Anthropology What Does It Mean To Be Human 4th Edition by Lavenda PDF

anthropology
anthropology
what does it mean to be human?
FOURTH EDITION
Robert H. Lavenda
St. Cloud State University
Emily A. Schultz
St. Cloud State University
New York Oxford
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Lavenda, Robert H., author. | Schultz, Emily A. (Emily Ann), author.
Title: Anthropology : what does it mean to be human? / Robert H. Lavenda,
Emily A. Schultz.
Description: Fourth edition. | New York, NY : Oxford University Press, 2018.
| Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2017041794 | ISBN 9780190840686 (pbk. : alk. paper)
Subjects: LCSH: Anthropology.
Classification: LCC GN25 .L38 2018 | DDC 301—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2017041794
987654321
Printed by LSC Communications, United States of America
In memory of Beatrice G. Schultz,
Violet H. Lavenda, George Lavenda,
and Henry W. Schultz
Brief Contents
Boxes xxii
Preface xxiii
CHAPTER 1 What Is Anthropology? 3

MODULE 1: Anthropology, Science, and Storytelling 21
CHAPTER 2 Why Is Evolution Important to Anthropologists? 31
CHAPTER 3 What Can the Study of Primates Tell Us about Human Beings? 61
MODULE 2: Dating Methods in Paleoanthropology and Archaeology 82
CHAPTER 4 What Can the Fossil Record Tell Us about Human Origins? 95
CHAPTER 5 What Can Evolutionary Theory Tell Us about Human Variation? 143
CHAPTER 6 How Do We Know about the Human Past? 169
CHAPTER 7 Why Did Humans Settle Down, Build Cities, and Establish States? 201
CHAPTER 8 Why Is the Concept of Culture Important? 237

MODULE 3: On Ethnographic Methods 257
CHAPTER 9 Why Is Understanding Human Language Important? 273

MODULE 4: Components of Language 298
CHAPTER 10 How Do We Make Meaning? 303

CHAPTER 11 Why Do Anthropologists Study Economic Relations? 337
CHAPTER 12 How Do Anthropologists Study Political Relations? 363
CHAPTER 13 What Can Anthropology Teach Us about Sex, Gender, and Sexuality? 393
CHAPTER 14 Where Do Our Relatives Come from and Why Do They Matter? 421
CHAPTER 15 What Can Anthropology Tell Us about Social Inequality? 469
CHAPTER 16 How Is Anthropology Applied in the Field of Medicine? 503
Glossary 530
References 541
Credits 554
Index 559
vii
Contents
Boxes xxii
Preface xxiii
CHAPTER 1 What Is Anthropology? 3

What Is Anthropology? 5
What Is the Concept of Culture? 6
What Makes Anthropology a Cross-Disciplinary Discipline? 7
Biological Anthropology 8
IN THEIR OWN WORDS: Anthropology as a Vocation: Listening
to Voices 9
Cultural Anthropology 11
Linguistic Anthropology 14
Archaeology 14
Applied Anthropology 15
Medical Anthropology 16
The Uses of Anthropology 17
IN THEIR OWN WORDS: What Can You Learn from an
Anthropology Major? 18
CHAPTER SUMMARY 19
FOR REVIEW 19
KEY TERMS 20
SUGGESTED READINGS 20
MODULE 1: Anthropology, Science, and Storytelling 21
Scientific and Nonscientific Explanations 21

Some Key Scientific Concepts 23
MODULE SUMMARY 29
FOR REVIEW 29
KEY TERMS 29
CHAPTER 2 Why Is Evolution Important to Anthropologists? 31

What Is Evolutionary Theory? 32
What Material Evidence Is There for Evolution? 33
Pre-Darwinian Views of the Natural World 33
Essentialism 33
The Great Chain of Being 34
Catastrophism and Uniformitarianism 36
Transformational Evolution 36
viii
CONTENTS ix
What Is Natural Selection? 38

Population Thinking 39
Natural Selection in Action 40
How Did Biologists Learn about Genes? 41
Mendel’s Experiments 42
The Emergence of Genetics 43
What Are the Basics of Contemporary Genetics? 43
Genes and Traits 44
ANTHROPOLOGY in Everyday Life: Investigating Human-Rights

Violations and Identifying Remains 46
Mutation 48
DNA and the Genome 49
Genotype, Phenotype, and the Norm of Reaction 50
IN THEIR OWN WORDS: How Living Organisms Construct
Their Environments 54
What Does Evolution Mean? 55
CHAPTER SUMMARY 56
FOR REVIEW 57
KEY TERMS 58
CHAPTER 3 hat Can the Study of Primates Tell Us

W
about Human Beings? 61
What Are Primates? 62
How Do Biologists Classify Primates? 62
How Many Categories of Living Primates Are There? 64
Strepsirrhines 64
Haplorhines 65
IN THEIR OWN WORDS: The Future of Primate Biodiversity 70
What Is Ethnoprimatology? 72
IN THEIR OWN WORDS: Chimpanzee Tourism 74
Are There Patterns in Primate Evolution? 74

How Do Paleoanthropologists Reconstruct Primate
Evolutionary History? 76
Primates of the Paleocene 76
Primates of the Eocene 77
Primates of the Oligocene 77
Primates of the Miocene 78
CHAPTER SUMMARY 79
FOR REVIEW 80
KEY TERMS 80
x CONTENTS
MODULE 2: Dating Methods in Paleoanthropology and Archaeology 82
Relative Dating Methods 82

Numerical (or Absolute) Dating Methods 85
Modeling Prehistoric Climates 91
MODULE SUMMARY 91
FOR REVIEW 93
KEY TERMS 93
CHAPTER 4 hat Can the Fossil Record Tell Us

W
about Human Origins? 95
What Is Macroevolution? 96
What Is Hominin Evolution? 98
Who Were the First Hominins (6–3 mya)? 99
The Origin of Bipedalism 99
IN THEIR OWN WORDS: Finding Fossils 103

Changes in Hominin Dentition 104
Who Were the Later Australopiths (3–1.5 mya)? 105
How Many Species of Australopith Were There? 106
How Can Anthropologists Explain the Human Transition? 108
What Do We Know about Early Homo (2.4–1.5 mya)? 108
Expansion of the Australopith Brain 108
How Many Species of Early Homo Were There? 109
Earliest Evidence of Culture: Stone Tools 110
Who Was Homo erectus (1.8–1.7 mya to 0.5–0.4 mya)? 112
Morphological Traits of H. erectus 113
The Culture of H. erectus 114
H. erectus the Hunter? 115
What Happened to H. erectus? 116
How Did Homo sapiens Evolve? 117
What Is the Fossil Evidence for the Transition to Modern
H. sapiens? 117
Where Did Modern H. sapiens Come from? 118
Who Were the Neandertals (130,000–35,000 Years Ago)? 119
What Do We Know about Middle Paleolithic/Middle Stone
Age Culture? 121
IN THEIR OWN WORDS: Bad Hair Days in the Paleolithic:
Modern (Re)Constructions of the Cave Man 122
Did Neandertals Hunt? 124
What Do We Know about Anatomically Modern Humans
(200,000 Years Ago to Present)? 124
What Can Genetics Tell Us about Modern Human Origins? 125
What Do We Know about the Upper Paleolithic/Late Stone Age
(40,000?–12,000 Years Ago)? 127
CONTENTS xi
What Happened to the Neandertals? 129

How Many Kinds of Upper Paleolithic/Late Stone Age Cultures
Were There? 130
Where Did Modern H. sapiens Migrate in Late Pleistocene
Times? 131
IN THEIR OWN WORDS: Women’s Art in the Upper
Paleolithic? 132
Eastern Asia and Siberia 134
The Americas 135
Australasia 136
Two Million Years of Human Evolution 136
CHAPTER SUMMARY 137
FOR REVIEW 139
KEY TERMS 140
CHAPTER 5 hat Can Evolutionary Theory Tell Us

W
about Human Variation? 143
What Is Microevolution? 144
The Modern Evolutionary Synthesis and Its Legacy 144
IN THEIR OWN WORDS: Have We Ever Been Individuals? 145

The Molecularization of Race? 148
The Four Evolutionary Processes 152
IN THEIR OWN WORDS: DNA Tests Find Branches but Few

Roots 153
Microevolution and Patterns of Human Variation 156
Adaptation and Human Variation 158
Phenotype, Environment, and Culture 162
Can We Predict the Future of Human Evolution? 165
CHAPTER SUMMARY 166
FOR REVIEW 166
KEY TERMS 167
CHAPTER 6 How Do We Know about the Human Past? 169

What Is Archaeology? 170
Surveys 172
Archaeological Excavation 175
Archaeology and Digital Heritage 177
How Do Archaeologists Interpret the Past? 178
Subsistence Strategies 178
Bands, Tribes, Chiefdoms, and States 180
Whose Past Is It? 183
xii CONTENTS
How Is the Past Being Plundered? 186

IN THEIR OWN WORDS: Rescue Archaeology in Europe 188
What Are the Critical Issues in Contemporary

Archaeology? 190
Archaeology and Gender 190
Collaborative Approaches to Studying the Past 192
ANTHROPOLOGY in Everyday Life: Archaeology as a Tool

of Civic Engagement 193
Cosmopolitan Archaeologies 195
CHAPTER SUMMARY 197
FOR REVIEW 198
KEY TERMS 198
CHAPTER 7 hy Did Humans Settle Down, Build Cities,

W
and Establish States? 201
How Is the Human Imagination Entangled with the Material
World? 202
Is Plant Cultivation a Form of Niche Construction? 204
How Do Anthropologists Explain the Origins of Animal
Domestication? 207
Was There Only One Motor of Domestication? 211
How Did Domestication, Cultivation, and Sedentism Begin in
Southwest Asia? 212
Natufian Social Organization 213
ANTHROPOLOGY in Everyday Life: Çatalhöyük in the Twenty-First

Century 214
Natufian Subsistence 215
Domestication Elsewhere in the World 217
What Were the Consequences of Domestication
and Sedentism? 218
IN THEIR OWN WORDS: The Food Revolution 220
How Do Anthropologists Define Social Complexity? 222

Why Is It Incorrect to Describe Foraging Societies as “Simple”? 222
What Is the Archaeological Evidence for Social
Complexity? 223
Why Did Stratification Begin? 225
How Can Anthropologists Explain the Rise
of Complex Societies? 226
IN THEIR OWN WORDS: The Ecological Consequences of Social
Complexity 228
Andean Civilization 229
CONTENTS xiii
CHAPTER SUMMARY 233
FOR REVIEW 235
KEY TERMS 235
CHAPTER 8 Why Is the Concept of Culture Important? 237

How Do Anthropologists Define Culture? 238
IN THEIR OWN WORDS: The Paradox of Ethnocentrism 239
IN THEIR OWN WORDS: Culture and Freedom 241
Culture, History, and Human Agency 242

IN THEIR OWN WORDS: Human-Rights Law and the
Demonization of Culture 243
Why Do Cultural Differences Matter? 245
What Is Ethnocentrism? 246
Is It Possible to Avoid Ethnocentric Bias? 246
What Is Cultural Relativism? 246
How Can Cultural Relativity Improve Our Understanding
of Controversial Cultural Practices? 247
Genital Cutting, Gender, and Human Rights 247
Genital Cutting as a Valued Ritual 248
Culture and Moral Reasoning 249
Did Their Culture Make Them Do It? 249
Does Culture Explain Everything? 250
Cultural Imperialism or Cultural Hybridity? 251
Cultural Hybridity 252
Are There Limits to Cultural Hybridity? 254
Can We Be at Home in a Global World? 254
The Promise of the Anthropological Perspective 255
CHAPTER SUMMARY 255
FOR REVIEW 256
KEY TERMS 256
MODULE 3: On Ethnographic Methods 257

A Meeting of Cultural Traditions 257
Single-Sited Fieldwork 257
How Do Anthropologists Think about the
Ethics of Their Work? 258
What Is Participant Observation? 260
Multisited Fieldwork 261
Collecting and Interpreting Data 262
The Dialectic of Fieldwork: Interpretation
and Translation 263
Interpreting Actions and Ideas 264
xiv CONTENTS
The Dialectic of Fieldwork: An Example 266

The Effects of Fieldwork 267
The Production of Anthropological Knowledge 268
Anthropological Knowledge as Open-Ended 269
MODULE SUMMARY 269
FOR REVIEW 270
KEY TERMS 270
CHAPTER 9 Why Is Understanding Human Language Important? 273

What Makes Language Distinctively Human? 274
How Are Language and Culture Related? 276
How Do People Talk about Experience? 278
IN THEIR OWN WORDS: Cultural Translation 281
What Does It Mean to “Learn” a Language? 281

How Does Context Affect Language? 282
How Does Language Affect How We See the World? 282
Pragmatics: How Do We Study Language in Contexts of Use? 284
Ethnopragmatics 285
What Happens When Languages Come into
Contact? 286
What Is the Difference between a Pidgin and a Creole? 286
How Is Meaning Negotiated? 287
What Is Linguistic Inequality? 287
What Is Language Ideology? 287
How Have Language Ideologies Been at Work in Studies of African
American Speech? 288
IN THEIR OWN WORDS: Varieties of African American

English 289
What Is Raciolinguistics? 290
What Is Lost If a Language Dies? 291
ANTHROPOLOGY in Everyday Life: Language Revitalization 292
How Are Language and Truth Connected? 295

CHAPTER SUMMARY 296
FOR REVIEW 297
KEY TERMS 297
MODULE 4: Components of Language 298

Phonology: Sounds 298
Morphology: Word Structure 298
Syntax: Sentence Structure 299
CONTENTS xv
Semantics: Meaning 300
FOR REVIEW 301
KEY TERMS 301
CHAPTER 10 How Do We Make Meaning? 303

What Is Play? 304
What Do We Think about Play? 304
What Are Some Effects of Play? 304
What Is Art? 305
Is There a Definition of Art? 305
“But Is It Art?” 309
IN THEIR OWN WORDS: Tango 311

“She’s Fake”: Art and Authenticity 312
How Does Hip-Hop Become Japanese? 313

What Is Myth? 314
How Does Myth Reflect—and Shape—Society? 315
Do Myths Help Us Think? 316
What Is Ritual? 317
How Can Ritual Be Defined? 317
How Is Ritual Expressed in Action? 317
What Are Rites of Passage? 318
IN THEIR OWN WORDS: Video in the

Villages 319
How Are Play and Ritual Complementary? 319
How Are Worldview and Symbolic Practice
Related? 321
What Are Symbols? 321
What Is Religion? 322
How Do People Communicate in Religion? 324
How Are Religion and Social Organization
Related? 324
Worldviews in Operation: Two Case Studies 326
Coping with Misfortune: Witchcraft, Oracles, and Magic among
the Azande 326
Are There Patterns of Witchcraft Accusation? 328
Coping with Misfortune: Listening for God among Contemporary
Evangelicals in the United States 328
IN THEIR OWN WORDS: For All Those Who Were Indian in a

Former Life 329
Maintaining and Changing a Worldview 330
How Do People Cope with Change? 330
IN THEIR OWN WORDS: Custom and

Confrontation 331
xvi CONTENTS
How Are Worldviews Used as Instruments of

Power? 332
CHAPTER SUMMARY 333
FOR REVIEW 334
KEY TERMS 334
CHAPTER 11 hy Do Anthropologists Study Economic

W
Relations? 337
How Do Anthropologists Study Economic
Relations? 338
What Are the Connections between Culture and
Livelihood? 338
Self-Interest, Institutions, and Morals 338
How Do Anthropologists Study Production, Distribution,
and Consumption? 339
How Are Goods Distributed and Exchanged? 343
Capitalism and Neoclassical Economics 343
What Are Modes of Exchange? 343
IN THEIR OWN WORDS: “So Much Work, So Much Tragedy . . .

and for What?” 344
The Maisin and Reciprocity 345
Does Production Drive Economic Activities? 347
Labor 347
Modes of Production 347
ANTHROPOLOGY in Everyday Life: Producing Sorghum and Millet in

Honduras and the Sudan 348
IN THEIR OWN WORDS: Solidarity Forever 350

What Is the Role of Conflict in Material Life? 350
Why Do People Consume What They Do? 351
The Internal Explanation: Malinowski and Basic Human
Needs 351
The External Explanation: Cultural Ecology 351
IN THEIR OWN WORDS: Questioning Collapse 352

How Is Consumption Culturally Patterned? 354
How Is Consumption Being Studied Today? 356
IN THEIR OWN WORDS: Fake Masks and Faux

Modernity 357
The Anthropology of Food and Nutrition 359
CHAPTER SUMMARY 360
FOR REVIEW 361
KEY TERMS 361
CONTENTS xvii
CHAPTER 12 How Do Anthropologists Study Political Relations? 363

How Are Culture and Politics Related? 364
How Do Anthropologists Study Politics? 366
Is Political Power Nothing More Than Coercion? 366
IN THEIR OWN WORDS: Protesters Gird for Long Fight over

Opening Peru’s Amazon 368
What Are Domination and Hegemony? 371
What Are Biopower and Governmentality? 372
IN THEIR OWN WORDS: Reforming the Crow

Constitution 374
ANTHROPOLOGY in Everyday Life: Anthropology and

Advertising 375
How Do Anthropologists Study Politics of the
Nation-State? 376
Nation Building in a Postcolonial World: The Example
of Fiji 377
How Does Globalization Affect the Nation-State? 378
Migration, Trans-Border Identities, and Long-Distance
Nationalism 379
Anthropology and Multicultural Politics in the New
Europe 380
What Happens to Citizenship in a Globalized
World? 385
How Can Citizenship Be Flexible? 385
What Is Territorial Citizenship? 387
What Is Vernacular Statecraft? 388
Global Politics in the Twenty-First Century 389
CHAPTER SUMMARY 390
FOR REVIEW 390
KEY TERMS 391
CHAPTER 13 What Can Anthropology Teach Us about Sex, Gender,

and Sexuality? 393
How Did Twentieth-Century Feminism Shape the
Anthropological Study of Sex, Gender, and
Sexuality? 394
How Do Anthropologists Organize the Study of Sex, Gender,
and Sexuality? 398
IN THEIR OWN WORDS: The Consequences of Being
a Woman 401
How Are Sex and Gender Affected by Other Forms of
Identity? 402
xviii CONTENTS
How Do Ethnographers Study Gender Performativity? 404

How Do Anthropologists Study Connections Among Sex,
Gender, Sexuality, and the Body? 406
How Do Anthropologists Study Connections between Bodies
and Technologies? 408
How Do Anthropologists Study Relations between Sex,
Gender, and Sexuality? 409
How Does Ethnography Document Variable Culture
Understandings Concerning Sex, Gender, and SEXUALITY? 411
Female Sexual Practices in Mombasa 412
Male and Female Sexual Practices in Nicaragua 414
Transsexuality and Same-Sex Desire in Iran 415
CHAPTER SUMMARY 417
FOR REVIEW 419
KEY TERMS 419
CHAPTER 14 here Do Our Relatives Come from and Why Do

W
They Matter? 421
How Do Human Beings Organize Interdependence? 422
What Is Friendship? 423
What Is Kinship? 426
What Is the Role of Descent in Kinship? 427
Bilateral Kindreds 428
What Role Do Lineages Play in Descent? 429
Lineage Membership 430
The Logic of Lineage Relationships 430
What Are Patrilineages? 431
What Are Matrilineages? 432
What Are Kinship Terminologies? 433
What Criteria Are Used for Making Kinship Distinctions? 433
What Is Adoption? 434
Adoption in Highland Ecuador 434
What Is the Relation between Adoption and Child Circulation
in the Andes? 435
How Flexible Can Relatedness Be? 436
Negotiation of Kin Ties among the Ju/’hoansi 436
European American Kinship and New Reproductive
Technologies 437
Assisted Reproduction in Israel 439
Compadrazgo in Latin America 440
Organ Transplantation and the Creation of New Relatives 440
What Is Marriage? 441
Toward a Definition of Marriage 441
Woman Marriage and Ghost Marriage among the Nuer 441
CONTENTS xix
Why Is Marriage a Social Process? 442

Patterns of Residence after Marriage 443
Single and Plural Spouses 443
What Is the Connection between Marriage and Economic
Exchange? 445
IN THEIR OWN WORDS: Outside Work, Women, and
Bridewealth 446
What Is a Family? 447
What Is the Nuclear Family? 447
IN THEIR OWN WORDS: Dowry Too High. Lose Bride

and Go to Jail 448
What Is the Polygynous Family? 449
Extended and Joint Families 450
How Are Families Transformed over Time? 451
Divorce and Remarriage 451
IN THEIR OWN WORDS: Law, Custom, and Crimes against

Women 452
How Does International Migration Affect the Family? 453
IN THEIR OWN WORDS: Survival and a Surrogate

Family 454
Anthropology in Everyday Life: Caring for Infibulated Women Giving

Birth in Norway 456
Families by Choice 458
The Flexibility of Marriage 458
IN THEIR OWN WORDS: Why Migrant Women Feed Their
Husbands Tamales 459
IN THEIR OWN WORDS: Two Cheers for Gay Marriage 460

Love, Marriage, and HIV/AIDS in Nigeria 462
CHAPTER SUMMARY 463
FOR REVIEW 465
KEY TERMS 466
CHAPTER 15 What Can Anthropology Tell Us about Social Inequality? 469

Class 471
Class and Gender in Indonesia 472
Class and Caste in the United States? 472
Caste 473
Caste in India 473
IN THEIR OWN WORDS: Burakumin: Overcoming Hidden

Discrimination in Japan 475
How Do Caste and Class Intersect in Contemporary
India? 475
xx CONTENTS
IN THEIR OWN WORDS: As Economic Turmoil Mounts, So Do

Attacks on Hungary’s Gypsies 476
Race 479
Colorism in Nicaragua 480
IN THEIR OWN WORDS: On the Butt Size of Barbie and Shani:

Dolls and Race in the United States 482
Ethnicity 482
IN THEIR OWN WORDS: The Politics of Ethnicity 483
How Do Anthropologists Study Human Rights? 487

Are Human Rights Universal? 487
ANTHROPOLOGY in Everyday Life: Anthropology and Indigenous

Rights 491
IN THEIR OWN WORDS: How Sushi Went Global 496
CHAPTER SUMMARY 498
FOR REVIEW 500
KEY TERMS 500
CHAPTER 16 How Is Anthropology Applied in the Field of Medicine? 503

What Is Medical Anthropology? 504
What Makes Medical Anthropology “Biocultural”? 504
IN THEIR OWN WORDS: American Premenstrual
Syndrome 505
IN THEIR OWN WORDS: The Madness of Hunger 507
How Do People with Different Cultures Understand the

Causes of Sickness and Health? 508
Kinds of Selves 508
Decentered Selves on the Internet 509
ANTHROPOLOGY in Everyday Life: Lead Poisoning among Mexican

American Children 510
Self and Subjectivity 511
Subjectivity, Trauma, and Structural Violence 513
How Are Human Sickness and Health Shaped by the Global
Capitalist Economy? 516
IN THEIR OWN WORDS: Ethical Dilemmas and Decisions 517
Health, Human Reproduction, and Global Capitalism 519
Medical Anthropology and HIV/AIDS 522
The Future of Medical Anthropology 525
CHAPTER SUMMARY 526
FOR REVIEW 528
CONTENTS xxi
KEY TERMS 528
Glossary 530
References 541
Credits 554
Index 559
Boxes
ANTHROPOLOGY in Everyday Life IN THEIR OWN WORDS

Investigating Human-Rights Violations and Anthropology as a Vocation: Listening to Voices 9
Identifying Remains 46 What Can You Learn from an Anthropology Major? 18
Archaeology as a Tool of Civic Engagement 193 How Living Organisms Construct Their
Environments 54
Çatalhöyük in the Twenty-First Century 214
The Future of Primate Biodiversity 70
Language Revitalization 292
Chimpanzee Tourism 74
Producing Sorghum and Millet in Honduras Finding Fossils 103
and the Sudan 348 Bad Hair Days in the Paleolithic: Modern
Anthropology and Advertising 375 (Re)Constructions of the Cave Man 122
Caring for Infibulated Women Giving Birth in Women’s Art in the Upper Paleolithic? 132
Norway 456 Have We Ever Been Individuals? 145
Anthropology and Indigenous Rights 491 DNA Tests Find Branches but Few Roots 153
Lead Poisoning among Mexican American Rescue Archaeology in Europe 188
The Food Revolution 220
Children 510
The Ecological Consequences of Social Complexity 228
The Paradox of Ethnocentrism 239
Culture and Freedom 241
Human-Rights Law and the Demonization of
Culture 243
Cultural Translation 281
Varieties of African American English 289
Tango 311
Video in the Villages 319
EthnoProfile For All Those Who Were Indian in a Former Life 329
Custom and Confrontation 331
Tswana 246 Rione Monti (Rome) 381 “So Much Work, So Much Tragedy . . . and for
Blackston 261 Mount Hagen 397 What?” 344
El Barrio 261 Haiti 403 Solidarity Forever 350
Komachi 265 Mombasa Questioning Collapse 352
Sidi Lahcen Lyussi 267 Swahilis 412 Fake Masks and Faux Modernity 357
Aymara 280 Tiv 430 Protesters Gird for Long Fight over Opening Peru’s
Java 282 Nuer 431 Amazon 368
Reforming the Crow Constitution 374
Margi 308 Navajo 432
The Consequences of Being a Woman 401
Japan 314 Zumbagua 434
Outside Work, Women, and Bridewealth 446
Trobriand Islanders 316 Israel 439 Dowry Too High. Lose Bride and Go to Jail 448
Yoruba 321 Nyinba 445 Law, Custom, and Crimes against Women 452
Dinka 323 Mende 450 Survival and a Surrogate Family 454
Azande 326 Alaskan Inuit 453 Why Migrant Women Feed Their Husbands
Kwaio 331 Los Pinos 453 Tamales 459
Somalis (Northern) 338 Gopalpur 473 Two Cheers for Gay Marriage 460
Boran 339 Guider 484 Burakumin: Overcoming Hidden Discrimination in
Japan 475
Nootka 345 Hawaii 494
As Economic Turmoil Mounts, So Do Attacks on
Ju/’hoansi (!Kung) 354 Hungary’s Gypsies 476
“Sedaka” Village 367 On the Butt Size of Barbie and Shani: Dolls and Race in
Fiji 377 the United States 482
The Politics of Ethnicity 483
How Sushi Went Global 496
American Premenstrual Syndrome 505
The Madness of Hunger 507
Ethical Dilemmas and Decisions 517
xxii
Preface
This book emerged out of our increasing dissatisfac- well as from applied anthropology. We have made ev-
tion with all the available general anthropology texts. ery effort to provide a balanced perspective, both in the
We found that they either overwhelmed beginning level of detail we present and in our coverage of the ma-
students with detail and the sheer volume of material jor subfields.
or provided overly brief introductions that failed to The questioning approach not only sparks curi-
convey the richness of the field. We therefore set out osity but also orients students’ reading and compre-
to write a book that introduces this broad field con- hension of each chapter, highlighting the concepts
cisely yet thoroughly, providing diverse perspectives every student should take away from a general anthro-
and examples to foster not only an appreciation of pology course. For example, students need to know
anthropology but also a deeper engagement with it— about evolutionary theory, human variation, and the
one that helps students better understand themselves biological, social, and cultural critique of the concept
and the world around them. We (and our students) of race, since knowledge in these areas is one of the
needed a general anthropology text that struck the great achievements of the discipline of anthropology.
right balance, fit into a 15-week semester, and came No other discipline (and possibly no other course)
with a complete package of ancillary materials includ- will teach about these matters the way anthropolo-
ing quizzes, exams, suggested videos, and supplemen- gists do. Students need to know about the fossil evi-
tal readings. dence for the evolution of Homo sapiens, which they
Throughout the process of writing the first edition are not likely to learn about elsewhere. Students need
and revising for subsequent editions, two central ques- to know what archaeology can tell us about the hu-
tions have guided our decisions on what material to man past, as well as what ethnography can teach us
include. First, what is the essential material that a bal- about social complexity and inequality. They need to
anced introduction to four-field anthropology must know that culture isn’t just the Festival of Nations and
cover? Second, how much detail on any particular unusual foods and interesting traditional costumes.
topic could we include without overwhelming begin- They need to know about language and the central
ning students? Most general anthropology textbooks role of learning in human development. They need to
are essentially cultural anthropology textbooks that understand the wellsprings of human creativity and
have bulked up, but we decided to start anew and build imagination. It is valuable for them to see the pano-
a general anthropology text chapter by chapter. We ad- ply of forms of human relatedness, and how people
dress the central issues of the discipline, highlighting organize themselves. They need to know about glo-
the controversies and commitments that shape con- balization from the bottom up and not just the top
temporary anthropology and that make it interesting down. They need to see how all the subfields of an-
and exciting. thropology together can provide important, unique
insights into all these topics and so many more and
how anthropology can provide a vital foundation for
Approach their university education.
The world we face as anthropologists has changed
This book may be concise, but we cover the field effec- dramatically in the last quarter century, and anthropol-
tively and in a way that we think is intellectually honest. ogy has changed, too. We have always felt it necessary
We take a question-oriented approach that illumi- to present students with a view of what contemporary
nates major concepts for students and shows them the anthropologists are doing; we therefore address the most
relevance of anthropology in today’s world. Structur- current issues in the field and have thoroughly updated
ing each chapter around an important question and its the text accordingly for this edition. Your students will
subquestions, we explore what it means to be human, take away from the book an appreciation of how these
incorporating answers from all four major subfields of areas of specialization have developed over time and
anthropology—biological anthropology, archaeology, how they contribute to our understanding of the world
linguistic anthropology, and cultural anthropology—as in the twenty-first century.
xxiii
xxiv PREFACE
Organization controversies over female genital cutting, supernu-

merary sexes and genders, varieties of human sex-
Divided into 16 chapters and 4 modules, this book is ual practices, language and gender, gay marriage,
the ideal length for one semester. After Chapter 1, which women and colonialism, gender issues in Islam in
introduces the entire field, 6 chapters are devoted to Europe, Nuer women marriage, and contemporary
biological anthropology and archaeology: evolutionary forms of social inequality.
theory (Chapter 2); the primates (Chapter 3); the fos- • “In Their Own Words.” New voices, including
sil record and human origins (Chapter 4); human varia- those of indigenous peoples, anthropologists,
tion (Chapter 5); the human past (Chapter 6); and the and nonanthropologists, are presented in the text
first farmers, cities, and states (Chapter 7). Topics in cul- in commentaries called “In Their Own Words.”
tural and linguistic anthropology are covered in c hapters These short commentaries provide alternative
on culture (Chapter 8); language (Chapter 9); symbolic perspectives—always readable and sometimes
practices (Chapter 10, covering play, art, myth, ritual, and controversial—on topics featured in the chapter
religion); economics (Chapter 11); politics (Chapter 12); where they appear.
sex, gender, and sexuality (Chapter 13); forms of relat-
• “EthnoProfiles.” These text inserts provide a con-
edness, including kinship, marriage, and friendship
sistent, brief information summary for each soci-
(Chapter 14); social inequality and human rights
ety discussed at length in the text. They emerged
(Chapter 15, covering class, caste, race, ethnicity, and
from our desire as teachers to supply our students
human rights and sovereignty); and the anthropology
with basic geographical, demographic, and po-
of medicine and health (Chapter 16). In addition, brief
litical information about the peoples anthropol-
methodological modules after Chapters 1, 3, 8, and 9
ogists have worked with. Each EthnoProfile also
discuss anthropology, science, and storytelling; dating
contains a map of the area in which the society
methods for paleoanthropology and archaeology; eth-
is found. They are not intended to be a substitute
nographic methods; and the components of language.
for reading ethnographies, nor are they intended
Throughout the book, we pay special attention to issues
to reify or essentialize the “people” or “culture”
of power and inequality in the contemporary world.
in question. Their main purpose is simply to pro-
vide a consistent orientation for readers, though of
course it is becoming more and more difficult to
Key Features attach peoples to particular territories in an era of
• We take an explicitly global approach. In this
globalization. How does one calculate population
numbers or draw a simple map to locate a global
edition, we have eliminated a separate globaliza-
diaspora? How does one construct an E thnoProfile
tion chapter and have incorporated material on
for overseas Chinese or trans-border Haitians? We
globalization throughout the book. We system-
don’t know how to answer these questions, which
atically point out the extent to which the current
is why EthnoProfiles for those groups are not in-
sociocultural situation of particular peoples has
cluded in the textbook.
been shaped by their particular histories of con-
tact with capitalism, and we highlight ways that • “Anthropology in Everyday Life.” Following the
the post–Cold War global spread of capitalism suggestions of reviewers, we have provided se-
has drastically reshaped the local contexts in lections on anthropology in practice throughout
which people everywhere live their lives. the text; topics include agricultural development,
• We incorporate current anthropological archaeology and community engagement, anthro-
a pproaches to power and inequality throughout pology and advertising, Human Terrain Teams,
the text. We explore how power is manifested in and forensic anthropology and human rights,
different human societies, how it permeates all as- among others.
pects of social life, and how it is deployed, resisted, • Additional learning aids. Key terms are boldfaced
and transformed. We discuss issues of trauma, so- in the text and defined in a running glossary on the
cial suffering, and human rights. page where they appear, in addition to in a glos-
• Material on gender and feminist anthropology is sary at the back of the text. Each chapter ends with
featured both in its own chapter and throughout a list of the key terms in alphabetical order with
the text. Discussions of gender are tightly woven page references, a numbered chapter summary, re-
into the fabric of the book, and include (for exam- view questions, and annotated suggested readings.
ple) material on gender and feminist archaeology, Maps are featured extensively throughout the text.
PREFACE xxv
• Use of citations and quotations. In our discus- important, is distant enough from the present that
sions, we have tried to avoid being omniscient we believed it was preferable to devote more space
narrators by making use of citations and quota- in the text to current developments in the world.
tions in order to indicate where anthropological Similarly, the globalization processes described in
ideas come from. In our view, even first-year stu- earlier versions of the globalization chapter are no
dents need to know that an academic discipline longer “new,” but are becoming stabilized around
like anthropology is constructed by the work of the world, and they are now regularly acknowl-
many people; no one, especially not textbook au- edged by all contemporary ethnographers in one
thors, should attempt to impose a single voice on way or another. But although the globalization
the field. We have avoided, as much as we could, chapter itself is gone, much of the material it
predigested statements that students must take on contained has been fitted into earlier chapters in
faith. We try to give them the information that the book, where it now seems more appropriate.
they need to see where particular conclusions Places where this occurs are noted below.
come from. In our experience, students appreciate • A new chapter on Sex, Gender, and Sexuality.
being taken seriously. This chapter brings together material that was
• Supplemental chapter materials provide flex- previously integrated into different chapters and
ibility for instructors. As we considered how expands and updates it with new anthropologi-
to create a new book for this course, we re- cal research and analysis documenting the varied
alized we would have to omit material that ways in which people around the world are revis-
you may want your students to know about ing their understandings and practices involving
or that might interest them. To offer you flex- sex, gender, and sexuality.
ibility, we decided to include some of that ma- • Based on a suggestion from reviewers, we reor-
terial on the Companion Website (www.oup
dered the first five chapters. We agree that this
.com/us/lavenda). Each entry ranges in length
new order moves more naturally from the general
from one or two paragraphs to about three pages
discussion of evolution, to primates, to the fossil
and can easily be used either for lecture topics or
record and human origins, and ends with micro-
as handouts. For example, if you’d like to stress
evolution and human variation in living popula-
the different routes that led to the rise of civiliza-
tions. It also brings Module 2, “Dating Methods
tion, you could assign the reading about the rise
in Paleoanthropology and Archaeology” into a
of civilization in Mesopotamia to supplement the
more logical position.
textbook’s discussion of the rise of civilization in
• Content in the first five chapters have been up-
the Andes. If you’re looking for more examples
to illustrate ritual and cultural patterns in the dated: Chapter 4 contains a new discussion of
United States, you could assign the selection on Homo naledi and Lomekwi 3 tools, as well as an-
children’s birthday parties in the United States. cient DNA information about Kennewick Man/
The bulk of the supplemental chapter material on the Ancient One. Chapter 5 has further elaborated
the Instructor’s website is linked to the cultural discussions of connections between development
chapters, and many entries are additional ethno- and evolution, including a new discussion of uses
graphic examples. of DNA analysis to investigate what is being called
“mestizo genomics.”
• Chapter 8. “Why Is the Concept of Culture Im-
portant?” now concludes with the discussion
What’s New of cultural imperialism, cultural hybridity, and
in the Fourth Edition? cosmopolitanism that used to be in the global-

ization chapter. This further strengthens the dis-
There are many changes, both large and small, in the cussion of Kiowa Christianity that was already
fourth edition: present in Chapter 8. It also demonstrates clearly
• Based on reviewers’ suggestions, the chapter to students that thinking of “cultures” as separate,
“What Can Anthropology Tell Us about Glo- self-contained entities is no longer mainstream
balization” and Module 5, “Background to the among cultural anthropologists.
Global Political Economy of the Twenty-First • Module 3. “On Ethnographic Methods.” This
Century,” have been incorporated into the text. module now has a new, detailed discussion of
The historical background in Module 5, while ethics in anthropology.
xxvi PREFACE
• Chapter 9. “Why Is Understanding Human Lan- in the text. It makes good sense to allow a chapter
guage Important?” New material on the func- on applied anthropology to complete the discus-
tions of language links the discussion of Hockett’s sion of the discipline. Also, by making the revi-
design features to Peircian distinctions between sions described previously, the textbook still has
icons, indexes, and symbols. We offer a revised only 16 chapters. The revised chapters are stron-
discussion of speech communities. The discus- ger, and the text remains workable for a semester-
sion of language ideology ends with new material long course.
about “raciolinguistics” that highlights how lan-
guage has become a key index of racial identity
in the contemporary globalized world, and how
playing with varieties of language offers a way of
Supplements
simultaneously acknowledging and challenging • The free Ancillary Resource Center at www.
racial hierarchies. oup-arc.com features (1) Instructor Resources,
• Chapter 11. “Why Do Anthropologists Study Eco- including guest editorials (brief essays by anthro-
nomic Relations?” This chapter contains a new pologists written specifically for our text), Power-
ethnographic example illustrating the intertwin- Point-based slides for lectures, an image bank
ing of different modes of exchange, including containing digital versions of all of the images
market exchange, among the Maisin people of from the text, a sample syllabus, assignments,
Papua, New Guinea. in-class activities, film suggestions and related
• Chapter 12. “How Do Anthropologists Study questions by chapter, critical-thinking questions,
olitical Relations?” This chapter has undergone a
P suggestions for class discussion, and helpful links;
major renovation. The contributions of Foucault and (2) a Computerized Test Bank.
and Gramsci have been clarified. However, the • A free Companion Website at www.oup.com/
most thoroughgoing revision is the incorpora- us/lavenda features Student Resources, includ-
tion of material on nations and nationalism from ing a study skills guide (filled with hints and
earlier editions of the book (from the old chapter suggestions on improving study skills, organiz-
on social inequality) and of material on how glo- ing information, writing exam essays, and taking
balization affects the nation-state and citizenship multiple-choice exams), self-quizzes, interactive
(from the old chapter on globalization). These re- exercises, flashcards, detailed annotated lists of
visions make for a stronger, more contemporary suggestions for further reading (beyond the lists
discussion of a range of issues addressed by con- provided in the text), and helpful links.
temporary anthropologists who study politics.
• Chapter 13. “What Can Anthropology Teach Us
about Sex, Gender, and Sexuality?” This new chap- Acknowledgments
ter now precedes Chapter 14. “Where Do Our
Relatives Come from and Why Do They Matter?” Our thanks to our editor at Oxford, Sherith Pankratz. It
Having these two chapters after the discussion of continues to be a pleasure to work with her as well as
economics and politics provides an important with the production department. Associate Editor Mer-
context for discussion of the role of power and edith Keffer has been wonderful in keeping track of and
wealth in shaping human experiences of sex, gen- organizing all the details involved with a project of this
der, and sexuality, and other forms of relatedness. magnitude.
• Chapter 15. “What Can Anthropology Tell Us Once again, we are amazed at how much time and
about Social Inequality and Human Rights?” This effort reviewers put into their task. The many reviewers
is a revised version of what used to be the discus- and survey respondents for this project have contributed
sion of anthropological studies of social inequal- significantly to both the shape and the details of the
ity in the contemporary world. The new version book. We hope they can see where we have taken their
of this chapter still discusses class, caste, race, and advice, and we would like them to know that we care-
ethnicity. But we now conclude the chapter with fully thought through every suggestion, even the ones
a discussion of anthropology, human rights, and we decided we could not follow. So, our thanks to the
sovereignty formerly located in the chapter on reviewers for this edition:
globalization. Christa Abdul-Karim, University of Idaho
• Chapter 16. “How Is Anthropology Applied in the Benjamin L. Augustyn, Miami Dade College
Field of Medicine?” This is now the final chapter Mary Theresa Bonhage-Freund, Alma College
PREFACE xxvii
Jessica Craig, Central New Mexico Community College This book is dedicated to the memory of our par-
David Fazzino, Bloomsburg University of Pennsylvania ents. Relatedness remains important in human societies,
Jason J. Gonzalez, University of Georgia and as we grow older, we better understand why. So we
Scott Legge, Macalester College also recognize our children, Daniel and Rachel, whose
Jaclyn McWhorter, Agnes Scott College lives have been bound up with our books in so many
ways, not the least of which are our hopes that they and
and three anonymous reviewers.
their generation will find something of value in the an-
thropological approach.
Our sincere thanks also to our supplement author,
Benjamin L. Augustyn of Miami Dade College, who cre-
ated high-quality additional resources specifically for this
text.
anthropology
1
What is anthropology?
This chapter introduces the field of anthropology. We look at what anthro-
pology is and explore its different subfields. We touch on anthropology’s
key concept—culture—as well as its key research method—fieldwork. We
conclude with a discussion of the ways anthropological insights are rel-
evant in everyday life.
CHAPTER OUTLINE
What Is Anthropology?
What Is the Concept of
Culture?
What Makes Anthropology a
Cross-Disciplinary Discipline?
Biological Anthropology
Cultural Anthropology
Linguistic Anthropology
Archaeology
Applied Anthropology
Medical Anthropology
The Uses of Anthropology
Chapter Summary
For Review
Key Terms
Suggested Readings
Children gathered on a school playground with a Maasai instructor. 3

4 CHAPTER 1: WHAT IS ANTHROPOLOGY?
I n early 1976, the authors of this book traveled to

northern Cameroon, in western Africa, to study social
relations in the town of Guider, where we rented a small
The following evening, soon after we took up our
usual places on the veranda, the watchman appeared at
the steps bearing a tray with two covered dishes. He ex-
house. In the first weeks we lived there, we enjoyed spend- plained that his wife had prepared the food for us in ex-
ing the warm evenings of the dry season reading and writing change for our help in collecting termites. We accepted
in the glow of the house’s brightest electric fixture, which il- the food and carefully lifted the lids. One dish contained
luminated a large, unscreened veranda. After a short time, nyiri, a stiff paste made of red sorghum, a staple of the
however, the rains began, and with them appeared swarms local diet. The other dish contained another pasty sub-
of winged termites. These slow-moving insects with fat, stance with a speckled, salt-and-pepper appearance,
two-inch abdomens were attracted to the light on the ve- which we realized was termite paste prepared from the
randa, and we soon found ourselves spending more time insects we had all killed the previous night.
swatting at them than reading or writing. One evening, in The night watchman waited at the foot of the veranda
a fit of desperation, we rolled up old copies of the inter- steps, an expectant smile on his face. Clearly, he did not
national edition of Newsweek and began an all-out assault, intend to leave until we tasted the food his wife had pre-
determined to rid the veranda of every single termite. pared. We looked at each other. We had never eaten insects
The rent we paid for this house included the services before or considered them edible in the North American,
of a night watchman. As we launched our attack on the middle-class diet we were used to. To be sure, “delicacies”
termites, the night watchman suddenly appeared beside like chocolate-covered ants exist, but such items are con-
the veranda carrying an empty powdered milk tin. When sidered by most North Americans to be food fit only for
he asked if he could have the insects we had been killing, eccentrics. However, we understood the importance of
we were a bit taken aback but warmly invited him to help not insulting the night watchman and his wife, who were
himself. He moved onto the veranda, quickly collected being so generous to us. We knew that insects were a fa-
the corpses of fallen insects, and then joined us in going vored food in many human societies and that eating them
after those termites that were still airborne. Although we brought no ill effects ( Figure 1.1). So we reached into the
became skilled at thwacking the insects with our rolled- dish of nyiri, pulling off a small amount. We then used the
up magazines, our skills paled beside those of the night ball of nyiri to scoop up a small portion of termite paste,
watchman, who simply snatched the termites out of the brought the mixture to our mouths, ate, chewed, and swal-
air with his hand, squeezed them gently, and dropped lowed. The watchman beamed, bid us goodnight, and re-
them into his rapidly filling tin can. The three of us man- turned to his post. We looked at each other in wonder.
aged to clear the air of insects—and fill his tin—in about The sorghum paste had a grainy tang that was rather
10 minutes. The night watchman thanked us and returned pleasant. The termite paste tasted mild, like chicken, not
to his post, and we returned to our books. unpleasant at all.
FIGURE 1.1 Many people

around the world eat insects. Here,
a restaurant worker in Bangkok,
Thailand, prepares grubs for
cooking.
What Is Anthropology? 5
Not long afterward, we received a package from our human life. Anthropologists are convinced, however, that
family in the United States that contained, among other explanations of human activities will be superficial unless
treats, a bag of commercial chocolate chip cookie mix. they acknowledge that human lives are always entangled in
The kitchen of the house we were renting had an oven; complex patterns of work and family, power and meaning.
eager to enjoy this quintessential North American treat, What is distinctive about the way anthropolo-
we baked the cookies, and offered them to one of our gists study human life? As we shall see, anthropology is
field assistants. He politely tasted the cookies, but de- holistic, comparative, field based, and evolutionary. First,
clined a second serving with the explanation that they anthropology emphasizes that all aspects of human life
were just too sweet for him. intersect with one another in complex ways. They shape
one another and become integrated with one another
over time. Anthropology is thus the integrated, or holistic,
What Is Anthropology? study of human nature, human society, and the human
past. This holism draws together anthropologists whose
This anecdote is not just about an encounter about our specializations might otherwise divide them. At the most
field assistant and us; it also illustrates some of the cen- inclusive level, we may thus think of anthropology as the
tral elements of the anthropological experience. Anthro- integrated (or holistic) study of human nature, human so-
pologists want to learn about as many different human ciety, and the human past. Holism has long been central
ways of life as they can. The people they come to know to the anthropological perspective and remains the feature
are members of their own society or live on a different that draws together anthropologists whose specializations
continent, in cities or in rural areas. Their ways of life might otherwise divide them.
may involve patterns of regular movement across inter- Second, in addition to being holistic, anthropology
national borders, or they may make permanent homes in is a discipline interested in comparison. Generalizing
the borderlands themselves. Archaeologists reconstruct about human nature, human society, and the human
ancient ways of life from traces left behind in the earth past requires evidence from the widest possible range of
that are hundreds or thousands of years old; anthropolo- human societies. It is not enough, for example, to ob-
gists who strive to reconstruct the origin of the human serve only our own social group, discover that we do not
species itself make use of fossil remains that reach back eat insects, and conclude that human beings as a spe-
millions of years into the past. Whatever the case may be, cies do not eat insects. When we compare human diets
anthropologists are sometimes exposed to practices that in different societies, we discover that insect eating is
startle them. However, as they take the risk of getting to quite common and that our North American aversion
know such ways of life better, they are often treated to to eating insects is nothing more than a dietary practice
the sweet discovery of familiarity. Still, the response of specific to our own society.
our field assistant to the chocolate chip cookies is a valu- Third, anthropology is also a field-based discipline.
able reminder that encounters with the unfamiliar can That is, for almost all anthropologists, the actual practice
also sometimes be “too sweet.” One of the strengths of of anthropology—its data collection—takes place away
anthropology comes precisely from unexpected insights from the office and in direct contact with the people, the
that emerge from such encounters, when we and the sites, or the animals that are of interest. Whether they
people with whom we work discover that we can connect are biological anthropologists studying chimpanzees
with one another in sometimes surprising ways, even in Tanzania, archaeologists excavating a site high in the
though such connections may at times be awkward Peruvian Andes, linguistic anthropologists learning an
(Tsing 2005). In this book, we share aspects of the an- unwritten language in New Guinea, or cultural anthro-
thropological experience in the hope that you may come pologists studying ethnic identity in West Africa or small-
to find pleasure, insight, and self-recognition from an in- town festivals in Minnesota, anthropologists are in direct
volvement with the unfamiliar.
Anthropology can be defined as the study of human
nature, human society, and the human past (Greenwood
anthropology The study of human nature, human society, and the
and Stini 1977). It is a scholarly discipline that aims to de- human past.
scribe in the broadest possible sense what it means to be holism A characteristic of the anthropological perspective that describes,
human. Anthropologists are not alone in focusing their at the highest and most inclusive level, how anthropology tries to integrate
attention on human beings and their creations. Human all that is known about human beings and their activities.
biology, literature, art, history, linguistics, sociology, po- comparison A characteristic of the anthropological perspective that
requires anthropologists to consider similarities and differences in as wide
litical science, economics—all these scholarly disciplines a range of human societies as possible before generalizing about human
and many more—concentrate on one or another aspect of nature, human society, or the human past.
contact with the sources of their data. For most anthro- a way of demonstrating the fallacies and incoherence of
pologists, the richness and complexity of this immersion arguments claiming that everything people do or think
in other patterns of life is one of our discipline’s most dis- can be explained biologically, for example, in terms of
tinctive features. Field research connects anthropologists “genes” or “race” or “sex.”
directly with the lived experience of other people or other
primates or to the material evidence of that experience
that they have left behind. Academic anthropologists try
to intersperse field research with the other tasks they per- What Is the Concept
form as university professors. Other anthropologists— of Culture?
applied anthropologists—regularly spend most or all of
their time carrying out field research. All anthropology A consequence of human evolution that had the most
begins with a specific group of people (or primates) and profound impact on human nature and human society
always comes back to them as well. was the emergence of culture, which can be defined as
Finally, anthropologists try to come up with general- sets of learned behavior and ideas that human beings ac-
izations about what it means to be human that are valid quire as members of society together with the material
across space and over time. Because anthropologists are artifacts and structures that human beings create and
interested in documenting and explaining change over use. Our cultural heritage allows humans to adapt to and
time in the human past, evolution is at the core of the transform the world around us through our interactions
anthropological perspective. Anthropologists examine with material structures and objects in the communities
the biological evolution of the human species, which docu- where we live, through the connections we form with
ments change over time in the physical features and life other people and other living organisms, through the ac-
processes of human beings and their ancestors. Topics of tions and skills of our individual bodies, and through the
interest include both human origins and genetic varia- ideas and values of our minds. The cultural heritage of
tion and inheritance in living human populations. If evo- the human species is both meaningful and material, and
lution is understood broadly as change over time, then it makes us unique among living creatures.
human societies and cultures may also be understood to Human beings are more dependent than any other
have evolved from prehistoric times to the present. species on learning for survival because we have no in-
Anthropologists have long been interested in cul- stincts that automatically protect us and help us find
tural evolution, which concerns change over time in be- food and shelter. Instead, we have come to use our large
liefs, behaviors, and material objects that shape human and complex brains to learn from other members of so-
development and social life. Early discussions of cul- ciety what we need to know to survive. Learning is a pri-
tural evolution in anthropology emphasized a series of mary focus of childhood, which is longer for humans
universal stages. However, this approach has been re- than for any other species.
jected by contemporary anthropologists who talk about From the anthropological perspective, the concept
cultural evolution, like William Durham (1991) and of culture is central to explanations of why human beings
Robert Boyd (e.g., Richerson and Boyd 2006). Theoreti- are what they are and why they do what they do. Anthro-
cal debates about culture change and about whether it pologists are frequently able to show that members of
ought to be called “cultural evolution” are very lively a particular social group behave in a particular way not
right now, not only in anthropology but also in related because the behavior was programmed by their genes,
fields like evolutionary biology and developmental but because they observed other people and copied what
psychology. In the midst of this debate, one of anthro- they did. For example, North Americans typically do not
pology’s most important contributions to the study of eat insects, but this behavior is not the result of genetic
human evolution remains the demonstration that bio- programming. Rather, North Americans have been told
logical evolution is not the same thing as cultural evolu- as children that eating insects is disgusting, have never
tion. Distinction between the two remains important as seen any of their friends or family eat insects, and do
not eat insects themselves. As we discovered personally,
however, insects can be eaten by North Americans with
evolution A characteristic of the anthropological perspective that requires
anthropologists to place their observations about human nature, human
no ill effects. This difference in dietary behavior can be
society, or the human past in a temporal framework that takes into consider- explained in terms of culture rather than biology.
ation change over time. However, to understand the power of culture, an-
culture Sets of learned behavior and ideas that human beings acquire as thropologists must also know about human biology.
members of society together with the material artifacts and structures that
human beings create and use. Human beings use culture to adapt to and
Anthropologists in North America traditionally have been
transform the world in which they live. trained in both areas so that they can understand how
What Makes Anthropology a Cross-Disciplinary Discipline? 7
living organisms work and become acquainted with com- anthropologist Daniel Miller calls the humility of things:
parative information about a wide range of human societ- “objects are important, not because they are evident and
ies. As a result, they can better evaluate how biology and physically constrain or enable, but quite the opposite. It
culture contribute to different forms of human behav- is often precisely because we do not see them” (2010, 50).
ior. Indeed, most anthropologists reject explanations of The merging of persons and things is sometimes a source
human behavior that force them to choose either biology of pleasure, as when we do our holiday shopping on the
or culture as the unique cause. Instead, they emphasize that Internet; but it can also be troubling when we realize that
human beings are biocultural organisms. Our biological our web-surfing activities are being tracked by commer-
makeup—our brain, nervous system, and anatomy—is the cial web-bots or by government entities like the National
outcome of developmental processes to which our genes Security Agency. For these and other reasons, we agree
and cellular chemistry contribute in fundamental ways. with Daniel Miller that “the best way to understand,
It also makes us organisms capable of creating and using convey, and appreciate our humanity is through atten-
culture. Without these biological endowments, human tion to our fundamental materiality” (2010, 4). And this
culture as we know it would not exist. At the same time, means taking material culture seriously.
our survival as biological organisms depends on learned
ways of thinking and acting that help us find food, shelter,
and mates and that teach us how to rear our children. Our
biological endowment, rich as it is, does not provide us
What Makes Anthropology
with instincts that would automatically take care of these a Cross-Disciplinary
survival needs. Human biology makes culture possible;
human culture makes human biological survival possible.
Discipline?
To understand the power of culture, anthropologists Because of its diversity, anthropology does not easily fit
are also paying increasing attention to material culture into any of the standard academic classifications. The
in the lives of biocultural human organisms. Many cul- discipline is usually listed as a social science, but it
tural anthropologists, including ourselves, have tradi- spans the natural sciences and the humanities as well.
tionally emphasized the way people’s dealings with What it is not, as we will see, is the study of the “exotic,”
artifacts are shaped by the cultural meanings they attach the “primitive,” or the “savage,” terms that anthropolo-
to those artifacts. This emphasis has seemed particularly gists reject. Figure 1.2 brings some order to the variety
necessary in the face of the widespread assumptions in of interests found under the anthropological umbrella.
our own North American society that material objects Traditionally, North American anthropology has been
have obvious functional meanings that are the same for divided into four subfields: biological anthropology, cultural
everyone, everywhere. But cultural anthropologists have anthropology, linguistic anthropology, and archaeology. Because
found repeatedly that the same object can mean differ- of their commitment to holism, many anthropology de-
ent things to different people. Just consider the varied partments try to represent most or all of the subfields in
meanings attached to assault weapons or the “morning their academic programs. However, universities in other
after pill” in the recent history of the United States. parts of the world, such as Europe, usually do not bring
All the same, innovative theories of materiality de- all these specialties together. Many North American an-
veloped in fields called cyborg anthropology and science thropologists, however, associate holistic four-field North
studies have provided cultural anthropologists with new American anthropology with the successful repudiation
ways of conceptualizing relations between persons and of nineteenth-century scientific racism by Franz Boas and
things, enabling new connections between work in cul- other early twentieth-century anthropologists. They also
tural anthropology and archaeology, a field with long value four-field anthropology as a protected “trading zone”
experience in dealing with, and thinking about, mate- within which anthropologists are encouraged to bring to-
rial culture (see Chapters 6 and 7). Other examples illus- gether fresh concepts and knowledge from a variety of re-
trating these new approaches will be found throughout search traditions. North American anthropologist Rena
this book. Many examples center on human experiences Lederman (2005), for example, has stressed that four-field
with new kinds of things—computers, cell phones, the anthropology does not insist on a single way of bringing
Internet—that are increasingly central to the lives of
the subfields together.
people all over the world. For instance, persons who play
online video games seem to join with the technology
biocultural organisms Organisms (in this case, human beings) whose
and the other players to form a seamless hybrid entity; or defining features are codetermined by biological and cultural factors.
the technology that links us to friends on Facebook dis- material culture Objects created or shaped by human beings and given
appears from our awareness. This is a phenomenon that meaning by cultural practices.
Anthropology
The integrated study of human nature, human society, and human history.
Cultural anthropology
Biological anthropology
Kinship and
Paleoanthropology social organization
Human biology Material life and technology
and variation Subsistence and economics
Primatology Worldview
Applied anthropology
Medical anthropology
Developmental anthropology
Urban anthropology
Anthropological
Archaeology linguistics
Prehistoric archaeology Descriptive linguistics

Historical archaeology Comparative linguistics
Historical linguistics
FIGURE 1.2 In the United States, anthropology is traditionally divided into four specialties:
biological anthropology, cultural anthropology, anthropological linguistics, and archaeology.
Applied anthropology draws on information provided by the other four specialties.
Anthropological holism is attractive even to those what makes us different from or similar to other ani-
who were not trained in North America. British anthro- mals. Early interest in these matters was a by-product
pologist Tim Ingold (1994), for example, argues, “The of centuries of exploration. Western Europeans had
best anthropological writing is distinguished by its re- found tremendous variation in the physical appearance
ceptiveness to ideas springing from work in subjects far of peoples around the world and had long tried to make
beyond its conventional boundaries, and by its ability sense of these differences. Some researchers developed
to connect these ideas in ways that would not have oc- a series of elaborate techniques to measure different
curred to their originators, who may be more enclosed observable features of human populations, including
in their particular disciplinary frameworks” (xvii). We skin color, hair type, body type, and so forth, hoping to
share the views of Lederman and Ingold: trained in find scientific evidence that would allow them to clas-
holistic, four-field anthropology, we continue to value sify all the peoples of the world into a set of unambigu-
the unique perspective it brings to the study of human ous categories based on distinct sets of biological
nature, human society, and the human past. Indeed, as attributes. Such categories were called races, and many
the organizers of a recent anthropological conference scientists were convinced that clear-cut criteria for
observed, “Even those who were the least persuaded racial classification would be discovered if careful mea-
that the traditional four-field organization of American surements were made on enough people from a range
anthropology was still viable (if it ever was) came away of different populations.
with a strong sense that the subfields had a great deal European scientists first applied racial categories to
to say to one another and indeed needed one another” the peoples of Europe itself, but their classifications soon
(McKinnon and Silverman 2005, viii). included non-European peoples, who were coming under
increasing political and economic domination by expand-
ing European and European American capitalist societ-
Biological Anthropology ies. These peoples differed from “white” Europeans not
only because of their darker skin color but also because
Since the nineteenth century, when anthropology was of their unfamiliar languages and customs. In most cases,
developing as an academic field, anthropologists have their technologies were also no match for the might of the
studied human beings as living organisms to discover West. In the early eighteenth century, the European biolo-
gist Carolus Linnaeus (Carl von Linné, 1707–1778) classi-
fied known human populations into four races (American,
races Social groupings that allegedly reflect biological differences. European, Asian, and Negro) based on skin color (reddish,
Biological Anthropology 9
IN THEIR OWN WORDS
Anthropology as a Vocation
Listening to Voices widen horizons and increase human conviviality seems
a worthy calling—full of a very human optimism and
James W. Fernandez (Ph.D., Northwestern good sense. Who would resist the proposition that more
University) is a professor of anthropology at the fellow feeling in the world is better than less, and that
University of Chicago. He has worked among the to extend the interlocutive in the world is better than to
Fang of Gabon and among cattle keepers and diminish it?
miners of Asturias, Spain. This is an excerpt from At the same time, there is a paradox here, one that
an essay about the anthropological vocation. demands of us a sense of proportion. Although the an-
thropologist is called to bring diverse people into in-
tercommunication, he or she is also called to resist the
homogenization that lies in mass communication. We are
For me, the anthropological calling has fundamentally to
called by our very experience to celebrate the great variety
do with the inclination to hear voices. An important part
of voices in the human chorus. The paradox is that we at
of our vocation is “listening to voices,” and our methods
once work to amplify the scale of intercommunication—
are the procedures that best enable us to hear voices, to
and in effect contribute to homogenization—while at the
represent voices, to translate voices.
same time we work to insist on the great variety of voices
By listening carefully to others’ voices and by trying
in communication. We must maintain here too a sense of
to give voice to these voices, we act to widen the hori-
proportion. We must recognize the point at which wider
zons of human conviviality. If we had not achieved some
and wider cultural intercommunication can lead to domi-
fellow feeling by being there, by listening carefully and
nant voices hidden in the homogenizing process. Human
by negotiating in good faith, it would be the more diffi-
intercommunication has its uses and abuses.
cult to give voice in a way that would widen the horizons
of human conviviality. Be that as it may, the calling to Source: Fernandez 1990, 14–15.
white, yellow, and black, respectively). Linnaeus also con- more socially defined “races” by another socially defined
nected racial membership with the mental and moral attri- “race” that is justified in terms of the supposed inherent
butes of group members. Thus, he wrote, Europeans were biological superiority of the rulers and the supposed in-
“fickle, sanguine, blue-eyed, gentle, and governed by laws,” herent biological inferiority of those they rule.
whereas Negros were “choleric, obstinate, contented, and Biological or physical anthropology as a separate dis-
regulated by custom” and Asians were “grave, avaricious, cipline had its origins in the work of scholars like these,
dignified, and ruled by opinion” (Molnar 2001, 5–6). whose training was in some other discipline, often medi-
In the nineteenth century, influential natural scien- cine. Johann Blumenbach (1752–1840), for example,
tists such as Louis Agassiz, Samuel George Morton, Fran- whom some have called the “father of physical anthropol-
cis Galton, and Paul Broca assumed that biological races ogy,” was trained as a physician. Blumenbach identified
were real and that they could be ranked in a hierarchy. five different races (Caucasoid, Mongoloid, American,
They then embarked on a program of scientific research Ethiopian, and Malayan), and his classification was in-
(sometimes called scientific racism) that sought material fluential in the later nineteenth and twentieth centuries
evidence that would define racial boundaries and ex- (Molnar 2001, 6). He and his contemporaries assumed
plain why the racial hierarchy existed. For instance, they that the races of “mankind” (as they would have said)
ranked different populations of the world in terms of were fixed and unchanging subdivisions of humanity.
brain size; they found the brains of “white” Europeans
and North Americans to be larger and saw the other races
as representing varying grades of inferiority, with A
fricans
ranked at the bottom (Gould 1996). These findings were racism The systematic oppression of one or more socially defined “races”
by another socially defined “race” that is justified in terms of the supposed
used to justify the familiar social practices we now call inherent biological superiority of the rulers and the supposed inherent
racism: the systematic oppression of members of one or biological inferiority of those they rule.
FIGURE 1.3 Some biological anthropologists are primatologists, such as

Agustín Fuentes (a) shown here with a macaque, also named Fuentes. Other
biological anthropologists are paleoanthropologists, such as Matthew Tornow,
who studies ancient primate ancestors (b).
b
However, as scientists learned more about biologi- and human culture to provide them with the tools to
cal variation in human populations, some of them came fight racial stereotyping. After World War II, this position
to realize that traits traditionally used to identify races, gained increasing strength in North American anthro-
such as skin color, did not correlate well with other phys- pology, under the forceful leadership of anthropologist
ical and biological traits, let alone mental and moral Sherwood Washburn. The “new” physical anthropology
traits. Indeed, scientists could not even agree about how Washburn developed at the University of California,
many human races there were or where the boundaries Berkeley, repudiated racial classification and shifted at-
between them should be drawn. tention to patterns of variation and adaptation within
By the early twentieth century, some anthropolo- the human species as a whole. This shift in emphasis led
gists and biologists were arguing that “race” was a cul- many of Washburn’s followers to define their specialty as
tural label invented by human beings to sort people biological anthropology, a move that highlighted their
into groups and that races with distinct and unique sets differences with the older “physical anthropology” de-
of biological attributes simply did not exist. Anthro- voted to racial classification.
pologists like Franz Boas, for example, who in the early Some biological anthropologists work in the
1900s founded the first department of anthropology fields of primatology (the study of the closest living
in the United States, at Columbia University, had long relatives of human beings, the nonhuman primates),
been uncomfortable with racial classifications in anthro- paleoanthropology (the study of fossilized bones and
pology. Boas and his students devoted much energy to teeth of our earliest ancestors), and human skeletal biol-
debunking racist stereotypes, using both their knowl- ogy (measuring and comparing the shapes and sizes—or
edge of biology and their understanding of culture. As morphology—of bones and teeth using skeletal remains
the discipline of anthropology developed in the United from different human populations) (Figure 1.3). Newer
States, students were trained in both human biology specialties focus on human adaptability in different eco-
logical settings, on human growth and development, or
on the connections between a population’s evolution-
biological anthropology (or physical anthropology) The specialty
ary history and its susceptibility to disease. Forensic an-
of anthropology that looks at human beings as biological organisms and thropologists use their knowledge of human skeletal
tries to discover what characteristics make them different from other organ- anatomy to aid law enforcement and human rights in-
isms and what characteristics they share.
vestigators. Molecular anthropologists trace chemical
primatology The study of nonhuman primates, the closest living relatives
of human beings. similarities and differences in the immune system, an
paleoanthropology The search for fossilized remains of humanity’s interest that has led to active research on the virus that
earliest ancestors. causes HIV/AIDS. Moreover, new analytic techniques,
such as biostatistics, three-dimensional imaging, and that something other than biology had to be responsi-
electronic communication and publishing, have trans- ble for these variations. They suggested that this “some-
formed the field (Boaz and Wolfe 1995; Weinker 1995). thing else” was culture.
Even more revolutionary has been the recent develop- Many anthropologists did significant research
ment of techniques for extracting ancient biomolecules throughout the twentieth century to separate human bio-
from fossils. Ancient DNA (aDNA) extracted from fossil logical variation from human cultural practices, showing
bones can reveal a range of information about the in- that these practices could not be reduced to “racial” differ-
dividual from whom it came, such as the individual’s ence. By the latter part of the twentieth century, anthropol-
sex and its relationships to other populations in the past ogists also regularly distinguished between the biological
and present. Entire genomes of fossilized individuals, sex of an individual and the culturally shaped gender
such as Neanderthals, have been reconstructed, provid- roles considered appropriate for each sex in a given soci-
ing dazzling new windows on migrations and contacts ety. As we shall see throughout the text, attention to gender
among ancient populations, as well as their connections has become an integral part of all anthropological work.
to living populations (see Chapter 5). Ancient molecules Because people everywhere use culture to adapt to
can also be recovered, not only from fossilized bones, and transform everything in the wider world in which they
but also from ancient artifacts. For example, casein, a live, the field of cultural anthropology is vast. C ultural
protein found in milk, leaves residues in the contain- anthropologists tend to specialize in one or another
ers people used to store milk products such as cheese, domain of human cultural activity (Figure 1.4). Some
which provides information about ancient dietary prac- study the ways particular groups of human beings or-
tices. This kind of information is of interest both to pa- ganize themselves to carry out collective tasks, whether
leoanthropologists and to archaeologists, creating new economic, political, or spiritual. This focus within cul-
opportunities for them to collaborate in reconstructing tural anthropology bears the closest resemblance to the
the human past (Brown and Brown 2013). In all these discipline of sociology, and from it has come the iden-
ways, biological anthropologists can illuminate what tification of anthropology as one of the social sciences.
makes human beings similar to and different from one Sociology and anthropology developed during the
another, other primates, and other forms of life. same period and share similar interests in social orga-
Whether they study human biology, primates, or nization. What differentiated anthropology from so-
the fossils of our ancestors, biological anthropolo- ciology was the anthropological interest in comparing
gists clearly share many methods and theories used different forms of human social life. In the racist frame-
in the natural sciences—primarily biology, ecology, work of nineteenth- and early-twentieth-century Euro-
chemistry, and geology. What tends to set biological pean and North American societies, some people viewed
anthropologists apart from their nonanthropological sociology as the study of “civilized” industrial societies
colleagues is the holistic, comparative, and evolution- and labeled anthropology as the study of all other soci-
ary perspective that has been part of their anthropo- eties, lumped together as “primitive.” Today, by contrast,
logical training. That perspective reminds them always anthropologists are concerned with studying all human
to consider their work as only part of the overall study societies, and they reject the labels civilized and primitive
of human nature, human society, and the human past. for the same reason they reject the notion of biologi-
cal race. Contemporary anthropologists do research in
urban and rural settings around the world and among
Cultural Anthropology members of all societies, including their own.
Anthropologists discovered that people in many
The second specialty within anthropology is cultural non-Western societies do not organize bureaucracies or
anthropology, which is sometimes called sociocultural churches or schools, yet they still manage to carry out
anthropology, social anthropology, or ethnology. By the successfully the full range of human activity because they
early twentieth century, anthropologists realized that
racial biology could not be used to explain why every-
one in the world did not dress the same, speak the cultural anthropology The specialty of anthropology that shows how
same language, pray to the same god, or eat insects for variation in the beliefs and behaviors of members of different human groups
dinner. About the same time, anthropologists such as is shaped by sets of learned behaviors and ideas that human beings acquire
as members of society—that is, by culture.
Margaret Mead were showing that the biology of sexual
sex Observable physical characteristics that distinguish two kinds of
difference could not be used to predict how men and humans, females and males, needed for biological reproduction.
women might behave or what tasks they would per- gender The cultural construction of beliefs and behaviors considered ap-
form in any given society. Anthropologists concluded propriate for each sex.
societies or in the evolution of technology over time.

Those interested in material life also describe the natu-
ral setting for which technologies have been developed
and analyze the way technologies and environments
shape each other. Others have investigated the way
non-Western people have responded to the political
and economic challenges of colonialism and the capi-
talist industrial technology that accompanied it.
Cultural anthropologists, no matter what their
area of specialization, ordinarily collect their data
during an extended period of close involvement with
the people in whose language or way of life they are
interested.
This period of research, called fieldwork, has as
its central feature the anthropologists’ involvement in
FIGURE 1.4 Cultural anthropologists talk to many people, the everyday routine of those among whom they live.
observe their actions, and participate as fully as possible in People who share information about their culture and
a group’s way of life. Here, Sri Lankan anthropologist Arjun language with anthropologists have traditionally been
Guneratne converses with some of his consultants in Nepal.
called informants; however, anthropologists use this
term less today, and some prefer to describe these indi-
developed institutions of relatedness that enabled them viduals as respondents, collaborators, teachers, or simply
to organize social groups through which they could live “the people I work with” because these terms emphasize
their lives. One form of relatedness, called kinship, links a relationship of equality and reciprocity. Fieldwork-
people to one another on the basis of birth, marriage, ers gain insight into another culture by participating
and nurturance. The study of kinship has become highly with members in social activities and by observing
developed in anthropology and remains a focus of in- those activities as outsiders. This research method,
terest today. In addition, anthropologists have described known as participant observation, is central to cultural
a variety of forms of social groups organized according anthropology.
to different principles, such as secret societies, age sets, Cultural anthropologists write about what they
and numerous forms of complex political organization, have learned in scholarly articles or books and some-
including states. In recent years, cultural anthropologists times document the lives of the people they work
have studied contemporary issues of gender and sexu- with on film or video. An ethnography is a descrip-
ality, transnational labor migration, urbanization, glo- tion of “the customary social behaviors of an iden-
balization, the post–Cold War resurgence of ethnicity tifiable group of people” (Wolcott 1999, 252–253);
and nationalism around the globe, and debates about ethnology is the comparative study of two or more
human rights. such groups. Thus, cultural anthropologists who write
Cultural anthropologists have investigated the pat- ethnographies are sometimes called ethnographers,
terns of material life found in different human groups. and anthropologists who compare ethnographic in-
Among the most striking are worldwide variations in formation on many different cultural practices are
clothing, housing, tools, and techniques for getting sometimes called ethnologists. But not all anthropo-
food and making material goods. Some anthropolo- logical writing is ethnographic. Some anthropolo-
gists specialize in the study of technologies in different gists specialize in reconstructing the history of our
discipline, tracing, for example, how anthropologists’
fieldwork practices have changed over time and how
fieldwork An extended period of close involvement with the people in
these changes may be related to wider political, eco-
whose language or way of life anthropologists are interested, during which nomic, and social changes within the societies from
anthropologists ordinarily collect most of their data. which they came and within which they did their
informants People in a particular culture who work with anthropologists research.
and provide them with insights about their way of life. Also called respon-
dents, teachers, or friends.
People everywhere are increasingly making use of
ethnography An anthropologist’s written or filmed description of a material goods and technologies produced outside their
particular culture. own societies. Anthropologists have been able to show
ethnology The comparative study of two or more cultures. that, contrary to many expectations, non-Western people
do not slavishly imitate Western ways. Instead, they make many people are troubled by the notion of organism–
use of Western technologies in ways that are creative and machine hybrids, Haraway urged her readers to embrace
often unanticipated but that make sense in their own the image of the cyborg as a new model for challeng-
local cultural context. These forms of cultural exchange ing rigid social, political, and economic boundaries that
were powerfully accelerated after the end of the Cold have been used to separate people by gender, sexuality,
War in 1989, when advances in the technologies of com- class, and race, boundaries proclaimed by their defend-
munication, manufacturing, and transportation seemed ers to be “natural.” Haraway’s work attracted the atten-
to dissolve, or at least seriously reduce, previous barri- tion of a wide range of scholars in many disciplines,
ers of space and time. All parts of the world were drawn including anthropology. Cyborg anthropology refers to
into these processes of globalization: the reshaping of ethnographic research that focuses on human–machine
local conditions by powerful global forces on an ever- hybrids that blur boundaries between nature and culture,
intensifying scale. Globalization suggests a world full of the living and the nonliving. Haraway’s cyborg insights
movement and mixture, contacts and linkages, and per- also contributed to the development of the interdisci-
sistent cultural interaction and exchange (Inda and Ro- plinary field of science studies, which explores the inter-
saldo 2002, 2). Some people have clearly benefitted from connections among sociocultural, political, economic,
globalization, whereas others have suffered, and people and historic conditions and practices that make scien-
everywhere struggle to r espond to effects of globalization tific research both possible and successful. Cyborg think-
that seem impossible to manage. In a globalized world, it ing reinforced work by scholars like Bruno Latour, who
is no longer possible to presume that peoples and cultures undertook ethnographic fieldwork in scientific labora-
are firmly attached to specific geographical locations. As tories, following practicing scientists engaging in skill-
a result, many cultural anthropologists now pay increas- ful work with different kinds of material apparatus, and
ing attention to the migrations undertaken by peoples later following them outside laboratories as they sought
all over the globe and have often focused on regions like various kinds of support for their work (e.g., Latour and
the borderland between northern Mexico and the United Woolgar 1986) (see Module I). But cyborg thinking has
States, where struggles with contradictory social practices also been taken up successfully by anthropologists who
and ambiguous identities have long been the rule, not the explore the many other ways that material culture and
exception. nonhuman organisms are deeply entangled with human
It would be difficult to find any research projects by cultural meanings, beliefs, and values, and practices.
contemporary cultural anthropologists that do not in Models from science studies and cyborg anthropology
some way acknowledge the ways in which global pro- allow for fresh understandings of human beings as bio-
cesses affect the local communities where they work. cultural hybrids, enmeshed with living and nonliving
Indeed, global flows of technologies and commodities features of their material worlds, including artifacts of
have pushed ethnographers to expand their ethnographic their own manufacture. These theoretical orientations
focus to topics and settings that are unprecedented from also intersect productively with work on processes of
the perspective of research undertaken during most of the cultural reorganization and hybridization produced by
twentieth century. Especially striking has been the move globalization.
of cultural anthropologists into fields like computer engi- As cultural anthropologists have become increas-
neering or into ethnographic settings like scientific labo- ingly aware of the sociocultural influences that stretch
ratories or the Internet. As we noted earlier, this interest across space to affect local communities, they have also
has also stimulated new approaches to material culture, become sensitive to those that stretch over time. As a
especially the ways human beings and their computer- result, many contemporary cultural anthropologists
ized devices connect with each other.
Cybernetics was an early name given to those tech-
nologies that connected people and machines in this
intimate way, and it influenced the thinking of Donna globalization The reshaping of local conditions by powerful global forces
on an ever-intensifying scale.
Haraway, a biologist and radical feminist, who pub-
cyborg anthropology A form of anthropological analysis based on the
lished “A Cyborg Manifesto” in 1980. The image of the notion of animal–machine hybrids, or cyborgs, that offers a new model for
cyborg—an organism–machine hybrid—was popular- challenging rigid social, political, or economic boundaries that have been
ized in science fiction, but Haraway pointed out that, for used to separate people by gender, sexuality, class, and race, boundaries
proclaimed by their defenders as “natural.”
good or for ill, such hybrids were all around us, from
science studies Research that explores the interconnections among
cybernetically advanced weapons systems to laboratory sociocultural, political, economic, and historic conditions and practices that
rats with implanted cyber-control devices. Although make scientific research both possible and successful.
to produce grammars and dictionaries of those lan-

guages (Figure 1.5). Contemporary linguistic anthro-
pologists and their counterparts in sociology (called
sociolinguists) study the way language differences cor-
relate with differences in gender, race, class, or ethnic
identity. Some have specialized in studying what
happens when speakers are fluent in more than one
language and must choose which language to use
under what circumstances. Others have written
about what happens when speakers of unrelated lan-
guages are forced to communicate with one another,
producing languages called pidgins. Some linguistic
anthropologists study sign languages. Others look at
FIGURE 1.5 Professor of Anthropology and Linguistics H. the ways children learn language or the styles and
Samy Alim (second from left) leads a graduate seminar at
strategies followed by fluent speakers engaged in con-
Stanford University.
versation. More recently, linguistic anthropologists
have paid attention to the way political ideas in a so-
make serious efforts to place their cultural analyses in ciety contribute to people’s ideas of what may or may
detailed historical context. Cultural anthropologists not be said and the strategies speakers devise to
who do comparative studies of language, music, dance, escape these forms of censorship. Some take part in
art, poetry, philosophy, religion, or ritual often share policy discussions about literacy and language stan-
many of the interests of specialists in the disciplines of dardization and address the challenges faced by
fine arts and humanities. speakers of languages that are being displaced by in-
ternational languages of commerce and technology
such as English.
Linguistic Anthropology In all these cases, linguistic anthropologists try to
understand language in relation to the broader cul-
Perhaps the most striking cultural feature of our spe- tural, historical, or biological contexts that make it
cies is language, which we can provisionally define possible. Because highly specialized training in linguis-
as the system of arbitrary symbols humans use to tics as well as anthropology is required for people who
talk about all areas of our lives, from material to spir- practice it, linguistic anthropology has long been rec-
itual, and to encode our experience of the world and ognized as a separate subfield of anthropology. Con-
of one another. L inguistic anthropology therefore temporary linguistic anthropologists continue to be
studies language, not only as a form of symbolic trained in this way, and many cultural anthropologists
communication, but also as a major carrier of impor- also receive linguistics training as part of their profes-
tant cultural information. Indeed, linguistic anthro- sional preparation.
pologists understand language broadly, insisting that
words and sentences cannot be understood apart
from the social and cultural contexts in which they
are uttered; and, conversely, that the study of lan-
Archaeology
guage in its contexts of use is a particularly useful Archaeology, another major specialty within anthro-
way to investigate social and cultural aspects of pology, is a cultural anthropology of the human past
human society. Many early anthropologists were the involving the analysis of material remains. Through ar-
first people to transcribe non-Western languages and chaeology, anthropologists discover much about
human history, particularly prehistory, the long stretch
of time before the development of writing. Archaeolo-
gists look for evidence of past human cultural activity,
language The system of arbitrary symbols used to encode one’s experi- such as postholes, garbage heaps, and settlement pat-
ence of the world and of others.
terns. Depending on the locations and ages of sites they
linguistic anthropology The specialty of anthropology concerned with
the study of human languages. are digging, archaeologists may also have to be experts
archaeology A cultural anthropology of the human past involving the on stone-tool manufacture, metallurgy, or ancient pot-
analysis of material remains left behind by earlier societies. tery. Because archaeological excavations frequently
Applied Anthropology 15
uncover remains such as bones or plant pollen, archae-

ologists often work in teams with other scientists who
specialize in the analysis of these remains.
Archaeologists’ findings complement those of
paleoanthropologists. For example, archaeological in-

formation about successive stone-tool traditions in a
particular region may correlate with fossil evidence of
prehistoric occupation of that region by ancient human
populations. Archaeologists can use dating techniques
to establish ages of artifacts, portable objects modified
by human beings. They can create distribution maps
of cultural artifacts that allow them to make hypoth-
eses about the ages, territorial ranges, and patterns of
sociocultural change in ancient societies. Tracing the
spread of cultural inventions over time from one site to
another allows them to hypothesize about the nature
and degree of social contact between different peoples
in the past. The human past that they investigate may
be quite recent: Some contemporary archaeologists dig
through layers of garbage deposited by human beings
within the last two or three decades, often uncovering
surprising information about contemporary consump-
tion patterns.
Applied Anthropology FIGURE 1.6 Members of the Argentine Forensic Anthropolo-

gists Team work on the biggest dictatorship-era mass grave to
date, where around 100 suspected victims of the 1976–1983
Applied anthropology is the subfield of anthropology military junta were buried in a local cemetery in Córdoba, 800
in which anthropologists use information gathered km (500 miles) northwest of Buenos Aires.
from the other anthropological specialties to propose
solutions to practical problems (Figure 1.6). Some may
use a particular group of people’s ideas about illness processes that attempt to shape the future of those
and health to introduce new public health practices in among whom they work (Moore 2005, 3), and this has
a way that makes sense to and will be accepted by involved a change in their understanding of what ap-
members of the group. Other applied anthropologists plied anthropology is. Les W. Field (2004), for example,
may use knowledge of traditional social organization has addressed the history of applied anthropology on
to ease the problems of refugees trying to settle in a Native American reservations—“Indian Country”—in
new land. Still others may use their knowledge of tra- the United States. He observes that by the end of the
ditional and Western methods of cultivation to help twentieth century, a major transformation had oc-
farmers increase their crop yields. Given the growing curred, “from applied anthropology in Indian Coun-
concern throughout the world with the effects of dif- try to applications of anthropological tools in Indian
ferent technologies on the environment, this kind of country to accomplish tribal goals” (472). This often
applied anthropology holds promise as a way of bring- draws anthropologists into work in the legal arena, as
ing together Western knowledge and non-Western when, for example, they have lent their expertise to ar-
knowledge to create sustainable technologies that guments in favor of legislation mandating the repatria-
minimize pollution and environmental degradation. tion of culturally significant artifacts and tribal lands in
Some applied anthropologists have become manage- North America or to efforts by tribal groups to reclaim
ment consultants or carry out market research, and
their findings may contribute to the design of new
products.
applied anthropology Subfield of anthropology in which anthropolo-
In recent years, some anthropologists have become gists use information gathered from the other anthropological specialties to
involved in policy issues, participating actively in social solve practical cross-cultural problems.
official government-recognized status (Field 2004) or various forms of suffering and disease cannot be ex-
to defending indigenous land rights in Latin America plained only by the presence of microbes in a diseased
(Stocks 2005). body, but may depend on—or be made worse by—the
Although many anthropologists believe that ap- presence of social inequality and a lack of access to
plied work can be done within any of the traditional health care. According to anthropologist Merrill Singer
four fields of anthropology, increasing numbers in (1998), critical medical anthropology “is committed to
recent years have come to view applied anthropology the ‘making social’ and the ‘making political’ of health
as a separate field of professional specialization (see and medicine” (195). Thus, critical medical anthropol-
Figure 1.2). More and more universities in the United ogists pay attention to the way social divisions based on
States have begun to develop courses and programs in class, “race,” gender, and ethnicity can block access to
a variety of forms of applied anthropology. Anthropol- medical attention or make people more vulnerable to
ogists who work for government agencies or nonprofit disease and suffering. They draw attention to the way
organizations or in other nonuniversity settings often traditional Western biomedicine “encourages people
describe what they do as the anthropology of practice. to fight disease rather than to make the changes nec-
In the twenty-first century, it has been predicted that essary to prevent it,” for example, by linking low birth
more than half of all new Ph.D.s in anthroplogy will weight in newborn babies to poor nutrition, but fail-
become practicing anthropologists rather than take ing to note that poor nutrition “may be a major health
up positions as faculty in university departments of factor among impoverished social classes and op-
anthropology. pressed ethnic groups in developed countries despite an
abundance of food in society generally” (Singer 1998,
106, 109).
Medical Anthropology One of the most important insights of critical med-
ical anthropologists has been to point out that “various
Medical anthropology is one of the most rapidly practices that bioculturalist anthropologists have tradi-
growing branches of anthropology. Beginning half a tionally called ‘adaptations’ might better be analyzed
century ago as a form of applied anthropology, it has as social adjustments to the consequences of oppres-
developed into an important anthropological spe- sive sociopolitical relationships” (Singer 1998, 115).
cialty that has offered new ways to link biological and Gavin Smith and R. Brooke Thomas, for example, draw
cultural anthropology. Medical anthropology con- attention to situations where “social relations compro-
cerns itself with human health—the factors that con- mise people’s options” for attaining biological well-
tribute to disease or illness and the ways that human being and cultural satisfaction but where people do
populations deal with disease or illness (Baer et al. not passively accept this situation and choose instead
2003, 3). Medical anthropologists may consider the to “try to escape or change these relations”; Smith and
physiological variables that are involved with human Thomas (1998) call these practices “adaptations of
health and disease, the environmental features that resistance” (466). Chapter 16 is devoted to a survey
affect human well-being, and the way the human of ethnographic research and case studies in medical
body adapts to various environments. Contemporary anthropology.
medical anthropologists engage in work that directly Medical anthropologists draw attention to the dif-
addresses the anthropological proposition that human ficulties that follow when Western understandings of
beings must be understood as biocultural organisms health and illness, rooted in the science of biology,
(Figure 1.7). are assumed to be universally applicable, no matter
Particularly significant has been the development what the context. In recent years, their views have been
of critical medical anthropology, which links questions of strengthened by the development of a broad-ranging,
human health and illness in local settings to social, eco- multidisciplinary body of work called science studies.
nomic, and political processes operating on a national As we noted earlier, in our discussion of cyborg anthro-
or global scale. Indeed, critical medical anthropologists pology, science studies research explores the intercon-
have been among the most vocal in pointing out how nections among sociocultural, political, economic, and
historic conditions that make scientific research both
possible and successful. By the turn of the twenty-first
century, research in science studies was well established
medical anthropology The specialty of anthropology that concerns itself
with human health—the factors that contribute to disease or illness and the not only in Europe and the United States but also in
ways that human populations deal with disease or illness. Asia (Fischer 2016).
The Uses of Anthropology 17
FIGURE 1.7 Medical anthropolo-

gist Andrea Wiley is shown here in
a high-altitude setting in the
Himalayas of Ladakh (India), where
she studied maternal and child
health.
Science studies is therefore a field in which many kinds come into contact with one another, learning to cope
of cyborg anthropology and medical anthropology fit very with cultural differences becomes crucial. Anthropolo-
well. Science studies has become increasingly influential in gists experience both the rewards and the risks of get-
all subfields of anthropology, suggesting innovative ways ting to know how other people live, and their work has
of bringing various subfields of anthropology into closer helped to dispel many harmful stereotypes that some-
collaboration. Examples of these kinds of collaboration times make cross-cultural contact dangerous or impos-
will appear in a number of chapters throughout this book. sible. Studying anthropology may help prepare you for
some of the shocks you will encounter in dealing with
people who look different from you, speak a different
The Uses of Anthropology language, or do not agree that the world works exactly
the way you think it does.
Why take a course in anthropology? An immediate Anthropology involves learning about the kinds
answer might be that human fossils or broken bits of an- of living organisms we human beings are, the various
cient pots or the customs of faraway peoples inspire a ways we live our lives, and how we make sense of our
fascination that is its own reward. But the experience of experiences. Studying anthropology can equip you to
being dazzled by seemingly exotic places and peoples deal with people with different cultural backgrounds in
carries with it a risk. As you become increasingly aware a less threatened, more tolerant manner. You may never
of the range of anthropological data, including the many be called on to eat termite paste. Still, you may one day
options that exist for living a satisfying human life, you encounter a situation in which none of the old rules
may find yourself wondering about the life you are seem to apply. As you struggle to make sense of what is
living. Contact with the unfamiliar can be liberating, but happening, what you learned in anthropology class may
it can also be threatening if it undermines your confi- help you relax and dare to try something totally new to
dence in the absolute truth and universal rightness of you. If you do so, perhaps you too will discover the re-
your previous understanding of the way the world works. wards of an encounter with the unfamiliar that is at the
The contemporary world is increasingly intercon- same time unaccountably familiar. We hope you will
nected. As people from different cultural backgrounds savor the experience.
IN THEIR OWN WORDS
What Can You Learn from an Anthropology Major?
The Career Development Center at SUNY Plattsburgh developed a document that highlights what students
typically learn from a major in anthropology.
1. Social agility In an unfamiliar social or career-related setting, you learn to quickly size
up the rules of the game. You can become accepted more quickly than you
could without this anthropological skill.
2. Observation You must often learn about a culture from within it, so you learn how to
interview and observe as a participant.
3. Analysis and planning You learn how to find patterns in the behavior of a cultural group. This
awareness of patterns allows you to generalize about the group’s behavior
and predict what they might do in a given situation.
4. Social sensitivity Although other people’s ways of doing things may be different from your
own, you learn the importance of events and conditions that have contrib-
uted to this difference. You also recognize that other cultures view your
ways as strange. You learn the value of behaving toward others with appro-
priate preparation, care, and understanding.
5. Accuracy in interpreting behavior You become familiar with the range of behavior in different cultures. You
learn how to look at cultural causes of behavior before assigning causes
yourself.
6. Ability to appropriately You learn that analyses of human behavior are open to challenge. You
challenge conclusions learn how to use new knowledge to test past conclusions.
7. Insightful interpretation of You learn how to use data collected by others, reorganizing or interpreting
information the data to reach original conclusions.
8. Simplification of information Because anthropology is conducted among publics as well as about them,
you learn how to simplify technical information for communication to non-
technical people.
9. Contextualization Although attention to details is a trait of anthropology, you learn that any
given detail might not be as important as its context and can even be mis-
leading when the context is ignored.
10. Problem solving Because you often function within a cultural group or act on culturally sen-
sitive issues, you learn to approach problems with care. Before acting, you
identify the problem, set your goals, decide on the actions you will take, and
calculate possible effects on other people.
11. Persuasive writing Anthropologists strive to represent the behavior of one group to another
group and continually need to engage in interpretation. You learn the value
of bringing someone else to share—or at least understand—your view
through written argument.
12. Assumption of a social perspective You learn how to perceive the acts of individuals and local groups as both
shaping and being shaped by larger sociocultural systems. The perception
enables you to “act locally and think globally.”
Source: Omohundro 2000.

For Review 19
Chapter Summary
1. Anthropology aims to describe in the broadest sense by relating varied forms of language to their cul-
what it means to be human. The anthropological tural contexts. Both gather information through
perspective is holistic, comparative, and evolutionary fieldwork, by participating with their informants in
and has relied on the concept of culture to explain social activities, and by observing those activities as
the diversity of human ways of life. Human beings outsiders. Today, some of them carry out research in
depend on cultural learning for successful biological fields like computer engineering or in ethnographic
survival and reproduction, which is why anthropolo- settings such as scientific laboratories or the Internet.
gists consider human beings biocultural organisms. They publish accounts of their research in ethnogra-
Anthropology is also a field-based discipline. In the phies. Archaeology is a cultural anthropology of the
United States today, anthropology is considered to human past, with interests ranging from the earliest
have five major subfields: biological anthropology, stone tools to twenty-first-century garbage dumps.
archaeology, cultural anthropology, linguistic an- Applied anthropologists use information from the
thropology, and applied anthropology. other anthropological specialties to solve practical
2. Biological anthropology began as an attempt to cross-cultural problems. Medical anthropology over-
classify all the world’s populations into different laps biological anthropology, cultural anthropology,
races. By the early twentieth century, however, most and applied anthropology and concerns itself with
anthropologists had rejected racial classifications as human health and illness, suffering, and well-being.
scientifically unjustifiable and objected to the ways 4. In contemporary anthropology, the multidisciplinary
in which racial classifications were used to justify the field of science studies has influenced work in all
social practice of racism. Contemporary anthropolo- subfields of anthropology, particularly in fields like
gists who are interested in human biology include medical anthropology and cyborg anthropology. By
biological anthropologists, primatologists, and offering fresh ways of rethinking the connections
paleoanthropologists. between nature and culture, people and artifacts, and
3. Cultural anthropologists study cultural diversity in people and other living species, science studies con-
all living human societies, including their own. Lin- tinues to suggest innovative ways of bringing various
guistic anthropologists approach cultural diversity subfields of anthropology into closer collaboration.
For Review
1. What is anthropology, as defined in the text? 7. What are some of the main topics of interest in
2. What are the four distinctive approaches anthro- cultural anthropology?
pologists take to the study of human life? 8. Summarize the difference between ethnography
3. How do anthropologists define culture? and ethnology.
4. What makes anthropology a cross-disciplinary 9. What do linguistic anthropologists try to learn
discipline? about human languages?
5. Describe the main subfields of modern 10. What are some of the things archaeologists study?
anthropology. 11. How is applied anthropology connected to the
6. What are some of the main topics of interest in other branches of anthropology?
biological anthropology? 12. What is critical medical anthropology?
Key Terms
anthropology 5 cultural anthropology 11 gender 11 medical
applied anthropology 15 culture 6 globalization 13 anthropology 16
archaeology 14 cyborg anthropology 13 holism 5 paleoanthropology 10
biocultural organisms 7 ethnography 12 informants 12 primatology 10
biological anthropology ethnology 12 language 14 races 8
(or physical evolution 6 linguistic racism 9
anthropology) 10 anthropology 14 science studies 13
fieldwork 12
comparison 5 material culture 7 sex 11
Suggested Readings
Ashmore, Wendy, and Robert J. Sharer. 2013. Discover- Feder, Kenneth L. 2014. Frauds, myths and mysteries: Sci-
ing our past: A brief introduction to archaeology, 6th ed. ence and pseudoscience in archaeology, 8th ed. New York:
New York: McGraw-Hill. An engaging introduction to the McGraw-Hill. An entertaining and informative exploration
techniques, assumptions, interests, and findings of modern of fascinating frauds and genuine archaeological mysteries
archaeology. that also explains the scientific method.
Besteman, Catherine, and Hugh Gusterson (eds.). 2005. Why Kidder, Tracy. 2004. Mountains beyond mountains: The quest
America’s top pundits are wrong: Anthropologists talk back. of Dr. Paul Farmer, a man who would cure the world.
Berkeley: University of California Press. According to New York: Random House. Kidder follows Dr. Farmer,
the editors, “pundits” are media personalities—conservative an anthropologist and physician, relating his efforts to enlist
and liberal—who lack authoritative knowledge on important powerful funders, the World Health Organization, and ordi-
issues but whose confident, authoritative, and entertaining nary people in neglected communities in a quest to bring the
pronouncements attract large audiences, especially when best modern medicine to those who need it most.
they defend simplified views of issues that reinforce rather Relethford, John. 2013. The human species: An introduction to
than challenge popular prejudices. Twelve anthropologists biological anthropology, 9th ed. New York: McGraw-Hill.
offer critical assessments of the writings of pundits Samuel An excellent, clear introduction to biological anthropology.
Huntington, Robert Kaplan, Thomas Friedman, and Dinesh Strang, Veronica. 2009. What anthropologists do. Oxford:
D’Sousa and also explore questionable popular accounts of Berg. Written for students, this book provides illustrations
the origins of racial inequality and sexual violence. of many ways anthropology is being used in everyday life.
MODULE 1: Anthropology, Science, and Storytelling
“Things are similar: this makes science possible. Things are

different: this makes science necessary” (Levins and Lewontin
1985, 141). Many anthropologists claim that their attempts to
explain human nature, human society, and the human past
are scientific. A scientific approach is what distinguishes the
ethnographer from the tourist, the archaeologist from the
treasure hunter. But scientists are clearly not the only people
who offer explanations for the intriguing and often contradic-
tory features of our world. People in all societies tell stories
about why we are the way we are and why we live the way
we do. What makes these nonscientific explanations different
from the scientific explanations of an anthropologist?
Scientific and Nonscientific Explanations

In some respects, scientific and nonscientific explanations
of the way the world works have much in common. For one
thing, scientists today are more aware than ever before of the
fact that scientific theorizing is a form of storytelling (Landau
1984). Like the tales collected by anthropologists from peo-
ples all over the world, scientific theories offer narrative ac-
counts of how things got to be the way they are.
Consider the following two extracts taken from longer
narratives. The first is from the Amazon and is part of the
creation story of the Desana (Tukano) people (Figure M1.1):
The sun created the Universe and for this reason he is called
Sun Father (pagé abé). He is the father of all the Desana. The
Sun created the Universe with the power of his yellow light
and gave it life and stability. From his dwelling place, bathed
in yellow reflections, the Sun made the earth, with its forests
FIGURE M1.1 Desana (Tukano) man playing panpipes.
and rivers, with its animals and plants. The Sun planned his
creation very well, and it was perfect.
The world we live in has the shape of a large disk, an afterward. Also, together with the animals, the Sun made
immense round plate. It is the world of men and animals, the spirits and the demons of the forest and the waters.
the world of life. While the dwelling place of the Sun has a The Sun created all of this when he had the yellow
yellow color, the color of the power of the Sun, the dwelling intention—when he caused the power of his yellow light
place of men and animals is of a red color, the color of fe- to penetrate, in order to form the world from it. (Reichel-
cundity and of the blood of living beings. Our earth is maria Dolmatoff 1971, 24–25)
turí, and is called the “upper level” (vekámaha turí ) because
The second extract comes from an American work on
below is another world, the “lower level” (dohkámaha turí ).
modern physics:
The world below is called Ahpikondia, Paradise. Its color
is green, and the souls of those who were good Desana At the start of the lepton era the universe is one ten-
throughout their life go there. . . . Seen from below, from thousandth of a second old, the temperature is 1 trillion
Ahpikondia, our earth looks like a large cobweb. It is trans- Kelvin (1012 K) and each cubic centimeter of the cosmic
parent, and the Sun shines light through it. The threads of quantum soup weighs about a thousand tons. The universe
this web are like the rules that men should live by, and they consists of a mixture of approximately equal numbers of pho-
are guided by these threads, seeking to live well, and the tons, electrons, electron neutrinos, muons, muon neutrinos,
Sun sees them. . . . some other particles like pions . . . and their antiparticles, plus
The Sun created the animals and the plants. To each one a relatively small “contamination” of equal numbers of pro-
he assigned the place he should live. He made all of the ani- tons and neutrons which are no longer in equilibrium with the
mals at once, except the fish and the snakes; these he made other p
articles. . . .
21
MODULE 1: Anthropology, Science, and Storytelling continued
As the temperature falls from its value at the beginning alive today was around when the world began or when our
of the lepton era, the production threshold for the muons ancestors first walked its surface, how could we ever find
is crossed. All the muons and antimuons now annihilate out what actually happened?
into electrons, positrons and muon and electron neutrinos. For increasing numbers of people over the past few cen-
Any excess charge of the muons can be passed on to the turies, the answer to this question has lain with science. The
electrons. . . . For this reason no muons survive the muon growth of modern science in western Europe and its spread
slaughter. . . . throughout the world are largely a result of scientists’ belief
At the end of the lepton era all the heavy leptons, muons that the answers to the history of the world could be found
and tauons have disappeared, while hordes of neutrinos in the world itself if only people looked at the world in a new
flood the universe but no longer interact with anything. Pho- way. This new perspective claimed that “the world of phe-
tons, electrons and antielectrons are still in equilibria, creat- nomena is a consequence of the regular operation of repeat-
ing and destroying one another. When the temperature falls able causes and their repeatable effects, operating roughly
below the production threshold to create electron–positron along the lines of known physical law” (Lewontin 1983, xxvi).
pairs, most of the pairs annihilate into photons. This temper- Scientists believed that remarkable new insights about the
ature threshold marks the beginning of the photon era. . . . universe, the objects in it, and even ourselves could be gained
At the first second (which marks the beginning of if we carried out observations according to a new set of rules.
the photon era, which goes on to last for 300,000 years), These rules were first set on a firm foundation by Isaac
the temperature of the photons was 10 billion Kelvin and Newton (Figure M1.2). A pious Christian, Newton did not doubt
the density of the radiation about 100 kilograms (about that God had created the universe, yet he believed that the
220 pounds) per cubic centimeter—a very thick viscous fluid universe God had created was orderly, that the movements
of light. . . . (Pagels 1985, 250–53) of objects within it were constrained by laws discoverable
by human reason, and that those laws could be precisely
Both the Desana story and the scientific story might
described using the language of mathematics. Newton’s ap-
be called myths—as long as we use this term the way an-
proach gained followers because it was extremely successful
thropologists use it. For anthropologists, myths are stories
at describing and predicting, exactly as it had promised. More-
that recount how various aspects of the world came to be
over, different observers could independently test the descrip-
the way they are. The power of myths comes from their
tions and predictions, and scientific knowledge could grow as
ability to make life meaningful for those who accept them.
the verified predictions were retained and the unverified pre-
The truth of myths seems self-evident because they effec-
dictions were discarded. Most fatefully, the new, scientifically
tively integrate personal experiences with a wider set of as-
verified knowledge about nature’s laws could be put to work
sumptions about the way society, or the world in general,
to transform nature in unprecedented ways. It appeared that
operates. In everyday speech, by contrast, the term myth
human desires could be satisfied through scientific mastery of
is used to refer to a story that is false. To be sure, origin
the material world. For many people, the practical application
myths like the Desana tale contain marvelous and fantas-
of scientific discoveries in astronomy, navigation, and industry
tic elements that stretch the credulity of ordinary sensi-
became the clinching proof of scientific superiority.
ble folk. Still, the anthropological understanding of myth
Niles Eldredge and Ian Tattersall (1982), two prominent
does not assume that myths are necessarily false. Stories
evolutionary biologists, have written that science is “story-
that survive to become myths usually connect in impor-
telling, albeit of a special kind. Science is the invention of ex-
tant ways with everyday human experiences in a particu-
planations about what things are, how they work, and how
lar society. But what about stories that recount events that
they came to be. There are rules, to be sure: for a statement
we could never experience personally, such as the origin
to be scientific, we must be able to go to nature and assess
of the universe? If we study a variety of origin myths from
how well it actually fits our observations of the universe”
different cultural traditions, we learn that many of these
(1). Indeed, these rules give science its particular dynamic
stories differ substantially from one another. Since nobody
because science is firmly and explicitly committed to open-
ended self-correction. If ideas about the way the world works
can be shown not to fit our observations of the universe, then
myths Stories that recount how various aspects of the world came to be the scientist must reject those ideas, regardless of the conse-
the way they are. The power of myths comes from their ability to make life quences, and invent better ones.
meaningful for those who accept them. The truth of myths seems self-evident Scientists believe that the answers to questions about
because they effectively integrate personal experiences with a wider set of
how the world works can be found by going to the world
assumptions about the way society, or the world in general, must operate.
itself. Put another way, science is empirical, based on con-
science The invention of explanations about what things are, how they
work, and how they came to be that can be tested against evidence in the crete experience and observation. Scientists have never
world itself. been content to observe the world without getting their
22
frequently as you read this book. Special attention must be
paid to the way scientists define these terms because they
are also often used in everyday speech with rather different
meanings. Six terms are particularly important: assumptions,
evidence, hypotheses, testability, theories, and objectivity.
Assumptions Assumptions are basic, unquestioned un-

derstandings about the way the world works. Under ordinary
circumstances, most human beings do not question whether
the sun will come up in the morning; it is taken for granted.
If you want to go birdwatching tomorrow, you might be con-
cerned about how cold it will be or whether it will rain, but you
need not worry whether the sun will rise.
Everybody, scientist or not, operates on the basis of as-
sumptions. Scientists are particularly concerned about the
assumptions they bring to their observations of the natural
world because the significance of what they see and mea-
sure is never obvious. If their observations are guided by in-
correct assumptions about the way the world works, their
measurements will be meaningless and the conclusions they
draw from those measurements will be misleading.
Evidence In science, evidence refers to what we can see

when we examine a particular part of the world with great
care. The structures and processes of living cells as revealed
under the microscope, the systematic distribution of related
FIGURE M1.2 One of the founders of the new worldview of
species of birds in neighboring geographical regions, the dif-
science, Sir Isaac Newton (1642–1727), made major contribu-
tions to mathematics, optics, and experimental investigation. ferent kinds of bones found together again and again in the
same geological strata—these are examples of the kinds of
evidence scientists use to support theories of biological evo-
hands dirty. Scientific theories must build on and be tested lution. There are two different kinds of evidence: material and
against direct physical contact with real objects in the world. inferred.
Of course, scientists did not invent trial-and-error experi-
mentation with the material world; that activity lies behind Material evidence consists of things—material objects—
the technical achievements of all human societies. Never- themselves, information recorded about them, or scientific
theless, scientific research has taken experimentation to a measurements made of them. In the study of human origins,
new level of complexity. Using elaborate tools that are them- for example, bones and stones are the most conspicuous
selves the product of previous scientific work, scientists have forms of material evidence (Figure M1.3a) but so are care-
engaged in increasingly refined experimental manipulation ful records (including photographs) of other material ob-
of material objects and processes in the world. One result of jects recovered from the site of an excavation. The precise
this activity has been the production of more sophisticated geological layering at a site is an important form of material
stories about the way the world works. The success and per- evidence but so are objects at a site (e.g., certain kinds of
suasive power of evolutionary biology, for example, are due rocks or baked clay) that can be subjected to forms of labora-
in no small measure to the fact that scientists have been able tory analysis that yield reliable information about the dates
to generate new evidence about the living world, reinterpret when they formed. For cultural anthropologists, ritual per-
old evidence, and produce a new story that remains richer, formances observed and transcribed in the field constitute
more comprehensive, and more fruitful than any of its rivals.
Some Key Scientific Concepts assumptions Basic, unquestioned understandings about the way the
world works.
The first step in understanding scientific stories is to master a
evidence What is seen when a particular part of the world is examined
few key concepts that are part of every scientist’s vocabulary. with great care. Scientists use two different kinds of evidence: material and
In this section, we introduce some terms you will encounter inferred.
23
a b
FIGURE M1.3 That particular material features, such as this pot (a), are found
in an archaeological site and that the people of Bali perform a certain dance (b) are
material facts, verifiable by inspection. How or why the pot came to be here and
what it was used for or what this dance means may be far from obvious and must
be inferred.
material evidence (Figure M1.3b). Material evidence is ordi- connection between material evidence and inferred evidence
narily what scientists mean when they refer to “the facts” or is an intimate one. Several scientists examining the same ma-
“the data.” terial evidence frequently emphasize different descriptions
Material evidence has two striking attributes. First, “the and construct different explanations of what it is and how it
facts” can be inspected by anyone who wants to examine got there. Rather than the facts speaking for themselves, the
them. Like cowpats in a pasture, the facts exist in their own observers speak to one another about the facts in an attempt
right, and their existence, shape, and position cannot be ig- to make sense of them.
nored by people who wish to walk through the particular For example, the discovery of ancient hominin bones on
field and keep their shoes clean. Second, the facts cannot the Indonesian island of Flores in 2003 sparked much debate
speak for themselves. That a particular accumulation of among paleontologists (Figure M1.4). The bones are tens of
bones and stones was found at a certain place in an archae- thousands of years old and look human but are unusually
ological site and that certain people perform a particular small. Some paleontologists have argued that the bones be-
ritual are material facts verifiable by inspection. How or why longed to modern humans who suffered from a disease that
the bones and stones got there or what the ritual means reduced their stature. Other paleontologists insist that the
may be far from obvious. This leads to the second kind of bones show no morphological signs of such disease and that
evidence used by scientists: the interpretation put on mate- they most likely represent a previously undiscovered spe-
rial evidence. cies of Homo. Further, they argue that this species evolved
to have a small stature in response to selective pressures
Inferred evidence is material evidence plus interpretation. associated with living on an island, a phenomenon known
As one paleoanthropologist observes, “We can all see a bone as insular dwarfing. Others prefer to withhold judgment until
and know it is a bone, but what it is ‘evidence’ for depends more fossil evidence is available.
upon one’s interpretation” (Clarke 1985, 176–77). Interpreta- As you will see, scientific debate about evolution has long
tion begins with the simple description of individual objects involved just this sort of interpretive dialogue. But it is im-
or events and is followed by the description of patterns of dis- portant to remember that the debates about interpretation
tribution of similar objects and events. The final stage of inter- would be pointless without something to interpret. Science
pretation consists of elaborate explanatory frameworks that is more than just “the data,” but it can never get too far away
link many different objects or events to one another by draw- from the data before it is not science anymore. The data are
ing on findings from many different fields of knowledge. The the pretext and the context for debate among observers.
24
matched. If the bones from Hadar appeared more similar to
the bones of humans than to the bones of monkeys or apes,
we would be justified in concluding that we had found the
bones of an organism ancestral to modern humans. Our con-
fidence in the correctness of the original hypothesis would
increase, especially if a number of experts in primate anat-
omy agreed.
Why would the experts not simply claim, however, that
the fossils from Hadar belonged to a human being just like
ourselves who happened to have lived and died millions of
years ago? What would lead them to conclude that these
fossils belonged to a primate ancestral to modern human
beings? The answer to this question depends on just how
similar to modern human bones the Hadar fossils appeared
FIGURE M1.4 A ncient hominin bones from the Indonesian to be. Paleoanthropologists would be justified in assigning
island of Flores (the skull is pictured above, between a Homo the bones from Hadar to an ancestor of modern humans
erectus skull on the left and a modern human skull on the right)
if the bones, although clearly humanlike, nevertheless dif-
have been the subject of much debate among paleontologists.
fered in some significant respect from the bones of modern
human beings. If the bones were significantly smaller than
The data, in their stubborn materiality, set limits to the kinds those of modern human beings, if the teeth were signifi-
of interpretation that are scientifically plausible. cantly larger in proportion to the jaw, if the skull were sig-
nificantly smaller, if the arm bones were relatively longer in
Hypotheses Scientists state their interpretations of data proportion to the leg bones, if the finger and toe bones ap-
in the form of hypotheses, which are statements that assert peared curved—all these traits would suggest strongly that
a particular connection between fact and interpretation, such the bones from Hadar, although humanlike, did not belong
as “The bones found at the Hadar site in Ethiopia belonged to to a modern human being.
an extinct form of primate that appears ancestral to modern In addition, if the same geological strata yielding the
human beings.” Hypotheses are also predictions about future Hadar bones produced the fossils of other organisms that
data based on data already in hand. On the basis of the Hadar were equally unlike the bones of living animals, we might
findings, paleoanthropologists might hypothesize as follows: well conclude that we had discovered the remains of more
“Bones similar to those found at Hadar are likely to be found in than one extinct animal species. The plausibility of our origi-
geological strata of the same age elsewhere in eastern Africa.” nal hypothesis about the bones from the Hadar site would
Indeed, hypotheses of the latter kind have guided paleoan- be further strengthened.
thropologists in their search for fossils of human ancestors. Some hypotheses, however, may not be subject to testabil-
The impressive collections of fossils of all kinds that have ity. That is, there may be no way, even in principle, to find evi-
been amassed over the past couple of centuries show just dence in nature that could show a hypothesis to be false. As a
how successful such hypotheses have been in guiding scien- result, even if such a hypothesis were correct, it could not be
tific discovery. considered a scientific hypothesis. Suppose someone were to
hypothesize that all of the fossils from the Hadar site (together
Testability Testability is the scientific requirement that a with all the objects in every geological layer on the surface of
hypothesis must be matched against evidence to see whether the earth) had been placed in the ground 10,000 years ago by
it is confirmed or refuted. That is, our assertion about the aliens from another planet. These aliens had the desire and
connection between fact and interpretation must be subject the skill to trick us about the history of life on earth. Is such a
to testability if it is to be regarded as a scientific hypothesis. hypothesis testable? What sort of evidence could nature give
How might we test the hypothesis about the bones from us that would either confirm or refute such a hypothesis?
the Hadar site? The first step would be to make sure the Certainly, if we found the remains of sophisticated tech-
bones were not simply those of a modern primate that had nological devices alongside the fossil bones, we would
recently died. If examination of the bones revealed them to
be permeated by mineral deposits, making them hard and
stonelike, we would be justified in concluding that they were
hypotheses Statements that assert a particular connection between fact
very old because such a process takes a long time. The next and interpretation.
step might be to compare the fossil bones with the bones testability The ability of scientific hypotheses to be matched against
of living primates, human and nonhuman, to see how they nature to see whether they are confirmed or refuted.
25
instantly suspect that the site was very odd. Our suspicion soil; it does mean, however, that the alien hypothesis need
might be confirmed if laboratory analysis reported that not be taken seriously by scientists. Under these circum-
these devices were constructed using materials and engi- stances, to continue to support the alien hypothesis would
neering principles unknown on earth. Our suspicion would be to leave the realm of science and enter the realm of sci-
deepen if the remains of similar devices began to appear ence fiction.
regularly in paleontological digs, and it would become more
than suspicion if datable remains from every site, analyzed Theories In everyday speech, we frequently use the word
by a variety of laboratory techniques, consistently turned theory to refer to an explanation that is as likely to be false
out to be around 10,000 years old! But what if no such ma- as it is to be true. Indeed, we tend to invent “theories” in the
terial evidence were ever found? What if nothing in any absence of evidence. This is why we often plead “It’s just a
archaeological site suggested the presence of high technol- theory” to defend ourselves against critics who demand that
ogy, alien or otherwise? What if the objects recovered from we produce evidence to back up our claims. In science, the
digs turned out to vary in age in a manner consistent with contrary is true. Scientists speak of a scientific theory only
the geological layers in which they were found? What if only when they are able to link up a series of testable hypotheses in
a few sites could be reliably dated to 10,000 years ago and a coherent manner to explain a body of material evidence. Sci-
many more could be reliably dated to either older or more entific theories are the combined result of sifting data, testing
recent times? hypotheses, and imagining how all the resulting information
Perhaps die-hard supporters of the alien story might might be put together in an enlightening way. Scientific theo-
offer a new hypothesis. They might claim that the aliens were ries are taken seriously because they account for a wide range
so amazingly skilled that they were able to arrange the pat- of material evidence in a coherent, persuasive manner even
tern of burial so as to trick us into thinking we were observ- though their hypotheses remain open to testing and possible
ing a series of deposits laid down over time. The aliens were falsification. The most powerful theories in science, such as
so fiendishly clever that they were able to chemically treat the theory of relativity or the theory of evolution, are valued
the objects they buried in a way that would make them yield not just because they explain more of the material evidence
misleading dates—a pattern of misleading dates—whenever than their competitors but also because their central hypoth-
they were subjected to laboratory analysis! eses are open to testing and potential falsification—and yet,
We now have a new alien hypothesis to consider, but this after repeated tests, they have never been disconfirmed.
time we cannot call it a scientific hypothesis. The first ver- It is often the case that the same body of material evi-
sion of the alien hypothesis was not confirmed: it was tested dence, interpreted in different ways, gives rise to rival theo-
against nature and did not match. But there is no way of test- ries. Scientists have long been involved in a lively dialogue
ing the new hypothesis that aliens carried out this massive with one another about the meaning of material evidence,
task of rearranging the layers in the earth’s crust and tam- as well as about what should count as material evidence in
pering with its contents. If scientists objected that the bones the first place. This scientific give-and-take helps refine and
and stones in their laboratories showed no evidence of strengthen some theories over time while exposing the
chemical tampering, a defender of the new hypothesis could weaknesses of others. Areas in which scientists agree at one
reply that this demonstrated how adept the aliens were at period, however, may be reopened for debate at a later time,
covering their tracks. Indeed, any evidence offered by a sci- when new material evidence or a new hypothesis, or both,
entist to refute the new hypothesis would simply be inter- arises. As scientists compare their theories not only with
preted by supporters as another part of the alien scheme to nature but also with the theories of their rivals, their under-
deceive earthlings. standing is deepened and their theories are revised.
In the absence of any evidence to support it and the
presence of overwhelming evidence against it (all the pat- Objectivity One reason scientific findings are highly re-
terned geological deposits with older or younger dates, spected is that they are considered objective. But what do
cross-checked by more than one dating method), the new we mean when we speak of “objectivity”? The meaning of
alien hypothesis holds no scientific interest. This does not this concept in Western thought has varied over time, but
mean that scientists have proved beyond question that by the nineteenth century objectivity had acquired the
aliens never visited our planet or buried fake fossils in our meaning many people associate with it today: a judgment
about some feature of the world that is free of individual id-
iosyncrasies (Daston 1999, 111). Western science has tradi-
tionally emphasized the demands that objectivity places on
scientific theory A coherently organized series of testable hypotheses
used to explain a body of material evidence. individual scientists. From this point of view, objectivity can
objectivity The separation of observation and reporting from the re- be defined as “the separation of observation and reporting
searcher’s wishes. from the researcher’s wishes” (Levins and Lewontin 1985,
26
225). Because theories are rooted in material evidence, new theorists (anthropologists among them) had produced a
material evidence can tip the balance in favor of one theory large body of work known as science studies, which ex-
over its alternatives or expose all current theories as inad- plores the interconnections among the sociocultural, politi-
equate. Scientific researchers who faithfully report results cal, economic, and historic conditions that make scientific
even when these results undermine their own pet hypoth- research both possible and successful. As we observed in
eses would be viewed as objective in this individual sense. Chapter 1, science studies has provided a stronger, more nu-
But scientific objectivity may also be understood as an anced account of how science is done and why it succeeds (or
attribute of communities of scientists, not just of individual fails), primarily by drawing attention to people, technology,
researchers. Most historians and philosophers of science and institutions whose activity is essential for the success
recognize that science as it developed in western Europe of science, but that are regularly downplayed or ignored in
has always been a social activity. The testability of scientific standard accounts of the scientific method.
hypotheses, for example, makes sense only when we under- One innovation of science studies that is important for
stand that an individual’s work is carried out in a scientific anthropology was laboratory ethnography. One of the first
community whose members share their work, in the form laboratory ethnographers was Bruno Latour, who carried
of public presentations or articles in professional journals. out fieldwork at the Salk Institute in Southern California in
Members of the same scientific community scrutinize each the 1970s (Latour and Woolgar 1986). Laboratory fieldwork
other’s stories about nature, testing to see if they are con- involves following scientists as they go about their everyday
firmed or disconfirmed, in a process called “peer review.” laboratory activities and brings to light the range of embod-
Public evaluation of scientists’ work ideally appeals to the ied skills that scientists in certain fields must master if they
same standards for everyone, and members of the commu- are effectively to operate the often-elaborate technologi-
nity are expected to be responsive to the observations of all cal apparatuses that make successful research possible. In
knowledgeable critics (Figure M1.5). As philosopher of sci- addition, Latour and others revealed the significance of a
ence Helen Longino (1990) emphasizes, responsiveness to range of “nonscientific” institutions and individuals outside
other members of a scientific community “does not require the laboratory whose support was essential if “strictly sci-
that individuals whose data and assumptions are criticized entific” research projects inside the laboratory were to con-
recant. . . . What is required is that community members tinue (Latour and Woolgar 1986; Latour 1987). Successful
pay attention to the critical discussion taking place and that directors of laboratories, for example, must wear many hats:
the assumptions that govern their group activity remain log- Not only must they be able to secure proper working con-
ically sensitive to it” (78). ditions for their scientific staff, but also they must cultivate
Longino (1990) adds that criticism cannot go on indefi- good relationships with university administrators, labora-
nitely if scientific research is to achieve its goals. Scien- tory instrument makers, government funding agencies, and,
tists become impatient if their detractors repeat the same increasingly, private industry. These days, some scientists
criticisms over and over but never develop an alternative even run their own companies.
research program of their own that produces rich new evi- Recent successful laboratory ethnographies undertaken
dence in support of their own views (Longino, 79). In part, by anthropologists can be found in the 2014 volume Mestizo
this is because scientists are often unwilling to give up on Genomics: Race Mixture, Nation, and Science in Latin America,
even an inadequate research program until they find an al- edited by Peter Wade, Carlos López Beltrán, E duardo Re-
ternative that somehow works better than what they already strepo, and Ricardo Ventura Santos. Three of the four edi-
have. This unsatisfactory state of affairs regularly provokes tors of this collection are anthropologists, and the fourth
the development of new approaches in science that produce is a historian of science. The chapters in the volume are
new evidence, thus allowing critics to do more than merely based on laboratory ethnographies carried out in genet-
point out the deficiencies of other scientists’ work. The his- ics laboratories in Mexico, Brazil, and Colombia, countries
tory of paleoanthropology is full of lively debates that have whose populations have often been considered to be the
produced new theories, new evidence, and new research product of “race mixture” between European conquista-
techniques (such as those associated with dating ancient fos- dors, enslaved Africans, and Indigenous peoples. In each
sils and artifacts or recovering ancient biomolecules such as country, ethnographers worked closely with scientists in
DNA). These have enormously increased our understanding different laboratories and were able to show (among other
of the complex evolutionary history of our species and our things) how scientists’ relationships outside the laboratory
closest relatives.
Scholars like Helen Longino and Lorraine Daston have
been part of an important multidisciplinary effort over the
science studies Research that explores the interconnections among the
past quarter century to rethink traditional assumptions sociocultural, political, economic, and historic conditions that make scientific
about what science is and how it works. By the 1980s, these research both possible and successful.
27
a b
FIGURE M1.5 There is an important social aspect to science. It is not just that scientists work in
teams, but they also meet regularly to discuss and debate their research, informally as conference
goers seek food (a) or formally as bioanthropologist Jonathan Marks presents his research (b).
(for example, with members of local populations from which Bodies, Situated in Time, Space, Culture, and Society, and Strug-
they desired to obtain genetic samples) affected the kind of gling for Credibility and Authority (2010). The title of Shapin’s
science carried out inside the laboratory. The scientists’ ini- book also highlights the way science studies draws attention
tial concern to identify genes that put different populations to the people with bodies who were involved with science
at risk for genetic diseases became aligned with the concern and technology as researchers, as research subjects, or in
of national governments to accord official political recogni- other vital supporting roles. As we o bserved in Chapter 1,
tion to different ethnic and racial groups within each coun- science studies scholarship has influenced work in all sub-
try. Finally, the authors explore a paradox in the ways the fields of anthropology and suggests innovative ways to bring
results of this research were received by different audiences: various subfields of anthropology into closer collaboration.
“while [the patterns scientists discovered] appear nonracial We will present examples of such collaboration in subse-
to genetic experts, [they] might look a lot like race to nonex- quent chapters.
perts in genetics . . . reinforcing commonsense understand- To evaluate the scientific stories told about human ori-
ings of human diversity as divided up into continent-shaped gins, people must become more knowledgeable about the
groups” (2014a: 2). kinds of material evidence and the interpretations of that
Many anthropologists value science studies for having evidence that scientists use. This book deals with both
provided a more accurate, if less exalted, view of the com- matters. The next two chapters provide an overview of the
plex alliances and entanglements that produce scientific basic elements of modern evolutionary theory and the evi-
outcomes. The legacy of science studies in anthropology has dence that evolutionary biologists have collected to sup-
inspired anthropologists such as primatologists who work port their hypotheses. Subsequent chapters will discuss,
with other species (e.g., Fuentes 2012) as well as archaeolo- step by step, the way scientific inquiry into the biology of
gists and other anthropologists interested in material cul- living primates, the analysis of fossils, the interpretation
ture, from clothing to computers to art objects and ancient of archaeological remains, and the study of a wide range of
artifacts (e.g., Miller 2005; Hodder 2012). Historian of science contemporary human societies has provided a vast body
Steven Shapin encapsulates the science studies perspective of evidence in support of an evolutionary story about
in the title of a recent collection of his essays: Never Pure: human origins, the origin of culture, and the development
Historical Studies of Science as If It Was Produced by People with of human cultural diversity.
28
Module Summary For Review
1. Anthropologists regularly claim that their attempts to 1. According to the text, what is science?
explain human nature, human society, and the human
2. How does science differ from myth?
past are scientific. Scientists are not the only people to
tell stories about the way the world works. But scientific 3. Why must scientists be particularly concerned about
stories are different from other stories because they the assumptions they bring to their observations of the
must be open to testing that will confirm or refute them. natural world?
Stories about the material world that are not open to
4. Explain the difference between material and inferred
this kind of testing cannot be considered scientific.
evidence.
2. Scientists use the term theory in a way that is different
5. Why does a hypothesis need to be testable to be consid-
from everyday, nonscientific usage. Well-confirmed scien-
ered scientific?
tific theories are taken very seriously by scientists because
they account for a wide range of material evidence in a co- 6. What are scientific theories, and why are they taken
herent, persuasive manner, although they remain open to seriously even when their hypotheses remain open to
testing and possible refutation. The most powerful scien- testing?
tific theories are those whose key hypotheses have been
7. What is objectivity?
tested repeatedly and have never been disconfirmed.
8. Summarize the discussion in the text about scientific
3. Over the past quarter century, many anthropologists
communities.
and other scholars have become involved in the inter-
disciplinary field of science studies, which subjects sci-
entific laboratories and their activities to ethnographic
investigation, and have shown how successful science Key Terms
in action differs from traditional idealized accounts of assumptions 23 science 22
scientific research. Science studies research highlighting evidence 23 science studies 27
the productive interconnections among human beings,
hypotheses 25 scientific theory 26
nonhuman organisms, and technical apparatus in the
myths 22 testability 25
course of scientific research has inspired anthropolo-
gists from many subfields to revise our understanding objectivity 26
of relationships between nature and culture, people
and artifacts, and people and other living species.
29
2
Why is evolution important
to anthropologists?
This question is fundamental to contemporary anthropology and is a topic
of great significance in wider scientific discussions. In this chapter, we will
look at how the living world was understood before the nineteenth century,
where Darwin’s ideas came from, how they have been further elaborated
since his time, and why evolutionary theory continues to be our most pow-
erful tool for understanding biological processes today.
CHAPTER OUTLINE
What Is Evolutionary Theory? What Are the Basics of
What Material Evidence Is Contemporary Genetics?
There for Evolution? Genes and Traits
Pre-Darwinian Views of the Mutation
Natural World DNA and the Genome
Essentialism Genotype, Phenotype, and the
The Great Chain of Being Norm of Reaction
Catastrophism and What Does Evolution Mean?
Uniformitarianism Chapter Summary
Transformational Evolution
For Review
What Is Natural Selection? Key Terms
Population Thinking
Suggested Readings
Natural Selection in Action
How Did Biologists Learn
about Genes?
Mendel’s Experiments
The Emergence of Genetics
Galapagos Darwin finch in the Galápagos Islands, Ecuador. 31

32 CHAPTER 2: WHY IS EVOLUTION IMPORTANT TO ANTHROPOLOGISTS?
Seine River basin,

FRANCE
Galápagos Islands,
ECUADOR
FIGURE 2.1 Major locations discussed in Chapter 2.
P hilosopher of science Philip Kitcher (1982) has

suggested that successful scientific theories are test-
able, unified, and fruitful. A theory is testable when its
produced a still-developing, powerful, multistranded
theory. To understand the arguments made by modern
evolutionary biologists, we must learn the language of
hypotheses can be independently matched up against evolution. The payoff will be a nuanced view of what
nature. A theory is unified when it offers just one or a the theory of evolution is really about and how power-
few basic problem-solving strategies that make sense of ful it really is.
a wide range of material evidence. And a theory is fruit-
ful when its central principles suggest new and promis-
ing possibilities for further research. The modern theory
of biological evolution possesses all three characteris-
What Is Evolutionary Theory?
tics. Evolutionary hypotheses are highly testable in a Evolutionary theory claims that living species can
number of ways. As we shall see, material evidence from change over time and give rise to new kinds of spe-
widely diverse sources has consistently fit evolutionary cies, with the result that all organisms ultimately share
predictions. Because it is based on a few central concepts a common ancestry. Because of this common ancestry,
and assumptions, the evolutionary research program is information about biological variation in finches or ge-
also highly unified. Charles Darwin’s On the Origin of netic transmission in fruit flies can help us understand
Species by Means of Natural Selection appeared in 1859. the roles of biological variation and genetics in human
As Kitcher (1982, 48) puts it, Darwin “gave structure to evolution.
our ignorance.” After that date, biologists could borrow Eldredge and Tattersall (1982) observe that evolu-
Darwin’s methods to guide them in new and promis- tion “is as highly verified a thesis as can be found in sci-
ing directions. The study of life has not been the same ence. Subjected to close scrutiny from all angles for over
since. As we begin our study of human evolution, you a century now, evolution emerges as the only naturalis-
may be surprised at the number of terms and concepts tic explanation we have of the twin patterns of similar-
that you are learning from biology, genetics, and ecol- ity and diversity that pervade all life” (2). Steven Stanley
ogy. The theory of evolution has engaged the efforts of (1981), another evolutionary biologist, states that “the
many scientists for more than 150 years. Their work has theory of evolution is not just getting older, it is getting
better. Like any scientific concept that has long withstood
the test of time, this one has suffered setbacks, but, time
and again, has rebounded to become richer and stron-
evolutionary theory The set of testable hypotheses that assert that
living organisms can change over time and give rise to new kinds of organ-
ger” (xv). Thirty years later, evolutionary thinkers remain
isms, with the result that all organisms ultimately share a common ancestry. convinced that the story they propose to tell about the
history of life on earth is more persuasive than any of this kind suggested change over space, which, again, any
its rivals. To what do they owe this sense of confidence? persuasive biological theory would have to explain.
In the centuries before Darwin, however, the fossil
record was mostly unknown, and many of those con-
What Material Evidence cerned with biology did not see the pattern of d
istribution
Is There for Evolution? of living species as evidence for past change. To under-
stand why Darwin’s ideas had such a powerful impact
Two kinds of material evidence have been particularly requires an understanding of pre-Darwinian views of the
important in the development of evolutionary theory: natural world (Table 2.1).
material evidence of change over time and material ev-
idence of change across space. Geological research led
to the discovery of the fossil record—the remains of life Pre-Darwinian Views of the
forms that had been preserved in the earth for a long time.
When scientists compared these fossils with each other
Natural World
and with living organisms, they noted that the living or- In the Western societies of antiquity, the Greeks thought
ganisms were quite different from the fossilized organ- the world had been, and would be, around forever; in
isms. This was material evidence of change over time, or the Judeo-Christian tradition, it was thought that the
evolution, in the kinds of organisms that have lived on world was young and would end soon. Both traditions
the earth. Any persuasive biological theory would have saw the world as fixed and unchanging.
to find a way to explain this material evidence.
Equally important material evidence for the develop-
ment of evolutionary theory came from the study of living Essentialism
organisms. Darwin himself was most interested in ex- If the world does not change, then the various forms of
plaining the pattern of distribution of living species of or- life that are part of that world also do not change. We
ganisms. In one of his best-known studies, Darwin noted can trace this view back to the ancient Greek philoso-
that neighboring geographic areas on the islands of the pher Plato. A central element of Plato’s philosophy was
Galápagos Archipelago were inhabited by species of finch a belief in an ideal world of perfect, eternal, unchang-
different from the finch species found on the Ecuadorian ing forms that exist apart from the imperfect, change-
mainland. At the same time, the various Galápagos species able, physical world of living things. Plato believed that
resembled one another closely and resembled mainland these two worlds—ideal and material—were linked and
finch species (Figure 2.2). Species distribution patterns of that every ideal form—the ideal form of “cowness,”
for instance—was represented in the physical, material
world by a number of imperfect but recognizable real
cows of varying sizes, colors, temperaments, and so on.
When observers looked at real cows and saw their simi-
larities despite all this variation, Plato believed that what
they were really seeing was the ideal form, or essence, of
“cowness” that each individual cow incarnated.
According to Plato, all living things that share the
same essence belong to the same “natural kind,” and
there are many natural kinds in the world, each of which
is the result of the imperfect incarnation in the physical
world of one or another eternal form or ideal (“cowness,”
“humanness,” “ratness,” and the like). This view is called
essentialism. For essentialists, as Ernst Mayr (1982) ex-
plained, “each species is characterized by its unchang-
ing essence . . . and separated from all other species by
FIGURE 2.2 Charles Darwin and Alfred Russel Wallace evolution The process of change over time.
explained the pattern of distribution of living species of essentialism The belief, derived from Plato, in fixed ideas, or “forms,”
organisms (such as the various species of finches living on the that exist perfect and unchanging in eternity. Actual objects in the temporal
Galápagos Islands) by arguing that all the variants had evolved world, such as cows or horses, are seen as imperfect material realizations of
from a single ancestral species. the ideal form that defines their kind.
TABLE 2.1 Pre-Darwinian Views of the Natural World

VIEW KEY FEATURES
Essentialism Each “natural kind” of living thing is characterized by an unchanging core of features and
separated from all other natural kinds by a sharp break.
Great Chain of Being Based on three principles:

1. Continuity: Attributes of one kind of organism always overlap to some extent with the
attributes of organisms closest to it in the classification.
2. Plentitude: A world of organisms created by a benevolent God can have no gaps but must
include all logically conceivable organisms.
3. Unilinear gradation: All organisms can be arranged in a single hierarchy based on various
degrees to which they depart from divine perfection.
Catastrophism The notion that natural disasters, such as floods, are responsible for the extinction of species,
which are then replaced by new species.
Uniformitarianism The belief that the same gradual processes of erosion and uplift that change the earth’s
surface today had been at work in the past. Thus, we can use our understanding of current
processes to reconstruct the history of the earth.
Transformational Assuming essentialist species and a uniformly changing environment, Lamarck argued that
evolution individual members of a species transform themselves in identical ways to adapt to commonly
experienced changes in the environment. To explain why, Lamarck invoked (1) the law of use
and disuse and (2) the inheritance of acquired characters.
a sharp discontinuity. Essentialism assumes that the di- world of organisms created by a benevolent God can
versity of inanimate as well as of organic nature is the have no gaps but must include all logically conceivable
reflection of a limited number of unchanging univer- organisms. Finally, the ancient philosophers’ assump-
sals. . . . All those objects belong to the same species tion that God alone is self-sufficient and perfect implied
that share the same essence” (256). That essence is what that each of God’s creatures must lack, to a greater or
made every individual cow a cow and not, say, a deer. lesser degree, some part of divine perfection. As a result,
the various kinds of organisms can be arranged in a
single hierarchy, or unilinear gradation, like a ladder or
The Great Chain of Being a chain, based on the degrees to which they depart from
Greek ideas were adopted and adapted by thinkers in the the divine ideal.
Judeo-Christian religious tradition. By the Middle Ages, When the notion of unilinear gradation was combined
many scholars thought they could describe the organiz- with the notions of continuity and plenitude, the result
ing principles responsible for harmony in nature. Ac- was called the Great Chain of Being, a comprehensive
cording to Arthur Lovejoy ([1936] 1960), they reasoned framework for interpreting the natural world. This frame-
as follows: the ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle sug- work suggested that the entire cosmos was composed “of
gested that kinds of organisms could be arranged in a an immense, or of an infinite, number of links . . . every
single line from most primitive to most advanced. He one of them differing from that immediately above and
further argued that the attributes of one kind of organ- that immediately below it by the ‘least possible’ degree of
ism always overlap to some extent with the attributes of difference” (Lovejoy [1936] 1960, 59). Degrees of differ-
organisms closest to it in the classification, so that the ence were understood in theological terms to be degrees of
differences between adjacent organisms were slight. To- excellence. Creatures farthest away from divine perfection
gether, these ideas constituted a principle of continuity. were lowest in the hierarchy, whereas creatures most like
Logically implied by the principle of continuity is the God (such as the angels) ranked highest. Human beings
principle of plenitude, or fullness, which states that a occupied a unique position in the chain. Their material
bodies linked them to other material beings, but unlike
other material creatures, they also possessed souls and
Great Chain of Being A comprehensive framework for interpreting the were thereby linked to the spiritual realm by a God who
world, based on Aristotelian principles and elaborated during the Middle had created them in his image.
Ages, in which every kind of living organism was linked to every other kind
in an enormous, divinely created chain. An organism differed from the kinds For several hundred years—from the Middle Ages
immediately above it and below it on the chain by the least possible degree. through the eighteenth century—the Great Chain of
KINGDOM ANIMAL
Subkingdoms Protozoa METAZOA
Phyla Porifera Coelenterata Platyhelminthes Nemertea Bryozoa Mollusca Annelida Arthropoda CHORDATA
(sponges) (corals, jellyfish) (flatworms) (oysters, (segmented
squids, worms)
octopus)
Crustacean Arachnida insecta
(lobster, crab) (spiders, scorpions)
Subphyla
VERTEBRATA Invertebrate chordates
CLASSES
Pisces Amphibia Reptilia Aves MAMMALIA
(fish) (salamanders, frogs) (dinosaurs, snakes, (birds)
lizards, crocodiles)
Subclasses EUTHERIA
Prototheria Metatheria
(Monotremes) (Marsupials) (Placentals)
(platypus, spiny anteater) (kangaroo, opossum)
Orders Carnivora Perissodactyla Artiodactyla Proboscidea Rodentia Chiroptera Insectivora PRIMATES

(bears, (horses, rhinos) (cows, pigs, hippos, (elephants) (rats, squirrels, (bats) (shrews, moles)
dogs, cats) camels, deer) beavers)
Suborders
Prosimii
ANTHROPOIDEA
Superfamilies
Lemuroidea Lorisoidea Tarsioidea Ceboidea Cercopithecoidea HOMINOIDEA
(Lemur) (Loris) (Tarsier)
Families
Callithricidae Cebidae Cercopithecidae Hyobatidae Pongidae HOMINIDAE
(Marmoset) (Spider, (Gibbon, (Orangutan)
woolly, siamang)
squirrel)
Subfamilies
Cercopithecinae Colobinae Paninae HOMININAE
(Baboon, macaque) (Langur) (Chimpanzee, (Human)
gorilla, bonobo)
FIGURE 2.3 A modern biological taxonomy based on the Linnaean classification (popular names are in parentheses). Organisms
sharing structural similarities are still grouped together, but their similarities are understood to be the result of common ancestry,
indicated by the horizontal line connecting them. Thus, Paninae (chimpanzees, gorillas, and bonobos) and Homininae (human
beings) all share a recent common ancestor.
Being was the framework in the Western world within knew that individuals s ometimes differ markedly from
which all discussions of living organisms were set. As what is considered “normal” for others of their kind.
late as the mid-eighteenth century, Carolus Linnaeus But these deviations were still thought of as accidents,
(1707–1778), the father of modern biological taxonomy or “degradations,” that could not affect the unity of the
(or classification), operated within this framework. Lin- natural kind.
naeus was committed to an essentialist definition of
natural kinds. He focused on what modern taxono-
mists call the genus (plural genera) (Figure 2.3) and taxonomy A classification; in biology, the classification of various kinds of
used the morphology of reproductive organs to define organisms.
the “essence” of a genus (Mayr 1982, 178). (The term genus The level of the Linnaean taxonomy in which different species are
species, which modern biologists assign to subpopula- grouped together on the basis of their similarities to one another.
tions of the same genus that share certain specific attri- species (1) For Linnaeus, a Platonic “natural kind” defined in terms of its
essence. (2) For modern biologists, a reproductive community of popula-
butes, was used more loosely in the past by essentialists tions (reproductively isolated from others) that occupies a specific niche
and by n onessentialists.) Essentialists like Linnaeus in nature.
Catastrophism and Uniformitarianism the development of an approach arguing that the per-
fection of each organism’s adaptation could only be the
The unprecedented social and scientific changes brought
result of intentional design by a benevolent creator. One
about by the eighteenth-century Enlightenment in
group of thinkers, known as “catastrophists,” modified
Europe gradually raised doubts about the Great Chain
Cuvier’s theory and argued that the new species that re-
of Being. The principle of continuity was criticized by
placed old ones had been specially created by God. Others
the French scientist Georges Cuvier (1769–1832), a pi-
subscribed to a position known as uniformitarianism,
oneer in modern anatomy who also carried out some
which stressed nature’s overall harmonious integration
of the first important excavations of fossils in the Seine
as evidence for God’s handiwork. These “uniformitari-
River basin near Paris. He was a firm believer in the es-
ans” criticized the ideas of Cuvier and the catastrophists.
sentialist definition of natural kinds, but his anatomical
God might allow the world to change, they admitted,
studies convinced him that there were only four natu-
but a benevolent God’s blueprint for creation could not
ral categories of living things. Each category was excel-
include sharp breaks between different forms of life
lently adapted to its way of life but had no connection
and the abrupt disappearance of species through extinc-
to any of the others. Cuvier’s studies of the fossil record
tion. The uniformitarian position gained powerful sup-
convinced him that, over time, some species had been
port from the book Principles of Geology by Charles Lyell
abruptly wiped out and replaced, equally abruptly,
(1797–1875), published between 1830 and 1833. Lyell
by new species from somewhere else. He called these
argued that the same gradual processes of erosion and
abrupt transitions “revolutions,” although this term was
uplift that change the earth’s surface today had also been
translated into English as “catastrophe.” Hence, the term
at work in the past. Assuming the uniformity of these
catastrophism came to refer to the notion that natural
processes, he contended that our understanding of cur-
disasters, such as floods, are responsible for the extinc-
rent processes could be used to reconstruct the past his-
tion of some natural kinds, which are later replaced by
tory of the earth.
new natural kinds.
The quarrel between catastrophists and uniformi-
In some ways, Cuvier’s ideas were perfectly tradi-
tarians has often been portrayed as a conflict between
tional: he did not reject the essentialist understanding
narrow-minded dogmatism (identified with the cata-
of species and never suggested that new species were
strophists) and open-minded, empirical science (identi-
simply old species that had changed. Yet, his idea that
fied with the uniformitarians). But, as Stephen Jay Gould
some species might disappear in mass extinctions was
(1987) demonstrated, this portrayal misrepresents the
quite radical because, according to Judeo-Christian the-
nature of their disagreement. Both Cuvier and Lyell were
ology, God had created all possible forms of life only
empirical scientists: the former, a leading anatomist and
once. In the same way, Cuvier’s assertion in 1812 that
excavator of fossils; the latter, a fieldworking geologist.
there were no connections whatsoever among the four
Both confronted much of the same material evidence;
basic categories of living things seriously undermined
however, as Gould points out, they interpreted that evi-
the principle of unilinear gradation. That is, if the four
dence in very different ways. Catastrophists were willing
categories had nothing in common with one another,
to accept a view of earth’s history that permitted rup-
then they could not be arranged in a simple chain of nat-
tures of harmony to preserve their belief that history,
ural kinds, each precisely placed between the one slightly
guided by divine intervention, was going somewhere.
less advanced and the one slightly more advanced. Ernst
By contrast, the harmonious, nondirectional view of the
Mayr (1982, 201) concluded that this argument dealt the
uniformitarians was rooted in their belief that time was
Great Chain of Being its death blow.
cyclic, like the changing seasons. Uniformitarians pro-
But the Great Chain of Being did not die gently
moted the view that God’s creation was the “incarnation
because its principles had become inextricably inter-

of rationality”—that is, that God’s creation unfolded in
twined with Judeo-Christian beliefs about the natural
accordance with God’s laws, without requiring subse-
world. By the late eighteenth and early nineteenth cen-
quent divine intervention or a fixed historical trajectory.
turies, one result of this process of amalgamation was
Transformational Evolution
catastrophism The notion that natural disasters, such as floods, are re- Thus, by the early years of the nineteenth century, tra-
sponsible for the extinction of species, which are then replaced by new species.
ditional ideas about the natural world had been chal-
uniformitarianism The notion that an understanding of current pro-
cesses can be used to reconstruct the past history of the earth, based on lenged by new material evidence and conflicting
the assumption that the same gradual processes of erosion and uplift that interpretations of that evidence. In the ferment of this
change the earth’s surface today had also been at work in the past.
period, the French naturalist Jean-Baptiste de Monet de
Lamarck (1744–1829) grappled with the inconsistencies over time to suit their descendants to changing climate
described above, dealing the first serious blow against es- and geography. Such a process would prove that nature
sentialism (Figure 2.4). Lamarck wanted to preserve the was harmonious after all—that, although the world was
traditional view of a harmonious living world. One of a changing world, living organisms possessed the capac-
the most serious challenges to that view was the problem ity to change along with it.
of extinction. How could perfectly adapted creatures sud- Many elements of the Great Chain of Being could be
denly be wiped out, and where did their replacements made to fit with Lamarck’s scheme. Lamarck believed that
come from? Some suggested that the extinctions were the once a natural kind had come into existence, it had the
result of Noah’s flood, but this could not explain how capacity to evolve over time into increasingly complex
aquatic animals had become extinct. Others suggested (or “perfect”) forms. This could happen, Lamarck sug-
that extinctions were the result of human hunting, pos- gested, because all organisms have two attributes: (1) the
sibly explaining why mastodons no longer roamed the ability to change physically in response to environmen-
earth. Some hoped that natural kinds b elieved to be ex- tal demands and (2) the capacity to activate this ability
tinct might yet be found inhabiting an unexplored area whenever environmental change makes the organism’s
of the globe. previous response obsolete. Otherwise, the resulting lack
Lamarck suggested an original interpretation of the of fit between organisms and environment would create
material evidence that had been used to argue in favor of disharmony in nature. Lamarck never suggested that a
extinction. Noticing that many fossil species bore a close species might adapt to change by splitting into two or
resemblance to living species, he suggested in 1809 that more new species; rather, every member of every species
perhaps fossil forms were the ancestors of living forms. is engaged in its own individual adaptive transformation
Fossil forms looked different from their descendants, he over time. This is why Lamarckian evolution has also
believed, because ancestral features had been modified been called transformational evolution.
Lamarck proposed two “laws” to explain how such
transformation occurs. First, he said, an organ is strength-
ened by use and weakened by disuse (an early statement
of “use it or lose it”). If environmental changes cause
members of a species to rely more heavily on some
organs than on others, the former will become enhanced
and the latter reduced. But the law of use and disuse had
evolutionary consequences, Lamarck argued, because
the physical result of use or disuse could be passed from
one generation to the next. Lamarck’s second law was
the law of inheritance of acquired characteristics.
Consider the following example: modern pandas
possess an oversized, elongated wristbone that aids
them in stripping bamboo leaves, their favorite food,
from bamboo stalks (Figure 2.5). This bone has been
called the panda’s “thumb,” although pandas retain all
five digits on each paw. Had Lamarck known about the
panda’s thumb, he might have explained its origin as
follows: suppose that pandas originally had wristbones
like other bears. Then the environment changed, oblig-
ing pandas to become dependent on bamboo for food.
Pandas, unable to survive on bamboo unless they found
an efficient way to strip the leaves off the stalk, were
forced to use their forepaws more intensively (the law
of use and disuse) to remove enough bamboo leaves to
transformational evolution Also called Lamarckian evolution, it as-

FIGURE 2.4 Jean-Baptiste de Monet de Lamarck. Lamarck sumes essentialist species and a uniform environment. Each individual
wanted to preserve the traditional view of a harmonious living member of a species transforms itself to meet the challenges of a changed
world, but his interpretation of the evidence of fossils eventu- environment through the laws of use and disuse and the inheritance of
ally undermined exactly the view he was trying to defend. acquired characters.
Only if this were so could all members of the same spe-

cies respond in the same ways to the same environmen-
tal pressures and retain their species identity over time.
Lamarck’s transformational theory of biological
evolution was rejected by biologists in the early twenti-
eth century, when geneticists were able to demonstrate
that neither the law of use and disuse nor the law of in-
heritance of acquired characters applied to genes. In the
early nineteenth century, however, Lamarck’s specula-
tions opened the door for Darwin.
What Is Natural Selection?

Lamarck had argued that a species could vary over time.
Contemporaries of Lamarck, observing living organisms
in the wild in Europe, the Americas, Africa, and Asia, had
demonstrated that species could vary over space as well.
Where did all this mutually coexisting but previously
unknown living variation come from?
The mystery of geographical variation in living
organisms was particularly vexing to Charles Darwin
(1809–1882, Figure 2.6) and Alfred Russel Wallace
(1823–1913), whose field observations made it im-
possible to ignore. Wallace reasoned that the relation-
ship between similar but distinct species in the wild
could be explained if all the similar species were related
to one another biologically—that is, if they were con-
FIGURE 2.5 L amarckian transformational evolution and sidered daughter (or sibling) species of some other pa-
Darwinian variational evolution offer two different explana-
rental species. Darwin, comparing the finches on the
tions for how the panda got its “thumb.” The thumb is actually
an elongated wristbone that aids pandas in stripping bamboo Galápagos Islands with finches on the Ecuadorian main-
leaves, their favorite food, from bamboo stalks. land, reasoned that the similarities linking the finches
could be explained if all of them had descended from a
single parental finch population. Both men concluded
satisfy their appetite. Continual exercise of their wrists independently that similar species must descend from a
caused the wristbone to enlarge and lengthen into a common ancestor, meaning that any species might split
shape resembling a thumb. After acquiring “thumbs” into a number of new species given enough time. But
through strenuous activity, pandas gave birth to off- how much time? In the 1650s, James Ussher, the Angli-
spring with elongated wristbones (the law of inheritance can archbishop of Ireland, used information in the Bible
of acquired characters). Thus, Lamarck’s laws could ex- to calculate that God created the earth on O ctober 23,
plain how each species builds up new, more complex 4004 B.C., a date that was still widely accepted. Charles
organs and attains, over many generations, increasingly Lyell and other geologists, however, claimed that the
higher levels of “perfection.” earth was much more than 6000 years old (indeed, it
Because transformational evolution works through is about 4.5 billion years old). If the geologists were
the efforts of individual members of a species, what right, there had been ample time for what Darwin called
would prevent different individuals from transforming “descent with modification” to have produced the high
themselves in different directions? Part of the answer is degree of species diversity we find in the world today.
that Lamarck expected a changing environment to affect Darwin had refrained from publishing his work on
all individuals of the same species in the same way, lead- evolution for years but was moved to action when Lyell
ing to identical responses in terms of use and disuse. warned him that Wallace was ready to publish his ideas.
But the rest of the answer lies with the fact that Lamarck As a result, Darwin and Wallace first published their
still accepted the view that every individual member of a views in a scientific paper carrying both their names.
species was identical in essence to every other member. Darwin became better known than Wallace in later years,
What Is Natural Selection? 39
have in common but how they are different. The

Darwinian theory of evolution by natural selection

argued that variation, not a unitary essence, is the ground
condition of life. This is why it is called variational
evolution, in contrast to the transformational evolu-
tion of Lamarck (see, e.g., Lewontin 1982). The idea
of variational evolution depends on what Ernst Mayr
(1982) calls “population thinking”—that is, seeing the
populations that make up a species as composed of bio-
logical individuals whose differences from one another
are genuine and important.
Population Thinking
Darwin combined this new view of species with other
observations about the natural world. Consider, for ex-
ample, frogs in a pond. Nobody would deny that new
frogs hatch from hundreds of eggs laid by mature fe-
males every breeding season, yet the size of the popula-
tion of adult frogs in a given pond rarely changes much
from one season to the next. Clearly, the great potential
fertility represented by all those eggs is never realized or
FIGURE 2.6 Charles Darwin (1809–1882).
the pond would shortly be overrun by frogs. Something
must keep all those eggs from maturing into adults.
in part because of the mass of material evidence he col- Darwin (following Thomas Malthus) attributed this to
lected in support of his theory together with his refined the limited food supply in the pond, which means that
theoretical interpretations of that evidence. the hatchlings are forced to struggle with one another
The theory of common ancestry—“the first Darwin- for food and that the losers do not survive to reproduce.
ian revolution” (Mayr 1982, 116)—was in itself scan- Darwin wondered what factors determined which com-
dalous because it went far beyond Lamarck’s modest petitors win and which lose. Pointing to the variation
suggestion that species can change without losing their among all individuals of the species, he argued that
essential integrity. Not only did Darwin propose that those individuals whose variant traits better equip them
similar species can be traced to a common ancestor, but to compete in the struggle for existence are more likely
also he offered a straightforward, mechanistic explana- to survive and reproduce than those who lack such traits.
tion of how such descent with modification takes place. Individuals who leave greater numbers of offspring are
His explanation, the theory of natural selection, was said to have superior fitness.
“the second Darwinian revolution.” That natural selec- Such an argument makes no sense, of course, unless
tion remains central to modern evolutionary theory is species are understood in variational terms. For an essen-
testimony to the power of Darwin’s insight because it has tialist, the individual members of a species are identical
been tested and reformulated for more than 150 years
and remains the best explanation we have today for the
diversity of life on earth. common ancestry Darwin’s claim that similar living species must all have
had a common ancestor.
Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution was possible
natural selection A two-step, mechanistic explanation of how descent
only because he was able to think about species in a new with modification takes place: (1) every generation, variant individuals are
way. Although Lamarck had begun to do this when he generated within a species because of genetic mutation, and (2) those vari-
suggested that species could change, Darwin completed ant individuals best suited to the current environment survive and produce
more offspring than other variants.
the job. If organisms could change, then they did not
variational evolution The Darwinian theory of evolution, which assumes
have a fixed essence. This, in turn, meant that variation— that variant members of a species respond differently to environmental
or differences—among individual members of a species challenges. Those variants that are more successful (“fitter”) survive and
might be extremely important. reproduce more offspring, who inherit the traits that made their parents fit.
Thus, Darwin turned the essentialist definition of fitness A measure of an organism’s ability to compete in the struggle
for existence. Those individuals whose variant traits better equip them to
species on its head. He argued that the important thing compete with other members of their species for limited resources are more
about individual members of a species is not what they likely to survive and reproduce than individuals who lack such traits.
to one another because they share the same essence; it of different lengths (the principle of variation). Because
makes no difference which or how many of them sur- offspring tend to resemble their parents, pandas with
vive and reproduce. From an essentialist point of view, long wristbones gave birth to offspring with long wrist-
therefore, competition can only occur between different bones and pandas with short wristbones gave birth to
species because only the differences between entire spe- offspring with short wristbones (the principle of he-
cies (not between a species’ individual members) matter. redity). When the climate changed such that pandas
Once we think of a species in variational terms, how- became dependent on bamboo leaves for food, pandas
ever, the notion that competition for resources “is ‘dog with wristbones of different lengths had to compete
eat dog’ rather than ‘dog eat cat’” begins to make sense with one another to get enough leaves to survive (the
(Depew and Weber 1989, 257). struggle for existence).
When Darwin interpreted his observations, he came Note that, in this example, “the struggle for exis-
up with the following explanation of how biological tence” does not imply that the pandas were necessarily
evolution occurs. Levins and Lewontin (1985, 31ff.) fighting with one another over access to bamboo. The
summarize his theory in three principles and one driv- pandas with long wristbones functioning as “thumbs”
ing force that sets the process in motion: for stripping bamboo stalks were simply more success-
ful than pandas who lacked such a “thumb”; that is, in
1. The principle of variation. No two individuals in a this new environment, their elongated wristbones made
species are identical in all respects; they vary in such them fitter than pandas with short wristbones. Thus,
features as size, color, and intelligence. pandas in the population with “thumbs” survived and
2. The principle of heredity. Offspring tend to resemble left more offspring than did those without “thumbs.”
their parents. As a result, the proportion of pandas in the population
3. The principle of natural selection. Different variants with elongated wristbones in the next generation was
leave different numbers of offspring. larger than it had been in the previous generation and
the proportion of pandas in the population with short
The driving force, Darwin suggested, was the strug- wristbones was smaller. If these selective pressures were
gle for existence. In a later edition of On the Origin of Spe- severe enough, pandas with short wristbones might not
cies, he borrowed a phrase coined by sociologist Herbert leave any offspring at all, resulting at some point in a
Spencer and described the outcome of the struggle for population made up entirely of pandas with “thumbs.”
existence as “survival of the fittest.” In Darwinian terms, adaptation has been tradition-
ally understood as the process by which an organism “is
engineered to be in harmony with the natural environ-
Natural Selection in Action ment” as a result of natural selection (Little 1995, 123).
To illustrate the operation of natural selection, let However, this concept contains ambiguities that can
us return to the problem of how pandas got their confuse the process of adaptation with its outcomes (also
“thumbs.” Lamarck would explain this phenomenon often called “adaptations”). In 1982, paleontologists
by arguing that individual pandas all used their wrists Stephen Jay Gould and Elisabeth Vrba helped to re-
intensively to obtain enough bamboo leaves to survive, solve this confusion by distinguishing among aptation,
causing their wristbones to lengthen, a trait they passed adaptation, and exaptation. An aptation refers to any
on to their offspring. Darwin, by contrast, would ex- useful feature of an organism, regardless of its origin.
plain this phenomenon by focusing attention not on An adaptation refers to a useful feature of an organism
individual pandas, but on a population of pandas and that was shaped by natural selection for the function it
the ways in which members of that population differed now performs. An exaptation, by contrast, refers to a
from one another. He would argue that originally there useful feature of an organism that was originally shaped
must have been a population of pandas with wristbones by natural selection to perform one function but later
reshaped by different selection pressures to perform a
new function.
The distinction between adaptation and exaptation
aptation The shaping of any useful feature of an organism, regardless of is important because mistaking one for the other can
its origin. lead to evolutionary misinterpretations. For example, it
adaptation The shaping of useful features of an organism by natural has been standard practice to explain an organism’s cur-
selection for the function they now perform.
rent form (e.g., an insect’s wing shape) as an adaptation
exaptation The shaping of a useful feature of an organism by natural
selection to perform one function and the later reshaping of it by different for the function it currently carries out (i.e., flight). This
selection pressures to perform a new function. kind of explanation, however, raises problems. If insect
How Did Biologists Learn about Genes? 41
wings evolved gradually via natural selection, then the Some people have assumed that the biggest, strongest,
first modest appendages on which selection would op- toughest individuals must be, by definition, fitter than
erate could not have looked like—or worked like—the the smaller, weaker, gentler members of their species.
wings of living insects. As a result, those early append- Strictly speaking, however, Darwinian, or biological, fit-
ages could not have been used for flying. But what adap- ness is nothing more (and nothing less) than an indi-
tive advantage could something that was not yet a wing vidual’s ability to survive and leave offspring. There is
confer on insect ancestors? Gould and Vrba showed that no such thing as “absolute” fitness. In a given environ-
appendages that were not yet wings could have been ment, those who leave more offspring behind are fitter
adaptive for reasons having nothing to do with flying. than those who leave fewer offspring behind. But any or-
For example, the original adaptive function of insect ap- ganism that manages to reproduce in that environment
pendages was body cooling, but these appendages were is fit. As geneticist Richard Lewontin (1982) puts it, “In
later exapted for the function of flying, once they had evolutionary terms, an Olympic athlete who never has
reached a certain size or shape (Figure 2.7). Specialists any children has a fitness of zero, whereas J. S. Bach, who
in human evolution like Ian Tattersall (2012, 44) use the was sedentary and very much overweight, had an unusu-
concepts of adaptation and exaptation to explain some ally high Darwinian fitness by virtue of his having been
of the twists and turns in human evolutionary history. the father of twenty children” (150).
Darwin’s theory of evolution by natural selection Clearly, Darwinian theory has been challenged to
is elegant and dramatic. As generations of biologists show that biological heredity operates to produce
have tested its components in their own research, they ever-renewing variation and to explain how such vari-
have come to examine it critically. For example, much ation is generated and passed on from parents to off-
debate has been generated about the concept of fitness. spring. Darwin’s original formulation of the theory of
evolution by natural selection was virtually silent about
these matters. Darwin was convinced on the basis of
considerable evidence that heritable variation must
exist, but he and his colleagues were completely igno-
rant about the sources of variation. Not until the begin-
ning of the twentieth century did knowledge about these
matters begin to accumulate, and not until the 1930s did
a new evolutionary synthesis of Darwinian principles
and genetics become established.
How Did Biologists Learn

about Genes?
Offspring tend to look like their parents, which suggests
that something unchanging is passed on from one gen-
eration to the next. At the same time, offspring are not
identical to their parents, which raises the possibility
that whatever the parents pass on may be modified by
environmental forces. Whether biological inheritance
was stable or modifiable, or both, challenged Darwin
and his contemporaries.
In the absence of scientific knowledge about hered-
ity, Darwin and many of his contemporaries adopted a
theory of heredity that had roots in antiquity: the theory
of pangenesis. Pangenesis was a theory of inheritance
FIGURE 2.7 How did wings evolve for flight? Gould and Vrba pangenesis A theory of heredity suggesting that an organism’s physical
(1982) suggest that appendages on early insects were for body traits are passed on from one generation to the next in the form of multiple
cooling but later exapted for flying once they had reached a distinct particles given off by all parts of the organism, different proportions
certain size or shape. of which get passed on to offspring via sperm or egg.
FIGURE 2.8 Mendel crossbred

peas with red flowers and peas
Observations Explanatory hypothesis
with white flowers (the parental,
Red flowers White flowers
or Pl, generation). This produced a P1 generation
generation (F1) of only red flowers.
Red flowers White flowers CC × cc P1 Plants
When Mendel crossed red-flowered
peas from the F1 generation, they
Segregation of alleles in gamete formation
produced the F 2 generation of peas, ×
in which there were approximately Egg Pollen
three red-flowered plants for every cells grains
one plant with white flowers. This C c
3:1 ratio of red to white flowers, C c
together with the reappearance of F1 generation
white flowers, could be explained if 100% Red Cc
each plant had two genetic factors
and the factor for red flowers was Cc Cc F1 Plants
dominant. Only a plant with two × 100% Red
factors for white flowers would Cc
produce white flowers, whereas Segregation Segregation
red flowers would appear in every
plant that had at least one factor Egg Pollen
F2 generation cells /2
1 1/
2 grains
for red. 1/ 1/
2 C C 2
c c
Cc
Cc Cc F2 Plants
Red White
75% Red
705 specimens : 224 specimens cc 25% White
Ratio 3.15 : 1.0
in which multiple particles from both parents blended began conducting plant-breeding experiments in the
in their offspring. That is, it claimed that an organism’s garden of his monastery. His great contribution was
physical traits are passed on from one generation to the to provide evidence in favor of nonblending, single-
next in the form of distinct particles. Supporters of pan- particle inheritance, called Mendelian inheritance.
genesis argued that all the organs of both mother and When Mendel crossed peas with strikingly different
father gave off multiple particles that were somehow traits, some of those traits did not appear in offspring
transmitted, in different proportions, to each of their of the first generation (F1) (Figure 2.8). They did, how-
offspring. For example, suppose that a child resembled ever, reappear in their original form in the next genera-
her father more than her mother in a particular trait (say, tion (F2). Had the particles blended, all the offspring
hair color). Pangenesis explained this by arguing that of plants with red flowers and plants with white flow-
the child had received more “hair color particles” from ers should have been some shade of pink, but this did
her father than from her mother. The particles inherited not happen, providing strong evidence that the parti-
from both parents were believed to blend in their off- cles responsible for the trait did not blend in offspring
spring. Thus, the child’s hair color would be closer to her but remained discrete.
father’s shade than to her mother’s. When Mendel carefully counted the number of
offspring in the F2 generation that showed each trait,
he consistently came up with a 3:1 ratio of one form
Mendel’s Experiments to the other, a factor nobody before him had noticed.
The notion of particulate inheritance was already This ratio recurred whenever Mendel repeated his experi-
common in the middle of the nineteenth century ments. If pangenesis were correct, no such ratios would
when the Austrian monk Gregor Mendel (1822–1884) have occurred because each individual would have in-
herited an unpredictable number of particles from each
parent. However, the 3:1 ratio made excellent sense if,
Mendelian inheritance The view that heredity is based on nonblending, as Mendel assumed, each individual inherited only one
single-particle genetic inheritance. particle from each parent (Mayr 1982, 721).
The results of his breeding experiments suggested to Animals of different species have different numbers of
Mendel something else as well—that the particle respon- chromosomes (humans have 46), but all chromosomes
sible for one form of a particular trait (flower color, for are found in pairs (humans have 23 pairs).
example) could be present in an organism but go unex-
pressed. Those particles whose traits are expressed in an
organism are said to be dominant; those whose traits are
not expressed are said to be recessive. (We now know that What Are the Basics
sometimes both traits can be expressed, in which case
they are said to be codominant.) Mendel thus concluded
of Contemporary Genetics?
that the particles responsible for a particular trait, such Biologists learned that living cells undergo two different
as the pea’s flower color, occur in pairs. An individual kinds of division. The first kind, mitosis, is simply the
gets one particle for each trait (i.e., one-half of the pair) way cells make copies of themselves (Figure 2.9a).
from each parent. This is the principle of segregation. The process is different, however, when the sex cells
Mendel further argued that each pair of particles sepa- (sperm and eggs) are formed. This process is meiosis, or
rates independently of every other pair when what he reduction division (Figure 2.9b).
called “germ cells” (egg and sperm) are formed. This is The behavior of the chromosomes during meiosis
the principle of independent assortment. As a result, intrigued geneticists. Slides of cells made at different
each sperm and ovum is virtually guaranteed to be dif- stages in the process showed that chromosomes obey the
ferent from all others produced by an individual because principles of segregation and independent assortment,
the collection of particles that each contains will be dis- just like Mendelian genes. This fact led geneticists, early
tinct. Moreover, the pairs of particles that come together in the twentieth century, to hypothesize that genes and
in any individual offspring are random, depending on chromosomes are connected. The first real test of this
which egg and which sperm happened to unite to form hypothesis came when a number of geneticists looked
that individual. at the ratio of males to females among the offspring of
sexually reproducing species. They found that this 1:1
ratio is the same as “the ratio resulting from the cross of
The Emergence of Genetics a heterozygote (Aa) and a homozygous recessive (aa).
Mendel’s insights were ignored for nearly 35 years until Mendel himself had already suggested this possibility”
three biologists rediscovered them at the beginning of (Mayr 1982, 750).
the twentieth century, resulting in an explosion of re-
search and vast growth of scientific knowledge about
heredity. The British scientist William Bateson coined principle of segregation A principle of Mendelian inheritance in which
the term genetics in 1908 to describe the new science an individual gets one particle (gene) for each trait (i.e., one-half of the
being built on Mendelian principles. He invented the required pair) from each parent.
term homozygous to describe a fertilized egg that re- principle of independent assortment A principle of Mendelian
inheritance in which each pair of particles (genes) separates independently
ceives the same particle from both parents for a par- of every other pair when germ cells (egg and sperm) are formed.
ticular trait and the term heterozygous to describe a genetics The scientific study of biological heredity.
fertilized egg that receives a different particle from each homozygous Describes a fertilized egg that receives the same particle (or
parent for the same trait. In 1909, the Danish geneticist allele) from each parent for a particular trait.
W. L. Johannsen suggested the term gene to refer to the heterozygous Describes a fertilized egg that receives a different particle
(or allele) from each parent for the same trait.
particle itself. Although genes occur in pairs in any indi-
gene Portion or portions of the DNA molecule that code for proteins that
vidual, geneticists discovered that there might be many
shape phenotypic traits.
more than two forms of a given gene. Bateson used the alleles All the different forms that a particular gene might take.
term alleles to refer to all the different forms that a par- chromosomes Sets of paired bodies in the nucleus of cells that are made
ticular gene might take. of DNA and contain the hereditary genetic information that organisms pass
At first, nobody knew what physical structures cor- on to their offspring.
responded to the genes and alleles they had been de- mitosis The way body cells make copies of themselves. The pairs of chro-
mosomes in the nucleus of the cell duplicate and line up along the center of
scribing. However, advances in cell biology led some the cell. The cell then divides, each daughter cell taking one full set of paired
scientists to suggest that the chromosomes in the cell chromosomes.
nucleus might play an important role. These sets of meiosis The way sex cells make copies of themselves, which begins like
paired bodies were easy to see under the microscope mitosis, with chromosome duplication and the formation of two daughter
cells. However, each daughter cell then divides again without chromosome
because they accepted a colored stain very well (hence duplication and, as a result, contains only a single set of chromosomes
their name, from Greek, meaning “colored bodies”). rather than the paired set typical of body cells.
FIGURE 2.9 Cells divide in two Organism with two chromosome pairs

different ways. (a) In mitosis, ordinary
body cells double the number of chro- Organism
mosomes they contain before dividing with two
so that each daughter cell carries a chromosome
full copy of the genetic information pairs
in the mother cell. (b) Meiosis occurs
only when sex cells (sperm or eggs) are Each
produced. In meiosis, each daughter cell chromosome
retains only half the genetic material of copies itself Standard
the mother cell; the other half will be mitosis
supplied when sperm and egg join in
Attached
fertilization.
copies
line up
Pairs
segregate
The original
and the copy
separate
as the cell
divides
Each gamete (sperm or egg) has
Daughter half the normal number of
cells are chromosomes
copies of
the parent
cell
(a) Mitosis (b) Meiosis
A gene was understood as a unit occupying a par- phenomenon known as crossing over, or incomplete
ticular position, or locus (plural, loci), on the chromo- linkage (Figure 2.10b).
some. Early geneticists discovered that frequently one
trait appears in an organism only when another trait
is also present. This discovery suggested that the genes Genes and Traits
responsible for those traits must, for some reason, Geneticists originally thought (and many nonscientists
always be passed on together, a phenomenon called still believe) that one gene equals one trait. Sometimes
linkage. We now know that linkage occurs when genes a single allele does appear to govern a single physical
for
different traits occur on the same chromosome trait. This may be true of many physical traits that show
(Figure 2.10a). However, in some cases, the expected discontinuous variation, that is, sharp breaks from
linkages do not occur. Geneticists eventually discov- one individual to the next. Recall that the flowers on
ered that part of a chromosome can break off and reat- Mendel’s pea plants were either red or white; they did
tach itself to a different chromosome during meiosis, a not come in various shades of pink. This observation
led Mendel to conclude that a single dominant par-
ticle (or two identical recessive particles) determines
flower color.
locus A portion of the DNA strand responsible for encoding specific parts
Early research, however, showed that one gene–
of an organism’s biological makeup.
one trait was too simplistic an explanation for many
linkage An inheritance pattern in which unrelated phenotypic traits
r egularly occur together because the genes responsible for those hereditary traits. Sometimes many genes are respon-
co-occurring traits are passed on together on the same chromosome. sible for producing a single trait, such as skin color
crossing over The phenomenon that occurs when part of one chromo- (Figure 2.12); such traits are thus said to be the result
some breaks off and reattaches itself to a different chromosome during
meiosis; also called incomplete linkage.
of polygeny. Traits like skin color in human beings are
discontinuous variation A pattern of phenotypic variation in which the
different from traits like flower color in Mendel’s peas
phenotype (e.g., flower color) exhibits sharp breaks from one member of the because they show continuous variation. That is, the
population to the next. expression of the trait grades imperceptibly from one
polygeny The phenomenon whereby many genes are responsible for individual to another, without sharp breaks. The dis-
producing a phenotypic trait, such as skin color.
covery of polygenic inheritance showed that Mendelian
continuous variation A pattern of variation involving polygeny in which
phenotypic traits grade imperceptibly from one member of the population concepts could be used to explain discontinuous and
to another without sharp breaks. continuous variation alike.
Independent assortment Linkage FIGURE 2.10 The principle of indepen-

(if the genes are on different chromosomes) (if the genes are on the dent assortment predicts that genetic
same chromosomes) factors on different chromosomes will not
be passed on together; each will be passed
on to a different sex cell during meiosis.
Parental (a) Linkage predicts that genetic factors
A a A a
arrangement on the same chromosome will tend to be
B b Two One B b
passed on together because it is the chro-
pairs pair
mosomes that separate during meiosis,
not individual genes. (b) The predictions
about independent assortment and link-
age do not hold if chromosomes cross
over prior to meiosis. When this occurs,
Possible chromosomes break and reattach to their
A A a a A a
gametes mates, leading to new combinations of
B b B b B b
(sperm or eggs) genes on each chromosome that can then
be passed on to offspring.
(a)
Crossing over
A a
Parental combination
(a pair of chromosomes)
B b
A A a a
Chromosomes duplicate
during meiosis
B B b b
A A a a
The copy of one chromosome
touches the copy of its
homologous mate
B b b
B
A A a a
Chromosomes break and
reattach at the point where
they touched
B b B b
The chromosome combinations

that can be passed on to
offspring via eggs or sperm
AB Ab aB ab
(b) Old New Old
Perhaps even more surprising than polygenic activ- 1977, 18). Similarly, the allele that causes the feathers
ity was the discovery that a single gene may affect more of chickens to be white also works to slow down their
than one trait, a phenomenon called pleiotropy. For body growth (Lerner and Libby 1976). The discovery of
example, the S allele that gives human red blood cells
increased resistance to malarial parasites also reduces pleiotropy The phenomenon whereby a single gene may affect more than
the amount of oxygen these cells can carry (Rothwell one phenotypic trait.
ANTHROPOLOGY in Everyday Life
Investigating Human-Rights Violations and
Identifying Remains
In Argentina between 1976 and 1983, more than 10,000 people genetics, pathology, ballistics, and computer science. Their
disappeared during the “dirty war” waged by the A rgentine formal mission includes six objectives:
military government against supposed subversives. A not-
1. Apply forensic scientific methodology to the investiga-
for-profit nongovernmental organization called the Equipo
tion and documentation of human-rights violations.
Argentino de Antropología Forense (EAAF, Argentine F orensic
Anthropology Team; Figures 1.6 and 2.11) was established in 2. Give testimony of our findings in trials and other judicial
1984 to investigate the cases of the disappeared. This orga- inquiries in human-rights cases.
nization, which notable anthropologist Clyde Snow helped
3. Provide identification of the victims, providing closure
found, has gone on to investigate h uman-rights v iolations in
for victims’ families.
more than forty countries, from Bolivia, Bosnia, and Brazil
to Guatemala, Venezuela, Kosovo, and Zimbabwe. They 4. Train new teams in other countries where investigations
have also trained similar forensic teams in Chile, Guatemala, into human-rights violations are necessary.
Peru, and elsewhere. The EAAF takes a multidisciplinary
5. Conduct seminars on the applications of forensic sci-
approach to its work, drawing on both forensic and cul-
ence to the investigation of human-rights violations in
tural anthropology, archaeology, dental analysis, human
cooperation with human-rights organizations, judicial
systems, and forensic institutes.
6. Collect and analyze scientific evidence of massive

human-rights violations, providing data to reconstruct
the often distorted or hidden histories of repressive
regimes (Doretti and Snow 2009, 306).
One example of their work, which Doretti and Snow

(2009) call the Manfil Case, illustrates both the multidisci-
plinary skills of the EAAF and the profound human drama
that human-rights violations generate. In 1991, the EAAF
team was working in Sector 134, a small, walled-off area
inside a huge municipal cemetery in Avellaneda, a suburb
of Buenos Aires, Argentina. One day, an eighteen-year-
old woman named Karina Manfil approached them and
informed them of her search for her family, who had dis-
appeared fifteen years earlier during a death-squad raid
on their home on October 27, 1976. Someone had told
her that her parents and little brother might be buried in
Sector 134.
At that time, the EAAF had been working in Sector 134 for
three years using their regular four-step approach: (1) his-
torical research, (2) collection of antemortem ( predeath)
data, (3) archaeology, and (4) laboratory analysis (Doretti
and Snow 2009, 308). In conducting historical r esearch, they
collected information from written records and through in-
terviews with witnesses toward the goal of answering ques-
tions such as “Why was the grave made, and how long was
it used to bury bodies? Who made the grave? How was it
made? How many people may be buried there?” (308). The
researchers discovered that the death squads who oper-
ated during the dirty war had created a network of clandes-
tine detention centers (CDCs) throughout the country and
that CDCs tended to use the same cemetery for disposing
FIGURE 2.11 Members of the Argentine Forensic Anthropol-
ogy Team excavating in the Avellaneda cemetery, sector 134, of the remains of their victims. This meant that the remains
where Karina’s family was secretly buried. of people who were swept up together in raids (members
46
of the same political party, student group, union, or occupa- details of the people who had disappeared and searched
tion) at times ended up in the same cemetery, sometimes the official records, where they discovered the death certifi-
in the same grave. This pattern also applied to families who cates that showed that the bodies had, in fact, been buried
were arrested together. in Sector 134.
Once the historical investigation gave some sense of who The only skeleton of a young boy recovered from this
might be buried in the Avellaneda cemetery, the team col- sector had a gunshot entrance wound in the frontal bone of
lected antemortem data—such as age at death, sex, height, the skull. The archaeological records showed that this par-
handedness, dental work, and any old injuries—through ticular skeleton came from a mass grave containing several
interviews with family members, doctors, and dentists. As adult skeletons, including three that matched the sex, age,
DNA testing became more sophisticated, they also took DNA height, and dental information that family members had
samples from relatives. They could then apply these data to provided about Carlos, Angélica, and Rosario. The male and
the analysis of skeletal material recovered. one of the females had perimortem (meaning from around
Third, the team used archaeological techniques to excavate or at the time of death) fractures of the long bones of the
the cemetery. In Sector 134, they found nineteen mass graves, legs. In 1991, the EAAF group found a file on the Manfil case
eleven single burials, and more than 300 bullets. In the from a military court that included an autopsy report, which
mass graves, the number of skeletons ranged from ten to described gunshot wounds and leg fractures corresponding
twenty-eight. Nearly all had been buried without clothing or to those of the skeletons.
jewelry. Laboratory analysis, the fourth step in EAAF’s a
pproach, The EAAF team felt that they could provisionally iden-
indicated the remains of 324 individuals—104 more than tify the skeletons but were not yet able to make a posi-
cemetery records indicated. About three- quarters of the tive identification. So they sent bone samples to a lab at
skeletons were male, about a third elderly, but most of Oxford University, where nuclear DNA was extracted, and
the female skeletons were of women who were between they sent teeth from each skull, along with blood samples
the ages of 21 and 35 at the time of death. The elderly seemed from family members, to a lab at the University of Cali-
to have died of natural causes. Almost all of the much larger fornia Berkeley for mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) testing.
group of younger individuals (male and female) had died of By August 1992, the geneticists had connected the DNA
gunshot wounds. of two of the skeletons—those of Carlitos and his mother,
Through their work, the EAAF team who took on Karina’s A ngélica. Furthermore, the mtDNA testing of a tooth from
quest were able to reconstruct what had happened on the the skeleton believed to be Angélica’s matched the mtDNA
night of October 27. A joint police-army death squad had from the blood of her daughter Karina, and the mtDNA of
broken into the Manfil family’s third-floor apartment, where the male presumed to be Carlos Manfil matched mtDNA
most of the family members were asleep: 35-year-old Carlos from the blood of his mother. The genetic analyses con-
Manfil, a politically active member of the party that had been firmed the historical and anthropological results, and the
overthrown by the military; his 28-year-old wife, A ngélica; Argentine Federal Court of Appeals accepted the EAAF
and three of their four children—Carlitos, age 9; Karina report on the Manfil case, releasing the remains to the
herself, age 4; and 6-month-old Cristian. Also asleep in the family. This case marked the first time that the court had
apartment were guests of the Manfils, Rosario Ramírez, her accepted DNA evidence for skeletal identification. It took
husband José Vega, and their two children. As the attack several more years to locate relatives of Rosario Ramirez,
began, 9-year-old Carlitos leaned out the window to see but once found, DNA analysis established a positive iden-
what was happening and was shot in the forehead. The other tification of the remaining skeleton. “In December 1992,
children hid under the bed and were wounded when the at- Karina’s sixteen-year quest finally ended when she was
tackers sprayed the room with bullets. able to inter the long-lost bones of her father, mother, and
The EAAF team determined that Karina’s mother, A ngélica, little brother Carlitos in a modest family crypt. Ironically, it
was killed inside the apartment. The other three adults tried stands in the cemetery of Avellaneda, not far from Sector
to escape by climbing down the drainpipes. Carlos Manfil 134” (Doretti and Snow 2009, 311).
and Rosario Ramirez fell, fracturing their legs, and were Despite the difficulty in resolving such cases, the EAAF
shot and killed on the spot. Karina, her infant sibling Cris- continues its work. They point out that their work benefits
tian, and the two Vega children, apparently overlooked by from the four-field anthropological approach: their skills as
the death squad, were the only survivors. José Vega escaped biological anthropologists are complemented by their train-
but was caught about a year later and disappeared. The ing in archaeology, which allows them to excavate properly
bodies of Carlos and Angélica, their son Carlitos, and Rosario and to interpret the burials they find, and their training in
Ramirez were not returned to their families, and the families cultural anthropology, which provides them “with some
were not even informed of their deaths. Some family mem- insight and sensitivity in dealing with families and commu-
bers heard rumors that they were buried in Sector 134. The nities oppressed by the violence” (Doretti and Snow 2009,
team interviewed family members about the antemortem 329). The EAAF’s website is www.eaaf.org.
47
FIGURE 2.12 Skin color in

human populations shows continu-
ous variation, that is, different skin
shades grade imperceptibly into
one another without sharp breaks.
Geneticists have shown that such
continuous variation is produced
by polygeny, the interaction of
many genes to produce a single,
observable trait.
pleiotropy showed that genes do not produce traits in old form of a gene suddenly changes (or undergoes a
isolation. Many geneticists came to focus attention on mutation) but that, otherwise, genes are stable. Muta-
what the Russian geneticist Sergei Chetverikov called the tion thus explains how genetic inheritance can be un-
“genetic milieu,” investigating the effects that different changing and still produce the variation that makes
genes could have on one another (Figure 2.13). For ex- evolutionary change possible (Mayr 1982, 755). Being
ample, Theodosius Dobzhansky was able to demonstrate part of a process of stable inheritance means, however,
that “certain genes or chromosomes could convey supe- that the occurrence of genetic mutations is random with
rior fitness in some combinations, and be lethal in com- respect to the adaptive challenges facing the organism in
bination with other chromosomes” (Mayr 1982, 580). which it occurs: mutations do not occur because the or-
ganism “needs” them. Thus, modern geneticists rejected
Mutation Lamarck ian transformational evolution because it as-
sumes a theory of modifiable inheritance. That is, to put
Early in the twentieth century, geneticists discovered
it in modern terms, Lamarck assumed that information
that very occasionally a new allele can result when the
about the adaptive needs of an organism can somehow
be fed back directly into the eggs or sperm cells of that or-
mutation The creation of a new allele for a gene when the portion of the ganism, reshaping the information they contain, thereby
DNA molecule to which it corresponds is suddenly altered. allowing an adaptation to be passed on to offspring.
Gene effects DNA and the Genome

An unusual case: Polygeny trait: The discovery in the early 1950s of the structure of chro-
one gene = one trait many genes = a single trait mosomes greatly expanded our understanding of ge-
Genes Traits Genes Traits netic mutation. We now know that chromosomes are
made up largely of long molecules of deoxyribonucleic
acid, or DNA, parts of which are used by living cells as
templates for the construction, or synthesis, of proteins
that make up most of the tissues and organs of any living
organism. The DNA molecule, assembled in the shape
The most usual case, a of a double helix, resembles a twisted ladder, the rungs
combination of polygeny of which are made up of chemical components called
Pleiotropy: and pleiotropy:
one gene = many traits many genes = many traits “bases.” Although there are many bases, DNA ordinarily
makes use of only four: guanine, cytosine, adenine, and
Genes Traits Genes Traits
thymine. Each rung of the DNA ladder is made up of
two of these bases: guanine always links to cytosine, and
adenine always links to thymine. Faithful copies of DNA
molecules are made when chromosomes are copied
prior to mitosis or meiosis. The biochemical machinery
of the cell breaks the chemical bonds holding the bases
FIGURE 2.13 Only rarely is a single physical trait the result together and the DNA ladder splits apart, like a zipper
of the action of a single gene. Many traits are the result of gene
interaction, involving polygeny or pleiotropy or, as is usually the
unzipping (Figure 2.14). The absent half of each sepa-
case, both. rated strand of DNA is then rebuilt from appropriate
complementary bases that float freely within the nucleus
of a cell. When this process is complete, two identical
copies of the same DNA molecule are produced.
Modern genetics, by contrast, assumes that, apart
The sum total of all the genetic material in the cell
from mutation, genes are inherited unchanged from
nucleus is called the genome. We know today that the
parent organisms and that it is impossible for an organ-
human genome contains approximately 20,000 genes,
ism’s experiences or “needs” to feed back and reshape
but these account for less than 2% of the entire genome.
the genetic information in the sex cells. Natural selection
Geneticists know that some noncoding DNA in the
can act only on randomly produced variation, which
genome is involved in regulatory functions, but we
makes evolution by natural selection a two-step process.
remain ignorant of the functions played by much of it.
First, random genetic variation is produced. Second,
Discovery of the structure and operation of DNA
those organisms whose variant traits better equip them
solidified the rejection of Lamarckian views by geneti-
to meet environmental challenges survive and produce
cists. Simply put, no matter how useful or valuable a
more offspring than those whose traits equip them
particular adaptation might be to an organism, genetic
less well.
inheritance provides no mechanism whereby such infor-
It is important to emphasize that, from a Darwinian
mation could be directly transmitted through that organ-
point of view, individual organisms do not evolve geneti-
ism’s tissues and cells to restructure the organism’s DNA
cally. Barring mutations (or the interventions of genetic
in a more “adaptive” form. At the same time, knowledge
engineering), individual organisms are stuck with the
of DNA explained what mutations were: changes in the
genes they are born with. However, the populations to
structure of the DNA molecule. Cosmic radiation, heat,
which individuals belong can evolve as each generation
and chemicals can all alter the structure of DNA; when
contributes different numbers of offspring to the genera-
these alterations occur in the sex cells, they can be passed
tion that comes after it. Put another way, from a Darwin-
on to offspring.
ian perspective, the only biological effect an individual
can have on its population’s evolution is in terms of the
number of offspring that it bequeaths to the next genera-
tion. More (or fewer) offspring mean more (or fewer)
copies of parental genes in the next generation. This is DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid) The structure that carries the genetic
heritage of an organism as a kind of blueprint for the organism’s construc-
why Darwinian population biologists traditionally track tion and development.
evolutionary change by measuring changes in gene fre- genome The sum total of all the genetic information about an organism,
quencies over time. carried on the chromosomes in the cell nucleus.
C...G them to provide an unambiguous definition of what a

A . . . T
T A
“gene” is and what it does. As biologist Henry Plotkin
C (2008) observes, until the 1950s, geneticists assumed
A . . .T
A. . . T that genes occupied discrete positions on chromosomes,
T . . . A “like beads on a string.”
G ..C
C .. G
This image has had to be radically revised. Genes, it
C. . . G turns out, are structurally complex, almost messy. They
A. . .T are smeared across chromosomes, with large reaches
A . . .T
Moving
biochemical of DNA not coding for anything as far as currently
complex known. Genes also form complex families of spatially
A . . . T
T A
widespread units. . . . Far from being rather dull, inert,
A
T passive stores of information, genes interact in dy-
G
C G C namic ways with other cellular molecules, including
A T their own products. (38)
C . . . G
A T
GC
Many popular accounts of genes portray DNA as an
C . . . G G. .C all-powerful “master molecule” that determines an or-
A . . . T
C . . . G ganism’s physical appearance, with the added assump-
T . . A
A . . . T
T .. A tion that unless genes mutate, new physical traits will
G . . C never appear. This is incorrect. Biologist Mary Jane West-
A . . . T
. . . G . .C Eberhard (2003) points out that most of the genetic
G C
A . . . T
G. . . C variation in multicellular organisms comes from the
shuffling of existing genetic sequences at different stages
FIGURE 2.14 For DNA to replicate, a biochemical complex of the developmental process, rather than from muta-
moves along the molecule and “unzips” the double helix, and
tion (334). Moreover, when more and more different
two complete copies are rebuilt from appropriate molecules
floating in the nucleus. Adenine (A) always attracts thymine (T), developmental events become dependent on the same
and cytosine (C) always attracts guanine (G). DNA sequences, these sequences become more resistant
to evolutionary change, a phenomenon known as gen-
erative entrenchment (West-Eberhard 2003, 326; Wimsatt
and Schank 1988). For these reasons, many biologists
Mutations can be harmful or helpful, but they may argue that an exclusive focus on the role of DNA in evo-
also have no effect at all. Mutations that neither help lution must give way to a more complex view that situ-
nor harm an organism are called “neutral” mutations. ates genes as one component in the biological processes
Molecular biologists have found an enormous amount of living cells, playing different roles at different stages
of variation in those portions of the DNA molecule inin the life cycles of developing organisms and in the evo-
volved in protein synthesis, much of which appears to be lutionary histories of living species. This is why devel-
neutral, although this is controversial. opmental biologist Anne Fausto-Sterling urges us not
When segments of the DNA molecule are required to “get stuck trying to divide nature from nurture,” and
for particular cellular processes, parts of the cellular ma- never to forget “that living bodies are dynamic systems
chinery enter the cell nucleus, unwind the relevant por- that develop and change in response to their social and
tion of a chromosome, and make copies of (or transcribe) historical contexts” (2012, xii). On the contrary, she says,
relevant portions of the DNA molecule. These transcrip- we should “think developmentally and appreciate bio-
tions are then transported into the cytoplasm of the cell logical diversity,” remembering above all that “bodies
and used to construct proteins, molecules that are basic are not bounded” (2012, xxi, 119).
to an organism’s life processes (Figure 2.15). But this
process is far from simple. Ironically perhaps, the more
molecular biologists have learned about the way DNA
functions in cells, the more difficult it has become for Genotype, Phenotype,
and the Norm of Reaction
Geneticists realized long ago that the molecular struc-
genotype The genetic information about particular biological traits en- ture of genes (or genotype) had to be distinguished
coded in an organism’s DNA. from the observable, measurable overt characteristics
Nuclear membrane
Cell Mitochondria DNA Nucleus

membrane
Endoplasmic
reticulum with
ribosomes
Cytoplasm
FIGURE 2.15 A nucleated cell is a complex system involving many components. DNA replication and protein synthesis are cellular
processes that both involve and affect many cellular components.
of an organism which genes help to produce (its Nevertheless, individuals with the same genotype—
phenotype). For example, the sequences of bases on twins, for example, or cuttings from a single plant or
a stretch of DNA (genotypes) are used by living cells cloned animals—may also develop a range of different
to assemble strings of amino acids that bond to form phenotypes.
proteins (phenotypes), but bases are not the same To understand how we get from an organism’s gen-
thing as protein molecules. How does a genotype get otype to its phenotype, we must consider both geno-
realized in a phenotype? The question is not idle be- type and phenotype in relation to the environment in
cause fertilized eggs do not turn into organisms in a which that organism developed. Biologists compare
vacuum. Living organisms grow in a physical envi- the phenotypic outcomes of organisms with the same
ronment that provides them with nourishment, pro- genotype in different environments and with different
tection, and other vital resources to support their genotypes in the same environment, and they plot these
development over time until they are mature and able outcomes on what is called a norm of reaction. Levins
to reproduce their own offspring. Without the raw ma- and Lewontin (1985) define the norm of reaction as “a
terials for protein synthesis supplied by the ovum, and table or graph of correspondence between the pheno-
later by food, genotypes can do nothing. At the same typic outcome of development and the environment in
time, just as one gene does not equal one trait, differ- which the development took place. Each genotype has
ent genotypes may be associated with the same phe- its own norm of reaction, specifying how the develop-
notype. Mendel first showed this when he was able to ing organism will respond to various environments. In
demonstrate the existence of recessive genes. That is,
red flowers could be produced by homozygous domi-
nant parents (i.e., both red) as well as by heterozygous
parents (i.e., one red and one white), but only one phenotype The observable, measurable overt characteristics of an
organism.
in every four offspring of heterozygous parents would
norm of reaction A table or graph that displays the pos-
have the chance of producing white flowers (i.e., if sible range of phenotypic outcomes for a given genotype in different
it received a recessive white gene from each parent). environments.
1000
60
800
Wild
600
400 45
Viability (percent)
Number of ommatidia
4
200 1
Infrabar 30 4
1
5
100 3
3
80 15 5
Ultrabar
60 2
2
40
0
14 21 26
20 Temperature (°C)
FIGURE 2.17 Comparison of norms of reaction for variant

10 fruit fly genotypes in variant environments shows two things:
0 15 20 25 30 (1) some genotypes always do better than others at any
Temperature (°C) temperature and (2) no single genotype does better than all
the rest at every temperature. Such evidence argues against
FIGURE 2.16 Each genotype has its own norm of reaction, the concept of a single, ideal genotype that is supposed to be
specifying how the developing organism will respond to vari- produced deterministically by the genes (Levins and Lewontin
ous environments. How many eye cells (ommatidia) a fruit fly 1985, 92).
develops depends both on that fly’s genotype and on the envi-
ronmental temperature at which development takes place. Not
only does the same genotype produce different phenotypes
at different temperatures, but also different genotypes may
produce the same phenotype at the same temperatures (Levins
and Lewontin 1985, 91).
the “many-to-many relationship among gene and or-
ganism” (94) and shows that the fitness of a particu-
lar genotype can vary depending on the environment.
Figure 2.17 displays norms of reaction for the sur-
vival at different temperatures of immature fruit flies
general, a genotype cannot be characterized by a unique with different genotypes, all of which were taken from
phenotype” (90–91). natural populations. As the graph illustrates, some
Figure 2.16 shows the norms of reaction for three genotypes always do better than others at any given
different genotypes for a particular trait in Drosophila, temperature, but there is no single genotype that does
the fruit fly. The genotype in question controls the better than all the rest at every temperature. The com-
number of ommatidia, or light-receptor cells, that a plexity of the relationship among genes, organism, and
particular individual will have in its compound eye. environment does not mean “that the organism is in-
Flies carrying the Wild genotype usually have about finitely plastic, or that any genotype can correspond to
1,000 ommatidia in their eyes, whereas those with the any phenotype. Norms of reaction for different geno-
Ultrabar and Infrabar genotypes have far fewer. How- types are different, but it is the norms of reaction that
ever, as the graph shows, the number of ommatidia a are the proper object of study for developmental biolo-
fly develops depends not only on that fly’s genotype gists rather than some ideal organism that is supposed
but also on the environment (in this case, the temper- to be produced deterministically by the genes” (Levins
ature) at which development takes place—that is, the and Lewontin 1985, 94).
same genotype produces different phenotypes at differ- The principles apply to humans as well. Different
ent temperatures. genotypes can produce the same phenotype in some
Figure 2.16 demonstrates yet another surprising environments, and the same genotype can produce dif-
fact about the relationship of genes to the environ- ferent phenotypes in different environments. Despite
ment: at about 15°C, both Ultrabar and Infrabar geno- very different genotypes, the eyes of newborn babies
types develop about the same number of ommatidia! all tend to be the same color, as does hair color as we
In other words, different genotypes may also produce age. Indeed, the phenotype of a single individual can
the same phenotype in a particular environment. This vary markedly from one environment to the next. As
fact illustrates what Levins and Lewontin (1985) call Lewontin (1982) points out, “People who ‘tend to be
fat’ on 5,500 calories a day ‘tend to be thin’ on 2,000.

