Living Anthropologically
The moral optimism of anthropology can change the world
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Miller, Anthropology
Overview and integrating with Living Anthropologically:
Sections 1.1-1.7 on Human Nature and Race
Buy on Amazon: Miller Anthropology
Miller’s second edition of a 4-fields textbook Anthropology is curious in several ways. Miller began as an author of cultural anthropology textbooks, and I remember inheriting her textbook when I first taught an intro-to-cultural-anthro course in 2001. Although I never used it again, I did review revisions for the next edition (I even still get to appear in the long list of acknowledgements for the current textbook). Miller than morphed into a 4-fields author. Miller has a shorter tradition of 4-fields textbooks than all the others, with the possible exception of Lavenda & Schultz.
On the cover this is a single-authored text, but inside there are contributions from three co-authors, who were apparently all with Miller for a time at George Washington University. Within the textbook, statements are often prefaced by phrasings like “the authors think…”
Miller is the only textbook author who runs an independent anthropology blog, anthropologyworks, and is the only one who is in touch with anthropology blogging community. Her blog is active, although the entries do not receive a lot of comments.
Just like in 2001, I find Miller uneven. The material can be very good and cite interesting sources. However, many of the sources get undeveloped, mentioned but without elaboration. Sometimes investigating a source (see Eswaran below) leads to the discovery that it has been misrepresented in the textbook. As a professor, this then becomes an unreliable resource, as I never know what I may have to explain in class.
1.1 Human Nature and Anthropology
Corresponds basically to chapter 1, “Anthropology: The Study of Humanity” and some parts of chapter 2, “Culture and Diversity.” The short section on “European descriptions of ‘others’” (p.7) parallels the idea of the search for human nature, although Miller does not spell this out. Miller will later portray a series of debates, beginning with “biological determinism versus cultural constructionism” (p.54). “Although most cultural anthropologists are cultural constructionists, many connect biology and culture in their work” (p.54). I find the idea of a “versus” troubling, and the depiction of two opposed positions is not helpful. Miller then wants to portray anthropology as “beyond the debates: holists at heart” (p.55) but this short section does not really explain how to go beyond the debates. Miller uses the term “biocultural,” but does not emphasize this in the textbook (p.274). Miller’s account of genetics does not critique genetic determinism (p.73), although certainly does not endorse biological determinism. No discussion of maternal environment. Some sections on infants, but not so much a biocultural approach–more along the lines of how “the cultural context of birth affects an infant’s psychological development” (p.341)
1.2 Evolution and natural selection, anthropologically
Miller’s account of evolution is very straightforward and does not include larger theoretical issues and debates. Miller discusses anthropogenic, or “human-created changes in nature” (p.9), but does not link this to recent evolutionary ideas like niche construction.
1.3 Racism and biological anthropology
Miller scatters ideas and brief mentions of race inequality in the United States, but these are disconnected and do not add up to an assessment of structural racism.
Early in the book is a very brief reference to Andrew Hacker’s Two Nations
(1992) that is likely to be as off-putting as it is insightful. Later cites Thomas Shapiro, The Hidden Cost of Being African American
(2004) and mentions rising inequality, but this is mostly to set up a longer discussion of Elizabeth Chin’s Purchasing Power
(p.318). There is a later section on “‘Race’ and Racism” (pp.430-1) which spends time on the Caribbean, Latin America, South Africa, and Brazil, with a brief mention of the United States, that racist discrimination occurs even though it is against the law.
1.4 Human skulls: Boas head shape studies revalidated
Boas efforts to fight racism discussed on p.37 as well as a good summary of the immigrant studies (see also pp.430-1). No reference to contemporary craniometrics.
1.5 Race revival
Miller mentions The Bell Curve early in a discussion of biological anthropology (p.13), but does not connect to race revival. No mention of “A Family Tree in Every Gene” (Leroi 2005), genetic ancestry testing, or race-based medicine–see Is Race “Real”?–although does come close to these themes around p.276. However, quotes Weiss and Mann 1981
1.6 “Race Reconciled” re-debunks race
Chapter 10, “Contemporary Human Biological Diversity” is the race debunking. Miller spends most of the time with genetics, saying “genetic variation among the contemporary humans is unusually low” (p.275) and “that there was and is more human genetic variation within the people sampled from African populations than in the samples drawn from the rest of the world” (p.276). After that discussion, shifts to contemporary physical variation, explained as adaptations. Does not talk about craniometrics or forensic anthropology.
1.7 Race becomes biology
Does not close the loop on how race might become biology. This is odd because Miller approaches the question in the section on contemporary physical variation, discussing the challenges of urban life and poverty as biological issues, and drawing on Schell and Denham 2003, but does not connect that social race classifications could therefore have distinct biological consequences. Miller does not address issues of race and intelligence or IQ.
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