Coming into this semester, my expectations for this class were non-existent. Sadly enough, I lacked understanding of a baseline definition of anthropology, so it seemed impossible for me to formulate speculations as to what the course would comprise. With that said, I couldn’t have been happier with the direction in which I chose to proceed in taking this class. Interestingly enough, the human evolution portion of the class aided me in sucking up to my structural biology professors by answering their question about the species name of a distant relative from Siberia, the Denisovans. Overall, this course has opened my eyes to the species we call our ancestors, the different complex societies that have arisen from the Stonehenge people of England …show more content…
As mentioned before, I went on a spring break getaway to Chicago and visited the Field Museum of Natural History. During my time there, I was fortunate enough to see some of these skeletal remains. It was this in-person experience that allowed me to appreciate the beauty behind these beings and the history of these species that the glass boxes encapsulated. Normally, memorizing information becomes a drag; however, I enjoyed learning all the details of what made these species unique. In addition, it was interesting to read the different theories about what could have happened to some of these species. For example, I’ve found a good amount of pleasure in condemning Danny Vendramini’s theory of Neanderthal predation. Albeit the knowledge behind the theory makes sense to a commoner not trained in the biological sciences, the truth of the matter is, the proposed hypothesis violates all the fundamental principles biology, microbiology, ecology, and zoology majors are taught from the beginning of their education, as eluded to in my controversy paper. It was neat to see the different advantageous characteristics the species developed …show more content…
Formally, this process is called natural selection. As we have seen, societies like Mesa Verde and Juana Cava were unable to be salvaged to due environmental changes that ended up being detrimental. Aside from freak instances of nature, humanity has evolved out of this make-do principle, in which each proceeding generation has a higher likelihood of advancing technologically and in complexity, albeit this has not been a uniform trend. Ultimately, without differential reproduction and survival rates, organisms (and even societies) are complacent to no fault of their own. There’s not a single organism in existence (except humans of course) that wish for adaptations to improve daily functions. Those most fit to survive do just that- survive. Diving into this differential, for example, Neanderthal extinction or full integration has been debated by anthropologists for some time now. When they came into contact with Homo sapiens, some scientists propose they were drove to extinction by Homo sapiens hunting them down, while others propose it was the
Allen, John S., and Susan C. Anton. "Chapter 13 The Emergence, Dispersal, and Bioarchaeology of H. sapiens." Pearson Custom Anthropology. By Craig Stanford. Boston: Pearson Learning Solutions, 2013. 200+. Print.
Three incomplete skulls of Homo sapiens were discovered in 1997. Bruce Bower’s article “African Legacy: Fossils plug gap in human origins” discusses the fossils. These findings are important because according to the discoverers, they are the oldest known fossils of modern people. The skulls were found in Herto, Ethiopian located in eastern Africa. The fossils are dated between 154,000 and 160,000 years ago.i[1] The fossils were dated radioisotopically.ii[2] Since the fossils are the oldest known fossils of modern people, it is probable that these hominids represent the immediate ancestors of humans that are anatomically modern. Tim D. White’s (et al) article “Pleistocene Homo sapiens from Middle Awash, Ethiopia” describes the discovery of the Herto fossils and the research of the artifacts in great detail.
Robbins Burling, David F. Armstrong, Ben G. Blount, Catherine A. Callaghan, Mary Lecron Foster, Barbara J. King, Sue Taylor Parker, Osamu Sakura, William C. Stokoe, Ron Wallace, Joel Wallman, A. Whiten, Sherman Wilcox and Thomas Wynn. Current Anthropology, Vol. 34, No. 1 (Feb., 1993), pp. 25-53
In recent years, the Homo Neanderthalensis were viewed as “subhuman brutes”, but are now seen as a different species from our own (Balter 2001). The Neanderthals were a branch of the Homo genus that evolved in Eurasia at least 200,000 years ago (Fagan 2010). The first Neand...
Joseph-Marie Degerando was a revolutionary, French philosopher who transcribed one of the original guidelines for the study of anthropology in the year 1800 titled, I: Societe des Observateurs de l’Homme in French, and translated into English as, The Observations of Savage Peoples. According to the author of the introduction and translator of his work into English, F. C. T. Moore, Degerando’s guidelines were a “capital work of anthropology” (Moore, U of CA Press. p. 2). Whether Degerando provided the most accurate guidelines for the study of humans is argued; however, his work was certainly influential as it served as a foundation for the science of anthropology. In fact, Moore declares there are consistent similarities between the anthropological recommendations of Degerando and those practiced by modern day anthropologists (Moore, U of CA Press. p. 4-5).