Families with both ‘tendencies’ will be found living
in the same towns in Northeastern Brazil, where two
thirds of the families live on less than what is consid-
ered a minimum subsistence diet by the World Health
Organization” (20).
Increasing numbers of biologists are addressing not
only the ways in which the organism’s phenotype is shaped
by the environment in which it develops, but also how or-
ganisms shape the environments in which they develop.
For example, in their book Niche Construction, F. John
Odling-Smee, Kevin Laland, and Marcus F eldman (2003)
argue that organisms play two roles in evolution, carrying
genes and interacting with environments.
Specifically, organisms interact with environments,

take energy and resources from environments, make
micro- and macrohabitat choices with respect to envi-
ronments, construct artifacts, emit detritus and die in
environments, and by doing all these things, modify
at least some of the natural selection pressures in their
own and in each other’s local environments. This
second role for phenotypes in evolution is not well de-
scribed or understood by evolutionary biologists and
has not been subject to a great deal of investigation. We
call it “niche construction.” . . . (1)
Niche construction is understood to occur either

when an organism actively perturbs the environment
or when it actively moves into a different environment FIGURE 2.18 Many species, including beavers, construct key
features of their own ecological niches. Beaver dams modify
(Odling-Smee et al. 2003, 41). If the physical, environ- selection pressures experienced by beavers, but they also alter
mental consequences of niche construction are erased selection pressures experienced by neighboring species whose
between generations, this process can have no long-term own niches are altered by the presence of the beaver dam in
their habitats.
effects on evolution. But if these consequences endure,
they feed back into the evolutionary process, modifying
the selection pressures experienced by subsequent gener-
ations of organisms (Figure 2.18). Odling-Smee et al. than picturing them as passively staying in place, sub-
(2003) provide numerous examples taken from all taxo- ject to selection pressures they cannot affect, organisms
nomic groups of living organisms, including blue-green are now seen as sometimes capable of actively inter-
algae, earthworms, dam-building beavers, burrowing vening in their evolutionary fate by modifying the envi-
rodents, and nest-building birds (50–115). Their most ronment: Odling-Smee et al. (2003) predict that “those
controversial proposal is that niche construction be in- members of the population that are least fit relative to
corporated into evolutionary theory as an additional the imposed selective regime will be the individuals
adaptive process alongside natural selection and that that exhibit the strongest evidence for niche construc-
nongenetic “legacies of modified natural selection pres- tion” (298). Alternatively, organisms that move into a
sures” be recognized in addition to the genetic legacies new environment with different selection pressures can
passed on in the egg and sperm. In their view, a suit- no longer be automatically identified as the unques-
ably extended evolutionary theory would recognize both tionable losers in evolutionary competition in their
niche construction and natural selection as evolutionary
processes contributing together to the dynamic adaptive
match between organisms and environments (Odling-
Smee et al. 2003, 2–3).
niche construction When organisms actively perturb the environment
Taking niche construction into account encourages in ways that modify the selection pressures experienced by subsequent
biologists to look at organisms in a new way. Rather generations of organisms.
IN THEIR OWN WORDS
How Living Organisms Construct Their Environments
Geneticist Richard Lewontin rejects the evolve to a larger size, it may in fact find itself with its
notion that living organisms are passively back in the “stratosphere” and only up to its knees in the
molded by the “environment,” thereby warm, moist boundary layer while it is feeding. The con-
challenging us to rethink exactly what an sequence will be that the mosquito’s evolution has put
environment is. it into an entirely different world. Moreover, as human
beings early in their evolution lost hair and the distribu-
tion of sweat glands over their bodies changed, the thick-
ness of the boundary layer changed and so changed the
We must replace the adaptationist view of life with a
micro-world that they carry with them, making it rather
constructionist one. It is not that organisms find envi-
less hospitable for fleas, mosquitoes, and other parasites
ronments and either adapt themselves to the environ-
that live on hairy animals. The first rule of the real rela-
ments or die. They actually construct their environment
tion between organisms and environment is that envi-
out of bits and pieces. In this sense, the environment of
ronments do not exist in the a bsence of o rganisms but
organisms is coded in their DNA and we find ourselves in
are constructed by them out of bits and pieces of the
a kind of reverse Lamarckian position. Whereas Lamarck
external world.
supposed that changes in the external world would
The second rule is that the environment of organ-
cause changes in the internal structures, we see that
isms is constantly being remade during the life of those
the reverse is true. An organism’s genes, to the extent
living beings. When plants send down roots, they change
that they influence what that organism does in its be-
the physical nature of the soil, breaking it up and aerat-
havior, physiology, and morphology, are at the same
ing it. They exude organic molecules, humic acids, that
time helping to construct an environment. So, if genes
change the soil’s chemical nature as well. They make it
change in evolution, the environment of the organism
possible for various beneficial fungi to live together with
will change, too.
them and penetrate their root systems. They change the
Consider the immediate environment of a human
height of the water table by removing water. They alter
being. If one takes motion pictures of a person, using
the humidity in their immediate neighborhood, and the
schlieren optics that detect differences in the refrac-
upper leaves of a plant change the amount of light that
tive index of the air, one can see that a layer of warm,
is available to the lower leaves. When the Canadian De-
moist air completely surrounds each one of us and is
partment of Agriculture takes weather records for agri-
slowly rising from our legs and bodies and going off the
cultural purposes, they do not set up a weather station
top of our heads. In fact, every living organism includ-
in an open field or on the roof of a building. They take
ing trees has this boundary layer of warm air that is cre-
measurements of temperature and humidity at vari-
ated by the o rganism’s metabolism. The result is that we
ous levels above the ground in a field of growing plants
are encapsulated in a little atmosphere created by our
because the plants are constantly changing the physi-
own metabolic activities. One consequence is what is
cal conditions that are relevant to agriculture. Moles
called the wind-chill factor. The reason that it gets much
burrow in the soil. Earthworms through their castings
colder when the wind blows across us is because the
completely change the local topology. Beavers have
wind is blowing away the boundary layer and our skins
had at least as important an effect on the landscape
are then exposed to a different set of temperatures and
in North America as humans did until the beginning of
humidities. Consider a mosquito feeding on the surface
the last century. Every breath you take removes oxygen
of the human body. That mosquito is completely im-
and adds carbon dioxide to the world. Mort Sahl once
mersed in the boundary layer that we have constructed.
said, “Remember, no matter how cruel and nasty and
It is living in a warm, moist world. Yet one of the most
evil you may be, every time you take a breath you make
common evolutionary changes for all organisms is a
a flower happy.”
change in size, and over and over again organisms have
evolved to be larger. If the mosquito species begins to Source: Lewontin 1991, 112–14.
What Does Evolution Mean? 55
FIGURE 2.19 The scope of evolutionary

theory has broadened and deepened over
Evo-devo theory
time. Evolutionary theorists Massimo Pigliucci
Plasticity and and Gerd Müller represent these changes in
Gene mutation accommodation this graphic. Darwin’s original views are within
the inner oval; the features added by the
Mendelian Niche construction Modern Synthesis are encompassed within
inheritance the middle oval, and new developments in
Variation
Epigenetic evolutionary biology that may presage a
Population Inheritance inheritance new, extended synthesis, are included in the
genetics outermost oval.
Natural Replicator theory Source: Pigliucci and Müller, 2010.
Contingency selection
Evolvability
Speciation
and trends
Multilevel selection
Genomic evolution
former environment. Niche construction portrays all choose to undertake can sometimes reshape the selec-
organisms (not just human organisms) as active agents tive pressures we experience, exactly as niche construc-
living in environments that are vulnerable to the con- tion theorists would predict.
sequences of their activities, contributing in potentially
significant ways to the evolutionary histories of their
own and other species.
According to Odling-Smee et al. (2003), acknowl-
What Does Evolution Mean?
edging niche construction as an adaptive process Ever since Darwin, evolutionary theory has been sub-
offers a way to link evolutionary theory and ecosys- jected to repeated testing. Although the results of those
tem ecology, and it also alters the relationship be- tests have led to modifications of the theory in certain
tween evolutionary theory and the human sciences respects, none of them has ever called the concept of
(3). Odling-Smee and colleagues regard human beings evolution itself into question. Indeed, the power of
as “virtuoso niche constructors” (367), and their argu- evolutionary theory is illustrated by how the work of
ments should be of great interest to anthropologists, Linnaeus, Darwin, and Mendel meshes together so beau-
especially cultural anthropologists who insist that any tifully, although each of them worked independently.
explanation of social and culture change must make Modern biologists agree that no process other than evo-
room for human agency: the way people struggle, lution can explain nearly as much about the history of
often against great odds, to exercise some control over life on earth.
their lives. At the same time, niche construction theo- The study of evolution in contemporary biology
rists remind us that humans are not the only agents is very lively. New evidence and new ways of interpret-
at work: other organisms and the ecological artifacts ing evidence have led many evolutionists to question
they (and we) have created also play roles in shap- the adequacy of their old ways of understanding and
ing evolutionary outcomes. The agency of organisms to develop different perspectives on the evolutionary
as niche constructors matters in evolution “because process (Figure 2.19). They are keenly aware that a phe-
it introduces feedback into the evolutionary dynamic nomenon as complex as evolution requires theoretical
[which] significantly modifies the selection pressures
[on organisms]” (Odling-Smee et al. 2003, 2; see also
Deacon 2003). As we will see in later chapters, we as
humans are never free to do exactly as we please but human agency The way people struggle, often against great odds, to
always have options for action. And the actions we exercise some control over their lives.
pluralism—that is, the recognition that a variety of that bacteria have always been the most common form
processes operating at different levels work together of life on this planet. Organisms of extreme complexity
to produce the similarities and differences that charac- (such as human beings) were bound to appear as the
terize the living world. As evolutionary theorists Peter range of variation expanded, but the kind of organisms
Richerson, Robert Boyd, and Joseph Henrich (2003) they turned out to be “is utterly unpredictable, partly
remind us, “Evolutionary theory prescribes a method, random, and entirely contingent—not at all foreor-
not an answer, and a wide range of hypotheses can be dained by the mechanisms of evolution. . . . Humans
cast in an evolutionary framework. . . . Darwinism as a are here by the luck of the draw, not the inevitability
method is not at all committed to any particular pic- of life’s direction or evolution’s mechanism” (Gould
ture of how evolution works or what it produces. Any 1996, 174–75).
sentence that starts with ‘evolutionary theory predicts’ Moreover, once we consider our own species
should be regarded with caution” (366). alongside other species whose comings and goings
Life has a comprehensible history for modern evo- have been so well documented in the fossil record,
lutionists. How it is likely to change next, however, we cannot avoid grappling with the following well-
cannot be predicted with any certainty because random known facts:
factors continue to play an important evolutionary role.
Human biologists have been forced to rethink the place The only certainty about the future of our species is
of their own species in the web of life. Unquestionably, that it is limited. Of all the species that have ever ex-
the result has been to dislodge human beings from the isted 99.999% are extinct. The average lifetime of a car-
center. Most contemporary evolutionists would prob- nivore genus is only 10 million years, and the average
ably agree with Steven Stanley (1981) that “not all lifetime of a species is much shorter. Indeed, life on
paths lead toward Homo sapiens, and possibly no per- earth is nearly half over: Fossil evidence shows that life
sistent path led directly toward him” (151). Indeed, began about 3 billion years ago, and the sun is due to
the very notion that organisms are “going somewhere” become a red giant about 4 billion years from now,
along a linear evolutionary “path” has been ques- consuming life (and eventually the whole earth) in its
tioned. Stephen Jay Gould (1996) has argued that ap- fire. (Lewontin 1982, 169)
parent directional trends in evolution such as increasing
body size are “really random evolution away from small Our species’ story is far from over. Who knows? Perhaps
size, not directed evolution toward large size” (162). we will find a way to spread beyond our solar system, and
He suggests that a more appropriate way to think of our descendants may escape the grim fate that awaits our
the history of life is in terms of expansion or contrac- planet in 4 billion years. In the meantime, we remain on
tion over time in the total range of variation in living earth, searching for answers about who we are and how
forms (i.e., life’s “full house”). To do so is to recognize we are to live our lives.
Chapter Summary
1. Evolutionary theory is a testable, unified, and fruitful i nspired Linnaeus’s important eighteenth-century
scientific theory. Material evidence of evolutionary taxonomy of living organisms.
change over time can be found in the fossil record
and in the pattern of distribution of living species of 3. In the nineteenth century, catastrophism and uni-
organisms. formitarianism undermined the Great Chain of
Being. Catastrophism was based on the ideas of
2. Before Darwin, European thinkers divided living Georges Cuvier, who argued that some species had
things into natural kinds, each of which was thought become extinct in massive natural disasters, after
to have its own unchanging essence. The Great which new species were introduced from elsewhere.
Chain of Being was understood as God’s creation, Uniformitarianism was promoted by geologist
naturally harmonious and without gaps, and it Charles Lyell, who argued that the same processes
For Review 57
of erosion and uplift that can be observed to change population will leave greater numbers of offspring
the earth’s surface today had been at work in the than others.
past. Uniformitarianism implied that changes in life 6. Evolutionary theorists use the concept of adaptation
forms were as gradual and reversible as changes in to refer both to a process of mutual adjustment be-
the earth’s surface. tween organisms and their environments and to the
phenotypic features of organisms that are produced
4. Lamarck tried to preserve the view of a harmonious by this process. Reconstructing accurate evolutionary
Great Chain of Being by claiming that fossil species histories of organisms requires distinguishing adap-
had not become extinct. Lamarck argued that indi- tations from exaptations.
vidual members of a species are all able to transform
7. Darwin did not know why offspring tend to
themselves in the same way when facing the same
resemble their parents, nor did he understand
environmental pressures. Lamarckian transforma-
how variation was introduced into populations.
tional evolution has been rejected by contemporary
Answers to these questions were developed in the
evolutionary researchers. In contrast to Lamarck,
field of genetics. Genes are associated with particu-
Darwin and Wallace concluded that the similarities
lar portions of the DNA molecules located on the
shared by distinct living species could be explained
chromosomes in the cell nucleus. The machinery
if all such species had descended from a single pa-
of the cell uses DNA to synthesize proteins neces-
rental species that had lived in the past. In addition,
sary for life processes and makes it possible for
Darwin proposed that such “descent with modifica-
chromosomes to be copied before cells divide.
tion” could occur as a result of the straightforward,
Gene interaction helps explain how continuous
mechanistic process of natural selection.
traits, such as skin color or hair color, are the result
5. Darwin’s theory of evolution by natural selection of unchanging inheritance. Different genotypes
(or variational evolution) was based on the prin- may produce the same phenotype, and the same
ciple of variation, the principle of heredity, and the genotype may produce different phenotypes, de-
principle of natural selection. Variational evolution pending on the kinds of environments in which
was driven by what Darwin called the “struggle for organisms possessing these genotypes live and
existence” between individuals of the same species grow. That is, each genotype has its own norm of
to survive and reproduce. In a given environment, reaction.
those variant individuals who survive and leave 8. The study of evolution in contemporary biology is
greater numbers of offspring are said to have greater very lively. Modern biologists agree that life on earth
fitness than other members of their species who has evolved, but they have different views about how
leave fewer offspring. There is no such thing as “ab- evolutionary processes work. Many evolutionary
solute” fi
tness. Today, evolutionists recognize four thinkers are increasingly convinced that a phenom-
evolutionary processes, including natural selection, enon as complex as biological evolution requires
that can determine which variant individuals in a theoretical pluralism.
For Review
1. Define evolution. 5. Describe the basic principles and driving force
2. Explain the kinds of material evidence that of natural selection.
have been important in the development of 6. Distinguish among aptation, adaptation,
evolutionary theory. and exaptation.
3. Define essentialism and the Great Chain of Being. 7. Why is variation so important in evolutionary
4. Explain the difference between transforma- theory?
tional (Lamarckian) evolution and variational 8. Explain nonblending, single-particle inheritance
(Darwinian) evolution. (Mendelian inheritance).
9. What is the difference between discontinuous and 12. What are the differences between genotype and
continuous variation? phenotype, and why are they important?
10. Explain how, from a Darwinian perspective, it is 13. What is a norm of reaction? Explain its significance
populations (not individual organisms) that can for the evolution of human populations.
evolve. 14. Summarize the main components of niche
11. Explain what Richard Lewontin meant when he construction.
wrote “There is no ‘race memory’ in biology, only
in books.”
Key Terms
adaptation 40 gene 43 natural selection 39
alleles 43 genetics 43 niche construction 53
aptation 40 genome 49 norm of reaction 51
catastrophism 36 genotype 50 pangenesis 41
chromosomes 43 genus 35 phenotype 51
common ancestry 39 Great Chain of Being 34 pleiotropy 45
continuous variation 44 heterozygous 43 polygeny 44
crossing over 44 homozygous 43 principle of independent
discontinuous human agency 55 assortment 43
variation 44 linkage 44 principle of segregation 43
DNA 49 locus 44 species 35
essentialism 33 meiosis 43 taxonomy 35
evolution 33 Mendelian transformational
evolutionary theory 32 inheritance 42 evolution 37
exaptation 40 mitosis 43 uniformitarianism 36
fitness 39 mutation 48 variational evolution 39
Suggested Readings
Ayala, Francisco J., and John C. Avise (eds.). 2014. Essential Kevles, Daniel J., and Leroy Hood. 1992. The code of codes:
readings in evolutionary biology. Baltimore: Johns Hop- Scientific and social issues in the Human Genome Project.
kins University Press. This book is a bit challenging for Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. This edited
students new to evolutionary biology, but it is a marvelous collection contains a wide range of articles by geneticists,
compendium of forty-eight excerpts by influential evolution- molecular biologists, biochemists, historians of science, and
ary thinkers, from Darwin until the present day, including social scientists who examine the prospects and consequences
theoretical developments connected with the rise of genetics, of mapping all the genes in the human body. The book offers
the negotiation of the evolutionary synthesis, the discovery of a range of opinions on how fully we will know what it means
the structure of DNA, and more. to be human if we learn one day all there is to know about
Gould, Stephen Jay. 1987. Time’s arrow, time’s cycle: Myth and our genes.
metaphor in the discovery of geological time. Cambridge, Lewontin, Richard. 1991. Biology as ideology: The doctrine
MA: Harvard University Press. A fascinating account of of DNA. New York: Harper Perennial. The text of this
the historical and cultural context out of which catastroph- book began as a series of radio broadcasts for the Cana-
ism and uniformitarianism were forged in the nineteenth dian Broadcasting Company and is supplemented with an
century. article Lewontin published in the New York Review of
———. 1996. Full house: The spread of excellence from Plato Books. Lewontin’s accessible and hard-hitting essay ad-
to Darwin. New York: Harmony Books. An eloquent and dresses excessive claims that are sometimes made in the
entertaining defense of the view that human beings were not name of human genetics and offers incisive criticism of
the end point of biological evolution and that bacteria are current efforts by geneticists to map all the genes in the
more properly regarded as the dominant life forms on earth. human body.
Suggested Readings 59
———. 2001. The triple helix: Gene, organism, and environment. being written about evolution today. A marvelously clear
Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. Lewontin re- and detailed account of pre-Darwinian thinking about life
minds biologists not to forget the role of organisms and envi- on earth.
ronment in discussions of evolution; these are often ignored Marks, Jonathan. 1995. Human biodiversity. New York:
in discussions that attribute everything to genes. Aldine. Marks is a biological anthropologist with a
Lovejoy, Arthur O. [1936] 1960. The Great Chain of Being. strong commitment to a biocultural approach to human
New York: Harper Torchbooks. Originally published nature. This book is an excellent introduction to biological
in 1936, this classic is as fresh and relevant as anything anthropology.
3
What can the study of
primates tell us about
human beings?
Our closest animal relatives are the primates. This chapter introduces you
to the richness and variety of primate ways of life and provides an overview
of primate evolution. Primates are fascinating in their own right but also
can help us understand more about what it means to be human.
CHAPTER OUTLINE
What Are Primates?
How Do Biologists Classify
Primates?
How Many Categories of Living
Primates Are There?
Strepsirrhines
Haplorhines
What Is Ethnoprimatology?
Are There Patterns in Primate
Evolution?
How Do Paleoanthropologists
Reconstruct Primate
Evolutionary History?
Primates of the Paleocene
Primates of the Eocene
Primates of the Oligocene
Primates of the Miocene
Chapter Summary
For Review
Key Terms
Suggested Readings
Primatologist Jane Goodall interacts with a chimpanzee. 61

62 CHAPTER 3: WHAT CAN THE STUDY OF PRIMATES TELL US ABOUT HUMAN BEINGS?
H uman beings are primates, and the evolution

of human beings constitutes one strand of the
broader evolutionary history of the primate order. Be-
cause knowledge of living primate species offers impor-
tant clues to their evolutionary past, this chapter begins
with an overview of what we know about living non-
human primates. Because modern nonhuman primates
have their own evolutionary history but also share an
evolutionary history with human beings, we then turn
to a brief look at their evolution.
What Are Primates?

a
Western Europeans first learned about African apes in
the seventeenth century. Ever since, these animals have
been used as a mirror to reflect on and speculate about
human nature. But the results of this exercise have been
contradictory. The physical characteristics that humans
share with other primates have led many observers to
assume that these primates also share our feelings and
attitudes. This is called anthropomorphism, the attri-
bution of human characteristics to nonhuman animals.
In the twentieth century alone, Westerners vacillated
between viewing primates as innocent and comical ver-
sions of themselves (Curious George) and as brutish and
degraded versions of themselves (King Kong, Figure 3.1).
When studying nonhuman primates, we must remain
aware of how our own human interests can distort what b
we see (Haraway 1989). If you think humans are basi-
cally kind and generous, nonhuman primates will look FIGURE 3.1 In the West, nonhuman primates are often
portrayed in ways that embody human fears and anxieties. In
kind and generous; if you think humans are basically
the 1930s, the giant ape in the original King Kong (a) embodied
nasty and selfish, nonhuman primates will look nasty a racial threat to the power of white males and the sexual
and selfish. Primatologists have an obligation to avoid virtue of white females. Since that time, the popularization of
either romanticizing or demonizing primates if they are Jane Goodall’s chimpanzee research and Dian Fossey’s gorilla
research, as well as worries about the extinction of wild ape
to understand these animals in their own right.
populations, seems to have reshaped the recent remake of
King Kong (b), in which the white human heroine and the giant
ape become allies in an effort to evade greedy, abusive, and
exploitative white males.
How Do Biologists Classify
Primates? behavioral traits, and geographical distribution (Mayr
The first step in understanding primates is to address 1982, 192). The laboratory technique of DNA hybrid-
the variety they exhibit. Primatologists, like other biol- ization allows researchers to combine single strands of
ogists, turn for assistance to modern biological taxon- DNA from two species to see how closely they match.
omy, the foundations of which were laid by Linnaeus When human DNA is combined with the DNA of other
in the eighteenth century. Today, taxonomists group or- primates, they all match very closely, with the closest
ganisms together on the basis of morphological traits, match being between humans and chimpanzees. As we
will see in Chapter 4, these kinds of comparisons no
longer are limited to the DNA of living primates. New
anthropomorphism The attribution of human characteristics to nonhu- laboratory techniques that permit the recovery of ancient
man animals. DNA from fossilized bones tens of thousands of years
taxonomy A biological classification of various kinds of organisms. old are making it possible to reconstruct evolutionary
How Do Biologists Classify Primates? 63
continuity and divergence as measured in similarities misleading. As we will discuss in Chapter 5, paleontol-
and differences in the DNA of living species and their ogists face numerous challenges in the systematic clas-
extinct relatives (Brown and Brown 2013). sification of fossil organisms that biologists studying
Taxonomists classify organisms by assigning them living species usually do not encounter. Paleontologists
to groups and arranging the groups in a hierarchy based realize that adaptive morphological similarity by itself
on the seven levels originally recognized by Linnaeus: is not a foolproof indicator of evolutionary relatedness.
kingdom, phylum, class, order, family, genus, and spe- This is because similarity can arise in one of two ways.
cies. Biologists continue to assign Latin names to spe- Sometimes, members of different species have inher-
cies (e.g., Homo sapiens). The species name consists of ited common features from a common ancestor (a phe-
(1) a generic name (always capitalized) that refers to the nomenon called homology); in other cases, members
genus in which the species is classified and (2) a spe- of different species have common features, but do not
cific name that identifies particular species (any distin- share a recent common ancestor (a phenomenon called
guishing name will do, including the Latinized name of homoplasy). Homoplasy is the result of convergent, or
the person who first identified the species). Genus and parallel, evolution, as when two species with very differ-
species names are always italicized. The taxonomy recog- ent evolutionary histories develop similar physical fea-
nized by modern biologists is an inclusive hierarchy. That tures as a result of adapting to a similar environment.
is, related lower groups are combined to make higher Examples include wings in birds and in bats and long,
groups: related species make up a genus, related genera hydrodynamic body shapes in fishes and in whales.
make up a family, and so on. Each species—and each set To avoid confusing homology with homoplasy,
of related species grouped at any level of the hierarchy— some twentieth-century taxonomists developed an alter-
is called a taxon (plural, taxa). For example, H. sapiens native taxonomic method called cladistics that is based
is a taxon, as is Hominoidea (the superfamily to which on homology alone (that is, on evolutionary relatedness
humans and apes belong) and Mammalia (the class to alone). Cladistics attempts to reconstruct the degrees of
which primates and all other mammals belong). similarity and difference that result from cladogenesis
Contemporary taxonomies are designed to reflect the (the formation of one or more new species from an
evolutionary relationships that modern biologists believe older species). First, cladists must distinguish between
were responsible for similarities and differences among homologous and analogous physical traits, focusing
species, and taxonomists debate which kinds of similari- on homologous traits only. Then, they must determine
ties and differences they ought to emphasize. Traditional which of the homologous traits shared by a group of
evolutionary taxonomies focused on the morphology organisms belonged to the ancestral population out of
of organisms—the shapes and sizes of their anatomical which they all evolved. These are called “primitive traits.”
features—and related these to the adaptations the or- To trace later evolutionary developments, cladists
ganisms had developed. Organisms that seemed to have identify phenotypic features shared by some, but not all,
developed similar adaptations at a similar level of com- of the descendant organisms. A group of organisms pos-
plexity in similar environments were classified together sessing such a set of shared, derived features constitutes
in the same evolutionary grade. Primates are classified a natural group called a clade that must be recognized
into four evolutionary grades: the least complex grade is in the taxonomy. Finally, if cladists find derived features
represented by prosimians (“premonkeys”) and includes that are unique to a given group, this too requires taxo-
lemurs, lorises, and tarsiers; anthropoids (monkeys, apes, nomic recognition. A group of organisms sharing a set of
and humans) represent a more advanced grade; followed unique, derived features that sets them apart from other
by the hominoids (apes and humans); the most ad- such groups within the same genus would qualify as a
vanced grade is the hominins (humans). The lesser apes species (Figure 3.2). This way of defining species exem-
(gibbons and siamangs) are distinguished from the great plifies the Phylogenetic Species Concept, to be discussed in
apes (gorillas, chimpanzees, and orangutans) on the
grounds that the great apes had achieved a more com-
plex adaptation than the lesser apes. For the same reason,
taxon Each species, as well as each group of related species, at any level in
the great apes were grouped together on the grounds that a taxonomic hierarchy.
their adaptations were more similar to one another than morphology The physical shape and size of an organism or its body parts.
any of them were to human beings. homology Genetic inheritance resulting from common ancestry.
The traditional approach to taxonomy has much homoplasy Convergent, or parallel, evolution, as when two species with
to recommend it—especially to paleontologists be- very different evolutionary histories develop similar physical features as a
result of adapting to a similar environment.
cause fossils are often so few and so incomplete that any
cladogenesis The birth of a variety of descendant species from a single
classification more precise than “grade” is likely to be
ancestral species.
D C B A and raising offspring. In light of all this diversity, most

primatologists would probably caution against taking
any single primate species as a model of early human
social life (Cheney et al. 1987, 2). Alison Jolly (1985)
1 points out that any species’ way of life—what it eats and
how it finds mates, raises its young, relates to compan-
2 ions, and protects itself from predators—defines that
species’ ecological niche. And, she adds, “With pri-
3
mates, much of the interest lies in guessing how our an-
cestors evolved from narrow confinement in a particular
niche into our present cosmopolitan state.”
FIGURE 3.2 This cladogram shows the relationships among

four hypothetical species. A, B, C, and D are assigned separate Strepsirrhines
species status on the basis of unique, derived traits. A and B
together possess shared, derived traits not found among C or D, Strepsirrhini include lemurs and lorises (see Figures 3.3
indicating that A and B share a recent common ancestor (1). A, B, and 3.4), the prosimians that have a rhinarium, or upper
and C together possess shared, derived traits that distinguish lip, attached to the gums by a web of skin. Other shared,
them from D, indicating that they, too, share a common—but
more distant—ancestor (2). A, B, C, and D are grouped together for
derived features that unite Strepsirrhines include the
analysis on the basis of shared, primitive traits common to them tooth comb (forward-tilting lower incisors and canine
all or shared, derived traits that distinguish their common ances- teeth used for grooming), a grooming claw on the second
tor (3) from an out-group not shown in the cladogram.
digit of their feet, and an ankle bone (or talus) that flares
to the side (Fleagle 2013, 57). Strepsirrhine dentition
Chapter 5. In recent years, cladistic methods have been (the sizes, shapes, and numbers of their teeth) displays
widely adopted by primatologists and human paleon- the dental formula 2.1.3.3 (that is, each side of both
tologists, and the following discussion uses cladistic upper and lower jaws has two incisors, one canine, three
categories. premolars, and three molars). Females have a bicornate
(“two-horned”) uterus and a primitive form of placenta
in which the blood of the mother and the blood of the
fetus are more separated from one another than they are
How Many Categories of in other primates. Ancient and contemporary DNA com-
Living Primates Are There? parisons indicate that all the Madagascar species (in-
cluding the mouse lemur, the smallest living primate)
Nonhuman primates are found today in all the major form a clade separate from lorises and galagos, although
rain forests of the world, except those in New Guinea more detailed relations among many species remain un-
and northeastern Australia. Some species, such as the clear (Fleagle 2013, 82).
Japanese macaque, have moved out of the tropics and Today lemurs are found only on the island of Mada-
into temperate climates. Primates are unusual, however, gascar, off the east coast of Africa, where they were isolated
because, unlike most mammalian groups, their many from competition from later-evolving primate species on
and varied species are nearly all found in the tropics. the African mainland. They have been classified into 2
Primates are studied in laboratories, in captive popula- superfamilies, 5 families, and 15 genera (plural of genus)
tions in zoos or research facilities, and in the wild. Pri- (Fleagle 2013, 5). There is evidence that different spe-
matologists must gather and compare information from cies of brown lemur are able to successfully interbreed
all these settings to construct a picture of primate life with one another, although they have different numbers
that does justice to its richness and diversity. of chromosomes; different species of sportive lemurs are
And primate life is tremendously diverse. Different also able to interbreed despite chromosome differences
species live in different habitats, eat different kinds of that distinguish them (Fleagle 2013, 63, 67). Humans
food, organize themselves into different kinds of social first arrived in Madagascar about 2000 years ago, and it
configurations, and observe different patterns of mating appears that they were responsible for the extinction of
a number of large-bodied lemur species, either by hunt-
ing or by destruction of their habitats (Fleagle 2013, 73).
ecological niche Any species’ way of life: what it eats and how it finds
mates, raises its young, relates to companions, and protects itself from
Lorises are found in Africa and Asia, and their close
predators. relatives, the galagos, are found in Africa. These groups
dentition The sizes, shapes, and number of an animal’s teeth. all share the same three strepsirrhine features as lemurs,
Order Primates
Suborder Strepsirrhini Haplorhini

(strepsirrhines) (haplorhines)
Infraorder Lemuriformes Tarsiiformes Platyrrhini Cartarrhini

(tarsiers) (New World anthropoids) (Old World anthropoids)
Superfamily Lemuroidea Lorisoidea Ceboidea Cercopithecoidea Hominoidea

(lemurs) (lorises) (New World (Old World (apes and
monkeys) monkeys) humans)
FIGURE 3.3 Cladistic taxonomy of the primates (Relethford 1996, 175).
but in addition possess features in their cranium that

differentiate them from lemurs. Both groups live in trees
and are nocturnal (active at night), but differ in their
characteristic styles of movement: lorises are slow climb-
ers, whereas galagos are leapers (Fleagle 2013, 78).
Haplorhines
Haplorhini includes tarsiers and anthropoids, primates
whose upper lips are not attached to their gums. Some
taxonomies emphasize the features all Haplorhini share,
and recognize three Haplorhini infraorders: Tarsiiformes
(tarsiers), Platyrrhini (New World anthropoids), and
Catarrhini (Old World anthropoids) (see Figure 3.3).
Other taxonomists, who judge that anthropoids have
more in common with each other than they do with
tarsiers, treat Haplorhini and Anthropoidea as semi-

orders, place Tarsiiformes in Haplorhini, and classify
Platyrrhini and Catarrhini as two infraorders in Anthro-
poidea (see Table 3.1).
Tarsiers Tarsiers are small nocturnal primates (Figure 3.5)

that eat only animal food, such as insects, birds, bats, and
snakes. Tarsiers used to be grouped with lemurs and lorises,
but cladists have argued persuasively that they belong in
the same clade as anthropoids. This is because they share
a number of derived traits with the anthropoids, including
dry noses, detached upper lips, a similarly structured pla-
centa (and heavier infants), and a structure in their skulls
FIGURE 3.4 Lemurs are native only to the island of Mada-
gascar, off the east coast of Africa. They managed to avoid com-
petition from later-evolving monkeys and apes in Africa thanks
to their geographical isolation. nocturnal Describes animals that are active during the night.
TABLE 3.1 Classification of Homo sapiens
Kingdom Animal
Phylum Chordata
Class Mammalia (mammals)
Order Primates (primates)
Semiorder Haplorhini
Suborder Anthropoidea
Infraorder Catarrhini
Superfamily Hominoidea
Family Hominidae
Subfamily Homininae
Genus Homo
Species Homo sapiens
A modern biological classification of our species, Homo sapiens,

using L
innaean principles, based on Fleagle (2013, 5).
called the “postorbital partition” (Bearder 1987; Aiello

1986). Tarsier body morphology—a tiny body and enor-
mous eyes and feet—is quite distinctive. Tarsier denti- FIGURE 3.5 A lthough tarsiers used to be grouped together
tion is also unusual: tarsiers have no tooth comb, but with lemurs and lorises on phenetic grounds, cladists point
resemble lemurs and lorises in the upper jaw (2.1.3.3), out that tarsiers share a number of derived traits with the
anthropoids.
although not the lower jaw (1.1.3.3). In other respects,
tarsier tooth morphology resembles that of a nthropoids
(Fleagle 2013, 85). World monkeys have evolved lemur-like adaptations
and some have evolved ape-like adaptations, but other
Anthropoids Anthropoids include New World monkeys, adaptations are unique (Fleagle 2013, 92). Platyrrhini
Old World monkeys, apes, and humans. New World are classified into 2 superfamilies, 7 subfamilies, and
monkeys are called platyrrhines, a term referring to their 18 genera (Fleagle 2013, 5). Titi monkeys are the least
broad, flat noses; Old World monkeys, apes, and humans specialized of all New World monkeys and may bear the
are called catarrhines in reference to their downward- closest resemblance to the earliest platyrrhines (Fleagle
pointing nostrils (Figure 3.6). Platyrrhines (Figure 3.7) 2013, 93). Capuchins (or organ-grinder monkeys) are
also differ from catarrhines in dentition: the platyrrhine well known outside their habitats in the South American
dental formula is 2.1.3.3, whereas the catarrhine dental rainforest. Some populations in open habitats in Brazil
formula is 2.1.2.3. Some platyrrhines have prehensile, have been observed walking on their hind legs and using
or grasping, tails, whereas no catarrhines do. Finally, all tools to break open palm nuts (Fleagle 2013, 104). Owl
platyrrhines are tree dwellers, whereas some catarrhine monkeys, found throughout South America, are the only
species live permanently on the ground. John Fleagle nocturnal anthropoid species (Fleagle 2013, 106). The
(2013, 90) reminds us that all these anthropoid features largest New World monkeys are atelids like the spider
did not appear at once, but evolved in a piecemeal fash- monkey, which have prehensile tails. Their tails function
ion over millions of years. much like a fifth limb, helping them to suspend them-
New World monkeys are the only clade of anthro- selves in the trees. These are the New World monkeys
poids in Central and South America; neither apes nor whose adaptations most resemble those of Old World
strepsirrhines are found there. It happens that some New apes (Fleagle 2013, 98). Overall, the adaptive diversity of
New World monkeys is impressive. There is no evidence
of hybridization among species of New World monkeys
prehensile The ability to grasp, with fingers, toes, or tail. (Fleagle 2013, 116).
P2
P2
P3
P3 P4
P4
P3
P3
P4 P4
FIGURE 3.6 New World monkeys, such as the capuchin, have

flat noses with nostrils pointing sideways and three premolars
(P2, P3, and P4). By contrast, Old World anthropoids, including
Old World monkeys such as the macaque, have noses with
downward-pointing nostrils and only two premolars (P3 and P4).
FIGURE 3.7 A well-known species of New World monkeys

is the spider monkey. This monkey was photographed in the
Old World monkeys include two major groups: the Guatemalan rain forest.
colobines and the cercopithecines. Colobines, includ-
ing the langurs of Asia (Figure 3.8) and the red colo-
bus monkeys of Africa, are all diurnal (active during the Ground-dwelling cercopithecines include several
day) and primarily adapted to arboreal life, although species of baboons, perhaps the best known of all Old
they have been observed to travel on the ground be- World monkeys. Hamadryas baboons (Papio hamadryas)
tween tracts of forest. Colobines have four-chambered and gelada baboons (Theropithecus gelada) are found
stomachs, presumably an adaptation to a heavy diet of in Africa (Figure 3.9). Although they belong to differ-
leaves (Struhsaker and Leland 1987). Sorting out the ent genera, they both live in social groups that possess a
phylogenetic connections among colobines in Africa single breeding male. However, this superficial similar-
and Asia has been difficult; it appears that much hybridity turns out to be the result of very different social pro-
ization has occurred among them in the past (Fleagle cesses. Hamadryas males build up their one-male units
2013, 135). Indeed, hybridization seems to have hap- by enticing females away from other units or by “adopt-
pened regularly among many Old World monkey spe- ing” immature females and caring for them until they are
cies, which makes it difficult for taxonomists to agree ready to breed. They carefully police the females in their
about how to classify them (Fleagle 2013, 148). Cercopi- units, punishing those that stray with a ritualized neck
thecines include some species adapted to live in the trees bite. In addition, hamadryas males thought to be kin
and others adapted to live on the ground. Those spe- form bonds to create a higher-level social unit known as
cies living in forests, such as African guenons, are often a “clan.” Several one-male units, several clans, and some
found in one-male breeding groups; females remain in individual males congregate in a band to forage together;
the groups where they were born, whereas males ordi- and three or four bands may sleep together at night in a
narily transfer out at puberty. Groups of more than one
species are often found feeding and traveling together
(Cords 1987). diurnal Describes animals that are active during the day.
troop. By contrast, gelada baboons construct their one-

male units on a core of strongly bonded female relatives
that are closely influenced by the dominant female and
that stay together even if the male of their group is re-
moved (Stammbach 1987).
The most widely distributed primate genus in the
world is Macaca—or the macaques—of which there are
20 species, ranging from Gibraltar and North Africa to
Southeast Asia. All macaque species live in large mul-
timale groups with complex internal social structures.
They do well in a wide variety of habitats and have
been especially successful living in habitats disturbed by
human populations, with whom they have a long his-
tory of interaction in many parts of the world (Fleagle
2013, 123).
Hominoidea is the superfamily of catarrhines that
includes apes and humans (see Table 3.1). Apes can
be distinguished from Old World monkeys by mor-
phological features such as dentition (reduced canine
size, changes in jaw shape and molar shape) and the
absence of a tail. Traditional taxonomies divide living
apes into three grades, or families: the lesser apes (gib-
bons and siamangs), the great apes (orangutans, goril-
las, and chimpanzees), and the hominids (humans). As
we noted earlier, this taxonomic judgment was based on
the differences in the kinds of adaptations each grade
of anthropoid had developed. In recent years, however,
FIGURE 3.8 Gray langurs are Old World colobine monkeys.
Some primatologists have described events in which all-male
many cladists have argued that classification within the
langur groups “invade” one-male langur groups. Invading males great ape and human categories must be revised to re-
have been reported to deliberately kill unweaned offspring of flect the results of biochemical and DNA testing, which
resident females. Whether this behavior should be interpreted
show that humans and African apes (gorillas and chim
as adaptive or maladaptive has been one of the great contro-
versies of contemporary primatology. panzees) are far more closely related to one another than
a b
FIGURE 3.9 Both hamadryas baboons (a) and gelada baboons (b) are ground-dwelling Old World cercopithecine monkeys.
lthough both species live in social groups with a single breeding male, hamadryas groups are created when the male entices
A
females away from other groups, whereas gelada groups construct their one-male units on a core of closely related females.
they are to orangutans. Moreover, because chimpanzees

and humans share more than 98% of their DNA, more
and more taxonomists have concluded that these genetic
similarities require placing chimpanzees and humans to-
gether in the same family, Hominidae; humans and their
immediate ancestors are then grouped into a subfamily
called Homininae and are called hominins (Goodman
et al. 1990). This usage, now adopted by many lead-
ing authorities (e.g., Klein 2009, 74–75; Stringer and
Andrews 2005, 16), will be followed in this book.
However, some biological anthropologists object
that using genetics alone to determine taxonomy ignores
important evolutionary information. For instance, em-
phasizing the genetic similarities between chimps and
humans ignores wide adaptive differences between these
taxa that illustrate Darwinian “descent with modifica-
tion.” These differences help explain why chimps and
other apes are on the verge of extinction, largely as a con-
sequence of human adaptive success. Biological anthro-
pologist Jonathan Marks (2013) asks:
Who would say “nature” is reducible to “genetics” (aside

from self-interested geneticists)? Certainly not the evo-
lutionary “synthetic theorists” of the mid- twentieth
century (Huxley 1947, Simpson 1949). If “evolution”
refers to the naturalistic production of difference, then
to say that we are apes is equivalent to denying that we
have evolved. Or to put it another way, if evolution is
descent with modification, then our ape identity im-
plies descent without modification. (251)
FIGURE 3.10 Gibbons are the smallest of the apes. Unlike
Both traditionalists and cladists agree that gibbons most primate species, gibbons are monogamous, and male and
(Figure 3.10) belong in their own family, Hylobatidae. female gibbons show no sexual dimorphism in size.
Gibbons, the smallest of the apes, are found in the tropi-
cal rain forests of southeastern Asia. Most primate spe- Orangutans (Figure 3.11) are found today only
cies show sexual dimorphism in size; that is, individuals in the rain forests of Sumatra and Borneo in south-
of one sex (usually the males) are larger than individuals eastern Asia. Their dentition is different from that of
of the other sex. Gibbons, however, show no sexual di- chimpanzees and gorillas. Orangutans are an extremely
morphism in size, although in some species males and solitary species whose way of life has made them dif-
females have different coat colors. Gibbons are monoga- ficult to study in the wild. Adult female orangutans
mous, neither male nor female is consistently dominant, and their offspring occupy overlapping ranges that also
and males contribute a great deal of care to their off- overlap the ranges of more than one male. Orangutan
spring. Gibbon groups usually comprise the mated pair males come in two different adult forms, unflanged
and one or two offspring, all of whom spend compara- and flanged. Unflanged males are the size of females,
tively little time in social interactions with one another. whereas flanged males grow protruding fleshy jowls,
Gibbon pairs defend their joint territory, usually by vo- called flanges, and may be twice as large. Some orang-
calizing together to warn off intruders but occasionally utan populations have been documented demonstrat-
with physical encounters. Establishing a territory appears ing cultural differences in tool use and vocalization
to be difficult for newly mated pairs, and there is some (Fleagle 2013, 158–59).
evidence that parents may assist offspring in this effort.
Evidence also suggests that some young male gibbons
inherit the territory of their parents by pairing with their hominins Humans and their immediate ancestors.
widowed mothers, although these pairs do not seem to sexual dimorphism The observable phenotypic differences between
breed (Leighton 1987). males and females of the same species.
IN THEIR OWN WORDS
The Future of Primate Ten years after Strier published her warning, matters
have not improved. On January 18, 2017, science writer
Biodiversity Carl Zimmer of the New York Times reported that “a team
of 31 primatologists has analyzed every known species of
primate to judge how they are faring. The news for man’s
In a recent collection presenting the latest closest animal relatives is not good. Three-quarters of
research on primates, Karen Strier writes about primate species are in decline, the researchers found,
one of the most critical concerns for all who and about 60 percent are now threatened with extinc-
work with primates: conservation. tion. From gorillas to gibbons, primates are in significantly
worse shape now than in recent decades because of the
devastation from agriculture, hunting and mining.”
Between the inevitable effects of global warming on the Echoing the findings of ethnoprimatologists, the re-
world’s endangered ecosystems and the ongoing expan- searchers Zimmer interviewed reported mixed o utcomes,
sion of human populations in and around the world’s bio- depending on the primate species; for example, g eneralist
diversity hotspots, it is difficult to foresee how the future species that do well in a range of habitats are doing better
of primates—and other animals—that are threatened than species that are dependent on highly specific re-
with extinction can be protected. Global losses of bio- sources. The decrease in primate numbers, however,
diversity and ecosystem changes are predicted to occur affects more than the survival of individual species. Scien-
by 2050, and major primate extinctions may occur even tists now know that the activities of primate species keep
sooner than this because rates of deforestation in coun- tropical forests healthy. Zimmer quotes one of the coau-
tries such as Indonesia and Madagascar are so high. . . . thors of the study, biological anthropologist Katherine
There is no question that human pressures are acceler- C. MacKinnon, who observed that “People used to think of
ating the extinction risks for many primate taxa. Whether primates as icing on the cake, as not being vital for ecosys-
through direct actions, such as unsustainable hunting tems. . . . But now we know they are.”
and habitat destruction, or indirect activities, such as the Some conservation efforts have been successful.
far-reaching effects of atmospheric pollution on global For example, Anthony Rylands, another coauthor of the
climate, the impact of humans on other primates today is study, told Zimmer about a project to conserve golden
much greater than it has been in the past. . . . Yet, despite lion tamarins, whose numbers were greatly reduced
the depressing forecast for primates, increased aware- when the coastal forests of Brazil were cut down to make
ness about the status of the world’s endangered pri- way for agriculture. Begun in 1983, the project has suc-
mates has fueled intensified international conservation ceeded in preserving a small, stable population of this
efforts. It is too soon to tell whether these efforts will ulti- species in the wild. Still, conservation faces severe chal-
mately succeed in securing the futures of all endangered lenges: as Rylands pointed out, “the immensity of the de-
taxa, but there is no doubt that they are helping gain es- struction of tropical forests makes it very difficult.”
sential time in what for many primates is now an urgent
race against extinction. Sources: Strier 2007, 506; Zimmer 2017.
There are five living subspecies of gorillas, all of adult female gorilla may produce three surviving off-
which are found in Africa: the western lowland gorilla, spring in her lifetime. Gorillas are highly sexually dimor-
the Cross River gorilla, Grauer’s gorilla, the Bwindi phic, and the dominant male often determines group
gorilla, and the mountain gorilla. The rarest subspe- activity and the direction of travel. Immature gorillas are
cies, the mountain gorilla, is probably the best known, attracted to dominant males, who ordinarily treat them
thanks to the work of Dian Fossey (Figure 3.12), whose with tolerance and protect them in dangerous situations
experiences have been popularized in books and film. (Stewart and Harcourt 1987; Whitten 1987).
Mountain gorillas eat mostly leaves. Like the New World Chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) are probably the
howler monkeys, both male and female gorillas trans- most studied of all the apes (Figure 3.13). Jane Goodall
fer out of the group in which they were born before and her associates in Gombe, Tanzania, have followed
they start breeding. The transfer, which does not appear some chimpanzee groups for 50 years. Other long-term
forced, may occur more than once in a female’s life. An field research on chimpanzees has been carried out
FIGURE 3.13 Chimpanzees are probably the most studied of

all the apes.
captivity. Bonobos are found only in central Africa south

of the Zaire River and may number fewer than 100,000;
forest destruction, human predation, and capture for
FIGURE 3.11 Orangutans are an extremely solitary species illegal sale all threaten their survival (de Waal 1989,
that lives deep in the rain forests of Sumatra and Borneo. 177). The two species differ morphologically: bonobos
have less rugged builds, shorter upper limbs, and longer
lower limbs than chimpanzees and sport a distinctive
coiffure. Both species share a fluid social structure; that
is, temporary smaller groups form within the framework
of a larger community (de Waal 1989, 180; Nishida and
Hiraiwa-Hasegawa 1987, 172). Their patterns of social
interactions differ, however. Bands of unrelated adult
males are common among chimpanzees but rare among
bonobos. Bonds formed between unrelated females are
relatively weak among chimpanzees but strong among
bonobos. Bonds between the sexes are much stronger
among bonobos as well. This means that female bono-
bos play a more central role in their society than female
chimpanzees play in theirs (de Waal 1989, 180).
Chimpanzees and bonobos eat both plant and
FIGURE 3.12 The mountain gorilla of central Africa is the
rarest of the living species of gorilla found in Africa. animal foods. Indeed, one of Goodall’s famous early dis-
coveries was that chimpanzees deliberately make tools to
help them find food. They have been observed preparing
elsewhere in eastern and western Africa as well (Boesch- sticks to fish for insects in termite mounds or anthills,
Achermann and Boesch 1994). In recent years, a second using leaf sponges to obtain water from tree hollows,
species belonging to the genus Pan, Pan paniscus, known and using rocks to smash open nuts. Indeed, patterns of
as the “pygmy chimpanzee” or bonobo (Figure 3.14), tool use seem to vary regionally, suggesting the existence
has received increasing attention, both in the wild and in of separate cultural traditions in different chimpanzee
FIGURE 3.14 Social interactions

among bonobos are highly eroti-
cized, apparently to manipulate
social relationships rather than to
increase reproductive rates. Female
bonobos play a more central role in
their society than female chimpan-
zees play in theirs.
groups. Male chimpanzees have been observed hunting creativity. Primates can get by under difficult circum-
for meat and sharing their kill with other members of stances, survive injuries, try out new foods or new social
the group; interestingly, forest- dwelling chimpanzees arrangements, and take advantage of the random pro-
are more likely to hunt in groups, presumably because cesses of history and demography to do what none has
the foliage makes their prey harder to secure (Boesch- done before (Jolly 1985, 80–81, 242, 319). Simplistic
Achermann and Boesch 1994). models of primate behavior assuming that all primates
Bonobos have never been observed using tools are fundamentally alike, with few behavioral options,
(Nishida and Hiraiwa-Hasegawa 1987, 166). However, are no longer plausible. Mary Ellen Morbeck (1997) ob-
the sexual life of chimpanzees cannot compare with the serves that “Most current models are inadequate when
highly eroticized social interactions typical of bonobos. applied to the complex lives of large-bodied, long-lived,
Bonobo females are able and willing to mate during group-living mammals, primates, and humans with
much of their monthly cycle, but researchers have also big brains and good memories” (14). Overall, it seems
observed a high degree of mounting behavior and sexual quite clear that flexibility is the hallmark of primate
play between all members of bonobo groups, young and adaptations.
old, involving individuals of the same sex and of the
opposite sex. Studying a captive colony of bonobos in
the San Diego Zoo, Frans de Waal and his assistants ob-
served 600 mounts, fewer than 200 of which involved
What Is Ethnoprimatology?
sexually mature individuals. Although this might be More than 20 years ago, in Primate Visions (1989), Donna
a function of life in captivity, it does not appear to be Haraway showed how human ambivalence about race
contradicted by data gathered in the wild. Nishida and and gender had shaped much traditional Western scien-
Hiraiwa-Hasegawa (1987), who refer to material gath- tific thinking about nonhuman primates. Today, many
ered under both conditions, conclude that elaborate primatologists are focusing their research on the com-
bonobo sexual behavior is “apparently used to manip- plex and often contradictory interconnections between
ulate relationships rather than to increase reproductive human and nonhuman primates. As a result, they in-
rates” (173). de Waal (1989) agrees, suggesting that creasingly insist that field studies of primates must be
“conflict resolution is the more fundamental and perva- connected with conservation activities that take into
sive function of bonobo sex” (212). Wolfe (1995) notes consideration the welfare not only of the animals them-
that same-sex mounting behavior has been observed in selves, but also of the ecosystems and human commu-
11 different primate species. nities with which they are inextricably interconnected
When we try to summarize what makes primate life (e.g., Strier 1997; Jolly 2004; SAGA 2005; see In Their
unique, we are struck by its flexibility, resilience, and Own Words, page 70). These concerns have become
What Is Ethnoprimatology? 73
central to a new specialty within primatology that is ethnoprimatological studies focused on situations
called ethnoprimatology. where crops planted by humans were subject to raiding
Ethnoprimatology has been defined as the “theoreti- by primates living in nearby forests. Other studies look
cally and methodologically interdisciplinary study of at the increasing importance of primates as tourist at-
the multifarious interactions and interfaces between tractions (see In Their Own Words, “Chimpanzee Tour-
humans and other primates” (Fuentes 2012, 102). As ism,” page 74). In recent decades, ethnoprimatological
Agustín Fuentes explains, humans and other primates research projects have been undertaken in a number of
have long coexisted successfully in many global settings, sites in Southeast Asia and Africa. Some ethnoprima-
but human activities now threaten the survival of many tological research projects are multisited undertakings,
primate species in the wild. Indeed, ethnoprimatologists similar to multisited projects that have become common
call into question the very notion of “the wild,” given in ethnographic research on human populations. For ex-
mounting knowledge that human niche construction ample, macaques are found in parts of Europe, Africa,
is responsible for vast modifications of the living and and Asia and have established a variety of long-standing
nonliving world. Some scientists argue that this human- relationships with local human populations in a range
generated (or anthropogenic) environmental modification of types of human settlement. Comparison of the simi-
has been extensive enough to initiate a new geological larities and differences in these relationships across dif-
epoch, which they call the Anthropocene: “the current ferent sites allows ethnoprimatologists to document
geological epoch wherein anthropogenic agency is one successes and challenges faced by all parties to these
of the prominent forces affecting global landscapes and encounters. For instance, ongoing multiple encoun-
climates” (Fuentes 2012, 102). ters between humans and nonhuman primates seem to
To study human–primate interactions in the An- have shaped the evolution and transmission of disease-
thropocene requires reconfiguring the focus of prima- causing microorganisms, relationships that are increas-
tological field research and broadening the kinds of ingly affected by human migration and tourism (Gumert
questions researchers ask. For instance, if we all live in et al. 2011; R
adhakrishna et al. 2013).
the Anthropocene, ethnoprimatologists must give up on How have different primate populations fared in
the idea that there are any settings on the planet where their encounters with humans? The great apes seem
primates are able to live beyond the influences of human to face the greatest threats: gorillas, chimpanzees, and
activity. Acknowledging these multiple entanglements orangutans all require large areas of forest to meet their
means that ethnoprimatologists must also explore a dietary needs and reproduce at slow rates. They are
range of issues that go beyond their traditional focus threatened by forest destruction by human settlement
on predator–prey relations. Overall, “Ethnoprimatology and logging, as well as by hunters who capture infants
rejects the idea that humans are separate from natural for the exotic pet trade or prize the flesh of these ani-
ecosystems and mandates that anthropological and mul- mals as “bushmeat.” By comparison, macaques and ba-
tiple stakeholder approaches be included in behavioral boons seem able to coexist with humans on much better
ecological and conservation research on other primates” terms. These monkeys are generalist foragers who seem
(Fuentes 2012, 102) (see In Their Own Words, page 70). to thrive in areas disturbed by human settlement and are
Fuentes, a biological anthropologist, was an early becoming important draws for tourists in Southeast Asia
advocate of ethnoprimatological research, which now and South Africa (Fuentes 2012, 111).
involves field primatologists, primate conservationists, In many situations, Fuentes (2012) argues, “eth-
and sociocultural anthropologists interested in human– noprimatological projects provide a particularly robust
animal interactions. These concerns have led to the writ- arena for the (re) integration of sociocultural and bio-
ing of “multispecies ethnographies” in which relations logical perspectives in anthropology” (106). This rein-
of humans to nonhuman others are a central concern tegration of perspectives is clear in situations where
(Haraway 2008; Kirksey and Helmreich 2010). Ethnopri- ethnoprimatologists work with conservationists and
matology is also beginning to have an impact on other local communities to find ways of managing human–
disciplines, such as anthrozoology, a field in which vet- nonhuman primate relations more successfully. Indeed,
erinarians, public health researchers, psychologists, and Fuentes reports, programs of this kind “that incor-
psychiatrists study a variety of human–animal interac- porate anthropological orientations and multistake-
tions; it even promises to engage members of the animal holder approaches show the most potential, although
welfare movement who in the past have been critical of in some cases it appears that the human social and
the work of primatologists (Fuentes 2012, 104). economic crises will overwhelm attempts to find sus-
In some parts of the world human relations with tainable solutions that benefit alloprimates as well as
nonhuman primates have provoked conflict. Early humans” (109–10).
IN THEIR OWN WORDS
Chimpanzee Tourism Bacteria, parasites, and other infectious organisms can be

transmitted both by tourists and by resident staff.
In Burundi, Jane Goodall has been working to help
set up a tourism program in a small vestige of forest that
Thirty years ago, the closest human neighbors of
has been turned into a sanctuary for chimpanzees con-
the Gombe chimpanzees were African villagers
fiscated from poachers and dealers. Given the demand
and Jane Goodall’s research team. Today, human
for chimpanzees as medical research subjects, the threat
encroachment on chimpanzee territory is an
of illegal recapture is constant. One group of 30 vaga-
everyday fact of life, with negative consequences.
bond animals is followed around full-time by ten armed
guards. Goodall and others involved in this conservation
effort hope that the greater visibility of the chimpanzees
Gombe National Park in Tanzania, the locus of most of and daily contact with tourists when the program is well-
Jane Goodall’s studies, has been inundated by the most in- established will help deter poachers.
trepid tourists who find their own way there, on foot or by One of the greatest problems with marketing chim-
water taxi, camp on the beach, and attempt to make their panzee tourism is delivering the chimpanzee experi-
own arrangements with the underpaid park staff. This ence on a predictable daily schedule. Chimpanzees are
situation compromises the research program at Gombe much more mobile than gorillas, and unlike gorillas, live
and also endangers the chimpanzees, who are even more in fluid social groupings whose membership is changing
susceptible than gorillas to human diseases. In 1966, a constantly. Not only do individuals move up to 25 km
polio epidemic that began among the human population per day, but they often travel above ground level, leav-
in Kigoma district killed about 10–15% of the Gombe chim- ing little or no trail for an earthbound tourist to follow.
panzee population in one year, and in 1988, an additional
14 animals died from an introduced respiratory infection. Source: Brooks and Smith 1991, 14.
features: ancestral characteristics (often called “primitive

Are There Patterns characteristics”), past evolutionary trends, and unique
in Primate Evolution? features. In addition, primates are unusual because they
are “distinguished mainly by a tendency to retain spe-
How do we begin to trace evolutionary developments cific parts that other animals have lost during their evo-
within the primate order? The first step is to create a lution” (Klein 2009, 68). This is why primates are often
framework for comparison. For example, to trace the described as generalized organisms.
evolution of the mammalian skeleton, paleontolo- Ancestral characteristics that primates inherited
gists collect samples of fossil mammal bones that span from earlier, nonprimate, mammalian ancestors appear
a long stretch of geological time, and they distinguish in their generalized postcranial skeletons. These charac-
the bones of the animal’s head—the skull, or cranium teristics include the following:
(plural, crania), and lower jaw, or mandible—from the
rest of the animal’s bones, its postcranial skeleton. Ho- • The presence of five digits on the hands and feet
mologous bones of different ages can then be compared • The presence of the clavicle, or collar bone, allowing
for similarities and differences. The fossilized and living for flexibility in the shoulder joint
species grouped together in the primate order share no
• The use of the palms of the hand and foot (rather
single attribute that sets all of them apart from other
than the toes) for walking, called plantigrade
living creatures (Figure 3.15). What does distinguish
locomotion
primates, living and extinct, are three different sets of
W. E. LeGros Clark (1963) identified four evolution-
cranium The bones of the head, excluding the jaw. ary trends that can be traced across the primate order
mandible The lower jaw. since the first primates evolved away from their primitive
postcranial skeleton The bones of the body, excluding those of the head. mammalian ancestors:
Are There Patterns in Primate Evolution? 75
Primates
Anthropoidea
Hominoidea Cercopithecoidea Ceboidea Strepsirrhini
Ma Human Chimp Gorilla Orang Baboon Macaque Vervet

Squirrel Titi
Monkey Marmoset Monkey
Mouse
Lemur Lemur Galago
0
Pleist.
Plio.
*6.6 (6.0–7.0)
*6.6 (6.0–8.0)
8.6 (7.7–9.2)
9.9 (8.9–11.8)
10
MIOCENE
17.1 (15.0–20.5)
18.3 (16.3–20.8)
20 20.8 (18.2–24.9)
OLIGOCENE
30 30.5 (26.9–36.4)
40 40.9 (35.3–51.0)
42.9 (37.3–52.4)
EOCENE
50
57.1 (49.4–71.4)
PALEO-
CENE
60
K-T Boundary
70
CRETACEOUS
77.5 (67.1.2–97.7)
80
FIGURE 3.15 This timeline arranges the major fossil primate taxa by date and geological epoch and indicates estimated
divergence dates in millions of years.
1. An increase in brain size, relative to body size, and the visual field of each eye overlaps, produc-
an increase in the complexity of the neocortex (or ing depth perception (or stereoscopic vision)
new brain) (Figure 3.16)
2. A reduction of both the projection of the face and 4. A reduction in the number of teeth
the reliance on the sense of smell
3. An increasing dependence on the sense of sight,
stereoscopic vision A form of vision in which the visual field of each eye
resulting in the relocation of the eyes onto of a two-eyed (binocular) animal overlaps with the other, producing depth
the same plane on the front of the face so that perception.
Overlapping fields of vision on sight to locate their prey. More recently, Robert Suss-
man (1991) and Katherine Milton (1993) have argued
that switching from insect predation to consumption of
edible plant parts set the stage for future primate evolu-
Eye tion leading to grasping hands, visual acuity (including
color vision), larger brains, and increased behavioral
flexibility.
Optic nerve
It is important to remember that while past evolu-
tionary trends apply to the primate order as a whole,
Left Right
all primate species were not affected by these trends
hemisphere hemisphere
of brain of brain in the same way. R. D. Martin (1986, 13) pointed out
that lessened reliance on smell probably only devel-
oped in primates that were diurnal rather than those
that were nocturnal (active at night). Some living pri-
mates are still nocturnal and continue to rely heavily
on a well-developed sense of smell. These matters con-
tinue to be debated, but, as Fleagle concludes, “Un-
fortunately, until we have a better fossil record . . . the
details of primate origins will remain hidden” (Fleagle
Visual cortex
2013, 225).
FIGURE 3.16 Stereoscopic vision. The fields of vision over-
lap, and the optic nerve from each eye travels to both hemi-
spheres of the brain. The result is true depth perception.
How Do Paleoanthropologists
Some scholars have suggested two additional evo- Reconstruct Primate
lutionary trends: an increasing period of infant depen-
dence and a greater dependence on learned behavior.
Evolutionary History?
Finally, primates’ unique prehensile morphological The following survey of primate evolution is organized
features include the following: in terms of the five geological divisions, or epochs, rec-
ognized in the Tertiary period of the geological era called
1. Opposable thumbs and great toes (i.e., the thumb is
the Cenozoic. The Cenozoic began 65 mya, about the
opposite the other fingers and can be “opposed to”
same time as the primates did.
the other fingers for grasping)
2. Nails rather than claws on at least some digits
3. Pads at the tips of fingers and toes that are rich in
Primates of the Paleocene
nerve endings The Paleocene lasted from about 65 to 55 mya. Evidence
4. Dermal ridges, or friction skin, on the digits, soles, about early primate evolution in this period is growing,
palms, and underside of prehensile tails but remains complex and subject to debate. Based on
DNA evidence from living mammals, it now seems that
LeGros Clark (1963) argued that primate evolu- primates, tree shrews, and so-called “flying lemurs” (glid-
tionary trends and unique features were the outcome ing mammals from Southeast Asia with tooth combs) are
of an arboreal adaptation—that is, adaptation to life in more closely related to one another than they are to other
the trees. In his view, creatures with excellent grasping mammals. All three have been placed together into the
abilities, acute binocular vision, and a superior brain superorder Euarchonta, which also includes a group of
are well suited to an arboreal habitat. However, many Paleocene fossils known as plesiadapiforms (Fleagle 2013,
other organisms (e.g., squirrels) have adapted to life in 212). Plesiadapiforms were numerous, varied, and suc-
the trees without having evolved such traits. Matt Cart- cessful during the Paleocene and early Eocene of Europe
mill (1972) offered the “visual predation hypothesis.” and North America (Fleagle 2013, 213–14). But taxono-
He suggested that many of these traits derive from an mists disagree about their connection to primates, and
ancestral adaptation to feeding on insects at the ends the relation of Euarchonta to primates remains unclear
of tree branches in the lower levels of tropical forests. (Fleagle 2013, 224). The best current candidate for the
Selective pressure for improved vision resulted from the oldest probable primate is Altiatlasius, whose fragmen-
fact that these ancestral primates fed at night and relied tary fossils have been found in late Paleocene deposits
How Do Paleoanthropologists Reconstruct Primate Evolutionary History? 77
FIGURE 3.17 The fossil omo-

myid Necrolemur (left) belongs to
the superfamily Omomyoidea,
thought to be ancestral to the
modern tarsier (right).
in North Africa. Too little is known about Altiatlasius, and early Oligocene, perhaps 44 to 40 mya (Martin
however, to relate it clearly to later primate taxa; indeed, 1993; Simons and Rasmussen 1994). The parapithecoids
exactly where the first primates evolved is still unknown are the most primitive early anthropoid group from this
(Rose 1994; Fleagle 2013, 231). period, with a dental formula of 2.1.3.3., which, as we
saw, is found in platyrrhines (Fleagle 2013, 267). How-
ever, parapithecoids may well not be direct ancestors of
Primates of the Eocene New World monkeys because this and other shared at-
The first undisputed primates appeared during the tributes may be primitive traits retained from earlier an-
Eocene epoch, which lasted from about 55 to about cestors (Fleagle 2013, 273). We still do not know how
38 mya. Most of the fossils are jaws and teeth, but the earliest platyrrhines reached the New World (Fleagle
skulls, limb bones, and even some nearly complete 2013, 291).
skeletons have also been recovered. The best-known
Eocene primates fall into two basic groups. The first
group, adapids, looks a lot like living lemurs. However, Primates of the Oligocene
a number of morphological features—dentition in The Oligocene epoch lasted from about 38 to about
particular—distinguish them from their modern coun- 23 mya. Temperatures cooled and environments dried
terparts. Eocene adapids had four premolars, whereas out. Those adapids whose ancestors made it to the
modern lemurs have only three, and their lower incisors island of Madagascar unwittingly found a safe refuge
and canines were generalized, whereas modern lemurs from evolutionary competition elsewhere and evolved
possess a specialized tooth comb. The second group, the into modern lemurs. Elsewhere, the early anthropoids
omomyids, resembles living tarsiers (Figure 3.17). Most and their descendants flourished.
omomyids were much smaller than adapids. Adapted Oligocene layers at the Fayum, in Egypt, dating
for climbing, clinging, and leaping, omomyids appear from between 35 and 31 mya have long been our rich-
to have been nocturnal, feeding on insects, fruit, or gum est source of information about anthropoid evolution.
(Rose 1994). A tiny primate from the Early Eocene of The best represented group of early anthropoids is the
Mongolia called Altanius orlovi may be ancestral to both propliopithecids, which were larger than the parapithecids
adapoids and omomyoids (Fleagle 2013, 231). Linking and had the 2.1.2.3 dental formula characteristic of all
later omomyoid fossils to living tarsiers, however, is later catarrhines. However, many features of their anat-
not straightforward because different features evolved omy are more primitive than those found in Old World
at different times, and parallel evolution seems to have monkeys and apes (Fleagle 2013, 273).
been common. “Nevertheless, omomyoids, tarsiers and Aegyptopithecus zeuxis, the largest of the Oligo-
anthropoids all share a number of features that lead cene anthropoideans, is well known from numerous
almost all researchers to group them together in the fossilized teeth, skulls, and limb bones and appears an-
semiorder Haplorhini” (Fleagle 2013, 256). Currently, cestral to later Old World anthropoids, or catarrhines
taxonomists are working to reconcile contradictions (Figure 3.18). A. zeuxis lived 35 mya and looked very
between older biomolecular estimates of the period much like a primitive monkey (Simons 1985, 40). The
that strepsirrhines split from haplorhines with more bones of its lower jaw and upper cranium are fused along
recent dates provided from the fossil record (Fleagle the midlines, and the eye orbits are closed off from the
2013, 259). brain by a bony plate. Nevertheless, its limb bones show
The early ancestors of later anthropoids began to none of the features that allow modern apes to hang up-
appear in the period of transition between the late Eocene right or swing from the branches of trees. Its cranium
FIGURE 3.18 Aegyptopithecus zeuxis is the largest of the

Oligocene fossil anthropoids and may be ancestral to all catar-
rhines (Old World monkeys, apes, and humans).
also shows some primitive characteristics: its brain was

smaller, its snout projected more, its eye orbits did not
face as fully to the front, and its ear was not as fully de-
veloped. Propliopithecids like A. zeuxis have long been
described as primitive apes, but recent work suggests
that the anatomical traits they share with apes are primi-
tive catarrhine traits, rather than shared, derived ape spe-
cializations (Fleagle 2013, 276).
A. zeuxis had two premolars (a diagnostic catarrhine
[Old World anthropoid] feature), and it also had Y-5
molars. A Y-5 molar is a tooth with five cusps that are
separated by a “Y”-shaped furrow (Figure 3.19). Later FIGURE 3.19 The upper molar shows the characteristic
Y-5 pattern of apes and humans; the lower molar exhibits the
Old World monkeys (cercopithecoids) have bilophodont bilophodont pattern of Old World cercopithecoid monkeys.
molars with four cusps arranged in pairs, each of which Current evidence suggests that the Y-5 molar was primitive for
is joined by a ridge of enamel called a “loph.” Early Mio- all Old World anthropoids and that the bilophodont molar of
the cercopithecoids developed later.
cene fossils, 17–19 million years old, of undoubted cer-
copithecoid monkeys have molars with a fifth cusp and
incomplete lophs. Thus, “the bilophodont teeth of Old
World monkeys are derived from an ancestor with more
ape-like teeth” (Fleagle 2013, 348), and the Y-5 pattern
was primitive for all Old World anthropoids, making
A. zeuxis and other Oligocene catarrhines likely ances-
tors of both Old World monkeys and hominoids (apes
and humans) (Fleagle 2013, 273; Stringer and Andrews
2005, 84).
The earliest known hominoid fossils date from the
middle to late Oligocene (29 mya) and come from west-
ern Saudi Arabia and northern Kenya (Fleagle 2013, 313).
It was during the Miocene, however, that hominoid evo-
lution took off.
Primates of the Miocene FIGURE 3.20 Proconsul, perhaps the best known of the earli-
est African hominoids. Some argue that Proconsul is generalized
The Miocene lasted from about 23 to about 5 mya. Be-
enough in its morphology to have been ancestral to later homi-
tween 18 and 17 mya, the continents finally arrived at noids, including modern apes and human beings, although this
their present positions, when the African plate (which is debated.
Chapter Summary 79
includes the Arabian Peninsula) contacted the Eurasian Most taxonomists agree, however, that P. heseloni
plate. This helps explain why fossil hominoids from the and other early-Miocene hominoids were outside the
early Miocene (about 23–16 mya) have been found only modern hominoid clade (Fleagle 2013, 320). They also
in Africa. More recent fossil hominoids have been found retained many primitive catarrhine features lost by later
from western Europe to China, presumably because cercopithecoid monkeys, showing that “Old World mon-
their ancestors used the new land bridge to cross from keys are a very specialized group of higher primates”
Africa into Eurasia. During the middle Miocene (about (Fleagle 2013, 322).
16–10 mya), hominoid diversity declined. During the The land bridge connecting Africa to Eurasia was
late Miocene (about 9–5 mya), cercopithecoid monkeys formed during the middle Miocene (16–10 mya). The
became very successful, many hominoid species became earliest fossils assigned to the modern hominoid clade
extinct, and the first members of a new lineage, the hom- first date to the middle and late Miocene (10–5 mya)
inins, appeared. and come mostly from Africa, although one genus,
In the early Miocene, eastern Africa was covered Kenyapithecus, is also represented by a second species
with tropical forest and woodland. One well-known from Turkey (Fleagle 2013, 320). Once hominoids
collection of early Miocene primate fossils has been as- made it out of Africa, they experienced a rapid radi-
signed to the hominoid genus Proconsul. The best evi- ation throughout many parts of the Old World, and
dence, including a nearly complete skeleton, exists for their fossils remain difficult to classify (Fleagle 2013,
the smallest species, Proconsul heseloni (formerly P. africa- 326). Unfortunately, very few African hominoid fos-
nus) ( Figure 3.20), which was about the size of a modern sils of any kind date from the late Miocene (10–5 mya)
gibbon (Klein 2009, 117). Proconsul heseloni is very ape- or early Pliocene (5–2.5 mya) (Benefit and McCrossin
like in its cranium, teeth, and shoulder and elbow joints. 1995, 251).
However, its long trunk, arm, and hand resemble those In the absence of hard data, attempts to identify
of modern monkeys. It appears to have been a fruit- either the last common ancestor of the African apes
eating, tree-dwelling, four-footed (four-handed?) proto- and human beings or the earliest ancestors of chim-
ape that may have lacked a tail. Some argue that it is also panzees and gorillas must be based on educated
generalized enough in its morphology to have been an- speculation (Stringer and Andrews 2005, 114). Never-
cestral to later hominoids, including modern apes and theless, we know that it was during the late Miocene
human beings, although this is debated (Fleagle 1995). that the first ancestors in our own lineage appeared.
Proconsul and other early Miocene hominoids were con- Tracing their evolutionary history is the topic of the
fined to Africa and the Arabian Peninsula. next chapter.
Chapter Summary
1. If we avoid anthropomorphism, careful comparison include New World and Old World forms. New
between human beings and other primate species World monkeys evolved separately from Old World
offers enormous insight into our evolutionary past. anthropoids and differ from them in nose shape and
Primatologists attempt to make sense of primate di- the number of premolars; in addition, some New
versity by creating a primate taxonomy. Traditional World monkeys evolved prehensile tails. All New
taxonomies of primates compared the phenotypes World monkey species are tree dwellers.
and adaptations of primates and recognized four 3. Old World anthropoids include species of mon-
primate grades. Cladistic taxonomies ignore adapta- keys and apes, as well as human beings: all share
tion and the fossil record and classify organisms the same nose shape and the same number of
only on the basis of homologous evolutionary premolars. Apes are distinguished from Old World
traits found in living species. Many primatologists monkeys by dentition, skeletal shape and size, and
combine features of both kinds of taxonomies to the absence of a tail. The African apes are far more
demonstrate relations of evolutionary relatedness closely related to one another than they are to gib-
between species. bons or orangutans, and human beings are more
2. Strepsirrhines include lemurs and lorises. Haplo- closely related to chimpanzees than to any other ape
rhines include tarsiers and anthropoids. Anthropoids species. Chimpanzees deliberately make simple tools
(continued on next page)

Chapter Summary (continued)

to help them find food. Bonobos, or pygmy chim- humans, appeared in the late Eocene and are known
panzees, are known for their highly eroticized social from sites in northern Africa and Asia. Some Oligo-
interactions and for the central role females play in cene primate fossils look like possible ancestors to
their society. modern New World anthropoids; others, like Proplio-
pithecus zeuxis, appear ancestral to all later Old World
4. Primates show at least six evolutionary trends of
anthropoids.
their own and four unique features associated with
6. The first hominoids that evolved in Africa during
prehensility. These evolutionary trends have not af-
the early Miocene are very diverse. One of the best-
fected all primate species in the same way.
known examples is Proconsul, which is generalized
5. Paleontologists assign primate fossils to various cat- enough to have been ancestral to later apes and
egories after examining and comparing cranial and human beings. During the middle Miocene, homi-
postcranial skeletal material. They have concluded noids rapidly spread and diversified, and their fossils
that the first undisputed primates appeared during are found from Europe to eastern Asia. In the late
the Eocene. The best-known Eocene primates are Miocene, many hominoid species became extinct.
the adapids, which resemble living lemurs, and the Paleoanthropologists agree that chimpanzees, goril-
omomyids, which resemble living tarsiers. Anthro- las, and human beings shared a common ancestor in
poideans, ancestral to all later monkeys, apes, and the late Miocene.
For Review
1. Summarize the discussion of taxonomy at the be- 6. What are primate ancestral characteristics?
ginning of the chapter. e volutionary trends? unique morphological
2. Distinguish between homology and analogy. features?
3. What are clades? Illustrate with examples. 7. What adaptive explanations do paleoanthropolo-
4. Summarize the features used to distinguish dif- gists give for the unique features of primates?
ferent kinds of primates from each other. What is 8. Prepare a table or chart that displays what
distinctive about the anthropoids? is c urrently known about key developments
5. Discuss the differences and similarities of chim- in primate evolution, from the Paleocene to
panzees and bonobos. the Miocene.
Key Terms
anthropomorphism 62 ecological niche 64 morphology 63 sexual dimorphism 69
cladogenesis 63 hominins 69 nocturnal 65 stereoscopic vision 75
cranium 74 homology 63 postcranial taxonomy 62
dentition 64 homoplasy 63 skeleton 74 taxon 63
diurnal 67 mandible 74 prehensile 66
Suggested Readings
All the World’s Primates. http://www.alltheworldsprimates Campbell, Christina, Agustín Fuentes, Katherine MacKin-
.org. This website, which describes itself as “the comprehen- non, Melissa Panger, and Simon Bearder. 2011. Primates
sive online resource for primate information,” provides inin prespective, 2nd ed. New York: Oxford University
formation on all primate species currently recognized by the Press. A comprehensive overview of the primates and what
International Union for Conservation of Nature. It also pres- we know about them.
ents contributions by researchers on living and fossil primates, de Waal, Frans. 2003. My family album: Thirty years of primate
including Jane Goodall, Richard Leakey, and John Fleagle. photography. Berkeley: University of California Press.
In addition to being an influential primatologist, de Waal is Chapters discussing how collections were made for the Amer-
a superb photographer. These images are an excellent visual ican Museum of Natural History and the symbolic signifi-
introduction to the various primate species he has studied. cance of white female primatologists should be of particular
Fleagle, John G. 2013. Primate adaptation and evolution, interest to beginning students.
3rd ed. Amsterdam: Elsevier. The third edition of a de- International Union for Conservation of Nature. http://www
tailed, up-to-date, and engaging introduction to primatol- .iucnredlist.org. The International Union for Conservation
ogy. The chapters cover both living primates and the fossil of Nature (IUCN) manages a website that contains updated
record of primate evolution, including that of Homo sapiens. lists of endangered animal species, estimating the degree of
It also addresses current issues in primate conservation. endangerment and explaining the sources of endangerment.
Fossey, Dian. 1983. Gorillas in the mist. Boston: Houghton Entering “Primates” into their search engine brings up a list
Mifflin. Dian Fossey’s account of research among the moun- of endangered primate species. It also provides a wealth of
tain gorillas of Rwanda over a 13-year period; includes many information about the taxonomic status of primate species,
color photographs. Fossey was murdered at her field station their life histories, their habitats, and where their popula-
in 1985. This book inspired a major motion picture of the tions can be found.
same name. Smuts, Barbara, Dorothy Cheney, Robert Seyfarth, and
Goodall, Jane. 1986. The chimpanzees of Gombe: Patterns of Richard Wrangham, eds. 1987. Primate societies.
behavior. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. This volume is a
This volume presents the results of a quarter of a cen- classic, comprehensive survey of research on primates from
tury of scientific research among chimpanzees in Gombe, all over the world and includes articles by 46 contributors.
Tanzania. Tudge, Colin, with Josh Young. 2009. The link. New York:
———. 1999. Jane Goodall: 40 years at Gombe. New York: Little, Brown. This volume was written in connection with a
Stewart, Tabori and Chang. After 1986, Jane Goodall film, The Link, broadcast in May 2009 on the History Chan-
shifted the emphasis of her work from scientific observation nel in the United States and on several other television chan-
to rescuing and rehabilitating laboratory animals and work- nels worldwide. Science writer Colin Tudge wrote chapters
ing for environmental causes, as have many primatologists 3–8, plus the epilogue, and he provides a brief, solid, reader-
concerned about threats to the continued viability of the spe- friendly introduction to contemporary work in primate evolu-
cies they have studied. tion. Josh Young, who wrote chapters 1, 2, and 9, describes
Haraway, Donna. 1989. Primate visions. New York: Rout- how fossils have become valuable commodities in twenty-
ledge. This volume, a major landmark in primate studies, first-century antiquities markets. He also shows the high
contains a series of essays by a feminist historian of science stakes facing scientists who introduce new primate fossils to
who describes the way Western cultural assumptions about a media-saturated world—in this case, “Ida,” a remarkably
gender, race, and nature have shaped American primatology. complete 47-million-year-old fossil prosimian from Germany.
MODULE 2: Dating Methods in Paleoanthropology and Archaeology
The people who study the human and prehuman past— practice demands using as many different dating methods,
paleoanthropologists and archaeologists—are vitally con- both relative and numerical, as can be applied to any recov-
cerned with accurately determining when the organisms ered material. When the same materials are subjected to a
whose fossils they find actually lived and at what point in series of independent analyses and the resulting dates rein-
time artifacts were made. Without firm dates, paleoanthro- force one another, scholars are increasingly confident of the
pologists cannot accurately reconstruct the path of extinc- accuracy of the data.
tion and speciation that led to modern humans, and, as we
will see in Chapters 6 and 7, archaeologists cannot accurately
trace cultural development. Fortunately, a number of scien- Relative Dating Methods
tific procedures, developed over the past century or so, can
Stratigraphic Superposition The oldest and most ven-
aid paleoanthropologists and archaeologists in assigning
erable of all dating techniques, stratigraphic superposition,
dates to fossils and artifacts. The following discussion relies
interprets what we find when we dig deeply into the earth and
primarily on Richard Klein’s discussion (2009, Chapter 2).
look at a wall of the resulting hole, which tends to resemble
Relative dating methods identify a particular object as
a layer cake of rocks and soil of different color and composi-
being older or younger in relation to some other object and
tion (Figure M2.1). Geologists reason that, other things being
arrange material evidence in a linear sequence so that we
equal, things on the bottom are older than things on the top.
know what came before what (Klein 2009, 22–24). By them-
When applied to soil layers, or strata (singular stratum), this
selves, however, relative dating methods cannot tell us how
so-called law of superposition states that layers lower down
long ago a sequence began or how long each stage in the
must be older than the layers above them. If so, then objects
sequence lasted. For such information, we must turn to
embedded in lower layers must be older than those in upper
numerical (or “absolute”) dating methods, which use labo-
layers, whether these objects are fossils or artifacts fashioned
ratory treatment or analysis of various items recovered from
by human hands.
an excavation. These techniques can tell us how many years
Superposed layers of rock rarely remain undisturbed
ago a rock layer was formed, a piece of clay was fired, or an
forever. Sometimes old rocks are crosscut by other geo-
animal died (Klein 2009, 33–54).
logical features, as when molten lava forces its way through
Numerical dates are sometimes called “absolute dates.”
fractures in several superposed layers on its way to the
Strictly speaking, this term is not accurate because numerical
surface. The intruding features must be younger than the
dates always have a margin of error (sometimes in hundreds or
layers of rock they cut across, a deduction called the law of
thousands of years), ordinarily expressed as plus or minus a cer-
crosscutting relationships. In addition, periods of uplift
tain number of years. The precision of a numerical date depends
and subsidence in the earth’s crust have sometimes tilted or
on the quality of the sample being analyzed and the method of
twisted large sections of layered rock from a horizontal to a
analysis. Nevertheless, because the time frame within which sci-
vertical position (Figure M2.2). These rearranged rock layers
entists work ordinarily involves thousands or millions of years,
(unconformities) may be exposed to erosion for a consider-
the margins of error for most numerical dates are impressively
able period of time before new layers of sediment begin to
small, explaining why most geologists, paleontologists, and ar-
collect and bury them again.
chaeologists continue to call them absolute dates.
The pattern of stratigraphic superposition in a given rock
In any case, experienced paleontologists and archaeol-
column tends to be distinctive, something like a fingerprint.
ogists rarely rely on only one dating method. Professional
As a result, geologists are often able to correlate deposits
at one site with those at another site when those deposits
have the same distinctive pattern. This enables them to gen-
relative dating methods Dating methods that arrange material evi- eralize about what was happening geologically over wider re-
dence in a linear sequence, each object in the sequence being identified as
gions and longer periods of time.
older or younger than another object.
numerical (or “absolute”) dating Dating methods based on laboratory
techniques that assign age in years to material evidence. Typological Sequences Classifying fossils or artifacts
stratum Layer; in geological terms, a layer of rock and soil. into a series of types on the basis of their similarities and
law of superposition A principle of geological interpretation stating that differences is a time-honored and very useful form of rela-
layers lower down in a sequence of strata must be older than the layers tive dating. Those objects that look most alike are grouped
above them and, therefore, that objects embedded in lower layers must be
together, compared to other objects of similar kinds (often
older than objects embedded in upper layers.
recovered from other excavations), and ordered in a chron-
law of crosscutting relationships A principle of geological interpreta-
tion stating that where old rocks are crosscut by other geological features, the ological or developmental sequence. If at least one end of
intruding features must be younger than the layers of rock they cut across. the typological sequence can be anchored by a numerical
82
FIGURE M2.1 Stratigraphic
superposition is dramatically on
display in the Grand Canyon, where
layers of rock and soil, laid down
sequentially over millions of years,
have been exposed by erosion.
date, the sequence then becomes a powerful tool for under- the lower Omo River valley, yet the biostratigraphy of these
standing evolutionary change, even in the absence of fossil two sites was identical. The paleoanthropologists reasoned
evidence. that either the one-toed horse had appeared at Koobi Fora
Certain kinds of fossil evidence can provide an extremely over half a million years earlier than it had in the Lower
helpful framework for the relative dating of other fossils Omo or something was wrong with the potassium-argon
or of the artifacts associated with them. As we saw, scien- dates. Eventually, they determined that the potassium-
tific confidence in the law of superposition increased when argon date for Koobi Fora was 700,000–600,000 years too
geologists found that not only rock layers but also the fos- early (Klein 2009, 38). This is exactly what can happen if pa-
sils they contained could be systematically correlated. Two leoanthropologists give too much importance to a single,
kinds of fossil species are most useful for relative dating: “absolute” date.
those that spread out quickly over a large area following the Archaeologists also use typological sequences based on
widespread extinction of their parent species and those that collections of artifacts. Artifacts that look alike are assumed
evolved so rapidly that a fossil representing any evolution- to have been made at the same time, which allows archae-
ary stage is a good indicator of the relative age of other fos- ologists to arrange them in a linear order, a technique called
sils found in association with it. Relative dating that relies on seriation. Seriation can only indicate patterns of change; some
patterns of fossil distribution in different rock layers is called other source of information must be used to anchor one end
biostratigraphic dating (Klein 2009, 24–33). of the series in time. Contextual seriation, based on changes
For paleoanthropologists, the most useful biostrati- in artifact styles, is most successfully applied to artifacts like
graphic patterns deal with regions and periods of time in pottery, whose stylistic features are visible and highly modifi-
which human beings, or our ancestors, were evolving. Al- able. At the end of the nineteenth century, archaeologist Sir
though biostratigraphy can establish only relative dates, Flinders Petrie used contextual seriation to analyze variations
its correlations are indispensable for cross-checking dates in the pottery recovered from predynastic burials at Diospo-
provided by numerical methods. For example, fossils of the lis Parva in Upper Egypt. Petrie had no method to assign firm
one-toed horse played an important role in the 1970s when dates to these burials, so he devised a relative chronology in
paleoanthropologists were attempting to assign firm dates
to important hominin fossil–bearing layers at the eastern
African site of Koobi Fora. The potassium-argon dating
biostratigraphic dating A relative dating method that relies on patterns
method (see the section Isotopic Methods) yielded a date of fossil distribution in different rock layers.
for the Koobi Fora site that would have made it over half a seriation A relative dating method based on the assumption that artifacts
million years older than a site only 100 kilometers north, in that look alike must have been made at the same time.
83
MODULE 2: Dating Methods in Paleoanthropology and Archaeology continued
FIGURE M2.2 Geological analy-

sis of one wall of the Grand Canyon
yields evidence of superposition
(e.g., Coconino sandstone lies atop
Hermit shale and is thus younger),
unconformities (e.g., the Paleozoic
and Proterozoic strata), and cross-
cutting relationships (e.g., granitic
and pegmatitic intrusions into the
Vishnu group).
the following way. All the contents of each grave were written Later research confirmed that Petrie’s relative sequence was
on a separate sheet of paper. Then, Petrie moved the sheets very close to the actual historical sequence.
around until he had a sequence in which as many similar arti- Artifacts and structures from a particular time and place
facts as possible were arranged as closely as possible to one in a site are called an assemblage. Frequency seriation mea-
another. Then, he created a relative chronology based on sty- sures changes in artifact percentages from one undated as-
listic changes in the artifacts they contained (Figure M2.3). semblage to another. Archaeologists assume that different
proportions of artifact styles in an assemblage are a mea-
sure of popularity, that all styles gain and lose popularity
over time, and that styles popular at one site should also be
assemblage Artifacts and structures from a particular time and place in an popular at contemporary sites nearby. When the frequen-
archaeological site. cies of different artifacts from a series of assemblages are
84
absorb water along the newly exposed surface, forming a hy-
dration layer. This hydration layer gets thicker over time and
can be measured. Every time obsidian breaks, the hydration
process begins anew on the freshly revealed surface. If the
rate of hydration is constant, then it should be possible to tell
how long it has been since the obsidian was fractured, either
naturally or by someone making a tool out of it. Unfortunately,
the hydration rate of obsidian is not uniform throughout the
world—different kinds of obsidian have different hydration
rates, and the atmospheric temperature at the time the ob-
sidian surface is revealed also affects the hydration rate. How-
ever, correlation maps of climate and hydration rates have
been prepared and several researchers are working on how
to distinguish among different kinds of obsidian. But where
these limitations can be controlled, obsidian hydration can be
very helpful to archaeologists: it can be used for dates from
7.8 mya to the present, it is relatively inexpensive, and it can
be used to trace the trade routes of obsidian in the past. The
technique has been quite helpful in Mesoamerica, where Ann
Corinne Freter and her colleagues, for example, were able to
analyze an abundant collection of obsidian artifacts at Copán
and plot changing settlement patterns over time with great
accuracy (Fagan and DeCorse 2005, 161).
Numerical (or Absolute) Dating Methods

Numerical (or absolute) dating methods are valuable because
they anchor a series of fossils dated by relative methods to
a numbered date, a fixed point in time that can be used to
estimate rates of evolution. Perhaps best known are isotopic
dating methods, which are based on knowledge about the
rate at which various radioactive isotopes of naturally occur-
ring elements transform themselves into other elements by
losing subatomic particles. This process is called decay, and
FIGURE M2.3 Contextual seriation is a time-honored and the rate of decay of a given radioactive isotope is measured
very useful form of relative dating. The classic use of seriation in terms of its half-life, or the time it takes for half of the origi-
in archaeology is attributed to Sir Flinders Petrie, who used it at nal radioactive sample to decay into the nonradioactive end
the end of the nineteenth century to analyze variations in pot- product. Rates of decay make useful atomic clocks because
tery recovered from predynastic burials in Egypt.
they are unaffected by other physical or chemical processes.
Moreover, because each radioactive element has a unique
plotted on a graph and sites containing the styles in simi- half-life, we can cross-check dates obtained by one isotopic
lar frequencies are kept together, the result, once again, is a method with those obtained by another. As geologists Shel-
relative chronology of assemblages based on the rising and don Judson and Marvin Kauffman (1990) conclude, “The fact
falling frequencies of the different styles. Frequency seria- that several clocks regularly agree indicates that radio-active
tion has been used by archaeologists to arrange a number of dating is self-consistent and reassures us that we are measur-
undated pottery assemblages into relative sequences that ing real ages” (146).
have been confirmed by s tratigraphic sequences from exca-
vations (Renfrew and Bahn 2004, 128).
Obsidian hydration is a relative dating method based on

isotopic dating Dating methods based on scientific knowledge about the
the principle that when obsidian (volcanic glass that can be rate at which various radioactive isotopes of naturally occurring elements
made into extremely sharp tools) is fractured, it starts to transform themselves into other elements by losing subatomic particles.
85
Years 0
Calendars Tree
ago Archaeo-
(written rings
magnetism
inscriptions) (logs,
2,000 (intact
Varves lumber) hearths,
(ancient kilns,
shorelines) Cation- burned
10,000 ratio areas)
Radiocarbon Obsidian
(rock
(wood, hydration
carvings,
charcoal, Thermo- (obsidian
surface
bone, luminescence artifacts)
20,000 finds in
carbonate) and optical arid areas)
dating
Uranium- (pottery, Amino-acid
series heated racemization
(coral, stones, (bone)
50,000 mollusks, calcite)
travertine)
Electron
spin
resonance
100,000 (heated
Potassium- crystalline
argon stones,
(volcanic calcites,
rock or bones,
minerals) shell)
500,000
Fission-
track
(volcanic
rock, Geomagnetic
crystalline reversals
materials) (undisturbed
1,000,000 sediment or
volcanic
rocks)
5,000,000
FIGURE M2.4 Chronometric dating methods can be used to anchor a series of fossils or artifacts dated by relative methods to a
fixed point in time. This chart summarizes some of the most important chronometric methods, showing the spans of time and mate-
rials for which each is applicable. (Adapted from Renfrew and Bahn 2008, 133)
Geologists using isotopic dating methods to determine the Potassium-Argon Dating Potassium is one of the most
ages of rocks generally agree that the earth is about 4.6 billion commonly occurring elements in the earth’s crust. One iso-
years old. Paleoanthropologists are most interested in only tope of potassium that occurs in relatively small quantities
a tiny fraction of all that geological time, perhaps the last is radioactive potassium 40, which decays at a known rate
65 million years, the period during which nonhuman pri- into argon 40. During volcanic activity, very nearly all of the
mates and then human beings evolved. Archaeologists focus argon 40 in molten lava escapes, resetting the atomic clock
on an even narrower slice: the last 2.5 million years. to zero. Potassium, however, does not escape. As lava cools
and crystallizes, any argon 40 that collects in the rock can
Isotopic Methods Described below are several reliable only have been produced by the decay of potassium 40.
isotopic dating methods. A more complete list of numerical The date of the formation of the volcanic rock can then be
dating methods, with the periods for which dates are the calculated, based on the half-life of potassium 40, which is
most accurate, appears in Figure M2.4. 1.3 billion years.
86
The potassium-argon method is accurate for dates from about 300,000 to some 2.5 billion years ago. Fission-track
the origin of the earth up to about 100,000 years ago. This dating can be used where the potassium-argon method
method is valuable to paleoanthropologists because it can cannot be applied and can also provide a second opinion on
date volcanic rock formed early in the evolutionary history materials already dated by the potassium-argon method. Pa-
of nonhuman primates and human beings and thus any fos- leontologists and archaeologists have applied fission-track
sils found in or under volcanic rock layers themselves. For- dating to sites where volcanic rock layers lie above or below
tunately, volcanic activity was common during these periods sediments containing hominin fossils, especially in eastern
in areas like eastern Africa, where many important fossils of Africa (Klein 2009, 38).
early human ancestors have been found.
Potassium-argon dating has two main limitations. First, Uranium-Series Dating This dating method is based on
it can be used only on volcanic rock. Second, its margin of two facts. First, when uranium 238, uranium 235, and thorium
error is about ±10%. A volcanic rock dated by the potassium- 232 decay, they produce intermediate radioactive isotopes
argon technique to 200,000 years ago ±10% could have been until eventually they transform into stable isotopes of lead.
formed anywhere from 220,000 to 180,000 years ago. Nev- Second, uranium is easily dissolved in water; as it decays, the
ertheless, no other technique yet provides more accurate intermediate isotopes it produces tend to solidify, separate
dates for the periods in which early hominin evolution oc- out of the water, and mix with salts that collect on the bottom
curred. Since the late 1980s, a variant called the 40Ar/ 39Ar of a lake or sea. Using their knowledge of the half-lives of ura-
method has been developed, which produces more precise nium isotopes and their intermediate products, scientists can
dates using samples as small as a single grain of volcanic date soil deposits that formed in ancient lake or sea beds.
rock. The 40Ar/ 39Ar method was able to determine that the Uranium-series evidence can be used to date broad cli-
ash layer beneath the oldest hominin fossils at Aramis, in matic events, such as glaciations, that may have affected the
Ethiopia, was actually 4.4 million years old, after separating course of human evolution. But it also allows paleoanthro-
out 23.6 million-year-old volcanic grains that were intrusions pologists to date inorganic carbonates, such as limestones,
(Klein 2009, 37). that accumulate in cave, spring, and lake deposits where
hominin fossils are sometimes found. Uranium-series dating
Fission-Track Dating A recently developed technique, fission- is significant because it is useful for dating many important
track dating, is also based on the decay of radioactive mate- archaeological sites that contain inorganic carbonates and
rial in rock. Many minerals, natural glasses such as obsidian, because it provides dates for periods of time not covered well
and manufactured glasses contain uranium 235 and small by other dating methods, particularly the period between
quantities of radioactive uranium 238. Occasionally, atoms of 150,000 and 350,000 years ago, when Homo sapiens first
uranium 238 split in half. During this spontaneous fission, the appeared (Klein 2009, 38–41). At present, uranium-series
two halves of the atom fly apart violently, leaving tracks in the dating is particularly useful for the period 50,000–500,000
mineral. The older the material, the more uranium 238 atoms years ago (see Figure M2.4).
split and the more tracks are found. If the rock is heated, how-
ever, the fission tracks are erased, resetting the radioactive Radiocarbon Dating
Radiocarbon dating may be the
clock to zero. method of absolute dating best known to nonanthropolo-
To calculate the age of a rock using the fission-track gists. The method is based on four assumptions: (1) that the
technique, two counts of fission tracks must be made. The amount of radioactive carbon 14 in the atmosphere has re-
first count identifies the number of tracks formed naturally mained constant over time, (2) that radioactive and nonradio-
by uranium 238. In the next step, to determine how much active carbon mix rapidly so that the ratio of one to the other
uranium was in the sample to begin with, the sample is ir- in the atmosphere is likely to be the same everywhere, (3) that
radiated to induce fission in the uranium 235, and the result- radioactive carbon is just as likely as nonradioactive carbon to
ing tracks are counted to calculate the amount of uranium enter into chemical compounds, and (4) that living organisms
235. Because the naturally occurring ratio of uranium 238 are equally likely to take radioactive carbon and nonradioac-
to uranium 235 in rock is known, the count of uranium 235 tive carbon into their bodies.
indirectly measures the original quantity of uranium 238. If these assumptions hold, then we can deduce that equal
Because the fission rate of uranium 238 is also known, the amounts of radioactive and nonradioactive carbon are pres-
date of the sample can now be calculated based on the ratio ent in all living tissues. Once an organism dies, however,
of uranium 238 tracks to the quantity of uranium 238 the it stops taking carbon into its system and the radioactive
sample is thought to have originally contained. carbon 14 in its remains begins to decay at a known rate.
The range of dates from the fission-track technique over- The half-life of carbon 14 is 5,730 years, making radiocarbon
laps the range from the potassium-argon method: from dating extremely useful for dating the remains of organisms
87
FIGURE M2.5 The University of Arizona accelerator mass spectrometry lab is a center for the dating of organic materials that are
50,000–80,000 years old.
that died as long ago as 30,000–40,000 years. Samples older meaning “before present”; for purposes of calibration, “pres-
than about 40,000 years usually contain too little carbon 14 ent” was established as 1950. In addition, radiocarbon ages
for accurate measurement. However, a refinement in radio- are always given with a plus-or-minus range, reflecting the
carbon technology called accelerator mass spectrometry (or statistical uncertainties of the method (e.g., 14,000 ± 120
AMS) solves that problem in part for smaller samples. AMS years ago [Klein 2009, 45]).
counts the actual atoms of carbon 14 in a sample. Charcoal,
for example, can be reliably dated to 55,000 years ago using Thermoluminescence If a natural substance is exposed
AMS (Klein 2009, 46; Figure M2.5). to radiation emitted by naturally occurring radioactive iso-
Radiocarbon dating is not flawless. Evidence shows that topes of uranium, thorium, and potassium, the electrons
the amount of carbon 14 in the earth’s atmosphere fluctu- released become trapped in the crystal structure of the
ates periodically as a result of such factors as solar activ- irradiated substance. If the irradiated substance is sub-
ity, changes in the strength of the earth’s magnetic field, sequently heated, however, the trapped electrons will be re-
and changes in the amount of carbon dioxide dissolved in leased together with a quantity of light directly in proportion
the world’s oceans. Scientists are also concerned that an or- to their number. The light released in this process is called
ganism’s tissues can become contaminated by carbon from thermoluminescence.
outside sources either before or after death; this problem If we know the amount of radiation our sample receives
is particularly acute in very old samples analyzed by AMS. per year, heat it up, and measure the amount of thermolu-
If undetected, any of these factors could yield inaccurate ra- minescence released, then we can calculate the number of
diocarbon dates. AMS dating of bone samples targets col- years since the sample was last heated. This is a handy way of
lagen molecules. Together with improved cleaning routines, determining the date when ancient pottery fragments were
ultrafiltration screens out low-quality bone samples and pro- last fired, when burnt-flint artifacts were last heated, or even
duces purer collagen samples using extremely fine filters to when naturally occurring clays were heated accidentally by
remove contaminants that coarser filters cannot capture. As a fire burning above them. The accuracy of this method may
a consequence, older AMS dates can be accurately calculated be questioned if it can be determined either that trapped
(Higham et al. 2006). Ancient charcoal samples submitted for electrons sometimes escape without being heated or that
radiocarbon dating also are pretreated before undergoing radiation doses are not constant.
the procedure, but acid–base wet oxidation (ABOX) removes
more contaminants than previous pretreatments, especially Electron Spin Resonance (ESR) This method is based on
when performed under conditions that isolate the process the fact that tooth enamel in a living organism is free of ura-
from the atmosphere (Bird et al. 1999). nium but begins to absorb uranium after burial. Dates are
Scientists have discovered that radiocarbon dates for determined by estimating background radioactivity, mea-
samples less than about 7,500 years old differ from their suring the amount of uranium in the enamel of a fossilized
true ages anywhere from 1 to 10%. Fortunately, radiocarbon tooth, and then determining the rate at which the uranium
dates can be corrected by dendrochronology over roughly accumulated in the tooth after burial. ESR dates are often
the same 7,000-year time span. Most archaeologists use ra- used to cross-check dates provided by thermoluminescence,
diocarbon dates corrected by dendrochronology, or tree- but sometimes ESR dates do not match up very well. It may
ring dating (see Figure M2.6), to convert radiocarbon years be that the process of uranium uptake is more complicated
into calendar years, assigning dates in “radiocarbon years” than previously understood and that a variety of factors
rather than in calendar solar years. Radiocarbon years can affect the level of uranium that actually accumulates in
are indicated when they are followed by the letters B. P., tooth enamel at a particular site. According to Klein, both
88
FIGURE M2.6 Trees with annual growth rings are similar to rock layers in that their distinctive sequences can be correlated
across sites to yield an uninterrupted chronology that may go back hundreds or thousands of years. Researchers use this master
chronology to assign chronometric dates to wood recovered from archaeological sites. Acknowledgments: Original drawn by
Simon S. S. Driver, based on other sources (Renfrew and Bahn 2008, 139).
luminescence dates and ESR dates are affected by site- Nonisotopic Methods Unlike isotopic techniques,
specific factors that may interfere with their degree of ac- onisotopic dating methods do not use rates of nuclear
n
curacy. ESR dates, in particular, must be evaluated with great decay to provide numerical dates of materials recovered from
care (Klein 2009, 47–48). excavations.
Techniques like thermoluminescence and ESR are valu-
able because, like the uranium-series method, they use Dendrochronology
Dendrochronology yields numerical
materials other than bones or charcoal to yield reliable dates for trees and objects made of wood. A crosscut section
dates for the troublesome gap between the limits of the of a mature tree exposes a series of concentric rings, which
radiocarbon method and the potassium-argon methods— normally accumulate one per year over the tree’s life. (Old
between 40,000 and 100,000–300,000 years ago (Fagan trees do not need to be cut down to recover the tree-ring chro-
1991, 64; Klein 2009, 35). As we will see in Chapter 4, this nology they contain; instead, scientists bore long, thin holes
is the period when our own species emerged, when we into their trunks and remove samples that preserve the se-
coexisted, and occasionally exchanged genes with, Nean quence.) Tree rings are thicker in wet years and thinner in dry
dertals. Paleoanthropologist Chris Stringer, a specialist in years. The pattern of thick and thin rings is similar for all trees
this period, has been involved with the development and growing in the same habitat over many years. The older the
refinement of such techniques. He recently observed that tree, the more growth rings it has and the more complete is
“As with radiocarbon dating, procedures have continuously its record of the growth pattern for the locality. Clearly, only
been refined, so that now even single grains of sand can be trees with seasonal growth patterns can be used success-
dated by luminescence. Equally in the case of ESR . . . we fully in dendrochronology—those that grow all year round,
have moved to a situation in which, using the microscopic such as those in tropical rain forests, do not produce variable
technique of laser ablation, it is now possible to directly ring patterns.
date a tiny area of fossil tooth enamel” (Stringer, 2012, 44);
indeed, “the potential of ESR to match the ability of AMS
radiocarbon in directly dating human fossils is at last being nonisotopic dating Dating methods that assign age in years to material
realized” (47). evidence but not by using rates of nuclear decay.
89
Tree rings are similar to rock layers because scientists particularly helpful to paleoanthropologists because the
can use their distinctive sequences to correlate different human line evolved during the last 5 million years. Paleo-
sites with one another. Figure M2.6 shows how the tree-ring magnetic dates can be used to cross-check dates for im-
sequences from three old trees cut down at different times portant sites and to provide a general time frame for sites
can be cross-correlated to yield an uninterrupted chronol- undatable by other means (Klein 2009, 51–54).
ogy that covers 100 years. Scientists use this master chro-
nology to match wood recovered from archaeological sites The Molecular Clock The concept of a molecular clock is
against the appropriate sequence to determine when a tree based on the assumption that genetic mutations accumulate
lived and when it was cut down. Tree-ring chronologies in DNA at a constant rate. This is most accurately measured in
based on the California bristlecone pine extend more than DNA that is unlikely to experience natural selection, such as
8,000 years into the past. In Europe, chronologies based on mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA). Geneticists compare the genes
oak trees go back to about 6,000 years ago (Renfrew and of different living species (or the proteins produced by those
Bahn 2008, 139). genes), measure the degree of genetic (or protein) differences
among them, and deduce the length of time since they all
Amino Acid Racemization (AAR) This method is based on shared a common ancestor.
the fact that amino acids in proteins can exist in two mirror- This dating method begins as a form of cladistic analy-
image forms, left-handed (L amino acids) and right-handed sis. However, it can be converted into a numerical dating
(D amino acids). Usually, only L amino acids are found in living method if other numerical techniques tell us when the fossil
organisms, but after the organism dies, they are converted ancestors of one of the living species being compared first
into D amino acids. The rate of conversion is different for each appeared (Ruvolo and Pilbeam 1986, 157). For example,
amino acid and depends on a variety of factors, including the “if a fossil (geological) date of 25 mya for the divergence
surrounding temperature, moisture, and acidity level. If those of Old World monkeys from apes is assumed, recently de-
levels can be determined since the time the specimen died, veloped DNA hybridization data imply that the human and
the ratio of D to L forms can be used to calculate how long ago chimpanzee lines split about 5.5 mya and that the gorilla
death occurred. Amino acid racemization has proved most ac- lineage became distinct about 7.7 mya, the gibbon lineage
curate when dating fossilized shells (Klein 2009, 50). about 16.4 mya, the orangutan lineage about 12.2 mya, and
(by definition) the line leading to Old World monkeys about
Paleomagnetism This dating method is based on the dis- 25 mya” (Klein 1989, 28). When this series of dates was first
covery that the earth’s magnetic poles have not always been suggested, it contradicted dates for the divergence of pri-
where they are today, perhaps because of shifting currents mate species established on other grounds. However, new
within the earth’s molten core. A magnet points north during fossils and further research appear to vindicate the chronol-
some periods of earth history, south during others. Some- ogy suggested by the molecular clock.
times a past polarity shift lasted for a long period, called a Not all paleoanthropologists accept the validity of this
chron; at other times, shifts alternated repeatedly for short in- technique. Some question the key assumption that genetic
tervals, called subchrons. Changes in polarity are preserved in mutations accumulate at a constant rate; others point out
volcanic rocks or rocks composed of fine-grained sediments that the accuracy of the molecular clock depends on the ac-
that settled slowly. When volcanic rocks cool or sediments curacy of some other numerical method used to date the
settle, their particles align themselves toward the current presumed fossil ancestors of one of the species being com-
magnetic pole and retain this pattern. By examining geologic pared. If the original numerical date is wrong or if variation in
cores to map the positions and deduce the time of particu- a population’s DNA has been affected by evolutionary forces
lar changes in polarity, geologists have been able to create a other than mutation (genetic drift, e.g.), the molecular clock
master chronology of paleomagnetic shifts that covers the will provide a series of erroneous dates for later species’ di-
past 5 million years. vergences (see, e.g., Thorne and Wolpoff 1992; Templeton
Boundary dates between chrons are better established 1993). Klein (2009), however, observes that recent African
than boundary dates between subchrons, but because all fossil finds “now support the 8- to 5-Ma molecular estimate
paleomagnetic dates are less precise than other numerical for African ape and human divergence, and few special-
dating methods, paleomagnetism looks more like a form of ists now ignore the molecular clock” (94). However, as we
relative dating than a form of numerical dating. However, will see, even if the molecular clock is a problematic dating
paleomagnetism is extremely valuable because, unlike other method, DNA and other biomolecules recovered from fossils
dating methods, it has the potential to provide a temporal are now used to inform paleoanthropologists about many
framework within which geological, climatological, and evo- other features of extinct human organisms and their ways of
lutionary events can be related on a worldwide scale. It is life (Brown and Brown 2013).
90
Modeling Prehistoric Climates carbon 14. The result is a powerful worldwide chronology of
climate change within which biological evolutionary events
Much of the geological data that provide primate paleon-
may be contextualized (Potts 1996, 50–51; Renfrew and Bahn
tologists with dates for their fossils and archaeologists with
2004, 130).
dates for their artifacts also provide information about the
Scientists do not fully understand the causes of climatic
environment in which those fossil organisms and the ar-
fluctuations but suspect that they are connected with such
tifacts’ makers once lived (Table M2.1). In recent years, in-
phenomena as changes in the shape and position of the
formation about ancient climates and climate changes has
continents, the tilt of the earth’s axis, sunspot activity, the
accumulated and aided primate paleontologists and ar-
shape of the earth’s orbit around the sun, and volcanic ac-
chaeologists in better reconstructing the various selective
tivity (Potts 1996). Debate continues about whether some
pressures under which prehistoric nonhuman primate and
of these fluctuations correlate with evolutionary events: the
human populations would have lived. Evidence for major
temperature drop around 15 mya seems to coincide with
fluctuations in ancient climates has been incorporated
the diversification of hominoids in Africa and Asia, whereas
into the theory of punctuated equilibrium, discussed in
the development of a drier, more seasonal climate between
Chapter 4.
10 and 5 mya may be connected with widespread hominoid
A major source of information on past climate comes
extinctions and the appearance of the first human ances-
from the contents of cores drilled into the ocean floor or into
tors (Vrba et al. 1995). Data on climate also show that human
glaciers (Figure M2.7). Deep sea sediments are especially re-
prehistory for the past million years developed during peri-
liable because their deposition shows fewer interruptions
ods of intense glaciation interrupted by periods of warmer
than do dry land deposits, and they rarely experience erosion
climate. Different interpretations of these climatic fluctua-
(Klein 2009, 59). Ocean water contains two different isotopes
tions affect the way paleoanthropologists model the selec-
of oxygen, the lighter 16O and the heavier 18O. The lighter iso-
tive pressures that eventually gave rise to our own species
topes are taken out of ocean water when glaciers form but
some 200,000 years ago. They also affect explanations of
return to it when glaciers melt. Furthermore, oxygen is in-
major shifts in cultural adaptation (such as the domestica-
corporated into the skeletons of microscopic marine organ-
tion of plants and animals and the adoption of a sedentary
isms called foraminifera. For millions of years, foraminifera
life) that closely followed the retreat of the last glaciers
have been settling on the ocean bottom after they die, which
some 12,000 years ago. We will explore these matters more
means that those collected in ocean cores can be analyzed to
fully in Chapter 6.
see which isotope of oxygen they contain. Foraminifera with
18
O in their skeletons must have lived and died when glaciers
took up 16O, whereas those with 16O must have lived and died
when glaciers were not present. Oxygen isotope curves can Module Summary
be plotted to trace climate changes over the past 2.3 million 1. Scientific dating methods assist paleoanthropolo-
years. Isotope sequences can be correlated with paleomag- gists and archaeologists in their work. Relative dates
netic reversals, and the forams themselves can be dated by indicate which objects are older or younger in a given
TABLE M2.1 The Major Divisions of Geological Time Relevant to Paleoanthropologists

ERA PERIOD EPOCH MILLION YEARS AGO (MYA) IMPORTANT EVENTS
Quaternary Recent .01 Modern genera of animals
Cenozoic Pleistocene 2 Early humans and giant mammals now extinct
Pliocene 5.1 Anthropoid radiation and culmination of

mammalian speciation
Miocene 25
Tertiary Oligocene 38
Eocene 54 Expansion and differentiation of mammals
Paleocene 65
Source: Price and Feinman 2001, 27.
91
a b
FIGURE M2.7 Ice cores can provide information about the sequences of changing climate over extended periods of time. They
are carefully extracted from glaciers (a) and stored in temperature-controlled rooms (b) until they can be analyzed.
sequence. Numerical dates identify how many years 3. Numerical (or “absolute”) dating methods can anchor
ago a rock layer was formed, a piece of clay was fired, a series of fossils dated by relative methods to a fixed
or a living animal died. Paleoanthropologists and ar- point in time. Isotopic dating methods are based on
chaeologists ordinarily use as many dating methods scientific knowledge about the rate at which various
as possible to assign reliable dates to the objects radioactive isotopes of naturally occurring elements
they recover. transform themselves into other elements by losing
subatomic particles. Nonisotopic dating methods that
2. Stratigraphic superposition underlies all rela-
do not involve radioactive decay include paleomagne-
tive and numerical dating methods. Scientists can
tism and the molecular clock.
cross-correlate strata from different locations to
generalize about what was happening geologically 4. Paleontologists have drawn upon climatic data to better
over wider regions and longer periods of time. reconstruct the various selective pressures under which
These correlations apply not only to the rock layers prehistoric nonhuman primate and human populations
themselves but also to the fossils or artifacts they would have lived. Between 1.6 mya and 12,000 years
contain. B iostratigraphic dating uses the fossils ago, temperatures plunged and ice sheets expanded
of widespread or rapidly evolving species to date and contracted during the Pleistocene. Some of these
the relative age of other fossils associated climatic fluctuations appear to correlate to evolutionary
with them. events and changes in human cultural adaptation.
92
For Review 6. What are the nonisotopic methods of dating?
1. What is the difference between relative dating methods 7. Why are climatic data useful to paleontologists?
and numerical dating methods?
2. Explain stratigraphic superposition and the law of

Key Terms
crosscutting relationships.
assemblage 84 nonisotopic dating 89
3. What is seriation? What is the difference between con-
biostratigraphic numerical (or “absolute”)
textual seriation and frequency seriation? dating 83 dating methods 82
4. List the main forms of relative dating discussed in isotopic dating 85 relative dating
the text. law of crosscutting methods 82
5. What are the isotopic methods of dating discussed in relationships 82 seriation 83
the text? law of superposition 82 stratum 82
93
4
What can the fossil record
tell us about human origins?
Anthropology has made major contributions to our understanding of
human biological and cultural evolution. This chapter tells the story of what
we have learned from fossils, stone tools, and other cultural remains, from
the appearance of our earliest known ancestors about 6 million years ago
through the appearance of modern Homo sapiens about 200,000 years ago.
CHAPTER OUTLINE
What Is Macroevolution? The Culture of H. erectus What Do We Know about the
What Is Hominin Evolution? H. erectus the Hunter? Upper Paleolithic/Late Stone
Who Were the First Hominins What Happened to H. erectus? Age (40,000?–12,000 Years
(6–3 mya)? Ago)?
How Did Homo sapiens Evolve?
The Origin of Bipedalism What Is the Fossil Evidence for What Happened to the
Changes in Hominin Dentition the Transition to Modern H. Neandertals?
Who Were the Later sapiens? How Many Kinds of Upper
Australopiths (3–1.5 mya)? Where Did Modern H. sapiens Paleolithic/Late Stone Age
How Many Species of Come from? Cultures Were There?
Australopith Were There? Who Were the Neandertals Where Did Modern H. sapiens
How Can Anthropologists (130,000–35,000 Years Ago)? Migrate in Late Pleistocene
Explain the Human Transition? What Do We Know about Times?
Middle Paleolithic/Middle Eastern Asia and Siberia
What Do We Know about Early
Stone Age Culture? The Americas
Homo (2.4–1.5 mya)?
Did Neandertals Hunt? Australasia
Expansion of the Australopith
Brain What Do We Know about Two Million Years of Human
How Many Species of Early Anatomically Modern Evolution
Homo Were There? Humans (200,000 Years Ago Chapter Summary
Earliest Evidence of Culture: to Present)? For Review
Stone Tools What Can Genetics Tell Us Key Terms
Who Was Homo erectus about Modern Human Suggested Readings
(1.8–1.7 mya to 0.5–0.4 mya)? Origins?
Morphological Traits of
H. erectus
The discovery of a new hominin species, Homo naledi, is revealed

to the public in Johannesburg, South Africa, in 2015. 95
96 CHAPTER 4: WHAT CAN THE FOSSIL RECORD TELL US ABOUT HUMAN ORIGINS?
TABLE 4.1 Models of Macroevolution

PHYLETIC GRADUALISM PUNCTUATED EQUILIBRIA
Macroevolution A uniform process, the eventual outcome of Different from microevolution, not a uniform
microevolution, given enough time process
Motor of The result of anagenesis, the gradual transfor- The result of cladogenesis, the rapid produc-
speciation mation of one species into another species tion of multiple new species alongside parent
species
Species boundary Species boundaries are arbitrary Species boundaries are real
Consequences No sharp breaks in fossil record between old Speciation achieves the shifting of “genetic
and new species and morphological centers of gravity of parent
and daughter species” such that “each species
is now free to accumulate more variation and
hence more potential species differences”
(Tattersall 1998, 163)
C hapter 2 presented some of the central concepts of

modern evolutionary theory, and Chapter 3 used
some of these concepts to locate human beings within the
time and is concerned with tracing (and explaining) the
extinction of old species and the origin of new species.
Evidence for these processes comes from close study of
primate order. In this chapter we turn to a consideration fossils and of the comparative anatomy of living organ-
of the fossil evidence that provides evidence for the evo- isms. As we shall see, the way we understand macroevo-
lutionary history of our species, highlighting the ways in lution shapes our understanding of human evolution.
which that history differed from that of our closest primate Until the 1970s, most evolutionary biologists were
relatives. As such, this chapter will be adopting the per- more or less convinced that the problems of macroevolu-
spective of macroevolution, which focuses on long-term tion had been solved in a satisfactory manner by Darwin
evolutionary changes, especially the origins of new species himself. Darwin claimed, and neo-Darwinians agreed,
and their diversification across space and time over mil- that macroevolution—the origin of new species—is
lions of years. Spanning many generations and the growth simply what happens when microevolution continues
and decay of many different ecological settings, macroevo- over a long enough period of time (Table 4.1). Such a
lution is measured in geological time. M icroevolution, view seemed plausible because, as we have seen, all these
by contrast, devotes attention to short-term evolutionary evolutionary thinkers assumed that, over time, genetic
changes that occur within a given species over relatively and environmental changes are inevitable. Mutation
few generations. It is measured in what is sometimes (if unchecked by natural selection) inevitably changes
called “ecological time,” or the pace of time as experienced a species’ physical attributes over time in the same way
by organisms living and adapting to their ecological set- that the natural environment, perpetually subject to
tings. The study of microevolutionary processes affecting uniformitarian processes of erosion and uplift, never re-
the human species will be the topic of Chapter 5. mains constant. Evolution was thought to occur when
independent processes of genetic change and environ-
mental change intersect in the phenotypes of organisms
What Is Macroevolution? living in a particular habitat.
In his final formulation of the theory of natural se-
Macroevolution studies evolution at or above the spe- lection, Darwin argued that there is no such thing as
cies level over extremely long stretches of geological a fixed species, precisely because evolution is gradual.
And evolution is gradual because environments change
slowly. Lamarck’s concept of long-term evolutionary
microevolution A subfield of evolutionary studies that devotes attention change was also gradualistic, except that he pictured in-
to short-term evolutionary changes that occur within a given species over dividual members of a long-lived natural kind (and their
relatively few generations of ecological time.
offspring) tracking the changing environment over a
macroevolution A subfield of evolutionary studies that focuses on long-
term evolutionary changes, especially the origins of new species and their
long period of time. For Darwin, however, a species grad-
diversification across space and over millions of years of geological time. ually transforms itself over time into a new species, a
anagenesis The slow, gradual transformation of a single species over time. process called anagenesis, although the actual boundary
What Is Macroevolution? 97
Species B Species C Species B Species A Species C FIGURE 4.1 Research and

theories about punctuated
Natural equilibria have challenged the
Years of selection common neo-Darwinian under-
accumulated “fine-tunes” standing of speciation by means
change by of phyletic gradualism.
natural
selection
Punctuation of Macromutation(s) in
equilibrium subpopulations/
new environmental
niches birth of
Equilibrium
multiple
(species A does
new
Population splits not change)
species
into two new
environments
Species A Species A
Phyletic gradualism Punctuated equilibrium
between species can never be detected but only drawn other living primates (see Chapter 3). Gould and El-
arbitrarily. Darwin’s theory of the origin of new species dredge (1977) contended that evolutionary change is
is called phyletic gradualism (Figure 4.1). not a uniform process but rather that most of evolution-
Arguing for phyletic gradualism made a lot of sense ary history has been characterized by relatively stable
in Darwin’s day, given the kind of opposition he faced, species coexisting in equilibrium (plural, equilibria). Oc-
and it has many defenders today. But some biologists casionally, however, that equilibrium is punctuated by
have argued that phyletic gradualism does not explain sudden bursts of speciation, when extinctions are wide-
a number of things that evolutionary theory must ex- spread and many new species appear. This view is called
plain. In particular, it cannot explain the fact that a the theory of punctuated equilibrium (see Figure 4.1).
single fossil species often seems to have given birth to Gould and Eldredge claimed “that speciation is orders of
a number of descendant species, a process called clado- magnitude more important than phyletic evolution as a
genesis. What about those breaks in the fossil record mode of evolutionary change” (116).
that led Cuvier to argue that old species disappeared But if phyletic gradualism is not the rule, where do
and new species appeared with what, from the point new species come from? Gould and Eldredge (1977)
of view of geological time, was extreme rapidity? Is argue that drastic changes in the natural environment
this just the result of poor preservation of intermediate trigger extinction and speciation by destroying habitats
forms, or do new species arise suddenly without having and breaking reproductive communities apart. When
to go through any drawn-out intermediate stages? Or this happens, the populations that remain have both
do the fossils that we thought represented intermedi- a radically modified gene pool and the opportunity to
ate stages in the anagenesis of a single species actually construct a new niche in a radically modified environ-
belong to several different species that resulted from the ment. When adaptive equilibria are punctuated this way,
process of cladogenesis? speciation is still thought to require thousands or hun-
In the early 1970s, these problems led evolutionists dreds of thousands of years to be completed. From the
Stephen Jay Gould and Niles Eldredge to propose that perspective of ecological time, the process still appears
the rate and manner of evolutionary change may differ “gradual,” but from the perspective of geological time,
at the level of genes, of organisms, and of species. They speciation appears “rapid” when compared to the long
argued that patterns in the fossil record (including the periods of stasis that precede and follow it.
patterns Cuvier had recognized) suggest that phyletic
gradualism might not explain all cases of evolutionary
change. Between the breaks in the fossil record, many phyletic gradualism A theory arguing that one species gradually trans-
fossil species show little—if any—change for millions forms itself into a new species over time, yet the actual boundary between
of years. Moreover, it is often the case that new species species can never be detected and can only be drawn arbitrarily.
appear in the fossil record alongside their unchanged punctuated equilibrium A theory claiming that most of evolutionary
history has been characterized by relatively stable species coexisting in an
ancestors (Eldredge and Tattersall 1982, 8). We observe equilibrium that is occasionally punctuated by sudden bursts of speciation,
this phenomenon when we compare ourselves to the when extinctions are widespread and many new species appear.
Research and theorizing about punctuated equilibria most large scale evolutionary trends are not produced
have challenged the common neo-Darwinian understand- by the gradual reshaping of established species, but are
ing of speciation by means of anagenesis. Punctuationists the net result of many rapid steps of evolution, not all of
view speciation as the outcome of cladogenesis, which which have moved in the same direction” (5). He later
had always been recognized as part of the neo-Darwinian observes that the theory of punctuated equilibrium “ac-
synthesis but had never been given the important role that centuates the unpredictability of large-scale evolution”
punctuationists assign it. Punctuationists also reject neo- and interprets speciation as “a kind of experimentation,
Darwinian descriptions of speciation as the outcome of but experimentation without a plan” (181).
changing gene frequencies, insisting that speciation itself Needless to say, these suggestions remain highly con-
triggers adaptive change (Eldredge and Tattersall 1982, troversial. Many modern evolutionary biologists are con-
62). Finally, punctuationists propose that natural selec- vinced that phyletic gradualism is well supported by the
tion may operate among variant, related species within fossil records of many species. Punctuationists and gradu-
a single genus, family, or order, a process called species alists have argued vehemently about whether our own spe-
selection. Just like natural selection among individuals cies, Homo sapiens, is the product of phyletic gradualism or
of the same species, however, species selection is subject of a punctuated equilibrium. The debate between gradual-
to random forces. Some species flourish simply because ists and punctuationists has triggered a close reexamination
they tend to form new species at a high rate. Sometimes, of biological ideas about macroevolution that promises to
however, none of the variant species is able to survive in increase our understanding in unanticipated ways.
the changed environment, and the entire group—genus,
family, or order—may become extinct (Stanley 1981,
187–88). If speciation events occur rapidly in small,
isolated populations, punctuationists predict that fossil
What Is Hominin Evolution?
evidence of intermediate forms between parent species About 10 mya, when the Miocene epoch was drawing
and descendant species may not survive or may be hard to a close, grasslands increased at the expense of for-
to find, although occasionally paleontologists might get ests and many species of hominoids became extinct
lucky (see also Eldredge 1985). throughout Europe, Asia, and Africa. Some African
Geneticists have not yet been able to pinpoint the hominoids seem to have adapted to the changed con-
genetic changes involved in speciation, but one hypoth- ditions by spending more time on the ground, a move
esis links speciation to mutations in genes involved in that apparently exposed them to new selective pressures
the timing of interrelated biological processes, which favoring bipedalism—walking on two feet rather than
have major pleiotropic effects. Ernst Mayr (1982, 605–6) four. Hominins (bipedal hominoids) first appeared in
argued, however, that only a few such mutations might Africa at the end of the Miocene or beginning of the
be sufficient if the population undergoing speciation was Pliocene, between 10 and 5 mya.
small and isolated, involving few reproducing individu- As we saw in Chapter 3, contemporary taxonomists
als and thus subject to the force of genetic drift. This is, classify the African great apes and humans together as
in fact, the sort of speciation scenario the punctuationists hominids; within the hominid category, they separate out
also imagine, the setting in which cladogenesis has long humans and their bipedal ancestors, who are classified
been presumed to occur. As Steven Stanley (1981) ob- together as hominins. Within the hominin category, a fur-
served, “It is estimated that 98 or 99 percent of the pro- ther distinction is also commonly made between recent
tein structures of humans and chimpanzees are the same! hominin species assigned to the genus Homo and earlier
Clearly, evolution is reshaping animals in major ways hominin species assigned to such genera as Ardipithecus,
without drastically remodeling the genetic code” (127). Australopithecus, or Paranthropus. Several authorities in-
Thinking about evolution in terms of punctuated formally refer to all the earlier hominins as “australo-
equilibria fundamentally restructures our view of life. piths” (Tattersall 2012; Klein 2009, 131), and that is
As Stanley (1981) explains, “the punctuational view im- what we will do here.
plies, among other things, that evolution is often ineffec- Fossil hominins are grouped together with living
tive at perfecting the adaptations of animals and plants; human beings because of a set of skeletal features that
that there is no real ecological balance of nature; that indicate habitual bipedalism, a feature that seems to be
the first of our distinctive anatomical traits to have ap-
peared (Figure 4.2). Hominin evolution has also been
species selection A process in which natural selection is seen to operate marked by additional evolutionary changes in denti-
among variant, related species within a single genus, family, or order. tion. Finally, some developed an expanded brain and
bipedalism Walking on two feet rather than four. ultimately came to depend on tools and language—that
Foramen magnum
at base of skull
S-shaped spinal
column
FIGURE 4.2 A pes (left) are adapted anatomically for a form of quadrupedal locomotion called knuckle walking, although they
often stand upright and occasionally may even walk on their hind limbs for short distances. A human skeleton (right) shows the kinds
of reshaping natural selection performed to produce the hominid anatomy, which is adapted to habitual bipedalism.
TABLE 4.2 Four Major Trends in Hominin Evolution

TREND DEVELOPMENT DATES
Bipedalism Evidence of bipedalism marks the appearance of the hominin line. Between 10 and 5 mya
Distinctive dentition The development of huge cheek teeth (molars) and much smaller 4 to 2 mya
front teeth was characteristic of the australopiths.
Expanded brain Brain expansion beyond 400 to 500 cm3 of the australopiths was Beginning 2.4 mya
characteristic of genus Homo.
Culture Greater reliance on learned patterns of behavior and thought, on Beginning 2.5 mya
tools, and on language became important for Homo.
is, on culture—for their survival (Table 4.2). These devel- primates often stand upright and occasionally walk on
opments did not occur all at once but were the result of their hind limbs for short distances. Because bipedal-
mosaic evolution (different traits evolving at different ism requires upright posture, primates have already, so
rates). This is the reason anthropologists speak of human to speak, taken a step in the right direction. Put another
origins when describing the evolution of our species. way, we could say that hominoid morphology for up-
right posture that evolved in an arboreal context was exa-
pted for hominin bipedalism in a terrestrial context.
Who Were the First What sort of selective pressures might have favored
bipedal locomotion in hominoids? To answer this
Hominins (6–3 mya)?
The Origin of Bipedalism
mosaic evolution A phenotypic pattern that shows how different traits
The skeletons of all primates allow upright posture when of an organism, responding to different selection pressures, may evolve at
sitting or swinging from the branches of trees. Many different rates.
question, paleoanthropologists examine the advantages 2001; White et al. 1994). After 15 years of reconstruc-
bipedalism would have conferred. Moving easily on the tion and analysis, Tim White and his colleagues formally
ground might have improved hominoids’ ability to ex- announced the discovery of “Ardi,” a relatively com-
ploit food resources outside the protective cover of the plete skeleton of Ar. ramidus, which apparently could
shrinking Miocene forests. Upright posture would have walk bipedally on the ground, although in a manner
made it easier for them to spot potential predators in different from later australopiths and members of the
open country, and skillful bipedal locomotion would genus Homo (see Figure 4.4). Most paleoanthropolo-
have made it easier for them to escape. Finally, walk- gists have traditionally viewed bipedal locomotion as
ing upright simultaneously reduces the amount of skin an adaptation to life in open African grasslands called
surface exposed to the sun, allows greater distances to savanna. However, Ar. ramidus apparently lived in a
be covered (albeit at slow speeds), and is more energy- wooded environment. Richard Potts, an expert in ancient
efficient (Day 1986, 189; Foley 1995, 143). environments, reviewed evidence about the environment
Michael Day (1986) suggests that this greater stamina in which Ar. ramidus would have lived at the two Ethio-
may have permitted bipedal hominins to become “endur- pian sites, Aramis and Gona, where its fossils were found.
ance hunters,” slowly tracking game over long distances He also looked at biomolecular information about the
as they moved into the previously vacant ecological niche kinds of plants Ar. ramidus ate, based on analysis of teeth
of daylight hunting (190). However, endurance walking from five different fossil individuals. Potts (2013) con-
would have been equally important in enabling the first cluded that “combined evidence from the two sites thus
hominins to cover long distances between widely scattered appears to indicate a certain degree of spatial and possi-
sources of plant food or water. Indeed, the teeth of these bly temporal variability in the proportion of grass versus
hominins suggest that they were probably o mnivorous, trees” (157). Potts also expressed concern that “the term
not carnivorous; that is, they ate a wide range of plant savanna can be interpreted too broadly; it is, in fact,
and animal foods. Equipped with just a simple digging defined so variably in time and space that it is almost
stick, their diet might have included “berries, fruits, nuts, useless when examining habitat-specific versus habitat
buds, shoots, shallow-growing roots and tubers, fruiting variability explanations of human evolution (158).
bodies of fungi, most terrestrial and the smaller aquatic Other very early fragments of fossil hominins include
reptiles, eggs, nesting birds, some fish, mollusks, insects, two lower jaws and an arm bone from Kenya, ranging
and all small mammals, including the burrowing ones. in age between 5.8–5.6 and 4.5 mya. Some fragmentary
This diverse diet . . . is very close to that of the Gombe Na- remains from Ethiopia and Kenya are between 4.5 and
tional Park chimpanzees . . . and living gatherer/hunters” 3.8 million years old (Boaz 1995, 35; Foley 1995, 70).
(Mann 1981, 34). As the forests retreated and stands of The earliest direct evidence of hominin bipedalism
trees became smaller and more widely scattered, groups is 3.6 million years old. It comes from a trail of foot-
of bipedal hominins appear to have ranged over a vari- prints that extends over 70 feet, preserved in a layer of
ety of environments (Isaac and Crader 1981, 89; see also hardened volcanic ash laid down during the middle
Freeman 1981, Mann 1981). They would have been able Pliocene at the site of Laetoli, Tanzania (Figure 4.5).
to carry infants, food, and eventually tools in their newly When compared to footprints made by modern apes
freed hands (Lewin 1989, 67–68). and human beings, experts agree that the Laetoli prints
The oldest known hominin fossils come from Africa were definitely produced by hominin bipedal locomo-
(Figure 4.3), some dating back into the Miocene. The tion (Day 1985, 92; 1986, 191; Feibel et al. 1995/96).
oldest remains are fragmentary, however, and their signif- Most early hominin fossils showing skeletal evi-
icance for later hominin evolution is still being debated. dence of bipedalism have been placed in the genus
The most noteworthy of these finds are Sahelanthropus Australopithecus. The oldest of these is Australopithecus ana-
tchadensis, from Chad, in central Africa (6–7 million mensis, whose fossils come from Kanapoi and Allia Bay in
years old) (Brunet et al. 2002, 6); Orrorin tugenensis Kenya. Au. anamensis dates from 4.2 to 3.9 mya. Au. ana-
from Kenya (6 million years old) (Senut et al. 2001); mensis shows that bipedality had evolved at least a few hun-
and A rdipithecus kadabba (5.8–5.2 million years old) and dred thousand years before the previous date of 3.6 mya
Ardipithecus ramidus (5.8–4.4 million years old) (White provided by the Laetoli footprints (Leakey et al. 1995).1
et al. 2009; Haile Selassie et al. 2004; Haile Selassie
1
Leakey and colleagues (2001) have also described a
3.4 million-year-old eastern African fossil said to possess a series
omnivorous Eating a wide range of plant and animal foods. of derived features not found in other australopiths, thus justify-
Australopithecus The genus in which taxonomists place most early ing its being placed in a separate genus, Kenyanthropus platyops,
hominins showing skeletal evidence of bipedalism. although this interpretation is controversial.
FIGURE 4.3 Major sites in eastern

Bahr el Ghazal
and southern Africa from which fossils of
australopiths and early Homo have been
recovered.
CHAD Hadar
Maka
Bouri
ETHIOPIA
Omo
West Turkana
Lake Turkana Koobi Fora
Kanapoi
KENYA Tabarin
Lake Victoria
Chemeron
Olduvai Allia Bay
Laetoli
TANZANIA
Sterkfontein
Makapansgat
Swartkrans
Malapa
Kromdraai
Taung
SOUTH
AFRICA 0 250 500 750 1000 Miles
0 250 500 750 1000 Kilometers
The remaining early hominin fossils have been we compare it to the skeletons of modern humans and
assigned to the species Australopithecus afarensis. Fos- apes. The spinal column of a chimpanzee joins its head
sils assigned to this taxon have also been found at La- at the back of the skull, as is normally the case in quadru-
etoli and in a region of Ethiopia known as the Afar pedal animals. This is revealed by the position of a large
Depression—hence the species name “afarensis” (see hole, the foramen magnum, through which the spinal
Figure 4.3). These fossils, which are quite numer- cord passes on its way to the brain. The ape pelvis is long
ous, range between 3.9 and 3.0 million years of age and broad, and the knee is almost directly in line with
(Johanson and Edey 1981, Kimbel et al. 1994, White the femur (or thigh bone) and therefore ill-adapted to
et al. 1993). The famous Au. afarensis fossil Lucy support the ape’s center of gravity when it tries to move
(named after the Beatles song “Lucy in the Sky with on its hind legs. As a result, when apes walk bipedally,
Diamonds”; Figure 4.6) was found 40% intact and un- they appear to waddle in an awkward attempt to stay up-
disturbed where she had died, which allowed Donald right. Finally, the great toe of the ape foot diverges like
Johanson and his colleagues to reconstruct her post- a thumb from the rest of the digits, a feature that allows
cranial skeleton in great detail. The first fairly com- apes to use their feet for grasping but inhibits their abil-
plete adult skull of Au. afarensis, found in the early ity to use this toe for the “push-off” so important for ef-
1990s, confirmed its small-brained, apelike features. fective bipedalism.
The 0.9 million-year age range of these Hadar fos- By contrast, the modern human head balances on
sils suggests a period of prolonged evolutionary stasis the top of the spinal column. The foramen magnum
within Au. afarensis. in humans is located directly beneath the skull rather
Some features of the skeleton of Au. afarensis reveal than at its back. The basin-shaped human pelvis is the
its adaptation to habitual bipedalism, especially when body’s center of gravity, supporting and balancing the
FIGURE 4.5 The earliest evidence of hominin bipedalism

comes from the 3.6 million-year-old fossil footprints preserved
in hardened volcanic ash at Laetoli, Tanzania.
torso above it. Finally, the bones of human legs have

a knock-kneed appearance, with the femur pointing
inward toward the knee joint at the valgus angle. As a
result, humans can easily transfer their center of gravity
directly over the stepping foot in the course of bipedal
walking.
The skeleton of Au. afarensis more closely resem-
bles that of modern human beings than that of apes. As
Figure 4.7 shows, the great toe does not diverge from the
rest of the digits on the foot, the femur bends inward
toward the knee joint at the valgus angle, and the pelvis
is short and basinlike. In addition, the skull of Au. afaren-
sis balanced on the top of the spinal column, as shown
FIGURE 4.4 The fossils of Ardipithecus ramidus, pictured
above, have been interpreted as belonging to a bipedal
by the position of its foramen magnum. Nevertheless, el-
hominoid living in a forested environment, which challenges ements of the postcranial skeleton of Au. afarensis clearly
the traditional notion that bipedalism evolved in an open, recall its recent ape ancestry (Figure 4.8). It has longer
savannah environment. arms, in proportion to its legs, than any other hominin.
Also, the bones of its fingers and toes are slightly curved,
IN THEIR OWN WORDS
Finding Fossils
Searching for remains of the human past is not The day after he found the hominid jaw, Alemayehu
glamorous work. As he relates the experiences turned up a complete baboon skull. I had it on the table
of Alemayehu, one of the most successful fossil for a detailed description the next afternoon when Ale-
hunters on his team, Donald Johanson reveals mayehu burst into camp.
both the extraordinary discipline required for His eyes were popping. He said he had found another
of those things. After having seen one, he was sure this
the search and the near delirium that ensues
was another human jaw. I dropped the baboon skull
when the search is successful.
and ran after Alemayehu, forgetting that I was barefoot.
I began to cut my feet so badly on the gravel that I was
forced to limp back to my tent to put on shoes. Guille-
One day Alemayehu found a small piece of a lower jaw
mot and Petter, who were with me, kept going. When
with a couple of molars in it. They were bigger than
I rejoined them, it was in a little depression just a few
human molars, and he told me that he had a baboon jaw
hundred yards beyond the Afar settlement. Guillemot
with funny big teeth.
and Petter were crouching down to look at a beautiful
“You think this is a baboon?” I asked him.
fossil jaw sticking out of the ground. Guillemot ruefully
“Well, with unusually large molars.”
pointed out his own footprints, not ten feet away, where
“It’s a hominid.”
he had gone out surveying that first morning in camp and
The knee joint of the year before had proved the exis-
seen nothing.
tence of hominids at Hadar. Everyone had been sanguine
A crowd of others arrived and began to hunt around
about finding more of them in 1974. In fact, the French
feverishly. One of the French let out a yell—he had a
had been so eager that they had gone rushing out to
jaw. It turned out to be a hyena, an excellent find be-
survey on the very first day, leaving it to the Americans
cause carnivores are always rare. But after that, inter-
to put up the tents. But after weeks of searching without
est dwindled. It began to get dark. The others drifted
results, that ardor had dimmed somewhat. Now it flared
back to camp. I stopped surveying and was about to
again, but in no one more than Alemayehu himself.
collect Alemayehu’s jaw when I spotted Alemayehu
It is impossible to describe what it feels like to find
s truggling up a nearby slope, waving his arms, com-
something like that. It fills you right up. That is what you
pletely winded.
are there for. You have been working and working, and
“I have another,” Alemayehu gasped. “I think, two.”
suddenly you score. When I told Alemayehu that he had a
I raced over to him. The two turned out to be two
hominid, his face lit up and his chest went way out. Ener-
halves. When I put them together, they fitted perfectly
gized to an extraordinary degree, and with nothing better
to make a complete palate (upper jaw) with every one of
to do in the late afternoons, Alemayehu formed the habit
its teeth in position: a superb find. Within an hour Ale-
of poking quietly about for an hour or so before dark. He
mayehu had turned up two of the oldest and finest homi-
chose areas close to camp because, without the use of a
nid jaws ever seen. With the addition of the partial jaw of
Land-Rover, they were easy to get to. He refrained from
a few days before, he has earned a listing in the Guinness
saying—although I feel sure that this was a factor in his
Book of World Records as the finder of the most hominid
choice of places to survey—that he had begun to realize
fossils in the shortest time.
that he was a more thorough and more observant sur-
veyor than some of the others who were doing that work. Source: Johanson and Edey 1981, 172–73.
and the toes are much longer, resembling the finger and toe 1989, 77; Klein 2009, 213). A 3.5 million-year-old aus-
bones of apes. Because these features are related to the tralopith fossil found in Chad, in central Africa, is con-
typical tree-climbing adaptation of most hominoids, temporaneous with Au. afarensis. Called Australopithecus
some paleoanthropologists have concluded that Au. bahrelghazali, this specimen extends the range of aus-
afarensis must have had significant tree-climbing abil- tralopiths far beyond southern and eastern Africa (Brunet
ity along with bipedalism (Susman et al. 1985; Lewin et al. 1995).
Au.
FIGURE 4.7 The bones of human legs have a somewhat

knock-kneed appearance, with the femur pointing inward
toward the knee joint at the valgus angle. This allows human
beings to easily transfer the center of gravity directly over the
foot in the course of bipedal walking. Ape femurs do not angle
inward in this manner, so apes waddle when they try to walk
bipedally. Because Au. afarensis is humanlike in its valgus angle
and in the shape of its pelvis, we conclude that, like us, it walked
bipedally.
row for each canine of the opposite jaw to fit into when
FIGURE 4.6 Forty percent of Lucy’s bones were found the jaws are closed. Human canine teeth do not proj-
undisturbed, and her remains included much of her
ect beyond the tooth row and show little sexual dimor-
postcranial skeleton.
phism, and humans have no diastemata. Ape teeth show
functional specialization, with biting incisors, shearing
canines, and grinding molars. In addition, the incisors
Changes in Hominin Dentition are about the same size as the molars, and the canines
Once the first australopiths ventured regularly down are the largest teeth of all. Functional specialization in
from the trees and into a variety of new habitats, they human teeth is very different. Humans have canines and
presumably began to rely on new food sources. Their incisors that are similar in shape and much smaller than
new diet appears to have created a set of selective pres- their molars.
sures that led to important changes in hominin denti- How does Au. afarensis compare? As Figure 4.9
tion, first evident in the teeth of Au. afarensis. To assess shows, the Au. afarensis dental arcade is “U”-shaped, like
the importance of these changes, it helps to compare that of the apes. Its canines, although relatively smaller
the teeth of Au. afarensis with those of modern apes than those of apes, still project somewhat; and 45% of
and humans. the Au. afarensis specimens examined have diastemata
A striking feature of ape dentition is a “U”-shaped (Lewin 1989, 70). Although Au. afarensis canines were
dental arch that is longer front to back than it is side to getting smaller, Au. afarensis molars were getting larger,
side. By contrast, the human dental arch is parabolic, or marking the beginning of an evolutionary trend toward
gently rounded in shape and narrower in front than in smaller front teeth and enormous cheek teeth that
back. Apes have large, sexually dimorphic canine teeth appear, fully developed, among australopiths that flour-
that project beyond the tooth row. In addition, they pos- ished a million years after A. afarensis. The increase in the
sess a diastema (plural, diastemata), or space in the tooth size of later australopith molars is greater than would be
FIGURE 4.8 A lthough Au. afarensis was humanlike in some respects, in other respects its skeleton retained adaptations to life
in the trees.
FIGURE 4.9 The upper jaw of

Au. afarensis shows some apelike
features, but its dentition shows
signs of change in the direction
of smaller front teeth and large
cheek teeth that would appear
fully developed in later australo-
pith species.
expected if it were merely the result of a larger-bodied Who Were the Later
hominin having proportionately larger teeth. Thus, pa-
leoanthropologists deduce that the enlarged molars were
Australopiths (3–1.5 mya)?
produced by natural selection (McHenry 1985, 179). Fossils of 3 million-year-old australopiths with small
Some experts argue that this dental pattern is an effective front teeth and large cheek teeth were found first in
adaptation to grassland diets consisting of coarse vege- southern Africa and later in eastern Africa, beginning in
table foods. Because projecting canine teeth prevent the the 1920s and 1930s. Some of them possessed the typi-
side-to-side jaw movement that grinding tough foods re- cal late-australopith enlargement of the cheek teeth, but
quires, natural selection may have favored australopiths their faces were small and lightly built; they were classi-
whose canines did not project beyond the tooth row. fied together as Australopithecus africanus and came to be
a b
FIGURE 4.10 Two-million-year-old bipedal hominins with small front teeth and large cheek teeth fall into two major categories.
(a) Gracile australopiths (such as this specimen of Au. africanus from Sterkfontein, South Africa) have smaller, more lightly built faces.
(b) Robust australopiths (such as this specimen from Swartkrans, South Africa) have more rugged jaws, flatter faces, truly enormous
molars, and sagittal crests.
known as the “gracile australopiths” (Figure 4.10a). Au.

ineffective without jaws massive enough to absorb the
africanus lived between 3 and 2 mya. Other australopith
shock of grinding and muscles large enough to move
fossils with more rugged jaws, flatter faces, and enormous
the jaws. The robust australopiths had the flattest faces
molars have been assigned to the species Paranthropus
because their cheekbones had expanded the most, to
robustus, and they are called the “robust australopiths”
accommodate huge jaw muscles that attached to bony
(Figure 4.10b). P. robustus lived between 2 and 1.5 mya.
crests along the midlines of their skulls.
Both gracile and robust australopith fossils show the
All australopith fossils from southern Africa have
same adaptation to bipedalism found in Au. afarensis.
been recovered from limestone quarries or limestone
The foramen magnum of both forms was directly under-
caves. Unfortunately, none of the deposits from which
neath the skull, and the size of the braincase (or cranial
these fossils came can be dated by traditional numerical
capacity) in both forms ranged between 400 and 550
methods, but newer uranium-series and paleomagnetic
cubic centimeters. Despite such small brains, australo-
techniques are more promising. Dating is much easier
piths living at Swartkrans in present-day South Africa
at eastern African sites like Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania,
1.5 mya apparently controlled fire and used it to cook
where volcanic rock layers can be dated using isotopic
meat (Brain and Sillen 1988). Whether they had hands
methods (Figure 4.11). Since 1959, eastern Africa has
capable of making stone tools is unclear (Lewin 1989,
become the most important source of hominin fossils
83; McHenry and Berger 1998). Robust australopiths in
in the world.
southern Africa may have used fragments of bone and
animal horn as digging tools (Tattersall 1998, 125).
Some research suggests that australopiths resemble apes How Many Species of Australopith
in the timing of tooth eruption and the patterns of sur- Were There?
face wear on teeth (Lewin 1989, 71, 73).
How many australopith species (and genera) ought to
It turns out that the striking morphological differ-
be recognized continues to be debated. Fleagle (2013)
ences between gracile and robust australopiths have
counts six species of Australopithecus that are generally
to do almost exclusively with their chewing anatomy.
recognized, and observes that “more are probably wait-
To begin with, selection seems to have favored large
ing to be uncovered” (365; see Table 4.3). It now appears
molars to grind tough plant foods. But large molars are
that robust australopiths go back some 1.75 million
years in southern Africa and perhaps 2.5 m illion years
in eastern Africa, becoming extinct between 1.2 and
cranial capacity The size of the braincase. 0.7 mya.
Gracile australopiths apparently flourished be-

tween 3 and 2 mya, in both southern and eastern Africa,
suggesting an early divergence between the robust and
gracile australopith lineages. In 1999, the 2.5 million-
year-old fossil of a gracile australopith, called Australo-
pithecus garhi, was found in Ethiopia (Asfaw et al. 1999).
Not only did Au. garhi appear morphologically distinct
from other gracile australopiths of roughly the same
age, but also it was found in association with primitive
stone tools 2.5 to 2.6 million years old (De Heinzelin et
al. 1999). The greatest confusion surrounds those grac-
ile fossils dated to about 2 mya. Perhaps most intriguing
are the fossils of Australopithecus sediba, found at the site
of Malapa in South Africa, and dated to between 1.95
and 1.78 mya (Berger et al. 2010). These fossils show a
mix of features: their cranial capacity resembles that of
Au. africanus, whereas their teeth and long thumb bones
resemble those of early Homo. Fleagle (2013) concludes
FIGURE 4.11 The “Zinjanthropus” skull, classified as Paran- that “Overall, Au. sediba seems to be intermediate be-
thropus boisei. When the potassium-argon method was used
tween fossils currently classified as Australopithecus and
in 1959 to date the volcanic rock lying above the sediment
in which this fossil was found, the date of 1.75 million years those attributed to early Homo, and researchers differ on
stunned the scientific community. which genus is more appropriate” (368–69).
TABLE 4.3 Increase in Cranial Capacity in Hominins
HOMININ DATE RANGE (YEARS) CRANIAL CAPACITY (CM3)
Sahelanthropus tchadensis 6–7 million 350

Orrorin tugenensis 6 million a
Ardipithecus ramidus 4.4–5.8 million a
Australopithecus anamensis 4.2–3.9 million a
Australopithecus afarensis 3.9–3.0 million 375–550

Australopithecus africanus 3–2 million 420–500
Australopithecus bahrelgazali 3.5–3 million a
Australopithecus sediba 1.95–1.78 million 420

Australopithecus garhi 2.5 million a
Paranthropus aethiopicus 2.6–2.3 million 410

Paranthropus robustus 2.0–1.5 million 530
Paranthropus boisei 2.1–1.1 million 530
Homo habilis 2.4–1.5 million 500–800

Homo naledi indirect evidence, 465–560
Homo georgicus 1.8 million–900,000 600–680
Homo erectus 1.8 million 750–1,225
Homo ergaster 1.8 million–300,000 910
Homo antecessor 1.6 million a
Homo heidelbergensis 780,000 1,200

Homo neanderthalensis 500,000 1,450
Denisovans 230,000–30,000 a
Homo sapiens ?–41,000–? 1,350

195,000–present
a
Unknown at present.
How Can Anthropologists In sum, ethnographic evidence suggested that fe-

males played active roles in the adaptations of our early
Explain the Human Transition? hominin ancestors. Some feminist anthropologists used
this evidence to construct stories of human evolution
By 2 mya, bipedal hominins with specialized teeth and
that stressed the importance of “woman the gatherer,” in
expanded brains were walking the open environment of
which the key tools for human adaptation were digging
the east African savanna. At least some of them made
sticks, slings to carry infants, and containers for gathered
artifacts out of wood, stone, and bone and used fire.
foods, all of which, they suggest, were probably invented
Some observers have concluded that meat eating led to
by women. Rather than use an Old World monkey as a
a need for stone tools to kill and butcher animals and
primate model, they used the chimpanzee. Jane Goodall’s
that stone-tool manufacture led natural selection to
early reports from Gombe, in Tanzania, suggested that
favor hominins with expanded brains. This is the “man
chimpanzee females were not constrained within a rigid
the hunter” story about human origins and purports to
hierarchy or dominated by aggressive males; they were
explain nearly every physical and behavioral trait that
active and mobile, feeding themselves and their young,
makes humans human as the outcome of our ancestors’
and spending most of their lives apart from their mates.
devotion to hunting. In 1968, for example, anthropol-
Their closest bonds were with their offspring, and the
ogists Sherwood Washburn and C. S. Lancaster (1986)
mother–infant group was the most stable feature of
concluded that “the biological bases for killing have
chimpanzee society. Perhaps the first human food shar-
been incorporated into human psychology” (299–300).
ing was between women and their children; perhaps
This story seemed to be supported by early primatologi-
even hunters would have most likely shared food with
cal work reporting that savanna baboons lived by a rigid
their mothers and siblings rather than with their mates.
hierarchy in a closed society: large males with huge ca-
This “woman the gatherer” account—no less extremist
nines dominated much smaller females and juveniles.
than the “man the hunter” scenario—tested earlier as-
As primatologist Linda Fedigan (1986) observed, this
sumptions about the foundations of human society and
model of human origins “can be said to have been tra-
found them wanting.
ditional and consistent with contemporary role expecta-
All reconstructions of the lives of ancestral homi-
tions for Western men and women” (39). For those who
nins, however, are tempered with the realization that the
saw such role expectations as natural rather than cultur-
key features of contemporary human behavior did not
ally imposed, the baboon model was highly persuasive.
all appear at the same time. As in the case of our skel-
Such a story is exciting, and it fits in well with many
etal morphology, human behavior also appears to be the
traditional Western views of human nature. But it quickly
product of mosaic evolution.
ran into trouble, both because anthropologists could not
agree about how to define “hunting” and because eth-
nographic fieldwork showed that plant food gathered by
women was more important to the survival of foraging What Do We Know about Early
peoples than was meat hunted by men (Fedigan 1986,
33–34). For many anthropologists, the Ju/’hoansi people
Homo (2.4–1.5 mya)?
of southern Africa provide helpful insights concerning the About 2.5–2 mya, the drying trend that had begun in
social and economic life of the first hominins (see Eth- Africa in the Late Miocene became more pronounced,
noProfile 11.4: Ju/’hoansi). Richard Lee, an ethnographer possibly causing a wave of extinction as well as the ap-
who has worked among the Ju/’hoansi since the 1960s, pearance of new species. During this period, the grac-
suggested that several “core features” of Ju/’hoansi soci- ile australopiths disappeared by either evolving into or
ety may have characterized the first hominin societies: a being replaced by a new kind of hominin.
flexible form of kinship organization that recognized both
the male and the female lines, group mobility and a lack
of permanent attachment to territory, small group size Expansion of the Australopith Brain
(25–50 members) with fluctuating group membership, Whereas the brains of all australopith species varied
equitable food distribution that leads to highly egalitarian within the range of 400–550 cm3, the new hominins had
social relations, and a division of labor that leads to shar- brains over 600 cm3. Were these merely advanced gracile
ing (Lee 1974; Lee and DeVore 1968). In addition, women australopiths, or did they belong to a new species or even
in foraging societies appear to arrange their reproductive a new genus? For Louis Leakey, who discovered at Oldu-
lives around their productive activities, giving birth on av- vai in 1963 a skull with a cranial capacity of 680 cm3,
erage to one child every 3–4 years (Fedigan 1986, 49). the answer was clear. He asserted that the skull belonged
to the genus Homo and named it Homo habilis—“handy Our understanding of the early Homo fossil record
man.” Eventually, Leakey and his allies discovered more was enriched and complicated by two new finds in 2015,
fossils that were assigned to H. habilis. But some paleo- one from South Africa and one from Ethiopia. The fossils
anthropologists believed that these fossils showed too that received the most publicity came from Rising Star
much internal variation for a single species, and they Cave in South Africa, where paleontologists announced
proceeded to sort the fossils into new categories. the discovery of a rich trove of hominin fossils that they
argued were distinct from other early species of Homo
How Many Species of Early Homo previously identified (Dirks et al. 2015). Called Homo
naledi, these fossils had small cranial capacities compara-
Were There?
ble to those of australopiths (between 465 and 560 cc).
How do paleoanthropologists decide if a gracile fossil Other features of their anatomy, however, more closely
younger than 2 million years should be placed in the resembled fossils assigned to early Homo. The sediments
genus Homo? The key criterion is still cranial capacity. In that yielded these fossils have not permitted scientists to
general, the cranial capacities of these early Homo fos- assign them a firm geological date, although estimates
sils range from 510 to 750 cm3. Larger brains resided in of their age may be made indirectly. For instance, based
larger, differently shaped skulls. Compared to the more on morphological comparisons of H. naledi with other,
elongated australopith cranium, the cranium of early well-dated fossils assigned to early Homo, paleoanthro-
Homo has thinner bone and is more rounded; the face is pologists who have worked directly with the H. naledi
flatter and smaller in relation to the size of the cranium; fossils believe that they are about 1.8–2 mya (Dirks et al.
and the teeth and jaws are less rugged, with a more para- 2015, Thackeray 2015). Chris Stringer, who was not part
bolic arch. Most significantly, early Homo’s expansion in of this team, concluded that H. naledi appeared to most
brain size was not accompanied by a marked increase in closely resemble early Homo erectus fossils from Dmanesi,
body size, meaning that the enlarged brain was a product Georgia, which is also thought to be about 1.8–2 mya
of natural selection (Figure 4.12). We know little about (Stringer 2015). Other paleoanthropologists have dis-
the postcranial morphology of any early Homo species. agreed with these estimates. For example, paleoanthro-
pologists concluded that H. naledi was more likely to be
around 900,000 years old, based on sophisticated sta-
tistical analysis, comparing measurements of H. naledi’s
skull and teeth with comparable m easurements taken
from other fossil hominins and living African apes
(Dembo et al. 2016). In response, members of the orig-
inal team have emphasized that the morphological re-
lations between H. naledi and other early Homo fossils
cannot be discounted, regardless of how old H. naledi
turns out to be (Hawks and Berger 2016).
The second early Homo find of 2015 came from the
Ledi-Geraru in the Afar region of Ethiopia (Villmoare et
al. 2015). This find consisted of a single lower jawbone
with teeth, but Villmoare and his colleagues argue that
it displays morphological features associated with Homo.
Most exciting was the age of this fossil, which dates to
between 2.8 and 2.75 mya—some 400,000 years earlier
than previously known fossils of early Homo.
Today, it is widely believed that several species be-
longing to the genus Homo coexisted in eastern Africa
in the early Pleistocene (Tattersall 2012, 88–89; Fleagle
2013, 376). The remains of Homo naledi and the Ledi-
Geraru find further complicate our understanding of the
origin of our own genus. While the species of early Homo
FIGURE 4.12 Perhaps the best-known fossil of early Homo is

KNM-ER 1470, found by Richard Leakey and his team near Lake Homo The genus to which taxonomists assign large-brained hominins
Turkana in northern Kenya. 2 million years old and younger.
listed in Table 4.2 have all gained some measure of ac-

ceptance, some paleoanthropologists are convinced that
the category “early Homo” is far too inclusive, and that a
more precise list of derived morphological traits unique
to the genus Homo needs to be formulated, even though
experts disagree about just which traits ought to be in-
cluded on that list (Schwartz and Tattersall 2015). This
debate is likely to continue for some time.
Earliest Evidence of Culture:

Stone Tools
Stone tools are the most enduring evidence we have of
culturally created human artifacts. Ian Tattersall (1998)
emphasizes that the earliest hominins who made iden-
tifiable stone tools “invented efficient toolmaking from
materials they consciously chose” (57), something dif-
ferent from what any living apes have ever been observed
to do. The oldest undisputed stone tools come from the
Ethiopian site of Gona and are 2.6 mya (Semaw 2000);
other early tools, found at Hadar in Ethiopia, are at least
2.5 million years old (Semaw et al. 1997; Detleinzelin FIGURE 4.13 A n Oldowan chopper with flakes removed from
et al. 1999). The oldest stone tools found in association one side (or face).
with a fossil human ancestor also come from Ethio-
pia and date to 2.33 mya (Kimbel et al. 1994). Other
similar tools, dating from 2.5–2 mya, have been found Homo. Who the makers of these tools were is not known,
elsewhere in eastern and southern Africa. For the most but they seem to have possessed less advanced stone-
part, these tools consist of cores (tennis ball–sized rocks knapping skills than the makers of Oldowan tools. One
with a few flakes knocked off to produce cutting edges) possible candidate is a poorly known hominin called
and flakes (chipped-off pieces of rocks that may or may Kenyanthropus platyops, whose 3.5 mya old remains
not have been used as small cutting tools). This style of have been found near West Turkana itself (Leakey et al.
stone-toolmaking is called the Oldowan tradition after 2001). Another possible candidate is Au. afarensis, who
the Olduvai Gorge, where the first specimens were found was living 3.39 mya in the same Middle Awash region
(Figure 4.13). But in 2015, paleoanthropologists work- of Ethiopia where bones older than 3.39 mya have been
ing in West Turkana, Kenya, reported the discovery stone found; these bones are said to display cut marks made
tools 3.3 million years old that are different enough by stone tools (McPherron et al. 2010). Scholarly discus-
from Oldowan tools to have been given their own name: sion surrounding these recent finds has just begun.
Lomekwian (Harmand et al. 2015). Prior to these finds, In the meantime, Oldowan tools still remain the
members of early Homo had been considered the makers best documented and best understood early stone tools
of the first stone tools, which were understood to be in the hominin evolutionary record. In what follows,
Oldowan tools. If the claims about Lomekwian tools are therefore, we will discuss what paleoanthropologists
confirmed, however, they will demonstrate toolmaking have learned about Oldowan tools.
by hominins living before the appearance of the genus Oldowan tools are extremely simple and seem in-
distinguishable from stones that have lost a few flakes
through perfectly natural means. Given this simplic-
ity, how can paleoanthropologists conclude that they
Oldowan tradition A stone-tool tradition named after the Olduvai Gorge are dealing with deliberately fashioned artifacts rather
(Tanzania), where the first examples of these tools tools were found. The
earliest Oldowan tools are 2.6 million years old and were found in Gona,
than objects modified by natural processes? Answers to
Ethiopia. Until recently, Oldowan tools were considered the oldest stone such questions come from paleoanthropologists who
tools made by hominins, although this status is now claimed by Lomekwian specialize in taphonomy, the study of the various pro-
tools, found in West Turkana, Kenya. (Lomekwian tools are stylistically differ-
ent, and they are 3.3 million years old.) cesses that bones and stones undergo in the course of
taphonomy The study of the various processes that objects undergo in becoming part of the fossil and archaeological records
the course of becoming part of the fossil and archaeological records. (Brain 1985). Taphonomists using a scanning electron
a b
FIGURE 4.14 The scanning electron microscope allows taphonomists to distinguish between different kinds of marks on bones.
(a) Hyena tooth marks on modern bones. (b) V-shaped stone-tool cut marks on modern bones.
microscope (SEM) can examine stones and bones for ev- (Shipman 1984). Numerous mammalian bones dated to
idence of human activity. Stones used as tools, for exam- 2.58–2.1 mya, with cut marks indicating butchery, have
ple, have characteristic wear patterns along their flaked recently been found at Gona, Ethiopia (Dominguez-
edges. Flaked rocks that lack wear patterns are not usu- Rodrigo et al. 2005). It is now widely accepted that scav-
ally considered tools unless they are unmistakably asso- enging for meat was more likely than hunting among
ciated with other evidence of human activity. early hominins.
Paleoanthropologists Pat Shipman, Rick Potts, and Taphonomists have also reexamined data from east-
Henry Bunn examined bones for marks of butchery by ern African sites once thought to have been home bases,
early hominids. Shipman learned how modern hunt- where tools were kept and to which early hominins re-
ers butcher animals and discovered that carnivore tooth turned to share meat. They found no convincing evi-
marks and stone cut marks on fresh bone look very dif- dence of hearths or shelters or other structures that are
ferent under the SEM (Figure 4.14). Shipman and an found at the campsites of later human groups. In some
assistant used the SEM to examine more than 2,500 cases, they concluded that the site in question was a car-
2 million-year-old fossil bones from Bed I at Olduvai. nivore lair or simply a location beside a body of water
They found (1) that fewer than half of the cut marks that attracted many different kinds of animals, some of
seemed to be associated with meat removal; (2) that the whose remains ended up buried there. Modern human
stone-tool cut marks and carnivore tooth marks showed foragers who hunt for meat never use the same kill site
basically the same pattern of distribution; (3) that nearly for very long, leading taphonomists to conclude that
three-quarters of the cut marks occurred on bones with their hominin ancestors probably did not do so either.
little meat, suggesting they resulted from skinning; and In some cases, both hominins and carnivores may have
(4) that in 8 of 13 cases where cut marks and tooth used a site, and the problem lies in determining which
marks overlapped, the cut marks were on top of the group of animals was responsible for which bones. Fi-
tooth marks. Taken together, these patterns suggested to nally, it is important to remember how small and scat-
Shipman and her colleagues that, rather than hunting tered these ancient hominin populations were (Tattersall
for meat, the Olduvai hominins regularly scavenged car- and DeSalle 2011, 75–76), which makes their traces even
casses killed by carnivores, taking what they could get harder to find.
Arctic Ocean
ASIA
EUROPE
L‘Escale Soleilhac
Terra Amata
Montmaurin Isernia La Pineta
Torralba/ Zhoukoudian
Ambrona Dali
Ternifine Lantian
Sale‘ Hexian
Thomas Quarry
Pacific
Ocean
AFRICA
Turkana
Olorgesailie Indian
Olduvai Ocean
Atlantic
Ocean Sangiran
Trinil
Modjokerto
Sambungmarhan AUSTRALIA
Homo erectus fossil finds

Homo erectus archaeological sites
(without hominid bones)
FIGURE 4.15 The major sites where H. erectus fossils or evidence of H. erectus settlement (without human fossils) have been found.
The home-base hypothesis for ancient collections of new way of using the landscape could have created the
tools and bones has thus been called into question. Rick conditions favoring selection for “a large bodied, diur-
Potts, however, has offered his “stone cache hypothesis” nal, sweaty, long-distance walking hominid” like Homo
to explain how stones and bones might have accumu- erectus (Potts 1993, 65).
lated at Olduvai 2 mya. Using a computer simulation,
he found that the most efficient way for early hominins
to get stones and animal carcasses together would be to Who Was Homo erectus
cache (or hide) stones at various spots in areas where
they hunted and bring carcasses to the nearest cache for
(1.8–1.7 mya to 0.5–0.4 mya)?
processing. Early hominins might have created the first Fossils of early Homo disappear around the beginning of
stone caches accidentally but would have returned to the Pleistocene, about 1.8 mya, by either evolving into
them regularly whenever stone tools were needed, thus or being replaced by large-brained, robust hominins
reconstructing their niche by creating a collection of called Homo erectus (Figure 4.15). H. erectus seems to
stones and animal parts. In Potts’s view, stone cache sites have coexisted in eastern Africa with the robust austra-
could turn into home bases once hominins could defend lopithecines until between 1.2 and 0.7 mya, when the
these sites against carnivores. He hypothesizes that this australopiths became extinct, and was the first hominin
species to migrate out of Africa, apparently shortly after
it first appeared. A collection of cranial and postcranial
Homo erectus The species of large-brained, robust hominins that lived hominin fossils found in the Republic of Georgia (part
between 1.8 and 0.4 mya. of the former Soviet Union) date to 1.8 mya and appear
Beijing, are from 700,000–900,000 to 250,000 years

old. No agreed-upon H. erectus fossils have been found
in western Europe, although artifacts have been found at
European sites that date from the time when H. erectus
was living in Africa and Asia (Browne 1994; Boaz 1995,
33; Klein 2009, 367).
The earliest known African H. erectus fossil (some-
times called H. ergaster) is of a boy found at the Nar-
iokotome III site, on the west side of Lake Turkana in
1984 (Figure 4.16). Dated to 1.7 mya, the Turkana boy
is the most complete early hominin skeleton ever found
and different from other H. erectus specimens in several
ways. First, the boy was taller: it was estimated that he
would have been more than six feet tall had he reached
adulthood. Such a tall, slim body build, found in some
indigenous eastern African peoples today, is interpreted
as an adaptation to tropical heat. From this, it has been
argued that the Turkana boy’s body was cooled by sweat-
ing and “may thus have been the first hominin species
to possess a largely hairless, naked skin” (Klein 2009,
326). Second, the size and shape of the Turkana boy’s
thoracic canal are less developed than our own. Nerves
passing through this bony canal control muscles used
for breathing, and modern human speech makes special
demands on these muscles. It appears that neural control
over breathing was less developed in H. erectus, casting
doubt on their ability to speak (Walker 1993). Third, the
Turkana boy looks very different from Javanese H. erectus
specimens. Some argue that if H. erectus was living in
Java at the same time that the Turkana boy was living in
eastern Africa, they probably belonged to separate spe-
cies. Thus, paleoanthropologists have reconsidered the
possible taxonomic relationships among the various fos-
sils traditionally assigned to H. erectus, and they have de-
vised new evolutionary trees (see Figure 5.30).
FIGURE 4.16 The most complete H. erectus (or H. ergaster)

skeleton ever discovered is KNM-WT 15000 from Kenya. Morphological Traits of H. erectus
Believed to have been a 12-year-old boy, this fossil includes a
Morphological traits traditionally used to assign fossils
nearly complete postcranial skeleton.
to H. erectus involve its cranium, its dentition, and its
postcranial skeleton. The cranial capacity of H. erectus
averages around 1,000 cm3 (Figure 4.17), a significant
to represent an early Homo erectus population of this advance over early Homo, for whom cranial capacity
kind. Five adult crania from this population showed a ranged from 610 to 750 cm3. In addition, the skull of
range of phenotypic variation that may have character- H. erectus possesses a number of distinctive morpholog-
ized early populations of H. erectus in general (Lordkip- ical features, including heavy brow ridges, a five-sided
anidze et al. 2013). One of these crania belonged to an cranial profile (when viewed from the rear), and a bony
individual who had lost all his teeth long before he died. protuberance at the rear of the skull called a “nuchal
Tattersall (2012, 123) interprets this individual’s survival crest.” The molars of H. erectus are reduced in size, and
as evidence of support from other members of his social the jawbones less robust than those of early Homo. In
group. Rocks yielding H. erectus fossils from Java have addition, the wear patterns on teeth are different from
been dated to 1.8 and 1.7 mya; and Chinese fossils, in- those found on the molars of early Homo. The enamel of
cluding the famous specimens from Zhoukoudian near H. erectus is heavily pitted and scratched, suggesting that
species that have frequently evolved on islands. Most of

the bones ranged from between 38,000 and 13,000
years of age. It appears that, apart from its small stat-
ure, H. floresiensis used stone tools and fire like other
populations of H. erectus and hunted dwarf elephants
on the island. Since its discovery, some scholars have
argued that small stature and other unusual features of the
skeleton of H. floresiensis suggest that the bones belonged
to modern H. sapiens individuals suffering from a pathol-
ogy such as microcephaly or, more recently, endemic cre-
tinism (e.g., Oxnard et al. 2010). These views have been
systematically challenged by others (e.g., Falk et al. 2009).
Unless and until more and better p reserved bones are
found, it does not appear that these disagreements will
be resolved. It has been proposed that H. floresiensis may
have close affinities to the earliest Homo populations to
have left Africa (Tattersall 2012, 133; Fleagle 2013, 382).
In any case, the status of H. floresiensis does not affect our
overall understanding of human evolutionary patterns
(Klein 2009, 724).
The Culture of H. erectus

Traditionally, the appearance of H. erectus in the fossil
FIGURE 4.17 This H. erectus fossil (ER 3733) from Lake
Turkana, in Kenya, has a cranial capacity of about 850 cm . 3 record has been linked to the appearance of a new
stone-tool tradition in the archaeological record: the
Acheulean tradition. Acheulean stone tools come in
its diet was significantly different from that of previous a variety of forms, but the Acheulean biface, or “hand
hominins, whose tooth enamel was much smoother. ax,” is the most characteristic (Figure 4.18). Acheulean
The postcranial skeleton of H. erectus is somewhat bifaces are shaped from stone cores perhaps twice the
more robust than modern human skeletons but is other- size of Oldowan cores. Acheulean tools replaced Old-
wise like our own (see Figure 5.15). In addition, sexual owan tools in the archaeological record shortly after the
dimorphism is much reduced in H. erectus; males are appearance of H. erectus. Archaeologists traditionally
only 20–30% larger than females. Reduced sexual di- assign the Acheulean tradition and the Oldowan tradi-
morphism in primates is often thought to indicate re- tion to a single period known as the Lower Paleolithic in
duced competition for mates among males and to be Europe and the Early Stone Age (ESA) in Africa.
associated with monogamy and male contributions to In recent years the clear-cut association of Acheu-
the care of offspring. What reduced sexual dimorphism lean tools with H. erectus has been questioned. First,
may have meant for H. erectus, however, is still an open researchers have found African stone-tool assemblages
question. between 1.5 and 1.4 million years old that contain both
An assemblage of bones discovered on the Indone- Oldowan and larger biface tools, but it is not known
sian island of Flores in 2003, called Homo floresiensis, may which hominins made and used these tools. Second,
have belonged to a so-called dwarf form of Homo erec- typical Acheulean tools continue to appear in African
tus (Brown et al. 2004; Morwood et al. 2004; Lahr and sites containing fossils of early H. sapiens over a million
Foley 2004). When biologists speak of “dwarf” forms of years later. The conclusion seems to be that there is no
large mammals, they are describing normally propor- one-to-one correspondence between a particular stone-
tioned but considerably smaller varieties of mammalian tool tradition and a particular hominin species. Put an-
other way, more than one hominin species may have
made and used tools that we assign to a single archaeo-
logical culture.
Acheulean tradition A Lower Paleolithic stone-tool tradition associated
with Homo erectus and characterized by stone bifaces, or “hand axes.” The Acheulean tradition in Africa and Europe
Early Stone Age (ESA) The conventional name given to the period when changed very little over a period of slightly more than
Oldowan and Acheulean stone-tool traditions flourished in Africa. a million years, disappearing about 200,000 years ago.
FIGURE 4.18 A lthough the biface, or “hand ax” (a), is the best-known tool from the Acheulean tradition, other core tools, such as
scrapers (b), choppers (c and d), and cleavers (e), have also been found. For reasons that are not well understood, large bifaces are
rarely found in otherwise similar Asian assemblages.
As long as 1 million years ago, however, stone-tool as- have shown, doubts about how to interpret the bone
semblages found in eastern Asia were quite different, re- assemblages from Zhoukoudian were raised almost as
flecting adaptations to the very different environments soon as the site was excavated. It is extremely difficult to
invaded by H. erectus and its descendants (Klein 2009, determine whether elephant or baboon bones got into
281). The best-known stone-tool assemblages associated the caves as the result of carnivore or human activity.
with H. erectus in China lack large bifaces and consist Although evidence of fire was found at Zhoukoudian,
mostly of flakes. Although bifaces have been found in Binford and Ho called for a thorough reexamination of
other east Asian early Paleolithic sites, they are few in claims connecting fire to human activities in the caves;
number, more crudely made than Acheulean bifaces, and they found no evidence to support the idea that
and more recent in date (around 200,000 years old) H. erectus used fire to cook meat.
(Klein 2009, 386–87). Brian Fagan (1990, 119) pointed Many of the H. erectus skulls found in Zhoukoudian
out that areas in which large bifaces are rare coincide lacked faces and parts of the cranial base. Some schol-
roughly with the distribution of bamboo and other ars interpret the skull damage as evidence that H. erectus
forest materials in Asia. He argued that bamboo would practiced cannibalism. However, other scholars propose
have made excellent tools capable of doing the work per- that hyena activity and the compacting of natural cave
formed elsewhere by stone bifaces. deposits are more reasonable, if less lurid, explanations
H. erectus also used fire, the best evidence for which for the condition of those skulls.
comes from the site of Gesher Benot Ya’akov in Israel Earlier in the chapter, we discussed the hypothesis
(780,000 years ago) and Zhoukoudian, China, and that bipedal locomotion enabled endurance walking
Europe (between 670,000 and 400,000 years ago) (Klein and daylight hunting among the australopiths. Recent
2009, 412–13). Burned cobbles and bones from a south- research has suggested that endurance running may also
ern African site suggest that African H. erectus (H. ergaster) have played a crucial role in the evolution of later hom-
may have had intermittent control of fire a million years inins, linking the emergence of new forms of hunting
earlier than this (Tattersall 2012, 111–12). with the appearance of Homo erectus. Biological anthro-
pologist Daniel Lieberman and human biologist Dennis
Bramble point out that endurance running is not found
H. erectus the Hunter? among primates other than humans and that the distinc-
Some paleoanthropologists claimed that H. erectus was tive characteristics of human endurance running are un-
primarily a hunter of big game, based on the fact that the usual among mammals in general. For example, many
bones of animals such as elephants and giant baboons people are aware that most mammals can outsprint
were found in association with Acheulean tools in such human beings, but they may not realize that humans
important sites as Zhoukoudian. However, taphonomists can outrun almost all other mammals (sometimes even
question the assumption that H. erectus hunters killed horses) for marathon-length distances (Lieberman and
the animals whose bones have been found together with Bramble 2007, 289). Lieberman and Bramble argue that
Acheulean tools. As Lewis Binford and C. K. Ho (1985) endurance running could have been a very powerful
adaptation to the environments in which later hominins Biological anthropologist Richard Wrangham
such as Homo erectus were living (see later discussion in (2009) suggests that the transition to H. erectus was
this chapter). pushed by the control of fire, which led to an increas-
Three sets of adaptations make human endurance ing reliance on cooked food. In his view, cooking was
running possible: energetics (the flow and transforma- of major importance in human evolution: “The newly
tion of energy), stabilization (how the body keeps from delicious cooked diet led to their evolving smaller guts,
falling), and temperature regulation (maintaining body bigger brains, bigger bodies, and reduced body hair”
temperature within limits). Human energetic adapta- (194), as well as smaller teeth, since cooked foods are
tions include tendons and ligaments in the legs and softer than raw foods. For Wrangham, the things that
feet that are absent or very much smaller in other pri- separate humanity from the other primates are the con-
mates. These anatomical structures store energy and sequences of cooking.
then push the body forward in a gait that is fundamen-
tally different from the mechanics of walking. Human
stabilization adaptations affect the center of mass and
balance during running. These adaptations include a
What Happened to H. erectus?
ligament that helps keep the head stable during run- H. erectus has long been seen as a logical link between
ning and an enlarged gluteus maximus (the muscle that more primitive hominins and our own species, H. sa-
makes up the distinctively large human buttocks). The piens. When paleoanthropologists assumed that evolu-
gluteus maximus, which hardly contracts during level tion proceeded in a gradualistic manner, getting from
walking, contracts strongly during running, stiffening H. erectus to H. sapiens seemed unproblematic. But
the torso and providing a counterbalance to the for- thinking of speciation in terms of punctuated equi-
ward tilt of the trunk. libria changes things. On the one hand, Richard Klein
Human temperature regulation adaptations address (2009) concludes that “H. ergaster and H. erectus re-
what Lieberman and Bramble (2007, 289) consider the sembled each other closely, and reasonable specialists
biggest physiological challenge that runners face: muscle can disagree on whether they can be separated” (329).
activity generated by running generates as much as ten On the other hand, Ian Tattersall (2009) contrasts the
times more heat than does walking. Most mammals fossil record in Asia with the fossil record in Africa
stop galloping after short distances because they cannot during the crucial period between 2 and 1.5 million
cool their body temperature fast enough to prevent hy- years ago. During this period, he says, Africa “seems to
perthermia, or overheating. “Humans, uniquely, can run have been a hotbed of evolutionary experimentation,”
long distances in hot, arid conditions that cause hyper- producing a variety of species of early Homo, one of
thermia in other mammals, largely because we have which was H. ergaster, whereas Asian fossils assigned to
become specialized sweaters” (Lieberman and Bramble Homo erectus show much greater morphological simi-
2007, 289). Humans have less body hair and many more larity, suggesting little or no evolutionary experimenta-
sweat glands than do other mammals, which allows for tion (Tattersall 2009, 240). Phyletic gradualists could
effective body cooling through evapotranspiration. By argue that very little change in H. erectus morphology
contrast, other mammals cool down by panting, which is still more than no change at all; some trends, such
requires them to slow down from a gallop, if not stop as a slight increase in cranial capacity from earlier to
running altogether. later H. erectus skulls, support their argument. If, how-
When and why did humans become good at run- ever, regional populations of H. erectus are better un-
ning long distances? Lieberman and Bramble (2007) derstood as separate species, this argument requires
argue that running emerged long after bipedal walking revision.
evolved—about 2 million years ago, at the time of the Still, the scope of evolutionary adaptation attained
transition to Homo erectus. They argue that endurance by H. erectus surpassed that of earlier Homo species such
running made scavenging meat and especially hunting as H. habilis. The postcranial skeleton of H. erectus was
of medium- to large-sized mammals increasingly suc- essentially modern in form, and its brain was consid-
cessful. They also argue that it made persistence hunt- erably larger than that of its precursors. These features
ing possible: long-distance hominin runners forced prey apparently allowed populations of H. erectus to make
animals to run at speeds that they could not endure for more elaborate tools and to move successfully into arid,
long, driving the animals to hyperthermia. The animals seasonal environments in Africa and cooler climates in
could then be killed by the only weapons available to Eurasia. As best we can tell now, it was from among these
hominins such as H. erectus—simple stone tools and populations that the first members of our own species,
sharpened, untipped, thrusting spears. H. sapiens, issued forth.
How Did Homo sapiens Evolve? 117
Arctic Ocean
Mauer ASIA
Bilzingsleben
Swanscombe Ehringsdorf
Steinheim
‘ ¨ ¨
Vertesszollos
EUROPE
Atapuerca Jinniushan
Arago Petralona
Me
diter
ranean Sea
Pacific
Ocean
AFRICA
Indian
Ndutu
Ocean
Atlantic
Ocean
Broken Hill/
Kabwe
AUSTRALIA
FIGURE 4.19 The major sites providing fossils assigned to archaic H. sapiens.
How Did Homo sapiens Evolve? understand not just the fate of H. erectus but also the
birth of our own species.
What Is the Fossil Evidence for the Paleoanthropologist Günter Bräuer used cladistic
Transition to Modern H. sapiens? methods to compare all the skulls from Africa that had
been assigned to archaic H. sapiens. Bräuer (1989, 132)
The relatively rich and reasonably uniform fossil record
argued that his morphological analysis showed that
associated with H. erectus disappears after about 500,000
modern H. sapiens evolved from H. erectus only once,
years ago, to be replaced by a far patchier and more
in Africa, and that the period of transition from archaic
varied fossil record. Some 30 sites in Africa, Europe,
H. sapiens to modern H. sapiens was slow, taking some
and Asia have yielded a collection of fossils sometimes
tens of thousands of years. Such a conclusion might
called early or archaic Homo sapiens (Figures 4.19 and
be interpreted as an argument for the evolution of
4.20). Most of these fossils consist of fragmented crania,
modern H. sapiens as a result of phyletic gradualism.
jaws, and teeth. Postcranial bones thought to belong
But is a period of tens of thousands of years relatively
to archaic H. sapiens are robust, like those of H. erec-
long or relatively short, geologically speaking? G. Philip
tus, but they are difficult to interpret because they are
Rightmire favors a punctuationist analysis of the evolu-
few in number and poorly dated and show considerable
tion of modern H. sapiens. That is, he regards H. erectus
variation. Interpreting variation is particularly problem-
atic when only a few specimens are available for analy-
sis (Hager 1997). Arguments about interpretations of
archaic Homo sapiens Hominins dating from 500,000 to 200,000 years
these fossils have grown heated at times, precisely be- ago that possessed morphological features found in both Homo erectus and
cause their resolution has implications for the way we Homo sapiens.
mid-1990s, moreover, paleoanthropologists working in

limestone caves in the Sierra de Atapuerca, Spain, discov-
ered fragments of hominin bones and teeth that are nearly
800,000 years old (Bermúdez de Castro et al. 1997).
They argue that it is an offshoot of H. ergaster (African
H. erectus) and may be ancestral to both H. heidelbergensis
and H. sapiens. Not only are these the earliest well-dated
hominin fossils ever found in Europe, but they also dis-
play a mix of modern and erectus-like features that do
not match those of H. heidelbergensis. As a result, the
Spanish scholars assigned these fossils to a new species,
Homo antecessor (antecessor is Latin for “explorer, pioneer,
early settler,” an appropriate name for the earliest known
hominin population in Europe). Other paleoanthro-
pologists seem willing to accept H. antecessor as a valid
species but believe that not enough evidence yet exists to
link it firmly to other species that came before or after it.
The same team of Spanish paleontologists also
discovered hominin fossils at Atapuerca that appear to
FIGURE 5.20 Fossils assigned to archaic H. sapiens include represent a very early stage in Neandertal evolution (Ar-
the Broken Hill skull, from Kabwe, Zambia.
suaga et al. 1993). In 2007, improved uranium-series
dating methods showed that these fossils were at least
530,000 years old (Tattersall 2012, 156).
“as a real species, stable during a long time period” Today, most experts place the African and European
(Rightmire 1995, 487; see also Rightmire 1990). The fossils once classified as “archaic Homo sapiens” into the
appearance of modern H. sapiens would have followed species H. heidelbergensis. Originating in Africa some
the punctuation of this equilibrium some 200,000 years 600,000 years ago, it “may lie close to the origin of the
ago. If Rightmire’s analysis is correct, then the period European and African lineages that led to the Neander-
of evolutionary stability he claims for H. erectus would thals and modern humans, respectively” (Tattersall 2009,
continue up to the appearance of the first anatomically 281). This conclusion is based on the judgment that
modern populations of H. sapiens. these fossils all show derived morphological features not
Paleoanthropologist Ian Tattersall also favors a present in H. erectus, but none shows any of the derived
punctuationist explanation for the origins of H. sapiens, features that are distinctive of either Neandertals or
but he does not agree that all regional populations as- modern humans (Stringer and Andrews 2005, 150–51).
signed to H. erectus belonged to a single species. All ar- H. heidelbergensis “could have emerged in the same
chaic H. sapiens fossils between 600,000 and 200,000 kind of rapid burst that may have produced H. ergaster
years of age, from Europe, Africa, and China, are included a million years earlier” (Klein 2009, 433).
by Tattersall in the fossil species Homo heidelbergensis; he
describes H. heidelbergensis as the first “cosmopolitan”
hominin species, and he locates its origin somewhere
Where Did Modern H. sapiens
within early African Homo (Tattersall 2012, 135–36). Tat- Come from?
tersall also believes that H. heidelbergensis was responsi- As noted above, the fossils of archaic H. sapiens play a cru-
ble for a number of cultural innovations dated to this cial role in a test case for the proponents of speciation by
time period: shelter construction, domestication of fire, punctuated equilibrium. Punctuationists, as we saw, view
fabrication of spears, and the p repared-core technique of H. erectus as a single, long-lived, geographically dispersed
stone-tool manufacture (Tattersall 2013, 138–41). In the species. They hypothesize that only one subpopulation
of this species, probably located in Africa, underwent a
rapid spurt of evolution to produce H. sapiens 200,000–
replacement model The hypothesis that only one subpopulation of 100,000 years ago. After that, H. sapiens itself multiplied
Homo erectus, probably located in Africa, underwent a rapid spurt of evolu- and moved out of Africa, gradually populating the globe
tion to produce Homo sapiens 200,000–100,000 years ago. After that time, and eventually replacing any remaining populations of
H. sapiens would itself have multiplied and moved out of Africa, gradually
populating the globe and eventually replacing any remaining populations of H. erectus or their descendants. This scenario is usually
H. erectus or their descendants. called the “out of Africa” or replacement model.
Who Were the Neandertals (130,000–35,000 Years Ago)? 119
The factor triggering this evolutionary spurt is usu- events back “into Africa” surely played a role in our spe-
ally thought to be the pattern of fluctuating climate and cies’ early history. Genetic evidence to resolve the matter
environmental change caused by the repeated advance was lacking at the time he wrote, but Relethford did not
and retreat of ice sheets during the Late Pleistocene. In rule out the possibility that anatomically modern popu-
Europe, the last such warm period began about 128,000 lations might have exchanged genes, to a greater or lesser
years ago; a cooling trend began about 118,000 years ago degree, with archaic populations they encountered after
and peaked about 20,000 years ago; and then the earth’s they had left Africa for the rest of the Old World. Recent
climate warmed up again and the glaciers retreated. In successes by scientists in recovering DNA from ancient
Africa, by contrast, hominin populations experienced hominin fossils are providing genetic evidence that can
strong arid–moist fluctuations called “megadroughts” be- test some of these possibilities, as we will see later in
tween about 135,000 and 75,000 years ago (Potts 2012, our discussion of connections between Neandertals and
161). By about 12,000 years ago, the climatic pattern we anatomically modern humans.
know today had been established (Fagan 1990, 12ff.).
However, some gradualists reject this scenario
(Wolpoff 1985, 1989; Thorne and Wolpoff 1992; Frayer
et al. 1993). Milford Wolpoff argued that evolution from Who Were the Neandertals
H. erectus to H. sapiens occurred gradually throughout
the traditional range of H. erectus. According to Wolpoff,
(130,000–35,000 Years Ago)?
as each regional population evolved from H. erectus to Neandertals get their name from the Neander Tal
H. sapiens, it retained its distinct physical appearance, (“Neander Valley”), in Germany, where a fossil skullcap
which was the result of adaptation to regional selection and some postcranial bones were discovered in 1856.
pressures. Wolpoff found morphological similarities be- Thereafter, paleoanthropologists used the name Nean-
tween European H. erectus and later European Neander- dertal to refer to other fossils from Europe and western
tals, between H. erectus from Java and later Australian H. Asia that appeared to belong to populations of the same
sapiens, and between Chinese H. erectus and later Chi- kind (Figure 4.21). The first Neandertals appeared about
nese H. sapiens. A complex pattern of gene flow would 130,000 years ago. The youngest known Neandertal
have spread any new adaptations arising in one regional fossil, from France, is about 35,000 years old; and an-
population to all the others, while at the same time pre- other, from Spain, may be even younger, at 27,000 years
venting those populations from evolving into separate of age (Hublin et al. 1996). After this date, Neandertals
species. Wolpoff’s view is usually called the regional disappear from the fossil record.
continuity model. Because numerous cranial and postcranial bones
A debate has persisted between proponents of these have been recovered, paleoanthropologists have been
two models, but as paleoanthropologist Leslie Aiello able to reconstruct Neandertal morphology with some
(1993) points out, “neither of these hypotheses, in their confidence (Figure 4.22). Neandertals were shorter
extreme forms, are fully consistent with the known fossil and more robust than modern H. sapiens, with massive
record for human evolution in the Middle and Late skulls, continuous brow ridges, and protruding, chinless
Pleistocene.” Marta Lahr and Robert Foley (1994) pro- faces. Neandertal teeth are larger than those of modern
posed that regional patterns of morphological variation human populations and have enlarged pulp cavities and
in anatomically modern H. sapiens may be the conse- fused roots, a condition known as taurodontism. Unlike
quence of several different migrations out of Africa by modern human beings, Neandertal lower jaws possess
phenotypically different African populations at different a gap behind the third molar called a retromolar space,
times and using different routes. which results from the extreme forward placement of
Taking into account these complications, biological teeth in the jaw. This forward placement and the charac-
anthropologist John Relethford (2001) proposed what teristic wear patterns on Neandertal incisors suggest that
has been called the “mostly out of Africa” model. Rele- Neandertals regularly used their front teeth as a clamp
thford agreed with advocates of the replacement model (Stringer and Andrews 2005, 155; Klein 2009, 461).
that the fossil evidence suggested an African origin for
modern human anatomy. However, Relethford argued
that this did not necessarily mean that the entire con-
tents of the modern human gene pool were exclusively regional continuity model The hypothesis that evolution from Homo
erectus to Homo sapiens occurred gradually throughout the traditional range
from Africa as well. Chris Stringer (2012, 25), the most of H. erectus.
prominent paleoanthropologist to defend a recent Afri- Neandertals An archaic species of Homo that lived in Europe and western
can origin for modern H. sapiens, also states that dispersal Asia 130,000–35,000 years ago.
Arctic Ocean
Combe Grenal
Roc de Marsal
Biache Spy Peche-de-l’Aze
St. Vaast Neander Tal La Ferrassie ASIA
La Chapelle-aux-Saints
EUROPE ‘
Fontechevade
Denisova Cave
La Chaise
‘
St. Cesaire
Krapina Le Moustier
Sima de los La Quina
Huesos Saccopastore Regourdu Teshik Tash
Monte
Gibraltar Amud
Circeo Shanidar Cave
Jebel Irhoud Tabun and
Haua
Fteah Kebara Cave
Pacific
Ocean
AFRICA
Omo
Indian
Ngaloba Ocean
Atlantic
Ocean
AUSTRALIA
Florisbad
Saldanha
FIGURE 4.21 Major Neandertal sites, indicating the concentration of these hominins in Europe and southwestern Asia. Note
also the location of Denisova Cave in Russian Siberia, where Pleistocene fossils with DNA distinct from Neandertals were recovered.
Mitochondrial DNA recovered from a fossil hominin from Sima de los Huesos in northern Spain shows connections to the mtDNA
of the Denisovan fossils. These data suggest more population movement and mixing among Pleistocene hominins than previously
suspected.
The average Neandertal cranial capacity (1,520 cm3) Neandertal postcranial skeletons are not signifi-
is actually larger than that of modern human popula- cantly different from those of modern human beings,
tions (1,400 cm3); however, the braincase is elongated, but the pelvis and femur are quite distinct (Aiello 1993,
with a receding forehead, unlike the rounded crania 82). Neandertal robusticity and the markings for muscle
and domed foreheads of modern humans. Fossilized attachment on their limbs suggest that they were heav-
impressions of Neandertal brains appear to show the ily muscled. Differences in the Neandertal hand suggest
same pattern of difference between the left and right to paleoanthropologists that it had an unusually pow-
halves (brain asymmetry) that is found in modern human erful grip. Some paleoanthropologists explain Neander-
brains. Among other things, this suggests that Neander- tal robusticity as an adaptation to the stress of glacial
tals were usually right-handed. Brain asymmetries are conditions in Europe. Neandertals who lived in the far
not unique to modern human beings—or even to pri- milder climate of western Asia were equally robust, how-
mates. H. L. Dibble (1989) argues that we cannot con- ever, making this explanation not entirely convincing.
clude that Neandertal brains functioned like ours simply The Neandertal pubic bone is longer and thinner than
because we share the same pattern of brain asymmetries. that of modern human beings. Erik Trinkaus (1984)
IfNeandertal and anatomically modern human popu- concluded that the Neandertal birth canal was larger as
lations descended from the same ancestral group (i.e., well, but B. O. Arensburg (1989), another Neandertal
some form of archaic H. sapiens), then it is likely that expert, found no evidence for a larger birth canal. He re-
both groups inherited similarly functioning brains. lated the length of the Neandertal pubic bone to posture
What Do We Know about Middle Paleolithic/Middle Stone Age Culture? 121
there was never more childbirth difficulty than there is

now and in recent history” (2015, 60).
The morphological differences that distinguish
modern human beings from the Neandertals are not
considered to be greater than the differences that dis-
tinguish two subspecies within some species of mam-
mals. Moreover, as we shall see, genetic information
from ancient DNA indicates not only that Neandertals
apparently exchanged genes with a previously unknown
“Denisovan” population in Russian Siberia, but also
that ancient mitochondrial DNA from the Denisovans
appears closely related to ancient mitochondrial DNA
from a fossil from Sima de los Huesos in Spain (Meyer
et al. 2014). Paleoanthropologists these days are recog-
nizing that mobility and processes of reticulation among
ancient hominin populations were much greater than
suspected, and they are reconsidering how boundaries
between fossil species ought to be understood.
What Do We Know about

Middle Paleolithic/Middle
Stone Age Culture?
Late archaic human populations in Europe, Africa, and
southwestern Asia are associated with a new stone-tool
tradition, the Mousterian tradition, named after the
cave in Le Moustier, France, where the first samples of
these tools were discovered. Mousterian tools are as-
signed to the Middle Paleolithic, whereas similar tools
from Africa are assigned to the Middle Stone Age (MSA).
FIGURE 4.22 A recent reconstruction of a Neandertal They differ from the Lower Paleolithic/ESA tools in that
skeleton.
they consist primarily of flakes, not cores. Many Mous-
terian flakes, moreover, were produced by the Levallois
and locomotion. More recently, Holly Dunsworth and technique of core preparation. The earliest MSA tool in-
Leah Eccleston have argued that “childbirth is a much dustries in Africa are probably about 200,000 years old.
more dynamic process than can be reconstructed from The earliest Mousterian industries of Europe may be
bones alone, so the hominin fossil record provides lim- equally old, but dating is far less certain because radio-
ited and tenuous information” (2015, 60). First, humans metric techniques cannot provide reliable dates for this
give birth to large fat babies, which increases difficulties period. Although Neandertals were responsible for Mous-
in childbirth, and this trend may have began before the terian tools in western Europe, similar tools were made by
appearance of the genus Homo. Second, “primate birth is non-Neandertal populations elsewhere (Mellars 1996, 5).
a social event” (2015, 59), even for nonhuman primates Despite differing names and a distribution that
like bonobos, which do not possess the features of pelvic covers more than one continent, most Mousterian/MSA
anatomy and infant size that make human birthing diffi- stone-tool assemblages are surprisingly similar, consist-
cult. In short, “fossils may be blinding us to other signifi- ing of flake tools that were retouched to make scrapers
cant contributors to childbirth difficulty,” many of which
may be related to the social and personal circumstances
under which human women give birth (2015, 60). These Mousterian tradition A Middle Paleolithic stone-tool tradition
associated with Neandertals in Europe and southwestern Asia and
circumstances were seriously reshaped with the adoption with anatomically modern human beings in Africa.
of agriculture, which altered nourishment and growth Middle Stone Age (MSA) The name given to the period of Mousterian
patterns for human mothers and fetuses; “it is likely that stone-tool tradition in Africa, 200,000–40,000 years ago.
IN THEIR OWN WORDS
Bad Hair Days in the Paleolithic

Modern (Re)Constructions of the a thick coat of body hair and ungroomed head hair puts
Cave Man an ancestor a great distance from modern humans (al-
though we have no data on when a hairy coat was lost),
Judith Berman has written about how Paleolithic while most Neanderthals have longer and untidier hair
human beings have been visually stereotyped in than Upper Paleolithic humans. Now these may be per-
Western culture since the end of the nineteenth fectly accurate representations of our ancestors, but we
century. have no data on this subject until the Upper Paleolithic.
Hair is our marker of evolutionary position; the further
away from our animal origins, the more it is under con-
The Cave Man looks as he does because he is a repre- trol. (In many of the pictorial histories of humankind, later
sentation of our ideas about human nature and human humans leave the Paleolithic behind, put on good Neo-
origins. His image is not necessarily based on scientific lithic cloth coats, invent headbands and pageboys, and
data, but is rather anchored in and entwined with other settle down on their farms.)
tremendously puissant representations deriving from So far, we have delineated some of the natural history
pagan and Judaeo-Christian traditions. We are readily of the convention of the Cave Man and have examined
convinced of the “truth” of Cave Man images because the significance of his hair. But why should this Cave Man
they seem “natural” or familiar to us; in fact, they draw on matter so to us? The Cave Man is a representation of our
a set of conventionalized observations about the origins ancestors; the fact of evolution forces us to acknowledge
and natural history of humans. that the Cave Man resides within each of us. He is our
Hairstyles are a clue to where on the evolutionary tree animal, primitive self, before the limits of society.
an artist or illustrator places his or her subject. Certainly Source: Berman 1999, 297.
Charles R. Knight’s 1921 painting of Neandertals for the American Museum of Natural History in New York City follows the
convention Judith Berman describes, giving them ungroomed head hair to mark their great distance from modern humans.
What Do We Know about Middle Paleolithic/Middle Stone Age Culture? 123
FIGURE 4.23 Mousterian
tools were primarily flake tools,
commonly produced by the
Levallois technique of core
preparation.
and points (Figure 4.23). Flint was the stone of choice in around hearths, as is typical of the Upper Paleolithic.
Europe and southwestern Asia, but quartzite and some The evidence for stone walls is ambiguous, but there is
volcanic rock types were widely used in Africa, where good evidence for pits and even a posthole, especially
flint is absent. Most Mousterian/MSA sites are rock shel- at Combe-Grenal in France, where Bordes excavated
ters located near what were once sources of fresh water. (Mellars 1996, 295). Moreover, we know that Neander-
The rock shelters were probably living sites because tals deliberately buried their dead, often with arms and
many contained hearths as well as stone tools. Interest- legs folded against their upper bodies. A number of the
ingly, Mousterian sites found in the European part of most famous Neandertal finds, such as La Ferrassie in
the former Soviet Union appear to be the earliest hom- France and Shanidar Cave in Iraq, are grave sites. Many
inin sites that exist in these areas. This might mean that paleoanthropologists interpret deliberate burials as evi-
Neandertals were the first hominins capable of settling dence for the beginnings of human religion. Accumula-
areas with such a cold, harsh climate. tions of bear skulls found at some European sites have
Mousterian/MSA tools are more varied than the been interpreted as collections Neandertals made for use
Lower Paleolithic/ESA tools that preceded them. Archae- in a “cave bear cult.” Flower pollen scattered over the
ologists have offered three different explanations for Shanidar burial was interpreted as the remains of flowers
the variation found in western Europe. François Bordes mourners had placed on the grave. Fragments of natural
identified five major Mousterian variants and thought red or black pigments were interpreted as possible ritual
they represented five different cultural traditions. Lewis cosmetics. However, taphonomic analyses question
and Sally Binford countered that what Bordes had iden- these interpretations. For example, the cave bear skulls
tified were actually varied tool kits that a single group may simply have accumulated where cave bears died;
of people might have used to perform different func- flower pollen was found throughout the Shanidar site
tions or to carry out different tasks at different times of and may have been introduced by burrowing rodents;
the year. Both these interpretations were rejected by H. red and black pigments may have been used to tan hides
L. Dibble and Nicolas Rolland, who saw the “variety” or change the color of objects. Klein points out that Ne-
of Mousterian assemblages as a byproduct of other fac- andertals made no formal bone artifacts, and he believes
tors, such as periodic resharpening (which changed the some so-called Neandertal art objects may be intrusions
shapes of tools and reduced their size until they were from later deposits; that is, they may be artifacts made
discarded) or the different kinds of stone the toolmakers by more recent populations that accidentally found their
had used (see Mellars 1996). Archaeologist Paul Mellars way into Neandertal strata as the result of natural forces
reviewed the evidence for each of these arguments, and (Klein 2009, 528). The anatomically modern peoples
he concluded that Bordes’s original interpretation is the who came after the Neandertals, by contrast, left a pro-
most plausible. Each Mousterian variant has a distinct fusion of decorative objects made of bone, ivory, antler,
pattern of spatial and chronological distribution, and and shell (Mellars 1996; Stringer and Andrews 2005, 212
some industries are characterized by specific tools that ff.; Klein 2009, 660 ff.). T
attersall (2012) proposes that
do not occur in the other variants. For Mellars (1996), “the physical origin of our species lay in a short-term
this shows “a real element of cultural patterning” (355).
What other cultural remains are there from the
Middle Paleolithic? In western Europe, Neandertals left intrusions Artifacts made by more recent populations that find their way
traces of hearths, although their sites were not centered into more ancient strata as the result of natural forces.
event of major developmental reorganization, even if straightforward—for example, at Gran Dolina in Spain,
that event was likely driven by a rather minor structural where butchered human bones were found together in
innovation at the DNA level” (207). Tattersall thinks this 800,000-year-old deposits associated with H. anteces-
reorganization event probably occurred within a small, sor (Fernandez-Jalvo et al. 1999). Persuasive evidence
isolated African Pleistocene population and that it took of cannibalism in association with Neandertals has
a while for subsequent generations to gain awareness of been reported from the 100,000-year-old site of Moula
the new potentials for language and symbolic thought Guercy, in France (Defleur et al. 1993, 1999) and from
that it made possible. That is, for Tattersall (2012), lan- the 49,000-year-old site of El Sidron, in Spain (Lalueza-
guage and symbolic thought are best understood as Fox et al. 2005, 2010; Rosas et al. 2006). In both sites,
exaptations: “In the case of Homo sapiens the potential the bones of a number of individuals show unmistak-
for symbolic thought evidently just lurked there, unde- able signs of cut marks that indicated some or all of the
tected, until it was r eleased by a stimulus that must nec- following: the deliberate cutting apart of bodies, the cut-
essarily have been a cultural one—the biology, after all, ting away of muscles, or the splitting of bones to extract
was already in place” (211). marrow. The question is how to interpret these findings.
A very different kind of evidence may illustrate the Middle Paleolithic archaeologist Richard Klein suggests
humanity of the Neandertals. All the data indicate that that these remains might reflect a response to nutritional
Neandertals lived hard lives in a difficult habitat, and stress rather than a regular dietary practice. He also sug-
many Neandertal bones show evidence of injuries, dis- gests that in some cases the damage to human bones
ease, and premature aging. To survive as long as they did, may have been the work of carnivores that feasted on
the individuals to whom these bones belonged would human bodies they had dug out of graves, which still
have needed to rely on others to care for them (Chase happens in Africa today (Klein 2009, 574–75). Biologi-
1989, 330). As Klein (2009) observes, “group concern cal anthropologist Jonathan Marks reminds us that nu-
for the old and sick may have permitted Neandertals to merous contemporary human groups remove flesh from
live longer than any of their predecessors, and it is the the bones of the dead, not to consume it but as part of a
most recognizably human, nonmaterial aspect of their mortuary ritual. Making sense of these remains is com-
behavior that can be directly inferred from the archaeo- plex because what it means to be human seems to ride in
logical record” (585). the balance: if Neandertals ate one another, they would
appear “behaviorally nonhuman (since the consump-
tion of human flesh lies on the symbolic boundary of
Did Neandertals Hunt? human behavior),” whereas mortuary defleshing of the
Archaeologists in Germany and Britain have discovered dead “symbolically renders them as more human, since
wooden spears that date to the period when Neandertals it invokes thought and ritual” (Marks 2009, 225).
were the only hominins in Europe (Klein 2009, 404–05). P. G. Chase argued that Neandertals were skilled
In addition, several Mousterian stone points show what hunters of large game and that their diet does not seem
appears to be impact damage, suggesting use as a weapon. to have differed much from that of the modern people
Animal remains at some sites in France and on the island who eventually replaced them. He described the changes
of Jersey suggest that Neandertals collectively drove the ani- that set anatomically modern people apart from Nean-
mals over cliffs or engaged in other kinds of mass-killing dertals in terms that highlighted the particular way in
strategies (Mellars 1996, 227–29). Archaeologists have which they constructed their niches; that is, he empha-
also found the bones of hoofed mammals such as deer, sized the way moderns used symbolic thought and lan-
bison, and wild species of oxen, sheep, goats, and horses guage to transform “the intellectual and social contexts
at Eurasian Mousterian sites. As in other cases, however, in which food was obtained” (Chase 1989, 334).
it is often difficult—particularly at open-air sites—to tell
how many of these bones are the remains of Neandertal
meals and how many got to the site some other way. Fur- What Do We Know about
thermore, at some Eurasian and African sites, the bones of
elephants and rhinoceros were used as building materials
Anatomically Modern
and their flesh may not have been eaten. Humans (200,000 Years
What about the flesh of other Neandertals? As
we saw in our discussion of H. erectus, claims that
Ago to Present)?
one or another hominin species practiced cannibal- During the period when classic Neandertal populations
ism are made from time to time, often on the basis of appeared in Europe and western Asia, a different kind
equivocal evidence. Sometimes the evidence is more of hominin appeared to the south that possessed an
What Do We Know about Anatomically Modern Humans (200,000 Years Ago to Present)? 125
anatomy like that of modern human beings. They had an Mousterian tools were found in association both with
average cranial capacity of more than 1,350 cm3, domed Neandertal bones at Kebara and Tabun and with ana-
foreheads, and round braincases. These early modern tomically modern human bones at Qafzeh (Bar-Yosef
people also had flatter faces than Neandertals, usually 1989, 604; Mellars and Stringer 1989, 7). In the 1990s,
with distinct chins. Their teeth were not crowded into thermoluminescence, uranium-series dating, and elec-
the front of their jaws, and they lacked retromolar spaces. tron spin resonance were added to rodent biostratigra-
The postcranial skeleton of these anatomically modern phy and sedimentary data to date both the Neandertal
human beings was much more lightly built than that remains and the modern human remains. This effort
of the Neandertals. In Europe, where the fossil record is yielded dates of 90,000 years and older for both sets of
fullest, their skeletons gradually became smaller and less fossils. Chris Stringer (2012), who has been closely in-
robust for about 20,000 years after they first appeared. volved with this work over the years, reports that “Con-
Many paleoanthropologists believe that these changes tinuing dating work using all the available techniques
were a byproduct of niche construction as anatomically now suggests that the Skhul and Qafzeh people actually
modern human beings increasingly dependent on cul- range from about 90,000 to 120,000 years old, while the
ture buffered themselves from selection pressures that Tabun Neanderthal is most likely about 120,000 years
favored physical strength. old. So the emerging scenario is one where populations
Experts long thought that anatomically modern apparently ebbed and flowed in the region” (47).
human beings first appeared about 40,000 years ago in Klein (2009) hypothesizes that “the Skhul/Qafzeh
Europe. However, discoveries in recent years have pro- people were simply near modern Africans who extended
foundly altered our understanding of modern human their range slightly to the northeast during the relatively
origins. It is now accepted that the earliest evidence for mild and moist conditions of the Last Interglacial, be-
anatomically modern humans comes from the sites tween 127 and 71 [thousand years] ago” (606). In any
of Omo Kibish and Herto in Ethiopia (Stringer and case, for at least 45,000 years, Neandertals and mod-
Andrews 2005, 160; see Figure 4.24). The oldest are the erns apparently lived side by side or took turns occupy-
Omo fossils, dated to 195,000 years ago (McDougall ing southwestern Asia. If Neandertals and anatomically
et al. 2005; see Figure 4.25). The Herto fossils are dated modern human beings were contemporaries, then Ne-
to between 154,000 and 160,000 years ago (White et al. andertals cannot be ancestral to moderns as the regional
2003). Other fossils attributed to early Homo have been continuity theorists argue.
found elsewhere in Africa. At Klasies River Mouth Cave
in southern Africa, for example, modern human fossils
too old to be accurately dated by radiocarbon meth-
What Can Genetics Tell Us about
ods were cross-dated using paleoclimatic and biostrati- Modern Human Origins?
graphic methods, as well as uranium-series dating and You will recall from Module 2 that geneticists claimed to
electron spin resonance. They were assigned an age of be able to construct a molecular clock based on the mu-
between 74,000 and 60,000 years ago, although some tation rate in human DNA. (In fact, they chose to focus
experts are not convinced by the cross-dating. Nev- on mitochondrial DNA, known as mtDNA, which is
ertheless, bone harpoons found at a site in Katanda, found in the mitochondria of cells, outside the nucleus,
Congo, were dated to more than 70,000 years of age and is only transmitted along the female line—unlike
using thermoluminescence and electron spin resonance. eggs, sperm are cell nuclei and only carry nuclear DNA.)
If this date stands, it would reinforce the hypothesis The results of their initial analysis suggested that the an-
that anatomically modern H. sapiens first made Upper cestors of modern humans originated in Africa some
Paleolithic–style tools in Africa thousands of years 100,000–200,000 years ago (Cann et al. 1987; Wilson
before moving into Europe (Brooks and Yellen 1992). It and Cann 1992). An early study of the pattern of DNA
is possible, however, that these bone tools are intrusions variation in the Y (i.e., the male) chromosome of differ-
(Klein 2009, 527–28). ent regional human populations also suggested an Af-
As dating methods such as thermoluminescence rican origin for modern H. sapiens (Rouhani 1989, 53).
and electron spin resonance are being refined, they are Since that time, information about the DNA of many
providing firmer dates for the earliest fossils of ana-
tomically modern humans. For example, until recently,
archaeologists could only assign relative dates to south-
western Asian Middle Paleolithic archaeological sites, anatomically modern human beings Hominin fossils assigned to
the species Homo sapiens with anatomical features similar to those of living
based on changes in the stone-tool assemblages they human populations: short and round skulls, small brow ridges and faces,
contained. Especially tricky were sites in Israel where prominent chins, and light skeletal build.
Arctic Ocean
Old Crow EUROPE
Stetten Mladec˘
¨
Hahnofersand Podbaba Mal’ta
Cro-Magnon ˘
Predmost
NORTH Abri Pataud ASIA
Olsen-Chubbuck Cioclinova
AMERICA ‘
St. Cesaire Starosel’e
Casper Meadowcroft Skhul
Arlington
Springs Kansas River Boker Tachtit
Blue Fish Cave Jebel Irhoud Jebel
Atlantic Qafzeh Cave Darra-i-kur
Tepexpan Pacific
Ocean
Herto Ocean
Singa
Omo
Katanda Kenjera
Pacific
Ocean Ngaloba Indian
Lagoa Santa Mumba Ocean
SOUTH
AMERICA
AUSTRALIA
Florisbad Border Cave Swan River Lake Mungo
Cerro Sota Klasies River Devil’s Lair
Monte Verde Mouth Cave Kow Swamp
FIGURE 4.24 Fossils of anatomically modern human beings have been recovered from these Old World and New World sites.
FIGURE 4.25 The earliest anatomically modern human fossils known come from the Ethiopian site of Omo Kibish and are
195,000 years old.
living species, not just our own, has grown at an impres- that Neandertal females contributed no mtDNA to
sive rate, as will be discussed in Chapter 5. modern human populations and reaffirmed that the
But most exciting of all has been the invention of ancestor of the mtDNA pool of contemporary humans
techniques that can successfully remove ancient DNA lived in Africa (Krings et al. 1997). Shortly thereafter,
from bones that are tens of thousands of years old. they concluded that the last common mtDNA ances-
Again, these operations have been performed on the tor of Neandertals and modern humans lived approxi-
bones of many extinct species, but the successes achieved mately half a million years ago (Krings et al. 1999).
using bone from Neandertals and their contemporaries However, Krings and his colleagues noted that their
has been dazzling. In 1997, molecular geneticists work- results tell us nothing about whether Neandertals con-
ing in the laboratory directed by Svante Pääbo at the tributed nuclear genes (i.e., from the chromosomes in
Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in our cell nuclei) to modern populations.
Leipzig, Germany, extracted a sequence of mtDNA with More recent work has begun to answer this ques-
378 base pairs from the original 1856 Neandertal-type tion. A major breakthrough was the publication of a
specimen. They compared the Neandertal sequence with draft Neandertal nuclear genome (Green et al. 2010).
994 human mtDNA lineages taken from a worldwide Green and his colleagues in the Leipzig lab extracted
sample of living human populations. They concluded nuclear DNA from 21 Neandertal bones from Vindija,
What Do We Know about the Upper Paleolithic/Late Stone Age (40,000?–12,000 Years Ago)? 127
Croatia, and found that 1% to 4% of the genomes of Neandertal bones in Spain and Italy; tests on its func-
modern non-Africans contained Neandertal sequences, tioning suggest that Neandertals had light skin and red
but that no sequences from modern humans appeared in hair (Lalueza-Fox et al. 2007).
the Neandertal genome. They concluded, therefore, that Although there is lingering concern that modern
most genetic variation in modern humans outside Africa DNA might have contaminated some ancient fossil
originated with our anatomically modern ancestors. Fi- samples, this new genetic evidence is exciting and ac-
nally, because they thought the Neandertal genome was cumulating at an impressive rate. Still, some perspec-
equally distant from the genomes of modern individuals tive is called for. Jonathan Marks (2011) reminds us that
from around the world, they concluded that the inbreed- “while our DNA matches that of a chimpanzee at over
ing between modern humans and Neandertals probably the 98% level, it matches the DNA of the banana the
took place in southwest Asia, before modern humans chimpanzee is eating at over the 25% level. Yet there is
spread out and diversified throughout the Old World. hardly any way we can imagine ourselves to be over one-
These results do not support the regional continuity quarter banana—except in our DNA” (139). So what
model but would be consistent with the mostly out of does it mean to share 1% to 4% of our genome with
Africa model. Neandertals? Many paleontologists and archaeologists
At the same time, new evidence of interbreeding are likely to be cautious about endorsing the DNA evi-
between Neandertals and their neighbors has come dence until it is backed up by additional fossil evidence;
to light from Asia. In 2010, Svante Pääbo and his colas Klein (2009) observes, studies of genetic diversity
leagues extracted both mtDNA and nuclear DNA from are “a useful and independent means of assessment” of
two tiny fossils found at Denisova Cave in Siberia. When proposed models of human evolution, but “[t]he fossil
the Denisova sequences were compared with those of record must be the final arbiter” (631) when it comes to
Neandertal and modern sequences, three key findings evaluating such models.
emerged: (1) although they lived between 400,000 and
30,000 years ago, the Denisovans were genetically dis-
tinct from Neandertals; (2) the Denisovans and Nean-
dertals shared a common ancestor who had left Africa What Do We Know about
nearly half a million years ago; and (3) the Denisovan the Upper Paleolithic/Late
genome was very similar to the genome of modern
humans from New Guinea. Pääbo and his colleagues Stone Age (40,000?–12,000
concluded that the Denisovan and Neandertal popula- Years Ago)?
tions must have split apart after leaving Africa, but that
about 50,000 years ago, the Denisovans interbred with Middle Paleolithic/MSA tools disappear in Africa and
anatomically modern humans, who took some Deniso- southwestern Asia by 40,000 years ago at the latest and
van DNA with them when they moved into South Asia. in Europe after about 35,000 years ago. What replaces
And more recently still, as we saw earlier, connections them are far more elaborate artifacts that signal the be-
exist between the mtDNA from a 300,000-year-old fossil ginning of the Upper Paleolithic in Europe and south-
hominin from Spain and the Denisovans from Russian western Asia and the Late Stone Age (LSA) in Africa.
Siberia. The stone-tool industries of the Upper Paleolithic/
The collection and analysis of ancient DNA has LSA are traditionally identified by the high proportion of
become increasingly detailed and sophisticated. When blades they contain when compared with the Middle Pa-
such data are compared with genome data collected leolithic/MSA assemblages that preceded them. A blade
from living human populations all over the world, it is defined as any flake that is at least twice as long as it
is sometimes possible to tell whether genetic variants
found in living human populations were part of the
gene pool of these ancient populations. For example,
the FOXP2 gene found in living human populations has Denisovans a population of Pleistocene hominins known only from
ancient DNA recovered from two tiny 41,000-year-old fossils deposited in
been implicated in our ability to speak and use language. Denisova Cave, Russian Siberia. Denisovans and Neandertals are thought
A variant of this gene has been recovered from Nean- to share a common ancestor that left Africa 500,000 years ago. Parts of the
dertal bones in Spain, suggesting that limits on Nean- Denisovan genome resemble the genomes of modern humans from New
Guinea.
dertal language ability may have been less severe than
Upper Paleolithic/Late Stone Age (LSA) The name given to the
once thought (Krause et al. 2007). In addition, a variant period of highly elaborate stone-tool traditions in Europe in which blades
of the MC1R gene, which affects skin pigmentation in were important, 40,000–10,300 years ago.
modern human populations, has been recovered from blades Stone tools that are at least twice as long as they are wide.
FIGURE 4.26 K lasies River

Mouth Cave in South Africa
yielded both fossils of anatomi-
cally modern human beings
and blade tools, which are the
characteristic tools of the Euro-
pean Upper Paleolithic and the
African Late Stone Age.
is wide. Blades have traditionally been associated with At the same time, they note the rapid spread of
anatomically modern humans, who have been given blade-based technologies in the Upper Paleolithic/
credit for the development of the various cultures of LSA, and this is a new development. During the Upper
the Upper Paleolithic. Indeed, the discovery of an MSA Paleolithic, blades were also regularly attached to wood,
stone-tool industry in southern Africa that may be as bone, antler, or ivory to form composite tools such as
much as 90,000 years old—the Howieson’s Poort Indus- bows and arrows. Bar-Yosef and Kuhn note that compos-
try (Figure 4.26)—has been viewed by some anthropolo- ite tools require interchangeable parts, so the efficient
gists as indirect evidence for the presence of anatomically production of standardized blades would have been ad-
modern humans in southern Africa at the same time (see vantageous and would have encouraged the spread of
Stringer 1989). However, Ofer Bar-Yosef and Steven L. blade-production techniques that allowed toolmakers
Kuhn (1999) challenged this understanding of blades. better control over the sizes and shapes of the blades
Bar-Yosef and Kuhn identify over a dozen sites in west- they produced. Bar-Yosef and Kuhn (1999) conclude
ern Eurasia and Africa that contain Middle Paleolithic that Upper Paleolithic reliance on blades might ulti-
or MSA stone-tool assemblages rich in blades. Draw- mately have been a historical accident, but “if prolif-
ing on their expertise in stone-tool manufacture, they eration of blade and bladelet technologies during the
point out that blades are not necessarily more difficult Upper Paleolithic is in fact linked to composite tool
to make than Acheulean bifaces, nor are they necessar- manufacture, it may also reflect the emergence of novel
ily superior to flakes for all purposes: after all, the very and highly significant patterns of social and economic
effective modern hunting and gathering peoples known cooperation within human groups” (323).
in recent historical times did not use blades. Probably, Indeed, Upper Paleolithic/LSA people clearly had a
blade technologies were invented again and again. There new capacity for cultural innovation. Although Mouste-
is no need to suppose that Neandertals or H. heidelber- rian/MSA tool types persist with little change for more than
gensis were incapable of making blades and, therefore, 100,000 years, several different Upper Paleolithic/LSA
no grounds for assuming that the presence of blades in- tool traditions replace one another over the 20,000 years
dicates the presence of anatomically modern humans. or so of the Upper Paleolithic/LSA. Each industry was sty-
listically distinct and possessed artifact types not found
in the others (Figure 4.27). For the earliest a natomically
modern people to abandon the Mousterian/MSA culture
that had served them well for so long, something im-
composite tools Tools such as bows and arrows in which several different
materials are combined (e.g., stone, wood, bone, ivory, antler) to produce the portant must have happened. Many experts believe this
final working implement. something was a reorganization of the brain, producing
What Happened to the Neandertals? 129
FIGURE 4.27 Upper Paleolithic stone-tool

industries in Europe were fully developed blade
technologies that show considerable stylistic
variation over time. Tools a, b, and c are from the
Perigordian culture, a variety of the Gravettian;
tool d is from the Aurignacian; and tool e is from
the Solutrean.
the modern capacity for culture. This anatomical change, beings, then the Châtelperronian and other mixed as-
if it occurred, has left no fossil evidence. However, as semblages might be transitional between the Mousterian
knowledge about the genomes of living humans, other and the Aurignacian.
primates, and fossil hominins accumulates, it may Some archaeologists argue, however, that Neander-
become increasingly possible to find and date key mu- tals may have borrowed elements of Upper Paleolithic
tations associated with brain expansion or language technology from a culturally more advanced popula-
ability (Klein 2009, 638ff.; Tattersall 2009, 243–44). tion of outsiders. For example, deposits found in some
For the present, such a change must be inferred from cave sites in southwestern France and northern Spain
the cultural evidence produced by anatomically modern show Châtelperronian layers on top of some Aurigna-
humans after about 40,000 years ago. cian layers, suggesting that two different cultural groups
coexisted and occupied the same caves at different times
(Mellars 1996, 414). These archaeologists believe that
anatomically modern people invented the Aurignacian
What Happened to the industry in southwestern Asia and brought it with them
Neandertals? when they migrated into central and western Europe
40,000–35,000 years ago. The skeletons of anatomically
The first appearance of Upper Paleolithic culture in modern human beings begin to appear at European sites
Europe is important because of what it can tell us about about this time, when the ice sheets had begun to melt
the fate of the Neandertals. If Neandertals gradually and the climate was improving. For many archaeologists,
evolved into modern human beings, it is argued, then this the arrival in Europe of both modern human beings and
gradual evolution should be documented in archaeologi- Aurignacian culture during the same time period seems
cal assemblages. In this search, the Châtelperronian and too well correlated to be an accident. No Aurignacian
Aurignacian industries have attracted the most attention. assemblages have been found in eastern Europe, which
Châtelperronian assemblages from France, 35,000– suggests that the Upper Paleolithic developed differently
30,000 years old, contain a mixture of typical Mouste- there (Klein 2009, 586–88, 605).
rian backed knives and more advanced pointed cutting Even if European Neandertals borrowed Upper Paleo-
tools called “burins.” They also contain bone tools and lithic technology from southwestern Asian immigrants,
pierced animal teeth. Other mixed assemblages simi- they were gone a few thousand years later. What happened
lar to the Châtelperronian have been found in Italy, to them? There is no evidence that the replacement of Ne-
central and northern Europe, and southern Russia andertals by modern people involved conquest and exter-
(Mellars 1996, 417–18). Aurignacian assemblages, mination, although this has been proposed from time to
34,000–30,000 years old, are Upper Paleolithic blade time. European Neandertals may have disappeared be-
assemblages. We know that Neandertals were capable cause they evolved into anatomically modern people, de-
of making Châtelperronian tools because two Neander- veloping Aurignacian culture as they did so, in line with
tal skeletons were found in 32,000-year-old Châtelp- the regional continuity model. This hypothesis, how-
erronian deposits at St. Césaire, France (Mellars 1996, ever, runs afoul of the fact that Neandertals and mod-
412ff.). If Neandertals invented Aurignacian technol- erns apparently originated on different continents and
ogy as they evolved into anatomically modern human coexisted in southwestern Asia for 45,000 years, both of
them making and using Mousterian tools. European Ne- Europe dates from 12,000–11,000 years ago; however,
andertals may have disappeared as they interbred with bows and arrows may have been used as long as 20,000
the in-migrating modern people and as their descendants years ago in Africa and Eurasia, where researchers have
adopted Aurignacian culture. If this happened, then con- found indirect evidence in the form of stone points,
temporary European populations might be expected to backed bladelets, and bone rods resembling arrow shafts
share morphological traits with their alleged Neandertal (Klein 2009, 679–80). Archaeologists have also found
ancestors. As we saw earlier, morphological evidence for the skeletons of fur-bearing animals whose remains
such inbreeding during the Pleistocene is stronger for suggest they were captured for their skins, not for food;
populations in eastern Europe and western Asia than for pointed bone tools that were probably used to sew skins
the classic Neandertals of western Europe. Evidence from together (the oldest eyed needles appeared between 35
ancient DNA also shows that Neandertals did interbreed and 28 Ka years old); and the remains of tailored cloth-
with other non-Neandertal populations during the Pleis- ing in Upper Paleolithic burials dating from between 26
tocene, and Neandertal genes make up 1% to 4% of our and 19 Ka (Klein 2009, 673).
modern nuclear genome. However, Y-chromosome DNA Evidence for regular hunting of large game is
recently extracted from a Neandertal skeleton is distinct better at Upper Paleolithic sites than at sites from ear-
from all known modern human Y-chromosome lineages, lier periods, especially in Europe and Asia. In addition
which suggests that this lineage has gone extinct. If so, to hunting tools, researchers have found the bones of
its disappearance could be due to genetic drift, but the mammoth, reindeer, bison, horse, and antelope, ani-
researchers also suggest another possibility: that genetic mals that provided not only meat but also ivory, antler,
incompatibilities in the genomes of male fetuses with and bone. Some animals were hunted but not for food.
Neandertal fathers and anatomically modern human The mammoth, for instance, supplied bones used for
mothers rendered these fetuses unviable or infertile. If building shelters. Fresh bone and animal droppings were
this second possibility were the case, it might have con- also probably burned as fuel. The Upper Paleolithic way
tributed to reproductive isolation between Neandertals of life probably resembled that of contemporary forag-
and anatomically modern humans (Mendez et al. 2016). ers. Consequently, plant foods probably formed a larger
Neandertals may have retreated as modern people spread part of the diet than meat. Reliance on plant foods was
throughout Europe, decreasing in number until, around probably greater among those living in warmer areas of
30,000 years ago, they simply died out. In sum, at this Africa and southwestern Asia, whereas those living in the
time, the archaeological evidence is no more able than cooler climates of eastern Europe and northern Asia may
the fossil or genetic evidence to resolve disputes about have relied more on animals for food.
the fate of the Neandertals. The richness and sophistication of Upper Paleo-
lithic culture is documented in many other ways. Upper
Paleolithic burials are more elaborate than Mousterian/
How Many Kinds of Upper MSA burials, and some of them contain several bodies
(Klein 2009, 690–91). Some Upper Paleolithic sites have
Paleolithic/Late Stone Age yielded human bones that have been shaped, perforated,
Cultures Were There? or burned or that show cut marks suggesting defleshing.
Again, some paleoanthropologists conclude that Upper
Although blades are the classic tools of Upper Paleolithic/ Paleolithic peoples may have been cannibals. However,
LSA culture, other tool types appear that are not found the shaped or perforated bones may have been trophies
in Mousterian/MSA assemblages, such as endscrapers, or mementos of individuals who had died for other rea-
burins, and numerous artifacts of bone, ivory, and antler sons; the burned bones may be the remains of deliber-
(Figure 4.28). Brian Fagan (1990) calls this technological ate cremation or accidental charring under a hearth; and
explosion the “Swiss army knife effect”: “like its modern the flesh may have been removed from human bones
multipurpose counterpart, the core and blade technique after death for ritual purposes, a practice documented in
was a flexible artifact system, allowing Upper Paleolithic modern ethnographic literature.
stoneworkers to develop a variety of subsidiary crafts, no- The most striking evidence for a modern human ca-
tably bone and antler working, which likewise gave rise pacity for culture comes from Upper Paleolithic/LSA art.
to new weapons systems and tailored clothing” (157). In Africa, ostrich-eggshell beads date to 38,000 years ago,
As we saw earlier, the most distinctive Upper Paleo- while animal paintings on rocks date to at least 19,000
lithic artifacts are composite tools, such as spears and and possibly 27,500 years ago. Fire-hardened clay objects
arrows, made of several different materials. The oldest shaped like animals or human beings, dating to about
undisputed evidence of wooden bows and arrows in 28,000–27,000 years ago, were recovered at a Gravettian
Where Did Modern H. sapiens Migrate in Late Pleistocene Times? 131
FIGURE 4.28 Upper Paleolithic

stoneworkers developed bone-,
antler-, and ivory-working tech-
niques to a high degree, as shown
by these objects from Europe.
site in the former Czechoslovakia. This and other Gra- make other drawings (Conkey 1993). As a result, archae-
vettian sites in western and central Europe have yielded ologists are increasingly able to determine when images
human figurines, some of which depict females with ex- were painted and whether all the images in a particular
aggerated breasts and bellies, thought to have been made cave were painted at the same time.
between 27,000 and 20,000 years ago (see Figure 4.28).
More than 200 caves in southern France and northern
Spain, including Lascaux and Altamira, contain spec-
tacular wall paintings or engravings (Figure 4.29); other
Where Did Modern H. sapiens
painted caves exist in Italy, Portugal, and the former Yu- Migrate in Late Pleistocene
goslavia; spectacular wall art from rock shelters in north-
ern Australia may be especially old (Renfrew and Bahn
Times?
2004, 523). The European paintings portray a number of Upper Paleolithic peoples were more numerous and
animal species now extinct and were probably painted more widespread than previous hominins. In Europe,
between 15,000 and 11,000 years ago, during Magda- according to Richard Klein, Upper Paleolithic sites are
lenian times. Recently, new techniques have permitted more numerous and have richer material remains than
archaeologists to analyze the recipes of pigments used do Mousterian sites. Skeletons dating from this period
to make these wall images, whereas accelerator mass show few injuries and little evidence of disease or vio-
spectrometry can be used to date the charcoal used to lence, and they possess relatively healthy teeth. The
IN THEIR OWN WORDS
Women’s Art in the Upper Paleolithic?
In a 1996 article in American Anthropologist

Catherine Hodge McCoid and LeRoy D.
McDermott propose that the so-called Venus
figures of the early Upper Paleolithic might be
more successfully understood as women’s art
rather than as sex objects made from a male
point of view.
Since Édouard Piette (1895) and Salomon Reinach (1898)

first described the distinctive small-scale sculptures and
engravings of human figures found in the rock shelters
and caves of southern France, several hundred more Eu-
ropean Upper Paleolithic figures have been identified.
The earliest of these, the so-called Stone Age Venuses
or Venus figurines, constitute a distinctive class and are
among the most widely known of all Paleolithic art ob-
jects. As a group they have frequently been described in
the professional and popular literature. Most of the fig-
ures are about 150 millimeters in height and depict nude
women usually described as obese. The PKG “lozenge composition.” PKG images routinely
elevate both the vertical midpoint and greatest width of the
In spite of many difficulties in dating, there is a grow-
female body, and most make what should be one-half of the
ing belief that most of these early sculptures were cre- body closer to one-third. (Figures redrawn and simplified
ated during the opening millennia of the Upper Paleolithic based on information in Leroi-Gourhan 1968.)
(circa 27,000–21,000 B.C.) and are stylistically distinct from
those of the later Magdalenian. These first representa-
tions of the human figure are centered in the Gravettian accuracy [see figure]. The characteristic features include
or Upper Perigordian assemblages in France and in re- a faceless, usually downturned head; thin arms that
lated Eastern Gravettian variants, especially the Pavlov- either disappear under the breasts or cross over them;
ian in the former Czechoslovakia, and the Kostenkian in an abnormally thin upper torso; voluminous, pendulous
the former Soviet Union. breasts; large fatty buttocks and/or thighs; a prominent,
Most Pavlovian-Kostenkian-Gravettian (PKG) statu- presumably pregnant abdomen, sometimes with a large
ettes are carved in stone, bone, and ivory, with a few elliptical navel coinciding with the greatest physical width
early examples modeled in a form of fired loess (Van- of the figure; and often oddly bent, unnaturally short
diver et al. 1989). Carved reliefs are also known from four legs that taper to a rounded point or disproportionately
French Gravettian sites: Laussel, La Mouthe, Abri Pataud, small feet. These deviations produce what M. D. Gvoz-
and Terme Pialet. These images show a formal concern dover (1989, 79) has called “the stylistic deformation of
with three-dimensional sculpted masses and have the the natural body.” Yet these apparent distortions of the
most widespread geographical distribution of any form anatomy become apt renderings if we consider the body
of prehistoric art. . . . While considerable variation occurs as seen by a woman looking down on herself. Compari-
among PKG figurines, claims of true diversity ignore a son of the figurines with photographs simulating what a
central tendency that defines the group as a whole. The modern woman sees of herself from this perspective re-
overwhelming majority of these images reflect a most un- veals striking correspondences. It is possible that since
usual anatomical structure, which André Leroi-Gourhan these images were discovered, we have simply been look-
(1968) has labeled the “lozenge composition.” What makes ing at them from the wrong angle of view.
this structural formula so striking is that it consists of a Although it is the center of visual self-awareness, a
recurring set of apparent departures from anatomical woman’s face and head are not visible to her without a
IN THEIR OWN WORDS
reflecting surface. This may explain why—although there lower body would narrow toward the feet, thus explaining
are variations in shape, size, and position in the heads the small size of the feet in these figurines. It is also true
of these pieces—virtually all are rendered without facial that, for a pregnant woman, inspection of the upper body
features and most seem to be turned down, as is neces- terminates at the navel with the curving silhouette of the
sary to bring the body into view. A woman looking down distended abdomen [see photo on left]. Without bending
at herself sees a strongly foreshortened view of the forward, she cannot see her lower body. Thus for a gravid
upper frontal surface of the thorax and abdomen, with female, the visual experience of her body involves two
her breasts looming large. Such a perspective helps to separate views whose shared boundary is the abdomen
explain the apparently voluminous size and distinctive at the level of the navel, which is also the widest part of
pendulous elongation routinely observed in the breasts the body in the visual field. The apparent misrepresenta-
of the figurines. Viewed in this way, the breasts of the tion of height and width in the figurines results from the
figurines possess the natural proportions of the average visual experience of this anatomical necessity. The loca-
modern woman of childbearing age [see photographs]. tion of the eyes means that for an expectant mother the
Even pieces such as the one from Lespugue, in which the upper half of the body visually expands toward the abdo-
breasts seem unnaturally large, appear naturalistic when men, whereas the lower half presents a narrow, tapering
viewed from above. form. Efforts to represent the information contained in
Other apparent distortions of the upper body undergo these two views naturally resulted in the lozenge compo-
similar optical transformations from this perspective. For sitional formulation, which others have seen as anatomi-
example, the inability to experience the true thickness of cally “incorrect” proportions [see figures].
the upper body may account for the apparently abnor- The idea that women sought to gain and preserve
mal thinness seen in the torsos of many figurines. Several knowledge about their own bodies provides a direct
figurines also have what seem to be unnaturally large, el- and parsimonious interpretation for general as well as
liptical navels located too close to the pubic triangle. In idiosyncratic features found among female representa-
a foreshortened view, however, the circular navel forms tions from the middle European Upper Paleolithic. The
just such an ellipse, and when pregnant, a woman cannot needs of health and hygiene, not to mention coitus and
easily see the space below the navel. Thus, when viewed childbirth, ensure that feminine self-inspection actually
as women survey themselves, the apparent anatomical occurred during the early Upper Paleolithic. Puberty,
distortions of the upper body in these figurines vanish menses, copulation, conception, pregnancy, childbirth,
[see photographs]. and lactation are regular events in the female cycle
Similarly, as a woman looks down at the lower portion and involve perceptible alterations in bodily function
of her body, those parts farthest away from the eyes look and configuration (Marshack 1972). Mastery and con-
smallest. A correct representation of the foreshortened trol of these processes continues to be of fundamental
a b
(a) View of her own upper body by a 26-year-old female who is five months pregnant and of average weight. (b) View of the
upper body of the Willendorf figurine from same perspective used at left.

