer Hrdy, “Mothers and Others”
b) Peter J. Brown, “Culture and the Evolution of Obesity”

Neither of these articles are perfectly matched, but both can be used to make the point of how culture and biology are intertwined, as well as how what is adaptive under particular circumstances can be maladaptive in others.

Next: Applying Anthropology on Human Evolution and Primatology