Jared Diamond

Jared Diamond is not an anthropologist or an archaeologist. Nevertheless, Diamond rose to fame as a popularizer of anthropology and archaeology. But for Living Anthropologically it is important to realize how Diamond promotes misguided ideas.

Pages on Jared Diamond

There are two critical pages on Jared Diamond located in the Archaeology section. Worst Mistake in the History of the Human Race examines the still-trendy 1987 article that in many ways launched Diamond as a popularizing science writer. Guns Germs and Steel: Against History takes up Diamond’s most influential book. I contend that Guns, Germs, and Steel displaced the much better and stronger account offered by Eric Wolf in Europe and the People Without History.

Also watch my interview on Diamond with Cosmoetica (posted 9 July 2017).

Teaching Jared Diamond

We need to be very careful when using Diamond’s work in the classroom. I still find it useful to assign the “Worst Mistake in the History of the Human Race.” See Domestication for class notes in Introduction to Anthropology. I will also attempt to fill in class notes for the page on Domesticating.

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