IN THEIR OWN WORDS
Women’s Art in the Upper Paleolithic? Continued
importance to women today. It is possible that the emer- improve their understanding of reproduction and thereby
gence and subsequent propagation of these images reduce infant and maternal mortality would clearly have
across Europe occurred precisely because they played contributed to this productive and reproductive change.
a didactic function with actual adaptive consequences Perhaps the figurines served as obstetrical aids, the rela-
for women. . . . tive sizes of the abdomens helping women to calculate
. . . These Upper Paleolithic figurines were proba- the progress of their pregnancies. . . .
bly made at a time when there was similarly significant Theoretically, if these figurines were used to im-
population increase along with cultural and economic prove reproductive success, keep more women alive and
restructuring. The early to middle Upper Paleolithic was healthy, and produce healthier children, then natural se-
characterized by productive changes that harnessed lection would have been acting directly on the women
energy and by reproductive changes that helped make who made and/or used them. If these Upper Paleolithic
possible the population expansion and technological figures are naturalistic, accurate self-representations
changes that followed in the later European Upper Pa- made by women, then it is reasonable to speculate that
leolithic. Could women have made a recognizable con- they might have had such direct, pragmatic purposes.
tribution to the fluorescence of art and technology seen
in the opening millennia of this era? Anything they did to Source: McCoid and McDermott 1996.
presence of skeletons belonging to older or incapaci- to hundreds of kilometers away from the regions
tated individuals at Upper Paleolithic sites suggests that where these items occur naturally. They must have
these people, like the Neandertals, cared for the old and been deliberately transported to these sites, suggest-
sick. Analysis indicates that the life expectancy of Upper ing that Upper Paleolithic peoples, like contemporary
Paleolithic people was greater than that of the Neander- foragers, participated in trading networks. However,
tals and little different from that of contemporary forag- no evidence of such social contacts exists for earlier
ers (Klein 2009, 695ff.). times. Perhaps the linguistic and cultural capacities
Archaeologists have found amber, seashells, and of fully modern humans were necessary before they
even flint in Upper Paleolithic/LSA sites located tens could develop.
Eastern Asia and Siberia

Physically and culturally modern human beings were
the first hominins to occupy the coldest, harshest cli-
mates in Asia. Upper Paleolithic blade industries de-
veloped in central Asia about 40,000–30,000 years ago
(Fagan 1990, 195). The oldest reliable dates for human
occupation in Siberia are between 35,000 and 20,000
years ago (Klein 2009, 673). Alaskan and Canadian sites
with Upper Paleolithic artifacts similar to those of north-
east Siberia date to between 15,000 and 12,000 years
ago. Artifacts from one of these sites, Bluefish Caves,
may even be 20,000 years old. Between 25,000 and
14,000 years ago, land passage south would have been
blocked by continuous ice. By 14,000 years ago, condi-
FIGURE 5.29 Upper Paleolithic cave paintings, like this one
from Lascaux, France, have been dated to between 15,000 and tions for southward migration would have improved
11,000 years ago. considerably.
The Americas In 1997, the “Clovis barrier” of 11,200 years was fi-
nally broken when a group of archaeologists and other
Genetic studies strongly support an Asian origin for
scientists formally announced that the South Ameri-
Native American populations (Stringer and Andrews
can site of Monte Verde, in Chile, was 12,500 years old
2005, 198; Klein 2009, 707). The earliest known skele-
(Suplee 1997; Dillehay 2000). Because it was covered by
tal remains found in the Americas are between 11,000
a peat bog shortly after it was inhabited, Monte Verde
and 8,000 years old, and their morphological variation
contained many well-preserved organic remains, includ-
suggests that the Americas may have been colonized
ing stakes lashed with knotted twine, dwellings with
more than once (Stringer and Andrews 2005, 198–99;
wooden frames, and hundreds of tools made of wood
Klein 2009, 707). The strongest archaeological evidence
and bone. Thomas Dillehay (2000) argues that evidence
of human presence in the Americas comes after 14,000
from Monte Verde shows that the people who lived there
years ago. The first anatomically modern human beings
were not big game hunters but, rather, generalized gath-
in North America, called “Paleoindians,” apparently were
erers and hunters. A lower level at the same site, dated to
successful hunting peoples. The oldest reliable evidence
33,000 years ago, is said to contain crude stone tools. If
of their presence comes from sites dated between 11,500
the 33,000-year-old Monte Verde artifacts are genuine,
and 11,000 years ago, which contain stone tools called
they remain puzzling. First, these artifacts are few and
Clovis points (Figure 4.30). Meadowcroft Rockshelter in
extremely crude. Second, the dearth of sites in the Amer-
Pennsylvania may represent an early Clovis site (Adova-
icas of such great age suggests that, if human beings
sio et al. 1978; Stringer and Andrews 2005, 197). Clovis
were in the Americas 30,000 years ago, they were very
points were finely made and probably attached to shafts
thinly scattered compared to populations in Eurasia and
to make spears. Rapidly following the Clovis culture were
Africa at the same period. Finally, blood group and tooth
a series of different stone-tool cultures, all of which were
shape evidence supports the idea that the ancestors of
confined to North America. Some experts believe that
indigenous peoples of the Americas migrated into North
Paleoindian hunting coupled with postglacial climatic
America from Asia. If the makers of 33,000-year-old
changes may have brought about the extinction of mam-
Monte Verde artifacts also came from Asia, archaeolo-
moth, camel, horse, and other big game species in North
gists must explain how these people could have reached
America, but evidence is inconclusive (Meltzer 2015).
South America from Siberia by that date. Possibly, they
traveled over water and ice, but how they got to South
America remains a mystery.
In 2011, evidence for pre-Clovis occupations in
North America was found at the Debra L. Friedkin site
near Austin, Texas: more than 15,000 artifacts assigned
to the Buttermilk Creek Complex, dating between 13,200
and 15,000 years ago, were discovered in soil beneath a
Clovis assemblage (Waters et al. 2011). The archaeolo-
gists who discovered the tools view them as potentially
representing the technology from which Clovis was de-
veloped; other archaeologists remain unconvinced.
Perhaps ancient DNA analysis may help resolve
some of these questions, even as it opens up entirely
new sets of questions. Ancient mitochondrial DNA and
Y chromosome DNA were extracted from the skeleton
of a male infant found in association with Clovis ar-
tifacts and buried around 12,600 years ago. The DNA
evidence showed that this skeleton, known as Anzick-1,
belonged to a population more closely related to popu-
lations from Central and South America than anywhere
else (Rasmussen et al. 2014, 227–28). In 2015, Rasmus-
sen and his colleagues also published results of ancient
DNA analysis on skeletal material taken from the con-
FIGURE 4.30 Stone tools made by Paleoindian peoples have
troversial 8,500-year-old fossil known as Kennewick
been found at sites that provide the oldest reliable dates for
human occupation in North America. The Clovis point pictured Man (or the Ancient One), found in the state of Wash-
here was probably hafted to a shaft to make a spear. ington in 1996 (Rasmussen et al. 2015). As we will see in
Chapter 6, control over the remains of Kennewick Man a specific environment), modern H. sapiens better illus-
had become a focus of sharp debate among archaeolo- trates “survival of the generalist” (i.e., of a species that
gists, members of local indigenous tribes, and the Army had the plasticity, the “weedlike resilience,” to survive
Corps of Engineers. After negotiations with all interested the extremes of the rapidly fluctuating climate of the Ice
parties, Rasmussen and his team performed a DNA anal- Ages). In other words, our ancestors’ biological capac-
ysis that showed Kennewick Man to be closely related to ity to cope with small environmental fluctuations was
Native American populations from Central and South exapted to cope with larger and larger fluctuations. In
America, as was the Anzick-1 individual. However, Ken- Potts’s view, selection for genes favoring open programs
newick Man showed closer affinity than the Anzick-1 of behavior “improve an organism’s versatility and re-
individual to geographically closer tribes of the Pacific sponse to novel conditions” (Potts 1996, 239).
Northwest of North America. Ancient DNA studies are Archaeologist Clive Gamble (1994) believes that
bound to be controversial, but there is no question that the human social and cognitive skills that allowed our
they are forming an important component of scientific ancestors to survive in novel habitats were exapted by
efforts to answer questions about ancient human migra- H. sapiens to colonize the world: “We were not adapted
tions all over the world. for filling up the world. It was instead a consequence of
changes in behavior, and exaptive radiation produced by
the cooption of existing elements in a new framework of
Australasia action” (182). Gamble is sensitive to the way humanly
Anatomically modern human beings first arrived in Aus- constructed niches modified the selection pressures our
tralia between 60,000 and 40,000 years ago, at a time ancestors faced: he argues that all the environments of
when lower sea levels had transformed the Malayan Archi- Australia could never have been colonized so rapidly
pelago into a land mass called Sunda and when Australia without far-flung social networks that enabled coloniz-
was linked to New Guinea in a second land mass called ers to depend on one another in time of need. He sees
Sahul. Nevertheless, the migrants would still have had to the colonization of the Pacific as a deliberate undertak-
cross 30–90 kilometers of open water. Presumably, they ing, showing planning and care (Gamble 1994, 241; see
used water craft, but finding the remains of boats or the also Dillehay 2000).
sites where they landed along the now sunken continen- The role of niche construction is also implicated in
tal shelf is unlikely. Modern people spread throughout the approach of Richard Klein (2009), who lists a series
the Australian interior by 25,000–20,000 years ago. They of “related outcomes of the innovative burst behind the
may have been connected to widespread extinctions of out of Africa expansion” (742) that are detectable in the
grass-eating marsupials in Australia between 40,000 and archaeological record after 50,000 years ago, ranging
15,000 years ago (Klein 2009, 714ff.). from standardization and elaboration of artifacts to evi-
dence for increasing elaboration of a built environment
(with campsites, hearths, dwellings, and graves) to evi-
dence of elaborate trading networks, ritual activity, and
Two Million Years successful colonization of challenging cold climates.
of Human Evolution Paleoanthropologists, archaeologists, and geneti-
cists have assembled many of the pieces of the human
By 12,000 years ago, modern human beings had spread evolutionary puzzle, but many questions remain. Ex-
to every continent except Antarctica, a fact that we take perts differ, for example, on how to reconstruct the
for granted today but that could not have been predicted human family tree. Figure 4.31 shows one recent attempt
2 mya in Africa, when the first members of the genus to summarize what is known (and what remains to be
Homo walked the earth. In fact, the more we learn about established) about the evolution of human beings. Be-
hominins and their primate ancestors, the more zigs and cause new data and interpretations appear in the news
zags we perceive in our own past. Our species’ origin almost daily, you may want to find out how much this
must be regarded as “an unrepeatable particular, not an summary has been modified by the time you read this
expected consequence” (Gould 1996, 4). Some paleo- book! Another knotty problem concerns how we inter-
ecologists have concluded that “human features may not pret mounting evidence that human biology and human
be adaptations to some past environment, but exapta- culture evolved at different rates. Finally, within a few
tions . . . accidental byproducts of history, functionally thousand years after the glaciers retreated, human groups
disconnected from their origins” (Foley 1995, 47). For in Asia and the Americas were settling in villages and do-
example, Rick Potts (1996) argues that, rather than “sur- mesticating plants and animals. Why they should have
vival of the fittest” (i.e., of a species narrowly adapted to done so at this particular time is addressed in Chapter 6.
Chapter Summary 137
Age Species Behavior

(Ma)
1.5
1.7
He (D)
1.9
Pr He
As
2.1 1470 1813
group group
Pb
2.3
H sp.
2.5
Ag
2.7
Pa
2.9
A afr
FIGURE 4.31 T imelines for hominin evolution. This image shows one recent attempt to depict the relationships among various
groups of hominin fossils, showing the periods in the past for which they are well attested, and placing them alongside the timelines
for the best-known early stone-tool traditions. From left to right, the timelines depict the periods when the following fossil groups
flourished: (1) P. aethiopicus, P. boisei, and (2) P. robustus (the robust australopiths); (3) the gracile australopith Australopithecus afri-
canus; and (4) Australopithecus sediba. The next four timelines to the right of these represent different subgroups of early members
of the genus Homo, which emerge between 2.5 and 2.3 million years ago; this appearance is indicated by the timeline labeled “H.
sp.” This side of the image attempts to sort different groups of “early Homo” fossils into distinct subgroups, “1470 group” (AKA Homo
habilis) and the “1813 group” (AKA Homo rudolfensis), on the basis of a new analysis of their distinctive morphological traits. The right-
most timeline groups together fossils assigned to Homo erectus; the callout labeled “He-D” indicates the appearance of the H. erectus
fossils from Dmanisi, Georgia. The cell to the right of the species timelines juxtaposes timelines associated with the appearance of
the two best-attested stone-tool traditions associated with early hominins: Oldowan at the bottom (between 2.5 and 2.7 million
years ago) and Acheulean at the top (after about 1.9 million years ago). Juxtaposing the timelines for fossils and for stone tools leaves
open the question of which earlier hominin species might have given rise to later hominin species, as well as which of these species
might have made or used the stone tools.
Chapter Summary
1. Bipedal hominoids that appeared in Africa at the a 3.6 million-year-old trail of fossilized footprints
end of the Miocene are known as hominins and found in Laetoli, Tanzania.
are placed in the same lineage as living human be- 2. Hominin adaptations apparently led to changes
ings. Bipedalism may have been favored by natural in dentition. The teeth of australopiths show an
selection in hominoids exploiting food resources evolutionary trend toward smaller front teeth and
on the ground, outside the protection of forests. enormous cheek teeth. This dental pattern is inter-
Their diet was probably omnivorous, and they preted as an adaptation to diets of coarse vegetable
could carry infants, food, and tools in their newly foods that required grinding. Fossils of hominins
freed hands. The earliest hominin skeletal fossils between 3 and 2 million years old with this dental
are 6–7 million years old. The best-known early pattern have been found at southern and eastern
hominin fossils are 2–3 million years younger and African sites and have been classified in two groups:
have been placed in the genus Australopithecus. The the gracile australopiths and the robust australo-
earliest direct evidence of hominin bipedalism is piths. Robust australopiths had more rugged jaws,


flatter faces, and larger molars than the gracile H. sapiens. Punctuationists and cladists favor the
forms. Apart from differences in dentition, the grac- replacement model; gradualists favor the regional
ile and robust australopiths had similar postcranial continuity model.
skeletons and chimpanzee-sized cranial capacities. 7. Neandertals in Europe flourished between 130,000
3. The first members of the genus Homo appeared and 35,000 years ago. They were shorter and more
about 2.5 mya. Many paleontologists believe robust than anatomically modern H. sapiens. Their
that more than one species belonging to Homo molars showed taurodontism, their jaws possessed
may have coexisted in eastern Africa in the early retromolar spaces, and they may have habitually
Pleistocene alongside the eastern African robust used their incisors as a clamp. Their average cranial
australopiths. capacity was larger than that of modern human
4. Fossils of early Homo disappear about 1.8 mya, populations, although their skull was shaped dif-
by either evolving into or being replaced by Homo ferently. Neandertal fossils are typically associated
ergaster, the first member of the genus Homo to in Europe with the Mousterian stone-tool tradi-
spread out of Africa, giving rise to Homo erectus tion. Similar tools, found in southwestern Asia
populations in Asia. The cranium of H. erectus aver- and A frica, have all been assigned to the Middle
ages around 1,000 cm3, within the lower range of Paleolithic/Middle Stone Age, which probably
modern human beings. H. erectus may have been, began at least 200,000 years ago. Ancient DNA
to some extent, capable of speech. Wear patterns recovered from hominin fossils in Denisova Cave
on teeth suggest that H. erectus had a diet different did not belong to Neandertals, but to a previously
from that of previous hominins. The postcranial unknown population with which Neandertals
skeleton of H. erectus is more robust than that of interbred.
modern humans and shows a marked reduction 8. During the 1980s, new evidence revealed that ana-
in sexual dimorphism. H. erectus was probably tomically modern H. sapiens appeared in Africa at
not primarily a hunter of big game, nor is there the same time that Neandertal populations were
any evidence that H. erectus might have practiced living in Europe and western Asia. Neandertals and
cannibalism. moderns apparently lived side by side in south-
5. The oldest undisputed stone tools, classified in the western Asia for at least 45,000 years, and both
Oldowan tradition, were found in Ethiopia, date to populations used the same kinds of Mousterian
at least 2.5 mya, and may have been made by early tools. Ancient DNA studies have shown that mod-
Homo. Acheulean bifaces are associated with H. ern humans share from 1% to 4% of their nuclear
erectus. In recent years, however, archaeologists have genome with Neandertals; what this means is still
concluded that it is misleading to associate indi- under discussion.
vidual stone-tool traditions with only one hom- 9. By 40,000 years ago in southwestern Asia and
inin species. Some archaeologists have suggested 35,000 years ago in Europe, Mousterian/Middle
that bamboo was available for toolmaking in those Stone Age tools are replaced by far more elabo-
areas in Asia where Acheulean bifaces are lacking. rate artifacts that signal the beginning of the Up-
Oldowan and Acheulean traditions are usually per Paleolithic/Late Stone Age. Upper Paleolithic
grouped together in a single period known as the people made many different stone tools as well as
Lower Paleolithic in Europe and the Early Stone tools and ornaments out of bone, ivory, and antler;
Age in Africa. composite tools, such as spears and arrows; and
6. Between 500,000 and 200,000 years ago, clothing from animal fur. They regularly hunted
H. erectus fossils disappear from the fossil large game and used bones from animals such as
record to be replaced by fossils that show a mammoths to construct dwellings and to burn as
mosaic of features found in H. erectus and H. fuel. Upper Paleolithic burials were far more elabo-
sapiens. Many paleoanthropologists classify these rate than Middle Paleolithic burials. Cave paintings
fossils as Homo heidelbergensis. A lively debate and personal ornaments offer the most striking
continues between punctuationists and gradual- evidence in the Upper Paleolithic for the modern
ists about the fate of H. erectus and the origin of human capacity for culture.
For Review 139
10. Some Upper Paleolithic assemblages, like the participate in widespread trading networks. Ana-
Châtelperronian industry from France, contain tomically modern people with Upper Paleolithic
a mixture of typical Mousterian tools and more cultures were the first humans to migrate into the
elaborate cutting tools, bone tools, and pierced northernmost regions of Asia and into the New
animal teeth. Paleoanthropologists disagree about World, arriving at least 12,000 years ago, possi-
what these mixed assemblages represent. Some bly earlier. It seems likely that the New World was
interpret the Châtelperronian industry as evidence populated by more than one wave of immigrants
that Neandertals gradually invented Upper Paleo- from Siberia. Anatomically modern people first ar-
lithic tools on their own, which would support rived in Australia between 60,000 and 40,000 years
the regional continuity model. Others argue that ago, probably by boat.
Châtelperronian Neandertals borrowed Upper 12. Until recently, most evolutionists were phyletic
Paleolithic techniques from in-migrating modern gradualists, who thought that microevolutionary
people who already possessed an Upper Paleolithic anagenesis led to macroevolutionary speciation,
technology called the Aurignacian. This view is given enough time. Gould and Eldredge, however,
compatible with the replacement model. If Auri- proposed that most of evolutionary history has
gnacian moderns did replace Neandertals in Eu- consisted of relatively stable species coexisting in
rope, there is no evidence that this was the result of equilibrium. Macroevolution occurs, in their view,
conquest or extermination. when this equilibrium is punctuated by a burst of
11. Upper Paleolithic peoples show few signs of injury speciation by cladogenesis. They further propose
or disease, and their life expectancy was longer than that species selection may operate among variant,
that of Neandertals. Upper Paleolithic peoples ap- related species. Debate between phyletic gradualists
parently constructed niches that allowed them to and punctuationists has been lively.
For Review
1. Define bipedalism and explain its importance in 11. Make a chart of the different Homo species cur-
human evolution. rently identified, including the periods in which
2. What is distinctive about the evolution of denti- they lived, where they were found, and other dis-
tion in hominins? tinctive anatomical features they display, such as
brain size.
3. Explain the differences between robust and grac-
ile australopiths. 12. What is the “mostly out of Africa” model of the
origin of modern Homo sapiens? What evidence
4. Summarize the different arguments for explaining
do biological anthropologists use to defend this
the evolutionary transition from early hominins
model? How does this model contrast with the
to the genus Homo.
earlier “replacement” model and the “regional
5. List what paleoanthropologists and archaeologists continuity” model?
know about early Homo species.
13. Summarize what biological anthropologists know
6. Define taphonomy and explain why it is impor- about the Neandertals.
tant for paleoanthropologists who study bones
14. Summarize the features biological anthropolo-
and stone tools.
gists emphasize in distinguishing anatomically
7. Summarize what is known about Homo erectus, modern humans from other archaic populations
morphologically and culturally. of Homo.
8. Describe the argument that emphasizes the 15. What happened to the Neandertals?
importance of endurance running in human
16. How do archaeology and biological anthropology
evolution.
contribute to our understanding of the evolution
9. What is the fossil evidence for the evolutionary of a modern human capacity for culture?
transition to modern Homo sapiens?
17. Summarize anthropological evidence used to sup-
10. Explain how the origins of Homo sapiens would port current arguments concerning the peopling
be accounted for by proponents of evolution by of the Americas.
punctuated equilibria.
18. Compare and contrast phyletic gradualism and 19. Define cladogenesis and explain how evolutionary
punctuated equilibria. biologists use it to develop taxonomies of species.
Key Terms
Acheulean composite tools 128 Middle Stone Age punctuated
tradition 114 cranial capacity 106 (MSA) 121 equilibrium 97
anagenesis 96 Denisovans 127 mosaic evolution 99 regional continuity
anatomically modern Mousterian model 119
Early Stone Age
human beings 125 (ESA) 114 tradition 121 replacement
archaic Homo Neandertals 119 model 118
Homo 109
sapiens 117 Oldowan species selection 98
Homo erectus 112
Australopithecus 100 tradition 110 taphonomy 110
intrusions 123
bipedalism 98 omnivorous 100 Upper Paleolithic/Late
macroevolution 96
blades 127 phyletic gradualism 97 Stone Age (LSA) 127
microevolution 96
Suggested Readings
Dahlberg, Frances, ed. 1981. Woman the gatherer. New Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany. This volume is an en-
Haven: Yale University Press. A classic collection of essays gaging account of his personal and professional life, cen-
challenging the “man the hunter” scenario using bioanthro- tering on how he and his team of scientists succeeded in
pological data and ethnographic evidence from four different sequencing Neandertal mitochondrial DNA, the first draft
foraging societies. Neanderthal genome, and the Denisovan genome, thereby
Gamble, Clive. 1994. Timewalkers. Cambridge, MA: Harvard revolutionizing the study of extinct human populations.
University Press. Gamble argues that our species’ ability to Among other things, Pääbo’s professional history illustrates
colonize the world was the result of exaptation of attributes the science-studies point that cutting-edge science within the
we evolved for other purposes. Usefully read in conjunction laboratory depends on the laboratory director’s skills outside
with the Potts volume below. the laboratory, s ecuring the necessary funds, staffing, mate-
Kennis and Kennis Reconstructions. http://www rials, and equipment. In the twenty-first century, these ne-
.kenniskennis.com. The achievements of the Kennis broth- gotiations are global in scope, and Pääbo’s skills have been
ers in reconstructing the appearance of Neandertals and masterful.
other fossil hominins are extraordinary. The brothers are Potts, Rick. 1996. Humanity’s descent. New York: William
sticklers for scientific accuracy, yet their imaginative sensi- Morrow. A survey of human evolution, in which evidence is
bilities allow them to create sculptures that appear plausibly presented that the great flexibility of modern Homo sapiens
lifelike. resulted from selection for the ability to survive wide fluctua-
Lee, Richard, and Irven DeVore, eds. 1968. Man the hunter. tions in environments, rather than adaptation to any single
New York: Aldine. The classic collection of articles that un- environment. Usefully read in conjunction with the Gamble
dergirded the “man the hunter” scenario of human origins— volume above.
and paradoxically offered evidence for its critique. Shreeve, James. 1995. The Neandertal enigma. New York:
Lewin, Roger. 1999. Human evolution: An illustrated introduc- Avon Books. A science journalist’s account of the contro-
tion, 5th ed. Boston: Blackwell. A highly readable intro- versy between replacement and regional continuity theorists,
duction to human evolution. Lewin, a science journalist, all of whom we meet in this engaging volume.
has worked closely with Richard Leakey and cowritten three Stringer, Chris. 2012. Lone survivors. New York: Holt. Stringer
books about human origins with him. is best known for proposing that our species had a recent
Morell, Virginia. 1996. Ancestral passions: The Leakey family origin in Africa some 200,000 years ago, after which we
and the quest for humankind’s beginnings. New York: moved out of Africa and eventually replaced earlier popula-
Simon & Schuster. A biography of the Leakey family over tions of hominins. This volume contains his current views
several generations that brilliantly contextualizes their con- about evolution of Homo sapiens—the “lone survivors” of
tributions to paleoanthropology. millions of years of hominin evolution—and also discusses
Pääbo, Svante. 2014. Neanderthal man. New York: Basic his involvement with scientists who have developed new
Books. Svante Pääbo is the director of the Department and reliable dating methods for the earliest fossils of modern
of Genetics at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary humans.
Tattersall, Ian. 2012. Masters of the planet. New York: & Schuster. A detailed defense of the regional continuity
Palgrave-Macmillan. An up-to-date account of human model by two of its most committed exponents.
evolutionary history, anchored in the hominin fossil record, Wrangham, Richard. 2009. Catching fire: How cooking made
as interpreted by a distinguished paleoanthropologist. us human. New York: Basic Books. Wrangham, a biologi-
Wolpoff, Milford, and Rachel Caspari. 1996. Race and cal anthropologist, makes a provocative case for the key role
human evolution: A fatal attraction. New York: Simon played by cooked food in the evolutionary success of humans.
5
What can evolutionary theory
tell us about human variation?
Not everyone looks the same. Why is that? Does it make a difference? Do
the differences cluster together? In this chapter, we will look at the way evo-
lutionary theory explains patterns of human biological variation. In partic-
ular, we will show why anthropologists have concluded that these patterns
cannot be explained by the concept of biological “race.”
CHAPTER OUTLINE
What Is Microevolution? Can We Predict the Future
The Modern Evolutionary of Human Evolution?
Synthesis and Its Legacy Chapter Summary
The Molecularization of Race? For Review
The Four Evolutionary
Key Terms
Processes
Microevolution and Patterns Suggested Readings
of Human Variation
Adaptation and Human
Variation
Phenotype, Environment,
and Culture
Not everyone looks the same. Why is that, and what does it mean? 143
144 CHAPTER 5: WHAT CAN EVOLUTIONARY THEORY TELL US ABOUT HUMAN VARIATION?
C hapter 4 looked at macroevolution as applied to

the history of humans and their closest relatives.
This chapter shifts the focus to microevolution, which
Biologists have proposed alternative definitions of
species that attempt to respect the purpose of Darwinian
taxonomy, which is to represent scientists’ best current
devotes attention to short-term evolutionary changes understanding of the relationships between and among
that occur within a given species over relatively few organisms. As biological anthropologist John Fleagle
generations. It is measured in what is sometimes called points out, “Most biologists agree that a species is a dis-
“ecological time,” or the timescale experienced by organ- tinct segment of an evolutionary lineage, and many of
isms living and adapting to their ecological settings. the differences among species concepts reflect attempts
to find criteria that can be used to identify species based
on different types of information” (Fleagle 2013, 2).
What Is Microevolution? Neo-Darwinians defined a species as “a reproductive
community of populations (reproductively isolated
The Modern Evolutionary Synthesis from others) that occupies a specific niche in nature”
and Its Legacy (Mayr 1982, 273). This definition, commonly referred
In the 1930s and 1940s, biologists and geneticists to as the Biological Species Concept, has been useful to
worked to formulate a new way of thinking about evo- field biologists studying populations of living organ-
lution that combined Darwinian natural selection and isms. However, this definition of species has been less
Mendelian ideas about heredity. Until recently, this ap- useful for scientists studying fossils. In fact, Fleagle notes
proach (called the “modern evolutionary synthesis” or that the Biological Species Concept has even been losing
“neo-Darwinism”) dominated research and thinking in favor among field biologists because “as more and more
biology. As we saw in Chapter 2, contemporary evolu- ‘species’ have been sampled genetically, it has become
tionary theorists have challenged, expanded, and en- clear that hybridization between presumed species has
riched this neo-Darwinian research program, much the been very common in primate evolution” (Fleagle 2013,
way the formulators of the modern synthesis had earlier 1; see also Stringer 2012, 34).
challenged, expanded, and enriched the contributions As we saw in Chapter 3, many taxonomists working
made by Darwin, Mendel, and other early evolution- with living primates prefer to use the Phylogenetic Species
ary thinkers. But some achievements of the modern Concept, which identifies species on the basis of a set of
synthesis remain fundamental to our understandings unique features (morphological or genetic) that distin-
of living organisms. In anthropology, perhaps the most guish their members from other, related species. Con-
significant contribution of neo-Darwinism was the way temporary paleoanthropologists also often rely on this
it undermined the nineteenth-century anthropological concept of species, as we saw in Chapter 4, although they
concept of “biological race,” refocusing attention on a also sometimes apply a Phenetic Fossil Species Concept.
new understanding of biological species. After World Users of the Phenetic Fossil Species Concept first attempt
War II, anthropologists like Sherwood Washburn re- to calculate the measurable morphological differences
jected the old, race-based physical anthropology of the between living species. They then assume that similar
nineteenth and early twentieth centuries and replaced degrees of morphological difference may also be used to
it with a “new physical anthropology” or “biologi- distinguish species in the fossil record. Fleagle observes
cal anthropology.” Research in biological anthropol- that this concept can be a useful way to sort fossils in a
ogy took for granted the common membership of all continuously changing lineage “in which the endpoints
human beings in a single species and addressed human may be very different but individual samples overlap”
variation using concepts and methods drawn from neo- (2013, 2).
Darwinism (Strum et al. 1999). Species normally are subdivided into populations
that are more or less scattered, although the separation
is not complete. That is, populations of the same spe-
cies (or individual members of those populations) may
be separated at one time, but may merge together again,
microevolution A subfield of evolutionary studies that devotes attention
to short-term evolutionary changes that occur within a given species over
and successfully reproduce, at a later time. Evolution-
relatively few generations of ecological time. ary theorists Ian Tattersall and Rob DeSalle describe this
macroevolution A subfield of evolutionary studies that focuses on long- process of species differentiation and reintegration as re-
term evolutionary changes, especially the origins of new species and their ticulation (Tattersall and DeSalle 2011, 50). They empha-
diversification across space and over millions of years of geological time.
size that reticulation takes place within species and that
species A distinct segment of an evolutionary lineage. Different biologists,
working with living and fossil organisms, have devised different criteria to the “resulting weblike pattern of relationships is very
identify boundaries between species. different from the dichotomous pattern among species”
IN THEIR OWN WORDS
Have We Ever Been Individuals?

Evolutionary biologists committed to the Modern Evolu- contribute to our digestive processes; others to the con-
tionary Synthesis, interested in carrying out microevolu- struction of our bodies; others to our brain function; still
tionary studies of natural selection on genes, have worked others keep our immune system operating properly. And
hard to clarify distinctions between species, populations these symbiotic relationships are ancient. As Chiu and
of a particular species, and organisms that belong to such Gilbert put it, “Development is a multi-species project.
populations. Now, the seemingly self-evident, taken-for- The mammalian body requires its symbionts; it is not
granted boundary distinguishing one individual organism constructed properly if it does not have them” (2015, 193).
from another is not looking so self-evident after all—even For these reasons, biologists suggest that the proper
among mammalian species, such as ourselves. Recent re- term to identify organisms such as ourselves is not “indi-
search is showing that it is incorrect to assume that each vidual” but rather “holobiont,” a label that acknowledges
biological individual (such as an individual human organ- the fact that each of us contains within ourselves multiple
ism) is also a genetic individual; that is, in possession of communities of symbionts of different species. Thinking
just a single genome. On the contrary, each human or- of organisms as holobionts reshapes the way we think
ganism contains within it multiple communities of dif- about not only our relation to other organisms but also
ferent species of microbes, each with its own separate the way we understand our own life cycles. In particular,
genomes, living with us in a mutually beneficial asso- Chiu and Gilbert argue that thinking of humans as ho-
ciation called symbiosis. Biologists Lynn Chiu and Scott lobionts reshapes our understanding of what happens
Gilbert explain that 90% of the cells in mammalian bodies when we reproduce. We can no longer consider human
belong to populations of different species of microbes reproduction to involve only a male individual and a
that affect a range of chemical processes supporting our female individual, whose individual genetic endowments
ongoing health and well-being. Some of these microbes are joined to produce an individual offspring. Rather, we
This scanning electron

micrograph shows some
of the bacteria living in
your mouth. Humans and
other animals have sym-
biotic relationships with
microbes that are integral
to various biological func-
tions such as digestion.

IN THEIR OWN WORDS
Have We Ever Been Individuals? Continued
need to reconceptualize human reproduction as “holobi- Rather, from the perspective of biological process, it be-
ont birth,” in which individual persons and their symbiotic comes clear that different symbionts provide different
communities are all involved. Thus, they write, “There is niches for one another over time; that symbionts there-
never an autonomous mammal. . . . Symbiosis is a neces- fore support the ongoing life processes of one another.
sary condition for continued life. From the symbiotic per- Even though each individual symbiont does not support
spective, birth is a transition from one symbiotic state to every other symbiont all of the time, the overall network
another. Remarkably, this transition appears to be medi- of interactions among all symbionts together supports
ated by the mother” (2015, 195). Indeed, they identify four and sustains the ongoing life process of the holobiont.
processes through which “the mother creates conditions And this has implications for how we understand
suitable for her own reproduction and the reproduction human reproduction. Rather than conceiving of the re-
of symbiotic microbes” (2015, 196): the physiology of lationship between father, mother, and offspring (or be-
the pregnant women, including hormone levels, modify tween their genes) as competition for limited resources,
populations of helpful microbes in her gut and vagina; the birth of the holobiont highlights the heterogeneous
the mother transfers helpful bacteria to her fetus during connections among host, symbionts, and offspring. As
gestation; further helpful bacteria are transferred to the Chiu and Gilbert conclude,
infant during vaginal birth; and additional helpful bacteria
are transferred to nursing infants via the mother’s milk. The past decade has brought about remarkable new dis-
Recognizing the symbiotic relationships that charac- coveries about relationships between and within organ-
terize holobionts cannot be missed unless biologists pay isms. One of the most revolutionary of these discoveries
close attention to developmental processes over time. In has been the importance of symbiotic signals used to
the case of holobiont birth, paying attention to processes build, maintain, and protect a holobiont. Developmen-
requires rethinking the relationship between the human tal symbiosis merges embryology and ecology in inter-
host and the multiple symbiotic communities of bacteria species webs of mutual and reciprocal communication.
that live within it. That is, it is incorrect to conceive of the Birth is seen not as the origin of a new individual, but as
host as a static, self-interested, independent “habitat” the perpetuation of these organizing webs of signals be-
colonized by static, self-interested, independent species. tween animals and microbes. (2015, 205)
on which the Phylogenetic Species Concept is based Finally, Darwinian population thinking requires bi-
(Tattersall and DeSalle 2011, 50). For example, prior to ologists to recognize the distinctiveness of each individ-
the rise of the great ancient civilizations, the human spe- ual organism that belongs to a particular population of a
cies was made up of widely scattered populations. Those given species. It is variation among individual organisms
populations living in North America had been separated in particular populations, in particular environmental
from populations in Europe for thousands of years, until circumstances, that engenders the Darwinian struggle for
the European explorations of the Americas began in the existence. To follow arguments made by e volutionary bi-
fifteenth century. However, when Europeans and the ologists, therefore, these three nesting concepts—species
native peoples of North America did come into contact, made up of populations made up of organisms—must be
they were able to interbreed and produce viable, fertile kept distinct from one another. It is also important to
offspring. From the perspective of the Biological Species remember that even if individual organisms from popu-
Concept, this ability to interbreed and produce fertile lations of different species occasionally mate with one
offspring indicates that members of these different popu- another, such matings do not necessarily dissolve the
lations belong to the same reproductive community and species boundary. For instance, horses and donkeys can
hence the same species. Proponents of the Phylogenetic interbreed to produce mules, but mules are infertile, so
Species Concept can specify the set of unique features the species boundary between horses and donkeys is un-
that distinguish all successfully interbreeding popula- affected by these matings.
tions of the human species from populations of other, Neo-Darwinians were also concerned about the ge-
related species. netic makeup of species. They introduced the concept
TABLE 5.1 Example of Allele Frequency Computation
Imagine you have just collected information on MN blood group genotypes for 250 humans in a given population. Your
data are as follows:
Number of MM genotype = 40
Number of MN genotype = 120
Number of NN genotype = 90
The allele frequencies are computed as follows:
NUMBER OF TOTAL NUMBER

GENOTYPE PEOPLE OF ALLELES NUMBER OF M ALLELES NUMBER OF N ALLELES
MM 40 8 0 8 0 0
MN 120 240 120 120
NN 90 180 0 180
Total 250 500 200 300
The relative frequency of the M allele is computed as the number of M alleles divided by the total number of alleles:
200/500 = 0.4.
The relative frequency of the N allele is computed as the number of N alleles divided by the total number of alleles:
300/500 = 0.6.
As a check, note that the relative frequencies of the alleles must add up to 1.0 (0.4 + 0.6 = 1.0).
Source: Relethford 1996, 66.
of the gene pool, which includes all of the genes in the polymorphic alleles A, B, and O are found in all human
bodies of all members of a given species (or a population populations, but the frequency of each allele differs from
of a species). Using mathematical models, evolutionary population to population. The second group, private poly-
theorists can estimate the gene frequency of particular morphisms, includes alleles that are found in the genotypes
genes—that is, the frequency of occurrence of gene vari- of some, but usually not all, members of a particular pop-
ants or alleles within a particular gene pool. Measuring ulation. One example is a genetically determined blood
the stability or change of gene frequencies in popula- cell antigen known as the “Diego antigen.” The Diego an-
tions over time allowed geneticists to trace short-term tigen occurs only in Asian and African populations, but
evolutionary change in a new field called population 60 to 90% of the members of the populations where it
genetics. Once population geneticists had identified a is found do not have it (Marks 1995, 165). This work
target population, they analyzed its gene pool by cal- leads to the inescapable conclusion that the traditional
culating the frequencies of various alleles within that Western concept of “race” makes no sense in terms of
gene pool and trying to figure out what would happen genetics. Racial thinking is essentialistic. However, evo-
to those frequencies if the carriers of the various al- lutionary geneticist Richard Lewontin demonstrated
leles were subjected to particular selection pressures more than four decades ago that more genetic variation
(Table 5.1). Some evolutionary geneticists tested these could be found within conventionally identified racial
predictions on such organisms as fruit flies, but others groups than could be found between them (Lewontin
concentrated on human beings. 1972). These results, based on population thinking,
The ability of human beings from anywhere in the make it clear that “humankind . . . is not divided into a
world to interbreed successfully is one measure of mem- series of genetically distinct units” (Jones 1986, 324). Ian
bership in a single species. Comparing our genotypes Tattersall and Rob DeSalle (2011) point out that Lewon-
provides additional evidence of our biological close- tin’s claims have successfully withstood attempts to reject
ness. As we have seen, most alleles come in a range of
different forms (i.e., are polymorphous), and known
polymorphous variants fall into one of two groups. The gene pool All the genes in the bodies of all members of a given species
(or a population of a species).
first group, polymorphic alleles, accounts for most genetic
gene frequency The frequency of occurrence of the variants of particular
variation across populations. Populations differ not be- genes (i.e., of alleles) within the gene pool.
cause they have mutually exclusive sets of alleles but population genetics A field that uses statistical analysis to study
because they possess different proportions of the same short-term evolutionary change in large populations.
set of alleles. An example is the ABO blood groups: the polymorphous Describes alleles that come in a range of different forms.
them experimentally for more than forty years (141). Evidence for this gradual geographical intergrada-
This means that the boundaries said to define human tion of human phenotypes led biological anthropologist
races have been culturally imposed in shifting and un- Frank Livingstone (1964) to declare more than 40 years
stable clusters of alleles (Marks 1995, 117). ago that “There are no races, there are only clines” (279).
It turns out that genetic variation in human popu- Clinal variation explains why people searching for
lations is mostly a matter of differences in the relative “races” have never been able to agree on how many there
proportions of the same sets of alleles. In fact, the dis- are or how they can be identified. Clines are not groups.
tribution of particular phenotypes shifts gradually from The only group involved in clinal mapping is the entire
place to place across populations as the frequencies of human species. Each cline is a map of the distribution
some alleles increase, whereas those of others decrease of a single trait. Why not, therefore, superimpose a grid
or stay the same. Moreover, the distributions of some over a particular geographical region, and then sample
traits (like skin color) do not match the distributions of individuals randomly from the grid squares? As Peter
other traits (like hair type). Such a pattern of gradually Wade and his colleagues point out, “Starting with a grid
shifting frequency of a phenotypic trait from popula- tends to produce gradients or clines of gradual variation
tion to population across geographic space is called a and reduces the impression of located genetic popula-
cline. Clines can be represented on maps such as that tions; the absence of boundaries suggests the continuous
presented later in Figure 5.4, which shows the gradually movement and biological mixture of peoples between
shifting distribution of differences in human skin color populations” (2014, 23). Although many people may
from the equator to the poles. think that human population movement and mixture is
Phenotypic contrasts are greatest when people from relatively recent, studies of ancient DNA are now sug-
very different places are brought together and compared, gesting that human populations have been moving and
while ignoring the populations that connect them (Marks mixing with one another for hundreds of thousands
1995, 161). This is what happened when Europeans ar- of years, if not longer (Bolnick et al. 2016, 328). And
rived in the New World, conquered the indigenous peo- modern clinal mapping reveals similar patterns of move-
ples, and imported slaves from Africa to work on their ment and mixture.
plantations. But if you were to walk from Stockholm, Biologists might compare the clinal maps of trait A
Sweden, to Cape Town, South Africa (or from Singapore and trait B to see if they overlap and, if so, by how much.
to Beijing, China), you would perceive gradual changes But the more clines they superimpose, the more obvious
in average skin color as you moved from north to south it becomes that the trait distributions they map do not co-
(or vice versa). Evolutionary biologists argue that skin incide in ways that neatly subdivide into distinct human
pigmentation is distributed in this way as a consequence subpopulations; that is, clinal distributions are not con-
of natural selection: individuals in tropical populations cordant. Since the biological concept of “race” predicts
with darker skin pigmentation had a selective advantage exactly such overlap, or concordance, it cannot be cor-
in equatorial habitats over individuals with light pig- rect. In other words, clinal analysis tests the biological con-
mentation. By contrast, populations farther away from cept of “race” and finds nothing in nature to match it. And
the equator faced less intense selection pressure for if biological races cannot be found, then the so-called
darkly pigmented skin and perhaps even selective pres- races identified over the years can only be symbolic con-
sures in favor of lighter skins. But different selection pres- structs, based on cultural elaboration of a few superficial
sures would have been at work on other traits, such as phenotypic differences—skin color, hair type and quan-
stature or hair type, within the same population, which is tity, skin folds, lip shape, and the like. In short, early race
why the geographical distributions of these traits do not theorists “weren’t extracting races from their set of data,
match up neatly with the distribution of skin pigmenta- they were imposing races upon it” (Marks 1995, 132).
tion. To make things even more complex, different genes
may be involved in the production of similar phenotypic
traits in different populations: for example, although dif- The Molecularization of Race?
ferent ancestral populations of humans living near the During the 1960s and 1970s, anthropologists and others
equator have dark skin, the identity and the number of explained that there was no biological basis for race; in
alleles involved in the production of this phenotypic trait other words, all humans are part of a single species. Al-
may be different in different populations. though there is internal variation within the species, it
does not easily fall into the cultural categories of “race”
as they had developed in the United States. In the past
cline A pattern of gradually shifting frequency of a phenotypic trait from thirty years, however, we have witnessed in the United
population to population across geographic space. States and elsewhere a resurgence of attempts to explain
group differences in terms of race. Sometimes it is the people said to be members of a particular “race,” then
powerful who engage in such practices, in controversial this may be an indication that other people classified in
books such as The Bell Curve (Herrnstein and Murray the same “race” might also be at risk for the disease.
1994). Sometimes, however, it is members of politically Does this pragmatic use of race in medical research
and economically marginalized groups who do so, as a mean that the researchers are committed to the doctrines
calculated move in political struggles with those who associated with scientific racism? Abu El-Haj (2007,
dominate them. 284) says no, for two reasons. First, the old race concept
Perhaps no more complicated set of questions has focused on the classification of phenotypes, whereas the
been raised about race in the twenty-first century than new race concept classifies genotypes. The transition from
those that have emerged following the completion of the a phenotypic to a genotypic view of race came about,
Human Genome Project (HGP) in 2003. The goals of she says, as a consequence of changing historical under-
the project were as follows: standings of sickle-cell disease in the United States. In
the first part of the twentieth century, sickle-cell anemia
• to identify all the approximately 20,000–25,000
was identified as a disease of “black” people—of African
genes in human DNA
Americans. But later, as we will shortly discuss, research
• to determine the sequences of the 3 billion chemical
in population genetics traced its cause to molecular
base pairs that make up human DNA genes: the presence of an abnormal “sickling” hemoglo-
• to store this information in databases bin allele at a particular locus on a chromosome. “At the
• to improve tools for data analysis meeting point between these two definitions of the dis-
• to transfer related technologies to the private sector ease . . . the commitment to race as a molecular attribute
took form,” leading over time to “the correlation of dis-
• to address the ethical, legal, and social issues that
ease risk and racial difference” (Abu El-Haj 2007, 287).
may arise from the project (http://www.ornl.gov/sci/
Second, nineteenth-century race science aimed to
techresources/Human_Genome/home.shtml)
discover how many races existed and to assign all indi-
As anthropologist Nadia Abu El-Haj (2007) has shown, viduals to their “true race.” The commercial technolo-
some molecular biologists quickly mobilized the in- gies used by biomedical researchers regularly distinguish
formation produced by the HGP to attempt to develop human populations in terms of the continents from
forms of medical treatment based on the identifica- which their ancestors presumably came. But all these
tion of genes associated with particular diseases. Some technologies assume that everyone has a mixed ances-
formed private biomedical research companies that try of some kind; the goal is to measure how much of
promised to help create a future of personalized medicine: which ancestry markers are present in each population,
therapies based on knowledge of individuals’ genomes thereby determining the degree of risk that members of
that were precisely tailored to a particular individual’s that population face for genetic diseases associated with
degree of genetic risk for a particular disease. particular ancestries. As Abu El-Haj (2007) says, ancestry
In recent years the cost of sequencing individual ge- markers “are not used to discover one’s ‘true’ race. . . . In-
nomes has been dropping; Tattersall and DeSalle predict stead, ancestry markers are used, for example, to under-
that “with the $1000 genome on the horizon, we will stand the Puerto Rican population’s risk for asthma”
soon have the ultimate tool for individualized medicine” (288). That is, if genome analysis determined that some
(2011, 184). However, the cost has been high enough ancestral population contributed genes to contemporary
that many researchers have used genetic data from other Puerto Rican populations that enhanced their risk for
members of populations to which individuals belong developing asthma, this information would be crucial in
as a surrogate, or stand-in, for an individual’s particu- devising personalized drugs precisely keyed to individu-
lar genome. For example, if your mother’s brother suf- als with different risks for asthma.
fers from a particular disease with a genetic component, Third, Abu El-Haj (and others) have pointed out
researchers may conclude that you and other biological that many African Americans view medical research
relatives have an increased risk for that disease. That is, and drug trials in which they are involved to be noth-
your biological family becomes a surrogate, or stand-in, ing less than a form of long-overdue biomedical justice.
for genetic risk factors that potentially are faced by indi- Anthropologist John Hartigan recently reviewed studies
vidual family members. As Abu El-Haj explains, some showing that, starting in the 1980s, the U.S. government
biomedical researchers in the United States use “racial” began to respond to pressure from racial minorities pro-
groups as surrogates for individuals who consider them- testing the fact that most medical research focused on
selves members of such groups. The thinking is that if a white males only. The exclusion of groups like African
genetic disease marker shows up in the genomes of some Americans in such research, however, was the result of
“reforms in the 1970s to counter researchers’ excessive Not understanding the reasons for the difference
reliance on ‘vulnerable populations’ such as women and in treatment effect by race did not justify withholding
prisoners” (Hartigan 2013, 9–10). One notorious example the treatment from those who could benefit from
was African Americans’ past participation in the Tuskegee it. . . . Race or ethnicity is clearly a highly imperfect
Study of Untreated Syphilis in the Negro Male, conducted description of the genomic and other physiological
between 1932 and 1972. According to the website for characteristics that cause people to differ, but it can
be a useful proxy for those characteristics until the
the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (http://
pathophysiological bases for observed racial differ-
www.cdc.gov/tuskegee/timeline.htm), a review panel set
ences are better understood. (http://www.bidil.com/
up in 1972 found that participants in this study
pnt/questions.php#9)
had agreed freely to be examined and treated. How- As these excerpts show, neither NitroMed nor the FDA
ever, there was no evidence that researchers had in- endorsed nineteenth-century American racial categories.
formed them of the study or its real purpose. In fact, They emphasized that the drug trial showing the effec-
the men had been misled and had not been given all tiveness of BiDil involved only “self-identified” African
the facts required to provide informed consent.
American subjects, which the FDA agrees is a “highly
The men were never given adequate treatment for
imperfect” but “useful proxy” for whatever factors are
their disease. Even when penicillin became the drug
responsible for the observed “racial differences.” How-
of choice for syphilis in 1947, researchers did not
offer it to the subjects. The advisory panel found
ever, BiDil quickly became the center of a controversy
nothing to show that subjects were ever given the that ended in commercial failure for NitroMed in 2008.
choice of quitting the study, even when this new, In 2011 BiDil was purchased by Arbor Pharmaceuti-
highly effective treatment became widely used. cals, which was still marketing the drug in March 2014
(http://bidil.com/coupon/).
All these matters come together in the contentious Ann Pollock, who provides a detailed analysis of
and much-analyzed example of BiDil, a medication de- the BiDil controversy, points out that none of those
signed to treat African Americans suffering from heart dis- involved disputed BiDil’s efficacy: it worked. Rather,
ease. On its website (which has since been taken down), the challenge was to bring the drug to market in a way
NitroMed, the original manufacturer of BiDil, described that would simultaneously address the needs of differ-
this drug as “a fixed-dose combination medicine consistent stakeholders with an interest in African American
ing of isosorbide dinitrate and hydralazine hydrochlo- heart failure. That is, the FDA, NitroMed, and the As-
ride. It is approved by the FDA for the treatment of heart sociation of Black Cardiologists (ABC) (who carried out
failure in self-identified African American patients when the original A-HeFT trials) shared “an interest in health
added to standard heart failure medicines” (http://www disparities, the deluge of data around African American
.bidil.com/pnt/questions.php#1). FDA approval, the responses to ACE inhibitors, and the increasing capacity
site reported, was based on the results of the African- of African American cardiologists to do clinical trials”
American Heart Failure Trail (or A-HeFT), which “stud- (Pollock 2012, 162). In Pollock’s view,
ied 10,050 self-identified African American patients with
heart failure: It is the largest number of African American In the lead-up to BiDil, there was alignment of inter-
patients ever studied in a major heart failure trial. . . . ests by NitroMed and ABC, but they were not neces-
A-HeFT was started on May 29, 2001, and the study was sarily seeing BiDil as a solution to the same problem.
halted early in July 2004 due to a significant survival For NitroMed, the principal problem was how to get
benefit seen with BiDil as compared to standard therapy approval for the drug combination in a way that would
alone” (http://www.bidil.com/pnt/questions.php#2). be profitable. . . . For ABC, the problem was and is
The original BiDil website also listed a series of more diffuse: how to get the funding to run trials and
thus participate in the production of evidence-based
“common questions” people ask about BiDil, including the
medicine, and how to find solutions for black morbid-
following: “What about claims that BiDil is a ‘race drug’?”
ity and mortality from heart failure. (2012, 162–63)
The site’s answer included the following excerpt from a
The current situation is perplexing, to say the
2007 article by the FDA doctors who approved the drug: least: such notions as race and “genetics” and “biol-
Only African American patients were studied in ogy” are still with us, but their meanings appear to
A-HeFT, so the FDA approval for BiDil is for “self- have changed, producing consequences that seem to
identified African American patients with heart be both positive and negative. Some observers sus-
failure” only. There is insufficient clinical trial data to pect that this kind of research will only give the older
draw any conclusions about the effects of BiDil in racial classifications a new lease on life (see In Their
other populations. . . . Own Words, page 153). John Hartigan (2013) argues,
however, that although biomedical research of this multiple levels of analysis has direct and indirect ef-
kind “seems to affirm that ‘biological differences’ are fects on health” (33). If we argue that “race is not bi-
a more powerful explanation for health disparities ology,” however, and equate biology with genetics, we
than are social factors,” the situation is better under- blind ourselves “to the biological consequences of race
stood as “the outcome of various ways in which and racism,” leaving ourselves “without a constructive
people struggle to contend with the significance of framework for explaining biological differences between
race in multiple social and biological registers simul-
racially defined groups” (Gravlee 2013, 34).
taneously, often in contradictory manners.” (10)
Gravlee’s (2013) approach brings together what an-
One way to disentangle these matters may be to follow thropologists have learned about “race”: first, race does
the suggestion of anthropologist Clarence Gravlee and ex- not line up with patterns of genetic variation in human
amine more closely a widespread tendency, found among populations; second, race is a sociocultural and historical
medical researchers and ordinary citizens alike, to equate construct that shapes the circumstances of people’s lives;
genetics with biology in discussions of race and disease. and third, awareness of the consequences for health of
Gravlee rightly points out that everyone agrees that race living under racist conditions constitutes “a mandate for
cannot be defined in terms of genetics, as we saw pre- ethnographic research on the social reality of race and
viously. And anthropologists and other social scientists racism . . . to identify . . . the experiences and exposures
are also well aware of the sociocultural and historical fac- that shape the emergence and persistence of racial in-
tors in the United States and elsewhere that have created equalities in health” (41).
the conditions of racism with which African Americans Gravlee and his colleagues used this approach
and other nonwhite groups must contend. However, “the to carry out research in Puerto Rico, attempting to ex-
claim that race is not biology unwittingly perpetuates plain why darker skin pigmentation was associated with
genetic determinism because it tacitly reduces biology higher blood pressure. They discovered that skin color
to genetics. The more we appreciate the complexity of had two dimensions that needed to be distinguished:
human biology beyond the genome, the sooner we can “the phenotype of skin pigmentation and the cultural
explain how race becomes biology through the embodi- significance of skin color as a criterion of social status”
ment of social inequality” (Gravlee 2013, 22). (Gravlee 2013, 38). Measurement of skin pigmentation
Gravlee (2013) reminds us that many discussions of was carried out using the method of reflectance spec-
possible links between race and genetics use “the concept trometry, which reliably estimates the concentration of
of biology and genetics interchangeably, often p itting melanin in the skin. Measurement of the cultural rela-
these concepts against socioeconomic factors. . . . The tionship between skin color and social status required
implication is that the mere observation of biological ethnographic methods. This “biocultural” (or “bioso-
differences is sufficient evidence of a genetic one” (30). cial”) approach revealed that Puerto Ricans with darker
Instead, he argues, we need to stop using biology as a skins and higher socioeconomic status actually experi-
synonym for genetics and “to pay as much attention to enced higher blood pressure than other Puerto Ricans.
the meaning of biology as we have paid to the mean- This was interpreted as resulting from the fact that
ing of race” (32). Since the deciphering of the human such individuals were likely to experience more intense
genome, scientists are increasingly learning that many racism as their social status increased, thereby producing
factors other than genes contribute to disease. At the increasingly frustrating social interactions that contrib-
same time, biological theorists have begun to pay closer uted to higher blood pressure (Gravlee 2013, 38). When
attention to the factors that affect the health of develop- Gravlee (2013) and his colleagues later included genetic-
ing organisms throughout their life course. As we saw based estimates of African ancestry, they found that
earlier, renewed attention is being paid to phenotypic
adding sociocultural data to the model revealed a statis
plasticity, a phenomenon, Gravlee reminds us, that Boas
tically significant association between blood pressure
was insightfully investigating a century ago.
and a particular candidate gene for h
ypertension—an as-
These considerations have led Gravlee to develop a
sociation that was not evident in the analysis includ-
model of the phenotype that pays attention to a hierar- ing only African ancestry and standard risk factors. This
chy of causal influences that shape it over time. As a de- finding suggests that taking culture seriously may both
veloping organism encounters these influences (which clarify the biological consequences of social i nequalities
may have individual, cultural, or historical sources), the and empower future genetic association studies. (39)
organism’s responses become embodied in the organ-
ism’s physiology in ways that shape the biological func- Biocultural or biosocial approaches like that of
tioning of individual human bodies. “Most relevant,” Gravlee and his colleagues demonstrate, in the words of
Gravlee (2013) writes, “is the evidence that racism at Greg Downey and Daniel Lende, how “social differences
can become biology because they shape the emerging flow, and genetic drift. Chance plays a role in each. The
nervous system” (2012, 31). As Downey and Lende ex- occurrence of a mutation is random, and there is no guar-
plain, “the predominant reason that culture becomes antee that a useful mutation will occur when it is needed;
embodied . . . is that neuroanatomy inherently makes many mutations are neutral, neither helping nor harming
experience material” (2012, 37). Ultimately, they con- the organisms in which they occur. Nor is there any way
clude, “The material environment, both natural and arti- to predict the factors that make population migrations
ficial, provides structure and information to the growing possible or to foresee the natural accidents that diminish
organism while being incorporated with its inherited populations. Unpredictable changes in the environment
biological legacy” (2012, 44). can modify the selection pressures on a given popula-
tion, affecting its genetic makeup. Moreover, as we saw in
Chapter 2, niche construction—the enduring consequences
The Four Evolutionary Processes of efforts organisms make to modify the environments in
What controls the patterns of gene frequencies that char- which they live—can sometimes alter the selection pres-
acterize a given population? As we have seen, n atural sures they, their descendants, and other neighboring or-
selection among variant traits is responsible for evolu- ganisms experience in those environments. As we shall
tionary changes in organisms, and mutation is the ulti- see, control of fire and the invention of clothing made it
mate (and constant) source of new variation. These two possible for early humans to colonize cold environments
important evolutionary processes shape the histories of that were inaccessible to earlier ancestors, who lacked
living organisms; however, they are not the only pro- these cultural skills. Niche construction of this kind buf-
cesses in the natural world that can alter gene frequencies. fers us from experiencing some selection pressures, but it
Most genetic variation results from mixing already simultaneously exposes us to others.
existing alleles into new combinations. This variation Today, many biologists and anthropologists agree
is the natural result of chromosomal recombination in that the most intense selection pressures our species faces
sexually reproducing species. However, gene frequen- come from disease organisms that target our immune sys-
cies can be drastically altered if a given population tems and from human-made environmental threats, such
experiences a sudden expansion resulting from the in- as pollution and the ozone hole (Farmer 2003; Leslie and
migration of outsiders from another population of the Little 2003). Evidence that microorganisms are a major
species, which is called gene flow. A population that predatory danger to humans comes from research on the
is unaffected by mutation or gene flow can still un- connection between infectious diseases and polymorphic
dergo genetic drift—random changes in gene frequen- blood groups (i.e., blood groups that have two or more
cies from one generation to the next. Genetic drift may genetic variants within a population). Biological anthro-
have little effect on the gene frequencies of large, stable pologists James Mielke, Lyle Konigsberg, and John Rele-
populations, but it can have a dramatic impact on popu- thford (2011) point out, for example, that the diseases
lations that are suddenly reduced in size by disease or human beings have suffered from have not always been
disaster (the bottleneck effect) or on small subgroups that the same. When our ancestors were living in small forag-
establish themselves apart from a larger population (the ing bands, they were susceptible to chronic parasitic in-
founder effect). Both of these effects accidentally elimi- fections, such as pinworms, or diseases transmitted from
nate large numbers of alleles. animals. After the domestication of plants and animals,
Therefore, modern evolutionists recognize four evo- however, human diets changed, settled life in towns and
lutionary processes: mutation, natural selection, gene cities increased, and sanitation worsened. Populations
expanded, individuals had more frequent contact with
one another, and the stage was set for the rise and spread
natural selection A two-step, mechanistic explanation of how descent
of endemic diseases (i.e., diseases particular to a popula-
with modification takes place: (1) every generation, variant individuals are
generated within a species as a result of genetic mutation, and (2) those vari- tion) that could persist in a population without repeated
ant individuals best suited to the current environment survive and produce introduction from elsewhere. As a result,
more offspring than other variants.
mutation The creation of a new allele for a gene when the portion of the the increase in endemic diseases started to apply se-
DNA molecule to which it corresponds is suddenly altered. lective pressures that were different from those exerted
gene flow The exchange of genes that occurs when a given population by chronic diseases. These diseases usually select indi-
experiences a sudden expansion caused by in-migration of outsiders from viduals out of the population before they reach repro-
another population of the species.
ductive age. Differential mortality (natural selection)
genetic drift Random changes in gene frequencies from one generation
based on genetic variation in the blood types would
to the next caused by a sudden reduction in population size as a result of
disaster, disease, or the out-migration of a small subgroup from a larger be expected to influence genetic polymorphisms. Thus
population. recurrent epidemics of diseases such as smallpox,
IN THEIR OWN WORDS
DNA Tests Find Branches but Few Roots
The ambiguities surrounding the molecularization two or three only 6 years ago. The field is so hot that pri-
of race in biomedicine also show up in some vate equity investors have moved in: Spectrum Equity
genetics researchers’ efforts to use DNA testing Investors recently bought Ancestry.com, an online genea-
to trace “racial” ancestry. In 2007, journalist Ron logical site, for about $300 million shortly after the site
Nixon reported in the New York Times about the added genetic testing as a service.
But as the number of test takers and companies has
growth of private companies that will trace genetic
grown, so has the number of scientists or scholars like
ancestry for their clients, sometimes for a hefty fee.
Mr. Gates who have questioned assertions that compa-
nies make about their tests. One of the most controversial
issues is the ability of the tests to determine the coun-
Henry Louis Gates, Jr., whose PBS special African American
try or the ethnic group of origin for African Americans or
Lives explores the ancestry of famous African Americans
Native Americans.
using DNA testing, has done more than anyone to help
Mr. Gates, director of the W. E. B. Dubois Institute
popularize such tests and companies that offer them. But
for African and African American Research at Harvard,
recently this Harvard professor has become one of the in-
said his experience and similar stories from others have
dustry’s critics.
prompted him to enter the field.
Mr. Gates says his concerns date back to 2000, when a
Mr. Gates recently teamed up with Family Tree DNA,
company told him his maternal ancestry could most likely
a DNA testing and genealogy firm in Houston, to provide
be traced back to Egypt, probably to the Nubian ethnic
genetic testing and genealogy work for African Americans.
group. Five years later, however, a test by a second com-
The new venture is called AfricanDNA.
pany startled him. It concluded that his maternal ancestors
“What we hope to do is combine this with genealogi-
were not Nubian or even African, but most likely European.
cal and other records to try to help people discover their
Why the completely different results? Mr. Gates said
roots,” he said. “The limitations of current genetic DNA
that the first company never told him he had multiple
tests mean you can’t rely on this alone to tell you any-
genetic matches, most of them in Europe. “They told me
thing. We hope to bring a little order to the field.”
what they thought I wanted to hear,” Mr. Gates said.
In an editorial in Science magazine in October [2007], a
An estimated 460,000 people have taken genetic tests
number of scientists and scholars said companies might
to determine their ancestry or to expand their known
not be fully explaining the limitations of genetic testing, or
family trees, according to Science magazine. Census re-
what results actually mean.
cords, birth and death certificates, ship manifests, slave
The authors said that limited information in the data-
narratives, and other documents have become easier to
bases used to compare DNA results might lead people to
find through the Internet, making the hunt for family his-
draw the wrong conclusions or to misinterpret results. The
tory less daunting than in years past.
tests trace only a few of a customer’s ancestors and cannot
Yet for many, the paper or digital trail eventually ends.
tell exactly where ancestors might have lived, or the spe-
And for those who have reached that point, genetic DNA
cific ethnic group to which they might have belonged. And
tests may help to provide the final piece of the puzzle.
the databases of many companies are not only small—
The expectations and reasons for taking the test vary.
they’re also proprietary, making it hard to verify results.
For some, the test allows them to reconnect with African
“My concern is that the marketing is coming before
ancestors after centuries of slavery wiped out links be-
the science,” said Troy Duster, a professor of sociology at
tween African Americans and their forebears. Others want
New York University who was an advisor on the Human
to see if they have links to historical figures like Genghis
Genome Project and an author of the Science editorial.
Khan or Marie Antoinette. For still others, it’s an attempt
“People are making life-changing decisions based on
to fill gaps in family histories and find distant cousins they
these tests and may not be aware of the limitations,” he
might not otherwise have known.
added. “While I don’t think any of the companies are delib-
The demand has spawned an industry. Almost two
erately misleading customers, they may have a financial
dozen companies now offer such services, up from just
incentive to tell people what they want to hear.”

IN THEIR OWN WORDS
DNA Tests Find Branches but Few Roots Continued
Bennett Greenspan, founder and president of Family He found that most African Americans had genetic simi-
Tree DNA, said his company sometimes has to tell clients larities to numerous ethnic groups in Africa, making it im-
just the opposite. “We’ll have people who may think that possible to match African Americans with a single ethnic
they have a certain type of ancestry and we’ll tell them group, as some companies assert they can do.
based on the test they are not,” he said. “I can only tell Mr. Ely also published a paper in which he tried to de-
them what the tests show, nothing more. And sometimes termine whether the country of origin of native Africans
it’s not what they want to hear.” could be found by using mitochondrial DNA tests. Sev-
eral of the Africans in the study matched multiple ethnic
Nixon explains that the tests can analyze either groups. For example, DNA results for a person from
mitochondrial DNA, which is passed on only by Ghana provided genetic matches with people in 20 African
females to their male and female offspring, or the countries. . . .
Y chromosome, which is passed on only to males. It’s not that the tests are wrong, scientists say. Most
He reviews the practices of several different companies use the same statistical methods and, in some
companies and the mixed experiences of different cases, the same labs to extract DNA from samples. But
customers. He then continues: Even some early even the largest databases have only a few thousand
proponents of DNA testing for ancestry have records in them, and some areas and populations are
doubts about how useful the tests are. sampled more than others. Most companies get data
from information published in publicly available research
Bert Ely, a geneticist at the University of South papers; few collect samples themselves. Scientists em-
Carolina, was a cofounder of the African American DNA phasize that much of this data was gathered for other
Roots Project in 2000, hoping to use DNA tests as a way to purposes and was never intended to be used for personal
find connections between African Americans and ethnic genealogical testing.
groups in Africa. For their part, testing companies say they continually
“I originally thought that the mitochondrial DNA test update their databases to get a larger number of samples.
might be a good way for African Americans to trace their As part of the reporting for this article, I [Mr. Nixon]
country of origin,” Mr. Ely said. “Now I’m coming to the op- decided to submit my own samples for a mitochondrial
posite conclusion.” DNA test. Roots had left an impression on me. . . . Like
[Mr. Ely] matched the DNA sequences of 170 African most African Americans, I longed to know where I came
Americans against those of 3,725 people living in Africa. from. Could tests tell me? . . . 
At a 2007 reunion for

descendants of slaves of
James Madison, Dr. Bruce
Jackson, director of
the African American
DNA Roots Project
at the U
niversity of
Massachusetts, collects
a DNA sample from
Dr. Gladys Marie Fry
of Washington, DC.
IN THEIR OWN WORDS
Six weeks after I submitted the first samples, the re- I once thought that my ancestors, like those of most
sults started to roll in. Every company told me that my African Americans, would have come from West Africa.
mother’s female ancestors were all African. But after that But some of the results showed links to regions that I
things got murky. had thought weren’t engaged in the slave trade with the
African Ancestry said my DNA was a match with that of United States—like Mozambique. But then a search of the
the Mende and Kru people from Liberia. Family Tree DNA’s TransAtlantic Slave Trade database, which was compiled
database showed a match with one person who was from slave ship records, showed that some Africans from
Mende. But my DNA also matched that of several other Mozambique did indeed end up in the United States. So
groups, like the Songhai in Mali, and various ethnic groups maybe the Mozambique results were possible.
in Mozambique and Angola. Other peoples cited were the The companies also offered technical support to un-
Fula-Fula (also known as the Fulani), who live in eight Afri- derstand the results, and I spent considerable time trying
can nations, and the Bambara, who are primarily in Mali. to make sense of them. I learned a lot about how they
Why so many? “We try to be brutally honest and give reached conclusions, but not much about where I or my
you everything the test results show,” said Mr. Greenspan ancestors ultimately came from.
of Family Tree DNA. “If there are multiple matches, we’re “What this all means is that you can’t take one of these
going to show you that.” tests and go off and say you’re this and that,” Mr. Gates
Mr. Ely’s African American DNA Roots Project, which said. “Somewhere down the road, the results could
examined DNA sequences that other companies provided change and you might have another group of p eople who
to me, confirmed many matches from Family Tree DNA might also be your genetic cousins.”
and African Ancestry, but added additional ethnic groups.
DNA Tribes, whose test shows DNA results from a combi-
Sandra Jamison contributed reporting.
nation of genetic material from both parents, added even
more ethnic matches. Source: New York Times, Sunday, November 25, 2007, BU 1,7.
cholera, plague, and measles, which swept through the probable effects of inbreeding and outbreeding on
continents, undoubtedly contributed to the shaping of a population’s gene pool. Inbreeding tends to increase
the genetic landscape. (Mielke et al. 2011, 105–06) the proportion of homozygous combinations of alleles
already present in a population. If some of these alleles
Several evolutionary processes may affect a popula-
are harmful in a double dose, inbreeding increases the
tion at the same time. For example, a rare, helpful allele
(say, one that increased resistance to a disease like malaria) probability that a double dose will occur in future gen-
might appear in a population through mutation. If ma- erations and thus decrease fitness. If helpful combina-
laria were an environmental threat to that population, we tions of alleles occur in an inbreeding population, their
would expect natural selection to increase the frequency proportions can increase in a similar way.
of this new allele. But suppose a natural disaster like an At the same time, inbreeding over several genera-
earthquake struck the population and many people died. tions tends to reduce genetic variation. Natural selection
If the new allele were still very rare, it might be completely on genes has a better chance of shaping organisms to
lost if its few carriers were among those who perished (ge- changed environments if it has a wider range of genetic
netic drift). Alternatively, the frequency of a harmful new variation to act on. Perhaps for this reason, mating with
allele might increase in subsequent generations if its car- individuals from outgroups is widely observed in the
riers survived such a disaster and if they introduced the animal kingdom. Monkeys and apes, for example, regu-
new allele into a larger population through inbreeding larly transfer into a new social group before they begin
(gene flow). Niche construction could also be implicated to reproduce (Figure 5.1). Human beings ordinarily do
if, for example, gene flow were enabled or intensified as the same thing, except that our reproductive practices are
a result of persisting, environment-modifying activities of shaped by culture; people in different societies draw the
the populations exchanging genes. boundaries around in-groups and out-groups differently.
Measuring the interaction among these evolution- In one society, the children of brothers and sisters may
ary processes allows population geneticists to predict be considered members of the same family and, thus, off
FIGURE 5.1 Monkeys and apes

regularly transfer into a new social
group before they reproduce.
limits for marriage; in another, they may be considered African populations have interbred considerably since
members of different “families” and, thus, ideal mar- Europeans brought the first Africans to the New World
riage partners. However, cultural rules forbidding incest, as slaves. Similar processes have mixed the genes of these
or sexual relations with close kin, do not always succeed and other in-migrating populations with the genes of
in preventing such relations from occurring. indigenous American populations. These are examples
Table 5.2 summarizes the effects of the four stan- of gene flow among populations of a single species that
dard evolutionary processes on gene frequencies within had experienced relative isolation in the past but that
and between populations. continued to exchange enough genes often enough with
neighboring populations to prevent speciation.
Accidents of geography and history had allowed for
Microevolution and Patterns relative isolation between these populations prior to the
of Human Variation European voyages of exploration in the fifteenth cen-
Gene Flow As we have seen, phenotypic variation in tury. From the fifteenth century on, similar chance fac-
different human populations does not require different tors brought them together. Moreover, the way in which
alleles for different populations; rather, the variation we reproductive isolation ended was powerfully shaped by
find mostly involves differences in the proportions of the social and cultural forces that brought Europeans to
the same sets of alleles common to the human species the New World in the first place, structured their rela-
as a whole. Therefore, genetic relationships between tionships with the indigenous peoples, and led them
interbreeding human groups are best understood in terms to enslave Africans. Similar cultural forces continue to
of gene flow between superficially distinct populations affect the degree to which different human populations
whose gene pools already overlap considerably. For in the Americas remain reproductively isolated or ex-
example, we know that individuals from European and change genes with other populations.
TABLE 5.2 Effects

of the Four Evolutionary Processes on Variation within and
between Populations
EVOLUTIONARY PROCESS VARIATION WITHIN POPULATIONS VARIATION BETWEEN POPULATIONS
Mutation Increases Increases
Gene flow Increases Decreases
Genetic drift Decreases Increases
Natural selection Increases or decreases Increases or decreases

Genetic Drift One kind of genetic drift, the founder

effect, occurs when a small subgroup of a larger
population becomes isolated for some reason, taking
with it unrepresentative proportions of the alleles from
the larger population’s gene pool. One of numerous
examples of genetic drift that have occurred in human
history began early in the nineteenth century when
British soldiers occupied the island of Tristan da Cunha
in the Atlantic Ocean. Eventually, the soldiers withdrew,
leaving only a single married couple who were later
joined by a few other settlers. Throughout the nineteenth
century, the population of Tristan da Cunha never grew
much beyond 100 individuals. This tiny population
was later reduced even more, once in the late 1850s by
the out-migration of 70 inhabitants and again in 1885 FIGURE 5.2 Normal red blood cells are easily distinguished
by the drowning of all but 4 adult males (only one of from the distorted, “sickled” red blood cells. Sickled red blood
whom contributed genes to the next generation). Over cells carry less oxygen than do normal red blood cells, but they
resist malarial parasites more successfully.
the twentieth century, the population grew to as many as
270 people, all of whom owe an enormous proportion
of their genes to a very few individuals. It was calculated frequency was the result of genetic drift if it were not
that nearly a third of those living on the island in 1961 for the fact that the areas with a high frequency of HbS
had genes contributed by just 2 members of the original are also areas where the mosquito-borne malaria para-
founding population (Roberts 1968; Underwood 1979). site is common. There is, in fact, a connection. People
exposed to malaria have a better chance of resisting the
Mutation and Natural Selection Mutation is parasite if their hemoglobin genotype is HbA/HbS rather
responsible for variant alleles that may be present at a than the normal HbA/HbA. This is an example of what
single locus. Some of these mutant alleles are mobilized geneticists call a “balanced polymorphism,” in which
during development to help produce specific physical the heterozygous genotype is fitter than either of the ho-
traits. When a trait proves helpful, evolutionary theory mozygous genotypes. In Mendelian terms, we would say
predicts that the frequency of the alleles involved in its that the HbA and HbS alleles are codominant, with the
production will be increased by natural selection. Perhaps result that a single HbS allele changes the structure of red
the most famous instance of microevolution of such a blood cells enough to inhibit malarial parasites but not
trait by means of natural selection concerns a variant of enough to cause sickle-cell anemia.
hemoglobin, one of the proteins in red blood cells. The rise of malarial infection in human beings
In many human populations, only one allele— appears to have begun only a few thousand years ago
hemoglobin A (HbA)—is present. In other populations, (Livingstone 1958). Before that time, the people who
however, mutant forms of hemoglobin A may also be lived where malaria is now found gathered and hunted
present. One such mutant allele, known as HbS, alters wild foods for a living. This way of life kept forests intact,
the structure of red blood cells, distorting them into a leaving few open areas where water could collect and
characteristic sickle shape and reducing their ability to malaria-carrying mosquitoes could breed in large num-
carry oxygen (Figure 5.2). When individuals inherit the bers. As these inhabitants began to cultivate plants for
HbS allele from both parents, they develop sickle-cell food, however, they needed to clear large tracts of forest
anemia. About 85% of those with the HbS/HbS geno- for their fields, creating large open spaces where rain-
type do not survive to adulthood and, hence, do not water could collect in stagnant pools, providing ideal
reproduce. Although many people in the United States breeding conditions for mosquitoes. And as the popula-
think that sickle-cell anemia affects only people with an- tion of cultivators grew, so grew the number of hosts for
cestors who came from Africa, in fact many people in the malaria parasite.
India, Saudi Arabia, and Mediterranean countries such If the HbS allele first appeared in the populations of
as Turkey, Greece, and Italy also suffer from the disease. gatherers and hunters, it probably had a low frequency.
Because the HbS allele seems to be harmful, we But once cultivation began, land was cleared, water ac-
would expect it to be eliminated through natural se- cumulated in open spaces, and the number of malaria-
lection. But in some populations of the world, it has a infested mosquitoes increased, selection pressures
frequency of up to 20% in the gene pool. Why should changed. At that point, individuals with the HbA/HbS
that be? Geneticists might have concluded that this high genotype were fitter because they had a greater probability
of surviving and reproducing than individuals with HbA/ organisms are even more finely tuned for their adaptive
HbA or HbS/HbS. As a result, the frequency of HbS in- functions by inputs from environmental factors such as
creased in the population, despite the fact that in a nutrients, temperature, humidity, altitude, or day length.
double dose it was generally lethal. This example also il- Human phenotypic traits such as body size or skin color,
lustrates the way niche construction can reshape the se- for example, are the outcome of complex interactions
lection pressures that a population experiences. In this among multiple gene products and environmental in-
case, a switch from one pattern of human food getting fluences throughout the life cycle.
to another created new niches for humans, mosquitoes, Many students of human genetics have devoted at-
and malaria parasites, simultaneously reshaping the se- tention to the way natural selection may mold complex
lection pressures experienced by all three populations human phenotypic traits, better adapting human popu-
(Odling-Smee et al. 2003). Indeed, niche construction lations to their specific environments. More recently, de-
may also be implicated in discussions of gene flow and velopmental biologists have been able to show how the
genetic drift since in both cases activities undertaken by responsiveness of organisms to their environments also
particular human populations may alter their respective contributes to the abilities of those organisms to adapt to
niches in persistent ways, thereby altering the selection their environments. A fertilized human egg (or zygote)
pressures that each population subsequently experiences. has its own phenotype, and the zygote’s phenotype can
respond to environmental influences—such as those
encountered in a woman’s uterus—even before its own
Adaptation and Human Variation genes are active. This responsiveness is called phenotypic
One of the breakthroughs of modern genetics was the dis- plasticity: “the ability of an organism to react to an en-
covery of gene interaction. That is, a single gene may con- vironmental input with a change in form, state, move-
tribute to the production of more than one phenotypic ment, or rate of activity” (West-Eberhard 2003, 35).
feature (pleiotropy), and many genes regularly combine Because all living organisms exhibit phenotypic plastic-
forces (polygeny), helping to produce a single phenotypic ity, it is incorrect to assume that genes “direct” the devel-
feature. Pleiotropy and polygeny help explain how it is opment of organisms or “determine” the production of
that genes, which are discrete, could influence pheno- phenotypic traits. Indeed, much of the “action” that goes
typic traits such as body size or skin color, which show into producing adult organisms with distinctive pheno-
continuous gradations. Traits that are the product of mul- types goes on during development (Figure 5.3).
tiple genes offer multiple and varied opportunities for It is important to stress that acknowledging the phe-
natural selection to shape phenotypic traits in ways that notypic plasticity of organisms has nothing to do with
are adaptive for the organisms in which they are found. Lamarckian ideas of use and disuse and the inheritance
In discussions of gene action, biologists commonly of acquired characteristics, neither of which is accepted
distinguish between genes of major effect and polygenes by modern evolutionary biologists. As West-Eberhard
of intermediate or minor effect. A gene of major effect is (2003) points out,
a gene at one locus whose expression has a critical effect
on the phenotype. The HbS allele that produces the sick- There is no hint of direct (Lamarckian) influence of
ling trait in red blood cells is an example of a gene of environment on genome in this scheme—it is entirely
consistent with conventional genetics and inheri-
major effect. But phenotypic traits that depend on one
tance. By the view adopted here, evolutionary change
or a few genes of major effect are rare. The evolution of
depends upon the genetic component of phenotypic
a phenotypic trait may begin with selection on genes
variation screened by selection, whether phenotypic
of major effect, but the products of such genes may be
variants are genetically or environmentally induced.
pleiotropic, producing adaptive as well as harmful con- It is the genetic variation in a response (to mutation
sequences for the organism. Further selection on mul- or environment) that produces a response to selection
tiple polygenes of intermediate or minor effect that also and cross-generational, cumulative change in the gene
affect the trait, however, may modify or eliminate those pool. . . . (29)
harmful consequences (West-Eberhard 2003, 101–04).
Finally, because gene expression does not take place in Some of the most exciting work in evolutionary bi-
an environmental vacuum, many phenotypic traits in ology today involves linking new understandings about
developmental influences on phenotypes with under-
standings of traditional evolutionary processes like mu-
phenotypic plasticity Physiological flexibility that allows organisms to tation, gene flow, genetic drift, and natural selection
respond to environmental stresses, such as temperature changes.
(Oyama et al. 2001; Gould 2002; West-Eberhard 2003).
adaptation (1) The mutual shaping of organisms and their environments.
(2) The shaping of useful features of an organism by natural selection for the As we saw earlier, adaptation as a process refers to the
function they now perform (see Chapter 2). mutual shaping of organisms and their environments.
The shivering response in humans illustrates ad-

aptation to the brief timescale of minute-to-minute
fluctuations in the environment, a response in human
beings sometimes called “short-term acclimatization.”
Human beings are warm-blooded organisms who need
to maintain a constant internal body temperature to
function properly. When the surrounding tempera-
ture drops, however, and threatens to cool our internal
organs below this threshold temperature (roughly 98.6°
Fahrenheit), this temperature drop triggers a twitching
response in the muscles that surround our vital organs
as a way of generating heat. If we are able to increase our
body temperature above the threshold—by going in-
doors, putting on clothes, or moving closer to the fire—
the shivering stops.
Other forms of acclimatization take shape over
more intermediate timescales. Such adaptations emerge
over the course of many months or years, as human
phenotypic plasticity is shaped by inputs from the
particular environments within which individuals de-
velop. That is, physiological or morphological changes
resulting from developmental plasticity are not a con-
sequence of genetic variation. Put another way, “devel-
opmental plasticity allows one genotype to give rise to
multiple phenotypes in response to variation in the en-
FIGURE 5.3 Changes in environment can have major effects
on phenotype. Generational differences in height are often con- vironment in which an organism develops” (Thayer and
nected with changes in diet. Non 2015, 728). For example, some environments in
which human populations live, such as the highlands
of the Andes Mountains in South America, are charac-
However, the term adaptation can also be used to refer
terized by hypoxia; that is, less oxygen is available to
to the phenotypic traits that are the outcome of adaptive
breathe than at lower altitudes. Studies have shown
processes. As Zaneta Thayer and Amy Non explain,
that people who grow up in high altitudes adapt to
Humans must adapt to multiple timescales of evolu- lower oxygen levels by developing greater chest di-
tionary change. . . . Very stable environmental trends mensions and lung capacities than do people living
can be accommodated through natural selection, the at low attitudes. These changes— sometimes called
slowest mechanism of genetic change. Immediate, “developmental acclimatization”—are a consequence
minute-to-minute fluctuations in the environment,
of human phenotypic plasticity and occur when the
such as changes in temperature, are accommodated via human body is challenged by a low level of oxygen in
homeostatic processes, including changes in blood flow. the environment. Studies have shown that individuals
At a more intermediate level on the timescale of months
who were not born in such an environment increased
to years, organisms adapt to environmental conditions
in chest dimensions and lung capacity the longer they
via developmental plasticity. (2015, 727–28)
lived in such an environment and the younger they
The sickling trait in hemoglobin described in the were when they moved there (Greska 1990).
previous section is a classic example of a genetic adapta- One kind of biological mechanism that seems
tion produced by natural selection, in response to envi- to allow environmental stresses to mold phenotypic
ronmental conditions that stabilized in regions where plasticity are called epigenetic marks. Epigenetic marks
tropical forests were cleared for farming several thou- are “chemical modifications to DNA that are associ-
sand years ago, creating expanded breeding grounds for ated with changes in the way genes are expressed or
mosquitos carrying the malaria parasites and thereby in- turned on, and are essential for normal development in
creasing human exposure to the parasites. In this case, mammals” (Thayer and Non 2015, 725). One kind of
the form of the hemoglobin molecule is the phenotypic
product of a single-locus gene of major effect. Most
human phenotypic traits, however, are the product of acclimatization A change in the way the body functions in response to
pleiotropy, polygeny, and inputs from the environment. physical stress.
epigenetic mark is called DNA methylation. Methylation It is important to emphasize that “similar skin colors
chemically modifies a portion of the DNA molecule in a have evolved independently in human populations in-
way that reduces the level of gene product produced by habiting similar environments,” making skin color “use-
a particular gene, “and its influence is dependent on the less as a marker for membership in a unique group or
genetic context within which the methylation occurs” ‘race’” (Jablonski 2004, 615). Indeed, some of the most
(2015, 723). Unlike DNA itself, methylation and other striking features of human skin are clearly consequences
epigenetic marks “are sensitive to environmental expo- of developmental and phenotypic plasticity: variations
sures throughout growth and development, [and] they in skin thickness are a function of age and history of
represent a prime candidate mechanism underlying de- sun exposure; the outer layers of the skin in darkly pig-
velopmental plasticity” (2015, 728). It is important to mented or heavily tanned people have more, and more
emphasize, however, that epigenetic modifications are compact, cell layers, making the skin more effective as a
fully compatible with the Darwinian foundations of barrier to sun damage. The overall intensity of skin color
contemporary evolutionary theory. This is because epi- is thus determined by a combination of morphological,
genetic marks “can only occur in interaction with the un- physiological, environmental, and developmental fac-
derlying genetic variation that is available” (2015, 725). tors. When the intricate articulation of these factors is
destabilized, the outcome can be anomalous skin con-
Skin Color Skin color is a highly visible, complex, ditions such as albinism (an absence of pigmentation),
continuous phenotypic trait in human populations. abnormally intense pigmentation, or a patchy spotting
Variation in skin color seems to be the product of of light and dark skin (Jablonski 2004, 590).
a few genes of major effect, additional polygenes Human skin color exhibits clinal variation, with
of intermediate or minor effect, and input from average pigmentation growing gradually lighter in pop-
the environment. As Nina Jablonski (2004) writes, ulations that live closer to the poles (Figure 5.4). The pig-
“determination of the relative roles of variant genes and ments in human skin (melanins) protect the skin against
varying environments has proven extremely challenging” sunburn by absorbing and scattering UVR and by protect-
(613), and it is not clear how many alleles are involved ing DNA from damage that can lead to cancer (Jablonski
or whether identical genes are responsible for the 2004, 590). Of course, as humans we risk sun damage to
dark skin of apparently unrelated human populations the skin because we do not grow fur coats, like our clos-
(Marks 1995, 167–68). Biological anthropologists agree est primate relatives. Dark fur coats can actually protect
that skin color is adaptive and related to the degree of primates from tropical heat by absorbing short-wave ra-
ultraviolet radiation (UVR) that human populations diation (UVA) near the surface of the coat and reflecting
have experienced in particular regions of the globe. much long-wave radiation (UVB) away before it reaches
Fair
Light
Medium
Dark
Very dark
FIGURE 5.4 When the unexposed skin of indigenous peoples is measured and mapped according to the degree of pigmentation,
skin shades tend to grow progressively lighter the farther one moves from the equator.
the skin. These advantages of fur, however, are reduced if than those of native populations in Asia or Europe who
the fur is wet with sweat, which can happen if the temper- live at similar latitudes. Most anthropologists estimate
ature rises or the organism’s activity level increases. Under these populations migrated from the Old World perhaps
these conditions, “thermal sweating as a method of cool- 10,000–15,000 years ago, which means they have had far
ing becomes more important” and it is “greatly facilitated less time to experience the selective pressures associated
by the loss of body hair” (Jablonski 2004, 599). It is now with local solar radiation levels anywhere on the conti-
hypothesized that the last common ancestor of humans nent. In addition, these migrants were modern humans
and chimpanzees probably had light skin covered with with many cultural adaptations to help them modify the
dark hair, like other Old World primates. However, the negative effects of solar radiation, including both pro-
loss of hair created new selection pressures in favor of tective clothing and a vitamin D–rich diet. Obtaining
increasingly darker skin, such that by 1.2 million years vitamin D from food rather than sunlight has thus al-
ago (mya), early members of the genus Homo would have tered selection pressures that otherwise would have fa-
had darkly pigmented skin (Rogers et al. 2004). In addi- vored lighter skin. Thus, the darker skin pigmentation
tion, contemporary human populations all seem to show of circumpolar peoples may be the consequence of se-
sexual dimorphism in skin color, “with females being lection pressures for darker skin as a protection against
consistently lighter than males in all populations studied” solar radiation reflected from snow and ice (Jablonski
(Jablonski and Chaplin 2000; Jablonski 2004, 601). 2004, 612).
Exposure of human skin to solar radiation has com-
plex and contradictory consequences. Too much sunlight Intelligence Intelligence may be the most striking
produces sunburn, and UVB destroys a B vitamin, folic attribute of human beings. However, attempts to
acid, which is a crucial factor in healthy cell division. At the define and measure “intelligence” have a long history
same time, solar radiation also has positive consequences: of controversy. Is intelligence a single, general, unitary
UVA stimulates the synthesis of vitamin D in human skin. “thing” that people have more or less of? If not, what
Vitamin D is crucial for healthy bone development and attributes and skills ought to count? Psychologist
other cellular processes. According to Jablonski and Chap- Howard Gardner (2000) points out that “Every society
lin (2000), these selective pressures have produced two op- features its ideal human being” (1). In his view, “the
posing clines of skin pigmentation. The first cline grades intelligent person” in modern Western societies has been
from dark skin at the equator to light skin at the poles and exemplified by individuals who could do well at formal
is an adaptive protection against sun damage. The second schooling and succeed in commerce. It is perhaps not
cline grades from light pigmentation at the poles to dark surprising, then, that tests developed in Western societies
pigmentation at the equator and is an adaptive response purporting to measure individuals’ intelligence quotient
favoring vitamin D production. In the middle of these two (IQ) traditionally have equated high scores on verbal
clines, they argue, natural selection favored populations and mathematical reasoning with high intelligence.
with enhanced phenotypic plasticity who could tan more But these are not the only areas in which humans
easily during hot, sunny seasons but easily lose their tans in display differing levels of ability or skill. Gardner, for
seasons when temperature and sunlight levels decreased. example, has long argued that in addition to linguis-
Jablonski (2004) concludes that “the longer wave- tic and logicomathematical intelligence, human beings
lengths of UVR . . . have been the most important agents possess different types of intelligence, including bodily–
of natural selection in connection with the evolution of kinesthetic intelligence (displayed by exceptional ath-
skin pigmentation” (604). At the same time, because letes and dancers), interpersonal or intrapersonal
people have always migrated, different populations vary intelligence (displayed by individuals with exceptional
in the numbers of generations exposed to the selective understanding of social relations or their own psyches),
pressures of any single regime of solar radiation. Human musical intelligence, spatial intelligence, and natural-
cultural practices (wearing clothes, using sun block, stay- ist intelligence (which attunes us to plants and animals
ing indoors) have shaped the levels of pigmentation and in the world around us). In Gardner’s view, these types
levels of vitamin D production in particular individuals of intelligence can probably be enhanced in all indi-
or populations. Gene flow following the interbreeding viduals, given the right kind of environmental support.
of human populations with different selective histories Indeed, even linguistic intelligence and logicomath-
would further complicate the relationship between the ematical intelligence require the proper environmental
skin colors of their offspring and selection pressures im- support—long-term training and practice in rich cultural
posed by local levels of solar radiation. settings—to produce the highest levels of achievement.
Many of these factors may explain why the skin Because the definition of intelligence is so controver-
colors of the native people of South America are lighter sial and because not all forms of intelligence are equally
rewarded in the United States, great controversy results because their experiences have not provided them with
when attempts to measure intelligence are applied not the knowledge being tested.
only to individuals but also to entire social groups, de- Many studies have shown that how an individual
fined on the basis of gender, class, or “race.” The former will do on an IQ test is more accurately predicted by
president of Harvard University was subjected to strong social class and educational background than by “race.”
criticism when he acknowledged that fewer women than When African Americans and European Americans are
men become scientists and suggested, in the face of mas- matched in terms of these factors, the differences in aver-
sive evidence to the contrary, that perhaps this meant age IQ scores disappear (Molnar 1992). Similarly, African
that women simply had less “intrinsic aptitude” for sci- American children adopted by m iddle-class European
ence and engineering than men (http://www.harvard American parents scored an average of twelve points
.edu/president/speeches/summers_2005/nber.php). higher on IQ tests than did African American children
Controversies have been as great or greater when ideas who remained in the lower-income communities from
about intelligence have been linked to ideas about race. In which the adoptees had come (Woodward 1992). Studies
the United States, for example, people tend to assign each like these demonstrate repeatedly that IQ scores are not
other to “races” on the basis of phenotypic criteria like phenotypic traits uniquely determined by genes but that
skin color. As we have seen, such “races” are then often re- they are powerfully affected by a range of environmental
garded as different natural kinds, each sharing its own bi- factors over the course of the human life cycle. Or as Greg
ological essence. From this assumption, it is a short step Downey and Daniel Lende put it, “humans’ capacity for
to conclude that differences between races must include thought and meaning making emerges equally from
differences in intelligence. Some scientists have devised social and individual sources, built of public symbol,
IQ tests that they claim can measure intelligence, the re- evolutionary endowment, social scaffolding, and private
sults of such testing repeatedly showing that the average neurological achievements” (2012, 23–24).
IQ score for African Americans is below that of European
Americans, which is below that of Asian Americans.
Do IQ scores show that racial differences in intelli- Phenotype, Environment, and Culture
gence are clear-cut and genetically determined? They do In recent years, many evolutionary biologists and bio-
not. First, the idea that races are natural kinds assumes logical anthropologists have recognized that trying to
that racial boundaries are clear and that traits essential attribute every phenotypic trait of an organism to adap-
to racial identity (e.g., skin color) are discrete and non- tation is problematic. Sometimes an adaptive explana-
overlapping. However, as we noted above, skin color is tion seems transparently obvious, as with body shape in
a continuously varying phenotypic trait, both among fish and whales or wing shape in bats and birds, which
members of the so-called racial groups and the boundar- equips these animals for efficient movement through
ies of those groups. Particular shades of skin color cannot water and air. Other times, adaptive explanations are less
be assigned exclusively to particular socially defined obvious, or even contrived. As we saw in Chapter 2, the
races, nor can they be used to infer any other so-called wings of contemporary insects are better understood as
racial attribute, such as intelligence or athletic ability. an exaptation, when appendages that evolved as an ad-
Second, it is far from clear that there is a single, aptation to one set of selective pressures began at some
accurately measurable substance called “intelligence” point to serve an entirely different function.
that some people have more of than others. Perform- In other words, the trait an organism possesses today
ing well on paper-and-pencil tests tells us nothing about may not be the direct result of adaptation but, instead,
problem-solving skills and creativity, which might
may be the byproduct of some other feature that was
equally deserve to be called “intelligence.” Third, even being shaped by natural selection. It may also be the con-
if intelligence is such a measurable substance, we do not sequence of random effects. Jonathan Marks (1995) has
know that IQ tests actually measure it. People can score observed, for example, that anthropologists have tried,
badly on an IQ test for many reasons that have noth- without notable success, to offer adaptive explanations for
ing to do with intelligence: they may be hungry or ill the large, protruding brow ridges found in populations of
or anxious, for example. When different social groups human ancestors. He suggests that brow ridges might well
within a society consistently score differently as groups, have appeared “for no reason at all—simply as a passive
however, we may suspect that the test itself is to blame. consequence of growing a fairly large face attached to a
Arguing that IQ tests measure cultural knowledge, not skull of a small frontal region” (Marks 1995, 190).
intelligence, many critics contend that the vocabulary We must also remember that phenotypes are shaped
items used on most IQ tests reflect experiences typical by environment as well as by genes. For example, some
of European American middle-class culture. People from have argued that slow growth in height, weight, and body
different cultural backgrounds do poorly on the test composition and delayed onset of adolescence among
Guatemalan Mayan children constitute a genetic adapta- “formal” because scientists use the tools of formal logic
tion to a harsh natural environment. However, by com- or mathematics to find answers to particular questions
paring measurements of these traits in populations of about the evolution of human behavior. For example,
Mayans who migrated to the United States with those in evolutionary psychologists typically assume that the psy-
Guatemala, Barry Bogin was able to disprove these claims chological abilities possessed by modern human beings
because “the United States–living Maya are significantly are adaptations that were shaped by specific environmen-
taller, heavier and carry more fat and muscle mass than tal challenges early in our species’ evolutionary history.
Mayan children in Guatemala” (Bogin 1995, 65). Simi- They employ formal psychological tests on contempo-
larly, other biological anthropologists working in the rary human subjects to demonstrate the presence of these
Andean highlands have refuted the hypothesis that hy- abilities and then use logical deduction to “reverse engi-
poxia is responsible for poor growth among some indig- neer” from these contemporary abilities back to the hypo-
enous populations (Leonard et al. 1990; de Meer et al. thetical selective pressures that would have shaped these
1993). They point out that the genetic explanation fails abilities. By contrast, scientists who study gene-culture co-
to consider the effects on growth of poverty and political evolution, cultural group selection, or niche construction
marginalization. use mathematical formulas to predict outcomes of partic-
At the beginning of the twenty-first century, it has ular kinds of human interactions under different hypoth-
become fashionable for many writers, particularly in esized conditions. Computers allow them to simulate, for
the popular media, to treat genes as the ultimate expla- example, what happens when certain behavioral patterns
nation for all features of the human phenotype. Given are repeated for many generations. The researchers then
the great achievements by molecular biology that fol- examine the reports of ethnographers or other social sci-
lowed the discovery of the structure of the DNA mol- entists to see if any of the outcomes produced by their
ecule, this enthusiasm is perhaps understandable. But mathematical calculations match the actual behavior pat-
discussions of human adaptive patterns that invoke terns found in real human societies.
natural selection on genetic variation alone are ex- No beginning anthropology textbook can offer an
tremely unsatisfactory. For one thing, they mischarac- in-depth introduction to formal modeling of human bi-
terize the role genes play in living organisms. Speaking ological and cultural evolutionary processes (Table 5.3).
as if there were a separate gene “for” each identifiable But students should be aware of this dynamic and con-
phenotypic trait ignores pleiotropy and polygeny, as tentious field of research, in which anthropologists, bi-
well as phenotypic plasticity. It also ignores the con- ologists, ecologists, psychologists, and other scientists
tribution of the other classic evolutionary processes of collaborate. Students should also be aware that many
genetic drift and gene flow, as well as the influences of anthropologists—cultural anthropologists in particular—
historical and cultural factors on human development are highly critical of formal models, especially formal
(as in the case of the Mayan migrants). Researchers in models of cultural evolution. They point out that formal
the Human Genome Project originally expected that, modeling cannot work unless actual human interactions,
given our phenotypic complexity, the human genome which are messy and complex, are tidied up and simplified
would contain at least 100,000 genes; today, we know so that they can be represented by variables in mathemati-
that the actual number is more like 20,000, only twice cal equations. Reverse engineering has also been criticized
as many as the roundworm Caenorhabditis elegans, one of for being overly reliant on logical deduction, rather than
the simplest organisms that exists (http://www.genome empirical evidence, in the generation of hypotheses about
.gov/11007952). Clearly, the number of genes possessed the human past. Critics argue that these approaches pro-
by an organism is not coupled in any straightforward duce nothing more than cartoon versions of everyday life
way to its phenotypic complexity. that often reveal systematic Western ethnocentric bias.
The gene-centered approach gained considerable in- In our view, the perspective with the most promise
fluence in anthropology after 1975 because of the wide- is that of niche construction, which articulates in unusu-
spread theoretical impact of a school of evolutionary ally clear language a point of view many anthropologists
thought called “sociobiology.” Sociobiology attracted and others have held for a very long time. And they are
some anthropologists who proposed explanations of not the only ones. As ecologist Richard Levins and biolo-
human adaptations based on sociobiological principles. gist Richard Lewontin pointed out in 1985,
Other anthropologists have been highly critical of so-
[using] cultural mechanisms to control our own tem-
ciobiology. However, after four decades, some proposals
perature has made it possible for our species to survive
emerging from this debate have come a long way toward
meeting the objections of sociobiology’s original critics.
It is important to understand that much of this re- formal models Mathematical formulas to predict outcomes of particular
search is based on formal models. These models are kinds of human interactions under different hypothesized conditions.
TABLE 5.3 Formal Models in the Study of Human Biological and Cultural Evolution
THEORETICAL
PERSPECTIVE KEY FEATURES
Sociobiology • Defined by E. O. Wilson (1980), one of its founders, as “the systematic study of the b iological
basis of all social behavior” (322). Originally focused on explaining the e volution
of altruism—the willingness to give up benefits for oneself to help someone else.
Sociobiologists argued that altruism makes sense if we pay attention not to individuals but
to the genes they carry.
• Organisms share the most genes with their close relatives; therefore, sociobiologists
hypothesize, natural selection will preserve altruistic behaviors if the altruists sacrifice
themselves for close kin, a concept known as kin selection. Some anthropologists adopted
the sociobiological approach to human societies, whereas others viewed sociobiology as a
pernicious perspective that threatened to resurrect nineteenth-century racism.
Behavioral ecology • A school of thought based on sociobiological reasoning that accepts the importance of
natural selection on human adaptations, but rejects sociobiology’s genetic determinism.
Behavioral ecologists accept the view that human adaptations depend on cultural learning
rather than on genetic control, but they insist that the cultural behavior human beings
develop is closely circumscribed by the selection pressures imposed on us by the ecological
features of the environments in which human populations have lived (see Cheverud 2004;
Sussman and Garber 2004).
Evolutionary • Like earlier sociobiologists, evolutionary psychologists insist that human adaptations
psychology are phenotypes under close genetic control. Unlike earlier sociobiologists, however,
evolutionary psychologists do not invoke natural selection on genes to explain human
behavior patterns as adaptations to present-day conditions. Rather, they argue that natural
selection on human genes was most significant millions of years ago, in the environment in
which our ancestors lived when they were first evolving away from the other African apes
(called the “environment of evolutionary adaptedness,” or EEA).
• Evolutionary psychologists argue that natural selection in the EEA produced a human brain
consisting of a set of sealed-off “mental modules,” each of which was designed by natural
selection to solve a different adaptive problem (see Barkow et al. 1992).
Gene–culture • An analysis of the origin and significance of culture in human evolution that is critical
coevolution of standard sociobiological accounts. The version developed by Robert Boyd and Peter
Richerson (1985) argues that human behavior is shaped by two inheritance systems, one
genetic and one cultural. Cultural traits are passed on by learning, not via the chromosomes,
but since these traits vary, are passed on from individual to individual, and confer differential
fitness on those who use them, they can undergo natural selection (76).
• The two inheritance systems are interconnected: human biological evolution creates the
possibility for cultural creativity and learning, whereas human cultural traditions created the
environment that allows human biological processes to continue, even as culture creates
selection pressures of its own that shape human biological evolution. This is why the process
is called gene-culture coevolution (see also Cavalli-Sforza and Feldman 1981, Durham, 1991).
Cultural group selection • Sociobiologists argue that group selection cannot occur as the outcome of natural s election
operating on genes unless group members are biological kin who share genes (see kin
selection, above). If group members do not share genes, the good of the individual and the
good of the group no longer coincide; this means that individuals who sacrificed themselves
for other group members would take their “group selection” genes with them to the grave.
• But if behaviors are shaped by cultural inheritance rather than genetic inheritance (as in
gene–culture coevolution) this argument may not hold. When the forces of cultural learning
are powerful enough, the fitness of an individual may come to depend on the behaviors of
other individuals in a local group. This is known as cultural group selection. Once the forces
of cultural transmission take hold, it is usually easier and cheaper to behave the way the
group dictates than it is to strike out on one’s own (D. S. Wilson 2002, Richerson and Boyd
2005).
Niche construction • Odling-Smee, Laland, and Feldman (2003) argue that human evolution depends not just on
our genetic heritage and our cultural heritage but also on an additional heritage of m odified
selection pressures that we pass on to our descendants in the form of a constructed
niche. They use the concept of “artifact” to represent these environmental modifications:
artifacts include birds’ nests and rodents’ burrows as well as human artifacts like c lothing
and f urnaces. Odling-Smee et al. argue that their “triple-inheritance” theory offers a more
satisfactory explanation of the evolutionary histories of organisms than do accounts
focusing on genes and culture alone.
in almost all climates, but it has also created new kinds than sharing, compassion, and nonviolent resolution of
of vulnerability. Our body temperature now depends differences. As we saw in Chapter 3, many primatolo-
on the price of clothing or fuel, whether we control our gists have evidence to show that, most of the time, most
own furnaces or have them set by landlords, whether we apes and monkeys do not live by the “law of the jungle.”
work indoors or outdoors or leave places with stressful The law of the jungle is not a law after all.
temperature regimes. . . . Thus our temperature regime Human beings, like all living organisms, are subject
is not a simple consequence of thermal needs but rather
to evolutionary processes. Like other organisms, our spe-
a consequence of social and economic conditions. (259)
cies shares a gene pool whose different combinations,
together with environmental input over the course of a
lifetime, produce a range of different human phenotypes
Can We Predict the Future that develop over their lifetimes, incorporating a certain
of Human Evolution? range of adaptive responses. But we are not like other
organisms in all respects, and this is what makes the
Current arguments among evolutionary biologists illus- study of human nature, human society, and the human
trate their varied attempts to grasp the meaning of evolu- past necessary. To adapt to our e nvironments—to make
tion. How we classify the natural world matters not only to a living and replace ourselves—we have options that do
scientists, who want to be sure their classifications match not exist for other organisms: cultural adaptations that
what they find when they go to nature, but also to non- are passed on by learning, even when there is no biologi-
scientists. How we make sense of evolution is important cal reproduction (see Figure 5.5).
because people of all societies see a connection between The rich heritage of human culture is the source of
the way they make sense of the natural world and the way much wisdom to guide us in our moral dealings with
they make sense of their own lives. Many people believe one another. The more we learn about biology, however,
that human morality is, or ought to be, based on what is the more we realize that neither genotypes nor pheno-
natural. For such people, evolutionary interpretations of types nor environmental pressures provide obvious an-
nature can be threatening even if they portray a natural swers to our questions about how to live. If anything,
world that is orderly. If nature’s order is dog-eat-dog and “nature” offers us mixed messages about what is, or is
if human morality must be based on nature’s order, then not, likely to promote survival and reproduction. And
survival at any cost must be morally correct because it is in any case, with the development of culture, for good
“natural.” This is clearly why many people found the more or for ill, human beings have long been concerned not
extreme claims of human sociobiology so repugnant. For only with survival and reproduction but also with what
those who want to root compassion and generosity in it takes to lead a meaningful life. Physical life and a
human nature, sociobiology offers a portrait of human meaningful life usually, but not always, go together. This
nature in which such behavior has little or no value. paradox has been part of the human condition for mil-
But perhaps the uncontrolled and uncontrollable lennia and is likely to remain with us long after our con-
pursuit of food and sex is no more natural in our species temporary scientific debates have become history.
FIGURE 5.5 A n individual may

have high cultural fitness and
no genetic fitness at all. Here, a
religious teacher who is celibate
(thereby reducing her genetic
fitness to zero) passes cultural
knowledge to a new generation of
other people’s offspring.
Chapter Summary
1. The neo-Darwinian evolutionary synthesis of the have studied how variation in traits such as skin
1930s and 1940s combined Darwinian natural color appear to have been shaped by natural selec-
selection with Mendelian ideas about heredity. Neo- tion. Anthropologists have also shown how varia-
Darwinians studied populations of reproductively tions in IQ test scores reflect variations in social class
isolated species, concentrating on the population’s and educational background rather than “race.”
gene pool, estimating the frequency of occurrence of 5. Many evolutionary biologists and biological an-
different alleles of a particular gene, and predicting thropologists recognize that trying to attribute every
how those gene frequencies might be affected by dif- phenotypic trait of an organism to adaptation is
ferent selection pressures. problematic. Some traits may not be the result of
2. Human population genetics has shown that different adaptation but the byproduct of some other feature
human populations from all over the world share that was shaped by natural selection—or even the
basically the same range of genotypic variation, no consequence of random effects.
matter how different they may appear phenotypi- 6. Gene-centered explanations of human evolution
cally, reinforcing the position that the concept of gained considerable influence in anthropology after
“race” is biologically meaningless. 1975 because of the widespread theoretical impact
3. Natural selection, mutation, gene flow, and genetic of a school of evolutionary thought called “socio-
drift are four evolutionary processes that can affect biology.” Sociobiologists have used formal math-
change in gene frequencies in a population over ematical models borrowed from population genetics
time. Sometimes one evolutionary process may and game theory to back up some of their claims.
work to increase the frequency of a particular allele However, critics have also used formal models to test
while a different process is working to decrease its sociobiological principles.
frequency. Inbreeding over several generations can 7. Anthropologists have been involved in the develop-
be harmful because it decreases genetic variation and ment of formal models critical of s ociobiological
increases the probability that any alleles for deleteri- models. The most influential critical models include
ous traits will be inherited in a double dose, one those of gene–culture coevolution, cultural group se-
from each parent. lection, and niche construction. Anthropologists still
4. Natural selection seems to have molded many com- face the challenge of deciding how to situate such
plex human phenotypic traits, better adapting human critical formal models within broader anthropologi-
populations to their environments. Anthropologists cal discussions of human culture and history.
For Review
1. Distinguish between microevolution and 8. Explain the difference between short-term
macroevolution. acclimatization and developmental
2. How is a species defined in your text? acclimatization.
3. Explain what a cline is and why it is important. 9. Summarize the discussion of skin color in the
text.
4. Explain what is meant by the “molecularization
of race.” 10. Why do anthropologists and many other
scholars insist that IQ is not determined by
5. What are the four evolutionary processes
genes alone?
discussed in the text?
11. Explain why natural selection on genetic v ariation
6. Describe how natural selection explains why a
alone is not sufficient to explain the range of
high proportion of the sickling allele is maintained
human adaptive patterns revealed by archaeology,
in certain human populations and not others.
ethnography, and history.
7. What is phenotypic plasticity, and why is it
12. What are formal models?
important?
Key Terms
acclimatization 159 gene frequency 147 mutation 152 population
adaptation 158 gene pool 147 natural selection 152 genetics 147
cline 148 genetic drift 152 phenotypic species 144
formal models 163 macroevolution 144 plasticity 158
gene flow 152 microevolution 144 polymorphous 147
Suggested Readings
Gould, Stephen Jay. 1989. Wonderful life: The Burgess Shale with up-to-date reviews of current research on human varia-
and the nature of history. New York: Norton. In this now- tion as well as chapters on primatology and human evolu-
classic account of the discovery and interpretation of an im- tion. Comes with a related web page.
portant paleontological site, Gould analyzes what it tells us Robins, A. H. 1991. Biological perspectives on human pigmenta-
about the nature of evolution and sciences that study history. tion. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. A concise
Marks, Jonathan. 2011. The alternative introduction to biologi- survey of what is known about the biological factors respon-
cal anthropology. New York and Oxford: Oxford Univer- sible for human pigmentation as well as the possible evolu-
sity Press. An up-to-date introduction to the subfield, raising tionary significance of variation in pigmentation in different
critical issues in the field that are often sidestepped in intro- human populations.
ductory textbooks. Especially strong on the value of the an- Stanley, Steven. 1981. The new evolutionary timetable. New
thropology of science for biological and cultural anthropology. York: Basic Books. A classic, accessible introduction (by a
Mielke, James H., Lyle W. Konigsberg, and John H. Relethford. punctuationist) to the debate between phyletic gradualists
2011. Human biological variation, 2nd ed. New York: and punctuationists.
Oxford University Press. Provides a thorough and contem- Stinson, Sara, Barry Bogin, and Dennis O’Rourke, eds. 2012.
porary view of our biological diversity. Integrates real-world ex- Human biology: An evolutionary and biocultural p erspective,
amples on interesting topics, including genetic testing, lactose 2nd ed. Malden, MA: Wiley Blackwell. The essays in this
intolerance, dyslexia, IQ, and homosexuality. collection cover a range of topics of interest to contempo-
Relethford, John H. 2013. The human species: An introduction rary biological anthropologists, including genetic variation,
to biological anthropology, 9th ed. New York: McGraw– human adaptability, human biology and health, the human
Hill. A fine introduction to modern biological anthropology, life course, and the dynamics of human populations.
6
How do we know about
the human past?
In this chapter, you will learn about how archaeologists reveal the remains
of past human societies and interpret what they find. We will look at the
increasingly important question of who owns the past. We will consider
the terrible destruction that is being visited on the past through looting
and the destruction of sites. We will conclude by examining some newer
approaches to archaeological research.
CHAPTER OUTLINE
What Is Archaeology? What Are the Critical Issues
Surveys in Contemporary
Archaeological Excavation Archaeology?
Archaeology and Digital Archaeology and Gender
Heritage Collaborative Approaches to
Studying the Past
How Do Archaeologists
Cosmopolitan Archaeologies
Interpret the Past?
Subsistence Strategies Chapter Summary
Bands, Tribes, Chiefdoms, For Review
and States Key Terms
Whose Past Is It? Suggested Readings
How Is the Past Being
Plundered?
Archaeological excavations in Downtown Beirut, Lebanon, that show continuous occupation from
prehistoric times to the present day. 169
170 CHAPTER 6: HOW DO WE KNOW ABOUT THE HUMAN PAST?
A nthropologists who study the human past are of

two different kinds. As we have seen, paleoanthro-
pologists study the hominin fossil record, from its earliest
their work, using statistics to analyze the distribution of
artifacts at a site, the transformations of artifact usage
over time, or the dimensions of trade networks. Their
beginnings through the appearance of our own species. interest in human adaptations to various environments
Although archaeologists also sometimes study human in the course of cultural evolution led to an interest in
skeletal remains, archaeology focuses primarily on the the field of cultural ecology, in which cultural processes
archaeological record—material evidence of human must be understood in the context of climate change,
modification of the physical environment. Beginning the variability of economic productivity in different
with humble stone tools, the archaeological record en- environments, demographic factors, and technologi-
compasses many classes of artifacts (pottery, metalwork, cal change. As a general rule, processual archaeologists
textiles, and other technological developments) and downplayed explanations in which people play an active
nonportable material culture (architecture, irrigation role as agents who are conscious to a greater or lesser
canals, and ancient farm fields). This is why archaeol- degree of what is happening around them and whose
ogy is sometimes called “the past tense of cultural an- activities contribute to cultural maintenance or change.
thropology” (Renfrew and Bahn 2008, 12). Archaeology In recent years, however, archaeologists have begun
makes many contributions to anthropology. Although it to ask different questions—leading to a fourth kind of
may not supply the kind of ethnographic details that are objective. Many have concluded that processual archae-
revealed by research among living groups, it does pro- ology neglected human agency and the power of ideas
vide great time depth and reveals evidence of past forms and values in the construction of ancient cultures. A va-
of human culture that can no longer be seen today. riety of new approaches, which are sometimes called
postprocessual or interpretive archaeology, stress the sym-
bolic and cognitive aspects of social structures and social
What Is Archaeology? relations. Some postprocessual archaeologists focus on
power and domination in their explanations of certain
Archaeologists study the material remains left by our an- aspects of the archaeological record; they draw atten-
cestors to interpret cultural variation and cultural change tion to the ways that archaeological evidence may reflect
in the human past. What kinds of analytical tools do ar- individual human agency and internal contradictions
chaeologists use? Renfrew and Bahn (2008, 17) suggest within a society. Other postprocessual archaeologists
that four kinds of objectives have guided archaeology at point out that similar-looking features can mean differ-
different times over its history. First came traditional ap- ent things to different people at different sites, which
proaches that focused on reconstructing the material re- is why it can be seriously misleading to assume that all
mains of the past by putting together pots, reassembling cultural variation can be explained in terms of universal
statues, and restoring houses. Later came the goal of re- processes like population growth or ecological adapta-
constructing the lifeways—the culture—of the people who tion. (We will look at varieties of postprocessual archae-
left those material remains. Since the 1960s, however, a ology at the end of this chapter.) At the same time,
third objective has been explaining the cultural processes increasingly precise archaeological methods and subtle
that led to ways of life and material cultures of particular archaeological theorizing are worthless if there is noth-
kinds. This has been the focus of what came to be known ing left to study. By the twenty-first century, the loot-
as processual archaeology. ing and destruction of archaeological sites had reached
Processual archaeologists “sought to make archaeol- crisis proportions. Archaeologists have come to recog-
ogy an objective, empirical science in which hypotheses nize that stewardship of the remains of the human past
about all forms of cultural variation could be tested” may be their most pressing responsibility (Fagan and
(Wenke 1999, 33). They integrated mathematics into DeCorse 2005, 25).
Archaeologists identify the precise geographical
locations of the remains of past human activity from
archaeology A cultural anthropology of the human past focusing on local sites of human habitation to the wider regions in
material evidence of human modification of the physical environment. which these sites were once embedded. Archaeologists
archaeological record All material objects constructed by humans or pay attention not only to portable artifacts of human
near-humans revealed by archaeology.
manufacture but also to nonportable remnants of ma-
site A precise geographical location of the remains of past human activity.
terial culture, such as house walls or ditches, which are
artifacts Objects that have been deliberately and intelligently shaped by
human or near-human activity.
called features. They note the presence of other remains,
features Nonportable remnants from the past, such as house walls or such as plant residues or animal bones connected with
ditches. food provisioning, which are not themselves artifacts
Inyan Ceyaka Atonwan, PS

ENGLAND AL
Minnesota
Gatecliff
Shelter, Grand Canyon,
Nevada Colorado
Lake Fayum,
EGYPT Omo,
Teotihuacán, Copán, ETHIOPIA
MEXICO HONDURAS
Cerén, Koobi Fora, Hadar,
EL SALVADOR KENYA ETHIOPIA
Huaricoto,
PERU
but appear to be the byproducts of human activity resent-day societies use artifacts and structures and how
p
(these are sometimes called ecofacts). When archaeolo- these objects become part of the archaeological record.
gists study sites through survey or excavation, they care- Archaeologists studying how contemporary foraging

fully record the immediate matrix (e.g., gravel, sand, or people build traditional shelters—what kinds of materials
clay) in which the object is found and its provenance are employed and how they are used in c onstruction—can
(sometimes spelled provenience), which is the precise predict which materials would be most likely to survive in
three-dimensional position of the find within the matrix. a buried site and the patterns they would reveal if they
They also record exactly where each kind of remain is were excavated. If such patterns turn up in sites used by
found, along with any other remains found near it and prehistoric foragers, archaeologists will already have im-
any evidence that the site may have been disturbed by portant clues to their interpretation.
natural or human intervention. Sometimes they do However, archaeologists must not overlook the
small-scale excavation, using a shovel to dig small pits possibility that a variety of natural and human forces
over a large area. This strong emphasis on the context in may have interfered with remains once they are left
which artifacts are found makes scientific archaeology behind at a site. An important source of information
a holistic undertaking. Archaeological sites are impor- about past human diets may be obtained from animal
tant scientifically if they contain evidence that answers bones found in association with other human artifacts;
key questions about human migration or settlement in but just because hyena bones, stone tools, and human
certain places at particular times, even when the sites bones are found together does not in itself mean that
themselves yield none of the elaborate artifacts valued the humans ate hyenas. Careful study of the site may
by museums and private collectors. show that all these remains came together accidentally
Archaeologists must know what to look for to iden- after having been washed out of their original resting
tify sites and the remains that can serve as evidence. They places by flash flooding. As we saw in the last chapter,
have to think about the kinds of human behavior past being able to tell when processes like this have or have
populations are likely to have engaged in and what telltale not affected the formation of a particular site is the
evidence for that behavior might have been left behind. focus of taphonomy.
Sometimes the artifacts themselves tell the story: a collec- Even in ideal situations, where a site has lain rela-
tion of blank flint pieces, partly worked flint tools, and tively undisturbed for hundreds, thousands, or millions
a heap of flakes suggest that a site was used for flint-tool
manufacture. Other times, when archaeologists are un-
ethnoarchaeology The study of the way present-day societies use
clear about the significance of remains, they use a method artifacts and structures and how these objects become part of the archaeo-
called ethnoarchaeology, which is the study of the way logical record.
FIGURE 6.2 One of the most

spectacular archaeological dis-
coveries in recent years was the
so-called Ice Man. He froze to death
in an Alpine glacier more than
5,000 years ago. His remains were
exposed only in 1991 as the glacier
melted.
of years, not all kinds of important human activity may be analyses are revealing information about the genomes
represented by preserved remains. Wood and plant fibers of extinct species, including hominins. Techniques have
decay rapidly, and their absence at a site does not mean also been developed to extract proteins and fats from ar-
that its human occupants did not use wooden tools. The chaeological remains. Collagen protein from bones can
earliest classification of ancient human c ultural traditions be used to identify species to which ancient bones be-
in Europe was based on stone, bronze, and iron tools, all longed, and the ratio between stable isotopes of carbon
of which can survive for long periods. Baked clay, whether and nitrogen in bone collagen can indicate the amount
in the form of pottery, figurines, or naturally occurring de- of meat in the human diet (Brown and Brown 2013,
posits that were accidentally burned in a fire, is also quite 162). Ancient fat molecules can also be recovered from
durable. Fire also renders plant seeds virtually indestruc- ceramic fragments or other materials and can be ana-
tible, allowing important dietary clues to survive. lyzed as biomarkers of leaf wax, muscle, or milk resi-
Extreme climates can enhance artifact preservation. dues, again providing insights about past diets (Brown
Hot, dry climates, such as those in Egypt or northern and Brown 2013, 162).
Chile, hinder decay. Sites in these regions contain not Occasionally, archaeological sites are well pre-
only preserved human bodies but also other organic reserved as a result of natural disasters, such as volcanic
mains such as plant seeds, baskets, cordage, textiles, and eruptions (Figure 6.3). Similarly, mudslides may cover
artifacts made of wood, leather, and feathers. Cold cli- sites and protect their contents from erosion, whereas
mates provide natural refrigeration, which also hinders waterlogged sites free of oxygen can preserve a range
decay. Burial sites in northern or high-mountain regions of organic materials that would otherwise decay. Peat
with extremely low winter temperatures may never thaw bogs are exemplary airless, waterlogged sites that have
out once they have been sealed, preserving even better yielded many plant and animal remains, including ar-
than dry climates the flesh of humans and animals, plant tifacts made of wood, leather, and basketry as well as
remains, and artifacts made of leather and wood. This is the occasional human body. Log pilings recovered from
well illustrated by the spectacular 1991 discovery of the Swiss lakes have been useful both for reconstructing an-
so-called Ice Man, who had frozen to death in an Alpine cient sunken dwellings and for establishing tree-ring se-
glacier 5,300–5,200 years ago (Figure 6.2). Eyes, brain, quences in European dendrochronology.
and intestines were preserved in his dried-up body, to-
gether with his clothing, the wooden handles of his flint
knife and copper ax head, an unstrung bow, two arrows, Surveys
and a dozen extra shafts (Sjovold 1993). Sometimes research takes archaeologists or paleontol-
As we saw in Chapter 5, ancient DNA can survive ogists to museums, where scholars with new theories,
for tens of thousands of years in bones, teeth, or hair new evidence, or new or more sophisticated techniques
preserved in permafrost or in cool caves; and laboratory can reexamine fossils or artifacts collected years earlier
a b
FIGURE 6.3 Some archaeological sites are well preserved as a result of natural disasters. This adobe house in Cerén, El Salvador
(a), was buried under several layers of lava following a series of volcanic eruptions. Sometimes organic remains leave impressions in
the soil where they decayed. These remains of a corn crib and ears of corn from Cerén (b) are actually casts made by pouring dental
plaster into a soil cavity.
to gain new insights. Often, the research problem re- away Lucy’s remains ( Johanson and Edey 1981). Of
quires a trip to the field. Traditionally, this meant sur- course, Johanson and his team were not in Hadar ac-
veying the region in which promising sites were likely cidentally; they had decided to look for sites in areas
to be found and then excavating the most promising of that seemed promising for good scientific reasons.
them—literally digging up the past. As archaeologists Archaeologists ordinarily decide where to do their
have increasingly come to recognize, however, excava- field surveys based on previous work, which can give
tions cost a lot of money and are inevitably destructive. them clues about where they will most likely find
Fortunately, nondestructive remote-sensing technolo- suitable sites. Local citizens in the region who may
gies have improved significantly in recent years. Survey know of possible sites are also important sources of
archaeology can now provide highly sophisticated in- information.
formation about site types, their distribution, and their Aerial surveys can be used for mapping purposes or
layouts, all without a spadeful of earth being turned to photograph large areas whose attributes may suggest
(Figure 6.4). Surveys have other advantages as well, as the presence of otherwise invisible sites. For example,
archaeologists Colin Renfrew and Paul Bahn (2008) when contemporary crops are planted in fields that were
remind us: “Excavation tells us a lot about a little of once used for other purposes, seeds sown over features
a site, and can only be done once, whereas survey tells such as buried walls or embankments will show growth
us a little about a lot of sites, and can be repeated” patterns different from the plants around them, cast-
(79). As the kinds of questions archaeologists ask have ing a shadow that is easily seen in aerial photographs
changed, larger regions—entire landscapes, contrast- (Figure 6.5). Black-and-white aerial photography is the
ing ecological zones, trading zones, and the like—are oldest and cheapest form of aerial reconnaissance and
increasingly of interest. And for this kind of research, provides the highest image resolution. Infrared photog-
surveys are crucial. raphy and remote-sensing techniques using false-color,
Surveys can be as simple as walking slowly over heat-sensitive, or radar imaging can sometimes produce
a field with eyes trained on the ground. They are as better results. In 1983, for example, archaeologists used
important to paleontologists as to archaeologists. false-color Landsat imagery to discover a vast, previously
For example, paleontologist Donald Johanson and unknown network of ancient Mayan fields and several
his colleagues discovered the bones of “Lucy” when other important sites in Yucatán, Mexico. Archaeologists
they resurveyed a locality in the Hadar region of continue to experiment with satellite imaging technol-
Ethiopia that had yielded nothing on previous visits ogy, which is developing at an extraordinary rate. How-
(see Chapter 5). Between the previous visit and that ever, the resolution of images from satellites is not yet
one, the rainy season had come and gone, washing
away soil and exposing Lucy’s bones. Had Johanson
or his colleagues not noticed those bones at that time, survey The physical examination of a geographical region in which promis-
another rainy season probably would have washed ing sites are most likely to be found.
FIGURE 6.4 The final map representing an archaeological site usually combines several kinds of information. This map of a site in
California includes cartographic data, data from aerial photography, and data photographed on the site itself.
as good as that of conventional aerial photography, and resistivity of the soil. Magnetic methods can detect
satellite images can be extremely expensive. objects made of iron or baked clay, and metal detec-
Another remote-sensing technology called LiDAR tors can locate buried metal artifacts. In recent years,
(light detecting and ranging) uses laser beams to ground-penetrating radar (GPR) has become more read-
penetrate heavy forest vegetation, providing high- ily available for archaeological use. GPR reflects pulsed
resolution images of hidden archaeological features radar waves off features below the surface. Because the
like ancient roads or settlements. LiDAR surveys radar waves pass through different kinds of materials
in Central America “demonstrate that some ancient at different rates, the echoes that are picked up reflect
Mesoamerican sites are far more extensive and com- back changes in the soil and sediment encountered as
plex than was thought possible following popular well as the depth at which those changes are found.
sociopolitical models” (Chase et al. 2012, 12918; see Advances in data processing and computer power
also Preston 2013). make it possible to produce large three-dimensional
Thanks to modern technology, archaeologists sets of GPR data that can be used effectively to produce
can also learn a lot about what is beneath a site’s sur- three-dimensional maps of buried archaeological re-
face without actually digging. Some machines can mains. GPR is very useful when the site to be studied
detect buried features and gravitational anomalies is associated with people who forbid the excavation of
using echo sounding or by measuring the electrical human remains.
FIGURE 6.5 From the air, buried

walls, ditches, and other features of
a site may be more easily revealed
than from the ground. Here, buried
features became visible as the
barley in this field grew.
Geographic Information Systems (GIS) is also be-

coming increasingly important in archaeological Archaeological Excavation
research. A GIS is a “computer-aided system for the When archaeologists or paleoanthropologists need to
collection, s torage, retrieval, analysis, and presenta- know “a lot about a little of a site,” as Renfrew and Bahn
tion of spatial data of all kinds” (Fagan and D eCorse put it, excavation is necessary. Excavation is the sys-
2005, 188). In essence, a GIS is a database with a tematic uncovering of archaeological remains through
map-based interface. Anything that can be given a removal of the deposits of soil and other material cover-
location in space—information about topography, ing and accompanying them (Renfrew and Bahn 2008,
soil, elevation, geology, climate, vegetation, water re- 580). It is important to remember that excavation is a
sources, site location, and field boundaries, as well form of destruction and a site, once excavated, is gone
as aerial photos and satellite images—is entered into forever. Archaeologists today will excavate only a small
the database, and maps can be generated with the part of a site on the assumption that future archaeolo-
information the researcher wants. At the same time, gists will have better techniques and different questions
statistical analysis can be done on the database, al- if they return to the same site. Some sites are shallow,
lowing archaeologists to generate new information with only one or a few levels. Other sites, especially de-
and to study complex problems of site distribution posits in caves that were used for centuries by successive
and settlement patterns over a landscape. GIS is being human groups or urban sites going back thousands of
used to construct predictive models as well. That is, years, are far more complex. In either case, however, ex-
if certain kinds of settlement sites are found in simi- cavators keep track of what they find by imposing on the
lar places (close to water, sheltered, near specific food site a three-dimensional grid system that allows them to
sources), then a GIS for an area can make it possible record stratigraphic associations.
to predict the likelihood of finding a site at a par- As Renfrew and Bahn (2008, 107) point out, a mul-
ticular location whose environmental characteristics tilayered site contains two kinds of information about
are in the database. For archaeologists, the drawback human activities: contemporary activities that take place
to this kind of predictive modeling is a tendency to horizontally in space and changes in those activities that
place a very heavy weight on the environmental fea- take place vertically over time. Artifacts and features as-
tures as determining human settlement patterns. It is sociated with one another in an undisturbed context
easy to measure, map, and digitize features of the nat-
ural environment. Social and cultural modifications
or interpretations of the e nvironment, however, are
excavation The systematic uncovering of archaeological remains through
equally important but more difficult to handle using removal of the deposits of soil and other material covering them and ac-
GIS methods. companying them.
is sifted to recover tiny artifacts such as stone flakes or

remains of plants or animals. Flotation methods allow
archaeologists to separate light plant matter that will
float, such as bits of wood, leaves, fibers, some seeds,
stems, and charcoal, from heavier items that sink, such
as rocks, sand, bones, pottery, and chipped stone. Every-
thing is labeled and bagged for more detailed analysis
in the laboratory.
Work on an archaeological dig ranges from the
backbreaking shifting of dirt to the delicate brush-
ing away of soil from a key fossil or artifact. Each dig
brings special challenges. Archaeologist Robert Wenke
(1999) describes his team’s daily routine during the first
3 months of a 6-month field season as they searched
for evidence for the emergence of agriculture after
7000 B.C.E. at a site on the southern shore of the Fayum
lake in Egypt:
We began by making a topological map of the area we in-

tended to work in. We then devised a sampling program
and collected every artifact in the sampling units defined,
that is, in the hundreds of 5 × 5 meter squares in our
study area. The average temperature during much of this
work was over 40°C (104°F), and by mid-day the stone
tools were often so hot we would have to juggle them as
we bagged them. Afternoons were spent sorting, draw-
FIGURE 6.6 Graduate and undergraduate students work to
excavate a series of stair-step units at the Paleoindian Hudson-
ing, and photographing artifacts, drinking warm water,
Meng site (25SX115), Sioux County, Nebraska. All artifacts and and drawing each other’s attention to the heat. (84)
features are recorded photographically and in writing, as are
the stratigraphic layers that are exposed. Most of the labor of cleaning, classifying, and ana-
lyzing usually takes place in laboratories after the dig is
over and frequently requires several years to complete.
provide evidence for contemporary activities. As excava- Researchers clean the artifacts well enough for close
tors uncover one stratum after another in sequence, they examination—but not so well that possible organic

gradually reveal evidence for changes in human activi- residues (grain kernels inside pots, traces of blood on
ties over time (Figure 6.6). The more levels of occupa- cutting edges) are lost. They then classify the artifacts
tion at a site, the more likely it is that some of the levels according to the materials out of which they are made,
will have been disturbed by subsequent humans, other their shapes, and their surface decoration, if any, and ar-
animals, or natural forces. It then becomes the excava- range them in typologies, using ordering principles simi-
tor’s job to determine the degree of disturbance that has lar to those employed for fossil taxonomies. Once the
occurred and its effect on the site. artifacts are classified, researchers analyze records from
Only on shallow sites are archaeologists likely to the dig for patterns of distribution in space or time. It
expose an entire occupation level; this procedure is is important to underline that individual records of the
prohibitively expensive and destructive on large, mul- excavation—notebooks, drawings, plots of artifact dis-
tileveled sites. Archaeologists often use statistical sam- tributions, photographs, and computer data—are as
pling techniques to choose which portions of large, much part of the results of the excavation as the materi-
complex sites to excavate, aiming for a balance between als excavated.
major features and outlying areas (see Figure 6.4). Archaeologist Ian Hodder has argued that archaeol-
As the excavation proceeds, researchers record pho- ogy would benefit if discovery were not separated from
tographically and in writing all artifacts and features interpretation in this way. For this reason, he advocates
discovered and the stratigraphic layers exposed. Such “interpretation at the trowel’s edge”: that is, “bringing
record keeping is especially important for structures forward interpretation to the moment of discovery”
that will be destroyed as digging continues. Loose soil (Hodder 2010, 12) by making it possible for analytic
specialists and interested groups of various kinds to clues about groups of people who might have been re-
converse with excavators working in the trenches, and sponsible for these developments (as we will see in
by building specialist labs on the site itself. For instance, Chapter 7); however, we need to remember the risks
over a three-year period, a group of anthropologists, phi- of associating these distributions too literally with real
losophers, and theologians were brought to the N eolithic past societies.
site of Çatalhöyük, Turkey, where Hodder directs re-
search. “The dialogue between different specialists in
religion in the context of grappling with the data from Archaeology and Digital Heritage
a particular archaeological site has opened up new lines We noted earlier that advances in data processing and
of inquiry and new perspectives on religion and its ori- computer power had improved the quality of data
gins” (Hodder 2010, 27; see Anthropology in Everyday obtained by archaeologists from ground-penetrating

Life, page 193). radar and GIS; in fact, computerization and digital in-
As you will recall, the artifacts and structures from formation storage have become important in all areas
a particular time and place in a site are called an as- of contemporary archaeology. In recent decades a digital
semblage. Cultural change at a particular site may be revolution has swept individuals and institutions into a
traced by comparing assemblages from lower levels with global digital mediascape, and some archaeologists have
those found in more recent levels. When surveys or ex- begun to reflect on the challenges and the opportuni-
cavations at several sites turn up the same assemblages, ties associated with these changes. Cutting-edge digital
archaeologists refer to them as an “archaeological cul- technology offers the “the potential of connecting data
ture.” Such groupings can be very helpful in mapping to spatial coordinates, fleshing out site and landscape,
cultural similarities and differences over wide areas and rendering simulated pasts in photographic detail,
during past ages. all on the scale of world-building—as complete a model
The pitfall, however, which earlier generations of of the past as possible; a ‘digital heritage’” (Olsen et al.
archaeologists did not always avoid, is to assume that 2012, 88). However, Olsen and his colleagues emphasize
archaeological cultures necessarily represent real social that these dazzling possibilities must not blind archae-
groups that once existed. As Hodder demonstrated in ologists to the fact that the creation and management
1982, archaeological cultures are the product of scien- of digital heritage depends on the successful negotiation
tific analysis. Hodder’s ethnoarchaeological research among archaeologists, digital experts, and various com-
among several contemporary ethnic groups in eastern munities for whom the digital heritage is meaningful;
Africa showed that artifact distributions do sometimes it also involves serious tinkering with the hardware and
coincide with ethnic boundaries when the items in ques- software to make online access to digital heritage sites
tion are used as symbols of group identity. He found, as unproblematic as possible. Olsen and his colleagues
for example, that the ear ornaments worn by women of describe this as the hard work of mediation; that is, of
the Tugen, Njemps, and Pokot groups were distinct from “work done in the spaces between old things and the
one another and that women from one group would stories they hold in the present” (89).
never wear ear ornaments typical of another. However, Digital documentation and storage requires deci-
other items of material culture, such as pots or tools, sions to be made concerning what to keep and what
which were not used as symbols of group identity, were to discard, which was also the case with traditional
distributed in patterns very different from those typi- management and preservation of archaeological ma-
cal of ear ornaments. Such artifact distribution patterns terials. However, archaeologists who digitize their ar-
could be misinterpreted by future researchers and result chives have often found it difficult to connect different
in a misleading archaeological culture. kinds of digital records with one another. Often this
Questions about the correspondences between ar- is because different digital technologies operate ac-
chaeological cultures and present-day cultures are im- cording to different data standards. Olsen and his col-
portant to archaeologists because they would like to use leagues (2012) argue that data standards are necessary,
archaeological evidence to explain cultural variation and but that archaeologists must be mindful of the choices
cultural evolution. Burning questions for many prehis- they make in setting up such standards: “just as there
toric archaeologists concern when and why small bands
of foragers decided to settle down and farm for a living
and why some of these settlements grew large and com-
digital heritage Digital information about the past available on the
plex and came to dominate their neighbors whereas Internet. It can include a range of materials from digitized documents and
others did not. Patterned distributions of artifacts offer photographs to images of artifacts to video and sound recordings.
is a reality that standards and knowledge infrastruc- new rules for manifesting the past . . . a combination of
tures strive to maintain, there is a politics of memory practices that are orderly and consistent as well as open
that they render invisible” (108). Digital media make and creative (134).
it possible to connect “analog” hand-drawn maps and
sketches of artifacts with digitized maps and photo-
graphs, linking them back to the original artifacts in
storerooms and sites in environment. However, most
How Do Archaeologists
archaeologists “often only get one chance at translating Interpret the Past?
the things and their relations that are displaced by ex-
cavation” (Olsen et al. 2012, 110). Moreover, preserving Subsistence Strategies
connections between digital and analog materials de- Human beings construct their ecological niches by in-
pends on preserving “our ability to retrace the linkages” venting ways of using their relationships with one an-
between one and the other (Olsen et al. 2012, 111). One other and with the physical environment to make a
way archaeologists are working to resolve these issues is living. Subsistence is the term often used to refer to the
the digital archaeological record, which aims at “broad- satisfaction of the most basic material survival needs:
ening the access to a wide variety of archaeological food, clothing, and shelter. The different ways that
data” by establishing standards for digital systems of people in different societies go about meeting subsis-
archaeological data storage and retrieval (https://www. tence needs are called subsistence strategies.
tdar.org/why-tdar/access/). Anthropologists have devised a typology of sub-
On the positive side, current digital media enable sistence strategies that has gained wide acceptance
more extensive forms of interaction with varied forms of (Figure 6.7). The basic division is between food collec-
archaeological data than were possible in the past. For tors, or foragers (those who gather, fish, or hunt), and
example, an important area of contemporary archaeol- food producers (those who depend on domesticated
ogy in the United States involves the identification and plants or animals or both). The strategies followed
documentation of traditional cultural property (TCP) by food collectors depend on the richness of the en-
sites affiliated with Native American or Native Hawaiian vironments in which they live. Small-scale food col-
groups. Olsen and his colleagues point out that digitally lectors live in harsher environments and are likely to
documented data about TCP sites is much richer than change residence often in search of resources, as the
traditional written documentation, b ringing together Ju/’hoansi traditionally did (see EthnoProfile 11.4). By
maps, photographs, video excerpts, and handwritten contrast, complex food collectors live in environments
notes. Indeed, “Without digitally- mediated engage- richly endowed with dependable food sources and
ments with sites such as TCPs it would be difficult to reg- may even, like the indigenous peoples of the north-
ister those very qualities that define them as significant” west coast of North America, build settlements with
(Olsen et al. 2012, 129). permanent architecture. As we shall see, archaeologi-
At the same time, concern remains about the sus- cal evidence shows that some of the first food produc-
tainability of digital formats currently in use. In addi- ers in the world continued food collection for many
tion, as digital heritage resources become increasingly generations, raising a few crops on the side and oc-
accessible on the Internet, via open-source and Creative casionally abandoning food production to return to
Commons agreements, outside groups are permitted to full-time foraging.
engage with digital heritage sites, and some may chal- Food producers may farm exclusively or herd ex-
lenge the authority of archaeological interpretations. clusively or do a little of both. Those who depend on
But such engagements can be a source of strength, not herds are called pastoralists. As can be seen in Figure 6.7,
merely a threat (see box on page 214 on Çatalhöyük for a conventional classifications of herding peoples allot
comparable example). Olsen and his colleagues (2012) them a somewhat marginal status alongside farmers, a
conclude: “Just as analog media in deteriorating archives judgment reflecting the perceptions of settled peoples.
require attention, the networks constituting digital in- However, new high-tech analytic methods, coupled
formation and documents and sustaining their preser- with new efforts to compare the archaeologies of pasto-
vation require curatorial work to maintain. This creates ral peoples from different parts of the world, are alter-
new responsibilities for sustaining our digital heritage, ing this understanding, “replacing cultural stereotypes
with a diverse range of material evidence that has re-
vealed how ancient pastoral nomads lived, organized,
subsistence strategy Different ways that people in different societies go and fully participated in many of the traditions we refer
about meeting their basic material survival needs. to as ‘civilization’” (Honeychurch and Makarewicz
Subsistence
strategies
Food Food
collectors producers
Small-
Complex
scale Herders Farmers
foragers
foragers
Mechanized
Extensive Intensive
industrial
agriculture agriculture
agriculture
FIGURE 6.7 Subsistence strategies.
2016, 342). For example, the traditional question in pastoralism,” which afforded an impressive degree of
past research on pastoralism has been the origin of productive flexibility. Hence, Honeychurch and Makare-
animal domestication, but the newer work is investi- wicz conclude that their “nomadic” movements “may
gating “subsequent processes involving enhancement not have been principally an adaptation to a marginal
of livestock management strategies, which contributed environment but instead a flexible response” (2016,
to the emergence of more intensive forms of pastoral- 344–47). Archaeologists now contribute to contempo-
ism and pastoral nomadism” (Honeychurch and Mak- rary efforts by ethnographers and others to defend the
arewicz 2016, 343). rights of indigenous herders, highlighting the roles they
Comparative work carried out in different regions have long played in managing grasslands and demon-
and landscapes now shows that “Mobile herding, in its strating that the so-called pastoral nomad is “an inno-
various expressions, is but one possible outcome of the vative social agent, an architect of political complexity,
long-term processes of coevolution and co-community and a modern-day actor who is well-suited to the con-
between animals and human beings initiated with if not temporary globalized world” (Honeychurch and Mak-
before, the domestication of wild animals” (Honeychurch arewicz 2016, 352).
and Makarewicz 2016, 343). Incorporation of herd ani- Traditional classifications of subsistence strategies
mals into subsistence practices probably emerged more involving dependence on domesticated plants acknowl-
than once, taking on different patterns in different edge a range of variation (see Figure 6.7). Some farm-
landscapes. In the millennia following domestication, ers depend primarily on human muscle power plus a
mobility and settled life existed side by side, and might few simple tools such as digging sticks or hoes or ma-
be taken up by members of the same community at chetes. They clear plots of uncultivated land, burn the
different times, as we will see in Chapter 7. In addition, brush, and plant their crops in the ash-enriched soil
skills and knowledge in herd management practices im- that remains. Because this technique exhausts the soil
proved over time, and it can be seen in material remains after two or three seasons, the plot must then lie fallow
of houses, corrals, deliberately constructed mounds of for several years as a new plot is cleared and the pro-
stone, landscape modifications such as dams or storage cess repeated. This form of cultivation is called exten-
spaces for water, and rock carvings. People with herds sive agriculture, emphasizing the extensive use of land as
also developed craft skills that allowed them to trans- farm plots are moved every few years (see Figure 6.8).
form animal products like wool or leather into high- Other farmers use plows, draft animals, irrigation, fer-
value goods. Overall, households with herds seem to tilizer, and the like. Their method of farming—known
have maintained a “multi-resource and multi-purpose as intensive agriculture—brings much more land under
FIGURE 6.8 E xtensive agricul-

ture, sometimes known as swidden
or slash-and-burn horticulture,
requires a substantial amount of
land, since soils are exhausted
within a couple of years and
may require as many as 20 years
to lie fallow before they can be
used again.
cultivation at any one time and produces significant By the early twentieth century, the extravagant
crop surpluses. Finally, mechanized industrial agricul- claims of some unilineal schemes of cultural evolu-
ture is found in societies in which farming or animal tionism led most anthropologists to abandon such
husbandry has become organized along industrial theorizing. Key critics in Britain were social anthropolo-
lines. Agribusiness “factories in the field” or animal gists A. R. Radcliffe-Brown and Bronislaw Malinowski.
feedlots transform food production into a large-scale, Radcliffe-Brown argued that the evidence about social
technology-dependent industry of its own. forms in past periods of human history was so incom-
plete that all such schemes amounted to little more
than guesswork. Malinowski and his students used de-
Bands, Tribes, Chiefdoms, and States tailed ethnographic information to explode popular ste-
A key task facing early anthropologists was to measure reotypes about so-called savage peoples. In the United
and classify the range of variation in forms of human States, Franz Boas was highly critical of the racist as-
society over time and across space, as well as to ex- sumptions in unilineal evolutionary schemes. He and
plain cultural and social change over time. In partic- his students worked to reconstruct the histories of in-
ular, accounting for the origin of the state was a key digenous North American societies. They were struck by
preoccupation of nineteenth-century anthropology, as the links among neighboring societies, especially by the
seen, for example, in the work of the American Lewis ways in which people, ideas, rituals, and material arti-
Henry Morgan. Morgan was struck by certain patterns facts regularly flowed across porous social boundaries.
he found, in which particular forms of social and po- Boas was quick to note that if borrowing, rather than
litical organization seemed regularly to correlate with independent invention, played an important role in cul-
particular forms of economic and technological or- tural change, then any unilineal evolutionary scheme
ganization, which he called “the arts of subsistence.” was doomed.
Morgan’s book Ancient Society, published in 1877, sum- After World War II, archaeologists and cultural an-
marized the basic orientation of what became known as thropologists in North America worked to combine
unilineal cultural evolutionism: “The latest investigations archaeological and ethnographic information about
respecting the early condition of the human race are a range of human societies to construct models of cul-
tending to the conclusion that man-kind commenced tural evolution that would capture key turning points
their career at the bottom of the scale and worked their in social change while avoiding the assumptions about
way up from savagery to civilization through the slow race and progress that had marred earlier attempts. By
accumulations of experimental knowledge” (Morgan the 1960s they had produced economic and political
[1877] 1963, 3). classifications of human social forms that mapped onto
TABLE 6.1 Formal Categories Used by Anthropologists to Classify the Forms of Human Society
CATEGORY DESCRIPTION
Band A small, predominantly foraging society of 50 or fewer members that divides labor by age and
sex only and provides relatively equal access for all adults to wealth, power, and prestige.
Tribe A farming or herding society, usually larger than a band, that relies on kinship as the frame-
work for social and political life; provides relatively egalitarian social relations but may have a
chief who has more prestige (but not more power or wealth) than others. Sometimes called a
rank society.
Chiefdom A socially stratified society, generally larger than a tribe, in which a chief and close relatives
enjoy privileged access to wealth, power, and prestige and that has greater craft production
but few full-time specialists.
State An economic, political, and ideological entity invented by stratified societies; possesses spe-
cialized government institutions to administer services and collect taxes and tributes; monop-
olizes use of force with armies and police; possesses high level and quality of craft production.
Often developed writing (particularly in early states).
Empire Forms when one state conquers another.
each other in interesting ways. As archaeologist Matthew owever, many societies of foragers, farmers, and
H
Johnson (1999) summarizes, herders have developed what Elman Service (1962)
called “pantribal sodalities” (113). Sodalities are
cultural anthropologists Elman Service and Morton “special-purpose groupings” that may be organized
Fried . . . have been particularly influential on archae- on the basis of age, sex, economic role, and personal
ologists. Service gives us a fourfold typology ranging interest. “[Sodalities] serve very different functions—
along the scale of simple to complex of band, tribe,
among them police, military, medical, initiation, re-
chiefdom, and state. Fried offers an alternative [politi-
ligious, and recreation. Some sodalities conduct their
cal] scheme of egalitatian, ranked, stratified and state
business in secret, others in public. Membership may
[societies]. . . . Both start and stop at the same point
be ascribed or it may be obtained via inheritance, pur-
(they start with “simple” gatherer–hunter societies,
though their definitions of such societies differ, and chase, attainment, performance, or contract. Men’s
end with the modern state). They both also share a sodalities are more numerous and highly organized
similar methodology. (141; see also Wenke 1999, than women’s and, generally, are also more secretive
340–44; Table 6.1) and seclusive in their activities” (Hunter and Whitten
1976, 362). Sodalities create enduring diffuse solidar-
The band is the characteristic form of social orga- ity among members of a large society, in part because
nization found among foragers. Foraging groups are they draw their personnel from a number of “pri-
small, usually numbering no more than 50 people, mary” forms of social o rganization, such as lineages
and labor is divided ordinarily on the basis of age and (Figure 6.9).
sex. All adults in band societies have roughly equal
access to whatever material or social valuables are lo-
cally available, which is why anthropologists call them
“egalitarian” forms of society. A society identified as a
tribe is generally larger than a band, and its members band The characteristic form of social organization found among for-
usually farm or herd for a living. Social relations in a agers. Bands are small, usually no more than 50 people, and labor is
divided ordinarily on the basis of age and sex. All adults in band societies
tribe are still relatively egalitarian, although there may have roughly equal access to whatever material or social valuables are
be a chief who speaks for the group or organizes certain locally available.
group activities. The chief often enjoys greater prestige tribe A society that is generally larger than a band, whose members usually
than other individuals, but this prestige does not or- farm or herd for a living. Social relations in a tribe are still relatively egalitar-
ian, although there may be a chief who speaks for the group or organizes
dinarily translate into greater power or wealth. Social certain group activities.
organization and subsistence activities are usually car- sodalities Special-purpose groupings that may be organized on the
ried out according to rules of kinship (see Chapter 12). basis of age, sex, economic role, and personal interest.
FIGURE 6.9 Members of the

Oruro, Bolivia, devil sodality dance.
The chiefdom is the first human social form to As we shall see in Chapter 7, most archaeologists
show evidence of permanent inequalities of wealth and who use this general evolutionary scheme to help them
power, in addition to inequality of status, or position in interpret their findings reject the lockstep determinism
society. Ordinarily, only the chief and close relatives are that gave nineteenth-century cultural evolutionism such
set apart from the rest of society; other members con- a bad name. Indeed, to the extent that the term evolution
tinue to share roughly similar social status. Chiefdoms has come to refer to goal-directed, deterministic cultural
are generally larger than tribes and show a greater degree processes, many archaeologists might prefer to de-
of craft production, although such production is not yet scribe what they do as cultural history or prehistory since
in the hands of full-time specialists. Chiefdoms also ex- these terms leave room for openness and contingency
hibit a greater degree of hierarchical political control, in human affairs, explicitly acknowledging that human
centered on the chief and relatives of the chief, based on cultural development does not move on rails toward a
their great deeds. Archaeologically, chiefdoms are inter- predestined outcome.
esting because some apparently remained as they were Given these qualifications, can knowledge about
and then disappeared, whereas others went on to de- bands, tribes, and chiefdoms continue to be of value
velop into states. A state is defined as a stratified society to anthropologists? For one thing, most archaeolo-
that possesses a territory that is defended from outside gists who use these categories do not think of them as
enemies with an army and from internal disorder with sharply divided or mutually exclusive categories but,
police. States, which have separate governmental insti- rather, as points on a continuum. Indeed, a single
tutions to enforce laws and to collect taxes and tribute, social group may move back and forth between more
are run by an elite who possesses a monopoly on the than one of these forms over time. Most anthropolo-
use of force. gists would probably agree that knowledge about
human cultural prehistory is important in helping us
understand what it means to be human, even if our
more immediate research interests do not focus on
chiefdom A form of social organization in which a leader (the chief) and
close relatives are set apart from the rest of the society and allowed privi-
prehistory itself. For example, knowledge that gender
leged access to wealth, power, and prestige. relations in band societies tend to be egalitarian and
status A particular social position in a group. that human beings and their ancestors lived in bands
state A stratified society that possesses a territory that is defended from for most of evolutionary history has been important to
outside enemies with an army and from internal disorder with police. A feminist anthropologists; knowledge that nation-states
state, which has a separate set of governmental institutions designed to
enforce laws and to collect taxes and tribute, is run by an elite that possesses and empires are recent developments in human history
a monopoly on the use of force. that came about as a result of political, technological,
and other sociocultural processes undermines the as- whom it belongs. In some cases, archaeological sites
sumptions of scientific racism. have come to play an important role in identity forma-
At the same time, anthropologists may continue tion for people who see themselves as the descendants
to be interested in why certain kinds of developments of the builders of the site. Machu Picchu in Andean
came about in one place and time rather than another. Peru, the Pyramids in Egypt, the Acropolis in Athens,
Prehistorians notice that there were numerous settled Great Zimbabwe in Zimbabwe, and Masada in Israel are
villages in southwest Asia 10,000 years ago but only a just a few examples of ancient monuments that have
few of them became cities or city-states. Some band- great significance for people living in modern states
living hunter–gatherers settled down to become farm- today. The meanings people take from them do not
ers or animal herders in some times and places; some always coincide with the findings of current archaeolog-
of their neighbors, however, managed to find a way to ical research. At the same time, these sites, and a great
continue to survive by gathering and hunting in bands many others, have become major tourist destinations.
right up until the end of the twentieth century. Indeed, Geographically remote Machu Picchu, for example,

in parts of the world, like Afghanistan, tribal organiza- now receives about 300,000 tourists per year, a number
tions continue to thrive, and attempts to establish cen- that is both impressive and worrisome, since the con-
tralized states regularly fail. Archaeology, history, and stant movement of tourists may be doing permanent
ethnography can help explain why these developments damage to the site (Figure 6.10). Nations, regions, and
have (or have not) occurred by seeking to identify social local communities have discovered that the past attracts
structural elements and cultural practices that may en- tourists and their money, which can provide significant
hance, or impede, the transformation of one kind of income in some parts of the world. The past may even
social form into another. Nor is classification an end
in itself. Today’s archaeologists do not see the catego-
ries of band, tribe, chiefdom, and state as eternal forms
through which all societies are fated to pass. Instead,
these are understood as theoretical constructs based on
available evidence and subject to critique. Their main
value comes from the way in which they give structure
to our ignorance.
As we will see, especially in Chapter 16, intensi-
fied processes of globalization in the late twentieth and
early twenty-first centuries have revitalized the interest
of many anthropologists in cultural borrowing, vin-
dicating the Boasians’ claims about the porous nature
of social boundaries and the cultural adaptability of
which all human societies are capable. At the same time
it has become clear that not all kinds of movements
across social and cultural boundaries are equally easy or
equally welcome everywhere. Anthropologists continue
to pay attention to those structural features of contem-
porary societies—such as political boundaries between
nation–states and international economic structures—
that continue to modulate the tempo and mode of cul-
tural, political, and economic change.
Whose Past Is It?

As a social science discipline, archaeology has its own
theoretical questions, methodological approaches, and
history. In recent years, archaeologists have explicitly FIGURE 6.10 A lthough Machu Picchu is a spectacular
example of human ingenuity and achievement, it has had to
had to come to terms with the fact that they are not the
endure increasing pressure from visitors who come to admire
only people interested in what is buried in the ground, it. The Peruvian government has proposed closing the Inca trail
how it got there, how it should be interpreted, and to during the rainy season to protect the sites.
be mobilized by the entertainment industry: for ex- this material even more valuable. Yet, these may be the
ample, increasingly popular “time capsule” sites invite remains of ancestors of peoples now living in the area
tourists to visit places where local people wear cos- from which the bones were removed, peoples who do
tumes and carry out the occupations associated with a not believe that the dead should be disturbed and have
“re-created” past way of life. their bones analyzed.
Nevertheless, not all peoples welcome either ar- This has been a particularly important issue for ar-
chaeologists or tourists. For example, as former colonies chaeology in the United States because most of the col-
became independent states, their citizens became inter- lections of skeletal materials (and sacred objects) came
ested in uncovering their own past and gaining control from Native American populations. Many, although not
over their heritage. This has often meant that the arti- all, Native Americans are deeply angered by the excava-
facts discovered during archaeological research must stay tion of indigenous burials. That the bones of their ances-
in the country in which they were found. In addition, tors end up in museums, laboratories, and universities
citizens of these states are now asking museums in West- embodies for them the disrespect and domination that
ern countries to return cultural property— substantial has been the lot of indigenous Americans since Europe-
quantities of material artifacts—removed long ago by ans first arrived. Thus, their objections have both reli-
colonizers. There seems to be little question that ob- gious and political dimensions. These objections were
jects of special religious or cultural significance should recognized in the Native American Graves Protection
be returned to the places from which they were taken. and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA), passed by the U.S.
Some objects, for example, were considered sacred by Congress in 1990.
their makers and were not intended for public view First, NAGPRA requires all federal agencies and
but have been openly displayed in public museums for institutions that receive federal funds to inventory all
many years. Is displaying such objects in public, even American Indian and Native Hawaiian human remains
among people who do not believe in their sacredness, in their possession, as well as funerary objects, sacred
disrespectful to their makers? Is it just another way of objects, and “objects of cultural patrimony.” These insti-
representing the political power of the current owners? tutions must establish whether these remains or objects
Renfrew and Bahn (2004, 552) suggest that the matter have a connection with any living indigenous groups.
may be more complex: Should a connection be found, the institutions are re-
quired to notify the appropriate American Indian or
[One can] ask whether the interest of the great prod- Native Hawaiian group and offer to return, or “repatri-
ucts of human endeavor does not in fact transcend the ate,” the materials in question. In addition, if indigenous
geographical boundaries of modern-day nationalism. groups believe that they have a connection to remains
Does it make sense that all the Paleolithic handaxes and held by an institution, they may request repatriation of
other artifacts from Olduvai Gorge or Olorgesaillie in
those remains, even if the institution is not convinced by
East Africa should remain confined within the bounds
their claims (Figure 6.11).
of the modern nations where they have been found?
Second, NAGPRA protects American Indian graves
Should we not all be able to benefit from the insights
they offer? And is it not a profound and important ex-
and cultural objects on all federal and tribal lands (it
perience to be able, in the course of one day in one of does not extend protection to sites on private lands). The
the world’s great museums, to be able to walk from act also requires that anyone carrying out archaeologi-
room to room, from civilization to civilization, and cal research on federal or tribal lands must consult with
see unfolded a sample of the whole variety of human the Native American people who are affiliated or may be
experience? affiliated with those lands regarding the treatment and
disposition of any finds.
But artifacts are not all that have come out of the NAGPRA has made it necessary for archaeologists
ground over the course of a century and a half of archae- to take seriously the rights and attitudes of native peo-
ological research. Human skeletal material has also been ples toward the past. Although this has led to disagree-
found, usually recovered from intentional burials. For ments, it has also led to compromise, collaboration, and
archaeologists and biological anthropologists, this skel- recognition of shared concerns. As Fagan and DeCorse
etal material offers important data on past patterns of (2005) put it, “no archaeologist in North America, and
migration, disease, violence, family connections, social probably elsewhere, will be able to excavate a prehistoric
organization and complexity, technology, cultural be- or historic burial without the most careful and sensitive
liefs, and many other phenomena. Constantly improv- preparation. This involves working closely with native
ing analytical techniques are increasing the quality of peoples in ways that archaeologists have not imagined
data that can be extracted from skeletal remains, making until recently. Nothing but good can come of this” (504).
FIGURE 6.11 Ceremony for

reburial of remains of Eyak Indians
in Cordova, Alaska. The bones were
released by the Smithsonian Insti-
tution under NAGPRA.
Among the positive consequences of NAGPRA have ancestors and should be returned to them. In 2002, a
been cooperative agreements with Native A merican magistrate found in favor of the scientists, but four
groups that are interested in developing their own tribes and the U.S. Department of the Interior appealed
museums and archaeological and historical research the decision. In February 2004, a U.S. court of appeals
programs. In other cases, tribal councils or other repre- upheld the magistrate’s decision, and a 10-day study of
sentatives have been willing to allow archaeologists and the skeletal remains was carried out in July 2005. Since
biological anthropologists to study excavated bones or 1998, the remains have been kept at the Burke Museum
to make extremely accurate copies of them before re- of Science on the campus of the University of Washing-
turning them for reburial. Attempts are being made to ton in Seattle, Washington, under control of the U.S.
establish working relationships based on mutual re- Army Corps of Engineers (http://www.burkemuseum
spect for the positions of all sides—respectful treatment .org/kennewickman).
of the ancestors and sacred objects as well as the con- In the years since the discovery of the Kennewick
cerns of science and education. The situation remains skeleton, much has changed in the relations between ar-
uncertain, however. Changes in tribal council member- chaeologists and Native American peoples. As we noted
ship can lead to changes of policy positions regarding in Chapter 4, the development of ancient DNA analy-
archaeology. sis has made possible the tracing of past population
One case that has involved extensive legal action movements and mixtures in many parts of the world, in-
is that of Kennewick Man (also called the Ancient cluding the Americas. An important milestone was the
One), an 8,500-year-old skeleton found in the state analysis of the genome of the Anzick-1 child, the age of
of Washington in 1996, six years after the passage which was dated to around 12,600 years old. This burial
of NAGPRA (Figure 6.12). Since initial examination was found on private land and therefore not covered by
seemed to indicate that the remains belonged to a NAGPRA, but as we saw, the researchers still checked to
nineteenth- century white settler, scholars were sur- verify that no indigenous group had claimed the remains.
prised when the skeleton received a radiocarbon date The researchers also personally contacted representatives
of 9300 B.P. More study seemed essential to resolve the of nine Native American tribes living near the Anzick site
matter, but the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers intended to explain their research, and they encountered no ob-
to return the remains to the Umatilla tribe for reburial. jections. Some tribal members did ask that the remains
Eight anthropologists sued the Corps of Engineers for be reburied, and Rasmussen and his colleagues reported
permission to study the bones, contending that the that the Anzick family is working to honor this request
bones could not be linked to any living tribe. The Uma- (Rasmussen et al. 2014, 228). As of January 30, 2017,
tilla insisted, however, that their traditions held that the remains of Kennewick Man (Ancient One) were still
they had occupied the land from the beginning of time, being kept at the Burke Museum. But the museum’s web
which meant that the bones belonged to one of their page now stated that the remains had been confirmed
for the return of the remains of their ancestors, re-

mains that were often collected unethically, s ometimes
through grave robbing and even murder. In recent years,
the Australian government has established programs
for the repatriation of cultural material and human
remains that are held in Australian museums or other
institutions and has worked to secure the repatria-
tion of Aboriginal remains from outside Australia. The
Australian Archaeological Association has supported

these initiatives.
According to the Australian government:
The aim of the program is to repatriate all ancestral re-
mains and secret sacred objects from the eligible mu-
seums to their communities of origin. The four specific
objectives are to: identify the origins of all ancestral re-
mains and secret sacred objects held in the museums
where possible; notify all communities who have an-
cestral remains and secret sacred objects held in the
museums; arrange for repatriation where and when
it is requested; appropriately store ancestral remains
and secret sacred objects held in the museums at the
request of the relevant community. (Department of
Communications, Information Technology, and the
Arts 2005)
How Is the Past Being

FIGURE 6.12 Biological anthropologist Douglas Owsley of
Plundered?
the Smithsonian Institution, examining various features of the
right femur of the Kennewick Man skeleton to try to determine
Many people in the world were shocked and appalled
the original position of the body in the ground. in March 2001, when the extremist Taliban govern-
ment of Afghanistan decided to destroy the Bamiyan
Buddhas, two giant sculptures carved into the face of
by DNA testing to be Native American, and that tribes a cliff about 1,500 years ago (Figure 6.13). Although
claiming him as their ancestor were authorized to use almost no Buddhists live in Afghanistan today, these
NAGPRA to gain possession of the remains. How- sculptures had long been part of the cultural heritage
ever, on December 16, 2016, President Obama signed of the Afghan people. Despite world condemnation
legislation, known as the WIIN Act, that would super- of this decision that included a delegation from the Is-
sede the NAGPRA process. A ccording to the website, lamic Conference representing 55 Muslim nations, the
the WIIN Act “prompts The Army Corps of Engineers Taliban insisted that these human images were impious
to transfer control of the remains to the Washington and destroyed them, along with even older objects in
State Department of Archaeology and Historic Pres- the national museum. This act shocked many people,
ervation (DAHP) within 90 days of December 16, perhaps not only because it seemed so narrow-minded
2016, on the condition that DAHP return the remains and thoughtless but also because the statues were
to the claimant tribes. The Burke Museum will con- irreplaceable examples of human creative power. To
tinue to care for the remains until directed to transfer make sense of such destruction, anthropologists speak
them by DAHP. When the remains are returned to the of heritage regimes in which material remains like the
Tribes, they will be reburied” (http://www.burkemuseum Bamiyan Buddhas are seen to be entangled in politi-
.org/blog/kennewick-man-ancient-one). cal and economic activities, primarily as these are man-
Indigenous people in the United States are not the aged by nation-states (Geismar 2015, 72). D efenders
only ones concerned with the disposition of human of the continued protection of the Buddhas accept the
remains unearthed by archaeologists and others. In
appropriateness of a heritage regime in which such
Australia, Aboriginal people have successfully pressed material objects are seen to be as universally valuable
a b
FIGURE 6.13 (a, b) Many people in the world were shocked when the Taliban leaders of Afghanistan blew up the 1,500-year-old
statues of the Buddha despite worldwide requests to save these examples of the heritage of the Afghan people.
and deserving of protection, either by nation-states or individuals who died in the attacks on the World Trade
by international organizations like UNESCO. How- Center on September 11, 2001, struggled with govern-
ever, Geismar explains that the Taliban followers who ment officials about how that event should be memo-
destroyed the Buddhas may be understood as partici- rialized in the September 11 Memorial and Museum.
pating in an antiheritage movement, which “negates the Geismar quotes Chip Colwell-Chanthaponh, who
very idea of heritage itself” (Geismar 2015, 80). There- criticized the museum not only for failing to consult
fore, their destruction of the Buddhas cannot simply with the families of the victims but also for engag-
be reduced to an extreme form of Islamic iconoclasm. ing in questionable practices in its management of
Rather, Geismar insists, this destructive action is better the victims’ remains (Geismar 2015, 81). Such well-
viewed as an effort by the Taliban in particular to in- publicized challenges, however, are few compared to
stall “a politics around the governance of culture at the the much more widespread destruction of the human
center of its own regime” (Geismar 2015, 80). She cites past on a daily basis, as a consequence of land devel-
a Taliban representative who argued that “the Buddhas opment, agriculture, and looting for sale to collectors.
were destroyed in the wake of a UNESCO visit to Kabul, Nevertheless, destruction of the human past on a
which made clear that the international community much greater scale goes on every day as a consequence
was prepared to spend money to preserve heritage but of land development, agriculture, and looting for sale
not to support starving Afghans in the region” (Geismar to collectors. The construction of roads, dams, office
2015, 80-81). buildings, housing developments, libraries, subways,
These Taliban actions are unusually blatant and and so on has enormous potential to damage or destroy
violent, but antiheritage resistance comes in a vari- evidence of the past. As mechanized agriculture has
ety of forms. For example, many family members of spread across the world, the tractors and deep plows tear
IN THEIR OWN WORDS
Rescue Archaeology in Europe
In the United States, Cultural Resources efficient as possible. This is why preventive archaeology
Management (CRM) archaeology plays an is often referred to as developer-led archaeology (Brad-
important role in carrying out research on ley et al. 2010) or developer-funded archaeology, as if it
archaeological sites threatened by road were the developer who decided on the excavation. This
building or other infrastructure projects. In view has created a kind of archaeology that has allowed
for unprecedented development of the production of ar-
Europe, these issues are the focus of a field
chaeological data, the end result of which is sometimes
originally called “rescue archaeology” after
viewed as a gold rush. At the same time, in an attempt
World War II, but which has been called
to regulate the market of archaeology, it is considered
“preventive archaeology” since 1979. The term
appropriate that archaeologists organize themselves in
comes from the French archéologie préventive,
professional associations, along the model of the Regis-
which aims to prevent the destruction of ter of Professional Archaeologists in the United States.
archaeological sites (analogous to the way This is, in fact, the case
in the United Kingdom with the
that “preventive medicine” aims to prevent Institute for A
rchaeologists (formerly the Institute of Field
outbreaks of dangerous disease). The term Archaeology; http://www.archaeologists.net). A code of

originated in France but is now used in ethics is supposed to define the rights and duties of these
scientific policy debates throughout Europe. archaeologists, including respect for the basic rules of
Preventive archaeology was inspired by CRM scientific research (http://www.concernedhistorians.org/
in the United States, but developed differently content/ethicarcha.html). A public authority is also to
in different parts of Europe. In the following define standards (see Willems & Brand 2004) and ex-
excerpt from his essay “Rescue Archaeology: ercise quality control. However, this practice is compli-
A European View,” French archaeologist Jean- cated by the fact that control of archaeological work
a posteriori is hardly possible because the excavated
Paul Demoule explains how changing political
site no longer exists. This overall vision thus underpins
and economic policies in France and other
the organization of archaeology in a number of Euro-
European countries in recent years undermined
pean countries, and it has been explicitly defended
previous understandings about the role of
in various articles (e.g., Thomas 2002; Wheaton 2002;
the state in the protection of archaeological
Carver 2007; Aitchison 2009; van den Dries 2011,
heritage. among others).
For those who oppose the development of private
commercial archaeology, developers are not clients. They
The gradual introduction of a competitive market for pre- are companies whose projects are often designed to
ventive archaeology was initially undertaken without real make money and who endanger the archaeological her-
debate, some countries not being immediately affected, itage of a nation’s citizens. This is why they must pay a
while others considered it an inevitable fate (Oebbecke tax, designed to help compensate for the destruction and
1998). However, discussion on the issue has gradually to preserve a part of the archaeological information. It is
been mobilized, especially across multiple European therefore the state—as an emanation of the community
agencies or programs. Two conceptions compete, reflect- of citizens—that must organize these preventive exca-
ing two visions of the state. On one hand, in the tradi- vations through public research institutions responsible
tion of the Enlightenment and the French Revolution, the for defining national research programs and publishing
nation is a community of citizens, united by a common the results of the excavations. In fact, the development
destiny, and which manages goods and services, among of preventive archaeology is due to the reinforcement of
other elements. On the other hand, there is only a mul- state legislation and has nothing to do with the interests
titude of individuals; consumers, with no links to one an- of private companies to carry out the work. The codes of
other, who choose to buy or not buy goods and services ethics have no binding value (and mainly concern a Prot-
from producers in competition. estant cultural ethos).
For partisans of private, commercial archaeology, The notion of commercial competition in archae-
developers are clients, for whom they need to be as ology is based on a fundamental misunderstanding.
IN THEIR OWN WORDS
In fact, developers do not want to buy the best archae- a guarantee of employment. This is why the model of
ology possible but seek only the company that will re- private commercial archaeology has been criticized by a
lease their land as soon as possible at the least cost. If number of archaeologists (Cumberpatch and Blinkhorn
competition exists in the scientific field, it is to produce 2001; D emoule 2002a,b, 2011; Chadwick 2003; Kristiansen
not the cheapest research possible, but instead the best 2009; S chlanger and Salas Rossenback 2010). In any case,
research possible. And if private research exists in gen- it seems impossible to separate the real practices of ar-
eral, the quality of its production (a drug, an aircraft, a chaeology from their ideological backgrounds (Pluciennik
weapon, etc.) can be controlled a posteriori. Further- 2001, Hamilakis and Duke 2007, Kolen 2010, Bernbeck
more, private research tends to focus on more profitable and McGuire 2011). The economic crisis since 2008 has
products. This is why private pharmaceutical research, demonstrated both the weakness of a model based solely
for example, focuses on the profitable diseases of rich on the market and the need for state regulations. More-
countries—at the expense of unprofitable diseases in over, some economists had already announced these
poor countries. weaknesses before the crisis (Stiglitz 2003), and as early
Note as well that the excavations of private compa- as 2004, the European Union had become aware of the
nies are rarely published adequately, if at all. Moreover, limits of the market for public services of general interest
in the United States, for example, the private archaeolo- (Green Pap. 2004). . . .
gists of Cultural Resource Management, which account For the past four decades, thanks to preventive ar-
for perhaps more than 50% of the ~12,000 professional chaeology and growing legislative protection, Europe has
archaeologists in the country, very rarely attend scientific experienced an unprecedented explosion of knowledge
meetings such as the Annual Meeting of the Society for about its own past. . . . This explosion of data has also
American Archaeology. The term professional archaeolo- revolutionized the very approach to archaeology: it is no
gist, which private archaeologists give themselves, is also longer the study of isolated sites, but the study of whole
questionable because it implies that academic archae- territories, something that has been enabled by excava-
ologists are not professionals. Furthermore, the purely tion prior to major development projects. . . . Neverthe-
economic logic of private archaeological companies less, a certain number of essential questions concerning
makes them sensitive to economic fluctuations. As such, preventive archaeology are still under debate. . . . The
hundreds of British archaeologists have lost their jobs ability of preventive archaeology to produce compelling
because of the global financial crisis that started in the and useful knowledge for our reflection on trajectories
fall of 2008, as have 80% of private Irish archaeologists of the past, as well as on the futures of human societies,
and a significant number in Spain (Schlanger and Aitchi- supports its existence and the efforts made for its con-
son 2010). In contrast, national public institutions allow tinued practice.
for the practice of homogeneous scientific standards for
the study and publication of excavations, and they offer Source: Demoule 2012, 618–22.
across settlement sites and field monuments. Although of every object they excavate. When that context is de-
construction, development, and agriculture cannot be stroyed, so is the archaeological value of a site. “In the
stopped, they can be made more sensitive to the poten- American Southwest, 90% of the Classic Mimbres sites
tial damage they can do. (c. 1000 C.E.) have now been looted or destroyed. In
Unfortunately, such cannot be said for looting southwestern Colorado, 60% of prehistoric A nasazi
and the market in stolen antiquities. There is nothing sites have been vandalized. Pothunters work at night,
really new about looting—the tombs of the pharaohs equipped with two-way radios, scanners, and lookouts.
of Egypt were looted in their own day—but the scale They can be prosecuted under the present legislation
today surpasses anything that has come before. It is safe only if caught red-handed, which is almost impossi-
to say that any region of the world with archaeologi- ble” (Renfrew and Bahn 2008, 563). Looters steal to
cal sites also has organized looting, and the devasta- make money. Buyers, including museums and private
tion looters leave behind makes any scientific analysis collectors, have been willing to overlook the details of
of a site impossible. We have seen how important it the process by which ancient objects come into their
is for archaeologists to record the precise placement hands. Although museum owners have taken some
past—located in affected sites. To meet this federal

requirement, the archaeological specialty of cultural
resource management (CRM) was developed. CRM
is an attempt to ensure that cultural resources threat-
ened by projects are properly managed—“recorded,
evaluated, protected, or, if necessary, salvaged” (Fagan
and DeCorse 2005, 483). CRM is a multimillion-
dollar undertaking, the major source of employment
for archaeologists, and is practiced by private compa-
nies, federal agencies, universities, and individuals.
The legal grounds for CRM developed out of a con-
cern with conservation, rather than research. Over
time, however, it has become clear that CRM archae-
ology contributes in a very significant way not just
to the preservation of the past but also to basic ar-
chaeological research and theory. In this way, we see
again how archaeologists have become the stewards
of the past, a task that will require great energy and
all their skill.
What Are the Critical

Issues in Contemporary
Archaeology?
As we have seen, contemporary social issues lead archae-
ologists to rethink how they study the human past. We
FIGURE 6.14 The looting of archaeological sites continues now consider three examples of contemporary archaeol-
to be a serious problem because the heritage of the world’s
people is destroyed.
ogy that illustrate these developments.
steps to make sure that they purchase (or accept as Archaeology and Gender
gifts) only objects that have been exported legally from By the 1980s, awareness of the unequal treatment of
their countries of origin, private collectors remain free women in modern European and American societies
to feed on the illegal destruction of the heritage of the had led archaeologists (both women and men) to ex-
world’s people (Figure 6.14). amine why women’s contributions had been systemati-
In the United States, one sign of progress has been cally written out of the archaeological record. Building
a series of legislative actions at the federal, state, and on anthropological studies of living people, feminist
local levels that require the consideration of envi- archaeology rejected biological determinism of sex
ronmental and cultural factors in the use of federal, roles, arguing that cultural and historical factors were re-
state, or local funds for development. At the most sponsible for how a society allocated tasks and that this
basic level, projects involving federal land or federal allocation could change over time. The goal was to de-
funds (highway funds, e.g.) must file an Environmen- velop a view of the past that “replaces focus on remains
tal Impact Assessment, which includes attention to with a focus on people as active social agents” (Conkey
cultural resources—the material record of the human and Gero 1991, 15).
Feminist archaeology did not depend on new
technological breakthroughs in excavation methods to
pursue this goal. Rather, using what they already knew
feminist archaeology A research approach that explores why women’s
contributions have been systematically written out of the archaeological
about living human societies, together with available
record and suggests new approaches to the human past that include such historical documents, feminist archaeologists asked new
contributions. kinds of questions. For example, Joan Gero (1991) drew
What Are the Critical Issues in Contemporary Archaeology? 191
attention to male bias in discussions of the oldest, best- world are actually a good deal more varied than those
known collections of human artifacts: stone tools. Gero expected under the normative two-sex/two-gender
showed how traditional archaeological discussion of model” (18). Gender archaeologists have found that
stone-tool technologies focused on highly formalized, new questions can be asked about variation in sex,
elaborately retouched, standardized core tools. This gender, and other kinds of human difference in past
focus, together with the assumption that such tools were societies if attention shifts away from the universals
made by men to hunt with, turns men and their activi- and focuses instead on detailed contextual features of
ties into the driving force of cultural evolution. It simul- specific archaeological sites.
taneously downplays or ignores the far more numerous Focusing on site-specific details affects the kinds
flake tools that were probably made and used by women of interpretations that archaeologists make. First, the
in such tasks as processing food or working wood and meaning of a common artifact, whether found in a
leather. Gero cited ethnographic and historical reports household rubbish dump or in a burial site, cannot be
that describe women as active makers of stone tools, in- assumed to remain unchanging over time. This insight
cluding more elaborate core tools, exposing as false the was central to Gero’s reinterpretation of stone tools and
supposition that women are not strong or smart enough their use at Huaricoto. Gero’s approach also illustrates
to produce them. a second point: archaeological analyses that focus on
Gero then applied her findings to her analysis the highly elaborated artifact can downplay or ignore
of a multilayered site at Huaricoto in highland Peru. patterns that would be visible if all relevant artifacts,
The lowest occupation level at Huaricoto dates from ordinary and extraordinary, are considered. Joyce argues
a period in which the site was a ceremonial center that Paleolithic figurines depicting females with exag-
visited by foragers who apparently made elaborate gerated breasts and bellies have been misunderstood.
biface (two-sided) core tools out of imported stone in Because of a widely shared assumption that all figurines
a workshop on the site. The most recent occupation depicting human females had to be “fertility symbols,”
level dated from a later period, when the site was no archaeologists have tended to ignore other contempo-
longer a ritual center but had become a residential set- rary figurines that did not easily fit such an interpreta-
tlement whose inhabitants used many flake tools made tion. For example, the 30,000-year-old central European
of local stone for a variety of subsistence tasks. Gero Paleolithic site of Dolní Vestonice yielded figurines rep-
(1991) pointed out that “the flake tool performs many resenting animals and human males as well as human
of the same actions unceremoniously that bifaces per- females; moreover, the only figurines depicted wear-
form in a ritualistic setting” (184). She suggests that ing woven clothing were some of the female figurines
the change from ceremonial center to village settle- (Figure 6.15). Since most female and all male figurines
ment probably involved a shift not in the use of stone lacked any representation of clothing, archaeologists
tools but rather in their social significance: male status now suggest that the female figurines with clothing rep-
may have been connected with stone-tool produc- resent a few women at this time and place who “gained
tion during the early period but had probably become individual status from their skill at producing textiles”
connected with some other kind of prestige goods in- (Joyce 2008, 15). This interpretation is strengthened by
stead (perhaps ceramics or textiles) by the later period. evidence from contemporary burials that clothing of
Stone tools continued to be made and used, but they men and women was not differentiated by gender and
were utilitarian flake tools, and their makers and users did not resemble the images of clothing portrayed on
were most likely women. figurines (Joyce 2008, 15).
Insights from feminist archaeology inform more Third, Joyce (2008) stresses the need for archae-
recent work in gender archaeology, which “addresses ologists to think of material artifacts “as having had
the needs of contemporary gender studies for an un- lives of their own . . . made, used, and discarded, and
derstanding of how people come to understand them- during which people’s experiences and associations
selves as different from others; how people represent with them would have varied” (28). Focusing on the
these differences; and how others react to such claims” social lives of individual artifacts shifts attention away
(Joyce 2008, 17). Contemporary gender studies asks,
for example, why archaeologists often assume that the
meanings of artifacts from all societies across space
and over time should be interpreted in terms of a uni- gender archaeology Archaeological research that draws on insights
from contemporary gender studies to investigate how people come to
versal male–female division. As Rosemary Joyce ob- recognize themselves as different from others, how people represent these
serves, “The experiences of people in the contemporary differences, and how others react to such claims.
Moreover, as is the case in a number of Native A merican

societies, such two-spirited individuals were often skilled
craftspeople, who were given baskets in exchange for
their work. Hollimon first expected that the graves of
two-spirited individuals would stand out from the graves
of women or other men because they would contain
male skeletons accompanied by baskets. It turned out,
however, that baskets were found together with the skel-
etal remains of both women and men. This prompted
Hollimon to wonder if gender distinctions were not
important in Chumash mortuary practices. She looked
for other patterns of difference in the remains and dis-
covered a typically female form of spinal arthritis in the
skeletons of two young males. This form of arthritis was
associated with regular use of digging sticks, typically
women’s work, but also the work of two-spirited men.
These two particular male skeletons had been buried
both with digging stick weights and with baskets, which
strengthened the conclusion that they belonged to two-
spirited males. However, digging sticks and baskets were
tools traditionally associated with Chumash undertakers,
who could be either two-spirited men or postmenopausal
women. Hollimon concluded that the status of undertaker
apparently was more significant in Chumash burial prac-
FIGURE 6.15 Sculpture head of woman, Dolní Vestonice. tices than the gender of the individual being buried. “In
The Dolní Vestonice site in the Czech Republic has yielded Chumash society, these people helped the spirits of the dead
extensive numbers of figures, some of which seem to represent make the transition to their next stage of life. To be able to
women of status.
do this, they needed a special spiritual status. This special
status was limited to those whose sexual activity could not
lead to childbirth” (Joyce 2008, 60). The lesson is clear: “not
from artifacts to the individuals who made those ar- finding three burial patterns led to a realization that sex may
tifacts and highlights the variety of motivations they not have been the most significant basis for the identity of
may have had for making them the way they did. It these people. . . . Genders were not permanent categorical
also draws attention to the likelihood that all images identities, but rather distinctive performances related to sex-
were not accepted at face value but instead offered “a uality that could change over a person’s life” (61).
means for the circulation of propositions that might
be contested” (16). As a result, the same images might
well have meant different things to different members
Collaborative Approaches
of the social group that produced or used them. This to Studying the Past
approach provides “a critical basis for challenges to Janet Spector was one of the first archaeologists in the
orthodox interpretations that might otherwise ignore United States to initiate a collaborative research proj-
complexities in human societies now as much as in ect with the descendants of the people who once occu-
the past” (16,17). pied the sites she excavated. Her work in Minnesota is
The value of such an approach is displayed in the an example of historical archaeology (Figure 6.16)—
work of bioarchaeologist Sandra Hollimon, who was the study (in this case) of post-European contact sites in
faced with interpreting remains of Chumash burials in North America. Like other feminist archaeologists, Spec-
California. As Joyce explains, contemporary Chumash tor (1993) wanted to shift attention from the artifacts to
culture traditionally recognized a third gender—“two- the people who made them, from a preoccupation with
spirited” men whose status is neither male nor female. active men and passive women to a more realistic assess-
ment of active women and men and from a focus on the
remains as evidence of European contact to what these
historical archaeology The study of archaeological sites associated
with written records, frequently the study of post-European contact sites in remains suggested about “Indian responses or resistance
the world. to European expansion and d omination” (6).
Archaeology as a Tool of Civic Engagement
Barbara J. Little and Paul A. Shackel (2007) use the term civic the Virginia Council on Indians to ensure that tribal leaders
engagement to refer to an important direction in contempo- would have the information about the site and the excavation
rary archaeology. Civic engagement in archaeology refers to before it was announced to the public. Members of the WRG
involvement and participation in public life, especially in direct- met privately with the tribal chiefs to introduce them to the re-
ing people’s attention to “the historical roots and present-day search team and the owner of the property on which the site
manifestations of contemporary social justice issues.” Civic had been found. They also outlined a long-term plan to study
engagement also refers to connecting archaeologists and the the site with the close involvement of the Native communities. A
work they do to the communities that are connected in one way visit to the site was scheduled, and a Native advisory board was
or another to archaeological sites and the history they embody. established. Tribal representatives presented their perspec-
One example of civic engagement comes from Virginia and tives on the site and its history. “Though these perspectives
the site of one of the most famous episodes in U.S. popular varied, several tribal leaders expressed a powerful connection
history—the arrival in 1607 of English colonists who founded to W
erowocomoco as the historic center of the Powhatan chief-
Jamestown and the supposed interactions of Chief Powhatan, dom and as a modern place for renewing Virginia Indians’ influ-
John Smith, and Pocahontas. Martin Gallivan and Danielle ence on representations of the Native past. Others encouraged
Moretti-Langholtz (2007) have been involved with the first us to pursue research that focuses on the power and social
archaeological excavation at Werowocomoco, the site of complexity of the Powhatan chiefdom during the years prior to
the Powhatan chiefdom. This research has shed light on the 1607” (Gallivan and Moretti-Langholtz 2007, 59–60).
history of Native life at the site from its founding in about The research team shares all information with the advisory
1200 C.E. to its abandonment by Powhatan in 1609 because board, including minutes from meetings and financial reports.
the English colonists were too close. The research has been In recent years, some Virginia Indians have gotten involved in
strongly engaged with the wider communities of Virginia, es- the excavations themselves. Among other things, this has had
pecially Native communities. The history of Native peoples in the effect of enabling one member of the Pamunkey Tribal
Virginia is a troubled one, in which the more prominent bi- Council to have a better understanding of the archaeological
racial divide between whites and African Americans seemed research process when evaluating CRM proposals made to the
to overwhelm the Native presence. Indeed, in 1924, people of tribe. On days set aside for public visitation, partners from the
Native descent were defined by the Racial Integrity Act legally Pamunkey tribe speak with visitors about the excavations and
as “colored persons,” the same category used for people of Af- about their feelings regarding archaeological research involv-
rican descent. Interracial marriage was prohibited, and Native ing their ancestors (Gallivan and Moretti-Langholtz 2007, 61).
children were forced to attend schools for “colored persons.” But many archaeologists involved with community en-
gagement want to go beyond public outreach. As archaeolo-
The sting of the Racial Integrity Act, which remained in force
gists engage with a wide range of publics and present their
until 1968, is still felt in Virginia’s indigenous community.
research, new topics and ways of discussing old topics may
Native people were denied the right to self-identify as Native
emerge, and some of those discussions may contradict ex-
people, making it impossible for them to enter the civic arena
isting historical narratives. “Taking archaeological practice
as representatives of their respective communities. D
espite
from civic engagement and toward social justice, conceived
the fact that the Pamunkeys and Mattaponis had long-held
of as equity, honesty, and tolerance across segments of a
reservation lands within the commonwealth, official state
society, represents a difficult challenge that we have not
policy maintained that there were no longer indigenous In-
begun to master” (Gallivan and Moretti-Langholtz 2007, 61).
dians in Virginia. (Gallivan and Moretti-Langholtz 2007, 54)
Gallivan and Moretti-Langholtz think that the research at
Finally, during the 1980s, eight Indian tribes were recog- Werowocomoco has the potential to expand the restrictive
nized by the Virginia Commonwealth, and when NAGPRA narratives about Native peoples in Virginia that have domi-
became law in 1990, representatives of the tribes worked nated public and academic discourse and to challenge the
closely with archaeologists in the reburial of remains that received stories of the past. Their research alone was not
had been held in collections. sufficient to push this transformation, but by giving descen-
Engagements of this kind with descendant c ommunities dant populations a central role in the recovery of the history
served as the foundations of the Werowocomoco research of their ancestors, it opened a place for new discussions re-
project: “from its inception, the WRG [Werowocomoco Re-
garding the Native past. Such discussions may help create
search Group] has worked toward a model of archaeological an indigenous archaeology, one in which Native peoples
research on Native sites in the Chesapeake that includes close “become full partners in representations concerning their
Native collaboration at every stage” (Gallivan and Moretti- past” (Gallivan and Moretti- L angholtz 2007, 62). This is a
Langholtz 2007, 58). Indeed, when the WRG found the site they route for archaeology to follow in contributing to social jus-
believed to be Werowocomoco, they requested a meeting with tice in the wider societies in which archaeologists work.
193
FIGURE 6.16 Historical archaeologists, shown here excavating in the Roman Forum, supplement written documents with records
of settlement patterns, structures, and artifacts, which reveal valuable information about the past that was never written down.
In 1980, Spector and her team began to dig at a multidisciplinary research project inside Kakadu N ational
site near Jordan, Minnesota, known by the Dakota as Park in the Northern Territory of Australia that began
Inyan Ceayak Atonwan, or “Village at the Rapids.” She in 1981. Archaeologists wanted to learn more about
examined historical documents that referred to the site the earliest occupation of tropical Australia, which
for clues about what tasks were carried on by men and began more than 23,000 years ago, and Kakadu
women at the site, as a guide to what kinds of mate- National Park was an ideal place to look: the park con-
rial remains to look for. After several seasons, concerned tains a number of rockshelters filled with rich material
that her work might be meaningless or offensive to the traces of ancient human occupation, including rock
Dakota, Spector met a Dakota man who was a descen- paintings as old as those found in European caves such
dant of a man named Mazomani, one of the original as Lascaux. Archaeologists wanted to build on previ-
inhabitants of the Village at the Rapids. Eventually, ous work and to test the proposal made by an earlier
other descendants of Mazomani visited the site. By the researcher, George Chaloupka, who argued that the
1985–1986 season, Dakota and non-Dakota were col- rock art in the region reflected changes in the environ-
laborating in teaching Dakota language, oral history, ment triggered by rising sea levels (Renfrew and Bahn
ethnobotany, ecology, and history at the site while dig- 2008, 521).
ging continued. A Dakota elder conducted a pipe cer- But Rhys Jones, the team leader from the A ustralian
emony at the site shortly before the field season began, National University, knew that the site was legally owned
which symbolized for Spector the Dakota people’s per- by the local Aborigine community, whose permission
mission to work there. would be needed before any excavation could begin.
Since the early 1980s, collaborative archaeological The Aborigine community was willing to give permis-
research of this kind has become increasingly common. sion for the project, but they wanted to ensure that the
Renfrew and Bahn (2008), for example, report on a dig was carried out in a way that was responsible and
What Are the Critical Issues in Contemporary Archaeology? 195
respectful. They insisted that one member of the com- to well-known cultural heritage sites (see Figure 6.10).
munity supervise the project, primarily “to protect the When tourist traffic threatens to destroy such sites, there-
diggers from doing something that could bring practi- fore, it is not merely the ruins themselves that are at
cal or ritual danger: the totemic geography of a region stake; so are the livelihoods of local people and govern-
contains some ‘dangerous places,’ into which archae- ments. Moreover, powerless minorities with traditional
ologists might stray through ignorance” (Renfrew and connections to these sites frequently find themselves
Bahn 2008, 521). The archaeologists also had to agree shoved aside as national and international institu-
to complete work at one site before moving on to an- tions step in and take over. In the past, most archae-
other and to return all disturbed areas to the condition ologists tried to do their research while avoiding local
in which they had been prior to the excavation. But Ab- legal and political involvements, hoping to achieve “a
original involvement in the project did not stop there. ‘do no harm’ model of coexistence” (Meskell 2009, 5).
“Senior Aborigine men representing the relevant groups Today, many archaeologists have adopted the view that
accompanied the team on field trips and carefully mon- their first obligation should be to those local (and often
itored the excavations, while trainee Aboriginal rang- marginalized) people with traditional connections to
ers helped in the laboratory, and were instructed in the a rchaeological sites where they work. But more and
archaeological procedures” (Renfrew and Bahn 2008, more archaeologists are finding that this kind of single-
522). When the project was completed, the research- minded commitment is increasingly problematic be-
ers did indeed find evidence that verified C haloupka’s cause they and their local allies must find a way to deal
hypothesis, but two other findings were perhaps even with a range of other local and global stakeholders who
more exciting. The first was the discovery of plant re- have their own, often conflicting, ideas about how cul-
mains as much as 6,000 years old, preserved thanks to tural heritage should be managed.
the unusual microclimate present in one rockshelter. Like many contemporary cultural anthropologists
The second came from a second rockshelter and con- (see Chapter 8), some archaeologists have been moved
sisted of pieces of red ochre, a pigment used by ancient by these struggles to question a view of the world that
human populations in many parts of the world. These divides it up into a patchwork quilt of distinct, neatly
pieces were 53,000 years old, had been worked by hand, bounded “cultures,” each of which embodies a unique
and might have been the sources of pigment for some of heritage that must be protected from change at all
the rock art. Renfrew and Bahn (2008) judge this proj- costs. Again, like many of their cultural anthropolo-
ect “very successful” (528), and one measure of its suc- gist colleagues, these archaeologists have concluded
cess was the way it provided a model—as did Spector’s that the only way forward is to cultivate a “cosmopoli-
work—of finding a way to do archaeology while work- tan” point of view. For many cultural anthropologists,
ing together with an indigenous community that had its cosmopolitanism means being able to move with ease
own stake in the way the project was carried out, as well from one cultural setting to another. Cultural anthro-
as in the outcome. pologists regularly develop cosmopolitan skills and
awareness as they move in and out of fieldwork situ-
ations. Moreover, people everywhere—tourists, immi-
Cosmopolitan Archaeologies grants, or refugees, for example—have crafted a variety
A variety of far-reaching changes have swept the world of different kinds of cosmopolitan skills to cope suc-
since the end of the Cold War in 1989. As we will see cessfully with movement from one cultural setting to
in later chapters, these changes have affected the way another. As you will see later, these movements have
all anthropologists do research, and archaeologists become the focus of new “multisited” forms of ethno-
are no exception. Collaborative projects between local graphic research.
communities and archaeologists have become increas- For archaeologists, adopting a cosmopolitan ori-
ingly common in recent years, but these collaborations entation means giving up universalistic assumptions
themselves have been affected by a number of broader about the meaning of the past. It means acknowledging,
changes. For example, global tourism has mushroomed, for example, that preservation of material artifacts may
and huge numbers of tourists from all over the world in fact sometimes go against the wishes of local groups
now want to visit archaeological sites such as Machu with close connections to those artifacts. Dealing with
Picchu or Kakaku National Park, both of which have
been named UNESCO World Heritage Sites.
As we saw in the case of Machu Picchu, a lot of cosmopolitanism Being able to move with ease from one cultural set-
money can be made managing flows of wealthy tourists ting to another.
such challenges means that cosmopolitan archaeolo-

gists will no longer be able to avoid involvement in
legal and political debates about the future of cultural
heritage, even as they come to recognize that their views
may carry less weight than the views of other stakehold-
ers. “Cosmopolitans suppose . . . that all cultures have
enough overlap in their vocabulary of values to begin
a conversation. Yet counter to some universalists, they
do not presume they can craft a consensus” (Meskell
2009, 7).
Archaeologist Chip Colwell-Chanthaphonh
(2009), for example, asks “Can the destruction of heri-
tage ever be ethically justified? If so, by what principle,
why, and under what conditions?” He speaks of “the
preservation paradox”—that is, “the concept of pres-
ervation is itself culturally conceived,” with the result
that “one group’s notion of cultural preservation can be
another group’s notion of cultural destruction” (143).
Colwell-Chanthaphonh describes disagreements about
the ethics of preservation of artifacts valued in different
ways by different groups in the American Southwest.
Commitment to a “salvage ethic” led nineteenth-century
collectors to “rescue” sculptures that the Zuni purpose-
fully left to deteriorate in sacred shrines. “This is the
core of the salvage ethic, the urge to ‘preserve’ objects
by physically protecting them. But for the Zunis, such
acts that aspired to cultural preservation were in fact
acts of cultural destruction” (Colwell-Chanthaphonh
2009, 146). FIGURE 6.17 Preservation and use of material artifacts or
ruins, such as the ruins at Chaco Canyon in New Mexico, can be
Conflict over whether to preserve or to destroy an- complicated by the range of different and sometimes opposed
cient rock carvings is an issue that divides the Navajo interests that different groups bring to them.
people and the Hopi people, both of whom have lived in
the American Southwest for a very long time. Hopi people
wish to preserve these rock carvings, which they regard as communities, and institutions cannot be reduced to just
“monuments to Hopi history, proof of ancestral home- intra-nationalist, nationalist, or internationalist claims.
lands and clan migrations” ( Colwell-Chanthaphonh The key ethical problem . . . is not so much categoriz-
2009, 149). Navajo people, however, regard all ruins ing rights but trying to illuminate the relationships.
from the past, including these rock carvings, as products (2009, 151)
of human evil or the activity of witches. Contact with the
rock carvings is believed to cause sickness or other misfor- This is the reason a cosmopolitan approach appeals to
tunes and curing ceremonies involve the destruction of him: “we must develop a sophisticated understanding
the carvings. These days, moreover, the Hopi and Navajo of how heritage works from the individual level, to the
peoples are far from being the only groups who assign community, to the nation and beyond it. . . . A just so-
meaning to carvings and ancient ruins in the American lution cannot simply pick out the rights of one group
Southwest (Figure 6.17). As Colwell-Chanthaphonh but must instead interweave these multiple values”
(2009) points out, (2009, 152). Colwell-Chanthaphonh recommends
the ancient ruins of Chaco Canyon in New Mexico are
what he calls “the principle of complex stewardship”:
at once a Hopi ancestral site, a locus of Navajo spiri- that is, “we should maximize the integrity of heritage
tual power, a ritual space for New Agers, an archaeo- objects for the good of the greatest number of people,
logical and scientific resource, a National Historical but not absolutely” (160). To maximize the integrity
Park of the United States, and a UNESCO World Her- of heritage objects would support those who want ob-
itage Site. . . . Clearly, in anthropological as much as jects preserved. Concern for the good of the greatest
ethical terms, such a complex convergence of people, number, however, would mean that the positions of
Chapter Summary 197
other stakeholders with different views would also be principle of complex stewardship is not a ready-made
included and might carry great weight, especially if they solution to disputes about the management of cultural
outnumbered the preservationists. Even then, how- heritage; rather, it is “a frame archaeologists can use to
ever, the majority position might not necessarily carry begin deliberations on ethical predicaments” (Colwell-
the day because special consideration would need to Chanthaphonh 2009, 161). Finding solutions, for cos-
be given to those whose ancestors made the objects or mopolitans, involves negotiations whose outcome
who are closely connected to them in other ways. The cannot be predicted in advance.
Chapter Summary
1. By the end of the last Ice Age, cultural variation, information. Much of the final analysis of the
not biological species differences, distinguished remains is carried out in laboratories, but some
human populations from one another. Archaeolo- archaeologists promote the integration of discovery
gists interpret cultural variation and cultural change and analysis by bringing theorists to excavations in
in the human past. Archaeology has changed focus progress to engage in “interpretation at the trowel’s
over time, from reconstructing material remains or edge.” Storage and retrieval of archaeological data
lifeways of past human groups to explaining the cul- in digital databases presents challenges and also
tural processes that led to particular kinds of mate- offers rich possibilities.
rial culture to emphasizing the role of human agency
and the power of ideas and values in the construc- 5. Artifacts and structures from a particular time and
tion of past cultures. place in a site are grouped together in assemblages;
similar assemblages from many sites are grouped
2. Archaeologists trace patterns in past human cultures together in archaeological cultures. Archaeological
by identifying sites and regions of human occupa- cultures are constructed by archaeologists to reflect
tion and by recovering artifacts, features, and other patterns in their data, so they cannot be assumed
remains of human activity from these sites. In all to represent specific ethnic groups that existed in
cases, they are concerned with recording informa- the past. Archaeologically reconstructed societies
tion about the context in which these remains are classified using a taxonomy of forms of human
are found. society that was developed in conjunction with cul-
3. The survival of archaeological remains depends on tural anthropologists in the middle of the t wentieth
what they were made of and the conditions they ex- century. Its major categories are bands, tribes,
perienced over time. Very dry and very cold climates chiefdoms, and states.
and oxygen-free, waterlogged settings preserve many
6. In recent years, many archaeologists have re-
organic remains that would decay under other cir-
thought their traditional methods. Feminist
cumstances. Natural catastrophes, such as mudslides
archaeologists explored why women’s contribu-
and lava flows, sometimes bury sites and preserve
tions have been systematically written out of the
their contents remarkably well. Ethnoarchaeology
archaeological record. Gender archaeologists
and taphonomy are two methods archaeologists use
have questioned the assumption that a male–
to help them interpret the meaning of the remains
female gender division is universal and have
they find.
asked instead how variation in sex, gender, and
4. Before archaeologists begin their work, they survey other kinds of difference can be i nferred from
the region they are interested in. Surveys, whether archaeological remains of past s ocieties. Col-
on the ground or from the air, can yield important laborative forms of archaeological research have
information that cannot be gained from excava- increasingly involved cooperation between scien-
tions. Excavations are done when archaeologists tists and members of groups with past or current
want to know a lot about a little of a site. The style connections to the sites under investigation. In
of excavation depends on the kind of site being recent years, however, archaeological sites and
excavated. As the excavation proceeds, archaeolo- artifacts have become the target of claims by a
gists keep careful records to preserve contextual number of additional groups, including local


and national governments, international insti- past. Many archaeologists have concluded that it
tutions such as UNESCO, and tourists. These is vital to develop a cosmopolitan understanding
groups do not always agree about the value of of the claims of these varied stakeholders and
cultural heritage preservation or about who has to promote conversations among them, even if
the right to decide the fate of remains from the achieving consensus may not be possible.
For Review
1. What do archaeologists do? 6. Who owns the past? In your answer, draw on the
2. Compare and contrast survey archaeology and discussion of various answers to this question
excavation. presented in the chapter.
3. What kinds of questions do archaeologists 7. What is NAGPRA, and why are its requirements so
ask about the human past, and what kinds important to archaeologists?
of e vidence do they look for to answer these 8. Explain why the looting of archaeological sites
questions? is so problematic for archaeological attempts to
4. List the different human subsistence strategies reconstruct the human past.
presented in the text. How have cultural anthro- 9. Using case studies in which gender considerations
pologists and archaeologists contributed to the inform archaeological work, describe feminist
identification of these strategies? archaeology.
5. Make a table of the characteristics of bands, 10. What are collaborative approaches to studying the
tribes, chiefdoms, and states. How have cul- past? Illustrate your answers with examples from
tural anthropologists and archaeologists to- the text.
gether made use of these categories in their 11. What does it mean to speak of a “cosmopolitan”
work? How do they help? What are their orientation in archaeology? Refer in your answer
drawbacks? to the example given in the text.
Key Terms
archaeological cosmopolitanism 195 feminist state 182
record 170 digital heritage 177 archaeology 190 status 182
archaeology 170 ethnoarchaeology 171 gender archaeology 191 subsistence
artifacts 170 excavation 175 historical strategies 178
band 181 archaeology 192 survey 173
features 170
chiefdom 182 sites 170 tribe 181
sodalities 181
Suggested Readings
Fagan, Brian. 2012. Archaeology: A brief introduction, 11th ed. ambridge University Press. Hodder has directed the on-
C
Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall. The latest edition of going excavation of the Neolithic site of Çatalhöyük in Turkey
a brief, classic introductory archaeology text. for a number of years. This edited collection consists of essays
Feder, Kenneth L. 2014. Frauds, myths, and mysteries: Sci- written by a group of anthropologists, philosophers, and theo-
ence and pseudoscience in archaeology, 8th ed. New York: logians who visited the site for three summers between 2006
McGraw–Hill. Feder shows how scientific archaeological and 2008, engaging with excavators in “interpretation at the
methods can be used to expose dubious claims about the past. trowel’s edge.” Their interactions produced fresh perspectives
Hodder, Ian (ed.). 2010. Religion in the emergence of civi- on the role of religious ritual in the emergence of the first
lization: Çatalhöyük as a case study. Cambridge, UK: complex societies in Anatolia (Turkey) and the Middle East.
Joyce, Rosemary A. 2008. Ancient bodies, ancient lives: Sex, for Windows PC only, gives users “hands-on” experience in
gender, and archaeology. New York: Thames & Hudson. A basic archaeological field techniques.
sophisticated yet accessible introduction to gender archaeol- Renfrew, Colin, and Paul Bahn. 2013. Archaeology: Theo-
ogy. Highly recommended. ries, methods, and practice, 6th ed. New York: Thames
Price, T. Douglas, and Anne Birgitte Gebauer. 2002. Ad- & Hudson. A voluminous, profusely illustrated, up-to-date
ventures in Fugawiland: Computer simulation in archaeol- introduction to all facets of modern archaeology.
ogy, 3rd ed. New York: McGraw–Hill. This simulation,
7
Why did humans settle
down, build cities, and
establish states?
Modern human beings took what appear in retrospect to have been three
majors steps that profoundly transformed the lives of their descendants:
some of them settled in one place for extended periods of time; some of
them later began to intervene in the reproductive cycle of plants and ani-
mals, while the habitat in which they lived produced domestication and
agriculture; and perhaps about 7,500 years ago, a few peoples in the world
independently developed social systems characterized by structural com-
plexity and status inequality. In this chapter we survey what anthropo-
logical research can tell us about the causes and consequences of these
developments.
CHAPTER OUTLINE
How Is the Human Natufian Social What Is the Archaeological
Imagination Entangled with Organization Evidence for Social
the Material World? Natufian Subsistence Complexity?
Is Plant Cultivation a Form of Domestication Elsewhere in Why Did Stratification Begin?
Niche Construction? the World How Can Anthropologists
How Do Anthropologists What Were the Consequences Explain the Rise of Complex
Explain the Origins of Animal of Domestication and Societies?
Domestication? Sedentism? Andean Civilization
Was There Only One Motor of How Do Anthropologists Chapter Summary
Domestication? Define Social Complexity? For Review
How Did Domestication, Why Is It Incorrect to
Key Terms
Cultivation, and Sedentism Describe Foraging Societies
as “Simple”? Suggested Readings
Begin in Southwest Asia?
The Acropolis Museum in Athens, Greece, is built over an archaeological site. 201
202 CHAPTER 7: WHY DID HUMANS SETTLE DOWN, BUILD CITIES, AND ESTABLISH STATES?
T oday, many of us take settled life and dependence

on agriculture for granted, but anthropologists
argue that this was neither an easy nor an inevitable out-
have established huge plantations. Our study there-
fore requires us to pay attention to factors that do not
depend on the natural environment alone: features of a
come of human history. In this chapter, we provide an group’s cultural tradition, for example, or external influ-
overview of what anthropologists are able to say about ences resulting from unpredictable historical encounters
the changes in human subsistence patterns, especially with other human groups. In sum, documenting and ac-
the factors responsible for the domestication of plants counting for major transformations in human material
and animals. We then consider the impact of human de- adaptations require attention to ecological, economic,
pendence on culturally constructed agricultural niches and sociocultural factors.
for subsequent developments in human prehistory. As we have seen, paleoanthropologists and archae-
ologists combine their knowledge with that of other sci-
entific specialists to reconstruct earlier modes of human
How Is the Human life. Based on these reconstructions, we know that our
ancestors lived by gathering and hunting, at a band level
Imagination Entangled of social organization, for most of human prehistory. But
with the Material World? about 10,000 years ago, at the end of the Pleistocene, the
last ice sheets retreated, sea levels rose, winds shifted, and
Human dependence on culture is as much a requirement environments changed. Human beings responded to these
for survival as it is a source of freedom. Human imagina- changes by systematically interfering with the reproduction
tion and cultural experimentation can suggest which as- of other species to suit them better to human purposes.
pects of the material world to pay attention to, and these This process is called domestication, and it occurred in-
suggestions can become part of a cultural tradition. At dependently in seven different areas of the world between
the same time, once a group commits itself to paying at- 10,000 and 4,000 years ago (Smith 1995a, 12–13).
tention to some parts of the material world rather than To appreciate the ways human beings responded
others, it entangles itself in a set of relationships that it to these environmental and ecological changes, anthro-
may not be able to abandon freely. These relationships pologists have needed to draw on concepts taken from
become entrenched: they exert a determinant pressure the discipline of ecology. To begin with, ecologists are
on future choices. As we shall see, when people began to not content to speak vaguely of “the environment” when
rely on cultivated plants and domesticated animals, not they discuss the relations that species develop with each
only did their use of the same landscape change, but also other and with the material world in which they live.
they found that they could not easily go back to their Rather, they look for patterns in these relations in spe-
previous ways of using the environment to gather wild cific geographic settings. Traditionally, a population of a
plants and hunt animals. species is said to have adapted to a particular local physi-
A good place to begin to study the relationship be- cal environment, or habitat, when it has found a place,
tween human imagination and the material world is to or niche, for itself in the local community of organisms
consider how the need to make a living has led human within that habitat. An ecological niche includes the
beings to develop different forms of social organization space the population occupies and what it eats. Broader
in different natural environments. It turns out, however, definitions also include how different populations relate
that people can make a living in much the same way in to one another and the impact of their activities on the
different environments or in different ways in the same community (Figure 7.2). Many contemporary ecologists
environment. People work in factories in the tropical would argue that niches are best defined in terms of the
coastlands of Nigeria and in the bitter cold of Siberia activities of a particular species, including the space,
in Russia; in Papua New Guinea, similar environments time, and resources that a population utilizes on a daily
are used for gardening by some people, whereas others or seasonal basis (Odling-Smee et al. 2003, 39).
Traditional ecological studies of animal populations
in particular habitats have explained the social organi-
domestication Human interference with the reproduction of another
zation of that population’s members—a troop of ba-
species, with the result that specific plants and animals become more useful boons, for example—by conceiving of space, time, and
to people and dependent on them. resources as limiting factors to which that population
ecological niche Any species’ way of life: what it eats and how it finds must adapt if it is to survive and reproduce successfully.
mates, raises its young, relates to companions, and protects itself from
predators.
Biologists studying changing adaptations over time con-
evolutionary niche Sum of all the natural selection pressures to which a vert this ecological niche concept into an e volutionary
population is exposed. niche concept by treating “the niche of any population
How Is the Human Imagination Entangled with the Material World? 203
Çatalhöyük Qal’at Jarmo

Hohokam
Jericho
CHINA
Uruk
EGYPT Indus River Valley
Valley of ‘Ain Ghazal
Mexico (Amman, JORDAN)
Tikal, GUATEMALA
Chan Chan
AN
Moche
DE
Peruvian Andes Cuzco

S
Pachacamac Tiwanaku
MOUNTAINS
Chavín de Huantar
Wari
as the sum of all the natural selection pressures to which persist and/or accumulate over time to affect selection
the population is exposed . . . that part of its niche from pressures. The legacy of altered environments with modi-
which it is actually earning its living, from which it is not fied selection pressures is what Odling-Smee et al. (2003)
excluded by other organisms, and in which it is either call an “ecological i nheritance” (42).
able to exclude other organisms or to compete with co- How widely the process of niche construction can
existing organisms” (Odling-Smee et al. 2003, 40). Two be successfully applied throughout the living world is
further ecological concepts are needed to describe the controversial. But it makes excellent sense of the history
dynamics relating organisms to their niches: morpho- of human adaptations. For example, Odling-Smee et al.
logical features, a term ecologists apply to the phenotypic argue that the effects of niche construction (or its a bsence)
traits or characteristics of organisms, and environmen- should be visible when we consider the morphologies of
tal factors, a term that refers to subsystems of the or- organisms living in particular habitats. If niche construc-
ganism’s environment. “Thus, natural selection can be tion is absent, we should expect to find that successful
described as promoting a matching of features and fac- organisms have adapted to their environments through
tors” (Odling-Smee et al. 2003, 41). modifications of their phenotypes. However, if niche con-
Ordinarily, ecologists and evolutionary biologists struction has been present in e volution, organisms should
assume that environmental factors are more powerful show less phenotypic change in response to environmen-
than morphological features of organisms: that is, natu- tal changes. That is, the organisms modify their selective
ral selection involves an organism’s adaptation to the en- environments in ways that buffer them against selection
vironment. Ever since Darwin, it has been clear that this for morphological changes. And they argue that this is
process of adaptation has played a powerful role in the exactly what we seem to find in hominin evolutionary
evolution of life on Earth. However, as we noted in earlier history (Odling-Smee et al. 2003, 348–50). People who
chapters and as the notion of ecological niche implies, or- live in extremely cold climates do not adapt by growing
ganisms are not passive occupants of rigid environmental fur—they modify their e nvironment by making clothing,
slots. Their activities regularly modify the factors in their building shelters, and heating them.
habitats, as when birds build nests, gophers dig burrows, As we saw in the previous chapter, the archaeo-
or beavers build dams. Moreover, these environmen- logical record documents a changing legacy of human
tal modifications can be passed on to their descendants
(or to other organisms living in their local communi-
ties). As we saw in Chapter 2, this process is called niche
niche construction When an organism actively perturbs the environ-
construction. To qualify as niche construction, the modi- ment or when it actively moves into a different environment, thereby modify-
fications made by organisms to their environments must ing the selection pressures it is subject to.
FIGURE 7.2 Broader definitions

of ecological niches include the
interactions of different species
sharing the same habitat.
modifications to environments that, at certain points, pressures each species experiences; this is what biologists
also allowed our ancestors to make a successful living call mutualism. Examples of multispecies mutualism il-
in geographical regions of the world that previously lustrate the important fact that species need not be re-
had been impenetrable to them. Particularly in the past lated to one another only as predators and prey. Indeed,
200,000 years, we see minor morphological change in mutualistic species together achieve higher biological
the hominin line accompanied by dramatic elaboration fitnesses than either could have achieved on its own. At
of human means of environmental modification. It is the same time, to focus narrowly on the mutualistic spe-
within this context that questions about transitions in cies themselves neglects the wider environmental context
human adaptive patterns are most fruitfully addressed. within which both species must make a living. Rindos’s
example must invoke that context to explain why acacia
trees did so poorly when the ants were removed. It is not
Is Plant Cultivation a Form simply that these two species lived together in a non-
of Niche Construction? predatory manner; rather, each species served to modify
significantly the ecological niche of the other species,
For many years, scholars have argued about the extent buffering it from selective pressures that it would other-
to which plant domestication was accidental or inten- wise have been exposed to.
tional. Biologist David Rindos, for example, suggests Clearly, ants and acacia trees were able to develop
that domestication could have occurred without people’s this relationship without conscious planning. But
full awareness of what they were doing. Reminding us does this mean, as Robert Wenke (1999) quipped, that
that human beings are just another animal species that “people have proved to be excellent devices for cereals to
eats plants, Rindos argues that the relationship between conquer the world” (271)? Some feminist archaeologists
humans and plants is no different in principle from the were wary of this way of approaching plant domestica-
relationship between a species of ant and a species of tion by humans. First, to argue that domestication was
acacia. The ants live inside enlarged thorns on acacia an unconscious process overlooks the fact that human
trees. They consume a sugary substance produced at the beings of the late Pleistocene were fully modern and
base of the acacia leaves, and they feed modified leaf tips bright enough to understand cause and effect concern-
to their larvae. But the ants also eat other insects that ing their livelihood. Thus, they surely selected delib-
would otherwise attack acacia leaves. Ant activity is so erately those plants that were easier to harvest, more
beneficial to the acacia trees that “when ants were experi- nourishing, and tastier. In this view, humans actively in-
mentally removed from acacias, the plants were severely tervened in the gene pool of the wild plants; domestica-
attacked and all died within a year” (Rindos 1984, 102). tion was conscious, not unconscious. Second, women in
The unintended, mutually beneficial effects of acacia contemporary foraging societies are primarily responsi-
trees and ants on each other modify the natural selection ble for gathering wild plants, which makes women likely
Is Plant Cultivation a Form of Niche Construction? 205
FIGURE 7.3 Industrial agricul-

ture converts acres of habitat into
a uniform agroecology for growing
commercial crops like wheat.
candidates for the first human ancestors to have experi- environment within which the plants (or animals) can
mented with plant domestication. To assume, therefore, flourish (Figure 7.3). Bruce Smith (1995a) emphasizes
that plant domestication was a passive, unconscious that activities that led to domestication were conscious,
process looks like the imposition of a crude sexist ste- deliberate, active attempts by foraging peoples to “in-
reotype on the subsistence behaviors of our ancestors. crease both the economic contribution and the reliabil-
Third, paying attention only to the plants and the people ity of one or more of the wild species they depended on
ignores the kinds of environmental modifications needed for survival, and thus reduce risk and uncertainty” (16).
to make plant domestication successful, which clearly Such activities include burning off vegetation to encour-
depended on conscious, active human intervention. age preferred plants that thrive in burned-over landscapes
Some archaeologists have tried to fill in this gap. or to attract wild animals that feed on such plants (Figure
T. Douglas Price and Anne Birgitte Gebauer, for 7.4). These are clear examples of niche construction. The
example, distinguish between domestication and cul- ancestors of domesticated seed plants like wheat were
tivation. Domestication is human interference with the weedy generalists that, in addition to their dietary appeal,
reproduction of another species, with the result that spe- thrived in disturbed environments. Such attributes made
cific plants and animals become both more useful to them prime candidates for domestication.
people and dependent on them. It modifies the geno- More recently, some anthropologists have argued
types and phenotypes of plants and animals as they that niche construction theory can clarify relationships
become dependent upon humans. Cultivation, by con- between people, plants, and animals that emerge in pro-
trast, is a deliberate cultural process involving the ac- cesses of domestication. Melinda Zeder, for example,
tivities of preparing fields, sowing, weeding, harvesting, suggests that such relationships are best understood
and storing and which requires a new way of thinking as coevolutionary and that “niche-construction plays a
about subsistence and new technology to bring it about role in each of three distinctive pathways that humans,
(Price and Gebauer 1995, 6). That is, habitats suitable plants and animals follow into domestication” (2016,
for domesticated species must be carefully constructed 328). First, humans engage in ecosystem engineering
and maintained for the domesticated species to mature to modify the conditions of growth for plants. Second,
and be harvested successfully. Indeed, the same process plants and animals enter into relations with humans
is required for successful animal domestication. in order to take advantage of opportunities offered by
From this perspective, agriculture is best understood
as the systematic modification of “the environments of
plants and animals to increase their productivity and agriculture The systematic modification of the environments of plants
and animals to increase their productivity and usefulness.
usefulness” (Wenke 1999, 270). Price and Gebauer
agroecology The systematically modified environment (or constructed
call this systematically modified environment (or con- niche) that becomes the only environment within which domesticated plants
structed niche) the agroecology, which becomes the only can flourish.
FIGURE 7.4 In Australia, hunter–

gatherers burn vegetation to
encourage the growth of plants.
human-engineered environments. Third, humans may Sedentism is probably more usefully understood
begin interfering with the reproduction of plants and as a consequence of humans choosing to depend on re-
animals to suit them better to human purposes (Zeder sources in particular kinds of constructed niches. Seden-
2016, 328). The third step is what has traditionally been tism is a key element that modifies the selection pressures
understood by “domestication,” but the degree of control of those who come to depend on subsistence resources
humans exercise in this coevolutionary network of rela- in a fixed location, be it a riverbank or a cultivated field
tions can vary. Zeder points to research suggesting that or a pasture. Human beings who farm for a living may
“species with high degrees of genetic variation, especially buffer themselves against periodic famine and be able to
those that display plasticity in the expression of pheno- support larger populations. At the same time, they make
typic traits, are thought to be more likely to respond to themselves vulnerable to a variety of new selection pres-
changes in selective environments caused by niche con- sures brought about by sedentary life: exposure to threats
struction” (2016, 329). Zeder concludes that the study of from agricultural pests and thieves, as well as disease or-
domestication promises to clarify issues in contemporary ganisms that breed and spread more successfully among
evolutionary theory, “exploring the role of acquired be- settled people than they do among nomads. As we saw,
haviors and cultural transmission in the profound evolu- the clearing of forest by the first farmers in West Africa
tionary changes that transformed both plant and animal apparently created ecological conditions favoring larger
domesticates and human domesticators” (2016, 341). pools of standing water, which were the ideal breeding
To better understand how domestication and ag- grounds for malaria-carrying mosquitoes. This, in turn,
riculture developed, both must be distinguished from created a new selection pressure in favor of the sickle cell
sedentism, which is the process of increasingly perma- allele, which offers heterozygous carriers some protec-
nent human habitation in one place and contrasts with tion against malaria (Odling-Smee et al. 2003, 251).
the less permanent, more nomadic patterns of habita- What obstacles faced those who first interfered in
tion experienced by earlier hominins. But people do the life cycle of wild plants? If the plant was a grass, like
not have to become farmers to become sedentary. The wheat, they had to cope with that plant’s reproductive
sedentary adaptations of the indigenous people of the pattern. The wheat kernel, both domesticated and wild,
northwest coast of North America depended not on agri- is attached to the cereal shaft by a spikelet called the
culture but on seasonally abundant salmon runs, which “rachis” (Figure 7.5). In wild wheat, the rachis becomes
could be “harvested” as regularly as crops but involved extremely brittle as the kernel ripens, and the kernels on
minimal ecological interference and no processes of any stem ripen from bottom to top over a week or two.
domestication. As each kernel ripens, the rachis can be broken by an
animal walking through the stand of wheat or even by a
gust of wind, dispersing the kernel into the air and even-
sedentism The process of increasingly permanent human habitation in tually onto the ground. Wild wheat has two rows of ker-
one place. nels on each stalk. Because the kernels ripen at different
How Do Anthropologists Explain the Origins of Animal Domestication? 207
times, the seeds have a greater chance of scattering in

different directions and not all landing at the foot of
the parent plant in a clump. The kernel of wild wheat
is enclosed in a tough outer husk called a “glume,”
which protects the kernel from frost and dehydration
and allows it to remain viable for as long as 20 years in
the ground.
To be used successfully by human beings, wheat
would require a much less brittle rachis, seed heads that
mature at the same time, and a softer glume. It would
also require a larger, more easily visible seed head (in
terms of both kernel size and number of kernel rows
on a stalk). Plants with these variations would have had
a selective advantage once human beings began to eat
them. As the genes responsible for these traits increased
in the wheat plant population—changes that, given
plant genetics, might have taken very few generations—
the plants would have contributed more and more to
the human diet. The earliest domesticated wheat shows
precisely these evolutionary trends, including six rows of
kernels on a stalk rather than two.
The constructed niches favorable for agriculture
have also varied over time and space in several impor-
tant ways, and they did not appear overnight. David
Harris (1989, 17) provides a useful overview of these
patterns and classifies the relationships between plants
and people into four major food-yielding systems:
(1) wild plant-food procurement, (2) wild plant-food
production, (3) cultivation, and (4) agriculture (Figure
7.6). Harris notes that there are three points at which
the amount of energy people put into plant-food activi-
ties increases sharply: (1) where wild plant-food produc-
tion begins, (2) where cultivation begins, and (3) where
agriculture begins.
How Do Anthropologists
Explain the Origins of Animal
Domestication?
Animal domestication can be defined as “the capture and
taming by human beings of animals of a species with
particular behavioral characteristics, their removal from
their natural living area and breeding community, and
their maintenance under controlled breeding conditions
FIGURE 7.5 Wheat kernels form within spikelets that for mutual benefits” (Bökönyi 1989, 22). This definition
attach to the plant by a structure called the “rachis.” The
views animal domestication as a consequence of peo-
rachis of wild wheat is brittle, which aids the dispersal of
seeds in the wild. The rachis of domesticated wheat is not ple’s attempts to control the animals they were hunting,
brittle, and spikelets remain attached to the ear during which assumes active human intervention in selecting
harvest. (B. Smith 1995, 73) which animals to domesticate and how to domesticate
them. Animals are more mobile than plants, and al-
though culling wild herds can induce some changes in
Plant-exploitative Ecological effects Food-yielding Socioeconomic

activity (selected examples) system trends Time
Burning vegetation Reduction of competition; accelerated WILD-PLANT-FOOD

recycling of mineral nutrients; stimulation PROCUREMENT
of asexual reproduction; selection for (Foraging)
annual or ephemeral habit;
state formation)
Increasing input of human energy per unit area of exploited land
synchronization of fruiting
Increasing sedentism (settlement size, density, and duration of occupation)

Gathering/collecting Casual dispersal of propagules
Protective tending Reduction of competition; local soil
disturbance
I
Replacement planting/ Maintenance of plant population in the wild
Increasing population density (local, regional, and continental)

sowing
Transplanting/sowing Dispersal of propagules to new habitats WILD-PLANT-FOOD
stratification
Weeding Reduction of competition: soil modification PRODUCTION
with minimal tillage
PLANT-FOOD PRODUCTION
Harvesting Selection for dispersal mechanisms: positive
and negative
Storage Selection and redistribution of propagules
Drainage/irrigation Enhancement of productivity; soil
modification
Increasing social complexity (ranking

II Transformation of vegetation composition
Land clearance
and structure CULTIVATION
with systematic
Systematic soil tillage Modification of soil texture, structure, and tillage
III fertility
Propagation of genotypic and phenotypic variants: DOMESTICATION

Cultivation of domesticated Establishment of agroecosystems AGRICULTURE
crops (cultivars) (Farming)
Evolutionary
differentiation of
agricultural systems
FIGURE 7.6 The four major food-yielding systems according to David Harris. Energy-input/energy-output ratios jump sharply
where wild plant-food production begins, where cultivation begins, and where agriculture begins. (The propagules referred to in
the second column are the forms by which plants are reproduced—seeds, shoots, and so on.) (Harris 1989, 17)
the gene pool, it is only by confining animals or main- Thus, Bökönyi’s phrase “maintaining them in cap-
taining them in captivity that human beings can directly tivity” is not an innocent phrase. As work in social zoo-
intervene in their breeding patterns. As we saw earlier, archaeology suggests, humans have engineered a range
however, Zeder and others have begun to draw attention of different environments to attract sentient animals of
to the forms of mutualism between humans and animals different species, with differing degrees of success. These
that lay at the heart of domestication (Zeder 2016, 328), environmental modifications may range from protect-
contributing to an emerging field of social zooarchaeol- ing selected animals from other predators to supplying
ogy that draws attention to the animal side of human- them with food and water to close monitoring of their
animal mutualism (Honeychurch and Makarewicz, life cycles, from birth to slaughter, under highly artifi-
2016, 350). The work of archaeologist Kristin Armstrong cial conditions. And again, human commitment to the
Oma (2010) exemplifies this approach. She argues that construction of niches favorable to domesticated ani-
the design of Scandinavian Bronze Age longhouses sug- mals simultaneously modifies the selection pressures
gests that people and animals were able to live together humans experience: dependence on a reliable supply
in intimacy because herd animals were sentient beings of meat and skins may mean that a human group is
willing to extend to human beings the forms of social obliged to follow a herd wherever it chooses to go or
trust they already extended to other members of their to modify their own adaptations seasonally to move
herd. Even as this kind of mutualism bound humans herds to reliable supplies of water and forage. Such
and animals closely together, however, the relationship movements will make humans vulnerable to nega-
was not one of equals, for humans might always choose tive as well as positive encounters with other habitats
to act in ways that favored their interests over those of and other species, including other human beings, with
their animals. whom they will have to come to terms if their pastoral
How Do Anthropologists Explain the Origins of Animal Domestication? 209
Goats, dogs, cattle, Dogs, millet, chickens,

wheat, sheep, barley cattle, rice, pigs
NORTH
AMERICA EUROPE
Sunflower,
dogs
ASIA
cat Pacific
Beans, gourds, maize, Ocean
amaranth, squash AFRICA
Pacific Oil palm, millet,
Indian
Ocean yams, sorghum
SOUTH Ocean
AMERICA
Atlantic
Ocean AUSTRALIA
Sheep, wheat, pigs,

barley, goats
Llamas, cotton,
gourds, squash, beans, alpacas,
maize, potatoes, guinea pigs
FIGURE 7.7 A map of probable locations where various plants and animals were domesticated.
adaptation is to succeed. Not all people are pleased Third, the abrupt population increase of some spe-
when herders pasture their animals in areas where cul- cies relative to others at a site is often taken as evidence
tivated plants are growing. of domestication. About 9,000 years ago in southwestern
Animal domestication is difficult to measure with Asia, the makeup of animal-bone assemblages changes.
precision in the archaeological record. Wenke (1999) The nearly total domination of gazelle bones gives way,
identifies four main classes of evidence used by ar- and the percentage of sheep and goat bones increases
chaeologists to assess animal domestication. First, the dramatically.
presence of an animal species outside its natural range Fourth, the age and sex of the animals whose bones
may indicate herding. For example, because the south- are fossilized are used to infer the existence of animal
ern Levant (the coastal area at the eastern end of the domestication. Researchers assume that numerous re-
Mediterranean Sea; see Figure 7.7) is outside the area mains of immature or juvenile herd animals, especially
in which wild sheep evolved, scholars say that sheep re- males, represent human involvement with the herd.
mains found there constituted evidence of herding: the Why? In the wild, animals killed for meat come from a
sheep must have been brought into the area by people. much wider age range; there is no emphasis on younger,
For such an argument to be effective, we must be sure especially younger male, animals. Also, human beings
we know precisely what the natural range of the wild who manage herds kill immature males more readily
species was. than females because only a small number of males are
Second, morphological changes occur in most animal required for reproduction, whereas larger numbers of
populations as domestication progresses. Wenke and females provide more offspring, more milk, and other
Olszewski (2007, 253) point out that the shape and size products such as dung, wool, and hair. Analyses of the
of sheep horns reflect the process of domestication. Wild age and sex structure of animal remains help to estab-
sheep have larger, stronger horns than do domesticated lish the function of a domesticated herd: a meat herd
sheep. In wild sheep, large horns are connected with the contains a lot of adolescent and young adult animals,
breeding hierarchies that males establish through fight- whereas a dairy herd consists mostly of adult females.
ing. The selective pressure for these horns relaxed as sheep How did animal domestication begin? The earli-
were domesticated, so horn size and shape changed. est known domesticated animal was the dog, for which
Years
North South Southern Southwestern Eastern
before
America Mesoamerica America Africa Europe Asia Asia
present
1,000
2,000 White
potatoes
3,000 Lamb’s Cats (Egypt)

quarters,
sunflowers,
marsh elder,
4,000 squash Yams,
Maize, llamas, oil palm Chickens
alpacas, (south-central
Maize, beans, cotton (white Asia)
5,000 peppers, potatoes?) Millet, Horses (Eurasia) Camels
gourds, sorghum
squash
6,000
Cattle, pigs,
millet
7,000 Gourds, Sheep, goats

squash,
lima beans,
common
8,000 beans, Wheat, barley, Figs Rice
guinea pigs lentils, sheep,
goats, dogs
9,000 Beans Cattle Dogs

Dogs
Goats, cattle
10,000 Barley
Wheat
Sheep
11,000 Dogs Dogs
FIGURE 7.8 A chronology of probable dates when various plants and animals were domesticated in different regions.
there is Old World evidence from a Magdalenian cave argues that people in different areas experimented with
site in northern Spain as old as 16,000 years. Clearly, animals found around them to determine which ones
there were significant mutual advantages for both were both desirable as food and amenable to human con-
dogs and human beings to team up in the hunt. The trol. Both sheep and goats were relatively harmless, gre-
first barely domesticated wolves must have been fear- garious herd animals that had multiple uses for human
some companions for Paleolithic hunters, but eventu- beings and were found seasonally in the same locales as
ally the human–dog relationship became a very close the ripening plants that people wanted to harvest.
one. The earliest undisputed evidence of dog domestica- However, the evidence, as summarized by Hole, puts
tion was found at a 14,700-year-old site in Germany, in sheep and goats in different ecological zones of northern
a grave containing two human skeletons and the jaw- Mesopotamia, and it is likely that their distribution did
bone of a dog. Mitochondrial DNA analysis identified not overlap much, if at all (Figures 7.7 and 7.8). In other
the dog remains as belonging to an ancestor of contem- words, sheep and goats were domesticated separately and
porary dogs (Morey 2010; Thalmann 2013; Giemsch and at different times. The earliest evidence for goat herding is
Feine 2015; Figure 7.8). about 11,000–10,000 years before the present, in a narrow
It seems that other animals were domesticated to zone along the front of the Zagros Mountains. The earli-
provide food rather than to help get food. Frank Hole est sites for domesticated sheep were perhaps in central
Was There Only One Motor of Domestication? 211
natolia (the Asian part of modern Turkey). The evidence