The lecture provided by Professor Elias Kary on the nineteenth of November merely was a recapitulation and overview of the previous lecture, plus a summarization of the past few weeks of class lecture/material. There was an overview of Applied Anthropology and how “anthropologists have a practical place in solving problems.” (Kary 2015) There was an overview of colonialism; the Maori and Moriori of New Zealand; and the history of anthropology itself. There was a foray into the work of Charles Mann and revisionist history, particularly from the point of view of his book 1491. World systems were discussed at some length and a short overview of the film from previous class session. Then the professor went into the structure and what the class needed to provide for the final paper the next week; class then concluded early on account of the large paper due.
Natural selection is a process that eliminates the weak so that only the strong survive. According to Francis Galton, “What nature does blindly, slowly, and ruthlessly, man may do providently, quickly, and kindly.” Why wait for something that is bound to happen, when man can speed up natural selection by getting rid of of the weak so that only the strong survive creating a solitary race resulting in the reproduction of exceptional offspring. On top of the strong and weak social classes, society has
For the first two weeks of my class, I had no idea where I was headed in terms of my learning experience but I soon found out. During the first week we had to define “indigenous identity” which by the way was a foreign language to me. After I determined the meaning of it (because there were so many choices) I settled on the meaning “that what connects a person or people by their culture, race, beliefs and way of life”. I never considered or included myself a part of that definition because I thought it only pertained to people of other nations or countries. Eventually my thoughts and understanding changed. As I stated before my reading “Thinking Like an Anthropologist” Chapter Five, “What was This Practice or Idea Like in the past - The Temporal Question (2008, Omohundro, J.T. ), will be an excellent and informative guide for my research (in which it was). Also having to use Syncretism as a tool allowed me the opportunity to not only research the past but present rituals, beliefs, etc. of African Americans and how much they have changed over the years. Looking through this research as a critic allowed me to broaden my horizons not only about my culture but other cultures that are included in this identity. We were first introduced to two articles: The “Gebusi” and “Body Ritual of the Nacerima”. And I thought their rituals and beliefs were somewhat extreme, but then I realized if they looked at our society and our practices, they could consider the same thing about us. Having said that I decided that as an African-American woman, I was prepared to take that journey into the unknown, to investigate my culture, our accomplishments, and therefore have the ability to share my findings and observations with others. Week after week we w...
As a second language learner I have never expected myself to be a perfect writer throughout the semester. Even If English was my first language still, I would not be a perfect writer. It is not about first or second language, it is about how well I understand the learning objectives. Then organizing and writing with my own ideas and putting them in my paper. I am going to be honest, I am not good at English subject and English subject is my strongest weakness than the other subjects. In this paper I will discuss and analyze my own writing, reflecting on the ways that my writing has improved throughout the semester.
Sauer, Norman J. "Applied Anthropology and the Concept of Race: A Legacy of Linnaeus" Race, Ethnicity, and Applied Bioanthropology. Ed. Claire C. Gordon. Arlington, VA: National Association for the Practice of Anthropology 1993.
According to Darwin and his theory on evolution, organisms are presented with nature’s challenge of environmental change. Those that possess the characteristics of adapting to such challenges are successful in leaving their genes behind and ensuring that their lineage will continue. It is natural selection, where nature can perform tiny to mass sporadic experiments on its organisms, and the results can be interesting from extinction to significant changes within a species. Human beings are no exception to biological evolution. Like other organisms around the world, humans have significantly changed over time and have developed all sorts of diverse characteristics.
Ember, Carol R., Melvin Ember, and Peter N. Peregrine. Anthropology. Thirteenth ed. Boston, MA: Prentice Hall, 2011. Print.
Park, M.A. (2008). Introducing anthropology: An integrated approach, with PowerWeb, 4th Edition. New York: McGraw-Hill. ISBN 978–0-07-340525-4
Boas, F. (1930). Anthropology. In, Seligman, E. R. A. ed., Encyclopaedia of Social Sciences. Macmillan: New York.
Cultural anthropology has taught me a lot in such a short time. This class has been very eye opening to me and has made me think more about the different cultures around me and just how important it is to learn about them. One of the things I have learned is how religion is related to culture. Culture is behaviors of a community such as the food they make, the music they listen to, and the rituals they take part in. This can be very similar to religion because a culture is based off of their religious beliefs. Some cultures do not eat pig because it is against their religious beliefs. Some cultures listen to particular songs because it is based off of their religious beliefs. Another thing cultures relate closely to is languages. Without language