Haviland, Essence of Anthropology - use with Living Anthropologically

Next: Haviland Essence of Anthropology on Human Evolution and Primatology

Haviland, Essence of Anthropology

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

Buy on Amazon, Haviland Essence of Anthropology

This condensed version of the Haviland textbook has most of the necessary points of the traditional product, but clocks in at half the length. This offers the possibility for professors to assign the shorter Haviland Essence of Anthropology but then use the traditional product as a back text for more detail. However, the longer and ©2011 textbook has some strengths that do not show up in the shorter ©2010 Essence.

Unfortunately it is quite expensive, about $100 for a print version and $80 for the Kindle Edition, versus about $115 for the traditional print and $100 for the traditional Kindle Edition. I would like to recommend this as providing a good conceptual fit for Living Anthropologically, but the high price defeats the purpose of being able to assign additional readings and materials to accompany the textbook.

The review below should be read in conjunction with the review of Haviland, Anthropology, the longer textbook. As in the review of the longer textbook, there are negative comments on Amazon claiming the authors are full of liberal bias. I take such comments with lots of salt, but I do worry there is something about the Haviland et al. textbooks which makes them seem like they are liberals masquerading as objective, when it could be better to simply announce positioning from the start (see the blog-post Anthropology, Ambushed). Other textbooks do not get the same kinds of vitriol, at least on Amazon comments.

1.1 Human Nature and Anthropology

Corresponds to Chapter 1, “The Essence of Anthropology,” although unfortunately the Geertz quote and reference to the Anti-anti-relativism lecture drops out. Haviland Essence of Anthropology emphasizes holism and that “humans have one leg in culture and the other in nature” (p.26). The textbook stresses a biocultural approach, including many boxed features with “Biocultural Connections.” Discusses genes, but does not really address issues of genetic determinism. Haviland Essence of Anthropology discusses infant development mostly in relationship to co-sleeping and SIDS (pp.4-5 and pp.184-185), but does state “stimulation plays a key role in the ‘hard wiring’ of the brain–it is necessary for development of the neural circuitry” (p.185), with hints that this neural circuitry could develop differently under different environmental conditions (curiously, the quotes around “hard wiring” disappear in the ©2011 traditional product). They do not discuss how fetal environment influences growth, except for a brief mention in the negative sense of PCB exposure (p.332), one less mention than the traditional product. Haviland Essence of Anthropology generally argues against biological and genetic determinisms, but sometimes puts this more in the boxes than the headlines; the authors include two selections from Jonathan Marks, “Ninety-Eight Percent Alike” (pp.38-39) and “A Feckless Quest for the Basketball Gene” (pp.138-139).

1.2 Evolution and natural selection, anthropologically

The condensed version omits statements on the “nondirectedness of macroevolution” that occur in the longer textbook. Haviland Essence of Anthropology does not discuss later evolutionary ideas such as niche construction.

1.3 Racism and biological anthropology

For Chapter 7 on “Race and Racism,” Haviland Essence of Anthropology speaks mostly of European scholarly race classifications, with a colonial context assuming a secondary role (pp.132-3). This is not directly brought into the present until much later in a very short section on racial segregation, with mention made of income and wealth disparities in the United States (pp.264-6). This could be given greater emphasis and better linked to the earlier discussion.

1.4 Human skulls: Boas head shape studies revalidated

Although Haviland Essence of Anthropology has extensive discussions of skulls and the cranium in relationship to human evolution, do not have references to present skull shape or craniometrics. Talk about Boas as fighting against racism, but present the Boas immigrant studies in terms of increased height in the United States (p.7; p.133; recall that Boas actually found Sicilian immigrants to be stunted in their new environment!)

1.5 Race revival

The authors talk about The Bell Curve but it is an undated discussion, not in the context of race revival (p.138). No mention of “A Family Tree in Every Gene” (Leroi 2005), genetic ancestry testing, or race-based medicine–see Is Race “Real”?

1.6 “Race Reconciled” re-debunks race

Chapter 7 “Modern Human Diversity: Race and Racism” is the debunking of traditional race typologies. The authors basically use the logic of clines and Lewontin. In earlier discussion of forensic anthropology, state that “while forensics relies upon differing frequencies of certain skeletal characteristics to establish population affiliation, it is nevertheless false to say that all people from a given population have a particular type of skeleton” (p.8). However, they never elaborate or explain this point. They do not discuss craniometrics.

1.7 Race becomes biology

Haviland Essence of Anthropology discusses how cultural factors like diet as well as environment affects biology (pp.142-143). Curiously, this condensed version comes closer than the traditional textbook to closing the loop on how race as a culture category could become biology, noting health consequences for the poor and people of color (p.144). Still, Haviland Essence of Anthropology mainly concentrates on The Bell Curve and debunking IQ tests as measuring intelligence, cultural bias, and socioeconomic bias, talking briefly about how environment can shape physical aspects like height (p.139).

Next: Haviland Essence of Anthropology on Human Evolution and Primatology