A property and its maintenance over time. Meadow argues
for two other major Old World animal domesticates, cattle that this change in focus was essential for the develop-
and pigs, is much more difficult to come by but seems to ment of herding as a social and cultural phenomenon
point to multiple domestication sites for cattle from China and for the development of social complexity. But herding
to western Europe beginning sometime after 11,000 years itself had to undergo changes before this could happen,
ago. Domesticated pig bones have been found throughout as Adam Allentuck (2015) shows for the eastern coast of
southwestern Asia as far back as 8,000 years. the Mediterranean Sea (called the Levant). Between 4500
As mentioned above, wild-hunted and domesticated- and 3100 B.C.E., a major shift occurred in this region, from
herded are but extreme ends of a continuum of a nimal– exploitation of herds for primary products such as meat,
human–environment relationships. Jarman and his bone, and hide, to a focus on renewable secondary prod-
associates (1982, 51–54) outline six stages in these re- ucts such as milk or fiber (for textiles), or muscle power
lationships. The first is random hunting, in which hunt- (for pulling plows or carrying loads). “People would have
ers make no attempt to control herds but hunt animals formed distinctive relationships with specialized live-
as they find them. The second stage, controlled hunting, stock animals, as each of the secondary products devel-
involves the selective hunting of herds—killing young oped independently in different places and at different
males, for example. This is the beginning of regular times” (2015, 99). These changes both extended the lives
human intervention in the herd species’ gene pool. In of the herd animals and increased the mutual dependen-
the third stage, herd following, specific herds and specific cies connecting herds and herders, freeing “human labor
groups of people begin to interact regularly; as the herd for agricultural expansion, craft specialization and large-
moves from place to place, the people also move. The scale building projects” (2015, 99). Developments such
fourth stage, loose herding, is when people begin to con- as these provided a rich scaffold for the subsequent devel-
trol the movements of the herd. They move the herd at opment of social complexity in the Levant.
various times of the year, ensuring that all of the animals
move safely at the same time. They also actively inter-
vene in the herd’s gene pool through selective breeding Was There Only One Motor
and culling. The fifth stage, close herding, is the most fa- of Domestication?
miliar practice in much of the United States and western
Europe. The animals’ mobility is limited, and their gene About 10,000 years ago, after nearly 4 million years of hom-
pool is actively managed. In the sixth stage, factory farm- inin evolution and more than 100,000 years of successful
ing, there is very active human intervention in all aspects foraging by H. sapiens, human beings living in distant and
of the animals’ lives. In some cases, animals never leave unconnected parts of the world nearly simultaneously de-
the building or feedlot in which they are raised. veloped subsistence strategies that involved domesticated
Not all animals that were hunted, even in a con- plants and animals. Why? Some scholars have sought a
trolled way, were domesticated. The gazelle is a good ex- single, universal explanation that would explain all origi-
ample: there is evidence that controlled hunting about nal cases of domestication. Thus, it has been argued that
9,500 years ago in southwestern Asia led to significant domestication is the outcome of population pressure as
changes in the gazelle gene pool, but there is no evidence the increasing hunting-and-gathering human population
of domestication. Clearly, culling herds of certain kinds overwhelmed the existing food resources. Others point
of animals—male rather than female, less woolly rather to climate change or famine as the postglacial climate got
than more woolly, thinner rather than fatter—affects the drier. Increasing archaeological research has made it clear,
gene pool in ways that demonstrate that people have an however, that the evidence in favor of any single-cause,
influence on animals even if the animals are not fully universally applicable explanation is weak.
domesticated. Thus, herd following shades almost im- Some scholars have proposed universally applicable
perceptibly into loose herding. explanations that take several different phenomena into
Richard Meadow (1989, 81), by contrast, argues that account. One such explanation, called broad-spectrum
herding represents a complete change in human attitudes foraging, is based on a reconstruction of the environ-
toward and relationships with animals. At the very least, mental situation that followed the retreat of the most
the human focus shifts from the hunted animal to the recent glaciers. The very large animals of the Ice Age
principal product of the living animal—its offspring. This began to die out and were replaced by increased num-
shift, he suggests, is connected to a major shift in world- bers of smaller animals. As sea levels rose to cover the
view that was involved in the other cultural processes—
sedentism and plant cultivation—of post-Pleistocene broad-spectrum foraging A subsistence strategy based on collecting a
southwestern Asia: the development of a concern for wide range of plants and animals by hunting, fishing, and gathering.
continental shelves, fish and shellfish became more social organization, and diet on the emergence of do-
plentiful in the warmer, shallower waters. mestication. The multiple strand approach is well illus-
The effects on plants were equally dramatic as for- trated in an article by McCorriston and Hole (1991), and
ests and woodlands expanded into new areas. Conse- their work forms the basis for the following case study of
quently, these scholars argue, people had to change their domestication in ancient southwestern Asia.
diets from big game hunting to broad-spectrum forag-
ing for plants and animals by hunting, fishing, and gath-
ering. This broadening of the economy is said to have
led to a more secure subsistence base, the emergence of
How Did Domestication,
sedentary communities, and a growth in population. In Cultivation, and Sedentism
turn, population growth pressured the resource base of
the area, and people were forced to eat “third-choice”
Begin in Southwest Asia?
foods, particularly wild grain, which was difficult to har- Southwestern Asian domestication is thought to have
vest and process but which responded to human efforts begun about 12,500 years ago with the Natufian forag-
to increase yields. Although the broad-spectrum foragers, who relied on the intensive exploitation of wild ce-
ing argument seems to account for plant domestica- reals (notably wild wheat and barley), nuts (especially
tion in the New World, the most recent evidence from acorns, pistachios, and almonds), and wild game (es-
ancient southwestern Asia does not support it. There is pecially gazelle and red deer) (Belfer-Cohen 1991, 167;
also evidence for the development of broad-spectrum Figures 7.7 and 7.8). Because of the climatic and ecologi-
gathering in Europe, but domestication did not follow. cal changes in the world that followed the retreat of the
Rather, domesticated crops were brought into Europe by glaciers, the Natufians were able to exploit what were,
people from southwestern Asia, where a broad-spectrum at first, increasingly rich supplies of wild cereals and
revolution had not occurred. large herds of gazelle, which made sedentism possible.
A very different kind of argument came from Barbara Although many Natufian sites are small hunting camps,
Bender (1977), who suggested that before farming began researchers have discovered at least two dozen Natufian
there was competition between local groups to achieve villages, or base camps, that reached a size of 1,000 m2
dominance over each other through feasting and the ex- (about a quarter of an acre) and beyond (Belfer-Cohen
penditure of resources on ritual and exchange, engaging 1991, 176–77). Henry (1989, 218) estimates that the
in a kind of prehistoric “arms race.” To meet increasing Natufian hamlets ranged from 40 to 150 people; they
demands for food and other resources, land use was in- were five to ten times larger than the mobile foraging
tensified, and the development of food production fol- camps of the peoples who preceded them.
lowed. This argument emphasizes social factors, rather That these early Natufian villages were more than just
than environmental or technical factors, and takes a campsites is revealed in their architecture (Figure 7.9).
localized, regional approach. It is supported by ethno- Natufian houses were dug partially into the ground and
graphic accounts concerning competitive exchange activi- had walls of stone and mud with some timber posts and
ties, such as the potlatch of the indigenous inhabitants of probably roof beams. At the Mallaha site, archaeologists
the northwest coast of North America. These people were found plaster-lined storage pits in the houses. Archaeol-
foragers in a rich environment that enabled them to settle ogists infer that such buildings, which required a consid-
in relatively permanent villages without farming or herd- erable amount of labor and material to build, were not
ing. Competition among neighboring groups led to ever constructed for brief residence only. Archaeologists also
more elaborate forms of competitive exchange, with in- found massive stone mortars used to grind seeds. The
creasingly large amounts of food and other goods being implication is that people could not have transported
given away at each subsequent potlatch. As suggestive as such heavy utensils, nor would they have invested the
Bender’s argument is, however, it is difficult to find evi- time and effort to make them if they were going to aban-
dence for competitive feasting in archaeological remains. don them after one season’s use. In addition, the remains
Recently, archaeologists have avoided grand theories of migratory birds and a great number of young gazelle
claiming that a single, universal process was responsible bones indicate year-round hunting from the hamlets be-
for domestication wherever it occurred. Many prefer to cause migratory birds fly over the area during different
take a regional approach, searching for causes particular seasons and young gazelles are born at one time only
to one area that may or may not apply to other areas. during the year.
Currently, the most powerful explanations seem to be Finally, artistic production among the Natufians
multiple strand theories that consider the combined local was high. Anna Belfer-Cohen and others suggest that ar-
effect of climate, environment, population, technology, tistic activity may be viewed as indirect evidence for a
How Did Domestication, Cultivation, and Sedentism Begin in Southwest Asia? 213
Cyprus
Beirut
Damascus
Mediterranean Sea
Mallaha
Hayonim Cave
Tel Aviv Amman (’Ain Ghazal)
Jerusalem Jericho
Cairo
Contemporary
locations
r
Rive
Major Natufian
Gu
sites
Nile
lf
of
S
ue
z
FIGURE 7.10 A Natufian collar from El Wad with 25 fragments

0 300 km Red Sea
of dentalia separating a type of bone bead. This collar was
found in a male burial site.
FIGURE 7.9 Major Natufian sites in the southern Levant in

relation to other contemporary features.
recovered from the Hayonim Cave site showed evidence
of the genetically recessive trait, third-molar agenesis (fail-
sedentary way of life that forces people to interact regu- ure of the third molars, or wisdom teeth, to develop).
larly with others who are not closely related to them. This trait occurs at much lower frequencies—on the order
In these situations, the production of such objects as of 0–20%—in other human populations. Evidence from
personal ornaments helps to create a sense of identity six other Natufian sites revealed the normal frequency
among smaller groups while allowing them to par- of third-molar agenesis, suggesting that the group that
ticipate in a larger society (Belfer-Cohen 1988, 1991; lived at Hayonim Cave mated with other members of
Lewis-Williams 1984). Elaborate ritual and ceremonial their own group rather than with outsiders. It seems this
activities would also have soothed interactions and re- mating pattern continued at Hayonim Cave for about
duced tensions in increasingly large communities where 1,000 years (Henry 1989, 208). These group burials
cooperation was essential (Henry 1989, 206). sometimes included dentalium shell headdresses, which
were decorative and valuable objects with no identifi-
able practical use (Figure 7.10). In other cases, elaborate
Natufian Social Organization grave goods were buried with children. Both these burial
Information about social organization from the archae- practices indicate the differentiation of subgroups and
ological record is indirect, but Donald Henry (1989) inherited status differences. These group burials suggest
believes that over time Natufian society developed that in early Natufian times social position depended
social divisions with unequal access to wealth, power, on which group a person belonged to, rather than on a
and prestige. That is, Natufian society showed social communitywide set of social standards.
stratification, an important sign of social complexity. In late Natufian times, there were still differences in
His evidence comes from Natufian burials. grave goods from one burial to the next, but the dead were
In early Natufian times, the dead were buried buried individually in cemeteries. The new pattern sug-
together in small groups, which Henry believes cor-
gests that the old boundaries around descent groups had
responded to subgroups of a larger community. There
is evidence that relatives lived in the same area for sev- social stratification A form of social organization in which people have
eral generations. For example, nearly half the skeletons unequal access to wealth, power, and prestige.
Çatalhöyük in the Twenty-First Century
Archaeology began as an antiquarian pursuit in Europe and Some fellow travelers are archaeologists: Mellaart and his
the United States and only in the past century or so was trans- team from the 1960s (and the results they produced), Turkish
formed into a professionalized scholarly discipline. Today, archaeologists (and their universities), excavation teams
professional archaeology is changing again, in ways that bring from several different countries who dig at the site today, and
it to the public in a variety of unprecedented ways. Many of many specialized researchers who analyze human remains,
these changes are connected with the spread of neoliberal animal remains and plant remains, stone tools, and pottery
capitalism after the end of the Cold War. As Demoule de- that have been recovered from the digs. Hodder includes as
scribes (In Their Own Words, page 188), these changes led to fellow travelers other anthropologists whose ethnographic
pressures on national governments to reduce budgets, such research provides ethnoarchaeological clues for interpret-
that archaeologists have had to secure funding in new ways, ing remains at the site, especially its art. Indeed, artists are
often from private business firms. At the same time, legisla- fellow travelers at Çatalhöyük, including some who contrib-
tion like NAGPRA now requires archaeologists to take into con- ute new approaches to scientific illustration, a number of ex-
sideration the concerns of descendants of indigenous peoples amples of which are published in The Leopard’s Tale.
whose heritage is affected by archaeological research. Finally, Some fellow travelers are Turkish citizens, from the resi-
residents of the communities where archaeological sites are dents of local communities, to representatives of regional
located, or outside groups with their own interests in such and national government; others are visiting international
sites, may also insist that their voices be heeded as research diplomats and dignitaries like the Prince of Wales. Fellow
is undertaken. travelers include representatives of the national and inter-
These concerns are all magnified when the site in ques- national press, who visit the site regularly. “Underlying all
tion has a high profile, such as the 9,000-year-old Neolithic this for Turkey is the reputation of the site as the origin of
site of Çatalhöyük in south-central Turkey. Archaeologist Ian Anatolian civilization, expressed clearly in the main museum
Hodder of Stanford University is the current director of an in Turkey in Ankara, and in numerous publications” (Hodder
ongoing research project at Çatalhöyük that began in 1993, 2006, 32). Hodder (2006) insists that it is his ethical duty to
some three decades after the site had first been discov- respond to the concerns of local politicians “not simply be-
ered and excavated by James Mellaart. In The Leopard’s Tale cause of responsibility towards one’s hosts, but also because
(2006), Hodder describes the project, which is more ambi- the politicians use the distant past to make claims about ori-
tious than much previous archaeological research, in Turkey gins and identities. . . . The site and the data that are made
and elsewhere. known by the archaeologist will be used in one way or an-
When Hodder sought to reopen excavations at Çatalhöyük, other to support political claims—in my view it is unethical
the Turkish Ministry of Culture and Tourism was in charge for the archaeologists to wash their hands of this process
of protecting and preserving the site. “One central aim of and to remain disengaged” (36–37).
the project, developed in consultation with Turkish officials, Another group of fellow travelers are low-income residents
is to provide Turkish Ministry of Culture and Tourism with of nearby communities, many of whom hope that the site and
a well-planned heritage site. This was certainly one of the its visitors may provide economic benefits. Some local com-
main reasons that led to the decision to allow renewed work munity members are employed at the site, one opened a café
at the site in the 1990s” (Hodder 2006, 37). Heritage sites are near the site, and local women are permitted to sell embroi-
designed to attract tourists, but a well-planned heritage site dered cloth there. “We have started, in consultation with local
takes into consideration the concerns of a range of other groups, to develop a Çatalhöyük brand and to undertake craft
stakeholders. As Hodder (2006) has written, “we need to production and training at the site. . . . The project has also
look at the discovery of the site and the various communities contributed to the digging of a new well and the provision of a
to whom it has become important” (13). Hodder describes new water supply. It has helped to persuade regional officials
these communities as “fellow travelers.” to build a new school in the village and it has contributed a
been destroyed and replaced by a new pattern in which Natufian social organization had come to resemble what
resources were controlled by an entire community and is called a “chiefdom” in anthropological literature. Chief-
stratification was communitywide. Some people now doms, you will recall, are societies in which a leader (the
coordinated activities for the group as a whole and had chief) and close relatives are set apart from the rest of the
come to occupy high-status positions that crosscut sub- society and allowed privileged access to wealth, power,
group boundaries. For these reasons, Henry suggests that and prestige.
214
library to the village” (Hodder 2006, 37). Local farmers have practice of scientific research. One issue has to do with re-
contributed their knowledge of the local landscape. “They do flexivity: the researchers’ need to step back and reflect on
not have some privileged knowledge based on cultural conti- their own research and the context within which it is being
nuity. To claim that would be to ‘museumize’ the local commu- carried out (see Module 3). The Çatalhöyük project has a
nities. They are heavily involved in global processes (and some team devoted to “reflexive methodology,” which involves
have lived as guest workers in Germany)” (Hodder 2006, 39). ethnographic research both in the local communities (to
Çatalhöyük was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO address local people’s interest and concerns) and in the
in 2012 (http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1405), a status that trenches themselves (to focus on the scientific practice of
certifies its importance around the globe and attracts the archaeology). A second issue of concern to science-studies
interest of private corporations, fellow travelers willing to scholars is the traditional separation of excavation and anal-
fund the ongoing research. Many other fellow travelers are ysis (what philosophers of science call the “context of dis-
tourists from within and outside Turkey, including some who covery” and the “context of justification”). Hodder and his
consider the site the center of a Neolithic Goddess cult. As colleagues have moved to close this gap by building their
Hodder (2006) observes, “It is not possible for archaeologists own laboratories on the site and by bringing theorists to
to contribute to the religious view that the Goddess is pres- engage with excavators at work in the trenches, a practice
ent at Çatalhöyük. But it is possible to try to respond to those Hodder calls “interpretation at the trowel’s edge” (see pages
women’s groups that want to know about the role of women 170–171). Hodder (2010) believes that “dialogue between dif-
at the site. . . . Many followers of the Goddess have engaged ferent specialists in religion in the context of grappling with
in dialogue and have been able to see that new evidence can the data from a particular archaeological site has opened up
be incorporated into a revised perspective . . . one in which new lines of inquiry and new perspectives on religion and its
women were powerful for reasons other than mothering and origins. The data from the site have acted as a player in the
in which some equality existed in practice” (39–40). dialogue, bringing different perspectives together and forc-
Hodder believes that negotiating with all these different ing engagement between them. The end result is a coher-
kinds of fellow travelers is unavoidable in a globalized world. ent overview incorporating new perspectives on the role of
“At times the interactions may be difficult, and the travel- religion in the early development of complex s ocieties” (27).
lers may feel the need to part company. I am very aware at Finally, Hodder and his colleagues are particularly mind-
Çatalhöyük that there are many tensions. . . . These can all ful of the opportunities and challenges of living in a digitized
be difficult interactions, but in the end the ethical responsi- world. Digital technologies for data storage, publication, and
bility is to use the specialist archaeological and conservation communication are central to the functioning of the Çatal-
knowledge to respond to the interests of one’s fellow travel- höyük project and have yielded a state-of-the-art website
ers” (Hodder 2006, 42). (http://www.catalhoyuk.com/). The majority of the videos,
How do these negotiations affect the scholarly work of images, and texts accessible via this website are licensed
archaeology done at the site? Being able to mobilize so many with a Creative Commons license, which allows the free dis-
diverse allies to fund the research has permitted the archae- tribution of copyrighted materials. Reflexivity about the use
ologists and other scientific specialists to use the most up- of digital media has also been part of the project, making it a
to-date techniques of survey, excavation, and analysis, much case study of the kinds of human–machine connections cen-
of which is carried out in laboratories built on the site. It has tral to cyborg anthropology.
made possible the construction of shelters to protect and A visit to the Çatalhöyük website may be the ideal illus-
preserve open parts of the site, both for the archaeologists tration of twenty-first-century anthropology—or anthropo-
and for the visitors. logical archaeology—in everyday life because it allows you
But the project has been innovative theoretically as well, to take a virtual tour around the East Mound, among other
especially in the way it has responded to a series of issues things. You will also find links to materials about the site on
raised by science-studies scholars concerned about the Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Vimeo, and Tumblr.
(1989, 91) believes entire herds of gazelle were hunted

Natufian Subsistence communally in game drives. Woodlands were burned to
The Natufians obtained 98% of their meat protein from promote the growth of young plants, attractive to gazelle
red deer, wild sheep, and wild goats, but especially and deer. Henry points out that the increased attention
from gazelles, whose bones make up 40–80% of all to gazelles, wild grains, and nuts also represented spe-
the animal bones recovered from Natufian sites. Henry cialization of subsistence activities by Natufian foragers.
215
They were complex foragers, who lived in areas of abun-

dant resources that may have appeared inexhaustible
(Price and Gebauer 1995, 7), making them different
from generalized foragers, who live in less generous envi-
ronments and cope with shortages by d iversifying their
subsistence activities.
Unfortunately for the Natufians, the choices they
made were destabilizing in the long run. They fed an
increasingly large population by intensively exploiting
small areas. By settling down, they gave up mobility, the
key to the long-term success of a foraging life. The short-
term stability and security of sedentism and intensive
collection increased the rigidity of their society, making
it vulnerable to disruptive environmental changes. And
changes came about 10,500 years ago: the shallow in-
terior lakes of the southern Levant were drying up, and
the Mediterranean woodlands on which they depended
had shrunk to one-half the area they had covered 2,000
years earlier. Natufians in the southern part of the region
abandoned their settlements and returned to simple FIGURE 7.11 B y about 9,300 years ago, the inhabitants of
Jericho had built a stone wall, probably to protect the settle-
foraging, developing what archaeologists refer to as the
ment from yearly flooding.
“Harifian culture.” In the central core of the Natufian
area, however, the people tried to keep the cereal plants
growing in areas that were no longer ideal for them. 4 meters high, and perhaps 700 meters in circumference
The first evidence for domesticated cereals in this (Figure 7.11). The wall, it is now thought, was erected
core Natufian area dates to about 10,300 years ago. Both as protection from the floods; similar protections from
wheat and barley were found at Jericho and barley alone flooding are found at other PPNA sites, although none is
at other sites. For archaeologists, domesticated plants as elaborate as the wall of Jericho (Bar-Yosef and Kislev
signal the end of the Paleolithic and the beginning of 1989, 635).
the Neolithic. This transition from the Natufian culture Trade was also significant in PPNA Jericho. Obsid-
is marked in the southern Levant by the appearance of ian is an extremely sharp and highly prized volcanic
a culture called the “Pre-Pottery Neolithic A” (PPNA), glass that is found in relatively few places worldwide
in which cultivation was practiced but pottery had not (Figure 7.12). Anatolia, in modern Turkey, contained
yet been invented. PPNA Jericho was much larger than the major sites for obsidian in Neolithic southwestern
the preceding Natufian settlement, with a surface area Asia. Archaeologists have found Anatolian obsidian in
of about 2.5 hectares (about 6 acres) and perhaps 300 Jericho, some 700 kilometers (430 miles) from Anatolia;
or more inhabitants (Smith 1995a, 3). Henry (1989) it is unlikely that residents traveled that distance to get
suggests that this was a result of the concentration of it themselves. Jericho also contained marine shells from
populations from smaller, more numerous hamlets in a the Mediterranean Sea and the Black Sea as well as amu-
setting where “large tracts of arable land, suitable for hoe lets (charms against evil or injury) and greenstone beads.
cultivation, adjoined year-round water sources” (53–54). These objects suggest not just trade from village to village
Jericho was located on the edge of an alluvial fan but also trade between the settled farmers and the forag-
(a fan-shaped accumulation of sediment from flowing ing peoples living in the semiarid regions or higher areas.
water at the mouth of a ravine) on a permanent stream, Beginning about 9,500 years ago, the PPNA culture
near hills rich in gazelle, wild grains, and nuts. The stream was replaced by the Pre-Pottery Neolithic B (PPNB) cul-
provided clear drinking water, whereas the alluvial fan ture, which represents the rapid expansion of agricul-
provided mud for bricks and its regular floods provided ture. Although there are but a handful of PPNA sites, all
rich soil for plants. By about 9,300 years ago, the inhab- in a small area around Jericho, there are more than 140
itants of Jericho had built a stone wall, 3 meters thick, PPNB sites, many of which are very large and some of
which are found in Anatolia and the Zagros Mountains.
As the new farming technology moved north and east,
Neolithic The “New Stone Age,” which began with the domestication of
it was adapted to fit local circumstances. At some point,
plants 10,300 years ago. farmers met herders from the Zagros Mountains and
How Did Domestication, Cultivation, and Sedentism Begin in Southwest Asia? 217
FIGURE 7.12 The distribution of

Black Sea
obsidian in Neolithic southwestern
Asia from sources in Anatolia (west)
and Armenia (east). Obsidian is an
extremely sharp and highly prized
volcanic glass. Obsidian was traded
widely and has been found as far as
Çatalhöyük Caspian 500 miles away from its source.
Sea
Mediterranean
Sea
Jericho
Armenia
Anatolia
Obsidian
sources
Red
Sea Persian
Neolithic
Gulf
sites
north Mesopotamia who had domesticated sheep and of large, domesticable animals. The Andean llama is the
goats, animals that were well known in their wild state largest animal domesticated in the New World.
throughout the area. The agriculturalists adopted these Some plants and animals were also domesticated on
herding techniques, which spread quickly and were in- other continents. Goosefoot, marsh elder, sunflowers, and
corporated into the agricultural life of the entire region. squash were all domesticated in eastern North A merica
By 8,000 years ago, the farmers in southwestern Asia (Smith 1995a, 189–90). A variety of crops, including
practiced a mixed agricultural strategy, incorporating coffee, millet, okra, and sorghum, were domesticated in
grains and livestock. different parts of Africa. A large number of important
plant domesticates came from eastern Asia, including rice,
yam, tea, sugarcane, garlic, onion, apple, and carrot. Ar-
Domestication Elsewhere in the World chaeologists are coming to agree that complex forag-
The conditions under which domestication began varied ers living in areas of relatively abundant resources were
around the world. In highland Mexico, for example, the probably responsible for domestication wherever it de-
predomestication population was relatively stable and veloped (Price and Gebauer 1995, 7; Smith 1995a, 213).
sedentism had not yet occurred. There are no indications Rich and complex archaeological and genetic evidence
of the kinds of long-term shifts in resource density in from specific areas of the world downplays single-cause
Mexico that were characteristic of the eastern Mediterra- explanations of domestication and stresses the need to
nean. As noted earlier, many scholars agree that broad- consider each domestication event in its own terms.
spectrum foraging was practiced prior to the transition Melinda A. Zeder and Bruce D. Smith (2009) are im-
to domestication in highland Mexico and elsewhere in pressed by abundant and varied data from southwestern
the New World. The mix of crops characteristic of New Asia showing that during several thousand years prior
World domestication also was different. In Mesoamerica, to the appearance of agriculture, “people appear to have
maize and squash appear between 5,000 and 4,000 years been auditioning a wide variety of region-specific plants
ago, with beans appearing about 2,000 years ago (Smith and animals for leading roles as domesticated resources
1995a). In South America, maize appears between 4,000 in the absence of population increase or resource im-
and 3,000 years ago but was only one of several domes- balance” (683). In eastern North America, the evidence
ticates. In other areas of South America, soil conditions, is similar: climate change at the end of the Pleistocene
altitude, and climate favored root crops—manioc or occurred 5,000 years before initial plant domestication,
potatoes—as well as beans and quinoa (a high-altitude 6,200 years before the development of a complex of do-
grain), which were of greater importance. Animal domesticated crops, and 8,500 years before the key shift to
mestication was far less important in the Americas than maize agriculture. Thus climate change is “a necessary
it was in the Old World, largely because of the absence precondition rather than a central causal variable,” and
there is no evidence for population pressure during the

2,000 years or so when plants were first being domes-
ticated and the crop complex was first being o rganized
(Zeder and Smith 2009, 686).
Zeder and Smith insist that this evidence is best un-
derstood in terms of niche construction: humans “were
actively, and with deliberate intent, shaping adaptive
niches with the conscious goal of enhancing the density
and productivity of desired resources” (688). Related
concerns appear in the work of archaeologists who have
adopted from cultural anthropology theories of practice
that, like niche construction, “examine how humans
create macroscale features such as traditions or sociopo-
litical institutions (structures) through their own daily
actions” (Bruno 2009, 703). Bruno also emphasizes the
importance for archaeologists of historical ecology, which
also “focuses on how long-term, accumulative human
activities cause observable changes in the natural envi-
FIGURE 7.13 Ju/’hoansi mothers and children. Until recently,
ronment thus creating a ‘landscape’” (704). To the extent
Ju/’hoansi women used to walk more than 1,500 miles per
that the process of niche construction is understood as year with children and other burdens on their backs. Children
a form of practical activity and that engineered environ- nursed for several years.
ments/humanly shaped landscapes are understood as
the outcomes of such practical activity, both approaches pregnancies tend to be spaced 3–4 years apart because of
point in the same direction (Schultz 2009). Their in- an extended period of breast-feeding. That is, children in
corporation into anthropological theories of cultural foraging societies are weaned at 3 or 4 years of age but
transitions such as the origins of agriculture or social still nurse whenever they feel like it, as frequently as sev-
complexity promises to shed important new light on eral times an hour (Shostak 1981, 67; Figure 7.13). This
these developments. nursing stimulus triggers the secretion of a hormone that
suppresses ovulation (Henry 1989, 41). Henry summa-
rizes the effects of foraging on female fertility:
What Were the Consequences It would appear then that a number of interrelated
of Domestication and factors associated with a mobile foraging strategy are
likely to have provided natural controls on fertility
Sedentism? and perhaps explain the low population densities of
the Paleolithic. In mobile foraging societies, women
Constructed agricultural niches, within which domes-
are likely to have experienced both long intervals of
ticated plants and animals could thrive, promoted sed-
breastfeeding by carried children as well as the high
entism and transformed human life in ways that still energy drain associated with subsistence activities and
have repercussions today. First, land was no longer a free periodic camp moves. Additionally, their diets, being
good, available to anyone; it was transformed into par- relatively rich in proteins, would have contributed to
ticular territories, collectively or individually owned, on maintaining low fat levels, thus further dampening
which people raised crops and flocks. Thus, sedentism fecundity. (43)
and a high level of resource extraction (whether by com-
plex foraging or farming) led to concepts of property that With complex foraging and increasing sedentism,
were rare in previous foraging societies. Graves, grave these brakes on female fecundity would have been
goods, permanent housing, grain-processing equipment, eased. This is not to say that a sedentary life is physi-
and the fields and herds connected people to places. The cally undemanding. Farming requires its own heavy
human mark on the environment was larger and more labor, from both men and women. The difference seems
obvious following sedentization and the rise of farming: to be in the kind of physical activity involved. Walking
people built terraces or walls to hold back floods, trans- long distances while carrying heavy loads and children
forming the landscape in more dramatic ways. Second, was replaced by sowing, hoeing, harvesting, storing,
settling down affected female fertility and contributed and processing grain. A diet increasingly rich in cereals
to a rise in population. In foraging societies, a woman’s would have significantly changed the ratio of protein to
What Were the Consequences of Domestication and Sedentism? 219
carbohydrate in the diet. This would have changed the water could be brought to the land between the Tigris
levels of prolactin, increased the positive energy balance, and Euphrates rivers in Mesopotamia, for example,
and led to more rapid growth in the young and an ear- land on which wheat and barley was not native could
lier age for first menstruation. The ready availability of support dense stands of the domesticated grains. The
ground cereals would have enabled mothers to feed their greater yield of domesticated plants per unit of ground
infants soft, high-carbohydrate porridges and gruels. The also led to a greater proportion of cultivated plants in
analysis of infant fecal material recovered from the Wadi the diet, even when wild plants were still being eaten
Kubbaniya site in Egypt seems to demonstrate that a and were as plentiful as before. But as cultivated plants
similar practice was in use with root crops along the Nile took on an increasingly large role in prehistoric diets,
at what may have been a year-round site by 19,000 years people became dependent on plants and the plants in
before the present ( Hillman 1989, 230). turn became completely dependent on the agroecol-
The influence of cereals on fertility was observed by ogy created by the people (Figure 7.14). According to
Richard Lee (1992) among settled Ju/’hoansi, who had Richard Lee (1992, 48), the Ju/’hoansi, who live in the
recently begun to eat cereals and experienced a marked Kalahari Desert, use more than 100 plants (14 fruits
rise in fertility (see EthnoProfile 11.4). Renee Penning- and nuts, 15 berries, 18 species of edible gum, 41 edible
ton (1992) notes that the increase in Ju/’hoansi repro- roots and bulbs, and 17 leafy greens, beans, melons,
ductive success also seems to be related to a reduction and other foods). By contrast, modern farmers rely
in infant and child mortality rates. But diets based on on no more than 20 plants, and of those, 3—wheat,
high-carbohydrate grains are, perhaps surprisingly, less maize, and rice—feed most of the world’s people. His-
nutritious than the diets of hunters and gatherers. Skel- torically, only one or two grain crops were staples for
etons from Greece and Turkey in late Paleolithic times a specific group of people. If hail, floods, droughts,
indicate an average height of 5 feet 9 inches for men and infestations, frost, heat, weeds, erosion, or other fac-
5 feet 5 inches for women. With the adoption of agricul- tors destroyed the crop or reduced the harvest, the risk
ture, the average height declined sharply; by about 5,000 of starvation increased. Deforestation, soil loss, silted
years ago, the average man was about 5 feet 3 inches streams, and the loss of many native species followed
tall and the average woman about 5 feet. Even modern
Greeks and Turks are still not, on average, as tall as the
late Paleolithic people of the same region.
In the short term, agriculture was probably de-
veloped in ancient southwestern Asia, and perhaps
elsewhere, to increase food supplies to support an in-
creasing population at a time of serious resource stress.
Because the agroecology created an environment favor-
able to the plants, farmers were able to cultivate pre-
viously unusable land. When such vital necessities as
FIGURE 7.14 (Left) Corn as far as the eye can see: monocrop-

ping can provide enormous yields but exposes the field to risk.
(Right) Rwandan man tending his intercropped banana and
coffee farm, where the plants provide nutrients for one another
and lower the risk of catastrophic losses.
IN THEIR OWN WORDS
The Food Revolution
Although dietary quality declined for the earliest potatoes, vanilla ice cream, Hungarian goulash, peanut
full-time farmers, later contact and trade brittle, and pizza all owe their primary flavorings to the
among different farming societies enriched diets American Indians.
everywhere. Over the past 500 years, as Jack The discovery of America sparked a revolution in food
Weatherford emphasizes, foods domesticated and cuisine that has not yet shown any signs of abating. To-
matoes, chilies, and green peppers formed the first wave
in the New World have played a particularly
of American flavorings to circle the globe, but the American
important role in the “food revolution.”
Indian garden still grows a host of plants that the world may
yet learn to use and enjoy. These plants may have practical
uses, such as providing food in otherwise unusable land
On Thanksgiving Day North Americans sometimes re-
or producing more food in underused land. They also vary
member the Indians who gave them their cuisine by
the daily diets of people throughout the world and thereby
dining upon turkey with cornbread stuffing, cranberry
increase nutrition. Even in this high-tech age, the low-tech
sauce, succotash, corn on the cob, sweet potato casse-
plant continues to be the key to nutrition and health. De-
role, stewed squash and tomatoes, baked beans with
spite all the plant improvements brought about by modern
maple syrup, and pecan pie. Few cooks or gourmets,
science, the American Indians remain the developers of
however, recognize the much broader extent to which
the world’s largest array of nutritious foods and the pri-
American Indian cuisine radically changed cooking and
mary contributors to the world’s varied cuisines.
dining in every part of the globe from Timbuktu to Tibet.
Sichuan beef with chilies, German chocolate cake, curried Source: Weatherford 1988, 115.
domestication. In the lower Tigris–Euphrates Valley, ir-

rigation water used by early farmers carried high levels
of soluble salts, poisoning the soil and making it unus-
able to this day (Figure 7.15).
New features of the agroecology also created new
opportunities for the spread of disease. As we saw earlier,
in sub-Saharan Africa, the clearing of land for farming
created standing water, which provided an excellent en-
vironment for malaria-carrying mosquitoes. As increas-
ing numbers of people began to live near each other in
relatively permanent settlements, the disposal of human
(and eventually animal) waste also became increas-
ingly problematic. Food storage was a key element in
agroecological niches, but stored grains attracted pests,
like rats and mice, which coevolved with the domesti-
cated crops that attracted them. Some of these pests also
spread disease-causing microorganisms that thrived in
human, animal, and plant wastes. The larger the number
of people living very near each other, the greater the like-
lihood of communicable disease transmission: by the
time one person recovers from the disease, someone
else reaches the infectious stage and can reinfect the
first; as a result, the disease never leaves the population.
FIGURE 7.15 The lower Tigris–Euphrates Valley; irrigation
water used by early farmers carried high levels of soluble salts, Finally, the nutritional deficiencies of an agricultural
poisoning the soil and making it unusable to this day. diet may have reduced people’s resistance to disease.
What Were the Consequences of Domestication and Sedentism? 221
Foragers could just walk away from disease, reducing

the likelihood that it would spread, but this option is
closed for settled people. Thus, increased exposure to
3
epidemic disease was a major consequence of the modi- 2
fied selection pressures to which human populations 1
became vulnerable as a consequence of their ancestors’

construction of agroecological niches.
Maintaining an agroecology that will support do-
mesticated plants and animals requires much more labor
than does foraging. People must clear the land, plant the 1. Forager: 10 km2 (3.86 mi2)
2. Dry farmer: 0.5 km2 (0.19 mi2)
seeds, tend the young plants, protect them from preda- 3. Irrigation farmer: 0.1 km2 (0.04 mi2)
tors, harvest them, process the seeds, store them, and
select the seeds for planting the next year; similarly, FIGURE 7.16 Each square shows the proportionate amount
of land needed to feed a single individual using three different
people must tend and protect domesticated animals, food-getting strategies.
cull the herds, shear the sheep, milk the goats, and so on.
This heavy workload is not divided up randomly among
members of the population. Increasing dependence on way of avoiding spoilage but also as a way of storing up
agriculture by increasing numbers of people produced IOUs for the future.
an increasingly complex division of labor, which set the Once societies develop ways to preserve and store
stage for the emergence of complex hierarchical societies food and other material goods, however, new possibili-
with different forms of social inequality. ties open up. Archaeological evidence indicates that the
Insight into the processes producing these changes more food there is to store, the more people invest in
is offered by economic anthropologist Rhoda Halperin storage facilities (e.g., pits, pottery vessels) and the more
(1994). Borrowing concepts from the economic his- quickly they become sedentary. Large-scale food-storage
torian Karl Polanyi, Halperin argues that every eco- techniques involve a series of “changes of place” that
nomic system can be analyzed in terms of two kinds buffer a population from ecological fluctuations for long
of movements: locational movements, or “changes of periods of time. But techniques of food storage alone
place,” and appropriational movements, or “changes predict nothing about the “changes of hands” that food
of hands.” In her view, ecological relationships that will undergo once it has been stored. Food-storage tech-
affect the economy are properly understood as changes niques have been associated with all subsistence strat-
of place, as when people must move into the grass- egies, including that of complex food collectors. This
lands, gather mongongo nuts, and transport them suggests that economic relations of consumption, in-
back to camp. Economic relationships, by contrast, volving the transfer of rights in stored food, have long
are more properly understood as changes of hands, been open to considerable cultural elaboration and ma-
as when mongongo nuts are distributed to all mem- nipulation (Halperin 1994, 178).
bers of the camp, whether or not they helped to gather When people started planting grain, they could not
them. Thus, ecological (locational) movements involve have anticipated all of the problems to come. Initially, ag-
transfers of energy; economic (appropriational) move- riculture had several apparent advantages, the foremost
ments, by contrast, involve transfers of rights (Halperin of which was that farmers could extract far more food
1994, 59). Analyzed in this way, people’s rights to con- from the same amount of territory than could foragers.
sume mongongo nuts cannot be derived from the labor Put another way, to feed the same number of people, a
they expended to gather them. dry farmer needs 20 times less land than a forager and an
Another way of seeing the difference is to pay at- irrigation farmer needs 100 times less land (Figure 7.16).
tention to the connection between food storage and Foragers know that they will find enough food to eat, but
food sharing. An ecologist might argue that those who they never know how much of any given food resource
gather mongongo nuts have no choice but to share they will find or exactly when or where they will find it.
them out and consume them immediately because By contrast, farmers can predict, with a given amount of
they have no way to store this food if it is not eaten. seed—and favorable c onditions—the approximate size
Anthropologist Tim Ingold (1983) agreed that the ob- of a harvest. Herders can predict how many lambs they
ligation to share would make storage unnecessary, but will have in the spring based on the number of rams and
he also pointed out that sharing with others today ordi- ewes in their herds. Sedentism and a fairly reliable and
narily obligates them to share with you tomorrow. Put predictable domesticated food supply provided new op-
another way, sharing food can be seen not only as a portunities for social complexity.
How Do Anthropologists carry out many new tasks. As a result, anthropologists

refer to these as the first complex societies to appear in
Define Social Complexity? the archaeological record.
Early Neolithic farming and herding societies differed

little from the foraging societies they replaced. For the Why Is It Incorrect to Describe
Natufians, foraging continued to be important along- Foraging Societies as “Simple”?
side cultivation for many generations. In the same way,
Although the concept of a complex society seems
the social organization of these societies differed little
straightforward enough, anthropologists must define
from that of foraging societies; although people began
this expression carefully to avoid misunderstanding.
to settle in permanent villages, archaeological evidence
It is common to assume that the opposite of complex
suggests that no great differences in wealth, power, or
is simple, yet foraging and farming societies are not
prestige divided villagers initially. Put another way, these
“simple” societies. As we saw, not even all foragers were
early farming villages continued to practice e galitarian
alike; and in any case, foragers had to file away in their
social relations. Things began to change, however, be-
minds an enormously complex amount of information
ginning about 5,000 years ago in southwestern Asia
about different varieties of plants, seasonal habits of ani-
and shortly thereafter in Egypt, the Indus Valley (India),
mals, details of kinship, and nuances of their religion
China, Mesoamerica (Valley of Mexico), and the Andes
and art. It was the comparatively simple technology of
(Peru, see Figure 7.1, p. 203). These six regions of the
foragers—based on wood, stone, and bone tools that
globe were the first to invent, essentially independently,
could be easily made by everyone—that was very dif-
a new way of organizing society called social stratifica-
ferent from the more complex technology that had to
tion, which, as we saw earlier, was based on the assump-
be developed and mastered to build massive pyramids,
tion that different groups in society were entitled to
weave cloth, or smelt and mold metals such as copper,
different amounts of wealth, power, and prestige.
tin, and iron. These activities not only required highly
A move from egalitarian forms of social organiza-
specialized knowledge of architecture, textiles, and met-
tion to social stratification involves the development of
allurgy but also presupposed a form of social organiza-
social complexity. Social stratification was made possible
tion that permitted some members of society to become
when societies produced amounts of food that exceeded
highly specialized in certain activities while other mem-
the basic subsistence needs of the population. Storage
bers carried out different tasks.
of surplus production and control over its distribution
Differences in technology and social organization
made it possible for some members of a society to stop
say nothing about the complexity of the minds of the
producing food altogether and to specialize in various
people involved. However, such differences strongly
occupations (e.g., weaving, pot making) or in new social
shaped the scale and texture of life in the two kinds of
roles (e.g., king, priest). In some cases, occupational
society. Setting up a temporary camp in a foraging soci-
specialization also created a wide gulf between most
ety involved fewer options and fewer decisions, in terms
of society’s members and a new social class of rulers
of technology and social organization, than did the con-
who successfully claimed the bulk of this new wealth
struction of a pyramid. Pyramid building required more
as their due. Societies set up in this way could support
than architectural skill; suitable materials had to be
many more people than could the village societies that
found, quarried, or produced and transported to the site.
preceded them, not only because they successfully pro-
Additionally, suitable workers had to be found, trained,
duced, stored, and distributed more food but also be-
supervised, fed, and lodged for the duration of construc-
cause they invented new ways of organizing people to
tion, which may have taken decades. Finally, all these
specialized activities had to occur in the right order for
egalitarian social relations Social relations in which no great differ- the project to be successfully completed. Not only would
ences in wealth, power, or prestige divide members from one another.
a foraging band—some 50 individuals of all ages—have
surplus production The production of amounts of food that exceed the
basic subsistence needs of the population.
been too small to carry out such a project, but also their
occupational specialization Specialization in various occupations traditional egalitarian social relations would have made
(e.g., weaving or pot making) or in new social roles (e.g., king or priest) that is the giving and taking of orders impossible. Indeed, the
found in socially complex societies. whole idea of building massive pyramids would have
class A ranked group within a hierarchically stratified society whose probably seemed pointless to them.
membership is defined primarily in terms of wealth, occupation, or other
economic criteria. A society that not only wants to build pyramids
complex societies Societies with large populations, an extensive division but also has the material, political, and social means
of labor, and occupational specialization. to do so is clearly different from a foraging band or a
What Is the Archaeological Evidence for Social Complexity? 223
Neolithic farming village. For archaeologist T. Douglas

Price (1995), a complex society has “more parts and
more connections between parts” (140). Anthropologist
Leslie White (1949) spoke in terms of a major change in
the amount of energy a society can capture from nature
and use to remodel the natural world to suit its own pur-
poses. The members of foraging bands also depended on
energy captured from the natural world but on a scale
vastly smaller than that required to build pyramids. Ar-
chaeologist Robert Wenke (1999) emphasizes that, in
complex societies, “the important thing is that the abil-
ity and incentive to make these investments are radically
different from the capacities of Pleistocene bands, in
that they imply the ability of some members of society FIGURE 7.18 A mong the most widespread indicators of early
to control and organize others” (348). social complexity are the remains of monumental architecture,
such as the Temple of the Great Jaguar at the Mayan site of
Tikal, Guatemala.
What Is the Archaeological

most widespread indicators of social complexity are
Evidence for Social the remains of monumental architecture. Contempo-
Complexity? rary monumental architecture includes such structures
as the Eiffel Tower in Paris, France; the Mall of America
How do archaeologists recognize social and cultural in Bloomington, Minnesota; and the Petronas Towers in
complexity when they see it? Important clues are certain Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia (Figure 7.17). Ancient monu-
kinds of remains that begin to appear in the archaeo- mental architecture included public buildings, private
logical record after about 5,000 years ago. Among the residences, tombs, settlement walls, irrigation canals,
and so on. Together with monumental architecture,
however, archaeologists usually find evidence of techno-
logically simpler constructions. Assemblages that dem-
onstrate such architectural variability contrast with those
from earlier periods, when dwellings were simpler and
more uniform and monumental structures were absent.
Everywhere it is found, the earliest monumental
architecture consists of raised platforms, temples, pyra-
mids, or pyramidlike structures (Figure 7.18). Different
building techniques were used to construct these monu-
ments in different areas, and the structures did not all
serve the same purpose. Therefore, archaeologists have
long rejected the notion that all pyramid-building so-
cieties derived from ancient Egypt. Rather, the cross-
cultural similarities of these structures appear to have a
more practical explanation. None of the architects in the
earliest complex societies knew how to build arches and
barrel vaults. Moreover, in places like the Maya lowlands
in modern Central America, builders had to work with-
out metal, winches, hoists, or wheeled carts. Under these
circumstances, the only tall structures they could have
built were such basic geometric forms as squares, rect-
angles, and pyramids (Wenke 1999, 577).
FIGURE 7.17 Monumental modern architecture: the

Petronas Towers dwarf the surrounding city of Kuala Lumpur, monumental architecture Architectural constructions of a greater-
Malaysia. than-human scale, such as pyramids, temples, and tombs.
Among the monumental structures built in the earli- not develop in the early Harappan civilization of the
est complex societies were tombs. Differences in the size Indus Valley, but they are so widespread elsewhere that
and construction of burials parallel differences in the the questions remain important.
size and construction of residences, and both suggest the Archaeologist Michael Hoffman, an expert on pre-
emergence of a stratified society. Graves that are larger historic Egypt, proposed that the key to understanding
and built of more costly materials often contain a variety the first complex societies lies in their social organization.
of objects, called grave goods, that were buried with the For the first time in human history, societies had been
corpse. Smaller, modest graves occurring in the same as- formed in which tremendous power was concentrated in
semblage and containing few or no grave goods provide the hands of a tiny elite—who undoubtedly found their
evidence for social stratification. The number and qual- privileges challenged by their new subjects. Under such
ity of grave goods found with a corpse give clues as to circumstances, the production of monumental architec-
just how highly stratified a society was. Many of the grave ture and quantities of luxury goods served as evidence
goods recovered from rich tombs are masterpieces of ce- of the elite’s fitness to rule. Hoffman prefers to call these
ramics, metallurgy, weaving, and other crafts, indicating objects “powerfacts” rather than “artifacts” because their
that the society had achieved a high degree of techno- role was to demonstrate the superior power of the rulers
logical skill and, thus, a complex division of labor. (Hoffman 1991, 294; Hayden 1995, 67; Figure 7.19).
Archaeologists often recover evidence of complex So far, we have described the kinds of archaeological
occupational specialization directly from a site. They remains that suggest that a site was once part of a com-
search for concentrations of particular artifacts that plex society. But complex societies ordinarily consisted of
may indicate what sort of activity was carried out in each a number of settlements organized in a hierarchy. Con-
area. Archaeologists can distinguish garbage dumps sequently, archaeologists survey the region to determine
from, say, areas where people lived, which would have how any given site compares to other simultaneously oc-
been kept free of refuse. Similarly, broken pots or kilns cupied settlements in the same area. (See Chapter 6 for
found evenly distributed throughout a settlement might a discussion of survey techniques.) The most common
suggest that pottery was made by individual families. and helpful surface artifacts recovered during such sur-
However, considerable evidence of pottery manufacture veys are often pieces of broken pots called sherds. Dif-
concentrated within a particular area strongly suggests ferent kinds of sherds found on a site’s surface provide
the existence of a potter’s workshop and, thus, occupa- a rough inventory of the different cultural traditions
tional specialization. Remains of the tools used to make followed by inhabitants over time. When the survey is
artifacts—potter’s wheels, spindle whorls, or slag, for completed, archaeologists tabulate and map the percent-
example—often provide important information about ages of different kinds of sherds. A series of maps show-
the degree to which craft technology developed at a paring the distribution of each particular kind of pottery
ticular time and place.
The emergence of complex societies seems con-
nected almost everywhere with a phenomenal explo-
sion of architectural and artistic creativity. Although
anthropologists admire the material achievements of
these ancient societies, many are struck by the “waste-
ful” expenditure of resources by a tiny ruling elite. Why,
for example, did virtually every original complex soci-
ety build monumental architecture? Why did they not
invest their increasing technological and organizational
power in less elaborate projects that might have bene-
fited the ordinary members of society? Why were master-
pieces of pottery, metallurgy, and weaving often hoarded
and buried in the tombs of dead rulers instead of being
more widely available? These excesses apparently did
grave goods Objects buried with a corpse.

concentrations of particular artifacts Sets of artifacts indicating that FIGURE 7.19 A “powerfact” from the tomb of Tutankhamen.
particular social activities took place at a particular area in an archaeological A collar found around the neck is composed of gold, colored
site when that site was inhabited in the past. glass, and obsidian. There are 250 inlaid segments, and each
sherds Pieces of broken pots. claw is grasping a shen, a symbol of totality.
What Is the Archaeological Evidence for Social Complexity? 225
illustrates the degree to which settlement size and popu- of craft production, although such production is not yet
lation changed over time. When researchers are able to in the hands of full-time specialists. Chiefdoms also ex-
accurately associate the different kinds of pottery with hibit a greater degree of hierarchical political control,
the stratigraphy of well-excavated sites in the region, centered on the chief, relatives of the chief, and their
they can devise a portrait of settlement patterns over great deeds. Archaeologically, chiefdoms are interest-
time. Systematic survey and mapping work in southern ing because some, such as the southern Natufians, ap-
Iraq permitted Robert Adams and Hans Nissen to show parently remained as they were and then disappeared,
how the small, scattered settlements that prevailed in the whereas others went on to develop into states.
countryside of ancient Mesopotamia around 8,000 years The state is a stratified society that possesses a terri-
ago were gradually abandoned over the centuries, such tory that is defended from outside enemies with an army
that by about 5,200 years ago virtually everyone was and from internal disorder with police. States, which
living in a handful of large settlements, which Adams have separate governmental institutions to enforce
and Nissen (1972) call “cities.” laws and to collect taxes and tribute, are run by an elite
that possesses a monopoly on the use of force. In early
states, government and religion were mutually reinforc-
Why Did Stratification Begin? ing: rulers were often priests or were thought to be gods
As we saw in Chapter 6, archaeologists typically orga- themselves. State societies are supported by sophisticated
nize their findings using a set of four categories that food-production and -storage techniques. Craft produc-
serve as benchmarks in the history of human social or- tion is normally specialized and yields a dazzling vari-
ganization. These categories—bands, tribes, chiefdoms, ety of goods, many of which are refined specialty items
states—were developed together with cultural anthro- destined for the ruling elite. Art and architecture also
pologists and rest on insights derived from the study of flourish, and writing frequently has developed in state
living and historically documented societies of different societies. Shortly after the appearance of the first state in
kinds together with the material remains they all tend to an area, other states usually develop nearby. From time
leave behind (Wenke 1999, 340–44). to time, one might conquer its neighbors, organizing
As we have seen, our ancestors apparently lived in them into a vaster political network called an empire.
foraging bands until some 10,000 years ago, when the last Monumental public buildings of a religious or gov-
ice sheets melted, after which they began to experiment ernmental nature, highly developed crafts (e.g., pot-
with new subsistence strategies and forms of social or- tery, weaving, and metallurgy), and regional settlement
ganization. Those who came to farm or herd for a living patterns that show at least three levels in a hierarchy
were able to support larger populations and are classi- of social complexity are all archaeological evidence of
fied as tribes. Societies classified as tribes are enormously a state. Interstate conflict is suspected when towns and
varied. Morton Fried (1967) preferred to call a society cities are surrounded by high walls and confirmed by
of this kind a “rank” society. Elman Service (1962), who artifacts that served as weapons, by art depicting battle,
was attempting to identify key turning points in the and by written documents that record military triumphs.
course of human prehistory, viewed tribes as a transi- Because writing developed in most of the early states,
tional form rather than a well-defined societal type. The various inscriptions often provide valuable information
ambiguity of terms like rank society or tribe has led some on social organization that supplements the archaeolo-
archaeologists to substitute the term transegalitarian so- gist’s reconstructions.
ciety to describe all societies that are neither egalitarian Archaeologists assume regional integration when
nor socially stratified (Hayden 1995, 18). Seemingly they find unique styles in architecture, pottery, textiles,
poised between equality and hierarchy, transegalitarian and other artifacts distributed uniformly over a wide
societies have flourished at various times and places up area; such evidence is called a cultural horizon. For ar-
to the present day, and they do not appear necessarily to chaeologists, the term civilization usually refers to the
be on the way to becoming anything else in particular. flowering of cultural creativity that accompanies the rise
Unlike a transegalitarian society, the chiefdom is an of state societies and persists for a long time. Widespread
example—indeed, the earliest clear example—of a so- uniformity in material culture, however, need not imply
cially stratified society, as we saw among the southern a single set of political institutions. Archaeologists who
Natufians. Ordinarily, only the chief and close relatives wish to speak of a state or empire, therefore, require
are set apart and allowed privileged access to wealth, additional evidence, such as a hierarchy of settlement
power, and prestige; other members of the society con- patterns or written records that spell out centralized gov-
tinue to share roughly similar social status. Chiefdoms ernmental policies. Cultural change in all early complex
are generally larger than tribes and show a greater degree societies tended to alternate between periods of relative
cultural uniformity and political unity and periods of re- complex societies should ever have developed at all.
gional differentiation and lack of political integration. Over the years, anthropologists have proposed a number
We should note that the preceding categories and of explanations. Some of their hypotheses (like some de-
the framework for cross-cultural comparison that they signed to explain our ancestors’ turn to domestication or
provide have been critiqued in recent years. Postproces- sedentism) argue for a single, uniform cause, or prime
sual archaeologists like Shanks and Tilley (1987), for mover, that triggered the evolution of complex society
example, argue that traditional comparisons of ancient worldwide. Indeed, as we will see, many of these prime
“state” societies pay too much attention to environ- movers are the same factors suggested to explain the de-
mental and technological similarities while ignoring or velopment of domestication and sedentism.
dismissing the significance of the distinct cultural pat- For a long time, scholars thought that the domes-
terns of meanings and values that made each of these tication of plants and sedentary life in farming villages
ancient civilizations unique. Other archaeologists, how- offered people the leisure time to invent social and tech-
ever, maintain that the similarities among ancient civi- nological complexity. This explanation is questionable,
lizations are just as striking as their cultural differences however, because many farming societies never devel-
and require explanation (Trigger 1993). Although this oped beyond the village level of organization. In addi-
debate continues, many archaeologists have tried to tion, social complexity apparently can develop without
strike a balance, acknowledging the overall descriptive the support of a fully agricultural economy, as among
value of a formal category like “state” but carrying out the Natufians. Finally, ethnographic research has shown
research projects that highlight the cultural variation to that foraging people actually have more leisure time
be found among societies grouped together as “states” than most village farmers.
(Wenke 1999, 346). Other scholars suggest that social complexity de-
pended on arid or semiarid environments (Figure 7.20).
The first complex societies in Egypt, Mesopotamia, and
How Can Anthropologists the Indus Valley were located in dry regions crossed by
a major river, which provided water for intensified agri-
Explain the Rise cultural production following the construction of irriga-
of Complex Societies? tion canals. The apparent connection between farming
in an arid environment, the need for irrigation water,
Given that humans lived in foraging bands for most of and the rise of complex societies led Karl Wittfogel
their history and that, in some parts of the world, vil- (1957) to hypothesize that complex societies first devel-
lage farming remained a stable, viable way of life for oped to construct and maintain large irrigation systems.
hundreds or thousands of years, it is not obvious why Wittfogel argued that these irrigation systems could not
FIGURE 7.20 The civilization of

ancient Egypt was supported by
agricultural practices that relied on
the regular flooding pattern of the
Nile River. In this photograph taken
from the Space Shuttle, the wide,
dark band crossing the light desert
region is the cultivated floodplain
of the Nile. The river itself is the
very dark, narrow line snaking its
way through this cultivated area.
How Can Anthropologists Explain the Rise of Complex Societies? 227
have functioned without a ruling elite to direct opera- 1988, 60–61). Sooner or later, however, if chaos could
tions. Thus, he sees the development of what he calls hy- not be contained, warfare might have broken out be-
draulic agriculture as the key to the evolution of complex tween neighboring villages. Indeed, Brian Hayden sug-
society. This hypothesis, although suggestive, has also gests that power-seeking individuals might well have
been called into question. First, societies such as the Ho- manipulated such tensions, using economic surpluses to
hokam of the American Southwest apparently operated settle conflicts and amassing personal wealth and power
an extensive irrigation system without developing social in the process. This could not occur, in his view, until
stratification or cultural complexity (Wenke 1999, 356). people became willing to accept bloodwealth, a crucial
Second, the sorts of complex irrigation s ystems Wittfogel innovation not found in egalitarian societies (Hayden
had in mind—those requiring a b ureaucracy—appear 1995, 32). Bloodwealth is economic surplus, paid by
late in the archaeological record of several early civili- perpetrators to compensate their victims for their loss. If
zations, long after the first appearance of monumental bloodwealth payments disproportionately favored some
architecture, cities, and other signs of social complexity individuals or groups over others, their social relations
(see, e.g., Adams 1981, 53). Irrigation may have played would no longer be egalitarian.
a role in the development of complex societies, but it Warfare, population pressure, and arid environ-
was apparently not the single prime mover that brought ments all play roles in Robert Carneiro’s (1970) theory
them into existence. of the rise of the first states in Peru, Mesopotamia,
Because many early groups of village farmers never and Egypt and of later, secondary states elsewhere. In
developed a high degree of social complexity, archaeolo- Carneiro’s scheme, population pressure would have

gists see its appearance more as the exception, not the led to increasing conflict between neighboring villages
rule. Some suggest that population pressure was the de- once it was no longer possible for villagers to cultivate
cisive force: if the food supply could not keep up with a new lands. This situation, which he calls environmen-
growing population, social chaos would have resulted tal circumscription, might have been especially likely in
unless someone were able to exercise power to allocate early farming societies that grew up along river valleys
resources and keep the peace. This scenario is rejected, running through deserts, such as those in Mesopota-
however, by those who argue that social inequality de- mia, Egypt, and coastal Peru. When the desert barrier
veloped in societies where resources were abundant halted village expansion, new farmlands could be ob-
and opportunistic individuals could gain power using tained only by taking them away from other villages by
surpluses to indebt others to them through competi- force. Carneiro’s theory has stimulated much discussion.
tive feasting or control of labor (Arnold 1995; Hayden However, the role he assigns to population pressure is
1995). Also, archaeological evidence from more than open to the criticism raised earlier, and many archaeolo-
one part of the world shows that population pressure gists still have not found evidence that would confirm or
was not a problem when social complexity first ap- refute Carneiro’s hypotheses.
peared. Some archaeologists now suggest that human Clearly, any force that could destroy the egalitarian
societies were able to limit population growth if they relations that prevailed in farming societies for hundreds
chose to do so, whether by migration, infanticide, abor- or thousands of years would have had to be very power-
tion, contraception, or late marriage. Finally, the great- ful. In this connection, David Webster (1975) suggested
est decline in fertility in the modern Western world did that the turning point came in farming societies that
not occur among the hungry, nor was it triggered by the were chiefdoms. You will recall that chiefdoms possess
invention of new birth-control technology: it was the a limited form of social stratification that sets the chiefly
well-fed, middle-class families in capitalist societies who line above other members of society, who continue to
began to have fewer children, not the poverty-stricken enjoy social equality reinforced by kinship. If warfare in
workers. The forces that change reproductive rates are far such a society undermined the old relations of kinship,
more complex than a simple population-pressure model people might eventually be desperate for social order
would allow. and accept social stratification if that restored stability.
If population pressure did not undermine the egali- All the prime movers discussed so far involve tech-
tarian social relations of village farmers, perhaps conflict nological, economic, environmental, or biological fac-
with other villagers was to blame. If all available farm- tors that would have forced societies into complexity
land were settled, for example, making it impossible no matter what their previous cultural traditions might
for people to move away at times of conflict, the only have been. Realizing that these external factors were less
solution, apart from chaos, would have been to estab-
lish rules to resolve conflicts, thus leading to the devel- bloodwealth Material goods paid by perpetrators to compensate their
opment of more complex political structures (Nissen victims for their loss.
IN THEIR OWN WORDS
The Ecological Consequences of Social Complexity
Many people have tried to ascribe both the rise to act as a mechanism to reduce overall population in-
and decline of early complex societies crease until at least Late Classic times. This statement is
to factors rooted in the natural environment. not meant to suggest that the Maya did not suffer con-
Dan and Prudence Rice argue that straints. Their growth, expansion, and intensification
a closer look at Mesoamerica suggests that forced the Maya to consider more closely the processes
of degradation. No data exist at present, however, indi-
things were never that simple.
cating that the Maya agricultural system had reached its
productive limits or that reduced productivity caused the
civilization’s “collapse.” Certainly, some habitats or tech-
It is apparent that the Maya initiated practices to reduce
nologies were more vulnerable to strain than others, and
the regionwide processes of nutrient loss, deterioration of
the circumstantial juxtaposition of degradation and cul-
soil structure, destabilization of water flows, soil erosion,
tural decline in the Yaxha-Sacnab basins is theoretically
and loss of productive components of their environment.
enticing. But Maya responses to production problems
The results of the Maya “experiment” demonstrate that
were not only technological but social, religious, and po-
tropical forests are neither zones of unbounded fertility
litical, and effective maintenance of an agro-economic in-
nor homogeneous zones in which cultivation redundancy
frastructure depended on cultural forces in addition to
is in order. Theirs was a multihabitat and multitechnology
environmental ones. Both require further investigation.
system that was labor intensive, a system that relied on a
The unresolved issue of the Maya “collapse” and the
primary motivation for increased production—a growing
long-term success of the Maya civilization may foster
population—as the source of energy to run the system.
spurious—and dangerous—complacency toward future
Relatively speaking, it was an ecologically efficient regime
economic development of the tropics if the relative rates
that met increased demands for production through
of change are not kept in perspective. Current population
increased labor intensity and an increased agricultural
trends in tropical areas engender a real sense of urgency
land base.
about the work ahead. Tropical environments such as the
The Maya adapted to the tropical forest environ-
Petén must be evaluated before modern populations ob-
ment over a long period, and a key to their success was
scure the details of ecosystem history so that pertinent
undoubtedly the opportunity for sustained experimen-
information on successful, long-term adaptive strate-
tation and evaluation. In the Yaxha-Sacnab basins, the
gies can be made available while it still might have some
environmental strains caused by soil depletion and al-
impact on future land use.
teration of the lacustrine ecosystem developed slowly, in
tandem with low rates of population growth, too slowly Source: Rice and Rice 1993.
powerful than once believed, many anthropologists interests were undermined by it) (Kipp and Schortman
turned their attention to internal, sociocultural factors 1989). Such a conflict of interests might eventually have
that might have led to the rise of social complexity: recall thrown a chiefdom completely out of equilibrium, lead-
Barbara Bender’s theory about the origin of domestica- ing to the kind of social transformation suggested by
tion, which has inspired Brian Hayden, among others. Webster (1975).
During the 1960s and 1970s, some anthropologists were Written documents, when available, can sometimes
influenced by the work of Karl Marx and his followers, provide enough detailed insight into social organiza-
who argued that attempts to resolve contradictions that tion to identify social hierarchies and trace their devel-
develop within a particular form of social organization opment over time. But for ancient complex societies
can lead to profound social change. Marxian analysis that lacked writing—and this includes all six of the first
might suggest, for example, that external trade in luxury such societies—the Marxian approach is exceedingly
items by the leaders of early chiefdoms may have gener- difficult to apply to archaeological materials. Many of
ated conflict between the chief’s family (whose interests the remains of the earliest complex societies are incom-
were served by trade) and the common people (whose plete and could be compatible with more than one form
of social organization. Indeed, any theory, Marxian or

not, that seeks to explain the rise of a complex society Andean Civilization
in terms of social relations, political culture, or religious The Andean region of South America gave birth to a rich,
beliefs faces the same problem. However important they complex, and varied civilization that culminated in the
may have been, such phenomena do not fossilize and Inka Empire, the largest political system to develop in
cannot be reliably inferred on the basis of archaeologi- the New World before the arrival of Europeans. The very
cal data alone, an uncomfortable fact that continues to richness and complexity of this civilization, however,
frustrate archaeologists trying to reconstruct prehistory. coupled with insufficient funding for archaeological re-
Anthropologists cannot offer a single, sweeping ex- search, has meant that only the barest outlines of its de-
planation of cultural evolution, although this was their velopment can be traced (Table 7.1).
hope at the end of the nineteenth century. But their at- The geography of the Andes is distinctive and had
tempts to test various hypotheses that promise such ex- an important influence on the development of local
planations have led to a far richer appreciation of the complex societies. This is a region of young, steep-sided
complexities of social and cultural change. Archaeologist mountains and volcanoes. Along the Pacific can be
Robert Wenke (1999) observes that “cultural evolution found deserts on which rain has not fallen for centuries
is not a continuous, cumulative, gradual change in most as well as a narrow, lowland coastal strip covered with
places. ‘Fits and starts’ better describes it” (336). He fur- lush greenery that is supported not by rain but by fog
ther emphasizes the remarkable adaptability of cultural rising from the ocean. This is the zone of the lomas, or
systems, noting in a discussion of Mesoamerica that en- fog meadows, which is crossed by over two dozen short
vironmental and ecological analyses can only explain so rivers flowing from the highlands. The western edge of
much: “once we get beyond this simple ecological level the loma lowlands rises abruptly through several climatic
of analysis, we encounter a welter of variability in socio- zones to the highlands, or sierra, of the Andes Mountains.
political forms, economic histories, settlement patterns, Rolling grassland areas between 3,900 and 5,000 meters
and the other elaborations of these complex societies” form a zone called the puna, the highest level suitable
(609). The rest of this chapter offers a sample of some of for human habitation. Finally, the eastern slopes of the
this variability, examining evidence bearing on the rise Andes descend into the humid tropical forests of the
of the first complex societies in South America. Amazon headwaters, a zone called the selva. In recent
TABLE 7.1 Cultural Periods of Andean Civilization

TIME SCALE SELECTED CULTURE PERIOD/HORIZON
1500 Inka Late Horizon
1250 Chimú Late Intermediate period
1000
Wari Tiwanaku Middle Horizon
750
500
Moche Early Intermediate period
C.E.
B.C.E.
500
Chavín Early Horizon
1000
Initial period
2000
Preceramic period
4000
Paijan
6000
8000
Luz Lithic period
10,000
years, mounting evidence suggests that farming cultures

in the tropical forest contributed many of the domesti-
cated plants that later became indispensable to Andean
agriculture (Chauchat 1988; Raymond 1988; Rick 1988).
The presence of humans in South America before
15,000 years ago is still being debated, but bands
of foragers were definitely living along the Peruvian
coast between 14,000 and 8,000 years ago and in the
sierra between 11,000 and 10,000 years ago. Lowland
groups took advantage of the unique upswelling of the
cold coastal current—which kept nutrients for ocean-
dwelling organisms close to the surface—to exploit a
bounty of marine food resources. Between about 5,000
and 4,000 years ago, quinoa, guinea pigs, potatoes, and
camelids (llamas and alpacas) were domesticated in the
highlands. Neither the coastal foragers nor the earliest
highland farmers made pottery, however. By 3,200 years
ago, the first maize appears on the Ecuadorian coast
(Smith 1995a, 157, 181).
On the Peruvian coast, between 5,000 and 4,500
years ago, villagers began to construct multiroomed
buildings, which were later filled in to form pyramid-
shaped mounds. Complexes of platforms, pyramids,
and raised enclosures first appeared after 4,000 years
ago at sites like El Paraíso on the coast and Kotosh in
the highlands. There is evidence that the early coastal
mound builders were not farmers, but villagers who
relied on food from the sea. Possibly the first mound
FIGURE 7.21 Chavín culture spread widely during the Early
builders in the highlands were not farmers either, but Horizon in Peru (900–200 B.C.E .). The monumental sculpture
highland settlements soon became dependent on the illustrated here is the Lanzón in the Old Temple at the cere-
cultivation of maize and other crops. Between 3,800 and monial complex of Chavín de Huantar.
2,900 years ago, the number of sites with monumental

architecture increased in the coastal valleys, as did the it; but its appearance was accompanied by a new level
proportion of cultivated plants in the coastal diet, which of social and economic interaction between previously
suggests that irrigation agriculture had become impor- isolated local societies.
tant in coastal economies. There is also evidence during Most experts agree that the spread of Chavín culture
this period of increasing contact between coastal and was connected with the spread of a religious ideology,
highland settlements: the “U”-shaped plan of coastal sometimes called the Chavín cult. Richard Berger (1988)
ceremonial sites began to appear in the highlands, while suggests that this may have been a regional cult that was
llamas became important, economically and ritually, on voluntarily adopted by a number of different ethnic
the coast (Pineda 1988). groups, perhaps a forerunner of the cult of Pachacamac
These early developments toward social complex- that flourished in sixteenth-century Peru. The Chavín
ity appeared among peoples with distinct cultural tra- cult got its name from the highland ceremonial center
ditions. However, between 2,900 and 2,200 years ago, Chavín de Huantar, which was important toward the
a single cultural tradition with its own styles of art, ar- end of the Early Horizon. The flowering of pottery, met-
chitecture, and pottery spread rapidly throughout cen- allurgy, and textile production that marks the Chavín
tral and northern Peru. This phenomenon is called the Horizon may have been encouraged by a religious elite
Chavín Horizon, and the period in which it occurred is eager to enhance its status among its new followers.
usually called the Early Horizon because this was the first The Chavín cult and the regional integration that
time in Andean history that so many local communi- went with it fell apart after 2,200 years ago. Although
ties had adopted a single cultural tradition (Figure 7.21). this development led to the reemergence of village life
Much is obscure about the Chavín period. It does not in some regions, complex society did not collapse every-
seem that Chavín culture spread by conquest, nor did it where. During the Early Intermediate period (200 B.C.E.–
totally replace the local traditions of those who adopted 600 C.E.), separate cultural groups followed their own
paths. On the coast, more than a dozen new regional

states appeared, but only a few are well known archae-
ologically. The Moche state, for example, encompassed
several river valleys on the north coast and continued
the earlier pattern connecting religion, monumental ar-
chitecture, and rich grave goods. The largest structures
in ancient Peru that were built of sun-dried bricks (or
adobe) were constructed in the Moche Valley during the
Early Intermediate period, as was an elaborate system for
the distribution of water. The Moche also developed a
distinctive art style that appeared in ceramics, textiles,
and wall paintings (Figure 7.22).
On the south coast, a complex society centered in the
Nazca Valley produced monumental pyramids, terraced
hills, burial areas, and walled enclosures, as well as elab-
orate pottery and textiles. It also produced the famous
Nazca lines, monumental markings that were made by
brushing away the dark, upper layer of the desert surface
to expose the lighter soil beneath (Figure 7.23). The ear-
liest markings are drawings of animals and supernatural
figures, also found on textiles, whereas later markings are
mostly straight lines. The exact significance of the Nazca
lines is unclear. Similar structures are known elsewhere
in Peru, and many experts suspect that the lines may have
been memorial markers or part of a calendrical system.
There is no evidence whatsoever that they were built as
landing strips for aliens from outer space.
In the Andean highlands, many small, indepen-
dent societies developed during the Early Intermediate
period. Of these, perhaps the most significant was the
tradition that grew up in the basin of Lake Titicaca in the FIGURE 7.22 Ceramics were developed to a high level of so-
phistication in early states, as shown by this stirrup-spout por-
southern highlands. Titicaca basin culture possessed dis-
trait jar produced by the Moche civilization, which flourished in
tinctive traditions in architecture, textiles, and religious northern Peru between 250 and 500 C.E. It is important to note
art that heavily influenced later complex societies in the that pottery was also made and used by people who were not
region (Conklin and Moseley 1988). settled, full-time farmers.
After 600 C.E., the cultural fragmentation of the

Early Intermediate period was reversed in two regions kitchens, which were built in Tiwanaku provincial set-
of Peru. A complex society called Tiwanaku (sometimes tlements for members of the religious bureaucracy. Wil-
spelled Tiahuanaco) began to spread the Titicaca basin liam Isbell (1988) connects the administrative structure
culture throughout the southern highlands of the Andes. of Wari to an earlier, nonhierarchical form of social or-
In the central highlands and central coast, a second com- ganization that had flourished in the Ayacucho Valley
plex society known as Wari (sometimes spelled Huari) during the Early Intermediate period. In that system,
extended its influence. Both these regional powers were highland communities founded colonies in the differ-
named after large prehistoric cities that presumably ent ecological zones that ranged between the highlands
served as their capitals. The period during which these and the coast, thus providing the highland commu-
two states spread their cultural and political influence nities and their various colonies with a full range of
(600–1000 C.E.) is called the Middle Horizon of Andean products from each zone. This distinctive Andean pat-
cultural evolution. tern of niche construction, which integrates economic
Wari and Tiwanaku share some common cultural resources from a variety of environments, is called the
attributes, but archaeologists have difficulty deciphering vertical archipelago system.
the nature of their relationship with each other. Isbell thinks that the rulers of Wari adopted the
Tiwanaku had a religiously oriented ruling hierarchy; form of centralized, hierarchical government from
Wari did not. The architecture of Wari administrative Tiwanaku but not the religious ideas that went with it.
centers lacks residences, storehouses, and community Wari then used these centralized political structures to
FIGURE 7.23 Aerial photograph

of a monkey in the Nazca Valley of
Peru.
transform the egalitarian vertical archipelago system of between spheres of cultural and political influence during
the Early Intermediate period into a socially stratified the Middle Horizon. The rise of Cuzco began in Late Inter-
system of wealth collection for the state (Isbell 1988, mediate times, when kingdoms that descended from Ti-
182). Archaeological evidence for state-sponsored feast- wanaku and Wari began to fight with one another. Warfare
ing in return for collective labor on state land may have continued until the 1460s, when the Inkas, whose empire
been found at the Middle Horizon site of Jargampata, had begun only 20 years earlier, subdued neighboring
located 20 kilometers from Wari. Both the vertical archi- states and brought them into their expanding empire (Par-
pelago system and the facilities for state-sponsored feasts sons and Hastings 1988). By 1476, the Inkas put down
for laborers on state land were later incorporated into the last of a series of internal rebellions, firmly establish-
the society of the Inkas. Isbell (1988) also thinks that the ing their empire of Tawantinsuyu, which means “world
Inka administrative system, involving regional capitals of four quarters.” When the Spanish arrived in 1525, the
linked by highways with way stations for runners, may Inka Empire stretched from present-day C olombia to cen-
have first developed in Wari. tral Chile, from the Pacific coast to the rain forests of the
After about 1000 C.E., Wari and Tiwanaku declined, eastern Andean slopes (Wenke 1999, 640).
ushering in the Late Intermediate period, which lasted During the period of Inka dominance from 1476
until the rise of the Inkas in 1476 C.E. It was during the to 1525, known as the Late Horizon, the Inkas built on
Late Intermediate period that the pilgrimage center of the achievements of hundreds of years of Andean civili-
Pachacamac on the central coast became fully estab- zation. They further developed the vertical archipelago
lished (Keatinge 1988). Independent regional states system, expanded the road system, and built new monu-
with distinct cultures emerged in half a dozen areas mental palaces, temples, storage facilities, barracks, and
of Peru, the best known of which is the Chimú state, way stations on highways. They maintained control of
Chimor, on the north coast. The capital of the Chimú their vast empire through military force by moving large
state, Chan Chan, is located in the Moche Valley. Chimú sections of the population from one region to another
administered a complex irrigation system in a number of for political reasons and by continuing to recruit labor
adjacent river valleys. Most of the farmers of the Chimú for state projects in return for state-sponsored feast-
state appear to have lived in cities. Although the con- ing. Unlike Chimú, which was largely urban, the Inka
nection between hydraulic agriculture and state power Empire was based in rural villages. Society was organized
seems clear in the case of Chimú, other large valleys on in large kin groups called ayllu, which were then grouped
the central and south coast were equally well suited to together into higher-level units. But the administrative
hydraulic agriculture but never produced equally cen- system was not identical in all regions of the empire: in
tralized states (Parsons and Hastings 1988). places like Chan Chan, the Inkas made use of preexisting
Both Chan Chan, the Chimú capital, and Cuzco, the administrative structures, but in areas where centralized
Inka capital, were located in areas that lay on the border administration did not exist, such as Huánuco Pampa
Chapter Summary 233
on a steady supply of food from the sea, rather than

agriculture, the notion that village agriculture must pre-
cede the rise of social complexity is dealt a blow. More-
over, the fact that these first complex coastal societies
were without pottery was no more a barrier to develop-
ment than was the fact that the early Andean states, up
to and including the Inkas, were without a written lan-
guage (Figure 7.24). Carneiro’s environmental circum-
scription hypothesis seems suggestive when we consider
the rise of the first multivalley states on the coast during
the Early Intermediate period, but the constant warfare
required for his scheme does not become significant
until much later, long after complex states had already
FIGURE 7.24 The indigenous civilizations of the Andes never emerged. Hydraulic agriculture was clearly important
developed systems of writing but were able to record impor-
to the rise of the Chimú state, yet it emerged hundreds
tant information using the quipu, a system of knotted strings.
Based on a decimal system, quipu knots were coded by size, of years after the first complex societies on the coast.
location, relative sequence, and color. Even if hydraulic agriculture had been important during
the Late Intermediate period, as we saw in comparing
in the central highlands, they built new administrative the Chimú with their neighbors, it cannot explain why
centers from the ground up (Morris 1988). people living in similar ecological settings in nearby val-
The Andes are so ecologically diverse and so much leys did not produce similar states. Much work remains
data remain unrecovered that it may seem hazardous to to be done, but none of the current gaps in our knowl-
speculate about the rise of complex society here. If the edge detracts from the dazzling achievements of this
first complex societies on the Peruvian coast were based unique civilization.
Chapter Summary
1. About 10,000 years ago, the retreat of the last glaciers 3. The niches human beings construct to exploit
marked the end of the Pleistocene. Earth’s climate plants are not all the same. Anthropologists have
changed significantly, affecting the distribution of identified four major ways in which humans relate
plants and animals and transforming the ecological to plant species: wild plant-food procurement, wild
settings in which human beings made their livings. plant-food production, cultivation, and agriculture.
Soon thereafter, human beings began to develop new In each successive form, the amount of energy
ways of adapting by intervening in these changed envi- people apply to get food from plants increases,
ronmental settings to create new niches for themselves. but the energy they get back from plants increases
2. Plant and animal domestication are usefully under- even more.
stood as forms of niche construction. Not only did 4. Animal domestication apparently developed as
human beings interfere with the reproduction of people consciously attempted to control the ani-
local species, to make them more useful for human mals that they were hunting to intervene in their
purposes, but also they remodeled the environmental breeding patterns. Archaeological evidence for
settings in which plants were grown or animals were animal domestication may be indicated in one of
fed and watered. When the invention of agriculture four ways: when an animal species is found outside
is viewed as niche construction, there is no question its natural range, when animal remains show mor-
that it involved conscious human choice. Intelligent phological changes that distinguish them from wild
human beings consciously chose to domesticate wild populations, when the numbers of some species
plants that were easy to harvest, nourishing, and at a site increase abruptly relative to other species,
tasty; but they also had to consciously create the tools and when remains show certain age and gender
and plan the activities that would make cultivation of characteristics. The earliest animal domesticated,
a domestic crop possible and successful. some 16,000 years ago, was the dog. Although


archaeologists can pinpoint the regions where goats elaborate burials alongside much simpler burials,
were domesticated, the earliest sites for domesti- and concentrations of particular artifacts in specific
cated sheep are not clear. It seems that cattle and areas of an archaeological site that might indicate
pigs were domesticated at different sites in the Old occupational specialization. Complex societies are
World. Domestication seems to have been slower also normally made up of a number of settlements
and less important in the New World than it was in organized in a hierarchy: state organization is sus-
the Old World. pected when regional settlement patterns show at
5. The niches humans have constructed to make use least three levels in the settlement hierarchy. Art and
of animals vary. They include random hunting, written inscriptions may provide further informa-
controlled hunting, herd following, loose herding, tion about ancient social organization. Cultural
close herding, and factory farming. Not all animals change in all early complex societies tended to
people hunted were domesticated. Once humans alternate between periods of relative cultural uni-
domesticated animals, their focus shifted from dead formity and political unity and periods of regional
animals to their living offspring, which may have differentiation and lack of political integration.
triggered concern for private property. 9. Anthropologists have devised a number of different
6. Scholars have suggested different factors responsible hypotheses to explain why complex societies devel-
for plant and animal domestication; none alone is oped. Frequently, the hypothesis places emphasis
entirely satisfactory. Today, most archaeologists prefer on a single cause, or “prime mover.” Although some
multiple strand theories that focus on the particular of these causes were important in some places, they
(and often different) sets of factors that were re- were not all important everywhere. Nevertheless, at-
sponsible for domestication in different places. One tempts to test these hypotheses about prime movers
good example of a multiple strand approach to do- have led to a far richer appreciation of the com-
mestication is shown by recent studies of the Natu- plexities of social and cultural change in prehistory.
fian cultural tradition in southwestern Asia, which 10. Andean civilization developed in a distinctive geo-
developed about 12,500 years ago. Post-Pleistocene graphical setting. Foragers were living on the coast
human niches involving sedentism and domestica- and in the sierra of the Andes Mountains between
tion had both positive and negative consequences 14,000 and 8,000 years ago. The first monumental
for human beings who came to depend on them. By architecture appeared after 4,000 years ago. Irriga-
the time f armers became fully aware of agriculture’s tion agriculture became important along the coast
drawbacks, their societies had probably become so between 3,800 and 2,900 years ago. Numerous
dependent on it that abandoning it for some other independent states rose and fell on the coast and in
subsistence strategy would have been impossible. the highlands until the rise of the Inka Empire in
7. Neolithic farming villages were basically egalitarian the late 1400s. During Inka times, the achievements
societies, like the foraging societies that had pre- of earlier states were consolidated and expanded.
ceded them. However, beginning about 5,000 years When the Spanish arrived in 1525, the Inka Empire
ago in southwestern Asia and shortly thereafter stretched from present-day Colombia to central
in Egypt, the Indus Valley (India), China, Meso- Chile, from the Pacific coast to the rain forests of
america (Valley of Mexico), and the Andes (Peru), the eastern Andean slopes.
humans independently developed social stratifica- 11. The Andes are so diverse ecologically and so much
tion. Social stratification occurred when surplus information remains uncovered that it seems haz-
food production made it possible for some mem- ardous to speculate about the causes for the rise of
bers of society to stop producing food altogether complex societies there. Village agriculture was not
and to specialize in various occupations. A wide responsible for the rise of complexity on the Peruvian
gulf developed between most of society’s members coast. Environmental circumscription may explain
and a new social class of rulers who controlled the rise of the first states on the coast in the Early
most of the wealth. It appears that social complex- Intermediate period, but warfare and hydraulic ag-
ity first appeared among complex foragers who riculture did not become important until long after
lived in environments with abundant resources. complex states had emerged. The most puzzling ques-
8. Archaeological evidence of social complexity in- tion is why people living in similar ecological settings
cludes the remains of monumental architecture, in nearby valleys did not produce similar states.
For Review
1. What are ecological and evolutionary niches? 7. Summarize the key consequences of domestica-
2. Why is domestication not the same as agriculture? tion and sedentism for human ways of life.
Illustrate your answer with examples from the 8. What is social complexity? What is the archaeo-
text. logical evidence for social complexity?
3. Explain the basic points of animal domestication. 9. What were the world’s first complex societies and
4. What are the different explanations offered by where were they located?
archaeologists for the domestication of plants and 10. What connections do archaeologists see between
animals by humans? sedentism and the beginning of social stratifica-
5. Summarize the discussion of the beginning of tion? Illustrate with examples.
domestication in Southwest Asia. 11. What are the different explanations archaeologists
6. Who were the Natufians? What does archaeologi- offer for the beginning of complex societies?
cal research tell us about the processes of plant 12. Summarize the discussion in the text concerning
and animal domestication in Natufian society? the rise of social complexity in the Andes.
Key Terms
agriculture 205 concentrations of evolutionary niche 202 occupational
agroecology 205 particular grave goods 224 specialization 222
artifacts 224 sedentism 206
bloodwealth 227 monumental
domestication 202 architecture 223 sherds 224
broad-spectrum
foraging 211 ecological niche 202 Neolithic 216 social stratification 213
class 222 egalitarian social niche construction 203 surplus production 222
relations 222
complex societies 222
Suggested Readings
Chang, K. C. 1986. The archaeology of ancient China, 4th ed. Price, T. Douglas, and Anne Birgitte Gebauer, eds. 1995. Last
New Haven, CT: Yale University Press. A fascinating ac- hunters, first farmers. Santa Fe, NM: SAR Press. A collec-
count of the rise of social complexity in China by one of the tion of scholarly articles exploring, among other topics, the
most distinguished interpreters of Chinese civilization in the importance of complex foraging societies in the process of
United States. domestication.
Henry, Donald. 1989. From foraging to agriculture: The Levant Smith, Bruce D. 1995. The emergence of agriculture. New
at the end of the Ice Age. Philadelphia: University of York: Scientific American Library. An accessible, beauti-
Pennsylvania Press. A detailed, well-illustrated discussion fully illustrated discussion of domestication throughout the
of the archaeology of ancient southwestern Asia at the time world.
of the emergence of agriculture. Particularly good on cultural Soustelle, Jacques. 1961. Daily life of the Aztecs on the eve of
variation. the Spanish conquest. Stanford, CA: Stanford University
Hoffman, Michael. 1991. Egypt before the pharaohs: The pre- Press. A classic text that attempts to reconstruct for modern
historic foundations of Egyptian civilization. Austin: Uni- readers exactly what the title claims.
versity of Texas Press. A highly readable account of the Wenke, Robert, and Deborah Olszewski. 2006. Patterns in
important developments in prehistoric Egypt that made the prehistory: Humankind’s first three million years, 5th ed.
civilization of the pharaohs possible. New York: Oxford University Press. An excellent, up-to-
Price, T. Douglas, and Gary M. Feinman, eds. 1995. Founda- date, and highly readable account of the rise of social com-
tions of social inequality. New York: Plenum. A fascinating plexity in Mesopotamia, Egypt, the Indus Valley, China,
collection of scholarly articles exploring the various factors Mesoamerica, and the Andes as well as a chapter on early
responsible for institutionalizing social inequality in the first cultural complexity in pre-European North America.
complex societies.
8
Why is the concept
of culture important?
In this chapter, you will examine in greater detail the concept of culture,
one of the most influential ideas that anthropologists have developed. We
will survey different ways that anthropologists have used the culture con-
cept to expose the fallacies of biological determinism. We will also discuss
the reasons why some anthropologists believe that continuing to use the
culture concept today may be a problem.
CHAPTER OUTLINE
How Do Anthropologists Did Their Culture Make Them
Define Culture? Do It?
Culture, History, and Human Does Culture Explain
Agency Everything?
Why Do Cultural Differences Cultural Imperialism or
Matter? Cultural Hybridity?
What Is Ethnocentrism? Cultural Hybridity
Is It Possible to Avoid Are There Limits to Cultural
Ethnocentric Bias? Hybridity?
What Is Cultural Relativism?
Can We Be at Home in a
How Can Cultural Relativity Global World?
Improve Our Understanding
The Promise of the
of Controversial Cultural
Anthropological Perspective
Practices?
Genital Cutting, Gender, and Chapter Summary
Human Rights For Review
Genital Cutting as a Valued Key Terms
Ritual Suggested Readings
Culture and Moral Reasoning
A Sami man with his dog on a snowmobile in Lapland, Sweden. 237

238 CHAPTER 8: WHY IS THE CONCEPT OF CULTURE IMPORTANT?
A nthropologists have long argued that the human

condition is distinguished from the condition of
other living species by culture. Other living species learn,
many things we learn, such as table manners and what
is good to eat and where people are supposed to sleep,
are never explicitly taught but rather are absorbed in the
but the extent to which human beings depend on learn- course of daily practical living. French anthropologist
ing is unique in the animal kingdom. Because our brains Pierre Bourdieu called this kind of cultural learning hab-
are capable of open symbolic thought and our hands are itus and it is heavily influenced by our interactions with
capable of manipulating matter powerfully or delicately, material culture. According to Daniel Miller (2010),
we interact with the wider world in a way that is distinct Bourdieu’s theory “gives shape and form to the idea
from that of any other species. that objects make people. . . . We walk around the rice
terraces or road systems, the housing and gardens that
are effectively ancestral. These unconsciously direct our
How Do Anthropologists footsteps, and are the landscapes of our imagination,
as well as the cultural environment to which we adapt”
Define Culture? (53). The cultural practices shared within social groups
always encompass the varied knowledge and skills of
In Chapter 1 we defined culture as patterns of learned
many different individuals. For example, space flight
behavior and ideas that human beings acquire as mem-
is part of North American culture, and yet no individ-
bers of society, together with the material artifacts and
ual North American could build a space shuttle from
structures humans create and use. Culture is not rein-
scratch in his or her backyard.
vented by each generation; rather, we learn it from other
Human cultures also appear patterned; that is, re-
members of the social groups we belong to, although we
lated cultural beliefs and practices show up repeatedly
may later modify this heritage in some way. Children use
in different areas of social life. For example, in North
their own bodies and brains to explore their world. But
America individualism is highly valued, and its influ-
from their earliest days, other people are actively work-
ence can be seen in child-rearing practices (babies are
ing to steer their activity and attention in particular di-
expected to sleep alone, and children are reared with
rections. Consequently, their exploration of the world is
the expectation that they will be independent at the
not merely trial and error. The path is cleared for them
age of 18), economic practices (individuals are urged
by others who shape their experiences. Two terms in
to get a job, to save their money, and not to count on
the social sciences refer to this process of culturally and
other people or institutions to take care of them; many
socially shaped learning. The first, socialization, is the
people would prefer to be in business for themselves;
process of learning to live as a member of a group. This
far more people commute to work by themselves in
involves mastering the skills of appropriate interaction
their own cars than carpool), and religious practices
with others and learning how to cope with the behav-
(the Christian emphasis on personal salvation and indi-
ioral rules established by the social group. The second
vidual accountability before God). Cultural patterns can
term, enculturation, refers to the cognitive challenges
be traced through time: That English and Spanish are
facing human beings who live together and must come
widely spoken in North America, whereas Fulfulde (a
to terms with the ways of thinking and feeling consid-
language spoken in West Africa) is not, is connected to
ered appropriate to their respective cultures.
the colonial conquest and domination of North Amer-
Because children learn to act, think, feel, and speak
ica by speakers of English and Spanish in past centuries.
at the same time, we will use the term socialization/
Cultural patterns also vary across space: In the United
enculturation to represent this holistic experience.
States, for example, the English of New York City differs
Socialization/enculturation produces a socially and cultur-
from the English of Mississippi in style, rhythm, and vo-
ally constructed self capable of functioning successfully
cabulary (“What? You expect me to schlep this around
in society. So culture is shared as well as learned. But
all day? Forget about it!” is more likely to be heard in
the former than the latter!).
It is this patterned cultural variation that allows
culture Sets of learned behaviors and ideas that humans acquire as mem-
bers of society. Humans use culture to adapt to and transform the world in
anthropologists (and others) to distinguish different
which they live. “cultural traditions” from one another. But separate cul-
socialization The process by which human beings as material organisms, tural traditions are often hard to delineate. That is be-
living together with other similar organisms, cope with the behavioral rules cause, in addition to any unique elements of their own,
established by their respective societies.
all contain contradictory elements, and they also share
enculturation The process by which human beings living with one an-
other must learn to come to terms with the ways of thinking and feeling that elements with other traditions. First, customs in one
are considered appropriate in their respective cultures. domain of culture may contradict customs in another
IN THEIR OWN WORDS
The Paradox of Ethnocentrism
Ethnocentrism is usually described in thoroughly practices that are part of their respective marriage cus-
negative terms. As Ivan Karp points out, toms. Ethnocentrism works both ways. It can be practiced
however, ethnocentrism is a more complex as much by other cultures as by our own.
phenomenon than we might expect. Paradoxically, ethnographic literature combats eth-
nocentrism by showing that the practices of cultures (in-
cluding our own) are “natural” in their own setting. What
appears natural in one setting appears so because it
Anthropologists usually argue that ethnocentrism is
was constructed in that setting—made and produced by
both wrong and harmful, especially when it is tied to
human beings who could have done it some other way.
racial, cultural, and social prejudices. Ideas and feelings
Ethnography is a means of recording the range of human
about the inferiority of blacks, the cupidity of Jews, or
creativity and of demonstrating how universally shared
the lack of cultural sophistication of farmers are surely
capacities can produce cultural and social differences.
to be condemned. But can we do without ethnocen-
This anthropological way of looking at other cultures—
trism? If we stopped to examine every custom and prac-
and, by implication, at ourselves—constitutes a major
tice in our cultural repertoire, how would we get on? For
reason for reading ethnography. The anthropological
example, if we always regarded marriage as something
lens teaches us to question what we assume to be un-
that can vary from society to society, would we be con-
questionable. Ethnography teaches us that human po-
cerned about filling out the proper marriage documents,
tentiality provides alternative means of organizing our
or would we even get married at all? Most of the time we
lives and alternative modes of experiencing the world.
suspend a quizzical stance toward our own customs and
Reading ethnographies trains us to question the re-
simply live life.
ceived wisdom of our society and makes us receptive
Yet many of our own practices are peculiar when
to change. In this sense, anthropology might be called
viewed through the lenses of other cultures. Periodically,
the subversive science. We read ethnographies in order
for over fifteen years, I have worked with and lived among
to learn about how other peoples produce their world
an African people. They are as amazed at our marriage
and about how we might change our own patterns of
customs as my students are at theirs. Both American stu-
production.
dents and the Iteso of Kenya find it difficult to imagine
how the other culture survives with the bizarre, exotic Source: Karp 1990, 74–75.
domain, as when religion tells us to share with others that become “established ways of bringing ideas from
and economics tells us to look out for ourselves alone. different domains together” (Strathern 1992, 3).
Second, people have always borrowed cultural elements So far we have seen that culture is learned, shared,
from their neighbors, and many increasingly refuse to and patterned. Cultural traditions are also reconstructed
be limited in the present by cultural practices of the and enriched, generation after generation, primarily be-
past. Why, for example, should literacy not be seen cause human biological survival depends on culture.
as part of Ju/’hoansi culture once the children of illit- Thus, culture is also adaptive. Human newborns are not
erate Ju/’hoansi foragers learn to read and write (see born with “instincts” that would enable them to survive
EthnoProfile 11.4: Ju/’hoansi)? Thus, cultural patterns on their own. On the contrary, they depend utterly on
can be useful as a kind of shorthand, but it is important support and nurturance from adults and other members
to remember that the boundaries between cultural tra- of the group in which they live. It is by learning the cul-
ditions are always fuzzy. Ultimately, they rest on some- tural practices of those around them that human beings
one’s judgment about how different one set of customs come to master appropriate ways of thinking and acting
is from another set of customs. As we will see shortly, that promote their own survival as biological organisms
these kinds of contradictions and challenges are not un- Moreover, as can be seen in Figure 8.1, appropriate ways
common, leading some anthropologists to think of cul- of thinking and acting are always scaffolded by artifacts
ture not in terms of specific customs but in terms of rules and features of a particular local setting. In the 1970s, for
we can translate from one language to another suggests

that the same or similar meanings can be expressed by
different symbols in different languages. But language is
not the only domain of culture that depends on symbols.
Everything we do in society has a symbolic dimension,
from how we conduct ourselves at the dinner table to how
we bury the dead. It is our heavy dependence on symbolic
learning that sets human culture apart from the appar-
ently nonsymbolic learning on which other species rely.
Human culture, then, is learned, shared, patterned,
adaptive, and symbolic. And the contemporary human ca-
pacity for culture has also evolved, over millions of years.
Culture’s beginnings can perhaps be glimpsed among
Japanese macaque monkeys who invented the custom
of washing sweet potatoes and among wild chimpanzees
who invented different grooming postures or techniques
to crack open nuts or to gain access to termites or water
FIGURE 8.1 O f all living organisms, humans are the most (Boesch-Achermann and Boesch 1994; Wolfe 1995,
dependent on learning for their survival. From a young age, 162–63). Our apelike ancestors surely shared similar
girls in northern Cameroon learn to carry heavy loads on their
heads and also learn to get water for their families. aptitudes when they started walking on two legs some
6 million years ago. By 2.5 million years ago, their de-
scendants were making stone tools. Thereafter, our hom-
example, young girls in Guider, Cameroon, promoted inin lineage gave birth to a number of additional species,
their own and their families’ welfare by fetching water all of whom depended on culture more than their ances-
for their mothers, who were forbidden by propriety from tors had. Thus, culture is not something that appeared
leaving their household compounds alone during the suddenly, with the arrival of Homo sapiens. By the time
day. The presence in town of public water spigots, only Homo sapiens appeared some 200,000 years ago, a heavy
a few years old at the time, lightened the chore of bring- dependence on culture had long been a part of our evo-
ing water back to homes that did not have plumbing. lutionary heritage.
Imported metal basins and pails were more reliable than Thus, as Rick Potts (1996) puts it, “an evolutionary
large calabashes for carrying water, especially for young bridge exists between the human and animal realms of
water carriers who had mastered the impressive skill of behavior. . . . Culture represents continuity” (197). Potts
balancing heavy loads on their heads (sometimes atop proposes that modern human symbolic culture and the
a flat fabric pad). Public spigots, together with recycled social institutions that depend on it rest on other, more
metal containers, a pole, and rope, also afforded young basic abilities that emerged at different times in our evo-
men the opportunity to earn money by selling their ser- lutionary past (Figure 8.2). Monkeys and apes possess
vices to residents who could not rely on young relatives many of these abilities to varying degrees, which is the
to bring water to them. In such ways do tradition and reason they may be said to possess simple cultural tra-
innovation shape each other over time, mediated by ma- ditions. Certainly our earliest hominin ancestors were
terial culture. no different.
Finally, culture is symbolic. A symbol is something Apes apparently also possess a rudimentary capac-
that stands for something else. The letters of an alpha- ity for symbolic coding, or symbolic representation, some-
bet, for example, symbolize the sounds of a spoken thing our ancestors undoubtedly possessed as well. But
language. There is no necessary connection between new species can evolve new capacities not found in their
the shape of a particular letter and the speech sound it ancestors. This occurred in the human past when our an-
represents. Indeed, the same or similar sounds are repre- cestors first developed a capacity for complex symbolic rep-
sented symbolically by very different letters in the Latin, resentation, including the ability to communicate freely
Cyrillic, Hebrew, Arabic, and Greek alphabets, to name about the past, the future, and the invisible. This abil-
but five. Even the sounds of spoken language are sym- ity distinguishes human symbolic language, for exam-
bols for meanings a speaker tries to express. The fact that ple, from the vocal communication systems of apes (see
Chapter 9). Biological anthropologist Terrence Deacon
(1997) argues that evolution produced in Homo sapiens
symbol Something that stands for something else. a brain “that has been significantly overbuilt for learning
IN THEIR OWN WORDS
Culture and Freedom
Finding a way to fit human agency into a for the past two hundred years, and no resolution or
scientific account of culture has never been even consensus has emerged.
easy. Hoyt Alverson describes some of the Some persuasive models of culture, and of particular
issues involved. cultures, have been proposed, both by those working with
scientific, universalist assumptions, and by those working
with phenomenological, relativistic assumptions.
To decide which of these approaches is to be preferred,
One’s assumptions concerning the existence of struc-
we must have a specific set of criteria for evaluation. Faced
ture in culture, or the existence of freedom in human
with good evidence for the existence of both structure
action, determine whether one believes that there can
and freedom in human culture, no coherent set of criteria
be a science of culture or not. Note that the possibility
for comparing the success of these alternative models is
of developing a science of culture has nothing to do with
conceivable. The prediction of future action, for example,
the use of mathematics, the precision of one’s asser-
is a good criterion for measuring the success of a model
tions, or the elegance of one’s models. If a phenomenon
that purports to represent structure: it must be irrelevant
actually has structure, then a science of that phenom-
to measuring the success or failure of a model that pur-
enon is at least conceivable. If a phenomenon exhib-
ports to describe freedom. For the foreseeable future, and
its freedom and is not ordered, then a science of that
maybe for the rest of time, we may have to be content with
phenomenon is inconceivable. The human sciences, in-
models that simply permit us to muddle through.
cluding anthropology, have been debating the issue of
structure versus freedom in human cultural behavior Source: Alverson 1990, 42–43.
that increased human symbolic capacities over time. Put

ns
another way, culture and the human brain coevolved,

tutio
cod bol
each furnishing key features of the environment to

ing
Sym
Insti
which the other needed to adapt (Odling-Smee 1994;

Deacon 1997, 44). One component of this coevolving
n
complex was surely material culture, which reshaped

io
ct
le
the environments to which our ancestors were adapt-

ion
Se
ing through a process biologists call niche construction.

t
ova
From nest-building birds to dam-building beavers,

Inn
n
ratio
many species have altered the natural selection pressures

to which they are exposed. They may do this by alter-
Reite
M
em ing social relations, by modifying material features of
or
y the ecological settings in which they live, or both. Theo-
rists of niche construction agree that human beings are
Tran
sm issio “virtuoso niche constructors” (Odling-Smee et al. 2003,
n
367). When human matter-manipulating skills are con-
sidered together with human symbolic abilities, the un-
FIGURE 8.2 The modern human capacity for culture did not precedented features of human niches constructed over
appear all at once; rather, the various pieces that make it up
were added at different times in our evolutionary past.
time become more comprehensible. We have used our
complex abilities to create what Potts calls institutions—
complex, variable, and enduring forms of cultural prac-
symbolic associations” such that “we cannot help but see tice that organize social life. The material buttressing
the world in symbolic categories” (413, 416). Complex of cultural institutions over time, through customs like
symbolic representation apparently was of great adap- the exchange of valuable goods or material construction
tive value for our ancestors. It created selective pressures of permanent and symbolically distinctive dwellings,
agricultural fields, irrigation canals, and monumental

architecture, is also unique to our species. As a result,
for H. sapiens, culture is not only central to our adap-
tation, but also has become “the predominant manner
in which human groups vary from one another . . . it
swamps the biological differences among populations”
(Marks 1995, 200).
Culture, History,
and Human Agency
The human condition is rooted in time and shaped by
history. As part of the human condition, culture is also
historical, being worked out and reconstructed in every FIGURE 8.3 People regularly struggle, often against great
odds, to exercise some control over their lives. During the
generation. Culture is also part of our biological heritage.
“Dirty War” in Argentina in the 1970s and early 1980s, women
Our biocultural heritage has produced a living species whose children had been disappeared by secret right-wing
that uses culture to surmount biological and individual death squads began, at great personal risk, to stand every
limitations and is even capable of studying itself and its Thursday in the Plaza de Mayo, the central square of Buenos
Aires, with photographs of their missing children. Called the
own biocultural evolution. Mothers of Plaza de Mayo, they continue their weekly vigil
This realization, however, raises another question: today. They were a powerful rebuke to the dictatorship and
Just how free from limitations are humans? Opinion in to subsequent governments that were not forthcoming about
providing information about the disappeared.
Western societies often polarizes around one of two ex-
tremes: Either we have free will and may do just as we
please or our behavior is completely determined by
Many anthropologists insist that it is possible to de-
forces beyond our control. Many social scientists, how-
velop a view of human beings that finds room for culture,
ever, are convinced that a more realistic description of
history, and human agency. The anthropological point
human freedom was offered by Karl Marx (1963), who
of view called holism assumes that no sharp boundar-
wrote, “Men make their own history, but they do not
ies separate mind from body, body from environment,
make it just as they please; they do not make it under
individual from society, my ideas from our ideas, or
circumstances chosen by themselves, but under circum-
their traditions from our traditions. Rather, holism as-
stances directly encountered, given and transmitted by
sumes that mind and body, body and environment, and
the past” (15). That is, people regularly struggle, often
so on, interpenetrate each other and even define each
against great odds, to exercise some control over their
other. From a holistic perspective, attempts to divide re-
lives. Human beings active in this way are called agents
ality into mind and matter are unsuccessful because of
(Figure 8.3). Human agents cannot escape the cultural
the complex nature of reality, which resists isolation and
and historical context within which they act. However,
dissection. Anthropologists who have struggled to de-
they must frequently select a course of action when the
velop this holistic perspective on the human condition
“correct” choice is unclear and the outcome uncertain.
have made a contribution of unique and lasting value.
Some anthropologists even liken human existence to a
Holism holds great appeal for those who seek a theory
mine field that we must painstakingly try to cross with-
of human nature that is rich enough to do justice to its
out blowing ourselves up. It is in such contexts, with
complex subject matter.
their ragged edges, that human beings exercise their
In anthropology, holism is traditionally understood
human agency by making interpretations, formulating
as a perspective on the human condition in which the
goals, and setting out in pursuit of them.
whole (for example, a human being, a society, a cultural
tradition) is understood to be greater than the sum of its
parts. For example, from a holistic perspective, human
beings are complex, dynamic living entities shaped by
human agency The exercise of at least some control over their lives by genes and culture and experience into entities whose
human beings.
properties cannot be reduced to the materials out of
holism Perspective on the human condition that assumes that mind and
body, individuals and society, and individuals and the environment interpen- which they were constructed. To be sure, human organ-
etrate and even define one another. isms are closed off from the wider world in some ways
Culture, History, and Human Agency 243
IN THEIR OWN WORDS
Human-Rights Law and the Demonization of Culture
Sally Engle Merry is professor of anthropology at However, the recent article “From Skepticism to
New York University. mbrace: Human Rights and the American Anthropologi-
E
cal Association” by Karen Engle in Human Rights Quarterly
(23: 536–60) paints another odd portrait of anthropol-
Why is the idea of cultural relativism anathema to many ogy and its understanding of culture. In this piece, a law
human-rights activists? Is it related to the way interna- professor talks about the continuing “embarrassment” of
tional human-rights lawyers and journalists think about anthropologists about the 1947 statement of the AAA Ex-
culture? Does this affect how they think about anthro- ecutive Board, which raised concerns about the Universal
pology? I think one explanation for the tension between Declaration of Human Rights. Engle claims that the state-
anthropology and human-rights activists is the very dif- ment has caused the AAA “great shame” over the last
ferent conceptions of culture that these two groups hold. fifty years (p. 542). Anthropologists are embarrassed,
An incident demonstrated this for me vividly a few months she argues, because the statement asserted tolerance
ago. I received a phone call from a prominent radio show without limits. While many anthropologists now embrace
asking if I would be willing to talk about the recent inci- human rights, they do so primarily in terms of the pro-
dent in Pakistan that resulted in the gang rape of a young tection of culture (citing 1999 AAA Statement on Human
woman, an assault apparently authorized by a local tribal Rights at www.aaanet.org). Tensions over how to be a cul-
council. Since I am working on human rights and violence tural relativist and still make overt political judgments that
against women, I was happy to explain my position that the 1947 Board confronted remain. She does acknowl-
this was an inexcusable act, that many Pakistani feminists edge that not all anthropologists think about culture this
condemned the rape, but that it was probably connected way. But relativism, as she describes it, is primarily about
to local political struggles and class differences. It should tolerance for difference and is incompatible with making
not be seen as an expression of Pakistani “culture.” In fact, moral judgments about other societies.
it was the local Islamic religious leader who first made the But this incompatibility depends on how one theorizes
incident known to the world, according to news stories culture. If culture is homogenous, integrated and consen-
I had read. sual, it must be accepted as a whole. But anthropology
The interviewer was distressed. She wanted me to has developed a far more complex way of understand-
defend the value of respecting Pakistani culture at all costs, ing culture over the last two decades, focusing on its his-
despite the tribal council’s imposition of a sentence of rape. torical production, its porosity to outside influences and
When I told her that I could not do that, she wanted to know pressures, and its incorporation of competing repertoires
if I knew of any other anthropologists who would. I could of meaning and action. Were this conception more widely
think of none, but I began to wonder what she thought recognized within popular culture as well as among jour-
about anthropologists. nalists and human-rights activists, it could shift the terms
Anthropologists, apparently, made no moral judg- of the intractable debate between universalism and rel-
ments about “cultures” and failed to recognize the con- ativism. Instead, culture is increasingly understood as a
testation and changes taking place within contemporary barrier to the realization of human rights by activists and
local communities around the world. This also led me to a tool for legitimating noncompliance with human rights
wonder how she imagined anthropologists thought about by conservatives.
culture. She seemed to assume that anthropologists One manifestation of the understanding of culture
viewed culture as a coherent, static, and unchanging set prevalent in human-rights law is the concept of harmful
of values. Apparently cultures have no contact with the traditional practices. Originally developed to describe
expansion of capitalism, the arming of various groups by female genital mutilation or cutting, this term describes
transnational superpowers using them for proxy wars, or practices that have some cultural legitimacy yet are des-
the cultural possibilities of human rights as an emancipa- ignated harmful to women, particularly to their health.
tory discourse. I found this interviewer’s view of culture In 1990, the committee monitoring the Convention on
wrongheaded and her opinion of anthropology discour- the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against
aging. But perhaps it was just one journalist, I thought. Women (CEDAW), an international convention ratified

IN THEIR OWN WORDS
Human-Rights Law and the Demonization of Culture Continued
by most of the nations of the world, said that they were anthropology irrelevant. As human-rights law d emonizes
gravely concerned “that there are continuing cultural, culture, it misunderstands anthropology as well. The
traditional and economic pressures which help to perpet- holistic conception of culture provides no space for
uate harmful practices, such as female circumcision,” and change, contestation or the analysis of the links between
adopted General Recommendation 14, which suggested power, practices and values. Instead, it becomes a barrier
that state parties should take measures to eradicate the to the reformist project of universal human rights. From
practice of female circumcision. Culture equals tradition the legal perspective on human rights, it is the texts, the
and is juxtaposed to women’s human rights to equality. documents and compliance that matter. Universalism is
It is not surprising, given this evolving understanding of essential while relativism is bad. There is a sense of moral
culture within human-rights discourse, that cultural rela- certainty which taking account of culture disrupts. This
tivism is seen in such a negative light. The tendency for means, however, that the moral principle of tolerance for
national elites to defend practices oppressive to women difference is lost.
in the name of culture exacerbates this negative view When corporate executives in the U.S. steal millions
of culture. of dollars through accounting fraud, we do not criticize
Human-rights activists and journalists have misin- American culture as a whole. We recognize that these
terpreted anthropology’s position about relativism and ctions come from the greed of a few along with sloppy
a
difference because they misunderstand anthropolo- institutional arrangements that allow them to get away
gy’s position about culture. Claims to cultural relativism with it. Similarly, the actions of a single tribal council in
appear to be defenses of holistic and static entities. This Pakistan should not indict the entire culture, as if it were
conception of culture comes from older anthropologi- a homogeneous entity. Although Pakistan and many of its
cal usages, such as the separation of values and social communities have practices and laws that subordinate
action advocated in the 1950s by Talcott Parsons. Since women, these are neither homogeneous nor ancient.
“culture” was defined only as values, it was considered in- Pakistan as a “culture” can be indicted by this particular
appropriate to judge one ethical system by another one. council’s encouragement to rape only if culture is under-
For M elville Herskovits, the leader of the AAA’s relativist stood as a homogeneous entity whose rules evoke uni-
criticism of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in versal compliance. Adopting a more sophisticated and
1947, cultural relativism meant protecting the holistic cul- dynamic understanding of culture not only promotes
tures of small communities from colonial intrusion (AAA human-rights activism, but also relocates anthropologi-
1947 Statement, AA 49: 539–43). cal theorizing to the center of these issues rather than to
If culture is understood this way, it is not surprising that the margins, where it has been banished.
cultural relativism appears to be a retrograde position to
human-rights lawyers. Nor is it puzzling that they find Source: Merry 2003.
by how our cells, tissues, and organs are bound into a untangling those cultural threads to reveal the full range
single body. At the same time, like all living organisms, of factors that shape particular cultural practices in that
human beings are open to the world in other ways: we community.
breathe, eat, harbor colonies of intestinal bacteria to aid Human beings who develop and live together in
our digestion, excrete waste products, and learn from ex- groups shaped by cultural patterns are deeply affected
perience (see Deacon 2003, 296–97). Similarly, a society by shared cultural experiences. They become different
is not just the sum of its individual members; people from what they would have been had they matured in
in groups develop dynamic relationships that facilitate isolation; they also become different from other people
collective actions impossible for individuals to bring who have been shaped by different social and cultural
about on their own. And cultural traditions are not just patterns. Social scientists have long known that human
a list of beliefs, values, and practices; rather, different beings who grow up isolated from meaningful social in-
dimensions of cultural activity, such as economics and teractions with others do not behave in ways that appear
politics and religion, are knotted together in complex recognizably human. As anthropologist C lifford Geertz
ways. To understand any human community requires (1973) observed long ago, such human beings would be
Why Do Cultural Differences Matter? 245
neither failed apes nor “natural” people stripped of their

veneer of culture; they would be “mental basket cases”
(40). Social living and cultural sharing are necessary for
individual human beings to develop what we recognize
as a human nature.
One useful way of thinking about the relationships
among the parts that make up a whole is in terms of
coevolution. A coevolutionary approach to the human
condition emphasizes that human organisms, their
physical environments, and their symbolic practices co-
determine one another; with the passage of time, they
can also coevolve with one another. A coevolutionary
view of the human condition also sees human beings as
organisms whose bodies, brains, actions, and thoughts
are equally involved in shaping what they become.
Coevolution produces a human nature connected to a
wider world and profoundly shaped by culture. These
connections make us vulnerable over the course of our
lives to influences that our ancestors never experienced.
The open, symbolic, meaning- making properties of
human culture make it possible for us to respond to
those influences in ways that our ancestors could not
have anticipated.
FIGURE 8.4 Location of Tswana. For more information, see

EthnoProfile 8.1.
Why Do Cultural
Differences Matter? the Tswana, however, human life is social life; the only
people who want to be alone are witches and the insane.
The same objects, actions, or events frequently mean Because these young Americans did not seem to be
different things to people with different cultures. In either, the Tswana who saw them sitting alone naturally
fact, what counts as an object or event in one tradi- assumed that there had been a breakdown in hospitality
tion may not be recognized as such in another. This and that the volunteers would welcome some company.
powerful lesson of anthropology was illustrated by the Here, one behavior—a person walking out into a field
experience of some Peace Corps volunteers working in and sitting by himself or h
erself—had two very different
southern Africa. meanings (Figure 8.5).
In the early 1970s, the Peace Corps office in From this example we can see that human experi-
Botswana was concerned by the number of volunteers ence is inherently ambiguous. Even within a single cul-
who seemed to be “burned out,” failing in their assign- tural tradition, the meaning of an object or an action
ments, leaving the assigned villages, and increasingly may differ, depending on the context. Quoting philoso-
hostile to their Tswana hosts. (See Figure 8.4 and Eth- pher Gilbert Ryle, anthropologist Clifford Geertz (1973,
noProfile 8.1: Tswana.) The Peace Corps asked American 6) noted that there is a world of difference between a
anthropologist Hoyt Alverson, who was familiar with wink and a blink, as anyone who has ever mistaken one
Tswana culture and society, for advice. Alverson (1977) for the other has undoubtedly learned. To resolve the
discovered that one major problem the Peace Corps vol- ambiguity, experience must be interpreted, and human
unteers were having involved exactly this issue of similar beings regularly turn to their own cultural traditions
actions having very different meanings. The volunteers in search of an interpretation that makes sense. They
complained that the Tswana would never leave them do this daily as they go about life among others with
alone. Whenever they tried to get away and sit by them- whom they share traditions. Serious misunderstandings
selves for a few minutes to have some private time, one
or more Tswana would quickly join them. This made the
coevolution The dialectical relationship between biological processes and
Americans angry. From their perspective, everyone is en- symbolic cultural processes, in which each makes up an important part of
titled to a certain amount of privacy and time alone. To the environment to which the other must adapt.
into contact. It reduces the other way of life to a version

EthnoProfile 8.1 of one’s own. Sometimes we correctly identify mean-
ingful areas of cultural overlap. But other times, we are
Tswana shocked by the differences we encounter. We may con-
clude that if our way is right, then their way can only be
Region: Southern Africa
wrong. (Of course, from their perspective, our way of life
Nation: Botswana may seem to be a distortion of theirs.)
Population: 1,200,000 (also 1,500,000 in South Africa) The members of one society may go beyond merely
Environment: Savanna to desert interpreting another way of life in ethnocentric terms.
They may decide to do something about the discrepan-
Livelihood: Cattle raising, farming
cies they observe. They may conclude that the other way
Political organization:
Traditionally, chiefs and
of life is wrong but not fundamentally evil and that the
Za
mb
ANGOLA ZAMBIA
headmen; today, part of a members of the other group need to be converted to
ezi
Lake Kariba
modern nation-state Etosha Pan their own way of doing things. If the others are unwill-
Tswana
For more information: NAMIBIA ing to change their ways, however, the failed attempt at
Comaroff, Jean. 1985. Body Windhoek KALAHARI
conversion may enlarge into an active dualism: us versus
DESERT R.
of power, spirit of resistance: Walvis BOTSWANA op
o
Bay Gaborone them, civilization versus savagery, good versus evil. The
p
The culture history of a South
Lim ultimate result may be war and genocide—the deliberate
Pretoria
African people. Chicago: Uni- Johannesburg
versity of Chicago Press.
SOUTH
attempt to exterminate an entire group based on race,
ATLANTIC 0 300
OCEAN AFRICA
Miles religion, national origin, or other cultural features.
Is It Possible to Avoid
Ethnocentric Bias?
One way to address this question is to view relationships
between individuals with different cultural backgrounds as
not being fundamentally different from relationships be-
tween individuals with very similar cultural backgrounds
(we pursue this further in Chapter 14). Even people with
little in common can learn to get along, even if it is not
always easy. Like all human relationships, they affect all
parties involved in the encounter, changing them as they
learn about each other. People with a cultural background
very different from your own may help you see possibili-
FIGURE 8.5 For Tswana, human life is social life. It was dif- ties for belief and action that are drastically at odds with
ficult for Peace Corps volunteers from the United States accus- everything your tradition considers possible. By becom-
tomed to having “private time” to adjust to Tswana practices. ing aware of these unsuspected possibilities, you become
a different person. People from cultural backgrounds dif-
may arise, however, when individuals confront the same ferent from yours are likely to be affected in the same way.
ambiguous situation without realizing that their cultural Learning about other cultures is at once enormously
ground rules differ. hopeful and immensely threatening; once it occurs, we
can no longer claim that any single culture has a mo-
nopoly on truth. Although this does not mean that the
What Is Ethnocentrism? traditions in question must therefore be based entirely
Ethnocentrism is the term anthropologists use to de- on illusion or falsehood, it does mean that the truth em-
scribe the opinion that one’s own way of life is natural bodied in any cultural tradition is bound to be partial,
or correct, indeed the only way of being fully human. approximate, and open to further insight and growth.
Ethnocentrism is one solution to the inevitable tension
when people with different cultural backgrounds come
What Is Cultural Relativism?
Anthropologists must come to terms with the tensions
ethnocentrism The opinion that one’s own way of life is natural or correct produced by cultural differences as they do their field-
and, indeed, the only true way of being fully human. work. One result has been the formulation of the concept
How Can Cultural Relativity Improve Our Understanding of Controversial Cultural Practices? 247
of cultural relativism. Definitions of cultural relativism clitoridectomy. In some parts of eastern Africa, however,
have varied as different anthropologists have tried to draw the surgery is even more extreme: The labia are excised
conclusions based on their own experience of other ways along with the clitoris, and remaining skin is fastened
of life. For example, cultural relativism can be defined together, forming scar tissue that partially closes the vag-
as “understanding another culture in its own terms sym- inal opening. This version is often called pharaonic cir-
pathetically enough so that the culture appears to be a cumcision or infibulation. When young women who have
coherent and meaningful design for living” (Greenwood undergone this operation marry, they may require fur-
and Stini 1977, 182). According to this holistic defini- ther surgery to widen the vaginal opening. Surgery may
tion, the goal of cultural relativism is to promote under- be necessary again to widen the vaginal opening when a
standing of cultural practices, particularly of those that woman gives birth; and after she has delivered her child,
an outsider finds puzzling, incoherent, or morally trou- she may expect to be closed up again. Many women who
bling. These practices range from trivial (like eating in- have undergone these procedures repeatedly can de-
sects) to horrifying (like genocide), but most are likely to velop serious medical complications involving the blad-
be located somewhere between these extremes. der and colon later in life.
The removal of the male foreskin—or c ircumcision—
has long been a familiar practice in Western societies,
How Can Cultural not only among observant Jews, who perform it for reli-
gious reasons, but also among physicians, who have en-
Relativity Improve couraged circumcision of male newborns as a hygienic
Our Understanding measure. The ritual practice of female genital cutting, by
contrast, has been unfamiliar to most people in Western
of Controversial societies until recently.
Cultural Practices?
Rituals initiating girls and boys into adulthood are widely
Genital Cutting, Gender,
practiced throughout the world. In some parts of Africa, and Human Rights
this ritual includes genital cutting (Figure 8.6). For ex- In 1978, radical feminist Mary Daly (1978) grouped
ample, ritual experts may cut off the foreskins of the pe- “African female genital mutilation” together with prac-
nises of adolescent boys, who are expected to endure this tices such as foot binding in China and witch burn-
operation without showing fear or pain. In the case of ing in medieval Europe and labeled all these practices
girls, ritual cutting may involve little more than nicking patriarchal “Sado-Rituals” that destroy “the Self-affirming
the clitoris with a knife blade to draw blood. In other being of women.” Feminists and other cultural critics in
cases, however, the surgery is more extreme. The clito- Western societies spoke out against such practices in the
ris itself may be cut off (or excised), a procedure called 1980s. In 1992, African American novelist Alice Walker
published a best-selling novel Possessing the Secret of Joy, in
which the heroine is an African woman who undergoes
the operation, suffers psychologically and physically, and
eventually pursues the female elder who performed the
ritual on her. Walker also made a film, called Warrior
Marks, that condemned female genital cutting. Although
many Western readers continue to regard the positions
taken by Daly and Walker as formidable and necessary
feminist assertions of women’s resistance against patri-
archal oppression, other readers— particularly women
from societies in which female genital cutting is an ongo-
ing practice—have r esponded with far less enthusiasm.
Does this mean that these women are in favor of
female genital cutting? Not necessarily; in fact, many of
them are actively working to discourage the practice in
FIGURE 8.6 A mong many East African people, including
the Maasai, female genital cutting is an important part of the
transformation of girls into women. These young women are cultural relativism Understanding another culture in its own terms
recovering from the operation. Maasai women are proud of sympathetically enough so that the culture appears to be a coherent and
their new status as adults. meaningful design for living.
their own societies. But they find that when outsiders She writes: “Debates swirling around circumcision must
publicly condemn traditional African rituals like clito- be restructured in ways that are neither condemnatory
ridectomy and infibulation, their efforts may do more nor demeaning, but that foster perceptions illuminated
harm than good. Women anthropologists who come by careful study of the nuanced complexities of culture”
from African societies where female genital cutting is (Abusharaf 2000, 17).
traditional point out that Western women who want to One ethnographic study that aims to achieve these
help are likely to be more effective if they pay closer at- goals has been written by Janice Boddy, a cultural an-
tention to what the African women themselves have to thropologist who has carried out field research since
say about the meaning of these customs: “Careful listen- 1976 in the Muslim village of Hofriyat in rural northern
ing to women helps us to recognize them as political Sudan, where female genital surgery is traditionally per-
actors forging their own communities of resistance. It formed in childhood. She writes that “nothing . . . had
also helps us to learn how and when to provide strate- adequately prepared me for what I was to witness” when
gic support that would be welcomed by women who are she first observed the operation; nevertheless, “as time
struggling to challenge such traditions within their own passed in the village and understanding deepened I came
cultures” (Abusharaf 2000). to regard this form of female circumcision in a very dif-
A better understanding of female genital cutting ferent light” (Boddy 1997, 309). Circumcisions in Hofri-
is badly needed in places like the United States and yat were traditionally performed on both boys and girls,
the European Union, where some immigrants and ref- but the ritual had a different meaning for boys than it
ugees from Africa have brought traditions of female did for girls. Once circumcised, a boy takes a step toward
genital cutting with them. Since the mid-1990s, grow- manhood, but a girl will not become a woman until she
ing awareness and public condemnation of the practice marries. Female circumcision is required, however, to
have led to the passage of laws that criminalize female make a girl marriageable, making it possible for her “to
genital cutting in 15 African states and 10 industrial- use her one great gift, fertility” (Boddy 1997, 310).
ized nations, including the United States and Canada Boddy encountered a number of different explana-
(http://r eproductiverights.org/en/document/female- tions by scholars and other observers about the purpose
genital-mutilation-fgm-legal-prohibitions-worldwide). of female genital cutting. In Hofriyat, female circum-
Nonprofit legal advocacy organizations such as the Center cision traditionally involved infibulation, the most
for Reproductive and Legal Rights consider female genital extreme version of genital cutting. Among the justifi-
cutting (which they call female genital m
utilation, or FGM) cations offered for infibulation, Boddy found that pre-
a human rights violation. They acknowledge: “Although serving chastity and curbing female sexual desire made
FGM is not undertaken with the intention of inflicting the most sense in rural northern Sudan, where women’s
harm, its damaging physical, sexual, and psychological sexual conduct is the symbol of family honor. In prac-
effects make it an act of violence against women and tical terms, infibulation ensures “that a girl is a virgin
children” (http://reproductiverights.org/en/document/ when she marries for the first time” (Boddy 1997, 313).
female-genital-mutilation-fgm-legal-prohibitions- Women who undergo the procedure do indeed suffer a
worldwide). Some women have been able successfully lot, not only at the time of circumcision, but whenever
to claim asylum or have avoided deportation by claim- they engage in sexual intercourse, whenever they give
ing that they have fled their home countries to avoid the birth, and, over time, as they become subject to recurring
operation. However, efforts to protect women and girls urinary infections and difficulties with menstruation.
may backfire badly when immigrant or refugee mothers What cultural explanation could make all this suffering
in the United States who seek to have their daughters rit- meaningful to women?
ually cut are stigmatized in the media as “mutilators” or The answer lies in the connection rural north-
“child abusers” and find that this practice is considered a ern Sudanese villagers make between the infibulated
felony punishable by up to five years in prison (Abush- female body and female fertility. Boddy believes that
araf 2000). Indeed, as we will see in Chapter 14, such the women she knew equated the category of “virgin”
efforts can backfire even when members of the receiving more with fertility than with lack of sexual experience
society attempt to be culturally sensitive. and believed that a woman’s virginity and her fertility
could be renewed and protected by the act of reinfibula-
tion after giving birth. Women she knew described in-
Genital Cutting as a Valued Ritual fibulated female bodies as clean and smooth and pure
Female genital cutting is clearly a controversial practice (Boddy 1997, 313). Boddy concluded that the ritual was
about which many people have already made up their best understood as a way of socializing female fertility
minds. In such circumstances, is there any role to be “by dramatically de-emphasizing their inherent sexual-
played by anthropologists? Abusharaf thinks there is. ity” (314) and turning infibulated women into potential
How Can Cultural Relativity Improve Our Understanding of Controversial Cultural Practices? 249
“mothers of men” (314). This means they are eligible, how some of the cultural practices that we take for
with their husbands, to found a new lineage section by granted, such as the promotion of weight loss and cos-
giving birth to sons. Women who become mothers of metic surgery among women in our own society, are
men are more than mere sexual partners or servants of equally dangerous—from “Victorian clitoridectomy”
their husbands and may attain high status, with their (Sheehan 1997) to twenty-first century cosmetic sur-
name remembered in village genealogies. gery. In the March 1, 2007, issue of the New York Times,
Boddy discovered that the purity, cleanliness, and for example, reporter Natasha Singer (2007) observes,
smoothness associated with the infibulated female body “Before braces, crooked teeth were the norm. Is wrinkle
are also associated with other activities, concepts, and removal the new orthodontics?” (3). Media and mar-
objects in everyday village customs. For example, Boddy keting pressure for cosmetic treatments that stop the
discovered that “clean” water birds, “clean food” such visible signs of aging bombard middle-aged women.
as eggs, ostrich eggshells, and gourds shaped like os- People are living longer, and treatments like Botox in-
trich eggshells all were associated with female fertility. jections are becoming more easily available, with the
Indeed, “the shape of an ostrich egg, with its tiny orifice, result that “the way pop culture perceives the aging
corresponds to the idealized shape of the circumcised face” is changing, leaving women “grappling with the
woman’s womb” (Boddy 1997, 317). Fetching water is idea of what 60 looks like” (Singer 2007, E3). More-
traditionally considered women’s work, and the ability over, pressure to undergo antiaging treatments, includ-
of an object to retain moisture is likened to its ability ing plastic surgery, is not simply a matter of vanity.
to retain fertility. A dried egg-shaped gourd with seeds “At the very least, wrinkles are being repositioned as
that rattle inside it is like the womb of an infibulated the new gray hair—another means to judge attractive-
woman that contains and mixes her husband’s semen ness, romantic viability, professional competitiveness
with her own blood. The traditional house in Hofriyat and social status” (Singer 2007, E3). Singer quotes a
itself seems to be a symbol for the womb, which is called 33-year-old real estate broker who has had Botox injec-
the “house of childbirth” (321). In the same way that the tions, chemical peels, and laser treatments who said,
household enclosure “protects a man’s descendants, so “If you want to sell a million-dollar house, you have
the enclosed womb protects a woman’s fertility . . . the to look good . . . and you have to have confidence that
womb of an infibulated woman is an oasis, the locus of you look good” (E3). In Sudan, people say that virgins
appropriate human fertility” (321). are “made, not born” (Boddy 1997, 313); perhaps in
Evidence like this leads Boddy to insist that, for the the United States, youth is also made, not born. In the
women of Hofriyat, pharaonic circumcision is “an asser- United States today, the media message to women is
tive symbolic act.” The experience of infibulation, as well that success in life requires not an infibulated body, but
as other traditional curing practices, teaches girls to as- a face that never ages. In both cases, cultural practices
sociate pure female bodies with heat and pain, making recommend surgical intervention in the female life
them meaningful. Such experiences become associated cycle to render permanent certain aspects of youthful
with the chief purpose women strive for—to become female bodies that are otherwise transient (fertility and
mothers of men—and the lesson is taught to them re- unlined faces, respectively).
peatedly in a variety of ways when they look at water-
birds or eggs or make food or move around the village.
Boddy’s relativistic account demonstrates how the mean- Did Their Culture Make Them Do It?
ings associated with female infibulation are reinforced Do these examples imply that women support “irratio-
by so many different aspects of everyday life that girls nal” and harmful practices simply because “their culture
who grow up, marry, and bear children in Hofriyat come makes them do it?” For some people, this kind of expla-
to consider the operation a dangerous but profoundly nation is plausible, even preferable, to alternative expla-
necessary and justifiable procedure that enables them to nations, because it absolves individual people of blame.
help sustain all that is most valued in their own world. How can one justify accusing immigrant African women
of being mutilators or abusers of children and throw
them into prison if they had no choice in the matter,
Culture and Moral Reasoning if their cultures conditioned them into believing that
A relativistic understanding of female genital cutting, female circumcision was necessary and proper and they
therefore, accomplishes several things. It makes the are powerless to resist?
practice comprehensible and even coherent. It reveals Nevertheless, such an explanation is too simplistic
how a physically dangerous procedure can appear per- to account for the continued practice of infibulation in
fectly acceptable—even indispensable—when placed Hofriyat. First, the villages of northern Sudan are not
in a p articular context of meaning. It can help us see sealed off from a wider, more diverse world. Northern
Sudan has experienced a lively and often violent history surprise us: It is likely that any cultural practice with far-
as different groups of outsiders, including the British, reaching consequences for human life will have critics as
have struggled to control the land. Boddy describes the well as supporters within the society where it is practiced.
way rural men regularly leave the village as migrant This is certainly the case in the United States, where abor-
workers and mix with people whose customs—including tion and capital punishment remain controversial issues.
sexual customs—are very different from the ones they A sensitive ethnographic account of a controversial
left behind; and outsiders, like anthropologists, also cultural practice, like Boddy’s account of infibulation in
may come to the village and establish long-lasting rela- Hofriyat, will address both the meaningful dimensions
tionships with those whom they meet. Second, Boddy’s of the practice and the contradictions it involves. As
account makes clear that the culture of Hofriyat allows Boddy (1997) concludes,
people more than one way to interpret their experiences.
For example, she notes that although men in Sudan and Those who work to eradicate female circumcision
Egypt are supposed to enjoy sexual intercourse with infib- must, I assert, cultivate an awareness of the custom’s
ulated women more than with noninfibulated women; local significances and of how much they are asking
in fact, these men regularly visit brothels where they en- people to relinquish as well as gain. The stakes are high
and it is hardly surprising that efforts to date have met
counter prostitutes who have not undergone the surgery.
with little success. It is, however, ironic that a practice
Third, and perhaps most significantly, Boddy ob-
that—at least in Hofriyat—emphasizes female fertility
serves that a less radical form of the operation began
at a cultural level can be so destructive of it physiologi-
to gain acceptance after 1969, and “men are now
cally and so damaging to women’s health overall. That
marrying—and what is more, saying that they prefer to paradox has analogies elsewhere, in a world considered
marry—women who have been less severely mutilated” “civilized,” seemingly far removed from the “barbarous
(Boddy 1997, 312), at least in part because they find East.” Here too, in the west from where I speak, femi-
sexual relations to be more satisfying. Finally, as these nine selfhood is often attained at the expense of female
observations also show, Boddy’s account emphatically well-being. In parallels like these there lies the germ of
rejects the view that women or men in Hofriyat are pas- an enlightened approach to the problem. (322)
sive beings, helpless to resist cultural indoctrination.
As Abusharaf (2000, 18) would wish, Boddy listened Cultural relativism makes moral reasoning more
to women in Hofriyat and recognized them “as politi- complex. It does not, however, require us to abandon
cal actors forging their own communities of resistance.” every value our own society has taught us. Every cultural
Specifically, Boddy showed how increasing numbers of tradition offers more than one way of evaluating expe-
women (and men) continued to connect female geni- rience. Exposure to the interpretations of an unfamiliar
tal cutting with properly socialized female fertility—but culture forces us to reconsider the possibilities our own
they no longer believed that infibulation was the only tradition recognizes in a new light and to search for areas
procedure capable of achieving that goal. of intersection as well as areas of disagreement. What
Understanding something is not the same as approv- cultural relativism does discourage is the easy solution of
ing of it or excusing it. People everywhere may be repelled refusing to consider alternatives from the outset. It also
by unfamiliar cultural practices when they first encoun- does not free us from sometimes facing difficult choices
ter them. Sometimes when they understand these prac- between alternatives whose rightness or wrongness is
tices better, they change their minds. They may conclude less than clear-cut. In this sense, “cultural relativism is a
that the practices in question are more suitable for the ‘toughminded’ philosophy” (Herskovits 1973, 37).
people who employ them than their own practices would
be. They might even recommend incorporating practices
from other cultures into their own society. But the op- Does Culture
posite may also be the case. It is possible to understand
perfectly the cultural rationale behind such practices as
Explain Everything?
slavery, infanticide, headhunting, and genocide—and still We believe that our view of the concept of culture as
refuse to approve of these practices. Insiders and outsid- presented in this chapter is widely shared among con-
ers alike may not be persuaded by the reasons offered to temporary cultural anthropologists. Nevertheless, in
justify these practices, or they may be aware of alternative recent years the concept of culture has been critically
arrangements that could achieve the desired outcome via reexamined as patterns of human life have undergone
less drastic methods. In fact, changing practices of female major dislocations and reconfigurations. The issues
circumcision in Hofriyat seem to be based precisely on are complex and are more fully explored in later chap-
the realization that less extreme forms of surgery can ters, but we offer here a brief account to provide some
achieve the same valued cultural goals. This should not historical context.
For at least the past 50 years, many anthropologists defined “culture or civilization” as “that complex whole
have distinguished between Culture (with a capital C) which includes knowledge, belief, art, morals, law,
and cultures (plural with a lowercase c). Culture has custom, and any other capabilities and habits acquired
been used to describe an attribute of the human spe- by man as a member of society” (1958 [1871], 1). This
cies as a whole—its members’ ability, in the absence definition had the virtue of blurring the difference be-
of highly specific genetic programming, to create and tween “civilization” and “culture,” and it encouraged the
to imitate patterned, symbolically mediated ideas and view that even “primitives” possessed “capabilities and
activities that promote the survival of our species. By habits” that merited respect. Thus, in response to stereo-
contrast, the term cultures has been used to refer to par- types of “primitives” as irrational, disorganized, insen-
ticular, learned ways of life belonging to specific groups sitive, or promiscuous, anthropologists like Franz Boas
of human beings. Given this distinction, the human and Bronislaw Malinowski were able to show that, on
species as a whole can be said to have Culture as a defin- the contrary, so-called “primitives” possessed “cultures”
ing attribute, but actual human beings would only have that were reasonable, orderly, artistically developed, and
access to particular human cultures—either their own or morally disciplined. The plural use of culture allowed
other people’s. them to argue that, in their own ways, “primitives” were
It is the plural use of cultures with a lowercase c that as fully human as “civilized” people.
has been challenged. The challenge may seem puzzling, By the end of the twentieth century, however, some
however, because many anthropologists have viewed anthropologists became concerned about the way
the plural use of the culture concept not only as ana- the plural concept of culture was being used. That is, the
lytically helpful but also as politically progressive. Their boundary that was once thought to protect vulnerability
view reflects a struggle that developed in nineteenth- was starting to look more like a prison wall, condemn-
century Europe: Supporters of the supposedly pro- ing those within it to live according to “their” culture,
gressive, universal civilization of the Enlightenment, just as their ancestors had done, like exhibits in a living
inaugurated by the French Revolution and spread by museum, whether they wanted to or not. But if some
Napoleonic conquest, were challenged by inhabitants group members criticize a practice, such as female genital
of other E uropean nations, who resisted both Napoleon cutting, that is part of their cultural tradition, does this
and the Enlightenment in what has been called the Ro- mean that the critics are no longer “authentic” members
mantic Counter-Enlightenment. Romantic intellectuals of their own culture? To come to such a conclusion over-
in nations like Germany rejected what they considered looks the possibility that alternatives to a controversial
the imposition of “artificial” Enlightenment civilization practice might already exist within the cultural tradition
on the “natural” spiritual traditions of their own distinct and that followers of that tradition may themselves decide
national cultures (Kuper 1999; Crehan 2002). that some alternatives make more sense than others in
This political dynamic, which pits a steamroller today’s world. The issue then becomes not just which
civilization against vulnerable local cultures, carried traditions have been inherited from the past—as if “au-
over into the usage that later developed in anthropol- thentic” cultures were monolithic and unchanging—
ogy, particularly in North America. The decades sur- but, rather, which traditional practices ought to continue
rounding the turn of the twentieth century marked the in a contemporary world—and who is entitled to make
period of expanding European colonial empires as well that decision.
as westward expansion and consolidation of control
in North America by European settlers. At that time,
the social sciences were becoming established in uni-
Cultural Imperialism
versities, and different fields were assigned different or Cultural Hybridity?
tasks. Anthropology was allocated what Michel-Rolph It is no secret that colonizing states have regularly at-
Trouillot (1991) has called “the savage slot”—that is, tempted to determine the cultural priorities of those
the so-called “primitive” world that was the target of whom they conquered. Sending missionaries to convert
colonization. Anthropologists thus became the official colonized peoples to Christianity is one of the best known
academic experts on societies whose members suffered practices of Western cultural imperialism. The concept of
racist denigration as “primitives” and whose ways of cultural imperialism is based on two notions. First, it
life were being undermined by contact with Western claims some cultures dominate other cultures. In recent
colonial “civilization.” history the culture(s) of Europe or the United States or
Anthropologists were determined to denounce these
practices and to demonstrate that the “primitive” stereo-
cultural imperialism The idea that some cultures dominate others and
type was false. Some found inspiration in the work of that domination by one culture leads inevitably to the destruction of subordi-
the English anthropologist E. B. Tylor, who, in 1871, had nated cultures and their replacement by the culture of those in power.
“the West” has(have) come to dominate all other cultures and food and material culture have large and eager fol-
of the world, owing to the spread of colonialism and cap- lowings in western Europe and the United States. Finally,
italism. Second, cultural domination by one culture is cultural imperialism ignores that cultural forms and
said to lead inevitably to the destruction of subordinated practices sometimes move from one part of the non-
cultures and their replacement by the culture of those Western world to other parts of the non-Western world,
in power. Thus, Western cultural imperialism is seen as bypassing the West entirely. For instance, movies made in
responsible for destroying, for example, local music, India have been popular for decades in northern Nigeria
technology, dress, and food traditions and replacing (Larkin 2002), Mexican soap operas have large follow-
them with rock and roll, radios, flashlights, cell phones, ings in the Philippines, and karaoke is popular all over
T-shirts, blue jeans, McDonald’s hamburgers, and Coca- the world.
Cola (Figure 8.7). The inevitable outcome is seen as “the
cultural homogenization of the world . . . dooming the
world to uniformity” (Inda and Rosaldo 2002, 13, 14). Cultural Hybridity
Anthropologists have long noted the spread of el- Dissatisfied with the discourse of cultural imperialism,
ements of Western culture among those they worked anthropologists began to search for alternative ways of
with. But cultural imperialism did not fully explain understanding global cultural flows. From the days of
this spread, for at least three reasons (Inda and Rosaldo Franz Boas and his students, anthropologists had rec-
2002, 22–24). First, cultural imperialism denies agency ognized the significance of cultural borrowing. But they
to non-Western peoples who make use of Western cul- always emphasized that borrowing cultural forms or
tural forms, assuming that they are passive, unable to practices from elsewhere must be understood as borrow-
resist anything of Western origin that is marketed to ing with modification. That is, people rarely accept ideas
them. Second, cultural imperialism assumes that non- or practices or objects from elsewhere without finding a
Western cultural forms never move “from the rest to the way of reconciling them with local practices in order to
West.” But this is clearly false; today, non-Western music serve local purposes.
In North America in the 1860s, for example, esca-
lating struggles between settlers and Native American
groups led federal policy makers to place federal Indian
policy in the hands of Christian reformers “who would
embrace the hard work of transforming Indians and resist
the lure of getting rich off the system’s spoils” (Lassiter
et al. 2002, 22). And although missionaries were ini-
tially resisted, eventually they made many converts, and
Christianity remains strong among indigenous groups
like the Comanches and Kiowas today. But how should
this religious conversion be understood?
Doesn’t the fact that Kiowas are Christians today
show that federal officials and missionaries succeeded
in their policies of Western Christian cultural imperial-
ism? Maybe not: “Taking the ‘Jesus Way’ is not necessar-
ily the story of how one set of beliefs replace another one
wholesale or of the incompatibility of Kiowa practices
with Christian ones. Rather, it is a more complex encoun-
ter in which both sides make concessions” (Lassiter et al.
2002, 19). True, missionaries arrived as the buffalo were
disappearing and Kiowa people were being confined to
reservations, and in 1890 the U.S. government used mil-
itary force to put an end to the Kiowa Sun Dance, the
centerpiece of Kiowa ceremonies. And yet, Lassiter tells
us, “For many Kiowas—as for Indian people generally—
Christianity has been, and remains, a crucially impor-
tant element in their lives as Native people. Its concern
for community needs, its emphasis on shared beliefs,
and its promise of salvation have helped to mediate life
FIGURE 8.7 A McDonald’s in Guangzhou, China.
in a region long buffeted by limited economic develop- that “the elders didn’t say ‘Christian.’ . . . They said ‘this
ment, geographic isolation, and cultural stress” (18). is the way of God’” (Lassiter et al. 2002, 63). Kiowa iden-
One reason it succeeded was that missionar- tity and Christian values are so closely intertwined for
ies did not insist that the Kiowa give up all traditional Bointy that “he believes that he can express the power
ways (Lassiter 2002, 53). Prominent individuals ad- of Christianity better in Kiowa than in English.” And
opted Christianity, and Kiowa converts were trained to this is why Kiowa hymns are so important. Unlike other
become missionaries and ministers, which proved at- Kiowa songs, Kiowa hymns are sung in the Kiowa lan-
tractive (Lassiter 2002, 57; Figure 8.8). Especially per- guage, which is spoken less and less in other settings.
suasive were women missionaries who “lived in the Kiowa hymns “give life to a unique Kiowa experience,
Kiowa camps, ate their food, and endured the priva- preserve the language, and affirm an ongoing (and con-
tions of life on the plains with impressive strength” tinually unfolding) Kiowa spirituality. Indeed, Kiowa
(Lassiter 2002, 59). Missionaries, in turn, actively sought Indian hymns are as much Kiowa (if not more) as they
to adapt Christian practices to traditional Kiowa ways. are “Christian” (Lassiter 2004, 205).
For example, “Missions were historically located in and The way in which Kiowa Christians have been able
around established camps and communities,” with the to transform what began as an exercise in cultural impe-
result that “churches were the natural extension of tra- rialism into a reaffirmation of traditional Kiowa values
ditional Kiowa camps” and eventually took their place challenges the presumption that “authentic cultures”
at the center of Kiowa life (Lassiter 2002, 61). “People never change. Such an inflexible concept of culture can
would often camp on the grounds or stay with relatives accommodate neither the agency of Kiowa Christians
for weeks at a time. . . . Services with Kiowa hymns and nor the validity of the “ongoing” and “continually un-
special prayers often extended into the evening” (62). It folding” cultural traditions they produce.
might be as accurate to say that the Kiowa “Kiowanized” The consequences of borrowing with modification
Christianity, therefore, as it would be to say that mission- can never be fully controlled. Put another way, cultural
aries “Christianized” the Kiowa. One of Lassiter’s Kiowa borrowing is double-edged; borrowed cultural prac-
collaborators, Vincent Bointy, insists that C hristianity tices are both amenable to domestication and yet able
is not the same as “the white man’s way” and explains to escape it. The challenges are particularly acute in set-
tings where borrowed ideas, objects, or practices remain
entangled in relationships with donors even as they are
made to serve new goals by recipients (Thomas 1991).
People in these settings often deal on a daily basis with
tempting cultural alternatives emanating from more
powerful groups. Many social scientists have borrowed a
metaphor from biology to describe this complex process
of globalized cultural exchange and speak of cultural
hybridity. Both these concepts were meant to highlight
forms of cultural borrowing that produced something
new that could not be collapsed or subsumed, either
within the culture of the donor or within the culture
of the recipient. In addition, they stressed the positive
side of cultural mixing: rather than indicating a regret-
table loss of original purity, hybridity and creolization
draw attention to positive processes of cultural creativ-
ity. F urthermore, if cultural hybridization is a normal
part of all human social experience, then the idea that
“authentic” traditions never change can legitimately be
challenged. For members of a social group who wish
to revise or discard cultural practices that they find out-
moded or oppressive, hybridity talk is liberating. Choos-
ing to revise or discard, borrow or invent on terms of
one’s own choosing also means that one possesses
agency, the capacity to exercise at least some control
over one’s life. And exercising agency calls into question
FIGURE 8.8 A mong the Kiowa, prominent individuals, like
Chief Lone Wolf, adopted Christianity and invited missionaries charges that one is succumbing to cultural imperialism
to train Kiowa ministers. or losing one’s cultural “authenticity.”
Are There Limits to Cultural the like—events that emphasize costume, cuisine, music,
Hybridity? and dance—spring to mind. But the troubling fact is
that cultural hybridity is experienced as both nonthreat-
However, as anthropologist Nicholas Thomas (1996) ening and very threatening, depending on the terms
puts it, “hybridity is almost a good idea, but not quite” on which it is available. Because of power differences
(9). Close examination of talk about cultural hybridiza- among groups challenged by cultural hybridization, any
tion reveals at least three problems. First, it is not clear globalized “multicultural” setting reveals active cultural
that this concept actually frees anthropologists from the hybridization together with active resistance to cultural
modernist commitment to the existence of bounded, hybridization (Werbner 1997, 3). Werbner observes that
homogeneous, unchanging “cultures.” That is, the idea cultural hybridization is unobjectionable when actors
of cultural hybridity is based on the notion of cultural perceive it to be under their own control but resisted
mixing. But what is it that is mixed? Two or more non- when it is “perceived by actors themselves to be poten-
hybridized, original, pure, cultures! But such pure ho- tially threatening to their sense of moral integrity” (12).
mogeneous, bounded, unchanging cultures are not The threat of cultural hybridization is greatest for those
supposed to exist. Thus, we are caught in a paradox. For with the least power, who feel unable to control forms
this reason, Jonathan Friedman, among others, is highly of hybridity that threaten the fragile survival structures
critical of discussions of cultural hybridity; in his view, on which they depend in an unwelcoming multicultural
cultures have always been hybrid and it is the existence setting. And this leads to a third problem with the con-
of boundaries, not cultural borrowing, that anthropolo- cept of cultural hybridization. Fashionable hybridity talk
gists need to explain. Besides, hybrid cultural mixtures hides the differences between elite and nonelite experi-
often get transformed into new, unitary cultural identi- ences of multiculturalism. Anthropologist John Hutnyk
ties. This process can be seen, he argues, in the way in (1997), for example, deplores the way “world music” is
which the “mixed race” category in the United States has marketed to middle-class consumers because such sales
been transformed into a “new, unitary group of mixtures strategies divert attention “from the urgency of anti-racist
for those who feel ‘disenfranchised’ by the current single- politics” (122). That is, when cultural hybridization be-
race categories” (Friedman 1997, 83). Friedman also comes fashionable, it may appear that class exploitation
points out that hybrid identities are not liberating when and racial oppression are easily overcome or no longer
they are thrust upon people rather than being adopted exist. But to dismiss or ignore continuing nonelite strug-
freely. He draws attention to cases in Latin A merica where gles with cultural hybridization can spark dangerous
the “mestizo” identity has been used “as a middle-/ confrontations that can quickly spiral out of control.
upper-class tool” against indigenous groups. “We are all
part-Indian, say members of the elite who have much
to lose in the face of minority claims” (Friedman 1997, Can We Be at Home in a Global World?
81–82). These examples highlight a second difficulty When people from different cultural backgrounds are
with hybridity talk: those who celebrate cultural hy- thrust by circumstance into one another’s company and
bridization often ignore the fact that its effects are ex- seek ways to get along with one another, links they a ttempt
perienced differently by those with power and those to make are likely to be clumsy and uncomfortable. This
without power. As Friedman (1997) says, “the question phenomenon is what anthropologist Anna Tsing has
of class becomes crucial” (81). The complexity of this called friction: “the awkward, unequal, unstable aspects
issue appears in many popular discussions of “multicul- of interconnection across difference” (2005, 4). Friction in
turalism” that celebrate cultural hybridization and turn the struggle to bridge differences makes new things possi-
hybridity into a marketable commodity. The commodi- ble: “Rubbing two sticks together produces heat and light;
fication of hybridity is problematic because it smooths one stick alone is just a stick. As a metaphorical image, fric-
over differences in the experience of cultural hybridization reminds us that heterogeneous and unequal encoun-
tion, offering multiculturalism as an array of tempting ters can lead to new arrangements of culture and power”
consumables for outsiders. “Multiculturalism is aimed (Tsing 2005, 3–5). And these arrangements, while poten-
at nourishing and perpetuating the kind of differences tially dangerous, may also be seen as a source of hope.
which do not [threaten],” writes Nira Yuval-Davis (1997, In the midst of all this, is it possible to devise ways of
197). International folk festivals, festivals of nations, and coping with our circumstances that would provide guid-
ance? One suggestion that has been increasingly influen-
friction The awkward, unequal, unstable aspects of interconnection tial in anthropology is the notion of cosmopolitanism.
across difference. Scholars like Walter Mignolo (2002) trace this concept
cosmopolitanism Being at ease in more than one cultural setting. from its origin among the Stoic philosophers of ancient
Chapter Summary 255
Rome through its revival among Enlightenment philoso- Many of the ethnographic cases in this book demon-
phers like Immanuel Kant. Kantian cosmopolitanism “by strate the human ability to cope creatively with changed life
and large meant being versed in Western ways and the circumstances. Nevertheless, successful outcomes are never
vision of ‘one world’ culture was only a sometimes un- ensured. As we approach the third decade of the twenty-
conscious, sometimes unconscionable, euphemism for first century, a critical cosmopolitanism that involves con-
‘First World’ culture” (Abbas 2002, 201). But today, many certed practical attempts to wrestle with these stresses and
anthropologists have repurposed the notion of cosmopol- contradictions seems to be more needed than ever before.
itanism to include “alternative” or “minority” forms that
incorporate nonelite experiences of cultural hybridization.
Tsing’s understanding of “friction” has much in
common with what Walter Mignolo calls border thinking. The Promise of the
For Mignolo, in a globalized world, concepts like “de-
mocracy” and “justice” can no longer be confined within
Anthropological Perspective
a single Western logic—or, for that matter, to the per- The anthropological perspective on the human condi-
spective of the political Left or the political Right. Border tion is not easy to maintain. It forces us to question the
thinking involves detaching these concepts from Western commonsense assumptions with which we are most
meanings and practices and using them as “connectors,” comfortable. It only increases the difficulty we encoun-
tools for imagining and negotiating new, cosmopolitan ter when faced with moral and political decisions. It
forms of democracy or justice informed by the ethical and does not allow us an easy retreat because once we are
political judgments of nonelites” (Mignolo 2002, 179, exposed to the kinds of experience that the anthropo-
181). Mignolo’s hope is that border thinking can produce logical undertaking makes possible, we are changed.
a critical cosmopolitanism capable of dismantling barriers We cannot easily pretend that these new experiences
of gender and race that are the historical legacies of colo- never happened to us. There is no going back to eth-
nialism (2002, 161, 180; Figure 8.9). In many cases this nocentrism when the going gets rough, except in bad
may require seriously revising Western modernist ideas faith. So anthropology is guaranteed to complicate
and practices, but critical cosmopolitanism does not ex- your life. Nevertheless, the anthropological perspec-
clude consideration of such ideas and practices altogether. tive can give you a broader understanding of human
The hope is that successful management of these awkward nature and the wider world, of society, culture, and
connections across difference may produce less oppressive history, and thus help you construct more realistic and
understandings of human rights and global citizenship. authentic ways of coping with those complications.
Chapter Summary
1. Anthropologists have argued that culture past. Human beings depend on symbolic cultural
distinguishes the human condition from the understandings to help them resolve the ambiguities
ondition of other living species. Human culture inherent in everyday human experience.
is learned, shared, patterned, adaptive, and sym- 3. Anthropologists believe that ethnocentrism can
bolic. It did not emerge all at once but evolved be countered by a commitment to cultural relativ-
over time. ism, an attempt to understand the cultural un-
2. Many anthropologists have long thought holistically derpinnings of behavior. Cultural relativism does
about human culture. Anthropological holism argues not require us to abandon every value our society
that objects and environments interpenetrate and has taught us; however, it does discourage the
even define each other. Thus, the whole is more than easy solution of refusing to consider alternatives
the sum of its parts. Human beings and human soci- from the outset. Cultural relativism makes moral
eties are open systems that cannot be reduced to the decisions more difficult because it requires us to
parts that make them up. The parts and the whole take many things into account before we make up
mutually define, or codetermine, each other and co- our minds.
evolve. This book adopts a coevolutionary approach 4. Human history is an essential aspect of the human
to human nature, human society, and the human story. Culture is worked out over time and passed on

from one generation to the next. The cultural beliefs endorse a kind of oppressive cultural determinism.
and practices we inherit from the past or borrow Supporters, however, argue that in some cases this
from other people in the present make some things version of the culture concept can be used to defend
easier for us and other things more difficult. At the vulnerable social groups against exploitation and
same time, culture provides resources human beings oppression by outsiders.
can make use of in the pursuit of their own goals. 6. In recent years, cultural anthropologists who follow
Thus, the anthropological understanding of human the vast contemporary population movements
life recognizes the importance of human agency. of migrants, refugees, and tourists have begun to
5. Many anthropologists have criticized use of the term study processes of cultural hybridity that cannot be
cultures to refer to particular, learned ways of life be- reduced to forms of cultural imperialism. Rather,
longing to specific groups of human beings. Critics much of this cultural mixing appears to reflect new
argue that this way of talking about culture seems to forms of multicultural, cosmopolitan consciousness.
For Review
1. What are the five key attributes of human culture 6. Explain ethnocentrism and cultural relativism.
that are highlighted in this chapter? 7. Summarize in your own words how cultural
2. What are complex symbolic representation and in- relativity can improve outsiders’ understand-
stitutions, and why are they especially important ing of a cultural practice that is unfamiliar
to human culture? and disturbing to them, such as female genital
3. What is human agency? How does attention to cutting.
human agency affect the way anthropologists in- 8. Distinguish between Culture (with a capital C)
terpret cultural phenomena? and culture(s) (with a lowercase c). What does this
4. What do anthropologists mean by holism? difference reflect for anthropologists?
5. Describe the problems U.S. Peace Corps volunteers 9. Summarize the case study on Kiowa Christianity.
were having in Botswana and the explanation that What does this case study reveal about human
was provided by anthropologist Hoyt Alverson. cultural processes?
Key Terms
coevolution 245 cultural relativism 247 ethnocentrism 246 human agency 242
cosmopolitanism 254 culture 238 friction 254 socialization 238
cultural imperialism 251 enculturation 238 holism 242 symbol 240
Suggested Readings
Gamst, Frederick, and Edward Norbeck. 1976. Ideas of culture: Kuper, Adam. 1999. Culture: The anthropologists’ account.
Sources and uses. New York: Holt, Rinehart & Winston. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. A critical his-
A useful collection of important articles about culture. The tory of the use of the culture concept in anthropology, which
articles are arranged according to different basic approaches traces its links to earlier Western ideas about culture and ana-
to culture. lyzes the work of several late twentieth-century anthropolo-
Geertz, Clifford. 1973. Thick description: Towards an inter- gists who made the concept central to their scholarship. Based
pretive theory of culture and The impact of the concept on his experience with the abuse of the culture concept in
of culture on the concept of man. In The interpretation of apartheid South Africa, Kuper recommends that anthropolo-
cultures. New York: Basic Books. Two classic discussions of gists drop the term entirely from their professional vocabulary.
culture from a major figure in American anthropology. These Voget, Fred. 1975. A history of ethnology. New York: Holt,
works have done much to shape the discourse about culture Rinehart & Winston. A massive, thorough, and detailed
in anthropology. work. For the student seeking a challenging read.
MODULE 3: On Ethnographic Methods
TURKEY TURKMENISTAN
Caspian Ashkhabad
Sea
Tehran
Baghdad AFGHANISTAN
IRAN
IRAQ
KUWAIT Komachi
Persian PAKISTAN
Gulf
Bahrain Doha Abu Dhabi
SAUDI
ARABIA
0 50 100 OMAN
Miles
0 .5 South Bronx
Ha
Miles
r le
New York City

m
Riv
Central
er
Harlem
Komachi
Hudson River
East
Harlem Sidi Lahcen Lyussi
Upper “El Barrio”
West Side East
River
Central
Queens
Park Upper
East Side
0 300
SPAIN
Miles
Str. of Gibraltar
ATLANTIC OCEAN
Rabat
Sidi Lahcen Casablanca
Lyussi
Canary Marrakech
O UNTAINS
Islands ATLAS M
CO
C
RO
ALGERIA
MO
A
ANI
RIT
AU MALI
M
FIGURE M3.1 Locations of societies whose EthnoProfiles appear in Module 3.
A Meeting of Cultural Traditions social interaction and cultural beliefs and values. Sometimes
they administer questionnaires and psychological tests as part
Ethnographic fieldwork is an extended period of close in-
of their fieldwork, but they would never rely solely on such
volvement with the people whose way of life interests an
methods because, by themselves, the information they pro-
anthropologist. This is the period in which anthropologists col-
duce cannot be contextualized and may be misleading. Par-
lect most of their data. Fieldwork deliberately brings together
ticipant observation is perhaps the best method available to
people from different cultural backgrounds, an encounter that
scholars who seek a holistic understanding of culture and the
makes misunderstandings, understandings, and surprises
human condition.
likely. It is nevertheless through such encounters that field-
work generates much of what anthropologists come to know
about people in other societies.
Single-Sited Fieldwork
Gathering data while living for an extended period in
For most cultural anthropologists, ethnographic fieldwork is
close contact with members of another social group is called
the key experience that characterizes the discipline. Anthro-
participant observation. Cultural anthropologists also
pologists sometimes gain field experience as undergraduates
gather data by conducting interviews and administering sur-
veys, as well as by consulting archives and previously pub-
lished literature relevant to their research. But participant
observation, which relies on face-to-face contact with people fieldwork An extended period of close involvement with the people in
whose language or way of life an anthropologist is interested, during which
as they go about their daily lives, was pioneered by cultural
anthropologists ordinarily collect most of their data.
anthropologists and remains characteristic of anthropology
participant observation The method anthropologists use to gather
as a discipline. Participant observation allows anthropologists information by living as closely as possible to the people whose culture they
to interpret what people say and do in the wider context of are studying while participating in their lives as much as possible.
257
or early in their graduate studies by working on research pro- deterritorialized world” that will be enriched by varied con-
jects or in field schools run by established anthropologists. tributions of anthropologists trained in different traditions,
An extended period of fieldwork is the final phase of formal working at home and abroad.
anthropological training, but most anthropologists hope to
incorporate additional periods of field research into their How Do Anthropologists Think about the Ethics of
subsequent careers. Their Work? Ethnographic fieldwork practice was devel-
Beginning anthropologists usually decide during gradu- oped and regularized during the decades before World War
ate school where and on what topic they wish to do their re- II, both in the United States and the United Kingdom, by an-
search. These decisions are based on their interests, their thropologists such as Bronislaw Malinowski, Franz Boas, and
readings, the courses they have taken, the interests of their their students and colleagues. Here, we will provide a brief
professors, and current debates in cultural anthropology. history of how members of the American Anthropological
Success depends on being able to obtain both permission Association have addressed the ethics associated with an-
to work in a particular place in the form of approvals from thropological fieldwork. A series of informative documents
academic and governmental offices in the host country and that trace these developments can be accessed via the AAA
the funds to support one’s research. Getting grants from website (http://www.americananthro.org/), under the tab
private or government agencies involves, among other “Learn and Teach,” which links to a further tab, “Methods and
things, persuading them that your work will focus on a topic Ethics,” which opens links to the Ethics Handbook, to an ethics
of current interest within anthropology and is connected blog, and to “Anthropological Research Methods,” which pro-
to their funding priorities. As a result, “field sites end up vides links to a variety of electronic documents relating to
being defined by the crosshatched intersection of visa and research design and data collection methods, data analysis
clearance procedures, the interests of funding agencies, resources, and data analysis tools.
and intellectual debates within the discipline and its sub- The Handbook on Ethical Issues in Anthropology, originally
fields” (Gupta and Ferguson 1997, 11). Because there is a published in 1987, contains a series of chapters that trace
great demand for grants, not all topics of current interest the development and transformation of ethical reflection
can be funded, so some anthropologists pay for their re- by American anthropologists, from the early twentieth
search themselves by getting a job in the area where they century through the last years of the Cold War. In their in-
want to do fieldwork or by supplementing small grants out troductory chapter, coeditors Joan Cassell and Sue-Ellen
of their own pockets. Jacobs observe that “in the field, especially, situations may
Classic cultural anthropological fieldwork emphasized be so complex, involve so many parties and so much fac-
working “abroad”—that is, doing fieldwork in societies that tionalism, that it becomes difficult to decide what must be
were culturally and geographically distant from that of the done.” They also point out that “To improve the ethical ad-
ethnographer. This orientation bears undeniable traces of equacy of anthropological practice, we must consider not
its origins under European colonialism, but it continues to only exceptional cases but everyday decisions, and reflect
be a valuable means of drawing attention to ways of life and not only upon the conduct of others but also upon our own
parts of the world that elite groups in powerful Western na- actions.” Chapter 1 (by Murray L. Wax) traces ethical con-
tions have traditionally dismissed and marginalized. It also cerns of anthropologists from the late nineteenth century
forces the fieldworker to recognize differences that might through World War II and into the beginning of the Cold
not be so obvious at home. More recent discussions of an- War. In the early twentieth century, under the influence of
thropological fieldwork have drawn attention to the signifi- Boas, Wax observes that “Insofar as ‘ethics’ were topics of
cance of working “at home”—including paying attention to serious concern among fieldworking anthropologists, the
the forms of social differentiation and marginalization pres- central issues were relativism and intervention.” The “in-
ent in the society to which the ethnographer belongs. This tervention” they objected to came from colonial powers,
orientation has the virtue of emphasizing ethnographers’ businessmen or missionaries who threatened to damage
ethical and political accountability to those among whom the harmony of integrated individual cultures. Fieldworkers
they work, especially when the anthropologists are them- also struggled with their relationships with their inform-
selves members of the groups they study. Such an orienta- ants: “many felt constrained by the methodological ideal of
tion incorporates traditions of anthropological research that the natural scientist, who was intrinsically detached from
have developed in countries like Mexico, Brazil, India, and the objects of study.”
Russia, where fieldwork at home has long been the norm. During World War II, in the face of fascism, many an-
At the beginning of the twenty-first century, these develop- thropologists viewed working for the U.S. government as a
ments are helping to create “decolonized anthropology in a way to continue these ethical commitments. In the 1950s
258
and 1960s, however, Cold War politics changed attitudes. teaching ethics in anthropological fieldwork classes, and in
In particular, one Cold War U.S. government proposal, chapter 6, Cassell suggests how anthropologists might or-
Project Camelot, recommended that anthropologists and ganize a workshop on ethical problems encountered in field-
other social scientists be enlisted to collect field data that work settings.
could be useful for government intelligence purposes. In retrospect, many of the ethical dilemmas presented
When this plan became publicly known in 1965, an enor- in the Handbook reflect the concerns of Cold War anthropol-
mous scandal ensued, and the project was formally can- ogy, published 2 years before the fall of the Berlin Wall, in a
celled. However, as Wax notes, this scandal, as well as later world without the Internet. But other cases show the grow-
conflict over the war in Vietnam, led to the view of many ing importance of applied anthropology, especially medical
anthropologists that to be “ethical” meant to refuse to anthropology, dealing with ethical dilemmas encountered
accept funding or employment by any agencies of the U.S. by ethnographers who were now working alongside medi-
government. cal professionals with training and ethical perceptions often
As James N. Hill discusses in chapter 2, outrage over quite different from their own (see chapter 15). The inclu-
these matters led in the late 1960s to the creation of the sion of responses to these dilemmas by professionals from
first AAA code of ethics as well as to the formation of the other disciplines helped raise the level of ethical discussion
AAA Committee on Ethics (COE). The 1970s and 1980s were to a new level of sophistication, offering a new apprecia-
years when the attention to reflexivity and the critique of tion of the ethical complexities engendered by fieldwork in
positivist “natural science” gained ground among many new places.
anthropologists. The AAA Code of Ethics (officially called With the end of the Cold War, the global spread of cap-
the “Principles of Professional Responsibility”) has been italism, and the increase in global movements of wealth
revised periodically, most recently in 2012. The AAA Com- and things, people, and ideas (see chapter 13), the con-
mittee on Ethics still exists, but Hill notes that, after the Vi- text for ethical reflection in anthropology changed again.
etnam War ended, its focus changed, as “the entire issue Transformed theoretical understandings about culture
of secret and clandestine research passed (temporarily?) had undermined previous assumptions about the harmo-
into history.” By the early 1980s, the COE was considering nious integration of different cultures. Multisited ethnogra-
whether it ought to be involved in the ethical resolution of phy was emerging, and ethnographers increasingly found
employment grievances involving AAA members, but these themselves working with groups of informants who were
efforts were viewed as ineffectual and adjudication on such differently situated, both socially and geographically, from
matters was no longer considered appropriate for the COE. one another. Anthropologists also became increasingly in-
At the end of the 1980s, Hill concluded that the most im- volved in social media, and when the website of the AAA
portant task of the COE was educational, and he pointed was upgraded in 2012, a new ethics blog (http://ethics.
to the valuable contributions of the “Ethical Dilemmas” col- americananthro.org/about/) became available. Sponsored
umns that have been published regularly in the Anthropol- by the AAA Committee on Ethics, the site describes itself
ogy Newsletter since the 1970s. as “a new type of ethics blog post—a short description of
Chapters 3 and 4 of the Handbook are collections of case an ethics issue related to anthropology that is appearing in
studies from this column during the years when Sue-Ellen the news and other online media, accompanied by links to
Jacobs and Joan Cassell served as editors. Chapter 3 includes original source material.”
12 case studies published under Jacobs’s editorship. Each The site provides a list of topical keywords that link to pre-
case study was based on a specific problem communicated vious posts, as well as links to archives dating back to No-
to her by anthropologists that involved a particular ethical vember 2012. It also links to a full-text version of the 2012
issue. Readers were then invited to solve these dilemmas, Principles of Professional Responsibility (or “Ethics State-
drawing on the Principles of Professional Responsibility or ment”). The ethics statement includes seven principles: Do
other ethics-related resolutions passed by the members of No Harm; Be Open and Honest Regarding Your Work; Obtain
the AAA. The last three cases, however, focused on ethical Informed Consent and Necessary Permissions; Weigh Com-
matters that arose between anthropologists. Chapter 4 in- peting Ethical Obligations Due Collaborators and Affected
cludes an additional 12 ethical dilemmas, presented under Parties; Make Your Results Accessible; Protect and Preserve
Cassell’s editorship in a changed format: each case study is Your Records; and Maintain Respectful and Ethical Profes-
followed by a series of questions to the reader about pos- sional Relationships. The blog posts sometimes comment on
sible responses, and these questions are followed by re- these principles, raising questions of their applicability in the
sponses from anthropologists or ethicists asked by Cassell to twenty-first century; for instance, one recent post pointed
offer their views. In chapter 5, Jacobs shares her experiences out that the first principle—Do No Harm—provides no
259
guidance to the many anthropologists involved in advocacy operatives who might use the same information for tar-
work. The fourth principle clearly addresses ethical chal- geting Taliban operatives” (Caryl 2009). Indeed, it might
lenges presented to ethnographers working in a globalizing be used to target supposed Taliban sympathizers. As
post–Cold War world: although the primarily ethical obliga- Gusterson puts it, “The product generated by the Human
tions are said to be to research participants and vulnerable Terrain Teams is inherently double-edged” (Caryl 2009).
populations, the legitimacy of obligations to students, col- The interest of the military unit may not be the same as
leagues, employers, and funders is clearly acknowledged, the interest of the anthropologist or other social scientist
as are the challenges in balancing the competing obliga- embedded in a team. To whom would the anthropologist
tions to a range of stakeholders. Some of the elaborations complain if his or her research were being used for pur-
of each principle clearly reflect wisdom gleaned from the poses to which he or she objected?
earlier “ethical dilemmas” discussions, which have become Echoing Project Camelot, the Human Terrain System un-
only more important in the twenty-first century for applied dermines the integrity of all other anthropological research,
anthropologists working with professionals in other fields. which depends on the trust anthropologists develop with
Indeed, links to some of their professional codes of ethics the people with whom they work. If some anthropologists
are provided on the website. are working for the U.S. military, how can people be sure that
Many contemporary ethical challenges facing anthropol- a person claiming to be an anthropologist in their commu-
ogists in the twenty-first century are quite different from nity is not also working for the U.S. military?
those that led to the formulation of the first code of ethics Although the Human Terrain Teams project was ended in
nearly 50 years ago. And yet, as Hill anticipated, the issue September 2014, the questions it raised are still significant:
of “secret and clandestine research” has not entirely disap- Should anthropologists work for military organizations? Is it
peared. In the years following the terrorist attacks of Sep- better to stand on the sidelines and criticize or to enter into an
tember 11, 2001, the U.S. government once again became organization to try to effect change and improve the work and
involved in military conflicts abroad, and controversy risk being co-opted? Who “owns” anthropological knowledge?
erupted once again about whether anthropologists should These are not simple issues. What would you do?
get involved.
Anthropologists were particularly concerned about the
What Is Participant Observation? Participant obser-
Human Terrain System, a U.S. Army program that hired ci-
vation requires living as closely as possible to the people
vilian anthropologists to become part of small units of five
whose culture you are studying. Anthropologists who work
people embedded with U.S. combat brigades in Iraq and
among remote peoples in rain forests, deserts, or tundra
Afghanistan. These teams were intended to provide rele-
may need to bring along their own living quarters. In other
vant sociocultural information about the particular neigh-
cases, an appropriate house or apartment in the village,
borhood and village communities in which the U.S. military
neighborhood, or city where the research is to be done be-
was operating. Backed by an elaborate 24-hour research
comes the anthropologist’s home. In any case, living con-
center in the United States, the Human Terrain System
ditions in the field can themselves provide major insights
was an attempt to improve relations between U.S. military
into the culture under study. This is powerfully illustrated by
personnel and Iraqis and Afghans they might encounter,
the experiences of Charles and Bettylou Valentine, whose
to report on development needs, and to recommend cul-
field site was a poor neighborhood they called “Blackston,”
turally relevant strategic advice. The hope was that if U.S.
located in a large city in the northern United States (see
military forces had some understanding of the social and
EthnoProfile M3.1: Blackston). The Valentines lived for the
cultural context they were part of, there would be a reduc-
last field year on one-quarter of their regular income; during
tion in misunderstandings and unintentional insults and
the final 6 months, they matched their income to that of
ultimately less bloodshed. This program was instantly con-
welfare families:
troversial: was this an appropriate use of anthropological
knowledge? For five years we inhabited the same decrepit rat- and
A number of anthropologists were concerned that roach-infested buildings as everyone else, lived on the same
the integrity of the discipline would be compromised poor quality food at inflated prices, trusted our health and
by a nthropologists serving in military units, almost like our son’s schooling to the same inferior institutions, suf-
spies. Anthropologist Hugh Gusterson was quoted as fered the same brutality and intimidation from the police,
saying, “ ‘The prime directive is you do no harm to in- and like others made the best of it by some combination of
formants’. . . . Data collected by [Human Terrain Team] endurance, escapism, and fighting back. Like the dwellings
members can also be accessed by military intelligence of our neighbors, our home went up in flames several times,
260
EthnoProfile M3.1 EthnoProfile M3.2
Blackston El Barrio
Region: North America Region: North America
Nation: United States Nation: United States (New York City)
Population: 100,000 Population: 110,000
Environment: Urban ghetto Environment: Urban ghetto
Livelihood: Low-paying full-time and temporary jobs, Livelihood: Low-paying full-time and temporary jobs,
welfare selling drugs, welfare
0 .5 South Bronx
Ha
Political organization: Lowest level in a modern Political organization:
rle
Miles
m
nation-state Lowest level in a modern
Riv
e
Central
r
nation-state Harlem
For more information: Valentine, Bettylou. 1978. Hustling
Hudson River
and other hard work. New York: Free Press. For more information: East
Harlem
Bourgois, Philippe. 1995. In
search of respect: Selling crack Upper “El Barrio”
West Side East
in El Barrio. Cambridge: Cam- River
Central
bridge University Press.
Queens
Park Upper
East Side
including one disaster caused by the carelessness or ill will

of the city’s “firefighters.” For several cold months we lived
and worked in one room without heat other than what a
form of what he calls “inner-city apartheid” in the United
cooking stove could provide, without hot water or windows,
States (Bourgois 1995, 32).
and with only one light bulb. (Valentine 1978b, 5)
Not all field sites offer such a stark contrast to the

iddle-class backgrounds of many fieldworkers, and
m Multisited Fieldwork
indeed some can be almost luxurious. But physical and In many ways, Bourgois’s fieldwork in Spanish Harlem was
mental dislocation and stress can be expected anywhere. very much in keeping with the fieldwork tradition inherited
People from temperate climates who find themselves in from Malinowski and Boas. That is, he engaged in what re-
the tropics have to adjust to the heat; fieldworkers in the mains the most common mode of fieldwork in anthropology:
Arctic have to adjust to the cold. In hot climates especially, “the intensively-focused-upon single site of ethnographic
many anthropologists encounter plants, animals, insects, observation and participation” (Marcus 1995, 96). Much valu-
and diseases with which they have had no previous expe- able work continues to be done in this mode. But changes
rience. In any climate, fieldworkers need to adjust to local in the world in the past 40 years have led many anthropolo-
water and food. gists to undertake fieldwork projects that include more than
In addition, there are the cultural differences—which is a single site.
why the fieldworkers came. Yet the immensity of what they Multisited fieldwork focuses on cultural processes
will encounter is difficult for them to anticipate. Initially, just that are not contained by social, ethnic, religious, or na-
getting through the day—finding a place to stay and food to tional boundaries, and the ethnographer follows the pro-
eat—may seem an enormous accomplishment, but there are cess from site to site, often doing fieldwork at sites and with
also data to gather, research to do! Sometimes, however, the persons who traditionally were never subjected to ethno-
research questions never become separate from the living graphic analysis. As Marcus (1995) describes it, “Multi-sited
arrangements. Philippe Bourgois, who studied drug dealers
in East Harlem in New York City, had to learn to deal not only
with the violence of the drug dealers but also with the hos-
tility and brutality that white police officers directed toward multisited fieldwork Ethnographic research on cultural processes that
are not contained by social, ethnic, religious, or national boundaries, in
him, a white man living in El Barrio (see EthnoProfile M3.2: El
which the ethnographer follows the process from site to site, often doing
Barrio; Figure M3.2). His experiences on the street pressed fieldwork at sites and with persons who traditionally were never subjected to
him to consider how the situation he was studying was a ethnographic analysis.
261
FIGURE M3.2 El Barrio, the part of New York City in which Philippe Bourgois did his research, is a socially complex, dynamic
urban neighborhood.
research is designed around chains, paths, threads, con- herself puts it, “I moved through multiple places to con-
junctions, or juxtapositions of locations” as ethnographers duct research on the narratives of Bolivian nations as ex-
trace “a complex cultural phenomenon . . . that turns out perienced through several music performance contexts”
to be contingent and malleable as one traces it” (105–6). (Bigenho 2002, 7).
Multisited ethnographers follow people, things, metaphors,
plots, and lives (Marcus 1995, 107). Examples of this kind of
ethnography will appear throughout the book, but here is Collecting and Interpreting Data
one to start: Fieldwork is not just participating and observing—it also
Michelle Bigenho (2002) was interested in “authentic- involves writing. It seems as though fieldworkers always
ity” in Bolivian musical performances and in how Bolivian have a notebook somewhere handy and, whenever pos-
identities and music were connected. Studying this topic sible, jot down notes on what they are seeing, hearing,
took her to Bolivia for 2 years plus several subsequent doing, or wondering. These days, laptops, digital cameras,
summers, where she performed with one musical ensem- video cameras, and digital recorders are usually consid-
ble in La Paz, studied a nongovernmental organization in ered essential to accurate recording of what the ethnog-
La Paz dedicated to cultural projects related to music, and rapher is learning (Figure M3.4). We cannot really trust our
worked in two highland indigenous communities in the memories to keep track of the extraordinary range of in-
south. She also traveled to France to perform at an inter- formation that comes at us in the field, so effective note
national folk festival with the Bolivian ensemble in which taking is required. But note taking is not sufficient. The
she played (Figure M3.3). This kind of topic could not have quickly jotted scrawls in notebooks must be turned into
been pursued except as multisited ethnography. As she field notes, and as a result, anthropologists spend a lot of
262
FIGURE M3.3 Multisited field research is increasingly important in contemporary anthropology. As part of her research in Bo-
livia, Michelle Bigenho played violin with an ensemble in La Paz (left) and spent time in participant observation—here helping with
planting—while studying music in the small town of Yura (right).
and straightforward coding systems (e.g., Bernard 2011;

DeWalt and DeWalt 2011).
As fieldworkers type up their notes, places for further
inquiry become plain and a back-and-forth process begins.
The ethnographer collects information, writes it down,
thinks about it, analyzes it, and then takes new questions
and interpretations back to the people with whom he or she
is working to see if these questions and interpretations are
more accurate than the previous ones.
The Dialectic of Fieldwork: Interpretation and

Translation
Fieldwork in cultural anthropology is a risky business. Field-
workers not only risk offending their informants by misun-
derstanding their way of life but also face the shock of the
FIGURE M3.4 A nthropologists use different technologies unfamiliar and their own vulnerability. Indeed, they must
for different research purposes. Anthropologist Ryan Cook embrace this shock and cultivate this vulnerability if they are
videotapes the spectators and ritual performers at the Popo- to achieve any kind of meaningful understanding of their in-
catepetl volcano in Mexico.
formants’ culture.
In the beginning, fieldworkers can be reassured by some
of the insights that anthropological training provides. Since
their time in front of their computers, writing as complete all human beings are members of the same biological spe-
and coherent a set of notes as possible. Most ethnogra- cies, ethnographers can expect to find in all human groups
phers try to write up field notes on a daily basis and also the same range of variation with regard to such human po-
try to code the information, so that they can find it later. tentialities as intelligence. This can fortify them against eth-
There are very useful field manuals for neophyte ethnog- nocentric impulses by recalling “that if what we observe
raphers to consult to assist them in developing workable appears to be odd or irrational, it is probably because we do
263
not understand it and not because it is a product of a ‘savage’ fieldwork. Both fieldworker and informant may begin with
culture in which such nonsense is to be expected” (Green- little or nothing in the way of shared experience that could
wood and Stini 1977, 185). allow them to figure one another out with any accuracy. But
Anthropologist Michael Agar uses the expression “rich if they are motivated to make sense of one another and will-
points” for those unexpected moments when problems in ing to work together, steps toward valid interpretation and
cross-cultural understanding emerge. Rich points may be mutual understanding can be made.
words or actions that signal the gaps between the local peo- For example, traditional fieldwork often begins with col-
ple’s out-of-awareness assumptions about how the world lecting data on how people in the local community believe
works and those of the anthropologist. For Agar, rich points themselves to be related to each other. A trained anthropol-
are the raw material of ethnography, challenging researchers ogist comes to the field with knowledge of a variety of possi-
but also offering opportunities for insight. As he says, “it is this ble forms of social organization in mind. These ideas derive
distance between two worlds of experience that is exactly the in part from the anthropologist’s own personal experiences
problem that ethnographic research is designed to locate and of social relations, but they will also be based on research
resolve” (Agar 1996, 31). Ethnographers work hard to situate and theorizing about social relations by other anthropolo-
rich points within the local cultural world, continually testing gists. As the fieldworker begins to ask questions about social
their interpretations in a variety of settings, with different relations, he or she may discover that the informants have
people, to see if those interpretations are or are not confirmed. no word in their language that accurately conveys the range
of meaning carried by a term like kinship or ethnic group. This
Interpreting Actions and Ideas How does one go about does not mean that the anthropologist must give up. Rather,
interpreting the actions and ideas of other human beings? the anthropologist must enter into the dialectic process of
Paul Rabinow addressed this problem in a book based on interpretation and translation.
reconsideration of his own fieldwork experiences. In Reflec- In the dialectic of fieldwork, both anthropologist and
tions on Fieldwork in Morocco (1977), Rabinow suggested that informant are active agents. Each party tries to figure out
what goes on in ethnographic research is interpretation. As what the other is saying. For example, the anthropologist
we come to grasp the meaning of the other’s cultural self, we asks about “ethnic groups” using a term in the informants’
simultaneously learn something of the meaning of our own language that seems close to “ethnic group” in meaning. In-
cultural identity. formants then try to interpret the anthropologist’s question
The gulf between self and other may seem unbridgeable in a way that makes sense. That is, each informant has to
in the context of cross-cultural ethnography. Yet, anthropol- be reflexive, thinking about how people in his or her soci-
ogists and informants engaged in participant observation ety think about the topic that they believe is addressed by
share at least one thing: the fieldwork situation itself. They the anthropologist’s question. This thinking about thinking
are in physical proximity, observing and discussing the same is called reflexivity. Having formulated an answer, inform-
material objects and activities. At first, they may talk past ants respond in terms they think the anthropologist will un-
one another as each describes these activities from a dif- derstand. Now it is the anthropologist’s turn to interpret this
ferent perspective using a different language. However, all response, to decide if it makes sense and carries the kind of
cultures and languages are open enough to entertain a va- information he or she was looking for.
riety of viewpoints and a variety of ways to talk about them. If there is goodwill on the part of both, each party also
Continued discussion allows anthropologists and inform- tries to provide responses that make sense to the other. That
ants to search for ways to communicate about what is going is, anthropological fieldwork is also translation, and transla-
on around them. Any overlap or intersection that promotes tion is a complicated and tricky process, full of false starts
mutual understanding, however small, can form the founda- and misunderstandings. As time passes, each participant
tion on which anthropologist and informant may build a new learns more about the other: the anthropologist gains skill
intersubjective symbolic language of their own. This pro- at asking questions that make sense to the informant, and
cess of building a bridge of understanding between self and the informant becomes more skilled at answering those
other is what Rabinow (1977, 39) refers to as the dialectic of questions in terms relevant to the anthropologist. The va-
lidity of this ongoing translation is anchored in the setting
of ongoing cultural activities in which both anthropologist
and informant are participant observers. Out of this mutual
dialectic of fieldwork The process of building a bridge of understanding
effort comes knowledge about the informant’s culture that
between anthropologists and informants so that each can begin to under-
stand the other. is meaningful to both anthropologist and informant. This
reflexivity Critically thinking about the way one thinks, reflecting on one’s is new cultural knowledge, a hybrid product of common
own experience.
264
FIGURE M3.5 Daniel Bradburd
and Komachi camels packed for
moving.
understandings that emerges from the collaboration of an-

thropologist and informant. EthnoProfile M3.3
Informants are equally involved in this dialogue and may
end up learning as much or more about anthropologists as
anthropologists learn about them. But it is important to em-
Komachi (mid-1970s)
phasize that in field situations the dialogue is initiated by an- Region: Southwest Asia
thropologists. Anthropologists come to the field with their
Nation: Iran
own sets of questions, which are determined not by the field
Population: 550
situation but by the discipline of anthropology itself (see
Karp and Kendall 1982, 254). Furthermore, when anthropol- Environment: Varied—mountain
ogists are finished with a particular research project, they valleys, lowland wooded areas
TURKEY TURKMENISTAN
are often free to break off the dialogue with informants and Livelihood: Nomadic herders Caspian Ashkhabad
Sea
resume discussions with fellow professionals. The only links Political organization: Tehran
Baghdad
between these two sets of dialogues—between particular Part of modern nation-state AFGHANISTAN
IRAN
anthropologists and the people with whom they work and IRAQ
For more information: KUWAIT Komachi
among anthropologists in general—are the particular an- Bradburd, Daniel. 1998. Being Persian PAKISTAN
Gulf
thropologists themselves. there: The necessity of field- Bahrain Doha Abu Dhabi
In recent years, members of indigenous societies have work. Washington, DC: Smith- SAUDI
sonian Institution Press. ARABIA
begun to speak powerfully on their own behalf as political 0 50 100 OMAN
advocates for their people, as lawyers, as organizers, and Miles
as professionals. Language and other barriers often pre-

vent many such individuals from speaking to an audience of
professional scholars on complex topics, nor are their inter- such colleagues could become equal partners in “a conver-
ests necessarily the same as those of professional scholars. sation about research” in which they “bring their own ideas
Fieldwork thus involves differences of power and thereby of what counts as new knowledge” as well as their own ideas
places a heavy burden of responsibility on ethnographers. of how to measure the researcher’s accountability to those
They are accountable not only to their informants but also to among whom they work (Appadurai 2002, 281). Luke Eric
the discipline of anthropology, which has its own theoretical Lassiter’s work with Kiowa elders, discussed in Chapter 8, is
and practical concerns and ways of reasoning about ethno- a successful example of such collaboration.
graphic data. For these reasons, Arjun Appadurai calls for a Anthropologists feel strongly that their informants’
“deparochialization of the research ethic” that would involve identities should be protected. The need for protection is
collaboration with colleagues outside the United States such all the greater when informants belong to marginal and
as grassroots activists, who often lack the kinds of institu- powerless groups that might suffer retaliation from more
tional resources and professional experience that scholars powerful members of their society. However, because
in the United States take for granted. With the right support, some informants wish to express their identity and their
265
ideas openly, anthropologists have experimented with signs of activity in the camp. Finally, when it became clear
forms of ethnographic writing in which they serve primar- that they would not be moving that day, Bradburd began
ily as translators and editors of the voices and opinions of asking why they had not moved. The answer was ruz aqrab.
individual informants (e.g., Keesing 1982; Shostak 1981). In- When they looked up aqrab in the dictionary, the answer
creasingly, anthropologists working in their own societies made even less sense than the previous one: they were not
write about their fieldwork both as observers of others and moving because it was the day of the scorpion.
as members of the society they are observing (e.g., Foley
As was often the case, we felt as though we had moved one
1989; Kumar 1992).
step forward and two steps back. We had an answer, but
we hadn’t the faintest idea what it meant. We were pretty
The Dialectic of Fieldwork: An Example certain it didn’t have anything to do with real scorpions, be-
cause we hadn’t seen any. We were also pretty certain that
Daniel Bradburd writes about the give and take of cross-
we hadn’t heard any mention of them. So back we trudged
cultural learning in his discussion of fieldwork among the
to Qoli’s tent, and we started asking more questions. Slowly
Komachi, a nomadic people in Iran with whom he and his wife,
it became clear. The scorpion was not a real, living one; it
Anne Sheedy, lived in the mid-1970s (see Figure M3.5 and Eth-
was the constellation Scorpio, which Qoli later pointed out
noProfile M3.3: Komachi). Bradburd had gone to Iran to study
to us on the horizon. (Bradburd 1998, 41)
the process of active decision making among nomadic herd-
ing people, and he was therefore quite interested in when After more questioning and more thinking, Bradburd
people would move their camps and why they would do it. and Sheedy finally concluded that the Komachi believed it
His first experience with moving was not what he had ex- was bad luck to undertake a new activity on days when it
pected. After a month in one place, he started to hear talk appeared that Scorpio would catch the rising moon. On
about moving. Why? he asked. To be closer to the village and checking back with their informants, they found that their
because the campsite was dirty. When? Soon. When is soon? conclusion was correct, but they were still puzzled. On the
When Tavakoli comes. This answer made no sense until fur- day that they had been told the move would be the next day,
ther questioning revealed that Tavakoli was the son of the the Komachi in their camp had been fully aware that Scorpio
leader of the camp. and the rising moon would be in conjunction the next day.
Eventually, their hosts told them that the move would be Eventually, Bradburd and Sheedy decided that “ruz aqrab”
the next day; but when the next day came, there were no was a reasonable excuse for not moving, but they never did
FIGURE M3.6 Paul Rabinow’s reflections on his fieldwork experiences in a Moroccan vil-

lage much like this one led him to reconceptualize the nature of anthropological fieldwork.
266
EthnoProfile M3.4 As a first step in tracing the economic status of the middle
stratum in society, Rabinow suggested that Malik list his own
possessions. Malik appeared to be neither rich nor poor; in
Sidi Lahcen Lyussi fact, he considered himself “not well off.” “As we began to
make a detailed list of his possessions, he became touchy
Region: Northern Africa
and defensive. . . . It was clear that he was not as impover-
Nation: Morocco ished as he had portrayed himself. . . . This was confusing
Population: 900 and troubling for him. . . . Malik began to see that there was
Environment: Mountainous terrain a disparity between his self-image and my classification
system. The emergence of this ‘hard’ data before his eyes
Livelihood: Farming, some 0 300
livestock raising
SPAIN and through his own efforts was highly disconcerting for
Miles
Str. of Gibraltar
him” (Rabinow 1977, 117–18).
Political organization: Vil- ATLANTIC OCEAN
Rabat Malik’s easy understanding of himself and his world
lage in a modern nation-state Sidi Lahcen Casablanca
Lyussi had been disrupted, and he could not ignore the disrup-
For more information: Canary Marrakech
OUNTAINS
Islands ATLAS M tion. He would either have to change his self-image or find
Rabinow, Paul. 1977. Reflec- CO
some way to assimilate this new information about himself
C
tions on fieldwork in
RO
ALGERIA
into the old self-image. In the end, Malik managed to reaf-
MO
Morocco. Berkeley: University

of California Press. NI A firm his conclusion that he was not well off by arguing that
R ITA
AU MALI wealth lay not in material possessions alone. Although he
M
might be rich in material goods, his son’s health was bad,
his own father was dead, he was responsible for his mother
and unmarried brothers, and he had to be constantly vig-
figure out the real reason for not moving that day. In fact, ilant to prevent his uncle from stealing his land (Rabinow
over the course of many such experiences, Bradburd and 1977, 117–19).
Sheedy came to realize that the Komachi did not have specific What are the consequences of fieldwork for the field-
reasons for not moving. Rather, they still had one or another worker? Graduate students in anthropology who have
thing to do where they were, the weather was uncertain, the not yet been in the field sometimes develop an idealized
route to take was not clear yet, and so on. As a result of Brad- narrative about fieldwork: at first, the fieldworker is a bit
burd’s questions and the Komachi’s responses, his interpre- disoriented and potential informants are suspicious, but
tations and their responses to those, he gradually concluded uncertainty soon gives way to understanding and trust as
that the Komachi decision-making process was an attempt the anthropologist’s good intentions are made known and
to minimize the risks they had to take. Rather than being accepted. The fieldworker succeeds in establishing rap-
heroic nomads, masters of their fate, the Komachi made deport. In fact, the fieldworker becomes so well loved and
cisions only when they had to. trusted, so thoroughly accepted, that he or she is incorpo-
rated as an equal and allowed access to cultural secrets.
Presumably, all this happens as a result of the personal at-
The Effects of Fieldwork tributes of the fieldworker. If you have what it takes, you
Fieldwork changes both anthropologists and informants. will be taken in and treated like one of the family. If this
What kinds of effects can the fieldwork experience have on does not happen, you are obviously cut out for some other
informants? Anthropologists have not always been able to kind of work.
report on this. In some cases, the effects of fieldwork on in- But much more than the anthropologist’s personality is
formants cannot be assessed for many years. In other cases, responsible for successful fieldwork. Establishing rapport
it becomes clear in the course of fieldwork that the anthro- with the people being studied is an achievement of anthro-
pologist’s presence and questions have made the inform- pologist and informants together. Acceptance is problematic,
ants aware of their own cultural selves in new ways that are rather than ensured, even for the most gifted fieldworkers.
both surprising and uncomfortable. After all, fieldworkers are usually outsiders with no personal
As he reflected on his own fieldwork in Morocco, Rabinow ties to the community in which they will do their research.
recalled some cases in which his informants’ new reflexivity According to Karp and Kendall (1982), it is therefore not just
led to unanticipated consequences (Figure M3.6). One key naive to think that the locals will accept you as one of them
informant, Malik, agreed to help Rabinow compile a list of without any difficulty; it is also bad science.
landholdings and other possessions of the villagers of Sidi Rabinow recalled the relationship he formed with his first
Lahcen Lyussi (see EthnoProfile M3.4: Sidi Lahcen Lyussi). Moroccan informant, a man called Ibrahim, whom he hired
267
to teach him Arabic. Rabinow and Ibrahim seemed to get Multisited ethnography can complicate the picture by
along well together, and, because of the language lessons, simultaneously offering rich, fieldwork-based portraits of
they saw each other a great deal, leading Rabinow to think of other people living other lives as variously situated as AIDS
Ibrahim as a friend. When Rabinow planned a trip to another patients and corporate managers and by demonstrating,
city, Ibrahim offered to go along as a guide and stay with moreover, that members of these groups share important
relatives. This only confirmed Ibrahim’s friendliness in Rab- cultural commitments. In the best ethnographic writing,
inow’s eyes. But things changed once they arrived at their we can grasp the humanity—the greed, compassion, suf-
destination. Ibrahim told Rabinow that the relatives with fering, pleasure, confusions, and ambivalences—of the
whom he was to stay did not exist, that he had no money, people who have granted the anthropologist the privi-
and that he expected Rabinow to pay for his hotel room. lege of living with them for an extended period of time.
When Rabinow was unable to do so, however, Ibrahim paid Because of such experiences, it may become more natu-
for it himself. Rabinow was shocked and hurt by this experi- ral for us to talk about cultural differences by saying “not
ence, and his relationship with Ibrahim was forever altered. ‘they,’ not ‘we,’ not ‘you,’ but some of us are thus and so”
Rabinow (1977) remarks: “Basically I had been conceiving of (Smith 1982, 70).
him as a friend because of the seeming personal relation-
ship we had established. But Ibrahim, a lot less confusedly,
had basically conceptualized me as a resource. He was not The Production of Anthropological
unjustly situating me with the other Europeans with whom Knowledge
he had dealings” (29). Anthropologist David Hess (1997) defines fact as a widely
Rabinow’s experience illustrates what he calls the “shock accepted observation, a taken-for-granted item of common
of otherness.” Fieldwork institutionalizes this shock. Having knowledge (101–2). Ethnographers’ field notebooks will be
to anticipate culture shock at any and every turn, anthropol- full of facts collected from different informants, as well as
ogists sometimes find that fieldwork takes on a tone that is facts based on their own cultural experiences and profes-
anything but pleasant and sunny. For many anthropologists, sional training. But what happens when facts from these var-
what characterizes fieldwork, at least in its early stages, is ious sources contradict one another?
anxiety—the anxiety of an isolated individual with nothing Facts turn out to be complex phenomena. On the one
familiar to turn to, no common sense on which to rely, and hand, they assert that a particular state of affairs about
no relationships that can be taken for granted. There is a the world is true. On the other hand, reflexive analysis has
reason anthropologists have reported holing up for weeks taught us that who tells us that x is a fact is an extremely im-
at a time reading paperback novels and eating peanut butter portant thing to know. This is because, as we saw in Module
sandwiches. One of us (E. A. S.) recalls how difficult it was 1, facts do not speak for themselves. They speak only when
every morning to leave the compound in Guider, Cameroon. they are interpreted and placed in a context of meaning that
Despite the accomplishments of the previous day, she was makes them intelligible. What constitutes a cultural fact is
always convinced that no one would want to talk to her today ambiguous. Anthropologists and informants can disagree;
(see EthnoProfile 15.2: Guider). anthropologists can disagree among themselves; inform-
Good ethnography should allow readers to experience the ants can disagree among themselves. The facts of anthro-
informants’ full humanity. This privileged position, the ex- pology exist neither in the culture of the anthropologist
traordinary opportunity to experience “the other” as human nor in the culture of the informant. “Anthropological facts
beings while learning about their lives, is an experience that are cross-cultural, because they are made across cultural
comes neither easily nor automatically. It must be cultivated, boundaries” (Rabinow 1977, 152). In short, facts are not
and it requires cooperation between and effort from one’s just out there, waiting for someone to come along and pick
informants and oneself. We have made an important first them up. They are made and remade (1) in the field, (2) when
step if we can come to recognize, as Paul Rabinow (1977) did, fieldworkers reexamine field notes and reflect on the field
that “there is no primitive. There are other [people] living experience at a later time, and (3) when the fieldworkers
other lives” (151). write about their experiences or discuss them with other
anthropologists.
For Daniel Bradburd, fieldwork begins with “being there.”
culture shock The feeling, akin to panic, that develops in people living But simply being there is not enough. As Bradburd (1998)
in an unfamiliar society when they cannot understand what is happening
puts it, “my experiences among the Komachi shaped my
around them.
understanding of them, and that part of field experience
fact A widely accepted observation, a taken-for-granted item of common
knowledge. Facts do not speak for themselves but only when they are inter- consists of a constant process of being brought up short,
preted and placed in a context of meaning that makes them intelligible. of having expectations confounded, of being forced to think
268
very hard about what is happening, right now, with me and self-understanding in general. It ought to contribute to the
them, let alone the thinking and rethinking about those ex- domain of human wisdom that concerns who we are as
periences when they have—sometimes mercifully—passed” a species, where we have come from, and where we may
(161–62). After all, fieldwork is fieldwork—there are notes to be going.
be taken, interviews to be carried out, observations to make, Like all commentaries, the ethnographic record is and
interpretations to be made. There is also the transformation must be unfinished: human beings are open systems,
of the experiences of being there into what Bradburd calls human history continues, and problems and their possible
“elements of an understanding that is at once incomplete solutions change. There is no one true version of human life.
and impossible to complete, but also wonderfully capable For anthropologists, the true version of human life consists
of being improved” (164). According to Harry Wolcott (1999), of all versions of human life. This is a sobering possibility.
it is what ethnographers do with data—”making consid- It makes it appear that “the anthropologist is condemned
ered generalizations about how members of a group tend to a greater or lesser degree of failure” (Basham 1978, 299)
to speak and act, warranted generalizations appropriate for in even trying to understand another culture. Informants
collectivities of people rather than the usual shoot-from- would equally be condemned to never know fully even
the-hip stereotyping adequate for allowing us to achieve their own way of life. But total pessimism does not seem
our individual purposes” (262)—that makes fieldwork expe- warranted. We may never know everything, but it does not
rience different from just experience and turns it into doing follow that our efforts can teach us nothing. “Two of the
ethnography. fundamental qualities of humanity are the capacity to un-
Multisited fieldwork elaborates on and further compli- derstand one another and the capacity to be understood.
cates this experience because it involves being “here and Not fully certainly. Yet not negligibly, certainly. . . . There is
there.” In the course of the movement from site to site, no person on earth that I can fully understand. There is and
new facts come into view that would otherwise never be has been no person on earth that I cannot understand at
known, adding a further layer to the thinking and rethink- all” (Smith 1982, 68–69).
ing that all fieldwork sets in motion. What happens if you Moreover, as our contact with the other is prolonged and
find that your activism in support of the urban poor at one as our efforts to communicate are rewarded by the con-
site works against the interests of the indigenous people struction of intersubjective understanding, we can always
you have supported at a different site? “In conducting multi- learn more. Human beings are open organisms, with a vast
sited research,” Marcus (1995) says, “one finds oneself with ability to learn new things. This is significant, because even
all sorts of cross-cutting commitments” that are not easily if we can never know everything, it does not seem that our
resolved (113). capacity for understanding ourselves and others is likely to
be exhausted soon. This is not only because we are open
to change but also because our culture and our wider envi-
Anthropological Knowledge as Open-Ended ronment can change, and all will continue to do so as long
Cultivating reflexivity allows us to produce less distorted as human history continues. The ethnographic enterprise
views of human nature and the human condition, yet will never be finished, even if all nonindustrial ways of life
we remain human beings interpreting the lives of other disappear forever, all people move into cities, and every-
human beings. We can never escape from our humanity to one ends up speaking English. Such a superficial homoge-
some point of view that would allow us to see human ex- neity would mask a vast heterogeneity beneath its bland
istence and human experience from the outside. Instead, surface. In any case, given the dynamics of human exist-
we must rely on our common humanity and our interpre- ence, nothing in human affairs can remain homogeneous
tive powers to show us the parts of our nature that can be for long.
made visible.
If there truly is “no primitive,” no subsection of human-
ity that is radically different in nature or in capacity from Module Summary
the anthropologists who study it, then the ethnographic 1. Anthropological fieldwork has traditionally involved
record of anthropological knowledge is perhaps best un- participant observation, extended periods of close con-
derstood as a vast commentary on human possibility. As tact at a single site with members of another society.
with all commentaries, it depends on an original text—in Anthropologists were expected to carry out research in
this case, human experience. But that experience is am- societies different from their own, but in recent years
biguous, speaking with many voices, capable of supporting increasing numbers have worked in their own societies.
more than one interpretation. Growth of anthropological Each setting has its own advantages and drawbacks for
knowledge is no different, then, from the growth of human ethnographers.
269
2. Many contemporary anthropologists have begun to 7. The ethnographic record of anthropological knowledge
carry out fieldwork in a number of different sites. Such is perhaps best understood as a vast unfinished com-
multisited fieldwork is usually the outcome of following mentary on human possibility. We will surely never
cultural phenomena wherever they lead, often crossing learn all there is to know, but we can always learn more.
local, regional, and national boundaries in the process.
Such fieldwork allows anthropologists to understand
better many cultural processes that link people, things, For Review
metaphors, plots, and lives that are not confined to a
1. Explain the basic elements of ethnographic fieldwork.
single site.
2. Describe multisited fieldwork and explain why many
3. Contemporary ethnographers still take field notes by
anthropologists undertake it.
hand, but most also rely on electronic forms of data
collection, including laptop computers, digital cameras, 3. What is the dialectic of fieldwork, and why is it impor-
video cameras, and digital recorders. Because all this tant for ethnographic research?
information needs to be organized and interpreted,
4. Using the examples in the text, explain how ruptures of
ethnographers tack back and forth between their
communication in fieldwork may turn out to have posi-
various sources of data, seeking feedback whenever
tive consequences for the ethnographer.
possible from the people among whom they work
before finally writing up and publishing their findings in 5. What are some of the ways that fieldwork may affect
ethnographies. informants?
4. When human beings study other human beings, scien- 6. What are some of the ways that fieldwork affects the
tific accuracy requires that they relate to one another researcher?
as human beings. Successful fieldwork involves anthro-
7. What is the importance of “being there” for ethno-
pologists who think about the way they think about
graphic fieldwork?
other cultures. Informants also must reflect on the way
they and others in their society think and try to convey 8. In your view, what are the strengths and weaknesses of
their insights to the anthropologist. This is basic to the ethnographic fieldwork?
reflexive approach to ethnographic research, which
sees participant observation as a dialogue about the
meaning of experience in the informant’s culture. Field- Key Terms
workers and informants work together to construct an
culture shock 268 multisited fieldwork 261
intersubjective world of meaning.
dialectic of participant
5. Taking part in ethnographic fieldwork has the potential fieldwork 264 observation 257
to change informants and researchers in sometimes fact 268 reflexivity 264
unpredictable ways. In some cases, anthropologists
fieldwork 257
have worked with their informants to bring about social
changes, although not all anthropologists agree that
this is appropriate. In other cases, anthropologists
Suggested Readings
argue that their main task is to figure out and explain
to others how people in particular places at particular Bernard, H. Russell. 2011. Research methods in anthropology,
moments engage with the world. 5th ed. Lanham, MD: AltaMira Press. An enduring classic of
methods books, detailed and thorough.
6. Because cultural meanings are intersubjectively con- Bigenho, Michelle. 2002. Sounding indigenous: Authenticity
structed during fieldwork, cultural facts do not speak in Bolivian musical performance. New York: Palgrave Mac-
for themselves. They speak only when they are inter- millan. A recent multisited ethnography that follows Bolivian
preted and placed in a context of meaning that makes and non-Bolivian members of a Bolivian musical ensemble
them intelligible. Multisited fieldwork complicates this through different settings on more than one continent, chroni-
because it involves the anthropologist in crosscutting cling varied understandings of what counts as “indigenous”
commitments in different contexts, where the same Bolivian music.
cultural facts may be differently understood or valued.
270
Bradburd, Daniel. 1998. Being there: The necessity of fieldwork. about voyaging, fieldwork, self-knowledge, philosophy, and
Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution Press. An engag- much more. It is a challenging read in some places but highly
ing personal study of how the many seemingly small details rewarding overall.
of experience during field research add up to anthropological Rabinow, Paul. 1977. Reflections on fieldwork in Morocco.
understanding. Berkeley: University of California Press. An important,
Lévi-Strauss, Claude. 1974. Tristes tropiques. New York: Pocket brief, powerfully written reflection on the nature of field-
Books. Originally published in French in 1955, this book (with work. Very accessible and highly recommended.
an untranslatable title) is considered by some the greatest Valentine, Bettylou. 1978. Hustling and other hard work. New
book ever written by an anthropologist (although not neces- York: Free Press. An innovative, provocative, and now classic
sarily a great anthropology book). This is a multifaceted work study of African American inner-city life. Reads like a good novel.
271
9
Why is understanding
human language
important?
Only human beings have symbolic language, and it is so deeply part
of our lives that we rarely even think about how unusual it is. In this
chapter, you will learn about what makes human symbolic language
different from other forms of animal communication. You will also
e xplore its deep connections to other symbolic dimensions of social
and cultural life, including the ways your patterns of thought, your
sense of self, and even your personality are shaped by experiences in
different kinds of symbolically shaped settings.
CHAPTER OUTLINE
What Makes Language Contexts of Use? What Is Raciolinguistics?
Distinctively Human? Ethnopragmatics What Is Lost If a Language
How Are Language and What Happens When Dies?
Culture Related? Languages Come into How Are Language and Truth
How Do People Talk about Contact? Connected?
Experience? What Is the Difference between
Chapter Summary
What Does It Mean to “Learn” a Pidgin and a Creole?
a Language? How Is Meaning Negotiated? For Review
How Does Context Affect What Is Linguistic Inequality? Key Terms
Language? What Is Language Ideology? Suggested Readings
How Does Language Affect How Have Language Ideologies
How We See the World? Been at Work in Studies of
Pragmatics: How Do We African American Speech?
Study Language in
Communication takes many forms, including sign language. 273

274 CHAPTER 9: WHY IS UNDERSTANDING HUMAN LANGUAGE IMPORTANT?
A s we saw in Chapter 3, primates depend on learned

behavior to survive, and some primate species
appear to have developed their own cultural traditions.
Openness indicates that human language is produc-
tive. Speakers of any given language not only can create
new messages but also can understand new messages
Primates also communicate with one another in a vari- created by other speakers. Someone may have never said
ety of ways, most obviously by relying on vocal calls to to you “Put this Babel fish in your ear,” but knowing En
alert one another about significant aspects of their envi- glish, you can understand the message. Openness might
ronment, from presence of food to the threat of a preda- also be defined as “the ability to understand the same
tor. In the past, some anthropologists hypothesized that thing from different points of view” (Ortony 1979, 14).
human language was simply an elaboration of the call In language, this means being able to talk about the same
system of our ancestors, but this hypothesis proved to be experiences from different perspectives, to paraphrase
incorrect, as we shall see below. using different words and various grammatical construc-
In Chapter 8, we defined a symbol as something that tions. Indeed, it means that the experiences themselves
stands for something else. Human symbolic language is can be differently conceived, labeled, and discussed. In
perhaps the clearest illustration of the central role played this view, no single perspective would necessarily emerge
by symbols in all of human culture. Indeed, it is the as more correct in every respect than all others.
dependence of human language on symbols that makes The importance of openness for human verbal com-
it such a flexible and creative system of c ommunication— munication is striking when we compare, for example,
and far more powerful than any primate call system could spoken human language to the vocal communication
ever be. So when anthropologists talk about human lan- systems (or call systems) of monkeys and apes. Biologi-
guage, they always mean human symbolic language. This cal anthropologist Terrence Deacon (1977) pointed out
is why we define language as the system of arbitrary that, in addition to spoken symbolic language, modern
symbols human beings use to encode and communicate human beings possess a set of six calls: laughing, sob-
about their experience of the world and of one another. bing, screaming with fright, crying with pain, groaning,
The role played by symbols in human language sets it and sighing. Building on these insights, linguistic an-
apart from the apparently nonsymbolic communication thropologist Robbins Burling (2005) also emphasizes
systems of other living species. Symbolic language has the difference between call systems and symbolic lan-
also made many singular human achievements possible. guage: “Language . . . is organized in such utterly dif-
And yet, language is double-edged: it allows people to ferent ways from primate or mammalian calls and it
communicate with one another, but it also creates bar- conveys such utterly different kinds of meanings, that
riers to communication. There are some 3,000 mutu- I find it impossible to imagine a realistic sequence by
ally unintelligible languages spoken in the world today which natural selection could have converted a call
(Figure 9.1). This chapter explores the ambiguity, limita- system into a language. . . . We will understand more
tions, and power of human language and its connections about the origins of language by considering the ways
to other forms of human symbolic activity. in which language differs form the cries and gestures of
human and nonhuman primates than by looking for
ways in which they are alike” (16). In Deacon’s view,
What Makes Language human calls appear to have coevolved alongside symbolic
Distinctively Human? language, together with gestures and the changes in
speech rhythm, volume, and tonality that linguists call
In 1966, the anthropological linguist Charles Hockett speech prosody. This would explain why calls and speech
listed 16 different design features of human language that, integrate with one another so smoothly when we com-
in his estimation, set it apart from other forms of animal municate vocally with one another.
communication. Six of these design features seem espe- Nonhuman primates can communicate in rather
cially helpful in defining what makes human language subtle ways using channels of transmission other than
distinctive: openness, displacement, arbitrariness, dual- voice. However, these channels are far less sophisti-
ity of patterning, semanticity, and prevarication. cated than, say, American Sign Language. Burling points
out that human sign languages share all the features of
spoken human language, except for the channel of com-
munication, which is visual rather than auditory. Ape
symbol A mode of signification in which the sign bears no intrinsic con- call systems, by contrast, contain between 15 and 40,
nection to that which it represents. Symbols embody the design feature of
arbitrariness. depending on the species; and the calls are produced
language The system of arbitrary symbols human beings use to encode only when the animal finds itself in a situation including
and communicate about their experience of the world and one another. such features as the presence of food or danger, friendly
What Makes Language Distinctively Human? 275
FIGURE 9.1 In 1918, Krazy Kat asks the question, “Why is ‘lenguage’?”
interest and the desire for company, or the desire to mark and their meanings appear fixed, and there is no easy
a location or to signal pain, sexual interest, or the need slippage between sounds and what they stand for from
for maternal care. If the animal is not in the appropriate one population to the next.
situation, it does not produce the call. At most, it may Arbitrariness is evident in the design feature of lan-
refrain from uttering a call in a situation that would nor- guage duality of patterning. Human language, H ockett
mally trigger it. In addition, nonhuman primates cannot claimed, is patterned on two different levels: sound and
emit a signal that has some features of one call and some meaning. On the first level, the arrangement of the small
of another. For example, if the animal encounters food set of meaningless sounds (or phonemes) that character-
and danger at the same time, one of the calls takes prece- ize any particular language is not random but system-
dence. For these reasons, the call systems of nonhuman atically patterned to create meaning-bearing units (or
primates are said to be closed when compared to open morphemes): in English, the final /ng/ sound in song, for
human languages. example, is never found at the beginning of a sound
Closed call systems also lack displacement, our human sequence, although other languages in the world do
ability to talk about absent or nonexistent o bjects and allow that combination. The result is that from any
past or future events as easily as we discuss our imme- language’s set of phonemes (in English, there are some
diate situations. Although nonhuman primates clearly 36 phonemes) a very large number of correctly formed
have good memories and some species, such as chim- morphemes can be created. On the second level of pat-
panzees, seem to be able to plan social action in advance terning, however, the rules of grammar allow for the
(such as when hunting for meat), they cannot use their arrangement and rearrangement of these single mor-
call systems to discuss such events. phemes into larger units—utterances or sentences—that
Closed call systems also lack arbitrariness, the fact can express an infinite number of meanings (“The boy bit
that there is no universal, necessary link between par- the dog” uses the same morphemes as “The dog bit the boy,”
ticular linguistic sounds and particular linguistic mean- but the meaning is completely different). Since Hockett
ings. For example, the sound sequence /boi/ refers to first wrote, many linguists have suggested that there are
a “young male human being” in English but means more than just two levels of patterning in language—
“more” or “many” in Fulfulde, a major language in that there are levels of morphemes, of sentence structure
northern Cameroon. One aspect of linguistic creativ- (syntax), meaning (semantics), and use (pragmatics). In
ity is the free, creative production of new links between each case, patterns that characterize one level cannot be
sounds and meanings. Thus, arbitrariness and openness reduced to the patterns of any other level but can serve
imply each other: if all links between sound and mean- as resources for the construction of more comprehensive
ing are open, then any particular links between par-
ticular sounds and particular meanings in a particular
language must be arbitrary. In nonhuman primate call grammar A set of rules that aim to describe fully the patterns of linguistic
systems, by contrast, links between the sounds of calls usage observed by speakers of a particular language.
levels. For example, units at the level of sound, patterned time, no human language can be restricted only to the
in one way, can be used to create units of meaning (or sounds that come out of people’s mouths. Languages
morphemes) at a different level, patterned in a different are clearly cultural products embedded in meanings
way. Morphemes, in turn, can be used to create units at and behavioral patterns that stretch beyond individual
a different level (sentences) by means of syntactic rules bodies, across space, and over time. Anthropologists
that are different from the rules that create morphemes, have long been particularly attentive to the multiple
and syntactic rules are again different from the rules that powerful dimensions of language, especially when eth-
combine sentences into discourse. Ape call systems, by nographic fieldwork in societies presented them with
contrast, appear to lack multilevel patterning of this the challenge of learning unwritten languages without
kind (Wallmann 1992). formal instruction. At the same time, anthropologists
Arbitrariness shows up again in the design fea- who transcribed or tape-recorded speech could lift it
ture of semanticity—the association of linguistic sig- out of its cultural context to be analyzed on its own.
nals with aspects of the social, cultural, and physical Their analyses revealed grammatical intricacies and
world in which the speakers live. People use language complexities suggesting that language might be a good
to refer to, and make sense of, and talk about objects model for the rest of culture. It also became obvious
and processes in their world (think about the special- that the way people use language provides important
ized vocabulary used by baseball fans in the United clues to their understanding of the world and of them-
States as they dispute the way an umpire has called a selves. Indeed, some theories of culture are explicitly
pitch). Nevertheless, any linguistic description of real- based on ideas taken from linguistics, the scientific
ity is bound to be somewhat arbitrary because . . . (Se- study of language.
manticity is not the same thing as semantics, which As with the culture concept, the concept of “lan-
refers to the formal study of meaning relations within guage” has regularly involved a distinction between
a particular language.) Language and languages. Language with a capital L (like
Perhaps the most striking consequence of linguistic Culture with a capital C) has often been viewed as an
openness is the design feature prevarication. Hockett’s abstract property belonging to the human species as a
(1963, 10) remarks about this design feature deserve whole, not to be confused with the specific languages
particular attention: “Linguistic messages can be false, of concrete groups of people. This distinction initially
and they can be meaningless in the logician’s sense.” enabled the recognition that all human groups pos-
In other words, not only can people use language to sessed fully developed languages rather than “primi-
lie, but also utterances that seem perfectly well formed tive,” “broken,” or otherwise defective forms of vocal
grammatically may yield nonsense. An example is this communication. Today, however, linguistic anthropol-
sentence invented by linguist Noam Chomsky: “Col- ogists realize that totalizing views of “languages” can
orless green ideas sleep furiously” (1957, 15). This is be as problematic as totalizing views of “cultures.” The
a grammatical sentence on one level—the right kinds difficulties associated with demarcating the bound-
of words are used in the right places—but on another aries between one language and another or with dis-
level it contains multiple contradictions. The ability tinguishing between dialects and languages become
of language users to prevaricate—to make statements particularly obvious in studies of pidgins and creoles,
or ask questions that violate convention—is a major as we will see.
consequence of open symbolic systems. Apes using But drawing boundaries around particular lan-
their closed call systems can neither lie nor formulate guages are only one challenge. Attempting to define what
theories. language can be used for—the functions it performs—
can also be a point of debate. Many philosophers and
linguists—indeed, many ordinary speakers—view lan-
guage as primarily a vehicle for information transfer
How Are Language about some state of affairs in the world. And speakers
and Culture Related? certainly do use language for this purpose: Hockett’s
design feature of semanticity points to this possibil-
Human language is a biocultural phenomenon. The ity, as we saw. But the referential function is only one
human brain and the anatomy of the mouth and throat way to make use of language. At least since the work
make language a biological possibility. At the same of Russian linguist Roman Jakobson (1960), linguis-
tic anthropologists have insisted that language must
be seen as multifunctional. Other functions of language
linguistics The scientific study of language. recognized by Jakobson included the expressive function
(which conveys the speaker’s feelings); the conative func- which indexes, or points to, the speech that is charac-
tion (which shapes the message for its recipient); the teristic of a particular region of the United States); and
poetic function (which involves word play with elements (3) symbolism, a mode of signification in which the sign
of the message itself); the phatic function (which uses (or symbol) bears no intrinsic connection to that which
speech to reinforce ongoing communicative links be- it represents. Symbols exhibit the design feature of arbi-
tween conversational partners); and the metalinguistic trariness; that is, there is no necessary link between, say,
function (which demonstrates our ability to talk about the pattern of stars and stripes on the flag of the United
the way we talk, demonstrating the operation of human States of America and the territorial unit for which it
reflexivity in the way we monitor our speech and that of stands). Thus, arbitrary links between symbols and
other people). what they signify must be learned.
For example, I may use the referential function of One key strength of Peirce’s modes of signification
language to attach the English word “thunderstorm” is that they provide the theoretical apparatus needed
to features of the physical world. If I say to you, “I am to investigate the operations of semanticity; that is, for
sorry that the thunderstorm interrupted your picnic,” analyzing how language gets outside our heads and
I am using the expressive function of language to let into the world. As anthropologist Webb Keane ob-
you know how I feel, and also perhaps using the cona- serves, Peirce’s “three part model of the sign included
tive function of language to indicate that I sympathize the objects of signification” (2003, 413). This differen-
with your disappointment. On the other hand, it may be tiates Peirce’s semiotics from the work of the influential
that my comment about the thunderstorm is only small linguist Ferdinand de Saussure (2013), whose two-part
talk about the weather, intended to keep you involved model of the arbitrary link between sound image and
in an ongoing conversation with me, which is a phatic meaningful concept was located entirely inside the brain
use of language. Should I add the observation that “Per- and was deliberately cut off from the wider world.
haps ‘thunderstorm’ is not the correct word to describe Peirce’s three-part model of the sign, moreover, is not
the weather, considering how little rain fell,” I would be limited to language but can also encompass meaningful
showing reflexive awareness of my own speech, making relations conveyed by material objects and relations in
use of the metalinguistic function. As linguistic anthro- the world. And because Peirce’s signs continually gener-
pologist Laura Ahearn explains, “All functions are always ate new signs as they are drawn into relations with one
present in each speech event, Jakobson argues, but in another, Keane views Peirce’s theoretical framework as
certain cases, one function may predominate over all the a valuable way of tracing the meaningful connections
others” (2017, 21–22). between words and things that are at the core of human
If we take a broad view of human communication as cultural relations. That is, “the Peircean model of the
the transfer of information from one person to another, sign . . . can be taken to entail sociability, struggle,
it immediately becomes clear that humans can commu- historicity, and contingency. . . . Peirce offers a way of
nicate without the use of spoken words. People com- thinking about the logic of signification that displays
municate with one another nonverbally all the time, its inherent vulnerability to causation and contingency,
sending messages with the clothes they wear, the way as well as its openness to further causal consequences,
they walk, or how long they keep other people waiting without settling for the usual so-called ‘materialist’ re-
for them. Studies of this multidimensional communi- ductionisms” (2003, 413). The possibilities opened up
cation are usually called semiotics, which refers to the by Peircean semiotics have been taken up not only by
study of meaningful signs and their use. In recent years, linguistic anthropologists (e.g., S ilverstein 1976) but
linguistic anthropologists have been attracted by the also by cultural anthropologists like Keane who study
rich and suggestive approach to semiotics developed by material culture, as well as by some archaeologists (e.g.,
the American pragmatic philosopher Charles Sanders Preucel 2010).
Peirce. Especially important has been Peirce’s distinc- The symbolic nature of human language makes it
tion between three modes of signification: (1) iconicity, a flexible and creative system of communication. The
a mode of signification in which the sign (or icon) looks role played by symbols in human language sets it apart
like that which it represents (for example, the stylized from the apparently nonsymbolic communication sys-
image of a moving watch face or hourglass that appears tems of other living species. Thus, when anthropologists
on your computer screen indicates the passage of time
while an operation is being performed); (2) indexical-
ity, a mode of signification in which the sign (or index) icon A sign that looks like that which it represents.
points to, or is beside, or is causally linked to that which index A sign that points to, or is beside, or is causally linked to that which
it signifies (for example, the verbal expression “y’all” it signifies.
FIGURE 9.2 Locations of societ-

ies whose EthnoProfiles appear in
Chapter 9.
0 250 500
Miles
BRAZIL
PERU
Aymara
Aymara
Lake Titicaca
La Paz
BOLIVIA
AL
TI
PL
AN
PA
O
RA
GU
AY
talk about human language, they always mean human To a native speaker of French, this sentence (especially
symbolic language. when uttered at the end of a meal) has the nonsensical
Many people often equate language with spoken lan- meaning “I am a pregnant [male] animal.” Alternatively,
guage (speech), but it is important to distinguish lan- if uttered by a man who has just consumed a lot of wine,
guage from speech. It is also important to remember that it means “I’m drunk.”
English can be communicated in writing, Morse code, Learning a second language is often frustrating
or American Sign Language, to name just three nonspo- and even unsettling; someone who once found the
ken media. Nevertheless, all human linguistic commu- world simple to talk about suddenly turns into a bab-
nication, regardless of the medium, depends on more bling fool. Studying a second language, then, is less a
than words alone. Native speakers of a language share matter of learning new labels for old objects than it is
not just vocabulary and grammar but also a number of of learning how to identify new objects that go with
assumptions about how to speak that may not be shared new labels. The student must also learn the appropri-
by speakers of a different language. Students learning ate contexts in which different linguistic forms may
a new language discover early on that word-for-word be used: a person can be “full” after eating in English
translation from one language to another does not work. but not in French. Knowledge about context is cultural
Sometimes there are no equivalent words in the second knowledge.
language; but even when there appear to be such words,
a word-for-word translation may not mean in language B
what it meant in language A. For example, when English How Do People Talk about Experience?
speakers have eaten enough, they say “I’m full.” This Each natural human language is adequate for its speak-
may be translated directly into French as “Je suis plein.” ers’ needs, given their particular way of life. Speakers of
South China Sea
Str
THAILAND
ait
BRUNEI
of
M
al
ac
MALAYSIA
ca
Su
m
ra
at
Borneo
INDIAN INDONESIA
Dinka OCEAN Djakarta Java Sea
0 250 500 Java
Java
Miles
Mbuti
le
LIBYA Ni
Re
dS
CHAD
ea
Khartoum
ERITREA
Nile
Java
Blu
SUDAN
C.A.R.
e
Nile
ite
Wh
ETHIOPIA
Mo
C.A.R.
u nt
REPUBLIC
ain Nile
GABON OF
DEMOCRATIC 0 200 400
CONGO
REPUBLIC OF Miles
Kinshasa CONGO
Lake
Tanganyika
TIC OCEAN
ANGOLA Lubumbashi
ATLAN
0 200 400
Miles ZAMBIA
a particular language tend to develop larger vocabular- narrowly or how widely these terms should be speci-
ies to discuss those aspects of life that are of importance fied. In part, the answer depends on whether the re-
to them. The Aymara, who live in the Andes of South search is primarily focused on a particular language or
America, have invented hundreds of different words for on the particular group of people who happen to speak
the many varieties of potato they grow (see Figure 9.2 that language (or languages). A ccording to Ahearn,
and EthnoProfile 9.1: Aymara). By contrast, speakers of “Within linguistic anthropology, the most influen-
English have created an elaborate vocabulary for discuss- tial alternative to ‘speech community’ is the notion of
ing computers. However, despite differences in vocabu- ‘community of practice’” (2017, 132). Especially influ-
lary and grammar, all natural human languages ever ential has been a definition of community of practice de-
studied by linguists prove to be equally complex. Just vised by linguistic anthropologists Penelope Eckert and
as there is no such thing as a primitive human culture, Sally McConnell-Ginet:
there is no such thing as a primitive human language.
A community of practice is an aggregate of people
Traditionally, languages are associated with con-
who come together around mutual engagement in
crete groups of people called speech communities.
an endeavor. Ways of doing things, ways of talking,
But, as Laura Ahearn points out, “complications set beliefs, values, power relations—in short, practices—
in . . . once we start trying to specify exactly what we emerge in the course of this mutual endeavor. As a
mean by ‘speech’ and by ‘community’ (2017, 120). As social construct, a community of practice is different
Ahearn observes, the definitions of these terms have from the traditional community, primarily because
varied over time; they have varied among formal lin- it is defined simultaneously by its membership and
guists, sociolinguists, and linguistic anthropologists; by the practice in which that membership engages.
and today there is still no overall agreement as to how (1992, 464)
of speaking. These efforts are countered by pressures

EthnoProfile 9.1 to negotiate shared codes for communication within
larger social groups. In this way, language patterns are
Aymara produced, imitated, or modified through the activity
of speakers.
Region: South America
There are many ways to communicate our experi-
Nation: Bolivia, Peru, Chile ences, and there is no absolute standard favoring one
Population: 2,000,000 way over another. Some things that are easy to say in
Environment: High mountain lake basin language A may be difficult to say in language B, yet
Livelihood: Peasant farmers
other aspects of language B may appear much simpler
than equivalent aspects of language A. For example,
Political organization: 0 250 500
Preconquest state societies Miles English ordinarily requires the use of determiners
conquered first by Inkas and BRAZIL
(a, an, the) before nouns, but this rule is not found in all
PERU
later by Spanish; today, part languages. Likewise, the verb to be, called the “copula”
Aymara
of a modern nation-state Lake Titicaca
La Paz
by linguists, is not found in all languages, although
For more information: BOLIVIA
the relationships we convey when we use to be in
Miracle, Andrew. 1991. AL
TI English may still be communicated. In English, we might
PL
Aymara joking behavior. Play
say “There are many people in the market.” Translating
AN
and Culture 4:144–52. PA

O
RA
GU
AY this sentence into Fulfulde, the language of the Fulbe
of northern C ameroon, we get “Him’be boi ‘don nder
luumo,” which, word for word, reads “people-many-
Ahearn argues that the great advantage of thinking there-in-market” (Figure 9.3). No single Fulfulde word
about a speech community as a community of prac- corresponds to the English are or the.
tice is that it supports forms of research that “illustrate Differences across languages are not absolute. In
the emergent nature of communities and the insepara- Chinese, for example, verbs never change to indicate
bility of language from actual social contexts” (2017, tense; instead, separate expressions referring to time
133). Such studies reveal the way different members are used. English speakers may conclude that Chinese
of the community make use of linguistic resources in speakers cannot distinguish among past, present, and
different ways. Consequently, there is a tension in lan- future. This structure seems completely different from
guage between diversity and commonality. Individuals English structure. But consider such English sentences
and subgroups attempt to use the varied resources of as “Have a hard day at the office today?” and “Your in-
a language to create unique, personal voices or ways terview go well?” These abbreviated questions, used in
FIGURE 9.3 Him’be boi ‘don

nder luumo.
IN THEIR OWN WORDS
Cultural Translation
Linguistic translation is complicated and beset relationship between language and human knowledge,
with pitfalls, as we have seen. Cultural both among ourselves as professional a nthropologists
translation, as David Parkin describes, requires and laypeople, and among peoples of other cultures. The
knowledge not only of different grammars but study is at once both reflexive and critical.
also of the various different cultural contexts in The hidden influences at work in language use attract
the most interest. For example, systems of greetings
which grammatical forms are put to use.
have many built-in elaborations that differentiate subtly
between those who are old and young, male and female,
rich and poor, and powerful and powerless. When physi-
Cultural translation, like translation from one language to
cians discuss a patient in his or her presence and refer
another, never produces a rendering that is semantically
to the patient in the third-person singular, they are in
and stylistically an exact replica of the original. That much
effect defining the patient as a passive object unable to
we accept. What is not often recognized, perhaps not
enter into the discussion. When anthropologists present
even by the translators themselves, is that the very act
elegant accounts of “their” people that fit the demands of
of having to decide how to phrase an event, sentiment, or
a convincing theory admirably, do they not also leave out
human character engages the translator in an act of cre-
[of] the description any consideration of the informants’
ation. The translator does not simply represent a picture
own fears and feelings? Or do we go too far in making such
made by an author. He or she creates a new version, and
claims, and is it often the anthropologist who is indulged
perhaps in some respects a new picture—a matter that is
by the people, who give him or her the data they think
often of some great value.
is sought, either in exchange for something they want or
So it is with anthropologists. But while this act of cre-
simply because it pleases them to do so? If the latter, how
ation in reporting on “the other” may reasonably be re-
did the anthropologist’s account miss this critical part of
garded as a self-sustaining pleasure, it is also an entry into
the dialogue?
the pitfalls and traps of language use itself. One of the most
interesting new fields in anthropology is the study of the Source: Parkin 1990, 290–91.
informal English, are very similar to the formal patterns

of Chinese and other languages of southeastern Asia What Does It Mean
(Akmajian et al. 1979, 194–95).
This kind of overlap between two very different
to “Learn” a Language?
languages demonstrates at least four things. First, it Years ago studies of child language amounted to a
shows the kind of cross-linguistic commonality that list of errors that children make when attempting to
forms the foundation both for learning new languages gain what Chomsky calls linguistic competence, or
and for translation. Second, it highlights the variety mastery of adult grammar. For some time, however,
of expressive resources to be found in any single lan- linguists who study children’s verbal interactions in
guage. We learn that English allows us to use either social and cultural contexts have drawn attention to
tense markers on verbs (-s, -ed) or unmarked verbs what children can do very well. “From an early age
with adverbs of time (have + today). Third, we learn they appear to communicate very fluently, producing
that the former grammatical pattern is associated with utterances which are not just remarkably well-formed
formal usage, whereas the latter is associated with in- according to the linguist’s standards but also appro-
formal usage. Fourth, it shows that the same structures priate to the social context in which the speakers find
can have different functions in different languages. themselves. Children are thus learning far more about
As the linguistic anthropologist Elinor Ochs observed
long ago, most cross-cultural differences in language
use “turn out to be differences in context and/or fre- linguistic competence A term coined by linguist Noam Chomsky to
quency of occurrence” (1986, 10). refer to the mastery of adult grammar.
language than rules of grammar. [They are] acquiring

communicative competence” (Elliot 1981, 13). EthnoProfile 9.2
Communicative competence, or mastery of adult
rules for socially and culturally appropriate speech, is Java
a term introduced by American anthropological lin-
guist Dell Hymes (1972). As an anthropologist, Hymes Region: Southeastern Asia
objected to Chomsky’s notion that linguistic competence Nation: Indonesia
consisted only of being able to make correct judgments Population: 120,000,000
of sentence grammaticality (Chomsky 1965, 4). Hymes
Environment: Tropical island
observed that competent adult speakers do more than
Livelihood: Intensive rice South China Sea
follow grammatical rules when they speak. They are also
Str
cultivation THAILAND
ait
BRUNEI
of
able to choose words and topics of conversation appro-
M
ala
Political organization: MALAYSIA
cc
priate to their social position, the social position of the
a
Highly stratified state
person they are addressing, and the social context of
Su
m
ra
For more information:
at
Borneo
interaction. Geertz, Clifford. 1960. The
INDIAN INDONESIA
religion of Java. New York: OCEAN Djakarta Java Sea
Free Press.
How Does Context Affect Language? 0 250
Miles
500
Java
Java
Anthropologists are very much aware of the influence of

context on what people choose to say. For example, con-
sider the issue of using personal pronouns appropriately
when talking to others. In English, the problem almost
never arises because native speakers address all people as Geertz first did fieldwork in Java, he discovered that it was
“you.” But any English speaker who has ever tried to learn impossible to say anything in Javanese without also com-
French has worried about when to address an individual municating your social position relative to the person
using the second-person plural (vous) and when to use the to whom you are speaking. Even a simple request—like
second-person singular (tu). To be safe, most students use “Are you going to eat rice and cassava now?”—required
vous for all individuals because it is the more formal term that speakers know at least five different varieties of the
and they want to avoid appearing too familiar with native language to communicate socially as well as to make the
speakers whom they do not know well. But if you are request (Figure 9.4). This example illustrates the range of
dating a French person, at which point in the relationship diversity present in a single language and how different
does the change from vous to tu occur, and who decides? varieties of a language are related to different subgroups
Moreover, sometimes—for example, among u niversity within the speech community.
students—the normal term of address is tu (even among
strangers); it is used to indicate social solidarity. Native
speakers of English who are learning French wrestle with
How Does Language Affect
these and other linguistic dilemmas. Rules for the appro- How We See the World?
priate use of tu and vous seem to have nothing to do with During the first half of the twentieth century, two Ameri-
grammar, yet the choice between one form and the other can anthropological linguists, Edward Sapir and Ben-
indicates whether the speaker is someone who does or jamin Whorf, observed that the grammars of different
does not know how to speak French. languages often described the same situation in differ-
But French seems quite straightforward when ent ways. They concluded that language has the power to
compared with Javanese, in which all the words in a sen- shape the way people see the world. This claim has been
tence must be carefully selected to reflect the social rela- called the linguistic relativity principle, or the “Sapir–
tionship between the speaker and the person addressed Whorf hypothesis.” This principle has been highly
(see EthnoProfile 9.2: Java). In the 1950s, when Clifford controversial because it is a radical proposition that is
difficult to test and, when it has been tested, the results
have been ambiguous.
communicative competence A term coined by anthropological linguist The so-called strong version of the linguistic rela-
Dell Hymes to refer to the mastery of adult rules for socially and culturally tivity principle is also known as linguistic determinism. It
appropriate speech.
is a totalizing view of language that reduces patterns of
linguistic relativity principle A position, associated with Edward Sapir
and Benjamin Whorf, that asserts that language has the power to shape the thought and culture to the grammatical patterns of the
way people see the world. language spoken. If a grammar classifies nouns in male
Speaking to Complete
persons of: Level “Are you going to eat rice and cassava now?” sentence
Menapa
pandjenengan badé .
Very high position 3a pandjenengan dahar
. dahar
. sekul kalijan
kaspé samenika?
menapa badé
. kalijan samenika
Menapa sampéjan
badé
. neda. sekul
High position 3 sekul
kalijan kaspé
samenika?
Same position, Napa sampéjan

2 napa sampéjan adjéng neda
. kaspé saniki adjéng neda
. sekul
not close
lan kaspé saniki?
Same position, Apa sampéjan arep

casual 1a lan neda
. sega lan kaspé
acquaintance saiki?
apa arep sega saiki
Close friends of
any rank; also to Apa kowé arep
1 kowé mangan mangan sega lan
lower status
(basic language) kaspé saiki?
FIGURE 9.4 The dialect of nonnoble, urbanized, somewhat educated people in central Java in the 1950s (Geertz 1960).
and female gender categories, for example, linguistic de- possible to draw firm boundaries around speech commu-
terminists claim that speakers of that language are forced nities (which it is not), every language provides its native
to think of males and females as radically different kinds speakers with alternative ways of describing the world.
of beings. By contrast, a language that makes no gram- Finally, in most of the world’s societies, people learn to
matical distinctions on the basis of gender supposedly speak more than one language fluently. Yet people who
trains its speakers to think of males and females as ex- grow up bilingual do not also grow up unable to reconcile
actly the same. If linguistic determinism is correct, then two contradictory views of reality. Indeed, bilingual chil-
a change in grammar should change thought patterns: if dren ordinarily benefit from knowing two languages, do
English speakers replaced he and she with a new, gender- not confuse them, can switch readily from one to another,
neutral third-person singular pronoun, such as te, then, and even appear to demonstrate greater cognitive flexibil-
linguistic determinists predict, English speakers would ity on psychological tests than do monolinguals (Elliot
begin to treat men and women as equals. 1981, 56) (Figure 9.5).
There are a number of problems with linguistic de- In the face of these objections, other researchers offer
terminism. In the first place, there are languages such a “weak” version of the linguistic relativity principle that
as Fulfulde in which only one third-person pronoun is rejects linguistic determinism but continues to claim
used for males and females (o); however, male-dominant that language shapes thought and culture. Thus, gram-
social patterns are quite evident among Fulfulde speak- matical gender might not determine a male-dominant
ers. In the second place, if language determined thought social order, but it might facilitate the acceptance of
in this way, it would be impossible to translate from one such a social order because the grammatical distinction
language to another or even to learn another language between he and she might make separate and unequal
with a different grammatical structure. Because human gender roles seem “natural.” Because many native speak-
beings do learn foreign languages and translate from one ers of English also are strong promoters of gender equal-
language to another, the strong version of the linguistic ity; however, the shaping power of grammar would seem
relativity principle cannot be correct. Third, even if it were far too weak to merit any scientific attention.
intriguing, particularly when translators must render

features that are grammatically encoded in one language
into a second language in which they are not encoded,
or vice versa (Slobin 2003).
For example, an English speaker who is trying to say
“I like fast food” in Spanish will have to use a passive
encoding—me gusta la comida rápida (“fast food pleases
me.”). This encoding is not easy for many English speak-
ers to learn, precisely because it is not the standard
English way to encode the thought.
Dedre Gentner and Susan Goldin-Meadow (2003)
point out that some researchers still take a traditional
Whorfian approach, viewing language as a lens through
FIGURE 9.5 Canada is officially a bilingual country, and signs which people view the world. Others think of language
are in both French and English.
as a tool kit, a set of resources that speakers make use
of to build more elaborate conceptual structures. Still
Neither Sapir nor Whorf favored linguistic deter- others think of language as a category maker, influenc-
minism. Sapir argued that language’s importance lies in ing the way people classify experiences and objects in
the way it directs attention to some aspects of experi- the world. They note that the research that produces the
ence rather than to others. He was impressed by the fact most consistent evidence of the influence of language on
that “it is generally difficult to make a complete divorce thought comes from those who view language as a tool
between objective reality and our linguistic symbols of kit—that is, as a set of resources that speakers make use
reference to it” (Sapir [1933] 1966, 9, 15). Whorf ’s views of for conceptual or communicative purposes (Gentner
have been more sharply criticized by later scholars. His and Goldin-Meadow 2003, 10). Nevertheless, they em-
discussions of the linguistic relativity principle are com- phasize that defining the research question in such vari-
plex and ambiguous. At least part of the problem arises able ways means that “we are unlikely to get a yes-or-no
from Whorf ’s attempt to view grammar as the linguistic answer to the whole of Whorf ’s thesis. But if we have
pattern that shapes culture and thought. Whorf ’s con- delineated a set of more specific questions for which the
temporaries understood grammar to refer to rules for answer is no to some and yes to others, we will have
combining sounds into words and words into sentences. achieved our goal” (12).
Whorf believed that grammar needed to be thought of in
broader terms (Schultz 1990), but he died before work-
ing out the theoretical language to describe such a level.
Pragmatics: How Do We Study
In recent years, interest in the “Whorfian question” Language in Contexts of Use?
has revived, and scholars have recognized that there are Pragmatics can be defined as the study of language in
several different ways to ask about the relationship of the context of its use. Each context offers limitations and
language to thought. Especially exciting is the new per- opportunities concerning what we may say and how we
spective that comes from focusing on the influence of may say it. Everyday language use is thus often character-
language in pragmatic contexts of use. Dan Slobin’s ized by a struggle between speakers and listeners over
“thinking for speaking” hypothesis, for example, sug- definitions of context and appropriate word use. Lin-
gests that the influence of linguistic forms on thought guistic anthropologist Michael Silverstein (1976, 1985)
may be greatest when people prepare to speak to others was one of the first to argue that the referential meaning
on a specific topic in a specific setting. “One fits one’s of certain expressions in language cannot be determined
thoughts into available linguistic forms. . . . ‘ Thinking unless we go beyond the boundaries of a sentence and
for speaking’ involves picking those characteristics that place the expressions in a wider context of use. Two
(a) fit some conceptualization of the event, and (b) are kinds of context must be considered. Linguistic context
readily encodable in the language” (Slobin 1987, 435). refers to the other words, expressions, and sentences that
Slobin points out that related challenges are faced by surround the expression whose meaning we are trying
speakers involved in “thinking for writing” or “think- to determine. The meaning of it in the sentence “I really
ing for translating.” Thinking for translating is especially enjoyed it” cannot be determined if the sentence is con-
sidered on its own. However, if we know that the previ-
ous sentence was “My aunt gave me this book,” we have
pragmatics The study of language in the context of its use. a linguistic context that allows us to deduce that it refers
to this book. Nonlinguistic context consists of objects and

activities that are present in the situation of speech at the
same time we are speaking. Consider the sentence “Who
is that standing by the door?” We need to inspect the
actual physical context at the moment this sentence is
uttered to find the door and the person standing by the
door and thus give a referential meaning to the words
who and that. Furthermore, even if we know what a door
is in a formal sense, we need the nonlinguistic context
to clarify what counts as a door in this instance (e.g., it
could be a rough opening in the wall) (Figure 9.6).
By going beyond formal grammatical analysis, prag-
matics directs our attention to discourse, understood
as a stretch of speech longer than a sentence united by a
common theme. Discourse may be a series of sentences
uttered by a single individual or a series of rejoinders in a
conversation among two or more speakers. Many linguis-
tic anthropologists accept the arguments of M. M. Bakhtin
(1981) and V. N. Voloshinov (see, e.g., Voloshinov [1926]
1987) that the series of verbal exchanges in conversation is
the primary form of discourse. In this view, the speech of
any single individual, whether a simple yes or a book-length
dissertation, is only one rejoinder in an ongoing dialogue.
When Michael Silverstein and his colleagues consid-
ered pragmatics and discourse from the point of view of
the multifunctionality of language—particularly in terms
of reflexive metalinguistic commenting on our own lan-
guage production—they became interested in metaprag-
matic discourse as well: that is, in reflexive commentary
concerning language in the context of use (Silverstein
1993). We will explore these matters more closely when
we address the topic of language ideologies.
Ethnopragmatics
FIGURE 9.6 To answer the question “What is that on the
Linguistic anthropologists pay attention not only to the door?” requires that we examine the actual physical context
immediate context of speech, linguistic and nonlinguis- at the moment we are asked the question to try to determine
what “that” refers to. Is it the locks? the door handles? the studs
tic, but also to broader contexts that are shaped by un- on the door? Also, what part of the structure is the “door”?
equal social relationships and rooted in history (Hill
and Irvine 1992; Brenneis and Macauley 1996). Alessan-
dro Duranti (1994) calls this ethnopragmatics, “a study If mutual understanding is shaped by shared routine
of language use which relies on ethnography to illumi- activity and not by grammar, then communication is pos-
nate the ways in which speech is both constituted by and sible even if the people interacting with one another speak
constitutive of social interaction” (11). Such a study fo- mutually unintelligible languages. All they need is a shared
cuses on practice, human activity in which the rules of sense of “what is going on here” and the ability to negoti-
grammar, cultural values, and physical action are all con- ate successfully who will do what (Hanks 1996, 234). Such
joined (Hanks 1996, 11). Such a perspective locates the mutually coengaged people shape communicative practices
source of meaning in everyday routine social activity, or
habitus, rather than in grammar. As a result, phonemes,
morphemes, syntax, and semantics are viewed as linguis- discourse A stretch of speech longer than a sentence united by a common
theme.
tic resources people can make use of, rather than rigid
ethnopragmatics The study of language use that relies on ethnography
forms that determine what people can and cannot think to illuminate the ways in which speech is both constituted by and constitu-
or say (see Module 4). tive of social interaction.
that involve spoken language but also include values and converse or argue about moral and political issues. This
shared habitual knowledge that may never be put into may still be the case, to some extent, when communities
words. Because most people in most societies regularly of speakers who engage regularly with one another in
engage in a wide range of practical activities with differ- practical activities do not all speak the same languages,
ent subgroups, each one will also end up knowledgeable or speak them equally fluently. Sometimes, however, po-
about a variety of different communicative practices and tential parties to a verbal exchange find themselves shar-
the linguistic habits that go with them. For example, a col- ing little more than physical proximity to one another.
lege student might know the linguistic habits appropriate Such situations arise when m embers of communities
to dinner with her parents, to the classroom, to worship with radically different language traditions and no his-
services, to conversations in the dorm with friends, and tory of previous contact with one another come face to
to her part-time job in a restaurant. Each set of linguistic face and are forced to communicate. There is no way to
habits she knows is called a discourse genre. Because our predict the outcome of such enforced contact on either
student simultaneously knows a multiplicity of different speech community, yet from these new shared experi-
discourse genres she can choose among when she speaks, ences, new forms of practice, including a new form of
her linguistic knowledge is characterized by what Bakhtin language—pidgin—may develop.
called heteroglossia (Bakhtin 1981). “When the chips are down, meaning is negotiated”
For Bakhtin, heteroglossia is the normal condition (Lakoff and Johnson 1980, 231). The study of pidgin
of linguistic knowledge in any society with internal divi- languages is the study of the radical negotiation of new
sions. Heteroglossia describes a coexisting multiplicity meaning, the production of a new whole (the pidgin
of linguistic norms and forms, many of which are an- language) that is different from and reducible to none of
chored in more than one social subgroup. Because we the languages that gave birth to it. The shape of a pidgin
all participate in more than one of these subgroups, we reflects the context in which it arises—generally one of
inevitably become fluent in many varieties of language, colonial conquest or commercial domination. Vocabu-
even if we speak only English! Our capacity for hetero- lary is usually taken from the language of the dominant
glossia is an example of linguistic openness: it means group, making it easy for that group to learn. The system
that our thought and speech are not imprisoned in a of pronunciation and sentence structure may be simi-
single set of grammatical forms, as linguistic determin- lar to the subordinate language (or languages), how-
ists argued. Indeed, if our college student reflects on the ever, making it easier for subordinated speakers to learn.
overlap as well as the contrasts between the language Complex grammatical features marking the gender or
habits used in the dorm with those used in the restau- number of nouns or the tenses of verbs tend to disap-
rant, she might well find herself raising questions about pear (Holm 1988).
what words really mean. To the extent, however, that her
habitual ways of speaking are deeply rooted in everyday
routine activity, they may guide the way she typically
What Is the Difference between
thinks, perceives, and acts. And to that extent, the lin- a Pidgin and a Creole?
guistic relativity hypothesis may be correct—not on the Pidgins are traditionally defined as reduced languages
level of grammatical categories but on the level of dis- that have no native speakers. They develop, in a single
course (Hanks 1996, 176, 246; Schultz 1990). generation, between groups of speakers that possess
distinct native languages. When speakers of a pidgin
language pass that language on to a new generation,
What Happens When linguists have traditionally referred to the language as
a creole. As linguists studied pidgins and creoles more
Languages Come into closely, they discovered that the old distinction between
Contact? pidgins and creoles did not seem to hold up. In the
Pacific, for example, linguists have discovered pidgin
In local communities where they know each other well, dialects, pidgin languages used as main languages of per-
speakers and listeners are able, for the most part, to manently settled groups, and pidgins that have become
draw on knowledge of overlapping language habits to native languages. Moreover, creolization can take place
at any time after a pidgin forms, creoles can exist without
having been preceded by pidgins, pidgins can remain
pidgins for long periods and undergo linguistic change
pidgin A language with no native speakers that develops in a single
generation between members of communities that possess distinct native without acquiring native speakers, and pidgin and creole
languages. varieties of the same language can coexist in the same
society (Jourdan 1991, 192ff.). In fact, it looks as if het-

eroglossia is as widespread among speakers of pidgins
and creoles as among speakers of other languages.
How Is Meaning Negotiated?

