Culture, Culture, Everywhere
With anthropologists saying many things about culture, is it any wonder the students and the public are confused?
genetics
Epigenetics & Human Nature
Could epigenetics finally re-write the script about human nature? Maybe, but first we have to go over The Edge’s promotional tribute to Napoleon Chagnon.
Testosterone Anthropology
Sarah Blaffer Hrdy’s intriguing ideas on testosterone changes in “Mothers and Others” is answered by longitudinal anthropology on fatherhood testosterone.
Living with Darwin & Evolution-Creation Controversy
“Teaching Theories: The Evolution-Creation Controversy” (1982) has long been part of the Applying Anthropology reader. Time for a Living with Darwin update?
Busting Myths
“Race, Monogamy, and Other Lies They Told You” launched Agustin Fuentes into a public defense of anthropology’s relevance.
Science, Media, Anthropology
Denisovans! Exciting findings, cutting-edge genetic sequencing technologies, and scientists tone-deaf to a modern world built on colonialism and racism.
(on Race/IQ)
In 2012. Ron Unz put my reading of Race/IQ in “The American Conservative,” asking if it is “Game Over” for Race IQ. It should have been–but it never is.
Race IQ – Game Over: It was always all about wealth
The publication of “Race, IQ, and Wealth” by Ron Unz effectively is game over for Race IQ peddlers–it was always about wealth & inequality.
Jared Diamond won’t beat Mitt Romney
The really scary part of the Diamond Romney dustup is how Romney recaps Diamond: European imperialism is accidental but societies choose to fail.
Darwin in Mind–The End
“Darwin in Mind: New Opportunities for Evolutionary Psychology” (2011) marked the end of evolutionary psychology as foil for anthropology.
Teaching Race
Updated sources for teaching race anthropologically. Race is a social construction, but we need to understand that racism is what makes race salient.
DNA Battles
Research on earliest Americans reveals multiple migrations and complexity. But Nicholas Wade botches the coverage–and the anthropology.
Dawkins versus Wilson: The Descent of Science
A Call for Blog Posts (CFBP) for an anthropological analysis of Richard Dawkins versus Edward Wilson on Social Conquest of the Earth.
Sex, Gender, Sexuality
Anthropology insists sex, gender, and sexuality include human activity and imagination–explaining why “gender is a social construction”
Traditional Race Ideas
Anthropology has debunked traditional race ideas that humans come as 3-5 genetic types. But backlash & misunderstandings around social construction persist.
Race & Genetics
On race and genetics, even popular genetics bloggers acknowledge race is a social construction, something anthropologists have known for a century.
Seizing the Holistic Moment
The innuendo on race and IQ is an opportunity to revisit anthropology on race and seize holistic understandings to reclaim this issue for anthropology.
Metaphors & Evolution
How can we stop trellises from turning into trees? Emphasizing non-directionality and complexity in evolutionary understandings.
Capitalism, Denisovans, Anthropology in Media
Free PowerPoint for “Anthropology and Moral Optimism”; Denisovan admixture update; AAA news and the 2011 Anthropology in Media Award.
Admixture All the Way Down
Despite Nicholas Wade’s emphasis on splits among human groups, the research is clear that it’s admixture all the way down. Plus some Malinowski!
Mismeasuring Gould
“The Mismeasure of Science” reassessed Gould’s “Mismeasure of Man.” In a climate of race resurgence and attacking anthropology, this was a horrible idea.
Anthropology 101 in 2011
This post on Anthropology 101 in 2011 was a call to action for introductory courses to address the big themes of Human Nature, Race, & Evolution.