More information has been gathered about the histori-
cal and sociocultural contexts within which pidgins first
formed. Here, as elsewhere in linguistic anthropology,
the focus has turned to communicative practice. From
this perspective, creolization is likely when pidgin speak-
ers find themselves in new social contexts requiring a
FIGURE 9.7 Tok Pisin, a pidgin language that developed in
new language for all the practical activities of everyday
New Guinea following colonization by English speakers, has
life; without such a context, it is unlikely that creoles will become a major medium of communication in New Guinea.
emerge. Accordingly, a pidgin is now defined as a sec- The news in Tok Pisin is available on the Internet at http://www.
ondary language in a speech community that uses some radioaustralia.net.au/tokpisin/
other main language, and a creole is understood as a

main language in a speech community, whether or not it
has native speakers (Jourdan 1991, 196). of pidgin who remain illiterate may never be able to
Viewing pidgin creation as a form of communicative master the colonial tongue and may find themselves ef-
practice means that attention must be paid to the role fectively barred from equal participation in the civic life
of pidgin creators as agents in the process (Figure 9.7). of their societies.
As we negotiate meaning across language barriers, it ap-
pears that all humans have intuitions about which parts
of our speech carry the most meaning and which parts What Is Language Ideology?
can be safely dropped. Neither party to the negotiation, Building on earlier work on linguistic inequality, lin-
moreover, may be trying to learn the other’s language; guistic anthropologists in recent years have developed a
rather, “speakers in the course of negotiating commu- focus on the study of language ideology—ways of rep-
nication use whatever linguistic and sociolinguistic resenting the intersection “between social forms and
resources they have at their disposal, until the shared forms of talk” (Woolard 1998, 3). Although the study
meaning is established and conventionalized” (Jourdan of language ideology discloses speakers’ sense of beauty
1991, 200). or morality or basic understandings of the world, it
also provides evidence of the ways in which our speech
is always embedded in a social world of power differ-
What Is Linguistic Inequality? ences. Language ideologies are markers of struggles be-
tween social groups with different interests, revealed in
Pidgins and creoles turn out to be far more complex what people say and how they say it. The way people
and the result of far more active human input than we monitor their speech to bring it into line with a par-
used to think, which is why they are so attractive to lin- ticular language ideology illustrates that language ide-
guists and linguistic anthropologists as objects of study. ologies are “active and effective . . . they transform the
Where they coexist, however, alongside the language of material reality they comment on” (Woolard 1998, 11).
the dominant group (e.g., Hawaiian Pidgin English and In settings with a history of colonization, where groups
English), they are ordinarily viewed as defective and in- with different power and different languages coexist
ferior languages. Such views can be seen as an outgrowth in tension, the study of language ideologies has long
of the situation that led to the formation of most of the been significant (Woolard 1998, 16). The skills of lin-
pidgins we know about: European colonial domina- guistic anthropologists especially suit them to study
tion. In a colonial or postcolonial setting, the language language ideologies because their linguistic training
of the colonizer is often viewed as better than pidgin allows them to describe precisely the linguistic features
or creole languages, which are frequently thought to be
broken, imperfect versions of the colonizer’s language.
The situation only worsens when formal education, the language ideology A marker of struggles between social groups with dif-
ferent interests, revealed in what people say and how they say it. To employ
key to participation in the European-dominated soci- a language ideology is to make value judgments about other people’s speech
ety, is carried out in the colonial language. Speakers in a context of domination and subordination.
(e.g., phonological, morphological, or syntactic) that (1972) and his colleagues found such claims incred-
become the focus of ideological attention and their ible and undertook research of their own, which dem-
training in cultural analysis allows them to explain how onstrated two things. First, they proved that the form
those linguistic features come to stand symbolically for of English spoken in the inner city was not defective
a particular social group. pseudolanguage. Second, they showed how a change in
Building on early work on linguistic inequality, lin- research setting permitted inner-city African American
guistic anthropologists have devoted much attention children to display a level of linguistic sophistication that
to the study of language ideology. Language ideology the psychologists had never dreamed they possessed.
marks struggles between social groups with different in- When African American children were in the class-
terests, revealed in what people say and how they say room (a European American–dominated context)
it. Typically, a language ideology takes one language being interrogated by European American adults about
variety as the standard against which all other variet- topics of no interest to them, they said little. This did
ies are measured, positively or negatively. To employ a not necessarily mean, Labov argued, that they had no
language ideology is to make value judgments about language. Rather, their minimal responses were better
other people’s speech in a context of domination and understood as defensive attempts to keep threatening
subordination, and such a standard may be applied to European American questioners from learning any-
any language, not just pidgins and creoles. As linguistic thing about them. For the African American children,
anthropologist Kathryn Woolard puts it, language ide- the classroom was only one part of a broader racist cul-
ology represents the intersection “between social forms ture. The psychologists, because of their ethnocentrism,
and forms of talk.” had been oblivious to the effect this context might have
Although the study of language ideology discloses on their research.
speakers’ sense of beauty or morality or basic under- Reasoning that reliable samples of African A merican
standings of the world, it also reveals the ways in which speech had to be collected in settings where the racist
our speech is always embedded in a social world of pressure was lessened, Labov and his colleagues con-
power differences. The way people monitor their speech ducted fieldwork in the homes and on the streets of the
to bring it into line with a particular language ideology inner city. They recorded enormous amounts of speech
illustrates that language ideologies “are active and effec- in African American English (AAE) produced by the same
tive . . . they transform the material reality they com- children who had had nothing to say when questioned
ment on” (Woolard 1998, 11). In settings with a history in the classroom. Labov argued that AAE was a variety
of colonization, where groups with different power and of English that had certain rules not found in S tandard
different languages coexist in tension, the study of lan- English. This is a strictly linguistic difference: most
guage ideologies has long been significant (Woolard middle-class speakers of Standard English would not
1998, 16). The skills of linguistic anthropologists espe- use these rules, but most African American speakers of
cially suit them to study language ideologies because AAE would. However, neither variety of English should
their linguistic training allows them to describe precisely be seen as “defective” as a result of this difference. This
the linguistic features (e.g., phonological, morphologi- kind of linguistic difference, apparent when speakers of
cal, or syntactic) that become the focus of ideological two varieties converse, marks the speaker’s membership
attention and their training in cultural analysis allows in a particular speech community. Such differences dis-
them to explain how these linguistic features come to tinguish the language habits of most social subgroups in
stand symbolically for a particular social group. a society, like that of the United States, that is character-
ized by heteroglossia.
From the perspective of communicative practice,
How Have Language Ideologies
however, AAE is distinctive because of the historical and
Been at Work in Studies of African sociocultural circumstances that led to its creation. For
American Speech? some time, linguists have viewed AAE as one of many
In the 1960s, some psychologists claimed that African creole languages that developed in the New World
American children living in urban areas of the north- after Africans were brought there to work as slaves on
ern United States suffered from linguistic deprivation. plantations owned by Europeans. Dominant English-
They argued that these children started school with a speaking elites have regarded AAE with the same dis-
limited vocabulary and no grammar and thus could not dain that European colonial elites have accorded creole
perform as well as European American children in the languages elsewhere. Because African Americans have
classroom—that their language was unequal to the chal- always lived in socially and politically charged con-
lenges of communication. Sociolinguist William Labov texts that questioned their full citizenship, statements
IN THEIR OWN WORDS
Varieties of African American English
The school board of Oakland, California, gained have been a part of language and education debates
national attention in December 1996 when its around AAE and the furor that surrounds them since the
members voted to recognize Ebonics as an official late 1970s. Then the Ann Arbor school district received a
second language. What they called Ebonics is also court order to train teachers on aspects of AAE to prop-
known as Black English Vernacular (BEV), Black erly assess and teach children in their care.
Like any language and dialect, African American va-
English (BE), African American English Vernacular
rieties of English—ranging from that spoken by children
(AAEV), and African American English (AAE). The
and some adults with limited education to those spoken
school board decision generated controversy
by adults with advanced degrees—are based on the cul-
both within and outside the African American
tural, social, historical and political experiences shared
community because it seemed to be equating
by many US people of African descent. This experience
Ebonics with other “official second languages,” is one of family, community and love as well as racism,
such as Spanish and Chinese. This implied poverty and discrimination. Every African American does
that Standard English was as much a “foreign not speak AAE. Moreover, some argue that children who
language” to native speakers of Ebonics as it speak the vernacular typically grow up to speak both AAE
was to native speakers of Spanish and Chinese as well as mainstream varieties of English. It is therefore
and that Oakland school students who were not surprising that the community separates its views of
native speakers of Ebonics should be entitled not AAE, ranging from loyalty to abhorrence, from issues sur-
only to the respect accorded native Spanish- or rounding the literacy education of their children. Unfor-
Chinese-speaking students but also, perhaps, to tunately, society’s ambivalent attitudes toward African
the same kind of funding for bilingual education. American students’ cognitive abilities, like Jensen’s 1970s
The uproar produced by this dispute caused the deficit models and the 1990s’ The Bell Curve, suggest that
when it comes to African American kids, intelligence and
school board to amend the resolution a month
competence in school can be considered genetic.
later. African American linguistic anthropologist
African American children who speak the vernacular
Marcyliena Morgan’s commentary highlights
form of AAE may be the only English-speaking children
one issue that many disputants ignored: namely,
in this country who attend community schools in which
that the African American community is not
teachers not only are ignorant of their dialect but refuse
monoglot in Ebonics but is in fact characterized to accept its existence. This attitude leads to children being
by heteroglossia. marginalized and designated as learning disabled. The edu-
cational failure of African American children can, at best, be
only partially addressed through teacher training on AAE.
After sitting through a string of tasteless jokes about the When children go to school, they bring not only their home-
Oakland school district’s approval of a language educa- work and textbooks but also their language, culture and
tion policy for African American students, I realize that identity. Sooner rather than later, the educational system
linguists and educators have failed to inform Americans must address its exclusion of cultural and dialect difference
about varieties of English used throughout the country in teacher training and school curriculum.
and the link between these dialects and culture, social
Source: Morgan 1997, 8.
class, geographic region and identity. After all, linguists
about their language habits are inevitably thought to surroundings were too meager to allow normal lan-
imply something about their intelligence and culture. guage development. The work of Labov and his col-
Those psychologists who claimed that inner-city A frican leagues showed that the children were not linguistically
American children suffered from linguistic deprivation, deprived, were not stupid, and participated in a rich
for example, seemed to be suggesting either that these linguistic culture. But this work itself became controver-
children were too stupid to speak or that their cultural sial in later decades when it became clear that the rich
both the oppression of slavery and the resistance to that

oppression (Morgan 1995, 339).
What Is Raciolinguistics?
Over 40 years ago, Claudia Mitchell-Kernan described
African Americans as “bicultural” and struggling to de-
velop language habits that could reconcile “good” E nglish
and AAE (1972, 209). That struggle continues at the begin-
ning of the twenty-first century, but the arena of struggle
has expanded and become more complex. For linguistic
anthropologist H. Samy Alim and others, this new com-
FIGURE 9.8 The language habits of African Americans are plexity was indexed by the 2008 election of President
not homogeneous but vary according to gender, social class,
Barack Obama, the United States’ “first ‘Black-language-
region, and situation.
speaking’ president” (2016a, 1). As Alim notes, the met-
alinguistic commentary that surrounded the way Barack
African American language and culture described was Obama talks “revealed much about language and racial
primarily that of adolescent males. These young men politics in the United States” (2016a, 1). Alim and Geneva
saw themselves as bearers of authentic African American Smitherman explored this commentary in Articulate While
language habits and dismissed African Americans who Black: Barack Obama, Language, and Race in the U.S. (Alim
did not speak the way they did as “lames.” This implied and Smitherman 2012), a book which critically examines
that everyone else in the African American community the attention paid to the ways commentators, black and
was somehow not genuinely African American, a chal- white, dissected President Obama’s speech. Their analysis
lenge that those excluded could not ignore. Linguists pointed to a deeper philosophical question: “What does
like Labov’s team, who thought their work undermined it mean to speak as a racialized subject in contemporary
racism, were thus bewildered when middle-class Afri- America? This is the central concern of raciolinguistics”
can Americans, who spoke Standard English, refused to (2016a, 1). Raciolinguistics involves theorizing race and
accept AAE as representative of “true” African American language together, a project “that is dedicated to bringing
culture (Morgan 1995, 337). to bear the diverse methods of linguistic analysis to ask
From the perspective of linguistic anthropology, this and answer critical questions about the relations between
debate shows that the African American community is language, race, and power across diverse ethnoracial con-
not homogeneous, linguistically or culturally, but is in- texts and societies” (2016a, 3).
stead characterized by heteroglossia (Figure 9.8). At a As Amin points out, the founders of North A merican
minimum, language habits are shaped by social class, age Anthropology, Franz Boas and Edward Sapir, insisted
cohort, and gender. Moreover, members of all of these nearly a century ago that there was no evidence to sup-
subgroups use both Standard English and AAE in their port the ranking either of peoples (“races”) or of lan-
speech. Morgan reports, for example, that upper middle- guages on a universal scale of superiority and inferiority.
class African American students at elite colleges who did In the decades since, however, anthropologists have
not grow up speaking AAE regularly adopt many of its struggled with how to insist simultaneously that race
features and that hip-hop artists combine the grammar is not real biologically, but that it is very real socially,
of Standard English with the phonology and morphology culturally, and historically. In 2008, Alim and other lin-
of AAE (Morgan 1995, 338). This situation is not so par- guistic anthropologists launched “a focused, collective
adoxical if we recall, once again, the politically charged effort to theorize race and ethnicity within and across
context of African American life in the United States. Af- language studies.” Their volume, Raciolinguistics: How
rican Americans both affirm and deny the significance of Language Shapes Our Ideas about Race, contains 18 chap-
AAE for their identity, perhaps because AAE symbolizes ters that emphasize “both the central role that language
plays in racialization and . . . the enduring relevance of
race and racism in the lives of People of Color” (2016a,
3). The raciolinguistic framework allows Alim and his
raciolinguistics Theorizing race and language together, by drawing on colleagues to consider how global immigration flows,
diverse methods of linguistic analysis to ask and answer critical questions
about the relations between languages, race, and power across diverse
which are altering the demographic profiles of the
ethnoracial contexts and societies. United States and other countries, reveal both old and
What Is Lost If a Language Dies? 291
new challenges at the intersection of race, ethnicity, and “Samy” was short for “Osama”; apparently taking Alim
language (2016a, 7). for an Algerian, the man explained that he had an Alge-
By the end of the twentieth century, the black–white rian friend who had shortened his name in this way. Alim
divide that has traditionally been central to racial dis- chatted with two women, one of whom he thought was
course in the United States had become more complex “Asian”; the other he inferred was “Latina.” When it came
to acknowledge the racialization of Native Americans, out during the conversation that Alim spoke Spanish,
Latinos, and Asian Americans; however, ongoing immi- the Latina woman turned to him and asked if he was
gration from many continents have made clear-cut racial Mexican, adding that she was Mexican but unfortunately
divides even harder to identify. H. Samy Alim has pro- could not speak Spanish. On a later flight from Paris to
posed coping with this state of affairs from a raciolinguis- Berlin, the flight attendants occasionally addressed him
tic perspective that he calls transracialization. For example, in a language that he knew was not Arabic (a language
the election of Barack Obama as president produced a he also speaks), but that might have been Turkish, given
“colorblind” discourse among “white” A mericans claim- the large number of Turks who live in Berlin. Once in
ing that Obama’s election meant that race no longer Berlin, he went to an Italian restaurant, where he was
mattered in the United States, that the country had greeted by the cook whom Alim assumed was Italian but
become “postracial.” However, in the summer of 2015, who spoke to him in German. When Alim answered in
critical scholars and theorists of race were drawn into English, the cook responded in Italian-accented English,
a heated debate concerning news reports about Rachel asking if Alim were “American Latino. Español.” Alim re-
Dolezal, a woman whose parents were “white,” but who plied in Spanish, the cook responded in the Spanish of a
had successfully passed as “black” for several years, and nonnative speaker, and “while the food was cooking, we
who described herself as “transracial” (https://www. continued to chit-chat in our new lingua franca . . . and
nytimes.com/2015/06/13/us/rachel-dolezal-naacp- I wondered what my Italian former sister-in-law’s family
president-accused-of-lying-about-her-race.html; https:// would make of the whole exchange!” (2016b, 39–41).
www.nytimes.com/2015/06/17/us/rachel-dolezal-nbc- Alim had not yet reached the conference, or em-
today-show.html). Alim comments: “Despite the fact barked on his return trip to the United States, where
that Dolezal indeed crossed over into blackness . . . we even more attempts by others to classify him (and of
need a focused interrogation of what it means to be tran- him to classify them) would ensue. However, all these
sracial. Can someone be transracial?” (2016b, 34). Alim encounters, he insists, involved raciolinguistic classifica-
argued that any answer to this question could not simply tions: people moved back and forth between phenotype
leave racial groupings, however defined, unchanged. and language and back again in the effort to settle on
a classification, however temporary. For people of color
Thinking transracially, as opposed to postracially, we like Alim, as he says, “the same phenotype can be raced
can move beyond attempt[s] to demonstrate our loy- in different ways” (2016b, 42), and a key contributor is
alty and belonging to particular racial categories and
the language (or languages) one happens to be speak-
work toward problematizing the very process of racial
ing. The radical potential of transracialization, as Alim
categorization itself . . . transracialization is not simply
sees it, comes from playing with the ambiguity of phe-
how race is coded and decoded across “different” racial
formations but also about resisting codifications. . . . The
notype and language(s) to expose racializing processes
transracial subject is transgressive because crossing bor- while at the same time resisting efforts to be assigned to
ders becomes central to disrupting race. (2016b, 35) any single, exclusive, category (2016b, 45).
Alim reflected on his own experience as a person of color

who has been racialized in a variety of different ways.
He found that both language and phenotype were in- What Is Lost If a
volved, but “with language being, usually, the more mal- Language Dies?
leable . . . I describe nine moments of racial translation
across at least five ‘language varieties,’ in five days and three At the beginning of the twenty-first century, many anthro-
countries by one speaker (me)” (2016b, 38). The first oc- pologists and linguists have become involved in projects
curred when a cab driver picked him up at his home in to maintain or revive languages with small numbers of
the San Francisco Bay Area to take him to the airport and native speakers. These languages are in danger of dis-
asked him in an “Indian” (i.e., South Asian) accent if he appearing as younger people in the speech community
were “Indian.” Later on a plane to Paris, he met a man stop using the language or never learn it in the first place.
whom he had raced as “white,” but who identified him- Communities concerned about language revitalization
self as Native American, and who asked him if his name can range from Irish speakers in the United Kingdom to
Language Revitalization
Many linguists and linguistic anthropologists who specialize Of at least 98 languages originally spoken in what are now
in the study of the indigenous languages of North America the political confines of the state, 45 (or more) have no fluent
are increasingly involved in collaborating with the speakers speakers left, 17 have only one to five speakers left, and the
of those languages to preserve and revive them in the face remaining 36 have only elderly speakers. Not a single Cali-
of threatened decline or extinction with the spread of Eng- fornia Indian language is being used now as the language of
lish. Leanne Hinton is a linguist at the University of California, daily communication. The elders do not in actuality speak
Berkeley, who has worked for many years to help revitalize the their language—rather, they remember how to speak their
languages of the indigenous peoples of California (Table 9.1, language. (Hinton 1998, 216)
Figure 9.9). In 1998, she wrote:
Tolowa
Yurok Modoc
Chilula Shasta
Karok
Wiyot
Whiikut Achomawi
Northern Paiute
Chimariko
Hupa Wintu Aisugewi
Mattoie
Nongali Yana
Lassik Maidu
Wailaki Nomiaki
Sinkiyone Yuki
Kato Konkow Washo
Coast Yuki
Huchnom Pomo
Patwin Nisenan
Lake Miwok
Wappo Mono Lake, Northern Paiute
Coast
Miwok Sierra Miwok
Owens Valley, Paiute Shoshone
Costanoan Western Shoshone

Northern
Valley Monache
Yokuts Tabiuiabai
Foothill Yokuts
Esseien Southern
Salinan Valley
Yokuts
Kawaiisu
Southern
Paiutes
Kitanemuk
Chumash Serrano Mojave
Tataviam Chemehuev
Gabrieleño
Haichidhoma
Cahuilla
Gabrieleño Luiseno
Quechan
Ipai Tipai
FIGURE 9.9 A map of indigenous languages of California prior to western European

settlement. From California Indian Library Collections, Ethnic Studies Library, University of
California, Berkeley.
292
TABLE 9.1 California Languages and Their Classification (adapted from Hinton 1994: 83–85)
STOCK FAMILY/BRANCH LANGUAGES IN CALIFORNIA
Hokan Chimariko*
Esselen*
Karuk
Salinan*
Washo
Shastan Shasta,* New River Shasta,* Okwanuchu,* Konomihu*
Palaihnihan Achumawi (Pit River), Atsugewi (Hat Creek) (<5)
Yanan Northern Yana,* Central Yana,* Southern Yana,* Yahi*
Pamoan Northern (<5), Northeastern,* Eastern (<5), Central, Southeastern (<5),

Southern (<5), Kashaya Pomo
Yuman Quechan, Mojave, Cocopa, Kumeyaay, Ipai, Tipai
Chamashan Obispeño,* Barbareño,* Ventureño,* Purisimeño,* Ynezeño,* Island*
Penutian Costanoan (Ohlone) Karkin,* Chochenyo,* Tamyen,* Ramaytush,* Awaswas,* Chalon,* Rumsen,*
Mutsun*
Wintun Wintu, Nomlaki,* Patwin (<5)
Maiduan Maidu (<5), Konkow (<5), Nisenan (<5)
Miwokan* Lake Miwok (<5), Coast Miwok (<5), Bay Miwok,* Saclan,* Plains Miwok (<5),
Northern Sierra Miwok, East Central Sierra Miwok, West Central Sierra Miwok,
Southern Sierra Miwok
Yokutsan Choynumni, Chukchansi, Dumna (<5), Tachi (<5), Wukchumi, Yowlumni,

Gashowu (<5) (at least 6 other extinct Yokutsan major dialects or languages)*
Klamath-Modoc Klamath, Modoc (<5)
Algic Yurok
Wiyot*
Na-Dené Athabascan Tolowa (<5), Hupa, Mattole,* Wailaki-Nongatl-Lassik-Sinkyone-Cahtco* (a group

of related dialects, all without known speakers)
Uto-Aztecan Numic Mono, Owens Valley Paiute, Northern Paiute, Southern Paiute, Shoshoni,
Kawaiisu, Chemehuevi
Takic Serrano, Cahuilla, Cupeño (<5), Luiseño, Ajachemem* (Juaneño), Tongva*

(Gabrielino), Tataviam,* San Nicolas,* Kitanemuk,* Vanyume*
Tubatulabal
Yukian Yuki,* Wappo
*Starred languages have no known fluent native speakers (although some of them have semispeakers). Languages with five or fewer
speakers are marked “(<5)” (Hinton 1998, 217).
Source: Hinton, Leanne. 1998. Language loss and devitalization in California: overview. In Blum, Susan (ed.), Making Sense of Language.
New York: Oxford University Press, 216–22.
293
ANTHROPOLOGY in Everyday Life continued
Language Revitalization
Language loss began with the arrival of European American One of the major successes of this organization has
settlers in the nineteenth century, especially in connection been the Master-Apprentice Language Learning Program
with the California Gold Rush. In later years, indigenous with which Hinton has been involved. As the AICLS website
Californians were subjected to a range of disruptive and
explains,
oppressive practices that undermined their cultures and
An elder and a younger tribal member who are committed
reduced their numbers severely. By the 1870s, populations
to learning the language are trained in one-on-one immer-
began to increase again, but the possibilities of preserving in-
sion techniques. The trained team members are then paid
digenous language and culture were bleak: most tribes had no
stipends so that they can devote the 10 to 20 hours per
land base, their children had been sent to boarding schools
week necessary to do the work.
to forget indigenous traditions, and most California Indians
Key to the program is the concept that the team live their
were forced to find work in the wider, English-speaking soci-
daily lives together in the language. The teams keep journals
ety. “Thus, California Indians are now immersed in English.
and AICLS monitors them by phone and site visits. (http://
There is little or no space in the present-day way of life for the
www.aicls.org/)
use of indigenous languages” (Hinton 1998, 218).
Recent decades have brought change, however. In the In addition to these formal programs, many informal
1970s, government funds became available to support bi- efforts have been made to devise new writing systems for
lingual education programs for some indigenous groups. indigenous languages, to write books and educational mate-
By the 1990s, laws such as the Native American Languages rials in indigenous languages, and to offer language classes,
Act were providing additional funds for such projects. But immersion camps, or other gatherings in which students can
private individuals were also attempting language revival practice their new language skills.
outside these settings. In 1997 a new journal called News Those who participate in these language revitalization
from Native California helped connect members of California programs do not end up speaking their heritage languages
tribes with one another, and a main focus of their interest exactly the way they used to be spoken by their ancestors.
became language revitalization. A few years later, the Native As Hinton notes, “Learners have an accent and exhibit many
California Network was formed to fund projects related to grammatical simplifications and influences from English,
traditional culture, and language became its focus as well. their dominant language” (Hinton 1998, 220). Although this
This network gave birth to the Advocates for Indigenous is disappointing to some, others are determined to do the
California Language Survival (AICLS), an organization that best they can under the circumstances. “A number of learn-
has brought many California language activists together ers have expressed the notion that even if the future of their
over the years. AICLS sponsors a range of workshops and language takes on a pidginized form, the social value of using
other programs that are concerned in one way or another their language far exceeds the detriments of the change”
with language revitalization. (Hinton 1998, 220).
Kiowa speakers in Oklahoma to users of indigenous sign communities who have experienced a history of coloni-
languages in Australia. zation by outsiders and who are minorities within states
And the threats to these languages range widely as where colonial languages dominate. At the same time, as
well. They include the spread of “world” languages like Michael Walsh explains, indigenous language situations
English and the marginalization of one dialect in favor are not all alike. In Guatemala, for example, “Mayan lan-
of a neighboring dialect. They also include support for guages are spoken among a majority of the populations,
a “national” sign language in Thailand instead of local, and the languages are all closely related; so it is possi-
“indigenous” sign languages used by small communi- ble to have a more unified approach to Mayan language
ties, and (as is the case in places like the United States, revitalization. Mayas in Guatemala are now using their
Australia, and Norway) the spread of technologies that languages in schools, and they are taking steps toward
can “save” people from being deaf (Walsh 2005). How gaining official recognition of their languages” (Walsh
seriously different “small languages” are endangered de- 2005, 296). Sometimes, however, colonial borders sep-
pends on what counts as small and how imminent the arate members of an indigenous language community,
threat is perceived to be—and experts can differ in their meaning that speakers on one side of the border may be
evaluation of these matters. better supported in their language revitalization efforts
Linguistic anthropologists have paid particular than speakers on the other side of the border. Examples
attention to indigenous languages spoken by small include Ojibwe speakers (who are better supported in
294
How Are Language and Truth Connected? 295
FIGURE 9.10 Students at
Waadookodaading, an Ojibwe
language immersion charter school
in Hayward, Wisconsin, where they
are taught culture and language.
The school is part of a program to
revive the language by immersing
children in their native language.
Canada than in the United States) and Quichua speak- New languages emerging from the processes of pidgini-
ers (who receive different levels of support in Ecuador, zation and creolization also continue to appear. For ex-
Bolivia, and Peru) (Walsh 2005, 296). And sometimes the ample, Copper Island Aleut is a hybrid of Russian and
ethnolinguistic practices of speakers can interfere with Aleut (Walsh 2005, 297).
language retention: Among Ilgar speakers in northern Maintaining or reviving endangered languages faces
Australia, for example, conversation between opposite- many obstacles, not the least of which is the concern of
sex siblings is forbidden. This means that a man finds many parents who care less about preserving their dying
himself “talking his mother tongue to people who don’t language than they do about making sure their children
speak it, and not talking it with the couple of people who become literate in a world language that will offer them a
do” (Evans 2001, 278; cited in Walsh 2005, 297). chance at economic and social mobility. Some indigenous
Attempts to implement language revitalization groups are concerned that loss of language will mean loss
have met with mixed success. Methods that work for of access to traditional sources of religious power, which
literate groups (e.g., French speakers in Quebec) may can only be addressed in the traditional tongue. Yet other
be inappropriate for programs of language revival indigenous speakers would not like to see what was once
among speakers of languages that lack a long tradition a fully functioning mode of communication reduced to
of literacy, which is often the case with indigenous lan- nothing but ceremonial use. Clearly, language endanger-
guages in the Americas and Australia (Figure 9.10). In ment is a very delicate topic of discussion. This is unfor-
some cases, where prospects for revitalization are poor, tunate, in Walsh’s view, since practical solutions require
it has been suggested that the functions of the endan- “frank and forthright discussions of the issues . . . and
gered language can be transferred to a different lan- good clear statements of advice” (2005, 308). But Walsh
guage. This is a well-known phenomenon in the case also believes that concerned people who want to save
of colonial languages like Spanish and English, which their languages ought to try to do what they can and not
have all experienced “indigenization” as the communi- wait until scholarly experts arrive at consensus.
ties who adopt them tailor them to fit their own local
communicative practices. Other scholars have pointed
out that language loss is nothing new. In the ancient How Are Language and Truth
world, for example, the spread of Latin led to the ex-
tinction of perhaps 50 of the 60 or so languages spoken
Connected?
in the Mediterranean prior to 100 B.C.E. However, the For the late Thomas Kuhn, a philosopher of science, met-
extension of Latin into ancient Europe also led to the aphor lay at the heart of science. He argued that changes
birth of the Romance languages, some of whose native in scientific theories were “accompanied by a change in
speakers (e.g., the French) express concern that the sur- some of the relevant metaphors and in corresponding
vival of their mother tongue is also threatened by the parts of the network of similarities through which terms
spread of global English (Walsh 2005; Sonntag 2003). attach to nature” (416). Kuhn insisted that these changes
in the way scientific terms link to nature are not reduc- language, and they exploited it by using metaphor (what
ible to logic or grammar. “They come about in response they called sanza) to disguise speech that might be received
to pressures generated by observation or experiment”— badly if uttered directly. For example, “A man says in the
that is, by experience and context. And there is no neu- presence of his wife to his friend, ‘Friend, those swallows,
tral language into which rival theories can be translated how they flit about in there.’ He is speaking about the
and subsequently evaluated as unambiguously right or flightiness of his wife and in case she should understand
wrong (416). Kuhn asks the question, “Is what we refer the allusion, he covers himself by looking up at the swal-
to as ‘the world’ perhaps a product of mutual accommo- lows as he makes his seemingly innocent remark” (Evans-
dation between experience and language?” Pritchard 1963, 211). Evans-Pritchard later observed that
If our understanding of reality is the product of a sanza “adds greatly to the difficulties of anthropological
dialectic between experience and language (or, more inquiry. Eventually the anthropologist’s sense of security is
broadly, culture), then ambiguity will never be perma- undermined and his confidence shaken. He learns the lan-
nently removed from any of the symbolic systems that guage, can say what he wants to say in it, and can under-
human beings invent. Reflexive consciousness makes stand what he hears, but then he begins to wonder whether
humans aware of alternatives. The experience of doubt, he has really understood . . . he cannot be sure, and even
of not being sure what to believe, is never far behind. they [the Azande] cannot be sure, whether the words do
This is not merely the experience of people in West- have a nuance or someone imagines that they do” (228).
ern societies. When E. E. Evans-Pritchard lived among the However much we learn about language, we will never be
Azande of Central Africa in the early twentieth century, he able to exhaust its meanings or circumscribe its rules once
found that they experienced a similar form of disorienta- and for all. Human language is an open system, and as
tion (see EthnoProfile 10.6: Azande). The Azande people, long as human history continues, new forms will be cre-
he wrote, were well aware of the ambiguity inherent in ated and old forms will continue to be put to new uses.
Chapter Summary
1. Symbolic language is a uniquely human faculty shaping process works is still investigated by some
that both permits us to communicate with one linguistic anthropologists, who argue that linguistic
another and sets up barriers to communication. relativity should not be confused with linguistic de-
The anthropological study of languages reveals the terminism, which they reject.
cultural factors that shape language use. Human 4. Ethnopragmatics locates linguistic meaning in
symbolic language is also multifunctional, capable routine practical activities, which turn grammatical
of performing many roles in speech events besides features of language into resources people can use in
reference. In every language, there are many ways to their interactions with others. It pays attention both
communicate our experiences, and there is no abso- to the immediate context of speech and to broader
lute standard favoring one way over another. Indi- contexts that are shaped by unequal social relation-
vidual efforts to create a unique voice are countered ships and rooted in history.
by pressures to negotiate a common code within a
5. Because linguistic meaning is rooted in practical ac-
larger speech community.
tivity, which carries the burden of meaning, d ifferent
2. Of Charles Hockett’s 16 design features of lan- social groups engaged in different activities generate
guage, 6 are particularly important: openness, different communicative practices. The linguistic
arbitrariness, duality of patterning, displacement, habits that are part of each set of communicative
semanticity, and prevarication. Among other practices constitute discourse genres. People nor-
things, Charles Peirce’s three-part theory of signs mally command a range of discourse genres, which
provides tools for explaining how human speakers means that each person’s linguistic knowledge is
link symbolic language to the wider world outside characterized by heteroglossia.
their heads.
6. The study of pidgin languages is the study of the
3. Early linguistic anthropologists like Edward Sapir radical negotiation of new meaning. Pidgin lan-
and Benjamin Whorf suggested that language has the guages exhibit many of the same linguistic features
power to shape the way people see the world. This is as nonpidgin languages. Studies of African American
called the “linguistic relativity principle.” How this English illustrate the historical circumstances that
can give rise to creoles and provide evidence of the listeners make sense of speech that otherwise would
ways in which human speech is always embedded in seem inappropriate or incomprehensible to them.
a social world of power differences. 8. The design features of human language, particularly
7. Language ideologies are unwritten rules shared by openness, seem to characterize human thought
members of a speech community concerning what processes in general. The work of psychological an-
kinds of language are valued. Language ideologies thropologists on human perception, cognition, and
develop out of the cultural, social, and political histo- practical action overwhelmingly sustains the view
ries of the groups to which they belong. Knowing the that human psychological processes are open to a
language ideology of a particular community can help wide variety of influences.
For Review
1. What are the three reasons given in the text 7. What is the linguistic relativity principle? Sum-
to explain why language is of interest to marize the problems with linguistic determinism
anthropologists? and describe the steps that contemporary linguists
2. Distinguish among language, speech, and and linguistic anthropologists have taken to ad-
communication. dress these problems.
3. Summarize the key points for each of the 8. Explain the differences between pidgins and creoles.
six design features of language discussed in 9. Summarize the research done by William Labov
the text (openness, displacement, arbitrari- and subsequent scholars on African American
ness, d
uality of patterning, semanticity, and speech patterns.
prevarication). 10. What is language ideology? Summarize the
4. What is the difference between closed call systems case studies in this section of the text that an-
and open symbolic languages? layze the language ideology of specific speech
5. Describe the differences between linguistic com- communities.
petence and communicative competence. 11. What is language revitalization? What are some
6. Why do linguistic anthropologists emphasize of the difficulties in implementing language
the importance of context in language use? revitalization?
Key Terms
communicative icon 277 linguistic pidgin 286
competence 282 index 277 competence 281 pragmatics 284
discourse 285 language 274 linguistic relativity raciolinguistics 290
ethnopragmatics 285 principle 282
language symbol 290
grammar 275 ideology 287 linguistics 276
Suggested Readings
Akmajian, A., R. Demers, A. Farmer, and R. Harnish. 2010. wide-ranging collection of essays by anthropologists studying
Linguistics, 6th ed. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. A fine linguistic habits in their sociocultural contexts.
introduction to the study of language as a formal system. Burling, Robbins. 2005. The talking ape. Oxford: Oxford
Blum, Susan, ed. 2008. Making sense of language: Readings in University Press. A lively, up-to-date introduction for non-
culture and communication, 2nd ed. New York: Oxford specialists to the nature and evolution of human language,
University Press. An engaging and accessible collection of written by a distinguished linguistic anthropologist.
original essays by a wide range of scholars, inside and out- Smitherman, Geneva. 1977. Talkin and testifyin: The language
side anthropology, past and present, who explore the many of black America. Detroit, MI: Wayne State University
dimensions of human language. Press. An engaging introduction to Black English Vernacu-
Brenneis, Donald, and Ronald K. S. Macauley (eds.). 1996. lar, for native and nonnative speakers alike, with exercises to
The matrix of language. Boulder, CO: Westview Press. A test your mastery of African American English.
MODULE 4: Components of Language
Linguistic anthropologists are trained in cultural anthropol- exactly the same set. Furthermore, different speakers of the
ogy but must also master the finer points of language struc- same language often differ from one another in the way their
ture, which is the focus of formal linguistics. This module phonemes are patterned, producing “accents,” which con-
offers brief introductions to four key areas of specialization stitute one kind of variety within a language. This variety is
in formal linguistics: phonology, morphology, syntax, and not random; the speech sounds characteristic of any partic-
semantics. ular accent follow a pattern. Speakers with different accents
Linguistic study involves a search for patterns in the way are usually able to understand one another in most circum-
speakers use language; linguists aim to describe these pat- stances, but their distinctive articulation is a clue to their
terns by reducing them to a set of rules called a grammar. ethnic, regional, or social class origins.
As Edward Sapir (1921) once commented, however, “all
grammars leak” (38). Over time linguists came to recog-
nize a growing number of language components; each new Morphology: Word Structure
component was an attempt to plug the “leaks” in an earlier Morphology, the study of how words are put together, devel-
grammar, to explain what had previously resisted explana- oped as a subfield of linguistics as soon as linguists realized
tion. The following discussion pinpoints the various leaks that the rules they had devised to explain sound patterns
linguists have recognized (as well as their attempts to plug in language could not explain the structure of words. What
the leaks) and demonstrates how culture and language influ- is a word? English speakers tend to think of words as the
ence each other. building blocks of sentences and of sentences as strings of
words. But words are not all alike: some words (e.g., book),
cannot be broken down into smaller elements; others (e.g.,
Phonology: Sounds bookworm) can. The puzzle becomes more complex when
The study of the sounds of language is called phonology. we try to translate words from one language into another.
The sounds of human language are special because they are Sometimes expressions that require only one word in one
produced by a set of organs, the speech organs, that belong language require more than one word in another (e.g., pré-
only to the human species (Figure M4.1). The sounds that ciser in French is to make precise in English). Other times, we
come out of our mouths are called phones, and they vary must deal with languages whose utterances cannot easily
continuously in acoustic properties. However, speakers of be broken down into words at all. Consider the utterance
a particular language hear that language’s variant phones nikookitepeena from Shawnee (an indigenous North Ameri-
within a particular range as functionally equivalent sounds can language), which translates into English as “I dipped his
(e.g., we hear different pronunciations of the word pecan as head in the water” (Whorf 1956, 172). Although the Shawnee
meaning the same thing). utterance is composed of parts, the parts do not possess
Part of the phonologist’s job is to map out possible ways the characteristics we attribute to words in, say, English or
that human beings use speech organs to create the sounds French (Table M4.1). To make sense of the structure of lan-
of language. Another part is to examine individual languages guages such as Shawnee, anthropological linguists needed
to discover the particular sound combinations they contain a concept that could refer to both words (like those in the
and the patterns into which those sound combinations are or- English sentence given) and the parts of an utterance that
ganized. No language makes use of all the many sounds the could not be broken down into words. This need led to the
human speech organs can produce, and no two languages use development of the concept of morphemes, traditionally de-
exactly the same set. American English uses only 38 sounds. fined as “the minimal units of meaning in a language.” The
Most work in phonology has been done from the perspective various parts of a Shawnee utterance or an English word
of the speaker, who produces, or articulates, the sounds of can be identified as morphemes. Describing minimal units
language using the speech organs. Although all languages of meaning as morphemes, and not as words, allows us to
rely on only a handful of what are called phonemes—classes compare the morphology of different languages. Morphe-
of functionally equivalent sounds—no two languages use mic patterning in languages such as Shawnee may seem
hopelessly complicated to native English speakers, yet the
patterning of morphemes in English is equally complex. Why
grammar A set of rules that aim to describe fully the pattern of linguistic
is it that some morphemes can stand alone as words (e.g.,
usage observed by speakers of a particular language. sing, red ) and others cannot (-ing, -ed )? What determines a
phonology The study of the sounds of language. word boundary in the first place? Words, or the morphemes
morphology In linguistics, the study of the minimal units of meaning in a they contain, represent the fundamental point at which the
language. arbitrary pairing of sound and meaning occurs.
298
Nasal cavity FIGURE M4.1 The speech organs.
Teethridge (alveolar ridge)

Hard palate
Soft palate
(velum)
Lips Uvula
Teeth Back of tongue
Pharynx
Tip of
tongue Epiglottis
Blade of tongue
Food passage
Vocal cords
TABLE M4.1 Morphemes of Shawnee Utterance and Their Glosses

ni kooki tepe en a
I immersed in water point of action at head by hand action cause to him
Syntax: Sentence Structure on sentence structure and not on the structure of the word
itself. Thus, sentences can be defined as ordered strings of
A third component of language is syntax, or sentence struc-
words, and those words can be classified as parts of speech
ture. Linguists such as Noam Chomsky began to study syntax
in terms of the function they fulfill in a sentence. But these
when they discovered that morphological rules alone could
two assumptions cannot account for the ambiguity in a sen-
not account for certain patterns of morpheme use. In lan-
tence such as “The father of the girl and the boy fell into the
guages such as English, for example, rules governing word
lake.” How many people fell into the lake? Just the father, or
order cannot explain what is puzzling about the following
the father and the boy? Each reading of the sentence de-
English sentence: “Smoking grass means trouble.” For many
pends on how the words of the sentence are grouped to-
native speakers of American English, this sentence exhibits
gether. Linguists discovered numerous other features of
what linguists call structural ambiguity. That is, we must ask
sentence structure that could not be explained in terms of
ourselves what trouble means here: is it the act of smoking
morphology alone, leading to a growth of interest in the
grass (marijuana) or observing grass (the grass that grows
study of syntactic patterns in different languages. Although
on the prairie) that is giving off smoke? In the first reading,
smoking is a verb functioning as a noun; in the second, it is
a verb functioning as an adjective. We can explain the ambi-
guity by assuming that a word’s role in a sentence depends syntax The study of sentence structure.
299
MODULE 4: Components of Language continued
theories of syntax have changed considerably since Chom- difference are important and which are not. Having made
sky’s early work, the recognition that syntax is a key com- this decision, it is easier to decide whether the animals in
ponent of human language structure remains central to the first cage are monkeys and whether the animals in the
contemporary linguistics. other cages are monkeys as well.
But such decisions are not easy to come by. Biologists
have spent the past 300 years or so attempting to clas-
Semantics: Meaning sify all living things on the planet into mutually exclu-
For many years linguists avoided semantics, the study of sive categories. To do so they have had to decide which
meaning, because meaning is a highly ambiguous term. What traits matter out of all the traits that living things exhibit.
do we mean when we say that a sentence means something? They have therefore constructed meaning in the face of
We may be talking about what each individual word in the ambiguity.
sentence means, or what the sentence as a whole means, Formal linguistics, on the other hand, tries to deal with
or what I mean when I utter the sentence, which may differ ambiguity by eliminating it, by “disambiguating” ambigu-
from what someone else would mean even if uttering the ous utterances. To find a word’s “unambiguous” deno-
same sentence. tation, we might consult a dictionary. According to the
In the 1960s, however, formal semantics took off when American Heritage Dictionary, for example, a pig is “any of
Chomsky argued that grammars needed to represent all several mammals of the family Suidae, having short legs,
of the linguistic knowledge in a speaker’s head and that cloven hoofs, bristly hair, and a cartilaginous snout used
word meanings were part of that knowledge. Formal se- for digging.” A formal definition of this sort indirectly re-
manticists focused attention on how words are linked to lates the word pig to other words in English, such as cow
one another within a language, exploring relations such as and chicken.
synonymy, or “same meaning” (e.g., old and aged ); homoph- To complicate the matter, however, words also have
ony, or “same sound, different meaning” (e.g., would and connotations, additional meanings that derive from the
wood ); and antonymy, or “opposite meaning” (e.g., tall and typical contexts in which they are used in everyday
short ). They also defined words in terms of denotation, or speech. In the context of antiwar demonstrations in the
what they referred to in the “real world.” 1960s, for example, a pig was a police officer. From a deno-
The denotations of such words as table or monkey seem tative point of view, to call police officers pigs is to create
fairly straightforward, but this is not the case with such ambiguity deliberately, to muddle rather than to clarify. It
words as truth or and. Moreover, even if we believe a word is an example of metaphor, a form of figurative or nonlit-
can be linked to a concrete object in the world, it may still eral language that violates the formal rules of denotation
be difficult to decide exactly what the term refers to. (An- by linking expressions from unrelated semantic domains.
thropological linguist Charles Hockett elaborated on this Metaphors are used all the time in everyday speech. Does
issue in describing the semanticity feature of human lan- this mean, therefore, that people who use metaphors are
guage.) Suppose we decide to find out what monkey refers talking nonsense? What can it possibly mean to call police
to by visiting the zoo. In one cage we see small animals with officers pigs?
grasping hands feeding on fruit. In a second cage are much We cannot know until we place the statement into some
larger animals that resemble the ones in the first cage in kind of context. If we know, for example, that protesters
many ways, except that they have no tails. And in a third in the 1960s viewed the police as the paid enforcers of
cage are yet other animals who resemble those in the first racist elites responsible for violence against the poor and
two cages except that they are far smaller and use their that pigs are domesticated animals, not humans, who are
long tails to swing from the branches of a tree. Which of often viewed as fat, greedy, and dirty, then the metaphor
these animals are monkeys? To answer this question, “police are pigs” begins to make sense. This interpreta-
the observer must decide which features of similarity or tion, however, does not reveal the meaning of the meta-
phor for all time. In a different context, the same phrase
might be used, for example, to distinguish the costumes
worn by police officers to a charity function from the cos-
semantics The study of meaning.
tumes of other groups of government functionaries. Our
metaphor A form of figurative or nonliteral language that violates the
formal rules of denotation by linking expressions from unrelated semantic ability to use the same words in different ways (and differ-
domains. ent words in the same way) is the hallmark of the openness
300
feature of language (Hockett, 1966), and formal semantics Key Terms
is powerless to contain it. Much of the referential mean- grammar 298 phonology 298
ing of language escapes us if we neglect the context of
metaphor 300 semantics 300
language use.
morphology 298 syntax 298
For Review
Prepare a chart listing the components of language iden-
tified by linguists and explain the significance of each
component.
301
10
How do we make meaning?
Human beings are creative, not just in their use of language, but also
in a variety of symbolic forms. We look at several different kinds of cre-
ative symbolic forms in this chapter, including play, art, myth, ritual,
and religion. But human cultural creativity is never entirely uncon-
strained. You will also learn about how symbolic forms are shaped by
power relations in different social settings.
CHAPTER OUTLINE
What Is Play? What Are Rites of Passage? Coping with Misfortune:
What Do We Think about Play? How Are Play and Ritual Listening for God among
What Are Some Effects of Play? Complementary? Contemporary Evangelicals
What Is Art? How Are Worldview and in the United States
Is There a Definition of Art? Symbolic Practice Related? Maintaining and Changing a
“But Is It Art?” What Are Symbols? Worldview
“She’s Fake”: Art and What Is Religion? How Do People Cope with
Authenticity How Do People Communicate Change?
How Does Hip-Hop Become in Religion? How Are Worldviews Used as
Japanese? How Are Religion and Social Instruments of Power?
What Is Myth? Organization Related? Chapter Summary
How Does Myth Reflect—and Worldviews in Operation: For Review
Shape—Society? Two Case Studies Key Terms
Do Myths Help Us Think? Coping with Misfortune: Suggested Readings
What Is Ritual? Witchcraft, Oracles, and
How Can Ritual Be Defined? Magic among the Azande
How Is Ritual Expressed in Are There Patterns of
Action? Witchcraft Accusation?
People doing tai chi in the morning as the sun rises through the towers of Pudong, Shanghai, China.
303
304 CHAPTER 10: HOW DO WE MAKE MEANING?
B uilding on the discussion of language and symbol-

ism from the previous chapter, this chapter looks at
human play, art, myth, ritual, and religion—dimensions
What Do We Think about Play?
Moving from everyday reality to the reality of play re-
quires a radical transformation of perspective. To an
of human experience in which the interplay of openness
outside observer, the switch from everyday reality to
and creativity encounters rules and constraints, enabling
play reality may go undetected. However, sometimes the
people to produce powerful and moving symbolic prac-
switch can have serious consequences for other people
tices that transform the character of human life.
and their activities. In this case, play and nonplay must be
signaled clearly so that one is not mistaken for the other.
According to Gregory Bateson (1972), shifting into
What Is Play? or out of play requires metacommunication, or commu-
nication about communication. Metacommunication
In Chapter 9, we explored the concept of “openness”
provides information about the relationship between
in relation to language and cognition. Openness was
communicative partners. In play there are two kinds of
defined as the ability to talk or think about the same
metacommunication. The first, called framing, sends a
thing in different ways and different things in the same
message that marks certain behaviors either as play or as
way. If we expand openness to include all behavior—
ordinary life. Dogs, for example, have a play face, a signal
that is, the ability not just to talk or think about but
understood by other dogs (and recognizable by some
also to do the same thing in different ways or differ-
human beings) indicating a willingness to play. If dogs
ent things in the same way—we begin to define play.
agree to play, they bare their fangs and one animal at-
All mammals play, and humans play the most and
tacks the other, but bites become nips. Both dogs have
throughout their lives.
agreed to enter the play frame, an imaginative world in
Robert Fagen (1981, 1992, 2005) looks at play as
which bites do not mean bites. Within the play frame,
a product of natural selection that may have significant
a basic element of Western logic—that A = A—does
fitness value for individuals in different species. Play
not apply; the same thing is being treated in different
gives young animals (including young human beings)
ways. Human beings have many ways of marking the
the exercise they need to build up the skills necessary
play frame: a smile, a particular tone of voice, a referee’s
for physical survival as adults: fighting, hunting, or run-
whistle, or the words “Let’s pretend.” The marker says
ning away when pursued. Play may be important for
that “everything from now until we end this activity is set
the development of cognitive and motor skills and may
apart from everyday life.” The second kind of metacom-
be connected with the repair of developmental damage
munication involves reflexivity. Play offers us the oppor-
caused by either injury or trauma. It may also commu-
tunity to think about the social and cultural dimensions
nicate the message “all’s well,” signaling “information
of the world in which we live. By suggesting that ordinary
about short-term and long-term health, general well-
life can be understood in more than one way, play can be
being, and biological fitness to parents, littermates, or
a way of speculating about what can be rather than about
other social companions” (Fagen 1992, 51). In species
what should be or what is (Handelman 1977, 186).
with more complex brains, playful exploration of the en-
When we say that jokes keep us from taking ourselves
vironment aids learning and allows for the development
too seriously, for example, we are engaging in reflexive
of behavioral versatility. Fagen (2005) suggests that play
metacommunication. Joking allows us to consider alter-
reflects natural selection for unpredictability. That is, to
native, even ridiculous, explanations for our experience.
be able to produce unpredictable behaviors can be ad-
vantageous for an intelligent species faced with unantici-
pated adaptive challenges. What Are Some Effects of Play?
Helen Schwartzman (1978, 232–45) has demonstrated
how play, through satire and clowning, may allow chil-
play A framing (or orienting context) that is (1) consciously adopted by the dren to comment on and criticize the world of adults.
players, (2) somehow pleasurable, and (3) systemically related to what is non- A powerful example of this kind of commentary is de-
play by alluding to the nonplay world and by transforming the objects, roles,
scribed by anthropologist Elizabeth Chin, who studied
actions, and relations of ends and means characteristic of the nonplay world.
African American girls and their dolls in Newhallville, a
metacommunication Communication about the process of communica-
tion itself. working-class and poor neighborhood in New Haven,
framing A cognitive boundary that marks certain behaviors as “play” or as Connecticut. Although “ethnically correct” dolls are
“ordinary life.” on the market, very few of the girls had them because
reflexivity Critical thinking about the way one thinks; reflection on one’s they cost too much. The poor children Chin knew in
own experience.
Newhallville had white dolls. But in their play these
What Is Art? 305
girls transformed their dolls in a powerful way by giving the social construction not only of their own blackness,
them hairstyles like their own. The designers gave the but of race itself as well” (318) (Figure 10.1).
dolls smooth, flowing hair to be brushed over and over
again and put into a ponytail. But the girls’ dolls had
beads in their hair, braids held at the end with twists of
aluminum foil or barrettes, and braids that were them-
What Is Art?
selves braided together (Chin 1999, 315). As Chin ob- In Western societies, art includes sculpture, drawing,
serves, “In some sense, by doing this, the girls bring their painting, dance, theater, music, and literature, as well as
dolls into their own worlds, and whiteness here is not such similar processes and products as film, photogra-
absolutely defined by skin and hair, but by style and way phy, mime, mass media production, oral narrative, fes-
of life. The complexities of racial references and racial tivals, and national celebrations. These are the kinds of
politics have been much discussed in the case of black objects and activities that first caught the attention of an-
hair simulating the look of whiteness; what these girls thropologists who wanted to study art in non-Western
are creating is quite the opposite: white hair that looks societies. Whether non-Western peoples referred to such
black” (315). It is not that the girls did not realize that activities or products as “art,” however, is a separate ques-
their dolls were white; it is that through their imagination. People everywhere engage in these kinds of playful
tive and material work they were able to integrate the creativity, yet activities defined as art differ from free play
dolls into their own world. The overt physical character- because they are circumscribed by rules. Artistic rules
istics of the dolls—skin color, facial features, hair—did direct particular attention to, and provide standards for
not force the girls into treating the dolls in ways that evaluating, the form of the activities or objects that artists
obeyed the boundaries of racial difference. Their trans- produce.
formative play does not make the realities of poverty,
discrimination, and racism disappear from the worlds
in which they live; but Chin points out that “in making Is There a Definition of Art?
their white dolls live in black worlds, they . . . reconfig- Anthropologist Alexander Alland (1977) defines art as
ure the boundaries of race” and in so doing “challenge “play with form producing some aesthetically successful
transformation-representation” (39). For Alland, form
refers to the rules of the art game: the culturally appro-
priate restrictions on the way this kind of play may be or-
ganized in time and space. We can also think about form
in terms of style and media. A style is a schema (a dis-
tinctive patterning of elements) that is recognized within
a culture as appropriate to a given medium. The media
themselves in which art is created and executed are cul-
turally recognized and characterized (Anderson 1990,
272–75). A painting is a form: it is two-dimensional;
it is done with paint; it is intentionally made; it repre-
sents or symbolizes something in the world outside the
canvas, paper, or wood on which it is created. There are
different kinds of paintings as well. There is the painting
form called “portrait”—a portrait depicts a person, it re-
sembles the person in some appropriate way, it is done
with paint, it can be displayed, and more.
By “aesthetic,” Alland (1977, xii) means apprecia-
tive of, or responsive to, form in art or nature. “Aestheti-
cally successful” means that the creator of the piece of art
(and possibly its audience) responds positively or nega-
tively to it (“I like this,” “I hate this”). Indifference is the
sign of something that is aesthetically unsuccessful. It is
FIGURE 10.1 Play enables this girl in Guider, Cameroon, to art Play with form producing some aesthetically successful
incorporate her European doll into the world she knows. transformation-representation.
FIGURE 10.2 Locations of societies whose EthnoProfiles appear in Chapter 10.

What Is Art? 307
NIGER Lake
Chad
oe
Yub
Kano ugu-
Komad
IN
Kaduna Marghi
BE N
Nig
er NIGERIA
e
nu
Be
Lagos
CAMEROON
0 100 200 300
Gulf of Guinea Miles
Sea of
Japan
N. KOREA
S. KOREA JAPAN
Tokyo
PACIFIC
Osaka OCEAN
0 200 400
Japan
JJapa
an Miles
SOUTH PACIFIC
OCEAN
Choiseul
Santa Isabel
SOLOMON ISLANDS
New Kwaio
Georgia Malaita
Islands Guadal- Santa Cruz
canal Islands
San Cristobal
Aunuta
Margi Solomon
Sea Torres
Tikopia
Dinka Islands Banks

Coral Sea Islands
Yoruba 0 100 200

Miles
Vanuatu
Azande
le
LIBYA Ni
Re
dS
CHAD
ea
Khartoum
ERITREA
Kwaio
Nile
Trobriand
Blu
SUDAN
e
Nile
Islands
ite
Wh
Dinka ETHIOPIA
Mo
C.A.R.
u nt
NIGER Lake
ain Nile
Chad
0 200 400
Miles
Kano
Kaduna
IN
BEN
N ig
er NIGERIA
Yorub a e
nu
Be
Lagos
CAMEROON
0 100 200 300
C.A.R. Azande
Philippine Sea
Uban
gi
REPUBLIC PAPUA
NEW GUINEA
GABON OF INDONESIA
DEMOCRATIC
CONGO
REPUBLIC OF
Kinshasa
CONGO
Arafura Sea Port
Moresby
C OCEAN
Trobriand
ANGOLA Lubumbashi 0 250 500 Islands
TI
Miles Coral Sea

ATLAN
0 200 400
Miles ZAMBIA
is also transforming a three-dimensional human form

EthnoProfile 10.1 into a two-dimensional flat puppet made of buffalo hide,
in which the colors, style, inclination of the head, and
Margi adornment stand for the internal state of the hero at a
specific moment (Figure 10.3). At the same time, he is
Region: Western Africa
carrying out this work more or less skillfully and is repre-
Nation: Nigeria senting in his work the meanings that Arjuna carries for
Population: 100,000 to 200,000 (1960s) his Javanese audience (see EthnoProfile 9.2: Java).
Environment: Mountains and plains Alland’s definition of art attempts to capture some-
thing universal about human beings and cultural cre-
Livelihood: Farming, selling surplus in local markets
ativity. Similarly, anthropologist Shelly Errington (1998)
Traditionally, kingdoms;
observes that all human cultures have “‘symbolic forms’:
NIGER Lake
today, part of a modern Chad artifacts, activities, or even aspects of the landscape that
nation-state b oe humans view as densely meaningful” (84). One dra-
Kano ug u-Yu
Komad
For more information: matic example in the United States that demonstrates
IN
Kaduna Marghi
BE N
Vaughan, James. 2006. The N ig

er NIGERIA the power of art as a densely meaningful landscape is
Mandara Margi: A society nu
e
Be the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, DC
living on the verge. http:// Lagos
www.indiana.edu/~margi/ (Figure 10.4). This work by architect Maya Lin not only
CAMEROON
0 100 200 300
probably the case that the aesthetic response is a univer-

sal feature in all human societies.
Aesthetic value judgments guide the artist’s choice
of form and material; they also guide the observers’
evaluations. This implies that art involves more than
just objects. V. N. Voloshinov ([1926] 1987) argues that
art is a creative “event of living communication” (107)
involving the work, the artist, and the artist’s audience.
Artists create their works with an audience in mind, and
audiences respond to these works as if the works were
addressed to them. Sometimes their response is enthu-
siastic; sometimes it is highly critical. In addition, if aes-
thetic creation involves more than just the end product,
such as a painting or a poem, attention needs to be paid
to the process through which some product is made.
James Vaughan (1973, 186) pointed out, for example,
that the Margi of northeastern Nigeria do not appreciate
a folktale as a story per se but rather enjoy the perfor-
mance of it (see EthnoProfile 10.1: Margi).
To understand what Alland means by “transformation-
representation,” we can recall that the link between a
symbol and what it represents is arbitrary. This means
that symbols can be separated from the object or idea
represented and appreciated for their own sake. They may
also be used to represent a totally different meaning. Be-
cause transformation and representation depend on each
other, Alland (1977, 35) suggests that they be referred to FIGURE 10.3 One of the great mythic heros of Javanese
together (i.e., as transformation-representation). When wajang is represented here in a beautifully painted flat leather
shadow puppet. The color of the image, the angle of the head,
a Javanese leather-puppet maker makes a puppet of the
the shape of the eye, the position of the fingers, and the style,
great mythic hero Arjuna, for example, he is represent- color, and quantity of clothing all represent the inner state of
ing the traditional form of the hero in his work, but he the hero.
What Is Art? 309
FIGURE 10.4 The Vietnam Veterans Memorial is a powerfully affecting work of art that speaks directly to central issues in the
culture of the United States.
has impressed art critics but also continues to have a non-Western societies. Their goal was to recognize a fully
profound aesthetic and emotional impact on hundreds human capacity for art in all societies but to redefine art
of thousands of people who visit it each year. The me- until it became broad enough to include on an equal
morial continues to draw offerings by visitors, not just basis aesthetic products and activities that Western art
wreaths or flowers but also messages of all kinds remem- experts would qualify, at best, as “primitive,” “ethnic,”
bering those memorialized and even communicating or “folk” art.
with them. Letters from friends and families, a hand- For example, some anthropologists focused on the
lettered sign from a fortieth high school reunion in a evaluative standards that artists use for their own work
small Indiana town, tracings of names, intensely private and other work in the same form and how these may
grief, and respectful silence in its presence are all testi- differ from the standards used by people who do not
mony to the success of this piece of art. themselves perform such work. Anthony Forge (1967),
for example, noted that Abelam carvers in New Guinea
discuss carvings in a language that is more incisive than
“But Is It Art?” that of noncarvers. Forge and other anthropologists
Many people—anthropologists included—have resisted pointed out that artists in traditional non-Western so-
the notion that art is only what a group of Western ex- cieties created objects or engaged in activities that rein-
perts define as art. To highlight the ethnocentrism of forced the central values of their culture. Thus, their work
Western art experts, they stressed that the division into helped to maintain the social order, and the artists did
categories of art and nonart is not universal. In many so- not see themselves as (nor were they understood to be)
cieties, there is no word that corresponds to “art,” nor is avant garde critics of society as they often are in modern
there a category of art distinct from other human activi- Western societies. Forge (1967) tells us that Abelam art-
ties. On the other hand, convinced that all people were works are statements about male violence and warfare,
endowed with the same aesthetic capacities, anthro- male nurturance, and the combination of the two. These
pologists felt justified in speaking of art and of artists in statements about the nature of men and their culture
are not made by other means of communication, such definition of art will be selected for the art market as
as speech. Moreover, these statements are essential to “art.” Looking at the collection of objects that over the
Abelam social structure. years have been defined as “art,” Errington (1998) sees
Recent work in the anthropology of art, however, that the vast majority show certain elements to be em-
has prompted many anthropologists to rethink this posi- bedded rather deeply in the Western definition of art: the
tion. They have turned their attention to the way certain objects are “portable (paintings, preferred to murals),
kinds of material objects made by tribal peoples flow durable (bronze preferred to basketry), useless for prac-
into a global art market, where they are transformed into tical purposes in the secular West (ancestral effigies and
“primitive” or “ethnic” art. Some anthropologists, like Byzantine icons preferred to hoes and grain grinders),
Shelly Errington, point out that even in the West most of representational (human and animal figures preferred
the objects in fine arts museums today, no matter where to, say, heavily decorated ritual bowls)” (116–17). In
they came from, were not intended by their makers to other words, for Errington, art requires that someone
be “art.” They were intended to be, for example, masks intend that the objects be art, but that someone does not
for ritual use, paintings for religious contemplation, reli- have to be the objects’ creator.
quaries for holding the relics of saints, ancestor figures, It can be fruitful to talk about art as a kind of play.
furniture, jewelry boxes, architectural details, and so on. Like play, art presents its creators and participants with
They are in fine arts museums today because at some alternative realities, a separation of means from ends,
point they were claimed to be art by someone with the and the possibility of commenting on and transforming
authority to put them in the museum (Figure 10.5). the everyday world. In today’s global art market, how-
For these reasons, Errington (1998) distinguishes ever, restrictions of an entirely different order also apply.
“art by intention” from “art by appropriation.” Art by Errington (1998) observes that the people who make
intention includes objects that were made to be art, such “primitive art” are no longer “tribal” but have become
as Impressionist paintings. Art by appropriation, how-
modern-day peasants or a new type of proletariat. . . .
ever, consists of all the other objects that “became art”
They live in rain forests and deserts and other such
because at a certain moment certain people decided that formerly out-of-the-way places on the peripheries . . .
they belonged to the category of art. Because museums, within national and increasingly global systems of
art dealers, and art collectors are found everywhere in buying and selling, of using natural and human re-
the world today, it is now the case that potentially any sources, and of marketing images and notions about
material object crafted by human hands can be appro- products. Some lucky few of them make high ethnic
priated by these institutions as “art.” art, and sell it for good prices, and obtain a good por-
To transform an object into art, Errington argues, tion of the proceeds. Others make objects classed as
it must have exhibition value—someone must be willing tourist or folk art, usually for much less money, and
to display it. Objects that somehow fit into the Western often through a middleperson. (268)
FIGURE 10.5 Non-
Western sculpture is trans-
formed into art when it is
displayed like Western art
in a museum and viewed
by a public that has the
opportunity to look at it
intensively (in this case, by
Prince Charles).
What Is Art? 311
IN THEIR OWN WORDS
Tango
Anthropologist Julie Taylor describes the none of the fears he cannot show—again proving that
traditional cultural understandings that inform he is not gil. When an Argentine talks of the way he feels
the contexts in which the Argentine tanguero, or when dancing a tango, he describes an experience of
tango-man, dances the tango. total aggressive dominance over the girl, the situation,
the world—an experience in which he vents his resent-
ment and expresses his bitterness against a destiny that
denied him this dominance. Beyond this, it gives him a
Traditionally, Argentines will not dance to a tango that is
moment behind the protection of this facade to ponder
sung. If they danced they could not attend properly to
the history and the land that have formed him, the hopes
the music and lyrics, or hear their own experience and
he has treasured and lost. Sábato echoes widespread
identity revealed in the singer’s and musicians’ rendering
feeling in Argentina when he says “Only a gringo would
of quintessential Argentine emotions. The singer of the
make a clown of himself by taking advantage of a tango
tango shares his personal encounter with experiences
for a chat or amusement.”
common to them all. He does not need bold pronounce-
While thus dancing a statement of invulnerability, the
ment or flamboyant gesture. His audience knows what
somber tanguero sees himself, because of his sensitivity,
he means and his feelings are familiar ones. They listen
his great capacity to love, and his fidelity to the true ideals
for the nuances—emotional and philosophical subtleties
of his childhood years, as basically vulnerable. As he pro-
that will tell them something new about their guarded in-
tects himself with a facade of steps that demonstrate
terior worlds.
perfect control, he contemplates his absolute lack of con-
When they dance to tangos, Argentines contemplate
trol in the face of history and destiny. The nature of the
themes akin to those of tango lyrics, stimulating emotions
world has doomed him to disillusionment, to a solitary
that, despite an apparently contradictory choreography,
existence in the face of the impossibility of perfect love
are the same as those behind the songs. The choreog-
and the intimacy this implies. If by chance the girl with
raphy also reflects the world of the lyrics, but indirectly.
whom he dances feels the same sadness, remember-
The dance portrays an encounter between the powerful
ing similar disillusion, the partners do not dance sharing
and completely dominant male and the passive, docile,
the sentiment. They dance together to relive their disil-
completely submissive female. The passive woman and
lusion alone. In a Buenos Aires dance hall, a young man
the rigidly controlled but physically aggressive man con-
turned to me from the fiancee he had just relinquished
trast poignantly with the roles of the sexes depicted in
to her chaperoning mother and explained, “In the tango,
the tango lyrics. This contrast between two statements of
together with the girl—and it does not matter who she
relations between the sexes aptly mirrors the insecurities
is—a man remembers the bitter moments of his life, and
of life and identity.
he, she, and all who are dancing contemplate a univer-
An Argentine philosophy of bitterness, resentment,
sal emotion. I do not like the woman to talk to me while
and pessimism has the same goal as a danced statement
I dance tango. And if she speaks I do not answer. Only
of machismo, confidence, and sexual optimism. The phi-
when she says to me, ‘Omar, I am speaking,’ I answer, ‘And
losopher elaborates his schemes to demonstrate that
I, I am dancing.’ ”
he is a man of the world—that he is neither stupid nor
naive. In the dance, the dancer acts as though he has Source: Taylor 1987, 484–85.
Others fulfill orders from elsewhere, “producing either economic policies and resource-extraction projects
masses of ‘folk art’ or expensive handmade items that impoverish them and undermine the ways of life
designed by people in touch with world taste and that give the objects they make their exotic allure. It
world markets” (269). Errington points out the bitter should also be noted that what counts as fashion-
irony that international demand for “exotic” objects able decoration this year—“world taste”—may be out
is growing at the very moment when the makers of of fashion next year, leaving the producers with very
these objects are severely threatened by international little to fall back on.
“She’s Fake”: Art and Authenticity Unique authenticity is “the founding myth of modern
concepts of authorship and copyright” (Bigenho 2002,
Michelle Bigenho is an anthropologist and violinist
20). It concerns who owns cultural products and raises
whose multisited ethnography, mentioned in Module 3,
the issue of whether it is possible to talk about collective
examines music performance in Bolivia, in part through
creation and ownership of the music of a community, a
her experiences performing with Música de Maestros
people, an ethnic group.
(Figure 10.6). This ensemble performs the works of
Bigenho came face to face with this issue when she
master Bolivian composers of the past and attempts to
compiled a cassette of music from one of the villages in
recreate accurate performances of contemporary original
which she worked. While the villagers recognized that the
music that they have studied in the countryside (Big-
music they played was composed by individuals, they felt
enho 2002, 4). The ensemble included both classically
strongly that ownership of the music was c ollective. In
trained and traditionally trained musicians, and three
doing so, they moved from uniquely authentic individ-
were foreigners: a Japanese who played the Andean
ual compositions—intellectual p roperty—to collective
flute, a Cuban who played violin, and Bigenho, from the
ownership of a “culturally authentic representation”—
United States, who also played violin. Along with a local
cultural property (Bigenho 2002, 217). She discussed
dance ensemble, the musicians were invited to represent
with the villagers how to register the copyright on the
Bolivia in a folklore festival in France. As the bands were
cassette. When Bigenho went to La Paz to register the
lining up, a member of the Belgian delegation walked
copyright, however, she found that it was impossible to
over to Bigenho and announced, in French, “She’s fake.”
register the cassette under collective authorship or own-
The Belgian woman then “pointed to one of the Bolivian
ership. Ironically, she as the compiler could register the
dancers dressed in her dancing costume with her long
work but the people who created the work could not,
fake braids worked into her short brown hair. As she
unless they were willing to be recognized as individu-
pointed, she said, ‘She’s real’” (Bigenho 2002, 88).
als. According to Bolivian law, the music on the cassette
In this way, Bigenho raises the issue of the connec-
was legally folklore, “the set of literary and artistic works
tion between “authenticity” and so-called folk art. How
created in national territory by unknown authors or by
do the images that people in dominant nations have of
authors who do not identify themselves and are pre-
“folk” or indigenous peoples affect the production and
sumed to be nationals of the country, or of its ethnic
circulation of indigenous art? Can a Bolivian band in-
communities, and that are transmitted from generation
clude musicians from Japan, Cuba, and the United States
to generation, constituting one of the fundamental ele-
and still be Bolivian? And who gets to decide what is
ments of traditional cultural patrimony of the nation”
authentic? Bigenho discusses a kind of authenticity that
(Bigenho 2002, 221). As a result, the music was part of
she calls “unique authenticity,” which refers to the indi-
the “national patrimony” and belonged to the nation-
vidual artist’s new, innovative, and personal production,
state. Given the context of Bolivian cultural and ethnic
such as the original compositions of creative musicians.
FIGURE 10.6 Música de Mae-

stros in costume performing in a
folklore festival in France.
How Does Hip-Hop Become Japanese? 313
politics, Bigenho reports that the villagers decided to try at home with their parents, and they are the products of
to gain visibility and connections as a collective indig- the Japanese educational system. Their day-to-day world
enous entity, which they believed would provide them is Japanese.
with possible economic advantages; whether this belief Moreover, to understand hip-hop in Japan requires
was accurate remains to be seen. But similar struggles understanding where the rap scene in Japan is located.
over the relationship between art and authenticity can For Tokyo, this site (Condry uses the Japanese word
be found all over the world. genba for the “actual site”) is the network of all-night
clubs, where the show starts at midnight and ends at
5:00 A.M., when the trains start to run again. The largest
How Does Hip-Hop of these clubs can accommodate over 1,000 people on
the weekend. Condry describes one of the bigger clubs,
Become Japanese? called “Harlem”:
An opposite case—where global popular culture is sub- On the wall behind the DJ stage, abstract videos,
ject to pressures from the local situation into which it is anime clips, or edited Kung Fu movies present a back-
adopted—comes from anthropologist Ian Condry’s work ground of violence and mayhem, albeit with an Asian
on Japanese hip-hop. Starting in mid-1995, Condry flavor. Strobe lights, steam, and moving spotlights
spent a year and a half studying hip-hop in Japan, which give a strong sense of the space, and compound the
began there in the 1980s and continues to develop. It crowded, frenetic feeling imposed by the loud music.
The drunken revelry gives clubs an atmosphere of ex-
seems to be an example of the expansion of a popular
citement that culminates with the live show and the
culture form from the United States into another part
following freestyle session. (Condry 2001, 376–77)
of the world, but Condry shows how Japanese artists
and fans have adapted hip-hop so that it is Japanese But it is not only the music that matters. People circulate
(Figure 10.7). through the club, sometimes making contact, some-
On the face of it, the Japanese hip-hop scene looks times doing business (promoters, magazine writers, or
very similar to that of the United States: “It is more than record company representatives are also often there),
a little eerie to fly from New York to Tokyo and see teen- just being part of the scene. Condry notes that he found
agers in both places wearing the same kinds of fashion that the time between 3:00 and 4:00 A.M. was best for
characteristic of rap fans: baggy pants with boxers on his fieldwork because the clubbers had e xhausted their
display, floppy hats or baseball caps, and immaculate supplies of stories and gossip and were open to finding
space-age Nike sneakers” (Condry 2001, 373). But the out what he was up to (see EthnoProfile 10.2: Japan).
similarities disguise some important differences—most One striking experience that Condry observed was
Japanese rappers and fans only speak Japanese, they live of a concert right after the New Year. “I was surprised to
FIGURE 10.7 Japanese hip-hop

artists perform at the Moshi Moshi
Nippon Festival in Tokyo, Japan.
While the hip-hop scene in Japan
may look similar to that in the
United States, Ian Condry directs
attention to some significant
differences.
EthnoProfile 10.2 What Is Myth?

We have suggested that play lies at the heart of human
Japan creativity. However, because the openness of play seems
random and thus just as likely to undermine the social
Region: Northeastern Asia order as to enhance it, societies tend to surround play
Nation: Japan with cultural rules, channeling it in directions that appear
Population: 118,000,000 less destructive. Rules designed to discipline artistic ex-
Environment: Temperate climate
pression are one result of this channeling process. As we
have seen, artists in various media are permitted a wide
Livelihood: Full range of occupations
to be found in a core
range of expression as long as they adhere to rules govern-
industrial nation-state ing the form that expression takes. Societies differ in how
Political organization: loose or strict the rules of artistic form may be. Artists
Highly urbanized Sea of
who challenge the rules, however, are often viewed nega-
nation-state tively by those in power, who believe they have the right
Japan
For more information: N. KOREA to restrict artistic expressions that question social, reli-
Kondo, Dorinne, 1990. Craft- S. KOREA JAPAN
gious, or sexual precepts that ought not to be questioned.
ing selves. Chicago: University Tokyo
of Chicago Press.
PACIFIC In fact, all societies depend on the willingness of
Osaka OCEAN
their members to not question certain assumptions
0 200 400
Miles
about the way the world works. Because the regularity
and predictability of social life might collapse altogether
if people were free to imagine and act upon their own
understandings of the world, most societies find ways to
see all the clubbers who knew each other going around restrict the available options through the use of myth. As
and saying the traditional New Year’s greeting in very we saw in Module 1, many people take the word myth to
formal Japanese: ‘Congratulations on the dawn of the mean something that is false. But for anthropologists,
New Year. I humbly request your benevolence this year myths are stories that recount how various aspects of
as well.’ There was no irony, no joking atmosphere in the world came to be the way they are. The power of
these statements” (Condry 2001, 380). As he remarks, myths comes from their ability to make life meaningful
“Japanese cultural practices do not disappear” just be- for those who accept them. The truth of myths seems
cause people seem to conform to the style of global self-evident because they do such a good job of integrat-
hip-hop. In the same way, the topics addressed in the ing personal experiences with a wider set of assump-
lyrics speak in some way to the concerns of the listen- tions about how the world works. As stories that involve
ers, ridiculing school and television or celebrating video a teller and an audience, myths are products of high
games and young men’s verbal play. Most striking, verbal art (and increasingly of cinematic art). Frequently,
perhaps, is the repeated theme that youth need to speak the official myth-tellers are the ruling groups in society:
out for themselves. Rapper MC Shiro of Rhymester re- the elders, the political leaders, the religious specialists.
marked, “If I were to say what hip-hop is, it would be They may also be considered master storytellers. The
a ‘culture of the first person singular.’ In hip-hop, . . . content of myths usually concerns past events (usually
rappers are always yelling, ‘I’m this’” (Condry 2001,
at the beginning of time) or future events (usually at the
383). While this may not appear to be the edgy, tough end of time). Myths are socially important because, if
lyrics of U.S. rap, in the Japanese context, where the they are taken literally, they tell people where they have
dominant ideology is that the harmony of the group come from and where they are going and, thus, how they
should come before individual expression, the idea that should live right now (Figure 10.8).
people should speak for themselves is powerful. As we Societies differ in the degree to which they permit
saw in Chapter 3, this p rocess of localizing the global is speculation about key myths. In complex Western soci-
one that many anthropologists are now studying. eties such as that of the United States, many different
groups, each with its own mythic tradition, often live side
by side. Ironically, Americans’ rights to do so without
myths Stories that recount how various aspects of the world came to state interference are guaranteed in mythic statements
be the way they are. The power of myths comes from their ability to make
from documents crafted at the time of this country’s
life meaningful for those who accept them. The truth of myths seems
self-evident because they effectively integrate personal experiences with a founding. Consider the “self-evident” truths proclaimed
wider set of assumptions about how the world works. in the U.S. Declaration of Independence: “that all men
What Is Myth? 315
FIGURE 10.8 A vase painting illustrating part of the Popul Vuh, the Mayan creation story.
are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator How Does Myth Reflect—
with certain inalienable rights, that among these rights and Shape—Society?
are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” Despite
the imperfect realization of these rights over the centu- Early in the twentieth century, anthropologist Bronislaw
ries, Americans still appeal to the self-evident truths en- Malinowski introduced a new approach to myth. He be-
shrined in the Declaration of Independence in ongoing lieved that to understand myths we must understand the
struggles to establish the equality of all citizens under social context in which they are embedded. Malinowski
the law. That is, U.S. citizens are striving to bring their argued that myths serve as “charters” or “justifications”
lived reality in line with the Declaration’s mythic procla- for present-day social arrangements. In other words, a
mation, the truth of which remains unquestioned. myth operates much like the Declaration of Indepen-
Myths and related beliefs that are taken to be self- dence. That is, the myth contains some “self-evident”
evident truths are sometimes codified in an explicit truth that explains why society is as it is and why it
manner. When this codification is extreme and deviation cannot be changed. If the social arrangements justified
from the code is treated harshly, we sometimes speak of by the myth are challenged, the myth can be used as a
orthodoxy (or “correct doctrine”). Societies differ in the weapon against the challengers.
degree to which they require members to adhere to or- Malinowski’s famous example is of the origin myths
thodox interpretations of key myths. But even societies of the Trobriand Islanders ([1926] 1948; see Ethno
that place little emphasis on orthodoxy are likely to exert Profile 10.3: Trobriand Islanders). Members of every
some control over the interpretation of key myths be- significant kinship grouping knew, marked, and retold
cause myths have implications for action. They may jus- the history of the place from which their group’s ances-
tify past action, explain present action, or generate future tress and her brother had emerged from the depths of
action. To be persuasive, myths must offer plausible ex- the earth. These origin myths were set in the time before
planations for our experience of human nature, human history began. Each ancestress-and-brother pair brought
society, and human history. a distinct set of characteristics that included special ob-
The success of Western science has led many mem- jects and knowledge, as well as various skills, crafts,
bers of Western societies to dismiss nonscientific myths spells, and the like. On reaching the surface, the pair
as flawed attempts at science or history. Only recently took possession of the land. That is why, Malinowski was
have some scientists come to recognize the similarities told, the people on a given piece of land had rights to
between scientific and nonscientific storytelling about it. It is also why they possessed a particular set of spells,
such events as the origin of life on earth. Scientific stories skills, and crafts. Because the original sacred beings were
about origins, origin myths, must be taken to the natural a woman and her brother, the origin myth could also be
world to be matched against material evidence; the suc- used to endorse present-day membership in a Trobriand
cess of this match determines whether they are accepted
or rejected. By contrast, nonscientific origin myths get
their vitality from how well they match up with the orthodoxy “Correct doctrine”; the prohibition of deviation from approved
social world. mythic texts.
(1967) transformed the study of myth. Lévi-Strauss

EthnoProfile 10.3 argues that myths have meaningful structures that are
worth studying in their own right, quite apart from the
Trobriand Islanders uses to which the myths may be put. He suggested that
myths should be interpreted the way we interpret mu-
Region: Oceania sical scores. In a piece of music, the meaning emerges
Nation: Papua New Guinea not just from the melody but also from the harmony. In
Population: 8,500 (1970s) other words, the structure of the piece of music, the way
in which each line of the music contributes to the overall
Environment: Tropical island
sound and is related to other lines, carries the meaning.
Livelihood: Yam growing
For Lévi-Strauss, myths are tools for overcoming log-
Political organization: ical contradictions that cannot otherwise be overcome.
Traditionally, chiefs and
others of rank; today, part of Philippine Sea
They are put together in an attempt to deal with the op-
a modern nation-state positions of particular concern to a particular society at a
PAPUA
For more information: NEW GUINEA particular moment in time. Using a linguistic metaphor,
INDONESIA
Weiner, Annette. 1988. The Lévi-Strauss argues that myths are composed of smaller
Trobrianders of Papua New units—phrases, sentences, words, relationships—that
Guinea. New York: Holt, Arafura Sea Port
Moresby are arranged in ways that give both a linear, narrative (or
Rinehart and Winston.
Trobriand “melodic”) coherence and a multilevel, structural (or
0 250 500 Islands
Miles Coral Sea “harmonic”) coherence. These arrangements represent
and comment on aspects of social life that are thought
to oppose each other. Examples include the opposition
clan, which depends on a person’s ability to trace kinship of men to women; opposing rules of residence after
links through women to that clan’s original ancestress. A marriage (living with the groom’s father or the bride’s
brother and a sister represent the prototypical members mother); the opposition of the natural world to the cul-
of a clan because they are both descended from the an- tural world, of life to death, of spirit to body, of high to
cestress through female links. Should anyone question low, and so on.
the wisdom of organizing society in this way, the myth The complex syntax of myth works to relate those
could be cited as proof that this is indeed the correct way opposed pairs to one another in an attempt to overcome
to live. their contradictions. However, these contradictions can
In Trobriand society, Malinowski found, clans were never be overcome; for example, the opposition of death
ranked relative to one another in terms of prestige. To ac- to life is incapable of any earthly resolution. But myth
count for this ranking, Trobrianders referred to another can transform an insoluble problem into a more accessi-
myth. In the Trobriand myth that explains rank, one ble, concrete form. Mythic narrative can then provide the
clan’s ancestor, the dog, emerged from the earth before concrete problem with a solution. For example, a cul-
another clan’s ancestor, the pig, thus justifying ranking ture hero may bridge the opposition between death and
the dog clan highest in prestige. To believe in this myth, life by traveling from the land of the living to the land
Malinowski asserted, is to accept a transcendent justifica- of the dead and back. Alternatively, a myth might pro-
tion for the ranking of clans. Malinowski made it clear, pose that the beings who transcend death are so horrific
however, that if social arrangements change, the myth that death is clearly preferable to eternal life. Perhaps a
changes too— to justify the new arrangements. At some myth describes the journey of a bird that travels from
point, the dog clan was replaced in prominence by the the earth, the home of the living, to the sky, the home
pig clan. This social change resulted in a change in the of the dead. This is similar to Christian thought, where
mythic narrative. The dog was said to have eaten food the death and resurrection of Jesus may be understood
that was taboo. In so doing, the dog gave up its claim to to resolve the opposition between death and life by tran-
higher rank. Thus, to understand a myth and its transfor- scending death.
mations, one must understand the social organization of From this point of view, myths do not just talk
the society that makes use of it. about the world as it is but also describe the world
as it might be. To paraphrase Lévi-Strauss, myths are
good to think with; mythic thinking can propose other
Do Myths Help Us Think? ways to live our lives. Lévi-Strauss insists, however, that
Beginning in the mid-1950s, a series of books and ar- the alternatives that myths propose are ordinarily re-
ticles by the French anthropologist Claude Lévi-Strauss jected as impossible. Thus, although myths allow for
What Is Ritual? 317
play with self-evident truths, this play remains under off from the social routines of everyday life. Third, ritu-
strict control. als in any culture adhere to a characteristic, culturally
Is Lévi-Strauss correct? There has been a great deal defined schema. This means that members of a culture
of debate on this issue since the publication in 1955 can tell that a certain sequence of activities is a ritual
of his article “The Structural Study of Myth” (see Lévi- even if they have never seen that particular ritual before.
Strauss 1967). But even those who are most critical of Fourth, ritual action is closely connected to a specific
his analyses of particular myths agree that mythic struc- set of ideas that are often encoded in myth. These ideas
tures are meaningful because they display the ability of might concern, for example, the relationship of human
human beings to play with possibilities as they attempt beings to the spirit world, how human beings ought to
to deal with basic contradictions at the heart of human interact with one another, or the nature of evil. The pur-
experience. pose for which a ritual is performed guides how these
For Malinowski, Lévi-Strauss, and their follow- ideas are selected and symbolically enacted. What gives
ers, those who believe in myths are not conscious of rituals their power is that the people who perform them
how their myths are structured or of the functions their assert that the authorization for the ritual comes from
myths perform for them. More recent anthropological outside themselves—from the state, society, a divine
thinking takes a more reflexive approach. This research being, god, the ancestors, or “tradition.” They have not
recognizes that ordinary members of a society often are made up the ritual themselves; rather, it connects them
aware of how their myths structure meaning, allowing to a source of power that they do not control but that
them to manipulate the way myths are told or inter- controls them.
preted to make an effect, to prove a point, or to but-
tress a particular perspective on human nature, society,
or history. How Is Ritual Expressed in Action?
A ritual has a particular sequential ordering of acts, ut-
terance, and events: that is, ritual has a text. Because
What Is Ritual? ritual is action, however, we must pay attention to the
way the ritual text is performed. The performance of a
Play allows unlimited consideration of alternative per- ritual cannot be separated from its text; text and perfor-
spectives on reality. Art permits consideration of alterna- mance shape each other. Through ritual performance,
tive perspectives, but certain limitations restricting the the ideas of a culture become concrete, take on a form,
form and content are imposed. Myth aims to narrow and, as Bruce Kapferer (1983) puts it, give direction to
radically the possible perspectives and often promotes the gaze of participants. At the same time, ritual perform-
a single, orthodox perspective presumed to be valid for ers are not robots but active individuals whose choices
everyone. It thus offers a kind of intellectual indoctrina- are guided but not rigidly dictated by previous ritual
tion. But because societies aim to shape action as well as texts; ritual performance can serve as a commentary
thought to orient all human faculties in the approved di- on the text and even transform it. For example, Jewish
rection, art, myth, and ritual are often closely associated synagogue ritual following the reading from the Torah
with one another. In this s ection, we will look at ritual as (the five books of Moses, the Hebrew Bible) includes
a form of action in a variety of societies. lifting the Torah scroll, showing it to the congregation,
and then closing it and covering it. In some synagogues,
a man and a woman, often a couple, are called from
How Can Ritual Be Defined? the congregation to lift and cover the Torah: the man
For many people in Western societies, rituals are pre- lifts it and, after he seats himself, the woman rolls the
sumed to be religious—for example, weddings, Jewish scroll closed, places the tie around it, and covers it with
bar mitzvahs, Hmong sacrifices to the ancestors, or the the mantle that protects it. One of the authors once ob-
Catholic Mass. For anthropologists, however, rituals also served a performance of this ritual in which the woman
include practices such as scientific experiments, college lifted the Torah and the man wrapped it; officially, the
graduation ceremonies, procedures in a court of law, and ritual text was carried out, but the performance became
children’s birthday parties.
To capture this range of activities, our definition
of ritual has four parts. First, ritual is a repetitive social
practice composed of a sequence of symbolic activities ritual A repetitive social practice composed of a sequence of symbolic
activities in the form of dance, song, speech, gestures, or the manipulation of
in the form of dance, song, speech, gestures, the manip- objects; adhering to a culturally defined ritual schema; and closely connected
ulation of certain objects, and so forth. Second, it is set to a specific set of ideas that are often encoded in myth.
a commentary on the text—on the role of women in in which recruits (not yet soldiers but no longer civil-
Judaism, on the Torah as an appropriate subject of at- ians) are forced to dress and act alike. They are sub-
tention for women as well as for men, on the roles of jected to a grinding-down process, after which they are
men and women overall, and so on. The performance rebuilt into something new.
was noteworthy—indeed, many of the regular members During the final stage—reaggregation—the ritual
of the congregation seemed quite surprised—precisely passenger is reintroduced into society in his or her new
because it violated people’s expectations and in so doing position. In the military, this involves graduation from
directed people’s attention toward the role of men and basic training and a visit home but this time as a member
women in religious ritual at the end of the twentieth of the armed forces, in uniform and on leave—in other
century as well as toward the Torah as the central symbol words, as a new person. Other familiar rites of passage
of the Jewish people. in youth culture in the United States include high school
graduation and the informal yet significant ceremonies
associated with the twenty-first birthday, both of which
What Are Rites of Passage? are understood as movements from one kind of person
Graduating from college, getting married, joining the to another.
military, and other “life cycle” rituals share certain im- The work of Victor Turner greatly increased our un-
portant features, most notably that people begin the derstanding of rites of passage. Turner concentrated on
ritual as one kind of person (e.g., student, single, re- the period of transition, which he saw as important both
cruit), and by the time the ritual is over, they have been for the rite of passage and for social life in general. Van
transformed into a different kind of person (e.g., grad- Gennep (1960) referred to this part of a rite of passage as
uate, spouse, soldier). These rituals are called rites of the “liminal period,” from the Latin limen (“threshold”).
passage. At the beginning of the twentieth century, the During this period, the individual is on the threshold,
Belgian anthropologist Arnold Van Gennep noted that betwixt and between, neither here nor there, neither in
certain kinds of rituals around the world had similar nor out. Turner notes that the symbolism accompany-
structures. These were rituals associated with the move- ing the rite of passage often expresses this ambiguous
ment (or passage) of people from one position in the state. Liminality, he tells us, “is frequently likened to
social structure to another. They took place at births, ini- death, to being in the womb, to invisibility, to darkness,
tiations, confirmations, weddings, funerals, and the like to bisexuality, to the wilderness, and to an eclipse of the
(Figure 10.9). sun or moon” (Turner 1969, 95). People in the liminal
Van Gennep (1960) found that all these rituals state tend to develop an intense comradeship with each
began with a period of separation from the old position other in which their nonliminal distinctions disappear
and from normal time. During this period, the ritual or become irrelevant. Turner calls this kind of social
passenger leaves behind the symbols and practices of relationship communitas, which is best understood as
his or her previous position. For example, military re- an unstructured or minimally structured community of
cruits leave their families behind and are moved to a equal individuals.
new place. They are forced to leave behind the clothing, Turner (1969) contends that all societies need some
activities, and even the hairstyle that marked who they kind of communitas as much as they need structure.
were in civilian life. Communitas gives “recognition to an essential and ge-
The second stage in rites of passage involves a neric human bond, without which there could be no
period of transition, in which the ritual passenger society” (97). That bond is the common humanity that
is neither in the old life nor yet in the new one. This underlies all culture and society. However, periods of
period is marked by rolelessness, ambiguity, and per- communitas (often in ritual context) are brief. Commu-
ceived danger. Often, the person involved is subjected nitas is dangerous, not just because it threatens structure
to ordeal by those who have already passed through. In but also because it threatens survival itself. During the
the military service, this is the period of basic training, time of communitas, the things that structure ensures—
production of food and physical and social reproduc-
tion of the society—cannot be provided. But someone
rite of passage A ritual that serves to mark the movement and transfor- always has to take out the garbage and clean up after
mation of an individual from one social position to another. the party. Thus, communitas gives way again to struc-
liminality The ambiguous transitional state in a rite of passage in which ture, which in turn generates a need for a new release
the person or persons undergoing the ritual are outside their ordinary social
positions. of communitas. The feeling of communitas can also
communitas An unstructured or minimally structured community be attained by means of play and art. Indeed, it may
of equal individuals found frequently in rites of passage. well be that for people in contemporary nation-states
What Is Ritual? 319
IN THEIR OWN WORDS
Video in the Villages
Patricia Aufderheide describes how indigenous emerging concept of “traditional” in contrast to Brazilian
peoples of the Amazonian rain forest in Brazil culture—a concept that had not, apparently, been part of
have been able to master the video camera and the Nambikwara’s repertoire before contact but that had
use it for their own purposes. practical political utility.
The Kayapo are among the best-known Brazilian
Indians internationally, partly because of their video
work, promoted as a tool of cultural identification by the
The social role and impact of video is particularly intriguing
anthropologist who works most closely with them. Like
among people who are new to mass-communications tech-
other tribes such as the Xavante who had extensive con-
nologies, such as lowlands Amazonian Indians. One an-
tact with Brazilian authorities and media, the Kayapo
thropologist has argued persuasively that a naive disdain
early seized on modern media technologies. . . . Besides
for commercial media infuses much well-meaning concern
intimidating authorities with the evidence of recording
over the potential dangers of introducing mass media and
equipment . . . , the Kayapo quickly grasped the symbolic
that “indigenous media offers a possible means—social,
expectations of Brazilian mass media for Indians. They
cultural, and political—for reproducing and transforming
cannily played on the contrast between their feathers
cultural identity among people who have experienced mas-
and body paint and their recording devices to get cover-
sive political, geographic, and economic disruption.” . . . In
age. Even staging public events for the purpose of attract-
two groups of Brazilian Indians, the Nambikwara and the
ing television crews, they were able to insert, although
Kayapo, this premise has been tested.
not ultimately control, their message on Brazilian news
The Nambikwara became involved with video through
by exploiting that contrast. . . . Using these techniques,
Video in the Villages, run by Vincent Carelli at the Centro de
Kayapo leaders became international symbols of the
Trabalho Indigenista in São Paulo. This project is one exam-
ironies of the postmodern age and not incidentally also
ple of a trend to put media in the hands of people who have
the subjects of international agitation and fundraising
long been the subjects of ethnographic film and video. . . .
that benefited Kayapo over other indigenous groups and
While some anthropologists see this resort as a “solution”
some Kayapo over others.
to the issue of ethnographic authority, others have focused
Kayapo have also used video to document internal
on it as part of a struggle for indigenous rights and political
cultural ceremonies in meticulous detail; to communicate
autonomy. . . . Many of the groups Carelli has worked with
internally between villages; to develop an archive; and
have seized on video for its ability to extensively document
to produce clips and short documentaries intended for
lengthy rituals that mark the group’s cultural uniqueness
wide audiences. Their video work, asserts anthropologist
rather than produce a finished product. . . .
Terence Turner, has not merely preserved traditional cus-
Carelli coproduced a project with a Nambikwara
toms but in fact transformed their understanding of those
leader, documenting a cultural ritual. After taping, the
customs as customs and their culture as a culture. Turner
Nambikwara viewed the ritual and offered criticisms,
also found that video equipment, expertise, and prod-
finding it tainted with modernisms. They then repeated
ucts often fed into existing factional divisions. P articular
the ritual in traditional regalia and conducted, for the
Kayapo leaders used the equipment in their own inter-
first time in a generation, a male initiation ceremony—
ests, sometimes as a tool to subdue their enemies, some-
taping it all. (This experience is recounted in a short tape,
times as evidence of personal power. . . .
Girls’ Puberty Ritual, produced by Carelli with a Nambik-
wara leader for outsiders.) Using video reinforced an Source: Aufderheide 1993, 587–89.
the experience of communitas comes through the cli- How Are Play and Ritual
mactic winning moments of a sports team, attendance Complementary?
at large-scale rock concerts, or participation in mass
public events like Carnival in Rio de Janeiro, the Green- How does the logic of ritual differ from the logic of play?
wich Village Halloween parade, or Mardi Gras in New Play and ritual are complementary forms of metacom-
Orleans. munication (Handelman 1977). The movement from
FIGURE 10.9 Rites of passage

are rituals that enable people to
move from one position in the
social structure to another.
(a) In June 2004, an Apache girl,
accompanied by her godmother
and a helper, moves into adulthood
through the Sunrise Dance.
(b) In May 2011, a group of Harvard
students moves into a new part of
their lives as law school graduates
following Commencement.
nonplay to play is based on the premise of metaphor that asserts what should be to play’s what can be. The ritual
(“Let’s make believe”); the movement to ritual is based frame is more rigid than the play frame. Consequently,
on the premise of literalness (“Let’s believe”). From the ritual is the most stable liminal domain, whereas play is
perspective of the everyday social order, the result of the most flexible. Players can move with relative ease into
these contrasting premises is the “inauthenticity” of play and out of play, but such is not the case with ritual.
and the “truth” of ritual. Finally, play usually has little effect on the social
Because of the connection of ritual with self-evident order of ordinary life. This permits play a wide range of
truth, the metacommunication of the ritual frame (“This commentary on the social order. Ritual is different: its
is ritual”) is associated with an additional metacommuni- role is explicitly to maintain the status quo, including the
cation: “All messages within this frame are true.” It is ritual prescribed ritual transformations. Societies differ in the
extent to which ritual behavior alternates with everyday,
nonritual behavior. When nearly every act of everyday life
orthopraxy “Correct practice”; the prohibition of deviation from approved is ritualized and other forms of behavior are strongly dis-
forms of ritual behavior. couraged, we sometimes speak of orthopraxy (“correct
What Are Symbols? 321
human beings use culture to construct rich understand-

EthnoProfile 10.4 ings of everyday experiences. In this section, we build
on those insights and describe how human beings use
Yoruba cultural creativity to make sense of the wider world on a
more comprehensive scale as they construct encompass-
Region: Western Africa ing pictures of reality called worldviews.
Nation: Nigeria
Population: 40,000,000
Environment: Coastal and forest What Are Symbols?

Livelihood: Farming, commerce, modern professions
As they develop complex understandings of themselves
Political organization: and the wider world, people regularly devise symbols to
Traditionally, kingdoms; NIGER
today, part of a modern
Lake
Chad
organize this knowledge. As we saw earlier, a symbol—
nation-state such as a word, an image, or an action—is something
Kano
For more information: Kaduna

that stands for something else. Symbols signal the pres-
IN
BEN
Bascom, William. 1969. The N ig

er NIGERIA ence and importance of given domains of experience.
Yoruba of southwestern Nige- Yoruba e Some symbols, which anthropologist Sherry Ortner
nu
ria. New York: Holt, Rinehart Be
Lagos (1973) calls summarizing symbols, sum up, express, or
and Winston.
CAMEROON
represent for people “in an emotionally powerful . . . way
0 100 200 300
Gulf of Guinea Miles what the system means to them” (1339). To many people,
for example, the American flag stands for the American
way (Figure 10.10). But the American way is a complex col-
lection of ideas and feelings that includes such things as
practice”). Traditionally observant Jews and Muslims, for patriotism, democracy, hard work, free enterprise, progress,
example, lead a highly ritualized daily life, attempting national superiority, apple pie, and motherhood. As Ortner
from the moment they awaken until the moment they points out, the flag focuses our attention on all these things
fall asleep to carry out even the humblest of activities in at once. It does not encourage us, say, to reflect on how
a manner that is ritually correct. In their view, ritual cor- the American way affects non-Americans. But the sym-
rectness is the result of God’s law, and it is their duty and bolic power of the flag is double-edged. For some people,
joy to conform their every action to God’s will. Americans included, this same flag stands for imperialism,
Margaret Drewal argues that, at least among the racism, opposition to the legitimate struggle of exploited
Yoruba, play and ritual overlap (see EthnoProfile 10.4: peoples, and support for right-wing dictatorships. Perhaps
Yoruba). Yoruba rituals combine spectacle, festival, play, stranger still, for many Americans, the flag sums up all
sacrifice, and so on and integrate diverse media—music, these things at once, contradictory though they are!
dance, poetry, theater, sculpture (Drewal 1992, 198). What Ortner calls elaborating symbols are essentially
They are events that require improvisatory, spontaneous analytic. They allow people to sort out and label complex
individual moves; as a result, the mundane order is not and undifferentiated feelings and ideas into comprehen-
only inverted and reversed but also may be subverted sible and communicable language and action. Elaborat-
through power play and gender play. For example, gender ing symbols provide people with categories for thinking
roles are rigidly structured in Yoruba society. Yoruba rit- about how their world is ordered. For the Dinka, a cattle-
uals, however, allow some cross-dressing by both men herding people of eastern Africa, cattle are a key elabo-
and women, providing institutionalized opportunities rating symbol (see Figure 10.11 and EthnoProfile 10.5:
for men and women to cross gender boundaries and to Dinka). According to Godfrey Lienhardt, cattle provide
express the traits that the Yoruba consider characteristic the Dinka with most of the metaphors they use for think-
of the opposite sex, sometimes as parody but sometimes ing about and responding to experience. For instance,
seriously and respectfully (Drewal 1992, 190). Dinka perceptions of color, light, and shade are con-
nected to the colors they see in cattle. They even liken
how their society is put together to how a bull is put to-
How Are Worldview and gether (Lienhardt 1961; Ortner 1973).
Symbolic Practice Related?
Our previous discussions of language, play, art, myth, worldviews Encompassing pictures of reality created by the members
and ritual provided an overview of some of the ways of societies.
FIGURE 10.10 For U.S. citizens,

the flag of the United States is a
summarizing symbol that brings to-
gether and evokes for them a range
of images and emotions, positive
and negative, about
their country.
FIGURE 10.11 For pastoral

people such as the Dinka and their
neighbors the Nuer, cattle are
elaborating symbols of paramount
power.
What Is Religion? this definition is that the distinction between “natural”

and “supernatural” was originally made by nonreligious
For many readers of this text, the most familiar form Western observers to distinguish the real “natural” world
of worldview is probably religion. The anthropological from what they took to be the imaginary “supernatural”
concept of religion, like many analytic terms, began as world. Many anthropologists who study different reli-
a description of a certain domain of Western culture. As gious traditions believe that it is less distorting to begin
a result, it has been very difficult for anthropologists to with their informants’ statements about what exists and
settle on a definition of religion that is applicable in all what does not. In this way, they are in a better position
human societies. Scholars have often argued that a reli- to understand the range of forces, visible and invisible,
gion differs from other kinds of worldviews because it that religious devotees perceive as being active in their
assumes the existence of a supernatural domain: an in- world.
visible world populated by one or more beings who are For these reasons, John Bowen proposes that an-
more powerful than human beings and able to influence thropologists approach religion in a way that begins
events in the “natural” human world. The problem with broadly but that allows for increasing specificity as we
and fatigue; and (4) deprivation of food, water, or

EthnoProfile 10.5 air. In many societies, the experience of ecstasy,
euphoria, dissociation, or hallucination seems to
Dinka be a goal of religious effort (Figure 10.12b).
3. Exhortation. In all religious systems, certain
Region: Eastern Africa
people are believed to have closer relationships
Nation: Sudan with the invisible powers than others, and they
Population: 2,000,000 are expected to use those relationships in the
Environment: Savanna spiritual interests of others. They give orders,
Livelihood: Principally cattle herding, also agriculture
they heal, they threaten, they comfort, and they
interpret.
Political organization: Traditionally, egalitarian with noble
clans and chiefs; today, part 4. Mana. Mana refers to an impersonal superhu-
of a modern nation-state LIBYA Ni
le
man power that is sometimes believed to be
For more information: transferable from an object that contains it to one
Re
d
Deng, Francis Madeng. 1972.
Sea
CHAD that does not. The laying on of hands, in which
The Dinka of the Sudan. New Khartoum
ERITREA
the power of a healer enters the body of a sick
Nile
York: Holt, Rinehart and

Blu
SUDAN
person to remove or destroy an illness, is an ex-
e
Winston. Nile
ite
Wh
ample of the transmission of power. In Guider,
Dinka ETHIOPIA
Mo
C.A.R.
Cameroon, some people believe that the ink
unt
ain Nile
0 200 400 used to copy passages from the Qur’an has power
Miles
(see EthnoProfile 15.2: Guider). Washing the ink
off the board on which the words are written and
drinking the ink transfer the power of the words
into the body of the drinker. All these examples
learn more about the details of particular religious tra-
illustrate the principle that sacred things are
ditions. Bowen (2008) defines religion as “ideas and
sometimes to be touched so that their power may
practices that postulate reality beyond that which is im-
be transferred to human beings.
mediately available to the senses” (4). In individual so-
cieties, this may take the shape of beliefs in spirits and 5. Taboo. Objects or people that may not be touched
gods, in impersonal forces that affect the world, in the are taboo. Some people believe that the cosmic
correct practice of ritual, or in the awareness that their power in such objects or people may “drain
ancestors continue to be active in the world of the living. away” if touched or may injure the toucher. Many
It is important to note that this definition encompasses religious systems have taboo objects. Tradition-
both practices and ideas; religions involve actions as well ally, Catholics were not to touch the Host during
as beliefs (Figure 10.12). Indeed, anthropologist A. F. C. communion. Jews may not touch the handwrit-
Wallace (1966) proposed a set of “minimal categories of ten text of the biblical scrolls. In ancient Polyne-
religious behavior” that describe many of the practices sia, commoners could not touch the chief ’s body;
usually associated with religions. Several of the most im- even an accidental touch resulted in the death of
portant are as follows: the commoner. Food may also be taboo; many
societies have elaborate rules concerning the
1. Prayer. Where there are personified cosmic forces, foods that may or may not be eaten at different
there is a customary way of addressing them, times or by different kinds of people.
usually by speaking or chanting out loud. Often,
6. Feasts. Eating and drinking in a religious context
people pray in public, at a sacred location, and
is very common. The Holy Communion of Cath-
with special apparatus: incense, smoke, objects
olics and Protestants is a meal set apart by its re-
(e.g., rosary beads or a prayer wheel), and so on
ligious context. The Passover Seder for Jews is
(Figure 10.12a).
another religious feast. For the Huichol of
2. Physiological exercise. Many religious systems Mexico, the consumption of peyote is set apart
have methods for physically manipulating psy-
chological states to induce an ecstatic spiritual
state. Wallace suggests four major kinds of ma-
nipulation: (1) drugs; (2) sensory deprivation; religion “Ideas and practices that postulate reality beyond that which is
(3) mortification of the flesh by pain, sleeplessness, immediately available to the senses” (Bowen 2008).
a b
FIGURE 10.12 (a) The joint pilgrimage by Hindu worshipers to the Ganges River illustrates the social nature of religion. (b) This
participant in the Hindu Thaipusam ritual pilgrimage in Singapore in 2004 has agreed to carry a kavadi for religious benefit. Kavadi
can weigh 60 pounds (27 kg).
from other meals by its religious context. Even audience. Thus, one Hindu Tamil worshipper in Kuala
everyday meals may be seen to have a religious Lumpur who successfully went into trance during the
quality if they begin or end with prayer. festival of Thaipusam described his experience as “float-
ing in the air, followed by the wind” (Floating on the Air
7. Sacrifice. Giving something of value to the invisi-
1973). And the Hebrew poet who wrote the twenty-third
ble forces or their agents is a feature of many reli-
psalm tried to express his experience of the power and
gious systems. This may be an offering of money,
love of his god by comparing God to his shepherd and
goods, or services. It may also be the immolation
himself to a sheep. Many contemporary theologians
of animals or, very rarely, human beings. Sacri-
argue that the language human beings use to talk about
fices may be made in thanks to the cosmic forces,
God is inevitably full of everyday metaphors (e.g., see
in hopes of influencing them to act in a certain
Gillman 1992). Even those who claim to have had per-
way or simply to gain general religious merit.
sonal experience of the reality of God, of ancestral spirits,
or of witchcraft will probably still find themselves forced
to resort to poetic, metaphorical language if they want
How Do People Communicate to explain that experience to other people—and perhaps
in Religion? even to themselves.
Those who are committed to religious worldviews are
convinced of the existence and active involvement in
their lives of beings or forces that are ordinarily invis-
How Are Religion and Social
ible. Some of the most highly valued religious prac- Organization Related?
tices, such as religious ecstasy or trance, produce outer Anthropological research suggests that members of
symptoms that may be perceived by others; but their many religious traditions base their understanding of
most powerful effects can be experienced only by the the structure of the universe on the structure of the soci-
individual who undergoes them personally. What if ety in which they live. One consequence of this mode of
you wanted to know what it felt like to experience reli- understanding is that forces in the universe are personal-
gious ecstasy? What if you were someone who had had ized. Thus, people seeking to influence those forces must
such an experience and wanted to tell others about it? handle them as they would handle powerful human
What if you were convinced that the supreme power in beings. Communication is perhaps the central feature of
the universe had revealed itself to you and you wanted how we deal with human beings: when we address each
to share this revelation with others? How would you other, we expect a response. The same is true when we
proceed? address personalized cosmic forces.
You might well begin by searching for metaphors Maintaining contact with invisible cosmic powers
based on experiences already well known to your is a tremendously complex undertaking. It is not
surprising, therefore, that some societies have developed

complex social practices to ensure that it is done prop-
erly. In other words, religion becomes institutionalized.
Social positions are created for specialists who supervise
or embody correct religious practice.
Anthropologists have identified two broad cat-
egories of religious specialists: shamans and priests. A
shaman is a part-time religious practitioner who is be-
lieved to have the power to contact invisible powers di-
rectly on behalf of individuals or groups. Shamans are
often thought to be able to travel to the cosmic realm
to communicate with the beings or forces that dwell
there. They often plead with those beings or forces to
act in favor of their people and may return with mes-
sages for them. The Ju/’hoansi, for example, recognize
that some people are able to develop an internal power
that enables them to travel to the world of the spirits—
to enter “half death”—to cure those who are sick (see
EthnoProfile 11.4: Ju/’hoansi).
In many societies, the training that a shaman re-
ceives is long and demanding and may involve the use of
powerful psychotropic substances. Repeatedly entering
altered states of consciousness can produce long-lasting
effects on shamans themselves, and shamans may be
viewed with suspicion or fear by others in the society.
This is because contacting cosmic beings to persuade
them to heal embodies dangerous ambiguities: some-
one who can contact such beings for positive benefits
may also be able to contact them to produce negative FIGURE 10.13 Using smoke from a juniper twig, Siberian
shaman Vera heals a patient possessed by evil spirits.
outcomes like disease or death.
The term shaman comes from the Tungus of eastern
Siberia, where, at a minimum, it referred to a religious for personal development. In the societies in which sha-
specialist who has the ability to enter a trance through manism is important, it is said that the shaman has no
which he or she is believed to enter into direct con- choice but to take on the role; the spirits demand it. It
tact with spiritual beings and guardian spirits for the can take a decade or more to become fully recognized as
purposes of healing, fertility, protection, and aggres- a shaman, and it is assumed that the shaman will be in
sion in a ritual setting (Bowie 2006, 175; Hultkrantz service to the society (for good or ill) for the rest of his
1992, 10). The healing associated with Siberian sha- or her life.
manism was concerned with the idea that illness was A priest, by contrast, is skilled in the practice of re-
caused by soul loss and healing through recovery of the ligious rituals, which are carried out for the benefit of
soul (Figure 10.13). Thus, the shaman was responsible the group or individual members of the group. Priests
for dealing with spirits that were, at best, neutral and do not necessarily have direct contact with cosmic
at worst actively hostile to human beings. The shaman forces. Often their major role is to mediate such con-
could travel to the spirit world to heal someone by tact by ensuring that the required ritual activity has been
finding the missing soul that had been stolen by spirits. properly performed. Priests are found in hierarchical
But a shaman who was jealous of a hunter, for example, societies, and they owe their ability to act as priests to
was believed to be able to steal the souls of animals so
that the hunter would fail. In these societies, shamans
are dangerous.
Shamanic activity takes place in the trance séance, shaman A part-time religious practitioner who is believed to have the
power to contact supernatural forces directly on behalf of individuals or
which can be little more than a consultation between groups.
shaman and patient, or it can be a major public ritual, priest A religious practitioner skilled in the practice of religious rituals,
rich in drama. Becoming a shaman is not undertaken which he or she carries out for the benefit of the group.
FIGURE 10.14 The complex

organization of the Roman
Catholic Church was illustrated at
the inauguration mass for Pope
Francis in 2013.
the hierarchy of the religious institution (Figure 10.14). measure of control over the actions of other people.
Status differences separating rulers and subjects in such Evans-Pritchard was impressed by the intelligence, so-
societies are reflected in the unequal relationship be- phistication, and skepticism of his Azande informants.
tween priest and laity. For this reason, he was all the more struck by their abil-
ity to hold a set of beliefs that many Europeans would
regard as superstitious.
Worldviews in Operation: Azande Witchcraft Beliefs The Azande Evans-Pritchard
Two Case Studies knew believed that mangu (translated by E
vans-Pritchard
as witchcraft) was a substance in the body of witches,
We have been discussing how worldviews are con-
structed, but most of us encounter them fully formed,
both in our own society and in other societies. We face
EthnoProfile 10.6
a rich tapestry of symbols, rituals, and everyday prac-
tices linked to one another in what often appears to be
a seamless web. Where do we begin to sort things out? Azande
Region: Central Africa
Coping with Misfortune: Witchcraft, Nation: Sudan, Democratic Republic of the Congo (Zaire),
Central African Republic
Oracles, and Magic among the Azande
Population: 1,100,000
Anthropologist E. E. Evans-Pritchard, in his classic work Environment: Sparsely wooded savanna
Witchcraft, Oracles, and Magic among the Azande ([1937]
Livelihood: Farming, hunting, fishing, chicken raising
1976), showed how Azande beliefs and practices con-
Political organization: Tra-
cerning witchcraft, oracles, and magic were related to
ditionally, highly organized,
one another (see EthnoProfile 10.6: Azande). He de- tribal kingdoms; today, part C.A.R. Azande
scribes how Azande in the 1920s used witchcraft beliefs of modern nation-states Uban
gi
to explain unfortunate things that happened to them For more information: REPUBLIC
and how they employed oracles and magic to exert a Evans-Pritchard, E. E. [1937] GABON OF
DEMOCRATIC
1976. Witchcraft, oracles, and CONGO
REPUBLIC OF
magic among the Azande, Kinshasa
CONGO
abridged ed. Oxford: Oxford
OCEAN
University Press. ANGOLA Lubumbashi

witchcraft The performance of evil by human beings believed to possess
TIC
ATLAN
an innate, nonhuman power to do evil, whether or not it is intentional or 0 200 400

ZAMBIA
self-aware. Miles
generally located under the sternum.1 Being a part of the truthful). Preeminent among these was the poison oracle.
body, the witchcraft substance grew as the body grew; The poison was a strychninelike substance imported into
therefore, the older the witch, the more potent his or Azandeland. The oracle “spoke” through the effect the
her witchcraft. The Azande believed that children inher- poison had on chickens. When witchcraft was suspected,
ited witchcraft from their parents. Men or women might a relative of the afflicted person took some young chick-
be witches. Men practiced witchcraft against other men, ens into the bush along with a specialist in administering
women against other women. Witchcraft worked when the poison oracle. This person fed poison to one chicken,
its “soul” removed the soul of a certain organ in the vic- named a suspect, and asked the oracle to kill the chicken
tim’s body, usually at night, causing a slow, wasting dis- if that person were the witch. If the chicken died, a
ease. Suffering such a disease was therefore an indication second chicken was fed poison, and the oracle was asked
that an individual had been bewitched. to spare the chicken if the suspect just named was indeed
Witchcraft was a basic concept for the Azande, one the witch. Thus, the Azande double-checked the oracle
that shaped their experience of adversity. All deaths were carefully; a witchcraft accusation was not made lightly.
caused by witchcraft and had to be avenged by magic. People did not consult the oracle with a long list of
Other misfortunes were also commonly attributed to names. They needed only to consider those who might
witchcraft unless the victim had broken a taboo, had wish them or their families ill: people who had quar-
failed to observe a moral rule, or was believed to be re- reled with them, who were unpleasant, who were an-
sponsible for his own problems. Suppose I am an in- tisocial, or whose behavior was somehow out of line.
competent potter and my pots break while I am firing Indeed, witches were always neighbors because neigh-
them. I may claim that witchcraft caused them to break, bors were the only people who know you well enough
but everyone will laugh at me because they know I lack to wish you and your family ill.
skill. Witchcraft was believed to be so common that the Once the oracle identified the witch, the Azande
Azande were neither surprised nor awestruck when they removed the wing of the chicken and had it taken by
encountered it. Rather, their usual response was anger. messenger to the compound of the accused person. The
To the Azande, witchcraft was a completely natural messenger presented the accused witch with the chicken
explanation for events. Consider the classic case of the wing and said that he had been sent concerning the ill-
collapsing granary. Azandeland is hot, and people seek- ness of so-and-so’s relative. “Almost invariably the witch
ing shade often sit under traditional raised granaries, replies courteously that he is unconscious of injuring
which rest on logs. Termites are common in Azande- anyone, that if it is true that he has injured the man in
land, and sometimes they destroy the supporting logs, question he is very sorry, and that if it is he alone who is
making a granary collapse. Occasionally, when a granary troubling him then he will surely recover, because from
collapses, people sitting under it are killed. Why does the bottom of his heart he wishes him health and hap-
this happen? The Azande are well aware that the termites piness” (Evans-Pritchard [1937] 1976, 42). The accused
chew up the wood until the supports give way, but to then called for a gourd of water, took some in his mouth,
them that is not answer enough. Why, after all, should and sprayed it out over the wing. He said aloud, so the
that particular granary have collapsed at that particular messenger could hear and repeat what he said, that if
moment? To skeptical observers, the only connection is he was a witch he was not aware of it and that he was
coincidence in time and space. Western science does not not intentionally causing the sick man to be ill. He ad-
provide any explanation for why these two chains of cau- dressed the witchcraft in him, asking it to become cool,
sation intersect. But the Azande did: witchcraft caused and concluded by saying that he made this appeal from
the termites to finish chewing up the wood at just that his heart, not just from his lips (42).
moment, and that witchcraft had to be avenged by magic. People accused of witchcraft were usually astounded;
no Azande thought of himself or herself as a witch. How-
Dealing with Witches To expose the witch, the Azande ever, the Azande strongly believed in witchcraft and in
consulted oracles (invisible forces to which people ad- the oracles; and if the oracle said someone was a witch,
dress questions and whose responses they believe to be then it must be so. The accused witch was grateful to the
family of the sick person for being informed. Otherwise,
1
Beliefs and practices similar to those associated with Azande
mangu have been found in many other societies, and it has become
traditional in anthropology to refer to them as “witchcraft.” This magic A set of beliefs and practices designed to control the visible or invisible
technical usage must not be confused with everyday uses of the world for specific purposes.
word in contemporary Western societies, still less with the practices oracles Invisible forces to which people address questions and whose
of followers of movements like Wicca, which are very different. responses they believe to be truthful.
if the accused had been allowed to murder the victim, all answer. Luhrmann’s research was designed to address a
the while unaware of it, the witch would surely be killed significant issue in the study of religion—how might one
later by vengeance magic. The witchcraft accusation car- know that God exists? “I set out many years ago to un-
ried a further message: the behavior of the accused was derstand how God becomes real for modern people. I
sufficiently outside the bounds of acceptable Azande be- chose an example of the style of Christianity that would
havior to have marked him or her as a potential witch. seem to make the cognitive burden of belief most dif-
Only the names of people who you suspected of wishing ficult: the evangelical Christianity in which God is
you ill were submitted to the oracle. The accused witch, thought to be present as a person in someone’s everyday
then, was being told to change his or her behavior. life, and in which God’s supernatural power is thought
to be immediately accessible by that person” (Luhrmann
2012, xix). The people in the churches she attended were
Are There Patterns generally middle class, college-educated, and typically
of Witchcraft Accusation? white, although there were some very wealthy and very
poor people and many minorities who belonged.
Compared with the stereotypes of European American
One of the striking characteristics of the church, in
witchcraft—old hags dressed in black, riding on broom-
fact, is that congregants expect to experience God imme-
sticks, casting spells, causing milk to sour or people to
diately, directly, and personally. Members of the church
sicken—Azande witchcraft seems quite tame. People
told her that God is an intimate friend who wants to know
whose impression of witchcraft comes from western
everything about them, who is as concerned with the
European images may believe that witchcraft and witch-
clothing they wear as he is with matters of life and death.
hunting tear at the very fabric of society. Yet, anthro-
For these Christians, God is transformed into someone
pological accounts like Evans-Pritchard’s suggest that
with whom members of the church have a relationship.
practices such as witchcraft accusation can sometimes
That relationship is cultivated through prayer, the act
keep societies together. Anthropologist Mary Douglas
of talking with God, and for the members of the Vine-
(1970, xxvi–xxvii) looked at the range of witchcraft ac-
yard prayer was a skill that, Luhrmann points out, must
cusations worldwide and discovered that they fall into
be learned (Luhrmann 2012, 47; see also discussion of
two basic types: in some cases, the witch is an evil out-
hearing God’s voice in Chapter 14). For members of the
sider; in others, the witch is an internal enemy, either the
church, prayer is modeled on the idea of a conversation
member of a rival faction or a dangerous deviant. These
between friends, and the hardest part of prayer training
different patterns of accusation perform different func-
was learning to hear God’s part of the communication.
tions in a society. If the witch is an outsider, witchcraft
The Vineyard Christian Fellowship fosters an intense
accusations can strengthen in-group ties. If the witch is
individuality among its congregants, who were taught that
an internal enemy, accusations of witchcraft can weaken
God was to be addressed and listened to individually. God
in-group ties; factions may have to regroup, communi-
is an all-good, all-powerful, all-knowing friend. he will
ties may split, and the entire social hierarchy may be
care for those who seek him and who learn to pray to him.
reordered. If the witch is a dangerous deviant, the accu-
he loves them unconditionally and answers prayers, but
sation of witchcraft can be seen as an attempt to control
if this is so, how does this understanding of God explain
the deviant in defense of the wider values of the com-
why bad things happen in the world? Evil is a fundamental
munity. Douglas concluded that how people understand
problem for all religions, because part of being human is
witchcraft is based on the social relations of their society.
suffering, often unjustly. Theologians use the term theodicy
to describe the field of study that proposes answers to the
problem of evil. Luhrmann (2012) points out that theo-
Coping with Misfortune: Listening
logians have proposed three general solutions: (1) Evil is
for God among Contemporary
the lack of God’s goodness, and humans create it when
Evangelicals in the United States they do not choose God; (2) the world will be good in the
Anthropologist T. M. Luhrmann spent several years end, even if it isn’t now; and (3) although it may not look
studying the beliefs and practices of Vineyard Chris- like it to us right now, we live in the best of all possible
tian Fellowship evangelical churches in Chicago and worlds (268). So how does the Vineyard Church explain
California. Luhrmann (2012) notes that the Vineyard human suffering? According to Luhrmann, “Churches
movement came out of the turmoil and spiritual fer- like the Vineyard handle the problem of suffering with
ment of the 1960s and early 1970s, as some people a fourth solution: they ignore it. Then they turn the pain
were searching for a more direct experience of God. into a learning opportunity. When it hurts, you are sup-
Specifically, when they prayed to God they expected an posed to draw closer to God. . . . When God is very close
IN THEIR OWN WORDS
For All Those Who Were Indian in a Former Life
Andrea Smith challenges members of the New life. It is no wonder we have such a difficult time finding
Age movement who, in her view, trivialize the non-Indians to support our struggles when the New Age
situation of women like herself “who are Indian movement has completely disguised our oppression.
in this life.” The most disturbing aspect about these racist prac-
tices is that they are promoted in the name of feminism.
Sometimes it seems that I can’t open a feminist periodi-
cal without seeing ads promoting white “feminist” prac-
The New Age movement completely trivializes the op-
tices with little medicine wheel designs. I can’t seem to go
pression we as Indian women face: Indian women are
to a feminist conference without the woman who begins
suddenly no longer the women who are forcibly sterilized
the conference with a ceremony being the only Indian
and tested with unsafe drugs such as Depo Provera; we
presenter. Participants then feel so “spiritual” after this
are no longer the women who have a life expectancy of
opening that they fail to notice the absence of Indian
47 years; and we are no longer the women who generally
women in the rest of the conference or Native American
live below the poverty level and face a 75% unemploy-
issues in the discussions. And I certainly can’t go to a fem-
ment rate. No, we’re too busy being cool and spiritual.
inist bookstore without seeing books by Lynn Andrews
This trivialization of our oppression is compounded
and other people who exploit Indian spirituality all over
by the fact that nowadays anyone can be Indian if s/he
the place. It seems that, while feminism is supposed to
wants to. All that is required is that one be Indian in a
signify the empowerment of all women, it obviously does
former life, or take part in a sweat lodge, or be mentored
not include Indian women.
by a “medicine woman,” or read a how-to book.
If white feminists are going to act in solidarity with
Since, according to this theory, anyone can now be
their Indian sisters, they must take a stand against Indian
“Indian,” then the term Indians no longer regresses spe-
spiritual abuse. Feminist book and record stores should
cifically to those people who have survived five hundred
stop selling these products, and feminist periodicals
years of colonization and genocide. This furthers the
should stop advertising these products. Women who
goals of white supremacists to abrogate treaty rights and
call themselves feminists should denounce exploitative
to take away what little we have left. When everyone be-
practices wherever they see them.
comes “Indian,” then it is easy to lose sight of the speci-
ficity of oppression faced by those who are Indian in this Source: Smith 1994, 71.
and very powerful and always very loving, there is no easy (Luhrmann 2012, 268). So far, this seems to be a the-
explanation when he does not deliver” (260). Luhrmann ology of the individual—”me and my relationship with
adds that modern believers don’t need religion to explain God”—but Luhrmann points out that the congregational
misfortune, or indeed anything else. “They have plenty of community is essential to the development of these in-
scientific accounts for why the world is as it is and why dividual relationships: “It takes a great deal of work for
some bodies rather than others fall ill” (295). the community to teach people to develop these appar-
But if prayer is not intended to find answers to suf- ently private and personal relationships with God. . . . At
fering, then what do these congregants get from it? the Vineyard, the community stood in for God when God
According to Luhrmann, what they get is God’s role as a seemed distant and particularly when he seemed unreal”
friend to help them through a difficult time. Members of (279). Thus, although the religious beliefs of these U.S.
the Vineyard do not generally speculate about why there evangelicals offer no cause for misfortune, their religious
is evil or misfortune. They turn to God as they would practice does offer a solution for misfortune: to strengthen
turn to a powerful and especially trusted friend to help their personal relationship with God with the aid of their
them deal with pain or unhappiness, and God’s friend- community. “They want to hold on to hope, despite their
ship becomes its own reward. In other words, “People doubt. They care about transforming their own suffering,
stay with this God not because the theology makes not about explaining why suffering persists. Their faith
sense but because the practice delivers emotionally” is practical, not philosophical” (Luhrmann 2012, 299).
Maintaining and Changing deliberately making room for local beliefs within their
own more encompassing worldview. The Romans, for
a Worldview example, made room for local deities within their impe-
rial pantheon, and post–Vatican II Catholicism explicitly
What makes a worldview stable? Why is a worldview
urged non-European Catholics to worship using local
rejected? Changes in worldview are regularly connected
cultural forms (Stewart and Shaw 1994).
to the practical everyday experiences of people in a par-
When groups defend or refashion their own way of
ticular society. Stable, repetitive experiences reinforce
life in the face of outside encroachments, anthropologists
the acceptability of any traditional worldview that has
sometimes describe their activities as revitalization—a
successfully accounted for such experiences in the past.
deliberate, organized attempt by some members of a soci-
When experiences become unpredictable, however,
ety to create a more satisfying culture (Wallace 1972, 75).
thinking people in any society may become painfully
Revitalization arises in times of crisis, most often among
aware that past experiences can no longer be trusted as
groups who are facing oppression and radical transfor-
guides for the future and traditional worldviews may be
mation, usually at the hands of outsiders (e.g., colonizing
undermined (see Horton 1982, 252).
powers). Revitalization movements engage in a “politics
of religious synthesis” that produces a range of outcomes
How Do People Cope with Change? (Stewart and Shaw 1994). Sometimes syncretism is em-
braced. Other times it is rejected in favor of nativism, or a
Drastic changes in experience lead people to create new return to the old ways. Some nativistic movements expect
interpretations that will help them cope with the changes. a messiah or prophet, who will bring back a lost golden
Sometimes the change is an outcome of local or regional age of peace, prosperity, and harmony, a process often
struggles. The Protestant Reformation, for example, called revivalism, millenarianism, or messianism.
adapted the Christian tradition to changing social cir- A classic New World example of a millenarian move-
cumstances in northern Europe during the Renaissance by ment is the Ghost Dance movement among indigenous
breaking ties to the pope, turning church lands over to peoples of the Great Plains of the United States in the
secular authorities, allowing clergy to marry, and so forth. late 1880s to 1890. When the buffalo were exterminated,
Protestants continued to identify themselves as Christians, indigenous Plains dwellers lost their independence and
although many of their religious practices had changed. were herded onto reservations by numerically superior
In Guider, Cameroon, lone rural migrants to town and better-armed European Americans. Out of this final
frequently abandoned their former religious practices crisis emerged Wovoka, a prophet who taught that the
and took on urban customs and a new identity through existing world would soon be destroyed and that a new
conversion to Islam. However, similar conflicts between crust would form on the earth. All settlers and indigenous
new and old ways do not everywhere lead to religious people who followed the settlers’ ways would become
conversion. Sometimes the result is a creative synthesis of buried. Those indigenous people who abandoned the
old religious practices and new ones, a process called syn- settlers’ ways, led pure lives, and danced the Ghost Dance
cretism. Under the pressure of Christian missionizing, would be saved. As the new crust formed, the buffalo
indigenous people of C entral America identified some would return, as would all the ancestors of the believers.
of their own pre-
Christian, personalized superhuman Together, all would lead lives of virtue and joy.
beings with particular Catholic saints. Similarly, Africans Because the world was going to change by itself, vio-
brought to Brazil identified Catholic saints with African lence against the oppressors was not a necessary part of
gods to produce the syncretistic religion Candomblé. the Ghost Dance. Nevertheless, the movement frightened
Anthropologists have debated the nature of syncretis- settlers and the U.S. Army, which suspected an armed up-
tic practices, noting that, whereas some may be viewed as rising. Those fears and suspicions led to the massacre at
a way of resisting new ideas imposed from above, others Wounded Knee, in which the cavalry troopers killed all the
may be introduced from above by powerful outsiders members of a Lakota (Sioux) band, principally women
and children, whom they encountered off the reservation.
syncretism The synthesis of old religious practices (or an old way of life)
Nativistic movements, however, may represent re-
with new religious practices (or a new way of life) introduced from outside, sistance to, rather than escape from, the outside world,
often by force. actively removing or avoiding any cultural practices asso-
revitalization A conscious, deliberate, and organized attempt by some ciated with those who seek to dominate them. One such
members of a society to create a more satisfying culture in a time of crisis.
“antisyncretistic” group is the Kwaio, living on the island
nativism A return to the old ways; a movement whose members expect a
messiah or prophet who will bring back a lost golden age of peace, prosper- of Malaita in the Solomon Islands (see EthnoProfile 10.7:
ity, and harmony. Kwaio). Almost all their neighbors have converted to
Maintaining and Changing a Worldview 331
IN THEIR OWN WORDS
Custom and Confrontation
In the following passage, the late Roger Keesing The white people have gotten their hands on their lands.
recorded the words of one of his Kwaio informants, The whites led them to forget all the knowledge of their
Dangeabe’u, who defends Kwaio custom. land, separated them from it. And when the people knew
nothing about their land, the whites bought it from them
and made their enterprises. . . .
The government has brought the ways of business, the That’s close upon us too. If we all follow the side of
ways of money. The people at the coast believe that’s what’s the Bible, the government will become powerful here too,
important, and tell us we should join in. Now the govern- and will take control of our land. We won’t be attached to
ment is controlling the whole world. The side of the Bible is our land, as we are now, holding our connections to our
withering away. When that’s finished, the government will past. If the government had control of our land, then if we
rule unchallenged. It will hold all the land. All the money will wanted to do anything on it, we’d have to pay them. If we
go to the government to feed its power. Once everything— wanted to start a business—a store, say—we’d have to
our lands, too—are in their hands, that will be it. pay the government. We reject all that. We want to keep
I’ve seen the people from other islands who have all hold of our land, in the ways passed down to us.
become Christians. They knew nothing about their land. Source: Keesing 1992, 184.
Christianity, and the nation of which they are a part is mili-

tantly Christian. Members of other groups wear clothing, EthnoProfile 10.7
work on plantations or in tourist hotels, attend schools,
and live in cities. The Kwaio have refused all this: “Young Kwaio
men carry bows and arrows; girls and women, nude except
Region: Oceania (Melanesia)
for customary ornaments, dig taro in forest gardens; valu-
ables made of strung shell beads are exchanged at mortuary Nation: Solomon Islands (Malaita)
feasts; and priests sacrifice pigs to the ancestral spirits on Population: 7,000 (1970s)
whom prosperity and life itself depend” (Keesing 1982, 1). Environment: Tropical island
Roger Keesing (1992) admits that he does not know
Livelihood: Horticulture and pig raising
exactly why the Kwaio responded in this way. He sus-
Political organization: Tradi-
pects that precolonial social and political differences tionally, some men with influ-
between the Kwaio and their coastal neighbors influence but no coercive power; SOUTH PACIFIC
OCEAN
enced later developments. The colonial encounter itself today, part of a modern Choiseul
Santa Isabel
nation-state
was certainly relevant. In 1927, some Kwaio attacked a SOLOMON ISLANDS
New Kwaio
British patrol, killing the district officer and 13 Solomon For more information: Georgia Malaita
Islands Guadal- Santa Cruz
Keesing, Roger. 1992. Custom
Island troops. The subsequent massacre of many Kwaio canal
San Cristobal
Islands
and confrontation. Chicago: Solomon
Aunuta
by a police force made up of other Malaitans, followed University of Chicago Press. Sea Torres
Tikopia
Islands Banks
Coral Sea
by marginalization and persecution by the colonial gov- 0 100 200
Islands
Vanuatu
ernment, also clearly contributed to Kwaio resistance. Miles
It is important to emphasize that the Kwaio main-

tain their old ways deliberately, in the face of alterna-
tives; their traditional way of life is therefore lived in a acculturated lost their cultural ties and thereby their ties
modern context. “In the course of anticolonial strug- to the land and to their past, becoming outsiders in their
gle, ‘kastomu’ (custom) and commitment to ancestral own homeland. Maintaining traditional ways is thus a
ways have become symbols of identity and autonomy” form of political protest. From this perspective, many
(Keesing 1992, 240). In the eyes of the Kwaio, the many contemporary antisyncretistic movements in the world,
Solomon Islanders who became Christianized and from fundamentalism of various religions to movements
for national identity and cultural autonomy, can be un- senior men could maintain a control mediated by the
derstood as having aims similar to those of the Kwaio, supernatural. Such religious ideologies served too, by
sparked by many of the same forces. defining rules in terms of ancient spirits and by de-
fining the nature of men and women in supernatu-
ral terms, to reinforce and maintain the roles of the
How Are Worldviews Used sexes—and again to hide their nature. (219)
as Instruments of Power? Keesing’s observations remind us that knowledge,

like power, is not evenly distributed throughout a so-
Within any particular cultural tradition, different world- ciety. Different kinds of people know different things.
views often coexist. How then does a particular picture In some societies, what men know about their religious
of reality become the “official” worldview for a given so- system is different from what women know, and what
ciety? And once that position is achieved, how is it main- older men know may be different from what younger
tained? To be in the running for the official picture of men know. Keesing (1982, 14) suggested that men’s con-
reality, a worldview must be able, however minimally, to trol over women and older men’s control over younger
make sense of some people’s personal and social experimen are based on differential access to knowledge. It is
ences. Sometimes, however, it may seem to some mem- not just that these different kinds of people know differ-
bers of society that barely credible views of reality have ent things; rather, the different things they know (and do
triumphed over alternatives that seem far more plausi- not know) enable them (or force them) to remain in the
ble. Thus, something more than persuasive ability alone positions they hold in the society (Figure 10.15).
must be involved, and that something is power. Power-
less people may be unable to dislodge the official world-
view of their society. They can, however, refuse to accept
the imposition of someone else’s worldview and develop
an unofficial worldview based on metaphors that reflect
their own condition of powerlessness (Scott 1990).
How can worldviews be mobilized as instruments of
power and control? First, a religious symbol can be in-
voked as a guarantee of self-evident truths when people in
power seek to eliminate or impose certain forms of con-
duct. Holy books, like the Qur’an, may be used in this
way. For example, a legal record from Guider, Cameroon,
indicates that a son once brought suit against his father
for refusing to repay him a certain amount of money. The
father claimed that he had paid. Both father and son got
into an increasingly heated argument in which neither
would give ground. Finally, the judge in the case asked the
father to take a copy of the Qur’an in his hand and swear
that he was telling the truth. This he did. The son, however,
refused to swear on the Qur’an and finally admitted that
he had been lying. In this case, the status of the Qur’an as
the unquestioned word of God, which implied the power
of God to punish liars, controlled the son’s behavior.
Second, a symbol may be under the direct control
of a person wishing to affect the behavior of others.
Consider the role of official interpreters of religious or
political ideology, such as priests or kings. Their pro-
nouncements define the bounds of permissible behav-
ior. As Roger Keesing (1982) points out:
Senior men, in Melanesia as elsewhere in the tribal
world, have depended heavily on control of sacred FIGURE 10.15 Senior Dogon men carrying out fox trail
divination. The knowledge and skills of elderly men, based on
knowledge to maintain their control of earthly poli- experience gained over a lifetime, provide their interpretations
tics. By keeping in their hands relations with ancestors with an authority that those of people with less experience
and other spirits, by commanding magical knowledge, would not have.
Chapter Summary 333
Worldviews represent comprehensive ideas about the contrary, they are heavily implicated in our interactions
structure of the world and the place of one’s own group, with others. And when those interactions lead to crisis,
or one’s own self, within that world. The ethnographic humans respond by, among other things, seeking a way
record offers a broad array of different worldviews, each of making the crisis appear meaningful and therefore
testifying to the imaginative, meaning-making cultural ca- manageable. We are meaning- making, meaning-using,
pacity of humans. These models of the world, moreover, meaning-dependent organisms; and that is nowhere more
do not exist apart from everyday social practices; on the clear than when a meaningful way of life is under assault.
Chapter Summary
1. Play is a generalized form of behavioral openness: 4. Ritual is a repetitive social practice composed of
the ability to think about, speak about, and do sequences of symbolic activities such as speech, sing-
different things in the same way or the same thing ing, dancing, gestures, and the manipulation of cer-
in different ways. Play can also be thought of as a tain objects. In studying ritual, we pay attention not
way of organizing activities. We put a frame that just to the symbols but also to how the ritual is per-
consists of the message “This is play” around certain formed. Cultural ideas are made concrete through
activities, thereby transforming them into play. Play ritual action. Rites of passage are rituals in which
also permits reflexive consideration of alternative members of a culture move from one position in the
realities by setting up a separate reality and suggest- social structure to another. These rites are marked by
ing that the perspective of ordinary life is only one periods of separation, transition, and reaggregation.
way to make sense of experience. The functions of During the period of transition, individuals occupy a
play include exercise, practice for the real world, liminal position. All those in this position frequently
increased creativity in children, and commentary on develop an intense comradeship and a feeling of
the real world. oneness, or communitas.
2. Art is a kind of play that is subject to certain 5. Ritual and play are complementary. Play is based on
culturally appropriate restrictions on form and con- the premise “Let us make believe,” whereas ritual is
tent. It aims to evoke a holistic, aesthetic response based on the premise “Let us believe.” As a result,
from the artist and the observer. It succeeds when the ritual frame is far more rigid than the play frame.
the form is culturally appropriate for the content and Although ritual may seem overwhelming and all-
is technically perfect in its realization. Aesthetic eval- powerful, individuals and groups can sometimes
uations are culturally shaped value judgments. We manipulate ritual forms to achieve nontraditional
recognize art in other cultures because of its family ends.
resemblance to what we call art in our own culture. 6. Anthropological studies of religion tend to focus
Although people with other cultural understandings on the social institutions and meaningful processes
may not have produced art by intention, we can with which it is associated. Followers of religions can
often successfully appreciate what they have created address personalized forces symbolically and expect
as art by appropriation. These issues are a ddressed in them to respond. Maintaining contact with cosmic
ethnographic studies that call into question received forces is complex, and societies have complex social
ideas about what counts as “authentic” art. practices designed to ensure that this is done prop-
3. Myths are stories whose truth seems self-evident erly. Two important kinds of religious specialists are
because they do such a good job of integrating per- shamans and priests.
sonal experiences with a wider set of assumptions 7. Many anthropologists have attempted to display the
about the way the world works. The power of myths rich, coherent tapestries of symbols, rituals, and ev-
comes from their ability to make life meaningful eryday practices that make up particular worldviews
for those who accept them. As stories, myths are and to demonstrate the high degree to which world-
the products of high verbal art. A full understand- views vary from one another. They have also studied
ing of myth requires ethnographic background the ways in which drastic changes in people’s experi-
information. ences lead them to create new meanings to explain


the changes and to cope with them. This can be ac- 8. Because religious knowledge is not distributed
complished through elaboration of the old system to evenly among the members of societies, those who
fit changing times, conversion to a new worldview, control such knowledge may use it as an instrument
syncretism, revitalization, or resistance. of power to control other members of society.
For Review
1. Take the definition of play in the running 9. Compare Malinowski’s view of myth with the
glossary at the bottom of page 304 and explain view of Claude Lévi-Strauss.
the importance of each feature of this complex 10. Explain the significance of each of the major
definition. components of the definition of ritual given in
2. What are the consequences of play for animals? the text.
3. What is metacommunication? 11. How may a child’s birthday party be understood
as a ritual?
4. How does the case study by Elizabeth Chin about
African American girls and their dolls in New 12. Describe each stage of a rite of passage.
Haven, Connecticut, illustrate the importance of 13. How are play and ritual complementary?
play for understanding human symbolic practices? 14. List A. F. C. Wallace’s minimal categories of
5. What are the main components of the definition religion and define and illustrate each of them.
of art offered in the text, and why is each compo- 15. Explain the differences anthropologists recognize
nent important? between shamans and priests.
6. Distinguish “art by intention” from “art by 16. Compare the Azande and the U.S. evangelicals
appropriation.” with regard to the way members of each group
7. What argument is made in the text concerning the explain misfortune.
role of “authenticity” in art? How does the case 17. What is syncretism?
study illustrate these points? 18. Explain how worldviews can be used as instru-
8. What are myths? ments of power.
Key Terms
art 305 myths 314 priest 325 ritual 317
communitas 318 nativism 330 reflexivity 304 shaman 325
framing 304 oracles 327 religion 323 syncretism 330
liminality 318 orthodoxy 315 revitalization 330 witchcraft 326
magic 327 orthopraxy 320 rite of passage 318 worldviews 321
metacommunication 304 play 304
Suggested Readings
Alland, Alexander. 1977. The artistic animal. New York: Dou- Errington, Shelly. 1998. The death of authentic primitive art
bleday Anchor. An introductory look at the biocultural bases and other tales of progress. Berkeley: University of Cali-
for art. This work is well written, clear, and fascinating. fornia Press. A sharp and witty book about the production,
Bowen, John. 2008. Religions in practice: An approach to the distribution, interpretation, and selling of “primitive art.”
anthropology of religion, 4th ed. Needham Heights, MA: Evans-Pritchard, E. E. [1937] 1976. Witchcraft, oracles, and
Allyn & Bacon. An up-to-date introduction of the anthro- magic among the Azande, abridged ed. Oxford: Oxford
pology of religion focusing on religious practice and interpre- University Press. An immensely influential and readable
tation, with a wide range of case studies. anthropological classic.
Keesing, Roger. 1992. Custom and confrontation: The Kwaio work that considers how anthropologists have studied chil-
struggle for cultural autonomy. New York: Columbia Uni- dren’s play, with some insightful suggestions about how they
versity Press. Based on 30 years of research, Keesing’s final might do this in the future.
book provides a clear, readable, and committed discussion of Turner, Victor. 1969. The ritual process. Chicago: Aldine. An
Kwaio resistance. important work in the anthropological study of ritual, this
Lambek, Michael. 2008. A reader in the anthropology of re- text is an eloquent analysis of rites of passage.
ligion, 2nd ed. Malden, MA: Blackwell. An excellent Vogel, Susan. 1997. Baule: African art/Western eyes. New
collection of classic and contemporary readings in the an- Haven, CT: Yale University Press. A book of extraordi-
thropology of religion. nary photographs and beautifully clear text, this work ex-
Schwartzman, Helen. 1978. Transformations: The anthropol- plores both Baule and Western views of Baule expressive
ogy of children’s play. New York: Plenum. A superlative culture.
11
Why do anthropologists study
economic relations?
All human groups must organize themselves to make available to their
members the material things they need for survival, such as food, shel-
ter, and clothing. This chapter explores the variety of economic patterns
human societies have developed over the millennia. It also draws atten-
tion to the way large-scale connections forged by trade or conquest continue
to shape—and be reshaped by—the local economic practices of societies
throughout the world.
CHAPTER OUTLINE
How Do Anthropologists Study Why Do People Consume What
Economic Relations? They Do?
What Are the Connections The Internal Explanation:
between Culture and Malinowski and Basic Human
Livelihood? Needs
Self-Interest, Institutions, The External Explanation:
and Morals Cultural Ecology
How Do Anthropologists Study How Is Consumption Culturally
Production, Distribution, and Patterned?
Consumption? How Is Consumption Being
Studied Today?
How Are Goods Distributed
and Exchanged? The Anthropology of Food and
Capitalism and Neoclassical Nutrition
Economics Chapter Summary
What Are Modes of Exchange? For Review
The Maisin and Reciprocity Key Terms
Does Production Drive Suggested Readings
Economic Activities?
Labor
Modes of Production
What Is the Role of Conflict
in Material Life?
A woman sells strings of marigolds at the Mullik Ghat flower market in Kolkata, India. 337
338 CHAPTER 11: WHY DO ANTHROPOLOGISTS STUDY ECONOMIC RELATIONS?
H uman beings are material organisms, and the

seemingly endless meaningful ways we can
imagine to live must always come to terms with the
EthnoProfile 11.1
material realities of day-to-day existence. Culture con- Somalis (Northern)

tributes to the way human beings organize their social
lives to meet such challenges. Social organization Region: Eastern Africa
can be defined as the patterning of human interde- Nation: Somalia, Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya
pendence in a given society through the actions and Population: 600,000 (3,250,000 total; 2,250,000 in Somalia)
decisions of its members. This chapter and the two Environment: Harsh, semidesert
that follow will explore the ways anthropologists have
Livelihood: Herding of camels, sheep, goats, cattle, horses
investigated differences in human social organization
Political organization: Traditionally, lineage-based, ad
in three key domains: economic relations, political re-
hoc egalitarian councils;
lations, and more intimate forms of human related- today, part of modern
ness associated with kin and families. The variation nation-states 0 200 400
SUDAN Miles
Re
these forms of human social organization display
dS
ea
Khartoum ARABIAN
ERITREA
across space and over time is truly remarkable, but Lewis, I. M. 1967. A pastoral PENINSULA
Blu
democracy: A study of pas- ETHIOPIA
White Nile
that does not mean that people are free to do or be
eN
Gulf of Aden
toralism and politics among
ile
AMHARA
Djibouti
whatever they like. Rather, the adaptive flexibility of the northern Somali of the
Addis Ababa
long-lived, large-brained social animals such as our- Horn of Africa. Oxford: PLATEAU
selves develops over the life cycle in response to a Oxford University Press. Somalis (Northern)
IA
Lake T
AL
range of sometimes unpredictable experiences. This
M
urk
SO
a KENYA
an
kind of developmental response would be impossible
if human behavior were rigidly programmed by genes,
firmly circumscribed by environments, or strictly lim-
ited by technologies.
What Are the Connections
between Culture and Livelihood?
How Do Anthropologists Although our physical survival depends on our making
adequate use of the resources around us, our culture
Study Economic Relations? tells us which resources to use and how to use them.
Economic anthropologists study the many variations
Fifty years ago, I. M. Lewis (1967, 166ff.) pointed out
in human livelihood that anthropologists have found
that the northern Somalis and the Boran Galla lived
in different societies. Richard Wilk (1996) has defined
next to each other in semiarid scrubland and even
economic anthropology as “the part of the discipline
herded the same animals (goats, sheep, cattle, camels)
that debates issues of human nature that relate directly
(see EthnoProfiles 11.1: Somalis [Northern] and 11.2:
to the decisions of daily life and making a living” (xv).
Boran). Despite these similarities, the Somali and the
In ordinary conversation, when we speak of making
Boran were quite different in social structure: The Boran
a living, we usually mean doing what is necessary to
engaged in much less fighting and feuding than the
obtain the material things—food, clothing, shelter—
Somali; Boran families split up to take care of the ani-
that sustain human life. As Chris Hann and Kevin Hart
mals, whereas the Somali did not; and lineage organi-
remind us (2011), “Ultimately, economic anthropology
zation was less significant among the Boran. Economic
addresses questions of human nature and well-being,
and political anthropologists have attempted to explain
questions that have preoccupied every society’s philoso-
why this should be.
phers from the beginning” (x).
Self-Interest, Institutions, and Morals

Wilk and Cliggett (2007) argue that it is possible to iden-
tify three theoretical camps in economic anthropology,
social organization The patterning of human interdependence in a given each of which depends on a different set of assumptions
society through the actions and decisions of its members.
about human nature, and that the “real heat and argu-
economic anthropology The part of the discipline of anthropology that
debates issues of human nature that relate directly to the decisions of daily
ment in economic anthropology comes from underlying
life and making a living. disagreements over these starting assumptions” (40).
How Do Anthropologists Study Production, Distribution, and Consumption? 339
practices that organize social life—not on individuals.

EthnoProfile 11.2 From an institutional point of view, a society’s economy
consists of the culturally specific processes its mem-
Boran bers use to provide themselves with material resources.
Therefore, economic processes cannot be considered
Region: Eastern Africa apart from the cultural institutions in which they are
Nation: Kenya and Ethiopia embedded (Halperin 1994).
Population: 80,000 (1970s) Wilk and Cliggett’s third model of human nature
Environment: Adequate rangeland, scrub, and desert is the moral model. Economic anthropologists com-
mitted to a moral model of human nature assume that
Livelihood: Herding of cattle by preference, also sheep
and goats people’s motivations “are shaped by culturally specific
belief systems and values . . . guided by a culturally pat-
Political organization: Traditionally, a kinship-based
organization with a set of terned view of the universe and the human place within
six elders who have certain it” (Wilk and Cliggett 2007, 43). People are socialized
responsibilities for maintain- SUDAN ETHIOPIA and enculturated into these values and practices over a
ing order; today, part of a Boran
modern nation-state Lake lifetime, such that they will experience distress and con-
Turkana
flict if tempted to make decisions—including economic
LIA
UGANDA
For more information: A
SOM
Baxter, P. T. W., and Uri Equator

KENYA decisions—that are contrary to their internalized moral-
Almagor, eds. 1978. Age, gen- Lake
Nyanza
ity. From the point of view of the moral model, “modern
eration and time. New York: Nairobi society is one that has lost the morality and ethics that
St. Martin’s Press.
TANZANIA Mombasa
guided behavior in traditional cultures, replacing them
INDIAN
0 100 200 300 OCEAN with amoral selfishness” (Wilk and Cliggett 2007, 44).
Miles
Wilk and Cliggett are unwilling to take any one model
as a fact and are more interested in paying close ethno-
graphic attention to the particularities of real human
The first model Wilk and Cliggett identify is the beings in real sociocultural settings. “The problem is ex-
self-interested model: This model of human nature orig- plaining why people are guided sometimes by one set
inated during the Enlightenment and is based on the of motivations and at other times by others. . . . By sus-
assumption that individuals are first and foremost in- pending our preconceptions about human nature, we
terested in their own well-being, that selfishness is nat- can give more direct attention to this fundamental ques-
ural. Economists since Adam Smith have argued that tion, which forms the basis of each culture’s practical
people’s resources (for example, money) are not and ethics and its distinction between moral and immoral”
never will be great enough for them to obtain all the (Wilk and Cliggett 2007, 46). This concern can also be
goods they want. This view of economy also assumes seen in Hann and Hart’s (2011) insistence that economic
that economic analysis should focus on individuals who anthropologists focus on persons (rather than abstract
must maximize utility (or satisfaction) under conditions calculating individuals), “whose preferences and choices
of scarcity. An economizing individual sets priorities are sometimes shaped by calculation, but usually also
and allocates resources rationally according to those by the familial, social, and political contexts in which
priorities. Economic anthropologists who accept the human beings are enmeshed or embedded” (9).
self-interest model of human behavior should therefore
investigate the different priorities set by different societ-
ies and study how these priorities affect the maximizing How Do Anthropologists
decisions of individuals.
Other economic anthropologists, however, are com- Study Production, Distribution,
mitted to the social model of human nature. This means and Consumption?
that they pay attention to “the way people form groups
and exercise power” (Wilk and Cliggett 2007, 42). This Anthropologists generally agree that economic activity
view of human nature assumes that people ordinarily is usefully subdivided into three distinct phases: pro-
identify with the groups to which they belong and, in duction, distribution, and consumption. Production
many cases, cannot even conceive of having a self with
interests that diverge from the interest of the group. This
view of human nature suggests that economics ought institutions Complex, variable, and enduring forms of cultural practices
to focus on institutions—stable and enduring cultural that organize social life.
Nootka
Arct
ka
as ic
Al Circle
Yukon
No r
thwe
st Territ
ories
CANADA
British
M
Columbia
to
an
Sask
Alberta ba
i
atch
Nootka
CEAN
ew
IFIC O
an
0 300
PAC
Miles
FIGURE 11.1 Locations of societies whose EthnoProfiles appear in Chapter 11.

How Do Anthropologists Study Production, Distribution, and Consumption? 341
Somalis
(northern)
SUDAN ETHIOPIA Boran

Boran
Lake
Turkana
LIA
UGANDA
A
SOM
KENYA
Equator
Lake
Nyanza
Nairobi
TANZANIA Mombasa
Ju/’hoansi
INDIAN
0 100 200 300 OCEAN
Miles
Za
ZAMBIA
mb
ANGOLA
ezi
Etosha Pan
Ju/’hoansi
(!Kung) 0 200 400
BOTSWANA o
pop SUDAN Miles
Re
Kalahari Lim
dS
Windhoek
Desert
ea
Khartoum ARABIAN
NAMIBIA Gaborone ERITREA
Pretoria PENINSULA
Blu
White Nile
ETHIOPIA
e
Johannesburg
Nile
SOUTH AMHARA Gulf of Aden

ATLANTIC Djibouti
OCEAN AFRICA 0 300
Miles Addis Ababa
PLATEAU
Somalis (Northern)
IA
Lake T
AL
M
urk
SO
a KENYA
an
involves transforming nature’s raw materials into prod- studying the nature of production. They point out that
ucts useful to human beings. Distribution involves get- production shapes the context in which exchange can
ting those products to people. Consumption involves occur, determining which parties have how much of
using up the products—for example, by eating food or what kind of goods to exchange. Other anthropologists
wearing clothing. When analyzing economic activity in have suggested that neither production nor exchange
a particular society, however, anthropologists differ in patterns make any sense without first specifying the
the importance they attach to each phase. For example, consumption priorities of the people who are producing
the distributive process known as exchange is central to and exchanging. Consumption priorities, they argue,
the functioning of capitalist free enterprise. Some an- are certainly designed to satisfy material needs. But the
thropologists have assumed that exchange is equally recognition of needs and of appropriate ways to satisfy
central to the functioning of all economies and have them is shaped by historically contingent cultural pat-
tried to explain the economic life of non-Western soci- terns. Finally, as noted in Chapter 7, many would agree
eties in terms of exchange. Anthropologists influenced that patterns of production, exchange, and consumption
by the work of Karl Marx, however, have argued that are seriously affected by the kind of storage in use in a
exchange cannot be understood properly without first particular society (Figure 11.2).
FIGURE 11.2 A seventeenth-century draw-

ing of storage warehouses built at the height N
Men's
of the Inka empire (below). At right, the plan of residences
Huánuco Pampa shows the location of these
storage warehouses. Some anthropologists
argue that food storage practices buffer a pop- Cloth manufacture/
ulation from ecological fluctuations, making women's residences
possible considerable cultural manipulation of
the economic relations of consumption. Feasting
Inka's
compound
Public ceremonies
Wa
re
ho Temporary
us
ea residences
dm
ini
str
W at
ar ion
eh
ou
se
s
Spring
0 400m
How Are Goods Distributed What Are Modes of Exchange?

and Exchanged? Some anthropologists argued that taking self-interested,
materialistic decision making in the capitalist market as
Capitalism and Neoclassical the prototype of human rationality was ethnocentric.
Economics They pointed out that the capitalist market is a relatively
The discipline of economics was born in the late 1700s, recent cultural invention in human history. Western capi-
during the early years of the Industrial Revolution in talist societies distribute material goods in a manner that
western Europe. At that time, such thinkers as Adam is consistent with their basic values, institutions, and as-
Smith and his disciples struggled to devise theories to ex- sumptions about human nature. So too non-Western,
plain the profound changes in economic and social life noncapitalist societies might be expected to have devised
that E
uropean societies had recently begun to experience. alternative modes of exchange that distribute material
Capitalism differed in many ways from the feudal goods in ways that are in accord with their basic values,
economic system that had preceded it, but perhaps the institutions, and assumptions about human nature. An-
most striking difference was how it handled distribu- thropologists differed, however, in their attempts to char-
tion. Feudal economic relations allotted goods and ser- acterize these differences. In the early twentieth century,
vices to different social groups and individuals on the for example, French anthropologist Marcel Mauss ([1950]
basis of status, or position in society. Because lords had 2000) contrasted noncapitalist gift exchanges (which are
high status and many obligations, they had a right to deeply embedded in social relations and always require a
more goods and services. Peasants, with low status and return gift) with impersonal commodity exchanges typi-
few rights, were allowed far less. This distribution of cal of the capitalist market (in which goods are exchanged
goods was time honored and not open to modification. for cash and exchange partners need have nothing further
The customs derived from capitalist economic r elations, to do with one another). For other anthropologists, how-
by contrast, were considered “free” precisely because ever, Mauss’s binary division seemed to exclude too much
they swept away all such traditional restrictions. As we variation. For example, Marshall Sahlins (1972) drew on
shall see in our discussion of “Sedaka” Village, Malaysia, the work of economic historian Karl Polanyi (e.g., 1977)
capitalism also swept away traditional protections (see to propose that three modes of exchange could be iden-
EthnoProfile 12.2: “Sedaka” Village). In any case, distri- tified historically and cross-culturally: reciprocity, redis-
bution under capitalism was negotiated between buyers tribution, and market exchange.
and sellers in the market. The most ancient mode of exchange was reciprocity.
Capitalist market exchange of goods for other Reciprocity is characteristic of egalitarian societies, such
goods, for labor, or (increasingly) for cash was an im- as the Ju/’hoansi once were (see EthnoProfile 11.4:
portant development in Western economic history. It is Ju/’hoansi). Sahlins identified three kinds of reciproc-
not surprising, therefore, that Western economic theory ity. Generalized reciprocity is found when those who ex-
was preoccupied with explaining how the capitalist change do so without expecting an immediate return
market worked. Markets clearly had a new, decisive im- and without specifying the value of the return. Every-
portance in capitalist society, which they had not pos- one assumes that the exchanges will eventually balance
sessed in feudal times. Toward the end of the nineteenth out. Generalized reciprocity is often said to characterize
century, the views of early economic thinkers like Adam the exchanges that ideally occur between parents and
Smith were transformed into neoclassical economics, their children. In the United States, for example, parents
which remains the foundation of formal economics
today. As Hann and Hart (2011) explain, neoclassi-
neoclassical economics A formal attempt to explain the workings of
cal economics “still celebrated the market as the main capitalist enterprise, with particular attention to distribution.
source of increased economic welfare; but it replaced gift exchanges Noncapitalist forms of economic exchange that are deeply
the classical view of economic value as an objective embedded in social relations and always require a return gift.
property of produced commodities, to be struggled over commodity exchanges Impersonal economic exchanges typical of
the capitalist market in which goods are exchanged for cash and exchange
by the different classes, with a focus on the subjective
partners need have nothing further to do with one another.
calculations of individuals seeking to maximize their
modes of exchange Patterns according to which distribution takes place:
own utility” (37). This was a key turning point in the reciprocity, redistribution, and market exchange.
history of economics that produced the divergent theo- reciprocity The exchange of goods and services of equal value. Anthro-
retical positions, identified by Wilk and Cliggett, about pologists distinguish three forms of reciprocity: generalized, in which neither
the time nor the value of the return is specified; balanced, in which a return
which economists and economic anthropologists con-
of equal value is expected within a specified time limit; and negative, in which
tinue to disagree today. parties to the exchange hope to get something for nothing.
IN THEIR OWN WORDS
“So Much Work, So Much Tragedy . . . and for What?”
Angelita P. C. (the author’s surnames were always had to take it off the cob and dry it in the sun: the
initialed to preserve her anonymity) describes men spread it out on a tarp, maybe two or three sackfuls,
traditional labor for farmers’ wives in Costa Rica and they would go and bring the corn, still in the husks,
during the 1930s. Her account was included in a up from the cornfield or the shack where it was kept.
volume of peasant autobiographies published in Well, we women had to guard it from the chickens or the
pigs that were always in the house, but the rush we had
Costa Rica in 1979.
when it started to rain and the men hadn’t gotten back!
We had to fill the sacks with corn and then a little later
haul it in pots to finish filling them; that’s if the rain gave
The life of farmers’ wives was more difficult than the
us time. If not, all of us women in the house would have
life of day laborers’ wives; what I mean is that we work
to pick up the tarps—sometimes the neighbor-women
more. The wife of the day laborer, she gets clean beans
would get involved in all the bustle—to carry the corn
with no rubbish, shelled corn, pounded rice, maybe she
inside. We looked like ants carrying a big worm! The thing
would have to roast the coffee and grind it. On the other
was to keep the corn from getting wet.
hand, we farm wives had to take the corn out of the husk,
It didn’t matter if you threw out your spine, or if
shuck it; and if it was rice, generally we’d have to get it out
your uterus dropped, or you started hemorrhaging, or
of the sack and spread it out in the sun for someone to
aborted, but since none of that happened immediately,
pound it in the mortar. Although we had the advantage
it was the last thing we thought of. So much work, so
that we never lacked the staples: tortillas, rice, beans,
much tragedy and that was so common that it seemed
and sugar-water. When you had to make tortillas, and that
like just a natural thing, and for what? To sell corn at
was every day, there were mountains of tortillas, because
about 20 colones or at most at 24 colones per fanega
the people who worked in the fields had to eat a lot to
[about 3 bushels] of 24 baskets! What thankless times
regain their strength with all the effort they put out. And
for farm people!
the tortilla is the healthiest food that was eaten—still is
eaten—in the countryside. Another thing we had to do Source: Autobiografías campesinas. 1979, 36 (translation from the original
often was when you’d get the corn together to sell it, you Spanish by Robert H. Lavenda).
ordinarily do not keep a running tab on what it costs encourages social obligations to be extended into the
them to raise their children and then present their chil- future. Finally, negative reciprocity is an exchange of goods
dren with repayment schedules when they reach the age and services in which at least one party attempts to get
of 18. The expectation is that children will eventually something for nothing without suffering any penalties.
reciprocate by meeting the needs of their aged parents These attempts can range from haggling over prices to
as best they can, whatever those needs turn out to be. outright seizure, as with cattle rustling.
Balanced reciprocity is found when those who exchange Redistribution, the second mode of exchange, re-
expect a return of equal value within a specified time quires some form of centralized social organization.
limit (e.g., when cousins exchange gifts of equal value Those who control the central position receive eco-
with one another at Christmastime). Lee (1992, 103) nomic contributions from all members of the group.
notes that the Ju/’hoansi distinguish between barter, It is then their responsibility to redistribute the goods
which requires an immediate return of an equivalent, they receive in a way that provides for every member of
and hxaro, which is a kind of generalized reciprocity that the group. The Internal Revenue Service is probably the
institution of redistribution that people in the United
States know best. A classic anthropological example of
redistribution A mode of exchange that requires some form of central- redistribution is the potlatch of the indigenous peoples
ized social organization to receive economic contributions from all members
of the group and to redistribute them in such a way as to provide for every
of the northwest coast of North America. In the highly
group member. stratified fishing and gathering society of the Nootka, for
FIGURE 11.3 Shirts for sale at

the market in Guider, Cameroon.
Markets can be found in many
societies, but capitalism links
markets to trade and money in a
unique way.
Market exchange, invented in capitalist society,

EthnoProfile 11.3 is the most recent mode of exchange, according to Polanyi
(1977) (Figure 11.3). Polanyi was well aware that trade,
Nootka money, and market institutions had developed inde-
pendently of one another historically. He also knew
Region: North America
that they could be found in societies outside the West.
Nation: Canada (Vancouver Island) The uniqueness of capitalism was how all three institu-
Population: 6,000 (1970s) tions were linked to one another in the societies of early
Environment: Rainy, relatively warm coastal strip modern Europe.
According to Polanyi (1977), different modes of
Livelihood: Fishing, hunting, gathering
exchange often coexist within a single society, although
Political organization: Traditionally, ranked individuals,
chiefs; today, part of a
he argued that only one functions as the society’s over-
modern nation-state all mode of economic integration. The United States, for
For more information: Arct example, is integrated by the market mode of exchange,
ka
as ic
Al Circle
Yukon
Rosman, Abraham, and Nor

yet redistribution and reciprocity have not disappeared.
thwe
Paula G. Rubel. 1971. st Territ
ories Within the family, parents who obtain income from the
Feasting with mine enemy: CANADA market redistribute that income, or goods obtained with
Rank and exchange among
northwest coast societies.
British that income, to their children. Generalized reciprocity
M
Columbia
to
an
Sask
Alberta ba
New York: Columbia also characterizes much exchange within the family: as
i
atch
Nootka
CEAN
University Press. noted earlier, parents regularly provide their children

ewa
IFIC O
0 300 with food and clothing without expecting any immediate

PAC
Miles
return , and children regularly feel obligated to do what
they can to meet the needs of their parents as they age.
example, nobles sought to outdo one another in gener-

The Maisin and Reciprocity
osity by giving away vast quantities of objects during the John Barker (2016) has studied the Maisin of Colling-
potlatch ceremony (see EthnoProfile 11.3: Nootka). The wood Bay, Papua New Guinea, for many years. Part of
noble giving the potlatch accumulated goods produced his research has looked at the way in which reciprocity
in one village and redistributed them to other nobles at-
tending the ceremony. When the guests returned to their
market exchange The exchange of goods (trade) calculated in terms of a
own villages, they in turn redistributed the goods among multipurpose medium of exchange and standard of value (money) and car-
their followers. ried out by means of a supply–demand–price mechanism (the market).
forms the social structure of the Maisin and how the As Barker puts it,
cash economy and the reciprocity economy have af-
fected each other. Reciprocity lies at the heart of the Maisin subsistence
Barker notes that Maisin society is based on reci- economy, but it should be clear by now that it is nei-
ther simple nor limited to the business of moving
procity. A steady give and take of gifts, labor, and advice
items between producers and consumers. Reciprocity
should characterize the relationship of close relatives.
provides the key means by which the Maisin create and
The Maisin do not keep track of what each person
sustain social relationships. The constant give-and-take
gives, gets, or is owed. Rather, people demonstrate their of daily exchanges embodies an essential assumption
mutual trust and support by allowing things to balance that social relationships cannot be taken for granted.
out over time. This is what we have just referred to as They must be created, affirmed, reproduced, and modi-
generalized reciprocity. This kind of sharing is what the fied through giving and receiving. (54)
Maisin refer to as marawa-wawe, which translates as
“love, peace, or social amity,” and is a Maisin central But there is more to the story. As well as growing
value (50). It represents the way family and close friends their own food and building their own houses out of
should treat each other. “Indeed, it is what makes family material from the forest, since the 1890s, the Maisin
and close friends.” It is at this level that the obligation have simultaneously lived in a world of cash and com-
to reciprocate is most strongly felt. Barker distinguishes modities, a world with different rules and a different
three different types of relationship at this level: sisters moral logic. Over the years, Barker tells us, villagers have
and brothers and wives and husbands employ comple- become increasingly dependent on purchased com-
mentary reciprocity, with each making distinct contribu- modities, ranging from clothing or fish hooks to soccer
tions to the household. Their exchanges denote separate balls and cigarettes, travel to visit relatives in town, or
if not equal status. Parents and children, and older and school fees for their children (56–57). Although villag-
younger siblings engage in asymmetrical reciprocity— ers complain about the problems money brings, no one
the elder should take care of the child or younger sib- wants to return to a time when people relied on local
ling by providing general food and good advice, and resources alone.
the child or younger sibling should listen respectfully Opportunities for earning money locally are lim-
and obey the parents’ or older siblings’ wishes. Over the ited; the best and most reliable source of money now is
course of a lifetime, children should return the original remittances from relatives who are working elsewhere,
gifts of food or support to bring the relationship into either in Papua New Guinea or in another country. Vil-
balance. Exchange among members of different house- lagers expect that their relatives who find work outside
holds, clan mates, and friends is symmetrical, such that the village will “not forget” the people at home. “While
the exchange is more or less in balance. This marks life in the towns is expensive, most employed Maisin
their equivalence. routinely put aside part of their salaries to assist their
The circle of neighbors and relatives in which rural relatives in medical emergencies, bride wealth ex-
the steady give and take is found tends not to extend changes, funerals, and local business start-ups. They ac-
much beyond nearby households that usually belong commodate relatives visiting from the village and send
to close relatives. While these circles overlap, forming them home with parcels of clothing and other goods”
what Barker calls a dense interwoven exchange network, (58). They do this because they have been brought up
they do not form a unitary system. Rather, the more dis- in a world based on reciprocal exchange, and because
tant people are in terms of relatedness and residence, their rural relatives regularly remind them of the debt
the harder it is to create the easy give and take of the owed to those who brought them up. They also do it
inner circle. Exchanges are far less frequent, more care- in order to leave open the possibility of being able to
fully organized, and are recognized as balanced. This is retire in their native village. By helping their rural rela-
balanced reciprocity. tives, they are assisting the people who care for the land
As one moves from trusted family and close friends and protect their property rights. As of 2016, almost all
to increasingly distant exchange partners, one reaches adult Maisin have lived for a time—and in many cases,
the edges of social relationships, marked by negative reci- a long time—in their towns, either working or visiting
procity. Negative reciprocity in the Maisin world occurs employed relatives.
between parties that have little or no social connection There appears to be a conflict between a “traditional”
and so have no moral obligation to each other. They are economic system built on reciprocal exchange and a
strangers or nearly so. They are also potential antago- “modern” one, based on money and commodities. The
nists, targets for barter rather than exchange, and for conflict can be seen as between an egalitarian system,
stealing rather than giving. in which there are no permanent ranked socioeconomic
classes based on unequal access to wealth and prestige. their perspective, as well as many key concepts, from the
Money can disrupt the obligation to return a gift, in part works of Karl Marx. They argue that studying produc-
because it can be hidden. “At a deeper level, money and tion explains important economic processes ignored by
markets imply a different type of morality, one focused views that emphasize market exchange as the driving
on the individual who through hard work, good luck, force of economic activity.
or a combination of both succeeds on his or her own
merits, with no help from others. Thus the introduc-
tion of money can be understood as the main engine Labor
of a series of transformations—for reciprocity between Labor is perhaps the most central Marxian concept these
people to transactions mediated by abstract markets anthropologists have emphasized. Labor is the activ-
in which value is set; from self-reliance to dependence ity linking human social groups to the material world
upon wages paid by employers; from a relatively egali- around them: human beings must actively struggle to-
tarian to an economically stratified society; from a moral gether to transform natural substances into forms they
emphasis upon one’s kin and community to the celebra- can use. Human labor is therefore always social labor.
tion of the self-reliant individual” (60–61). Marx emphasized the importance of human physical
Although there are indications of a market-oriented labor in the material world, especially in the produc-
change in Maisin society, Barker observed that at every tion of food, clothing, shelter, and tools. But Marx also
stage, Maisin have used their assumptions about reci- recognized the importance of mental or cognitive labor:
procity and morality to shape their understanding and human intelligence allows us to reflect on and organize
use of money. The requirement to reciprocate remains productive activities in different ways.
strong and public. Indeed, employed Maisin often com-
plained privately to Barker about the pressure they re-
ceive from villagers to share their cash. Yet most people Modes of Production
share what they have because it is the normal thing Marx attempted to classify the ways different human
to do. Those who have more take pleasure and pride groups carry out production. Each way is called a mode
in demonstrating their generosity. The subsistence, of production. Anthropologist Eric Wolf (1982) de-
reciprocity-based economy is actually being subsidized fined a mode of production as “a specific, historically
by the cash economy. occurring set of social relations through which labor
Barker concludes his discussion of the interacting is deployed to wrest energy from nature by means of
economic systems by noting that in recent years, the tools, skills, organization, and knowledge” (75). Tools,
Maisin have become more tolerant of the inequalities skills, organization, and knowledge constitute what
money creates. Some households are better off than Marx called the means of production. The social rela-
others. Villagers have become accustomed to using tions linking human beings who use a given means of
money in the village. Even so, reciprocity remains central production within a particular mode of production are
to both the Maisin economy and moral system. “There called the relations of production. That is, different
is no hunger in Maisin communities; the requirement productive tasks (clearing the bush, planting, harvest-
to share, to support others, is too compelling. Maisin ing, and so on) are assigned to different social groups,
are keenly aware of the dangers money can bring or the which Marx called classes, all of which must work to-
threat it represents to their ancestral way of life. They gether for production to be successful. Wolf notes that
need money; there is no turning back. Yet, at least for
the time being, the Maisin appear to have been more or
less successful in balancing the opposed logic of gift and
commodity systems of value” (63–64). labor The activity linking human social groups to the material world
around them; from the point of view of Karl Marx, labor is therefore always
social labor.
Does Production Drive mode of production A specific, historically occurring set of social rela-
tions through which labor is deployed to wrest energy from nature by means
Economic Activities? of tools, skills, organization, and knowledge.
means of production The tools, skills, organization, and knowledge used
Some economic anthropologists have argued that pro- to extract energy from nature.
duction is the driving force behind economic activ- relations of production The social relations linking the people who use
a given means of production within a particular mode of production.
ity, creating supplies of goods that must accommodate
classes Ranked groups within a hierarchically stratified society whose
people’s demand, thereby determining levels of con- membership is defined primarily in terms of wealth, occupation, or other
sumption. Anthropologists who take this view borrow economic criteria.
Producing Sorghum and Millet in Honduras
and the Sudan
Applied anthropologists carry out much work in international conditions under which they live. FSR is holistic because it ex-
development, often in agricultural programs. The U.S. Agency amines how the different crops and livestock are integrated
for International Development (AID) is the principal instru- and managed as a system. It also relates farm productivity
ment of U.S. foreign development assistance. One direction to household consumption and off-farm sources of family
taken by AID in the mid-1970s was to create multidisciplinary income (Reeves et al. 1987, 74). This is very different from the
research programs to improve food crops in developing coun- traditional methods of agricultural research, which grow and
tries. An early research program dealt with sorghum and test one crop at a time in an experiment station. The scien-
millet, important grains in some of the poorest countries in tists at INTSORMIL are generally acknowledged among the
the world (Figure 11.4). This was the International Sorghum/ best sorghum and millet researchers in the world, but their
Millet Research Project (INTSORMIL). Selected American uni- expertise comes from traditional agricultural research meth-
versities investigated one of six areas: plant breeding, agron- ods. They have spent little time working on the problems of
omy, plant pathology, plant physiology, food chemistry, and limited-resource farmers in Third World countries.
socioeconomic studies. The anthropologists saw their job as facilitating “a con-
Anthropologists from the University of Kentucky, se- stant dialog between the farmer, who can tell what works
lected for the socioeconomic study, used ethnographic field best given the circumstances, and agricultural scientists, who
research techniques to gain firsthand knowledge of the so- produce potentially useful new solutions to old problems”
cioeconomic constraints on the production, distribution, and (Reeves et al. 1987, 74–75). However, this was easier said than
consumption of sorghum and millet among limited-resource done in the sorghum/millet project. The perspectives of farm-
agricultural producers in the western Sudan and in Honduras. ers and scientists were very different from one another. The
They intended to make their findings available to INTSORMIL anthropologists found themselves having to learn the lan-
as well as to scientists and government officials in the host guages and the conceptual systems of both the farmers and
countries. They believed sharing such knowledge could lead the scientists for the two groups to be able to communicate.
to more effective research and development. This task also The anthropologists began research in June 1981 in west-
required ethnographic research and anthropological skill. ern Sudan and in southern Honduras. They were in the field
The principal investigators from the University of Ken- for 14 months of participant observation and in-depth inter-
tucky were Edward Reeves, Billie DeWalt, and Katherine viewing, as well as survey interviewing of limited-resource
DeWalt. They took a holistic and comparative approach, called farmers, merchants, and middlemen. They discovered that
Farming Systems Research (FSR). This approach attempts to the most significant constraints the farmers faced were un-
determine the techniques used by farmers with limited re- certain rainfall, low soil fertility, and inadequate labor and
sources to cope with the social, economic, and ecological financial resources (Reeves et al. 1987, 80). Equally important
Marx speaks of at least eight different modes of produc- are private property owned by members of the capitalist
tion in his own writings, although he focused mainly class, workers must sell their labor power to the capital-
on the capitalist mode. ists to survive, and surpluses of wealth are produced that
Wolf finds the concept of mode of production capitalists may retain as profit or reinvest in production,
useful and suggests that three modes of production have to increase output and generate further surpluses and
been particularly important in human history: (1) a higher profits.
kin-ordered mode (Figure 11.5), in which social labor is The kin-ordered mode of production is found
deployed on the basis of kinship relations (e.g., hus- among foragers and those farmers and herders whose
bands/fathers clear the fields, the whole family plants, political organization does not involve domination by
mothers/wives weed, children keep animals out of the one group. The tributary mode is found among farm-
field); (2) a tributary mode, “in which the primary pro- ers or herders living in a social system that is divided
ducer, whether cultivator or herdsman, is allowed access into classes of rulers and subjects. Subjects produce both
to the means of production while tribute [a payment of for themselves and for their rulers, who take a certain
goods or labor] is exacted from him by political or mili- proportion of their subjects’ produce or labor as tribute.
tary means” (Wolf 1982, 79); and (3) the capitalist mode, The capitalist mode, the most recent to develop, can be
which has three main features: the means of production found in the industrial societies of North America and
348
were the social and cultural systems within which the farm-
ers were embedded. Farmers based their farming decisions
on their understanding of who they were and what farming
meant in their own cultures.
As a result of the FSR group’s research, it became in-
creasingly clear that “real progress in addressing the needs
of small farmers in the Third World called for promising in-
novations to be tested at village sites and on farmers’ fields
under conditions that closely approximated those which the
farmers experience” (Reeves et al. 1987, 77). Convincing the
scientists and bureaucrats of this required the anthropolo-
gists to become advocates for the limited-resource farm-
ers. Bill DeWalt and Edward Reeves ended up negotiating
INTSORMIL’s contracts with the Honduran and Sudanese

governments and succeeded in representing the farmers.
They had to learn enough about the bureaucracies and the
agricultural scientists so they could put the farmers’ inter-
ests in terms the others could understand.
As a result of the applied anthropologists’ work,
INTSORMIL scientists learned to understand how small
farmers in two countries made agricultural decisions. They
also learned that not all limited-resource farmers are alike.
The INTSORMIL staff was so impressed that it began fund-
ing long-term research directed at relieving the constraints
that limited-resource farmers face. Rather than trying to
develop and then introduce hybrids, INTSORMIL research
aimed to modify existing varieties of sorghum. The goal is
better-yielding local varieties that can be grown together
with other crops.
In summary, Reeves et al. point out that without the an-
FIGURE 11.4 INTSORMIL has been involved in the improve- thropological research, fewer development funds would
ment of the cultivation of sorghum and millet. This is sorghum. have been allocated to research in Sudan and Honduras.
More important, the nature of the development aid would
have been different.
FIGURE 11.5 This drawing from 1562

shows Native American men breaking the
soil and Native American women planting, a
gender-based division of labor.
349
IN THEIR OWN WORDS
Solidarity Forever
Anthropologist Dorinne Kondo, who worked divisions. Informal restrictions on the part-timers’ move-
alongside Japanese women in a Tokyo sweets ment and time seemed much greater. Rarely, if ever, was
factory, describes how factory managers, almost there an appropriate slack period where all of us could
despite their best efforts, managed to engender take a break. Yet our energy, predictably, slumped in the
strong bonds among women workers. afternoon. After my first few months in wagashi, Hamada-
san began to bring in small containers of fruit juice, so we
could take turns having a five-minute break to drink the
juice and eat some seconds from the factory. Informal,
Our shared exploitation sometimes provided the basis
mutual support enabled us to keep up our energies, as we
for commonality and sympathy. The paltry pay was often
each began to bring in juice or snacks for our tea breaks.
a subject of discussion. . . . My co-workers and I were es-
The company itself did nothing formally in this regard,
pecially aware, however, of the toll our jobs took on our
but informal gestures of thoughtfulness and friendliness
bodies. We constantly complained of our sore feet, es-
among co-workers surely redounded to the company’s
pecially sore heels from standing on the concrete floors.
benefit, for they fostered our sense of intimacy and ob-
And a company-sponsored trip to the seashore revealed
ligation to our fellow workers. The tea breaks are one ex-
even more occupational hazards. At one point, as we all
ample, but so are the many times we part-timers would
sat down with our rice balls and our box lunches, the
stop off at Iris, our favorite coffee house, to sip banana
part-timers pulled up the legs of their trousers to compare
juice or melon juice and trade gossip. We talked about
their varicose veins. In our informal contest, Hamada-san
other people in the company, about family, about things
and Iida-san tied for first prize. The demanding pace and
to do in the neighborhood. On one memorable occa-
the lack of assured work breaks formed another subject of
sion, I was sitting with the Western division part-timers
discussion. At most of the factories in the neighborhood
in a booth near the window. A car honked as it went by,
where I conducted extensive interviews, work stopped
and Sakada-san grimaced and shouted loudly, “Shitsurei
at ten in the morning and at three in the afternoon, so
yarō—rude bastard!” The offender turned out to be her
workers could have a cup of tea and perhaps some crack-
husband. In subsequent weeks, Sakada-san would de-
ers. Nothing of the sort occurred at the Satō factory, al-
light in recounting this tale again and again, pronouncing
though the artisans were, if the pace of work slackened,
shitsurei yarō with ever greater relish, and somehow, we
able to escape the workroom, sit on their haunches, and
never failed to dissolve in helpless laughter.
have a smoke, or grab a snack if they were out doing de-
liveries or running up and down the stairs to the other Source: Kondo 1990, 291–92.
western Europe beginning in the seventeenth and eigh- organized according to kin-ordered relations of produc-
teenth centuries. The concept of mode of production tion, where laborers are relatives to whom no cash pay-
thus draws attention to many of the same features of ment is due, is very different from farm labor organized
economic life highlighted in traditional anthropologi- according to capitalist relations of production, where la-
cal discussions of subsistence strategies. Yet, the concept borers are often nonrelatives who are paid a wage.
emphasizes forms of social and political organization
as well as material productive activities and shows how
they are interconnected. That is, the kin-ordered mode
What Is the Role of Conflict
of production is distinctive as much for its use of the in Material Life?
kinship system to allocate labor to production as for Anthropologists traditionally have emphasized the im-
the kind of production undertaken, such as farming. In portant links between a society’s organization (kinship
a kin-ordered mode of production, the relations of kin- groups, chiefdom, state) and the way that society
ship serve as the relations of production that enable a par- meets its subsistence needs, either to demonstrate the
ticular mode of production to be carried out. Farm labor stages of cultural evolution or to display the functional
interrelationships between a society’s parts. In both cases, The Internal Explanation:

however, the emphasis of the analysis has been on the Malinowski and Basic Human Needs
harmonious fashion in which societies operate. For
some observers, this carried the additional message that The internal explanation for human consumption pat-
social harmony was “natural” and should not be tam- terns comes from the work of Bronislaw Malinowski.
pered with. Social change was possible, but it would take Malinowski’s version of functionalist anthropology ex-
place in an orderly fashion, in the fullness of time, ac- plains social practices by relating them to the basic human
cording to laws of development beyond the control of needs that each practice supposedly fulfills. Basic human
individual members of society. needs can be biological or psychological. Whatever their
Many anthropologists, however, have not been per- origin, if these needs go unmet, Malinowski argued, a
suaded that social organization is naturally harmoni- society might not survive. Malinowski proposed a list of
ous or that social change is naturally orderly. They find basic human needs, which includes nourishment, repro-
the Marxian approach useful precisely because it treats duction, bodily comforts, safety, movement, growth, and
conflict and disorder as a natural part of the human health. Every culture responds in its own way to these
condition. The concept of mode of production makes needs with some form of the corresponding institutions:
a major contribution to economic anthropology pre- food-getting techniques, kinship, shelter, protection, ac-
cisely because it acknowledges that the potential for tivities, training, and hygiene (Malinowski 1944, 91).
conflict is built into the mode of production itself. Malinowski’s approach had the virtue of empha-
And the more complex and unequal is the involve- sizing the dependence of human beings on the physi-
ment of different classes in a mode of production, the cal world to survive. In addition, Malinowski was able
more intense is the struggle between them likely to be. to show that many customs that appear bizarre to un-
The links between economic and political relations initiated Western observers make sense once it is seen
become particularly obvious and must be addressed how they help people satisfy their basic human needs.
(see Chapter 12). However, Malinowski’s approach fell short of explain-
ing why all societies do not share the same consump-
tion patterns. After all, some people eat wild fruit and
nuts and wear clothing made of animal skins, others
Why Do People Consume eat bread made from domesticated wheat and wear gar-
What They Do? ments woven from the hair of domesticated sheep, and
still others eat millet paste and meat from domesticated
Consumption usually refers to the using up of mate- cattle and go naked. Why should these differences exist?
rial goods necessary for human survival. These goods
include—at a minimum—food, drink, clothing, and

shelter; they can and often do include much more. Until The External Explanation:
quite recently, the study of consumption by economists Cultural Ecology
and others has been much neglected, especially when A later generation of anthropologists was influenced by
compared to distribution or production. It seemed clear evolutionary and ecological studies. They tried to answer
either that people consume goods for obvious reasons this question with an external explanation for the di-
(i.e., because they need to eat and drink to survive) or versity of human consumption patterns. As we saw in
that they consume goods as a result of idiosyncratic earlier chapters, ecology has to do with how living spe-
personal preferences (e.g., “I like the flavor of licorice cies relate to one another and the physical environment.
and so I eat a lot of it, but my neighbor hates the flavor To explain patterns of human consumption (as well as
and would never put it into his mouth”). In either case, production and distribution), cultural ecologists have
studying consumption seemed unlikely to reveal any in- often turned to the resources available in the particular
teresting cultural patterns. As we will see below, however, habitats exploited by particular human groups. Hence,
anthropologists have always noticed striking differences the particular consumption patterns found in a particu-
in consumption patterns in different societies that lar society cannot depend just on the obvious, internal
seemed hard to reconcile with accepted economic expla-
nations. Historically, anthropologists have taken three
basic approaches to account for these patterns: (1) the
internal explanation, (2) the external explanation, and consumption The using up of material goods necessary for human
(3) the cultural explanation. survival.
IN THEIR OWN WORDS
Questioning Collapse
Since the late 1990s, geographer Jared Diamond Thanks to Diamond’s provoking inquiries and more
has published two books that have enjoyed generally those of the popular media, we focus this
wide popular success, Guns, Germs, and Steel book on several questions: (1) Why do we portray an-
(1997) and Collapse: How Societies Choose cient societies—especially those with indigenous
to Fail or Succeed (2005). At the same time, descendants—as successes or failures, both in scholar-
ship and in the popular media? We want to get the story
some anthropologists—including those who
of social change right, and descendants of the ancient so-
admire Diamond’s achievements—are concerned
cieties we study demand it. (2) How do we characterize
by the selective way in which he makes use of
people who live today in the aftermath of empires? To-
anthropological data to support his arguments.
day’s world is the product of past worlds, and the conse-
These issues are explored in Questioning Collapse
quences of the past cannot be ignored. (3) How are urgent
(2010), a recent volume of essays edited by climatic and environmental issues today similar to those
Mesoamerican archaeologist Patricia A. McAnany faced by our ancestors? Can we learn from the past? . . .
and Near Eastern archaeologist Norman Yoffee.
The Question of Societal Collapse
Over two decades ago the sociologist Shmuel Eisenstadt
What’s the Beef between Scholars wrote that societal collapse seldom occurs if collapse is
and Popular Writers? taken to mean “the complete end of those political sys-
Among the issues we wanted to explore in our AAA [Amer- tems and their accompanying civilizational framework.”
ican Anthropological Association] symposium and in our Indeed, studying collapse is like viewing a low-resolution
subsequent seminar were the reasons for the incredible digital photograph: it’s fine when small, compact, and
success of Jared Diamond’s books. After all, Diamond is viewed at a distance but dissolves into disconnected parts
a professor of geography at UCLA, not an anthropolo- when examined up close. More recently, Joseph Tainter,
gist, archaeologist, or historian. He obviously reads pro- after a search for archaeological evidence of societal
lifically the obscure (to most laypersons and students) “overshoot” and collapse, arrived at a conclusion similar
publications of historians, archaeologists, and sociocul- to Eisenstadt’s: there wasn’t any. When closely examined,
tural anthropologists and can present their research with the overriding human story is one of survival and regen-
verve and clarity and as important knowledge for a larger eration. Certainly crises existed, political forms changed,
public. In Guns, Germs, and Steel, Diamond confronts racist and landscapes were altered, but rarely did societies
views of the past that claim that Western superiority is collapse in an absolute and apocalyptic way. Even the
due to the genes and genius of Westerners. In Collapse examples of societal collapse often touted in the media—
he warns of real and potential environmental destruction Rapa Nui (Easter Island), Norse Greenland, Puebloan U.S.
in the present by arguing that past societies and cultures Southwest, and the Maya Lowlands—are also cases of so-
collapsed because they damaged their environments. His cietal resilience when examined carefully, as authors do
successful writing style of distilling simple points from in the chapters in this book (see Figure 11.6). Popular writ-
complex issues is a remarkable gift; it is no wonder that ers’ tendency to approach the past in terms of a series
his books win prizes and are used in classrooms. . . . of societal failures and collapses—while understandable
In this book most of the chapters are critical of Dia- in terms of providing drama and mystery—falls apart in
mond’s stories. This is why the AAA session was organized light of the information and fresh perspectives presented
in the first place. Whereas we are indebted to Diamond in this book.
for drawing together so much material from our own Abandoned ruins—the words themselves evoke
fields of research and for emphasizing how important an- a roman tic sense of failure and loss to which even
thropological and historical knowledge is for the modern archaeologists—most of whom are reared in the West-
world, as scholars we want to get things right. We also ern tradition—are not immune. But why is it that when
want to write in such a way that the public can grasp not we visit Stonehenge we don’t feel a twinge of cultural
only the significance of research findings but also how we loss, but simply a sense that things were very different
do research and why we think that some stories are right, 5,000 years ago? Is it because Stonehenge is somehow part
whereas others are not as right or are incomplete and still of our civilization? On the other hand, the Great Houses
others are dead wrong. of Chaco Canyon, the soaring pyramids of ancestral
IN THEIR OWN WORDS
it is another matter altogether to link that evidence in a

convincing and rigorous fashion to site abandonment or
changes in political forms. The notion that the present re-
capitulates the past is not necessarily true. We ask how
long human societies have possessed the technological
ability to profoundly change and destroy their environ-
ment and bring down their societies.
In concluding comments to this book and elsewhere,
J. R. McNeill amasses a formidable body of evidence sug-
gesting that the human ability to impact environment on
a global scale is newfound and cannot be pushed back
beyond the Industrial Revolution of the 1800s. . . .
FIGURE 11.6 One case study by Jared Diamond that

Choice and Geographic Determinism
has been criticized by anthropologists is that of Rapa Nui In his book on societal collapse, Jared Diamond proposes
(Easter Island), where enormous human figures were carved that societies choose to succeed or fail. On the other hand,
between the years 1250 and 1500. in Guns, Germs, and Steel, there was no choice: today’s in-
equalities among modern nation-states are argued to be
the result of geographic determinism. In the first scenario,
Maya cities, the fallen colossal heads of Rapa Nui tend to
societies (or power brokers within societies) make the de-
invoke a sense of mysterious loss and cultural failure, and
cisions that result in long-term success or failure. . . . At
a notion that something must have gone terribly wrong
the root of this thesis is the modern neoliberal theory of
environmentally. For many of us these places and people
self-interested motivation as well as the assumption of
are not part of the Western experience. Moreover, de-
unconstrained and rational choice. . . . Many economists
scendant communities—in all three cases—live marginal-
view the motivational assumptions of self-interest and
ized on the edge of nation-states without the resources
rational choice as lacking explanatory power, even when
and connections to worldwide media that are needed to
applied to Western societies. When applied globally and
tell their own story, at least to an English-speaking audi-
into deep time, this theory has particular difficulties. . . .
ence. Might these abandoned places, in many cases, be
If we are to understand global events today, we must
just as accurately viewed as part of a successful strategy
perceive that the basis of intentionality and motivation
of survival, part of human resilience? . . . Abandonment
can differ profoundly across the globe. . . . For those of us
also can be read as indicative of opportunity elsewhere
studying early states, archaeologists and historians alike,
and of the societal flexibility to seize that opportunity. . . .
it isn’t easy to discern intentions and their effects in the
Although it would be wonderful to feel that scholarly
remote past. . . . Many current global inequalities indis-
understanding of abandonment stood outside contempo-
putably are the product of historical colonialism and its
rary social concerns, it is pretty clear that today’s worries
enduring legacy. . . .
about the future make their way into our explanations of
If one takes a long view, as archaeologists and histo-
the past. . . . Historians and archaeologists, who are not
rians are wont to do, then the situation in the year 2009
immune to seeing the past through modern lenses, try
seems less the manifestation of a geographic destiny
to test the relevance of their ideas by looking for multiple
than it is a temporary state of affairs. Can anyone say that
lines of evidence that point to the same conclusion.
the present balance of economic and political power will
In our chapters we hold interpretations of past envi-
be the same in 2500 as it is today? For example, in the
ronmental abuse up to critical scrutiny for two reasons.
year 1500 some of the most powerful and largest cities in
First, because the fit between ideas and evidence is
the world existed in China, India, and Turkey. In the year
never straightforward. Second (and for better or worse),
1000, many of the mightiest cities were located in Peru,
humans have a long history of both interacting assert-
Iraq, and Central Asia. In the year 500 they could be found
ively with their environments and coalescing into fragile
in central Mexico, Italy, and China. In 2500 B.C.E., the most
political groups that fission easily. Archaeologists such as
formidable rulers lived in Iraq, Egypt, and Pakistan. What
Sander van der Leeuw have shown that landscape altera-
geographic determinism can account for this? Is history a
tion has occurred in human societies since the end of the
report card of s uccess or failure?
Pleistocene (Ice Age), 10,000 years ago. It is not difficult to
find evidence of preindustrial landscape alteration . . . but Source: McAnany and Yoffee 2009, 4–10.
hunger drive, which is the same for all people every-

where; instead, people depend on the particular exter- EthnoProfile 11.4
nal resources present in the local habitat to which their
members must adapt. Ju/’hoansi (!Kung)
Region: Southern Africa
How Is Consumption Culturally Nation: Botswana and Namibia
Patterned? Population: 45,000
Why do people X raise peanuts and sorghum? The inter- Environment: Desert
nal, Malinowskian explanation would be to meet their Livelihood: Hunting and gathering
basic human need for food. The external, cultural eco-
logical explanation would be because peanuts and sor-
Za
Traditionally, egalitarian ZAMBIA
mb
ANGOLA
ghum are the only food crops available in their habitat bands; today, part of modern
ezi
that, when cultivated, will meet their subsistence needs. nation-states Etosha Pan
Ju/’hoansi
Both these answers sound reasonable, but they are also For more information: Lee, (!Kung)
BOTSWANA
incomplete. To be sure, people must consume some- Richard B. 1992. The Dobe Kalahari pop
o
Windhoek Lim
Ju/’hoansi, 2nd ed. New York: Desert
thing to survive, and they will usually meet this need NAMIBIA Gaborone
Pretoria
Holt, Rinehart and Winston.
by exploiting plant and animal species locally available. Johannesburg
ATLANTIC SOUTH
However, Malinowski and many cultural ecologists seem OCEAN AFRICA 0 300
to assume that patterns of consumption are dictated Miles
by an iron environmental necessity that permits only

narrow adaptive options. They further seem to assume
that human beings are by and large powerless to modify the few remaining groups of San still able to return to
what the environment offers (at least, it is sometimes full-time foraging when economic ties to neighboring
implied, until the invention of modern technology). herders became too onerous. Although full-time for-
But we have seen that human beings (along with aging has been impossible in the Dobe area since the
many other organisms) are able to construct their own 1980s and the Ju/’hoansi have had to make some diffi-
niches, buffering themselves from some kinds of selection cult adjustments, Lee documented a way of life that con-
pressures while exposing themselves to other kinds. This trasts vividly with their current settled existence.
means that human populations, even those with foraging Lee accompanied the Ju/’hoansi as they gathered
technologies, are not passive in the face of environmental and hunted in 1963, and he recorded the amounts and
demands. On the contrary, people have the agency to pro- kinds of food they consumed. The results of his research
duce a range of cultural inventions—tools, social relations, were surprising. It turned out that the Ju/’hoansi pro-
domesticated crops, agroecologies. Or as Marshall Sahlins vided themselves with a varied and well-balanced diet
(1976) put it, human beings are human “precisely when based on a selection from among the food sources avail-
they experience the world as a concept (symbolically). It able in their environment. At the time of Lee’s fieldwork,
is not essentially a question of priority but of the unique the Ju/’hoansi classified more than 100 species of plants
quality of human experience as meaningful experience. as edible, but only 14 were primary components of their
Nor is it an issue of the reality of the world; it concerns diet (Lee 1992, 45ff.). Some 70% of this diet consisted
which worldly dimension becomes pertinent, and in what way, of vegetable foods; 30% was meat. Mongongo nuts, a
to a given human group” (142; emphasis added). Because protein-rich food widely available throughout the Kala-
human beings construct their own niches, they construct hari, alone made up more than one-quarter of the diet.
their patterns of consumption as well. Women provided about 55% of the diet, and men pro-
vided 45%, including the meat. The Ju/’hoansi spent an
What Is the Original Affluent Society? Many Western- average of 2.4 working days—or about 20 hours—per
ers long believed that foraging peoples led the most mis- person per week in food-collecting activities. Ju/’hoansi
erable of existences, spending all their waking hours in a bands periodically suffered from shortages of their pre-
food quest that yielded barely enough to keep them alive. ferred foods and were forced to consume less desired
To test this assumption in the field, Richard Lee went items. Most of the time, however, their diet was balanced
to live among the Dobe Ju/’hoansi, a foraging people and adequate and consisted of foods of preference (Lee
of southern Africa (see EthnoProfile 11.4: Ju/’hoansi). 1992, 56ff.; Figure 11.7).
Living in the central Kalahari Desert of southern Africa Marshall Sahlins coined the expression “the origi-
in the early 1960s, the Ju/’hoansi of Dobe were among nal affluent society” to refer to the Ju/’hoansi and other
FIGURE 11.7 Ju/’hoansi women

returning from foraging with large
quantities of mongongo nuts.
foragers like them. In an essay published in 1972, is met but selectively, and the selection humans make
Sahlins challenged the traditional Western assumption carries a social message. But what about cases of con-
that the life of foragers is characterized by scarcity and sumption that do not involve food and drink?
near-starvation (see Sahlins 1972). Affluence, he argued,
is having more than enough of whatever is required to Banana Leaves in the Trobriand Islands Anthropolo-
satisfy consumption needs. There are two ways to create gist Annette Weiner traveled to the Trobriand Islands in
affluence. The first, to produce much, is the path taken the 1970s, more than half a century after Malinowski car-
by Western capitalist society; the second, to desire little, ried out his classic research there (see EthnoProfile 10.3:
is the option, Sahlins argues, that foragers have taken. Trobriand Islanders). To her surprise, she discovered a
Put another way, the Ju/’hoansi foragers used culture to venerable local tradition involving the accumulation and
construct a niche within which their wants were few but exchange of banana leaves, which were known locally as
abundantly fulfilled by their local environment. More- “women’s wealth” (Figure 11.8). Malinowski had never
over, it is not that foragers experience no greedy im- described this tradition, although there is evidence from
pulses; rather, according to Sahlins, affluent foragers live photographs and writing that it was in force at the time
in societies whose institutions do not reward greed. Sah- of his fieldwork. Possibly, Malinowski overlooked these
lins concluded that, for these reasons, foragers cannot transactions because they are carried out by women, and
be considered poor, although their material standard of Malinowski did not view women as important actors in
living is low by Western measures. the economy. However, Malinowski might also have con-
Original affluent foraging societies emphasize the sidered banana leaves an unlikely item of consumption
longstanding anthropological observation that the con- because he recognized as “economic” only those activi-
cept of economic “needs” is vague (Douglas and Isher- ties that satisfied biological survival needs, and banana
wood 1979). Hunger can be satisfied by beans and rice leaves are inedible. Transactions involving women’s
or steak and lobster. Thirst can be quenched by water or wealth, however, turn out to be crucial for the stability of
beer or soda pop. In effect, human beings in differently Trobrianders’ relationships to their relatives.
constructed niches define needs and provide for their
satisfaction according to their own cultural logic, which
is reducible to neither biology nor psychology nor eco- affluence The condition of having more than enough of whatever is
logical pressure. In every case, the human need for food required to satisfy consumption needs.
through whom yams are passed from her own kin to her
husband and through whom women’s wealth is passed
from her husband to her own kin.
Transactions involving women’s wealth occur when
someone in a woman’s kinship group dies. Surviving
relatives must “buy back,” metaphorically speaking, all
the yams or other goods that the deceased person gave
to others during his or her lifetime. Each payment marks
a social link between the deceased and the recipient, and
the size of the payment marks the importance of their
relationship. All the payments must be made in wom-
en’s wealth.
The dead person’s status, as well as the status of
her or his family, depends on the size and number of
the payments made; and the people who must be paid
can number into the hundreds. Women make women’s
wealth themselves and exchange store goods to obtain it
from other women, but when someone in their matrilin-
eage dies, they collect it from their husbands. Indeed, a
woman’s value is measured by the amount of women’s
wealth her husband provides. Furthermore, “if a man
does not work hard enough for his wife in accumulat-
ing wealth for her, then her brother will not increase his
labor in the yam garden. . . . The production in yams
and women’s wealth is always being evaluated and cal-
culated in terms of effort and energy expended on both
sides of production. The value of a husband is read by a
FIGURE 11.8 In the Trobriand Islands, women’s wealth,
made from banana leaves, is displayed during a funeral ritual woman’s kin as the value of his productive support in se-
called the sagali, which serves to reaffirm the status of the curing women’s wealth for his wife” (Weiner 1980, 282).
women’s kinship group. Here a woman prepares the leaves with Weiner argues that women’s wealth upholds the
a design.
kinship arrangements of Trobriand society. It balances
out exchange relationships between lineages linked by
Banana leaves might be said to have a “practical” use marriage, reinforces the pivotal role of women and ma-
because women make skirts out of them. These skirts are triliny, and publicly proclaims, during every funeral, the
highly valued, but the transactions involving women’s social relationships that make up the fabric of Trobri-
wealth more often involve the bundles of leaves them- and society. The system has been stable for generations,
selves. Why bother to exchange great amounts of money but Weiner suggests that it could collapse if cash ever
or other goods to obtain bundles of banana leaves? This became widely substitutable for yams. Under such con-
would seem to be a classic example of irrational conditions, men might buy food and other items on the
sumption. Yet, “as an economic, political, and social market. If they no longer depended on yams from their
force, women’s wealth exists as the representation of the wives’ kin, they might refuse to supply their wives’ kin
most fundamental relationships in the social system” with women’s wealth. This had not yet happened at the
(Weiner 1980, 289). time of Weiner’s research, but she saw it as a possible
Trobrianders are matrilineal (i.e., they trace descent future development.
through women; see Chapter 14), and men traditionally
prepare yam gardens for their sisters. After the harvest,
yams from these gardens are distributed by a woman’s
How Is Consumption Being
brother to her husband. Weiner’s research suggests that Studied Today?
what Malinowski took to be the redistribution of yams, The foregoing examples focus attention on distinc-
from a wife’s kin to her husband, could be better un- tive consumption practices in different societies and
derstood as a reciprocal exchange of yams for women’s demonstrate that the Western market is not the mea-
wealth. The parties central to this exchange are a woman, sure of all things. These studies also encourage respect
her brother, and her husband. The woman is the person for alternative consumption practices that, in different
IN THEIR OWN WORDS
Fake Masks and Faux Modernity
Christopher Steiner addresses the perplexing Seiko,” he asked, “or is it a copy?” As the tourist examined
situation all of us face in the contemporary the mask—turning it over and over again looking for the
multicultural world: given mass reproduction of worn and weathered effects of time—the trader scruti-
commodities made possible by industrial nized the watch, passing it to other traders to get their
capitalism, how can anybody distinguish opinion on its authenticity.
Although, on one level, the dialogue between tourist
“authentic” material culture from “fake” copies?
and trader may seem a bit absurd, it points to a deeper
The encounter he describes took place in Ivory
problem in modern transnational commerce: an anxiety
Coast, western Africa.
over authenticity and a crisis of misrepresentation. While
the shelves in one section of the Plateau market place are
lined with replicas of so-called “traditional” artistic forms,
In the Plateau market place, I once witnessed the fol-
the shelves in another part of the market place—just on
lowing exchange between an African art trader and a
the other side of the street—are stocked with imper-
young European tourist. The tourist wanted to buy a
fect imitations of modernity: counterfeit Levi jeans, fake
Dan face mask which he had selected from the trader’s
Christian Dior belts, and pirated recordings of Michael
wooden trunk in the back of the market place. He had
Jackson and Madonna. Just as the Western buyer looks to
little money, he said, and was trying to barter for the
Africa for authentic symbols of a “primitive” lifestyle, the
mask by exchanging his Seiko wrist watch. In his dialogue
African buyer looks to the West for authentic symbols of
with the trader, he often expressed his concern about
a modern lifestyle. In both of their searches for the “gen-
whether or not the mask was “real.” Several times during
uine” in each other’s culture, the African trader and the
the bargaining, for example, the buyer asked the seller,
Western tourist often find only mere approximations of
“Is it really old?” and “Has it been worn?” While the tour-
“the real thing”—tropes of authenticity which stand for
ist questioned the trader about the authenticity of the
the riches of an imagined reality.
mask, the trader, in turn, questioned the tourist about
the authenticity of his watch. “Is this the real kind of Source: Steiner 1994, 128–29.
times and places, have worked as well as or better than commodities for local purposes, to defend or to enrich
capitalist markets to define needs and provide goods local culture, rather than to replace it (e.g., the increasing
to satisfy those needs. But many anthropologists also popularity of sushi in the United States).
draw attention to the way in which the imposition of Daniel Miller has therefore urged anthropologists to
Western colonialism has regularly undermined such al- recognize that these new circumstances require that they
ternatives, attempting to replace them with new needs move beyond a narrow focus on the destructive potential
and goods defined by the capitalist market. This helps of mass-produced commodities to a broader recognition
explain why, as Daniel Miller (1995) summarizes, of the role commodities play in a globalizing world. But
“much of the early literature on consumption is replete this shift does not mean that concern about the nega-
with moral purpose” (144–45), emphasizing the ways tive consequences of capitalist practices disappears. In a
in which vulnerable groups have resisted commodities global world in which everyone everywhere increasingly
or have developed ritual means of “taming” them, based relies on commodities provided by a capitalist market,
on an awareness at some level of the capacity of those Miller (1995) believes that critical attention must be re-
commodities to destroy. At the beginning of the twenty- focused on “inequalities of access and the deleterious
first century, however, the consumption of market com- impact of contemporary economic institutions on much
modities occurs everywhere in the world. Moreover, not of the world’s population” (143).
only are Western commodities sometimes embraced by
those we might have expected to reject them (e.g., video Coca-Cola in Trinidad The change of focus promoted
technology by indigenous peoples of the Amazon), but in Miller’s writing about anthropological studies of con-
this embrace frequently involves making use of these sumption is nowhere better in evidence than in his own
research on the consumption of Coca-Cola in Trinidad of Trinidad’s foreign exchange earnings. Fifth, the bot-
(Miller 1998). He points out that for many observers of tler of Coca-Cola also bottled other drinks and has long
global consumption, Coca-Cola occupies the status of a competed with several other local bottling companies.
meta-symbol: “a symbol that stands for the debate about Decisions made by these companies, rather than by
the materiality of culture” (Miller 1998, 169). That is, Coca-Cola’s home office, have driven local production
Coca-Cola is often portrayed as a Western/American decisions about such matters as the introduction of new
commodity that represents the ultimately destructive flavor lines. Sixth, and perhaps most importantly, Coca-
global potential of all forms of capitalist consumption. Cola has long been incorporated into a set of local, Trin-
Extracting profits from dominated peoples by brain- idadian understandings about beverages that divides
washing them into thinking that drinking Coke will im- them into two basic categories: “red sweet drinks” and
prove their lives, the powerful controllers of capitalist “black sweet drinks”; in this framework, Coke is simply
market forces are accused of replacing cheaper, cultur- an up-market black, sweet drink, and it has tradition-
ally appropriate, locally produced, and probably more ally been consumed, like other black sweet drinks, as a
nutritious beverages with empty calories. Based on his mixer with rum, the locally produced alcoholic bever-
own fieldwork, however, Miller is able to show that this age. Finally, the Trinidadian categories of “sweet drinks”
scenario grossly misrepresents the economic and cul- do not correspond to the Coca-Cola company’s idea of
tural role that Coca-Cola plays in Trinidad, where it has “soft drinks,” a distinction that has baffled company ex-
been present since the 1930s. ecutives. For example, executives were taken by surprise
First, Coca-Cola is not a typical example of global when Trinidadians objected to attempts to reduce the
commodification because it has always spread as a fran- sweetness of Coca-Cola and other beverages since this
chise, allowing for flexible arrangements with local bot- did not correspond to the trend they were familiar with
tling plants. Second, the bottling plant that originally from the United States, where taste has shifted away from
produced Coca-Cola in Trinidad was locally owned (as heavily sugared soft drinks in recent years (Figure 11.9).
is the conglomerate that eventually bought it). Third, Beverage consumption in Trinidad is connected with
apart from the imported concentrate, the local bottler ideas of cultural identity. “Red sweet drinks” have been
was able to obtain all the other key supplies needed associated with the Trinidadian descendants of inden-
to produce the drink (e.g., sugar, c arbonation, bottles) tured laborers, originally from the Indian subcontinent,
from local, Trinidadian sources. Fourth, this bottling and “black sweet drinks,” with Trinidadian descendants
company exports soft drinks to other islands through- of enslaved Africans. But this does not mean that the
out the Caribbean, making it an important local eco- drinks are consumed exclusively by members of those
nomic force that accounts for a considerable proportion communities. On the contrary, both kinds of sweet drink
FIGURE 11.9 The soft-drink

market in Trinidad is both complex
and idiosyncratic, reflecting Trini-
dadian understandings of beverage
categories.
The Anthropology of Food and Nutrition 359
make sense as elements in a more complex image of what She found that food was an aspect of culture that many
it means to be Trinidadian: “a higher proportion of Indi- women used to express themselves when other avenues
ans drink Colas, while Kola champagne as a red drink is were blocked. Beginning in 1970, she lived and worked in
more commonly drunk by Africans. Many Indians explic- Italy for fourteen years. During this time she developed a
itly identify with Coke and its modern image,” whereas “long term relationship with a Florentine I call Leonardo,”
“In many respects the ‘Indian’ connoted by the red drink and most of the data for her book Around the Tuscan
today is in some ways the Africans’ more nostalgic image Table (Counihan 2004) comes “from fifty-six hours of
of how Indians either used to be or perhaps still should food-centered life histories tape-recorded in Italian with
be” (Miller 1998, 180). There is no simple connection Leonardo’s twenty-three living relatives in 1982–84” (2).
between the political parties that different segments of Counihan began collecting food-centered life his-
the Trinidadian population support and the owners tories from women but eventually collected them from
of different local bottling companies producing red or men as well. Because these life histories came from in-
black sweet drinks. Finally, the Trinidadians Miller knew dividuals from different generations, they reflected his-
emphatically did not associate drinking Coke with trying torical changes in the political economy of food that had
to imitate Americans. “Trinidadians do not and will not shaped the lives of her interview subjects over time. For
choose between being American and being Trinidadian. example, situating the food memories of the oldest mem-
Most reject parochial nationalism or neo- Africanized bers of her sample required reconstructing the traditional
roots that threaten to diminish their sense of rights of mezzadria sharecropping system in Tuscany. This system
access to global goods, such as computers or blue jeans. was based on large landholdings worked by peasant la-
But they will fiercely retain those localisms they wish to borers whose households were characterized by a strict
retain, not because they are hypocritical but because in- division of labor by gender: the patriarch (male head of
consistency is an appropriate response to contradiction” the family) managed food production in the fields, and
(Miller 1998, 185). Miller concludes, therefore, that it is his wife supervised food preparation for the large ex-
a serious mistake to use Coca-Cola as a meta-symbol of tended family. The mezzadria system would disappear in
the evils of commodity consumption. Miller’s conclu- the early twentieth century, but it constituted the founda-
sion is reinforced by studies of consumption that focus tion of Tuscan food practices that would follow.
on the many ways in which global commodities are in- Counihan’s interviewees ate a so-called “Mediterra-
corporated into locally defined cultural practices. nean” diet consisting of “pasta, fresh vegetables, legumes,
olive oil, bread, and a little meat or fish” (Counihan
2004, 74) (Figure 11.10). Food was scarce in the first part
of the twentieth century but more abundant after World
The Anthropology War II. “This diet, however, was already being modi-
of Food and Nutrition fied by the postmodern, ever-larger agro-food industry
that continued to grow in 2003, but which Florentines
One of the most recent areas of anthropological spe- and other Italians shaped by alternative food practices”
cialization centers on studies of food and nutrition. For (Counihan 2004, 4).
some time biological anthropologists have carried out The postwar capitalist market also drew younger
cross-cultural comparisons of nutrition and growth in Florentines into new kinds of paid occupations, which
different societies, and cultural anthropologists, such as led to modifications of the earlier gendered division
Daniel Miller, have written detailed studies of particular of labor, without eliminating it entirely. Counihan de-
local or ethnic food habits. Today, however, the anthro- scribes the struggles of Florentines of her generation, es-
pology of food and nutrition is increasingly concerned pecially women, who needed to work for wages but who
with the way the global capitalist food market works, fa- were still expected to maintain a household and a paying
voring the food security of some consumers over others. job at the same time and often could not count on assis-
At the same time, exploring links between food and cul- tance from their husbands with domestic chores, includ-
ture in a globally complex world exposes changing un- ing cooking. Counihan is especially critical about Italian
derstandings of fatness and thinness, and it reveals the child-rearing practices that allow boys to grow up with
many ways different kinds of food and cooking can be no responsibilities around the house, learning to expect
embraced by different groups in society to bolster their their sisters (and later their wives) to take care of them,
gender, sexual, racial, ethnic, class, or national identities. explaining away their incompetence at housekeeping
Carole Counihan is a pioneering anthropologist of tasks as a natural absence of talent or interest. She also
food and nutrition whose work was initially inspired by a describes men who cook on a regular basis but who often
feminist desire to give an ethnographic voice to women. do not take on the tasks of shopping for ingredients or
FIGURE 11.10 Tuscan women

making pasta in a farm kitchen.
cleaning up and who tend to dismiss cooking as easy, the context of the Italian economic miracle, grew up in
thereby diminishing the status of work that has long a world where consumption was obligatory, taken for
been central to Florentine women’s sense of self-worth. granted, and essential to full personhood—a transfor-
Food-centered life histories from Counihan’s oldest mation lamented by older people” (Counihan 2004, 5).
interviewees traced nearly a century of changing Tuscan Even as Counihan’s research documents continuities
food practices and revealed, surprisingly, older people’s in Tuscan diet and cuisine, it also demonstrates the way
nostalgia for the more constrained patterns of food deeply rooted consumption practices were upended by
consumption in their youth. “When my older subjects the Italian state under Mussolini in the 1920s and 1930s
were young before and during the second world war, and by the international cataclysm of World War II. An-
consumption was highly valued because it was scarce thropologists have long argued that economic life cannot
and precarious. Yet their children, born after the war in be considered apart from political relations in any society.
Chapter Summary
1. Contemporary cultural anthropologists are interested patterns of economic life in a society. They classify
in how cultures change, but they are suspicious of societies in terms of their modes of production. Each
evolutionary schemes that give the impression that mode of production contains within it the potential
social arrangements could not have been—or could for conflict between classes of people who receive
not be—other than the way they are. They also point differential benefits and losses from the productive
out that no society anywhere is static. The power that process.
human beings have to reproduce or to change their 4. In the past, some anthropologists tried to explain
social organization is an important focus of anthro- consumption patterns in different societies either by
pological study. Anthropological approaches can pro- arguing that people produce material goods to sat-
vide insights often overlooked by other disciplines. isfy basic human needs or by connecting consump-
2. Human economic activity is usefully divided tion patterns to specific material resources available
into three phases—production, distribution, and to people in the material settings where they lived.
consumption—and is often shaped in important Ethnographic evidence demonstrates that both these
ways by storage practices. Formal neoclassical eco- explanations are inadequate because they ignore
nomic theory developed in Europe to explain how how culture defines our needs and provides for their
capitalism works, and it emphasizes the importance satisfaction according to its own logic.
of market exchange. Economic anthropologists 5. Particular consumption preferences that may
showed that noncapitalist societies regularly relied seem irrational from the viewpoint of neoclassi-
on nonmarket modes of exchange, such as reciproc- cal economic theory may make sense when the
ity and redistribution, which still play restricted roles wider cultural practices of consumers are taken into
in societies dominated by the capitalist market. consideration. In the twenty-first century, those
3. Marxian economic anthropologists view production whom Western observers might have expected to
as more important than exchange in determining the reject Western market commodities often embrace
them, frequently making use of them to defend or food—provided by a capitalist market, some an-
enrich their local culture rather than to replace it. thropologists focus on inequalities of access and the
In a global world in which everyone everywhere negative impact of contemporary economic institu-
increasingly relies on c ommodities—including tions on most of the world’s population.
For Review
1. Explain the connection between culture and 9. Explain the significance of food storage and food
livelihood. sharing in economic activity.
2. Describe each of the three models presented by 10. What are the key elements in Marshall Sahlins’s
Wilk and Cliggett. argument about “the original affluent society”?
3. Define production, distribution, and consumption. 11. The text offers two case studies about the cul-
4. What is neoclassical economics? tural construction of human needs—the original
affluent society and banana leaves in the Trobri-
5. Describe each of the three modes of exchange.
and Islands. Explain how each of these illumi-
6. What is a mode of production? What are the three nates the cultural construction of human needs.
modes of production that Eric Wolf found useful?
12. Summarize Miller’s argument about the signifi-
7. Explain how conflict is built into the mode of cance of Coca-Cola in Trinidad.
production.
13. Discuss the connections between gender and food
8. Define consumption. Summarize each of the in Italy, as presented by Carole Counihan.
explanations offered in the text for human con-
sumption patterns.
Key Terms
affluence 355 economic means of reciprocity 343
classes 347 anthropology 338 production 347 redistribution 344
commodity gift exchanges 343 mode of relations of
exchanges 343 institutions 339 production 347 production 347
consumption 351 labor 347 modes of exchange 343 social organization 338
market exchange 345 neoclassical
economics 343
Suggested Readings
Counihan, Carole. 2004. Around the Tuscan table. New York Ensminger, Jean, ed. 2002. Theory in economic anthropology.
and London: Routledge. Food-centered life histories allow Walnut Creek, CA: AltaMira Press. An introductory volume
Counihan to re-create a century of changing food practices— that addresses the contributions that economic anthropology
and social relations—in central Italy. Counihan analyzes the can make to understanding a globalized world economy.
historically changing foodways of Tuscany to reveal changes Lee, Richard. 2002. The Dobe Ju/’hoansi, 3rd ed. Belmont,
in Tuscan (and Italian) understandings of gender and family CA: Wadsworth. This highly readable ethnography contains
relations. important discussions about foraging as a way of making a
Counihan, Carole, and Penny van Esterik (eds.). 2008. Food living and traces political and economic changes in Ju/’hoansi
and culture: A reader, 2nd ed. New York and London: life since Lee began fieldwork in Dobe in the 1960s.
Routledge. A collection of classic and recent essays on a Sahlins, Marshall. 1972. Stone Age economics. Chicago:
range of topics currently investigated by anthropologists who Aldine. A series of classic essays on economic life, written
study the anthropology of food and nutrition. from a substantivist position. Includes “The Original Afflu-
Douglas, Mary, and Baron Isherwood. 1996. The world of ent Society.”
goods: Towards an anthropology of consumption, rev. ed. Wilk, Richard, and Lisa Cliggett. 2007. Economies and cul-
New York: Routledge. A discussion of consumption, eco- tures. Boulder, CO: Westview. A current, accessible “theo-
nomic theories about consumption, and what anthropologists retical guidebook” to the conflicting views of human nature
can contribute to the study of consumption. that underlie disputes in economic anthropology.
12
How do anthropologists study
political relations?
Human societies are able to organize human interdependency successfully
only if they find ways to manage relations of power among the different
individuals and groups of which they are composed. In this chapter, we
survey approaches anthropologists take to the study of political relations in
different societies.
CHAPTER OUTLINE
How Are Culture and Politics How Does Globalization Affect
Related? the Nation-State?
How Do Anthropologists Study Migration, Trans-Border
Politics? Identities, and Long-Distance
Is Political Power Nothing More Nationalism
Than Coercion? Anthropology and Multicultural
How Do Anthropologists Study Politics in the New Europe
Resistance to Coercion? What Happens to Citizenship in
Are There Limitations to a Globalized World?
Analyzing Power in Terms of How Can Citizenship Be
Coercion and Resistance? Flexible?
What Are Domination and What Is Territorial Citizenship?
Hegemony? What Is Vernacular Statecraft?
What Are Biopower and Global Politics in the Twenty-
Governmentality? First Century
Can Governmentality Be Eluded? Chapter Summary
How Do Anthropologists Study For Review
Politics of the Nation-State? Key Terms
Nation Building in a Postcolonial Suggested Readings
World: The Example of Fiji
Protesters demonstrate against President Donald Trump's travel ban at

San Francisco City Hall in February, 2017. 363
364 CHAPTER 12: HOW DO ANTHROPOLOGISTS STUDY POLITICAL RELATIONS?
A nthropologists have long been interested in the

role of power in human societies. Why are mem-
bers of some societies able to exercise power on roughly
phases. The first phase, from 1851 to 1939, she consid-
ers the “formative” era, in which basic orientations and
some of the earliest anthropological commentaries on
equal terms, whereas other societies sharply divide the political matters were produced. The second phase, from
powerful from the powerless? In societies where access 1942 to about 1971, is the classic era in the field. It is most
to power is unequal, how can those with little power closely associated with the flourishing of British social an-
gain more? What, in fact, is power? thropology rooted in functionalist theory and produced
Human societies are able to organize human inter- well-known works by such eminent figures as E. E. Evans-
dependency successfully only if they find ways to manage Pritchard, Max Gluckman, Fredrik Barth, and Edmund
relations of power among the different individuals and Leach. This phase developed in the context of the post–
groups they comprise. Power may be understood broadly World War II British Empire through the period of decolo-
as “transformative capacity” (Giddens 1979, 88). When nization in the 1950s and 1960s. Topics of investigation
the choice affects an entire social group, scholars speak during this period were also the classic topics of political
of social power. In this chapter, you will learn about the anthropology: the classification of preindustrial political
approaches anthropologists take to the study of political systems and attempts to reconstruct their evolution; dis-
relations in different societies. Eric Wolf (1994) describes playing the characteristic features of different kinds of pre-
three different modes of social power: the first, inter- industrial political systems and demonstrating how these
personal power, involves the ability of one individual to functioned to produce political order; studying local
impose his or her will on another individual; the second, processes of political strategizing by individuals in non-
organizational power, highlights how individuals or social Western societies (see, e.g., Lewellyn 1993). Decoloniza-
units can limit the actions of other individuals in par- tion drew attention to emerging national-level politics
ticular social settings; the third, structural power, organizes in new states and the effects of “modernization” on the
social settings themselves and controls the allocation of “traditional” political structures that had formerly been
social labor. To lay bare the patterns of structural power the focus of anthropological investigation. The turbulent
requires paying attention to the large-scale and increas- politics of the 1960s and early 1970s, however, called this
ingly global division of labor among regions and social approach into question.
groups, the unequal relations between these regions and Beginning in the 1960s, political anthropologists
groups, and the way these relations are maintained or developed new ways of thinking about political issues
modified over time. The way in which clothing is manu- and new theoretical orientations to guide them, inau-
factured now—in factories in Indonesia or El Salvador, gurating in the 1970s and 1980s a third phase in which
Romania or China—for markets in Europe, the United the anthropology of politics posed broader questions
States, and Japan is an example of structural power. about power and inequality (Vincent 2002, 3). Under
People are hired to work long hours for low wages in un- conditions of globalization, anthropologists interested
pleasant conditions to make clothing that they cannot in studying power have joined forces with scholars in
afford to buy, even if it were available for sale in the com- other disciplines who share their concerns and have
munities where they live (Figure 12.1). adopted ideas from influential political thinkers such as
Antonio Gramsci and Michel Foucault to help them ex-
plain how power shapes the lives of those among whom
How Are Culture they carry out ethnographic research. The cross-cultural
study of political institutions reveals the paradox of the
and Politics Related? human condition. On the one hand, open cultural cre-
ativity allows humans to imagine worlds of pure pos-
The study of social power in human society is the domain
sibility; on the other hand, all humans live in material
of political anthropology. In a recent overview, Joan
circumstances that make many of those possibilities pro-
Vincent argues that political anthropology continues to
foundly unrealistic. We can imagine many different ways
be vital because it involves a complex interplay among
to organize ourselves into groups, but, as Marx pointed
ethnographic fieldwork, political theory, and critical re-
out long ago, the past weighs like a nightmare on the
flection on political theory (Vincent 2002, 1). Vincent
brain of the living—and the opportunity to remake
divides the history of political anthropology into three
social organization is ordinarily quite limited.
Human beings actively work to reshape the envi-
ronments in which they live to suit themselves. Because
power Transformative capacity; the ability to transform a given situation. the resources available in any environment can be used
political anthropology The study of social power in human society. to sustain more than one way of life, however, human
How Are Culture and Politics Related? 365
Florence
Tiber R.
Adriatic
Sea
Rome
Rione
Monti I TA LY
Naples
Tyrrhenian
Sea
0 200 400
Miles
Rione
Monti PACIFIC OCEAN
FIJI
Labasa Rabi
Vanua Kioa
Yasawa Levu Savusavu Taveuni

ier
Naviti Barreef
R Navaga Koro Vanua
Ba Balavu
Waya Ovalau
Lautoka Nairai
Nadi Viti Levu Gau
Sigatoka Suva Lakeba
Malolo
Bega Moce
Vatulele Moala
Ono
70 mi Totoya
Matuku
Kadavu
"Sedaka"
Village
Gulf of Thailand
THAILAND
0 100 200 Fiji
Andaman
Sea Miles
Alor Setar Kota Baharu
Penang "Sedaka" Village

S tr
Kuala Lumpur
ait
of
M
ala MALAYSIA
cc
a
Su
Kepulauan
m
at
Anambas
ra
Singapore
INDONESIA
FIGURE 12.1 Location of societies whose EthnoProfiles appear in Chapter 12.
beings must choose which aspects of the material world Chapter 7, that population growth is a constant aspect
to depend on. This is why, inevitably, questions about of the human condition that determines forms of social
human economic activity are intimately intertwined organization. Marshall Sahlins (1976, 13) pointed out,
with questions about the distribution of power in so- however, that population pressure determines nothing
ciety. Some archaeologists have suggested, as we saw in more than the number of people that can be supported
when the environment is used in a particular way. Mem- ancestors first realized that sticks and stones could be
bers of a society can respond to that pressure in any of used as weapons not only against nonhuman predators
various ways: they can try to get along on less, intensify but also especially against human enemies. In this view,
food production by inventing new technology, reduce human history is a chronicle of the production of better
their numbers by inventing new social practices (in- and better weapons. The civilizations we are so proud of
fanticide or other forms of birth control), or migrate have been born and sustained in violence. But this is not
elsewhere. Indeed, the manner in which a group might the only way to understand human agency, as we will see.
choose to implement any of these options is equally un-
determined by population pressure. Which members of
Is Political Power Nothing More Than
the group will have to do with less? Which members will
Coercion?
control technological innovation? Who will be expected
to migrate? And will the ultimate decision be imposed Early anthropologists such as Lewis Henry Morgan
by force or voluntarily adopted? showed that kinship institutions could organize orderly
The answers offered to these questions by members social life in societies without states, and his observa-
of any particular society describe the niche they have tions were confirmed by later political anthropologists,
constructed for themselves. By building social and po- such as E. E. Evans-Pritchard, based on his work among
litical alliances and mobilizing technology and material the Azande. Evans-Pritchard’s description of social life
resources to make a living, ways of life are scaffolded and among the Azande ([1937] 1976) in no way resembled
sustained over time. a war of all against all, although the Azande lived in a
stateless society and held a complex set of beliefs about
witchcraft, oracles, and magic (see Ethno Profile 10.6:
How Do Anthropologists Azande). Evans-Pritchard observed that Azande people

discussed witchcraft openly, and if they believed they
Study Politics? were bewitched, they were likely to be angry rather than
afraid. This kind of attitude made sense because most
In the beginning, political anthropologists were strongly Azande subscribed to a worldview in which witchcraft
influenced by earlier Western thinkers who had assumed had a meaningful place. In addition, they did not feel
that the state was the prototype of “civilized” social power. helpless because their society also supplied them with
For them, the absence of a state could mean only anarchy, practical remedies, like vengeance magic, that they could
disorderly struggles for power among individuals—what use to defend themselves if they thought they had been
the English philosopher Thomas Hobbes (1588–1679) bewitched. Here, we see an example of what Wolf called
called the “war of all against all.” This view assumes that organizational power that does not depend on state coer-
power is best understood as physical force, or coercion. cion. Instead, it depends on persuasion. Scaffolded by par-
A fistfight might be seen as a typical, “natural” manifes- ticular social institutions and practices, the belief system
tation of attempts by individuals to exercise physical co- continues to appear natural and rational to members of
ercion. Although states that monopolize the use of force the society; this is why ordinary, rational people support it.
often perpetrated injustice or exploitation as a side effect,
Hobbes and others viewed this as the necessary price
How Do Anthropologists Study Resistance to
for social order. Their assumption was that cooperative
Coercion? What happens, however, if members of a
social living is not natural for human individuals because
society decide that the institutions and practices endorsed
they are born with free agency—instincts that lead them
by their leaders are coercive, rather than legitimate?
to pursue their own self-interest above everything else
What if they decided to take action to overturn such
and to challenge one another for dominance.
coercion? History is full of examples of people rising up
Discussions of power as coercion tend to see politi-
against their rulers, resisting coercion, and struggling to
cal activity as competition between individual free agents
create new social relations that would provide greater
over political control. When free agents make decisions,
freedom and justice. Indeed, stories about the founding
no larger groups, no historical obligations, no collec-
of modern nation-states like France and the United
tive beliefs can or ought to stand in their way. For some,
States often begin precisely with revolutionary accounts
cultural evolution took a giant leap forward when our
of successful resistance to oppression. The framework of
analysis in which such accounts are located is dualistic:
rulers monopolize power and those who are ruled
free agency The freedom of self-contained individuals to pursue their
own interests above everything else and to challenge one another for struggle against that monopoly in order to wrest power
dominance. away from the rulers.
In the 1960s and 1970s, many anthropologists and

others were convinced that efforts by peasants and other EthnoProfile 12.1
subordinated groups were the first wave of a new series
of large-scale uprisings that would successfully resist “Sedaka” Village
coercive oppression and remake unjust social relations
Region: Southeastern Asia
in many parts of the world. When these expectations
were not met, however, attention turned to smaller scale Nation: Malaysia
forms of resistance that demonstrated ongoing efforts Population: 300
by oppressed peoples to push back against coercion, Environment: Lush paddy land
sometimes in unlikely ways. In the mid-1980s, for ex-
Livelihood: Rice cultivation Gulf of Thailand
ample, political scientist and ethnographer James Scott THAILAND

Political organization: 0 100 200
published findings based on 2 years of ethnographic re- Village within a modern
Andaman
Miles
Sea
search among peasant rice farmers in a Malaysian village nation-state Alor Setar Kota Baharu
called “Sedaka” (a pseudonym; see EthnoProfile 12.1: For more information:

Penang "Sedaka" Village
Str
Kuala Lumpur
“Sedaka” Village). He had learned that poor Malaysian Scott, James. 1987. Weapons of
ai
t
M
al MALAYSIA
peasants were at the bottom of a social hierarchy domi- of the weak. New Haven, ac
ca
Su
m
ra Kepulauan
CT: Yale University Press.
at
nated locally by rich farmers and nationally by a power- Anambas
Singapore
INDONESIA
ful state apparatus. According to Scott, these peasants
were not kept in line by some form of state-sponsored
terrorism; rather, the context of their lives was shaped
by what he called “routine repression”: “occasional ar-
rests, warnings, diligent police work, legal restrictions, Rich and poor alike are offering “a critique of things
and an Internal Security Act that allows for indefinite as they are as well as a vision of things as they should
preventive detention and proscribes much political ac- be . . . [they] are writing a kind of social text on the sub-
tivity” (1987, 274). ject of human decency” (Scott 1987, 23). Scott (1990)
Scott quickly realized that the poor peasants of refers to such peasant-formulated critiques and vi-
“Sedaka” were not about to rise up against their op- sions as hidden transcripts: private accounts of their
pressors. But this was not because they accepted their oppression, and a lternatives to it, developed by domi-
poverty and low status as natural and proper. For one nated groups outside the public political arena. These
thing, organized overt defense of their interests was dif- hidden accounts contrast with the views that domi-
ficult because local economic, political, and kinship ties nated peoples routinely express in public contexts that
generated conflicting loyalties. For another, the peasants do not challenge the legitimacy of the dominant politi-
knew that overt political action in the context of rou- cal order. The existence of hidden transcripts shows that
tine repression would be foolhardy. Finally, they had to even though thought alone may not be able to alter the
feed their families. Their solution was to engage in what fact of material coercion, it still has the power to trans-
Scott called “everyday forms of peasant resistance”: this form the meaning of material coercion for those who
included “foot dragging, dissimulation, desertion, false experience it. Poor peasants formulating hidden tran-
compliance, pilfering, feigned ignorance, slander, arson, scripts are exercising their human reflexive awareness,
sabotage, and so forth” (1987, xvi). These actions may investing their experiences with meanings of their own
have done little to alter the peasants’ situation in the choosing.
short run; however, Scott argued, in the long run they For Scott, the contrast between the worldview of the
had the potential to be more effective than overt rebel- state and the worldview of peasants in “Sedaka” was re-
lion in undercutting state repression. vealed during the introduction of mechanized rice har-
Scott argued that “The struggle between rich and vesting. Traditionally, rice harvesting had been manual
poor in Sedaka is not merely a struggle over work, prop- labor. It regularly allowed poor peasants to earn cash and
erty rights, grain, and cash. It is also a struggle over the receive grain from their employers as a traditional form of
appropriation of symbols, a struggle over how the past
and present shall be understood and labeled, a strug-
gle to identify causes and assess blame” (1987, xvii).
According to Scott, when peasants criticize rich land- hidden transcripts Private accounts of their oppression and alternatives
owners or rich landowners find fault with peasants, the to it developed by dominated groups outside the public political arena.
These hidden accounts contrast with the views dominated peoples express
parties involved are not just venting emotion. Instead, in public political contexts that do not challenge the legitimacy of the
each side is simultaneously constructing a worldview. dominant political order.
IN THEIR OWN WORDS
Protesters Gird for Long Fight over Opening Peru’s Amazon
Latin American Indigenous people have been

organizing in recent years to protect their
lands, sometimes from agricultural invasion,
sometimes against oil exploration and drilling,
sometimes to assert land claims. These are not
always peaceful. Simon Romero reports for the
New York Times, June 12, 2009 (Andrea Zarate
contributed reporting from Lima, Peru).
Iquitos, Peru—Faced with a simmering crisis over dozens

of deaths in the quelling of indigenous protests last week,
Peru’s Congress this week suspended the decrees that Peruvian indigenous leaders Alberto Pizango (R) and
had set off the protests over plans to open large parts of Servando Puerta Pena (L) at a press conference in Lima,
Peru, in June 2009, requesting an investigation of the clashes
the Peruvian Amazon to investment. Senior officials said
in the north of the country that left an undetermined
they hoped this would calm nerves and ease the way for number of people dead.
oil drillers and loggers to pursue their projects.
But instead, indigenous groups are digging in for a
protracted fight, revealing an increasingly well-organized
movement that could be a tinderbox for President Alan Another wave of protests appears likely because in-
García. The movement appears to be fueled by a deep digenous groups are demanding that the decrees be re-
popular resistance to the government’s policies, which pealed and not just suspended. The decrees would open
focused on luring foreign investment, while parts of the large jungle areas to investment and allow companies
Peruvian Amazon have been left behind. to bypass indigenous groups to obtain permits for pe-
The broadening influence of the indigenous move- troleum exploration, logging and building hydroelectric
ment was on display Thursday in a general strike that dams. A stopgap attempt to halt earlier indigenous pro-
drew thousands of protesters here to the streets of Iqui- tests in the Amazon last August failed to prevent them
tos, the largest Peruvian city in the Amazon, and to cities from being reinitiated more forcefully in April.
and towns elsewhere in jungle areas. Protests over Mr. The authorities said that nine civilians were killed
García’s handling of the violence in the northern Bagua in the clashes that took place last Friday on a remote
Province last Friday also took place in highland regions highway in Bagua. But witnesses and relatives of miss-
like Puno, near the Bolivian border, and in Lima and Areq- ing protesters contend that the authorities are covering
uipa on the Pacific coast. up details of the episode, and that more Indians died.
“The government made the situation worse with its Twenty-four police officers were killed on the highway
condescending depiction of us as gangs of savages in the and at an oil installation.
forest,” said Wagner Musoline Acho, 24, an Awajún Indian Indigenous representatives say at least 25 civilians,
and an indigenous leader. “They think we can be tricked and perhaps more, may have been killed, and some wit-
by a maneuver like suspending a couple of decrees for nesses say that security forces dumped the bodies of
a few weeks and then reintroducing them, and they are protesters into a nearby river. At least three Indians who
wrong.” were wounded said they had been shot by police officers
The protesters’ immediate threat—to cut the supply as they waited to talk with the authorities.
of oil and natural gas to Lima, the capital—seems to have “The government is trying to clean the blood off its
subsided, with protesters partly withdrawing from their hands by hiding the truth,” said Andrés Huaynacari Etsam,
occupation of oil installations in the jungle. But as anger 21, an Awajún student here who said that five of his rela-
festers, indigenous leaders here said they could easily try tives had been killed on June 5 and that three were missing.
to shut down energy installations again to exert pressure Senior government officials repudiate such claims.
on Mr. García. “There is a game of political interests taking place in which
some are trying to exaggerate the losses of life for their jungle areas that account for nearly two-thirds of Peru’s
own gain,” said Foreign Minister José García Belaunde. territory.
He said the ultimate aim of the protesters was to pre- So far, alliances have proved elusive between Indians
vent Peru from carrying out a trade agreement with the in the Amazon and indigenous groups in highland areas,
United States, because one of the most contentious of ruling out, for now, the kind of broad indigenous protest
the decrees that were suspended on Thursday would movements that helped oust governments in neighbor-
bring Peru’s rules for investment in jungle areas into line ing Ecuador and Bolivia earlier in the decade.
with the trade agreement. In contrast to some earlier efforts to organize indig-
“But,” Mr. García Belaunde insisted, “the agreement is enous groups, the leaders of this new movement are
not in danger.” themselves indigenous, and not white or mestizo urban
Still, the government’s initial response to the violence intellectuals. They are well organized and use a web of
seems to have heightened resentment. A television com- radio stations to exchange information across the jungle.
mercial by the Interior Ministry contained graphic images After one prominent leader, Alberto Pizango, was granted
of the bodies of some police officers who were killed asylum in Nicaragua this week, others quickly emerged to
while being held hostage by protesters. The commercial articulate demands.
said that the killings were proof of the “ferocity and sav- “There has been nothing comparable in all my years
agery” of indigenous activists, but an uproar over that here in terms of the growth of political consciousness
depiction forced the government to try to withdraw the among indigenous groups,” said the Rev. Joaquín García,
commercial. 70, a priest from Spain who arrived in Iquitos 41 years
The authorities are struggling to understand a move- ago and directs the Center of Theological Studies of the
ment that is crystallizing in the Peruvian Amazon among Amazon, which focuses on indigenous issues.
more than 50 indigenous groups. They include about “At issue now,” he said, “is what they decide to do with
300,000 people, accounting for only about 1% of Peru’s the newfound bargaining power in their hands.”
population, but they live in strategically important and
resource-rich locations, which are scattered throughout Source: Romero 2009.
charitable gift (Figure 12.2). In the late 1970s, however, outside assistance of both the national government and
the introduction of combine harvesters eliminated the the business groups that rented the machines to them at
rich farmers’ need for hired labor, a loss that dealt poor harvest time. Poor peasants were aware of this, yet they
families a severe economic blow. When the rich and poor directed their critique at the local farmers and not at the
talked about the harvesters, each side offered a different government or outside business organizations. After all,
account of their effect on economic life in the village. the rich farmers “are a part of the community and there-
Scott tells us that both sides agreed that using the fore ought not to be indifferent to the consequences of
machines hurt the poor and helped the rich. When each their acts for their neighbors” (1987, 161). The stingi-
side was asked whether the benefits of the machines out- ness of the rich did not just bring economic loss; it also
weighed their costs, however, consensus evaporated. The attacked the social identity of the poor, who vigorously
poor offered practical reasons against the use of combine resisted being turned into nonpersons. The poor insisted
harvesters: they claimed that the heavy machines were on being accorded the “minimal cultural decencies in
inefficient and that their operation destroyed rice pad- this small community” (Scott 1987, xvii). The only
dies. They also offered moral reasons: they accused the weapon they controlled in this struggle was their abil-
rich of being “stingy,” of ignoring the traditional obliga- ity, by word and deed, to undercut the prestige and the
tion of rich people to help the poor by providing them reputation of the rich. This strategy worked in “Sedaka”
with work and charity. The rich denied both the practical because rich local famers were not ready to abandon
and the moral objections of the poor. They insisted that the traditional morality that had regulated relations be-
using harvesters increased their yield. They accused the tween rich and poor; they still cared what other villagers
poor people of bad faith. They claimed that the poor suf- thought of them. A shrewd campaign of character as-
fered because they were bad farmers and lazy, and they sassination might have caused at least some of the rich
attributed their own success to hard work and prudent to hesitate before ignoring their traditional obligations
farm managements. to the poor, which would have helped the poor defend
Rich farmers, on the other hand, would never have their claims to citizenship in the local community. Scott
been able to begin using combine harvesters without the was convinced that if the wider political arena changed
FIGURE 12.2 Until recently, rice harvesting in rural Malaysia was manual labor that regularly allowed poor peasants to earn cash
and receive grain from their employers as a traditional form of charitable gift.
in the future, such that routine repression disappeared, which could lead anthropologists to give insufficient
many of the poor peasants he knew might well engage in attention to the complexity and variety of ways in which
open active rebellion. power operates (Abu-Lughod 2016 [1990], 37).
Abu-Lughod was among those who drew atten-
Are There Limitations to Analyzing Power in tion to political theorists like Pierre Bourdieu, Antonio
Terms of Domination and Resistance? Scott’s Gramsci, and Michel Foucault, whose work offered ways
studies of domination and the arts of resistance have for political anthropologists to rethink the ways they con-
become classics in anthropology for a reason: they move ceptualized power. Their writing, she argued, emphasizes
beyond crude understandings of political coercion as “the importance of ideological practice in power and re-
nothing but the exercise of brute force; they address sistance, and works to undermine distinctions between
the role of meaning and morality in political struggles; symbolic and instrumental, behavioral and ideological,
and they reveal nuanced interpretations that members and cultural, social and political processes” (2016 [1990]:
of oppressed groups are able to offer concerning their 37). As we saw, Scott’s analysis of the peasants’ struggle
situation in the world. At the same time, some political against local landowners in Sedaka village undermined
anthropologists who admire studies of this kind precisely these kinds of distinctions: both sides offered
nevertheless have suggested that continuing to describe both practical and moral reasons to defend themselves.
political struggles in such dualistic terms is limiting in its Indeed, Scott himself had been influenced by the work
own way. Anthropologist Lila Abu-Lughod, for example, of Antonio Gramsci who, among other things, offered
was concerned that “despite the considerable theoretical a fresh view of how cultural understandings could play
sophistication of many studies of resistance . . . they do a role, not only in consolidating power from above, but
not explore as fully as they might the implications of also in resisting domination from below. Gramsci’s per-
the forms of resistance that they locate. There is perhaps spective can be approached by considering two of his key
a tendency to romanticize resistance,” she concluded, concepts: domination and hegemony.
What Are Domination and Hegemony?

Earlier in the chapter, we noted that anthropologists and
others have offered different answers to the question of
why people submit to institutionalized power. On one
hand, they may have been coerced and fear punishment
if they refuse to submit. On the other hand, they may
submit because they believe that the power structures in
their society are legitimate, given their understandings
about the way the world works. What could lead people
to accept coercion by others as legitimate (Figure 12.3)?
A worldview that justifies the social arrangements under
which people live is sometimes called an ideology.
Karl Marx argued that rulers consolidate their power by
successfully persuading their subjects to accept an ide-
ology that portrays domination by the ruling class as le-
gitimate; dominated groups who accept the ruling class
ideology were said to suffer from false consciousness. The
concept of false consciousness is problematic, however,
since it views people as passive beings incapable of with-
standing ideological indoctrination. As we discussed in
Chapter 8, this is not a plausible view of human nature.
More promising is the approach taken by Antonio
Gramsci (1981). Writing in the 1930s, Gramsci pointed
out that coercive rule—what he called domination—is
expensive and unstable. Rulers do better if they can per-
suade the dominated to accept their rule as legitimate,
both by providing some genuine material benefits to
their subjects and by using schools and other cultural in- FIGURE 12.3 Prior to colonial conquest by outsiders, Muslim
stitutions to disseminate an ideology justifying their rule. emirs from northern Cameroon had coercive power.
If they achieve all this—while also ensuring that none of
these concessions seriously undermines their privileged
of their situation, demonstrating that they are not suf-
position—they have established what Gramsci called
fering from false consciousness. Thus, if peasants re-
hegemony. Hegemony is never absolute but always vul-
frain from engaging in public political critique, this is
nerable to challenges: struggles may develop between
not because they have been brainwashed, but because
rulers trying to justify their domination and subordinate
they are choosing to remain silent in the face of rou-
groups who exercise agency by challenging “official”
tine repression. Many anthropologists find the concept
ideologies and practices that devalue or exclude them.
of hegemony attractive because it draws attention to the
Hegemony may be threatened if subordinate groups
central role of cultural beliefs and symbols in struggles
maintain or develop alternative, or counterhegemonic,
to consolidate social organization and political control.
cultural practices. Successful hegemony, by contrast,
Although originally developed to analyze how states
involves linking the understandings of dominant and
exercise power, anthropologists have found Gramsci’s
subordinate groups into what appears to be mutual ac-
concepts helpful in studying the exercise of power in
commodation. Gramsci’s contrast between domination
societies with and without traditional state institutions.
(rule by coercive force) and hegemony (rule by persua-
In attempting to extend Gramsci’s insights into nonstate
sion) was central to his own analysis of the exercise of
power (Crehan 2002, 153).
James Scott found the concepts of hegemony (and
counterhegemony) to be helpful in his effort to explain ideology A worldview that justifies the social arrangements under which
people live.
key features of the struggle between peasants and land-
domination Coercive rule.
owners in “Sedaka” village. The hidden transcripts to
hegemony The persuasion of subordinates to accept the ideology of the
which he refers are the raw materials out of which peas- dominant group by mutual accommodations that nevertheless preserve the
ants are able to fashion a counterhegemonic critique rulers’ privileged position.
settings, anthropologists are able to avoid some of the seemed fairly insignificant at the time it occurred, but
implausible accounts of power that depend on fear of over time as these changes accumulated, they formed
punishment or false consciousness. In place of such ar- a new kind of silent, taken-for-granted background for
guments, attention can be drawn to the verbal dexterity everyday Tswana life. Here we see how power enters
and personal charisma of leaders with limited coercive culture in the nonagentive mode. And yet the result of
force at their disposal who can nonetheless persuade these changes was not the total absorption of the Tswana
others to follow them by skillfully aligning shared mean- within a transplanted Western colonial culture. On the
ings, values, and goals with a particular interpretation of contrary, the encounter between the Tswana and Europe-
events or proposed course of action. ans also produced new cultural forms, creating a hybrid
Consider, for example, the Azande belief that people heritage that eventually contributed to the overthrow of
use witchcraft only against those they envy. The psycho- apartheid in South Africa. Thus, the Comaroffs empha-
logical insight embodied in this belief makes it highly size what they see as one of Gramsci’s key insights: he-
plausible to people who experience daily friction with gemony may be powerful but it is never absolute, and
their neighbors. At the same time, however, this belief there is always the potential for hegemony to be over-
makes it impossible to accuse Azande chiefs of using turned. Hegemonic cultural forms can be unmade, in
witchcraft against commoners—because, as the Azande part, by counterhegemonic ideologies crafted by domi-
themselves told Evans-Pritchard, why would chiefs envy nated peoples who draw on traditional cultural forms
their subjects? In this way, hegemonic ideology deflects that have been sidelined as well as by the incorporation
challenges that might be made against those in power. of new cultural forms that have been introduced from
In his own writings, Gramsci did not fully develop the outside ( Comaroff and Comaroff 1991, 22–25).
the concept of hegemony, which has led to disagreement
about what exactly he meant by this concept. Anthropol-
ogists Jean and John Comaroff, however, have chosen to What Are Biopower and
take this as an opportunity to combine his insights about Governmentality?
ideology and hegemony with their own reflections on The Comaroffs, as we have seen, shared Abu-Lughod’s
the connection between culture and power. From their concern that anthropologists develop fresh approaches to
perspective, power has two forms: (1) an agentive mode, power that did not confine it narrowly to dualistic con-
in which human beings are able to wield power in spe- tests within political institutions. They also took note
cific historical situations, and (2) a nonagentive mode, in of the pivotal work of French political theorist Michel
which power is hidden in the forms of everyday life, and Foucault for inspiration, observing that “ in the wake of
not easily challenged, because these forms are assumed Foucault, power has long left the formal bounds of ‘politi-
to come from the gods or the ancestors or some other cal’ institutions and diffused and proliferated into hitherto
nonhuman source and may not be questioned. Yet, as uncharted terrains” (1991, 17). One of F oucault’s key con-
they point out, “the silent power of the sign, the unspo- clusions is that power is productive: that is, power may con-
ken authority of habit, may be as effective as the most strain what we do, but its application always makes new
violent coercion in shaping, directing, even dominating things possible as well (e.g., Foucault 1980). One simple
social thought and action” (1991, 22). example is the way a student of the violin must prac-
The Comaroffs’ research shows how, from the be- tice in a disciplined, focused, repetitive—and therefore
ginning of the nineteenth century, the Tswana experi- constraining—manner in order to become competent
enced a series of profound changes as they encountered at making music with the violin. At the same time, sub-
European missionaries and merchants and settlers. Over jecting oneself to such practice eventually does build the
this period, the Tswana were in some cases targets of skills that allow the student to play—perhaps in a virtuoso
explicit ideological power that entered culture in the manner—complex compositions for this instrument.
agentive mode: for example, they were targets for conver- This example points to another influential concept
sion to Christian religious practices and for participation developed by Foucault: discipline. From one perspective,
in the growing market economy of South Africa. In other the virtuoso violinist appears to possess the greatest free-
cases, however, they adopted new cultural forms seem- dom in playing music on her instrument; thanks to her
ingly without much notice. Changes in the clothing they training and practice, virtually no score will be too chal-
wore, how they built their homes, how they farmed, how lenging for her to perform. From another perspective,
they learned to measure the time of day using clocks, however, her freedom was produced by the “unfreedom”
how they learned to work for Europeans for wages and of practice, a stern form of discipline that restricted her
produce crops for the market, the consequences of behavior in numerous ways over many years. Foucault
learning to read and write—each of these might have thus argued that the “freedom” of the disciplined subject
is not absolute; and that many of the freedoms people in in the suffering and death of citizens and in other losses.
modern societies believe they enjoy are actually the con- They would then come up with a plan of intervention—
sequence of disciplines to which they have been subject perhaps a form of insurance—designed to reduce the
in a variety of areas of social life, such as the military, impact of famine on citizens to protect economic activ-
in schools, in hospitals, and in prisons (Foucault 1977). ity within the state and thereby preserve the stability of
Foucault also examined the ways that European the state and its institutions. Importantly, for Foucault,
thinkers from the late Middle Ages onward had discussed these interventions need to be understood not as directly
what was necessary to sustain a peaceful, prosperous coercive, but rather as persuasive, even seductive, actions
state. Together with colleagues, he identified the emer- upon others’ actions, sometimes described as the conduct
gence of a new form of power in the nineteenth century, of conduct (Foucault 1994).
which he called biopower. Biopower is preoccupied Governmentality is at work in the contemporary
with the management of bodies, both the bodies of citi- world, and modern institutions count and measure their
zens and the social body itself (Hacking 1991, 183). As members in a variety of ways (Figure 12.4). Although,
Colin Gordon summarizes, biopower refers to “forms of as Ian Hacking (1991, 183) insists, not all bureaucratic
power exercised over persons specifically insofar as they applications of such statistical knowledge are evil, and
are thought of as living beings; a politics concerned with the fact remains that providing the government (or any
subjects as members of a population, in which issues of
individual sexual and reproductive conduct interconnect
with issues of international policy and power (1991, 5).
Before the 1600s, according to Foucault, European
states were ruled according to different political under-
standings. At that time, politics was focused on making
sure that an absolute ruler maintained control of the
state. Machiavelli’s famous guide The Prince is the best
known of a series of handbooks explaining what such an
absolute ruler needed to do in order to maintain himself
in power. But by the seventeenth century, this approach
to state rule was proving increasingly inadequate. Ma-
chiavelli’s critics began to speak instead about governing
a state, likening such government to the practices that
preserved and perpetuated other social institutions.
The example of household management was a pre-
ferred model of government. But running a state as if it
were a household meant that rulers would need more
information about the people, goods, and wealth that
needed to be managed. How many citizens were there?
What kinds of goods did they produce and in what
quantities? How healthy were they? What could a state
do to manage the consequences of misfortunes such as
famines, epidemics, and death? In the 1700s, state bu-
reaucrats began to count and measure people and things
subject to state control, thereby inventing the discipline
of statistics.
In this way, according to Foucault, European
states began to govern in terms of biopolitics, using sta-
tistics to inform their political policies. Eventually, a FIGURE 12.4 To govern, a state must know who it is
governing. Censuses are one way in which the information
new art appropriate to biopolitical management of the a state believes it needs can be collected.
state emerged, which Foucault called governmental-
ity. G
overnmentality uses statistics to govern in a way
that promotes the welfare of populations within a state.
biopower Forms of power preoccupied with bodies, both the bodies of
To exercise governmentality, for example, state bureau- citizens and the social body of the state itself.
crats might use statistics to determine that a famine was governmentality The art of governing appropriately to promote the
likely and to calculate how much it might cost the state welfare of populations within a state.
IN THEIR OWN WORDS
Reforming the Crow Constitution
Anthropologist Kelly Branam has worked for position of American Indian nations to the U.S. govern-
many years among the Apsáalooke, or Crow, ment, it is important to contemplate the meaning of their
Indian nation in central Montana, and she was constitutions. American Indian tribal constitutions exist
able to witness complex negotiations as they not only to outline the relationship tribal governments
struggled in 2001 to reform their constitution. have to their people, but to outline the relationship the
tribal government has to the federal government.
In this passage, Branam discusses some of the
In today’s global society, having a written form of a
reasons why the constitutional process has been
polity’s rules outlining the ways in which those rules are
so complex and difficult for Crow people.
made, enforced, and maintained is quintessential for
national survival. Despite and often because of Indian
nations’ “domestic dependent nation” (Cherokee Nation
With the turmoil facing the Apsáalooke, or Crow, Indian
v. Georgia 1831) status within the U.S. federal frame-
nation in central Montana at the turn of the twenty-first
work, more and more Indian nations are reformulating
century, including the distrust of their political leaders,
their tribal governing structures. “If tribal communities
a decade of increased chairman d ecision-making power
want to assert greater control over their economic, po-
under “Resolution 90-35,” and the lack of large-scale
litical, and cultural lives, they will need more effective
resource development, it is not surprising that the dis-
forms of government. For many communities there is a
course surrounding the 2000 tribal elections included
growing sense of crisis and movement to remake tribal
constitutional reform. With the promise of “returning the
constitutions” (Champagne 2006, 11). Many Indian na-
voice to the tribal council,” a new chairman was elected in
tions, including the Apsáalooke, have found constitu-
2000. In 2001, under this new leadership, the Crow Indian
tions crucial to the maintenance and expansion of their
nation accepted a new constitution and a representative
sovereignty.
democracy. For over 50 years, the Crow Indian nation had
Analysis of the Crow constitution-making processes
been governed under the 1948 Constitution, which main-
reveals the ways in which the Crow Indian nation has re-
tained a pure democracy system with executive offices
sisted federal Indian policies. They have fought to main-
of chairman, vice-chairman, secretary, and vice secre-
tain their sovereignty and control their political identity.
tary. Why was this system no longer working for the Crow
Through this process, “traditional” notions of governance
people? Why was a new constitution needed?
were redefined, district identity became more important,
For many legal theorists, the importance of constitu-
kinship alliances remained crucial to the political process,
tions lies in the fact that constitutions outline the rela-
and the Crow Indian nation took new steps in defining
tionship the government has to its people. Constitutions
and asserting their sovereignty in relation to the U.S. gov-
restrict governmental power and often ensure citizens’
ernment. The ways in which Crows have used constitu-
rights. “The theoretical justification for the creation of an
tions to resist federal assimilationist polices may provide
independent American nation included, at its center, an
an example for other Indian nations who are also trying
assumption that there existed some proper relationship
to exist under the federal sphere yet maintain traditional
between government and the subjects of government”
notions of governance.
(Kay 1998, 17). No doubt this is true in other constitutional
instances as well. However, when it comes to the unique Source: Branam Forthcoming.
bureaucratic institution) with detailed vital statistics can sometimes within) state borders, and otherwise manage
be threatening, especially in cases where people are con- what their citizens do. In the twenty-first century, anthro-
cerned that the state does not have their best interests at pologists interested in politics are well aware that local
heart. After all, states want to tax citizens, vaccinate and affairs cannot be fully understood apart from the larger
educate their children, restrict their activities to those that political entities within which they are found, and these
benefit the state, control their movements beyond (and often turn out to be one or another nation-state.
Anthropology and Advertising

Timothy de Waal Malefyt and Robert J. Morais are anthro- to work with the client, but he felt strongly that IDIs would
pologists who work in advertising. Ethnography, and an- be a superior research methodology for the client’s needs.
thropology more generally, has been recently taken up as The research director and a c olleague from the marketing
consumer research methods by advertising agencies, and department listened attentively, and a few months later
there are a number of anthropologists who make a living Morais’s firm received the RFP. Relieved that his company
working either for advertising agencies or as researchers. was being considered despite his methodological challenge,
Working in advertising raises a set of ethical issues that are, Morais proposed a series of ninety-minute IDIs in a focus
perhaps, different from the issues raised by academic an- room facility. He proffered research techniques drawn from
thropology. For more on the ethical issues, we present an his company’s skills as PhD-level psychologists and anthro-
In Their Own Words feature in Chapter 14. Here, Malefyt pologists. To underscore the difference in his design from
and Morais present an example of what anthropology offers the primarily psychologically oriented approaches that he
advertising: thought the competition would propose, Morais highlighted
A pharmaceutical corporation was planning to solicit several techniques and topics that his firm borrowed from
proposals from marketing research companies for a study anthropology:
on diabetics. The research would enable them to better un-
• Mining patients’ fundamental definitions of diabetes,
derstand four psychologically and behaviorally defined pa-
wellness, and sickness as if the marketing and m
arketing
tient segments they were evaluating as targets for a new
research team had no knowledge of these concepts
prescription diabetes medication. The company sought a
study that would probe deeply into diabetes sufferers’ at- • Identifying patients’ rituals regarding the management
titudes, emotions, and behavior and deliver insights that and treatment of diabetes
would help it determine which target segment offered the
• Discovering patient transformational experiences, ex-
highest market potential and inform a strategy for direct-to-
emplified by different attitudinal and emotional states,
consumer advertising. Several months before the request
throughout their diabetes life cycle
for a proposal (RFP) was to be issued to research suppliers,
the marketing research director responsible for the project • Exploring patients‘ feelings, if any, about belonging
invited [Robert] Morais to visit the corporation’s headquar- to a diabetics “tribe” and what this means for their at-
ters to give a presentation on ethnography, which was the titudes, emotions, and behavior
methodology that she believed would be best to achieve
• Researching myths and beliefs about diabetes treatments
her team’s goals. About halfway through the presentation,
the research director stopped Morais and said she wanted • Exploring beliefs in contrast to empirical thinking
to brief him on what she called the “Portrait” study so that regarding diabetes medications
he could begin thinking about how his firm would design
the research. As she described the goals of the project in • Learning how interactions with health care profession-
detail, it became clear to Morais that in-depth one-on-one als impact self-management of diabetes
interviews (IDIs) in a focus group research facility, rather than Morais’s company won the assignment. When he asked
ethnographic research, would be a more appropriate meth- the client research manager why she and her colleagues
odology to reach her objectives. Ethnography, he counseled chose his firm, she said, “We really liked the anthropology.”
the research director, was not needed for the client’s learning A senior manager from the advertising agency who was also
needs and it would be an inefficient use of research funds. involved in the RFP review process also mentioned anthro-
Morais suggested that after the patient segments represent- pology as the agency’s reason for endorsing Morais’s firm for
ing the most sales potential were identified, ethnography the project. Ethnography, often conflated with anthropology
would be an excellent way to learn about their everyday lives in marketing research, was not a factor in the decision.
as diabetics. He made this recommendation with trepida-
tion, hoping that his company would not lose an opportunity Source: Malefyt and Morais 2012, 106–07.
375
How Do Anthropologists have varying origins and backgrounds and lack regu-
lar face-to-face contact with one another. However, a
Study Politics of the shared identity could take shape over time as these het-
Nation-State? erogeneous residents came to participate in common,
territory-wide, cultural practices, such as reading the

State societies are not new social forms. Nation-states, same newspapers, traveling on shared infrastructure,
however, are a far more recent invention. Prior to the or transacting business in the same territory-wide eco-
French Revolution, European states were ruled by kings nomic or bureaucratic institutions. Anderson was es-
and emperors whose access to the throne was officially pecially interested in how residents of a territorial unit
deemed to have been ordained by God. After the French such as a European colony, by virtue of their shared ex-
Revolution in 1789, which thoroughly discredited the periences, might come to imagine a shared territorial
divine right of kings, rulers needed to find a new basis identity which could become the foundation of national
on which to found legitimate state authority. The solu- identity once the colony gained political independence.
tion eventually adopted was rooted in political authority However, the willingness or ability for all residents of a
in nations: groups of people believed to share the same nation-state to adopt national identity is far from guar-
history, culture, language, and even the same physical anteed. Groups with other forms of identity that con-
substance. Nations were associated with territories, as tinue to persist within the boundaries of the nation-state
were states, and a nation-state came to be viewed as an are often viewed as obstacles to nationalism. If such
ideal political unit in which national identity and politi- groups successfully resist assimilation into the nation-
cal territory coincided. ality that the state is supposed to represent, their very
The building of the first nation-states is closely as- existence calls into question the legitimacy of the state.
sociated with the rise and spread of capitalism and its Indeed, if their numbers are sufficient, they might well
related cultural institutions during the nineteenth cen- claim that they are a separate nation, entitled to a state
tury. Following the demise of European colonial em- of their own.
pires and the end of the Cold War, the final decades To head off this possibility, nationalist ideologies
of the twentieth century witnessed a scramble in which typically include some cultural features of subordinate
former colonies or newly independent states strug- cultural groups. Thus, although nationalist traditions
gled to turn themselves into nation-states capable of are invented, they are not created out of thin air. That
competing successfully in what anthropologists Liisa is, those who control the nation-state will try to define
Malkki (1992) has called a “transnational culture of nationality in ways that “identify and ensure loyalty
nationalism.” among citizens . . . the goal is to create criteria of inclu-
On the one hand, the ideology of the nation-state sion and exclusion to control and delimit the group”
implies that every nation is entitled to its own state. On (Williams 1989, 407). The hope seems to be that if at
the other hand, it also suggests that a state containing het- least some aspects of their ways of life are acknowl-
erogeneous populations might be made into a nation if all edged as essential to national identity, subordinated
peoples within its borders could somehow be made to groups will identify with and be loyal to the nation.
adopt a common nationality: a sense of identification Following Gramsci, Brackette Williams calls this pro-
with and loyalty to the nation-state. As political scientist cess a transformist hegemony in which nationalist
Benedict Anderson pointed out long ago, n ation-states ideologues are attempting to “create purity out of im-
should be understood as imagined communities: that is, purity” (1989, 429, 435). Unfortunately, the practices
as socially and historically constructed communities, as- of subordinated groups that are not incorporated into
sociated with geographical territories whose residents nationalist ideology are regularly marginalized and
devalued. Continued adherence to such practices may
be viewed as subversive, and practitioners may suffer
persecution and even extermination. Other groups,
nation A group of people believed to share the same history, culture,
by contrast, may be totally ignored. Ana Maria Alonso
language, and even physical substance. pointed out, for example, that Mexican nationalism is
nation-state An ideal political unit in which national identity and political “mestizo nationalism” rooted in the official doctrine
territory coincide. that the Mexican people are a hybrid of European
nationality A sense of identification with and loyalty to a nation-state. whites and the indigenous people they conquered. Af-
transformist hegemony A nationalist program to define nationality rican slaves were also a part of early colonial Mexican
in a way that preserves the cultural domination of the ruling group while
including enough cultural features from subordinated groups to ensure their society, but nationalist ideology erases their presence
loyalty. entirely (Alonso 1994, 396).
How Do Anthropologists Study Politics of the Nation-State? 377
Nation Building in a Postcolonial World: EthnoProfile 12.2

The Example of Fiji
Nation building involves constructing a shared public
identity, but it also involves establishing concrete legal
Fiji
mechanisms for taking group action to influence the state. Region: Oceania
That is, as John Kelly and Martha Kaplan (2001) argue, Nation: Fiji
nation-states are more than imagined communities; they
Population: 905,000
are also represented communities. For this reason, nation
Environment: Tropical marine climate; volcanic mountains
building involves more than constructing an image of na-
tional unity; it also requires institutions of political repre- Livelihood: Natural resource export, especially sugar;
subsistence agriculture; tourism
sentation that channel the efforts of citizens into effective PACIFIC OCEAN
support for the state. But what happens when citizens of a Political organization: FIJI eef
aR
Multiparty nation-state e a t Se Rabi
Gr Labasa
nation-state do not agree about exactly what nation they are Vanua Kioa
For more information: Kelly, Levu Savusavu Taveuni
building or what kinds of legal and political structures are Yasawa
Bar
rier
John D., and Martha Kaplan. Naviti f
R Navaga Koro Vanua
e e
necessary to bring it about? One answer to these questions 2001. Represented communities: Waya
Ba
Ovalau
Balavu
Lautoka Nairai
can be seen in the South Pacific island of Fiji, which became Fiji and world decolonization. Nadi Viti Levu Gau
Lakeba
independent of Britain in 1970 and has experienced a series Chicago: University of Chicago Malolo
Sigatoka Suva
Bega Koro Sea
Press. Moala
Moce
of political coups since 1987 (see EthnoProfile 12.2: Fiji). Vatulele
Ono
70 mi Totoya
At independence, the image of the Fijian nation was Kadavu Matuku
70 km
that of a “three-legged stool,” each “leg” being a sepa-
rate category of voters: “general electors” (a minority of
the population including Europeans), “Fijians” (ethnic and the abolition of separate racial voting rolls, and they
Fijians, descended from the original inhabitants of the lost: the voting rolls were divided by race to limit repre-
island), and “Indians” (or Indo-Fijians, descendants of sentation for Indo-Fijians in government. At the time of
indentured laborers brought to Fiji by the British from World War II, Indo-Fijians agreed to serve in the armed
Bombay and Calcutta in the nineteenth century). Kelly forces but only if they were treated as equals with white
and Kaplan (2001) show that these three categories have soldiers, and again their efforts were resisted: they spent
deep roots in the colonial period, where they were said the war serving in a labor battalion for very low wages,
to correspond to separate “races.” In the British Empire, whereas ethnic Fijians joined the Fijian Defense Force.
race was an accepted way to categorize subordinated It was primarily Indo-Fijians who pushed for indepen-
peoples, although in many cases—as in the case of dence in the late 1960s, and once again they engaged
the Indo-Fijians—the people so labeled had shared no in difficult negotiations for equal citizenship and a
common identity prior to their arrival in Fiji. common voting role—but finally consented to separate
These racial distinctions were concretized in colo- race-based voting rolls in 1969 to obtain independence.
nial law, and the legal status of the ethnic Fijians was Thus, when Fiji’s independence became real in 1970,
different from the legal status of Indo-Fijians. The status the constitution insisted that races still existed in Fiji and
of ethnic Fijians was determined by the Deed of Cession, that they had to vote separately. Since then, political par-
a document signed by some Fijian chiefs with the Brit- ties have generally and increasingly followed racial lines
ish in 1874, which linked ethnic Fijians to the colonial and the army has remained an enclave of indigenous
government through their hierarchy of chiefs. The status Fijians. When political parties backed mostly by Indo-
of Indo-Fijians, by contrast, was determined by the con- Fijian voters won Fiji’s 1987 election, the army staged a
tracts of indenture (girmit), which each individual la- coup and took over the country after only a month. The
borer had signed to come to Fiji. Thus, ethnic Fijians constitution that was then installed in 1990 returned to
were accorded a hierarchical, collective legal identity, even more naked discrimination against Indo-Fijians
whereas the Indo-Fijians had the status of legal individ- with regard to voting rights (Kelly and Kaplan 2001, 77).
uals, with no legally recognized ties to any collectivity. The constitution was revised yet again, in a manner
Inspired by the freedom movement in India in that favored chiefly ethnic Fijian interests and seemed
the early twentieth century, Indo-Fijians began to resist guaranteed to prevent parties backed by Indo-Fijian
racial oppression and struggle for equal rights in Fiji, but voters from winning control of the government in the
their efforts were repeatedly put down by the British. 1999 election. To everyone’s surprise, parties backing
When it became possible for them to vote after 1929, ethnic Fijians lost again. On May 19, 2000, came a second
for example, Indo-Fijians lobbied for equal citizenship coup. Finally, after new elections in 2001, ethnic Fijians
ethnic Fijian or “general elector,” would have equal status,

voting on a single roll, working together to build a con-
stitutional democracy. However, “few among the ethnic
Fijians have yet come to see themselves as partners with
immigrants” (Kelly and Kaplan 2001, 41). Ever since inde-
pendence, and particularly after each coup, ethnic Fijians
worked to construct an image of the Fijian nation based
solely on chiefly traditions in which Indo-Fijians had no
meaningful place. Thus, Kelly and Kaplan conclude, in Fiji
(an in many other parts of the world): “ ‘the nation’ is a
contested idea, not an experienced reality” (142).
How Does Globalization Affect

the Nation-State?
The Fijian history described earlier points to the kinds
of movements and mixing of people that were permitted
and even encouraged in the age of European colonial
empires, and how the consequences of these processes
bequeathed a series of challenging problems to postco-
lonial territories that wanted to transform themselves
into nation-states. Even as Fiji and other postcolonial
states have been wrestling with these problems from the
colonial past, however, ongoing changes in the world
have begun to challenge the territorial boundaries that
nation-states have struggled to erect around themselves.
Since the end of the Cold War in 1989, processes of glo-
balization, abetted by new forms of communication,
FIGURE 12.5 A Fijian citizen contemplates the list of transportation, and manufacturing, have unleashed
candidates in anticipation of the 2014 national election. flows of wealth, images, people, things, and ideologies
across the world. The pressures of these global flows on
the boundaries of nation-states have been profound.
won control of the government. The new government National governments have struggled, often in vain, to
lasted until a December 2006 military takeover. One of control what their citizens read or watch in the media:
the military’s demands was an end to the “race-based” satellite services and telecommunications and the Inter-
voting system, to be replaced by a new “one citizen–one net elude state-ordered censorship. Nation-states allow
vote” system. However, in April 2009, the president sus- migrants or students or tourists to cross their borders
pended the constitution and appointed himself head of because they need their labor or tuition or vacation ex-
state. In September 2009, the British Commonwealth penditures, but in so doing states must be content with
expelled Fiji for its failure to schedule democratic elec- the political values or religious commitments or families
tions by 2010. An election was finally held in 2014, and that these outsiders bring with them. Some have argued
Fiji was readmitted to the Commonwealth (Figure 12.5). that weakening the boundaries between nation-states is
What lessons does this history suggest about nation a good thing, since border restrictions and censorship
building in postcolonial states? The issues are many and need to be overcome, but 25 years after the end of the
complex. But Kelly and Kaplan insist that the image of Cold War, the challenges posed by weakened borders
a united Fijian nation projected at independence was have become more apparent. For example, the Schengen
severely undermined by legal mechanisms of political Agreement, adopted in 1999 by the European Union,
representation carried over from the colonial period, eliminated passport controls between all member states
particularly the race-based voting rolls. What became ap- except for Ireland and the United Kingdom, and it was
parent in the years after independence was the fact that hailed as a positive achievement. Fifteen years later,
Indo-Fijians and ethnic Fijians had imagined very differ- however, enormous pressure has been put on the Eu-
ent national communities. Indo-Fijians had supported ropean Union by waves of refugees escaping economic
the image of a nation in which all citizens, Indo-Fijian or and political pressures in their home nations: thousands
of refugees have died attempting to cross the Mediter- finds it tempting to play identity politics by participating
ranean Sea from points in North Africa, and more re- (via propaganda, money, weapons, any way but voting)
cently, waves of refugees fleeing the Syrian civil war have in the conflicts of his imagined Heimat [homeland]”
passed through Turkey into Greece and then made their (2002, 269–70).
way northward by foot, seeking to settle in Germany and Schiller and Fouron argue, however, that the con-
other European states that would accept them and offer ditions of globalization have led to new forms of
them safety. Similar pressures have been felt in North long-distance nationalism that do not correspond to
America as refugees and migrants, seeking safety and a Anderson’s original description. They point to the emer-
better life, have encountered increasing hostility on the gence of the trans-border state: a form of state “claiming
southern border of the United States, including the erec- that its emigrants and their descendants remain an inte-
tion of a border wall designed to keep them out. In many gral and intimate part of their ancestral homeland, even
other parts of the world, political unrest has also pushed if they are legal citizens of another state” (Schiller and
people across national borders in search of safety and Fouron 2002, 357). Trans-border states did not charac-
continued means of survival, making many weakened terize periods of mass emigration in the nineteenth and
states vulnerable to chaos and violence. twentieth centuries. At that time, nations sending emi-
Migrants and refugees themselves often face a di- grants abroad regarded permanent settlement elsewhere
lemma. On the one hand, they now form sizeable and as national betrayal. They encouraged emigrants to
highly visible minorities in the countries of settlement, think of migration as temporary, expecting them eventu-
often in the poorer areas of cities. There they find oppor- ally to return home with new wealth and skills to build
tunities for economic subsistence and political security, the nation. But in today’s global world, political leaders
encouraging them to stay. On the other hand, hostility of many states sending emigrants accept the likelihood
and sometimes violence are directed against them when- that those emigrants will settle permanently elsewhere.
ever there is a local economic downturn. Many migrants Some may even insist that emigres retain full member-
conclude that the possibility of permanent assimila- ship in the nation-state from which they came, a form of
tion is unrealistic, which encourages them to maintain long-distance nationalism that Schiller and Fouron call a
ties to their places of origin or to migrant communities trans-border citizenry: “Citizens residing within the ter-
elsewhere. ritorial homeland and new emigrants and their descen-
dants are part of the nation, whatever legal citizenship
the emigres may have” (Schiller and Fouron 2002, 358).
Migration, Trans-Border Identities, Trans-border states and trans-border citizenries are
and Long-Distance Nationalism more than symbolic identities: they have become con-
The term diaspora is commonly used to refer to migrant cretized in law. For example, several Latin American
populations with a shared identity who live in a vari- countries, including Mexico, Colombia, the Dominican
ety of different locales around the world, but Nina Glick Republic, Ecuador, and Brazil, permit emigrants who
Schiller and Georges Fouron point out that not all such have become naturalized citizens in countries such as
populations see themselves in the same way. Schiller the United States to retain dual nationality and even
and Fouron describe different types of “trans-border voting rights in their country of origin (Figure 12.6).
identities” that characterize different groups of migrants. Special government ministries are set up to address the
They prefer to use the term diaspora to identify a form needs of citizens living abroad. This is very different
of trans-border identity that does not focus on nation from Anderson’s “citizenshipless participation.” Schiller
building. Should members of a diaspora begin to orga- and Fouron stress that trans-border states and citizenries
nize in support of nationalist struggles in their home-
land, or to agitate for a state of their own, they become
long-distance nationalists (Schiller and Fouron 2002, diaspora Migrant populations with a shared identity who live in a variety of
360–61). “Long-distance nationalism” was coined by different locales around the world; a form of transborder identity that does
not focus on nation building.
political scientist Benedict Anderson to describe the ef-
long-distance nationalism Members of a diaspora organized in
forts of émigrés to offer moral, economic, and politi- support of nationalist struggles in their homeland or to agitate for a state
cal support to nationalist struggles in their countries of of their own.
origin. In his original discussion, Anderson emphasized trans-border state A form of state in which it is claimed that those
the dangerous irresponsibility of the “citizenshipless people who left the country and their descendants remain part of their
ancestral state, even if they are citizens of another state.
participation” of the long-distance nationalists: “while
trans-border citizenry A group made up of citizens of a country who
technically a citizen of the state in which he comfort- continue to live in their homeland plus the people who have emigrated from
ably lives, but to which he may feel little attachment, he the country and their descendants, regardless of their current citizenship.
The globalizing forces responsible for these changes

have undermined previous understandings of what
a world made up of nation-states should look like.
Indeed, they reveal unacknowledged contradictions and
weaknesses of actual nation-states. For example, the ex-
istence and strength of trans-border states and citizenries
show that some nation-states—especially those send-
ing migrants—are actually what Schiller and Fouron
call apparent states: they have all the outward attributes
of nation-states (government bureaucracies, armies, a
seat in the United Nations), but in fact they are unable
to meet the needs of their people (Schiller and Fouron
2002, 363). And the existence of apparent states also ex-
poses inconsistencies and paradoxes in the meaning of
citizenship in the nation-states where migrants settle.
FIGURE 12.6 The Dominican Republic permits emigrants
Schiller and Fouron contrast legal citizenship with
who have become naturalized citizens of the United States
to vote in Dominican elections. Here, a Dominican woman in what they call substantive citizenship and point out
New York campaigns in 2004 for a second term for President that, for trans-border citizens, the two often do not co-
Hipólito Mejía. incide. Legal citizenship is accorded by state laws and
can be difficult for migrants to obtain. But even those
trans-border citizens who obtain legal citizenship often
spring “from the life experiences of migrants of differ-
experience a gap between what legal citizenship prom-
ent classes” and are “rooted in the day to day efforts of
ises and the way they are treated by the state. For ex-
people in the homeland to live lives of dignity and self-
ample, people of color and women who are United
respect that compel them to include those who have mi-
States citizens are not treated by the state the same way
grated” (2002, 359).
white male citizens are treated. By contrast, substantive
But some trans-border citizenries face difficulties.
citizenship is defined by the actions people take, regard-
First, their efforts at nation building are sometimes
less of their legal citizenship status, to assert their mem-
blocked by political forces in the homeland that do
bership in a state and to bring about political changes
not welcome their contributions. This was the case for
that will improve their lives. Some trans-border citizens
Haitians living abroad while Haiti was ruled by the
call for the establishment of full-fledged transnational
Duvalier family dictatorship and for Cubans living
nation-states. That is, “they challenge the notion that
abroad whose efforts have been blocked by the Castro
relationships between citizens and their state are con-
revolutionary government. Second, the states in which
fined within that territory” and work for the recognition
immigrants have settled may regard as threatening the
of a new political form that contradicts the understand-
continued involvement of trans-border citizens in the af-
ings of political theory, but which reflects the realities
fairs of another state. Such involvement has often been
of their experiences of national identity (Schiller and
seen as even more threatening since terrorists destroyed
Fouron 2002, 359).
the World Trade Center and attacked the Pentagon on
September 11, 2001. Yet in an era of globalization, at-
tempts to control migration threaten to block the flows Anthropology and Multicultural
of people that keep the global economy going. Moreover, Politics in the New Europe
the vulnerability of trans-border citizens in these cir-
One of the most interesting things about the early
cumstances often increases the appeal of long-distance
twenty-first century is that Europe—the continent that
nationalism (Schiller and Fouron 2002, 359–60).
gave birth to the Enlightenment and colonial empires
and (along with North America) to anthropology
itself—has become a living laboratory for the study of
legal citizenship The rights and obligations of citizenship accorded by the some of the most complex social and cultural processes
laws of a state. to be found anywhere in the world.
substantive citizenship The actions people take, regardless of their During the last half of the twentieth century, the
legal citizenship status, to assert their membership in a state and to bring
about political changes that will improve their lives. countries of Europe, including Italy, were the target of
transnational nation-state A nation-state in which the relationships large waves of migration from all over the world. One
between citizens and the state extend to wherever citizens reside. venerable working-class Roman neighborhood, only a
welcoming. But twenty years ago, this began to change,

EthnoProfile 12.3 leading Umberto Melotti to observe: “Italy has not his-
torically been a racist country, but intolerant attitudes
Rione Monti (Rome) toward immigrants have increased. To a large extent, this
seems to be the result of a long-standing underestimation
Region: Europe
of the magnitude of the changes and thus poor policy
Nation: Italy implementation for a lengthy period, in spite of the best
Population: 15,300 intentions officially proclaimed” (Melotti 1997, 91).
Environment: Central neighborhood in Rome Melotti contrasted the distinctive ways in which
immigration was understood by the governments of
Livelihood: Urban occupations,
ranging from tourism and France, Britain, and Germany. According to Melotti, the
Florence
factory work to restaurants, French project is ethnocentric assimilationism: Since early
small businesses, Tiber R. Adriatic
in the nineteenth century, when French society experi-
bureaucratic, executive Rome Sea
Rione enced a falling birthrate, immigration was encouraged
Political organization: Monti I TA LY and immigrants were promised all the rights and priv-
Neighborhood in a modern Naples
nation-state ileges of native-born citizens as long as they adopted
Tyrrhenian
Sea French culture completely, dropping other ethnic or cul-
http://www.rionemonti.net/ tural attachments and assimilating the French language,
0 200 400 culture, and character (1997, 75). The British project,
Miles
by contrast, is uneven pluralism: that is, the pragmatic
British expect immigrants to be loyal and law-abiding
citizens, but they do not expect immigrants to “become
short walk from the Colosseum, is Rione Monti, which British: and they tolerate private cultivation of cultural
has a fascinating history of its own (EthnoProfile 12.3). differences as long as these do not threaten the British
In 1999, anthropologist Michael Herzfeld (2003) way of life (1997, 79–80). Finally, Melotti describes the
moved into Rione Monti to explore social change in German project as the institutionalization of precariousness,
the uses of the past. Herzfeld found that longtime resi- by which he means that despite the fact that Germany
dents of Monti shared a common local culture, which has within its borders more immigrants than any other
includes use of the romanesco dialect rather than stan- European country, and began receiving immigrants
dard Italian, and a strong sense of local identity that dis- at the end of the nineteenth century, its government
tinguished them from “foreigners,” including diplomats continues to insist that Germany is not a country of
and non-Roman Italians. Their identity survived Mus- immigrants. Immigrants were always considered “guest
solini’s demolition of part of the neighborhood in the workers,” children born to guest workers are considered
early twentieth century. They successfully dealt with a citizens of the country from which the worker came, and
local criminal underworld by mastering a refined urban it remains very difficult for guest workers or their chil-
code of politeness. The underworld had faded away by dren born in Germany to obtain German citizenship.
the 1970s, but beginning in the 1990s, residents began (This contrasts with France, for example, where chil-
to face two new challenges to their community. First, dren of immigrants born on French soil automatically
historic Roman neighborhoods became fashionable, become French citizens.)
and well-to-do Italians began to move into Rione Monti, Coming to terms with increasing numbers of
pushing many workers into cheaper housing elsewhere. Muslims living in countries where Christianity has his-
Second, in the 1990s, another group of newcomers ar- torically been dominant has been central to cultural
rived: immigrants from eastern Europe. debates within Europe for the past quarter century. Al-
Italy is one of the more recent destinations of im- though all European states consider themselves secular
migration into Europe, reversing the country’s historical in orientation (see Asad 2003), the relation between re-
experience as a source, rather than a target, of immigra- ligion and state is far from uniform. France is unusual
tion. However, after Germany, France, and Britain passed because of its strict legal separation between religion and
laws curtailing immigration in the 1970s, Italy became state. In Britain, the combination of a secular outlook
an increasingly popular destination for immigrants from with state funding of the established Anglican Church
Africa, Asia, and Latin America; after the end of the Cold has allowed citizens to support forms of religious inclu-
War came immigrants from outside the European Union sion that first involved state funding of Catholic schools
(EU), including eastern Europe. At the time, laws regu- for Irish immigrants and later involved state funding for
lating immigration were few, and the country appeared Muslim schools for Muslim immigrants (Lewis 1997;
Modood 1997). In Germany, where a secular outlook “participation in the public or national culture is neces-
also combines with state-subsidized religious institu- sary for the effective exercise of citizenship” while at the
tions, the state devised curricula for elementary schools same time defending the “right to widen and adapt the
designed to teach all students about different religious national culture” (1997, 20). Modood further suggested
traditions, including Islam, in ways that emphasize the that perhaps such tensions “can only be resolved in prac-
possibility of harmonizing one’s religious faith with tice through finding and cultivating points of common
one’s obligations as a citizen. Perhaps as a result of their ground between dominant and subordinate cultures,
own history, many contemporary Germans have had less as well as new syntheses and hybridities. The impor-
faith than the British that a civic culture of religious toler- tant thing is that the burdens of change . . . are not all
ance would automatically lead to harmony without state dependent on one party to this encounter” (1997, 20).
intervention and less faith than the French in the exis- Anthropologist John Bowen’s field research in France
tence of a separate secular sphere of society from which documented the process Modood describes. Bowen has
religion could be safely excluded (Schiffauer 1997). worked among many French Muslims who are not in-
These are, of course, thumbnail sketches of more terested in terrorism but who “wish to live fulfilling and
complex attitudes and practices. But they illustrate the religious lives in France” (2010, 4). He has paid particu-
fact that there is no single “European” approach to lar attention to the work of a number of French Muslim
the challenges posed by immigration. In a way, each religious teachers and scholars, whom he calls “Islamic
European state, with its own history and own institu- public actors.” Other French Muslims come to them for
tions, has been experimenting with different ways of religious instruction and for advice about how to cope
coping with the challenges posed by the arrival of im- with the difficulties of living in a non-Muslim country.
migrants and refugees, and the results of these experi- In turn, the Islamic public actors Bowen knew are work-
ments have influenced the policies toward outsiders ing to craft solutions that, in their view, are true both to
that are taking shape in the twenty-first century. Their the laws of the French republic and to the norms and
responses have been complicated by the structures of the traditions of Islam.
European Union, a continent-wide superstate with 28 For example, many French Muslims are concerned
members. Reconciling the diverse interests and needs of about how to contract a valid marriage in France. Ever
member states has posed enormous challenges for EU since the French Revolution, France has refused to accept
members. These challenges have increased even more the legality of religious marriages and recognizes only
sharply in recent years, as austerity policies within the civil marriages contracted at city hall (Figure 12.7). Yet
EU have threatened the economic viability of states such Muslims who want to marry are often confused about
as Greece, some of whose citizens have responded to whether a “secular” marriage at city hall is appropriate or
the crisis by suggesting that Greece leave the European necessary. Indeed, some Muslims have argued that city
Union to find financial relief. Similarly, the free move- hall marriages are un-Islamic because they did not exist
ment of EU citizens across state borders has generated at the time of the Prophet Muhammad. But other Mus-
anti- immigrant sentiments among some British citi- lims, including some of Bowen’s consultants, disagree
zens, which led to the so-called Brexit referendum in with this position. They argue that there was no need
the United Kingdom, in which voters by a slim majority for civil marriages at the time of the Prophet, because
favored cutting British ties with the EU. Finally, radical in those days, tribal life made it impossible to avoid the
Islamic Middle Eastern terrorist groups such as ISIS (or obligations of the marriage contract. But things are dif-
the so-called “Islamic State”) have managed to perpetrate ferent today for Muslims in urban France: Bowen’s con-
violent terrorist incidents inside a number of European sultants have seen many tragic outcomes when young
states, perhaps most notably the attacks in 2015 in Paris, women who thought they had a valid Muslim marriage
first at the offices of the satirical newspaper Charli Hebdo were left by their husbands, only to discover that the
in January, and later coordinated attacks in November French state did not recognize their marriage and could
on several public venues in Paris including the Bataclan offer them no legal redress.
concert hall. These events have further stimulated the Because this was not the outcome that Islamic
growth of right-wing anti-immigrant and anti-Muslim marriage was intended to produce, the scholars Bowen
political movements in many European countries. knew looked beyond traditional Islamic marriage prac-
Twenty years ago, Tariq Modood emphasized the tices in order to clarify the larger purposes that Islamic
need to find ways of supporting European citizenship marriage was supposed to achieve. They asked if these
that allow the “right to assimilate” as well as the “right purposes could be achieved using the French institu-
to have one’s ‘difference’. . . recognized and supported tion of civil marriage. One scholar told Bowen: “I say
in the public and the private spheres”; appreciating that that if you marry at the city hall, you have already made
FIGURE 12.7 A Turkish bride

and groom in Clichy-sous-Bois, a
poor suburb of Paris. Islamic and
French legal scholars are both
working to harmonize French and
Islamic marriage practices.
an Islamic marriage, because all the conditions for that men. Other French jurists, however, point to the practi-
marriage have been fulfilled” (2010, 167). Those condi- cal problems that this argument creates: not recognizing
tions include the fact that both Islamic marriages and the validity of Islamic divorces in France, for example,
French civil marriages are contracts; that both require would mean that a woman divorced according to Islamic
the consent of the spouses; and that the legal require- law abroad could not remarry if she came to France.
ments imposed on the spouses by French civil marriage Similarly, refusing to recognize polygamous marriage
further the Islamic goal of keeping the spouses together. in France would deprive the children of all but a man’s
When this kind of reasoning is strengthened by appeal- first wife of their rights under French and European law.
ing to opinions on marriage drawn from the four Sunni In recent years, Bowen reports, French judges have de-
schools of law, many Islamic public intellectuals believe vised two ways of crafting a solution to these unwelcome
that a way can be found to craft acceptable practices for consequences. One has been to modify the concept of
French Muslims in many areas of daily life. public order by making so-called practical exceptions
Because Bowen agrees with Modood that accommo- for Muslims who emigrate to France. The other is to be
dation has to go in both directions, he also shows how more flexible with Muslim marriage and family prac-
some French legal scholars are working to craft solutions tices as long as these arrangements involve individuals
to the challenges Muslim marriage practices present to who are not French citizens. These pragmatic solutions
French law. Most French judges agree, for example, that are an improvement over what Bowen calls the “more
Islamic marriages or divorces contracted outside France blunt-instrument approach” associated with the older
remain valid when the parties involved move to France. understanding of public order. Bowen concludes that in
But French judges can refuse to accept international rules France today, Muslim and French jurists alike are both
for resolving legal conflicts if they decide that the solu- struggling to craft “the legal conditions for common life
tion would violate French “public order.” Bowen found that are capacious enough to ‘reasonably accommodate’
that the concept of “public order” is basic to the French people living in different conditions and with differing
legal system, referring “both to the conditions of social beliefs, yet unitary enough to retain the hope that such a
order and to basic values, and it limits the range of laws common life is conceivable” (2010, 178).
that a legislator may pass and the decisions that a judge Thus, the struggles and dilemmas that faced resi-
may make” (2010, 173). dents of Rione Monti are widespread in Europe today.
Violations of public order may include customs But the specifics of each situation, and the cultural re-
from outside France that are judged to “offend the mo- sources at people’s disposal, have their own particu-
rality and values” (Bowen 2010, 173) of French law. larity. Thus, traditionally left-wing Monti residents
Some French jurists argue that consequences following resisted attempts by neofascist politicians to get them
from Muslim practices of marriage and divorce should to turn against immigrant families in the neighbor-
not be recognized in France if they violate French and hood. Herzfeld found that the residents of Monti,
European commitments to the equality of women and like other Romans, claimed not to be racists (which
FIGURE 12.8 Rione Monti is

a neighborhood in central Rome
where longtime residents and new
immigrants are negotiating new
forms of relationships.
accords with Melotti’s view of Italians in general) and Still, Monti residents were politically active, and
that they seemed less hostile to immigrants of color they banded together when threatened with eviction.
than to Ukrainians (Figure 12.8). Local and immigrant Herzfeld followed closely the back-and-forth negotia-
Monti residents eventually did find ways to get along tions that ensued when renters in one particular build-
with each other (Herzfeld 2008, 231). Indeed, during ing staged a rent strike, after the building’s new owner
the years when Herzfeld was doing his ethnography, the threatened to evict current residents. In the old days,
mix of residents in Monti was changing in other ways, this sort of action would likely have been quietly re-
as young professionals, including professors from the solved according to the neighborhood code; and at first,
nearby university, began to rent apartments in local the strikers were able to get the building’s new owner
buildings. The low-income artisans who had tradition- to agree not to evict them. What nobody had counted
ally lived in these buildings were finding, however, that on, however, was the clout of the wealthy outside buyers
rents were rising even as entire apartment blocks re- who had entered the Roman real estate market.
mained empty. Their owners had concluded that it was This new owner sold the building to another com-
worth their while to keep their buildings empty until pany, which then sold it to a third company, whose
real estate prices rose, even though this precipitated a owners refused to honor the agreement that the orig-
housing shortage. inal owner had made with the renters. The current
Prior to this period, struggles among renters, landowners then tried to sell the building to the city, which
lords, and the city government of Rome regarding refused to pay the price they were asking. “It became
building permits or over rental rates were common, and clear that nothing further could be done; this com-
these disputes had usually been resolved by negotia- pany soon thereafter sold the property to yet another
tions among all interested parties, carried out according firm, one that was developing extensive interest in the
to the mostly extralegal rules of the traditional neigh- neighborhood, and the struggle finally came to an end”
borhood “code.” As a result, low-income renters had (Herzfeld 2009, 297).
often managed to avoid eviction from their apartments. A key component contributing to this outcome was
But in the early years of the twentieth century, the rules a change in the law that reflected struggles over what
changed, in large part because some of the key play- kinds of rights residents had to their homes. One of Her-
ers changed. A lot of outside money was entering the zfeld’s informants, who had been active in Roman city
Roman real estate market, deployed by businessmen government, explained to him that the power of the city
who knew nothing and cared less about whether low- to intervene in struggles against eviction had changed.
income renters ought to be allowed to stay in buildings In the past, the city had respected the view that people
in desirable locations. had a social right to their homes; but these rights were
What Happens to Citizenship in a Globalized World? 385
no longer legally protected: “under the national con- globalization. Challenges to national sovereignty—that
stitution, it was now the owner’s rights that were pro- is, a nation’s ability to defend its borders and govern
tected. . . . A set of laws, promulgated at the national level itself—have been accompanied by changes in the mean-
by the coalition to which he had belonged at the city ing of citizenship—the rights and privileges of those
level, and reinforced by already existing constitutional persons considered legitimate members of the national
guarantees for the rights of property owners, had now ef- population. What might citizenship mean in a twenty-
fectively undercut any serious prospect of resolving the first century globalized world?
dispute as an issue of the social right to a home” (2009,
297). At first, the strikers refused to give up, but their legal
position was weak; within a year, they had been evicted. How Can Citizenship Be Flexible?
There was much bitterness among those who were forced Schiller and Fouron’s contrast between formal and sub-
to leave, and even though all of them eventually did find stantive citizenship suggests that notions of citizenship
other places to live, many had to leave Monti, which un- that previously seemed straightforward break down in
dermined their sense of community and identity. the context of globalization. Another way of address-
The experiences of these Monti residents raise inter- ing these contradictions is suggested by anthropologist
esting and troubling questions about the rights of long- Aihwa Ong, who speaks of flexible citizenship: “the
time residents in a place who discover that under the strategies and effects of mobile managers, technocrats,
current regime of global neoliberalism, they apparently and professionals seeking both to circumvent and ben-
possess no rights that international capital is obliged to efit from different nation-state regimes by selecting dif-
respect. Herzfeld observes that “the intense attachment ferent sites for investment, work, and family relocation
to place that aroused my sympathies can also be the (2002, 174). Ong studied diaspora communities of elite
source of no less intense forms of cultural fundamental- Chinese families who played key roles in the economic
ism and racism” (2009, 301). These responses are not success of the Pacific Rim in recent years. Although their
limited to Europe, but can also be found in Bangkok, success is often attributed by outsiders to “Chinese cul-
Thailand, where Herzfeld next carried out fieldwork, ture,” Ong’s research questions this simplistic explana-
following what turned into a 24-year-long battle by tion; she documents the ways in which Chinese families
residents of an inner-city neighborhood to resist being responded creatively to opportunities and challenges
evicted so that the government might modernize space they encountered since the end of the nineteenth cen-
they occupied (Herzfeld 2016). As of January 5, 2017, tury, as they found ways to evade or exploit the gov-
they were still under threat of removal but had not yet ernmentality of three different kinds of institutions:
been evicted (New York Times, A9). Herzfeld insists that Chinese kinship and family, the nation-state, and the
“there is no necessary connection between localism and marketplace.
racism and other forms of intolerance, and in fact what The break from mainland Chinese ideas of kin-
has impressed me throughout both field projects . . . has ship and Confucian filial piety came when Chinese first
been the firmness with which some reject the seduc- moved into the capitalist commercial circuits of Euro-
tions of intolerance in the midst of their own sufferings, pean empires. Money could be made in these settings,
even as they recognize the bitterness that drives others in but success required Chinese merchant families to cut
far less attractive directions” (2009, 302). He adds that themselves off from ties to mainland China and to re-
“none of this will make much sense except in the further inforce bonds among family members and business
context of a consideration of the history of nationalism, partners in terms of guanxi (“relationships of social con-
both in Italy and elsewhere” (302). nections built primarily upon shared identities such
as native place, kinship or attending the same school”
[Smart 1999, 120]).
The family discipline of overseas Chinese enabled
What Happens to Citizenship them to become wealthy and provided the resources
in a Globalized World? to subvert the governmentality of the nation-state.
The orientation of these wealthy families toward na-
Our discussion of nationality, nation-states, and nation- tional identity and citizenship, Ong explains, is
alism has briefly traced developments from the French
Revolution through the spread of European colonial em-
pires through the transformation of colonies into nation-
flexible citizenship The strategies and effects employed by managers,
states, ending with the softening of national boundaries technocrats, and professionals who move regularly across state boundaries
that has occurred following post–Cold War processes of who seek both to circumvent and benefit from different nation-state regimes.
FIGURE 12.9 Overseas Chinese

are to be found in many parts of
the world, as here in Kuala Lumpur,
Malaysia. They are not always
millionaire businesspeople but are
shopkeepers and small business-
people as well.
“market-driven.” In Hong Kong, for example, in the an equal amount in installments” (Ong 2002, 183)
years leading up to its return to mainland China in (Figure 12.9).
1997, many wealthy Chinese thought of citizenship not Although wealthy overseas Chinese families had thus
as the right to demand full democratic representation, managed to evade or subvert both the governmentality of
but as the right to promote familial interests apart from Chinese kinship and that of nation-states, they remained
the well-being of s ociety (Ong 2002, 178). None of the vulnerable to the discipline of the capitalist market. To
overseas C hinese she knew expressed any commitment be sure, market discipline under globalization was very
to nationalism, either local or long distance. Quite the different from the market discipline typical in the 1950s
contrary. Relying on family discipline and loyalty and and 1960s. Making money in the context of globalization
buttressed by considerable wealth and strong interper- required the flexibility to take advantage of economic op-
sonal ties, they actively worked to evade the govern- portunities wherever and whenever they appeared. Ong
mentality of nation-states. For example, Chinese from described one family in which the eldest son remained in
Hong Kong who wanted to migrate to Britain in the Hong Kong to run part of the family hotel chain located
1960s were able to evade racial barriers that blocked in the Pacific region while his brother lived in San Fran-
other “colored” immigrants because of their experi- cisco and managed the hotels located in North American
ence with capitalism and their reputation for peaceful and Europe. Children can be separated from their parents
acquiescence to British rule. When the British decided when they are, for example, installed in one country to be
to award citizenship to some Hong Kong residents in educated while their parents manage businesses in other
the 1990s, they used a point system that favored appli- countries on different continents.
cants with education, fluency in English, and training These flexible family arrangements are not without
in professions of value to the economy, such as accoun- costs. “Familial regimes of dispersal and localization . . . 
tancy and law. These attributes fitted well the criteria discipline family members to make do with very little
for citizenship valued under the government of Marga- emotional support; disrupted parental responsibil-
ret Thatcher, while other applicants for citizenship who ity, strained marital relations, and abandoned children
lacked such attributes were excluded. Citizenship, or at are such common circumstances that they have special
least a passport, could be purchased by those who had terms” (Ong 2002, 190). At the same time, individual
the money: “well-off families accumulated passports family members truly do seem to live comfortably as
not only from Canada, Australia, Singapore, and the citizens of the world. A Chinese banker in San Francisco
United States but also from revenue-poor Fiji, the Phil- told Ong that he could live in Asia, Canada, or Europe:
ippines, Panama, and Tonga which required in return “I can live anywhere in the world, but it must be near an
for a passport a down payment of U.S. $200,000 and airport” (190).
What Happens to Citizenship in a Globalized World? 387
Ong concludes that, for these elite Chinese, the con- As we saw in Aihwa Ong’s study of elite Chinese
cept of nationalism has lost its meaning. Instead, she migrants, Michel Foucault’s concept of governmen-
says, they seem to subscribe to a postnational ethos in tality has proved extremely helpful in analyzing pro-
which they submit to the governmentality of the capital- cesses of citizenship formation. Erazo also uses this
ist market while trying to evade the governmentality of concept in her analysis of territorial citizenship in Ru-
nation-states, ultimately because their only true loyalty kullakta, but doing so requires modifying the way gov-
is to the family business (Ong 2002, 190). Such flexi- ernmentality is applied. First, studies of indigenous
ble citizenship, however, is not an option for nonelite economic and political development often focus on
migrants: “whereas for bankers, boundaries are always practices of governmentality issuing from national
flexible, for migrant workers, boat people, persecuted in- governments, NGOs, or institutions like the World
tellectuals and artists, and other kinds of less well-heeled Bank. By contrast, Erazo (2013) insists that indigenous
refugees, this . . . is a harder act to follow” (190). Ong peoples like the Kichwa of Rukullakta “can also be the
concludes that neither the positives nor the negatives agents of governmentality, rationalizing and disciplin-
associated with the practices of these overseas Chinese ing their fellow group members while enlisting them
merchants should be attributed to any “Chinese” es- in projects of their own rule” (6). Second, many stud-
sence; instead, she thinks these strategies are better un- ies often portray governmentality as being exercised
derstood as “the expressions of a habitus that is finely in a top-down fashion to manipulate targeted popula-
tuned to the turbulence of late capitalism” (191). tions in ways that serve the interests of the powerful.
By contrast, Erazo argues that this interpretation is too
narrow: in Rukullakta, “indigenous leaders’ actions
What Is Territorial Citizenship? have been critical in assuring their members’ access
The forms of citizenship we have considered so far—legal, to land and development funding” (6). Indigenous
substantive, or flexible—are best understood in the con- territories, therefore, provide a fresh setting in which
text of forms of governmentality active in nation-states to examine the operations of governmentality, show-
that are concerned to control and manage the biopower ing “the ways in which those in governing roles have
of their populations. But what happens when this form of worked to transform individual subjects (in this case,
biopolitics—what we might call a biopolitics of concern and people who thought of themselves primarily as part of
interference—is replaced by what Peruvian anthropologist a kinship-based group, o ccupying family-owned land)
Marisol de la Cadena calls a biopolitics of abandonment into active citizens (in this case, of indigenous terri-
(2015, 158)? The biopolitics of abandonment withdraws tories with collective titles and bureaucratic govern-
governmental resources and management from sections of ments)” (Erazo 2013, 6).
the citizenry, leaving them to meet their needs as they are Residents of Rukullakta were able to secure title
able and see fit. From one perspective, this looks like a gov- over their lands in the late 1970s because they agreed
ernment refusing to meet its obligations to (at least some to form a ranching cooperative, responding to an offer
of) its citizens, and it is. But recall Foucault’s insight that by the Ecuadorian government that viewed such coop-
power is productive. In the space left by the withdrawal of eratives as a means of providing economic develop-
the nation-state, it may be possible to develop new forms of ment in rural areas. But receiving development aid for
citizenship disconnected from the nation-state. this project depended on leaders’ abilities to persuade
This new form of citizenship is developing among other members of the cooperative to contribute labor
residents of indigenous territories who have been by cutting down forests, planting pasture, and caring for
granted full control and authority (or sovereignty) over the new cattle herds. The negative experiences of many
lands that are located within the boundaries of nation- cooperative members during this period led them to
states. The responsibilities that come with territorial sov- resist future attempts by leaders to engage them in de-
ereignty may be new to both leaders and residents of manding collective economic projects. Their resistance
indigenous territories and may carry burdens that they shaped the subsequent actions of leaders, who moder-
are unaccustomed to or unwilling to assume. Juliet S. ated their demands for such active citizen involvement
Erazo has studied the new ways of thinking and acting in territorial affairs.
that have developed in the indigenous territory of Ru-
kullakta, in Ecuador, as its Amazonian Kichwa residents
fashion a sense of territorial citizenship. According to
Erazo (2013), “Negotiating the specific responsibilities
postnational ethos An attitude toward the world in which people submit
and duties associated with territorial citizenship is one to the governmentality of the capitalist market while trying to evade the
of the key sites of enacting sovereignty” (10). governmentality of nation-states.
Leaders remain concerned about passing down a In describing these local administrative practices as
strong sense of territorial citizenship to younger genera- statecraft, Colloredo-Mansfeld draws inspiration from
tions. One current effort involves a local competition for James Scott’s influential discussion of how modern
young women that resembles the beauty pageants that states operate (Scott 1998). Scott uses the term “state-
occur throughout Latin America. In Rukullakta, however, craft” to describe the forms of top-down management
candidates are judged on their ability to speak about po- technologies that render local communities “legible” to
litical challenges currently facing their territory, both in state manipulation. Such legibility, Scott argues, comes
Spanish and in Kichwa. “Pageants are therefore key sites about through practices of “strategic simplification” that
in which leaders invite residents to reflect on what could focus only on those attributes of a community that are
be done to improve the territory, and to become more relevant to state designs. When local communities adapt
involved in territorial governance” (Erazo 2013, 184). At management technologies of the state and put them to
the same time, citizens “work actively to shape leaders in work for their own purposes, however, these technolo-
a number of ways inducing demanding conflict resolu- gies become instances of what Colloredo-Mansfeld de-
tion services, vocally criticizing leaders whom they think scribes as vernacular statecraft, which he compares to
are putting their own interests ahead of those of Rukul- vernacular architecture: “In vernacular architecture,
lakta’s members, purposely staying away from some of builders imitate and appropriate standard elements
the meetings and events that leaders ask them to attend, of widely used design, adapting them to local condi-
and even punishing leaders as if they were children in tions . . . . Translated into political terms, [vernacular
public spectacles” (Erazo 2013, 194). In Erazo’s view, the statecraft] combines replicable form, local action and an
joint efforts of Rukullakta’s leaders and citizens “have absence of state intervention” (2009, 17).
contributed to Rukullakta’s ability to remain a viable For Colloredo-Mansfeld, the absence of state inter-
and resilient political entity for over four decades. How- vention is key. Most political analyses using concepts
ever . . . these efforts have also involved new subjectivi- of “governmentality” or “statecraft” presume that local
ties, new hierarchies, and new ways of relating to people communities are targets of an intrusive state. In Latin
and nature” (2013, 199). America, Colloredo-Mansfeld argues, this presumption
is not correct, for two main reasons. First, the model of
intrusive statecraft presumes that state and local com-
What Is Vernacular Statecraft? munities can be sharply differentiated from each other.
The processes Erazo identifies among the residents of Colloredo-Mansfeld points out, however, that “in the
Rukullakta in Amazonian Ecuador have also been noted Andes, community and state are impossible to disen-
by Rudi Colloredo-Mansfeld in his ongoing work in tangle” (2009, 16). This entanglement goes back to the
indigenous communities in highland Ecuador (2009). middle of the sixteenth century, when the indigenous
Colloredo-Mansfeld also finds the Foucauldian under- survivors of the Spanish invasion, devastated by dis-
standing of governmentality (state-initiated “conduct of ease and labor exploitation, were organized into newly
conduct” of its subject population) to be inadequate for created communities called reducciones, at the head of
understanding political change in highland Ecuador in which the Spanish authorities placed local indigenous
recent decades. Erazo addresses this difficulty by show- authorities called kurakas. These state interventions
ing how indigenous leaders in Rukullakta have devised remade indigenous culture: “deputized natives, vested
their own, local forms of governmentality that they in state authority, enabled the sedimentation of govern-
use to encourage community members to act in ways ment forms as local culture. Bits and pieces of the state
they believe will strengthen indigenous sovereignty. steadily accrued as indigenous custom” (2009, 17).
Colloredo-Mansfeld found similar political mechanisms Second, the model of intrusive statecraft presumes
at work in highland communities like Otavalo, where that the state is a constant, powerful presence that actively
state administrative procedures have been repurposed intervenes in local affairs. However, Colloredo-Mansfeld
by local communities. He calls these local practices points out that contemporary Latin American states like
vernacular statecraft. Ecuador are better known for their neglect of indigenous
communities than for their intrusive manipulation of
them. When states retreat from effective involvement in
local communities, those communities may repurpose
state management techniques to run their own affairs.
vernacular statecraft The repurposing of state administrative proce-
dures by local communities under circumstances where state institutions are Colloredo-Mansfeld detects a “profusion of vernacular
weak, unreliable, or absent. structures” in Andean communities; their complexity
Global Politics in the Twenty-First Century 389
may be underestimated by outsiders, but all of them protest a proposed free trade treaty between Ecuador
“can be treacherous to navigate” (2009, 17). and the United States (2009, 186). This use of mingas
One feature of Andean vernacular statecraft can be was controversial, especially among local supporters of
seen in the way Otavalans repurposed the traditional the proposed treaty, but this disagreement illustrates
Andean labor practice called a minga, or communal precisely how the concerns of contemporary indige-
work party. Labor mingas go back centuries in the Andes nous communities reach beyond their borders: “amid
and have often been described as spontaneous volun- debate and dissent, leaders push for programs at pro-
tary efforts. But Colloredo-Mansfeld found that con- vincial, national, and even international levels, linking
temporary minga membership has been joined to list residents’ interests to wider political projects. To insist
keeping, with the result that simply residing in a com- on either unanimity of support or individual freedom
munity is no longer sufficient for being considered a to opt out of any project at will is to hold indigenous
community member. Rather, your name must appear groups to a higher standard than other democracies”
on a communal list, kept by officers of the council, and (2009, 188).
when a minga is called, these officers note down who
shows up. Family members can substitute for one an-
other to remain on the list, and they earn minga points Global Politics in the
when someone shows up, but families who do not show
up will be dropped from the list unless they pay a fine.
Twenty-First Century
“The lists cut membership down to discrete moments of Although traditional research in political anthropol-
community development. Work in past projects may set ogy began among small-scale societies that might at
someone up as a potential participant in the next one, one time have functioned independently of their neigh-
but it does not guarantee it” (2009, 104). As a result, bors, the fact remains that these ethnographic studies
minga participation is not automatic but must be ne- were regularly carried out when these societies had been
gotiated: “The collective unpaid labor mobilized in a incorporated into European colonial empires. With the
minga is too tightly pledged to the construction of de- breakup of these empires, most colonial territories were
sired services, too carefully tracked by households, and transformed into independent nation-states. But as we
too systematically monitored by community authority saw in the case of Fiji, this transformation has been full
to be glibly described as a voluntary, cooperative effort” of tension and struggle, because different segments of
(2009, 107). the Fijian citizenry had different ideas about what that
Colloredo-Mansfeld uses the concept of vernacu- modern nation-state would look like, and who would
lar statecraft to explain how indigenous communities be in charge. Even as such struggles to affirm national
throughout Ecuador are now able to come together to sovereignty continue in many parts of the world, these
challenge state power. The 1937 Ley de Comuna may struggles have been complicated by global flows of
have been intended as a way of making indigenous capital, people, images, ideas, and ideologies. National
communities legible to the state. But indigenous com- boundaries have softened. In some cases, nation-states
munities that complied with the law also became more have given up claims to sovereignty over some of their
legible to one another. In Colloredo-Mansfeld’s view, citizens, but some of these same citizens, now moving
the tools of indigenous statecraft have provided the in the same globalized contexts, have found new ways
means for indigenous communities to ally with one of asserting their own territorial citizenship. Because
another regional and national federations, such as the power is productive, the results may be positive or nega-
Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of Ecuador, tive, depending on the specific case. At the end of the
or CONAIE. “In all this, differences and inequalities are second decade of the twenty-first century, however, the
not erased but organized, sometimes in lasting and in- globalized world is in a dangerous and unstable condi-
iquitous ways, sometimes in passing” (2009, 89). As a tion. While some have been able to benefit enormously
result, “When communities arrive at a consensus to act, from the growth of global capitalism, many others have
they frequently mobilize to oppose state policy, rather been left out. As inequalities widen, local leaders and
than speed its implementation. Furthermore, standard- their followers struggle to manage the consequences,
ized organizational forms allow opposition to scale with or in spite of the intervention of outside powers.
up quickly” (2009, 7). Colloredo-Mansfeld describes One major consequence has been the increased flows
how mingas were called out in 2006 to blockade the of migrants and refugees seeking to escape the violence.
northern entrance to the town of Peguche, in support Many long taken-for-granted notions about identity and
of a nationwide general strike called by CONAIE to belonging now seem up for grabs everywhere on Earth.
Chapter Summary
1. Contemporary cultural anthropologists are inter- along with capitalism, colonialism, and eventual
ested in how cultures change, but they are suspicious political decolonization. Nationalist thinking aims
of evolutionary schemes that give the impression to create a political unit in which national identity
that social arrangements could not have been—or and political territory coincide, and this has led to
could not be—other than the way they are. They various practices designed to force subordinate social
also point out that no society anywhere is static. groups to adopt a national identity defined primarily
The power that human beings have to reproduce or in terms of the culture of the dominant group. When
to change their social organization is an important subordinate groups resist, they may become the vic-
focus of political anthropology. tims of genocide or ethnic cleansing. Alternatively,
2. The ability to act implies power. The study of power the dominant group may try to recast its understand-
in human society is the domain of political anthro- ing of national identity in a way that acknowledges
pology. In most societies at most times, power can and incorporates cultural elements belonging to
never be reduced to physical force, although this is subordinate groups. If the creation of such an imag-
the Western prototype of power. Power in society ined hybrid identity is not accompanied by legal
operates according to principles that are cultural and political changes that support it, however, the
creations. As such, those principles are affected by end result may be political turmoil, as shown in the
history and may differ from one society to another. recent history of Fiji.
3. Western thinkers traditionally assumed that without 5. The flows unleashed by globalization have under-
a state, social life would be chaotic, if not impos- mined the ability of nation-states to police their
sible. They believed that people were free agents who boundaries effectively. Contemporary migrants
would not cooperate unless forced to do so. Anthro- across national borders have developed a variety of
pologists have demonstrated that power is exercised trans-border identities. Some become involved in
both by coercive and by persuasive means. They have long-distance nationalism that leads to the emer-
been influenced by the works of Antonio Gramsci gence of trans-border states claiming emigrants as
and Michel Foucault. Gramsci argued that coercion trans-border citizens of their ancestral homelands
alone is rarely sufficient for social control, distin- even if they are legal citizens of another state.
guishing coercive domination from hegemony. Rulers Some trans-border citizenries call for the establish-
always face the risk that those they dominate may ment of full-fledged transnational nation-states.
create counterhegemonic accounts of their experience Struggles of these kinds can be found all over the
of being dominated, acquire a following, and unseat globe, i ncluding in the contemporary states of the
their rulers. Foucault’s concept of governmentality ad- European Union.
dresses practices developed in Western nation-states 6. The contrasts between formal and substantive
in the nineteenth century that aimed to create and citizenship suggest that conventional notions of
sustain peaceful and prosperous social life by exercis- citizenship are breaking down in the context of glo-
ing biopower over persons who could be counted, balization. Diaspora communities of elite Chinese
whose physical attributes could be measured statisti- families have developed a strategy of flexible citizen-
cally, and whose sexual and reproductive behaviors ship that allows them to both circumvent and ben-
could be shaped by the exercise of state power. efit from different nation-state regimes. They seem to
4. Nation-states were invented in nineteenth-century subscribe to a postnational ethos in which their only
Europe, but they have spread throughout the world true loyalty is to the family business.
For Review
1. Define power and the three different kinds of power 3. Explain how power may be understood as physical
described by Eric Wolf. force or coercion.
2. What are the different theoretical orientations 4. Compare hegemony and domination.
and subject matters that have interested political 5. Why is hegemony a useful term for
anthropology over its history? anthropologists?
6. What does the perspective of political anthropol- 12. Summarize the key points concerning multicultural
ogy highlight about the history of nationalism in politics in contemporary Europe, with particular
Sri Lanka? attention to the different ways in which the United
7. What is biopower? Kingdom, France, and Germany deal
8. Following Foucault, how does governing a state with immigration.
differ from ruling a state? 13. How does ethnographic research illuminate the
9. Summarize how kinship affects politics in northern challenges faced by French Muslims who wish to
Thailand. contract a valid marriage?
10. What are hidden transcripts? Where do they come 14. What are everyday forms of peasant resistance?
from and how do they function? How does James Scott connect them with the
11. Summarize the argument in the text concerning the political relations of dominant and subordinate
powers of the weak, and illustrate your summary categories of people in “Sedaka,” Malaysia?
with references to the Tswana and Bolivian examples.
Key Terms
biopower 373 hidden transcripts 367 political trans-border state 379
diaspora 379 ideology 371 anthropology 364 transformist
domination 371 legal citizenship 380 postnational ethos 387 hegemony 376
flexible long-distance power 364 transnational
citizenship 385 nationalism 379 substantive nation-state 380
free agency 366 nation 376 citizenship 380 vernacular
trans-border statecraft 388
governmentality 373 nationality 376
citizenry 379
hegemony 371 nation-state 376
Suggested Readings
Arens, W., and Ivan Karp (eds.). 1989. Creativity of power: Keesing, Roger. 1983. ‘Elota’s story. New York: Holt, Rinehart
Cosmology and action in African societies. Washington, and Winston. The autobiography of a Kwaio Big Man, with
DC: Smithsonian Institution Press. Contains 13 essays interpretive material by Keesing. First-rate, very readable,
exploring the relationship among power, action, and human and involving.
agency in African social systems and cosmologies. Lewellen, Ted. 2003. Political anthropology, 3rd ed. New York:
Fogelson, Raymond, and Richard N. Adams (eds.). 1977. Praeger. The latest edition of a standard introductory text
The anthropology of power. New York: Academic Press. in political anthropology, covering leading theories, scholars,
A classic collection of 28 ethnographic essays on the varied and problems in the field.
ways power is understood all over the world. Also contains Vincent, Joan (ed.). 2002. The anthropology of politics. New
two important essays based on case studies. York: Wiley–Blackwell. An excellent collection of texts that
Herzfeld, Michael. 2009. Evicted from eternity: The restruc- illustrate the development of political anthropology over time
turing of modern Rome. Chicago: University of Chicago and showcase important achievements by influential politi-
Press. An extended study of the politics of the new Europe as cal anthropologists today.
experienced in one historic neighborhood in Rome.
13
What can anthropology teach
us about sex, gender, and
sexuality?
Cultural anthropologists have been interested in sex, gender, and sexuality since
the beginnings of anthropology as a discipline, but their preferred approaches
to these topics have changed over time, along with broader theoretical develop-
ments in the discipline and wider historical shifts in the world. This chapter fo-
cuses primarily on perspectives and concepts that have developed since the 1960s
and 1970s in Euro-American sociocultural anthropology. However, scholarship
and activism on issues surrounding sex, gender, and sexuality extend far beyond
the discipline of anthropology. As a result, anthropologists and other social sci-
entists have shared perspectives and borrowed concepts from one another. The
result, for sociocultural anthropologists, has been the production of a vast and
expanding body of ethnographic research exploring sex, gender, and sexuality
both in Euro-American societies and in societies outside the Western world.
CHAPTER OUTLINE
How Did Twentieth-Century How Do Anthropologists Understandings Concerning
Feminism Shape the Study Connections among Sex, Gender, and Sexuality?
Anthropological Study of Sex, Sex, Gender, Sexuality, and Female Sexual Practices
Gender, and Sexuality? the Body? in Mombasa
How Do Anthropologists How Do Anthropologists Study Male and Female Sexual
Organize the Study of Sex, Connections between Bodies Practices in Nicaragua
Gender, and Sexuality? and Technologies? Transsexuality and Same-Sex
How Are Sex and Gender How Do Anthropologists Study Desire in Iran
Affected by Other Forms Relations between Sex, Chapter Summary
of Identity? Gender, and Sexuality? For Review
How Do Ethnographers Study How Does Ethnography Key Terms
Gender Performativity? Document Variable Culture Suggested Readings
393
394 CHAPTER 13: WHAT CAN ANTHROPOLOGY TEACH US ABOUT SEX, GENDER, AND SEXUALITY?
How Did Twentieth-Century sparked by the movement to abolish racial slavery. After
women in the United States obtained the right to vote
Feminism Shape the in the early twentieth century, the struggle for women’s
Anthropological Study of Sex, rights lost momentum. But by the 1960s and 1970s, in
the wake of the Civil Rights Movement, a second-wave
Gender, and Sexuality? feminist movement rose up, challenging many remaining
forms of inequality between men and women. Second-
Some anthropologists would argue that twentieth-century wave feminists pointed out that even though Western
feminism was responsible for a series of pivotal transfor- societies were supposed to be democratic, and women
mations in social science scholarship. Feminism argues now had the right to vote, many domains of social life
that women and men are equally human and therefore continued to be organized in terms of patriarchy—that
that women are entitled to enjoy the same rights and priv- is, by the domination of men over women and children.
ileges as men. Feminists coined the term sexism (based on an
As a social movement in North America, the first analogy with racism) to describe the systematic sociocul-
wave of feminism emerged in the nineteenth century, tural structures and practices of inequality, derived from
patriarchal institutions, that continue to shape relations
between women and men. As with racism, sexism was
feminism The argument that women and men are equally human and
therefore that women are entitled to enjoy the same rights and privileges
seen to involve more than prejudiced individual beliefs
as men. alone; as a result, achieving full equality between women
patriarchy The domination of men over women and children. and men was understood to require not only changing
sexism The systematic sociocultural structures and practices of inequal- beliefs but also dismantling patriarchal institutions and
ity, derived from patriarchal institutions, that continue to shape relations practices.
between women and men (based on an analogy with racism).
A rallying cry for many second-wave feminists was
public/private divide A barrier that law and custom erected between
“private” domestic life in the family, conceived as “women’s place,” and public that “the personal is political.” These feminists con-
life, outside the family, conceived as the domain of men. fronted the public/private divide, a barrier that law and
FIGURE 13.1 Location of
s ocieties whose EthnoProfiles
appear in Chapter 13.
CUBA
DOMINICAN
REPUBLIC
Haiti
JAMAICA
Port-au- Santo
Haiti Kingston Prince Domingo
0 100 200 Caribbean Sea

Miles
How Did Twentieth-Century Feminism Shape the Anthropological Study of Sex, Gender, and Sexuality? 395
custom had erected between “private” domestic life in culture. Feminist anthropologists noted that most eth-
the family, conceived as “women’s place,” and public life, nographies, including those written by women, were
outside the family, conceived as the domain of men. based primarily on the views of male informants, even
Feminists pointed out that women were oppressed concerning matters pertaining to women. Thus, most
by domestic forms of patriarchy that were considered discussions of “the culture” of a group in fact portrayed
“private,” and thus understood to be matters beyond the culture from the viewpoint of men (often high-status
“public” reach of the law. Ostensibly, women’s husbands men). When women were discussed at all, it was usu-
or fathers both looked after women’s interests within ally in the context of marriage and the family, and the
private, male-headed households and protected women assumption seemed to be that women’s cultural roles
from the harsh effects of the public, male domain. How- as wives and mothers followed “naturally” from the
ever, women who sought education or employment out- biological facts of pregnancy and lactation. However,
side the home, or who lacked husbands or private homes Margaret Mead’s demonstration in the 1930s of the lack
altogether, found themselves at the mercy of hostile of correlation between biological sex and culturally ex-
public institutions that regularly discriminated against pected behaviors of males and females in society was
them. At the same time, women who stayed at home a well-known exception to this pattern (Figure 13.2).
were not guaranteed protection, because the public/ Building on Mead’s work, it became commonplace for
private divide allowed men to evade legal accountability cultural anthropologists to use the term sex to refer to
for physically abusing the women living in their pri- the physical characteristics that distinguish males from
vate households. Indeed, feminist activism around the females (for example, body shape, distribution of body
issue of spousal abuse spurred second-wave feminists to hair, reproductive organs, sex chromosomes).
create a battered-women’s movement, which has now
become global (Merry 2009).
Feminist struggles in their own societies prompted
sex The physical characteristics that traditionally distinguish males from
some anthropologists to rethink many long-held as- females (for example, body shape, distribution of body hair, reproductive
sumptions about the contributions of women to human organs, sex chromosomes.
Philippine Sea
Mount Hagen
INDONESIA Madang
Arafura Sea
Port
PAPUA Moresby
NEW GUINEA
0 250 500
Miles Coral Sea
Mombasa
Swahilis
Mount Hagen
SUDAN ETHIOPIA
Lake
Turkana
IA
AL
UGANDA
SO M
KENYA
Equator
Lake
Nyanza
Nairobi
INDIAN
OCEAN
TANZANIA Mombasa
0 100 200 300 Swahilis
Miles Pemba Island
a b
FIGURE 13.2 Cross-cultural research repeatedly demonstrates that physical indicators of sex difference do not allow us to p
redict
the roles that females or males may play in any particular society. In Otavalo, Ecuador, men were traditionally weavers (a), while
traditional Tzotzil weavers were women (b).
By contrast, they used the term gender to refer to the activities performed by men and women in a society. At
culturally constructed roles assigned to males or females, best, women might be seen as mediating between cul-
which varied considerably from society to society. The ture and nature, but women were always seen as closer to
distinction between sex and gender was an important nature than men, perhaps because women’s bodies were
theoretical breakthrough, and it became widely adopted so obviously bound up with the “natural” processes of
by anthropologists and other social scientists. At the pregnancy, childbirth, and lactation.
same time, the sex/gender distinction seemed to take for Ortner’s rather pessimistic conclusion was chal-
granted that even if there seemed to be a demonstrable lenged by other feminist anthropologists who adopted
lack of correlation between physical sex and the content Marxian perspectives, looking beyond symbolic systems
of gender roles, all societies universally distinguished of culture to consider male domination in the con-
women from men. Such a dual categorization has been text of wider social, political, and economic processes.
called a gender binary. Gayle Rubin (1975) argued that these wider processes
By the 1970s, some feminist anthropologists were shaped each society’s particular “sex/gender system,”
concerned that both the gender binary and male domi- and Eleanor Leacock (1983) argued that cases of male
nation of females might be universal. For example, many dominance in contemporary societies were less likely
human societies trace descent through women (see to reflect the original human condition than they were
Chapter 14), but no persuasive evidence has ever been to show forms of institutionalized gender inequality in-
found to suggest that there have ever been societies orga- fluenced by the spread of capitalism. Leacock used eth-
nized as matriarchies—that is, societies where women as nographic and historical evidence from North America
a group dominated men as a group. and South America, Melanesia, and Africa to show how
In 1972, Sherry Ortner published an article with the Western capitalist colonization had transformed egali-
title “Is Female to Male as Nature is to Culture?,” and her tarian precolonial indigenous gender relations into un-
answer to this question was “yes.” Her survey of a wide equal, male-dominated gender relations.
range of ethnographic and historical evidence suggested British social anthropologist Marilyn Strathern
to her that male dominance was rooted in a universal encountered further complexities when, as a second-
form of binary thinking that opposed male to female, wave feminist, she first went to Mount Hagen, in New
associated males with culture and females with nature, Guinea (EthnoProfile 13.1). In the 1970s and 1980s, some
and valued culture over nature, regardless of the actual ethnographers working in New Guinea were suggesting
that in New Guinea, as elsewhere, males dominated
females in order to control the reproductive powers of
women. This interpretation was supported by the views
gender The culturally constructed roles assigned to males or females,
which vary considerably from society to society. of influential French anthropologist Claude Lévi-Strauss,
gender binary A dual gender categorization separating all women from who claimed that linguistic communication, marriage
all men. negotiations, and economic transactions were all forms of
How Did Twentieth-Century Feminism Shape the Anthropological Study of Sex, Gender, and Sexuality? 397
are not conceived as self-contained, unique entities, but

EthnoProfile 13.1 rather as internally plural: “the singular person can be
imagined as a social microcosm” (1988, 13). This meant,
Mount Hagen Strathern c oncluded, that Melanesian persons are better
understood as “dividuals” rather than as “individuals.”
Region: Southeastern Asia
That is, each Melanesian person is seen as being made
Nation: Papua New Guinea (western highlands) up of parts contributed by relatives who were respon-
Population: 75,000 (1960s) sible for their coming into the world. These components
Environment: Forested mountain slopes, grassy plains persist and continue to connect them to their kin, over
the course of a lifetime. Importantly, these kin are both
Livelihood: Farming, pig raising
male and female, which means that every internally
Traditionally, some men of
plural Melanesian “dividual” has some male parts and
influence but no coercive
Philippine Sea
some female parts. Every Melanesian person is therefore
power; today, part of a more properly understood as androgynous, rather than
Mount Hagen
modern nation-state
INDONESIA
Madang
as either uniquely male or uniquely female. This means
For more information: that Melanesian androgyny will inevitably be misrepre-
Arafura Sea
Strathern, Marilyn. 1972.
sented by any analysis of gender that assumes the exis-
Women in between. London: Port
Moresby
Academic Press.
PAPUA
NEW GUINEA
tence of a universal gender binary and takes for granted
0 250 500 that persons are self-contained unique individuals.
Coral Sea
Miles
For example, Euro-Americans who accept a gender
binary tend to think of women as “naturally” nurturing:
they give birth to children and feed their offspring with
exchange controlled by men. Indeed, he argued, women mother’s milk. From a Western analytic perspective, it is
were the most valuable exchange good of all (Figure 13.3). precisely this exclusive power of women that men seek
In The Gender of the Gift (1988), Strathern chal- to control when they control the exchange of women in
lenged this interpretation, arguing that by impos- marriage. However, Strathern tells us, Melanesians see
ing Western ideas of this kind on Melanesian cultural neither nurturing nor feeding activities to belong exclu-
practices, Western anthropologists had misunderstood sively to women. For instance, she cites ethnographic ac-
Melanesian gender relations. First, Western anthropol- counts (such as the well-known case of the Trobrianders)
ogists had assumed that Western notions of individual- in which a pregnant woman’s husband is understood to
ity were universal; that is, that in all human societies,
every human individual comes into the world as a self-
contained, autonomous being with a unique identity. androgyny A condition in which an individual person possesses both male
In Melanesia, however, Strathern argued that persons and female characteristics.
FIGURE 13.3 Women working a

field in Mount Hagen, Papua New
Guinea.
“feed” the fetus growing inside her body with his semen; powers they lack. Rather, from a Melanesian perspective,
this is why pregnant women are encouraged to have fre- androgynous men are grappling with what she calls “the
quent sexual intercourse with their husbands. Another ex- problem of the multiple person—how both to act and
ample involves the initiation rites of people such as the to be the cause of the actions of others, and how thus
Melanesian Sambia, which traditionally involved inges- to ensure that one’s actions have indeed taken place”
tion by young male initiates of semen produced by the (1988, 336). Strathern’s exploration of “the problem of
older men who are initiating them: the semen they ingest the multiple person” provides a helpful framework for
nourishes and strengthens the initiates, helping them to situating more recent discussions of sex, gender, and sex-
grow and mature. Melanesians thus view the breasts of uality that do not presume the existence of a universal
women and the penises of men as analogous organs: both gender binary.
can produce fluids that nourish the young. These androgy- Two decades after its initial publication, follow-
nous capacities, however, are highlighted and downplayed ing much commentary and additional research, Sherry
in different ways in different Melanesian communities Ortner reconsidered the relations between gender and
and in different sociocultural contexts. power. She concluded that “recognizing egalitarianism
What difference does it make to begin with an un- is not as easy as it looks, that it is a matter of inter-
derstanding of humans as androgynous dividuals, rather pretation” (Ortner 2014, 358). Ortner observed that in
than as autonomous individuals divided into two “natu- her original 1972 paper, she had regarded all indica-
ral” kinds by a universal gender binary? In Melanesian tors of male privilege as equally significant, and equally
societies, does it even make sense to talk about such entrenched, within “cultures,” conceived as systematic,
phenomena as “male dominance” or “female submis- self-contained symbolic systems. By 1996, however, she
sion?” Strathern addressed this question and concluded had come to realize that not all gendered distinctions
that even though Melanesians understood gender very in a particular society were equally significant, and that
differently from Euro-Americans, certain features of tra- such inequalities might or might not be embedded in
ditional Melanesian gender relations nevertheless pro- larger social, economic, and political orders. Her un-
duced forms of imbalance that tend to favor males over derstanding of culture had also changed: by the end of
females. In the course of social life, men and women the twentieth century she noted, anthropologists had
alternated positions of agency with one another, some- begun to think differently about “cultures,” regarding
times being seen as responsible for making other per- them “as more disjunctive, contradictory and inconsis-
sons act, and sometimes being seen as acting in certain tent than I had been trained to think” (Ortner 2014,
ways as a consequence of the actions of others. For this 358) (see Chapter 8).
reason, she says, neither men nor women were perma-
nently subjugated to the will of the other gender. Men,
however, engaged with other men in the management
of large-scale ceremonial exchanges from which women
were excluded, but women did not engage in similar Organize the Study of Sex,
kinds of large-scale ritual activities with other women.
Strathern concluded: “In a double sense, then, the plu-
Gender, and Sexuality?
rality of men’s collective life may lead to men dominat- In the decades that followed the emergence of second-
ing women” (1988, 336). First, men strive for prestige wave feminism, cross-disciplinary collaboration (and
in the context of ceremonial exchanges, but find the rec- debate) about sex, gender, and sexuality diversified,
ognition of their achievements by women alone to be both theoretically and substantively. One practical con-
inadequate. Second, men who support one another in sequence has been ongoing discussion about what, in
ritual contexts may refuse to condemn a man who indi- fact, the “field” should be called. Although terms like
vidually attempts to dominate a woman to whom he is feminist anthropology are still used by some (e.g., Lewin
married, for example, by physically striking her. Women 2006), other scholars prefer to locate their work within
do not experience similar gender solidarity in ritual con- the field of women’s studies. In part, this reflects objec-
texts and cannot count on other women to support them tions raised in connection with the association of “femi-
in the same way. Consequently, “The single most effec- nism” with the white, middle-class perspectives of many
tive sanction at the disposal of a Hagen woman is bodily second-wave feminists; some women of color have pre-
removal of her person” (1988, 337). ferred to describe their analyses as womanist rather than
Nevertheless, Strathern insists that this kind of inter- “feminist” to emphasize the distinctiveness of the chal-
personal domination is misunderstood if it is viewed as lenges faced by women who do not enjoy white, middle-
an effort by males to control females whose reproductive class privileges. Many anthropologists and other social
How Do Anthropologists Organize the Study of Sex, Gender, and Sexuality? 399
scientists have supported the move to combine the study society itself and in the course of individual lifetimes. Eth-
of women, men, sex, gender, and sexuality in an inclu- nographic studies of issues affecting women far outnumber
sive field called gender studies. At the same time, not ethnographic studies of men and masculinities in different
all women’s studies scholars—anthropologists among societies, but this is changing, leading to new empirical dis-
them—have been convinced that folding women’s stud- coveries and theoretical innovations.
ies into gender studies was a good move to make. They One example is the work of Marcia Inhorn, a med-
are concerned that sinking women’s studies into gender ical anthropologist whose work in the Middle East
studies cannot but dilute the attention paid to serious began in the 1980s, with studies of how Egyptians
issues that women continue to face. This disagreement coped with infertility. At that time, she found that
remains unresolved, its consequences visible in the many men were unwilling to accept publicly that they
many different names given to departments and pro- (and not their wives) were responsible for the couple’s
grams in different universities that specialize in the study infertility, and their wives were willing to protect their
of women, men, sex, gender, and sexuality. husbands by not challenging this description. Inhorn
In any case, if one thinks of gender identities as also knew that a Muslim husband was traditionally
parts of a larger “sex/gender system,” studying women considered justified should he choose to divorce an in-
or men in isolation becomes immediately problematic. fertile wife. Nevertheless, she also found that Egyptian
In fact, scholarship by anthropologists and other social men of all social classes rarely exercised this option,
scientists contributed to the growth of men’s studies remaining for many years in childless marriages with
alongside women’s studies; and just as women’s studies wives whom they loved, and who loved them. Inhorn
scholars had found that there were many ways of being a called this phenomenon conjugal connectivity: “In the
woman, so too men’s studies scholars identified a range late 1980s, this was my first evidence that men were
of different ways of being a man, in different places and changing in the Middle East and . . . changing society
times; these were called different masculinities. with them” (2012, 58) (Figure 13.4).
Early efforts to understand masculinities in Western In subsequent research Inhorn has been able to chal-
societies stress large-scale structures of domination and lenge many stereotypes about Middle Eastern men that
subordination, not only of women to men, but of some became further exaggerated following the September 11,
men to other men. The starkness of earlier approaches has 2001, terrorist attacks in New York City. She observes that
been replaced by more nuanced understandings of how these stereotypes are not only the product of Western
men in different societies engage with ideas and practices
concerning masculinity, in our own and other parts of the
world. Indeed, recent ethnography shows not only how
men’s studies/masculinities Research that focuses on the many
men’s ideas about masculinity vary cross-culturally, but ifferent ways of being a man that can be identified in different places
d
how their views and practices change over time, both in the and times.
FIGURE 13.4 Contemporary
practices of conjugal connectivity
undermine patriarchal stereotypes
about the ways Middle Eastern
men relate to their wives and
families. This political activist in
Bahrain spends time with his wife
and children every weekend.
media and ethnographies written (mostly) by men; they of male birth control, men’s desires to live in nuclear
also draw on ideas expressed by Middle Eastern femi- family residences with their wives and children, and
nist scholars and on negative self-stereotypes that some men’s encouragement of daughters’ education. All
Middle Eastern men themselves continue to hold. Key of these masculine practices are, in fact, emerging in
features of these stereotypes include the idea that Middle the Middle East, but are rarely noticed by scholars or
Eastern men all aspire to be family patriarchs who dom- media pundits. (2012, 60)
inate their wives and children; that they are quick to It is precisely these kinds of emergent masculinities that
defend family honor to the point of killing individuals, she has encountered in her work on male infertility in
especially women, whom they believe have shamed their Egypt, Lebanon, and the United Arab Emirates. Inhorn
family; that they prefer to live together with other men locates her research within the anthropology of science,
who are related to them in the male line; and, finally, technology, and medicine, a burgeoning field of anthro-
that their female kin “buy into patriarchy. To receive the pology we introduced in Chapter 1, which has taken the
support of men in their natal families, they turn against anthropological perspective and ethnographic methods
in-marrying women in a cruel form of intragender pa- into scientific laboratories, medical clinics, and hospi-
triarchal rivalry” (2012, 49; emphasis in original). This tals in order to study the way that new technologies are
stereotype further insists that Middle Eastern women are being adopted by, and reshaping the lives of, people all
estranged from their husbands because their marriages over the world. Middle Eastern men are no exception,
are arranged, because husbands are permitted to have and the focus of anthropologists like Inhorn is on how
multiple wives, and because wives are expected to pro- assisted reproductive technology is becoming entangled
duce many children, which in turn requires husbands to with Middle Eastern cultural practices involving gender,
display extreme sexual potency. Large patriarchal fami- religion, and family. We will explore these matters more
lies are supposed to contribute to “tribalism”—primary fully in Chapter 14 (on kinship and marriage) and in
loyalty to the tribe over other political entities, such as Chapter 16 (on medical anthropology).
the state. Tribal conflicts are said to promote violence The concept of emergent masculinities is valuable
and militarism, which is said to be reinforced by Islam, a because it has the potential to undermine toxic and in-
religion that is regularly portrayed as promoting gender accurate gender stereotypes about men, while providing
inequality and encouraging fanaticism to the point of more accurate understandings of how men remake their
waging jihad, or “holy war,” against non-Muslims. ways of being men under changing circumstances. Such
Inhorn forcefully rejects this “extremely essentializ- efforts can also be seen in medical anthropologist Emily
ing and deeply vilifying” composite stereotype of Middle Wentzell’s work with male patients in the urology ward
Eastern men (2012, 50). Even if some features of this of a hospital in Cuernavaca, Mexico, between 2007 and
caricature “may, at times and in certain places, be ‘true’ 2008. The men Wentzell came to know were facing seri-
to the lives of some men,” Inhorn points out that data ous challenges to their ways of being men, as aging and
she has gathered over the past twenty years demonstrate, illness interfered with their sexual potency. In the context
on the contrary, that “masculinities in the Middle East, of the hospital, they were willing, even eager, to talk to
as elsewhere, are plural, diverse, locally situated, histori- her about such issues, which they believed they could not
cally contingent, socially constructed, and performed in openly discuss with anyone else, certainly not their wives
ways that require careful empirical inspection” (2012, or male doctors. Many of them had to come to terms with
50–51). Indeed, her research shows that Middle East- whether or not erectile difficulty (and the waning of pen-
ern men are coming to enact new kinds of masculinity, etrative sex) was putting their manhood at risk, and they
which she called emergent masculinities: “emergent mas- had to decide whether or not they were w illing to take
culinities encapsulate change over the male life course medication like Viagra in hopes of putting off that risk.
as men age; change over the generations as male youth Wentzell’s analysis offers a fine-grained examination of
grow to adulthood; and changes in social history that in- what she calls the “concrete mechanics of masculinity”
volve men in transformative social processes (e.g., male (2013, 184), as she shows how these men tinkered with
labor migration, the rise of companionate marriage, the ways of reformulating and enacting new ways of being
introduction of computers and the Internet into homes men, removing or adding elements to what she calls their
and workplaces)” (2012, 60). Practices of conjugal con- composite masculinities. She defines composite masculini-
nectivity are part of emergent masculinities in the Middle ties as “contingent and fluid constellations of elements
East, as are the following: that men weave together into masculine selfhoods. These
elements are drawn from the entire gamut of men’s life
Men’s desire to date their partners before marriage, worlds: their ideas and emotions, experiences, embodi-
men’s acceptance of condoms and vasectomy as forms ment, relationships, and context” (2013, 26).
How Do Anthropologists Organize the Study of Sex, Gender, and Sexuality? 401
Male sexual potency, and the ability of a man to lack of emotional openness. In Mexico, the origin of this
engage in penetrative sex, has played a central role in set of masculine traits is traditionally associated with
traditional understandings of Mexican manhood, which the Spanish conquistadors, whose rape of indigenous
is why the loss of this ability can be so threatening to women is said to have produced la raza (the “race”) of
a Mexican man. At the same time, Mexican masculin- Mexicans who possess mixed European and indigenous
ity has been negatively stereotyped in ways that com- ancestry. Many of the men Wentzell spoke with agreed
pare with the toxic stereotypes of Middle Eastern men that traits a ssociated with machismo have been passed
described by Inhorn. The Mexican stereotype, however, on to subsequent generations of Mexican men. At the
is rooted in a different culture and history. In Mexico, same time, they were often critical of these traits, either
as elsewhere in Latin America, masculinity is tradi- in themselves or in other men (such as their fathers),
tionally defined in terms of practices associated with and were struggling to assert new ways of being Mexican
machismo—literally, “maleness.” These practices include men who were free of such traits. This was especially the
displays of aggression, an obsession with virility, and case for younger married men, who were revising their
IN THEIR OWN WORDS
The Consequences of Being a Woman
Bonnie L. Hewlett is an anthropologist who has spent many years working with women in the Central African
Republic, women who told her they wanted to tell her their stories. One of these women she calls Blondine.
Blondine tells of her marriage.
After Issa [her first husband] left, my second husband, wife becomes like a sister and respects the first wife. If
Levi, saw me and wanted to marry me. He spoke so much they both have a good heart, they work together in the
he had no saliva in his mouth! I loved my second husband fields and help each other with the work in the house and
Levi. It was a good marriage, but over a long time I came it is good. But if the second wife is not obedient and re-
to lose respect for my husband. The most important feel- spectful, then there is war.
ing in a marriage is respect. If you love your husband, you After much hitting and fighting, we tried to reconcile
show him respect. But after some time of marriage, if he and for awhile we lived together, but when the second wife
drank a lot of embacko [moonshine], he hit me. One time came, our husband said, “You two wives! Do not fight!!”
my friend heard the fighting and she came and said, “Why When she’d come we worked together and prepared food
are you hitting your wife? Stop this!” After a few years in for the family and we’d eat together. But then Levi began
the marriage, Levi would drink and he’d talk and talk and to neglect me. He slept too much with the second wife
yell and start fights. Sometimes I’d yell back, but most and bought her clothes and shoes and not me. I grabbed
times I kept quiet until he fell asleep. Levi also n eglected him by the neck and said, “My husband! Why do you not
me, but not like the first husband, Issa. Levi searched for sleep with me? Tonight it is my turn!” When he came into
another wife. He did not ask me. I thought, “This can’t be, the second wife’s bedroom one night I grabbed his neck
not yet.” If he had asked me before, if he had said, “My and said, “No! You sleep with me, not her!” If the husband
wife, can I search for another wife?” and explained to me, organizes it good, it works so well! But if he does not, if
I would have said yes. But he married another woman he sleeps three nights with one and two nights with the
and neglected me. He did not give me money or food and other it does not work! Even so, when I heard them speak
spent most of his nights with his other wife. I was so mad on the bed at night to each other, I listened and it made
because he did not ask. I hit him. When Levi brought in me so angry! I was jealous. I suffered and because of his
the second wife, I hit her too. One time a man will look for neglect I divorced him.
another wife. Maybe because the other woman is beauti- After Levi left, life was so difficult. I was alone with two
ful and he says to himself, “I will marry her.” If he tells the children.
first wife, “Is it okay? She can help you with your work,”
then sometimes it is good to have two wives. The second Source: Hewlett 2013, 163–64.
ideas about family life and relations with their wives, in behavior of a young man was replaced by “responsible”
response to many of the same globalizing processes that forms of “mature masculinity,” involving closer emo-
Inhorn detected in the Middle East. tional relationships with wives, children, and grandchil-
Older men—working-class men in particular—had dren. In such composite masculinities, memories of past
grown up attempting to perform masculinity in ways sexual conquests were adequate and did not play a cen-
that matched the traditional stereotype. This had meant, tral role in a future focused on mature domesticity.
for many of them, expressing virility by pursuing many Wentzell’s study focused on composite masculinities,
women, refusing to be faithful to their wives, drinking but she points out that the same approach can be taken
alcohol to excess, and working hard. Many believed that to composite femininities, which she sometimes explored in
as long as they continued to be good providers—taking relation to the wives of some of the men whom she met
care of wives and children economically—they were in the hospital. Johnny’s wife Mayra, for example, evalu-
fulfilling their duty as husbands and fathers. Their wives ated his past performance of manhood as a failure: he had
and children did not always agree. And when age and ill been a poor provider, and he had abandoned her to sup-
health began to undermine their ability to pursue sexual port twelve children and survive a stillbirth on her own
affairs or earn money, they were challenged to recon- while he spent his earnings on other women, enjoying
sider what it meant to be a man. himself in the United States. Viewing Johnny’s surgery as
The older men Wentzell spoke with, however, were just recompense for his past behavior, she “asserted her
not faced with an either-or choice. Instead, they inven- own composite femininity, which foregrounded piety, re-
toried the various attributes they associated with an ac- sponsibility, and the suffering often associated with ‘good’
ceptable Mexican performance of manhood, and deleted womanhood in Roman Catholic contexts. . . . Mayra’s mix-
or replaced some attributes in response to the changing ture of physical caregiving and narrative critique seemed
circumstances of their lives. For instance, a sixty-eight- unconsciously strategic, reinforcing their couplehood
year-old man whom Wentzell calls Johnny considered through the embodied practice of care but putting her
himself to have been both economically and sexually suc- in control of the story” (2013, 30). In both these cases,
cessful, working as a chef in United States and engaging Wentzell demonstrates that individuals’ composite gender
in penetrative sex with many women other than his wife. identity incorporates many features shaped by the his-
When Wentzell met him, however, he was in the hospi- torical, economic, political, and sociocultural settings
tal, facing the surgical removal of his cancerous penis. in which they live their lives. This sense of “composite-
Prior to the surgery, Johnny was despondent, convinced ness” in gender identity has long been of concern to other
that his manhood would disappear when his penis was gender theorists, as we will see later.
removed. After the surgery, however, his mood was much
more positive. He had decided that if he kept the true
nature of his surgery a secret, focused on his being able to
return to work once he was healthy, and substituted his
How Are Sex and Gender
memories of past sexual potency for expectations of future Affected by Other Forms
sexual affairs, he could hang on to a viable sense of man-
hood. Put another way, he was crafting an emerging form
of Identity?
of masculinity by tinkering with the composite elements As feminist scholars struggled to debunk supposedly uni-
of which it might be constructed (2013, 2). versal “truths” about women, they came to realize that
Johnny’s loss of his penis was extreme. But many “women” itself is a problematic category. This became clear
other older men Wentzell met, experiencing aging, ill- as comparative research revealed ways that other forms
ness, and increasing erectile difficulty, had similar wor- of identity, such as race and class, were deeply entangled
ries about losing their manhood. In their cases, one with the ways women (and men) came to understand the
possible solution might have been drugs like Viagra, meaning of gender. For instance, second-wave feminism
Cialis, or Levitra, which, at the time of her research, were had been energized by many white, middle-class women
being heavily marketed in Mexico as medication to treat whose experiences of women’s o ppression—being denied
what was coming to be called “erectile dysfunction,” or professional careers in the public sphere, being confined to
ED. Wentzell initially thought that such drugs would roles as wives and mothers—were shaped by race and class
have been seized upon by older men for whom sexual privilege. But nonwhite feminists pointed out that non-
potency was central to their composite masculinities. white working-class women experienced oppression very
However, many older men were not interested in taking differently—frequently as single mothers forced to work
the drugs. Their reasons varied but often included a re- outside the home in dead-end jobs. These differences were
vised composite masculinity in which the reckless virile the consequence not simply of male domination, but also
How Are Sex and Gender Affected by Other Forms of Identity? 403
of structured racial and class oppression, a phenomenon

now called intersectionality. EthnoProfile 13.2
To recognize the reality of intersectionality is to rec-
ognize that every woman has multiple identities that Haiti
intersect and complicate each other; taken together,
Region: Caribbean
they locate each woman differently (and, sometimes,
surprisingly) with respect to other women (or men). Nation: Haiti
Thus, in some settings, a middle-class African A merican Population: 7,500,000
woman might enjoy class-based privileges denied to a Livelihood: Rough, mountainous terrain, tropical to
working-class white woman, whereas in other settings, semi-arid climate. About 80% of the population lives in
the working-class white woman’s race would allow her extreme poverty
privileges that would override the class status of the Political organization:
middle-class A frican American woman. Multiparty, nation-state
CUBA
At the same time, it was also becoming increasingly For more information: DOMINICAN
Farmer, Paul. 1992. AIDS and REPUBLIC
clear that the content of a woman’s gender identity was Haiti
accusation: Haiti and the JAMAICA
often shaped by cultural features used to define different Port-au- Santo
geography of blame. Berkeley, Kingston Prince Domingo
ethnic, religious, or national groups, and to distinguish University of California Press.
them from one another. For instance, a woman might 0 100 200 Caribbean Sea
feel that submitting to her husband was part of what it Miles
meant to be a proper woman in the religious commu-

nity to which they both belonged, and that to challenge
male domination by leaving a husband who physically a “racial” divide between colonizer and colonized that
“chastised” her could call into question both her proper ranked “white” colonial males above “nonwhite” indig-
gender identity and her religious identity. enous males. At the same time, by violently punishing any
Anthropologists have explored dynamics of inter- hint of sexual involvement between indigenous males and
sectionality in different field settings, revealing new pat- “white” women, while allowing themselves unrestricted
terns that show how gender may become entangled with sexual access to indigenous women, white male colonizers
other forms of identity. For example, Roy Richard Grinker “feminized” indigenous males—constructing them as less
found that male village-dwelling Lese householders in the than fully male because they had been unable to defend
Democratic Republic of Congo distinguished themselves either their land or “their women” from more powerful
from their forest-dwelling Ewe pygmy trading partners white outsiders. Stoler points out that white male coloniz-
using the same unequal gender categories that they used ers struggled to shore up these racialized and gendered co-
to distinguish themselves from their wives. He made sense lonial hierarchies whenever indigenous males organized
of this process by drawing on an observation by Marilyn politically in ways that threatened colonial rule.
Strathern concerning the nature of gender symbolism. In Intersectionality can also be seen at work in the
The Gender of the Gift, Strathern defines gender broadly history of the Haitian state. Haiti began as a colony of
as “those categorizations of persons, artifacts, event se- France and achieved its independence following a suc-
quences, and so on which draw upon sexual imagery— cessful revolt of black slaves against their white colonial
upon the ways in which the distinctiveness of male and masters (see EthnoProfile 13.2). As Nina Glick Schiller
female characteristics make concrete people’s ideas about and Georges Fouron (2001) explain, however, “Haiti has
the nature of social relations” (1988, ix). From the point its own particular and mixed messages about gender that
of view of Lese men, Grinker explained, both Efe trading give to women and men both rights and responsibilities
partners and Lese wives were subordinate to Lese men be- to family and nation” (133). Women appear in official
cause both categories of persons had been incorporated stories about the Haitian Revolution, and some of them
into the households of Lese men (Grinker 1994). The Lese are even portrayed as heroines; most, however, are usu-
are not the only people who make use of gender imag- ally portrayed as silent wives and mothers. Moreover, the
ery in this way. Anthropologist Ann Stoler (1997) stud- founders of the Haitian state borrow from their former
ied the effects of Dutch colonialism in Indonesia and has French masters “a patriarchal idea of family as well as a
compared it with colonialism elsewhere. She has shown
that the relationship between white European colonizers
and the nonwhite indigenous males they colonized was
intersectionality The notion that institutional forms of oppression orga-
regularly conceived in terms both of “racial” inequality nized in terms of race, class, and gender are interconnected and shape the
and of gender inequality. That is, colonizers constructed opportunities and constraints available to individuals in any society.
How Do Ethnographers
Study Gender Performativity?
As we saw above, anthropologists (and others) who dis-
tinguish sex from gender long ago rejected the idea that
a person’s gendered beliefs or behavior were somehow
directly caused by that person’s biological sex. However,
viewing gendered cultural behavior as the unproblem-
atic consequence of conformity to cultural expectations
could not explain how people coped with the compli-
cations created by intersectionality. Yet women—and
men— regularly manage the contradictions that race,
FIGURE 13.5 The founders of the Haitian state borrowed class, gender, and other identities create in the course
from their former French masters an idea of gender that gave
of everyday life. This success suggested to many observ-
men control of family life. Women belonged to the Haitian
nation, but until recently Haitian women who married foreigners that it was misleading to think of culturally expected
ers lost their Haitian citizenship and their children would not gender “roles” simply as obligations to which individu-
legally be recognized as Haitian. als learned to conform. Instead, these roles looked more
like scripts that individuals learned to perform; and part
civil code that gave men control of family life, wealth, and of each performance involved deciding which features of
property” (Schiller and Fouron 2001, 134). Women be- which identities to highlight or downplay in any given
longed to the Haitian nation, but “state officials and the social interaction. Understanding cultural identity as
literate elite envisioned women as able to reproduce the something people perform compels anthropologists to
nation only in conjunction with a Haitian man” (134). think of individuals as agents who have mastered, and are
Until 1987, Haitian women who married foreigners lost capable of executing, a range of skills appropriate to the
their Haitian citizenship. High-status Haitian women are public display of particular identities before particular au-
those who are supported economically by their Haitian diences (Butler 1990). Thus, displays of gender identity
husbands and who stay home with their children. Schil- are examples of gender performativity; that is, gender is
ler and Fouron argue that many Haitians “still believe reconceived as something we “perform” or “enact,” some-
that to live by these values is to uphold not only family thing we “do,” not something we “are” (Figure 13.6).
but also national honor” (135) (Figure 13.5). Put otherwise, no single identity fully captures the
By contrast, Haitian women who cannot live by these inner life of any individual. From the perspective of per-
values are accorded low status. On the one hand, this means formativity, culture can also be reconceived less as a set
that they are not confined to the domestic sphere. On the of imposed beliefs and behaviors and more as a set of
other hand, for this very reason, they are assumed to be resources—artifacts, actions, and interpretations—that
always sexually available. “Men in Haiti see women alone can be deployed by individuals in order to enact before
or in the workplace as willing and able to trade their sexu- others the identities to which they lay claim. The notion
ality for other things they need. Men may ask rather than of performativity has been widely applied by anthropol-
take, but often they are making an offer that women cannot ogists and others to describe the way humans perform
afford to refuse” (Schiller and Fouron 2001, 139–40). not only gender but also other forms of social identity,
As we will see in Chapter 16, this describes well the struc- such as race or ethnicity (see Chapter 15).
tural constraints with which the young Haitian woman Anthropologist Roger Lancaster explored the perfor-
Acéphie Joseph had to contend; options open to women mativity of gender and sexual identity in the course of
of higher social position were not available to her. To un- his fieldwork in Managua, Nicaragua, in the 1980s, as he
derstand why, an exploration of intersectionality—of race studied the effects of the Sandinista Revolution on the
and sex, but also of class—provides insights into the con- lives of working people. While he was there, Lancaster
nections between all these dimensions of social identity learned about cochones. Cochón could be translated into
and experiences of social inequality. Issues of social class English as “homosexual,” but that would be highly mis-
will be further explored in Chapter 15. leading. As Lancaster discovered, working-class Nicara-
guans interpret sexual relations between men differently
from North Americans; we will explore these matters
gender performativity The concept that gender is something we more fully later in the chapter. At this point, however, we
“perform” or “enact,” something we “do,” not something we “are.” want to discuss how Lancaster’s discovery also prompted
How Do Ethnographers Study Gender Performativity? 405
FIGURE 13.6 Feminist theorist

Judith Butler receives an award in
Frankfurt Main, Germany, in 2012.
his recognition of the flexibility and ambiguity surround- Lancaster entertained a series of possible, yet con-
ing the performance of gender and sexuality in Nicaragua. tradictory, interpretations of that performance. Was
Lancaster was present one day when his comadre Aida Guto mocking or embracing femininity? Was he engag-
brought a new blouse home (see Chapter 14 for a discus- ing in homosexual flirtation with Lancaster, or was he
sion of compadrazgo). After she showed it to everyone, her masking same-sex desires by his over-the-top mimicry?
younger brother, Guto, picked it up and used it as a prop Were he and his audience making fun of gender norms,
in an impromptu performance (1997, 559–60): or celebrating them, or simply blowing off steam?
Lancaster recalled that he had been drawn into Guto’s
With a broad yet pointed gesture, Guto wrapped him-
self in the white, frilly blouse, and began a coquettish performance in the role of “straight man,” and he specu-
routine that lasted for 15 or 20 minutes. . . . [He] added lated that perhaps Guto may have playfully “flirted” with
a purse and necklace to his ensemble. Brothers, sisters, him in an effort to reveal Lancaster’s own sexual prefer-
even his mother, egged on this performance, shouting ences. At that time, Lancaster had not yet explicitly dis-
festive remarks . . . punctuated by whistles, kissing noises. closed his own identity as a gay man, and he wondered
Someone handed Guto a pair of clip-on earrings. With whether his friends used Guto’s performance to test their
cheerful abandon, he applied a bit of blush and a touch suspicions. Still, this seemed an inadequate explanation:
of makeup. His performance intensified, to the pleasure “As I was constantly reminded, my own conceptions
of the audience. After disappearing for a moment into of homosexuality did not exactly match up with those
the bedroom, he returned wearing a blue denim skirt. of my informants. It is not even quite clear to me what
“Hombrote” (Big Guy), he shot in my direction, nuanc- would have constituted a ‘queer’ response on my part
ing his usually raspy voice as if to flirt with me. I was . . . when plural others are playing, ambiguities multiply
astonished and no doubt my visible surprise was part geometrically” (1997, 562).
of the clowning of the evening. “See, Roger,” Aida kept
Even though Lancaster could not provide a definitive
remarking, “Look, Guto’s a cochón, a queer.”
explanation of what Guto’s performance was all about, he
What was going on here? When Lancaster later tried to insists that “play is not a trivial thing, and the simultane-
interview those involved, he says, “no one would give ously destructive and creative powers of laughter should
me a straight answer” (1997, 560; emphasis in original). never be underestimated” (1997, 561). This realization
One participant laughingly suggested that perhaps Guto led him to reflect more deeply on what transvestism—the
was a cochón. But Lancaster was puzzled because noth- practice of dressing and taking on mannerisms associated
ing in Guto’s previous behavior, nor in the behavior of
others who knew him, had suggested that he claimed or
was accorded such an identity. Still, Guto’s performance transvestism The practice of dressing and taking on mannerisms
of “femininity” had been extremely skillful. associated with a gender other than one’s own.
with a gender other than one’s own—might mean, both through some process of physical modeling, sensuous
in Nicaragua (where cochones traditionally perform experimentation, and bodily play” (1997, 565). All
during the festival of Carnival in the manner Guto en- transvestic performers are not equally skilled, of course,
acted) and perhaps elsewhere in the world (Figure 13.7). but how their performances are judged varies, depend-
In Lancaster’s view, a performance like Guto’s in- ing on context. Lancaster points out that in the context
volves more that simple cross-dressing. Instead, it dis- of North American drag balls, the performer may some-
plays an awareness of the ambiguities that accompany times be evaluated positively by convincingly portraying
the multiple, intersecting identities that all people juggle another gender role, but in other contexts the drag per-
in the course of everyday life. For instance, the building formance fails unless it demonstrates an ironic parody of
blocks of transvestic performance can be found in cases that other gender role.
of reported speech: when men repeat women’s words Lancaster concluded that Guto’s performance in-
while mimicking a high-pitched voice; or when women volved the portrayal of a stock Carnival figure in a
adopt male ways of talking, as did a Nicaraguan woman manner that was both hostile and affectionate, and
he knew who, after the death of her husband, told her that this performance involved “play acting,” display-
children, “I am the head of the family now . . . the ing Guto’s enjoyment of “physical abandon, visceral
mother and the father and what I say goes” (1997, 563). mirth, creative frivolity” (1997, 555–56). He observed
Lancaster uses the term transvestics to encompass ev- that “The pleasures we partook in Guto’s performance
erything from these everyday forms of gender mimicry were very much in the spirit of Carnival, ‘the festival of
to fully fledged performances that cite not only gendered disguises’ ” (1997, 566). Indeed, cochones are much
speech but also gendered forms of dress and bodily move- admired for their transvestic performances, but not all
ment: “no one learns (or unlearns) anything—a gender the men who cross-dress in Carnival are cochones, and
or a sexuality or an identity or even a meaning—except telling them apart is not easy. As a festival, Carnival in-
volves turning the world upside down, and this involves
upending a range of stereotypes about gender, sexual-
ity, race, class, and ethnicity (1997, 566). As our previ-
ous discussion of intersectionality shows, we agree with
Lancaster that we humans “play our games freely, but
we are not free to play them just any way we choose”
(1997, 568). Still, to acknowledge the centrality of play
to human existence is to acknowledge that “ambiguity
lives at the core of identity. . . . Even the most consoli-
dated self retains in the senses a perpetually-available re-
source for going beyond the self” (1997, 570). Lancaster
suggests that play of this kind needs to be understood
“as both a human universal and as a base condition of
culture” (1997, 568). This view resonates well with our
earlier discussion of play in Chapter 10, and also echoes
Strathern’s discussion of dividual selves, which will be
further explored in Chapter 16.
Study Connections among
Sex, Gender, Sexuality,
and the Body?
An important trend in sociocultural anthropology in
recent decades has been attention to “the body,” an
object of study that is of obvious relevance to discussions
FIGURE 13.7 A Nicaraguan cowboy poses with a cross- of sex, gender, and sexuality. To understand the growth
dressing male during Carnival. of interest in the body, it is important to remember that
How Do Anthropologists Study Connections among Sex, Gender, Sexuality, and the Body? 407
for most of the twentieth century, sociocultural anthro-

pology consistently downplayed human individuals
(and their individual bodies) and highlighted struc-
tures and patterns that characterized the social groups
to which individual humans belonged. Such a strategy
could be justified because Euro-American audiences,
deeply committed to the cultural value of individual-
ism (especially in the United States), tended to disregard
the powerful ways that broader, shared social structures
and cultural patterns shaped the life chances of indi-
viduals in society. The stress on individualism in Euro-
American culture is justified by the taken-for-granted
endorsement of the Enlightenment notion of the social
contract. This view, developed in the writings of politi-
cal thinkers such as Thomas Hobbes, argued that in the
distant past, there was no human society, and individu-
als lived in a “state of nature,” engaged in an ongoing
war of “all against all.” According to this account, in-
dependent human individuals eventually agreed to a
social contract in which they would surrender some of
their individual liberty in order to create a shared gov-
ernment that would protect the weak from the strong.
Anthropologist Marshall Sahlins long ago argued that
“The development from a Hobbesian state of nature
is the origin myth of Western capitalism” (1976, 53).
All the same, the social contract continues to be taken as
an unquestioned foundational assumption by many po- FIGURE 13.8 French philosopher Michel Foucault.
litical philosophers and ordinary people in contempo-
rary capitalist societies. As a result, persistently drawing well-being of citizens via medical interventions such as
attention to ongoing power-wielding supra-individual inoculations have allowed state institutions to increase the
sociopolitical structures has long been viewed as an im- numbers of healthy individuals ready for the labor force,
portant task for historians, anthropologists, and other or the numbers of healthy recruits eligible to be drafted
social scientists. into the armed forces. Finally, Foucault argues, societies
But individual bodies were never entirely ignored. have devised ways of persuading individuals to bring
Anthropologist Mary Douglas famously argued that their own bodily activities into conformity with social
“The social body constrains the way the physical body is expectations, a phenomenon he calls “the care of the
perceived” (1970, 93), and she drew on ethnographic and self.” Foucault’s theoretical framework has informed work
historical data to show how ritual preoccupations with in many areas of anthropological research but has had
bodily orifices (e.g., food taboos or menstrual taboos, particular resonance for those scholars—such as Foucault
or restrictions governing sexual intercourse) regularly himself—who were concerned with documenting the
mirrored preoccupations with the social vulnerabilities ways these practices of social intervention and regulation
faced by a society in relation to its enemies. In recent were mobilized to classify and produce particular forms
years, anthropologists have turned to the work of Michel of sexual embodiment over time (Foucault 1980, 1990,
Foucault (Figure 13.8), whose writings highlight the way 1988).
social power, particularly in modern Western societies, Anthropologists have traditionally understood that
acts on individual bodies. Social institutions like schools human beings are plastic organisms who are open to the
and armies regulate the actions of individual bodies in molding processes of socialization and enculturation. This
order to render them more efficient in the performance resonates with Foucault’s understanding of the human
of particular skills or practices. At the same time, modern body as a docile body; that is, a body that is easily taught,
states depend on statistical information about their or, in Foucault’s terms, a body “that may be subjected,
populations in order to devise ways of regulating those used, transformed, and improved” through “disciplinary
populations, engaging in what Foucault calls biopolitics methods” that apply “an uninterrupted, constant coer-
(see Chapter 12). For example, campaigns to improve the cion” of bodily activities, making possible “the meticulous
control of the operations of the body” (1995, 136, 137). with what she saw as a potentially more promising poli-
As we observed earlier, however, conceiving of human tics based on affinity (i.e., promoting political alliances
bodies as nothing more than passive, inert matter that among those who might claim different identities, but
can unresistingly be shaped by sociocultural condition- who nonetheless shared some partial connections re-
ing raises difficulties. Equally challenging have been liberal garding some issues that might allow them to bridge
Enlightenment views that equate human agency with the their differences). Relations of affinity were a variety of
exercise of rational deliberation and choice alone. Twenty cyborg relations, because they joined unlike entities to-
years ago, feminist philosopher Elizabeth Grosz (1995) gether, but promised political potency that promoted
challenged such views by drawing attention to the experi- hope. Her model of feminist alliances based on affinity
ence and forms of consciousness that derived from mate- was the set of alliances that produced the hybrid category
rial processes unique to female bodies, from menstruation of women of color: although they might be divided by eth-
through menopause, exploring the implications of these nicity or class, all women of color have experienced the
experiences for understanding the connections between sex consequences of being nonwhite, and have been politi-
and embodiment. More recently, theorists in anthropology cally effective by coming together on that basis.
and elsewhere have drawn attention to the ways in which
affect (visceral arousal, emotion, or feeling) is not opposed
to rational thought but is in fact entwined with thought in
processes of human meaning-making.
Some of this research has focused on how individuals Study Connections between
experience visceral feelings of desire that are at odds with
cultural ideologies about gender and sexuality. One sug-
Bodies and Technologies?
gestion is that these forms of affect have the potential to As we observed in Chapter 1, Haraway’s cyborg thinking
disrupt ideologies concerning sexuality, making room for helped found the field of science studies and led to the
the development of alternative corporeal relations between development of cyborg anthropology, an area of special-
individuals. Theoretical approaches of this kind offer ways ization in which anthropologists focus attention on the
of bringing material bodies back into discussions of sex, proliferating cybernetic connections between humans
gender, sexuality, and human agency, without reducing and machines in contemporary societies. Such connec-
bodily feelings to genetic or hormonal mechanisms. tions can be found everywhere today, from computer-
Other feminists have explored the connection be- ized management of large informational databases in
tween the body and technology. Particularly influential government and private industry, to online computer
in this connection was Donna Haraway’s “Cyborg Mani- gaming, to your personal relationship with your smart
festo” (1991). A cyborg is a cybernetic organism, part phone. Science studies in anthropology are often located
machine and part living organism. within the anthropology of science, technology, and
While cyborgs have long been portrayed as monsters medicine. As we saw earlier, this is the disciplinary loca-
in science fiction, Haraway argued persuasively that all tion of medical anthropologists like Marcia Inhorn and
humans—women and men alike—were being increas- Emily Wentzell, whose research regularly involves the
ingly drawn into alliances with machines in the contem- complex ways that human organisms are entangled with
porary world, for good and for ill. Haraway recognized technologies. Furthermore, as the work of Marcia Inhorn
the negative side of human–machine connections in cy- shows, to study varieties of assisted reproduction as an
bernetically managed forms of economic production, anthropologist is simultaneously to study sex, gender,
but she refused to condemn technology as contrary to and sexuality, paying attention to the way humans and
all the needs and goals of feminists. On the contrary, she nonhumans, organisms and tools, as well as the wider
argued that thinking in terms of cyborgs could be pro- social institutions and processes that support them, are
ductive for progressive feminist purposes, particularly regularly brought together in the attempt (frequently suc-
as a way of dealing with the conflicts generated by the cessful) to create biological offspring for infertile couples.
politics of identity among differently located groups of In the past, medicine and technology were not viewed as
women. She contrasted the isolating relations promoted having any intrinsic connection to the “natural” biologi-
by politics based on identity (i.e., promoting political cal processes, such as human reproduction, and the fail-
solidarity among those who shared the “same” identity) ure of this natural process to produce living offspring was
understood as equally “natural.” Today, however, in all
parts of the world, individuals and couples (increasingly,
affect Visceral arousal, emotion, or feeling. same-sex couples) who want children of their own, but
cyborg A cybernetic organism, part machine and part living organism. who are unable or unwilling to adopt, may now call on a
How Do Anthropologists Study Relations between Sex, Gender, and Sexuality? 409
variety of complex medical technologies and institutions, However, many adults who underwent these interven-
from sperm banks and egg banks to fertility clinics that tions in childhood have publicly declared that their own
perform procedures like in vitro fertilization for them- personal biographies have been far from “normal.” Some
selves, or for a female surrogate who has agreed, for a fee, have become activists who urge physicians and parents
to gestate “their” embryo for them. In addition, forms of to delay or avoid such surgeries on infants altogether, in
prenatal testing such as amniocentesis are now standard order to spare these children the surgical disfigurement
technological interventions in pregnancies that may be and loss of sexual feeling they experienced (Karkazis
otherwise uncomplicated. (We will explore further some 2008). The issues are complex, but one thing is clear: the
of the consequences of assisted reproduction in Chapter statistical frequency with which infants with ambiguous
14, in the context of kinship and relatedness.) genitalia are born means that assigning newborns a sex is
When cyborg thinking asks us to consider connec- far from self-evident or unproblematic, and is powerfully
tions between “natural” organisms and “cultural” tech- shaped by the cultural expectations and social practices
nologies, this inevitably blurs the boundaries between of parents and physicians. This evidence reinforces Judith
nature and culture. However, close inspection of that Butler’s well-known insistence that sex is as much a con-
which is considered “natural” can also lead to the blur- struction of culture as is gender (Butler 1990).
ring of boundaries that once seemed clear-cut. As we saw In this context, it is useful to reflect on a phenom-
earlier, at one time, anthropologists agreed that “sex,” enon Roger Lancaster described at the conclusion of
while distinct from culturally shaped “gender,” was a his discussion of Guto’s performance: namely, Guto’s
“natural” physical attribute clearly visible on the body, to “breasts.” Lancaster explained: “After adolescence,
be determined by inspection at birth (i.e., males have pe- Guto, like some other boys in his extended family, had
nises and females have vaginas) or at puberty (i.e., males begun to grow small breasts. His older brother Char-
grow beards and females grow breasts and start to men- lie claimed that his own nipples sometimes produced
struate). However, this way of classifying bodies, based on leche, milk, as I discovered one day when I encountered
the presumption of a “natural” gender binary, turns out him, concentratedly squeezing his nipples and asked
to be problematic. For one thing, the determination of him what he was doing” (1997, 572). What could
the sex of newborns by visual inspection is by no means have been responsible for this development? Lancaster
as straightforward as it may seem. Developmental biol- could not know, but he speculated that perhaps the
ogist Anne Fausto-Sterling reports that “about one in a growth of breasts on Guto and Charlie might have been
hundred infants is born without a consistent body sex” stimulated by exposure to pesticides in the country-
(2014, 313). That is, infants’ patterns of sex chromosomes side, since some pesticides, when they decompose, can
(XX for females, XY for males) may not correspond to affect human bodies the way hormones do. This kind
the expected outward appearance of their genitals (an XX of fleshly malleability, which seems to carry meanings
baby may have an enlarged clitoris and fused labia, an XY about our sex, gender, or sexuality, is what Lancaster
baby may have a tiny penis) or with their internal gonads calls “the transvestism of the body” (1997, 572). Guto
(i.e., two ovaries for females, two testes for males). and his brother managed these bodily changes by un-
Individuals who possess ambiguous genitalia have dergoing breast reduction surgery shortly before Guto’s
been called intersex, although many prefer to describe Carnival-esque performance with Aida’s blouse.
their condition as the result of a disorder of sexual
development.
Medical scientists are able to identify a number of de-
velopmental processes that can produce atypical genita-
lia in infants, some of which are associated with ongoing Study Relations between Sex,
risks to the individual’s health; however, many newborns
with ambiguous genitalia face no such health risks. Still,
Gender, and Sexuality?
infants with ambiguous genitalia may cause great anxi- Minimally, sexuality refers to the ways in which people
ety for their parents, which has led to the elaboration of experience and value physical desire and pleasure in the
standard medical interventions in the United States soon context of sexual intercourse.
after the birth of such infants. Decisions are made about
the newborn’s sex assignment (and the gender in which
the child will be reared), and then surgery is performed intersex/disorder of sexual development Individuals who possess
ambiguous genitalia; many who experience this condition prefer to describe
to bring the external appearance of the infant’s genita- it as a disorder of sexual development.
lia into line with this assignment; sometimes surgery is sexuality The ways in which people experience and value physical desire
followed by additional hormonal treatments at puberty. and pleasure in the context of sexual intercourse.
But contemporary anthropologists are more likely expression challenge heteronormative standards. From
to refer to sexualities, in the plural, to acknowledge the the perspective of these critics, people who continue to
many ways in which sexual desires and pleasures have support heteronormativity are perceived to subscribe in-
always been shaped historically by cultural, social, and stead to heterosexism, a form of bias (like sexist bias)
political structures of the larger societies in which people against all those who are not heterosexual.
live. Until recently, as we saw above, many Americans Historians of sexuality have demonstrated the re-
took for granted that biological sex directly determined cency of heteronormative thinking, and heteronorma-
gendered behavior. These assumptions underlie the tive sexual classifications, in Euro-American societies.
view, long popular in the United States, that “normal” Consider, for example, the concept of heterosexuality
sexuality takes only one form—heterosexuality—which and its routine opposite, homosexuality—that is, sexual
involves “natural” sexual attraction, leading to “natural” relations involving two men or two women (i.e., same-
sexual intercourse, between males and females (i.e., in- sex sexuality).
dividuals of different sexes). Many people assume that these terms identify
To emphasize heterosexuality as the only correct stable forms of sexuality going back deep into the past,
form of human sexual expression is to subscribe to but this is not the case. David Halperin observes that
an ideology that anthropologists and others call the first appearance in print of the word “homosexual-
heteronormativity: that is, the view that heterosexual ity” was in 1869, in German, in a pamphlet urging the
intercourse is (and should be) the “normal” form that German government not to criminalize “homosexual”
human sexual expression always takes. relations between men; paradoxically, therefore, “‘ho-
For example, heteronormative sexuality has been mosexuality’ began life as a progay, politically activist
viewed in Euro-American societies as the appropri- coinage” (2014, 481). Before long, however, the term
ate form of sexuality within the nuclear family, formed was appropriated by medical specialists called “sexolo-
around a heterosexual married couple who are expected gists” who turned it into a clinical term designating a
to engage in exclusive sexual relations with one another, particular variety of sexual deviance. By the end of the
in order to produce offspring. Claims that the nuclear nineteenth century, however, individuals classified as
family is the building block of U.S. society reflect what homosexual by the medical authorities began to use the
Foucault would call the biopolitical concern of the term gay to refer to themselves, an affirmative and em-
state to manage its population of citizens and regulate powering self-designation that became widespread over
their reproduction. However, heteronormative thinking the course of the twentieth century.
about sexuality has been undermined in recent decades, Although the term “gay” may be applied to any
not only by scholarly work on varieties of human sexual person who is sexually attracted to someone of the same
expression, but even more by activism by lesbians, gay sex, it is more commonly used in reference to gay men
men, and bisexual and transgender individuals, whose and the cultures and practices associated with them.
preferred ways of doing gender and enacting sexual The term lesbian did actually emerge in antiquity,
but it originally referred to the Greek island of Lesbos,
the home of the female poet Sappho, who was reputed
heterosexuality The view that “natural” sexual attraction, leading to to love women rather than men.
“natural” sexual intercourse, occurs only between males and females (i.e., The standard use of “lesbian” to describe female
individuals of different sexes).
same-sex sexuality, however, only began around the turn
heteronormativity The view that heterosexual intercourse is (and should
of the twentieth century. In fact, the terms “homosexu-
be) the “normal” form that human sexual expression always takes.
ality,” “heterosexuality,” and bisexuality (that is, sexual
heterosexism A form of bias (like sexist bias) against all those who are
not heterosexual. attraction to both males and females) were all invented
homosexuality The heteronormative opposite of heterosexuality; that is, by Euro-American medical researchers in the late nine-
sexual relations involving two men or two women (i.e., same-sex sexuality). teenth and early twentieth centuries, and “heterosexual-
gay An affirmative and empowering self-designation for individuals medi- ity” did not assume its current meaning as the opposite
cally classified as homosexual, which became widespread over the course of
the twentieth century.
of “homosexuality’ until the 1930s (see Halperin 2014,
lesbian A term used to describe female same-sex sexuality around the
458–61). The term transgender is even more recent, pro-
turn of the twentieth century; based on the name of the Greek island of posed in the 1960s in an attempt by medical researchers
Lesbos, the home of the female poet Sappho, who was reputed to love to clarify differences among individuals who, in one way
women rather than men.
or another, seemed dissatisfied with the sex and gender
bisexuality Sexual attraction to both males and females.
assignments they had received at birth.
transgender A term proposed in the 1960s by medical researchers to
classify individuals who, in one way or another, seemed dissatisfied with the Physicians now recognize gender identity disorder
sex and gender assignments they had received at birth. or gender dysphoria as a formal medical diagnosis, but
How Does Ethnography Document Variable Culture Understandings Concerning Sex, Gender, and Sexuality? 411
many persons who claim a transgender identity deny

the validity of this diagnosis, arguing that it is based on
heteronormative bias. Like individuals diagnosed as “ho-
mosexual” in earlier decades, many individuals diagnosed
with gender dysphoria insist that their sexuality is not a
medical condition to be treated but a valid form of gender
variation that requires recognition and support.
In the 1990s, some persons whose gender identities
or sexual practices fell outside the range defined by “the
heterosexual-homosexual continuum” began to refer to
themselves as queer, taking back as a badge of pride a
term once used to insult nonheterosexuals.
The status of this term remains controversial, how-
ever: some view it as a convenient umbrella term for all FIGURE 13.9 Gender identity is complex and can become
those who reject heteronormativity; others, however, politicized, as illustrated by battles in the United States over
access to public restrooms by transgender people.
use it to signify rejection of all categories of gender and
sexual classification, including distinctions between les-
bian, gay, bisexual, and transgender persons. cannot be easily sorted into a handful of unambiguous
In the wake of sociopolitical breakthroughs such categories in which sex, gender, and sexuality line up in
as the growing legal recognition of same-sex marriage, predictable ways. On the contrary, the phenomena we
debates about how to distinguish and label proliferat- call sex, gender, and sexuality would appear to be fluid
ing varieties of sexuality are ongoing. For example, on and changing, not only over historical time, but also
June 9, 2015, following the highly publicized transition of in the biographies of many human individuals, even
former male Olympic athlete Bruce Jenner into a woman in the United States. Some scholars speak in terms of a
called Caitlyn, The New York Times published an article de- male-to-female continuum, along which individuals may
scribing the difficulty of determining statistically the pro- plot the development of their own identifications in
portion of the U.S. population who might be classified as terms of sex, gender, and sexuality. Others may agree
“transgender” (Miller 2015). Being able to quantify more with David Halperin, whose history of the classification
accurately the proportion of transgender individuals in of sex, gender, and sexuality in Euro-American societies
the U.S. population would have wide-ranging biopoliti- concludes that “Perhaps the final irony in all this is that
cal effects, for good or for ill: as Miller notes, “knowing the very word sex . . . has had the fine edge of its pre-
more about this population is important for policy- cise meaning so thoroughly blunted by historical shifts,
making in health, education, criminal justice, social conceptual muddles, and rearrangements in the forms of
services, sports, the military and more” (2015, A3). How- sexual life that it now represents that which is most resis-
ever, the U.S. Census Bureau does not ask about gender tant to clear classification, discrimination, and division”
identity, and many transgender persons hide their gender (2014, 484).
identity in order to avoid discrimination (Figure 13.9).
At the same time, Miller also noted that “gender iden-
tity can be hard to define in a multiple-choice list. There
are now more than 50 gender options on Facebook, for How Does Ethnography
instance” (Miller 2015, A3). Similarly, the “Transgen-
der” page on Wikipedia provides several definitions of
Document Variable Culture
“transgender” and describes multiple and contradictory Understandings Concerning
ways that people who call themselves transgender might
define what that label means (http://en.wikipedia.org/
Sex, Gender, and Sexuality?
wiki/Transgender; accessed March 28, 2016). In part, In the wake of second-wave feminism and the rise of
the struggle over terminology reflects the desire of some activism by lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender per-
transgender persons to gain public recognition of an sons, anthropologists have in recent decades produced
identity label of their own choice, as a claim to dignity;
at the same time, the proliferation of labels reveals deep
disagreements about what that identity might be.
queer A self-identification claimed by some persons whose gender identi-
The conclusion seems inescapable that even in ties or sexual practices fall outside the range defined by “the heterosexual-
Euro-American societies, forms of sexual expression homosexual continuum.”
fresh ethnographic evidence concerning variations in

beliefs and practices about sex, gender, and sexuality in EthnoProfile 13.3
the many communities where they carried out fieldwork,
both within and outside the Western world. In many Mombasa Swahilis
cases, the peoples and practices they write about have
long histories that predate contact with Euro-American
societies, which often came in the form of Western colo- Nation: Kenya
nialism. As noted above, explorers and settlers often wrote Population: 50,000 Swahili among 350,000 total population
about such practices, which scandalized them and which of city (1970s)
were officially forbidden by Christian missionaries. One Environment: Island and mainland port city
example involves renewed attention to older writings Livelihood: Various urban occupations
about the cultural and sexual practices of the so-called Political organization: Part of a modern nation-state
berdache. Until the last decades of the twentieth century,
the term “berdache” had been used by anthropologists as Shepherd, Gil. 1987. Rank, SUDAN ETHIOPIA
a technical term to refer to indigenous (especially Native gender and homosexuality: Lake
American) social roles in which men (and sometimes Mombasa as a key to Turkana
LIA
understanding sexual UGANDA
A
women) were allowed to take on the activities and some- KENYA
SOM
options. In The cultural Equator
times the dress of members of the other sex. Sometimes construction of sexuality, ed. Lake
Nyanza
“berdache” has been defined as “male transvestite,” but Pat Caplan, 240–70. London: Nairobi
this definition is inadequate because it ignores the fact Tavistock. INDIAN

OCEAN
TANZANIA
Mombasa
that a man who took on other aspects of a woman’s role 0 100 200 300 Swahilis
might also, as women did, establish sexual relationships Miles Pemba Island
with men. Indeed, the term meant “male prostitute” to

the early French explorers in the Americas who first used it
to describe the men they observed engaging in such behav- and daughters, mirrored in the relationship between an
ior. Today, many anthropologists refuse to use the term, as older married sister and a younger unmarried sister. By
do many contemporary members of indigenous societies contrast, relationships between mothers and sons and
who view themselves as modern embodiments of these between brothers and sisters were more distant. Except
alternative-gender roles. Some have proposed using
in the case of young, modern, educated couples, the re-
terms like third gender or two spirit instead, although no lationship between husband and wife was often emo-
consensus has yet been achieved. Given our previous tionally distant as well. Because the worlds of men and
discussion, this lack of consensus is hardly surprising. women overlapped so little, relationships between the
In the context of globalization in the twenty-first genders tended to be one-dimensional. Men and women
century, Euro-American ideas about sex, gender, and sex- joined a variety of sex-segregated groups for leisure-time
uality sometimes mix uneasily with local understand- activities such as dancing or religious study. Within these
ings, even when those local understandings themselves same-sex groups, individuals competed for social rank.
challenge traditional Western heteronormative assump- Of the some 50,000 Swahili in Mombasa at the end
tions. The following case studies further illustrate the of the 1980s, Shepherd reckoned that Western observers
range of ethnographic findings that continue to chal- might classify perhaps 5,000 as “homosexual.” The number
lenge taken-for-granted notions about sex, gender, and was misleading, however, because men and women shifted
sexuality. between what Euro-Americans call “homosexuality” and
“heterosexuality” throughout their lives. Women were
allowed to choose other women as sexual partners only after
Female Sexual Practices in Mombasa they had been married, widowed, or divorced. Both men
Anthropologist Gill Shepherd (1987) showed that tra- and women were open about their same-sex relationships,
ditional patterns of male–female interaction among and “nobody would dream of suggesting that their sexual
Swahili Muslims in Mombasa, Kenya, make male and choices had any effect on their work capabilities, reliability
female same-sex relationships in this community in- or religious piety” (Shepherd 1987, 241). Moreover, many
telligible (see EthnoProfile 13.3: Mombasa Swahilis; women were quite clear about the practical reasons that
Figure 13.10). In the years when Shepherd did her re- had led them into sexual relationships with other women.
search, she found that men and women in Muslim Women with little money were unlikely to marry men
Mombasa live in very different subcultures. For women, who could offer them jewelry, shoes, new dresses, status,
the most enduring relationship was between mothers or financial security, but a wealthy female lover could offer
FIGURE 13.10 View of Mombasa.
them all these things. Also, a poor young woman in an 50 to be unmarried. Some could maintain autonomy
unhappy marriage might have no way to support herself by making a marriage of convenience to a man who al-
if she left her husband unless she had a lesbian lover to ready lived with a wife and then living apart from him.
rely on. Many women, however, found this arrangement both
According to Islamic law, Shepherd was told, a lonely and sexually unsatisfying. Living as a lesbian was
wealthy, high-ranking Muslim woman can only marry a less respectable than being a second, nonresident wife,
man who is her equal or superior. A marriage of this kind but it was more respectable than not being married at
would bring a great deal of seclusion, and her wealth all. The lesbian sexual relationship did not reduce the
would be administered by her husband. The wealthy autonomy of the wealthy partner “and indeed takes

partner in a female same-sex relationship, however, place in the highly positive context of the fond and
would be free of these constraints. “Thus, if she wishes supportive relationships women establish among them-
to use her wealth as she likes, and has a taste for power, selves anyway” (Shepherd 1987, 258).
entry into a lesbian relationship, or living alone as a di- Shepherd suggested that the reason sexual relation-
vorced or widowed woman, are virtually her only op- ships between men or between women were generally
tions” (Shepherd 1987, 257). Financial independence not heavily stigmatized in Mombasa was because social
for a woman offered a chance to convert wealth to power. rank took precedence over all other measures of status.
If she paid for the marriage of other people or provided Rank was a combination of wealth, the ability to claim
financial support in exchange for loyalty, a woman could Arab ancestry, and the degree of Muslim learning and
create a circle of dependents. Shepherd pointed out that piety. Rank determined marriage partners as well as re-
a few women, some lesbians, had achieved real political lations of loyalty and subservience, and both men and
power in Mombasa in this way (257). women expected to rise in rank over a lifetime. Although
Still, it was not necessary to be a lesbian to build a lesbian couples might violate the prototype for sexual
circle of dependents. Why did some women follow this relations, they did not violate relations of rank. Shepherd
route? The answer, Shepherd learned, is complicated. suggested that a marriage between a poor husband
It was not entirely respectable for a women under 45 or and a rich wife might be more shocking than a lesbian
relationship between a dominant rich woman and a de- machismo as involving the domination of women by
pendent poor one. It was less important that a woman’s men, but as Lancaster shows, the system is equally de-
lover be a male than it was for her to be a good Arab, a fined by the domination of men over other men. Indeed,
good Muslim, and a person of wealth and influence. a “manly man” in working-class Nicaragua is someone
Anthropologists working in Africa have described who is the active, dominant, penetrating sexual partner
a range of relations between females (woman marriage, in encounters with women and men. The term cochón is
for example) that have been likened to European or used to refer to the “passive” male who allows a “manly
American models of lesbian relationships, but disputes man” to have sexual intercourse with him in this way.
have arisen about whether such relationships always The Nicaraguans Lancaster knew assumed that men
include an erotic involvement between the female part- “would naturally be aroused by the idea of anally pen-
ners. In a survey of this evidence, Wieringa and Black- etrating another male” (Lancaster 1992, 241). Only
wood noted that woman marriage could take many the passive cochón is stigmatized, whereas males who
forms, some of which were more likely than others to always take the active role in intercourse with other
include sexuality between the female partners. Among males and females are seen as “normal.” At the same
those where such sexual relations appear more likely time, as we saw earlier, cochones are also much-admired
are cases like that described by Shepherd “in which a performers during the festival of Carnival. Thus, al-
woman of some means, either married (to a man) or un- though Nicaraguans made fun of cochones, they could
married, pays bride-wealth for a wife and establishes her not imagine cochones being made victims of hate crimes
own compound” (Wieringa and Blackwood 1999, 5). such as gay-bashing. In the United States, by contrast,
Such evidence is not merely of academic interest. In the active–passive distinction does not exist, and anal
the contemporary world of intensified global communi- intercourse is not the only form that gay male sexual ex-
cation and exchange, Western and non-Western same-sex pression may take. Both partners have been considered
practices are becoming increasingly entangled with one homosexual, and equally stigmatized by same-sex en-
another, leading to the emergence of local movements for counters, and gay-bashing has been a sometimes deadly
“lesbian” and “gay” rights in African and elsewhere. In this reality. Perhaps this is because North Americans have not
context, in the late 1990s, the presidents of Zimbabwe, traditionally assumed that normal males will naturally
Kenya, and Namibia declared that homosexuality is “un- be aroused by the idea of sex with another man.
African.” Based on the ethnographic evidence, however, In Nicaragua, Lancaster found that public challenges
Wieringa and Blackwood (1999) sided with those arguing for dominance were a constant of male–male interac-
that on the contrary, it is homophobia that is un-African: tion even when sexual intercourse was not involved. The
“President Mandela from South Africa is a striking excep- term cochón might be used as an epithet not only for a
tion to the homophobia of his colleagues. The South Afri- man who yields publicly to another man but also for cats
can constitution specifically condemns discrimination on that do not catch mice or, indeed, anything that some-
the basis of sexual orientation” (27). how fails to perform its proper function. In Lancaster’s
view, cochones are made, not born: “Those who con-
sistently lose out in the competition for male status . . .
Male and Female Sexual discover pleasure in the passive sexual role or its social
Practices in Nicaragua status: these men are made into cochones. And those
As noted earlier in this chapter, anthropologist Roger who master the rules of conventional masculinity . . . are
Lancaster’s fieldwork in Managua, Nicaragua, in the 1980s made into machistas” (Lancaster 1992, 249). These ideas
taught him about cochones: men who have sex with other about gender and sexuality created an unanticipated
men but whose cultural significance and sexual practices roadblock for Sandinistas who wanted to improve the
cannot be easily equated with North American “homosex- lives of Nicaraguan women and children. The Sandinista
uality.” As Lancaster discovered, the views of working-class government passed a series of New Family Laws designed
Nicaraguans about cochones could be properly under- to encourage men to support their families economically
stood only when considered in the context of broader and to discourage irresponsible sex, irresponsible parent-
Nicaraguan ideas about masculinity. ing, and familial dislocation. When Lancaster (1992) in-
To begin with, a “real man” (or macho) is widely terviewed Nicaraguan men to see what they thought of
admired as someone who is active, violent, and domi- these laws, however, he repeatedly got the following re-
nant. In sexual terms, this means that the penis is used sponse: “First the interrogative: ‘What do the Sandinistas
violently as a weapon to dominate one’s sexual part- want from us? That we should all become cochónes?”
ner, who is thereby rendered passive, abused, and sub- And then the tautological: ‘A man has to be a man.’ That
ordinate. People in the United States typically think of is, a man is defined by what he is not—a cochón” (274).
The Sandinistas were replaced in 1992 by an admin- which protected the identities both of the activists them-
istration supported by the U.S. government, and when selves and of those interested in their messages. Perhaps
anthropologist Cymene Howe visited Nicaragua after not surprisingly, they ran into difficulties when they at-
this change in regime, the country had been politically tempted to persuade both cochonas and femininas to
transformed. Howe carried out ethnographic fieldwork adopt a lesbian identity. Many cochonas, especially
in the late 1990s and early 2000s on women, sexual- from rural parts of Nicaragua, subscribed to the same
ity, and social change (2013). Nicaraguans she knew distinction between active and passive sexuality as the
were familiar not only with the traditional category of manly men whom Lancaster knew, and they stoutly re-
cochón, but also with the category of cochona, a “manly fused to recognize any commonality between them and
woman,” although women’s same-sex sexuality was less their passive feminina partners. In urban areas, how-
publicly visible than that of men. Howe learned that the ever, where nontraditional understandings of women’s
partners and girlfriends of cochonas were described as same-sex sexuality are gaining ground, Howe concluded
feminina or muy mujer (very womanly). Not unlike the that femininas and cochonas were indeed being incor-
situation of manly men, feminine women could become porated into a new, more expansive sexual category: “in
involved in sexual relationships with cochonas without other words, feminine women who would not have been
losing their status as “normal” women. considered gay in the past, now are” (2013, 18).
At the time of Howe’s fieldwork, newer labels like
gay, homosexual, and lesbian had also entered the vo-
cabularies of many Nicaraguans she knew, especially Transsexuality and Same-Sex
activists working to transform public understandings of Desire in Iran
same-sex sexuality in the country, who were the focus Afsaneh Najmabadi is a scholar who has investigated
of her research. But their work (and her fieldwork) were the role of gender in the history of Iran. She left Iran
hampered by the fact that Nicaragua had passed Latin as a young woman in the 1960s to study in the United
America’s strictest antisodomy law in 1992, targeting States, where she became a feminist and political activ-
both men and women, and it was not repealed until ist. She was deeply affected by the consequences of the
2007. Under these conditions, the activists Howe stud- Islamic Revolution in Iran in 1979, and since that time,
ied (and Howe herself) had to be very careful, for there her research has explored how gender relations rooted in
were influential groups, like evangelical Christians, who Iranian history were reworked in the course of the nine-
backed the law and were hostile to their work. teenth century, as Iranian elites developed connections
Howe learned that many women who had been rev- with the West and embarked on a self-conscious process
olutionary activists earlier in their lives had transformed of “modernization.” Najmabadi also was interested in
themselves into “sexual rights activists,” working to pro- how, after the 1979 revolution, Iranians had responded
tect women who engaged in stigmatized sexual prac- to efforts by the religious authorities to expunge Western
tices from state repression. In post–Cold War, neoliberal influences and to bring Iranian institutions and social
economic conditions, these activists sought funding for practices into conformity with what they determined to
their work from donors located in North America and be the requirements of Islamic law. She was particularly
Europe. Yet the activists also knew that many of the tac- intrigued when, in 2003, there was a burst of attention
tics being urged upon them by their donor allies would in the Iranian and international press concerning what
not be successful in Nicaragua. The activists’ decision to was being calling “the ‘trans’ phenomenon” (2014, 1).
describe their work vaguely, as an attempt to establish She knew that in the decade prior to the 1979 revolu-
“sexual rights,” reflects these complications. The activ- tion, Iranian physicians had become involved in hor-
ists’ work “highlights sexuality as a political object and monal and surgical treatments for persons wishing to
joins it to rights as a political method, without delineat- change their sex. By 2003, however, journalists seemed
ing a particular identity category” (Howe 2013, 13). both surprised and puzzled that this sort of “progres-
As Howe explains, “theirs is not simply a lesbian sive” treatment could be possible in an Islamic state;
and gay rights movement. Nicaragua’s history of sexual- the same state had ruled same-sex sexual relations to
ity differs, rather substantially, from many North Ameri- be illegal, often equating them with “sodomy,” which
can and European contexts” (2013, 13). Given these was punished with the death penalty (2014, 1). After a
varied constraints and challenges, the activists she knew 25-year absence, Najmabadi returned to Iran in 2005 to
had to pick and choose among tactics that might further carry out ethnographic fieldwork that would explore all
their cause without undermining their efforts. One of these matters more closely.
the activists’ most successful projects was to spread their Najmabadi discovered that the distinctions be-
message using public media like radio and magazines, tween sex, gender, and sexuality, developed by Western
scholars, did not easily map onto Iranian categories: psychological, medical, religious, and governmental
most Iranians she spoke to did not recognize a distinc- authorities on an everyday basis; she also interviewed
tion between sex and gender, and most also presumed key figures in these different institutions. Although she
a more or less direct causal link between an individu- expected to encounter rigid attitudes in officials, es-
al’s sex/gender and the focus of his or her sexual desire: pecially religious authorities, she describes herself as
“the indistinction between gender/sex/sexuality . . . surprised and humbled by how many of them were not
regularly disrupts attempts to separate the homosex- interested in denouncing sexual nonconformity, but
ual from the trans, even as that distinction is regularly who in their own ways were working to find humane
invoked” (2014, 8). Iranians had also developed their solutions for affected individuals. The religious endorse-
own version of heteronormativity as a consequence of ment of treatment for “gender dysphoria” has made it
the “modernization” of Iranian family life: even Muslim possible for Muslim clerics, psychologists, physicians,
theologians she spoke with seemed to take the existence and government bureaucrats to find some common
of a heteronormative gender binary for granted (2014, ground, but it had taken the determined lobbying ef-
191). However, Iranian historical and cultural attitudes forts of trans activists to persuade these officials to make
toward sex/gender/sexuality meant that the status of needed changes.
“trans” persons in contemporary Iranian society did At first, Najmabadi was surprised when trans activ-
not easily map onto “trans” identities recognized in the ists told her that they did not want to “politicize” their
West. In Iran, she found that physicians linked “trans” cause. What they meant, she found, was that they did not
identity with that of “intersex,” which itself was associ- want to turn their activism into a human rights issue that
ated historically with the category of “hermaphrodite” would involve the Iranian parliament passing legisla-
recognized in Islamic law. Just like infants born with tion. Rather, they wanted to make sure that civil servants
ambiguous external genitalia, therefore, persons who and others knew who they were and would continue to
believed that their inner soul or psyche was mismatched work with them, regardless of which political faction
with their outer anatomy were considered to be enti- was in power. Their activism was intended to gain offi-
tled to hormonal and surgical interventions that would cial awareness of the “needs” of trans people; to remove
“clarify” their “true” sex/gender. This conclusion had a series of medical, legal, and religious barriers; and to
been proclaimed lawful in a fatwa (or Islamic religious get support and protection from harassment, in order
opinion) first issued in the 1960s by none other than to make “livable lives” for themselves (2014, 12). By
Ayatollah Khomeini, leader of the Islamic Revolution
such methods, trans activists eventually gained official
in Iran and the highest ranking Shi’a Muslim religious recognition as members of a “vulnerable” population
authority in recent Iranian history, whose authority re- deserving of state protection (2014, 214). Nevertheless,
mains unchallenged (2014) (Figure 13.11). to become entitled to such protection, they had to pass
Najmabadi undertook participant-observation a series of medical, psychological, and legal examina-
in order to learn exactly how trans activists engaged tions designed to prove that they were indeed what they
FIGURE 13.11 Iran’s first

religiously and legally recognized
transsexual and her mother.
Chapter Summary 417
said they were. Once they obtained official certification “gay” or “lesbian,” to wonder if they might be “trans”
as trans, they could have their name and sex/gender and ought to consider changing sex. Such thoughts were
changed on their national identity papers, complete often prompted by their partners, who wanted to regular-
their sex change treatments, and, if they wished, disap- ize their relationship, and who might threaten to leave
pear into the Iranian population. them if they did not agree to undergo sex change. Indeed,
The high barrier to gaining formal trans certifica- Najmabadi found attitudes amounting to homophobia
tion in Iran points to another difference between West- among some nonheteronormative couples who insisted
ern and Iranian notions about sex, gender, and sexuality. that they were not “same-sex players,” and who strove to
The “filtering” process leading to trans certification was interpret their relationships with their partners in ways
so intense because Iranian authorities wanted to make that did not violate hegemonic Iranian understandings
sure that the applicants they certified were genuinely of sex/gender/sexuality (2014, 248).
“trans”; put another way, their goal was to detect and ex- At the same time, some persons who obtained
clude candidates for trans status who did not experience trans certification did not always go on to complete
“gender dysphoria” but who, in their view, were trying their transition. This might be because they could not
to mask their sexual attraction to members of their own afford to pay for the surgery right away. But it might
sex/gender. Indeed, male-to-female trans persons in Iran also be because, even though they believed that they
were constantly suspected of trying to use sex change to truly were trans, they also knew that their families and
hide what was interpreted as their shameful desire to neighbors would never accept them as such. At bottom,
be the passive male partner in sexual relations between Najmabadi concluded, trans individuals—indeed, all
males. Nevertheless, Najmabadi “never saw the commis- nonheteronormative Iranians—were struggling to find a
sion exercise the option of turning down an application way to make a “livable” life by exploiting inconsistencies
altogether . . . there seemed to be a general attitude . . . among the various restrictions and opportunities that
that . . . it was their job to find a socially acceptable ‘solu- governed their lives. One postoperative male-to-female
tion for the problem’ ” (2014, 18). trans person she knew “still lives as a man at home; it is
As noted earlier, relationships between couples very critical for her to remain a man with her family and
whom Euro-Americans might classify as “gay” or “les- in the neighborhood everyone knew her as a man. . . .
bian” are condemned as immoral and illegal in Iran; When she is at her boyfriend’s house, she e xplains, she
such “same-sex players” (as they are called in Persian) are goes into female clothes” (2014, 281). Najmabadi con-
forced to keep their relationships hidden from family and cluded that “What seemed to matter for trans subject-
society, which causes them considerable hardship, espe- hood was articulated in terms of figuring out how to live
cially when faced with what Najmabadi calls the Iranian livable lives—with families, with partners, in terms of
marriage imperative: “The adulthood of everyone is bound employment, of getting medical and legal changes they
to marriage. It is almost incomprehensible that someone wanted, and of what made them c omfortable in differ-
would wish not to marry” (2014, 124). The pressure of ent spaces of life . . . living livable lives, for some, called
the marriage imperative sometimes led nonheteronor for flexibility and the ability to switch back and forth
mative Iranians, who usually described themselves as when necessary” (2014, 286).
Chapter Summary
1. Cultural anthropologists have been interested in contemporary societies, in the West and elsewhere,
sex, gender, and sexuality since the beginnings of were due primarily to the effects of capitalism and
anthropology as a discipline, and since the 1930s colonialism on indigenous societies that had once
have insisted that biological sex needed to be distin- supported more egalitarian relationships between
guished from cultural rules for appropriate behavior men and women. Anthropologist Marilyn Strathern
as a female or a male. Twentieth-century social provided ethnographic evidence suggesting that Mel-
movements for civil rights, women’s rights, and anesian peoples tended to view males and females
the rights of gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender as androgynous. These efforts combined with work
persons called into question the existence of a uni- by scholars in other disciplines to produce an overall
versal sex and gender binary in all human societies. rethinking of how sex, gender, and sexuality ought to
Some anthropologists argued that sexist patterns in be understood.
(continued)

2. The influence of feminism on anthropology initially humans are increasingly linked to, and dependent
led to a focus on the roles women played in differ- on, technologies. These “cyborg” arrangements can
ent societies, but before long it became clear that be seen in cases of cutting-edge medical technologies
women’s roles could not be studied apart from the that allow infertile couples to produce biological
roles of men. Increasing attention to the ways sex, offspring, as shown in Marcia Inhorn’s research in
gender, and sexuality are differently enacted in dif- the Middle East. But the connection between biology
ferent times and places led to a recognition that and technology in the production of human bodies
masculinities and femininities might be constructed that conform to a society’s gender binary by means
in more than one way, even in a single society. Some of surgery and hormones also demonstrates a similar
anthropologists have used ethnographic data to kind of “cyborg” connection between biology and
demonstrate the processes by which new kinds of technology. Anthropologists and biologists have
masculinity can develop over time, as new genera- drawn attention to the high proportion of human
tions of men in particular societies confront chal- infants who are born with ambiguous genitalia. In
lenges and opportunities that differ from earlier the United States, beginning in the 1960s, such in-
generations, as seen in Marcia Inhorn’s discussion of fants were assigned a sex by physicians and parents,
emerging masculinities in the Middle East. Changes and surgery, hormone treatments, and other forms
in masculinities also emerge over the life cycle, and of therapy were used to bring such persons into
Emily Wentzell’s discussion of composite masculini- alignment with the American gender binary. Such
ties illuminates the process whereby Mexican men interventions have become controversial as adults
delete old elements and add new elements of their who were subjected to these interventions as infants
masculine identities, as they come to terms with the have grown up and protested what was done to
challenges of aging and illness. them. Roger Lancaster persuasively argues that these
3. Women of color developed approaches to sex, gender, forms of surgically and hormonally mediated forms
and sexuality that went beyond the views of femi- of anatomical r eshaping may be usefully understood
nists who took the experiences of white middle-class as a “transvestics of the body.”
Euro-American women as the norm, showing how 6. Scholars inside and outside anthropology have con-
experiences of gender oppression always intersected tributed to attempts to categorize the many categories
with other social statuses such as race and social class. of sex, gender, and sexuality that people have recog-
Ethnographers have identified patterns of intersection- nized in different times and places. Historians have
ality in their fieldwork and are able to provide com- provided useful information about the origins of the
parative examples from different times and places. technical terms relating to sex, gender, and sexuality
4. Scholars and activists for gay, lesbian, bisexual, that are used today by Euro-American scholars and
and transgender rights developed approaches that activists, which are briefly summarized in this section.
showed why gender roles were best understood The proliferation of distinct labels over time suggests
as performances in which individuals attempted to some observers that not only is there no gender
to enact forms of speech and behavior that were binary, but that it makes more sense to describe varia-
considered appropriate in their societies. This made tion in sex, gender, and sexuality in terms of points
room for individual agency and for recognition that on a continuum or in terms of gender fluidity.
human affect could not be completely contained 7. In the context of globalization in the twenty-first
within any particular set of socially established defi- century, Euro-American ideas about sex, gender, and
nitions of sex, gender, or sexuality. The malleability sexuality have spread to many parts of the world that
of the human body, shaped by the skills we all learn traditionally have thought about these phenomena
that enable us to mimic others whose gender or in different ways. Sometimes Euro-American catego-
sexuality differs from our own, highlights a range ries mix uneasily with local categories, even as those
of performance possibilities of gender and sexuality local understandings themselves challenge tradi-
that, as Roger Lancaster argues, can deepen our un- tional Western heteronormative assumptions. Eth-
derstanding of what may count as “transvestism.” nographic studies of sex, gender, and sexuality from
5. Work in the anthropology of science, technology, Kenya, Nicaragua, and Iran illustrate these kinds of
and medicine has drawn attention to the ways that variation and complication.
For Review
1. Explain the public/private divide with reference to 7. Explain what Donna Haraway means by a cyborg.
gender issues. 8. Explain how gender stereotypes have been used
2. Why do anthropologists and other scholars distin- by colonial officials to model the relationship of
guish among sex, gender, and sexuality? colonizer to colonized.
3. How does the concept of a “dividual” self chal- 9. Why do many contemporary anthropologists use
lenge universal assumptions about a heteronor- the plural term “sexualities” rather than the sin-
mative gender binary? gular term “sexuality”?
4. Distinguish between composite masculinities and 10. Discuss the history of the term “homosexuality”
composite femininities. in western Europe and North America.
5. Explain intersectionality, particularly as it relates 11. Using the case studies in the text, discuss how
to issues of sex, gender, and sexuality. anthropologists analyze human sexual practices.
6. What does it mean to say that gender is “performed”?
Key Terms
affect 408 gender binary 396 intersectionality 403 public/private divide 394
androgyny 397 gender intersex/disorder of sexual queer 411
bisexuality 410 performativity 404 development 409 sex 395
cyborg 408 heteronormativity 410 lesbian 410 sexism 394
feminism 394 heterosexism 410 men’s studies/ sexuality 409
heterosexuality 410 masculinities 399
gay 410 transgender 410
homosexuality 410 patriarchy 394
gender 396 transvestism 405
Suggested Readings
Fausto-Sterling, Anne. 2012. Sex/gender: Biology in a social non-sensationalistic account of the psychological and
world. New York: Routledge. Anne Fausto-Sterling is a biomedical factors that influence the treatment of in-
celebrated developmental biologist whose writings on fants born with ambiguous genitalia. Karkazis reviews
sex, gender, and sexuality have always located these the history of these issues from the 1960s to the early
phenomena in society and history. This brief volume twentieth century, considering not only the views of ex-
directed at nonspecialists addresses the range of factors perts and parents but also the opinions of adults who
that influence sexual differentiation from fertilization as infants were classified as “intersex,” who received
through infancy and early childhood, with discussions surgery, and who, in many cases, have become activists
of human sexuality and child sex differences. As always, hoping to prevent what happened to them from happen-
Fausto-Sterling combines her scientific learning with ing to others.
critical sensibilities and wit; her guiding principle is Lewin, Ellen, ed. 2006. Feminist anthropology: A reader. An-
“don’t get stuck trying to divide nature from nurture.” thropologist Ellen Lewin has selected a series of classic
Hodgson, Dorothy, ed. 2016. The gender, culture and power and more recent texts that allow her to trace the origins
reader. New York and London: Oxford University Press. and development of feminist anthropology. She in-
Dorothy Hodgson is an applied anthropologist who has cludes work by feminist ethnographers working inside
worked for many years in East Africa, focusing on ques- and outside the United States, all of whom build on in-
tions of economic development, politics, and gender. In sights that, in her view, were “winners in the struggle for
this volume, she brings together classic essays in femi- legitimacy” in the early years of feminist anthropology.
nist anthropology, recent reevaluations of well-known Stimpson, Catherine, and Gilbert Herdt, eds. 2014. Critical
debates in the field, and fresh ethnographic research. terms for the study of gender. Chicago: University of Chi-
Contributions relate gender to power, structure, and cago Press. This challenging and enlightening c ollection
agency; examine how persons develop into gendered brings together twenty-one essays by distinguished
beings in different cultural settings; and show the way scholars from a range of disciplines. Each essay ad-
gender is entangled with issues of work and love, labor dresses a critical key term that figures in the study of
and violence, and struggles for human rights. sex, gender and sexuality: Bodies, Culture, Desire, Eth-
Karkazis, Katrina. 2008. Fixing sex: Intersex, medical author- nicity, Globalization, Human Rights, Identity, Justice,
ity, and lived experience. Durham, NC: Duke University Kinship, Language, Love, Myth, Nature, Posthuman,
Press. Karkazis is a cultural and medical anthropolo- Power, Public/Private, Race, Regulation, Religion, Sex/
gist and a bioethicist. This book provides an in-depth, Sexuality/Sexual C lassification, and Utopia.
14
Where do our relatives come
from and why do they matter?
Because human beings need one another to survive and reproduce, they
have invented a variety of ways of creating, maintaining, and dissolving
social ties with one another. This chapter focuses primarily on a range of
forms of face-to-face relatedness, including kinship, marriage, and patterns
of family composition, that different human groups have imagined and
practiced in different times and places.
CHAPTER OUTLINE
How Do Human Beings How Flexible Can Relatedness Be? What Is a Family?
Organize Interdependence? Negotiation of Kin Ties among What Is the Nuclear Family?
What Is Friendship? the Ju/’hoansi What Is the Polygynous
What Is Kinship? European American Kinship Family?
and New Reproductive Extended and Joint Families
What Is the Role of Descent in
Technologies How Are Families Transformed
Kinship?
Assisted Reproduction in Israel over Time?
Bilateral Kindreds
Compadrazgo in Latin America Divorce and Remarriage
What Role Do Lineages Play in Organ Transplantation and the How Does International
Descent? Creation of New Relatives Migration Affect the Family?
Lineage Membership
What Is Marriage? Families by Choice
The Logic of Lineage
Toward a Definition of The Flexibility of Marriage
Relationships
Marriage Love, Marriage, and HIV/AIDS
What Are Patrilineages?
Woman Marriage and Ghost in Nigeria
What Are Matrilineages?
Marriage among the Nuer
What Are Kinship Chapter Summary
Why Is Marriage a Social
Terminologies? For Review
Process?
What Criteria Are Used for Key Terms
Patterns of Residence after
Making Kinship Distinctions?
Marriage Suggested Readings
What Is Adoption? Single and Plural Spouses
Adoption in Highland Ecuador
What Is the Connection
What Is the Relation Between between Marriage and
Adoption and Child Economic Exchange?
Circulation in the Andes?
421
422 CHAPTER 14: WHERE DO OUR RELATIVES COME FROM AND WHY DO THEY MATTER?
How Do Human Beings turn out to form but a small subset of the ways in which
people create enduring relationships with one another.
Organize Interdependence? Is there some social glue that ensures social cooper-
ation? In 1968, anthropologist David Schneider argued
Human life is group life. How we choose to organize
that North Americans’ ideas of kinship generated the
ourselves is open to creative variation, as we have seen.
feeling of “enduring diffuse solidarity” among all those
But each of us is born into a society that was already
who understood themselves to be related by ties of blood
established when we arrived. Its political, economic, and
and sex. In many cases, however, human beings seek to
cultural practices make some social connections more
establish (or find themselves belonging to) collectivities
likely than others. Just knowing the kind of social groups a
organized on regional, national, or global scales. As a
child is born into tells us much about that child’s probable
result, they come to experience varying degrees of relat-
path in life. Such human experiences as sexuality, concep-
edness and solidarity with large numbers of individuals
tion, birth, and nurturance are selectively interpreted and
whom they will never meet face to face. As we will see in
shaped into shared cultural practices that anthropologists
this chapter, human beings are perfectly capable of es-
call relatedness. As we will see in this chapter, relatedness
tablishing and honoring ties of enduring diffuse solidar-
takes many forms—friendship, marriage, parenthood,
ity that have nothing to do with blood or sex. Sociologist
adoption, shared links to a common ancestor, workplace
Zygmunt Bauman has argued, in fact, that “all supra-
associations, and so on. Furthermore, these intimate ev-
individual groupings are first and foremost processes of
eryday relationships are always embedded in and shaped
collectivization of friends and enemies. . . . More exactly,
by broader structures of power, wealth, and meaning.
individuals sharing a common group or category of en-
For more than a century, anthropologists have paid
emies treat each other as friends” (1989, 152).
particular attention to that form of relatedness believed
Although a common enemy surely has the effect of
to be based on shared substance and its transmission
drawing people together, it is rarely sufficient by itself to
(Holy 1996, 171). The shared substance may be a bodily
produce solidarity that endures. People in all societies
substance, such as blood, semen, genes, or mother’s milk.
have developed patterned social relationships that aim to
It may be a spiritual substance, such as soul, spirit, nur-
bind them together for the long term, and some of these
turance, or love. Sometimes, more than one substance
reach beyond, and even cut across, ties forged in terms
is thought to be shared. Western anthropologists noted
of everyday relatedness. Consider, for example, the way
that, like themselves, people in many societies believed
members of Catholic monastic orders, who may neither
that those who share a substance were related to each
marry nor bear children, nevertheless refer to one an-
other in systematic ways and that, like the Western societ-
other as brother, sister, father, and mother. They also take
ies to which the anthropologists belonged, members of
as the prototype for these interpersonal relationships the
these societies had developed sets of labels for different
formal role obligations of family members. But religious
kinds of relatives, such as mother and cousin. They also
orders in many cases are large, international institutions
found that people in many parts of the world linked the
fitting into the overall global hierarchy of the Catholic
sharing of substance to conception, the act of sexual in-
Church. Again, the kinds of connections established
tercourse between parents. This collection of similarities
among members of such institutions reach far beyond
was enough to convince early anthropologists that all
the contexts of everyday, face-to-face relatedness.
people base their kinship systems on the biology of re-
As we already noted, anthropologists were the first
production. It was but a short step to conclude that West-
social scientists to recognize that people in different so-
ern beliefs about who counts as relatives are universally
cieties classified their relatives into categories that did
valid.
not correspond to those accepted in European societ-
For many decades, kinship studies were based on
ies. Coming to understand the complexities of different
the assumption that all societies recognize the same
kinds of formal kin relations helped undermine the eth-
basic biological relationships between mothers and fa-
nocentric assumption that European ways of categorizing
thers, children and parents, and sisters and brothers.
relatives were a transparent reflection of natural biologi-
But growing ethnographic evidence indicates that quite
cal ties. Indeed, beginning anthropology students from
often people’s understanding of their relations to other
many backgrounds regularly assume that the way they
people is strikingly at odds with these genealogical con-
grew up classifying their kin reflects the universal truth
nections. In other cases, the genealogical connections
about human relatedness. For this reason, we devote part
of this chapter to introducing some findings from kin-
relatedness The socially recognized ties that connect people in a variety ship studies in anthropology. Learning to distinguish be-
of different ways. tween cross cousins and parallel cousins or considering
some of the consequences that follow from tracing de- definition might be the relatively “unofficial” bonds
scent through women rather than men remain useful that people construct with one another. These tend
exercises that help overcome ethnocentric tendencies. to be bonds that are personal, affective, and to a vary-
At the same time, it is important to realize that the ing degree from society to society, matters of choice
different classes of relatives identified in a formal kinship (Bell and Coleman 1999). A recent work on friendship
system may or may not be considered important in a par- (Killick and Desai, 2010) argues that friendship evades
ticular society. Moreover, even when such kin categories definition, and that it can best be understood, at least
remain important, ties of relatedness to people who are from the perspective of the people who use the term in
not formally kin may be as important as—or more im- a particular society, as a relationship that contrasts with
portant than—ties to formal kin. Formal kin ties are sup- other ways of relating to people. One might go fishing
plemented by or replaced by other forms of relatedness in with someone because he is your cousin, your friend, or
many societies, and these forms of relatedness take a vari- the best fisherman in the area. For many anthropologists,
ety of patterns and operate at different scales. This chap- particularly of an older generation, it would have been
ter pays particular attention to local, face-to-face forms of the kinship category to which attention was to be paid.
relatedness, including friendship, kinship, and adoption. Killick and Desai (2010) claim that it is essential to retain
To recognize the varied forms that institutions of the analytic distinction between friendship and kinship,
human relatedness can take is to acknowledge funda- “since it is this aspect that a ppears to be of crucial im-
mental openness in the organization of human interde- portance in giving friendship its moral force in so many
pendence. This openness makes possible the elaboration societies around the world” (Ibid., Kindle location 1%).
and extension of ties of relatedness beyond face-to-face In other words, when someone from the United States
contexts. Structures of relatedness with increasingly vast says that her husband is her best friend, she is perfectly
scope tend to emerge when changed historical circum- aware of the difference between the affinal relationship
stances draw people’s attention to shared aspects of their of husband and wife, and that of the U.S. definition of
lives that more intimate forms of relatedness ignore or best friend, and she uses the difference to highlight the
cannot handle. New shared experiences offer raw mate- kind of r elationship she has with her husband.
rial for the invention of new forms of common identity. In contemporary society, social networking pro-
Recognition of this process led political scientist Bene- grams like Facebook are taking friendship in new and
dict Anderson to invent the term imagined communities unprecedented directions: what can it mean to have 900
to refer to “all communities larger than primordial friends? The line between friendship and kinship is often
villages of face-to-face contact (and perhaps even these)” very fuzzy because there may be an affective quality to
(1983, 6). Anderson originally applied the concept of kinship relations (we can like our cousins and do the
“imagined communities” to modern nation-states, but same things with them that we would do with friends),
anthropologists were quick to note the range of com- sometimes friends are seen after a long time as being
munities included in his definition and have used the related, and some societies have networks of relatedness
concept successfully to study different forms of human that can be activated or not for reasons of s entiment, not
relatedness. The concept of imagined communities is just for pragmatic reasons. Friendship has been difficult
important because it emphasizes that the ties that bind for some anthropologists to study because in the past
people into all supra individual communities are contin- they have concentrated on trying to find regular long-
gent: They have not existed since the beginning of time term patterns of social organization in societies with
and they may disappear in the future. Put another way, noncentralized forms of political organization (Bell and
imagined communities are social, cultural, and histori- Coleman 1999, 4). Bell and Coleman also note that
cal constructions. They are the joint outcome of shared the importance of friendship seems to be increasing:
habitual practices and of symbolic images of common “In many shifting social contexts, ties of kinship tend
identity promulgated by group members with an interest to be transformed and often weakened by complex and
in making a particular imagined identity endure. often contradictory processes of globalization. At the
What Is Friendship? imagined communities Term borrowed from political scientist B

enedict
Anderson to refer to groups whose members’ knowledge of one another
Anthropologists have devoted surprisingly little atten- does not come from regular face-to-face interactions but is based on shared
experiences with national institutions, such as schools and government
tion to friendship, and have found that it is no easier bureaucracies.
to define it than it is to define other such forms of re- friendship The relatively “unofficial” bonds that people construct with one
latedness as kinship or marriage. Nevertheless, a useful another that tend to be personal, affective, and often a matter of choice.
Alaskan Inuit
ARCTIC OCEAN
Alaskan Inuit
Arc
tic C NGE
ircle BROOKS RA
CANADA
Bering Fairbanks
Sea on
Yuk KLONDIKE
ALASKA
Anchorage
0 100 200 300

Miles
Navajo Monte ATLANTIC

Cristi Puerto OCEAN
Plata
Mao DOMINICAN
Sabaneta Santiago REPUBLIC
NEVADA UTAH La Vega
La S
ie r ra
HAITI Santo
CAL
COLORADO
Los Pinos Domingo
do
IFO
PLATEAU
Colora
Navajo
NIR
Flagstaff Caribbean
A
ARIZONA Sea
Gila
O
0 100
IC
EX
Miles
M
M W
EX NE
IC
O Los Pinos
Gulf rnia
Calif
0 100
of
o
Miles
Niger
GUINEA
SIERRA
LEONE
IVORY
Freetown
Mende COAST
Monrovia LIBERIA
ATLANTIC
Zumbagua 0
OCEAN
100 200
Miles
COLOMBIA
Quito
Zumbagua
ECUADOR
0 300 PERU
Miles
FIGURE 14.1 Locations of s ocieties whose EthnoProfiles appear in Chapter 14.
same time new forms of friendship are emerging” (5). were not questioned in themselves, but the “friendship”
This is illustrated in Rio de Janeiro by Claudia Barcellos consisted of affection, care, and consideration that both
Rezende (1999), who observed the ways in which sets of women valued in their work relationship. It was a
middle-class women and their maids could come to
way of establishing trust: “What friendship invokes . . . is
refer to each other as “friends.” Within this hierarchical the affinity that brings these people together as parts of
relationship, the distinctions that separated the women the same social world” (93; see Figure 14.2).
e
LIBYA
l
Ni
Re
CHINA
dS
CHAD PAKISTAN HIM
ea
Khartoum ALA
YA S
Nyinba
ERITREA NE
PAL
Nile
Delhi
Blu
SUDAN
e
Ga n ge s
hite
Nile
Nuer Calcutta
W
ETHIOPIA Arabian INDIA
LEBANON C.A.R.
Mo
Sea Bay of
untain Nile
SYRIA Bengal
Nazareth INDIAN
0 200 400
OCEAN
Tel-Aviv Miles
Jericho 0 250 500 SRI LANKA
Jerusalem
Bethlehem DEAD Miles
SEA
Gaza City
ISRAEL
JORDAN
Mitzpe
Ramon
EGYPT
Israel
Nyinba
Mende Nuer
Tiv
NIGER Lake
Chad
Kano
Kaduna
IN
BEN
Ni
ge r NIGERIA
e
nu
Be
Lagos Tiv
CAMEROON
0 100 200 300
Similarly, Magnus Course directs our attention asserts, conceptualization of the person is best character-
to the way in which friendship and becoming a real ized as “centrifugal”—that is to say that there is an open-
person—che—are related among the Mapuche of Chile. ended movement through the life-span outwards from the
The M apuche are one of the largest indigenous groups in kin relations that are “given” at birth to “chosen” friend-
the Americas; there are about one million in Chile and ship relations (Course, 72%). This is how personhood is
another 40,000 in Argentina. For the Mapuche, Course constituted—one must go beyond relations with one’s kin
social relations that are prototypically derived from the

universal human experiences of mating, birth, and nurtur-
ance. Anthropologists call relationships based on mating
marriage (discussed below) and those based on birth
descent. Although nurturance is ordinarily seen to be
closely connected with mating and birth, it need not be,
and all societies have ways of acknowledging a relation-
ship based on nurturance alone. In the United States, this
relationship is called adoption.
Although marriage is based on mating, descent on
birth, and adoption on nurturance, marriage is not the
same thing as mating, descent is not the same thing
as birth, and adoption is not the same thing as nur-
FIGURE 14.2 These two young men in Cameroon were the
best of friends. turance. The human experiences of mating, birth, and
nurturance are ambiguous. The fascinating thing about
systems of relatedness is that different societies choose
that one is born into to those relations that people create to highlight some features of those experiences while
through their own volition that allows them to become che. downplaying or even ignoring others. Europeans and
This, Course tells us, is the central importance of friendship North Americans know that in their societies mating
in the constitution of the Mapuche person: “it is impossible is not the same as marriage, although a valid m arriage
to overestimate the importance of friends, as it is through encourages mating between the married partners. Simi-
the activation of the capacity to form relationships with un- larly, all births do not constitute valid links of descent:
related others that one becomes a true person” (73%). Children whose parents have not been married a ccording
to accepted legal or religious specifications do not fit the
cultural logic of descent, and many societies offer no po-
What Is Kinship? sitions that they can properly fill. Finally, not all acts of
nurturance are recognized as adoption: Consider, for ex-
Our case studies of friendship contrast the relationships ample, foster parents in the United States, whose custody
people may develop with friends with other relationships of foster children is officially temporary. Put another way,
based on kin ties. In this part of the chapter, we want to through kinship, a culture emphasizes certain aspects of
explore more fully how traditional anthropological stud- human experience, constructs its own theory of human
ies of kinship contribute to our understanding of the or- nature, and specifies “the processes by which an individ-
ganization of human relatedness. People struggle to find ual comes into being and develops into a complete (i.e.,
ways to preserve certain ties of relatedness over time, rein- mature) social person” (Kelly 1993, 521).
forcing them with public affirmations and gift exchanges. Marriage, descent, and adoption are thus selective.
These practices aim to provide scaffolding for enduring One society may emphasize women as the bearers of chil-
forms of social solidarity that strengthen the agency that dren and base its kinship system on this fact, paying little
group members can exercise jointly in their encounters formal attention to the male’s role in conception. Another
with other groups. At the same time, as we saw earlier, such society may trace connections through men, emphasizing
publicly acknowledged forms of relatedness can be expe- the paternal role in conception and reducing the mater-
rienced as a burden from which individuals try to escape. nal role. A third society may encourage its members to
Anthropologists who study formal systems of kinship adopt not only children but also adult siblings, blurring
pay primary attention to those publicly recognized sets of the link between biological reproduction and family cre-
ation. Even though they contradict one another, all three
understandings can be justified with reference to the pan-
kinship Social relationships that are prototypically derived from the univer-
sal human experiences of mating, birth, and nurturance.
human experiences of mating, birth, and nurturance.
marriage An institution that prototypically involves a man and a woman,
Consider the North American kinship term aunt. This
transforms the status of the participants, carries implications about sexual term seems to refer to a woman who occupies a unique
access, gives offspring a position in the society, and e
stablishes connections biological position. In fact, an aunt may be related to
between the kin of the husband and the kin of the wife.
a person in one of four different ways: as father’s sister,
descent The principle based on culturally recognized parent-child connec-
tions that define the social categories to which people belong.
mother’s sister, father’s brother’s wife, or mother’s broth-
adoption Kinship relationships based on nurturance, often in the absence er’s wife. From the perspective of North American kinship,
of other connections based on mating or birth. all those women have something in common, and they
What Is the Role of Descent in Kinship? 427
are all placed into a single kinship category. Prototypically, emotions Westerners associate with kin. “Just as the word
a person’s aunts are women one generation older than he father in English means a great deal more than lineal
or she is and are sisters or sisters-in-law of a person’s par- male ancestor of the first ascending generation, aita in
ents. However, North Americans may also refer to their Basque has many local connotations not reducible to
mother’s best friend as aunt. By doing so, they recognize father, as we understand the term” (Greenwood and Stini
the strengths of this system of classification. By way of 1977, 333). Because the world of kin is a world of ex-
contrast, in Chile, tía, the Spanish term that translates pectations and obligations, it is fundamentally a moral
as “aunt,” is regularly used by children to refer to female world charged with feeling. In some societies, a man’s
friends of their parents. Indeed, people well into their principal authority figure is his mother’s brother, and his
early adulthood continue to use the term to refer to father is a figure of affection and unwavering support. A
women who are taking on the role of “mother,” but with phrase like “God the Father” would not mean the same
whom they are not as intimate as they would be with their thing in those societies as it does in a society in which the
own mothers. U.S. university students living with Chilean father has life-and-death control over his children and a
families frequently use the term tía to address the woman mother’s brothers are without significant authority.
who, in English, would be called their “host mother.”
Thus, kinship is an idiom. It is a selective interpreta-
tion of the common human experiences of mating, birth, What Is the Role of Descent
and nurturance. The result is a set of coherent principles
that allow people to assign one another group member-
in Kinship?
ship. These principles normally cover several significant A central aspect of kinship is descent—the cultural prin-
issues: how to carry out the reproduction of legitimate ciple that defines social categories through culturally
group members (marriage or adoption); where group recognized parent–child connections. Descent groups
members should live after marriage (residence rules); are defined by ancestry and so exist in time. Descent
how to establish links between generations (descent); involves transmission and incorporation: the transmis-
and how to pass on positions in society (succession) or sion of membership through parent–child links and the
material goods (inheritance). Taken together, kinship incorporation of these people into groups. In some so-
principles define social groups, locate people within cieties, descent group membership controls how people
those groups, and position the people and groups in mobilize for social action.
relation to one another both in space and over time. Two major strategies are employed in establishing
Kinship practices, rather than written statutes, clar- patterns of descent. In the first strategy, the descent group
ify for people what rights and obligations they owe one is formed by people who believe they are related to each
another. But the first Westerners who encountered dif- other by connections made through their mothers and fa-
ferent kinship practices found some of them highly un- thers equally. That is, they believe themselves to be just as
usual. Western explorers discovered, for example, that related to their father’s side of the family as to their moth-
some non-Western people distinguished among their er’s. Anthropologists call this bilateral descent (or cognatic
relatives only on the basis of age and sex. To refer to descent). Two kinds of bilateral kinship groups have been
people one generation older than the speaker required identified by anthropologists. One is made up of people
only two terms: one applying to men and one applying who claim to be related to one another through ties either
to women. The man who was married to their mother, from the mother’s or the father’s side to a common ances-
or whom they believed to be their biological father, al- tor. This bilateral descent group is rare. The other kind, called
though known to them and personally important to a bilateral kindred, is much more common and consists of
them, was socially no more or less significant than that the relatives of one person or group of siblings.
man’s brothers or their mother’s brothers. The explorers The second major strategy, unilineal descent, is
mistakenly concluded that these people were unable to based on the assumption that the most significant kin
tell the difference between their fathers and their uncles relationships must be traced through either the mother
because they used the same kin term for both. They as- or the father. Such descent groups are the most common
sumed that terms like father and uncle were universally kind of descent group in the world today, based on a
recognized kinship categories. However, the people
whom the explorers met were no more deluded than bilateral descent The principle that a descent group is formed by people
English speakers are when they assert that their father’s who believe they are related to each other by connections made through
their mothers and fathers equally (sometimes called cognatic descent).
sister and mother’s brother’s wife are equally their aunts.
unilineal descent The principle that a descent group is formed by people
The categories of feeling these people associated who believe they are related to each other by links made through a father or
with different kin were as real as, but different from, the mother only.
Ego 1 Ego 2
Marriage connection Person, gender unspecified

Descent Male
Siblings Female
FIGURE 14.3 A bilateral kindred includes all recognized relatives on Ego’s father’s and mother’s sides. The dark area in the center
indicates where the kindreds of Ego 1 and Ego 2 overlap.
count of the number of societies that continue to employ A classic bilateral kindred is found among the
them. Unilineal descent groups that are made up of links Ju/’hoansi of the Kalahari Desert in southern Africa (see
traced through a father are called patrilineal; those traced EthnoProfile 11.4: Ju/’hoansi). Anthropologist Richard
through a mother are called matrilineal. Lee points out that for the Ju/’hoansi, every individual in
the society can be linked to every other individual by a
kinship term, either through males or through females. As
Bilateral Kindreds a result, a person can expect to find a relative everywhere
The bilateral kindred is the kinship group that most there are Ju/’hoansi. When they were full-time foragers, the
Europeans and North Americans know. This group Ju/’hoansi lived in groups that were relatively small (10 to
forms around a particular individual and includes all 30 people) but made up of a constantly changing set of
the people linked to that individual through kin of both individuals. “In essence, a Ju/’hoan camp consists of rela-
sexes—people conventionally called relatives in English tives, friends, and in-laws who have found that they can
(Figure 14.3). These people form a group only because live and work well together. Under this flexible principle,
of their connection to the central person or persons, brothers may be united or divided; fathers and sons may
known in the terminology of kinship as Ego. In North live together or apart. Further, during his or her lifetime a
American society, bilateral kindreds assemble when Ego Ju/’hoan may live at many waterholes with many differ-
is baptized, confirmed, bar or bat mitzvahed, graduated ent groups” (2013, 66). A wide range of kinspeople makes
from college, married, or buried. Each person within this flexibility possible. When someone wanted to move,
Ego’s bilateral kindred has his or her own separate kin- he or she had kin at many different waterholes and could
dred. For example, Ego’s father’s sister’s daughter has choose to activate any of several appropriate kin ties.
a kindred that includes people related to her through For the Ju/’hoansi, the bilateral kindred provides
her father and his siblings—people to whom Ego is social flexibility. However, flexible group boundar-
not related. This is simultaneously the major strength ies become problematic in at least four kinds of social
and major weakness of bilateral kindreds. That is, they circumstances: (1) where clear-cut membership in a

have overlapping memberships and they do not endure particular social group must be determined, (2) where
beyond the lifetime of an individual Ego. But they are social action requires the formation of groups that
widely extended and can form broad networks of people are larger than individual families, (3) where conflict-
who are somehow related to one another. ing claims to land and labor must be resolved, and
(4) where people are concerned to perpetuate a particu-
bilateral kindred A kinship group that consists of the relatives of one lar social order over time. In societies that face these
person or group of siblings. dilemmas, unilineal descent groups are usually formed.
FIGURE 14.4 Patrilineal
escent: All those who trace
d
descent through males to a
common male ancestor are
indicated in white.
Nonmembers
of patrilineage
FIGURE 14.5 Matrilineal
escent: All those who trace
d
descent through females to a
common female ancestor are
indicated in white.
Nonmembers of matrilineage
What Role Do Lineages to the other; rather, the terms refer to the principle by
which membership is conferred. In a patrilineal society,
Play in Descent? women and men belong to a patrilineage formed by
father–child links (Figure 14.4); similarly, in a matrilin-
Unilineal descent groups are found all over the world.
eal society, men and women belong to a matrilineage
They are all based on the principle that certain kinds
formed by mother–child connections (Figure 14.5). In
of parent–child relationships are more important than
other words, membership in the group is, on the face of
others. Membership in a unilineal descent group is based
it, unambiguous. An individual belongs to only one lin-
on the membership of the appropriate parent in the
eage. This is in contrast to a bilateral kindred, in which
group. In patrilineal systems, an individual belongs to
an individual belongs to overlapping groups.
a group formed through male sex links, the lineage of
his or her father. In matrilineal systems, an individual
patrilineage A social group formed by people connected by
belongs to a group formed by links through women, the father–child links.
lineage of his or her mother. Patrilineal and matrilineal matrilineage A social group formed by people connected by
do not mean that only men belong to one and women mother–child links.
The -lineal in patrilineal and matrilineal refers to the

nature of the social group formed. These lineages are EthnoProfile 14.1
composed of people who believe they can specify the
parent–child links that unite them. Although the abstract Tiv
kinship diagrams that anthropologists draw include just
a few people, lineages in the world vary in size, ranging
from 20 or 30 members to several hundred. Before 1949, Nation: Nigeria (northern)
some Chinese lineages were composed of more than Population: 800,000
1,000 members. Environment: Undulating plain–wooded foothills to
sandbanks
Livelihood: Farming
Lineage Membership
NIGER
The most important feature of lineages is that they are Traditionally egalitarian;
Lake
Chad
corporate in organization—that is, a lineage has a single today, part of a modern
Kano
nation-state
legal personality. As the Ashanti put it, a lineage is “one Kaduna
IN
BEN
person” (Fortes 1953). To outsiders, all members of a N ig
er NIGERIA
lineage are equal in law to all others. For example, in the Bohannon, Laura, and Paul Yoruba e
nu
Bohannon, 1969. The Tiv of Be
case of a blood feud, the death of any opposing lineage Lagos Tiv
central Nigeria. 2d ed. London,
CAMEROON
member avenges the death of the person who started International African Institute. 0 100 200 300
the feud. Lineages are also corporate in that they con- Gulf of Guinea Miles
trol property, especially land, as a unit. Such groups are

found in societies where rights to use land are crucial
and must be monitored over time. than any lineage and also more diffuse in both member-
Lineages are also the main political associations ship and the hold it has over individuals.
in the societies that have them. Individuals have no
political or legal status in such societies except through
lineage membership. They have relatives outside the The Logic of Lineage Relationships
lineage, but their own political and legal status comes Lineages endure over time in societies in which no other
through the lineage. form of organization lasts. Hence, they provide for the
Because membership in a lineage comes through a “perpetual exercise of defined rights, duties, office and
direct line from father or mother to child, lineages can social tasks vested in the lineage” (Fortes 1953, 165). In
endure over time and in a sense have an independent other words, in the societies where they are found, the
existence. As long as people can remember from whom system of lineages becomes the foundation of social life.
they are descended, lineages can endure. Most lineages While lineages might look solid and unchang-
have a time depth of about five generations: grandpar- ing, they are often more flexible than they appear. The
ents, parents, Ego, children, and grandchildren. When memories people have of their ancestry are often trans-
members of a group believe that they can no longer ac- mitted in the form of myth or legend. Rather than
curately specify the genealogical links that connect them accurate h istorical records, they are better understood in
but believe that they are “in some way” connected, we Malinowskian terms as mythical charters, justifications
find what anthropologists call clans. from the invisible world for the visible arrangements of
A clan is usually made up of lineages that the the society (see the discussion of myth in Chapter 10).
society’s members believe to be related to each other In showing how this relationship works, Fortes (1953,
through links that go back into mythic times. Some- 165) quotes anthropologists Paul and Laura B ohannan,
times the common ancestor of each clan is said to be an whose research was among the Tiv of Nigeria (see
animal that lived at the beginning of time. The important EthnoProfile 14.1: Tiv). The Bohannans observed that Tiv
point is that lineage members can specify all the gener- who had not previously viewed one another as kin some-
ational links back to their common a ncestor, whereas times renegotiated their lineage relationships, announc-
clan members ordinarily cannot. The clan is thus larger ing publicly that they shared some of the same ancestors.
Such changes were plausible to the Tiv because they as-
lineages The consanguineal members of descent groups who believe they sumed that traditional lineage relationships determined
can trace their descent from known ancestors.
current social arrangements. If current social arrangements
clan A descent group formed by members who believe they have a
common (sometimes mythical) ancestor, even if they cannot specify the and tradition conflicted, therefore, the Tiv concluded that
genealogical links. errors had crept into the tradition. Such renegotiation
lineages A and B might consider themselves related be-

EthnoProfile 14.2 cause they believed that the founder of lineage A had
been the older brother of the founder of lineage B. These
Nuer two m inimal lineages, as Evans-Pritchard called them, to-
gether formed a minor lineage—all those descended from
a common father, believed to be the father of the two
Nation: Ethiopia and Sudan founders of A and B. Minor lineages connect to other
Population: 300,000 minor lineages by yet another presumed common ances-
Environment: Open grassland tor, forming major lineages. These major lineages are also
believed to share a common ancestor and thus form a
Livelihood: Cattle herding and farming
maximal lineage. The members of two maximal lineages
Political organization: Traditionally, egalitarian tribes, no
political offices; today, part of
believe their founders had been the sons of the clan an-
modern nation-states LIBYA
e cestor; thus, all members of the clan are believed to be
l
Ni patrilineally related.
Re
d
According to Evans-Pritchard, disputes among the
Se a
Evans-Pritchard, E. E. 1940. CHAD
Khartoum
The Nuer. Oxford: Oxford ERITREA Nuer emerged along the lines created by lineages. S uppose
h i t e Nile
University Press; and

Blu
SUDAN
a quarrel erupted between two men whose minimal lin-
e
Hutchinson, Sharon. 1996. Nuer

N i le
eages were in different minor lineages. Each would be
W
Nuer dilemmas. Berkeley:

C.A.R. ETHIOPIA
University of California joined by men who belonged to his minor lineage, even
Mo
untain Nile
Press. if they were not in his minimal lineage. The dispute

0 200 400
Miles would be resolved when the quarreling minor lineages
recognized that they were all part of the same major lin-
eage. Similarly, the minor lineages to one major lineage
enabled the Tiv to keep their lineage relationships in line
would ally if a dispute with an opposed major lineage
with changing legal and political relationships.
broke out. This process of groups coming together and
opposing one another, called segmentary opposition,
What Are Patrilineages? is expressed in kinship terms but represents a very
By far the most common form of lineage organization is common social process.
the patrilineage, which consists of all the people (male Evans-Pritchard noted that lineages were important
and female) who believe themselves related to each other to the Nuer for political purposes. Members of the same
because they are related to a common male ancestor by lineage in the same village were conscious of being in a
links through men. The prototypical kernel of a patrilin- social group with common ancestors and symbols, cor-
eage is the father–son pair. Women members of patri- porate rights in territory, and common interests in cattle.
lineages normally leave the lineages when they marry, When a son in the lineage married, these people helped
but they do not relinquish their interest in their own provide the bridewealth cattle. If the son were killed,
lineages. In a number of societies, they play an active role they—indeed, all members of his patrilineage, regard-
in the affairs of their own patrilineages for many years. less of where they lived—would avenge him and would
A classic patrilineal system was found among the hold the funeral ceremony for him. Nevertheless, rela-
Nuer of the Sudan and Ethiopia (see EthnoProfile 14.2: tionships among the members of a patrilineage were not
Nuer). At the time of his fieldwork in the 1930s, English necessarily harmonious:
anthropologist E. E. Evans-Pritchard noted that the Nuer
were divided into at least 20 clans. Evans-Pritchard de- A Nuer is bound to his paternal kin from whom he
derives aid, security, and status, but in return for these
fined clan as the largest group of people who (1) trace
benefits he has many obligations and commitments.
their descent patrilineally from a common ancestor,
Their often indefinite character may be both evidence
(2) cannot marry each other, and (3) consider sexual re-
of, and a reason for, their force, but it also gives ample
lations within the group to be incestuous. The clan is
divided, or segmented, into lineages that are themselves
linked to each other by presumed ties of patrilineal de- segmentary opposition A mode of hierarchical social organization in
scent. The most basic stage of lineage segmentation is which groups beyond the most basic emerge only in opposition to other
the minimal lineage, which has a time depth of three to groups on the same hierarchical level.
five generations. bridewealth The transfer of certain symbolically important goods from

the family of the groom to the family of the bride on the occasion of their
Evans-Pritchard observed that the Nuer kin- marriage. It represents compensation to the wife’s lineage for the loss of her
ship system worked in the following way: Members of labor and childbearing capacities.
scope for disagreement. Duties and rights easily con-

flict. Moreover, the privileges of [patrilineal] kinship EthnoProfile 14.3
cannot be divorced from authority, discipline, and a
strong sense of moral obligation, all of which are irk- Navajo
some to Nuer. They do not deny them, but they kick
against them when their personal interests run counter Region: North America
to them. (1951, 162) Nation: United States (northwestern New Mexico,
northeastern Arizona, southeastern Utah)
Although the Nuer were patrilineal, they recognized
Population: 100,000
as kin people who were not members of their lineage.
Environment: Rugged landscape
In the Nuer language, the word mar referred to “kin”: all
the people to whom a person could trace a relationship Livelihood: Farming, sheep-
herding, silver work, arts NEVADA
of any kind, including people on the mother’s side as UTAH
well as those on the father’s side. In fact, at such impor- Political organization: Tradi-
C AL
COLORADO
tionally, clans, public consen-
do
IF O
PLATEAU
tant ceremonial occasions as a bridewealth distribution
Colora
sus; today, a tribal council Navajo
RN
Flagstaff
after a woman in the lineage had been married, special
IA
For more information: ARIZONA
attention was paid to kin on the mother’s side. Certain Witherspoon, Gary. 1975. Gila
O
IC
EX
important relatives, such as the mother’s brother and Navajo kinship and m
arriage.
M
M W
Chicago: University of EX NE
the mother’s sister, were given cattle. A man’s mother’s IC
O
Chicago Press.
Gul rnia
Calif
brother was his great supporter when he was in trouble. 0 100
f of
o
The mother’s brother was kind to him as a boy and even Miles
provided a second home after he reached manhood. If

he liked his sister’s son, a mother’s brother would even to run the lineage even though there is more autonomy
be willing to help pay the bridewealth so that he could for women in matrilineal societies than in patrilineal
marry. “Nuer say of the maternal uncle that he is both ones—that the day-to-day exercise of power tends to be
father and mother, but most frequently that ‘he is your carried out by the brothers or sometimes the husbands.
mother’” (Evans-Pritchard 1951, 162).* A number of studies, however, have questioned the va-
lidity of these generalizations. Trying to say something
What Are Matrilineages? about matrilineal societies in general is difficult. The eth-
In matrilineages, descent is traced through women nographic evidence suggests that matrilineages must be
rather than through men. Recall that in a patrilineage examined on a case-by-case basis.
a woman’s children are not in her lineage. In a matri- The Navajo are a matrilineal people (see
lineage, a man’s children are not in his. However, cer- EthnoProfile 14.3: Navajo). Traditionally, the basic unit
tain features of matrilineages make them more than just of Navajo social organization is the subsistence residential
mirror images of patrilineages. unit composed of a head mother, her husband, and some
First, the prototypical kernel of a matrilineage is the of their c hildren with their spouses and children (With-
sister–brother pair; a matrilineage may be thought of as erspoon 1975, 82). The leader of the unit is normally a
a group of brothers and sisters connected through links man, usually the husband of the head mother. He directs
made by women. Brothers marry out and often live with livestock and agricultural operations and is the one who
the family of their wives, but they maintain an active in- deals with the outside world: “He speaks for the unit at
terest in the affairs of their lineage. Second, the most im- community meetings, negotiates with the traders and car
portant man in a boy’s life is not his father (who is not salesmen, arranges marriages and ceremonies, talks to vis-
in his lineage) but his mother’s brother, from whom he iting strangers, and so on” (82). (Contemporary Navajo
will receive his lineage inheritance. Third, the amount women may not be involved in livestock and agricultural
of power women exercise in matrilineages is still being operations at all, finding professional and salaried careers
hotly debated in anthropology. A matrilineage is not the outside the residential unit.) He seems to be in charge. But
same thing as a matriarchy (a society in which women it is the head mother around whom the unit is organized:
rule); brothers often retain what appears to be a control- [The head mother] is identified with the land, the herd,
ling interest in the lineage. Some anthropologists claim and the agricultural fields. All residence rights can be
that the male members of a matrilineage are supposed traced back to her, and her opinions and wishes are
always given the greatest consideration and usually pre-
*Readers interested in what has happened to Nuer kinship vail. In a sense, however, she delegates much of her role
and relatedness as a consequence of the seemingly unending civil and prestige to the leader of the unit. If we think of the
war in the Sudan should look at Hutchinson 1996 or 2002. unit as a corporation, and the leader as its president, the
What Are Kinship Terminologies? 433
head mother will be the chairman of the board. She usu- • Affinity. A distinction is made on the basis of
ally has more sheep than the leader does. Because the connection through marriage, or affinity. This crite-
power and importance of the head mother offer a de- rion is used in Spanish when suegra (Ego’s spouse’s
ceptive appearance to the observer, many students of the mother) is distinguished from madre (Ego’s mother).
Navajo have failed to see the importance of her role. But In matrilineal societies, Ego’s mother’s sister and
if one has lived a long time in one of these units, one father’s sister are distinguished from one another on
soon becomes aware of who ultimately has the cards
the basis of affinity. The mother’s sister is a direct,
and directs the game. When there is a divorce between
lineal relative; the father’s sister is an affine; and they
the leader and the head, it is always the leader who
are called by different terms.
leaves and the head mother who returns, even if the land
originally belonged to the mother of the leader. (82–83) • Collaterality. A distinction is made between kin who
are believed to be in a direct line and those who
Overall, evidence from matrilineal societies reveals are “off to one side,” linked to Ego through a lineal
some domains of experience in which men and women relative. In English, the distinction of collaterality is
are equal, some in which men are in control, and some in exemplified by the distinction between mother and
which women are in control. Observers and participants aunt or father and uncle.
may disagree about which of these domains of experience
• Bifurcation. The distinction of bifurcation is employed
is more or less central to Navajo life.
when kinship terms referring to the mother’s side of the
family differ from those referring to the father’s side.
What Are Kinship • Relative age. Relatives of the same category may be
distinguished on the basis of whether they are older
Terminologies? or younger than Ego. Among the Ju/’hoansi, for
example, speakers must separate “older brother”
People everywhere use special terms to refer to people
(!ko) from “younger brother” (tsin).
they recognize as related to them. Despite the variety of
kinship systems in the world, anthropologists have iden- • Gender of linking relative. This criterion is related to
tified six major patterns of kinship terminology based collaterality. It distinguishes cross relatives (usually cous-
on how people categorize their cousins. The six pat- ins) from parallel relatives (also usually cousins). Paral-
terns reflect common solutions to structural problems lel relatives are linked through two brothers or two
faced by societies organized in terms of kinship. They sisters. Parallel cousins, for example, are Ego’s father’s
provide clues concerning how the vast and undifferenti- brother’s children or mother’s sister’s children. Cross
ated world of potential kin may be divided up. Kinship relatives are linked through a brother–sister pair. Thus,
terminologies suggest both the external boundaries and cross cousins are Ego’s mother’s brother’s children or
the internal divisions of the kinship groups, and they father’s sister’s children. The gender of either Ego or the
outline the structure of rights and obligations assigned cousins does not matter; rather the important factor is
to different members of the society. the gender of the linking relative (Figure 14.6).
By the early 1950s, kinship specialists in anthro

What Criteria Are Used for Making pology had identified six major patterns of kinship
terminology, based on how cousins were classified. In
Kinship Distinctions?
recent years, however, anthropologists have become quite
Anthropologists have identified several criteria that skeptical of the value of these idealized models, in large
people use to indicate how people are related to one measure because they are highly formalized and do not
another. From the most common to the least common, capture the full range of people’s actual practices. Perhaps
these criteria include the following:
• Generation. Kin terms distinguish relatives a ccord- affinity Connection through marriage.

ing to the generation to which the relatives belong. collaterality A criterion employed in the analysis of kinship terminologies
In English, the term cousin conventionally refers to in which a distinction is made between kin who are believed to be in a direct
line and those who are “off to one side,” linked to the speaker by a lineal
someone of the same generation as Ego. relative.
• Gender. The gender of an individual is used to differ- bifurcation A criterion employed in the analysis of kinship terminologies
entiate kin. In Spanish, primo refers to a male cousin in which kinship terms referring to the mother’s side of the family are distin-
guished from those referring to the father’s side.
and prima to a female cousin. In English, cousins are
parallel cousins The children of a person’s parents’ same-gender s iblings
not distinguished on the basis of gender, but uncle (a father’s brother’s children or a mother’s sister’s children).
and aunt are distinguished on the basis of both gen- cross cousins The children of a person’s parents’ opposite-gender siblings
eration and gender. (a father’s sister’s children or a mother’s brother’s children)
Ego
Cross cousins Parallel cousins
FIGURE 14.6 Cross cousins and parallel cousins: Ego’s cross cousins are the children of Ego’s father’s sister and mother’s brother.
Ego’s parallel cousins are the children of Ego’s father’s brother and mother’s sister.
the main value to come from formal kinship studies is

the fact that they took seriously the ways other people EthnoProfile 14.4
classified their relatives and were able to show the logic
that informed such classifications. On the model of Zumbagua
language, the set of kinship terms can be derived from
Region: South America
a small number of principles that direct our attention to
the important categories in a society. Nation: Ecuador
Population: 20,000 (parish)
Environment: Andean mountain valley

What Is Adoption? Livelihood: Farming
Kinship systems may appear to be fairly rigid sets of rules Political organization:
that use the accident of birth to thrust people into social Peasant village and parish in
modern nation-state CO LO M B I A
positions laden with rights and obligations they cannot
escape. Social positions that people are assigned at birth For more information: Quito
Weismantel, Mary. 2001.
are sometimes called ascribed statuses, and positions Zumbagua
Food, gender, and poverty
within a kinship system have long been viewed as the in the Ecuadorian Andes.
ECUADOR
prototypical ascribed statuses in any society. A scribed Prospect Heights, IL:

statuses are often contrasted with achieved statuses, Waveland Press. PERU
0 300
those social positions that people may attain later in life, Miles
often as the result of their own (or other people’s) effort,

such as becoming a spouse or college graduate. All so-
cieties have ways of incorporating outsiders into their community of Zumbagua, in highland Ecuador (1995;
kinship groups, however, which they achieve by convert- see EthnoProfile 14.4: Zumbagua). The farmers’ house-
ing supposedly ascribed kinship statuses into achieved holds were based on lifelong heterosexual relationships,
ones, thus undermining the distinction between them. but she discovered that Zumbaguans recognized kin ties
We will use the term adoption to refer to these practices, that were very different from those found in European
which allow people to transform relationships based on American cultures. Most striking was her discovery that
nurturance into relations of kinship. every adult seemed to have several kinds of parents and
several kinds of children.
In some societies, like that of ancient Rome, people
Adoption in Highland Ecuador distinguish between Ego’s biological father (or genitor)
Mary Weismantel is an anthropologist who carried out and social father (or pater); they may also distinguish
fieldwork among indigenous farmers living outside the between Ego’s biological mother (or genetrix) and social
mother (or mater). Social parents are those who nurture
ascribed statuses Social positions people are assigned at birth. a child, and they are often the child’s biological parents
achieved statuses Social positions people may attain later in life, often as well. Zumbaguans use the Quichua term tayta for
as the result of their own (or other people’s) effort. both genitor and pater and mama for both genetrix and
What Is the Relation between Adoption and Child Circulation in the Andes? 435
mater. In their society, however, genitor, pater, genetrix, child circulation is “a deliberate method of strengthen-
and mater are often entirely different people. ing social ties, building an affective network that will
Weismantel learned that this use of kin terms was remain key as a child matures into a world of poverty and
related to local forms of adoption, most of which occur distinction, and redistributing both the pleasures and
within the family. In 1991, for example, a young girl constraints of parenting and being a child” (2008, 4).
named Nancy moved into the household of her father Although there are no official statistics to describe the
Alfonso’s prosperous, unmarried older sister, Heloisa, frequency of child circulation in Andean societies, ex-
whom Nancy called tía (aunt). By 1993, however, Nancy pressions referring to these practices can be found in
was calling Heloisa mama. Everyone concerned viewed indigenous languages as well as in Spanish, and child
this transition positively, a way of strengthening family circulation has been described in the ethnographies of
solidarity in a difficult economic situation, and no one numerous anthropologists working in the Andes. Child
seemed worried about whether Heloisa was Nancy’s nat- circulation appears to have roots in indigenous kin-
ural mother. based community structures such as the Inka ayllu. In
People also often adopted children who were not the devastating a ftermath of the Spanish conquest, such
kin. In both cases, however, the bond of adoption was kin structures were undermined but did not disappear
created through nurturing, symbolized by the provi- and were reformulated in different ways.
sion of food. Heloisa became Nancy’s adoptive mama Leinaweaver emphasizes the difference between
because she took care of her, fed her. Men in Zumbagua child circulation and two other forms of child move-
can also become the adoptive tayta of children by feed- ment recognized in contemporary Peru, child traffick-
ing them in front of witnesses who verbally proclaim ing and adoption. Child trafficking involves “removing
what a “good father” the man is. However, the adoptive children from their natal homes for destinations un-
relationship does not gain recognition unless the adop- known,” a criminal operation that the Peruvian national
tive parent continues feeding the child regularly for a government opposes (2008, 4). Child circulation is
long time. Weismantel discovered that the Zumbaguan also different from what the Peruvian government calls
family consists of those who eat together. The kinship adoption; that is, state-backed practices whereby chil-
bond results, they believe, because people who regularly dren are “legally severed from their natal families before
eat the same food together eventually come to share “the their incorporation into a new and approved family
same flesh,” no matter who gave birth to them. Weis- can take place” (2008, 8). This legal definition of adop-
mantel points out that feeding children is every bit as tion is supported by Peru’s 1992 Code of the Child and
biological as giving birth to them: It is simply a different Adolescent. Based on international agreements such as
aspect of biology. the 1990 United Nations Convention on the Rights of
Indeed, in Zumbagua, a woman’s biological tie to the Child, the 1992 Code states that adoptions in Peru
her offspring is given no greater weight than a man’s bio- shall be directed by the principle of the “best interests
logical tie to his. Many Zumbaguans are closer to their of the child and adolescent” (2008, 52). Leinaweaver
adopted family than they are to their biological parents. does not doubt that Peruvians are sincere when they cel-
If genitor and genetrix are young and poor, moreover, ebrate and defend children’s rights. However, she points
they run a very real risk that they will lose their children out that the “best interests of the child” principle derives
to adoption by older, wealthier individuals. In other from middle-class Western views about what counts as a
words, enduring kin ties in Zumbagua are achieved, not proper childhood (2008, 53–54). As such, she argues, it
merely ascribed, statuses. does not reflect local, indigenous understandings about
children, their rights, and their responsibilities, espe-
cially as materialized in practices of child circulation.
What Is the Relation between The principles underlying child circulation can be
found in the widespread Latin American practice of com-
Adoption and Child Circulation padrazgo (discussed later in this chapter). L einaweaver
in the Andes? and her partner were frequently asked to serve as god-
parents at important life cycle events for the children
Adoption in Zumbagua, Ecuador, is a regional example of people they knew, and came to understand that this
of widespread Andean relatedness practices that in- was an accepted way for their friends in Ayacucho to
volve the movement of children from one household incorporate outsiders into their kin group. Godparents
to another as they grow up. Anthropologist Jessaca take on new responsibilities, especially financial ones,
Lienaweaver, who carried out field research in Ayacucho, in relation to their godchildren. At the same time, as
Peru, calls these patterns child circulation. In her view, one woman with four godchildren told Leinaweaver,
becoming a godparent gives people “more family.” In Leinaweaver suggests, the category of “orphan” as a child
this way, compadrazgo—like other forms of child circula- whose parents had died would not have made sense for
tion “is a key producer of social life” (2008, 8). indigenous people, for they would have found homes
Leinaweaver learned about the moral principles as- for such children by means of child circulation. Today,
sociated with child circulation from the life histories of however, in the aftermath of brutal community destruc-
Ayacuchanos who had been circulated as children. They tion, indigenous families’ capacities to care for or circu-
described a child who moved into the homes of a more late children appear to have been overwhelmed, with the
prosperous relative in order “to accompany” (acompañar) result that many children have ended up in orphanages.
that person, particularly when the older relative would Since the end of the war, many couples from Europe
otherwise be living alone. A child who “accompanied” and the United States have sought to adopt the children
an older person in this way would perform chores chil- in Peruvian orphanages. However, the 1992 Peruvian
dren usually carried out in poor indigenous households, adoption law insists that children may not be adopted
in return for which they would receive room and board unless they have first legally been certified as “aban-
and a small amount of money, which they described a doned.” Leinaweaver found that officials concerned with
“tip” or “allowance,” rather than a wage. In return, child adoption procedures, especially social workers, took
companions relieved the loneliness of the people they a long time to make sure that any child in an orphan-
“kept company,” while gaining the opportunity to attend age had truly been abandoned by its parents. The social
better schools and learn more sophisticated urban cus- workers Leinaweaver knew understood that poor indig-
toms. For poor indigenous families, Leinaweaver argues, enous children often ended up in orphanages for reasons
child circulation possesses “an unassailable cultural other than abandonment. In a country like Peru, where
logic” (2008, 4). This logic, however, is often not appar- social safety nets for poor people have been seriously
ent to Peruvians from higher social classes. For example, undermined by neoliberal economic reforms as well
one well-to-do woman Leinaweaver knew conceded that as by war, the orphanage has come to serve as a refuge
circulated children might be treated better than hired ser- where many desperate poor parents might “circulate” a
vants, but insisted that “they do not treat the godchild child temporarily if, for reasons beyond their control,
like their own child, because they make him do chores, neither they nor their relations are able to care for that
which is wrong. For her, there can only be coddled chil- child. As with child circulation more generally, indig-
dren or maids; anything between is ambiguous and enous parents rarely intend to abandon their children
exploitative. Acompañar is uncomfortable or even unac- permanently, often visiting and eventually taking them
ceptable to outside observers (2008, 94). back home when their situations stabilize. Nevertheless,
Despite hardships and loneliness, Leinaweaver’s in- relying on an orphanage can be risky for indigenous par-
terviewees regularly described their experience of child ents, because it “does not provide a site for the child or
circulation as necessary for their own self-betterment, or her parents to reciprocate these immense gifts of food,
superación. Self-betterment is an important goal for chil- shelter, care, and education. To use the orphanage is,
dren from poor, indigenous families and, L einaweaver in this sense, amoral. Where Andean morality is rooted
argues, is tightly bound up with institutionalized P eruvian in reciprocity . . . an orphanage only gives” (2008, 80).
racism, which stigmatizes rural indigenous people for Orphanages in highland Peru thus offer another early
their poverty, illiteracy, and “backward” customs. Many twentieth-century instance of what anthropologist Didier
indigenous people accept this devaluation, and use Fassin calls “humanitarian reason” (see Chapter 15).
child circulation as a way to offer their children a chance
to better themselves by shedding traditional ways and
adopting customs associated with Spanish- speaking, How Flexible Can
middle-class, urban life.
During the 1980s, life in the Peruvian highlands Relatedness Be?
was severely disrupted by the insurgent left-wing move-
ment known as Shining Path (Sendero Luminoso),
Negotiation of Kin Ties
which began in Ayacucho and became known for its among the Ju/’hoansi
extreme brutality. When the Peruvian army was sent into Michael Peletz observes that many contemporary kin-
the highlands to crush Shining Path, indigenous people ship studies in anthropology “tend to devote consid-
were frequently targeted by both sides, and entire com- erable analytic attention to themes of contradiction,
munities were wiped out. By the 1990s, as the violence paradox and ambivalence” (1995, 343). This is true both
lessened, for the first time, orphanages were set up in of Weismantel’s study in Zumbagua and of Richard Lee’s
the Peruvian highlands. Prior to the years of violence, analysis of kinship among the Ju/’hoansi. Lee learned
that for the Ju/’hoansi “the principles of kinship consti- Sometimes a man can marry a woman but because his
tute, not an invariant code of laws written in stone, but name is the same as her father’s she can’t marry him! Fur-
instead a whole series of codes, consistent enough to pro- ther, you may not marry anyone with the name of one of
vide structure but open enough to be fl exible.” He adds: your avoidance kin. As a result, parents who do not want
“I found the best way to look at [Ju/’hoansi] k inship is as their children to marry can almost always find a kinship-
a game, full of ambiguity and nuance” (2013, 67). related reason to block the marriage. Once again, it does
The Ju/’hoansi have what seems to be a straightfor- not matter what the exact genealogical relationships are.
ward bilateral kindred with alternating generations. Out- The name relationship ties Ju/’hoansi society closer
side the nuclear core of the system, the same terms are together by making close relatives out of distant ones. At
used by Ego for kin of his or her generation, his or her the same time, it makes nonsense of the formal kinship
grandparents’ generation, and his or her grandchildren’s system. How is this dilemma resolved? The Ju/’hoansi
generation. Likewise, the same terms are used for Ego’s have a third component to their kinship system, the prin-
parents’ generation and children’s generation. These ciple of wi, which operates as follows: relative age is one
terms have behavioral correlates, which Lee calls “joking” of the few ways the Ju/’hoansi have of marking distinc-
and “avoidance.” Anyone in Ego’s own generation (except tions. Thus, in any relationship that can be described by
opposite-gender siblings) and in the grandparents’ gen- more than one kin relationship, the older party chooses
eration or the grandchildren’s generation is joking kin. the kin term to be used. For example, a man may get
Anyone in Ego’s parents’ generation or children’s gen- married only to discover that his wife’s aunt’s husband
eration is avoidance kin, as are Ego’s same-gender sib- has the same name he has. What will he and his wife’s
lings. Relatives in a joking relationship can be relaxed aunt call each other? According to the principle of wi,
and affectionate and can speak using familiar forms. In the aunt decides because she is older. If she calls him
an avoidance relationship, however, respect and reserve nephew (rather than husband), he knows to call her aunt.
are required, and formal language must be used. Many The principle of wi means that a person’s involve-
of these relationships may be warm and friendly if the ment with the kinship system is continually changing
proper respect is shown in public: However, people in an over the course of his or her lifetime. For the first half of
avoidance relationship may not marry one another. people’s lives, they must accept the kin terms their elders
The “game,” as Lee puts it, in the Ju/’hoansi system choose, whether they understand why or not. After
begins when a child is named. The Ju/’hoansi have very midlife, however, they begin to impose wi on their ju-
few names: 36 for men and 32 for women. Every child niors. For the Ju/’hoansi, kinship connections are open
must be named for someone: A first-born son should get to manipulation and negotiation rather than being rig-
his father’s father’s name and a first-born daughter her idly imposed from the outside.
father’s mother’s name. Second-born children are sup-
posed to be named after the mother’s father and mother.
Later children are named after the father’s brothers and
European American Kinship
sisters and the mother’s brothers and sisters. It is no and New Reproductive Technologies
wonder that the Ju/’hoansi invent a host of nicknames Western medicine has developed new reproductive tech-
to distinguish among people who have the same name. nologies, such as in vitro fertilization, sperm banks, and
Ju/’hoansi naming practices impinge upon the kinship surrogate motherhood, that are creating challenges not
system because all people with the same name will claim only for law and morality, but also for Western concepts of
to be related. A man older than you with your name is kinship (Figure 14.7). Marilyn Strathern (1992) observes
called !kun!a (“old name”) which is the same term used that in the European American world, kinship is under-
for grandfather. A man younger than you with your name stood as the social construction of natural facts, a logic
is called !kuna (“young name”), the same term used for that both combines and separates the social and natural
grandson. It does not matter how people are “really” re- worlds. That is, European Americans recognize kin re-
lated to others with the same name or even if they are lated by blood and kin related by marriage, but they also
related at all according to formal kinship terminology; believe that the process—procreation—that brings kin
the name relationship takes precedence. into existence is part of nature. “The rooting of social rela-
But the complications do not end here. By meta- tions in natural facts traditionally served to impart a cer-
phorical extension, anyone with your father’s name you tain quality to one significant dimension of kin relations.
call father, anyone with your wife’s name you call wife, and For all that one exercised choice, it was also the case that
so on. Worse, “a woman may not marry a man with her these relations were at base non-negotiable” (Strathern
father’s or brother’s name, and a man may not marry a 1992, 28). Ties of kinship are supposed to stand for
woman with his mother’s or sister’s name” (Lee 2013, 79). what is unalterable in a person’s social world in contrast
FIGURE 14.7 In vitro fertilization (IVF), one of the new reproductive technologies, is already having an effect on what it means to
be a “natural” parent. Over 1,000 IVF babies gathered in 2003 to celebrate the twenty-fifth anniversary of the birth of the first IVT
baby, Louise Brown (center front).
to what is open to change. Yet the new reproductive tech- adulterous natural father,” arguing, in effect, that a geni-
nologies make clear that nothing is unalterable: even the tor can never be a pater unless he is involved in an ongo-
world of natural facts is subject to social intervention. ing relationship with the child’s mother, something that
As Janet Dolgin (1995) reports, contemporary ambi- was clearly impossible because she was already married to
guities surrounding kinship in the United States have put someone else.
pressure on the courts to decide what constitutes biologi- The surrogacy cases demonstrate directly the compli-
cal parenthood and how it is related to legal parenthood. cations that can result from new reproductive technolo-
She examined two sets of cases, the first involving the gies. The “Baby M” situation was a traditional surrogacy
paternal rights of unwed putative fathers and the second arrangement in which the surrogate, Mary Beth White-
focusing on the rights of parties involved in surrogate head, was impregnated with the sperm of the husband
motherhood agreements. In two cases involving putative in the couple who intended to become the legal parents
unwed fathers, courts reasoned that biological maternity of the child she bore. Whitehead was supposed to ter-
automatically made a woman a social mother but biologi- minate all parental rights when the child was born, but
cal paternity did not automatically make a man a social she refused to do so. The court faced a dilemma. Existing
father. Because the men in these two cases had failed to law backed Whitehead’s maternal rights, but the court
participate in rearing their children, their paternity rights was also concerned that the surrogacy agreement looked
were not recognized. In another case, the biological father too much like babyselling or womb-rental. The court’s
had lived with his child and her mother for extended pe- opinion focused on Whitehead’s attempt to break the
riods during the child’s early years and had actively par- surrogacy contract to justify terminating her legal rights,
ticipated in her upbringing. However, the child’s mother although she was awarded visitation rights.
had been married to another man during this period, and More complicated than traditional surrogacy, gesta-
the law proclaimed her legal husband to be the child’s tional surrogacy deconstructs the role of genetrix into two
father. Although the genitor had established a supportive roles that can be performed by two different women.
relationship with his daughter, the court labeled him “the In a key case, the Calverts, a childless married couple,
provided egg and sperm that were used in the laboratory

to create an embryo, which was then implanted in Anna
EthnoProfile 14.5
Johnson’s uterus. But when Johnson gave birth to the
baby, she refused to give it up. As Dolgin points out, this Israel
case “provided a context in which to measure the general-
Region: Middle East
ity of the assumption that the gestational role both pro-
duces and constitutes maternity” (1995, 58). As we have Nation: Israel
seen, several other court cases emphasized the role of ges- Population: 7,150,000
tation in forming an indissoluble bond between mother Livelihood: Modern nation-state with
and child. In this case, however, the court referred to diversified economy
Anna Johnson “as a ‘gestational carrier,’ a ‘genetic heredi- Political organization: LEBANON
tary stranger’ to the child, who acted like a ‘foster parent’” Modern representative SYRIA
(59). The court declared the Calverts and the child were a democracy Nazareth
family unit on genetic grounds and ruled that the Calverts For more information: Tel-Aviv
Jericho
Jerusalem
were the baby’s “natural” and legal parents. Kahn, Susan Martha. 2000. Bethlehem DEAD
SEA
Gaza City
Reproducing Jews: A cultural
Dolgin notes that in all of these cases, the courts ISRAEL
account of assisted conception JORDAN
awarded legal custody to those parties whose living arrange- in Israel. Durham, NC: Duke Mitzpe
ments most closely approximated the t raditional middle- University Press. EGYPT
Ramon
class, North American two-parent family. “Biological facts

were called into judicial play only . . . when they justified
the preservation of traditional families” (1995, 63). Bio-
logical facts that might have undermined such families As a result, assisted reproduction has played a very
were systematically overlooked. Perhaps the clear-cut bi- different role in Israel than it has played in the United
ological basis of North American kinship is not so clear- States. First, Israelis in general are pronatalist: They be-
cut after all. lieve they have a duty to produce children, for a vari-
ety of historical and political reasons (Kahn 2000, 3).
Second, through its national health insurance programs,
Assisted Reproduction in Israel the Israeli state supports both families and unmarried
Similar unanticipated trajectories that derive from our mothers, and this support includes heavily subsidized
systems of relatedness are being opened by recent bio- access to reproductive technologies for all women, mar-
technological advances, such as assisted reproduction; ried or not. As one Israeli woman told Kahn, “It is con-
these practices are already transforming and complicat- sidered much worse to be a childless woman than to
ing traditional understandings of human connectedness be an unmarried mother” (16). Third, Kahn found that
in any society that adopts them. For example, studying most Jews of all backgrounds endorse the idea that Jew-
assisted reproduction in Israel (see EthnoProfile 14.5: ishness is passed on to children matrilineally—that is,
Israel) led Susan Martha Kahn to ask whether Jewish from one’s mother, not from one’s father. As a result,
ideas about kinship are or are not usefully understood “genetic relatedness is a considerably more plastic cat-
as “Euro-American,” especially since Jews have lived egory in rabbinic thinking about kinship; it can be
for millennia within the boundaries of many different conceptually erased, made invisible, or otherwise recon-
societies outside Europe and America. Within Israel itself, figured” (165).
Euro-American ideas about kinship coexist with other One consequence of this is that religious authori-
ideas from elsewhere that developed among different ties agree that “the specific identity and origin of sperm
Jewish populations long before the state of Israel was is conceptualized as irrelevant to Jewish reproduction”
founded; moreover, “multiple and often contradictory (Kahn 2000, 166). On the one hand, this means that
popular opinions about these matters have always si- infertile couples are encouraged (and subsidized by the
multaneously coexisted, competed, and conflicted with state) to use assisted reproduction. On the other hand,
each other” (Kahn 2000, 161–62). This means that it is assisted reproduction “has revealed curious and provoc-
important not to equate Jewish ideas about kinship in ative loopholes within the rabbinic imagination of relat-
Israel with “Euro-American kinship thinking” and to edness” that “implicitly allow for and legitimate Jewish
recognize that “Jewish” and “Euro-American” concep- children conceived by unmarried Jewish women as well
tual frameworks for imagining kinship make “differing as by infertile Jewish couples who conceive children
assumptions about genetic relatedness and its role in es- with reproductive genetic material donated by anony-
tablishing kinship” (2000, 162–63). mous non-Jews” (170).
Compadrazgo in Latin America psychic health. But Sharp reports that donor kin and
organ recipients have found ways to find each other and
An important set of kinship practices in Roman Catholic
meet face to face, and her research contradicted the fears
Latin America is compadrazgo, or ritual coparenthood.
of the professionals: Of 30 recorded cases of such meet-
The baptism of a child requires the presence of a god-
ings, only 1 failed (2006, 191).
mother and a godfather as sponsors. By participating in
An important outcome of the bringing together of
this ritual, the sponsors become the ritual coparents of
donor kin and organ recipients has been the develop-
the child. In Latin America, godparents are expected to
ment of kinship relationships linking donor kin to those
take an active interest in their godchildren and to help
who received organs from their relatives. Affected indi-
them wherever possible. However, the more important
viduals struggle with the question of what Sharp calls
relationship is between the godparents and the parents.
“donor ownership”: “What rights do surviving kin have
They become compadres (“coparents”), and they are ex-
to trace the whereabouts of the remains of the lost loved
pected to behave toward each other in new ways.
one? Can one, for instance, assert claims of access—or
Sometimes the godparents are already kin; in recent
postmortem visiting rights?” (Sharp 2006, 190). Sharp’s
years, for example, Nicaraguans have been choosing rela-
research showed her that
tives living in the United States as compadres (Lancaster
1992, 66). A couple often chooses godparents whose donor kin and recipients alike share the understand-
social standing is higher than their own: the owners of the ing that transplanted organs, as donor fragments, carry
land they farm, for example, or of the factory where they with them some essence of their former selves, and this
work. Participating together in the baptism changes these persists in the bodies of recipients. The donor then be-
unequal strangers into ritual kin whose relationship, al- comes a transmigrated soul of sorts, one that generates
compelling dilemmas for involved parties. . . . At risk
though still unequal, is now personalized, friendlier, more
here is the further shattering of each person’s world;
open. The parents will support the godparents when that
yet, as successful encounters reveal, potentially each
support is needed (politically, for example), and the god-
party is partially healed in the process. (190)
parents will do favors for the parents. They even call each
other compadre rather than, say, “Señor López” and “José.” One example Sharp offers involves Sally and Larry.
Catherine Allen notes that the bonds of compa- Both had been involved in activities promoting organ
drazgo, in combination with marriage alliances and kin- donation and had known each other for several years,
ship, “form constellations of mutual obligation and before they learned that Sally’s son had provided the
dependence that shift with time as new compadrazgo heart now beating inside Larry’s body. When Sharp
relationships are formed, young relatives come of age, interviewed them, Sally was in her mid-fifties and a

and old bonds fall into disuse through death or quarrel- widow; Larry was a dozen years older and married. Right
ing. Like kin ties, bonds of compadrazgo can become as after his transplant surgery, and against the advice of
much a burden as an asset, and like kin ties they can be his doctors, Larry had begun trying to find the family
ignored or honored in the breach” (1988, 90). of the teenager who had provided his heart, and his
wife, “Bulldog,” helped him find Sally. Larry and Sally
exchanged letters and met three years later. As they got
Organ Transplantation to know one another, Larry, Sally, and Sally’s daughter
and the Creation of New Relatives began to use kin terms to refer to one another.
Equally curious and provocative are the new kinds of kin
For example, Larry addresses Sally’s daughter as “Sis,”
ties that have emerged in the United States, following the
and she calls him “Bro.” After Larry’s own birth mother
increasingly widespread use of biomedical and surgical died, he then began to address Sally as “Mom,” and
techniques that allow bodily organs to be salvaged from she now calls him “Son.” As Sally explained, Larry now
brain-dead individuals and transplanted into the bodies sends her a Mother’s Day card. These terms have facili-
of others. Lesley Sharp reports that professionals who tated the establishment of an elaborate joking relation-
manage the many steps involved in organ transplantation ship. . . . They are mildly troubled by the adulterous
have, until very recently, attempted to keep the families overtones of their relationship, one laced, too, I would
of organ donors from finding out the identities of organ assert, with the incestuous, given that Larry now har-
recipients. The rather paternalistic justification given was bors part of Charlie inside his body. (Sharp 2006, 188)
that keeping people ignorant would be good for their
Sharp found that, of all kinship statuses, the role of
the donor mother was particularly important among those
whom she interviewed (Figure 14.8). In this case, empha-
compadrazgo Ritual coparenthood in Latin America and Spain,
stablished through the Roman Catholic practice of having godparents
e sizing Sally’s role as donor mother helped Sally and Larry
for children. deal with the “adulterous” or “incestuous” overtones in
What Is Marriage? 441
FIGURE 14.8 The families of

organ donors and the recipients of
those organs have begun to meet
face to face in the United States.
A heart recipient (center, facing
camera) embraces the mother of
the young man whose heart he
received; his wife (right) and the
young man’s sister (left) look on.
their relationship. “In assuming the role of donor mother social groups to which the spouses belong—first and fore-
to Larry, she eliminates the discomfort that arises when one most from their families. Marriage and family are two terms
considers their proximity in age. In essence, the mother–son anthropologists use to describe how different societies un-
bond trumps age” (2006, 190). Interestingly, traditionally derstand and organize mating and its consequences.
North American understandings about “blood” relations A prototypical marriage (1) transforms the status of
extend to Larry but not to his wife: “Today, Sally, Larry, and the participants; (2) stipulates the degree of sexual access
Bulldog are dear to one another,” but “there is no special the married partners are expected to have to each other,
term of address reserved for Bulldog. . . . Structurally, she is ranging from exclusive to preferential; (3) perpetuates
simply ‘Larry’s wife,’ whereas Larry, in embodying Charlie’s social patterns through the production or adoption of
heart, is now embraced as blood kin” (190). offspring; (4) creates relationships between the kin of the
partners; and (5) is symbolically marked in some way,
from an elaborate wedding to simply the appearance of
What Is Marriage? a husband and wife seated one morning outside her hut.
Ordinarily, a prototypical marriage involves a man
The forms of relatedness we have just described are in- and a woman. But what are we to make of the follow-
timately connected with another widespread social ing cases? Each offers an alternative way of understand-
process—marriage. Marriage and household formation ing the combination of features that define appropriate
provide significant forms of social support that enable unions in a particular society.
people to take part in wider patterns of social life. In
many places, they also facilitate important economic
and political exchanges between the kinship groups to Woman Marriage and Ghost
which the marriage partners belong. Even when mar- Marriage among the Nuer
riage is not connected with lineage or clan relations, Among the Nuer, as E. E. Evans-Pritchard observed during
marriage patterns provide frameworks for linking prehis fieldwork in the 1930s, a woman could marry another
viously unrelated people to one another, embedding woman and become the “father” of the children the wife
individuals within groups, and organizing individual bore (see EthnoProfile 14.2: Nuer). This practice, which
emotional commitments and economic activities. also appears in some other parts of Africa, involves a dis-
tinction between pater and genitor. The female husband
Toward a Definition of Marriage (the pater) had to have some cattle of her own to use
Getting married involves more than just living together or
having sexual relations, and nowhere in the world is mar- marriage An institution that prototypically transforms the status of a man
and a woman, carries implications about permitted sexual access, gives the
riage synonymous with mating. In most s ocieties, marriage offspring a position in society, and establishes connections between the kin
also requires involvement and support from the wider of the husband and the kin of the wife.
for bridewealth payments to the wife’s lineage. Once the it became difficult, if not impossible, for him to marry
bridewealth had been paid, the marriage was established. later in his own right. His relatives would tell him he was
The female husband then got a male kinsman, friend, or “already married” and that he should allow his younger
neighbor (the genitor) to impregnate the wife and to help brothers to use cattle from the family herd so they could
with certain tasks around the homestead that the Nuer marry. Even if he eventually accumulated enough cattle
believed could be done only by men. to afford to marry, he would feel that those cattle should
Generally, Evans-Pritchard (1951) noted, a female provide the bridewealth for the sons he had raised for his
husband was unable to have children herself “and for dead kinsman. When he died, he died childless because
this reason counts in some respects as a man.” Indeed, the children he had raised were legally the children of
she played the social role of a man. She could marry the ghost. He was then an angry spirit, and someone else
several wives if she was wealthy. She could demand (in fact, one of the sons he had raised for the ghost) had
damage payment if those wives engaged in sexual activ- to marry a wife to his name. Thus the pattern continued,
ity without her consent. She was the pater of her wives’ as, indeed, it does into the present day.
children. On the marriage of her daughters, she received
the portion of the bridewealth that traditionally went to
the father, and her brothers and sisters received the por- Why Is Marriage a Social
tions appropriate to the father’s side. Her children were
named after her, as though she were a man, and they ad-
Process?
dressed her as Father. She administered her compound Like all formal definitions, our definition of marriage is
and her herds as a male head of household would, and somewhat rigid, especially if we think of marriage as a
she was treated by her wives and children with the same ritual action that accomplishes everything at a single point
deference shown a male husband and father. in time. However, if we think of marriage as a social process
More common in Nuer social life was what Evans- that unfolds over time, we find that our definition allows us
Pritchard called the ghost marriage. The Nuer believed that to account for a wider range of marriage practices (Figure
a man who died without male heirs left an unhappy and 14.9). For example, a marriage ritual may join spouses to-
angry spirit who might trouble his living kin. The spirit gether, but their production of offspring who mature into
was angry because a basic obligation of Nuer kinship was recognized members of a particular social group takes
for a man to be remembered through and by his sons: His time and cannot be assured in advance. Traditionally in
name had to be continued in his lineage. To appease the some societies, a couple were not considered fully mar-
angry spirit, a kinsman of the dead man—a brother or a ried until they had a child. Similarly, marriage set up
brother’s son—would often marry a woman “to his name.” new relations between the kin of both spouses, called
Bridewealth cattle were paid in the name of the dead man affinal relationships (based on affinity—that is, created
to the patrilineage of a woman. She was then married to through marriage). These contrast with descent- based
the ghost but lived with one of his surviving kinsmen. In consanguineal relationships (from the Latin words for
the marriage ceremonies and afterward, this kinsman acted “same blood”). But a married couple’s relationships with
as though he were the true husband. The children of the their affinal kin again develop over time, and whether they
union were referred to as though they were the k insman’s— get along well and cooperate or become hostile to one an-
but officially they were not. That is, the ghost husband was other cannot be predicted or controlled when a marriage
their pater and his kinsman their genitor. is first contracted. How successfully the married couple,
As the children got older, the name of their ghost father their children, and their other relatives are able to manage
became increasingly important to them. The ghost father’s the many challenges that emerge over time (economic
name, not his stand-in’s name, would be remembered in transactions such as bridewealth payments, births, deaths,
the history of the lineage. The social union between the divorces) affects the extent to which they will be able to
ghost and the woman took precedence over the sexual play important roles in the wider society to which they
union between the ghost’s surrogate and the woman. belong. The lives of all are transformed, though not all at
Ghost marriage serves to perpetuate social pat- the same time or with the same o utcome—shaping the
terns. Although it was common for a man to marry a future of the community as a whole.
wife “to his kinsman’s name” before he himself married, Sometimes marriages must be contracted within a
particular social group, a pattern called endogamy. In
affinal Kinship connections through marriage, or affinity. other cases, marriage partners must be found outside
consanguineal Kinship connections based on descent. a particular group, a pattern called exogamy. In Nuer
endogamy Marriage within a defined social group. society, for example, a person had to marry outside his
exogamy Marriage outside a defined social group. or her lineage. Even in North American society, there is a
Why Is Marriage a Social Process? 443
brothers, and their sons, along with i n-marrying wives, all

live and work together. This pattern is common in both
herding and farming societies; some anthropologists
argue that survival in such societies depends on activi-
ties that are best carried out by groups of men who have
worked together all their lives.
When the married couple lives with (or near) the
family in which the wife was raised, it is called matrilocal
residence, which is usually found in association with
matrilineal kinship systems. Here, the core of the social
group consists of a woman, her sisters, and their daugh-
ters, together with in-marrying men. This pattern is most
common among groups practicing extensive agriculture.
Less common, but also found in matrilineal societ-
ies, is the pattern known as avunculocal residence. Here,
the married couple lives with (or near) the husband’s
mother’s brother. The most significant man in a boy’s ma-
trilineage is his mother’s brother, from whom he will in-
herit. Avunculocal residence emphasizes this relationship.
Single and Plural Spouses

The number of spouses a person may have varies cross-
culturally. Anthropologists distinguish forms of mar-
riage in terms of how many spouses a person may have.
Monogamy is a marriage form in which a person may have
only one spouse at a time, whereas polygamy is a marriage
system that allows a person to have more than one spouse.
Within the category of polygamy are two subcategories:
FIGURE 14.9 Marriage is a social process that creates social
ties and involves more than just the people getting married. polygyny, or multiple wives, and polyandry, or multiple
This is an elaborate marriage in Rajasthan, India. husbands. Most societies in the world permit polygyny.
Monogamy Monogamy is the only legal spousal pattern

preference for people to marry within the bounds of cer- of the United States and most industrialized nations.
tain groups. People are told to marry “their own kind,” (Indeed, in 1896, a condition of statehood for the territory
which usually means their own ethnic or racial group, of Utah was the abolition of polygyny, which had been
religious group, or social class. In all societies, some practiced by Mormon settlers for nearly 50 years.) There are
close kin are off limits as spouses or as sexual partners. variations in the number of times a monogamous person
This exogamous pattern is known as the incest taboo.
neolocal A postmarital residence pattern in which a married couple sets

Patterns of Residence after Marriage up an independent household at a place of their own choosing.
Once married, a couple must live somewhere. There patrilocal A postmarital residence pattern in which a married couple lives
with (or near) the husband’s father.
are four major patterns of postmarital residence. Most
matrilocal A postmarital residence pattern in which a married couple lives
familiar to North Americans is neolocal residence, in
with (or near) the wife’s mother.
which the new couple sets up an independent house- avunculocal A postmarital residence pattern in which a married couple lives
hold at a place of their own choosing. Neolocal resi- with (or near) the husband’s mother’s brother (from a
vuncular, “of uncles”).
dence tends to be found in societies that are more or less monogamy A marriage pattern in which a person may be married
individualistic in their social organization. to only one spouse at a time.
When the married couple lives with (or near) the polygamy A marriage pattern in which a person may be married
to more than one spouse at a time.
husband’s father’s family, it is called patrilocal residence,
polygyny A marriage pattern in which a man may be married to more
which is observed by more societies in the contempo- than one wife at a time.
rary world than any other residence pattern. It produces a polyandry A marriage pattern in which a woman may be married
characteristic social grouping of related men: A man, his to more than one husband at a time.
can be married. Before the twentieth century, people in The traditional anthropological prototype of poly-
western European societies generally married only once andry has been found among some groups in Nepal and
unless death intervened. Today, some observers suggest Tibet, where a group of brothers marry one woman. This
that we practice serial monogamy; we may be married to is known as fraternal polyandry. During one wedding, one
several different people but only one at a time. brother, usually the oldest, serves as the groom. All brothers
(including those yet to be born to the husbands’ parents)
Polygyny Polygynous societies vary in the number of are married by this wedding, which establishes public rec-
wives a man may have. Islam permits a man to have as ognition of the marriage. The wife and her husbands live
many as four wives but only on the condition that he can together, usually patrilocally. All brothers have equal sexual
support them equally. Some Muslim authorities today access to the wife, and all act as fathers to the children. In
argue, however, that equal support must be emotional and some cases—notably among the Nyinba of Nepal (Levine
affective, not just financial. Convinced that no man can feel 1980, 1988)—each child is recognized as having one par-
the same toward each of his wives, they have concluded that ticular genitor, who may be a different brother than the gen-
monogamy must be the rule. Other polygynous societies itor of his or her siblings (see EthnoProfile 14.6: Nyinba).
have no limit on the number of wives a man may marry. In other cases, all the brothers are considered jointly as the
Nevertheless, not every man can be polygynous. There is a father, without distinguishing the identity of the genitor.
clear demographic problem: For every man with two wives, There appears to be little sexual jealousy among the
there is one man without a wife. Men can wait until they men, and the brothers have a strong sense of solidarity
are older to marry and women can marry very young, but with one another. Levine (1988) emphasizes this point
this imbalance cannot be completely eliminated. Polygyny for the Nyinba. If the wife proves sterile, the brothers may
is also expensive because a husband must support all his marry another woman in hopes that she may be fertile.
wives as well as their children (Figure 14.10). All brothers also have equal sexual access to the new wife
and are treated as fathers by her children. In societies that
Polyandry Polyandry is the rarest of the three marriage practice fraternal polyandry, marrying sisters (or sororal
forms. In some polyandrous societies, a woman may polygyny) may be preferred or permitted. In this system, a
marry several brothers. In others, she may marry men group of brothers could marry a group of sisters.
who are not related to each other and who all will live According to Levine, Nyinba polyandry is rein-
together in a single household. Sometimes a woman is forced by a variety of cultural beliefs and practices (1988,
allowed to marry several men who are not related, but 158ff.). First, it has a special cultural value. Nyinba myth
she will live only with the one she most recently married. provides a social charter for the practice because Nyinba
Studies of polyandry have shed light on the dynamics of legendary ancestors are polyandrous, and they are praised
polygyny and monogamy. for the harmony of their family life. Second, the solidarity
of brothers is a central kinship ideal. Third, the corporate,
FIGURE 14.10 The wives and

children of a polygynous family.
What Is the Connection between Marriage and Economic Exchange? 445
EthnoProfile 14.6 What Is the Connection

between Marriage and
Nyinba Economic Exchange?
Region: Central Asia
In many societies, marriage is accompanied by the trans-
Nation: Nepal fer of certain symbolically important goods. Anthropol-
Population: 1,200 ogists have identified two major categories of marriage
Environment: Valleys payments, usually called bridewealth and dowry.
Livelihood: Agriculture, herding
Bridewealth is most common in patrilineal socie-
ties that combine agriculture, pastoralism, and patrilocal
Political organization: Traditionally, headmen; today, part
of a modern nation-state
marriage, although it is found in other types of societies
CHINA as well (Figure 14.11). When it occurs among matrilin-
For more information: PAKISTAN HI
MA
LA Y Nyinba eal peoples, a postmarital residence rule (avunculocal,
Levine, Nancy. 1988. The Delhi
NE
PA L
AS
dynamics of polyandry: for example) usually takes the woman away from her
G an g e s
Kinship, domesticity, Calcutta matrilineage.
and population on the Arabian INDIA The goods exchanged have significant symbolic
Sea Bay of
Tibetan border. Chicago: Bengal value to the people concerned. They may include shell
University of Chicago INDIAN
OCEAN ornaments, ivory tusks, brass gongs, bird feathers, cotton
Press.
0 250 500 SRI LANKA cloth, and animals. Bridewealth in animals is prevalent
Miles
in eastern and southern Africa, where cattle have the
most profound symbolic and economic value. In these
societies, a man’s father, and often his entire patrilineage,
landholding household, central to Nyinba life, presup-
give a specified number of cattle (often in installments)
poses polyandry. Fourth, the closed corporate structure of
to the patrilineage of the man’s bride. Anthropologists
Nyinba villages is based on a limited number of house-
view bridewealth as a way of compensating the bride’s
holds, and polyandry is highly effective in checking the
relatives for the loss of her labor and childbearing ca-
proliferation of households. Finally, a household’s politi-
pacities. When the bride leaves her home, she goes to
cal position and economic viability increase when its re-
live with her husband and his lineage. She will be work-
sources are concentrated.
ing and producing children for his people, not her own.
Bridewealth transactions create affinal relations be-
The Distinction between Sexuality and tween the relatives of the wife and those of the husband.
Reproductive Capacity Polyandry demonstrates The wife’s relatives, in turn, use the bridewealth they re-
how a woman’s sexuality can be distinguished from ceive for her to find a bride for her brother in yet another
her reproductive capacity. This distinction is absent in kinship group. In many societies in eastern and south-
monogamous or purely polygynous systems, in which ern Africa, a woman gains power and influence over her
polyandry is not permitted; such societies resist perceiving brother because her marriage brings the cattle that allow
women’s sexual and reproductive capacities as separable him to marry and continue their lineage. This is why
(except, perhaps, in prostitution), yet they usually accept Jack Goody describes bridewealth as “a societal fund, a
such separation for men without question. “It may well be circulating pool of resources, the movement of which
a fundamental feature of the [worldview] of polyandrous corresponds to the movement of rights over spouses,
peoples that they recognize such a distinction for both usually women” (Goody and Tambiah 1973, 17). Or, as
men and women” (Levine and Sangree 1980, 388). In the the Southern Bantu put it, “cattle beget children” (Kuper
better-known polyandrous groups, a woman’s sexuality 1982, 3).
can be shared among an unlimited number of men, but Dowry, by contrast, is typically a transfer of family
her childbearing capacities cannot be. Indeed, among the wealth, usually from parents to their daughter, at the
Nyinba (Levine 1980), a woman’s childbearing capacities
are carefully controlled and limited to one husband at a
time. But she is free to engage in sexual a ctivity outside her bridewealth The transfer of certain symbolically important goods from
marriage to the brothers as long as she is not likely to get the family of the groom to the family of the bride on the occasion of their
marriage. It represents compensation to the wife’s lineage for the loss of her
pregnant. As we saw in Chapter 13, Western assumptions labor and her childbearing capacities.
about the relationship between sex, gender, and sexuality dowry The transfer of wealth, usually from parents to their daughter, at
are not universal. the time of her marriage.
IN THEIR OWN WORDS
Outside Work, Women, and Bridewealth
Judith M. Abwunza took life histories from and People who get jobs in Kenya have been to school,
interviewed many women among the Logoli of these are the elite. They are able to integrate various
western Kenya about their lives and has allowed situations. They are analytical and choosing courses of
many of those women to speak for themselves action. They have developed decision-making skills; this
gives access to wage labour. Most women are not this;
in her 1997 book, Women’s Voices, Women’s
many men are not. Things have changed for women, but
Power: Dialogues of Resistance from East
still it is very difficult; they must work very hard. In the old
Africa. Here, Abwunza introduces us to Alice, a
days, customs did not allow men in the kitchen; now they
24-year-old secondary school teacher.
do. It’s absurd to see milk boiling over in the kitchen while
I’m taking care of the baby and he is reading. A more even
distribution of labour is needed. Women need a word
Alice’s father is relatively affluent, as all his children are in
of appreciation for their hard work, in the home and
school or working, his land is well-kept and fully utilized
caring for children. Here in Maragoli we cannot develop:
and the yard has cows, chickens, and goats. Alice’s motiva-
the population is too high. The government is suggest-
tion to get a job was that she wanted to assist her family.
ing that maternity leave will not be given after the fourth
She said that everyone in the family depends upon her for
child. This is a good thing but it has not been passed yet.
money, a burden that she finds to be “overwhelming.” Alice
I will not be abused in my marriage. I will leave. My job is
has been living with her husband, who is also a teacher,
difficult. Children are beaten, sent from school for fees,
since January, 1987. They have seven-month-old twins, a
for harambee this, harambee that. Seldom do I have my
boy and a girl. Uvukwi [bridewealth] discussion has taken
entire class to teach. Some are always missing. I have had
place and her in-laws and her relatives have agreed on
to chase them for fees. This is not my role; my job is to
23,000 shillings and five cows. A 3,000 shilling “down pay-
teach them, so they may better their lives. I refuse to beat
ment” has been given, and her marriage occurred in Janu-
them. I try not to upset them. I want them to learn. But
ary, 1988. Alice discusses her situation in English:
many do not want to. Girls only want to chase boys, and
We live in a house supplied by the school. We have elec- boys the girls. But a few learn. Teaching is difficult.
tricity and water and a gas cooker. We have a small house
[Abwunza concludes:] Alice takes a different position
plot in my husband’s yard at Bunyore, and six acres in
from most Logoli women. She complains of having to
the scheme in Kitale. We hire people to dig there, as we
follow traditional ways in these difficult economic times,
are teaching. So far, we have not sold cash crops. We are
even as she adheres to them. Although many people
only beginning. On the schemes, workers are paid be-
complained about the “high cost” of uvukwi, on no other
tween five and six hundred shillings a month to dig, so
occasion did women suggest that parents should assist a
it is expensive. There is no need of paying uvukwi. Am
newly married couple and not follow the custom of uvukwi.
I a farm to be bought? It is unfortunate the parents are
Alice’s feeling is not typical of Logoli people. It comes
poor. Parents ought to contribute to the newly married
about at least in part because Alice’s uvukwi is quite high
to start them off. But there is nothing we can do; it’s a
and both she and her husband will have to contribute to its
custom. Also uvukwi is not the end of assistance to par-
payment, as she says, “at the expense of our own develop-
ents. Some men mistreat after buying, that is paying
ment.” She sees that she is caught in a bind. Not following
uvukwi. Some men refuse to help parents any more after
the traditions will place her in a position of being without a
uvukwi, think that’s enough. On the other hand, if you
good reputation and thus at risk in the community.
don’t pay uvukwi, the husbands think you are not valued
by parents. You are cheap. It’s a tug of war. Source: Abwunza 1997, 77–78.
time of her marriage. It is found primarily in the agricul- women and men are seen as heirs to family wealth, dowry
tural societies of Europe and Asia but has been brought is sometimes regarded as the way women receive their in-
to some parts of Africa with the arrival of religions like heritance. Dowries are often considered the wife’s contri-
Islam that support the practice. In societies where both bution to the establishment of a new household, to which
FIGURE 14.11 Dowries take

many forms, depending on the
cultural preferences of a given
group of people. Here is a display
of dowry items from Tamil Nadu,
India.
the husband may bring other forms of wealth. In stratified Nonconjugal families are never the only form
societies, the size of a woman’s dowry often ensures that of family organization in a society and, in fact, cross-
when she marries she will continue to enjoy her accus- culturally are usually rather infrequent. In some large-
tomed style of life, and the dowry can be reclaimed by scale industrial societies including the United States,
the woman in the event of divorce, to avoid destitution. however, nonconjugal families have become increas-
The goods included in dowries vary in different societies ingly common. In most societies, the conjugal family is
and may or may not include land (Goody and Tambiah coresident—that is, spouses live in the same dwelling,
1973). There is perhaps a carryover from the European along with their children—but there are some matrilin-
dowry in the Western practice of the bride’s family paying eal societies in which the husband lives with his matri-
for her wedding. lineage, the wife and children live with theirs, and the
husband visits his wife and children.
What Is a Family? What Is the Nuclear Family?

A minimal definition of a family would be that it con- The structure and dynamics of neolocal monogamous
sists of a woman and her dependent children.* While families are familiar to North Americans. They are called
some anthropological definitions require the presence nuclear families, and it is often assumed that most North
of an adult male, related either by marriage or by d
escent Americans live in them (although in 2013, only about
(husband or brother, for example), recent feminist and one half of North American children under the age of
primatological scholarship has called this requirement 18 did). For anthropologists, a nuclear family is made
into question. As a result, some anthropologists prefer up of two generations: the parents and their unmarried
to distinguish the conjugal family, which is a family children. Each member of a nuclear family has a series
based on marriage—at its minimum, a husband and of evolving relationships with every other member: hus-
wife (a spousal pair) and their children—from the band and wife, parents and children, and children with
nonconjugal family, which consists of a woman and her each other. These are the lines along which jealousy,
children. In a nonconjugal family, the husband/father
may be occasionally present or completely absent.
family Minimally, a woman and her dependent children.
conjugal family A family based on marriage; at a minimum, a husband
and wife (a spousal pair) and their children.
*In the contemporary United States, where many men as
well as women are single parents, the view that a man and his nonconjugal family A woman and her children; the husband/father may
children constitute a family is widely shared. This illustrates the be occasionally present or completely absent.
ongoing reconfiguration of North American family relations, nuclear family A family made up of two generations: the parents and
other features of which are described later. their unmarried children.
IN THEIR OWN WORDS
Dowry Too High. Lose Bride and Go to Jail
In some parts of the world, discussions of

bridewealth or dowry seem so divorced from
reality as to appear “academic.” But elsewhere,
these topics remain significant indeed. In May
2003, news media all over the world reported
the story of a bride in India who called the
police when a battle erupted over demands for
additional dowry payments at her wedding. The
New York Times reports.
Noida, India, May 16—The musicians were playing, the

2,000 guests were dining, the Hindu priest was prepar-
ing the ceremony and the bride was dressed in red, her
hands and feet festively painted with henna. Nisha Sharma, surrounded by some of the dowry with which
Then, the bride’s family says, the groom’s family moved her family had intended to endow her.
in for the kill. The dowry of two televisions, two home the-
ater sets, two refrigerators, two air-conditioners and one “This was a brave thing for a girl dressed in all her wed-
car was too cheap. They wanted $25,000 in rupees, now, ding finery to do,” said Vandana Sharma, president of the
under the wedding tent. Women’s Protection League, one of many women’s rights
As a free-for-all erupted between the two families, leaders and politicians to make a pilgrimage this week to
the bartered bride put her hennaed foot down. She this eastern suburb of Delhi. “This girl has taken a very
reached for the royal blue cellphone and dialed 100. By dynamic step.” India’s new 24-hour news stations have
calling the police, Nisha Sharma, a 21-year-old computer propelled Nisha Sharma to Hindi stardom. One televi-
student, saw her potential groom land in jail and herself sion station set up a service allowing viewers to “send a
land in the national spotlight as India’s new overnight message to Nisha.” In the first two days, 1,500 messages
sensation. came in.
“Are they marrying with money, or marrying with me?” Illegal for many decades in India, dowries are now
Ms. Sharma asked today, her dark eyes glaring under often disguised by families as gifts to give the newlyweds
arched eyebrows. In the next room a fresh wave of re- a start in life. More than a media creation, Ms. Sharma and
porters waited to interview her, sitting next to the un- her dowry defiance struck a chord in this nation, whose
opened boxes of her wedding trousseau. expanding middle class is rebelling against a dowry tradi-
After fielding a call from a comic-book artist who tion that is being overfed by a new commercialism.
wanted to bring her act of defiance last Sunday night to a “Advertisements now show parents giving things to
mass market, she said, “I’m feeling proud of myself.” make their daughters happy in life,” Brinda Karat, general
“It Takes Guts to Send Your Groom Packing,” a head- secretary of the All India Democratic Women’s Associa-
line in The Times of India read. tion, a private group, said, referring to television commer-
Rashtriya Sahara, a major Hindi daily, said in a salute, cials for products commonly given in dowries.
“Bravo: We’re Proud of You.” “It is the most modern aspects of information
“She is being hailed as a New Age woman and seen technology married to the most backward concepts
as a role model to many,” the newspaper Asian Age wrote of subordination of women,” Ms. Karat continued in
next to a front-page drawing of Ms. Sharma standing in a telephone interview. Last year, she said, her group
front of red and green wedding pennants while flashing surveyed 10,000 people in 18 of India’s 26 states. “We
a V sign to cameras and wearing a sash over her blue sari found an across-the-board increase in dowry demand,”
with the words Miss Anti-Dowry. she said.
IN THEIR OWN WORDS
Much of the dowry greed is new, Ms. Karat added. In Dev Dutt Sharma, Nisha’s father, said his poten-
a survey 40 years ago, she noted, almost two-thirds of tial in-laws were so demanding that they had stipu-
Indian communities reported that the local custom was lated brands. “She specified a Sony home theater, not a
for the groom to pay the bride’s family, the reverse of the Philips,” Mr. Sharma, an owner of car battery factories,
present dominant custom. According to government sta- said of Vidya Dalal, the mother of the groom, Munish
tistics, husbands and in-laws angry over small dowry pay- Dalal, 25.
ments killed nearly 7,000 women in 2001. Sharma Jaikumar, a telecommunications engineer and
When Ms. Sharma’s parents were married in 1970, “my friend of the Sharma family, said as the press mob ebbed
father-in-law did not demand anything,” her mother, Hem and flowed through the house: “My daughter was married
Lata Sharma, said while serving hot milk tea and cookies recently and there was no dowry. But anyone can turn
to guests. greedy. What can be more easy money than a dowry? All
For the Sharma family, the demands went far beyond you have to do is ask.”
giving the young couple a helping hand.
Source: Brooke 2003.
competition, controversy, and affection develop in

neolocal monogamous families; sibling rivalry, for ex-
ample, is a form of competition characteristic of nuclear
families that is shaped by the relationships between sib-
lings and between siblings and their parents.
What Is the Polygynous Family?

A polygynous family includes, at a minimum, the
husband, all his wives, and their children. Polygynous
families are significantly different in their dynamics.
Each wife has a relationship with her cowives as indi-
viduals and as a group (Figure 14.12). Cowives, in turn,
individually and collectively, interact with the husband.
These relationships change over time, as the authors
(EAS and RHL) were once informed during our field-
work in Guider, northern Cameroon (see EthnoProfile
15.2: Guider). The nine-year-old daughter of our land-
lord announced one day that she was going to become
Lavenda’s second wife. “Madame [Schultz],” she said,
“will be angry at first, because that’s how first wives
are when their husbands take a second wife. But after
a while, she will stop being angry and will get to know
me and we will become friends. That’s what always
happens.”
The differences in internal dynamics in polygynous
families are not confined to the relationships of hus-
band and wives. An important distinction is made be-
tween children with the same mother and children with FIGURE 14.12 Cowives in polygynous households
a different mother. In Guider, people ordinarily refer to frequently cooperate in daily tasks, such as food
preparation.
all their siblings (half and full) as brothers or sisters.
should avoid overt signs of favoritism, but wives differ

EthnoProfile 14.7 from one another in status. First, wives are ranked by
order of marriage. The senior wife is the first wife in the
Mende household, and she has authority over junior wives.
Marriage-order ranking structures the household but
also lays the groundwork for rivalries. Second, wives are
Nation: Sierra Leone also ranked in terms of the status of the families from
Population: 12,000,000 which they came. Serious problems arise if the husband
Environment: Forest and savanna shows favoritism toward a wife from a high-status family
by educating her children ahead of older children of
Livelihood: Slash-and-burn rice cultivation, cash cropping,
diamond mining other wives or children of wives higher in the marriage-
order ranking.
Traditionally, a hierarchy of Niger
The level of her children’s education matters in-
GUINEA
local chiefdoms; today, part tensely to a Mende woman because her principal claim
of a modern nation-state
SIERRA to her husband’s land or cash, and her expectations of
For more information: LEONE
Freetown
IVORY future support after he dies, comes through her chil-
Little, Kenneth. 1967. Mende COAST
dren. She depends not only on the income that a child
The Mende of Sierra Leone.
London: Routledge and Monrovia
may earn to support her but also on the rights her chil-
LIBERIA
Kegan Paul. ATLANTIC dren have to inherit property and positions of leader-
OCEAN
0 100 200 ship. Nevertheless, education requires a significant cash
Miles outlay in school fees, uniforms, books, and so on. A
man may be able to send only one child to school, or
he may be able to send one child to a prestigious private
When they want to emphasize the close connection with school only if he sends another to a trade apprentice-
a particular brother or sister, however, they say that he ship. These economic realities make sense to husbands
or she is “same father, same mother.” This terminology but can lead to bitter feuds—and even divorce—among
conveys a relationship of special intimacy and signifi- cowives who blame the husband for disparities in the
cance. Children, logically, also have different kinds of accomplishments of their children. In extreme cases, co-
relationships with their own mothers and their fathers’ wives are said to use witchcraft to make their rivals’ chil-
other wives—and with their fathers as well. dren fail their exams. To avoid these problems, children
Where there is a significant inheritance, these rela- are frequently sent to live with relatives who will send
tionships serve as the channels for jealousy and conflict. them to school. Such competition is missing in monoga-
The children of the same mother, and especially the chil- mous households unless they include adopted children
dren of different mothers, compete with one another for or spouses who already have children from a previous
their father’s favor. Each mother tries to protect the in- marriage.
terests of her own children, sometimes at the expense of
her cowives’ children.
Extended and Joint Families
Competition in the Polygynous Family Although Within any society, certain patterns of family orga-
the relationships among wives in a polygynous society nization are considered proper. In American nuclear
may be very close, among the Mende of Sierra Leone, families, two generations live together. In some societ-
cowives eventually compete with each other (see ies, three generations—parents, married children, and
EthnoProfile 14.7: Mende). Caroline Bledsoe (1993) grandchildren—are expected to live together in a vertical
explains that this competition is often focused on extended family. In still other societies, the extension is
children: how many each wife has and how likely it is horizontal: Brothers and their wives (or sisters and their
that each child will obtain things of value, especially husbands) live together in a joint family. These are ideal
education. Husbands in polygynous Mende households patterns, which all families may not be able or willing
to emulate.
It is important to emphasize that extended families
extended family A family pattern made up of three generations living
together: parents, married children, and grandchildren. do not operate the way joint families operate, and neither
joint family A family pattern made up of brothers and their wives or can be understood as just several nuclear families that
sisters and their husbands (along with their children) living together. overlap. Extended and joint families are fundamentally
different from a nuclear family with regard to the rela- household by the time the child is six to eight years old.
tionships they engender. In case she was pregnant at the time of the divorce, a
woman must wait three months after she is divorced
before she can remarry. After this time, the vast majority
of women remarry.
How Are Families Do women in Guider, then, have no power to escape
Transformed over Time? from marriages that are unsatisfactory? Legally, perhaps
not. But several conventionally recognized practices
Families change over time. They have a life cycle and a allow a woman to communicate her desire for a divorce.
life span. The same family takes on different forms and She can ask her husband for a divorce, and in some cases
provides different opportunities for the interaction of he will comply. If he does not or if she is unwilling to
family members at different points in its development. confront him directly, she can neglect household duties—
New households are formed and old households change burn his food or stop cooking for him entirely or refuse
through divorce, remarriage, the departure of children, to sleep with him. She can also leave, going to live in the
and the breakup of extended families. compound of her father or brother.
Divorce and Remarriage Grounds for Divorce Depending on the society,

Most societies make it possible for married couples to sep- nagging, quarreling, cruelty, stinginess, or adultery may
arate. In some societies, the process is long, drawn out, and be cited as causes for divorce. In almost all societies,
difficult, especially when bridewealth must be returned; a childlessness is grounds for divorce as well. For the
man who divorces a wife in such societies, or whose wife Ju/’hoansi, most divorces are initiated by women,
leaves him, expects some of the bridewealth back. But for mainly because they do not like their husbands or
the wife’s family to give the bridewealth back, a whole do not want to be married (Lee 2013; Shostak 1981;
chain of marriages may have to be broken up. Brothers of see EthnoProfile 11.4: Ju/’hoansi). After what is often
the divorced wife may have to divorce to get back enough considerable debate, a couple that decides to break up
bridewealth from their in-laws. Sometimes a new hus- merely separates. There is no bridewealth to return,
band will repay the bridewealth to the former husband’s no legal contract to be renegotiated. Mutual consent is
line, thus letting the bride’s relatives off the hook. all that is necessary. The children go with the mother.
Ju/’hoansi divorces are cordial, Richard Lee (2013) tells
us, at least compared with the Western norm. Ex-spouses
Divorce in Guider In other societies, divorce is easier.
may continue to joke with each other and even live next
Marriages in Guider, for example, are easily broken up (see
to each other with their new spouses.
EthnoProfile 15.2: Guider). The Fulbe of Guider prefer
that a man marry his father’s brother’s daughter. In many
cases, such marriages are contracted simply to oblige the Separation among Inuit Among the northwestern
families involved; after a few months, the couple splits up. Inuit, the traditional view is that all kin relationships,
In other cases, a young girl (12 or 13 years old) is married including marital ones, are permanent (Burch 1970)
to a man considerably her senior, despite any interest she (see EthnoProfile 14.8: Alaskan Inuit). Thus, although
may have had in men closer to her own age. Here too the it is possible to deactivate a marriage by separating,
marriage may not last long. In general, there is enough a marriage can never be permanently dissolved.
dissatisfaction with marriage in Guider to make household (Conversely, reestablishing the residence tie is all that’s
transformation through divorce quite common. needed to reactivate the relationship.) A husband and
Among Muslims in Guider, divorce is controlled by wife who stop living together and having sexual relations
men; women are not allowed legally to initiate divorces. with each other are considered separated and ready for
A man wanting a divorce need only follow the simple another marriage. If each member of a separated couple
procedure laid down in the Qur’an and sanctioned by remarried, the two husbands of the wife would become
long practice in Guider: He appears before two witnesses cohusbands; the two wives of the husband, cowives;
and pronounces the formula “I divorce you” three times. and the children of the first and second marriages,
He is then divorced, and his wife must leave his house- cosiblings. In effect, a “divorce” among the Inuit results
hold. She may take an infant with her, but any children in more, not fewer, connections. Not all contemporary
at the toddler stage or older stay with the father. If she Inuit, especially those who are Christians, continue to
takes an infant, she must return the child to the father’s follow this practice.
IN THEIR OWN WORDS
Law, Custom, and Crimes against Women
John van Willigen and V. C. Channa describe the of her husband’s family or by her suicide. The woman is
social and cultural practices surrounding dowry typically burned to death with kerosene, a fuel used in
payments that appear to be responsible for pressurized cook stoves, hence the use of the term “bride-
violence against women in some parts of India. burning” in public discourse.
Dowry death statistics appear frequently in the press
and parliamentary debates. Parliamentary sources
report the following figures for married women 16 to 30
A 25-year-old woman was allegedly burnt to death by
years of age in Delhi: 452 deaths by burning for 1985; 478
her husband and mother-in-law at their East Delhi home
for 1986 and 300 for the first six months of 1987. There
yesterday. The housewife, Mrs. Sunita, stated before her
were 1,319 cases reported nationally in 1986 (Times of
death at the Jaya Prakash Narayana Hospital that mem-
India, January 10, 1988). Police records do not match hos-
bers of her husband’s family had been harassing her for
pital records for third degree burn cases among younger
bringing inadequate dowry.
married women; far more violence occurs than the crime
The woman told the Shahdara subdivisional magis-
reports indicate.
trate that during a quarrel over dowry at their Pratap
There is other violence against women related both
Park house yesterday, her husband gripped her from
directly and indirectly to the institution of dowry. For ex-
behind while the mother-in-law poured kerosene over
ample, there are unmarried women who commit suicide
her clothes.
so as to relieve their families of the burden of providing
Her clothes were then set ablaze. The police have
a dowry. A recent case that received national attention in
registered a case against the victim’s husband, Suraj
the Indian press involved the triple suicide of three sis-
Prakash, and his mother.
ters in the industrial city of Kanpur. A photograph was
— Times of India, widely published showing the three young women hang-
February 19, 1988 ing from ceiling fans by their scarves. Their father, who
earned about 4000 Rs. [rupees] per month, was not able
This routinely reported news story describes what in India
to negotiate marriage for his oldest daughter. The grooms
is termed a “bride-burning” or “dowry death.” Such inci-
were requesting approximately 100,000 Rs. Also linked to
dents are frequently reported in the newspapers of Delhi
the dowry problem is selective female abortion made pos-
and other Indian cities. In addition, there are cases in which
sible by amniocentesis. This issue was brought to national
the evidence may be ambiguous, so that deaths of women
attention with a startling statistic reported out of a semi-
by fire may be recorded as kitchen accidents, suicides, or
nar held in Delhi in 1985. Of 3000 abortions carried out
murders. Dowry violence takes a characteristic form. Fol-
after sex determination through amniocentesis, only one
lowing marriage and the requisite giving of dowry, the
involved a male fetus. As a result of these developments,
family of the groom makes additional demands for the pay-
the government of the state of Maharashtra banned sex
ment of more cash or the provision of more goods. These
determination tests except those carried out in govern-
demands are expressed in unremitting harassment of the
ment hospitals.
bride, who is living in the household of her husband’s par-
ents, culminating in the murder of the woman by members Source: van Willigen and Channa 1991, 369–70.
Blended Families In recent years in the United States, marry, bringing with them children from their previous
anthropologists have observed the emergence of a new marriages. The internal dynamics of the new family—
family type: the blended family. A blended family is which can come to include his children, her children,
created when previously divorced or widowed people and their children—may resemble the dynamics of
polygynous families, as the relations among the children
blended family A family created when previously divorced or widowed and their relations to each parent may be complex and
people marry, bringing with them children from their previous families. negotiated over time.
EthnoProfile 14.8 EthnoProfile 14.9
Alaskan Inuit Los Pinos

Region: North America Region: Caribbean
Nation: United States (northwestern Alaska) Nation: Dominican Republic
Population: 11,000 (1960s) Population: 1,000
Environment: Arctic: mountains, foothills, coastal plain Environment: Rugged mountain region
Livelihood: Hunting, wage labor, welfare Livelihood: Peasant agriculture (tobacco, coffee, cacao) and
labor migration
Traditionally, families; Political organization: Part
today, part of a modern of a modern nation-state
nation-state ARCTIC OCEAN ATLANTIC
Alaskan Inuit For more information: Monte
Cristi Puerto OCEAN
For more information: Arc
tic C N GE
Georges, Eugenia. 1990. The Plata
ircle BROOKS RA Mao DOMINICAN
Burch, Ernest S., Jr. 1975. making of a transnational Sabaneta Santiago REPUBLIC
CANADA
Eskimo kinsmen: Changing community: Migration, La S
ie r
La Vega
ra
family relationships in north- Bering Fairbanks development, and cultural HAITI Santo
Sea on Los Pinos Domingo
west Alaska. American Ethno- Yuk KLONDIKE
change in the Dominican
ALASKA
logical Society Monograph, Anchorage
Republic. New York: Columbia
Caribbean
no. 59. St. Paul: West. University Press. Sea
0 100
0 100 200 300
Miles
Miles
How Does International Migration the United States and continued to send money home.
Affect the Family? Return migrants tended not to give up their residence
visas and therefore had to return to the United States
Migration to find work in another country has become annually. Often they stayed for a month or more to
increasingly common worldwide and has important work. This also provided them with the opportunity to
effects on families. Anthropologist Eugenia Georges buy clothing and household goods at a more reason-
(1990) examined its effects on people who migrated able cost, as well as other items—clothing, cosmetics,
to the United States from Los Pinos, a small town in and the like—to sell to neighbors, friends, and kin in
the Dominican Republic (see EthnoProfile 14.9: Los the Dominican Republic (Figure 14.13).
Pinos). Migration divided these families, with some
members moving to New York and some remaining
in Los Pinos. Some parents stayed in the Domini-
can Republic while their children went to the United
States. A more common pattern was for spouses to sep-
arate, with the husband migrating and the wife staying
home. Consequently, many households in Los Pinos
were headed by women. In most cases, however, the
spouse in the United States worked to bring the spouse
and children in Los Pinos there.
This sometimes took several years because it in-
volved completing paperwork for the visa and saving
money beyond the amount regularly sent to Los Pinos.
Children of the couple who were close to working age
also came to the United States, frequently with their
mother, and younger children were sent for as they ap-
proached working age. Finally, after several years in the FIGURE 14.13 A s migration from the Dominican Republic to
the United States has increased, more Dominicans are staying
United States, the couple who started the migration
and bringing their families or creating families in the United
cycle would often take their savings and return home States. Such celebrations of ethnic pride as Dominican Day in
to the Dominican Republic. Their children stayed in New York have increased in recent years.
IN THEIR OWN WORDS
Survival and a Surrogate Family
What is a family? How are families similar to, spend most of their time selling drugs, robbing people, or
and different from, other forms of relatedness? doing drive-by shootings. Although this is partly true for
In this excerpt from Gangsters without Borders: a small minority of gang members, what I found over the
An Ethnography of a Salvadoran Street Gang, course of eight and a half years of fieldwork was much
anthropologist T. W. Ward addresses these more complex. Although the violence and criminality of
gang life have been well documented and it is well known
questions from different points of view.
that some gang members are heavily involved with using
and dealing drugs, what is missing from media descrip-
Youth like José join gangs as a means of survival and self- tions of gang life is a holistic perspective that places this
defense, as a means of constructing an identity of self- behavior in context. The media is not concerned with the
worth, and as a way to create a surrogate family. The fact that there is a great deal of variability of deviance
fact that the gang family can be as dysfunctional as the between street gangs and that no two gangs are alike.
biological one it replaces—if not much more so—reflects Likewise, it ignores the enormous variability between
the lack of positive role models and resources avail- individual members and the fact that most gang mem-
able to marginalized youth. As anyone who has stud- bers are not involved in serious crimes of violence. Fur-
ied gang m embers can attest, adolescents join street thermore, the popular conception of a gang career does
gangs in response to hostile neighborhoods, dysfunc- not consider the fact that the vast majority of members
tional schools, aggressive (bullying) peers, lack of good- eventually retire from their gang and move on to a pro-
paying jobs, and absent, neglectful, or abusive parents or social life.
surrogate caretakers. Adolescents also join street gangs For those who have had no direct contact with street
as a response to the poverty, racism, and discrimination gangs, what is least known about them is the flip side of
they experience as the stigmatized and marginalized their members’ aggression and criminality: namely, the
of society. altruism or compassion expressed between homeboys
Street gangs are part of a deviant subculture, and homegirls and the extent to which their gangs serve
and therefore certain aspects of gang life tend to be as adaptations to hostile environments. Street gangs
shrouded in mystery, which leads to misinformation thrive in the poorest neighborhoods in our urban com-
and misunderstanding. Because they live in a shadow munities. They are highly complex social organizations
of denial and d eception, it is difficult to know what that serve multiple functions. Some gangs are like devi-
gang members do on a daily basis, much less what they ant social clubs providing camaraderie, excitement, and
really think and feel. Although partially based on real- entertainment, which are an escape from boredom.
ity, a distorted, stereotypical view of street gangs as Other gangs are like paramilitary organizations that pro-
highly organized, criminal organizations bent on murder vide protection and opportunity for economic gain and
and mayhem has been perpetuated by gang members positive “gangster” status. Regardless of the type of gang,
and law enforcement officials tasked with the attempt most youth join street gangs in their search for a par-
to curb their criminal activities. Because it serves their ticular quality of life, a sense of self-worth, and a sense
different agendas, these actors have created a mythos of belonging to a group that cares about their welfare
about street gangs, which the media is all too eager to and survival.
report. Despite the vast amount of academic research When gang members speak about their group as a
that has elucidated much of gang life and corrected this (surrogate) family, they are referring to this aspect of
distorted view, there is still a large gap between the real- love and concern for one another. For many, the gang
ity of street gangs and the public perception of what it temporarily fills a vacuum of love and respect. Although
means to be a gang member. veterans of the gang life admit that their members usu-
When I began the research for this book in 1993, like ally fall far short of this ideology of sharing and caring
most people I had been conditioned by news, film, and for “fellow homies,” the fact remains that, for many
television to believe this stereotype of gang members members, the gang replaces the dysfunctional fami-
as tough “street thugs” who enjoy terrorizing others and lies and communities that have neglected, abused, or
IN THEIR OWN WORDS
abandoned them in one way or another. Most gang mem- gangster life. He or she sees the gang as an acceptable
bers call their gang a family because, at some level of substitute for his or her biological or fictive kin. For the
functionality, it serves the essential purposes of caring most hard-core of gang members, the gang is the pri-
and survival. As the gang members intuitively know, the mary family they know or care about. For them, in ad-
core of any family is kinship, and love and compassion dition to the questions of survival and status, the heart
are expected by-products. of the matter with street gangs is the matter of the
In order for the street gang to survive, much less heart, in terms of solidarity and bonding. The gang as
thrive, it must provide some degree of safety and com- surrogate family gives a person a sense of meaning and
fort to its members, some sense of status, and some purpose in life, however distorted, destructive, or dys-
sense of belonging. Otherwise, these disenfranchised functional. It took me many years of conversation and
youth would seek out some alternative to the gangster observation to understand the complexity of how this
life. Generally speaking, the degree to which a gang played out between gang members over many places
serves this function of family is the degree to which an and many years.
individual is committed to a hard-core version of the
Georges observes that the absent family member on the experiences of a widow they knew who, de-
maintained an active role in family life despite the pressed after her husband’s death, was convinced by
heavy psychological burden of separation. Although relatives to learn to use e-mail to contact a beloved
he might be working in a hotel in New York, for ex- grandchild who had gone abroad. This experience was
ample, the husband was still the breadwinner and the so valuable to her that she began to contact other rela-
main decision maker in the household. He communi- tives abroad and in Trinidad, that younger members of
cated by visits, letters, and occasional telephone calls. her family “swear it has given ‘new lease of life’” (61).
Despite the strains of migration, moreover, the divorce Overall, the use of the Internet offers anthropologists
rate was actually slightly lower in migrant families. In the opportunity to observe how family separation can
part, this was because the exchange of information be- be moderated and offers people around the world op-
tween Los Pinos and New York was both dense and portunities for relaxed, expansive, and everyday forms
frequent, but also because strong ties of affection con- of communication that seem to have important effects
nected many couples. Finally, “the goal of the over- on family life.
whelming majority of the migrants [from Los Pinos] Not all migrants to the United States share the same
I spoke with was permanent return to the Dominican financial constraints or family pressures. A contrasting
Republic. Achievement of this goal was hastened by case comes from Japanese corporate wives in the United
sponsoring the migration of dependents, both wives States. Anthropologist Sawa Kurotani, born and raised in
and children, so that they could work and save as part Japan and trained and now working in the United States,
of the reconstituted household in the United States” discusses the situation of middle-class Japanese women
(Georges 1990, 201). This pressure also helped keep who accompany their husbands when the husband’s
families together. corporate employer sends him to work in the United
In recent years, the Internet has come to play an States for up to five years. Kurotani (2005) observes that,
increasingly important role in the lives of families that traditionally, domestic management was the job of the
are separated by migration, education, work, and so wife. In Japan there is a sharp division of labor and of
on. Daniel Miller and Don Slater (2000) studied In- interest: Husbands and wives know little about the oth-
ternet use in Trinidad, finding that e-mail and instant er’s world and do not engage in many activities together.
messaging have considerably strengthened both the But when removed from the social context of work,
nuclear and the extended families, allowing closer rela- family, and neighbors that surrounds them in Japan
tions between distant parents and children, among sib- and placed in the position of expatriates living in the
lings, and among other relatives as well. They remark United States—a position that some of the women liken
Caring for Infibulated Women Giving Birth in Norway
Female genital cutting has generated enormous publicity— value they place on “natural” birthing has led some to regard
and enormous conflict. Coping with this practice across dif- African immigrant women as “more natural than most
ference is complex. People in Western societies often have Norwegians” and “in closer contact with their female es-
very little grasp of how the operation fits into the cultural sence” (Johansen 2006, 521). As a result, health care work-
practices of those who perform it. Even women from soci- ers sometimes assume that African women are “naturally”
eties with the tradition find themselves on opposing sides: equipped with the skills they need to deliver and care for
Some seek asylum to avoid it, while others are prosecuted their babies. Only “modern” Norwegian women require such
because they seek to have it performed on their daugh- things as medication or child care instruction.
ters. Many governments have declared it a human rights At the same time, Somali women present a paradox: They
violation. are African, but they have been infibulated, and infibulation
Norway has struggled with these issues since 1991, when is thought by most health workers to be “the ultimate expres-
it became the home of a large number of refugees from civil sion of female oppression and male dominance” (Johansen
war in Somalia (Figure 14.14). Norwegian health care is free, 2006, 522). As a result, “infibulated women in the delivery
and Norway has one of the lowest infant mortality rates in ward present a confusing mixture because ‘the natural wild’
the world. Nevertheless, despite the efforts of dedicated has culturally constructed genitals” (522). Johansen saw this
health care workers to be culturally sensitive, outcomes paradox as “central to understanding the challenges facing
for Somali women are not always optimal. Medical anthro health workers in looking after infibulated women during de-
pologist R. Elise B. Johansen tried to find out why ( Johansen livery” (522).
2006, 516). Midwives thought of infibulation as a social stigma:
In contemporary Norway, Johansen reports, giving birth It marked infibulated women “as incomplete, disfigured,
is considered a positive, “natural” process that women are and oppressed" ( Johansen 2006, 523). Johansen concludes
expected to be able to handle with minimal medical inter- that health care workers are at once troubled by infibula-
vention. As a result, “midwives are preferred to obstetricians, tion and concerned that this discomfort not interfere with
medication and incisions are avoided whenever possible, their “professionalism.” Their solution is simply not to speak
partners are a llowed to be present in the delivery room to about infibulation, a decision that “seems to increase dis-
support the birthing mother, newborns are immediately comfort in both health workers and birthing women. It also
placed on the mother’s belly, and mothers are encouraged reduces the parties’ chances of exchanging vital informa-
to breast feed immediately” (2006, 521). At the same time, tion” (523).
Norwegian health workers believe that giving birth naturally Although the midwives Johansen interviewed knew
is hard for Norwegian women, because their “natural female about infibulation, they had not been formally trained to
essence” is “buried under layers of modernity” (521). Nor- provide care for infibulated women giving birth, because
wegian women nevertheless support natural birth practices guidelines were not yet available. This lack of training, cou-
out of concern for the health of the child, and they expect to pled with the midwives’ unwillingness to talk with Somali
manage the pain of unmedicated labor assisted by nothing women about infibulation, had two unfortunate, intercon-
more than their own physical stamina. Midwives also usu- nected effects. First, it made many Somali women unsure
ally leave women alone until the expulsion phase of labor about whether they would be properly cared for during
begins, a practice connected to their idea of what constitutes their deliveries, adding to their own anxieties about child-
a natural delivery: “Women are expected to take charge of birth. Second, it allowed health care workers to draw their
their own deliveries. Health workers explained restricted in- own silent, mistaken conclusions about the “cultural mean-
terference as a gesture of respect for women’s strength and ing” of infibulation for Somali women. Midwives assumed
ability to deliver by themselves,” an attitude that is possibly without asking, for example, that Somali women would
also reinforced by the Norwegian values of independence not want to be defibulated—that is, to have the infibulation
and privacy (538). scar cut to widen the vaginal opening. They further assumed
What happens when midwives with these expectations without asking that Somali women would also oppose the
encounter Somali women about to give birth? The high use of episiotomies—cuts used to widen the vaginal passage
to a “long vacation”—a space is opened for changes in different communities of expatriate Japanese: a place
family dynamics. in the Midwest she calls “Centerville,” New York City,
Kurotani studied corporate wives in three places and the Research Triangle in North Carolina. The three
in the United States where there were substantial but cases were different in important ways, in terms of the
456
FIGURE 14.14 These Somali
women are returned refugees.
Political turmoil in their country has
led many Somalis to flee to other
countries, including Norway.
for the child during delivery. Such cuts, which are sewn up also have learned that Somali infibulation practices were dif-
afterwards, are a standard practice in Western obstetrics. ferent from infibulation practices elsewhere in Africa. As we
Since many health care workers assumed that Somali saw from Boddy’s ethnography in Chapter 8, lifelong infib-
values dictated that Somali women remain infibulated ulation is a traditional practice in Sudan. Johansen discov-
through life, they were concerned that defibulation would ered that “infibulation as practiced in Sudan has been taken
violate those values. Why had one midwife chosen to per- to represent infibulation in general, so that the practice of
form three episiotomies to avoid defibulating one Somali reinfibulation in Sudan is taken as evidence that reinfibula-
woman, even though episiotomies involve cutting through tion must also be common in all other societies practicing
muscular and blood-filled tissue? Had the midwife asked infibulation. However, as we have seen, this is not always the
the woman if she preferred defibulation? The surprised case” (529).
midwife replied, “No! Of course she wants to remain the Johansen’s research shows how even attempts to be
way she is“ ( Johansen 2006, 526). Because the midwife as- culturally sensitive can generate a wall of misconcep-
sumed that Somali women want to remain infibulated and tions. These can circumvent actual conversation with
because the midwife wanted to respect this wish, to ask those individuals whose culture is the focus of attention.
this Somali woman if she wanted defibulation made no There is no question that the midwives were trying to do
sense to the midwife. right by the women they attended. Ironically, however,
Had the midwives actually spoken with Somali women, from a N orwegian perspective, to respect the dignity and
Johansen reports, much discomfort and misunderstanding autonomy of Somali women meant that one left Somali
could have been avoided on both sides. Midwives would have women alone and did not ask them questions. In situations
learned that almost all Somali women wanted to be defibu- like this, medical anthropologists can play an important
lated and did not want to be reinfibulated—and that nearly role as cultural brokers who see situations from a fresh
two thirds of their husbands did not want their wives to be perspective, ease the friction, and help to build a bridge
reinfibulated either (Johansen 2006, 527). Midwives would across difference.
availability of Japanese products, Japanese schools and there were some experiences in common. As Kurotani
restaurants, and the degree to which the major Japanese remarks, “During their long vacation, Japanese corpo-
corporations provided for the families of their Japa- rate wives also experience several profound changes in
nese employees on assignment in the United States. But their lives that, in some cases, permanently change their
457
relation to their domesticity, their family and to Japan. on family forms among gays and lesbians in the San
Although the vacation will come to an end sooner or Francisco Bay Area during the 1980s. Weston knew that
later, its transformative potential goes far beyond wish- a turning point in the lives of most gays and lesbians
ful thinking in some critical instances” (2005, 182). Not was the decision to announce their sexual orientation
only are husbands and wives thrown together in ways to their parents and siblings. If blood truly were thicker
that are unfamiliar to them, but also they are forced to than water, this announcement should not destroy
deal with life in the United States and with neighbors, family bonds, and many parents have indeed been
friends, coworkers, teachers, or other parents who defa- supportive of their children after the announcement.
miliarize the things about everyday life that the Japanese Often enough, however, shocked parents have turned
wives had always previously taken for granted. away, declaring that this person is no longer their son
Many women find that their relationships with or daughter. Living through—or even contemplating—
their children change as a result of residence in the such an experience has been enough to force gays and
United States: Mothers feel that they have an improved lesbians to think seriously about the sources of family
understanding of their children because the isolation ties.
and difficulty they faced together have made them more By the 1980s, some North American gays and les-
like partners. But a much larger change can occur in bians had reached two conclusions: (1) that blood ties
the conjugal relationship, beginning in ways that seem cannot guarantee the “enduring diffuse solidarity” sup-
trivial—a husband begins to take out the trash and posedly at the core of North American kinship (Schnei-
bring the trash bin back from the end of the driveway; der 1968); and (2) that new kin ties can be created
a husband begins to cook on the barbecue grill in warm over time as friends and lovers demonstrate their gen-
weather. But Kurotani observes that “it was often through uine commitment to one another by creating families
everyday practices in and around their home that they of choice. “Like their heterosexual counterparts, most
begin to renegotiate their domestic relationships” gay men and lesbians insisted that family members are
(2005, 189). people who are ‘there for you,’ people you can count on
One of the consequences of this renegotiation was emotionally and materially” (Weston 1991, 113). Some
that male Japanese workers spent more time at home gay kinship ideologies now argue that “whatever endures
with the family, took on additional responsibilities at is real” as a way of claiming legitimacy for chosen fami-
home, and often found themselves enjoying both as lies that were not the product of heterosexual marriages.
well as coming to depend on their wife’s support. The Such a definition of family is compatible with under-
wives appreciated a greater sense of closeness and egal- standings of kinship based on nurturance described ear-
itarian partnership with their husbands. “Expatriate lier in this chapter. Gay and lesbian activists have used
Japanese husbands and wives in the United States not this similarity as a resource in their struggles to obtain
only depend on each other to share the responsibility of for long-standing families by choice some of the same
work, but also seek personal support and camaraderie legal rights enjoyed by traditional heterosexual families,
in each other—in many cases, for the first time in their such as hospital visiting privileges, joint adoption, and
marriage. Once established, this sense of partnership property rights (Weston 1995, 99). As legislation in the
seems to last. To many of my i nformants, this is ‘the best United States, Canada, Europe and parts of Latin Amer-
thing’ that happened to them during [their stay abroad]” ica has made it possible for LGBT people to marry, these
(Kurotani 2005, 191). Although the return to Japan was legal rights have followed.
difficult and many of the changes the women underwent
in the United States had to be put on hold, the changes
in the conjugal relationships have called into question
the “naturalness” of the division between men’s and
The Flexibility of Marriage
women’s work. It is easy to get the impression that marriage rules
compel people to do things they really do not want to
do. Younger people, for example, seem forced by elders
Families by Choice to marry complete strangers of a certain kin category be-
In spite of the range of variation in family forms that we longing to particular social groups; or women appear to
have surveyed, some readers may still be convinced that be pawns in men’s games of prestige and power. Mar-
family ties depend on blood and that blood is thicker riage rules, however, are always subject to some nego-
than water. It is therefore instructive to consider the tiation, as illustrated by the marriage practices of the
results of research carried out by Kath Weston (1991) Ju/’hoansi of the Kalahari Desert (see EthnoProfile 11.4:
IN THEIR OWN WORDS
Why Migrant Women Feed Their Husbands Tamales
Brett Williams suggests that the reasons Mexican kinswomen, when women can cooperate in production
migrant women feed their husbands tamales and join, for example, agricultural work with domestic
may not be the stereotypical reasons that duties and childcare. Most migrant women spend their
outside observers often assume. lives within large, closely knit circles of kin and their work
days with their kinswomen. Marriage does not uproot or
isolate a woman from her family, but rather doubles the
relatives each partner can depend on and widens in turn
Because migrant women are so involved in family life
the networks of everyone involved. The lasting power of
and so seemingly submissive to their husbands, they
marriage is reflected in statistics which show a divorce
have been described often as martyred purveyors of
rate of 1 percent for migrant farmworkers from Texas,
rural Mexican and Christian custom, tyrannized by exces-
demonstrating the strength of a union bolstered by large
sively masculine, crudely domineering, rude and petty
numbers of relatives concerned that it go well. Crucial to
bullies in marriage, and blind to any world outside the
this concern is that neither partner is an economic drain
family because they are suffocated by the concerns of
on the family, and the Tejano pattern of early and lifelong
kin. Most disconcerting to outside observers is that mi-
marriages establishes some limit on the whimsy with
grant women seem to embrace such stereotypes: they
which men can abuse and misuse their wives.
argue that they should monopolize their foodways and
While anthropology traditionally rests on an appreci-
that they should not question the authority of their hus-
ation of other cultures in their own contexts and on their
bands. If men want tamales, men should have them. But
own terms, it is very difficult to avoid class bias in view-
easy stereotypes can mislead; in exploring the lives of the
ing the lives of those who share partly in one’s own cul-
poor, researchers must revise their own notions of family
ture, especially when the issue is something so close to
life, and this paper argues that foodways can provide cru-
home as food and who cooks it. Part of the problem may
cial clues about how to do so.
lie in appreciating what families are and what they do.
The paradox is this: among migrant workers both
For the poor, public and private domains are blurred in
women and men are equally productive wage earners,
confusing ways, family affairs may be closely tied to eco-
and husbands readily acknowledge that without their
nomics, and women’s work at gathering and obligating
wives’ work their families cannot earn enough to survive.
or binding relatives is neither trivial nor merely a matter
For m igrants the division of labor between earning a living
of sentiment. Another problem may lie in focusing on
outside the home and managing household affairs is un-
the marital relationship as indicative of a woman’s au-
known; and the dilemma facing middle-class wives who
thority in the family. We too often forget that women
may wish to work to supplement the family’s income simply
are sisters, grandmothers, and aunts to men as well as
does not exist. Anthropologists exploring women’s status
wives. Foodways can help us rethink both of these prob-
cross-culturally argue that women are most influential
lematic areas and understand how women elaborate
when they share in the production of food and have some
domestic roles to knit families together, to obligate both
control over its distribution. If such perspectives bear at
male and female kin, and to nurture and bind their hus-
all on migrant women, one might be led to question their
bands as well.
seemingly unfathomable obsequiousness in marriage.
Anthropologists further argue that women’s influence
is even greater when they are not isolated from their Source: Williams 1984.
Ju/’hoansi). Richard Lee (2013) notes that all first mar- kinship is extended to marriage. A girl may not marry a
riages were set up by means of a long-term exchange of father, brother, son, uncle, or nephew or a first or second
gifts between the parents of a bride and groom. cousin. A girl may also not marry a boy with her fa-
The Ju/’hoansi kinship system is as simple or as ther’s or brother’s name, and a boy may not marry a girl
complex as people want to make it, and the game of with his mother’s or sister’s name. In addition, neither a
IN THEIR OWN WORDS
Two Cheers for Gay Marriage
Roger Lancaster is professor of anthropology the Band of Thebes, any number of warrior castes, and
and director of cultural studies at George highly organized groups of women who lived collectively
Mason University. In this essay from the on the Chinese Kwantung delta in the 19th century.
Anthropology News of September 2004, he Ironically, the very wedding vows that the president

discusses some of the issues involved with gay wants to “protect” derive from early Greek Christian
same-sex commitment ceremonies, as historian John
marriage.
Boswell has shown in his final book, Same-Sex Unions in
Premodern Europe.
Announcing his support for a proposed constitutional Modern Love

amendment to ban same-sex marriages, President Bush What most Americans think of as “marriage” actually
pronounced marriage, or more specifically the union of turns out not to be a universal institution, but a relatively
one man and one woman, to be “the most fundamental recent invention. If you read St Paul or St Augustine, for
institution of civilization.” Actually, it can hardly be said instance, you’ll see that the fathers of the early Christian
that monogamous heterosexual marriage is the sole form Church were quite hostile to marriage. Far from celebrat-
of union “honored and encouraged in all cultures and by ing the sexual union of one man and one woman, St Paul
every religious faith,” as Bush claims. That’s Anthropology recommended celibacy for everyone and only grudgingly
101. Nor can it be said that the idea of gay marriage runs accepts marriage as a back-up plan: “Better to marry
counter to 5,000 years of moral teaching, as spokesper- than to burn.”
sons for the Christian right insist. Although archaic texts sometimes refer to wedding
What careful scholarship and “millennia of human feasts, marriage rituals involving the exchange of vows
experience” actually show is that marriage cannot be for- appear to develop fairly late in medieval Europe. The
ever fixed into a one-size-fits-all formula. There’s more idea that an officiating authority—a priest—ought to be
than one way to live, to love, and to set up home and present during those vows comes later still. Later yet, the
hearth. Church starts to keep records. And much later, the state
becomes involved.
Just What Is Marriage? The revolutionary notion that one might marry, not
Marriage sometimes involves a formal union marked by in the political or economic interests of extended kin
a public announcement or a ritual—like a wedding. Or it groups, but voluntarily and out of love, is an idea of dis-
might have the informal character of a union gradually ac- tinctly modern vintage—one whose implications our
quired or consolidated over a period of time. What North culture continues to digest. And that’s where we find
Americans and Europeans call “common-law marriage” ourselves today: in the throes of ongoing changes and
is the prevailing form of union in many parts of Latin contestations.
America and elsewhere. For these (and other) reasons, Social conservatives lament the decline of tradi-
anthropologists often avoid using baggage-laden terms tional families, the rise of divorce rates, the spread
like “marriage” when describing the broad sweep of insti- of cohabiting arrangements, the emergence of new
tutions related to affinity, residency and kinship, opting family forms and, perhaps especially, the growing vis-
instead for more portable (if off-putting) technical terms ibility of lesbian and gay relationships. They tap perva-
like “union” or “alliance.” sive feelings of unease about the new arrangements.
Just how many forms of same-sex union one discerns But logically, you can’t have love without heartache.
across cultures and throughout human history will You probably can’t have the idea that love is the sole
depend on what one counts as “same sex” and “union.” legitimate basis for marriage without also having
Bonds of same-sex friendship, publicly announced and modern divorce rates. (Levelheaded people entered
ritually marked by an officiating authority, amount to into the spirit of this arrangement in the 1970s, when
something very much like “marriage” in a great number they began vowing “as long as we both shall love.”) All
of cultures. So do other forms of same-sex group af- said, these aspects of sexual modernity would seem
filiation, such as orders of nuns, certain priesthoods, to follow, more or less logically, from the idea that our
IN THEIR OWN WORDS
relationships, like other contracts in a market economy, and Marriage Equality in California: “Gay people are very
ought to be e ntered into freely. They would seem to much like everyone else. They grow up, fall in love, form
follow from the idea that marriage ought to be based families and have children. They mow their lawns, shop
on love. for groceries and worry about making ends meet. They
And once you have a modern culture of love, linked to want good schools for their children, and security for
that consummate American right, “the pursuit of happi- their families as a whole.”
ness,” it becomes difficult to justify arbitrarily excluding Frankly, I doubt that this suburban picture of children,
people from it. school worries, lawnmowers, and domestic bliss really
applies to more than a very small minority—perhaps as
Where Do We Go from Here? small as 3 or 4 percent—of the gay and lesbian commu-
Obviously, who’s in and who’s out of official kinship nity. I certainly want no part of America’s deranged cul-
really matters. It counts in ways that are more than ture of lawn care. I also chafe at the idea, floated in the
symbolic. There are real social, economic and health same guide, that denying marriage rights to lesbian and
care implications. It’s thus important to modernize the gay couples keeps them in a state of permanent adoles-
official definitions of marriage. But like most members cence. . . . I don’t feel like a permanent adolescent, and
of the gay left, I do worry about the fetishization of mar- palaver like this makes me deeply ashamed for Lambda
riage and family in US political culture—a phenomenon Legal Defense.
not notably vented in a single other industrial democ- I’ve lived with my lover for over 15 years. I’d like some
racy. Claims about the supposed benefits of marriage, legal recognition of our relationship. I’d like the right to
anguish over how to strengthen the family, and endless file joint taxes, if married couples are going to have that
talk about “individual responsibility” have become pan- option, and the right to inherit each other’s pensions and
aceas in an era of declining wages, skyrocketing health social security benefits. But I have no interest in quasi-
care costs, vindictive welfare reform and social insecu- religious rigmarole or moralizing platitudes. I don’t feel
rity in general. that our relationship would benefit from the exchange of
These collective fantasies distill a distinctly neoliberal vows. And like most sound people of my generation, I’m
picture of the world: the family, shored up by monoga- skeptical of claims about the moral and existential ben-
mous marriage (and sometimes enhanced by “covenant efits of being “shackled by forgotten words and bonds /
marriage”), is to act as a sort of state within the state, And the ink stains that are dried upon some line” (as John
providing for individual members’ welfare—precisely at a Hartford once put it).
time when the state has renounced its historic responsi- We need gay marriage, and we should fight for it. But
bilities for social welfare (as I have shown in The Trouble we also need recognition of the true existent variety of
with Nature). ways people live and love. And everybody—whether they
In this skewed and surreal context, advocates of gay take the plunge or not—ought to have access to basic
marriage sometimes sound more conservative than the health care, affordable housing and a decent retirement.
conservatives. They sometimes present an astonishingly A one-size institution won’t fit all. We need more op-
unrepresentative and unrealistic picture of gay and les- tions, not less. We need to be as radical as reality about
bian relationships. In a recent Nation article, Lisa Duggan these matters.
pulls this quote from “The Roadmap to Equality,” pub-
Source: Lancaster 2004.
lished by the Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund
boy nor a girl should marry someone who stands in an particular suitor, they will come up with a kin or name
avoidance relationship. prohibition to block the match. Because the parents ar-
Consequently, for the Ju/’hoansi, about three- range the first marriage, it appears that the girl has very
quarters of a person’s potential spouses are off limits. In little to say about it. If she has an objection and pro-
practice, parents of girls tend to be quite choosy about tests long and hard, however, her parents may well call
whom their daughter marries. If they are opposed to a it off. This clear and insistent assertion of displeasure
is not uncommon in the world. Even when a young escape the men’s control. The official ideology of male
woman follows the wishes of her parents for her first control is subverted, at least momentarily, by the wom-
marriage, that first marriage may not be her last if disen’s laughter. Even as they ensure that lineages will
satisfaction persists. Despite the parents’ quest to find continue, they are able to comment on the paradoxical
ideal spouses for their children, close to half of all first relation of women to men. It should be remembered,
marriages among the Ju/’hoansi fail. However, as in however, that all the women could do was comment
many societies, only about 10% of marriages that last on those relations; they did not have the power to
five years or longer end in divorce (Lee 2013, 90). change them.
Sometimes the contrast between the formal rules
of marriage and the actual performance of marriage
rituals can be revealing. Ivan Karp (1978) asks why
Love, Marriage, and HIV/AIDS
Iteso women laugh at marriage ceremonies. During his in Nigeria
fieldwork, Karp was struck by a paradox. The marriage While marriages among the Igbo (the third largest
ritual is taken very seriously by the patrilineal Iteso; it ethnic group in Nigeria) used to be arranged, today
is the moment of creation for a new household, and ideas about romantic love have become increasingly
it paves the way for the physical and social reproduc- important, and most young people expect to marry for
tion of Iteso patrilineages. But the ritual is carried out love. Anthropologist Daniel Smith (2006) explored
entirely by women who are not consanguineal mem- how changes in Igbo ideas about marriage, romance,
bers of the patrilineage! Despite the seriousness of intimacy, and premarital sex intersect with older ideas
the occasion and although they are carrying out the about parenthood, gender inequality, and how male
ritual for the benefit of a lineage to which they do not extramarital sexual relationships put married women
belong, Iteso women seem to find the ceremony enor- at serious risk for contracting HIV/AIDS from their
mously funny. husbands.
To explain this apparently anomalous behavior, Historically, Igbo marriage was “an alliance be-
Karp suggests that the meaning of the marriage ritual tween two families rather than a contract between two
needs to be analyzed from two different perspectives: individuals” (Uchendu 1965, 50) and regularly took
that of the men and that of the women. The men’s per- several years to accomplish. After marriage, the couple
spective constitutes the official (or hegemonic) ideology ordinarily lived in the compound of the husband’s
of Iteso marriage. It emphasizes how marriage brings father, and (although this was changing by the mid-
the bride’s sexuality under the control of her husband’s 1960s) the bride was expected to be a virgin at marriage.
lineage. It distinguishes between women of the mother- Uchendu mentioned that among Igbo professionals,
in-law’s generation and women of the wife’s own gen- the trend was toward living in nuclear, neolocal families
eration. It stresses the woman’s role as an agent of and marrying for love. By the late 1990s, in a sample
reproduction who is equivalent, in a reproductive sense, of 775 Igbo students Daniel Smith found that 95%
to the bridewealth cattle. said they expected to choose their marriage partners by
The women’s perspective constitutes an unofficial (or themselves, and all 420 university students he surveyed
counterhegemonic) ideology. For the men and women had that expectation (2006, 140). Love was frequently
of a given lineage to succeed in perpetuating that lin- mentioned as a criterion for marriage, but was not the
eage, they must control women’s bodies. But the bodies only criterion.
they must control belong to female outsiders who marry Given that men and women are marrying at a
lineage men. These same female outsiders direct the two later age, that love is becoming an increasingly impor-
ritual events crucial to lineage reproduction: marriage tant criterion for marriage, and that there is a greater
and birth. And men of the lineage are not allowed to value for male–female intimacy in relationships, Smith
attend either of these rituals. In sum, female outsiders points out that premarital sexual relationships are in-
control the continued existence of a patrilineage whose creasingly common. “Sex is being socially constructed
male members are supposed to control them! as an appropriate expression of intimacy, but also as a
Iteso women, Karp says, can see the irony in this: statement about a particular kind of modern identity”
They are at once controlled and controlling. In the (D. Smith 2006, 141). Smith adds that premarital ro-
marriage ritual itself, they comment on this paradox mances also tend to support a more egalitarian gender
through their laughter. In so doing, they reveal two dynamics with regard to expectations of fidelity. During
things. First, they show that they know the men are de- courtship, the couple’s relationship is based on their
pendent on them. Second, even as the men assert their personal emotional connection to each other, and both
control over women’s bodies, the women’s ritual actions parties feel that they should be faithful to each other.
Chapter Summary 463
If they are not, one or the other is likely to break off prevent the negotiation of safe sex” (D. Smith 2006,
the relationship. But once courtship is over and a couple 145). In the first place, HIV/AIDS has been defined by
marries, the situation changes: “conjugal relationships are Igbo people as a disease of immorality spread through
much more deeply embedded in larger kinship s tructures reckless sex with prostitutes or other strangers. But mar-
and relationships to extended family and community ried men with lovers do not think they are engaging
than premarital relationships” (143). In large part, this is in reckless or anonymous sex—they know who their
due to the importance of parenthood—married people lovers are. Even when money changes hands it is not
are supposed to have children. Once they have children, directly for sex; it is understood to be for personal or
particularly if there is a son, there are few socially ac- kinship and family matters—it is for school tuition for
ceptable reasons for a couple to divorce. If their per- the lover’s siblings or to assist her parents with a prob-
sonal relationship is a difficult one, family members lem in the village. Because men’s lovers hardly appear
will try to mediate, but even a broken relationship to be stereotypical AIDS carriers, men see no reason
between husband and wife is not generally sufficient to use a condom when they are with them, especially
grounds for divorce. since condoms are supposed to inhibit pleasure. At the
A second important change after marriage and par- same time, for a wife who believes in ideals of love and
enthood is a shift away from the individualistic gender intimacy marked by sexual fidelity and who expects to
dynamics of courtship toward a more traditional pat- have children, to insist that her husband use a condom
tern of male infidelity. Wives continue to want a can be taken by her husband as implying that he (or
faithful h usband, but this is unrealistic; a significant she!) is unfaithful. Thus, for a wife to try to protect
proportion of married men have lovers, sometimes sev- herself undermines exactly what she wants to preserve.
eral in sequence. “The sad irony is that even as women “Rather than protecting women, love marriages may
continue to deploy ideals of intimacy and love to influ- contribute to the risk of contracting HIV from their
ence their husbands’ sexual behavior, these very ideals husbands” (153).
Chapter Summary
1. Human life is group life; we depend on one contingent, “imagined” communities. That is, all
another to survive. All societies invent forms of human communities are social, cultural, and his-
relatedness to organize this interdependence. torical constructions. They are the joint outcome of
People in all societies recognize that they are con- shared habitual practices and of symbolic images of
nected to certain other people in a variety of ways common identity promulgated by group members
and that they are not connected to some people at with an interest in making a particular imagined
all. Anthropologists have traditionally paid clos- identity endure.
est attention to those formal systems of related- 3. Friendships are relatively “unofficial” bonds of
ness called kinship systems. But a nthropologists relatedness that are personal, affective, and, to a
also draw attention to other forms of relatedness, varying extent from society to society, a matter
like friendship, that may provide ways of coun- of choice. Nevertheless, in some societies, friend-
terbalancing relations with kin. It is important to ships may be so important that they are formal-
remember that all forms of relatedness are always ized like marriages. Depending on the society,
embedded in and shaped by politics, economics, friendships may be developed to strengthen kin
and worldviews. ties or to subvert kin ties, because friendship is
2. To recognize the varied forms that institutions of understood as the precise opposite of formal kin
human relatedness can take is to acknowledge ties. This illustrates the ways in which people
fundamental openness in the organization of everywhere struggle to find ways to preserve cer-
human interdependence. New shared experi- tain ties of relatedness without being dominated
ences offer raw material for the invention of new by them.
forms of common identity. Anthropologists now 4. The system of social relations that is based on
argue that all communities—even face-to-face prototypical procreative relationships is called
communities—larger than a single individual are kinship. Kinship principles are based on but not

reducible to the universal human experiences of 10. Achieved kinship statuses can be converted into
mating, birth, and nurturance. Kinship systems ascribed ones by means of adoption. In Z umbagua,
help societies maintain social order without c entral Ecuador, most adults have several kinds of parents
government. Although female–male duality is basic and several kinds of children, some adopted and
to kinship, many societies have developed supernu- some not. Zumbaguan a doptions are based on
merary sexes or genders. nurturance—in this case, the feeding by the adop-
5. Patterns of descent in kinship systems are selective parent of the adopted child.
tive. Matrilineal societies emphasize that women 11. From the complexities of Ju/’hoansi kinship ne-
bear children and trace descent through women. gotiations to the unique features of compadrazgo
Patrilineal societies emphasize that men impreg- in Latin America to the dilemmas created by new
nate women and trace descent through men. reproductive technologies and organ transplanta-
Adoption pays attention to relationships based on tion, anthropologists have shown clearly that kin-
nurturance, whether or not they are also based on ship is a form of relatedness, a cultural construction
mating and birth. that cannot be reduced to biology.
6. Descent links members of different generations 12. Marriage is a social process that transforms the
with one another. Bilateral descent results in status of a man and woman, stipulates the degree
the formation of groups called kindreds that i nclude of sexual access the married partners may have to
all relatives from both parents’ families. Unilineal each other, establishes the legitimacy of children
descent results in the formation of groups called born to the wife, and creates relationships between
lineages that trace descent through either the the kin of the wife and the kin of the husband.
mother or the father. Unlike kindreds, lineages are
13. Woman marriage and ghost marriage highlight
corporate groups. Lineages control important prop-
several defining features of marriage and also dem-
erty, such as land, that collectively belongs to their
onstrate that the roles of husband and father may
members. The l anguage of lineage is the idiom of
not be dependent on the gender of the person who
political discussion, and lineage relationships are
fills it.
of political significance.
14. There are four major patterns of postmarital
7. Kinship terminologies pay attention to certain
residence: neolocal, patrilocal, matrilocal, and
attributes of people that are then used to define
avunculocal.
different classes of kin. The attributes most often
recognized include, from most to least common, 15. A person may be married to only one person at
generation, gender, affinity, collaterality, bifurca- a time (monogamy) or to several (polygamy).
tion, relative age, and the gender of the linking Polygamy can be further subdivided into polygyny,
relative. in which a man is married to two or more wives,
and polyandry, in which a woman is married to
8. Anthropologists recognize six basic terminological
two or more husbands.
systems according to their patterns of classifying
cousins. In recent years, however, anthropologists 16. The study of polyandry reveals the separation of a
have become quite skeptical of the value of these woman’s sexuality and her reproductive capacity,
idealized models because they are highly formal- something not found in monogamous or poly
ized and do not capture the full range of people’s gynous societies. There are three main forms of
actual practices. polyandry: fraternal polyandry, associated poly
9. By prescribing certain kinds of marriage, lineages andry, and secondary marriage.
establish long-term alliances with one another. 17. Bridewealth is a payment of symbolically impor-
Two major types of prescriptive marriage patterns tant goods by the husband’s lineage to the wife’s
in unilineal societies are a father’s sister’s daugh- lineage. Anthropologists see this as compensation
ter marriage system (which sets up a pattern of to the wife’s family for the loss of her productive
direct exchange marriage) and a mother’s brother’s and reproductive capacities. A woman’s bridewealth
daughter marriage system (which sets up a pattern payment may enable her brother to pay bride-
of asymmetrical exchange marriage). wealth to get a wife.
For Review 465
18. Dowry is typically a transfer of family wealth Sometimes nagging, quarreling, adultery, cruelty,
from parents to their daughter at the time of and stinginess are causes. In some societies, only
her marriage. Dowries are often considered the men may initiate a divorce. In very few societies is
wife’s contribution to the establishment of a new divorce impossible.
household. 22. Families have developed ingenious ways of
19. In some cultures, the most important relation- keeping together even when some members live
ships a man and a woman have are with their abroad for extended periods. Gays and lesbi-
opposite-sex siblings. Adult brothers and sisters ans in North America have created families by
may see one another often and jointly control choice, based on nurturance, which they believe
lineage affairs. are as e nduring as families based on marriage
20. Different family structures produce different in- and birth.
ternal patterns and tensions. There are three basic 23. Marriage rules are subject to negotiation, even
family types: nuclear, extended, and joint. Families when they appear rigid. This is illustrated by Iteso
may change from one type to another over time and marriage. The Iteso depend upon women from the
with the birth, growth, and marriage of children. outside to perpetuate their patrilineages, and the
21. Most human societies permit marriages to end women express their ironic awareness of this fact
by divorce, although it is not always easy. In most through ritualized l aughter at marriage.
societies, childlessness is grounds for divorce.
For Review
1. What is relatedness? t echnologies, and compadrazgo in Latin
2. Define imagined communities. America.
3. How are friendship and kinship related, yet 14. Summarize the ways in which kinship relations
distinctive? can produce unexpected or contradictory social
outcomes.
4. List the major elements of human kinship
systems, as presented in the section “What Is 15. Define marriage and explain each of the five
Kinship?” points of the definition given in the text.
5. Describe the major strategies human beings have 16. Explain woman marriage and ghost marriage
used to establish patterns of descent. among the Nuer. Why is it important to distin-
guish pater and genitor?
6. Compare bilateral kindreds and unilineal descent
groups. 17. What are affinal relationships? What are consan-
guineal relationships?
7. What is the technical difference anthropologists
recognize between a lineage and a clan? 18. Distinguish between endogamy and exogamy.
19. Summarize the different kinds of residence
8. Summarize the key points in the text about
human groups adopt after marriage.
patrilineages.
20. Describe monogamy, polygyny, and polyandry.
9. Summarize the key points in the text about
matrilineages. 21. Discuss how different marriage patterns reflect
variation in social understandings of male and
10. Explain how kinship and politics come together
female sexuality.
in northern Thai elections.
22. What are the differences between bridewealth and
11. Prepare a chart of the key criteria used to distin-
dowry?
guish kin within kinship terminologies, with a
brief explanation of each criterion. 23. What is a family?
12. Explain the differences between ascribed and 24. Summarize the major forms of the family that are
achieved status. discussed in the text.
13. Explain how the flexibility of relatedness is 25. Discuss the ways in which families change, as dis-
illustrated by the case studies on a doption in cussed in the text.
Zumbagua, Ju/’hoansi kin ties and naming, 26. Describe the effects of international migration on
European American new reproductive families.
Key Terms
achieved clan 430 family 447 nonconjugal family 447
statuses 434 collaterality 433 friendship 423 nuclear family 447
adoption 426 compadrazgo 440 imagined parallel cousins 433
affinal 442 conjugal family 447 communities 423 patrilineage 429
affinity 433 consanguineal 442 joint family 450 patrilocal 443
ascribed statuses 434 cross cousins 433 kinship 426 polyandry 443
avunculocal 443 descent 426 lineages 430 polygamy 443
bifurcation 433 dowry 445 marriage 426, 441 polygyny 443
bilateral descent 427 endogamy 442 matrilineage 429 relatedness 421, 422
bilateral kindred 428 exogamy 442 matrilocal 443 segmentary
blended family 452 extended monogamy 443 opposition 431
bridewealth 431, 445 family 450 neolocal 443 unilineal descent 427
Suggested Readings
Anderson, Benedict. 2006. Imagined communities: marriage. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press. This
Reflections on the origin and spread of nationalism, Rev. collection of essays explores the many ways in which love,
ed. London: Verso. Although Anderson’s goal is to ad- marriage, and desire are changing in societies around the
dress the origin of nationalism, his insistence that all world.
human communities—even those based on kinship—are Kahn, Susan Martha. 2000. Reproducing Jews: A cultural
imagined communities marks an important breakthrough account of assisted conception in Israel. Durham, NC:
for the study of human social forms. It can be read with Duke University Press. An exceptionally interesting eth-
profit not only in connection with this chapter, but also nographic study of the effects of new reproductive technolo-
with the next. gies on kinship in Israel.
Bell, Sandra, and Simon Coleman, eds. 1999. The anthro- Lancaster, Roger. 1992. Life is hard. Berkeley: University
pology of friendship. Oxford: Berg. A recent collection of of California Press. A stunning analysis of machismo in
articles on friendship, with contributions on Europe, Asia, Nicaragua, in which sexual practices North Americans con-
Africa, and South America. sider homosexual are interpreted very differently.
Bohannan, Paul, and John Middleton. 1968. Marriage, Sacks, Karen. 1979. Sisters and wives. Urbana: University of
family, and residence. New York: Natural History I llinois Press. A Marxian analysis of the notion of sexual
Press. A classic collection, with important and readable equality. This book includes very important data and anal-
articles. ysis on sister–brother relations.
Collier, Jane, and Sylvia Yanagisako, eds. 1987. Gender and Sharp, Lesley. 2006. Strange harvest: Organ transplants, de-
kinship: Essays toward a unified analysis. Stanford: Stan- natured bodies, and the transformed self. Berkeley: Uni-
ford University Press. An important collection of work on versity of California Press. In addition to her discussion
the connections between gender and kinship. of posttransplant forms of kinship, Sharp addresses a range
Ginsburg, Faye D. 1998. Contested lives: The abortion debate of related issues raised by organ transplantation, all of
in an American community. Updated ed. Berkeley: which—as her subtitle indicates—call into question tradi-
University of California Press. A study of gender and tional Western notions of natural bodies and autonomous
procreation in the context of the abortion debate in Fargo, selves.
North Dakota, in the 1980s. Shostak, Marjorie. 1981. Nisa: The life and words of a !Kung
Ginsburg, Faye D., and Rayna Rapp, eds. 1995. Conceiving woman. New York: Vintage. A wonderful book. The story
the new world order: The global politics of reproduction. of a Ju/’hoansi woman’s life in her own words. Shostak pro-
Berkeley: University of California Press. An important vides background for each chapter. There is much here on
collection of articles by anthropologists who address the marriage and everyday life.
ways human reproduction is structured across social and Smith, Mary F. [1954] 1981. Baba of Karo. Reprint.
cultural boundaries. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press. A remarkable
Hirsh, Jennifer, and Holly Wardlow, eds. 2006. Modern loves: document: The autobiography of a Hausa woman born
The anthropology of romantic courtship and companionate in 1877 in what is today northern Nigeria. A master
storyteller, Baba provides much information about Hausa and the social and cultural implications of male and female
patterns of friendship, clientage, adoption, kinship, and reproductive roles.
marriage. Stone, Linda, ed. 2001. New directions in anthropological kin-
Stone, Linda. 2013. Kinship and gender, 5th ed. Boulder, ship. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield. An excellent
CO: Westview. A recent discussion of human reproduction collection of recent articles on kinship.
15
What can anthropology tell
us about social inequality?
The ethnographic and historical records show that societies in which people
enjoy relatively equal relations with one another have flourished in differ-
ent times and places. But cultural constructions of human differences and
the use of such cultural constructions to build societies based on unequal
social relations also have a long history. This chapter discusses some key
forms of social and cultural inequality in the contemporary world to which
anthropologists have devoted attention.
CHAPTER OUTLINE
What Are Naturalizing Race
Discourses? Colorism in Nicaragua
Class Ethnicity
Class and Gender in Indonesia How Do Anthropologists Study
Class and Caste in the United Human Rights?
States? Are Human Rights Universal?
Caste Chapter Summary
Caste in India For Review
How Do Caste and Class Key Terms
Intersect in Contemporary Suggested Readings
India?
Local fishermen head out to sea in Labadee, Haiti, as a luxury cruise ship leaves in the background. 469
470 CHAPTER 15: WHAT CAN ANTHROPOLOGY TELL US ABOUT SOCIAL INEQUALITY?
I n Chapter 12, we observed that most people in the

world today come under the authority of one or an-
other nation-state and that all nation-states are social
other present-day societies, which also show that social
life may be organized differently. Finally, they direct at-
tention away from current social inequalities, insisting
stratified. Stratified societies, you will recall, are societ- that these inequalities are so deeply rooted that attempt-
ies made up of permanently ranked subgroups, in which ing to change them would be impossible.
the higher ranking groups have disproportionately Anthropologist Brackette Williams (1989) has
greater access to wealth, power, and prestige than do argued that naturalizing discourses rely on the imagi-
lower ranking groups. But inequality in the contempo- nary reduction, or conflation, of identities to achieve per-
rary world may be constructed out of multiple categories suasive power. For example, forms of identity such as
arranged in different, and sometimes contradictory, hier- gender or race or caste—and sometimes even class and
archies of stratification. In Chapter 13, we discussed how ethnicity, not to mention kinship and other forms of
some of these categories—sex, gender, and sexuality— relatedness—have been described or justified by some-
intersect with other categories in the production of such one at some time in terms of shared bodily substance.
hierarchies. In this chapter, we will pay close attention to Thus, living within the same territory is conflated with
some additional important social categories involved in having the same ancestors and inheriting the same cul-
the construction of hierarchies of social inequality: class, ture, which is further conflated with eating the same
caste, race, and ethnicity. It is important to emphasize food, or sharing the same blood or the same genes. Cul-
from the outset that all of these categories are culturally ture is reduced to blood, and “the magic of forgetfulness
and historically created. At the same time, many mem- and selectivity, both deliberate and inadvertent, allows
bers of the societies anthropologists study—whether the once recognizably arbitrary classifications of one
their own or other people’s—often argue just the op- generation to become the given inherent properties of
posite, that these categories have always been part of reality several generations later” (Williams 1989, 431).
human society. Claims that consider social categories as Some of these patterns of inequality, such as class and
eternal and unchanging, rather than the result of history caste, reach back thousands of years into human history.
or culture, have been called naturalizing discourses. Others, such as race and ethnicity, are far more recent in
Anthropologists are suspicious of naturalizing dis- origin and are closely associated with changes that began in
courses for three related reasons. First, they ignore his- Europe some 500 years ago. The spread of capitalism and
torical evidence showing how present-day arrangements colonialism introduced new forms of stratification into
contrast with earlier social arrangements in society. formerly autonomous, egalitarian societies, and these also
Second, they ignore variations in social arrangements in reshaped forms of stratification that predated their arrival.
Lake Chad
0 100 200 300

CHAD
Miles
NIGERIA Guider
ue
B en
CENTRAL
AFRICAN
CAMEROON REPUBLIC
Hawaii Bight
of Yaounde
Gopalpur
REP. OF
Biafra CONGO Guider
Kauai
el CHINA
nn
ha
i C Oahu PAKISTAN HI
MA
ua L AY
Ka AS
Honolulu NE
Delhi PAL
Wailuku
Maui a n n e l INDIA
PA C I F I C h C
a ha Bombay
OCEAN uih
en Arabian
Al Hyderabad Bay of
Hawaii Sea
Bengal
0 50 100 Madras
Gopalpur
Miles
INDIAN
OCEAN 0 250 500
SRI LANKA Miles
FIGURE 15.1 Location of societies whose EthnoProfiles appear in Chapter 15.

Class 471
FIGURE 15.2 Social classes

often live within easy sight of one
another. Here, luxury apartments
and squatter settlements rub
shoulders in Caracas, Venezuela.
Class triggered the displacement of aristocrats and peasants

who had played the key roles in European feudalism.
In general, classes are hierarchically arranged social They were replaced by new key classes—industrial en-
groups defined on economic grounds. That is, higher- trepreneurs and the industrial working class—who were
ranked social classes have disproportionate access to linked together within the capitalist mode of produc-
sources of wealth in the society, whereas the members tion. In time, Marx predicted, these industrial workers
of low-ranked classes have much more limited access to would become the new “leading class,” rising up to oust
wealth (Figure 15.2). capitalists when the socialist revolution came.
The concept of class has a double heritage in As Marx was well aware, all those who are linked to
modern anthropology, one stemming from Europe and the means of production in the same way (e.g., as work-
the other from the United States. European social scien- ers) often do not recognize what they have in common
tists lived in states with a long history of social class divi- and may therefore fail to develop the kind of solidar-
sions reaching back into the Middle Ages and, in some ity among themselves—the “class consciousness”—
cases, even into earlier times. In their experience, social that could, in Marx’s view, lead to revolution. Indeed,
classes are well-entrenched and relatively closed groups. the possibility of peasant- or working-class solidarity in
In the late 1700s, both the Industrial Revolution and many of the stratified societies studied by anthropolo-
the French Revolution promised to end the oppressive gists is actively undercut by institutions of clientage. Ac-
privileges of the ruling class and to equalize everyone’s cording to anthropologist M. G. Smith ([1954] 1981),
access to wealth. However, class divisions did not wither clientage “designates a variety of relationships, which all
away in Europe during the nineteenth century; they just have inequality of status of the associated persons as a
changed their contours. Followers of Marx judged that, common characteristic” (31). Clientage is a relationship
at best, an old ruling class had been displaced by a new between individuals rather than groups. The party of su-
one: feudal aristocrats had been replaced by bourgeois perior status is the patron, and the party of inferior status
capitalists. The lowest level in European societies—rural is the client. Stratified societies united by links of client-
peasants—were partially displaced as well, with the ap- age can be very stable. Low-status clients believe their se-
pearance of the urban working class. But the barriers sep- curity depends on finding a high-status individual who
arating those at the top of the class hierarchy from those
at the bottom seemed just as rigid as ever.
As we saw in Chapter 11, Marx defines classes in naturalizing discourses Claims that consider social categories as eter-
terms of their members’ different relations to the means nal and unchanging, rather than the result of history or culture.
of production. This means that as long as a particular set class A ranked group within a hierarchically stratified society whose
membership is defined primarily in terms of wealth, occupation, or other
of unequal productive relations flourishes in a society, economic criteria.
the classes defined by these unequal roles in the division clientage The institution linking individuals from upper and lower levels in
of labor will also persist. The French Revolution had a stratified society.
can protect them. For example, clientage is characteris- notes that they do not even see themselves as members
tic of compadrazgo, or ritual coparenthood relationships, of a class, but rather “as people who are ‘educated’ or
found throughout Latin America. The Latin American ‘developed’ and thereby have to pursue a commitment
societies in which compadrazgo flourishes are class so- to ‘truth, justice, ethics, or beauty’ while needing ‘to deny
cieties, and parents who are peasants or workers often their privileged status’” (149). Some scholars argue that
seek landowners or factory owners to serve as compadres, consumption is the key element uniting middle-class
or godparents, at the baptism of their children. When Indonesians, because it is through their consumption
the baptism ritual is completed, the parents and godpar- patterns that they are able to distinguish themselves
ents of the child now have a new, more relaxed relation- from both the lower class and the extremely wealthy.
ship. They call each other “compadre” and can feel freer Indonesian middle-class consumption patterns re-
to seek one another out for support in times of need. volve around women. When the frugal, full-time house-
Whereas the lower-status biological parents may seek wife was seen as the model for middle-class distinction
out their higher-status compadres for economic relief, in the 1980s and 1990s, she was seen as domesticating
the higher-status individuals might seek out their lower- income used for family consumption. But the figure of
status compadres for political support. the housewife also became associated with corruption
because she was increasingly seen as a woman who
“strained her income-earning husband” through her
Class and Gender in Indonesia feminine impulse to consume, corrupting her husband
In recent years, anthropologists have begun to pay at- as he strove to satisfy his wife’s consumption demands
tention to the concerns of the growing middle classes (Jones 2012, 155–56). More recently, the frugal house-
throughout the world. Carla Jones studied the middle wife has been replaced by the woman who claims re-
class in Indonesia, the world’s fourth most populous spectability through Muslim piety. But even this image
country and the largest majority Muslim country in the has become tarnished: by consuming the latest elegant
world. Jones notes that market-research companies es- Islamic fashions, women are now criticized for pursuing
timate that the middle-income segment of this popula- piety as a fashion statement rather than as a religious
tion (based on monthly expenditures of approximately statement (Jones 2012, 161).
US$300) rose from about 19 percent in the mid-1990s Thus, consumption and femininity are closely
to 30 percent in 2009 (Jones 2012, 151). Jones (2012) linked components in the creation of selves shaped by
points out that middle-class status in Indonesia is highly class. Jones (2012) notes that these Indonesian examples
gendered: “it is impossible to think of the virtues, thrills, overlap with experiences of middle classes elsewhere
and concerns associated with being middle class in (163) and that one might conclude that “the work of
Indonesia without seeing those qualities take form in linking consumption to feminine pleasure is always po-
gendered ways” (146). She tells the story of a friend of litical and is a process that rests on irresolvable anxiet-
hers, whom she calls Ati, who was, like most Javanese ies” (165). Women, whether housewives, fashionably
women, in charge of her family’s income and expendi- dressed pious women, or career women, have become
tures, but whose husband had forbidden her to allow symbols of a middle class with an ever-increasing desire
her small teacher’s salary to enter their household, es- for material things, which then increases their share of
pecially for buying food for their four children. Like the burden of proving middle-class respectability.
many middle-class Indonesians whom Jones knew, Ati’s
husband was concerned with the level of corruption in
Indonesia, as well as the repression of the Suharto gov- Class and Caste in the United States?
ernment, and believed that money earned from a repres- Marx’s view of class is clearly different from the hege-
sive and corrupt state was itself contaminating and could monic view of class in the United States. For generations
not be purified. To let that kind of money—and what the “American Dream” has been that in the United States
it purchased—into the private sphere of the household individuals may pursue wealth, power, and prestige un-
generated anxiety and also put the family at risk. Ati’s hampered by the unyielding class barriers characteristic
solution was to use her salary to pay public school fees of “Old World” societies. As a result, many social sci-
and to purchase school uniforms for her children. In this entists trained in the United States (including cultural
way, she returned the tainted money to the state and also anthropologists) have tended to define social classes pri-
complied with her husband’s order. marily in terms of income level and to argue that such
This story suggests that members of the Indonesian social classes are open, porous, and permeable, rather
middle class do not define themselves in terms of income than rigid and exclusionary. Upward class mobility is
or money. In fact, citing Ariel Heryano, Jones (2012) supposed to be, in principle, attainable by all people,
Caste 473
regardless of how low their social origins are. Even poor each of which was “chaste” in the sense that sexual and
boys like Abraham Lincoln, born in a log cabin on the marital links across group boundaries were forbidden.
frontier, can grow up to be president.
But the promise of the American Dream of equal
opportunity for upward class mobility has not been real- Caste in India
ized by all those living in the United States. In the early The term caste, as most Western observers use it, col-
twentieth century, both black and white social scien- lapses two different South Asian concepts.
tists concluded that an unyielding “color bar” prevented The first term, varna, refers to the widespread notion
upward class mobility for U.S. citizens with African an- that Indian society is ideally divided into priests, war-
cestry. One participant in these studies, a sociologist riors, farmers, and merchants—four functional subdi-
named W. Lloyd Warner, argued in 1936 that the color visions analogous to the estates of medieval and early
bar looked more like the rigid barrier reported to exist modern Europe (Guneratne 2002; Sharma 1999). The
between castes in India than the supposedly permeable second term, jati, refers to localized, named, endogamous
boundary separating American social classes. That is to groups. Although jati names are frequently the names of
say, membership in a caste is ascribed at birth and each occupations (e.g., farmer, saltmaker), there is no agreed-
ranked caste is closed such that individuals are not al- upon way to group the many local jatis within one or the
lowed to move from one caste into another. Member- other of the four varnas, which is why jati members can
ship in social classes is also ascribed at birth, according disagree with others about where their own jati ought to
to Warner, but unlike castes, classes are not closed and belong. In any case, varna divisions are more theoretical
individual social mobility from one class into another in nature, whereas jati is the more significant term in most
is possible (Sharma 1999, 15; Harrison 1995, 1998; of the local village settings where anthropologists have
Warner 1936). Warner’s distinction between caste and traditionally conducted fieldwork. Villagers in the south-
class became standard for decades in American cultural ern Indian town of Gopalpur defined a jati for anthro-
anthropology. pologist Alan Beals (see EthnoProfile 15.1: G opalpur).
Is this a plausible contrast? The aspect of caste that They said it was “a category of men thought to be related,
impressed Warner was the reported rigidity of the bar- to occupy a particular position within a hierarchy of jatis,
rier between castes, which seemed much like the barrier to marry among themselves, and to follow particular
separating blacks and whites in the United States. But
in 1948, an African American sociologist named Oliver
Cromwell Cox rejected an equation between caste and EthnoProfile 15.1
race. Cox pointed out that many authorities on caste in
India claimed that Hindu castes were harmoniously in- Gopalpur
tegrated within a caste system shaped by Hindu religious
beliefs about purity and pollution. Most importantly, it Region: Southern Asia
appeared that members of low-ranked “impure” castes Nation: India
did not challenge the caste system although it oppressed Population: 540 (1960)
them. If this were true, Cox concluded, caste relations
Environment: Center of a plain, some fertile farmland and
were unlike race relations in the United States because pasture
whites had imposed the color bar by force and only by
Livelihood: Intensive millet farming, some cattle and sheep
force had they been able to repress black resistance to herding
the injustice of the system. Ursula Sharma (1999) points
Political organization: CHINA
out, however, that both Warner and Cox were relying on Caste system in a modern PAKISTAN HIM
ALA
an understanding of Hindu castes that today is consid- nation-state
Delhi
Y
NE A S
PAL
ered highly misleading. For more information:

INDIA
Beals, Alan. 1962. Gopalpur,
Bombay
a south Indian village. New Arabian
Hyderabad Bay of
Sea
York: Holt, Rinehart, and
Caste
Bengal
Madras
Winston. Gopalpur
INDIAN
0 250 500
The word caste comes from the Portuguese word casta, OCEAN
SRI LANKA Miles
meaning “chaste.” Portuguese explorers applied it to the
stratification systems they encountered in South Asia in
the fifteenth century. They understood that these societ- caste A ranked group within a hierarchically stratified society that is closed,
ies were divided into a hierarchy of ranked subgroups, prohibiting individuals to move from one caste to another.
practices and occupations” (Beals 1962, 25). Beals’s in- beef). Occupations that involve slaughtering animals or
formants compared the relationship between jatis of dif- touching polluted things are themselves polluting. Jatis
ferent rank to the relationship between brothers. Ideally, that traditionally carry out such activities as butcher-
they said, members of low-ranking jatis respect and obey ing and washing dirty clothing are ranked below jatis
members of high-ranking jatis, just as younger brothers whose traditional work does not involve polluting ac-
respect and obey older brothers. tivities. Hindu dietary rules deal not only with the kinds
Villagers in Gopalpur were aware of at least 50 dif- of food that may be eaten by different jatis but also with
ferent jatis, although not all were represented in the vil- the circumstances in which members of one jati may
lage. Because jatis have different occupational specialties accept food prepared by members of another. Members
that they alone can perform, villagers were sometimes of a lower ranking jati may accept any food prepared by
dependent on the services of outsiders. For example, members of a higher ranking jati. Members of a higher
there was no member of the Washerman jati in Go- ranking jati may accept only certain foods prepared by
palpur. As a result, a member of that jati from another a lower ranking jati. In addition, members of different
village had to be employed when people in Gopalpur jatis should not eat together.
wanted their clothes cleaned ritually or required clean In practice, these rules are not as confining as they
cloth for ceremonies. appear. In Gopalpur, “‘food’ referred to particular kinds
Jatis are distinguished in terms of the foods they of food, principally rice. ‘Eating together’ means eating
eat as well as their traditional occupations. These fea- from the same dish or sitting on the same line. . . . Mem-
tures have a ritual significance that affects interactions bers of quite different jatis may eat together if they eat
between members of different jatis. In Hindu belief, out of separate bowls and if they are facing each other
certain foods and occupations are classed as pure and or turned slightly away from each other” (Beals 1962,
others as polluting. In theory, all jatis are ranked on 41). Members of jatis that are close in rank and neither
a scale from purest to most polluted (Figure 15.3). at the top nor at the bottom of the scale often share food
Ranked highest of all are the vegetarian Brahmins, who and eat together on a daily basis. Strict observance of the
are pure enough to approach the gods. Carpenters and rules is saved for ceremonial occasions.
blacksmiths, who also eat a vegetarian diet, are also as- The way in which non-Hindus were incorporated
signed a high rank. Below the vegetarians are those who into the jati system in Gopalpur illuminates the logic
eat “clean,” or “pure,” meat. In Gopalpur, this group of the system. For example, Muslims have long ruled
of jatis included saltmakers, farmers, and shepherds, the region surrounding Gopalpur; thus, political power
who eat sheep, goats, chicken, and fish but not pork has been a salient attribute of Muslim identity. In addi-
or beef. The lowest ranking jatis are “unclean” meat tion, Muslims do not eat pork or the meat of animals
eaters, who include stone workers and basket weavers that have not been ritually slaughtered. These attributes,
(who eat pork) and leather workers (who eat pork and taken together, led the villagers in Gopalpur to rank
Muslims above the stone workers and basket weavers,
who eat pork. All three groups were considered to be
eaters of unclean meat because Muslims do eat beef.
Although the interdependence of jatis is explained
in theory by their occupational specialties, the social re-
ality is a bit different. For example, salt makers in Go-
palpur are farmers and actually produce little salt, which
can be bought in shops by those who need it. It is pri-
marily in the context of ritual that jati interdependence
is given full play. Recall that Gopalpur villagers required
the services of a washerman when they needed ritu-
ally clean garments or cloth; otherwise, most villagers
washed their own clothing. “To arrange a marriage, to set
up the doorway of a new house, to stage a drama, or to
hold an entertainment, the householder must call on a
wide range of jatis. The entertainment of even a modest
number of guests requires the presence of the Singer. The
FIGURE 15.3 Gautam Ganu Jadhao, a city worker, removes a potter must provide new pots in which to cook the food;
cart full of sewage waste from a Bombay neighborhood in July
2005. People like him whose occupations are characterized as the Boin from the Farmer jati must carry the pot; the
polluting are ranked at the bottom of the Hindu caste system. Shepherd must sacrifice the goat; the Crier, a Saltmaker,
Caste 475
IN THEIR OWN WORDS
Burakumin: Overcoming Hidden Discrimination in Japan
Tomoe Kawasaki is a college staff member in the plunge and faced my roots, and then leaped further
Japan and identifies herself as a Buraku. into my past, I found a world so wonderful.
Although the Japanese government has passed Source: http://www.majiroxnews.com/2011/02/07/inside-japans-gentlemen-
laws prohibiting discrimination against agreement/. Accessed August 1, 2014.
Burakumin, prejudice remains. On the website

globalcompassion.com, which features
photos, videos, and writings about our human
condition, Tomoe tells her story.
My parents didn’t tell me much about Buraku, and they

raised me as far away from the Buraku as possible. They
didn’t want me to suffer any discrimination. Upon taking
a class about Buraku issues in college, I started to face
my family roots—roots that I was forgetting. I sometimes
wrestled with my parents’ protective love, and it made
me anxious; I wondered if other people would accept
me having a Buraku origin. At the same time, it was over-
whelmingly joyful for me to learn so much about myself in
the contexts of history, culture, and people. Now I often
visit my hometown, the Buraku [town] where I lived until
the age of 7. Now I am weaving a story that leads to me
through the people I was reunited with there. When I took Tomoe Kawasaki
must invite the guests. To survive, one requires the coop- eventually forced to buy inferior land elsewhere in the
eration of only a few jatis; to enjoy life and do things in village. In general, however, regardless of jati, a person
the proper manner requires the cooperation of many” who wished to advance economically “must be prepared
(Beals 1962, 41). to defend his gains against jealous neighbors. Anyone
who buys land is limiting his neighbor’s opportunities
to buy land. Most people safeguard themselves by tying
How Do Caste and Class Intersect in themselves through indebtedness to a powerful land-
Contemporary India? lord who will give them support when difficulties are
When Beals lived in Gopalpur, he found that there was encountered” (39).
no direct correlation between the status of a jati on the In the past half century, class differentiation has
scale of purity and pollution and the class status of become increasingly evident, especially in India’s cities.
members of that jati. Beals noted, for example, that the Anthropologist Sara Dickey has worked in urban India
high status of Brahmins meant that “there are a rela- for over 30 years, and she has studied how caste and class
tively large number of ways in which a poor Brahmin intertwine. Many Indians dream of moving into a higher
may become wealthy” (1962, 37). Similarly, members social class; however, the hurdles poor people face are
of low-status jatis might find their attempts to amass enormous and involve more than higher income alone.
wealth curtailed by the opposition of their status supe- Dickey points out that class status depends not only on
riors. In Gopalpur, a group of farmers and shepherds economic capital but also on “cultural capital” (how
attacked a group of stone workers who had purchased you speak, how you dress, what kind of housing you live
good rice land in the village. Those stone workers were in, what kinds of consumer goods you possess) as well
IN THEIR OWN WORDS
As Economic Turmoil Mounts,

So Do Attacks on Hungary’s Gypsies
Ethnic conflict in Europe takes a variety of forms,

but one that has a long history is prejudice
against Roma, the Gypsies. In April 2009,
reporter Nicholas Kulish filed this story with the
New York Times.
Jeno Koka was a doting grandfather and dedicated worker

on his way to his night-shift job at a chemical plant last
week when he was shot dead at his doorstep. To his killer,
he was just a Gypsy, and that seems to have been reason
enough.
Prejudice against Roma—widely known as “Gypsies”
and long among Europe’s most oppressed minority
groups—has swelled into a wave of violence. Over the
past year, at least seven Roma have been killed in Hun-
gary, and Roma leaders have counted some 30 Molotov
cocktail attacks against Roma homes, often accompanied
by sprays of gunfire.
But the police have focused their attention on three
fatal attacks since November that they say are linked. The
authorities say the attacks may have been carried out by
police officers or military personnel, based on the stealth
and accuracy with which the victims were killed.
In addition to Mr. Koka’s death, there were the slay-
ings of a Roma man and woman, who were shot after
their house was set ablaze last November in Nagycsecs, a
town about an hour’s drive from Tiszalok in northeastern
Hungary. And in February, a Roma man and his 4-year-old
son were gunned down as they tried to escape from their
home, which was set on fire in Tatarszentgyorgy, a small
Funeral for Robert Csorba, 27, and his son Robert, Jr., 4, in
town south of Budapest.
Tatarszentgyorgy, Hungary. The Csorbas were shot dead in
Jozsef Bencze, Hungary’s national police chief, said in February 2009 while fleeing their home, which had been set
an interview on Friday with the daily newspaper Nepsz- on fire.
abadsag that the perpetrators, believed to be a group of
four or more men in their 40s, were killing “with hands
systems at a time of rising economic and political turmoil.
that are too confident.” Military counterintelligence is
As unemployment rises, officials and Roma experts fear
taking part in the investigation, Hungarian radio re-
the attacks will only intensify.
ported, and Mr. Bencze said the pool of suspects included
“One thing to remember, the Holocaust did not start at
veterans of the Balkan Wars and Hungarian members of
the gas chambers,” said Lajos Korozs, senior state secre-
the French Foreign Legion.
tary in the Ministry of Social Affairs and Labor, who works
Experts on Roma issues describe an ever more aggres-
on Roma issues for the government. . . .
sive atmosphere toward Roma in Hungary and elsewhere
“In the past five years, attitudes toward Roma in many
in Central and Eastern Europe, led by extreme right-wing
parts of Eastern Europe have hardened, and new ex-
parties, whose leaders are playing on old stereotypes
tremists have started to use the Roma issue in a way that
of Roma as petty criminals and drains on social welfare
Caste 477
IN THEIR OWN WORDS
either they didn’t dare to or didn’t get an airing before,” fear of reprisals. “When the guard was here, for a while
said Michael Stewart, coordinator of the Europe-wide they weren’t so loud. It helped.”
Roma Research Network. Since the attacks in Tatarszentgyorgy, some local resi-
The extreme-right party Jobbik has used the issue dents have joined their terrified Roma neighbors in night-
of what its leaders call “Gypsy crime” to rise in the polls time patrols, looking for strange cars armed with nothing
to near the 5 percent threshold for seats in Hungary’s but searchlights.
Parliament in next year’s election, which would be a “We are living in fear, all the Roma people are,” said
first for the party. Opponents accuse the H ungarian Csaba Csorba, 48, whose son Robert, 27, and grandson,
Guard, the paramilitary group associated with the also named Robert, were killed by a blast from a shotgun
party, of staging marches and public meetings to stir shortly after midnight in the February attack. They were
up anti-Roma sentiment and to intimidate the local buried together in one coffin, the little boy laid to rest on
Roma population. his father’s chest.
The group held a rally last year in Tiszalok and in 2007 The child’s death in particular shook Roma here.
in Tatarszentgyorgy, the town where the father and son “It proved to us it doesn’t matter whether we are good
were killed in February, an act that some residents de- people or bad people,” said Agnes Koka, 32, the niece and
plored while in the same breath complaining about a goddaughter of Mr. Koka, who relatives said loved to bring
spate of break-ins in town that they blamed on Roma. candy and fruit to his grandchildren. “It only matters that
“The situation is bad because of the many Roma,” said we are Gypsy,” Ms. Koka said.
Eva, 45, a non-Roma Hungarian in Tatarszentgyorgy who
declined to give her last name, out of what she said was Source: Kulish 2009.
as on “social capital” (whom you know). Being able to though education opens a lot of doors, education alone
amass sufficient amounts of all these kinds of capital is cannot ensure that students will be able to acquire all
typically beyond the reach of most Indian citizens. the additional forms of social and cultural capital that
So what makes class mobility possible in India? might permit their movement into a higher social class.
Dickey contrasts two proposed answers to this question. Against all odds, thanks to family support, luck, and
One proposal, dating from the late twentieth century, timing, a woman Dickey calls Anjali seems to have suc-
argues that class status in India is an individual achieve- cessfully moved into a higher social class. Dickey first
ment. Scholars who take this position observed that met Anjali in the city of Madurai in 1985, when Anjali
within any Indian family, there are often stark differences was 7 years old. Her family’s caste status was high, but
between siblings, in terms of their access both to educa- her father worked driving a cycle rickshaw, and even
tion and to jobs that provide high incomes. Dickey, how- though by Madurai standards they were not considered
ever, proposes a second view, arguing that these kinds “poor,” their financial situation was precarious. Unlike
of differences are better understood as a consequence of many girls, Anjali was allowed to attend school, and she
choices made by the families of the siblings in question. did so well that her family allowed her to continue until
For example, it is families who decide whether or not she graduated from high school. She had hoped to go to
they can afford to send one or more of their children to university, but her family did not support this expensive
school, because putting a child in school means not only ambition. However, when she suggested attending busi-
additional expenses but also losing that child as a wage ness school, her family did agree to help her. Anjali was
earner. Next, families must decide whether to send their also fortunate in being able to find a job that helped pay
children to government schools or private schools. Gov- for her education, and she spent several years juggling
ernment schools cost less, but the education they pro- work and her studies until she finally obtained her busi-
vide is seen as inferior to that provided in private schools ness degree. Shortly thereafter, she persuaded her family
where English is the language of instruction. How many to help pay for a course in computer programming,
years children attend school is also a family decision, as which gave her desirable skills as the Indian tech in-
are further decisions such as whether the family can help dustry began to grow. With these credentials, Anjali was
pay for university education, and if so, which subjects able to get a job in a small business near home. Spend-
they are willing to allow their children to study. But even ing time with coworkers, she learned how to update her
hairstyle and find stylish clothes. Through her work, she large numbers of Indians have moved to large cities
made friends with young men as well as young women, where they are surrounded by strangers whose caste
something that would have been impossible in earlier membership they do not know (Sharma 1999, 37). They
generations. As the economic situation in India im- still use the idiom of purity and pollution to debate the
proved, business loans became available at attractive status of particular castes, but otherwise their under-
interest rates. When the firm Anjali worked for decided standing of caste usually has nothing to do with ritual
to move to another part of the city, she persuaded her status.
family to take out such a loan, which allowed her to set Second, Beals describes members of middle-
up her own firm in the offices of her former employer. ranking jatis in Gopalpur who treated one another as
Anjali’s family support had made these changes equals outside of ritual contexts. Subrata Mitra points
possible, and her parents and siblings benefitted from out that “By the 1960s, electoral mobilization had led
her increased earning power. But this path to success was to a new phenomenon called horizontal mobilization
not entirely smooth. Her father was injured and unable whereby people situated at comparable levels within the
to continue working. Lacking health insurance, A njali’s local caste hierarchy came together in caste associations”
family went into debt to pay for his medical treat- (1994, 61), many of which formed new political parties
ment, which meant exhausting their savings (including to support their own interests. Moreover, increased in-
money set aside for her brother’s wedding and her own volvement of Indians in capitalist market practices has
dowry) and pooling their earnings for several years until led to “a proliferation of modern associations that use
the debt was paid off. These economic challenges put traditional ties of jati and varna to promote collective
planning for Anjali’s own wedding on hold. Originally economic well-being” (65). For example, a housing trust
Anjali’s family had hoped to arrange a marriage for her set up for Brahmins in the Indian state of Karnataka re-
with either a civil servant with a guaranteed income and cruits Brahmins from throughout the Karnataka region,
pension, or with a business owner. But they knew that in an effort to overcome “jati-based division into quar-
securing such a husband would require them to provide relling sects of Brahmins” (66). The interests that draw
a high dowry. jatis into coalitions of this kind “often turn out to be
Eventually, Anjali did get married, but by negotiat- class interests. . . . This does not mean that caste and
ing an “arranged love marriage.” Through her work con- class are the same, since commentators note caste as
tacts, Anjali had met a man who was the son of a retired blurring class divisions as often as they express them.
civil servant and who owned his own business. They Rather it tells us that class and caste are not ’inimical’ or
fell in love and wanted to marry, but they did not do so antithetical” (Sharma 1999, 68).
until after their respective families had both approved of Third, Beals showed that middle-ranking jatis in
the match. Anjali’s dowry included not just traditional Gopalpur in the 1960s were willing to use violence to
wealth but the wealth represented by her business. After block the upward economic mobility of members of a
their marriage, Anjali moved into her husband’s ex- low-ranking jati. Similar behavior was reported in the
tended household. Her husband soon closed his own work of other anthropologists like Gerald Berreman,
firm and joined Anjali’s prosperous business, where they who did fieldwork in the late 1950s in the peasant vil-
continued to work together successfully, bringing their lage of Sirkanda in the lower Himalayas of North India.
young children to the office with them and bringing one Berreman observed that low-caste people in Sirkanda “do
of Anjali’s younger brothers into the company. After a not share, or are not heavily committed to, the ’common
decade of marriage, Anjali appeared to have successfully official values’ which high-caste people affect before out-
moved into a higher social class, and that class status was siders. . . . Low-caste people resent their inferior position
likely to be perpetuated: both her children were enrolled and the disadvantages which inhere in it” while “high
in a prestigious English-language school in Madurai. castes rely heavily on threats of economic and physical
But, as Dickey emphasizes, this class mobility depended sanctions to keep their subordinates in line,” such that
on her family’s support, even as her successes improved when low-caste people do publicly endorse “common
their own class standing in the eyes of others. official values,” they do so only out of fear of these sanc-
Beals’s study of Gopalpur documented three ditions (1962, 15–16).
mensions of caste relations in India that have become In recent years, a number of low-caste groups in
increasingly significant over time. First, Beals describes a urban India have undertaken collective efforts to lift
rural village in which jati membership mattered most on themselves off the bottom of society, either by imitat-
ritual occasions. In the past 40 years, cultural practices ing the ritual practices of higher castes (a process called
associated with caste in village India have become even “Sanskritization”) or by converting to a non-Hindu reli-
more attenuated or have disappeared as increasingly gion (such as Buddhism or Christianity) in which caste
Race 479
plays no role. According to Dipankar Gupta, this should contemporary postcolonial forms of social stratification,
not surprise us. His research has shown that “castes are, we also need to look more closely at the categories of
first and foremost, discrete entities with deep pockets of race and ethnicity.
ideological heritage” and that “the element of caste com-
petition is, therefore, a characteristic of the caste order
and not a later addition. . . . This implies that the caste
system, as a system, worked primarily because it was en-
Race
forced by power and not by ideological acquiescence” As we saw in Chapters 1 and 5, the concept of “race”
(2005, 412–13). developed in the context of European exploration and
These challenges have had little effect in changing conquest, beginning in the fifteenth century. Europeans
the negative stereotypes of so-called untouchables held conquered indigenous peoples in the Americas and es-
by the so-called clean castes. However, the constitution tablished colonial political economies that soon de-
of India prohibits the practice of untouchability, and the pended on the labor of Africans imported as slaves.
national government has acted to improve the lot of the By the end of the nineteenth century, light-skinned
low castes by regularly passing legislation designed to Europeans had established colonial rule over large terri-
improve their economic and educational opportunities. tories inhabited by darker-skinned peoples, marking the
In some cases, these measures seem to have succeeded, beginnings of a global racial order (see Smedley 1995,
but violent reprisals have been common. In rural areas 1998; Harrison 1995; Sanjek 1994; Trouillot 1994;
many disputes continue to be over land, as in Gopalpur. Köhler 1978). Some European intellectuals argued at
However, even worse violence has been seen in urban that time that the human species was subdivided into
India, as in 1990, when unrest was triggered by publica- “natural kinds” of human beings called “races” that
tion of a report recommending increases in the num- could be sharply distinguished from one another on the
bers of government jobs and reserved college places set basis of outward phenotypic appearance. All individuals
aside for members of low castes. At the end of the twen- assigned to the same race were assumed to share many
tieth century, relations between low-caste and high-caste other common features, such as language or intelligence,
Hindus were described as “conflictual rather than com- of which phenotype was only the outward index. Race
petitive in some localities” with “caste violence. . . . rec- was used both to explain human diversity and to justify
ognized as a serious problem in contemporary India” the domination of indigenous peoples and the enslave-
(Sharma 1999, 67). ment of Africans.
A key element recognized by all anthropologists European thinkers, including many early anthro-
who use the concept of caste is the endogamy that is pologists, devised schemes for ranking the “races of
enforced, at least in theory, on the members of each mankind” from lowest to highest. Not surprisingly, the
ranked group. As van den Berghe (1970) put it, mem- “white” northern Europeans at the apex of imperial
bership in such groups is “determined by birth and for power were placed at the top of this global hierarchy.
life” (351). Sharma (1999) notes the significance of this Darker-skinned peoples, like the indigenous inhabitants
link between descent and caste, observing that “in societ- of the Americas or of Asia, were ranked somewhere in
ies where descent is regarded as a crucial and persistent the middle. But Africans, whom Europeans had bought
principle (however reckoned, and whatever ideological and sold as slaves and whose homelands in Africa were
value it is given) almost any social cleavage can become later conquered and incorporated into European em-
stabilized in a caste-like form” (85). She suggests the pires, ranked lowest of all. In this way, the identification
term castification to describe a political process by which of races was transformed into racism: the systematic
ethnic or other groups become part of a ranked social oppression of one or more socially defined “races” by
order of some kind, probably managed from the top, another socially defined “race” that is justified in terms
but which need not develop into a caste system (Sharma of the supposedly inherent biological superiority of the
1999, 92–93). rulers and the supposed inherent biological inferiority
But the principle of descent has also played a central of those they rule. It is important to emphasize once
role in the identification and persistence of race, ethnic-
ity, and nation. As noted above, these three categories are
all closely bound up with historical developments over race A human population category whose boundaries allegedly correspond
the past 500 years that built the modern world. Indeed, to distinct sets of biological attributes.
these categories are particularly significant in nation- racism The systematic oppression of one or more socially defined “races”
by another socially defined “race” that is justified in terms of the supposedly
states, and many contemporary nation-states are of very inherent biological superiority of the rulers and the supposed inherent
recent, postcolonial origin. Clearly, to make sense of biological inferiority of those they rule.
again that all the so-called races of human beings are in South Africa has been complicated by differences of
imagined communities. As we emphasized in Chapter 5, class and culture separating British South Africans from
there are no major biological discontinuities within the Afrikaners (Hartigan 1997). For that matter, “blackness”
human species that correspond to the supposed racial is not monolithic either. In Haiti, for example, white
boundaries that nineteenth-century European observers French colonists were expelled at independence in 1804,
thought they had discovered. This means that the tradi- but an internal racial divide has persisted since then be-
tional concept of biological “race” in Western society is tween the mass of black Haitians descended from freed
incoherent and biologically meaningless. slaves and a minority of wealthy, well-educated “mulat-
Nevertheless, racial thinking persists at the begin- tos” who originally comprised the offspring of white
ning of the twenty-first century, suggesting that racial cat- French fathers and black slave mothers. Throughout
egories have their origins not in biology but in society. Haitian history, this mulatto elite has struggled to dis-
And as we saw in earlier chapters, anthropologists have tinguish itself from the black majority, in the face of
long argued that race is a culturally constructed social outsiders who have steadfastly refused to recognize any
category whose members are identified on the basis of difference between the two groups. At times of unrest,
certain selected phenotypic features (e.g., skin color) that however, the U.S. government has regularly supported
all are said to share. The end result is a highly distorted members of this elite, who have defended their interests
but more or less coherent set of criteria that members by ruthlessly dominating other Haitians, especially the
of a society can use to assign people they see to one or poor (Schiller and Fouron 2001). In the United States,
another culturally defined racial category. Once these cri- the sharp “caste-like” racial divide between blacks and
teria exist, members of society can treat racial categories whites is currently being complicated by new immi-
as if they reflect biological reality, using them to build grants identified with so-called brown/Hispanic and
institutions that include or exclude particular culturally yellow/Asian racial categories. Harrison and others rec-
defined races. In this way, race can become “real” in its ognize that racial categorization and repression take dif-
consequences, even if it has no reality in biology. ferent forms in different places.
The social category of “race” is a relatively recent
invention. Audrey Smedley (1998) reminds us that in
the worlds of European classical antiquity and through Colorism in Nicaragua
the Middle Ages, “no structuring of equality . . . was as- Anthropologist Roger Lancaster (1992) argues that in
sociated with people because of their skin color” (693; Nicaragua racism exists but that it is “not as absolute and
emphasis in original), and Faye Harrison (1995) points encompassing a racism as that which one encounters in
out that “phenotype prejudice was not institutionalized the United States” although it remains, in his opinion,
before the sixteenth century” (51). By the nineteenth “a significant social problem” (215). One dimension of
century, European thinkers (some early anthropologists Nicaraguan racism contrasts the Spanish-speaking mes-
among them) were attempting to classify all humans in tizo (or “mixed” European and indigenous) majority of
the world into a few, mutually exclusive racial catego- the highlands with the indigenous Miskitos and African
ries. Significantly, from that time until this, as Harrison Caribbeans along the Atlantic coast. The highland mesti-
(1998) emphasizes, “blackness has come to symbol- zos Lancaster knew tended to regard these coastal groups
ize the social bottom” (612; see also Smedley 1998, as backward, inferior, and dangerous. These notions
694–95). were overlaid with political suspicions deriving from
White domination of European American racial the fact that Lancaster’s informants were Sandinistas and
hierarchies has been a constant, but some anthropolo- that some Miskito factions had fought with the Contras
gists who study the cultural construction of whiteness against the Sandinistas after the Sandinistas deposed the
point out that even in the United States “whiteness” is dictator Anastasio Somoza in 1979.
not monolithic and the cultural attributes supposedly But Lancaster came to see racism toward the coastal
shared by “white people” have varied in different times peoples as simply an extension of the pattern of race re-
and places. Some members of white ruling groups in the lations internal to highland mestizo culture that he calls
southern United States, for example, have traditionally colorism: a system of color identities negotiated situ-
distanced themselves from lower-class whites, whom ationally along a continuum between white and black
they call “white trash”; and the meaning of whiteness (Figure 15.4). In colorism, no fixed race boundaries
exist. Instead, individuals negotiate their color identity
anew in every social situation they enter, with the result
colorism A system of social identities negotiated situationally along a that the color they might claim or be accorded changes
continuum of skin colors between white and black. from situation to situation.
Race 481
FIGURE 15.4 This photograph

of Brazilian children shows a range
of skin tones. In some parts of
Latin America, such as Nicaragua
and Brazil, such variation is used
to create a system of classification
based on lightness or darkness of
skin tone that assigns people with
relatively lighter skin to higher
status, a phenomenon that an-
thropologist Roger Lancaster calls
colorism.
Lancaster’s informants used three different systems Paradoxically, members of families call one another
of color classification. The first, or “phenotypic” system, negro or negrito mio as affectionate and intimate terms
has three categories—blanco (white), moreno (brown), of address, perhaps precisely because these terms are
and negro (black)—that people use to describe the vari- “informal” and violate the rules of polite discourse
ous skin tones that can be seen among Nicaraguan mes- (Lancaster 1992, 218).
tizos: “Nicaraguan national culture is mestizo; people’s Lancaster (1992) discovered that “Whiteness is a
physical characteristics are primarily indigenous; and in desired quality, and polite discourse inflates its descrip-
the terms of this phenotypic system, most people are tions of people” (219). People compete in different set-
moreno. In this system, negro can denote either persons tings to claim whiteness. In some settings, individuals
of African ancestry or sometimes persons of purely in- may be addressed as blanco if everyone else has darker
digenous appearance, whether they are culturally classi- skin; but in other settings, they may have to yield the
fied as Indio or mestizo” (Lancaster 1992, 217). claim of whiteness to someone else with lighter skin
Lancaster calls the second system Nicaraguans use than theirs and accept classification as moreno.
the “polite” system, in which all the colors in the phe- Because it allows people some freedom of maneuver
notypic system are “inflated.” That is, Europeans are in claiming higher-status color for themselves, Nicaraguan
called chele (a Mayan word meaning “blue,” referring colorism may seem less repressive than the rigid black–
to the stereotypically blue eyes of people of European white racial dichotomy traditional in the United States.
ancestry), morenos are called blanco, and negros are Lancaster points out, however, that all three systems of
called moreno. Polite terms are used in the presence of colorist usage presuppose white superiority and black in-
the person about whom one is speaking, and Lancaster feriority. “Africanos, Indios, and lower-class mestizos have
(1992) was told that it was “a grave and violent offence been lumped together under a single term—negro—that
to refer to a black-skinned person as negro” (217). In signifies defeat” (Lancaster 1992, 223). Lancaster is not
rural areas, for similar reasons, Indians are called mesti- optimistic about the possibilities of successfully overturn-
zos rather than Indios. ing this system any time soon in Nicaragua. Similarly,
Lancaster calls the third system of color terms the Harrison argues that racial solidarity and rebellion are
“pejorative and/or affectionate” system. This system has hard to achieve or sustain in societies like Nicaragua, and
only two terms, chele (fairer skin and lighter hair) and she is not optimistic that adoption of a similar system in
negro (darker skin, darker hair). For example, when the the United States would improve race relations. On the
less powerful man in an interaction feels he is being contrary, she fears that a “more multishaded discourse”
imposed upon by the more powerful man, the former would be more likely to contribute to “an enduring stig-
might express his displeasure by addressing the latter as matization of blackness” than to “democratization and
chele or negro, both of which would be seen as insulting. the dismantling of race” (Harrison 1998, 618–19).
IN THEIR OWN WORDS
On the Butt Size of Barbie and Shani

Dolls and Race in the United States
Anthropologist Elizabeth Chin writes about race

and Barbie dolls, based on some hands-on
research.
The Shani line of dolls introduced by Mattel in 1991 re-

duces race to a simulacrum consisting of phenotypical
features: skin color, hair, and butt. Ann DuCille . . . has dis-
cussed much of their complex and contradictory nature,
highlighting two central issues: derriere and hair. Accord-
ing to DuCille’s interviews with Shani designers, the dolls
have been remanufactured to give the illusion of a higher,
rounder butt than other Barbies. This has been accom- Barbie and Shani from behind.
plished, they told her, by pitching Shani’s back at a differ-
ent angle and changing some of the proportions of her
hips. I had heard these and other rumors from students a branding iron scar: © 1990 MATTEL INC. Barbie’s head
at the college where I teach: “Shani’s butt is bigger than reads simply © MATTEL INC. Despite claims of redesign,
the other Barbies’ butts,” “Shani dolls have bigger breasts both Barbie and Shani’s torsos bear a 1966 copyright, and
than Barbie,” “Shani dolls have bigger thighs than Barbie.” although DuCille asserts that Shani’s legs are shaped dif-
DuCille rightly wonders why a bigger butt is necessarily ferently than Barbie’s, their legs are imprinted with the
an attribute of blackness, tying this obsession to turn-of- same part numbers. This all strongly suggests that de-
the-century strains of scientific racism. spite claims and rumors to the contrary, Shani and Barbie
Deciding I had to see for myself, I pulled my Shani doll are the same from the neck down.
off my office bookshelf, stripped her naked, and placed These ethnically correct dolls demonstrate one of the
her on my desk next to a naked Barbie doll that had been abiding aspects of racism: that a stolid belief in racial dif-
cruelly mutilated by a colleague’s dog (her arms were ference can shape people’s perceptions so profoundly
chewed off and her head had puncture wounds, but the that they will find difference and make something of it, no
rest was unharmed). Try as I might, manipulating the matter how imperceptible or irrelevant its physical mani-
dolls in ways both painful and obscene, I could find no festation might be. If I had to smash two dolls to bits in
difference between them, even after prying their legs off order to see if their butts were different sizes, the differ-
and smashing their bodies apart. As far as I have been ences must be small indeed: holding them next to each
able to determine, Shani’s bigger butt is an illusion (see other revealed no difference whatsoever—except color—
photo). The faces of Shani and Barbie dolls are more vis- regardless of the positioning (crack to crack or cheek to
ibly different than their behinds, yet still, why these dif- cheek). With the butt index so excruciatingly small, its
ferences could be considered natural indicators of race meaning as a racial signifier becomes frighteningly prob-
is perplexing. As a friend of mine remarked acidly, “They lematic. Like the notion of race itself, Shani’s derriere has
still look like they’ve had plastic surgery.” The most tell- a social meaning that is out of all proportion to its scien-
ing difference between Shani and Barbie is at the base of tific measurement.
the cranium, where Shani bears a raised mark similar to Source: Chin 1999, 311–13.
Ethnicity religion, or dress. Ethnicity, like race, is a culturally con-

structed concept. Many anthropologists today would agree
For anthropologists, ethnic groups are social groups with John and Jean Comaroff (1992) that ethnicity is cre-
whose members distinguish themselves (and/or are dis- ated by historical processes that incorporate distinct social
tinguished by others) in terms of ethnicity—that is, in groups into a single political structure under conditions of
terms of distinctive cultural features, such as language, inequality (55–57; see also Williams 1989; Alonso 1994).
Ethnicity 483
IN THEIR OWN WORDS
The Politics of Ethnicity
Stanley Tambiah reflects on the late twentieth- Most of these conflicts have involved force and vio-
century upsurge in ethnic conflict that lence, homicide, arson, and destruction of property.
few people predicted because many assumed Civilian riots have evoked action by security forces: some-
that ethnic particularisms would times as counteraction to quell them, sometimes in collu-
disappear within modern nation-states. sion with the civilian aggressors, sometimes both kinds of
action in sequence. Events of this nature have happened
in Sri Lanka, Malaysia, India, Zaire, Guyana, and Nigeria.
Mass killings of civilians by armed forces have occurred
The late-twentieth-century reality is evidenced by the fact
in Uganda and in Guatemala, and large losses of civilian
that ethnic groups, rather than being mostly minority or
lives have been recorded in Indonesia, Pakistan, India,
marginal subgroups at the edges of society, expected in
and Sri Lanka.
due course to assimilate or weaken, have figured as major
The escalation of ethnic conflicts has been consider-
“political” elements and major political collective actors
ably aided by the amoral business of gunrunning and free
in several societies. Moreover, if in the past we typically
trade in the technology of violence, which enable not only
viewed an ethnic group as a subgroup of a larger society,
dissident groups to successfully resist the armed forces
today we are also faced with instances of majority ethnic
of the state, but also civilians to battle with each other
groups within a polity or nation exercising preferential or
with lethal weapons. The classical definition of the state
“affirmative” policies on the basis of that majority status.
as the authority invested with the monopoly of force has
The first consideration that confirms ethnic conflict as
become a sick joke. After so many successful liberations
a major reality of our time is not simply its ubiquity alone,
and resistance movements in many parts of the globe,
but also its cumulative increase in frequency and inten-
the techniques of guerrilla resistance now constitute a
sity of occurrence. Consider these conflicts, by no means
systematized and exportable knowledge. Furthermore,
an exhaustive listing, that have occurred since the six-
the easy access to the technology of warfare by groups in
ties (some of them have a longer history, of course): con-
countries that are otherwise deemed low in literacy and
flicts between anglophone and francophone in Canada;
in economic development—we have seen what Afghan
Catholic and Protestant in Northern Ireland; Walloon and
resistance can do with American guns—is paralleled by
Fleming in Belgium; Chinese and Malay in Malaysia; Greek
another kind of international fraternization among resis-
and Turk in Cyprus; Jews and other minorities on the one
tance groups who have little in common save their resis-
hand and Great Russians on the other in the Soviet Union;
tance to the status quo in their own countries, and who
and Ibo and Hausa and Yoruba in Nigeria; the East Indians
exchange knowledge of guerrilla tactics and the art of
and Creoles in Guyana. Add, to these instances, upheavals
resistance. Militant groups in Japan, Germany, Lebanon,
that became climactic in recent years: the Sinhala–Tamil
Libya, Sri Lanka, and India have international networks of
war in Sri Lanka, the Sikh–Hindu, and Muslim–Hindu,
collaboration, not unlike—perhaps more solidary than—
confrontations in India, the Chackma–Muslim turmoil in
the diplomatic channels that exist between mutually
Bangladesh, the actions of the F ijians against Indians in
wary sovereign countries and the great powers. The end
Fiji, the Pathan–Bihari clashes in P akistan, and last, but
result is that the professionalized killing is no longer the
not least, the inferno in Lebanon, and the serious erosion
monopoly of state armies and police forces. The interna-
of human rights currently manifest in Israeli actions in
tionalization of the technology of destruction, evidenced
Gaza and the West Bank. That there is possibly no end to
in the form of terrorism and counterterrorism, has shown
these eruptions, and that they are worldwide has been
a face of free-market capitalism in action unsuspected by
forcibly brought to our attention by a century-old dif-
Adam Smith and by Immanuel Wallerstein.
ference that exploded in March 1988 between Christian
A rmenians and Muslim Azerbaijanis in the former U.S.S.R. Source: Tambiah 1989, 431–32.
The Comaroffs recognize that ethnic consciousness ex-

ethnicity A principle of social classification used to create groups based
isted in precolonial and precapitalist societies; however,
on selected cultural features such as language, religion, or dress. Ethnicity
they and most contemporary anthropologists have been emerges from historical processes that incorporate distinct social groups
more interested in forms of ethnic consciousness that into a single political structure under conditions of inequality.
were generated under capitalist colonial domination.
ethnic identity, like the young man we met in Guider

EthnoProfile 15.2 who introduced himself to us as “just a Kirdi boy.”
This new, postcolonial “Kirdi” identity, like many
Guider others, cannot be linked to any single precolonial cul-
tural reality but has been constructed out of cultural
materials borrowed from a variety of non-Muslim in-
Nation: Cameroon digenous groups who were incorporated as “Pagans”
Population: 18,000 (1976) within the colonial political order (see Figure 15.5 and
Environment: Savanna EthnoProfile 15.2: Guider).
The Comaroffs argue that a particular structure
Livelihood: Farming, commerce, civil service, cattle raising
of nesting opposed identities was quite common
Political organization: Lake Chad
Traditionally, an emirate;
throughout European colonies in Africa. The lowest
0 100 200 300
today, part of a modern Miles
CHAD and least inclusive consisted of local groups, often
nation-state NIGERIA Guider called “tribes,” who struggled to dominate one another
ue
For more information: B en within separate colonial states. The middle levels con-
Schultz, Emily. 1984. From sisted of a variety of entities that crossed local bound-
CENTRAL
Pagan to Pullo: Ethnic iden- AFRICAN aries, sometimes called “supertribes” or “nations.” For
tity change in northern cam- CAMEROON REPUBLIC
eroon. Africa 54(1): 46–64. Bight example, the British administered the settler colony of
of Yaounde
Biafra
REP. OF
CONGO
southern Rhodesia (later to become Zimbabwe) ac-
cording to the policy of “indirect rule,” which used in-
digenous “tribal” authorities to maintain order on the
local level. The effect of indirect rule was thus both
Ethnicity develops as members of different groups to reinforce “tribal” identities where they already ex-
try to make sense of the material constraints they expe- isted and to create them where they had been absent
rience within the single political structure that confines in precolonial times. Two such tribal identities, those
them. This is sometimes described as a struggle between of the Shona and Ndebele, became preeminent; and
self-ascription (i.e., insiders’ efforts to define their own each gave rise to its own “(supratribal) nationalist
identity) and other-ascription (i.e., outsiders’ efforts to movement.”
define the identities of other groups). In the Comaroffs’ Both movements joined together in a “patriotic
view, furthermore, the ruling group turns both itself and front” to win a war of independence fought against
the subordinated groups into classes because all sub- white settlers. This confrontation took place at the
ordinated social groupings lose independent control highest level of the ethnic hierarchy, which the Coma-
“over the means of production and/or reproduction” roffs call “race.” At this level, “Europeans” and “Afri-
(Comaroff and Comaroff 1992, 56). cans” opposed one another, and each group developed
One outcome of this struggle is the appearance of its own encompassing ethnic identity. For example, Af-
new ethnic groups and identities that are not continu- ricans dealing regularly with Europeans began to con-
ous with any single earlier cultural group (Comaroff ceive of such a thing as “African culture” (as opposed
and Comaroff 1992, 56). In northern Cameroon, for to European culture) and “pan-African solidarity” (to
example, successive German, French, and British co- counter the hegemony of the European colonizers).
lonial officials relied on local Muslim chiefs to iden- Conversely, in the British settler colonies of southern
tify for them significant local social divisions and and eastern Africa, European immigrants defined them-
adopted the Muslim practice of lumping together all selves in opposition to Africans by developing their
the myriad non-Muslim peoples of the hills and plains own “settler-colonial order” based on a caricature of
and calling them Haabe or Kirdi—that is, “pagans.” To aristocratic Victorian English society (Comaroff and
the extent, therefore, that Guidar, Daba, Fali, Ndjegn, Comaroff 1992, 58).
or Guiziga were treated alike by colonial authorities Because ethnic groups are incorporated into
and came to share a common situation and set of in- the colony on unequal terms (and, if we follow the
terests, they developed a new, more inclusive level of Comaroffs, in different class positions), it is not sur-
prising to discover that many individuals in colonies
attempted to achieve upward mobility by manipulat-
ing their ethnicity. Anthropological studies of such at-
ethnic groups Social groups that are distinguished from one another on tempts at ethnic mobility constitute, as the Comaroffs
the basis of ethnicity. (1992) put it, “the very stuff of the ethnography of
Ethnicity 485
Ndjegn Fali
... Daba Fali Guiziga Fulbe ...
(Muslim) (Muslim)
”Kirdi“/”Haabe“
”Fulbe“ ”Southerners“
”Northerners“
”Cameroonians“
FIGURE 15.5 Nesting identities in northern Cameroon (1976).
urban Africa” (63); and one of us (E. A. S.) investi- each ethnic identity was emphasized in different situ-
gated ethnic mobility in the northern Cameroonian ations. Ndjegn and Fali ethnicity mattered to them in
town of Guider. the domain of family and kinship; these ethnic identi-
Guider began as a small settlement of non-Muslim ties nested within the broader Fulbe ethnicity that mat-
Guidar. In 1830 it was brought into the Muslim Fulbe tered in urban public settings, especially high-status
empire of Yola and remained a Fulbe stronghold under ones associated with education and cash salaries.
subsequent colonial rule. The Fulbe remained numeri- Indeed, by 1976, Fulbe identity had become an
cally dominant in town until after World War II; by 1958, achieved status; it was the ethnicity claimed by the up-
however, individuals from more than a dozen non-Fulbe wardly mobile in Guider. It was therefore possible for
groups had migrated to town, primarily from the sur- people born outside the dominant Fulbe ethnic group
rounding countryside. By 1976, 83 percent of household to achieve Fulbe status in their lifetimes (Schultz 1984).
heads in town were recent migrants, and 74 percent did To do this, they had to be successful at three tasks: they
not claim Fulbe origins. had to adopt the Fulbe language (Fulfulde), the Fulbe
In the Comaroffs’ terms, all these groups, including religion (Islam), and the Fulbe “way of life,” which
the Fulbe, had lost political and economic independence was identified with urban customs and the traditional
with the coming of colonial rule and, under conditions Muslim high culture of the western Sudan. Many Fulbe
of inequality, were incorporated by the colonizers as claimed that descent from one or another Fulbe lineage
ethnic groups into first the German and later the French was needed to claim Fulbe identity. Nevertheless, they
colony of Cameroon. The Europeans uniformly admired seemed willing to accept “Fulbeized Pagans” as Fulbe
the political, cultural, and religious accomplishments of (e.g., by giving their daughters to them as brides) be-
the Muslim Fulbe. In their own version of indirect rule, cause those people were committed defenders of the
they allowed Fulbe chiefs to administer territories they urban Fulbe way of life. Those who were “Fulbeizing,”
had controlled prior to colonization and, in some cases, however, came from societies in which descent had
handed over to them additional territories whose resi- never been an important criterion of group member-
dents had successfully resisted Fulbe domination in pre- ship. For these people, ethnic identity depended on the
colonial times. territorial affiliation of the group to which they were
In 1976, the local ethnic hierarchy in Guider currently committed. From their perspective, in becom-
placed Fulbe at the top and recent non-Muslim, non- ing Fulbe, they had simply chosen to commit them-
Fulfulde-speaking migrants from rural areas at the selves to Fulfulde, Islam, and life in “Fulbe territory,”
bottom. But in the middle were numerous individuals the town.
and families of Fulfulde-speaking Muslims who could This example illustrates some of the key attributes
claim, and in some cases be accorded, recognition as often associated with ethnicity: it is fluid, malleable,
Fulbe by others in the town. For example, two young something that can be voluntarily embraced or suc-
men whom I hired as field assistants first described cessfully ignored in different situations. Ambitious in-
themselves to me as “100 percent Fulbe.” As I got to dividuals and groups in an ethnically stratified society
know them better, however, I learned that the family of can manipulate ethnicity as a resource to pursue their
one was Ndjegn and the family of the other was Fali. interests. When nesting identities are present, people
Neither young man saw anything contradictory about may regularly alternate between different identities
being both Fulbe and Ndjegn or Fulbe and Fali. In fact, in different contexts. Ethnic Fulbeization in northern
Cameroon might be described as the formation of a of immigrants” (Harrison 1995, 49; see also Smedley,
“supertribe.” Like the formation of caste alliances in 1998, 690).
India, it involves the expansion of group boundaries, For these reasons, Harrison (1995) argues that at-
allowing for the creation of stronger solidarity linkages tempts to interpret race relations in the United States as
among more people of different backgrounds. When ethnic relations “euphemized if not denied race” by fail-
such expanded alliances actually achieve increased suc- ing to address the social, political, and economic factors
cess in political, economic, and social struggles, they responsible for keeping groups like African Americans
may affect the very structures that gave rise to them (as excluded and stigmatized at the bottom of society (48).
the Shona-Ndebele alliance did in Zimbabwe) (Coma- Harrison (1998) agrees that African Americans do
roff and Comaroff 1992, 61). engage in “ethnicizing practices emphasizing cultural
For dominant groups, however, defense of ethnic heritage,” but in her view such practices have never been
identity can be a way of defending privilege. Those who able to overcome the “caste-like assumptions of the
dominate may be threatened rather than flattered by most systematically oppressive racial orders” like that
subordinate groups who master elite cultural practices. of the United States (613; 1995, 54; see also Sharma
Members of the dominant ethnic group may stress their 1999, 91).
cultural superiority and question the eligibility (and As we have seen, anthropologists have argued
even the humanity) of subordinate groups who chal- about which technical terms ought to be used to de-
lenge them. It is at this point that anthropologists like scribe which forms of identity under which circum-
Faye Harrison would argue that ethnicity becomes racial- stances. We agree with Ursula Sharma (1999) that
ized. In her view, race differs from ethnicity precisely be- social scientists should use a particular term only if
cause it is used to “mark and stigmatize certain peoples it highlights a dimension of social relationships that
as essentially and irreconcilably different, while treating would otherwise go unnoticed (93). Thus, ethnicity
the privileges of others as normative. This quality of dif- probably needs to be supplemented by the notion of
ference, whether constructed through a biodeterminist race to distinguish the dehumanizing confinement
or culturalist idiom, is what constitutes the social cat- of certain social groups to the bottom layers of soci-
egory and material phenomenon of ‘race’” (Harrison ety, and caste’s emphasis on endogamy and hierarchi-
1998, 613). Racialization in Western societies would cal ranking highlights features of social organization
thus bear a family resemblance to castification in South that elude the usual scope of race, class, or ethnicity.
Asian societies. Anthropologist Pnina Werbner (1997) further builds
Harrison argues that by the middle of the nineteenth on these distinctions when she argues that to make
century white northern Europeans, connecting their progress in analyzing ethnic violence as a social force,
growing colonial power with their whiteness, began to practices of “everyday” ethnic identification must be
racialize ethnic, religious, or class stereotypes associated distinguished from racism.
with other Europeans (e.g., Irish, Jews, Italians, Poles, Based on her research on multicultural social rela-
Slavs), viewing them as less human or, at any rate, dif- tions in Britain, Werbner distinguishes two different
ferently human from themselves and attributing this social processes, objectification and reification. Ob-
difference to biologically inherited factors (Harrison jectification simply refers to the intentional construc-
1995, 52). Conversely, some racialized ethnic groups, tion of a collective public identity; it is the process that
such as the Irish, were able to reverse this process once produces everyday or normal ethnicity. Ethnic identi-
they moved to the United States, shedding their stigma ties are distinguished by the fact that they are “evoked
and ethnicizing into just another “ordinary” American situationally . . . highlighted pragmatically, and ob-
ethnic group. Some social scientists might argue, or at jectified relationally and contingently” and by the
any rate hope, that all racialized groups should be able fact that they focus on two key issues, “a demand for
to ethnicize sooner or later. But such a perspective risks ethnic rights, including religious rights, and a demand
ignoring the plight of racialized groups whose status for protection against racism” (Werbner 1997, 241).
never seems to change. Historians argue, for example, Social relations between objectified ethnic groups are
that the Irish were able to ethnicize precisely because based on a “rightful performance” of multiple, shifting,
they accepted the racialization of African Americans highly valued forms of collective identification, based
(Allen 1997). Indeed, operating under material condi- on religion, dress, food, language, and politics. Inter-
tions that presuppose white privilege, nonwhite races action between groups that differentiate themselves
in the United States “historically have defined layers along such lines ordinarily does not lead to violent
of the social bottom vis-à-vis several successive waves confrontations (229). Reification, by contrast, is a form
of negative racial or ethnic absolutism that encour-

ages the violent elimination of targeted groups and is
central to the practice of racism. Reification “distorts
and silences”; it is “essentialist in the pernicious sense”
(229). It is violence that differentiates racism from ev-
eryday ethnicity; and if ethnic confrontation becomes
violent, then it turns into a form of racism (234–35).
For Werbner, making this distinction is crucial in mul-
tiethnic situations because when people fail to dis-
tinguish nonviolent forms of everyday ethnicity from
racism, they are, in effect, criminalizing valid ethnic
sentiments and letting racists off the hook (233).
FIGURE 15.6 Women protesting against violence at the

How Do Anthropologists Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing, 1995.
Study Human Rights?

Concerns about and struggles against social inequal- the original UN Universal Declaration on Human
ity have only taken on more urgency in the context of Rights in 1948 and followed by numerous subsequent
globalization. In the midst of these struggles, concerns declarations. For example, in 1992, the Committee
about human rights and their violation have been infor the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
creasingly heard from all over the world. Anthropolo- (CEDAW) declared that violence against women was
gists have been attentive to the spread of this discourse a form of gender discrimination that violated the
and the issues it raises, some of which we explore here. human rights of women. This declaration was adopted
by the UN General Assembly in 1993 and became part
of the rights platform at the Fourth World Conference
Are Human Rights Universal? on Women in Beijing, China, in 1995 (Figure 15.6).
Globalization has stimulated discussions about human Anthropologist Sally Merry (2001) observes that this
rights: powers, privileges, or material resources to declaration “dramatically demonstrates the creation of
which people everywhere, by virtue of being human, new rights—rights which depend on the state’s failure
are justly entitled. Rapidly circulating capital, images, to protect women rather than its active violation of
people, things, and ideologies juxtapose different un- rights” and that “the emergence of violence against
derstandings about what it means to be human or what women as a distinct human rights violation depends
kinds of rights people may be entitled to. The context on redefining the family so that it is no longer shielded
within which human rights discourse becomes relevant from legal scrutiny” (36–37).
is often described as multiculturalism: living perma- Although CEDAW has proved particularly conten-
nently in settings surrounded by people with cultural tious, other human rights documents have been signed
backgrounds different from your own and struggling to without controversy by many national governments.
define with them the degree to which the wider society Signing a human rights declaration supposedly binds
should accord respect and recognition to the cultural governments to take official action to implement changes
beliefs and practices of different groups. It is precisely in local practices that might be seen to violate the rights
in multicultural settings—found everywhere in today’s
globalized world—that questions of rights become sa-
lient and different cultural understandings of what it
means to be human, and what rights humans are en-
titled to, become the focus of contention. human rights Powers, privileges, or material resources to which people
everywhere, by virtue of being human, are justly entitled.
multiculturalism Living permanently in settings surrounded by people
Human-Rights Discourse as the Global Language with cultural backgrounds different from one’s own and struggling to define
with them the degree to which the cultural beliefs and practices of different
of Social Justice Discourses about human rights groups should or should not be accorded respect and recognition by the
have proliferated in recent decades, stimulated by wider society.
asserted in the declaration. Human rights discourses are wrought by colonial exploitation, for example, would
common currency in all societies, at all levels. want to suggest that the victims of that exploitation did
Because of the wide adoption of human rights dis- not have rights that needed to be protected at all costs.
courses throughout the world, some people have come Yet, when we look closely at particular disputes about
to speak of an emerging “culture of human rights” which human rights, the concept no longer seems so simple.
has now become “the preeminent global language of Cowan and her colleagues have noted that there are
social justice” (Merry 2001, 38). As Jane Cowan, Marie two major arguments that have developed for talking
Bénédicte Dembour, and Richard Wilson (2001) write, about the way human rights and culture are related. The
it is “no use imagining a ‘primitive’ tribe which has not first involves the idea that human rights are opposed to cul-
yet heard of human rights . . . what it means to be ‘in- ture and that the two cannot be reconciled. The second
digenous’ is itself transformed through interaction with involves the idea that a key universal human right is pre-
human-rights discourses and institutions” (5). These de- cisely one’s right to culture. We will consider each in turn.
velopments mean that anthropologists must take note
of the important influence this human rights discourse
is having in the various settings where they do their Rights versus Culture? Arguments that pit human
research. rights against culture depend on the assumption that
What counts as “human rights” has changed over “cultures” are homogeneous, bounded, and unchanging
time, not only because of the action of international sets of ideas and practices and that each society has only
bodies like the UN but also because of the efforts of an one culture, which its members are obligated to follow.
increasing number of NGOs that have become involved As we saw in Chapter 8, this view of culture has been
in various countries of the world, many of them deeply severely criticized by cultural anthropologists. But it is a
committed to projects designed to improve people’s view of culture that is very much alive in many human
lives and protect their rights (Figure 15.7). As Merry rights disputes because if people have no choice but
(2001) says, these developments “have created a new to follow the rules of the culture into which they were
legal order” (35) that has given birth to new possibilities born, international interference with customs said to
throughout the world for the elaboration and discussion violate human rights would seem itself to constitute a
of what human rights are all about. human rights violation. Outsiders would be disrupting
In addition, because the “culture of human rights” a supposedly harmonious way of life and preventing
is increasingly regarded, in one way or another, as the those who are committed to such a way of life from
“culture of globalization,” it would seem to be a topic observing their own culturally specific understandings
well-suited to anthropological analysis in itself. This is about rights. Thus, it is concluded, cultures should be
because, as we shall see, human rights discourse is not allowed to enjoy absolute, inviolable protection from
as straightforward as it seems. On the face of things, de- interference by outsiders. This has been the position
fending human rights for all people would seem unprob- adopted, for example, by some national governments
lematic. Few people who are aware of the devastation that have refused to sign the CEDAW declaration that
violence against women violates women’s human rights.
“Many states have opposed this conception of human
rights on cultural or religious grounds, and have refused
to ratify treaties” (Merry 2001, 37). Nevertheless, by
2009, 186 countries had ratified CEDAW (http://www2
.ohchr.org/english/bodies/cedaw/convention.htm).
Sometimes representatives of non-Western nation-
states may feel free to dismiss rights talk as an unwel-
come colonial imposition of ideas that, far from being
universal, reflect ethnocentric European preoccupations.
But such a dismissal of human rights discourse must be
closely examined. In the case of the right of women to
protection from violence, for example, Merry points out
that although some forms of violence against women
may be culturally sanctioned in some societies, there are
FIGURE 15.7 Women’s shelters run by NGOs in Afghanistan
many forms that violence against women can take even
provide a variety of services. Classmates applaud a fellow
student after she stood up to read in a literacy class at one such in those societies, and not all of these are accorded the
shelter. same amount of cultural support. As we saw in Chapter
8, practices such as female genital cutting could be justi- include the right to one’s culture. It draws strength from
fied in the past in some circumstances as an appropriate the idea that cultural diversity is intrinsically valuable
cultural action, but it is now being questioned and even and that people should be able to observe their own cul-
outlawed in the societies where it was traditional. This tural practices free from outside interference. However,
suggests that “culture values” cannot be held responsi- it calls into question the common understanding that
ble for everything that people do in any society and that people frequently cannot enjoy their full human rights
members of the same society can disagree about these until they are freed from the constraints of local cultures.
matters and sometimes change their minds. A right to culture, therefore, shows how the very idea
As talk about human rights has become incorporated of rights and culture is transformed and contested by
into local cultural discussions in recent decades, anthro- globalization.
pologists are not surprised to discover that the notion One key issue in the struggle to protect the right to
undergoes transformation as people try to make sense of culture is shared by any claim to human rights. It con-
what it means in their own local contexts (Cowan et al. cerns the kinds of legal mechanisms needed to ensure
2001, 8). Being forced to choose between rights and cul- protection. The great promise of international docu-
ture, however, seems increasingly unviable in a global- ments like the UN Declaration on Human Rights seems
izing, multicultural world. In their own anthropological to be that people are now free to bring allegations of
work on these matters, Cowan and her colleagues (2001) human rights abuses to an international forum to seek
are convinced that the rights-versus-culture debate exag- redress. But in fact this is not the case. As human rights
gerates cultural differences. Like many cultural anthro- activists have discovered, human rights are legally inter-
pologists today, they find that “it is more illuminating preted as individual rights, not group rights. This means
to think of culture as a field of creative interchange and that people must demand that the governments of the
contestation” (4). Such a view of culture makes it pos- nation-states in which they are citizens recognize and en-
sible to find points of connection between the defense of force the individual rights defended in international
certain human rights and the defense of particular cul- documents. International institutions like the UN have
tural values. been unwilling to challenge the sovereignty of individ-
Finally, it is worth asking if “culture” is sometimes ual nation-states.
used as a scapegoat to mask the unwillingness of a gov- The defense of all human rights, including a right
ernment to extend certain rights to its citizens for rea- to culture, thus depends on the policies of national
sons that have nothing to do with culture. Cowan and governments. Some activists see this as a serious con-
colleagues observe that states like Indonesia and Sin- tradiction in human rights discourse that undermines
gapore, which position themselves as stout defenders its effectiveness. Talal Asad recounts, for example, how
of “Asian values,” have welcomed Western industrial Malcolm X argued in the 1960s that African Ameri-
capitalism. To reject human rights discourse because it cans who wanted redress for abuses of their human
contradicts “Asian values” would, at the very least, sug- rights should go directly to the UN and press their case
gest “an inconsistent attitude toward westernization,” against the government of the United States: “When you
which in turn feeds suspicions that the defense of “Asian expand the civil-rights struggle to the level of human
values” may be a political tactic designed “to bolster rights, you can then take the case of the black man in
state sovereignty and resist international denunciations this country before the nations in the UN” (quoted in
of internal repression and political dissent” (Cowan et Asad 2003, 141).
al. 2001, 6–7). In fact, however, this is not the way the system was
intended to work. Asad (2003) reminds us that
Rights to Culture? A second popular argument The Universal Declaration of Human Rights begins by as-
about the relationship between rights and culture begins serting “the inherent dignity” and the “equal and in-
from very different premises. This argument does not alienable rights of all members of the human family,”
view universal “human rights” as alien and opposed and then turns immediately to the state. In doing so, it
to “cultures.” Instead, it says that all peoples have a implicitly accepts the fact that the universal character
universal human right to maintain their own distinct of the rights-bearing person is made the responsibility
of sovereign states. (137)
cultures. The right to culture has already been explicit in a
number of international rights documents. In this legal universe, African Americans (and similarly
This argument is interesting because it seems to con- situated groups in other nation-states) occupied an
cede that such things as universal human rights do exist anomalous position: “they were neither the bearers of
after all. The list of universal rights is simply amended to national rights nor of human rights” (Asad 2003, 144).
The recognition of the human rights of African Americans a tool for defending those rights. Cowan and colleagues
thus depended on persuading the U.S. government to (2001) have drawn on earlier anthropological work in
recognize those rights; the UN might use its persua- which systems of law were analyzed as cultural systems.
sive power to urge such changes, but it had no coercive One important source has been the “law and cul-
power to force the United States—or any other national ture” framework developed by anthropologists Clifford
government—to come into compliance. Geertz, Laura Nader, and Lawrence Rosen and nonan-
Martin Luther King’s strategy, Asad points out, took thropologists like Boaventura de Sousa Santos. In this
a very different tack, using arguments drawn from pro- framework, “law is conceived as a worldview or struc-
phetic religious discourse and the discourse of Ameri- turing discourse. . . . ‘Facts’ . . . are socially constructed
can liberalism. His movement aimed at “mobilizing through rules of evidence, legal conventions, and the
American public opinion for change,” and it was effec- rhetoric of legal actors” (Cowan et al. 2001, 11). Analysts
tive at pressing for progressive social change in a way who talk about a “culture of human rights” as the new
that, among other things, was compatible with the divi- culture of a globalizing world point out that the key fea-
sion of labor set forth by the UN Declaration of Human tures of the human rights worldview clearly indicate its
Rights (Asad 2003, 146). In a globalizing world, how- origins in Western secular discourse. That is, it focuses
ever, this division of human rights labor—international on the rights of individuals, it proposes to relieve human
bodies propose, but nation-states implement—is being suffering through technical rather than ethical solutions,
challenged. For example, trans-border citizenries lack and it emphasizes rights over duties or needs (Cowan et
any forum in which their status and their demands are al. 2001, 11–12).
clearly accorded legitimacy. The right-to-culture move- In the meantime most anthropologists would prob-
ment has succeeded in recent years in highlighting such ably agree that anthropology can clarify the idea of a
anomalies and eroding the traditionally recognized “culture of human rights” (Cowan et al. 2001, 13). An
right of nation-states to d etermine the kinds of rights understanding of culture as open, heterogeneous, and
their citizens will be accorded (Cowan et al. 2001, 8–9). supple could be effective in helping us understand how
As in the case of the rights-versus-culture argument, human rights processes work.
however, the right-to-culture argument can be “called
upon to legitimate reactionary projects as easily as pro-
gressive ones . . . the uses to which culture can be put
How Can Culture Help in Thinking about Rights?
in relation to rights are evidently multiple” (Cowan et
To use the culture concept as a tool for analyzing
al. 2001, 10).
human rights processes means looking for “patterns and
Anthropological disciplinary commitments have al-
relationships of meaning and practice between different
lowed anthropologists to approach debates about rights
domains of social life” that are characteristic of the culture
and culture in ways that contribute something new to
of human rights (Cowan et al. 2001, 13). Since human
the discussion. These anthropological contributions
rights are articulated in legal documents and litigated in
can be seen in two ways. First, anthropologists have ad-
courts, one of the most important patterns that become
dressed the ways in which human rights discourse can
visible in the culture of human rights is the way they are
itself be seen as culture. Second, their own struggles with
shaped to accommodate the law. Groups and individuals
the concept of “culture” allow them to mount a critique
who assert that their human rights have been violated
of some of the ways that this concept has been mobi-
regularly take their cases to courts of law. But this means
lized in discussions of human rights.
that to get the courts to take them seriously, they must
understand how the law operates. A key feature of this
Are Rights Part of Culture? Anthropological approach understanding involves a realistic awareness of the kinds
e s are well suited for investigating the so-called culture of of claims that the law pays attention to and the kinds of
human rights that appears to have emerged in recent years. claims that it dismisses.
As in the cultures traditionally studied by anthropologists, Looking at human rights law as culture reveals that
the culture of human rights is based on certain ideas only certain kinds of claims are admissible. As we saw
about human beings, their needs, and their ability to above, the culture of human rights as currently consti-
exercise agency, as well as the kinds of social connections tuted is best suited to redress the grievances of individu-
between human beings that are considered legitimate and als, not groups. It also provides technical, not ethical,
illegitimate. The entire question of “legitimacy” in human remedies, and it emphasizes rights over duties or needs.
rights discourse points to the central role played by law, Plaintiffs are therefore likely to have a difficult time if
both as a way of articulating specific human rights and as they want to claim that their group rights have been
Anthropology and Indigenous Rights
Anthropologists are increasingly participating in organiza- among) a variety of liberation movements, including the
tions for the defense of human rights. In particular, they have American civil rights movement and resistance to South Afri-
contributed to the recognition by human rights legal advo- can apartheid” (Niezen 2003, xiii).
cates that the collective rights of groups (such as indigenous As his involvement with the James Bay Crees increased,
peoples) deserve as much attention as the rights of individu- Niezen found that the Crees valued his ability to provide
als. For example, one of the foremost anthropologically ori- a link between their own aboriginal government and the
ented organizations involved with human rights is Cultural government of Canada. He was called on to perform many
Survival, founded in 1972 by anthropologists Pia Maybury- roles in addition to that of participant observer: during the
Lewis and David Maybury-Lewis (Figure 15.8) and dedicated first two years he found himself acting “as an observer, wit-
to helping indigenous people and ethnic minorities deal as ness, advocate, author—roles that were pretty much infor-
equals in their encounters with industrial society, and this in- mally developed as needs became felt” (Niezen 2003, xiv).
cludes struggles for indigenous rights (Lutz 2006). As he moved back and forth from reservation to govern-
Settings in which indigenous rights are debated and poli- ment meetings, he came to realize that a global movement
cies are formulated have become sites for ethnographic re- of indigenous peoples had come into existence and was get-
search, much of it multisited. For example, anthropologist ting noticed at places such as the United Nations. His earlier
Ronald Niezen began his career in the time-honored fash- research in Mali also became relevant in a new way when,
ion of carrying out single-sited research on Islamic reform during one of his trips to Geneva, he encountered delegates
in Mali. Later he undertook community-based research with from West Africa who were coming to identify themselves
the eastern James Bay Crees in northern Quebec, Canada. as indigenous peoples and who were working “to develop
Nevertheless, he writes, “the James Bay Crees also intro- human rights standards appropriate to their concerns” (xiv).
duced me to international politics.” In 1994, he traveled as lndigeneity is supposed to refer to a primordial identity
an observer delegate with the Grand Council of the Crees that preceded the establishment of colonial states. Yet the
to a meeting of the Working Group on Indigenous Popula- very possibility that groups from West Africa, Latin Amer-
tions at the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland. People ica, and North America might come together as indigenous
on the reservation were also learning via the Internet about peoples “is predicated upon global sameness of experience,
the struggles of other indigenous communities for rights and is expressed through the mechanisms of law and bu-
and were starting to “see themselves as leading a cause reaucracy” (Niezen 2003, 2–3). “Indigenous peoples” is not
for justice directly analogous to (and without distinguishing just a badge of identity, but also a legal term that has been
FIGURE 15.8 A nthropologists

have become increasingly involved
in the defense of human rights.
David Maybury-Lewis (pictured
here with Xavante informants in
Brazil) and Pia Maybury-Lewis
founded Cultural Survival, an
organization dedicated to helping
indigenous peoples and ethnic
minorities deal as equals in their
encounters with industrial society.
491
ANTHROPOLOGY in Everyday Life continued
included in international conventions issued by the Interna- Thus, they seek affirmation of their rights to land and com-
tional Labor Organization. pensation for past losses and suffering; they seek cultural
According to Niezen (2003), it is important to distinguish self-determination and political sovereignty. The goal of in-
what he calls ethnonationalism from indigenism. Ethnon- digenous liberation thus involves the recognition of collective
ationalism, he believes, describes a movement of people rights.
who “have defined their collective identities with clear cul- Juliet S. Erazo is an activist anthropologist who has
tural and linguistic contours and who express their goals of become an ally of the Amazonian Kichwa of Rukullakta, “one
autonomy from the state with the greatest conviction and of the longest-running ‘experiments’ with territorial sover-
zeal, sometimes with hatreds spilling over into violence” (8). eignty in Ecuador” (Erazo 2013, xx). She wanted to do re-
For example, in Canada the advocates of sovereignty for search that would be of value to the residents of Rukullakta,
Quebec have pushed for an independent French-speaking and in the early 2000s they asked her to write a history of
nation-state (8). Indigenism, by contrast, “is not a particular- their territory, beginning in the 1970s, when a group of local
ized identity but a global one, . . . grounded in international activists in Rukullakta took advantage of development assis-
networks” (9). What connects specific groups to this identity, tance that was being made available to indigenous groups
whether they live in dictatorships or democratic states, “is a in many parts of Latin America. The goal of the develop-
sense of illegitimate, meaningless, and dishonorable sufferers was to reduce poverty and political radicalism in rural
ing” (13; Figure 15.9). areas, but the goal of the Rukullakta activists was to form a
Unlike ethnonationalists, indigenous rights activists do ranching cooperative as a step toward gaining legal title to a
not seek to form breakaway states of their own. Their ap- large area of land, which they achieved in 1977. Two decades
proach is entirely different: indigenous representatives later, after the end of the Cold War, development organiza-
lobby for their rights before international bodies such as the tions were no longer interested in ranching cooperatives,
United Nations, attempting to hold states accountable for but were willing to fund projects that focused on sustainable
abusing their indigenous citizens. In Niezen’s (2003) opinion, development. Indeed, much of the territory that belonged
the strategy “shows some indigenous leaders to be, despite to the Rukullakta cooperative was included in a large region
their limited power and resources, some of the most effec- of Amazonian Ecuador set aside as a UN Biosphere Reserve
tive political strategists on the contemporary national and for purposes of conservation. Recognizing these new oppor-
international scenes” (16). Their goal is to get nation-states tunities, Rukullakta’s residents gave up their previous legal
to live up to their responsibilities and promises to indig- designation as a cooperative and highlighted their indige-
enous people, which are often explicitly stated in treaties. nous identity by renaming themselves the Kichwa People of
FIGURE 15.9 Sidney Hill, Tado-

daho Chief of the Haudenosaunee,
speaking at the United Nations
Permanent Forum on Indigenous
Issues.
492
Rukullakta. They now speak of their lands as an indigenous everyone can be counted on to engage successfully with de-
territory and elect a kuraka, or chief. Erazo (2013) emphasizes velopment projects. Erazo traces the efforts made by Ru-
that these decisions do not reflect a romantic view of their kullakta’s leaders to develop among local people a sense
past; rather “They are seeking autochthonous- sounding of territorial citizenship that will ensure the viability and
terms to signify and champion what are indeed very new continued development of their territory; that is, that will
social relations among indigenous people, and between in- secure a genuine form of territorial sovereignty. She points
digenous governments and outsiders” (xxi). out that sovereignty is not the same as autonomy: “indig-
A key feature of these new social relations has been the enous leaders in this region have never seen their role as
spread of neoliberal market ideology, which insists that simply securing an area of land for their people so that they
nation-states lower their budgets for social programs and could live in isolation. They have also sought to improve
make investments in productive activities that will earn their constituents’ lives through a variety of projects”
income on the global capitalist market (see Module 5). This (Erazo 2013, xxv). At the same time, territorial residents
means that leaders of an indigenous territory like Rukullakta have found ways to negotiate with their leaders whenever
are expected to seek funding from international donors, pri- they judge that the demands being made on them are im-
vate companies, and other outside sources. Erazo (2013) re- proper or excessive. These negotiations define a form of
ports that “leaders have been reminded that if they cannot governmentality “that goes beyond resistance to domina-
control the actions of their people and guide them effec- tion . . . Thus, citizens . . . practice . . . government through
tively toward the particular development priorities of the distance, shaping the ways in which their leaders can shape
time, they could lose access to all sources of financial assis- them” (Erazo 2013, 7). Erazo concludes that “Negotiating
tance, and possibly even to the lands (xxii). the specific responsibilities and duties associated with ter-
As Erazo observed, leaders must now negotiate with a ritorial citizenship is one of the key sites of enacting sover-
range of outsiders (and a variety of insiders) to ensure that eignty” (10).
violated, that they want the violator exposed and pun- According to Merry, for example, groups like the
ished, or that the state itself has failed to fulfill its re- awaiian Sovereignty Movement have successfully
H
sponsibilities toward them. Part of the human rights achieved some of their political goals by making
process therefore involves learning how to craft cases claims based on the requirements of their “traditional
that will fit the laws. This can be tricky if the categories culture.” But this is because they live in a society that is
and identities recognized in human rights law do not “willing to recognize claims on the basis of cultural au-
correspond to categories and identities that are mean- thenticity and tradition but not reparations based on
ingful to the plaintiffs. acts of conquest and violation” (Merry 2001, 42–43).
Anthropologists have worked with many social Outside the courtroom, many members of indigenous
groups struggling with national governments to practice groups think of their culture the way contemporary
their culture freely. These political struggles regularly in- anthropologists think about culture: there are some
clude claims about distinct and unchanging values and common patterns but culture is basically unbounded,
practices. As we saw earlier, these kinds of arguments for heterogeneous, and open to change. The conflict be-
a right to culture are often cases of “strategic essential- tween these two understandings of culture has the po-
ism.” That is, the unity and unchanging homogeneity of tential to reshape their ideas about what their culture
a particular “culture” is deliberately constructed to build is. Groups that enter into the human rights process,
group solidarity and to engage the state in a focused and thus, are entering into ethically ambiguous territory
disciplined way. But the “essentialism” that often comes that is “both enabling and constraining” (Cowan et al.
to dominate discussions of group rights is not entirely a 2001, 11).
result of the strategies of activists. Once they choose to
make their case in a court of law, they become subject
to the “essentializing proclivities of the law” (Cowan et Human Rights in Hawaii: Violence against Women Merry
al. 2001, 11). Because human rights law recognizes only has studied how changing legal regimes in Hawaii over
certain kinds of violations, groups with grievances must nearly two centuries have reshaped local understandings
tailor those grievances to fit. of Hawaiian culture (see EthnoProfile 15.3: Hawaii).
493
Part of her work has addressed the ways “local human

rights activists are struggling to create a new space which EthnoProfile 15.3
incorporates both cultural differences and transnational
conceptions of human rights” (Merry 2001, 32). Hawaii Hawaii
is a particularly interesting setting for such a study, since
Region: Polynesia
for much of the nineteenth century it was located “at the
crossroads of a dizzying array of peoples and at the center Nation: United States
of a set of competing cultural logics” (44)—in a setting Population: 1,244,000 (2002 census)
that is very much like the globalized, multicultural Environment: Tropical Pacific island
settings that are increasingly common today. Over the
Livelihood: Agriculture, industry, tourism, service, state and
course of the century, Hawaiian law went through two local government
important periods of “legal transplantation”: the first, Political organization:
Kauai
1820–1844, involved the adoption of a Christianized Modern state within United ne
l
an
Ch
Hawaiian law; and the second, 1845–1852, involved the States Ka
u ai Oahu
Honolulu
adoption of a secularized Western law. Although these For more information: Wailuku
legal transformations involved colonial imposition, Merry, Sally Engle. 1999. Maui a n n e l
PA C I F I C h
a C
Colonizing Hawai’i. Princeton: ah
they also depended upon active collaboration by OCEAN n uih
Princeton University Press. A le
Hawaii
Hawaiian elites (43–44). Indeed, Merry says that
0 50 100
these legal changes are best u nderstood as a process of Miles
transculturation in which subjugated Hawaiians received
and adopted forms of self- understanding imposed
by the Christian West, even as the Christian West was
modified in response to this reception and adoption.
“local adaptations of the rights model do take place”
Because the Hawaiians were not passive in this process
(47). This was done by tailoring the program’s curricu-
and tried to make use of Christianity and Western ideas
lum to local circumstances using Hawaiian images and
for purposes of their own, the process, Merry argues,
examples. Particularly interesting was the way the part
was fraught with frustration and failure. Missionaries
of the program designed to teach anger management
and rulers who wanted to turn Hawaii into a “civilized”
to batterers was made locally relevant by combining
place were forced to try to impose their will in stages,
Christian ideas with ideas from Hawaiian activists that
rather than all at once, and the end result still bore many
connected male anger to the losses they have suffered
Hawaiian traces that, to their dismay, seemed to evade
as a consequence of conquest. Merry visited a similar
the civilizing process (Figure 15.10).
kind of program in New Zealand based on the same
This process of cultural appropriation is uncer- Minnesota model, which had been locally modified for
tain: change comes in fits and starts, constantly requir- Maori men in a way that linked their anger to Maori ex-
ing adjustment as circumstances vary. Merry (2001) periences of racism and loss. “Although all of these pro-
argues that humanrights discourse is being appropri- grammes share a similar commitment to a rights-based
ated by contemporary Hawaiians in much the same approach that works in conjunction with the criminal
way (46–47). For the past decade, she has studied a justice system, each has developed a local accommoda-
feminist program in Hilo, Hawaii, that “endeavors to tion of the curriculum, a reframing which takes into
support women victims of violence and retrain male account local problems and cultural practices” (Merry
batterers” (48). This program is based on one originally 2001, 49).
created in Duluth, Minnesota, and it works closely with These examples suggest two important conclu-
the courts. In 1985, the courts adopted the language sions: first, it is possible to find ways of accommo-
of rights in dealing with violence against women. This dating the universal discourse of human rights to the
means that the law supports the notion of gender equal- particularities of local conditions; second, no single
ity and, when husbands are found guilty of battering model of the relationship between rights and culture
their wives, calls for separation of the couple. By con- will fit all cases. Moreover, as the culture of human
trast, Hawaiian couples who participate in the program rights becomes better established, it increasingly be-
are often conservative Christians who do not believe comes enmeshed in political and legal institutions that
in divorce. It might seem that this is a classic example go beyond the local level. As activists become more
of the conflict between rights and culture, but in fact experienced operating in globalized circumstances,
FIGURE 15.10 The Hawaiian Sovereignty Movement has emphasized traditional culture and has taken action more broadly. Here
members lead a march protesting the Asian Development Bank.
moreover, they are likely to become more sophisti- asylum-seekers had generally been interpreted as human
cated about making use of these different settings as rights violations. After that time, however, political
they plan their human rights strategies (Cowan et al. asylum-seekers were increasingly lumped together with
2001, 21). Struggles over human rights are hardly likely victims of earthquakes and tsunamis and addressed
to go away; indeed, along with struggles over global by a new form of governmentality, which Fassin calls
citizenship, they can be seen as the prime struggles of humanitarianism, “a mode of governing that concerns
our time (Mignolo 2002). Anthropologists are well po- the victims of poverty, homelessness, unemployment,
sitioned to help make sense of these complex develop- and exile, as well as disasters, famines, epidemics
ments as they unfold. and wars—in short, every situation characterized by
precariousness” (x).
What Is the Relationship between Human Rights Humanitarian thinking includes the acknowledge-
and Humanitarianism? Over the course of the ment of a universal humanity, which is central to human
twentieth century, political conflicts in many parts of the rights discourse, but it also emphasizes “humaneness”;
world have engendered social upheaval and triggered that is, “an affective movement drawing humans toward
population movements across political borders. their fellows [which] creates the obligation to provide as-
However, French anthropologist Didier Fassin (2012) sistance and attention to others” (Fassin 2012, 2). When
has detected a significant change in the way national the discourse of humanitarianism replaces the discourse
governments and international organizations have of human rights, outside observers are encouraged to
come to respond to asylum-seekers in recent decades. regard all crises as equal and to experience empathy for
Until the 1980s, the persecution and suffering of the suffering of victims, rather than indignation at the
IN THEIR OWN WORDS
How Sushi Went Global
Talk of “global flows” can seem abstract and Bluefin tuna may seem at first an unlikely case study
divorced from everyday life, but one of the in globalization. But as the world rearranges itself—
strengths of anthropology is its ability to around silicon chips, Starbucks coffee, or sashimi-grade
capture the articulation of the local with the tuna—new channels for global flows of capital and com-
global. As sushi has swept the United States, modities link far-flung individuals and communities in
unexpected new relationships. The tuna trade is a prime
anthropologist Theodore Bestor looked at the
example of the globalization of a regional industry, with
trade in tuna.
intense international competition and thorny environ-
mental regulations; centuries-old practices combined
with high technology; realignments of labor and capital
A 40-minute drive from Bath, Maine, down a winding two-
in response to international regulation; shifting mar-
lane highway, the last mile on a dirt road, a ramshackle
kets; and the diffusion of culinary culture as tastes for
wooden fish pier stands beside an empty parking lot. At
sushi, and bluefin tuna, spread worldwide. . . .
6:00 p.m. nothing much is happening. Three bluefin tuna
sit in a huge tub of ice on the loading dock. Culture Splash
Between 6:45 and 7:00, the parking lot fills up with Just because sushi is available, in some form or another,
cars and trucks with license plates from New Jersey, in exclusive Fifth Avenue restaurants, in baseball stadi-
New York, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Maine. ums in Los Angeles, at airport snack carts in Amsterdam,
Twenty tuna buyers clamber out, half of them Japanese. at an apartment in Madrid (delivered by motorcycle),
The three bluefin, ranging from 270 to 610 pounds, are or in Buenos Aires, Tel Aviv, or Moscow, doesn’t mean
winched out of the tub, and buyers crowd around them, that sushi has lost its status as Japanese cultural prop-
extracting tiny core samples to examine their color, fin- erty. Globalization doesn’t necessarily homogenize cul-
gering the flesh to assess the fat content, sizing up the tural differences nor erase the salience of cultural labels.
curve of the body. Quite the contrary, it grows the franchise. In the global
After about 20 minutes of eyeing the goods, many of economy of consumption, the brand equity of sushi as
the buyers return to their trucks to call Japan by cellphone Japanese cultural property adds to the cachet of both the
and get the morning prices from Tokyo’s Tsukiji market— country and the cuisine. A Texan Chinese-American res-
the fishing industry’s answer to Wall Street where the tauranteur told me, for example, that he had converted
daily tuna auctions have just concluded. The buyers look his chain of restaurants from Chinese to Japanese cui-
over the tuna one last time and give written bids to the sine because the prestige factor of the latter meant he
dock manager, who passes the top bid for each fish to the could charge a premium; his clients couldn’t distinguish
crew that landed it. between Chinese and Japanese employees (and often
The auction bids are secret. Each bid is examined failed to notice that some of the chefs behind his sushi
anxiously by a cluster of young men, some with a father bars were Latinos).
or uncle looking on to give advice, others with a young The brand equity is sustained by complicated flows
woman and a couple of toddlers trying to see Daddy’s of labor and ethnic biases. Outside of Japan, having
fish. Fragments of concerned conversation float above Japanese hands (or a reasonable facsimile) is suffi-
the parking lot: “That’s all?” “Couldn’t we do better if we cient warrant for sushi competence. Guidebooks for
shipped it ourselves?” “Yeah, but my pickup needs a new the current generation of Japanese global wandervogel
transmission now!” After a few minutes, deals are closed sometimes advise young Japanese looking for a job in
and the fish are quickly loaded onto the backs of trucks a distant city to work as a sushi chef; U.S. consular of-
in crates of crushed ice, known in the trade as “tuna cof- fices in Japan grant more than 1,000 visas a year to sushi
fins.” As rapidly as they arrived, the flotilla of buyers sails chefs, tuna buyers, and other workers in the global sushi
out of the parking lot—three bound for New York’s John F. business. A trade school in Tokyo, operating under the
Kennedy Airport, where their tuna will be airfreighted to name Sushi Daigaku (Sushi University), offers short
Tokyo for sale the day after next. courses in sushi preparation so “students” can impress
IN THEIR OWN WORDS
prospective employers with an imposing certificate. Even of the gross weight of a tuna is unusable, tuna is sent
without papers, however, sushi remains firmly linked in to Japan whole, not sliced into salable portions. Spoilage
the minds of J apanese and foreigners alike with J apanese is one reason for this, but form is another. Everyone in
cultural identity. Throughout the world, sushi restau- the trade agrees that Japanese workers are much more
rants operated by Koreans, Chinese, or V ietnamese skilled in cutting and trimming tuna than Americans, and
maintain Japanese identities. In sushi bars from Boston no one would want to risk sending botched cuts to Japan.
to Valencia, a customer’s simple greeting in Japanese can Not to impugn the quality of the fish sold in the United
throw chefs into a panic (or drive them to the far end of States, but on the New England docks, the first determina-
the counter). tion of tuna buyers is whether they are looking at a “do-
On the docks, too, Japanese cultural control of sushi mestic” fish or an “export” fish. On that judgment hangs
remains unquestioned. Japanese buyers and “tuna several dollars a pound for the fisher, and the supply of
techs” sent from Tsukiji to work seasonally on the docks sashimi-grade tuna for fishmongers, sushi bars, and sea-
of New England laboriously instruct foreign fishers on food restaurants up and down the Eastern seaboard.
the proper techniques for catching, handling, and pack- Some of the best tuna from New England may make it to
ing tuna for export. A bluefin tuna must approximate New York or Los Angeles, but by way of Tokyo—validated
the appropriate kata, or “ideal form,” of color, texture, as top quality (and top price) by the decision to ship it to
fat content, body shape, and so forth, all prescribed Japan by air for sale at Tsukiji, where it may be purchased
by Japanese specifications. Processing requires proper by one of the handful of Tsukiji sushi exporters who supply
attention as well. Special paper is sent from Japan for premier expatriate sushi chefs in the world’s leading cities.
wrapping the fish before burying them in crushed ice.
Despite high shipping costs and the fact that 50 percent Source: Bestor 2000.
violation of their human rights. The humanitarian re- asylum-seekers in Calais was so large that the French
sponse is to relieve suffering through charitable generos- government hired the Red Cross to manage a transit
ity. However, Fassin points out that this generosity is not center where they could stay. Many critics of Sangatte
as innocent as it may appear: “compassion is a moral referred to it as a “camp,” but it was an unusual camp,
sentiment with no possible reciprocity . . . those at the because it was “not enclosed by barbed wire, and resi-
receiving end know quite well that they are expected to dents were free to come and go as they pleased” (Fassin
show the humility of the beholden rather than express 2012, 133). In Fassin’s view, Sangatte was a paradoxi-
demands for rights” (3–4). Thus, humanitarianism cal entity: “a place of indeterminate status, with a hu-
“always presupposes a relation of inequality” (4). manitarian mission but set up for reasons of security,
In Fassin’s view, these changes are well illustrated though which foreigners were supposed to pass but
by the history of the Sangatte transit center in Calais, where they were not supposed to stay. . . . Neither
France, whose opening (and eventual closure) illus- guests nor enemies, they enjoyed a furtive hospitality
trates “the sidelining of asylum and the advent of that conferred no rights —and in particular no right
humanitarianism . . . the process whereby the refu- of asylum” (136). Residents were advised to return to
gee issue became subordinate to migration control their countries of origin, but were never informed that
policy” (Fassin 2012, 141). Beginning in the 1980s, they might seek asylum in France, and less than 1%
a succession of political crises in various parts of ever did so (Fassin 2012, 140).
the globe propelled waves of refugees across Europe In 2002, the Sangatte transit center closed, but
to Calais, the continental European terminus of the asylum-seekers did not stop coming to France, and

Channel Tunnel, the last barrier in their quest for po- those who did directly experienced the consequences
litical asylum in the United Kingdom. By the mid- of the subordination of asylum to humanitarianism.
1990s, however, the British began refusing requests Fassin (2012, 141–43) offers the example of a Haitian
for asylum and sending those who had been rejected woman whom he calls Marie. Marie told Fassin that her
back to France. By 1999, the population of suffering father had been murdered as a political dissident, after
which her mother had been abducted and presumed Fassin suggests, that have subordinated asylum to im-
killed. After she was gang raped by a group of young migration policy. As circulation of individuals within
men who broke into her house, she and her boyfriend the European Union has become freer, border con-
sought political asylum in France. Her first application trol has become tighter. It is easier now to turn back
for asylum was denied (probably, Fassin suggests, be- asylum-seekers at airports, to deport undocumented
cause she could not demonstrate that the gang rape immigrants, and even to hold them in camps outside
had been politically motivated). An appeal was also Europe itself (2012, 156). Ironically, these policies
denied and her case was closed. Marie became an ille- have been promulgated because “the European space
gal immigrant, hiding with a friend for two years until is also a space of the rule of law—and hence of rights,
she was persuaded to see a doctor. The doctor who ex- notably human rights” (2012, 155). Perhaps this
amined Marie wrote a report requesting that she be al- explains why humanitarianism has become so popular
lowed to stay in France on medical grounds because of in the contemporary world: it “bridges the contradic-
her suicidal depression. However, when the results of tions of our world, and makes the intolerableness of
Marie’s blood tests came back, she was found to be HIV its injustices some what bearable. Hence, its consensual
positive, probably as a consequence of the gang rape. force” (2012, xi).
Now diagnosed as suffering from advanced AIDS, she But anthropology is more than simply good to
was quickly granted residence in France, on humanitar- think with. Applying anthropological insights in an
ian grounds. effort to cope with the challenges humans face in the
The closure of Sangatte did not bring an end to the contemporary world has a long history in our dis-
crisis posed by refugees living in Calais; with no protec- cipline. In recent years, perhaps the most successful
tion or aid, they subsisted as best they could in public and fastest growing field of applied anthropology has
parks or on the beach, vulnerable to harassment by the been medical anthropology. Drawing on many differ-
police. Europe still remains a desirable destination for ent schools of thought developed within our discipline,
refugees fleeing violence and suffering in their home and sometimes borrowed from other disciplines as
countries. But many Europeans continue to associate well, medical anthropology illustrates the range of sig-
asylum-seekers with terrorism, or with undermining of nificant practical interventions that an anthropological
the welfare state, or see them as a threat to Europe’s perspective can engender in our world. This is the topic
identity as white and Christian. It is these anxieties, of the next chapter.
Chapter Summary
1. Because membership in social categories such 2. The concept of “class” in anthropology has a double
as gender, class, caste, race, ethnicity, and nation heritage: Europeans tended to view class boundar-
can determine enormous differences in people’s ies as closed and rigid, whereas North Americans
life chances, much is at stake in defending these tended to view them as open and permeable. Class
categories and all may be described as if they were solidarity may be undercut by clientage relations
rooted in biology or nature, rather than culture that bind individuals to one another across class
and history. Conceptualizing these forms of iden- boundaries.
tity as essences can be a way of stereotyping and 3. The stratification system of India has been taken
excluding, but it has also been used by many stig- as the prototype of caste stratification, although
matized groups to build a positive self-image and anthropologists also have applied the concept to
as a strategic concept in struggles with dominant social hierarchies encountered elsewhere in the
groups. Although strategic essentialism may be suc- world. Local caste divisions ( jatis) in village India
cessful in such struggles, it also risks repeating the adhere to rules of purity and pollution defined in
same logic that justifies oppression. terms of the occupations their members perform
Chapter Summary 499
and the foods they eat and which govern whom challenge different understandings of what it means
they may marry. Members of jatis of similar rank to be human or what kinds of rights people may
do not observe most of these distinctions with be entitled to under radically changed conditions
one another, especially in urban settings. Caste of everyday life. But different participants in this
associations in large cities of India use jati ties to discourse have different ideas about the relation-
promote their members’ economic well-being. ship between human rights and culture. Some
Contemporary anthropologists reject views of caste arguments about human rights include the right to
in India that portray it as internally harmonious one’s culture. But most international human rights
and uncontested by those at the bottom of the documents protect only individual human rights,
hierarchy. not group rights. And even those who seek to protect
4. The contemporary concept of “race” developed their individual rights are supposed to appeal to the
in the context of European exploration and governments of their own nation-states to enforce
conquest beginning in the fifteenth century as rights defended in international documents.
light-skinned Europeans came to rule over darker- 7. Some anthropologists argue that a “culture of
skinned peoples in different parts of the world. human rights” has emerged in recent years that is
The so-called races whose boundaries were forged based on certain ideas about human beings, their
during the nineteenth century are imagined com- needs, and their abilities that originated in the
munities; human biological variation does not West. Some consider this culture of human rights
naturally clump into separate populations with the culture of a globalizing world that emphasizes
stable boundaries. Despite variations in opinions individual rights over duties or needs and that pro-
and practices regarding race over the centuries, a poses only technical rather than ethical solutions to
global hierarchy persists in which whiteness sym- human suffering. Anthropologists disagree about the
bolizes high status and blackness symbolizes the value of such a culture of human rights in contem-
social bottom. porary circumstances.
5. Although ethnic consciousness existed in preco- 8. Because human rights law recognizes only certain
lonial and precapitalist societies, contemporary kinds of rights violations, groups with grievances
anthropologists have been most interested in forms must tailor those grievances to fit the violations
of ethnicity that were generated under capitalist that human rights law recognizes. Groups that enter
colonial domination, when different groups were into the human rights process are entering into
subordinated within a single political structure ethically ambiguous territory that is both enabling
under conditions of inequality. This process can and constraining. Debates about women’s rights
produce ethnic groups not continuous with any in Hawaii show both that it is possible to accom-
single earlier group and is often characterized by modate the universal discourse of human rights
nesting, opposed identities that individuals often to local conditions and that no single model of
manipulate to achieve upward mobility. When the relationship between rights and culture will
dominant ethnic groups feel threatened, they may fit all cases. Some anthropologists are concerned
attempt to stigmatize subordinate groups by “ra- that a discourse of humanitarianism that responds
cializing” them. to human suffering on compassionate grounds
6. Discussions of human rights have intensified is pushing aside a discourse emphasizing human
as global flows juxtapose and at least implicitly rights and social justice.
For Review
1. Explain structural violence, using the example of 9. What are the key points in the discussion of color-
Haiti. ism in Nicaragua?
2. What are the key points in the discussion of 10. Summarize the main arguments in the discussion
gender in this chapter? of ethnicity in this chapter.
3. Summarize the key points in the text’s discussion 11. How are ethnicity and race related?
of class. 12. What is a nation? Discuss the relationship be-
4. How does caste differ from class? tween nation-states and nation building or
5. Based on the Gopalpur case study, discuss how nationalism.
caste worked in village India. 13. Summarize the key arguments in the discussion
6. Describe some of the caste struggles occurring in of Australian nationalism.
contemporary India. 14. What are naturalizing discourses?
7. What is race? 15. Explain strategic essentialism.
8. Summarize the key arguments in the discussion 16. What are the dangers of nationalism, according to
of race in the textbook. the textbook?
Key Terms
caste 473 colorism 480 human rights 487 racism 479
class 471 ethnic groups 484 multiculturalism 487
clientage 471 ethnicity 483 race 479
Suggested Readings
American Anthropological Association. 1998. Statement on the work he does, and the values he holds. Journalist Tracy
race, http://www.aaanet.org/stmts/racepp.htm. Kidder travels with Farmer to many of the sites where he
Anderson, Benedict. 1991. Imagined communities, rev. ed. works in Haiti, Peru, Cuba, and Russia.
London: Verso. The classic discussion of the cultural pro- Malkki, Liisa. 1995. Purity and exile: Memory and national
cesses that create community ties between people—such as cosmology among Hutu refugees in Tanzania. Chicago:
citizens of a nation-state—who have never seen one another, University of Chicago Press. This ethnography chronicles
producing the personal and cultural feeling of belonging to a recent example in Africa of the bloody consequences of na-
a nation. tionalist politics and explores the connections between the
Farmer, Paul. 2003. Pathologies of power: Health, human conditions of refugee resettlement and the development of
rights and the new war on the poor. Berkeley: Univer- refugee identities.
sity of California Press. Paul Farmer, a physician and Nash, Manning. 1989. The cauldron of ethnicity in the modern
anthropologist, uses his experiences in several different world. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Nash
parts of the world to show how patterns of disease and looks at ethnicity in the postcolonial world and sees more
suffering are shaped by social and political policies that of a seething cauldron than a melting pot. He examines the
violate human rights, creating landscapes of “structural relations between Ladinos and Maya in Guatemala, C hinese
violence.” and Malays in Malaysia, and Jews and non-Jews in the
Hinton, Alexander Laban. 2002. Annihilating difference: The United States.
anthropology of genocide. Berkeley: University of Califor- Sharma, Ursula. 1999. Caste. Philadelphia: Open University
nia Press. A recent collection of articles probing the ways in Press. A brief, up-to-date survey of recent anthropological
which anthropology can help explain and perhaps contrib- scholarship dealing with caste in south Asia.
ute to the prevention of genocide. Case studies include Nazi Smedley, Audrey. 1998. Race in North America: Origin
Germany, Cambodia under the Khmer Rouge, Rwanda,
and evolution of a worldview, 2nd ed. Boulder, CO:
Guatemala, and the former Yugoslavia. Westview Press. This book offers a comprehensive histori-
Kidder, Tracy. 2003. Mountains beyond mountains. New York: cal overview of the development of the concept of race in
Random House. A very readable book about Paul Farmer, North A merica, beginning in the late eighteenth century.
The second edition includes additional coverage of develop- Strathern, Marilyn. 1988. The gender of the gift. Berkeley: Uni-
ments in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Smed- versity of California Press. This is a challenging volume but
ley shows how the concept of “race” is a cultural construct a classic. Strathern expands the notion of “gender” beyond
that over time has been used in different ways, for different the traditional bounds of feminist anthropology to make sense
purposes. of the complexities of Melanesian c ultural practices.
16
How is anthropology applied
in the field of medicine?
It is possible to argue that, from its inception, anthropology always had an
applied dimension. After all, it was E. B. Tylor, one of the first professional an-
thropologists in the late nineteenth century, who described anthropology as
a “reformer’s science.” Since Tylor’s day, many anthropologists have been mo-
tivated to use research findings from anthropology to propose solutions to
practical problems that challenge the people among whom they have worked.
As we mentioned in Chapter 1, applied anthropological work ranges widely,
from cultural resource management to linguistic revitalization to economic
development, and examples of applied work are cited throughout this book.
In the twenty-first century, at least half of all new anthropology Ph.D.s will
most likely work in settings outside university departments of anthropology;
for most, this is likely to be in one or another field of applied anthropology.
In this chapter, we will concentrate on medical anthropology, the fastest-
growing applied specialty within anthropology today. Its successes demonstrate
how the anthropological perspective, coupled with participant observation as
a research method, is able to address matters of illness and health that are
often ignored or mischaracterized by other perspectives or methods.
CHAPTER OUTLINE
What Is Medical Anthropology? Self and Subjectivity The Future of Medical
What Makes Medical Subjectivity, Trauma, and Anthropology
Anthropology “Biocultural”? Structural Violence Chapter Summary
How Do People with Different How Are Human Sickness and For Review
Cultures Understand the Health Shaped by the Global Key Terms
Causes of Sickness and Capitalist Economy?
Suggested Readings
Health? Health, Human Reproduction,
Kinds of Selves and Global Capitalism
Decentered Selves on the Medical Anthropology and
Internet HIV/AIDS
A Navajo healer on a reservation in Arizona treats a patient using traditional healing techniques. 503
504 CHAPTER 16: HOW IS ANTHROPOLOGY APPLIED IN THE FIELD OF MEDICINE?
What Is Medical
Anthropology?
What does it mean to be healthy? What does it mean
to be sick? Members of the same society who share un-
derstandings of what it means to be healthy are also
likely to agree about what symptoms indicate an ab-
sence of health. In the United States, many people un-
derstand health as a state of physical, emotional, and
mental well-being, together with an absence of disease
or disability that would interfere with such well-being.
Anthropologists recognize, however, that what counts as
wellness or its opposite is very much shaped by people’s FIGURE 16.1 Many people around the world seek help
from biomedical practitioners when they feel that they are not
cultural, social, and political experiences and expecta-
healthy. A medical doctor (left) counsels a breast cancer patient
tions. This means that measuring health (or its reverse) in Sudan.
in a straightforward way can sometimes be challenging.
Increasing numbers of anthropologists now apply in-
sights and practices from the various subfields of anthro- anthropologists have developed a technical vocabulary
pology in efforts to understand (and find solutions to) that does not presume the universality of biomedical un-
health challenges faced by members of the many com- derstandings of health and disease. For example, many
munities where they work. This area of specialization is medical anthropologists prefer to use the term suffering
generally called medical anthropology (Figure 16.1). to describe the forms of physical, mental, or emotional
Medical anthropologists have been deeply influ- distress experienced by individuals who may or may not
enced by (as well as critical of) findings by Western phy- subscribe to biomedical understandings of disease. Med-
sicians and medical scientists who claim to describe ical anthropologists have often used the term sickness
normal human biological functioning, the causes for to refer to classifications of physical, mental, and emo-
impairment of such functioning, and the scientifically tional distress recognized by members of a particular cul-
developed therapies available to cure or manage such tural community. Sometimes, such sicknesses may bear
impairment. These traditional Western forms of knowl- a close resemblance to diseases recognized by scientific
edge and practice are often called biomedicine, and biomedicine, but other times, the sickness (and the ther-
forms of biological impairment identified and explained apy to relieve it) may be unique to a particular cultural
within the discourse of biomedicine are those to which group. Such sicknesses have been called culture-bound
medical anthropologists often apply the term disease. syndromes. Finally, some medical anthropologists con-
However, to describe non-Western systems of belief and trast both the biomedical understanding of disease and
practice in relation to human health accurately, medical the local cultural categories of sickness with a suffering
person’s own understanding of his or her distress, which
is called illness.
health A state of physical, emotional, and mental well-being, together with
an absence of disease or disability that would interfere with such well-being.
medical anthropology The specialty of anthropology that concerns itself
with human health—the factors that contribute to disease or illness and the
What Makes Medical
ways that human populations deal with disease or illness.
biomedicine Western forms of medical knowledge and practice based on
Anthropology “Biocultural”?
biological science.
The anthropological perspective has always emphasized
disease Forms of biological impairment identified and explained within the
that human biological adaptations to physical environ-
discourse of biomedicine.
suffering The forms of physical, mental, or emotional distress experienced
ments are mediated by cultural practices. How this rela-
by individuals who may or may not subscribe to biomedical understandings tionship is understood, however, varies among medical
of disease. anthropologists. Some anthropologists (including some
sickness Classifications of physical, mental, and emotional distress recog- medical anthropologists) are comfortable speaking of
nized by members of a particular cultural community.
both biological and cultural evolution, and they focus
culture-bound syndromes Sicknesses (and the therapies to relieve
them) that are unique to a particular cultural group.
on the b
iological and cultural evolutionary contexts of
illness A suffering person’s own understanding of his or her distress. human sickness and health. This approach tends to
accept the traditional Western modernist distinction
IN THEIR OWN WORDS
American Premenstrual Syndrome
Anthropologist Alma Gottlieb explores some of Without legitimacy, as Weber taught us long ago, protests
the contradictions surrounding the North American are doomed to failure; and so it is with PMS.
biocultural construction known as PMS. I suggest that these women in effect choose, however
unconsciously, to voice their complaints at a time that they
know those complaints will be rejected as illegitimate. If
To what extent might PMS be seen as an “escape valve,” complaints were made during the non-premenstrual por-
a means whereby American women “let off steam” from tion of the month, they would have to be taken seriously.
the enervating machine of the daily domestic grind? To But many American women have not found a voice with
some extent this explanation is valid, but it tells only part which to speak such complaints and at the same time
of the story. It ignores the specific contours of PMS and retain their feminine allure. They save their complaints for
its predictable trajectory; moreover it puts PMS in a place that “time of the month” when they are in effect permit-
that is peripheral to the American vision of womanhood, ted to voice them yet by means of hormones do not have
whereas my contention is that the current understanding to claim responsibility for such negative feelings. In know-
of PMS (and, before its creation, of the menstrual period ing when their complaints will not be taken seriously yet
itself) is integral to how we view femininity. Even if it oc- voicing them precisely during such a time, perhaps women
cupies a small portion of women’s lives (although some are punishing themselves for their critical thoughts. In this
women may see the paramenstruum as occupying half way, and despite the surface-level a ggression they display
the month), and even if not all women suffer from it, I con- premenstrually, women continue to enact a model of be-
tend that the contemporary vision of PMS is so much a havior doomed to failure, as is consistent with what some
part of general cultural consciousness that it constitutes, feminists have argued is a pervasive tendency among
qualitatively, half the female story. It combines with the American women in other arenas. . . .
other part of the month to produce a bifurcated vision of So long as American society recreates its unrealistic
femininity whose two halves are asymmetrically valued. expectations of the female personality, it is inevitable
Married women who suffer from PMS report that that there will be a PMS, or something playing its role: a
during the “normal” phase of the month they allow their regular rejection of the stringent expectations of female
husbands’ myriad irritating acts to go uncriticized. But behavior. But PMS masks the protest even as it embodies
while premenstrual they are hyper-critical of such acts, it: for, cast in a biological idiom, PMS is made to seem an
sometimes “ranting and raving” for hours over trivial an- autonomous force that is often uncontrollable . . . ; or if it
noyances. Unable to act “nice” continually, women break can be controlled, it is only by drugs, not acts of personal
down and are regularly “irritable” and even “hostile.” Their volition. Thus women’s authorship of their own states of
protest is recurrent but futile, for they are made to feel mind is denied them. As women in contemporary A merica
guilty about it, or, worse, they are treated condescend- struggle to find their voices, it is to be hoped that they will
ingly. “We both know you’re going to have your period to- be able to reclaim their bodies as vehicles for the creation
morrow so why don’t we just go to bed?” one husband of their own metaphors, rather than autonomous forces
regularly tells his wife at the first sign of an argument, causing them to suffer and needing to be drugged.
thereby dismissing any claim to legitimate disagreement. Source: Gottlieb 1988.
etween “biology” and “culture” and conceives of both

b easured by changes in the frequencies of particular
m
biological and cultural evolution as processes shaped by units of cultural information across space and time, as
natural selection on units of “information.” Units of these are acquired and passed on by means of social
biological information are associated with “genes,” and learning (Boyd and Richerson 1985; Durham 1991;
biological evolution is measured by changes in gene Richerson and Boyd 2005).
frequencies over time (in conformity with the modern Medical anthropologists who study patterns of sick-
evolutionary synthesis that is the foundation of contem- ness and health in different human populations may
porary evolutionary biology). Cultural evolution is have training in biological anthropology or medicine and
may become skilled in disciplines like demography, the Multipronged approaches to control and prevention will
statistical study of human populations, or epidemiology, be required to make progress in addressing the complex-
which collects information on the distribution of dis- ity entanglements that characterize syndemic conditions.
ease in human populations and seeks explanations Medical anthropologists who seek to understand
for such distributions. Demography and epidemiol- human sickness and health in an evolutionary context
ogy were originally developed to collect information in sometimes use the concept of adaptation: an adjust-
large settled populations in nation-states, which means ment by an organism (or group of organisms) that helps
that medical anthropologists who work with human them cope with environmental challenges of various
populations in other settings must adapt demographic kinds. Most evolutionary biologists tend to restrict their
and epidemiological techniques accordingly. Research attention to biological adaptations: modifications of ana-
by ethnographers working in small isolated communi- tomical or physiological attributes of individual organ-
ties requires such modification, for example, as does isms, produced by natural selection, that better adjust
research by archaeologists and biological anthropolo- organisms to the environmental settings in which they
gists who attempt to calculate demographic patterns live. Medical anthropologists are particularly interested
characteristic of past human populations, a field called in cases where there is strong evidence that human cul-
paleodemography. tural practices have influenced natural selection on genes
Demographic approaches distinguish epidemic dis- that affect human health and hence must be understood
eases that spread quickly over a short period of time as biocultural adaptations.
from endemic diseases that are always present in the pop- The best-known example of such a biocultural ad-
ulation. Recently, some medical anthropologists have aptation is that of sickle-cell anemia, a serious condition
promoted the concept of syndemic to describe the com- that affects people in the United States with ancestors
bined effects on a population of more than one disease, from Africa, but that also affects many people in India,
the effects of which are exacerbated by poor nutrition, Saudi Arabia, and Mediterranean countries such as
social instability, violence, or other stressful environ- Turkey, Greece, and Italy. As we discussed in Chapter 5,
mental factors. Multiple pathogens exacerbate the dis- sickle-cell anemia is brought on when an individual is
ease burden, whereas lack of food, clean water, or other born with two copies of a mutant variant of the gene that
environmental challenges amplifies the suffering of the codes for hemoglobin, one of the proteins in red blood
affected population. Environments where poor people cells. The mutant variant in question alters the structure
live, characterized by substandard housing and poor of red blood cells, distorting them into a characteristic
sanitation, may simultaneously be breeding grounds sickle shape and reducing their ability to carry oxygen.
for disease-causing organisms. Merrill Singer (2009, When individuals inherit the mutant variant from both
chapters 4 and 5) has explored what happens when in- parents, they develop sickle-cell anemia. About 85% of
dividuals are simultaneously infected by HIV/AIDS and those with two of these mutant variants do not survive to
another pathogen, such as tuberculosis, hepatitis, or adulthood and, hence, will not pass the mutant variants
malaria; or when they suffer from HIV/AIDS, together on to the next generation.
with a noncommunicable c ondition such as kidney dis- Because this mutant variation is harmful, our first
ease or heart problems. A common syndemic condition inclination might be to describe it as a maladaptation,
is what Singer calls “SAVA”: substance abuse, violence, that is, as an adjustment by an organism (or group of
and AIDS. To acknowledge syndemic interconnections organisms) that undermines the ability to cope with en-
is to recognize that public health interventions directed vironmental challenges of various kinds. We might then
at only one component—only HIV/AIDS, only tubercu- expect the harmful mutant to be eliminated through nat-
losis, only substance abuse—will always be inadequate. ural selection. As we saw in Chapter 5, however, people
exposed to malaria have a better chance of resisting the
parasite if they carry one copy of the normal hemoglo-
bin variant and one copy of the mutant variant. The
syndemic The combined effects on a population of more than one dis-
ease, the effects of which are exacerbated by poor nutrition, social instability,
combination of the two hemoglobin proteins on the red
violence, or other stressful environmental factors. blood cells of these individuals changes the structures of
adaptation Adjustments by an organism (or group of organisms) that help these cells enough to inhibit malaria parasites, but not
them cope with environmental challenges of various kinds. enough to cause sickle-cell anemia.
biocultural adaptations Human cultural practices influenced by natural If the mutant hemoglobin variant first appeared in
selection on genes that affect human health.
populations of gatherers and hunters, it probably had a
maladaptation An adjustment by an organism (or group of organisms)
that undermines the ability to cope with environmental challenges of low frequency. But once local people began to cultivate
various kinds. plants for food, they cleared large tracts of forest for their
IN THEIR OWN WORDS
The Madness of Hunger
Medical anthropologist Nancy Scheper-Hughes years will sometimes collapse, their legs giving way under
describes how symptoms of a rural Brazilian folk an ataque de nervos, a nervous attack. They cannot walk,
ailment can be understood as a form of protest they cannot stand upright; they are left . . . without a leg
against physical exploitation and abuse. to stand on.
In “lying down” on the job, in refusing to return to the
work that has overly determined their entire lives, the
cane cutters’ body language signifies both surrender
Among the agricultural wage laborers living in the hillside
and defeat. But one also notes a drama of mockery and
shantytown of Alto do Cruzeiro, on the margins of a large,
refusal. For if the folk ailment nervos attacks the legs and
interior market town in the plantation zone of Pernam-
the face, it leaves the arms and hands intact and free for
buco, Brazil, and who sell their labor for as little as a dollar
less physically ruinous work. Consequently, otherwise
a day, socioeconomic and political contradictions often
healthy young men suffering from nervous attacks press
take shape in the “natural” contradictions of angry, sick,
their claims as sick men on their various political bosses
and afflicted bodies. In addition to the wholly expect-
and patrons to find them alternative work, explicitly
able epidemics of parasitic infections and communicable
“sitting down” work, arm work (but not clerical work for
fevers, there are the more unexpected outbreaks and ex-
these men are illiterate).
plosions of unruly and subversive symptoms that will not
The analysis of nervos does not end here, for ner-
readily materialize under the health station’s microscope.
vous attack is an expansive and polysemic (having mul-
Among these are the fluid symptoms of nervos (angry,
tiple meanings) form of disease. Shantytown women, too,
frenzied nervousness): trembling, fainting, seizures,
suffer from nervos—both the nervos de trabalhar muito,
hysterical weeping, angry recriminations, blackouts, and
“overwork” nerves from which male cane cutters suffer,
paralysis of face and limbs.
and also the more gender-specific nervos de sofrir muito,
These nervous attacks are in part coded meta-
the nerves of those who have endured and suffered much.
phors through which the workers express their danger-
“Sufferers’ nerves” attacks those who have endured a
ous and unacceptable condition of chronic hunger and
recent, especially a violent, tragedy. Widows of husbands
need . . . and in part acts of defiance and dissent that
and mothers of sons who have been abducted and vio-
graphically register the refusal to endure what is, in fact,
lently “disappeared” are prone to the mute, e nraged,
unendurable and their protest against their availability
white-knuckled shaking of “sufferers’ nerves.”
for physical exploitation and abuse. And so, rural workers
who have cut sugarcane since the age of seven or eight Source: Scheper-Hughes 1994, 236–37.
fields, creating large, open spaces where rainwater could mericans of European ancestry have been told for
A
collect in stagnant pools, providing ideal breeding con- years that cows’ milk is nature’s perfect food and think
ditions for mosquitoes. As the population of cultivators nothing of consuming milk well into adulthood. Yet
grew, so did the number of hosts for the malaria parasite, biomedical researchers discovered in the 1960s that
altering selection pressures via niche construction. Indi- many people around the world are unable to digest
viduals with copies of both the normal and the mutant fresh milk in adulthood. This became particularly ob-
variants were fitter because they had a greater probabil- vious when adults in places like South Asia were sick-
ity of surviving and reproducing than individuals with ened when they tried to consume powdered fresh milk
copies of two normal variants or of two mutated vari- sent as a form of foreign aid by the U.S. government.
ants. As a result, the frequencies of the mutant variant in- It turned out that the milk sugar lactose provoked
creased in the population, despite the fact that a double these digestive upsets. Most human infants are able to
dose of it was generally lethal. absorb lactose because their digestive systems produce
A second example of the role of cultural prac- the enzyme lactase, but the production of lactase de-
tices shaping natural selection on genes that affect creases as children grow up. After this occurs, adults
human health concerns lactose intolerance. Many North without lactase who consume fresh milk can develop
serious intestinal upsets and are said to be “lactose in- In addition, as we saw earlier, biomedicine depends
tolerant.” So what would explain the fact that not all on a Western cultural understanding of the individual
human adults are lactose intolerant? human organism as a bounded, self-contained, autono-
Some scientific observers noticed that adults able mous self. Together, these biomedical understandings
to absorb lactose successfully appeared to be members define ill-health as disease caused by material entities
of human populations that had a history of keeping located within individual human bodies. Biomedical
dairy herds. As William Durham (1991) observed, this therapy likewise is targeted inside individuals, with the
hypothesis “includes the concept of cultural media- goal of curing diseases located within their individual
tion at its very core, since the hypothesized fitness ad- bodies. However, findings from medical anthropology
vantage of [lactose absorption genetic variants] would repeatedly demonstrate that these assumptions are not
have depended upon the presence of socially transmit- universal.
ted values and beliefs that supported dairying” (241).
Subsequent efforts have confirmed this connection, not
only for dairying peoples of Europe but also in Africa Kinds of Selves
and elsewhere. In many parts of the world (including some subgroups
in Western societies, such as Charismatic Christians), in-
dividual human beings are not understood to possess
How Do People with Different selves that are self-contained and closed off. As a result,
individuals consider themselves vulnerable to penetra-
Cultures Understand the tion by phenomena from outside their skins, including
Causes of Sickness and Health? both material entities like microbes and nonmaterial en-
tities like spirits. For instance, Charismatic Christians
Anthropologists have long been intrigued by the ac- emphasize the openness of human individuals to God’s
counts offered by people with different cultures to ex- Holy Spirit, but individuals may be equally open, and
plain why people get sick and how (or whether) their therefore susceptible, to attacks by evil spirits or
sicknesses may be cured. Whereas explanations of some demons—and none of these entities registers on scien-
illnesses and their cures resemble biomedicine (e.g., tific instruments. Charismatic Christians do not feel
digestive upsets treated with medicinal plants), expla- helpless in their vulnerability, however, because they be-
nations for other sicknesses may be interpreted as being lieve that gifts of the Holy Spirit, such as the power to
caused by witchcraft or sorcery or punishment by ances- heal, can be channeled through prayer in certain ritual
tors for the breaking of taboos. For example, E. E. Evans- contexts and directed toward suffering individuals to
Pritchard’s celebrated study of witchcraft, oracles, and provide healing. As it happens, many forms of suffering
magic among the Azande ([1937] 1976) demonstrated that are explained cross-culturally in terms of spirit pos-
how sickness and death (but also healing) could be ex- session or witchcraft often resemble mental and emo-
plained in what Western science would describe as tional disturbances with which Western psychologists
“mystical” terms, although Azande people also ac- and psychiatrists are familiar, but that cannot be reduced
knowledged the role played by material causes recog- to simple material causes. As Thomas Csordas (2010
nized in Western biomedicine. For instance, Evans- [1988]) has written, Charismatic Christians who ac-
Pritchard found that Azande people understood the knowledge the existence of evil spirits are able to place
material causation involved when a person trips over a “ ‘spiritual power’ alongside ‘illness’ as a way to make
root and cuts his foot in the same way as a Western sci- sense of a frustrating life situation . . . along with the re-
entific observer understands it; nevertheless, an Azande assurance that an unsettling apparition was not a sign of
person might also invoke witchcraft to explain why the insanity but the manifestation of an evil spirit” (102)
cut failed to heal. (See the discussion of Azande witch- (Figure 16.2).
craft in Chapter 10.) As discussed in Chapter 10, T. M. Luhrmann carried
Many people who accept a biomedical approach out extensive ethnographic fieldwork among groups of
to sickness and health are perplexed by explanations Christians in the United States who claimed to occasion-
that involve witchcraft or other nonmaterial causes that ally hear the voice of God. As Luhrmann found, hear-
cannot be identified in a scientific laboratory. Biomedi- ing the voice of God was not a simple matter. Not all
cal accounts accept only material causes for ill health. members of the congregations she studied were able to
hear God’s voice, and learning to do so required spiritual
training. For these Christians, Luhrmann (2012) argues,
self The result of the process of socialization/enculturation for an individual. prayer is a skilled practice: “prayer trains people to ignore
How Do People with Different Cultures Understand the Causes of Sickness and Health? 509
and anyone who had been hospitalized for psychiatric

reasons. However, the consequences of training in spiri-
tual disciplines turned out to be quite unlike the conse-
quences of serious mental disturbances. “For the most
part, prayer practice is good for people, whatever the re-
ality of God . . . At their most intense, prayer practices
can carry risks, but there are clear differences between
the unusual experiences described by congregants and
psychosis” (Luhrmann 2012, 227). People diagnosed
with schizophrenia, for example, often hear multiple,
hostile, threatening voices that arrive unbidden, many
times a day. But the voice of God described by the church
members Luhrmann knew was very different: rare, brief,
FIGURE 16.2 Charismatic Christians consider themselves
v ulnerable to penetration by nonmaterial entities like spirits. startling, and positive. God’s voice was not harsh. More-
over, church members were always careful to engage in
a practice called “discernment” before concluding that a
the distracting world and to focus on their inner experi- particular sensory override experience was actually the
ence” (189). She found that the prayer practices of the voice of God (Luhrmann 2012, 222).
churches she attended powerfully enhanced a psycho- A self that is open to the wider world—that can
logical phenomenon called “absorption,” which refers be trained to open itself even wider through spiri-
to a “willingness to be caught up in their imaginative tual discipline—calls into question taken-for-granted
experience, and in nature and music” (195). Luhrmann assumptions about bounded selves bequeathed to us
and her colleagues developed the Spiritual Disciplines by the European Enlightenment. Postmodern cri-
Project as an experiment to test whether practices of tiques of Enlightenment ideas have also questioned
spiritual discipline could modify the way people’s minds taken-
for-granted assumptions about naturally unified
worked. The results showed that high-absorption indi- and integrated selves; these critics regularly insist, on the
viduals whose prayer discipline involved cultivating the contrary, that “decentered” selves are the norm rather
ability to develop vivid mental imagery did better on than the exception. From this perspective, the notion of
posttests of this skill than they had done on their pre- a bounded, centered, integrated self appears to be an il-
tests. Moreover, lusion or an effect of powerful political ideologies that
worked to mask the heterogeneity and contradictory
The vividness seems to leak into the world. To my features of individual experience.
mind, the most intriguing results from the experiment
were about sensory overrides, those odd moments
when you hear a voice when you are alone, or you see Decentered Selves on the Internet
something that isn’t there—not in a table-and-chairs
kind of way—or when you feel or taste or smell the im- Decentered, rather than unified, selves are not just the
material. (Luhrmann 2012, 309) product of postmodern philosophical theory. Such
selves are regularly experienced by aficionados of virtual
Training in the spiritual discipline called kataphatic reality gaming. Anthropologist Tom Boellstorff carried
prayer, which explicitly trained practitioners to focus on out fieldwork in the virtual reality computer program
inner imagery, was particularly successful. And this disci- Second Life. Second Life participants take on visual form
pline “seemed to give people more of what the scriptures in the program by creating avatars. Avatars in Second
promise when they turn to Christ: peace and the presence Life can be customized; residents are able to change
of God. . . . And they said that God had spoken to them almost every aspect of their appearance and can choose
(as some of them put it) at last” (Luhrmann 2012, 211). to be any age or race, male or female, any species, or
From the perspective of Western biomedicine and even a box or a blue ball. Because people are able to
psychiatry, seeing things that are not there and hearing shape their avatars as they wish, residents of Second Life
voices when no speaker is physically present are often tend to see one another’s avatars as fairly obvious repre-
seen as signs of mental disturbance. Luhrmann and her sentations of how they think of themselves. As one
colleagues were well aware of this, so they took care to person put it, “I’ve come to observe that the outward ap-
eliminate from the participant pool anyone who seemed pearance really does communicate a lot about who you
to be suffering from what psychiatrists would diagnose are, because it’s made up of conscious choices about
as psychosis, anyone who was taking antipsychotic drugs, how you want to present yourself” (Boellstorff 2008,
Lead Poisoning among Mexican American Children
In the summer of 1981, a Mexican American child was treated it in south Texas. But a short time later, he received informa-
for lead poisoning in a Los Angeles emergency room. When tion from the Los Angeles County Health Department, which
the child’s stomach was pumped, a bright orange powder had discovered that azarcón was not the only name for the
was found. It was lead tetroxide, more than 90% elemental preparation. When he asked for greta, he was sold a heavy
lead. Lead in that form is not usually found in lead poisoning yellow powder that turned out to be lead oxide with an ele-
cases in the United States. When questioned by health pro- mental lead content of approximately 90%. The shop owners
fessionals, the mother revealed that her child had been given said it was used to treat empacho. Here was confirmation
a folk remedy in powdered form—azarcón. Azarcón was that two related lead-based remedies were being used to
used to treat an illness called empacho, part of the Mexican treat empacho. Trotter discovered that a wholesale distribu-
American set of culturally recognized diseases. Empacho is tor in Texas was selling greta to more than 120 herb shops.
believed to be a combination of indigestion and constipation. Trotter was asked to work in a health education project
This case prompted a public health alert that was sent out designed to reduce the use of these lead-based remedies.
nationally to clinics and physicians. The alert turned up an- Because of the complex nature of the problem, he had six
other case of lead poisoning from azarcón in Greeley, Colo- different clients with somewhat different needs and respon-
rado. A nurse had read about the Los Angeles case and asked sibilities. The first client was the Public Health Service office
if the mother was treating the child for empacho. She was. in Dallas, which sponsored the first study he did.
Additional investigation revealed widespread knowledge of The second client was the task force that had been
azarcón in both Mexican American communities. The U.S. formed to create and implement a health education project
Public Health Service decided that an anthropological study in Colorado and California. Task force members wanted to
of azarcón would be useful. reduce the use of azarcón—but they did not want to attack
The Public Health Service in Dallas called Dr. Robert Trot- or denigrate the folk medical system that promoted its use.
ter, who had done research on Mexican American folk medi- The goal of the task force became product substitution—to
cine. Trotter had never heard of azarcón and could not find convince people to switch from greta or azarcón to another,
130). At the same time, however, residents could create New Guinea. In Second Life, perhaps the most striking
alternative avatars, known as alts, with which they would example of dividual selves involved people who would
sometimes log on. The most common kind of alt was log on two or more alts simultaneously from two com-
the “social alt,” used to try out a different self or an puters or via multiple copies of the program on one com-
aspect of a resident’s self that was not part of the main puter. People in Second Life can have multiple selves in a
avatar. As a consequence of the way Second Life worked, way that is impossible in the real world, and these mul-
it was impossible to connect alts with avatars, unless the tiple selves really are discontinuous: Boellstorff (2008)
resident who was both of them shared that information
with the other residents of Second Life. Sometimes, the
alts were very different from the main avatar, which was
taken by most people as the “default” self in Second Life.
Alts might have completely different social networks
than the avatar (Figure 16.3).
Some of the residents Boellstorff knew told him they
found it required some time and some mental effort to
shift gears from one alt to another. But Boellstoff was
struck by the fact that “for most residents, having alts
was not cognitively dissonant, despite the lack of any real
parallel in the actual world.” Here the sense of a single,
unified individual self begins to break down in Second
Life, becoming what Boellstorff (2008) calls a “dividual”
self (150). This concept was developed by anthropologist
FIGURE 16.3 Avatars in Second Life can be customized to
Marilyn Strathern (1988) to articulate the divided sense r epresent the self. Here, a screen capture from Second Life
of self taken for granted by people she knew in Papua shows an avatar visiting a virtual museum in March 2007.
510
harmless remedy for empacho that was already part of the The sixth client was the Migrant Health Service. It needed
folk medical system. to know whether it was necessary to design a nationwide
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA), Trotter’s third lead project. Based on the research that Trotter and others
client, decided it needed basic ethnographic information on did, it became clear that such a major project was not neces-
the use of greta. The FDA had never considered that lead sary; rather, health projects were targeted and health pro-
oxide could be a food additive or a drug, and it needed verifi- fessionals notified in the areas of high greta and azarcón use
able data that the compound was being used in this way. As only.
a result of Trotter’s research, the FDA concluded that greta Two years after the project began, both greta and az-
was a food additive. It issued a Class I recall to ban the sale arcón were hard to find in the United States. In addition, the
of greta as a remedy. various surveys Trotter carried out led to better screening
Client number four was the Texas regional office of the De- procedures for lead poisoning. Information on traditional
partment of Health and Human Services. It needed assistance medications is now routinely gathered when lead poisoning
in creating and carrying out a survey along the United States- is suspected, and several other potentially toxic compounds
Mexico border. Trotter’s survey indicated that as many as 10% have been discovered. Health professionals were able to
of the Mexican American households along the border had learn about the current use of traditional medications in
at one time used greta or azarcón. The survey also turned up their areas and about the specific health education needs
several other potentially toxic compounds that were in use. of their clients.
Trotter’s fifth client was the Hidalgo County Health Care Trotter brought to the project the skills of the anthropolo-
Corporation, a local migrant clinic. It needed a survey that gist; his principal focus was on culture. He took a holistic,
would compare the level of greta and azarcón usage in the comparative approach, and he was willing to innovate, to
local population in general with the level of usage among the look for explanations in areas in which investigators from
people who came to the clinic. Trotter found that the two other disciplines had not thought to look. This is typical
groups did not differ significantly in their knowledge about for medical anthropologists, who struggle with the friction
and use of the two preparations; however, the clinic popula- generated when biomedical approaches encounter cultural
tion was more likely to treat folk illnesses with folk medicines practices that begin with different assumptions about the
than was the population at large. way the world works.
notes that “There is a clear gap between where one alt Arthur Kleinman (2000), for example, define subjectiv-
ends and the next begins, even (or perhaps especially) ity as “the felt interior experience of the person that in-
when people simultaneously log on their distinct alts so cludes his or her positions in a field of relational power”
that the alts can have company, or so one person’s two (1). Medical anthropologists have sought to understand
alts can have sex together. . . . Such gaps were compre- individual subjectivity from a variety of perspectives.
hensible to residents because, as a virtual world, Second One approach is interpretive medical anthropology, which
Life was already constituted by the gap between actual is based on the anthropological view that culture medi-
and virtual” (150). This, perhaps, is one of the surprises ates human experiences (including experiences of suffer-
of virtual worlds. It is also a powerful argument that in- ing). Interpretive medical anthropology emphasizes that
dividuals with multiple, decentered senses of self should cultural systems, including medical systems, are sym-
not be assumed to be suffering from mental or emo- bolic systems. This means that beliefs and practices
tional disturbances that require medical intervention. about sickness and health held by people with different
cultures could be better understood if they are situated
in their own symbolic cultural contexts.
Self and Subjectivity One way of exploring the symbolic dimensions of
At the same time, anthropologists who recognize the un human suffering has been to focus on the illness narra-
even and contradictory features of individual self- tives that people with different cultures provide to ex-
experience often draw attention to the attempts individ- plain the sources of their suffering. In some cases illness
uals make, even in the most difficult or bewildering narratives are coconstructed by sufferers and their care-
situations, to impose meaning, to make sense of what is givers. Appropriate narrative construction is required if
happening to them. In recent years, many psychological
anthropologists (some of whom also identify as medical
anthropologists) have come to speak not of individ-
subjectivity The felt interior experience of the person that includes his or
ual self, but of individual subjectivity. Veena Das and her positions in a field of relational power.
511
appropriate therapy is to be provided, but also if suffer-

ers, and their families and caregivers, are to hope for a
positive result. Some illness narratives may sound ex-
traordinary from a biomedical perspective, but they can
be deeply informative about people’s illness experiences
in particular cultural and political contexts.
Jessica L. Gregg is a medical anthropologist who car-
ried out fieldwork in Recife, Brazil, among poor women
who had been diagnosed with cervical cancer and who
required radiation treatment as part of their therapy.
Recife is known as a city with one of the highest levels
of cervical cancer in the world, thought to be caused by
infection with certain strains of the human papilloma- FIGURE 16.4 Poor women in Brazil who were diagnosed
virus. Poor women who were diagnosed with cervical with cervical cancer depended on public health insurance or
cancer depended on public health insurance or char- charity for treatment and sometimes received more intensive
ity for treatment. They also had to wait a long time for treatment than was necessary. In the city of Recife, cervical
cancer was negatively stigmatized.
treatment in a hospital that was not equipped to handle
more than twelve patients a week. All were given radia-
tion treatments designed for the most advanced forms
of cervical cancer, even when their cancer was not ad- when making that explanation fit their own lives was so
vanced. This treatment brought on a range of negative implausible? Gregg (2011) concluded that “women in
side effects, including nausea, diarrhea, intestinal ob- Recife used stigmatizing narratives to hold themselves
structions, and pain in connection with sexual inter- to the explicit cultural and moral standards . . . of the
course (Figure 16.4). non-ill, the undisrupted. By doing so, they maintained
Cultural understandings in northeast Brazil, both continuity with their ‘same self’” (78). This made sense,
about women and about cancer, are essential to un- Gregg found, when she realized that this kind of illness
derstand the illness narratives Gregg collected from the narrative offered the women who told it “a metaphor for
women she interviewed. First, in northeast Brazil, women thinking about health and, perhaps redemption. Health
“continue to be defined largely in terms of their sexual or cure was described, both by women with cancer and
behavior” (Gregg 2011, 72). They have been stereotyped, by their physicians, in terms of a return to sexual purity”
by Brazilians and by non-Brazilians, as “vibrantly sen- (79). Doctors contributed to this narrative: “Women
sual”; at the same time, they are expected to keep their reported, and I observed, that physicians frequently
sexuality under strict control. Second, in Recife, cancer of explained to their patients that the vaginal narrowing
all kinds is associated with death, and anyone suffering and dryness caused by radiation therapy would render
from cancer tries to keep the matter secret from neigh- sex painful and, perhaps impossible. Thus, doctors sug-
bors who, they fear, would abandon them if word about gested, the women were not just healed, they were ‘vir-
their cancer got out. Cervical cancer was considered even gins’ again” (79). Only one woman she interviewed,
worse than other forms of cancer because it was asso- who was a heroin addict and prostitute, did not offer an
ciated with sexual promiscuity. Gregg reports that “The illness narrative of this kind. This woman believed that
women I interviewed often considered cervical cancer to her cancer had been caused by her sexual preference for
be the end result of untreated, accumulated STDs [sexu- women. Convinced that the radiation treatment would
ally transmitted diseases]” (77). So women diagnosed turn her into a man, which she did not want, she “re-
with cervical cancer “were not just considered ‘rotten,’ fused to complete it and eventually died” (80).
they were also presumed to be promiscuous” (77). Paraphrasing an observation by Veena Das (Das
The women Gregg interviewed regularly blamed 2001), Gregg (2011) argues that “the power of stigma
their cancer on some form of sexual misconduct. One lies . . . in its effects within social networks,” because
woman concluded that she was stricken because she had it was social exclusion that women with cervical cancer
had more than one sexual partner; another, who had had feared most. At the same time, her research showed that
sex only with her husband, concluded that her cancer some women diagnosed with cervical cancer clung to
had been caused by excessive sexual desire for him. Why stigmatizing metaphors, using them to organize their
should these women support such explanations for their illness narratives: “Women with cancer (and their phy-
cancer diagnoses, constructing illness narratives that ac- sicians) intertwined stigmatizing metaphors with ther-
cepted the stigma associated with cervical cancer, even apeutic metaphors and narratives of virginity and cure
that allowed the women to maintain hope” (Gregg

2011, 81). One moral of this research, Gregg concludes,
is that “we should tread carefully before we divest the
ill of meaning and comfort d erived from unanticipated
sources” (81).
Subjectivity, Trauma,
and Structural Violence
To focus on subjectivity in an anthropological analysis
is to acknowledge the way in which individuals are to
some extent initiating subjects, or agents of their own ac- FIGURE 16.5 Agriculture has not proven to be successful for
tions. However, subjects are never absolutely free to act displaced Korwa, and many find themselves forced to work as
as they choose. Our action is circumscribed by various wage laborers or, as here, to prepare and sell firewood.
forms of social, economic, and political inequality that
we encounter in the societies in which we live. That is,
we occupy various subject positions in society and are sub- district, as well as to promote their assimilation into
ject to the institutional forms of power in which those urban Indian society. In their current circumstances, dis-
subject positions are embedded. Predictable institu- placed Korwa are persuaded that health is impossible.
tional relationships shape individual subjectivities that They say they feel tired, achy, and without energy and
reflect established forms of political power. But social complain of “‘fever’ that doesn’t show up on a thermom-
and cultural patterns are sometimes overturned by un- eter” (Gaur and P atniak 2011, 86) (Figure 16.5).
predictable events that leave enduring marks on the Gaur and Patniak (2011) use the term experien-
subjectivities of individuals who live through them. tial health to describe Korwa understandings of health,
These kinds of events, from colonial conquest to popu- which do not easily fit into a biomedical framework:
lation displacements to armed conflict and war, regu- “By experiential health we imply a purely subjective feel-
larly produce trauma, severe suffering caused by forces ing . . . by ‘health’ [the Korwa] do not merely imply a
and agents beyond the control of individuals. Large- disease-free bodily state. They consider forest-based life
scale violence aims to destroy not only individuals but healthy in spite of the fact that they acknowledge their
also the social order. Both individual and cultural fac- encounters with various diseases before displacement
tors contribute to trauma and are equally implicated in because, barring a few illness episodes, they could ‘feel’
recovery from trauma, which may take a long time and health for most of their lives” (86). The Korwa word that
is not guaranteed. Significantly, traumatic events can most closely translates as “health” is sukh, “a condition
have negative health consequences for those who live of all around prosperity with bodily health as an integral
through them. component. Most of the informants expressed ideas on
This is seen in the research of Mokshika Gaur and embeddedness of health in social, economic, and emo-
Soumendra M. Patniak (2011), who explored under- tional conditions of existence” (Gaur and Patniak 2011,
standings of health and nonhealth among the Korwa 90). These conditions of existence are connected to their
people of central India. Gaur and Patniak carried out traditional forest home, where Korwa felt protected by
fieldwork in 2002 and 2004 among a group of Korwa family and village deities and where they lived in har-
people working as wage laborers in stone quarries and mony with natural, social, and supernatural worlds. “By
road construction, settled in villages around a provincial contrast, illness is attributed to disruption, disorderli-
town. Their initial research questions were designed to ness, disharmony, and imbalance in relationship with
investigate Korwa ideas of “health, illness, body, factors the ‘three worlds’ that are played out on the body” (91),
affecting the state of health and illness experiences and leading to physical difficulties in carrying out the activi-
their own state of health” (Gaur and Patniak 2011, 88). ties of daily life. As a result, “The Korwa, both young and
The responses they got revealed a Korwa understanding old, consider the forest their actual ‘home’ and associate
of health that connected it with their past life of hunt- all of their maladies with the new living space” (92).
ing, gathering, and farming in their forested hills of cen-
tral India. In the 1970s, this group of Korwa had been
forcibly evicted from their forest homeland and resettled
trauma Events in life generated by forces and agents external to the
in their current villages because of government plans to person and largely external to his or her control; specifically, events gener-
incorporate their homeland into a forest conservation ated in the setting of armed conflict and war.
Gaur and Patniak (2011) compare the Korwa expe- This discussion of the Korwa draws attention to
rience with that of people in other parts of the world forms of violent disruption of stable ways of life that
who have been displaced and resettled, pointing out that can produce the experience of trauma among those who
the experience of resettlement is not unlike a rite of pas- survive them. Sometimes, however, the source of human
sage, in which the resettled communities “go through suffering can be located in features of everyday forms of
a phase of transition, which may last for a number of social inequality. Paul Farmer is an anthropologist and
years . . . and is associated with morbidity, mortality, medical doctor who has worked since 1983 in Haiti. His
distress and despair” (87). Tragically, Korwa resettle- activities as a physician have exposed him to extreme
ment has brought poverty and exploitation. “Among the forms of human suffering that are part of everyday life
Korwa, displacement has not only demolished their eco- for those at the bottom of Haitian society (Figure 16.6).
nomic livelihood, but has also dismantled the founda- As he pointed out in 2002, “In only three countries in
tional structures of community living, namely mutuality the world was suffering judged to be more extreme than
and reciprocity” (94). Under these conditions, people that endured in Haiti; each of these three countries is
work too hard, lose energy, and feel vulnerable to ill- currently in the midst of an internationally recognized
ness, leading to “a state of nonhealth—a condition of civil war” (Farmer 2002, 424). But if the suffering of
liminality where one is neither healthy (because of loss poor Haitians is not the outcome of the traumatic vio-
of economic and emotional well-being) nor ill (as one is lence of war, it can be described as a consequence of an-
able to carry out everyday activities)” (94). Those most other form of violence: structural violence.
affected by this social disintegration are families or in- Structural violence is violence that results from the
dividuals in the villages who lack support networks and way that political and economic forces structure risk for
who are also those who complain most about health various forms of suffering within a population. Much of
problems with no obvious cause. In some cases, Korwa this suffering is in the form of infectious and parasitic
people blame their ill-health on the activities of witches. disease. But it can also include other forms of extreme
“In the case of the Korwa, we found that women accused suffering such as hunger, torture, and rape (Farmer 2002,
of witchcraft are typically those having a marginal exis- 424). Farmer’s work highlights the effects of structural
tence [who] live in a constant fear for their life and com- violence on the production of individual subjectivity.
plain of suffering from perpetual aches, weakness, and The operations of structural violence create circum-
intermittent fever” (95–96). scribed spaces in which the poorest and least powerful
To alleviate their ill health, Korwa preferred to con- members of Haitian society are subjected to highly in-
sult “full healers” who “were considered capable of tensified risks of all kinds, increasing the likelihood that
curing any illness with his combinative therapy of forest sooner or later they will experience one or more varieties
herbs, propitiation of deities, and exorcising of spirits” of social suffering.
(Gaur and Patniak 2011, 96). Unfortunately, in the vil- In this respect, Farmer’s focus on the consequences
lage settings where they now lived, full healers were hard of structural violence dovetails with the focus of Mer-
to find. Gaur and Patniak conclude that Korwa experi- rill Singer and other medical anthropologists who em-
ences of ill-health can be described as instances of soma- phasize the importance of syndemics, discussed above,
tization, where forms of social, political, and economic which highlight what has been called the “biology of
suffering are experienced as forms of bodily suffering. poverty.” Singer and his colleagues, who call themselves
“Their bodily experiences are situated in the loss of the critical medical anthropologists, draw attention to the ways
people–place interface so that the notion of nonhealthy in which many forms of physical, mental, and emo-
body becomes a trope of their socioeconomic condi- tional suffering correlate with forms of socioeconomic
tions of existence” (98). Nevertheless, Gaur and Patniak and political inequality. Both Farmer and Singer point
insist that it is important to understand Korwa forms of to the role played by social and political structures that
suffering as rooted in their transitional status, not as the distribute suffering unevenly and systematically within
result of a fixed state of impoverishment. Such an un- a society. These structural features require emphasis
derstanding holds out the hope that, in the future, dis- because the attention of most Western outside observ-
placed Korwa may make a “place” for themselves outside ers, even those who want to alleviate suffering, is often
the forest and that their current sufferings will abate. trained on individuals and their personal experiences,
with the resulting temptation to blame the victims for
their own distress.
Farmer’s work as a physician allowed him to see
structural violence Violence that results from the way that political
and economic forces structure risk for various forms of suffering within a firsthand the suffering of poor Haitians he knew, and
population. his work as an anthropologist allowed him to link that
FIGURE 16.6 Dr. Paul Farmer

with AIDS patients at Clinique Bon
Sauveur. Political and economic
forces structure people’s risks for
various forms of suffering in Haiti
and elsewhere.
suffering to economic and political structures in Haitian sexual relationship, the soldier died. Eventually Acéphie
society that are often invisible in local situations, but that began to work as a maid, met a young man she planned
can be revealed through careful analysis. Farmer begins to marry, and became pregnant. She had a difficult de-
by offering the biographies of two young H aitians, one livery and developed infections, and when she sought
a woman and one a man. Both died young, the woman medical help, she was diagnosed with AIDS. Following
of AIDS and the man of injuries inflicted on him in the her death, her father hanged himself.
course of a beating by the police. As Farmer (2002) says, Chouchou Louis grew up in a village on the Cen-
these two individuals “suffered and died in exemplary tral Plateau of Haiti. In the 1980s, times were especially
fashion,” and he shows how the combined forces of difficult under the repressive dictatorship of Jean-
racism, sexism, political violence, and poverty conspired Claude Duvalier. By 1986, a prodemocracy movement
“to constrain agency” and “crystallize into the sharp, succeeded in forcing Duvalier to leave the country, but
hard surfaces of individual suffering” (425). he was replaced in power by a military government. The
Acéphie Joseph was the woman who died of AIDS at U.S. government hoped that this military government
25, in 1991. Her parents had been prosperous peasants would bring democracy. Poor peasants like Chouchou
until 1956, when they were displaced from the valley saw little difference between the military rulers and
where they lived after it was flooded by a dam built to the dictator they had replaced, however, because peas-
generate electricity. They lost everything and attempted ants continued to be subject to violence at the hands
to grow crops on an infertile plot in the village where of soldiers.
they were resettled. Farmer (2002) writes that Acéphie’s The election in 1990 of the popular leader Father
“beauty and her vulnerability may have sealed her fate Jean-Bertrand Aristide by more than 70% of the vote
as early as 1984” (426). When she helped her mother elated peasants, but in 1991 Aristide was ousted in a coup.
carry produce to market, they passed the local military When rural discontent increased, “the country’s repres-
barracks, and a particular soldier began to flirt with her. sive machinery, dismantled during the seven months’
“Such flirtation is seldom unwelcome, at least to all ap- of Aristide’s tenure, was hastily reassembled under
pearances. In rural Haiti, entrenched poverty made the the patronage of the army” (Farmer 2002, 429). Soon
soldiers—the region’s only salaried men—ever so much thereafter, Chouchou was riding in a truck and made a
more attractive” (427). Although Acéphie knew the sol- comment about the poor state of the roads that might
dier had a wife and family, she did not rebuff him, and have been interpreted as a veiled criticism of the coup.
her family approved of their liaison. “I could see that On the same truck was an out-of-uniform soldier who,
the old people were uncomfortable, but they didn’t say at the next checkpoint, had Chouchou dragged from the
no . . . I never dreamed he would give me a bad illness truck and beaten. He was let go, but was arrested several
. . . it was a way out, that’s how I saw it,” Acéphie ex- months later and tortured by the military. Three days
plained. Only a few weeks after the beginning of their later, he was dumped in a ditch, and the following day
FIGURE 16.7 The individual

subjectivities of many Haitians have
been shaped by the experience
of structural violence in the form
of AIDS and political violence, two
leading causes of death among
young people in Haiti. They leave
behind other forms of social suffer-
ing for their parents and children.
Here, the parents of Jean-David
Droitdieu, an AIDS victim, holding
his orphaned daughter, sit in front
of their home and the place of his
burial, surrounded by relatives and
neighbors.
Farmer was brought in to treat him, but his injuries were social and economic forces that have helped to shape the
too severe. He died three days later. AIDS epidemic are, in every sense, the same forces that
Acéphie and Chouchou are individuals, and so it is led to Chouchou’s death and to the larger repression in
natural to ask how representative their experiences might which it was eclipsed. What is more, both were ‘at risk’ of
be. Farmer’s experience among many poor women with such a fate long before they met the soldiers who altered
AIDS showed him that all of their cases, including Acé- their destinies. They were both, from the outset, victims
phie’s, showed “a deadly monotony.” The women he in- of structural violence” (431).
terviewed “were straightforward about the nonvoluntary
aspect of their sexual activity” (Farmer 2002, 431). They
had been driven to it by poverty. Similarly, Chouchou
was only 1 of more than 3,000 Haitian civilians, most of
How Are Human Sickness and
them poor peasants, who were killed after 1991 by mili- Health Shaped by the Global
tary or paramilitary forces. Thus, Farmer concluded, “the
agony of Acéphie and Chouchou was in a sense ‘modal’
Capitalist Economy?
suffering. In Haiti, AIDS and political violence are two Attention to structural violence and the syndemics it
leading causes of death among young adults” (Farmer engenders shows how medical anthropology is capable
2002, 431). And all suffering and death was the outcome of contextualizing experiences of sickness and health
of structural violence: All the key events that contributed across the world in terms that go well beyond the experi-
to their deaths, from the flooding of the valley to the ences of individual illnesses and culture-bound syn-
funding of the Haitian army, were the consequences of dromes. As Farmer shows, the structures and processes
human agency which, in turn, severely circumscribed that shape these wider contexts have the ability to
the agency of Acéphie and Chouchou no matter what expand or contract the agency of particular individuals
they did. and groups who must deal with them. As Singer empha-
Farmer identifies specifically the relations of power sizes, the consequences for ill health for those at the
in which each of them was embedded because these con- bottom of unequal hierarchies are syndemic, interacting
tributed to the likelihood that their suffering and death with one another in ways that intensify suffering. For
would take the forms it took. For example, “gender helps these reasons, many medical anthropologists carry out
explain why Acéphie died of AIDS whereas Chouchou research that shows how individual and local experi-
died from torture” (Farmer 2002, 433). Race or ethnic- ences and interpretations of suffering fit into broader
ity helps explain why illness is more likely to be suf- historical and political contexts.
fered by the descendants of enslaved Africans, and social The broader contexts that must be considered are
class helps explain why they were more likely to be poor first historical. A history of European colonial domina-
(Figure 16.7). “These grim biographies suggest that the tion and the institution of racial slavery in places like
How Are Human Sickness and Health Shaped by the Global Capitalist Economy? 517
IN THEIR OWN WORDS
Ethical Dilemmas and Decisions
We have already met the authors of this in time-compressed mornings. Hard-surface disinfec-
selection in an earlier chapter—Timothy De Waal tants protect individuals from contagion, but they may
Malefyt and Robert J. Morais are anthropologists reduce the broader population’s resistance to bacteria.
who have spent their careers in advertising Credit cards bring convenience but can result in unman-
and marketing. Here, they dig into the ethics of ageable debt. Candy and other junk foods are satisfying
when consumed but represent empty calories and con-
working in advertising, often with products that
tribute to obesity. Some fast-food companies claim their
have public health consequences. The ethical
offerings are more nutritious than their competition—for
issues they raise, however, are issues that all
example, grilled versus fried hamburgers. Is the highly
anthropologists must confront.
salted, fatty beef offered as a healthier option really
healthy? Political advertisements can be combative and
stress only the truth that is advantageous to one side.
The way we frame ethically questionable situations in A cigarette campaign that aims to increase smoking
marketing depends on where we locate the idea of indi- or surreptitious surveillance on government projects for
vidual free will, choice, and human agency. We believe war efforts, as in the Camelot affair, are two examples
that business anthropologists who consider the ethics where most anthropologists would refuse cooperation.
of their work should assess the impact of their contribu- However, deciding on the degree of ethical responsibility
tions on the target audience, even when the ultimate de- for many consumable categories is difficult. Moreover, we
cision about buying is up to the consumer. This process recognize that we are complicit in muddying consumer
is not always simple. A good example of this conundrum evaluation of brands when we highlight their positive at-
is direct-to-consumer (DTC) prescription drug advertis- tributes, such as soda for its taste enjoyment, and down-
ing. The benefits and liabilities of this m
ultibillion-dollar play its negative dietary impact, or when we stress the
mode of consumer communication are hotly debated most dire consequences of not attending to the pain of
( . . . ). A
dvocates contend that DTC advertising builds tooth sensitivity. At the same time, we have observed that
awareness among sufferers of underdiagnosed con- corporate profit and consumer fulfillment are not mutu-
ditions, leads to needed treatment for these condi- ally exclusive, as in a zero-sum game. Many consumers
tions, and reminds consumers to take their medication, derive pleasure and obtain no deleterious consequences
thereby improving public health. Critics argue that DTC when they drink soda in moderation, some of which is
advertising profits mainly pharmaceutical companies, sugar-free, and they protect their teeth when they brush
contributes to overmedication, and places physicians in with a toothpaste for sensitivity. Both the buyer and the
the uncomfortable position of talking their advertising- marketer win. In the end, we feel that consumers usually
influenced patients out of medications that they do not have access to information that enables them to make
need. Given that both sides of the argument have merit an informed choice about the brands they consider. As-
and are discussed openly, we believe that the decision to suming that a marketing researcher believes that the cli-
accept or refuse a DTC assignment must be a personal ent’s essential claims are valid and that the consumer has
one for the researcher. enough information available, each of us must weigh the
Other advertising categories are more or less prob- merits in developing advertising that might influence con-
lematic. Cigarettes are unequivocally harmful to human sumers toward potentially d etrimental ends. . . .
health, but freedom of speech allows some degree of Human interaction demands that we make judgments
marketing and advertising of these products. We would every day that have moral and ethical implications. Should
not choose to participate in cigarette marketing research we walk by the homeless woman or stop to give her spare
because we see no redeeming value in the products, but change? Is it acceptable to use a hand sanitizer to prevent
other anthropologists might argue that these products illness while contributing to the spawning of superbug
deserve representation and that consumers can decide bacteria in the broader community? Should university pro-
for themselves whether to purchase them. Children’s fessors, well aware that the job market for PhD anthropol-
sugar laden cereals provide scant nutritional value, but ogists is dismal . . . decrease the size of graduate programs
mothers feed them to their children because they feel and suggest alternative careers to prospective students?
these cereals are the only food their children will consume Are we all above reproach in our responses to questions

IN THEIR OWN WORDS
Ethical Dilemmas and Decisions Continued
such as these? Taking this argument further, must anthro- another of the issues we face. It is, in part, through com-
pologists be advocates for the public good? This is a noble munities like these that we arbitrate what is ethical and
calling, but is it central to the practice of anthropology in what is not. Our personal values inform our judgments
the twenty-first century? During anthropology’s histori- and actions in our business conduct as well. Through both
cal period in the early twentieth century, when the field’s communities and personal experiences, we evolve guide-
objectives were often intertwined with colonial aims and lines for our business conduct. As our stories revealed, we
“powerless natives” needed protection, anthropologists have, at times, felt conflicted. A decision to turn away work
could rightly be called upon to play activist roles. We have is not easy, and we find ourselves more likely to rational-
suggested that business is not an all-powerful force; con- ize accepting a client in a gray area than refusing to work
sumers have the freedom to reject marketing and ad- on a project on moral grounds. We have boundaries, but
vertising messages. Other than in cases of malfeasance, we do not pretend that we hold ourselves to a lofty stan-
consumers do not require advocates. Consequently, we dard of pure truth in advertising. We also accept that some
do not believe that advertising and marketing researchers academic anthropologists might find the profit motives of
need to take on a protective role for consumers. (. . .) business abhorrent and consumer manipulation repug-
Ethics are ultimately defined and negotiated in public nant. We hope that they will recognize the ethical consid-
discourse as well as by individual decision making. We and erations most marketing and advertising anthropologists
other practicing anthropologists with whom we are ac- try to abide by in our working lives. We also urge academic
quainted constitute a community that views ethics as cer- anthropologists to embrace cultural relativity and accept
tain appropriate and responsible behavior in the context that advertising anthropology can be not only a viable
of our businesses. We value our communal discussions, career path but also an ethical one.
professional meetings, and informal lunches where we
vent frustrations, discuss our concerns, and inform one Source: Malefyt and Morais 2012, 132–33, 134–35.
Brazil and Haiti (and the United States) set the stage
for inequalities that would follow, even after colonial
empires ended and slavery was abolished (Figure 16.8).
Even where racial slavery was not institutionalized,
colonial administrations attempted to organize indig-
enous groups living within their borders according to
hierarchical principles that favored colonizer over col-
onized, and some colonized groups benefitted more
than other groups did. European colonial empires
were themselves shaped by the expansion of a global-
izing capitalist market in which all colonial powers
were enmeshed. E uropean cultural practices of many
kinds were imported to the colonies, including Euro-
pean biomedical ideas of health, sickness, and therapy. FIGURE 16.8 Colonial powers brought biomedicine with
The breakup of these empires following World War II them and established hospitals like this one in Mozambique in
colonial territories, but access to those hospitals was not equal
made increasingly visible the fact that none of the in-
for everyone.
dividual groups studied by anthropologists could real-
istically be represented as ever having lived in isolation
from their neighbors. Newly independent nation-states and with the state authorities, were complex and some-
forged from former colonies regularly contained within times antagonistic. The areas of disagreement often in-
their boundaries social groups with varied political and cluded different opinions about the causes of health
cultural histories, whose relations with one another, and culture for illness.
FIGURE 16.9 Medical pluralism

in Guider, 1976. Vendor of tradi-
tional medicines in the market.
After World War II, the anthropology of medicine one husband described the hierarchy of resort that he and
began to turn attention to these wider arenas within his wife had followed when seeking therapy for infertility.
which different understandings of sickness and health First, they had gone to the local biomedical clinic, which
rubbed up against one another. Inspired by the interpre- had nothing to offer them. Their next visit was to a local
tive cultural anthropology of Clifford Geertz, Charles Muslim practitioner whose therapy involved copying out
Leslie and his associates urged that non-Western medical key verses from the Qur’an onto a board, washing off the
beliefs and practices be understood as cultural systems ink with which they had been written, and instructing the
(Leslie 1976). Leslie wanted to draw attention to the so- patient to drink the ink. This, too, had proved unsatisfac-
phisticated “great tradition” medical systems that devel- tory. When we last spoke, the man said that he and his
oped over centuries in the civilizations of South Asia and wife were now thinking of consulting a traditional non-
China, fully fledged alternative medical systems such as Muslim Fali healer living outside Guider, who had a repu-
Ayurvedic medicine in India. But Leslie also pointed tation for success in cases of infertility.
out that Western exploration, colonial expansion, and
industrialization had fostered the spread and adoption
of Western biomedical systems by people in many non-
Health, Human Reproduction,
Western societies around the world. Consequently, it and Global Capitalism
seemed incorrect to continue to regard biomedicine as Medical anthropologists have drawn attention to a range
the exclusive property of “the West.” Leslie argued that it of factors that affect women’s health in relation to child-
was more accurate to consider biomedicine as a particu- bearing. Many formal studies of fertility by government
larly high-status form of cosmopolitan medicine. agencies or biomedical authorities have exclusively been
Finally, Leslie also emphasized that wherever cos- concerned with the challenges of population growth in
mopolitan medicine is found, it always coexists with many poorer societies and have pressured families to
a range of alternative ethnomedical systems based on reduce the number of offspring they produce. Medical
practices of local sociocultural groups—a state of affairs anthropologists have been instrumental in drawing
called medical pluralism. Under conditions of medical
pluralism, people seeking medical care develop hierarchies
of resort: first, they consult local practitioners whom they cosmopolitan medicine A more accurate way to refer to Western
know and trust and who treat them with respect; if they biomedical systems adopted by people in non-Western societies around the
world.
fail to receive satisfaction, they will seek out practitioners
ethnomedical systems Alternative medical systems based on practices
associated with other ethnomedical systems. Medical plu- of local sociocultural groups.
ralism was present in Guider, Cameroon, in 1976 when medical pluralism The coexistence of ethnomedical systems alongside
the authors were living there (Figure 16.9). For example, cosmopolitan medicine.
a ttention to the challenges that infertility poses for indi- that the reason she needed help with the mattress was so
vidual women living in societies with particular gender that her baby would not fall off the bed if she gave birth
and family structures. In societies like China, where de- before the midwife returned. This woman had just been
scent is traditionally traced through males and property examined by the nurse-midwife, who had decided the
and status move through lineages of related men, women woman was not yet ready to deliver her child, scolded
who fail to produce sons for their husbands may be re- her for being weak, and then left the room to attend to
garded as extra mouths to feed and may find themselves other patients. Spangler (2011) writes, “The woman on
isolated when their husbands die and they have no son the floor, who I’ll call Asha, did not deliver alone. To
to take care of them in old age. relieve the midwife, I attended the birth—an act that
The spread of global capitalism may undermine tra- prevents me from knowing what would have happened
ditional sources of livelihood and social organization, had I not been present“ (480).
which in turn erode traditional supports for reproduc- For the rest of her fieldwork, Spangler sought to un-
tive health. In many countries, landless peasants who are derstand how this event could have happened, which
forced out of the countryside into cities in search of work led her to explore “the multiple and specific pathways
often live under extraordinarily difficult circumstances through which [inequality] becomes physically inte-
that have a serious negative impact on pregnant and nurs- grated within peoples’ bodies” (Spangler 2011, 480).
ing women and their children (Scheper-Hughes 1992). She described these pathways as processes of social ex-
As we saw in Chapter 14, new research in the anthropol- clusion that eventually produced in Asha’s stressed, ne-
ogy of science, technology, and medicine has shown how glected body a phenomenon that some epidemiologists
many people now engage in assisted reproduction when and medical anthropologists and others call embodied
challenged by infertility. These technologies have now inequality. The physical toll that inequality takes on
become components of cosmopolitan medicine, but the people like Asha is sometimes explained as being the
ways in which they are integrated into the reproductive result of chronic individual stress; other times it is seen
practices of people with different cultural understandings as the consequence of weak or absent social networks.
about kinship and motherhood vary greatly. But Spangler (2011) finds more persuasive an explana-
Assisted reproduction, like other forms of assistance tion perspective that locates differential health outcomes
to pregnant or birthing mothers, is uneven across the in “inequitable distribution of social and material re-
world, a phenomenon described as “stratified reproduc- sources” (480) at the level of broader social institutions
tion” by Faye Ginsburg and Rayna Rapp (1995). Strati- that produced social exclusion while blaming those
fied reproduction occurs when those in favored social excluded for their own suffering (Figure 16.10). Social
strata are supported in their efforts to produce children, exclusion, in turn, refers to “the processes through
whereas those in marginalized social strata are discour- which individuals or groups are excluded from material
aged from doing so. Indeed, these same low-income resources and societal belonging . . . on multiple levels
women are sometimes recruited as caregivers for the of political economy” (481). The social exclusion per-
children of members of upper social strata, turning strat- spective on embodied inequality dovetails with earlier
ified reproduction into a form of structural violence and analyses that focus on the effects of structural violence
placing the children of lower-strata parents at greater risk
for social suffering.
In 2007–2008, Sydney Spangler engaged in par-
ticipant observation in a medical dispensary staffed by
a nurse-midwife and health aide in a village in south-
central Tanzania. A few weeks after her fieldwork in the
dispensary began, she found herself being asked by a
woman on the verge of delivery for help in putting the
woman’s mattress on the floor of the sparsely equipped
delivery room. When asked, the woman told Spangler
embodied inequality The physical toll that inequality takes on people’s

bodies.
social exclusion “The processes through which individuals or groups are FIGURE 16.10 Resource inequality sometimes means in-
excluded from material resources and societal belonging . . . on multiple equality in health care. Expectant mothers wait to deliver their
levels of political economy.” babies at the Temeke hospital in Dar-es-Salaam, Tanzania.
and the production of syndemics among poor people. is publicly displayed. In one case Spangler witnessed, a
Spangler’s ethnography traces the entanglements among woman was ashamed by her inability to afford all the
varying scales of social exclusion for birthing mothers supplies, and her husband immediately went out to try
and their families in south-central Tanzania. to procure them. By the time he returned, however, his
In Tanzania, “women face a 1 in 23 chance of dying wife had already birthed her child alone in the delivery
in their lifetimes from obstetrical causes—versus one in room. Even so, before they left the health center, the
4,300 for women in industrialized regions” (Spangler midwife demanded payment for the razor she had used
2011, 481). Tanzania is also characterized by medical to cut the umbilical cord (Spangler 2011, 485).
pluralism, and the value of cosmopolitan biomedicine It turned out that there was no government require-
is recognized by rich as well as poor, urban as well as ment that women furnish their own birthing supplies.
rural. According to Spangler, the forms of social exclu- However, the district had adopted birthing guidelines
sion that affect women like Asha can be traced to the late based on recommendations of the World Health Organi-
nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, when colonial zation, which included a list of supplies women should
rulers divided up the resources in what would become have. And “in a setting where nurses were attending de-
Tanzania on unequal terms, enriching themselves and liveries with condoms on their hands for lack of gloves,
impoverishing indigenous Africans. After independence, this list took on a different purpose. Inefficiencies in the
these inequalities were inherited by Tanzanian elites who national Medical Stores Department (MSD) had been
then managed resources in ways that furthered regional contributing to supply shortages for years” (Spangler
inequalities. At the regional level, these inequalities were 2011, 486). As a result, midwives “improvised” the rule
extended when some groups were allowed to monopo- that all women had to provide their own supplies. The
lize good farmland while other groups were not. At the positive result was that when women did provide their
local level, some of those with land to farm were pro- own supplies, clean deliveries were possible and nobody
vided with resources to improve agricultural production, worried about the transmission of infectious diseases.
whereas others were not.
Most socially excluded of all poor rural people were But providers in some facilities were extending the
women, who were prevented from owning land and already long list of items to include kerosene and dis-
unable to obtain paid work. These forms of social exclu- infectant. Others required that women purchase drugs
and prenatal cards, both distributed to facilities by the
sion are further exacerbated by bureaucratic and politi-
government (albeit unreliably). To complicate things,
cal corruption that benefit some more than others, with
there was a growing trend for providers to own local
no accountability. Finally, Tanzania has felt the effect
pharmacies and thus profit from the rule. This conflict
of neoliberal capitalist notions of development, which
of interest was not lost on residents, who complained
equate citizenship with individual purchasing power in bitterly . . . [but] many providers applauded each oth-
a free market. As a result, citizens who do not succeed er’s entrepreneurial efforts and felt entitled to their ac-
in consumerist terms are subjected to further social ex- tions. “Owning a business is the way of the modern
clusion. These many layers of social exclusion produced world,” one clinical officer explained of his pharmacy.
encounters like the one between Asha and the nurse- (Spangler 2011, 486)
midwife, where “face-to-face claims on biomedical care
collide with enactments of discrimination at multiple To be sure, staff members of rural health clinics were
levels” (Spangler 2011, 482). The consequences leave overworked, serving large populations with limited sup-
women like Asha suffering and deprived of medical at- plies, and their comparatively high salaries were often
tention at the moment of delivery, with lasting traces in stretched to support relatives. As a result, “in an emerg-
their bodies of that suffering and deprivation. ing capitalistic system with limited opportunity and few
Although delivery is supposed to be free of charge at means of accountability, rural health facilities became
the public health center, Spangler observed that women privatized enterprises for the gain of those who worked
who arrived to deliver were expected to provide all the there” (Spangler 2011, 487).
supplies needed by the nurse-midwife for the birth: One day, the nurse-midwife gave much attention
rubber gloves, blankets, soap, a basin, a razor to cut the to a well-to-do woman who came to the clinic, while
umbilical cord, cotton wool, and so forth. When poor pointedly ignoring calls for help from a poor woman of
women arrived, they were invariably asked loudly where low status in the delivery room, who confided to Span-
these things were, and if they were not produced, they gler that the clinic was not a place for people like her.
were loudly scolded as lazy and told that they would not Another woman decided not to go to the health center
be attended until someone provided the missing sup- because her husband had been obliged to obtain a
plies. In this way, the social exclusion of poor women loan to cover the expenses associated with her previous
delivery, which they were still trying to pay off when she advice to the medical community, based on their experi-
became pregnant again. With the new baby, this woman ences delivering ARV therapy in Haiti and Rwanda
“felt that her best option was to stay close to her fields. through Partners in Health, the nongovernmental orga-
Of course it was dangerous, but risking further poverty nization (NGO) they founded (328):
was an even higher-stakes gamble. Trading one chance
• ARVs should be made universally available and
for another, she made the most pragmatic decision she
free to all those who needed them to ensure that
could” (Spangler 2011, 489).
the poor were not excluded.
The public shaming of poor farmers like Asha and
her husband marked them as socially inferior and, • Antiretroviral therapy could not succeed unless it
by extension, only worthy of inferior treatment at the was embedded in a solid health-care infrastruc-
health center. But the poor women Spangler knew did ture, run by the government: “only the public
the best they could to minimize their risk at the time of sector, not nongovernmental organizations, can
delivery while attempting to minimize the risk to their offer health care as a right” (328).
families of public humiliation or debt. For nearly half • More trained health-care providers are needed if
of all women in the district, this meant giving birth at antiretroviral therapy is to be successfully deliv-
home, which seemed the lesser of the evils. Spangler ered to people in poor countries.
(2011) was impressed that “some disadvantaged women
• Programs designed to relieve poverty must be in-
sought biomedical care despite the hurdles they had to
stituted if antiretroviral therapy among the poor
overcome” (492). But her research led her to conclude
is to succeed: “Our experience in Haiti and
that the health outcomes they experienced could not be
Rwanda has shown us that it is possible to remove
explained only in terms of their individual behavior. On
many of the social and economic barriers to ad-
the contrary, she argues that “socioeconomic inequali-
herence, but only with what are sometimes
ties make their way into women’s bodies through mul-
termed ‘wrap-around services’: food supplements
tilevel processes of social exclusion that determine the
for the hungry, help with transportation to clinics,
care they can access—their care-seeking behavior and
child care, and housing. In many rural regions of
the treatment they receive” (491). She insists that “ap-
Africa, hunger is the main coexisting condition in
proaches that seek to understand differences, focus on
patients with AIDS or tuberculosis and these con-
the needs of the disadvantaged, and address systematic
sumptive diseases cannot be treated effectively
power imbalances might lead to health development ef-
without food supplementation” (328).
forts that serve to disembody inequality” (494).
Many medical anthropologists have investigated
the conditions under which people with AIDS attempt
Medical Anthropology and HIV/AIDS to survive, especially under conditions of poverty. An
In 2013, according to the World Health Organization, outstanding example of such work is medical anthro-
34 million people in the world were living with HIV; pologist João Biehl’s long-term ethnographic research
54% of eligible people currently receive antiretroviral project on life with AIDS among the poor and home-
(ARV) therapy for HIV; and 7 million people with HIV less in the city of Salvador de Bahia (2007). Salvador is
are still waiting for such therapy (http://www.who.int/ a city of 2.5 million located on the coast of northeastern
hiv/en/). Effective ARV therapy for AIDS was first devel- Brazil. When Biehl began his ethnographic research in
oped in the late 1980s, but these drugs were prohibitively 1995, 70% of the AIDS cases in Bahia state were con-
expensive and out of reach for poor people like Acéphie centrated in Salvador, a popular tourist destination and
Joseph in places like Haiti. By 2006, however, the situa- a city in which nearly half the population live below the
tion had changed enormously. In that year, Paul Farmer poverty line.
and his colleague Jim Yong Kim wrote that “in the United The center of Biehl’s participant observation research
States, such therapy has prolonged life by an estimated was Casaah, “house of support” founded in 1992 when
13 years—a success rate that would compare favorably
a group of homeless AIDS patients, former prostitutes,
with that of almost any treatment for cancer or complica-
transvestites, and drug users squatted in an abandoned
tions of coronary artery disease” (2010 [2006], 327). At maternity ward in the outskirts of Salvador.
the same time, they pointed out that the conditions that Soon, perhaps surprisingly, Caasah became an NGO
favored adherence to ARV therapy were not found in and began to receive funding from a World Bank loan
parts of the world like Haiti and Africa, where infection disbursed through the Brazilian government. By 1994,
rates were highest and the people suffering with HIV/ eviction threats had ceased and the service had gathered
AIDS were poor. Therefore, Farmer and Kim offered resources for basic maintenance. Caasah had formalized
FIGURE 16.11 A social worker

carrying a crack addict to receive
treatment in November 2012. As is
the case for poor people living with
HIV/AIDS, poor people struggling
to recover from drug addiction
need food and social connections
to survive after treatment. If these
supports are not available, their
chances for recovery are slim.
partnerships with municipal and provincial Health 2002), that is, to oblige governments to take notice of
Divisions, buttressed by strategic exchanges with hospi- their citizens’ health needs and to intervene on their
tals and AIDS NGOs. (Biehl 2007, 15) behalf (Figure 16.11).
But Biehl’s ethnography is multisited, however, and his In Brazil, AIDS activists were joined by a number of
research also took him to local hospitals and government other actors, such as civil servants, nongovernmental de-
offices and into discussions with physicians, Brazilian pol- velopment agencies, and Brazilian pharmaceutical man-
iticians, and pharmaceutical representatives. His research ufacturers; together, they succeeded in challenging the
was ongoing in 1997 when the Brazilian government pricing practices of global pharmaceutical companies
made it official policy to guarantee its citizen universal, (Figure 16.12). To begin with, these activists asserted
free access to ARVs. An additional strength of Biehl’s eth- that free and universal access to ARVs was a human right.
nography is his discussion of how this came about. At the same time, Brazilian pharmaceutical companies
In the mid-1990s, Brazil accounted for 57% of all were enlisted to reverse engineer and produce generic
AIDS cases in Latin America, and HIV was spreading versions of expensive name-brand drugs. While this was
unchecked among poor Brazilians in places like Salva- happening, the Brazilian Health Ministry was working
dor, in part because the drugs that could treat their condi- to negotiate drug price reductions from the global phar-
tion were too expensive for them to afford. Faced with a maceutical companies that sold the name-brand drugs.
health crisis of unimaginable proportions, AIDS patients To the astonishment of many observers, inside and out-
banded together and organized politically to demand side Brazil, this strategy worked. ARV prices dropped.
that the state acknowledge that health was a human The Brazilian government, accepting the argument that
right and that the cost of drugs should not deprive poor health was a human right, agreed that it would supply
AIDS patients of effective therapy. Biosociality is the these drugs to AIDS patients free of charge. Subse-
term medical anthropologists use to describe social quently, Brazil became a model for other poor countries
identities that are based on a shared medical diagnosis. to follow in obtaining ARVs for their afflicted citizens.
In recent years, patient groups like those diagnosed with The Brazilian success story literally changed the
HIV/AIDS have proclaimed a shared biosocial identity lives of the poor AIDS patients whom Biehl knew. As
and have rallied around this identity to engage in what his ethnographic project extended over the years, many
medical anthropologists call health activism, whether
to demand that the state provide funding for medica-
biosociality Social identities based on a shared medical diagnosis.
tions, as in Brazil, or to demand funding for research
health activism Political organization around a biosocial identity in order
that would seek a cure for the disease they share. Medi- to demand health-related interventions by the state or other organizations.
cal anthropologists describe health activism of this kind biological citizenship Government recognition of citizens’ health needs
as an attempt to assert biological citizenship (Petryna and to intervene on their behalf.
FIGURE 16.12 In 2012, AIDS

ctivists in Brazil demonstrate
a
against government measures
against HIV/AIDS prevention.
individuals who had expected to die began to develop a In the meantime, neoliberal economic policies adopted
new “will to live” once they gained access to ARVs. Many by the Brazilian government meant that funding for
of them eventually were able to stabilize their lives and other features of the Brazilian health-care infrastructure
move on with optimism into the future. Nevertheless, were disappearing. So were government-sponsored wel-
although access to ARVs truly could be life altering for fare programs that in the past had supported the most
many AIDs sufferers, Biehl also saw how the possibilities destitute AIDs patients as they accessed their medica-
for such an outcome were shaped by structural violence. tions. Too often, loss of these other supports meant that
Biological citizenship, he discovered, free medication and a “will to live” was insufficient to
ensure survival.
is not an inclusive form of care or citizenship. Many
Since the 1990s, access to lifesaving ARV therapy by
are left out . . . [categorized as] drug addict, prostitute,
AIDS sufferers has advanced around the world, and medi-
beggar, thief. . . . To get that to which they are legally
cal anthropologists have been on hand to study what hap-
entitled, these individuals must not only identify them-
selves as belonging to the class of those served but also pens when ARV therapy is localized in different cultural
constantly seek service. To retain services, furthermore, and political settings. Whereas some of these settings have
they must behave in particular ways. As a result, they been characterized by AIDS activism organized around
largely remain part of the underground economy and a newfound biosocial identity, other settings have not.
constitute a hidden AIDS epidemic. (Biehl 2007, 49) For instance, medical anthropologist Rebecca Marsland
found that the way ARV therapy was being localized in
Further, even for those who benefitted from this rural Tanzania in 2009 was rather different from the Bra-
new access to vital drugs, the government policy that zilian situation. To begin with, the AIDS sufferers she
made this possible—namely, the agreement to supply knew did not organize around their biosocial status. In
expensive ARVs to all citizens free of charge—had trou- the rural community where she worked, “biosociality is
bling consequences. Most obvious was the emergence of laid down along already existing networks of family and
a phenomenon that Biehl calls the pharmaceuticalization neighbors, reinforced by shared practices, such as clinic
of public health: attendance, and the recognition of symptoms in others
Regional governments have been forced to alter their that have been experienced in one’s own body” (Marsland
health budgets drastically to accommodate the grow- 2012, 473). This meant that advertising one’s HIV status
ing judicial demands for high-cost medicines by pa- could lead to social ostracism by one’s family and neigh-
tient groups formed around chronic diseases and rare bors. Nor were AIDS patients willing to join a self-help
genetic diseases, for instance. Patients follow the path group unless they offered tangible material benefits. One
opened up by AIDS mobilization, with the exception of the women Marsland knew “had little interest in her
that many groups are now supported by the pharma- biological identity—it clearly offered less than the answer
ceutical industry. (Biehl 2007, 99) she needed to survive” (475).
In addition, AIDS patients in this rural Tanzanian and other disadvantaged groups. “He isn’t ill, but they
community did not separate their own individual well- won’t give a healthy man any money, it has to go via
being from the well-being of their families, many of the sick. He’s even started to find people who aren’t ill
whose members’ daily lives were difficult although they to join his group. And now he’s really making money!”
were not suffering from AIDS. As Marsland (2012) put (477). Marsland’s conclusion echoes the messages of
it, “The demands that a pharmaceutical places on the Biehl, Farmer and Kim, and other medical anthropolo-
body cannot always be placed before the hunger and gists familiar with the struggles of disadvantaged AIDS
the health of one’s family” (482). But health-care per- patients: “Life is not possible without ARVs, and yet the
sonnel at the clinic, as well as the international donors recipients of this gift carry the burden that they must
who funded ARV treatment, focused therapy only on ask for more, to make that life worth living” (Marsland
AIDS patients themselves, who were regarded as auton- 2012, 483).
omous individuals responsible for managing a treat-
ment regime designed for their individual health needs
alone. The awkwardness of this mismatch emerged The Future of Medical Anthropology
with poignancy for those whose families regularly Biomedical breakthroughs, many of them mediated by
suffered from food insecurity. As we saw earlier, ARV technological innovations and interventions, are wel-
therapy must be supported by nutritional supplements comed by medical anthropologists who accept that
to be successful. But many of the AIDS patients in this biomedicine is a form of cosmopolitan medicine that
community experienced regular food shortages, which ought to be accessible to anyone who might benefit
caused their health status to decline. To this was added from it, anywhere in the world. But as we saw most dra-
the further bitter irony that poor AIDS patients were matically in the case of the spread of antiretroviral ther-
carefully instructed at the clinic that they should never apy for HIV/AIDS, more than pharmaceuticals are re-
take their ARVs on an empty stomach. “In addition to quired in many parts of the world if positive health
this they are given dietary advice—not only to have a outcomes are to be achieved. Many medical anthropol-
varied diet but also to take care of themselves—to make ogists would argue that it is their ethical obligation to
sure that they don’t work too hard for instance. The un- make clear the forms of structural violence that con-
reality of this advice was often met with wry humor” demn some people to worse health and earlier death
(Marsland 2012, 476). Peasant farmers in the best of than other people. They also draw attention to the fact
times had to work hard in their fields to feed their fami- that the cultural practices of different peoples cannot
lies. AIDS patients could afford neither the “healthy” be ignored by those with the power to intervene medi-
diet recommended at the clinic nor the luxury of less- cally in other people’s lives. Are the targets of biomedi-
ening their workload—especially because they felt re- cal intervention in agreement with the view that they
sponsible for the well-being of family members and are, first and foremost, self-contained individuals
not themselves alone. whose health problems (and their cures) are located
Finally, in Tanzania the potential for AIDS activism within their own skins? Or are their selves dividual,
and the generation of a sense of biological citizenship linked first and foremost to kin and family, even at the
is undermined by a legal regime, inherited from the co- risk of their own health? Do their ideas of health en-
lonial period, which strictly controls grassroots organiz- compass more than simply bodily well-being, but
ing. People in the community where Marsland worked extend to a larger sense of well-being that can be de-
had set up a self-help group and wanted to register it stroyed if the social, economic, and religious supports
as an NGO; to do so, they were required to write a con- to which they are accustomed are destroyed by violence
stitution and pay a registration fee. Members hired an or war? Does their own sense of pride and dignity mean
outsider to help them write their constitution, but he that they will keep silent about their health or interpret
supplied his own personal contact information on the their illnesses in ways that, however implausible, reaf-
paperwork, rather than that of the original organizers. firm their sense of dignity?
Marsland’s informants angrily explained that this man The answers to these questions can only be found
had “stolen” their group from them. Why? “Since the as a result of close attention to both the local economic
1980s and structural adjustment, when many govern- and political circumstances in which suffering people
ment services were handed over to the NGO sector, there are embedded and the local beliefs and practices to
has been a steady flow of unemployed or underpaid which they are committed. And ethnography, informed
government workers who saw NGOs as a new source by a broad understanding of sickness and health, bio-
of income” (Marsland 2012, 479). NGO managers gain medical and otherwise, is an excellent way to seek
access to donor resources intended to help AIDS patients these answers. As Margaret Lock and Vinh-Kim Nguyen
insist, top-down approaches and standardized forms of the impact of biomedical technologies at local sites is
medical care are problematic, as are attempts to pro- indispensable in bringing about some change“ (Lock
vide pharmaceuticals to poor people who are also in and Nguyen 2010, 364). This view would surely be en-
need of food and water. They write, “The work of an- dorsed by the medical anthropologists whose work we
thropologists to represent and engage effectively with have reviewed in this chapter.
Chapter Summary
1. Medical anthropology is the fastest-growing applied societies accepts Western biomedical views about
specialty within anthropology today. Medical an- selves and the causes of human suffering. Groups like
thropologists have shown that notions of health and Charismatic Christians understand the cause of cer-
disease, as defined by Western scientific biomedicine, tain forms of suffering to be evil spirits that penetrate
are not adequate for understanding many forms the body. Some evangelical Christians emphasize
of sickness recognized in other s ocieties, let alone the importance of prayer as a pathway to hearing the
the illness experiences of individuals. Its successes voice of God. Tanya Luhrmann’s research showed that
demonstrate how the anthropological perspective, this form of prayer is a learned skill that is enhanced
coupled with participant observation as a research by spiritual disciplines recognized in many religious
method, is able to address matters of illness and traditions. Her research showed that the prayer skills
health that are often ignored or mischaracterized by developed by evangelical Christians she knew seem to
other perspectives or methods. change the way their minds worked, producing the ex-
2. Medical anthropology is a biocultural field because periences they interpreted as hearing the voice of God.
it places human sickness and health in biological These experiences are good for people and very unlike
and cultural evolutionary contexts. As anthropolo- the kinds of voices heard by people suffering from psy-
gists, medical anthropologists have long insisted that chotic conditions like schizophrenia. Biomedicine has
culture mediates human adaptations to their envi- also considered the experience of a divided self a sign
ronments; hence, all human adaptations to environ- of mental disturbance, but this phenomenon turns
ments are biocultural in nature. Furthermore, what out to be a benign and regular experience, not
counts as a biocultural adaptation or maladaptation only of people in some non-Western societies,
depends on biological, environmental, and cultural but also of Western Internet users who interact in
contexts. Many medical anthropologists carry out online environments such as Second Life.
their work with a focus on biological and environ- 4. Interpretive medical anthropology focuses on how
mental processes also studied by demographers. people with particular cultural beliefs and practices
They trace epidemic patterns of sickness in health make sense of their suffering. They tend to speak not
that spread across populations as well as those that of autonomous, self-contained selves but instead of
are confined within particular populations. Some of subjectivity, the inner experience of people shaped
them highlight the way that a combination of more by fields of power in which they are embedded. The
than one disease, together with other environmental study of illness narratives is a form of interpretive
challenges such as poverty, drug use, and violence, medical anthropology that allows outside observers,
can create syndemics. Others show how cultural me- such as biomedical s pecialists, to understand the per-
diation of human adaptations can produce disease spectives of i ndividual experiences of illness shaped
or sickness because of interactions among biological, by n
onbiomedical beliefs and practices. Some illness
environmental, and cultural factors. Examples are narratives show that people may interpret the cause
sickle-cell anemia and lactose intolerance. of their suffering in ways that have nothing to do
3. People in many societies explain sickness as the conse- with biomedical factors, but much to do with social
quence of such factors as witchcraft, sorcery, or punish- beliefs shared by members of their society. Brazilian
ment by ancestors. Western biomedicine rejects such women diagnosed with cervical cancer, for example,
explanations, in part because biomedicine regards may choose to believe that their condition was
human organisms as autonomous, self-contained, caused by past sexual behavior because this allows
harmoniously unified entities and recognizes only them to interpret their radiation treatment and its ef-
material causes for diseases occurring within human fects as forms of purification that both kill the cancer
bodies. However, not even e veryone in Western and restore them to former sexual purity.
Chapter Summary 527
5. Human subjectivity, and interpretations of suf- anthropologists have often paid attention to
fering, is sometimes shaped by the experience of women worried about infertility. Many point to
trauma, the intense physical and social dislocation, the ways that the spread of global capitalism has
including violence and war. The Korwa of India, undermined traditional health-care support for
who were moved out of their traditional homeland pregnant women and their infants; these changes
in the forest and resettled in villages by the Indian have often also promoted forms of stratified re-
government and are currently living as exploited la- production. Forms of assisted reproduction that
borers, insist that they cannot be healthy away from originated in Western biomedicine have now
their traditional homeland. Population displace- spread across the world. For poor women in states
ment may be understood as a stage in a rite of pas- like Tanzania, structural violence can create forms
sage, but the intermediate, liminal stage may take a of social exclusion that produce embodied inequal-
very long time as displaced groups struggle to turn ity in the bodies of women exposed to stress and
their new residence into a familiar place where they neglect when they deliver their babies. Some decide
feel comfort and hope for the future. Until that they will be better off giving birth at home rather
happens, displaced people, especially those with than face the cash expenses and the risk of public
few social supports, may experience ongoing forms humiliation and neglect if they attempt to give
of experiential nonhealth that biomedicine cannot birth at the local health center.
detect. 9. Many medical anthropologists have been involved
6. Structural violence describes institutional forms in working on various aspects of the HIV/AIDS
of inequality that make certain groups more likely epidemic. Paul Farmer’s early work in Haiti oc-
to fall victim to disease and suffering than other curred before effective ARV therapy for AIDS was
groups. Medical anthropologist Paul Farmer de- developed. Once ARVs were available, however,
scribed how structural violence in Haiti in the they remained out of reach for poor people. Farmer
1980s made it more likely for the poor than the and his colleagues at Partners in Health found ways
rich to suffer heavy burdens of disease and more to ensure that poor AIDS patients took their medi-
likely for poor women to die of HIV/AIDS and cations as prescribed, ways that included forms of
poor men to die of violence at the hands of the social and nutritional support. In places like Brazil,
Haitian military. The conditions Farmer describes people diagnosed with HIV/AIDS banded together
recall the syndemics described by medical anthro- on the basis of their shared biosocial identity and,
pologists like Merrill Singer. together with allies, demanded that the Brazilian
7. The structural violence identified by Farmer is government acknowledge their right to health and
shaped by the history and spread of the global therefore to ARV therapy. Pressure on the govern-
capitalist economy, beginning with the formation ment to acknowledge the biological citizenship
of European colonial empires some five centuries of Brazilian citizens with HIV/AIDS pushed the
ago. Western biomedical practices that spread government to negotiate successfully with interna-
under colonialism lost their original affiliation with tional pharmaceutical companies to bring down
the West and were transformed, turning them into the cost of ARVs. This made a dramatic difference
cosmopolitan medical practices, which rubbed up in the lives of many poor HIV/AIDS patients who
against other alternative medical systems (includ- otherwise would have died. Unfortunately, al-
ing sophisticated non-Western systems such as though the Brazilian government agreed to pay for
Ayurvedic medicine in South Asia) in colonies and ARVs for all citizens, neoliberal economic pressures
postcolonial nation-states. The result was a condi- undermined other aspects of the governmental
tion of medical pluralism. Under contemporary health and welfare infrastructure, leading to the
conditions of medical pluralism, people in most pharmaceuticalization of public health. The kinds
parts of the world have the option of consulting of support structures necessary for successful ARV
specialists in different medical systems according to therapy among the poor were disappearing, with
a hierarchy of resort. tragic results.
8. Many medical anthropologists have devoted 10. Biosociality and its consequences play out dif-
attention to women’s reproductive health. Al- ferently for HIV/AIDS patients in rural Tanzania
though many health experts have traditionally than in Brazil. In rural Tanzania, biosocial identity
been concerned with women’s fertility, medical for people with HIV/AIDS overlaps with family

or neighborhood identities, and the government success of ARV therapy for people with HIV/AIDS.
is unresponsive to health activism. As in Brazil, But pharmaceuticals alone are insufficient positive
however, neoliberal economic reforms have gutted health outcomes to be achieved, even for people
national welfare and health-care programs for with HIV/AIDS. The delivery of effective and appro-
the poor. Some local entrepreneurs, including priate health care still requires attention to structural
former government functionaries, have created violence and the cultural particularities of people
new income-generating opportunities by forming in different places, who have their own local under-
NGOs with poor HIV/AIDS patients as members standings of why they are ill and what will make
to access resources made available by international them better. Imposing a top-down, one-size-fits-all
donors. biomedical solution will meet with failure, not suc-
11. Biomedical breakthroughs are improving people’s cess. This is where medical anthropologists and their
life chances all over the global, as is shown by the work will continue to make important contributions.
For Review
1. What is medical anthropology? 11. What is structural violence? Explain how the
2. How do anthropologists use the term suffering and Haitian case studies in the text are examples of
why do they use it? structural v iolence.
3. What are culture-bound syndromes? 12. What does it mean to talk about medical beliefs
and practices as cultural systems?
4. What makes medical anthropology “biocultural”?
13. Describe medical pluralism and give examples.
5. Explain the concept of syndemic.
14. How can stratified reproduction turn into a form
6. How is sickle-cell anemia a biocultural of structural violence?
adaptation?
15. How does Spangler’s case study of giving birth in
7. Explain the different forms the self can take. Tanzania illustrate social exclusion and structural
8. Explain how alts in Second Life provide experi- violence?
ences of the self that are impossible in the actual 16. Define the terms biosociality and biological citizenship.
world. How do anthropologists use these concepts to
9. What are illness narratives? Give examples. analyze the history of HIV/AIDS in Brazil?
10. What is trauma? Using case material from this 17. Compare and contrast biosociality and biological
chapter, explain why this phenomenon is impor- citizenship in Brazil and in Tanzania.
tant for anthropologists to understand.
Key Terms
adaptation 506 culture-bound illness 504 structural violence 514
biocultural syndromes 504 maladaptation 506 subjectivity 511
adaptations 506 disease 504 medical suffering 504
biological embodied anthropology 504 syndemic 506
citizenship 523 inequality 520 medical pluralism 522 trauma 513
biomedicine 504 ethnomedical self 508
biosociality 523 systems 519
sickness 504
cosmopolitan health 504
social exclusion 520
medicine 519 health activism 523
Suggested Readings
Edmonds, Alexander. 2010. Pretty modern: Beauty, sex, and consequences of sociopolitical changes accompanying the end
plastic surgery in Brazil. Durham, NC: Duke University of colonialism and the expansion of neoliberal globalism.
Press. A powerful, accessible study of beauty in Brazil: cul- Lock, Margaret, and Vinh-Kim Nguyen. 2010. The anthropol-
tural definitions of beauty, how to become beautiful, and how ogy of biomedicine. Malden, MA: Wiley–Blackwell. This
to stay beautiful. Not just about plastic surgery, this is an volume introduces biomedicine from the perspective of an-
ethnography about the medicalization of beauty, sex, class, thropology. The authors explain how notions of a universal
and hope. human biology produced by biomedical science are regularly
Farmer, Paul. 2013. To repair the world: Paul Farmer speaks ill suited for coping with issues of health and illness shaped
to the next generation. Berkeley and London: University by local understandings of health, illness, and human bodies.
of California Press. This volume is an edited collection of They also address some of the ways that biomedical technol-
public speeches given by Paul Farmer between 2001 and ogies such as assisted reproduction and organ transplanta-
2013, some of them commencement addresses, in which he tion can actually work to increase global health inequalities,
discuses issues that have been central to his work in medi- rather than improve.
cal anthropology, including equity of access to health care, Singer, Merrill, and Hans Baer. 2012. Introducing medical
the future of medicine, and health, human rights, and social anthropology: A discipline in action, 2nd ed. Lanham,
justice. MD: AltaMira Press. The latest edition of an introduction
Good, Byron, Michael M. J. Fischer, Sarah S. Willen, and to critical medical anthropology, a perspective that locates
Mary-Jo DelVeccio Good (eds.) 2010. A reader in medi- human suffering in particular social settings within a his-
cal anthropology. Malden, MA: Wiley–Blackwell. This torical and political, as well as a biocultural, context. This
excellent edited collection offers excerpts from key texts in approach situates illness and health within larger contexts
medical anthropology, from early anthropological research characterized by inequalities of various kinds. The authors
on health-related topics to topics that interest contempo- argue that medical anthropology is concerned with health
rary medical anthropologists, such as illness narratives, gov- issues across time and space, and in demonstrating the way
ernmentalities and biological citizenship, the consequences social and cultural relationships, not biology alone, influ-
of biotechnology, global health and medicine, and the health ence health and illness.
Glossary
acclimatization: A change in the way the body functions aptation: The shaping of any useful feature of an organ-
in response to physical stress. ism, regardless of its origin.
Acheulean tradition: A Lower Paleolithic stone-tool tra- archaeological record: All material objects constructed
dition associated with Homo erectus and characterized by humans or near-humans revealed by archaeology.
by stone bifaces, or “hand axes.” archaeology: A cultural anthropology of the human past
achieved statuses: Social positions people may attain involving the analysis of material remains left behind
later in life, often as the result of their own (or other by earlier societies.
people’s) effort. archaic Homo sapiens: Hominins dating from 500,000
adaptation: (1) The mutual shaping of organisms and to 200,000 years ago that possessed morphological
their environments; (2) the shaping of useful features features found in both Homo erectus and Homo sapiens.
of an organism by natural selection for the function art: Play with form producing some aesthetically suc-
they now perform. cessful transformation-representation.
adaptations: Adjustments by an organism (or group of artifacts: Objects that have been deliberately and intel-
organisms) that help them cope with environmental ligently shaped by human or near-human activity.
challenges of various kinds. ascribed statuses: Social positions people are assigned
adoption: Kinship relationships based on nurturance, at birth.
often in the absence of other connections based on assemblage: Artifacts and structures from a particular
mating or birth. time and place in an archaeological site.
affect: Visceral arousal, emotion, or feeling. assumptions: Basic, unquestioned understandings about
affinal: Kinship connections through marriage or the way the world works.
affinity. australopithecus: The genus to which taxonomists place
affinity: Connection through marriage. most early hominins showing skeletal evidence of
affluence: The condition of having more than enough of bipedalism.
whatever is required to satisfy consumption needs. avunculocal: A postmarital residence pattern in which
agriculture: The systematic modification of the environ- a married couple lives with (or near) the husband’s
ments of plants and animals to increase their produc- mother’s brother (from avuncular, “of uncles”).
tivity and usefulness. band: The characteristic form of social organization
agroecology: The systematically modified environment found among foragers. Bands are small, usually no
(or constructed niche) that becomes the only environ- more than 50 people, and labor is divided ordinarily
ment within which domesticated plants can flourish. on the basis of age and sex. All adults in band societ-
alleles: All the different forms that a particular gene ies have roughly equal access to whatever material or
might take. social valuables are locally available.
anagenesis: The slow, gradual transformation of a single bifurcation: A criterion employed in the analysis of kin-
species over time. ship terminologies in which kinship terms referring to
analogy: Convergent, or parallel, evolution, as when the mother’s side of the family are distinguished from
two species with very different evolutionary histories those referring to the father’s side.
develop similar physical features as a result of adapting bilateral descent: The principle that a descent group
to a similar environment. is formed by people who believe they are related
anatomically modern human beings: Hominin fossils to each other by connections made through their
assigned to the species H. sapiens with anatomical mothers and fathers equally (sometimes called cog-
features similar to those of living human populations: natic descent).
short and round skulls, small brow ridges and faces, bilateral kindred: A kinship group that consists of the
prominent chins, and light skeletal build. relatives of one person or group of siblings.
androgyny: A condition in which an individual person biocultural adaptations: Human cultural practices
possesses both male and female characteristics. influenced by natural selection on genes that affect
anthropology: The study of human nature, human soci- human health.
ety, and the human past. biocultural organisms: Organisms (in this case, human
anthropomorphism: The attribution of human charac- beings) whose defining features are codetermined by
teristics to nonhuman animals. biological and cultural factors.
applied anthropologists: Specialists who use informa- biological anthropology (or physical anthropology):
tion gathered from the other anthropological special- The specialty of anthropology that looks at human
ties to solve practical cross-cultural problems. beings as biological organisms and tries to discover
530
Glossary 531
what characteristics make them different from other clientage: The institution linking individuals from
organisms and what characteristics they share. upper and lower levels in a stratified society.
biological citizenship: Government recognition of citi- cline: A pattern of gradually shifting frequency of a
zens’ health needs, and of the government’s obligation phenotypic trait from population to population across
to intervene on their behalf. geographic space.
biomedicine: Western forms of medical knowledge and coevolution: The dialectical relationship between biologi-
practice based on biological science. cal processes and symbolic cultural processes, in which
biopower: Forms of power preoccupied with bodies, each makes up an important part of the environment to
both the bodies of citizens and the social body of the which the other must adapt.
state itself. collaterality: A criterion employed in the analysis of
biosociality: Social identities based on a shared medical kinship terminologies in which a distinction is made
diagnosis. between kin who are believed to be in a direct line and
biostratigraphic dating: A relative dating method that those who are “off to one side,” linked to the speaker by
relies on patterns of fossil distribution in different rock a lineal relative.
layers. colorism: A system of social identities negotiated situ-
bipedalism: Walking on two feet rather than four. ationally along a continuum of skin colors between
bisexuality: Sexual attraction to both males and white and black.
females. commodity exchanges: Impersonal economic ex-
blades: Stone tools that are at least twice as long as they changes typical of the capitalist market in which goods
are wide. are exchanged for cash and exchange partners need
blended family: A family created when previously have nothing further to do with one another.
divorced or widowed people marry, bringing with common ancestry: Darwin’s claim that similar living
them children from their previous families. species must all have had a common ancestor.
bloodwealth: Material goods paid by perpetrators to communicative competence: A term coined by anthro-
compensate their victims for their loss. pological linguist Dell Hymes to refer to the mastery
bridewealth: The transfer of certain symbolically of adult rules for socially and culturally appropriate
important goods from the family of the groom to the speech.
family of the bride on the occasion of their marriage. communitas: An unstructured or minimally structured
It represents compensation to the wife’s lineage for the community of equal individuals found frequently in
loss of her labor and childbearing capacities. rites of passage.
broad-spectrum foraging: A subsistence strategy based compadrazgo: Ritual coparenthood in Latin America
on collecting a wide range of plants and animals by and Spain, established through the Roman Catholic
hunting, fishing, and gathering. practice of having godparents for children.
caste: A ranked group within a hierarchically stratified comparison: A characteristic of the anthropological
society that is closed, prohibiting individuals to move perspective that requires anthropologists to consider
from one caste to another. similarities and differences in as wide a range of hu-
catastrophism: The notion that natural disasters, such man societies as possible before generalizing about
as floods, are responsible for the extinction of species, human nature, human society, or the human past.
which are then replaced by new species. complex societies: Societies with large populations,
chiefdom: A form of social organization in which a an extensive division of labor, and occupational
leader (the chief) and close relatives are set apart from specialization.
the rest of the society and allowed privileged access to composite tools: Tools such as bows and arrows in
wealth, power, and prestige. which several different materials are combined
chromosomes: Sets of paired bodies in the nucleus of (e.g., stone, wood, bone, ivory, antler) to produce the
cells that are made of DNA and contain the hereditary final working implement.
genetic information that organisms pass on to their concentrations of particular artifacts: Sets of artifacts
offspring. indicating that particular social activities took place
cladogenesis: The birth of a variety of descendant spe- at a particular area in an archaeological site when that
cies from a single ancestral species. site was inhabited in the past.
clan: A descent group formed by members who believe conjugal family: A family based on marriage; at a mini-
they have a common (sometimes mythical) ancestor, mum, a husband and wife (a spousal pair) and their
even if they cannot specify the genealogical links. children.
classes: Ranked group within a hierarchically strati- consanguineal: Kinship connections based on
fied society whose membership is defined primarily descent.
in terms of wealth, occupation, or other economic consumption: The using up of material goods necessary
criteria. for human survival.
532 Glossary
continuous variation: A pattern of variation involving 500,000 years ago. Parts of the Denisovan genome
polygeny in which phenotypic traits grade impercep- resemble the genomes of modern humans from New
tibly from one member of the population to another Guinea.
without sharp breaks. dentition: The sizes, shapes, and number of an animal’s
cosmopolitanism: Being at ease in more than one cul- teeth.
tural setting. descent: The principle based on culturally recognized
cosmopolitan medicine: A more accurate way to refer to parent–child connections that define the social catego-
Western biomedical systems adopted by people in non- ries to which people belong.
Western societies around the world. dialectic of fieldwork: The process of building a bridge
cranial capacity: The size of the braincase. of understanding between anthropologists and infor-
cranium: The bones of the head, excluding the jaw. mants so that each can begin to understand the other.
cross cousins: The children of a person’s parents’ diaspora: Migrant populations with a shared identity
opposite-gender siblings (a father’s sister’s children who live in a variety of different locales around the
or a mother’s brother’s children). world; a form of trans-border identity that does not
crossing over: The phenomenon that occurs when part focus on nation building.
of one chromosome breaks off and reattaches itself digital heritage: Digital information about the past
to a different chromosome during meiosis; also called available on the Internet. It can include a range of
incomplete linkage. materials from digitized documents and photographs
cultural anthropology: The specialty of anthropology to images of artifacts to video and sound recordings.
that shows how variation in the beliefs and behaviors discontinuous variation: A pattern of phenotypic varia-
of members of different human groups is shaped by tion in which the phenotype (e.g., flower color) exhibits
sets of learned behaviors and ideas that human beings sharp breaks from one member of the population to the
acquire as members of society—that is, by culture. next.
cultural hybridization (or hybridity): Cultural mixing. discourse: A stretch of speech longer than a sentence
cultural imperialism: The idea that some cultures domi- united by a common theme.
nate others and that domination by one culture leads disease: Forms of biological impairment identified and
inevitably to the destruction of subordinated cultures explained within the discourse of biomedicine.
and their replacement by the culture of those in power. diurnal: Describes animals that are active during the day.
cultural relativism: Understanding another culture in DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid): The structure that car-
its own terms sympathetically enough so that the cul- ries the genetic heritage of an organism as a kind
ture appears to be a coherent and meaningful design of blueprint for the organism’s construction and
for living. development.
culture: Sets of learned behavior and ideas that human domestication: Human interference with the reproduc-
beings acquire as members of society. Human beings use tion of another species, with the result that specific
culture to adapt to and transform the world in which plants and animals become more useful to people and
they live. dependent on them.
culture-bound syndromes: Sicknesses (and the thera- domination: Coercive rule.
pies to relieve them) that are unique to a particular dowry: The wealth transferred, usually from parents to
cultural group. their daughter, at the time of her marriage.
culture shock: The feeling, akin to panic, that develops Early Stone Age (ESA): The name given to the period
in people living in an unfamiliar society when they of Oldowan and Acheulean stone-tool traditions in
cannot understand what is happening around them. Africa.
cyborg: A cybernetic organism, part machine and part ecological niche: Any species’ way of life; what it eats
living organism. and how it finds mates, raises its young, relates to com-
cyborg anthropology: A form of anthropological panions, and protects itself from predators.
a nalysis based on the notion of animal–machine economic anthropology: The part of the discipline of
hybrids, or c yborgs. It offers a new model for anthropology that debates issues of human nature that
c hallenging rigid social, political, or economic relate directly to the decisions of daily life and making
boundaries that have been used to separate people a living.
by gender, sexuality, class, and race, boundaries egalitarian social relations: Social relations in which
proclaimed by their defenders as “natural.” no great differences in wealth, power, or prestige divide
Denisovans: A population of Pleistocene hominins members from one another.
known only from ancient DNA recovered from three embodied inequality: The physical toll that inequality
tiny 41,000-year-old fossils deposited in Denisova takes on people’s bodies.
Cave, R
ussian Siberia. Denisovans and Neandertals are enculturation: The process by which human beings liv-
thought to share a common ancestor that left Africa ing with one another must learn to come to terms with
Glossary 533
the ways of thinking and feeling that are considered themselves but only when they are interpreted and
appropriate in their respective cultures. placed in a context of meaning that makes them
endogamy: Marriage within a defined social group. intelligible.
essentialism: The belief, derived from Plato, in fixed family: Minimally, a woman and her dependent
ideas, or “forms,” that exist perfect and u nchanging children.
in eternity. Actual objects in the temporal world, features: Nonportable remnants from the past, such as
such as cows or horses, are seen as imperfect house walls or ditches.
material realizations of the ideal form that defines feminism: The argument that women and men are
their kind. equally human and therefore that women are entitled
ethnic groups: Social groups that are distinguished from to enjoy the same rights and privileges as men.
one another on the basis of ethnicity. feminist archaeology: A research approach that explores
ethnicity: A principle of social classification used to why women’s contributions have been systematically
create groups based on selected cultural features such written out of the archaeological record and suggests
as language, religion, or dress. Ethnicity emerges from new approaches to the human past that include such
historical processes that incorporate distinct social contributions.
groups into a single political structure under condi- fieldwork: An extended period of close involvement
tions of inequality. with the people in whose language or way of life
ethnoarchaelogy: The study of the way present-day soci- anthropologists are interested, during which anthro-
eties use artifacts and structures and how these objects pologists ordinarily collect most of their data.
become part of the archaeological record. fitness: A measure of an organism’s ability to compete
ethnocentrism: The opinion that one’s own way of life in the struggle for existence. Those individuals whose
is natural or correct and, indeed, the only true way of variant traits better equip them to compete with other
being fully human. members of their species for limited resources are more
ethnography: An anthropologist’s written or filmed likely to survive and reproduce than individuals who
description of a particular culture. lack such traits.
ethnology: The comparative study of two or more flexible citizenship: The strategies and effects employed
cultures. by managers, technocrats, and professionals who move
ethnomedical systems: Alternative medical systems regularly across state boundaries and seek both to
based on practices of local sociocultural groups. circumvent and to benefit from different nation-state
ethnopragmatics: The study of language use that relies regimes.
on ethnography to illuminate the ways in which formal models: Mathematical formulas used to predict
speech is both constituted by and constitutive of social outcomes of particular kinds of human interactions
interaction. under different hypothesized conditions.
evidence: What is seen when a particular part of the framing: A cognitive boundary that marks certain be-
world is examined with great care. Scientists use two haviors as “play” or as “ordinary life.”
different kinds of evidence: material and inferred. free agency: The freedom of self-contained individuals
evolution: The process of change over time. to pursue their own interests above everything else and
evolutionary niche: Sum of all the natural selection to challenge one another for dominance.
pressures to which a population is exposed. friction: The awkward, unequal, unstable aspects of
evolutionary theory: The set of testable hypotheses that interconnection across difference.
assert that living organisms can change over time and friendship: The relatively “unofficial” bonds that people
give rise to new kinds of organisms, with the result that construct with one another that tend to be personal,
all organisms ultimately share a common ancestry. affective, and often a matter of choice.
exaptation: The shaping of a useful feature of an organ- gay: An affirmative and empowering self-designation for
ism by natural selection to perform one function and individuals medically classified as homosexual, which
the later reshaping of it by different selection pressures became widespread over the course of the twentieth
to perform a new function. century.
excavation: The systematic uncovering of archaeological gender: The cultural construction of beliefs and behav-
remains through removal of the deposits of soil and iors considered appropriate for each sex.
other material covering them and accompanying them. gender archaeology: Archaeological research that draws
exogamy: Marriage outside a defined social group. on insights from contemporary gender studies to
extended family: A family pattern made up of three investigate how people come to recognize themselves
generations living together: parents, married children, as different from others, how people represent these
and grandchildren. differences, and how others react to these claims.
fact: A widely accepted observation, a taken-for-granted gender binary: A dual gender categorization separating
item of common knowledge. Facts do not speak for all women from all men.
534 Glossary
gender performativity: The concept that gender is some- heteronormativity: The view that heterosexual inter-
thing we “perform” or “enact,” something we “do,” not course is (and should be) the “normal” form that hu-
something we “are.” man sexual expression always takes.
gene: Portion or portions of the DNA molecule that code heterosexism: A form of bias (like sexist bias) against all
for proteins that shape biological traits. those who are not heterosexual.
gene flow: The exchange of genes that occurs when a heterosexuality: The view that “natural” sexual attrac-
given population experiences a sudden expansion tion, leading to “natural” sexual intercourse, occurs
because of in-migration of outsiders from another only between males and females (i.e., individuals of
population of the species. different sexes).
gene frequency: The frequency of occurrence of the heterozygous: Describes a fertilized egg that receives a
variants of particular genes (i.e., of alleles) within the different particle (or allele) from each parent for the
gene pool. same trait.
gene pool: All the genes in the bodies of all members of hidden transcripts: Private accounts of their oppres-
a given species (or a population of a species). sion and alternatives to it developed by dominated
genetic drift: Random changes in gene frequencies from groups outside the public political arena. These
one generation to the next because of a sudden reduc- hidden accounts contrast with the views dominated
tion in population size as a result of disaster, disease, peoples express in public political contexts that
or the out-migration of a small subgroup from a larger do not c hallenge the legitimacy of the dominant
population. political order.
genetics: The scientific study of biological heredity. historical archaeology: The study of archaeological sites
genome: The sum total of all the genetic information associated with written records; frequently the study of
about an organism, carried on the chromosomes in the post-European contact sites in the world.
cell nucleus. holism: A characteristic of the anthropological perspec-
genotype: The genetic information about particular tive that describes, at the highest and most inclusive
biological traits encoded in an organism’s DNA. level, how anthropology tries to integrate all that is
genus: The level of the Linnaean taxonomy in which dif- known about human beings and their activities.
ferent species are grouped together on the basis of their hominins: Humans and their immediate ancestors.
similarities to one another. Homo erectus: The species of large-brained, robust homi-
gift exchanges: Noncapitalist forms of economic ex- nins that lived between 1.8 mya and 0.4 mya.
change that are deeply embedded in social relations Homo habilis: The species of large-brained, gracile homi-
and always require a return gift. nins 2 million years old and younger.
globalization: Reshaping of local conditions by power- homology: Genetic inheritance resulting from common
ful global forces on an ever-intensifying scale. ancestry.
governmentality: The art of governing appropriately to homosexuality: The heteronormative opposite of
promote the welfare of populations within a state. heterosexuality; that is, sexual relations involving two
grammar: A set of rules that aim to describe fully the men or two women (i.e., same-sex sexuality).
patterns of linguistic usage observed by speakers of a homozygous: Describes a fertilized egg that receives the
particular language. same particle (or allele) from each parent for a particu-
grave goods: Objects buried with a corpse. lar trait.
Great Chain of Being: A comprehensive framework for human agency: The way people struggle, often against
interpreting the world, based on Aristotelian principles great odds, to exercise some control over their lives.
and elaborated during the Middle Ages, in which every human rights: Powers, privileges, or material resources
kind of living organism was linked to every other kind to which people everywhere, by virtue of being hu-
in an enormous, divinely created chain. An organ- man, are justly entitled.
ism differed from the kinds immediately above it and hypotheses: Statements that assert a particular connec-
below it on the chain by the least possible degree. tion between fact and interpretation.
health: A state of physical, emotional, and mental well- ideology: A worldview that justifies the social arrange-
being, together with an absence of disease or disability ments under which people live.
that would interfere with such well-being. illness: A suffering person’s own understanding of his or
health activism: Political organization around a bioso- her distress.
cial identity to demand health-related interventions by imagined communities: Term borrowed from political
the state or other organizations. scientist Benedict Anderson to refer to groups whose
hegemony: The persuasion of subordinates to accept the members’ knowledge of one another does not come
ideology of the dominant group by mutual accommo- from regular face-to-face interactions but is based on
dations that nevertheless preserve the rulers’ privileged shared experiences with national institutions, such as
position. schools and government bureaucracies.
Glossary 535
informants: People in a particular culture who work lineages: The consanguineal members of descent groups
with anthropologists and provide them with insights who believe they can trace their descent from known
about their way of life. Also called respondents, teach- ancestors.
ers, or friends. linguistic anthropology: The specialty of anthropology
institutions: Complex, variable, and enduring forms of concerned with the study of human languages.
cultural practices that organize social life. linguistic competence: A term coined by linguist Noam
intersectionality: The notion that institutional forms Chomsky to refer to the mastery of adult grammar.
of oppression organized in terms of race, class, and linguistic relativity principle: A position, associated
gender are interconnected and shape the opportunities with Edward Sapir and Benjamin Whorf, that asserts
and constraints available to individuals in any society. that language has the power to shape the way people
intersex/disorder of sexual development: Individuals see the world.
who possess ambiguous genitalia; many who experi- linguistics: The scientific study of language.
ence this condition prefer to describe it as a disorder of linkage: An inheritance pattern in which unrelated
sexual development. phenotypic traits regularly occur together because
intrusions: Artifacts made by more recent populations the genes responsible for those co-occurring traits are
that find their way into more ancient strata as the result passed on together on the same chromosome.
of natural forces. locus: A portion of the DNA strand responsible for encod-
isotopic dating: Dating methods based on scientific ing specific parts of an organism’s biological makeup.
knowledge about the rate at which various radioactive long-distance nationalism: Members of a diaspora
isotopes of naturally occurring elements transform organized in support of nationalist struggles in their
themselves into other elements by losing subatomic homeland or to agitate for a state of their own.
particles. macroevolution: A subfield of evolutionary studies that
joint family: A family pattern made up of brothers and focuses on long-term evolutionary changes, especially
their wives or sisters and their husbands (along with the origins of new species and their diversification across
their children) living together. space and over millions of years of geological time.
kinship: Social relationships that are prototypically magic: A set of beliefs and practices designed to control
derived from the universal human experiences of the visible or invisible world for specific purposes.
mating, birth, and nurturance. maladaptation: An adjustment by an organism (or
labor: The activity linking human social groups to the group of organisms) that undermines the ability to cope
material world around them; from the point of view of with environmental challenges of various kinds.
Karl Marx, labor is therefore always social labor. mandible: The lower jaw.
language: The system of arbitrary vocal symbols used to market exchange: The exchange of goods (trade) calcu-
encode one’s experience of the world and of others. lated in terms of a multipurpose medium of exchange
language ideology: A marker of struggles between social and standard of value (money) and carried out by
groups with different interests, revealed in what people means of a supply–demand–price mechanism (the
say and how they say it. market).
law of crosscutting relationships: A principle of geo- marriage: An institution that transforms the status of
logical interpretation stating that where old rocks are the participants, carries implications about permitted
crosscut by other geological features, the intruding sexual access, perpetuates social patterns through the
features must be younger than the layers of rock they birth of offspring, creates relationships between the
cut across. kin of partners, and is symbolically marked.
law of superposition: A principle of geological interpre- material culture: Objects created or shaped by human
tation stating that layers lower down in a sequence of beings and given meaning by cultural practices.
strata must be older than the layers above them and, matrilineage: A social group formed by people
therefore, that objects embedded in lower layers must connected by mother–child links.
be older than objects embedded in upper layers. matrilocal residence: A postmarital residence pattern in
legal citizenship: The rights and obligations of citizen- which a married couple lives with (or near) the wife’s
ship accorded by the laws of a state. mother.
lesbian: A term used to describe female same-sex sexual- means of production: The tools, skills, organization,
ity around the turn of the twentieth century; based and knowledge used to extract energy from nature.
on the name of the Greek island of Lesbos, the home medical anthropology: The specialty of anthropology
of the female poet Sappho, who was reputed to love that concerns itself with human health—the factors
women rather than men. that contribute to disease or illness and the ways that
liminality: The ambiguous transitional state in a rite of human populations deal with disease or illness.
passage in which the person or persons undergoing the medical pluralism: The coexistence of ethnomedical
ritual are outside their ordinary social positions. systems alongside cosmopolitan medicine.
536 Glossary
meiosis: The way sex cells make copies of themselves, of different groups should or should not be accorded
which begins like mitosis, with chromosome duplica- respect and recognition by the wider society.
tion and the formation of two daughter cells. However, multisited fieldwork: Ethnographic research on cultural
each daughter cell then divides again without chro- processes that are not contained by social, ethical, or
mosome duplication and, as a result, contains only a national boundaries, in which the ethnographer fol-
single set of chromosomes rather than the paired set lows the process from site to site, often doing fieldwork
typical of body cells. at sites and with persons who traditionally were never
Mendelian inheritance: The view that heredity is based subjected to ethnographic analysis.
on nonblending, single-particle genetic inheritance. mutation: The creation of a new allele for a gene when
men’s studies/masculinities: Research that focuses on the portion of the DNA molecule to which it corre-
the many different ways of being a man that can be sponds is suddenly altered.
identified in different places and times. myths: Stories that recount how various aspects of the
metacommunication: Communication about the pro- world came to be the way they are. The power of myths
cess of communication itself. comes from their ability to make life meaningful for
metaphor: A form of figurative or nonliteral language those who accept them. The truth of myths seems
that violates the formal rules of denotation by linking self-evident because they effectively integrate personal
expressions from unrelated semantic domains. experiences with a wider set of assumptions about the
microevolution: A subfield of evolutionary studies that way society, or the world in general, must operate.
devotes attention to short-term evolutionary changes nation: A group of people believed to share the same his-
that occur within a given species over relatively few tory, culture, language, and even physical substance.
generations of ecological time. nationality: A sense of identification with and loyalty to
Middle Stone Age (MSA): The name given to the period a nation-state.
of Mousterian stone-tool tradition in Africa, 200,000 nation building (or nationalism): The attempt made
to 40,000 years ago. by government officials to instill into the citizens of a
mitosis: The way body cells make copies of themselves. state a sense of nationality.
The pairs of chromosomes in the nucleus of the cell nation-state: An ideal political unit in which national
duplicate and line up along the center of the cell. The identity and political territory coincide.
cell then divides, each daughter cell taking one full set nativism: A return to the old ways; a movement whose
of paired chromosomes. members expect a messiah or prophet who will
mode of production: A specific, historically occurring bring back a lost golden age of peace, prosperity, and
set of social relations through which labor is deployed harmony.
to wrest energy from nature by means of tools, skills, naturalizing discourses: Claims that consider social
organization, and knowledge. categories as eternal and unchanging, rather than the
modes of exchange: Patterns according to which dis- result of history or culture.
tribution takes place: reciprocity, redistribution, and natural selection: A two-step, mechanistic explanation
market exchange. of how descent with modification takes place: (1) every
monogamy: A marriage pattern in which a person may generation, variant individuals are generated within a
be married to only one spouse at a time. species as a result of genetic mutation, and (2) those
monumental architecture: Architectural constructions variant individuals best suited to the current environ-
of a greater-than-human scale, such as pyramids, ment survive and produce more offspring than other
temples, and tombs. variants.
morphology: (1) The physical shape and size of an or- Neandertals: An archaic species of Homo that lived in Eu-
ganism or its body parts; (2) in linguistics, the study of rope and western Asia from 130,000 to 35,000 years ago.
the minimal units of meaning in a language. neoclassical economics: A formal attempt to explain
mosaic evolution: A phenotypic pattern that shows how the workings of capitalist enterprise, with particular
different traits of an organism, responding to different attention to distribution.
selection pressures, may evolve at different rates. Neolithic: The “New Stone Age,” which began with the
Mousterian tradition: A Middle Paleolithic stone-tool domestication of plants 10,300 years ago.
tradition associated with Neandertals in Europe and neolocal: A postmarital residence pattern in which a
southwestern Asia and with anatomically modern hu- married couple sets up an independent household at a
man beings in Africa. place of their own choosing.
multiculturalism: Living permanently in settings sur- niche construction: When organisms actively perturb
rounded by people with cultural backgrounds different the environment in ways that modify the selection
from one’s own and struggling to define with them pressures experienced by subsequent generations of
the degree to which the cultural beliefs and practices organisms.
Glossary 537
nocturnal: Describes animals that are active during the phenotype: The observable, measurable overt
night. c haracteristics of an organism.
nonconjugal family: A woman and her children; the phenotypic plasticity: Physiological flexibility that al-
husband/father may be occasionally present or com- lows organisms to respond to environmental stresses,
pletely absent. such as temperature changes.
nonisotopic dating methods: Dating methods that phonology: The study of the sounds of language.
assign age in years to material evidence but not using phyletic gradualism: A theory arguing that one spe-
rates of nuclear decay. cies gradually transforms itself into a new species over
norm of reaction: A table or graph that displays the time, yet the actual boundary between species can
possible range of phenotypic outcomes for a given never be detected and can only be drawn arbitrarily.
genotype in different environments. pidgin: A language with no native speakers that devel-
nuclear family: A family pattern made up of two genera- ops in a single generation between members of com-
tions: the parents and their unmarried children. munities that possess distinct native languages.
numerical (or “absolute”) dating: Dating methods play: A framing (or orienting context) that is (1) con-
based on laboratory techniques that assign age in years sciously adopted by the players, (2) somehow pleasur-
to material evidence. able, and (3) systemically related to what is nonplay by
objectivity: The separation of observation and reporting alluding to the nonplay world and by transforming the
from the researcher’s wishes. objects, roles, actions, and relations of ends and means
occupational specialization: Specialization in various characteristic of the nonplay world.
occupations (e.g., weaving or pot making) or in new pleiotropy: The phenomenon whereby a single gene may
social roles (e.g., king or priest) that is found in socially affect more than one phenotypic trait.
complex societies. political anthropology: The study of social power in hu-
Oldowan tradition: A stone-tool tradition named after man society.
the Olduvai Gorge (Tanzania), where the first speci- polyandry: A marriage pattern in which a woman may
mens of the oldest human tools (2–2.5 mya) were be married to more than one husband at a time.
found. polygamy: A marriage pattern in which a person may be
omnivorous: Eating a wide range of plant and animal married to more than one spouse at a time.
foods. polygeny: The phenomenon whereby many genes are
oracles: Invisible forces to which people address ques- responsible for producing a phenotypic trait, such as
tions and whose responses they believe to be truthful. skin color.
orthodoxy: “Correct doctrine”; the prohibition of devia- polygyny: A marriage pattern in which a man may be
tion from approved mythic texts. married to more than one wife at a time.
orthopraxy: “Correct practice”; the prohibition of devia- polymorphous: Describes alleles that come in a range of
tion from approved forms of ritual behavior. different forms.
paleoanthropology: The search for fossilized remains of population genetics: A field that uses statistical analy-
humanity’s earliest ancestors. sis to study short-term evolutionary change in large
pangenesis: A theory of heredity suggesting that an organ- populations.
ism’s physical traits are passed on from one generation postcranial skeleton: The bones of the body, excluding
to the next in the form of multiple distinct particles those of the head.
given off by all parts of an organism, different propor- postnational ethos: An attitude toward the world in
tions of which get passed on to offspring via sperm or which people submit to the governmentality of the capi-
egg. talist market while trying to evade the governmentality
parallel cousins: The children of a person’s parents’ of nation-states.
same-gender siblings (a father’s brother’s children or a power: Transformative capacity; the ability to transform a
mother’s sister’s children). given situation.
participant observation: The method anthropologists pragmatics: The study of language in the context of
use to gather information by living as closely as posits use.
sible to the people whose culture they are studying prehensile: The ability to grasp, with fingers, toes, or tail.
while participating in their lives as much as possible. priest: A religious practitioner skilled in the practice of re-
patriarchy: The domination of men over women and ligious rituals, which he or she carries out for the benefit
children. of the group.
patrilineage: A social group formed by people con- primatology: The study of nonhuman primates, the clos-
nected by father–child links. est living relatives of human beings.
patrilocal: A postmarital residence pattern in which a principle of independent assortment: A principle of
married couple lives with (or near) the husband’s father. Mendelian inheritance in which each pair of particles
538 Glossary
(genes) separates independently of every other pair relations of production: The social relations linking the
when germ cells (egg and sperm) are formed. people who use a given means of production within a
principle of segregation: A principle of Mendelian inheri- particular mode of production.
tance in which an individual gets one particle (gene) for relative dating: Dating methods that arrange material evi-
each trait (i.e., one-half of the required pair) from each dence in a linear sequence, each object in the sequence
parent. being identified as older or younger than another object.
prototypes: Examples of a typical instance, element, rela- religion: “ideas and practices that postulate reality
tion, or experience within a culturally relevant semantic beyond that which is immediately available to the
domain. senses” (Bowen 2008).
public/private divide: A barrier that law and custom replacement model: The hypothesis that only one sub-
erected between “private” domestic life in the family, population of Homo erectus, probably located in Africa,
conceived as “women’s place,” and public life, outside underwent a rapid spurt of evolution to produce Homo
the family, conceived as the domain of men. sapiens 200,000 to 100,000 years ago. After that time,
punctuated equilibrium: A theory claiming that most of H. sapiens would itself have multiplied and moved out
evolutionary history has been characterized by relatively of Africa, gradually populating the globe and eventu-
stable species coexisting in an equilibrium that is oc- ally replacing any remaining populations of H. erectus
casionally punctuated by sudden bursts of speciation, or their descendants.
when extinctions are widespread and many new species revitalization: A conscious, deliberate, and organized
appear. attempt by some members of a society to create a more
queer: A self-identification claimed by some persons satisfying culture in a time of crisis.
whose gender identities or sexual practices fall outside rite of passage: A ritual that serves to mark the move-
the range defined by “the heterosexual-homosexual ment and transformation of an individual from one
continuum.” social position to another.
races: Social groupings that allegedly reflect biological ritual: A repetitive social practice composed of a se-
differences. quence of symbolic activities in the form of dance,
raciolinguistics: Theorizing race and language together, song, speech, gestures, or the manipulation of objects,
by drawing on diverse methods of linguistic analysis to adhering to a culturally defined ritual schema, and
ask and answer critical questions about the relations be- closely connected to a specific set of ideas that are
tween languages, race, and power across diverse ethnora- often encoded in myth.
cial contexts and societies. science: The invention of explanations about what
racism: The systematic oppression of one or more socially things are, how they work, and how they came to be
defined “races” by another socially defined “race” that that can be tested against evidence in the world itself.
is justified in terms of the supposed inherent biologi- science studies: Research that explores the interconnec-
cal superiority of the rulers and the supposed inherent tions among sociocultural, political, economic, and
biological inferiority of those they rule. historic conditions that make scientific research both
reciprocity: The exchange of goods and services of possible and successful.
equal value. Anthropologists distinguish three scientific theory: A coherently organized series of test-
forms of reciprocity: generalized, in which neither able hypotheses used to explain a body of material
the time nor the value of the return is specified; evidence.
balanced, in which a return of equal value is expected sedentism: The process of increasingly permanent hu-
within a specified time limit; and negative, in which man habitation in one place.
parties to the exchange hope to get something for segmentary opposition: A mode of hierarchical social
nothing. organization in which groups beyond the most basic
redistribution: A mode of exchange that requires some emerge only in opposition to other groups on the same
form of centralized social organization to receive hierarchical level.
economic contributions from all members of the group self: The result of the process of socialization/encultura-
and to redistribute them in such a way as to provide for tion for an individual.
every group member. semantics: The study of meaning.
reflexivity: Critically thinking about the way one thinks, seriation: A relative dating method based on the as-
reflecting on one’s own experience. sumption that artifacts that look alike must have been
regional continuity model: The hypothesis that evo- made at the same time.
lution from Homo erectus to Homo sapiens occurred sex: Observable physical characteristics that distinguish
gradually throughout the entire traditional range of two kinds of humans, females and males, needed for
H. erectus. biological reproduction.
relatedness: The socially recognized ties that connect sexism: The systematic sociocultural structures and
people in a variety of different ways. practices of inequality, derived from patriarchal
Glossary 539
institutions, that continue to shape relations between subjectivity: “The felt interior experience of the person
women and men (based on an analogy with racism). that includes his or her positions in a field of relational
sexual dimorphism: The observable phenotypic differ- power” (Das and Kleinman 2000).
ences between males and females of the same species. subsistence strategy: Different ways that people in dif-
sexuality: The ways in which people experience and ferent societies go about meeting their basic material
value physical desire and pleasure in the context of survival needs.
sexual intercourse. substantive citizenship: The actions people take, re-
sexual practices: Emotional or affectional relationships gardless of their legal citizenship status, to assert their
between sexual partners and the physical activities membership in a state and to bring about political
they engage in with one another. changes that will improve their lives.
shaman: A part-time religious practitioner who is be- suffering: The forms of physical, mental, or emotional
lieved to have the power to contact supernatural forces distress experienced by individuals who may or may not
directly on behalf of individuals or groups. subscribe to biomedical understandings of disease.
sherds: Pieces of broken pots. surplus production: The production of amounts of
sickness: Classifications of physical, mental, and emo- food that exceed the basic subsistence needs of the
tional distress recognized by members of a particular population.
cultural community. survey: The physical examination of a geographical
site: A precise geographical location of the remains of region in which promising sites are most likely to be
past human activity. found.
social exclusion: “The processes through which indi- symbol: Something that stands for something else. A
viduals or groups are excluded from material resources symbol signals the presence of an important domain of
and societal belonging . . . on multiple levels of politi- experience.
cal e conomy” (Spangler 2011, 481). syncretism: The synthesis of old religious practices
socialization: The process by which human beings as (or an old way of life) with new religious practices
material organisms, living together with other similar (or a new way of life) introduced from outside, often
organisms, cope with the behavioral rules established by force.
by their respective societies. syndemic: The combined effects on a population of
social organization: The patterning of human interde- more than one disease, the effects of which are exacer-
pendence in a given society through the actions and bated by poor nutrition, social instability, violence, or
decisions of its members. other stressful environmental factors.
social stratification: A form of social organization in syntax: The study of sentence structure.
which people have unequal access to wealth, power, taphonomy: The study of the various processes that
and prestige. objects undergo in the course of becoming part of the
sodalities: Special-purpose groupings that may be fossil and archaeological records.
organized on the basis of age, sex, economic role, and taxon: Each species, as well as each group of related spe-
personal interest. cies, at any level in a taxonomic hierarchy.
species: A distinct segment of an evolutionary lineage. taxonomy: A classification; in biology, the classification
Different biologists, working with living and fossil of various kinds of organisms.
organisms, have devised different criteria to identify testability: The ability of scientific hypotheses to be
boundaries between species. matched against nature to see whether they are con-
species selection: A process in which natural selection is firmed or refuted.
seen to operate among variant, related species within a trans-border citizenry: A group made up of citizens
single genus, family, or order. of a country who continue to live in their homeland
state: A stratified society that possesses a territory that is plus the people who have emigrated from the coun-
defended from outside enemies with an army and from try and their descendants, regardless of their current
internal disorder with police. A state, which has a sepa- citizenship.
rate set of governmental institutions designed to en- trans-border state: A form of state in which it is claimed
force laws and to collect taxes and tribute, is run by an that those people who left the country and their de-
elite that possesses a monopoly on the use of force. scendants remain part of their ancestral state, even if
stereoscopic vision: A form of vision in which the visual they are citizens of another state.
field of each eye of a two-eyed (binocular) animal transformational evolution: Also called Lamarckian
overlaps, producing depth perception. evolution, it assumes essentialist species and a uniform
stratum: Layer; in geological terms, a layer of rock and soil. environment. Each individual member of a species
structural violence: Violence that results from the way transforms itself to meet the challenges of a changed
that political and economic forces structure risk for environment through the laws of use and disuse and
various forms of suffering within a population. the inheritance of acquired characters.
540 Glossary
transformist hegemony: A nationalist program to define uniformitarianism: The notion that an understanding

nationality in a way that preserves the cultural domi- of current processes can be used to reconstruct the
nation of the ruling group while including enough past history of the earth, based on the assumption that
cultural features from subordinated groups to ensure the same gradual processes of erosion and uplift that
their loyalty. change the Earth’s surface today had also been at work
transgender: A term proposed in the 1960s by medical in the past.
researchers to classify individuals who, in one way or unilineal descent: The principle that a descent group is
another, seemed dissatisfied with the sex and gender formed by people who believe they are related to each
assignments they had received at birth. other by links made through a father or mother only.
transnational nation-state: A nation-state in which the Upper Paleolithic/Late Stone Age (LSA): The name
relationships between citizens and the state extend to given to the period of highly elaborate stone-tool
wherever citizens reside. traditions in Europe in which blades were important;
transvestism: The practice of dressing and taking on 40,000 to 10,300 years ago.
mannerisms associated with a gender other than one’s variational evolution: The Darwinian theory of evolu-
own. tion, which assumes that variant members of a species
trauma: Events in life generated by forces and agents respond differently to environmental challenges.
external to the person and largely external to his or her Those variants that are more successful (“fitter”)
control; specifically, events generated in the setting of survive and reproduce more offspring, who inherit the
armed conflict and war. traits that made their parents fit.
tribe: A society that is generally larger than a band, witchcraft: The performance of evil by human beings
whose members usually farm or herd for a living. believed to possess an innate, nonhuman power to do
Social relations in a tribe are still relatively egalitar- evil, whether or not it is intentional or self-aware.
ian, although there may be a chief who speaks for worldviews: Encompassing pictures of reality created by
the group or organizes certain group activities. the members of societies.
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Figure 4.17 (p. 114): John Reader / Science Source; Figure Images; Figure 6.3 (p. 173): Courtesy Dr. Payson D. Sheets;
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(p. 126): Day, Michael H. Guide to Fossil Man University of Figure 6.13b (p. 187): REUTERS/Sayed Salahuddin; Figure
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pany; Figure 7.6 (p. 208): from David Harris and Gordon
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Photo; Figure 15.9 (p. 492): UN Photo/Eskinder Debebe; Their Own Words (pp. 132–134): From Catherine Hodge
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Chapter 16 Gender: Female Vision in the Upper Paleolithic,” Repro-
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(Agencia Estado via AP Images); Figure 16.12 (p. 524): © DeMoule, “Rescue archaeology: A European view,” Annual
ANDRE LESSA/dpa/Corbis Review of Anthropology 41: 611–626, 2012. Used with
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Merry’s “Human Rights Law and the Demonization of Their Own Words (p. 374): “Reforming the Crow Constitu-
Culture (And Anthropology Along The Way). Reproduced tion” by Kelly Branam. Reprinted by permission of author.
by permission of the American Anthropological Associa-
Chapter 13
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volume 26, Issue 1, pages 55–76, May 2003. Nor for sale or In Their Own Words (p. 401): From Hewlett, Listen, Here
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“Theories and Politics in African-American English,” Women’s Voices, Women’s Power: Dialogues of Resistance from
Annual Review of Anthropology 23:325–345, 1995. Used East Africa, Copyright © Broadview Press (University of
with permission; Table 9.1 (p. 293): adapted from Hinton, Toronto Press Higher Education Division), 1997. Published
Leanne. 1998. “Language loss and Revitalization in Feb. 1997. Reproduced with permission of the publisher; In
California: Overview.” International Journal of the Sociology Their Own Words (pp. 448–449): From “Dowry too high.
of Language 132: pg. 83–85. Lose bridge and go to jail,” by James Brooke. Copyright ©
2003 by The New York Times Co. Reprinted with permis-
Chapter 10 sion; In Their Own Words (p. 452): Reproduced by per-
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Cultural Anthropology 2:4, 1987. Reprinted by permission of van Willigen and V. C. Channa, “Law, Custom, and Crimes
the American Anthropological Association. Not for sale Against Women,” Human Organization 50(4) 1991, 369–370;
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frontation by Roger M. Keesing. Copyright © 1992 by the In Their Own Words (p. 475): Tomoe Kawasaki, http://
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Chapter 11
Words (p. 482): From Elizabeth Chin, “Ethnically Correct
In Their Own Words (p. 344): From Autobiografías Campesi- Dolls: Toying with the Race Industry,” American Anthropolo-
nas, 1979, Vol. 1, Heredia, Costa Rica: Editorial della Uni- gist 101(2), 1999. Reprinted by permission of the American
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Workplace by Dorinne K. Kondo. Copyright © 1990 by the 1989. Reprinted by permission of the American Anthropo-
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ed. by Patricia A. McAnany and Norman Yoffee. Copyright “American Premenstrual Syndrome,” Anthropology Today
© 2010 Cambridge University Press. Reprinted with permis- 4(6), 1988. Reprinted by permission of Royal Anthropo-
sion from the publisher; In Their Own Words (p. 357): logical Institute; In Their Own Words (p. 507): Cour-
From African Art in Transit by Christopher Steiner, 1994, tesy of Nancy Scheper-Hughes; In Their Own Words
Cambridge University Press. Reprinted with permission (pp. 517–518): Malefyt and Morais 2012, 132–33, 134–35
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Index
Boldface page numbers indicate definitions African Americans, human rights of, Anthropology, 3–19, 5
of glossary terms that appear in the text. 489–90 applied, 15–16, 503
Agar, Michael, 264 archaeology, 14–15
Agassiz, Louis, 9 biological, 8–11
A Agency, 252, 366, 513 as cross-disciplinary discipline, 7–8
AAA (American Anthropological Agentive mode of power, 372 cultural, 11–14
Association), 243, 258 Agents, 242, 404 culture as central concept in, 6–7
AAE (African American English), 288–90 Agriculture, 178–80, 205 cyborg, 7, 13
AAR (amino acid racemization), 90 Andean, 230 linguistic, 14
Abbas, Akhbar, 255 animal domestication, 207–11 medical, 16–17
Abelam art, 309–10 animal population social organization uses of, 17
Absolute dating methods, 82 and, 202–3 as vocation, 9
Abu El-Haj, Nadia, 159 disease and, 157–58 See also specific fields
Abu-Lughod, Lila, 370 hydraulic, 227, 233 Anthropology of practice, 16
Abusharaf, Rogaia Mustafa, 248, 250 International Sorghum/Millet Research Anthropomorphism, 62
Abwunza, Judith M., 446 Project, 348–49 Anthrozoology, 73
Accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS), 88 plant cultivation, 204–7 Antiheritage movement, 187
Acclimatization, 159 sedentism and, 219 Antonymy, 300
Acheulean tradition, 114, 114–15 Agroecology, 205, 219–21 Apache Sunrise Dance, 320
Achieved statuses, 434 Ahearn, Laura, 277, 279, 280 Apes, 63, 68–69, 78
Acho, Wagner Musoline, 368 AICLS (Advocates for Indigenous California bipedalism, 101
Actions, interpreting, 264–66 Language Survival), 294 culture and, 240
Adams, Robert, 225 AID (U.S. Agency for International dentition, 104–5
Adapids, 77 Development), 348 locomotion, 99
Adaptation(s), 40, 158, 506 AIDS. See HIV/AIDS social groups, 155, 156
cultural, 165 Aiello, Leslie, 119 Appadurai, Arjun, 265
Darwinian view of, 40 Alaskan Inuit, 453 Apparent states, 380
for endurance running, 116 Alemayehu, 103 Applied anthropology, 8, 15, 15–16,
to environment, 203 Alim, H. Samy, 14, 290, 291 348, 503
exaptation vs., 40–41 Alland, Alexander, 305, 308 Aptation, 40
human variation and, 158–62 Alleles, 43, 45, 48, 147, 148 40
Ar/39Ar method, 87
intelligence, 161–62 Allen, Catherine, 440 Arbitrariness (language), 275, 276
as phenotypic traits from adaptive Allentuck, Adam, 211 Archaeological record, 8, 170
processes, 159 Alonso, Ana Maria, 376 Archaeology, 7, 14, 14–15,
as process, 158 Altanius orlovi, 77 169–98, 170
sedentary, 206 Altiatlasius, 76, 77 changes in, 214
skin color, 160–61 Alto do Cruzeiro, Brazil, 507 as civic engagement tool, 193
in understanding sickness and Alverson, Hoyt, 241, 245 collaborative approaches in, 192,
health, 506 American Anthropological Association 194–95
Adaptations of resistance, 16 (AAA), 243, 258 cosmopolitan archaeologies, 195–97
Adaptive, culture as, 239 American Dream, 472–73 dating in, 82–92
aDNA. See Ancient DNA American premenstrual syndrome, 505 digital heritage and, 177–78
Adoption, 426, 427, 434–36 The Americas, migration to, 135–36 excavation, 175–77
Advertising, 375, 517–18 Amino acid racemization (AAR), 90 fellow travelers in, 214–15
Advocates for Indigenous California AMS (accelerator mass spectrometry), 88 forms of human society, 180–83
Language Survival (AICLS), 294 Anagenesis, 96, 98 gender and, 190–92
Aegyptopithecus zeuxis, 77–78 Anarchy, 366 historical, 192, 194–95
Aerial surveys, 173–75 Anatolia, 216, 217 interpretation of the past by, 178–83
Aesthetic judgments, 305, 308 Anatomically modern human beings, 125, interpretive, 170
Affect, 408 125–26, 129, 135 legal rights to and meanings of sites/
Affinal relationships, 442 Ancestry, tracing, 153–55 relics, 183–86
Affinity, 408, 433 Ancient DNA (aDNA), 11, 126–27, 135, looting/destruction of artifacts and sites,
Affluence, 354–55, 355 136, 172 186–90
Africa Andean civilization, 229–33 postprocessual, 170
AIDS in, 522 Andean relatedness practices, 435–36 preventive, 188–89
colonial identities in, 484 Anderson, Benedict, 376, 379, 423 processual, 170
homosexuality and, 414 Androgyny, 397, 397–98 subsistence strategies, 178–80
Africa–Eurasia land bridge, 79 Animal domestication, 207–11 surveys, 172–75
African American DNA Roots Project, Animal populations, social organization Archaic Homo sapiens, 117
153–55 in, 202–3 Architecture, monumental, 223–24
African American English (AAE), 288–90 Anthropocene, 73 Ardipithecus kadabba, 100
African-American Heart Failure Trial, Anthropoids, 63, 65, 66, 77 Ardipithecus ramidus, 100, 102
150–51 Anthropological knowledge, 268–69 Arensburg, B. O., 120, 121
559
560 Index
Argentine Forensic Anthropologists Bar-Yosef, Ofer, 128 Body(-ies)

Team, 15 Basham, Richard, 269 connections among sex, gender,
Argentine tanguero, 311 Basic human needs, consumption sexuality, and, 406–8
Aristide, Jean-Bertrand, 515, 516 and, 351 connections between technologies and,
Aristotle, 35 Bateson, Gregory, 304 408–9
Arjuna, 308 Bateson, William, 43 inequality physically integrated in,
Art(s), 305, 308–13, 317 Bauman, Zygmunt, 422 520–22
authenticity and, 312–13 Beals, Alan, 473–75, 478 Boellstorff, Tom, 509–11
defining, 305, 308–9 Behavioral ecology, 164 Bogin, Barry, 163
evaluating, 309–11 Belfer-Cohen, Anna, 212, 213 Bohannan, Laura, 430
by intention vs. by appropriation, 310 Bell, Sandra, 423–24 Bohannan, Paul, 430
Natufian, 212, 213 Beltrán, Carlos López, 27 Bointy, Vincent, 253
Upper Paleolithic/LSA, 130–34 Bencze, Jozsef, 476 Bökönyi, Sandor, 207
Artifacts, 15, 170, 170–72 Bender, Barbara, 212 Bonobos, 71–72
concentrations of, 224 Berdache, 412 Boran Galla, 338
dating, 82–92 Berger, Richard, 230 Border thinking, 266
Neandertal, 123 Berman, Judith, 122 Bordes, François, 123
ownership of, 184 Berreman, Gerald, 478 Boswell, John, 460
theft and destruction of, 186–90 Bestor, Theodore, 496–97 Bottleneck effect, 152
Upper Paleolithic/LSA, 128–30, 134 BiDil, 150 Bounded selves, 509
Asad, Talal, 489 Biehl, João, 522–24 Bourdieu, Pierre, 238, 370
Ascribed statuses, 434 Bifurcation, 433 Bourgois, Philippe, 261, 262
Ashanti, 430 Bigenho, Michelle, 262, 312–13 Bowen, John, 322, 323, 382, 383
Assemblages, 84, 129, 177 Bilateral descent, 427, 428 Boyd, Robert, 6, 56, 164
Assisted reproduction, 408–9, 439, 520 Bilateral descent group, 427 Bradburd, Daniel, 265–69
Assumptions, 23 Bilateral kindred, 427, 428 Brain, Neandertal, 120
Asylum-seekers, 495, 497–98 Binford, Lewis, 115 Brain expansion, 99, 108–9
Aufderheide, Patricia, 319 Biocultural adaptations, 506, 506 Bramble, Dennis, 115–16
Aurignacian assemblages, 129 Biocultural heritage, 242 Branam, Kelly, 374
Aurignacian culture, 129–30 Biocultural organisms, 7 Bräuer, Günter, 117
Australasia, migration to, 136 Biological adaptations, 506 Brazil, AIDS in, 522–24
Australia Biological anthropology, 7, 8–11, 10 Bride-burning, 452
aboriginal people, 186, 194–95 Biological citizenship, 523 Bridewealth, 431, 442, 445, 446, 451
hunter–gatherers, 206 Biological evolution, 6, 31–57, 33, 505 Britain, immigrants in, 381, 386
Australopithecus, 100, 100–104 contemporary genetics, 43–45, Broad-spectrum foraging, 211, 211–12
Australopithecus afarensis, 101–5, 110 48–53, 55 Broca, Paul, 9
Australopithecus africanus, 103–6 evolutionary theory, 32–33 Bruno, Maria C., 218
Australopithecus anamensis, 100–101 learning about genes, 41–43 Bunn, Henry, 111
Australopithecus bahrelghazali, 103 material evidence for, 33 Burials
Australopiths, 98, 100–107 meaning of, 55–56 Natufian, 213, 214
brains of, 108–9 modern theory of, 32 Neandertal, 123
gracile and robust, 106–7 natural selection, 38–41 tombs, 224
number of species, 106–7 and pre-Darwinian views, 33–38 Upper Paleolithic/LSA, 130
Authenticity variational, 39 Burling, Robbins, 274
art and, 312–13 Biological race, 144. See also Race Butler, Judith, 405, 409
in commerce, 357 Biological Species Concept, 144, 146
Avellaneda, Argentina, 46–47 Biology, 6–7
Avunculocal residence, 443 Biomedicine, 504, 508, 518, 519. See also C
Aymara, 279, 280 Medical anthropology California, early languages of, 292–94
Azande, 296, 326–28, 366, 372, 508 Biopolitics, 373, 387, 407 Call systems, 274–76
Biopower, 372–74, 373 Calvert family, 438–39
Biosociality, 523 Cannibalism, 124, 130
B Biostratigraphic dating, 83 Capitalism, 343, 358, 516, 518–22
Baboons, 67, 68, 108 Bipedalism, 98 Capitalist mode of production, 348, 350
Baby M, 438 endurance running, 115–16 Carelli, Vincent, 319
Bach, J. S., 41 origin of, 99–104 Carneiro, Robert, 227
Bahn, Paul, 170, 173, 175, 184, 189, Birth, descent and, 446. Cartmill, Matt, 76
194, 195 See also Childbirth Caryl, Christian, 260
Bakhtin, M. M., 285, 286 Bisexuality, 410 Cassell, Joan, 258, 259
Balanced reciprocity, 344, 346 Blackston, 260–61 Caste, 473, 473–79
Bali, 24 Blackwood, Evelyn, 414 class vs., 473
Bamiyan Buddhas, 186–87 Blades, 127 in India, 473–75, 477–79
Banana leaves, as wealth, 355–56 Bledsoe, Caroline, 450 in United States, 472–73
Bands, 181, 182, 202, 225 Blended families, 452 Castification, 479
Barakumin, 475 Bloodwealth, 227 Çatalhöyük, Turkey, 214–15
Barbie dolls, 482 Blumenbach, Johann, 9 Catarrhines, 65, 66, 68, 77, 78
Barker, John, 345–47 Boas, Franz, 7, 10, 180, 251, 258, 290 Catastrophism, 34, 36
El Barrio, 261, 262 Boddy, Janice, 248–50 Cave paintings, Upper Paleolithic, 134
Index 561
CEDAW (Committee for the Elimination at end of Pleistocene, 217–18 Continuity principle, 36
of Discrimination against Women), prehistoric, 91, 92 Continuous variation, 44
487, 488 Clines, 148 Controlled hunting, 211
Cell division, 43–44 Clitoridectomy, 247–49 Cosmopolitanism, 195, 195–97, 254,
Cenozoic, 91 Close herding, 211 254–55
Cercopithecines, 67 Clovis point, 135 Cosmopolitan medicine, 519
Cercopithecoids, 78, 79 Coca-Cola, in Trinidad, 357–59 Costa Rican farm labor, 344
Cerén, El Salvador, 173 Cochonas, 415 Counihan, Carole, 359–60
Cervical cancer, 512–13 Cochones, 404–6, 414 Course, Magnus, 425, 426
Chaco Canyon, New Mexico, 196 Codominant dominant traits, 43 Cowan, Jane, 488–90
Chaloupka, George, 194, 195 Coercion Cox, Oliver Cromwell, 473
Channa, V. C., 452 domination, 370–72 Cranial capacity, 106, 106–9, 113, 114,
Chaplin, G., 161 power as, 366 120, 125
Charismatic Christians, 508, 509 resistance to, 366–70 Cranium, 74
Chase, Arlen F., 174 Coevolution, 245 Creoles, 286–87, 295
Chase, Diane Z., 174 of culture and human brain, 241 Critical cosmopolitanism, 266
Chase, P. G., 124 of human calls and symbolic Critical medical anthropologists, 514
Châtelperronian assemblages, 129 language, 274 Critical medical anthropology, 16
Chavín Horizon, 230 through niche construction, 205 CRM (Cultural Resources Management)
Chetverkov, Sergei, 48 Coleman, Simon, 423–24 archaeology, 188–90
Chiefdoms, 181, 182, 213, 225 Collaterality, 433 Cross cousins, 433, 434
Childbirth, 121 Collective rights, 492 Crosscutting relationships, law of, 82
in Norway, 456–57 Colloredo-Mansfeld, Rudi, 388–89 Crossing over, 44
social exclusion and, 520–22 Colobines, 67, 68 Cross relatives, 433
Child circulation, 435–36 Colorism, 480, 480–81 Crow Indian nation, 374
Child trafficking, 435 Colwell-Chanthaphonh, Chip, 196–97 Csorba, Csaba, 477
Chimpanzees, 70–72, 74, 108 Comaroff, Jean, 372, 482–86 Csorba, Robert, 476, 477
Chimú state, 232 Comaroff, John, 372, 482–86 Csorba, Robert, Jr., 476, 477
Chin, Elizabeth, 304–5, 482 Committee for the Elimination of Csordas, Thomas, 508
Chinese diaspora, 385–87 Discrimination against Women Cultivation, 204–7, 212–17
Chiu, Lynn, 145–46 (CEDAW), 487, 488 Cultural adaptations, 165
Choice, 353 Commmunicative competence, 282 Cultural anthropology, 7, 8, 11, 11–14
Chomsky, Noam, 276, 281, 282, 299, 300 Commodities, global flows of, 13 Cultural appropriation, 494
Christianity, 252–53, 330, 331, 460, 494 Commodity exchanges, 343 Cultural complexity, recognizing, 223
Charismatic Christians, 508, 509 Common ancestry, 39 Cultural differences, 245–47
evangelical worldview, 328, 329 Common enemies, 422 Cultural ecology, consumption and, 351, 354
prayer, 508, 509 Common-law marriage, 460 Cultural evolution, 6, 505
Chromosomes, 43, 43–45, 49, 50 Communication Cultural group selection, 164
Chrons, 90 among primates, 274–76 Cultural horizon, 225
Chumash culture, 192 art as, 308 Cultural hybridity, 252–54
Circumcision, 247, 248 human, 27 Cultural imperialism, 251, 251–52
Citizenship in religion, 324 Cultural patterns, 238, 354–56
biological, 523 video, 319 Cultural relativism, 243–44, 246–50, 247
for European immigrants, 381, 382 See also Language(s) Cultural Resources Management (CRM)
flexible, 385–87 Communitas, 318, 319 archaeology, 188–90
globalization and, 385–89 Compadrazgo, 435–36, 440, 472 Cultural Survival, 491
legal, 380 Comparison, 5 Cultural traditions, 238, 239, 244
long-distance nationalism and, 379 Complex foragers, 216 Cultural values, human rights and, 489
substantive, 380 Complex societies, 222. See also Social Culture(s), 6, 237–56, 238
territorial, 387–88 complexity adaptive, 239
trans-border, 379, 380 Complex symbolic representation, 240, 241 anthropological definition of, 238–42
transborder citizenry, 379 Composite femininities, 402 Aurignacian, 129–30
Civic engagement, 193 Composite masculinities, 400, 402 as central concept in anthropology, 6–7
Civilization, 225 Composite tools, 128 complex issues related to, 250–55
Cladistics, 64–64 Concentrations of particular artifacts, 224 contributions of women to, 395
Cladogenesis, 63, 96–98 Condry, Ian, 313–14 cultural hybridity, 252–54
Clans, 430, 431 Conjugal connectivity, 399 cultural imperialism, 251–52
Clark, Ronald J., 24 Conjugal family, 447 cultural relativism, 246–50
Class(es), 222, 347, 471, 471–73 Connotations, 300 cultures vs. Culture, 251
caste vs., 473 Consanguineal relationships, 442 differences among, 245–47
in Indonesia, 472 Construction of environments, 54 ethnocentrism, 246
in United States, 472–73 Consumption, 342, 351, 354–59 freedom and, 241
Clientage, 471, 471–72 class and, 472 globalization and, 254–55
Cliggett, Lisa, 338, 339, 343 cultural patterning of, 354–59 history and, 242, 244–45
Climate(s) explanations for, 351, 354 in hominin evolution, 99
artifact preservation and, 172 study of, 339, 342 of Homo erectus, 114–15
domestication and, 211–12 Context, in archaeology, 171 human agency and, 242, 244–45
emergence of Homo sapiens and, 119 Contextual seriation, 83, 85 human dependence on, 202–4
562 Index
Culture(s) (continued) DeSalle, Rob, 144, 146–49 Downey, Greg, 151–52, 162
of human rights, 490 Desana (Tukano) people, 21, 22 Dowry, 445, 445–49, 452
human rights and, 488–90, 493–95 Descent, 426, 427, 479 Dowry death, 452
human-rights law and, 243–44 bilateral, 427, 428 Drewal, Margaret, 321
language and, 276–81 in kinship, 427–29 DTC (direct-to-consumer) advertising,
livelihood and, 338 lineages and, 429–33 517–18
material, 7 unilineal, 427–28 Duality of patterning (language), 275
microevolution and, 162–65 De Waal, Frans, 72 Dual nationality, 379–80
Middle Paleolithic/Middle Stone Age, DeWalt, Billie, 348, 349 DuCille, Ann, 482
121–27 DeWalt, Katherine, 348 Dunsworth, Holly, 121
political relations and, 364–66 Dialectic of fieldwork, 263–67, 264 Duranti, Alessandro, 285
right to, 489–90 Diamond, Jared, 352–53 Durham, William, 6, 508
of Rione Monti, 381 Diaspora, 379, 385–87 Duster, Troy, 153
shared and learned, 238 Dibble, H. L., 120, 123 Duvalier, Jean-Claude, 515
stone tools, 110–12 Dickey, Sara, 475, 477, 478
as symbolic, 240 Diego antigen, 147
Upper Paleolithic/LSA, 128–34 Digital heritage, 177, 177–78 E
Culture-bound syndromes, 504. See also Digital media, 215 EAAF (Equipo Argentino de Antropologia
Medical anthropology Dillehay, Thomas, 135 Forense), 46–47
Culture shock, 268 Dinka, 321, 323 Early Stone Age (ESA), 114
Cuvier, Georges, 36, 97 Direct-to-consumer (DTC) advertising, Eastern Asia, migration to, 134
Cuzco, 232 517–18 Ebonics, 289
Cybernetics, 13 Discipline, 372–73 Eccleston, Leah, 121
Cyborg anthropology, 7, 13, 408, 408–9 Discontinuous variation, 44 Eckert, Penelope, 279
Cyborgs, 13 Discourse, 285 Ecofacts, 171
on human health, 504 Ecological niche, 64, 202, 203
human-rights, 487–90, 493–95, 497–98 Ecology
D Discourse genre, 286 agroecology, 205, 219–21
Dakota, 194 Disease(s), 157–58, 504 historical, 218
Dalal, Munish, 449 epidemic, 506, 507 social complexity and, 228
Dalal, Vidya, 449 sedentism and, 220–21 Economic anthropology, 338
Daly, Mary, 247 syndemic, 506 Economic exchange, marriage and, 445–47
Dance, 311 See also Medical anthropology Economic relations, 337–61
Darwin, Charles, 32, 33, 38–41, 49, 96, 144 Disorder of sexual development, 409 consumption, 351, 354–59
Das, Veena, 511, 512 Displacement (language), 275 distribution and exchange of goods,
Daston, Lorraine, 27 Distribution, 339, 342–47 343–47
Data collection/interpretation, 262–63 Diurnal, 67 food and nutrition, 359–60
Dating methods, 82, 82–92 Dividual selves, 510, 511 production as driver of economic
anatomical modern human beings, 125 Divorce, 451 activities, 347–51
biostratigraphic, 83 Dmanesi, Georgia, 109 study of, 338–39
isotopic, 85–89 DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid), 49, 49–51 study of production, distribution, and
modeling prehistoric climates, 91, 92 in evolutionary continuity/divergence, consumption, 339, 342
nonisotopic, 89–90 62–63 Egalitarian social relations, 222, 227
numerical (absolute), 82, 85–90 hybridization of, 62 Egypt, ancient, 226
relative, 82–85 mitochondrial, 125 Elaborating symbols, 321
Day, Michael, 100 molecular clock, 90 Eldredge, Niles, 22, 32, 97
Deacon, Terrence, 240, 241, 274 pre-Clovis North American presence, Electron spin resonance (ESR), 88–89
Debra L. Friedkin site, Texas, 135 135, 136 Elliot, Alison, 281–82
Decay, 85 in tracing genetic ancestry, 153–55 Ely, Bert, 154, 155
Decentered selves, 509–11 DNA methylation, 160 Embodied inequality, 520, 520–22
Declaration of Independence (U.S.), Dobzhansky, Theodosius, 48 Emergent masculinities, 400, 402
314, 315 Dogon, 332 Empacho, 510–11
DeCorse, Christopher, 174, 190 Dolezal, Rachel, 291 Empires, 181, 225
Deep sea sediments, 91 Dolgin, Janet, 438, 439 Enculturation, 238
De la Cadena, Marisol, 387 Dolní Vestonice, Czech Republic, 191, 192 Endogamy, 442, 479
Dembour, Bénédicte, 488 Domestication, 202, 205, 212–18 Endurance running, 115–16
Demography, 506 animal, 179, 207–11 Enemies, 422
Demoule, Jean-Paul, 188–89, 214 consequences of, 218–21 Energy adaptations, 116
Dendrochronology, 89–90 invention of technologies and, 226 Engle, Karen, 243
Denisova Cave, Russian Siberia, 120, in Mesoamerica, 217 Environment(s)
121, 127 motors of, 211–12 anthropogenic modification of, 73
Denisovans, 127 in North and South America, 217 construction of, 54 (See also Niche
Denotations, 300 plant, 204–7, 209, 210 construction)
Dentition, 64, 78 in Southwest Asia, 212–17 humans’ reshaping of, 364–66
anatomically modern human beings, 125 Dominant traits, 43 microevolution and, 162–65
in hominins, 99, 104–5 Domination, 370, 371, 371–72 morphological features and, 203, 204
in Homo erectus, 113–14 Doretti, Mercedes, 4, 46 social complexity and, 226–27
Neandertals, 119 Douglas, Mary, 328, 407 Environmental circumscription, 227, 233
Index 563
Eocene, 77, 91 macroevolution, 96–98 (See also genital cutting, 247–50, 456–57
Epidemic diseases, 506, 507 Fossil record) harmful traditional practices, 243–44
Epidemiology, 506 microevolution, 96 (See also Indian, New Age trivialization of, 329
Epigenetic marks, 159–60 Microevolution) matriarchies, 396
Equipo Argentino de Antropologia Forense mosaic, 99 premenstrual syndrome, 505
(EAAF), 46–47 of primates, 74–79 (See also Primates) as sex, 395
Erazo, Juliet S., 387–88, 492, 493 scientific debate about, 24–25 social exclusion of, 520–22
Errington, Shelly, 308, 310, 311 variational, 38 violence against, 452, 494
ESA (Early Stone Age), 114 Evolutionary grades, 63 See also Sex, gender, and sexuality
ESR (electron spin resonance), 88–89 Evolutionary niche, 202, 203 Femininities
Essentialism, 33, 34, 37, 39–40 Evolutionary psychology, 164 class and, 472
Ethics, 258–60, 517–18 Evolutionary theory, 32, 32–33, 55, 56 composite, 402
Ethnic conflict, 483 Exaptation, 40, 40–41, 124 premenstrual syndrome, 505
Ethnic groups, 484 Excavation, 173, 175, 175–77 Feminism, 394
Ethnicity, 482–87, 483 Exchange(s), 342–47 first and second waves of, 395–96
Ethnoarchaeology, 171, 177 commodity, 343 racist practices and, 329
Ethnocentric assimilationism, 381 gifts, 343 study of sex, gender, and sexuality and,
Ethnocentrism, 246 modes of, 343–45 394–98
in art evaluation, 309–10 reciprocal, 356 Feminist anthropology, 108, 398
capitalism markets and, 343 Exhibition value (art), 310 Feminist archaeology, 190, 190–91, 204, 205
in human-rights discourse, 488–89 Exhortation, 323 Ferguson, James, 258
paradox of, 239 Exogamy, 442, 443 Fernandez, James W., 9
Ethnography, 12, 257–79 Experiential health, 513 Fertility studies, 519–20
data collection/interpretation, 262–63 Extended families, 450, 450–51 Field, Les W., 15–16
dialectic of fieldwork, 266–67 Extensive agriculture, 179 Fieldwork, 5–6, 12, 257
documenting cultural understandings of Eyak Indians, 185 in cultural anthropology, 12
sex, gender, and sexuality, 411–17 dialectic of, 266–67
effects of fieldwork, 267–68 effects of, 267–68
gender performativity study, 404–6 F ethics of, 258–60
interpretation and translation, 263–66 Fact, 268 interpretation and translation, 263–66
interpretation and translation of Factory farming, 211 laboratory, 27
fieldwork, 263–66 Fagan, Brian, 115, 174, 190 multisited, 261–62, 268, 269
laboratory, 27 Fagen, Robert, 304 participant observation, 260–61
multi-sited fieldwork, 261–62, Fali, 485 single-sited, 257–61
268, 269 False consciousness, 371 Fiji, nation building in, 377–78, 389
production of anthropological Family(-ies), 447, 449–58 Fission-track dating, 87
knowledge, 268–69 blended, 452 Fitness, 39, 41
single-sited fieldwork, 257–61 by choice, 458 Fleagle, John, 76, 77, 144
Ethnology, 11, 12. See also Cultural conjugal and nonconjugal, 447 Flexible citizenship, 385, 385–87
anthropology extended and joint, 450–51 Flores, Indonesia, 24, 25
Ethnomedical systems, 519 nuclear, 410, 447, 449 Foley, Robert, 119, 136
Ethnonationalism, 492 polygynous, 449–50 Food, 359–60
Ethnopragmatics, 285, 285–86 transformation over time of, 451–53, archaeological information about, 171
Ethnoprimatology, 72–73 455–58 broad-spectrum foraging, 211–12
Etsam, Andrés Huaynacari, 368 Family Tree DNA, 153–55 cereals, 219
Europe Farmer, Paul, 514–16, 522 domesticated in New World, 220
African colonies of, 484 Farming Systems Research (FSR), 348–49 of early hominins, 100
asylum-seekers in, 497–98 Fassin, Didier, 495, 497–98 hominin dentition, 104–5
colonial empires, 518 Fausto-Sterling, Anne, 50, 409 insects, 4
immigrants in, 380–85 FDA (Food and Drug Administration), 150 main food-yielding systems, 208
European American kinship, 437–39 Feasts, 323, 324 sedentism and, 218–19
European American racial hierarchies, Features, 170 sharing vs. storing, 221
479, 480 Fedigan, Linda, 108 subsistence strategies, 178–80
Evangelicals, worldview of, 328, 329 Feldman, Marcus, 53, 55, 164 in Upper Paleolithic/LSA, 130
Evans-Pritchard, E. E., 296, 326–28, 366, Female(s) Food and Drug Administration (FDA), 150
431–32, 441–42, 508 art in Upper Paleolithic, 132–34 Food collectors (foragers), 178, 179
Evidence, 23, 23–25 bonds among Japanese women Food producers, 178, 179, 212
Evo-devo theory, 55 workers, 350 Foragers (food collectors), 178, 179
Evolution, 6 cervical cancer treatments, 512–13 bands, 181
anthropological explanation of human consequences of being, 401 complex and generalized, 216
transition, 108 cultural relativism and, 243 Natufians, 212–17
biological, 6 (See also Biological expectation of youthful faces, 249 technologies of, 222
evolution) feminist archaeology, 190–91 Foraging
cultural, 6 fertility and sedentism, 218, 219 broad-spectrum, 211–12
four processes of, 152, 155–56 food as avenue of expression for, 359–60 food from farming vs. from, 221
of hominins, 98–99, 137 in foraging societies, 108 Foraging societies
human, 136–37, 165 (See also gender, 397–98 affluence of, 354–55
Microevolution) gender archaeology, 191 gender roles in, 108
564 Index
Foraging societies (continued) Gangs, 454–55 Geological time, 91

pregnancies in, 218 García, Alan, 368 Georges, Eugenia, 453, 455
social complexity in, 222–23 García, Joaquín, 369 Germany, immigrants in, 381, 382
Foraminifera, 91 García Belaunde, José, 368 Gero, Joan, 190–91
Forensic anthropologists, 10 Gardner, Howard, 161 Gestational surrogacy, 438–39
Forge, Anthony, 309–10 Gates, Henry Louis, Jr., 153, 155 Ghost Dance, 330
Form (art), 305 Gaur, Mokshika, 513 Ghost marriage, 442
Formal kin, 422, 423 Gay, 410, 458 Gibbons, 69
Formal models, 163, 164 Gay marriage, 460–61 Gift exchanges, 343
Fortes, Meyer, 430 Gebauer, Anne Birgitte, 205 Gilbert, Scott, 145–46
Fossey, Dian, 62 Geertz, Clifford, 244–45, 282, 519 Ginsburg, Faye, 520
Fossil record, 15, 95–139 Geismar, Haidy, 187 Girls. See Female(s)
anthropological explanation of human Gelada baboons, 68 GIS (Geographic Information Systems),
transition, 108 Gender, 11, 396 175
Cuvier’s studies of, 36 archaeology and, 190–92 Global capitalist economy, health and, 516,
early Homo, 108–12 in Indonesia, 472 518–25
fate of Neandertals, 129–30 intelligence and, 162 Globalization, 13
first hominins, 99–105 kinship and, 433 citizenship and, 385–89
hominin evolution, 98–99 other forms of identity and, 402–4 cultural property and, 496
Homo erectus, 112–16 power and, 398 culture and, 254–55
Homo sapiens evolution, 117–19 See also Sex, gender, and sexuality effects of, 13
human evolution, 136–37 Gender archaeology, 191 human rights and, 487
later australopiths, 105–7 Gender binary, 396, 396–98, 409, 416 nation-states and, 378–85
macroevolution, 96–98 Gender identity, 410–11 sex, gender, and sexuality and, 412
Middle Paleolithic/Middle Stone Age Gender identity disorder (gender tuna trade, 496
culture, 121–27 dysphoria), 410–11 Global politics, 389
migration of H. sapiens in late Gender inequality, 403 Goats, 210–11
Pleistocene, 131, 134–36 Gender performativity, 404, 404–6 Goddess cult (Neolithic), 215
Neandertals, 119–21 Gender roles, 11, 108, 321 Goldin-Meadow, Susan, 284
Upper Paleolithic/LSA, 127–34 Gender studies, 399. See also Sex, gender, Gombe National Park, Tanzania, 74
Fossils and sexuality Goodall, Jane, 62, 70, 71, 74, 108
animal, 209 Gender symbolism, 403 Goods, distribution and exchange of,
dating, 82–92 Gene(s), 43 343–47
finding, 103 cell division, 43–44 Goody, Jack, 445
Foucault, Michel, 364, 370, 372, 373, 387, construction of environment Gopalpur, India, 473–75, 477–79
407–8 and, 54 Gordon, Colin, 373
Founder effect, 152, 157 mutation, 48–49 Gorillas, 70, 71
Fouron, Georges, 379–80, 385, 403–4 phenotype and, 163 Gottlieb, Alma, 505
Framing, 304 traits and, 44–45, 48, 49 Gould, Stephen Jay, 36, 40, 41, 56, 97, 136
France Gene–culture coevolution, 164 Governmentality, 372–74, 373
asylum-seekers in, 497–98 Gene expression, 158 flexible citizenship and, 385–87
immigrants in, 381–83 Gene flow, 152, 155–56 humanitarianism as, 495
terrorist attacks in, 382 Gene frequency, 147 local forms of, 388–89
Francis, Pope, 326 Gene interaction, 158 territorial citizenship and, 387–88
Fraternal polyandry, 444 Gene pool, 147, 155 GPR (ground-penetrating radar), 173, 174
Free agency, 366 Generalized foragers, 216 Gracile australopiths, 106, 107
Freedom, culture and, 241 Generalized reciprocity, 345, 346 Grade, evolutionary, 63
Frequency seriation, 84, 85 Generations, kinship and, 433 Grammar, 275, 298
Freter, Ann Corinne, 85 Generative entrenchment, 50 Gramsci, Antonio, 364, 370–72
Friction, 254 Genetic drift, 152, 155–57 Grand Canyon, 83, 84
Fried, Morton, 225 Genetics, 41–45, 43, 48–53, 55 Grave goods, 224
Friedman, Jonathan, 254 ancestry tracing, 153–55 Gravlee, Clarence, 151
Friendship, 423, 423–26 DNA and the genome, 49–50 Great Chain of Being, 34, 34–37
“From Skepticism to Embrace” emergence of, 43 Greek economic crisis, 382
(Engle), 243 genes and traits, 44–45, 48 Green, Richard E., 126–27
Fruitful theories, 32 genotype and phenotype, 50–53, 55 Greenspan, Bennett, 154, 155
Fry, Gladys Marie, 154 Mendel’s experiments, 42–43 Greenwood, David, 247, 264, 427
FSR (Farming Systems Research), mutation, 48–49 Gregg, Jessica L., 512–13
348–49 norm of reaction, 51–53, 55 Griner, Roy Richard, 403
Fuentes, Agustín, 10, 28, 73 speciation and, 98 Grosz, Elizabeth, 408
Fulbe, 451, 484–86 Genital cutting, 247–50, 456–57 Ground-penetrating radar (GPR), 173, 174
Genome, 49, 49–50 Guider, Cameroon, 4–5, 240, 305, 323,
Genotypes, 50, 50–53, 55, 148, 149 330, 332, 345, 449–51, 484–86, 519
G Gentner, Dedre, 284 Guneratne, Arjun, 12
Galápagos Archipelago, 33, 38 Genus, 35 Gupta, Akhil, 258
Gallivan, Martin, 193 Geographic determinism, 353 Gupta, Dipankar, 479
Galton, Francis, 9 Geographic Information Systems Gvozdover, M. D., 132
Gamble, Clive, 136 (GIS), 175 Gypsies, 476–77
Index 565
H HIV/AIDS, 462–63, 506, 515, 516, 522–25 humanitarianism and, 495, 497–98
Ho, C. K., 115 prosecuting abuses of, 489
Habitats, 202, 205
Hobbes, Thomas, 366, 407 Human-rights law
Habitus, 238
Hockett, Charles, 274–76, 300 culture and, 243–44
Hacking, Ian, 373
Hodder, Ian, 176–77, 214–15 demonization of culture and, 243–44
Hadar fossils, 25–26, 102, 103
Hoffman, Michael, 224 Human rights violations
Hairstyles, 122
Hofriyat, Sudan, 248–50 identifying remains from, 46–47
Haiti, 403–4
Hole, Frank, 210, 212 investigating, 46–47
AIDS in, 522
Holism, 5, 7, 242, 244 Humans
human suffering in, 514, 515
Hollimon, Sandra, 192 anthropogenic environmental
racial divide in, 480
Holobionts, 145, 146 modification, 73
Half-life, 85
Hominids, 98 classification of, 68–69
Halperin, David, 410–11
Hominins, 63, 69, 98–108 climate change and, 91
Halperin, Rhoda, 221
bones of, 24, 25 origin of (See Fossil record)
Hamadryas baboons, 67, 68
changes in dentition, 104–5 See also Hominins
Handbook on Ethical Issues in
cranial capacity, 107 Human skeletal biology, 10
Anthropology, 258
defined, 98 Human society, forms of, 180–83
Hann, Chris, 338, 339, 343
evolution of, 98–99, 137 Human symbolic language. See
Haplorhines, 65–72, 77
gender roles in foraging Language(s)
Haraway, Donna, 13, 72, 408
societies, 108 Human Terrain System, 260
Harifian culture, 216
origin of bipedalism, 99–104 Human variation, 143–44
Harris, David, 207, 208
tool-making by, 110 adaptation and, 158–62
Harrison, Faye, 480, 486
Hominoids, 63 microevolution and patterns of, 156–58
Hart, Keith, 339, 343 bipedalism, 98 (See also Microevolution)
Hart, Kevin, 338 evolution of, 78–79 (See also Fossil Humility of things, 7
Hartigan, John, 149–51 record) Hungarian Guard, 477
Hawaii extinction of, 97 Hunger, 507
EthnoProfile of, 494 Homo, 98, 109 Hunter, David, 181
Hawaiian Sovereignty Movement, bipedalism, 100 Hunting, 211
493–95 early, 108–12 Neandertals, 124
Hayden, Brian, 228 Flores bone discovery, 24, 25 Paleoindian, 135
Hayonim Cave, 213–17 number of species, 109–10 in Upper Paleolithic/LSA, 130
Health, 504 Homo antecessor, 118 Hutnyk, John, 254
cultural understanding of causes of, Homo erectus, 109, 112, 112–16, 119 Hydraulic agriculture, 227, 233
508–16 Homo ergaster, 113, 118 Hymes, Dell, 282
experiential, 513 Homo floresiensis, 114 Hypotheses, 25
global capitalist economy and, 516, Homo habilis, 109
518–22 Homo heidelbergensis, 118
shared understanding of, 504 Homology, 63 I
See also Medical anthropology Homo naledi, 109 Ice cores, 91, 92
Health activism, 523, 525 Homophony, 300 Ice Man, 172
Hearths, 123 Homoplasy, 63 Icon, 277
Hegemony, 371, 371–72, 376 Homo sapiens Ideas, interpreting, 264–66
Henrich, Joseph, 56 archaic, 117 Identity(-ies)
Henry, Donald, 212–16, 218 classification of, 66 biosociality, 523
Herders, 179, 210–11 dependence on culture and, 240 common, 423
Herd following, 211 evolution of, 117–19 conflation of, 470
Heredity, 40 migration in late Pleistocene, 131, contradictions created by, 404
Herskovits, Melville, 244 134–36 ethnic, 484–86
Herzfeld, Michael, 381, 383–85 survival of, 136 indigeneity, 491
Hess, David, 268 Homosexuality, 410 nesting, 484, 485
Heteroglossia, 286, 287, 289, 290 Homozygous, 43 politics based on, 408
Heteronormativity, 410, 416 Honeychurch, William, 178, 179 sex, gender, sexuality, and other forms
Heterosexism, 410 Howe, Cymene, 415 of, 402–4
Heterosexuality, 410 Huaricoto, Peru, 191 Ideology, 371
Heterozygous, 43 Human agency, 55, 242, 244–45 Igbo, 462–63
Hewlett, Bonnie L., 401 Human body. See Body Illness, 504, 508–16. See also Medical
HGP (Human Genome Project), 149, 163 Human evolution, 136–37 anthropology
Hidden transcripts, 367 macroevolution and, 96 (See also Fossil Illness narratives, 511–12
Hill, James N., 259, 260 record) Imagined communities, 376, 423, 480
Hill, Sidney, 492 microevolution and (See Microevolution) Immigrants
Hinduism, 473, 474 predicting future of, 165 in Europe, 380–85
Hinton, Leanne, 292–94 Human Genome Project (HGP), 149, 163 European, in Africa, 484
Hip-hop, in Japan, 313–14 Humanitarianism, 495, 497–98 Somalian, in Norway, 456–57
Hiraiwa-Hasegawa, Mariko, 72 Human rights, 487 Incest taboo, 443
Historical archaeology, 192, 194–95 anthropological study of, 487–95, Independent assortment, 43, 45
Historical ecology, 218 497–98 Independent assortment, principle of, 43
History, culture and, 242, 244–45 culture and, 488–90, 493–95 Index, 277
566 Index
India, caste in, 473–75, 477–79 Jatis, 473–75, 478 Korozs, Lajos, 476
Indigenism, 492 Java, 282, 283 Korwa, 513–14
Indigenization of languages, 295 Jenner, Bruce/Caitlyn, 411 Krings, M. A., 126
Indigenous peoples (term), 491–92 Jericho, 216 Krings, M. H., 126
Indigenous rights, 491–93 Jewish synagogue ritual, 317–18 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, 223
Individualism, 407 Johannsen, W. L., 43 Kuhn, Steven L., 128
Indo-Fijians, 377, 378 Johansen, R. Elise B., 456 Kuhn, Thomas, 295–96
Indonesian middle class, 472 Johanson, Donald, 101, 103, 173 !Kung. See Ju/’hoansi
Inequality(-ies) Johnson, Anna, 439 Kurotani, Sawa, 455–58
from colonial empires, 518 Johnson, Matthew, 181 Kwaio, 330–32
embodied, 520–22 Joint family, 450, 450–51
humanitarianism and, 497 Jolly, Alison, 64
linguistic, 287–90 Jones, Carla, 472 L
racial, 403 Jones, J. S., 147 Labor, 347, 389
social, 469–99 Jones, Rhys, 194–95 Laboratory ethnography, 27
Inferred evidence, 24–25 Joseph, Acéphie, 515, 516 Labov, William, 28
Infibulation, 247–50, 456–57 Joyce, Rosemary, 191, 192 Lactose intolerance, 507–8
Informants, 12 Judson, Sheldon, 85 Laetoli, Tanzania, 101, 102
Ingold, Tim, 8, 221 Ju/’hoansi (!Kung), 219, 239, 325, 344, Lahr, Marta, 119
Inheritance, 427 354–55, 428, 436–37, 451, 458, 459, Laland, Kevin, 53, 55, 164
Inhorn, Marcia, 399–400, 408 461–62 Lamarck, Jean-Baptiste de Monet de,
Inkas, 232, 233, 342, 435 36–40, 48–49, 96
Institutionalization of precariousness, 381 Lancaster, C. S., 108
Institutions, 241, 339, 364 K Lancaster, Roger, 404–6, 409, 414, 460–61,
Insular dwarfing, 24 Kahn, Susan Martha, 439 480–81
Intensive agriculture, 179–80 Kant, Immanuel, 255 Land bridge, Africa–Eurasia, 79
Interdependence, human organization of, Kapferer, Bruce, 317 Language(s), 14, 273–301, 274
422–23. See also Relatedness Kaplan, Martha, 377, 378 creole, 286–87
International Sorghum/Millet Research Karat, Brinda, 448–49 culture and, 276–81
Project (INTSORMIL), 348–49 Karp, Ivan, 239, 267, 462 design features of, 274–76
Internet Kauffman, Marvin, 85 as distinctively human, 274–76
decentered selves on, 509–11 Kawasaki, Tomoe, 475 as exaptation, 124
in Trinidad, 455 Kayapo, 319 functions of, 276–77
Interpersonal power, 364 Keane, Webb, 277 “Language” and, 276
Interpretation of the past, 178–83 Keesing, Roger, 331, 332 learning, 281–86
Interpretive archaeology, 170 Kelly, John, 377, 378 linguistic inequality, 287–90
Interpretive medical anthropology, 511 Kendall, Martha B., 267 morphology, 298
Intersectionality, 403, 403–4, 406 Kennewick Man (the Ancient One), nonspoken media of, 278
Intersex, 409 135–36, 185–86 phonology, 298, 299
Intrusions, 123 Kenyanthropus platyops, 110 pidgin, 14, 286–87
INTSORMIL (International Sorghum/Millet Kichwa, 385–87, 492–93 raciolinguistics, 290–91
Research Project), 348–49 Kim, Jim Yong, 522 revitalization of, 291–95
Inyan Ceayak Atonwan, 194 King, Martin Luther, 490 semantics, 300–301
Iran King Kong (movie), 62 as symbolic, 240, 278
same-sex desire in, 417 Kinka, 322 syntax, 299–300
transsexuality in, 415–17 Kin-ordered mode of production, 348, 350 translation among, 279–81
Isbell, William, 231, 232 Kinship, 12, 422, 426, 426–27 truth and, 295–96
Isotopic dating, 85, 85–89 categorizing, 422–23 Language ideology, 287, 287–88
Israel, 439 Chinese, 385 Langurs, 68
Iteso marriage, 462 descent in, 427–29 Lassiter, Luke E., 252–53, 265
families by choice, 458 Latour, Bruno, 13, 27
in foraging societies, 108 Law
J formal, 422, 423 in Hawaii, 494
Jablonski, Nina, 160, 161 lineages and descent, 429–33 human rights and, 490, 493
Jackson, Bruce, 154 terminologies of, 433–34 Law of crosscutting relationships, 82
Jacobs, Sue-Ellen, 258, 259 Kiowas, 252–53 Law of superposition, 82
Jadhao, Gautam Ganu, 474 Kitcher, Philip, 32 Leacock, Eleanor, 396
Jaikumar, Sharma, 449 Klasies River Mouth Cave, Africa, 125 Lead poisoning, 510–11
Jakobson, Roman, 276 Klein, Richard, 88, 89, 116, 123–25, 127, Leakey, Louis, 108–9
James Bay Crees, 491 131, 136 Leakey, M. G., 100
Japan Kleinman, Arthur, 511 Learning
bonds among women workers in, 350 Knight, Charles R., 122 languages, 281–86
EthnoProfile of, 314 Koka, Agnes, 477 for survival, 6
hidden discrimination in, 475 Koka, Jeno, 476 Lederman, Rena, 7
hip-hop in, 313–14 Komachi, 266–69 Ledi-Geraru, Ethiopia, 109
migrants to U.S. from, 455–58 Kondo, Dorinne, 350 Lee, Richard, 108, 219, 344, 354,
sushi, 496–97 Konigsberg, Lyle, 152, 155 436–37, 451
Jarman, M. R., 211 Koobi Fora, Africa, 83 Legal citizenship, 380
Index 567
Legal rights to sites/relics, 183–86 Males Meadow, Richard, 211

LeGros Clark, W. E., 74–76 dominance by, 396–98 Meaning
Lemurs, 64, 65, 77 gender, 397–98 of artifacts, 7
Lende, Daniel, 151–52, 162 men’s studies/masculinities, 399 in languages, 300–301
Leroi-Gourhan, André, 132 patriarchy, 394–95 in pidgen and creole, 287
Lesbians, 410, 458 as sex, 395 of sites/relics, 183–86
Lese, 403 See also Sex, gender, and sexuality Meaning making, 303–34
Leslie, Charles, 519 Male-to-female continuum, 410–11 art, 305, 308–13
Levine, Nancy, 444, 445 Malinowski, Bronislaw, 180, 251, 258, Azande worldview, 326–28
Levins, Richard, 21, 26–27, 40, 51, 52, 315–17, 351, 354 hip-hop in Japan, 313–14
163, 165 Malkki, Liisa, 376 maintaining/changing worldviews,
Lévi-Strauss, Claude, 316, 317, 396, 397 Mana, 323 330–32
Lewis, I. M., 338 Mandela, Nelson, 414 myth, 314–17
Lewontin, Richard, 21, 22, 26–27, 40, 41, Mandible, 74 play, 304–5
51–54, 147, 163, 165 Manfil, Angélica, 47 religion, 322–26
LiDAR, 174 Manfil, Carlitos, 47 ritual, 317–21
Lieberman, Daniel, 115–16 Manfil, Carlos, 47 symbols, 321–22
Lienaweaver, Jessaca, 435–36 Manfil, Karina, 46, 47 U.S. evangelicals’ worldview, 328, 329
Life histories, food-centered, 359–60 Manfil Case, 46–47 worldview and symbolic practice, 321
Liminality, 318 Mann, Alan E., 100 worldviews as instruments of power,
Lin, Maya, 308, 309 Maori, 494 332–33
Lineages, 429–33, 430 Mapuche, 425, 426 Means of production, 347
Linguistic anthropology, 7, 8, 14, 298. Marcus, George, 261–62, 269 Mechanized industrial agriculture, 180,
See also Language(s) Margi, Nigeria, 308 187, 205, 367, 369
Linguistic competence, 281 Market exchange, 343, 345 Medical anthropology, 16, 16–17,
Linguistic determinism, 282–84 Marks, Jonathan, 28, 69, 124, 127, 503–28, 504
Linguistic inequality, 287–90 148, 162 as biocultural, 504–8
Linguistic relativity principle, 282, Marriage, 426, 427, 441, 441–47, 460 cultural understandings of causes of
282–84 common-law, 460 sickness and health, 508–16
Linguistics, 276, 298, 300 defining, 441 future of, 525–26
Linkage, 44 economic exchange and, 445–47 global capitalist economy and, 516,
Linnaean classification, 35, 63 flexibility of, 458–63 518–25
Linnaeus, Carolus, 8, 9, 35, 63 gay, 460–61 Medical pluralism, 519, 520–21
Little, Barbara J., 193 ghost marriage, 442 Meiosis, 43, 43–44
Livelihood, culture and, 338 HIV/AIDS and, 462–63 Melanesians, 397–98
Livingstone, Frank, 148 of Muslim immigrants in France, 382–83 Mellaart, James, 214
Localism, 385 as social process, 442–45 Mellars, Paul, 123
Lock, Margaret, 525–26 U.S. political culture and, 461 Melotti, Umberto, 381
Locus, 44 woman marriage, 441–42 Mende, 450
Lomekwian tools, 110 Marriage imperative (Iran), 417 Mendel, Gregor, 42–43, 51, 144
Lone Wolf, Chief, 253 Marsland, Rebecca, 524, 525 Mendelian inheritance, 42, 42–43
Long-distance nationalism, 379 Martin, R. D., 76 Men’s studies/masculinities, 399
Longino, Helen, 27 Marx, Karl, 228, 242, 342, 347, 348, 364, Merry, Sally Engle, 243–44, 487, 488,
Loose herding, 211 371, 471, 472 493, 494
Lorises, 64, 65 Marxism, 228–29 Meskell, Lynn, 196
Los Pinos, 453, 455 Masculinities, 399, 399–402 Messianism, 330
Louis, Chouchou, 515, 516 Material culture, 7, 12–13, 177, 241 Mestizo Genomics (Wade, Beltrán, Restrepo,
Lovejoy, Arthur, 34 Material evidence, 23–24, 26–27, 33 and Santos), 27
Lucy, 101, 104, 173 Material life, conflict in, 350–51 Metacommunication, 304, 319, 320
Luhrmann, T. M., 328, 329, 508, 509 Mating, marriage vs., 441, 446 Metaphors, 300
Lyell, Charles, 36, 38 Matriarchy(-ies), 396, 432 Meta-symbols, 358, 359
Matrilineage, 356, 428–30, 429, 432–33 Mexican American children, lead poisoning
Matrilocal residence, 443 among, 510–11
M Matrix (archaeology), 171 Mexican men, 400–402
Macaques, 68, 240 Mauss, Marcel, 343 Mexican migrants, 459
Machiavelli, Nicolo, 373 Maximal lineages, 431 Mexican nationalism, 376
Machismo, 401 Maya, 163, 228 Microevolution, 96, 143–65, 144
Machu Picchu, Peru, 183 Maybury-Lewis, David, 491 adaptation and human variation,
MacKinnon, Katherine C., 70 Maybury-Lewis, Pia, 491 158–62
Macroevolution, 96, 96–98, 144. See also Mayr, Ernst, 33, 34, 39, 48, 98, 144 four evolutionary processes, 152, 155–56
Fossil record McAnany, Patricia A., 352–53 macroevolution vs., 96
Magic, 327 McCoid, Catherine Hodge, 132 modern evolutionary synthesis, 144–48
Maisin, 345–47 McConnell-Ginet, Sally, 279 molecularization of race, 148–52
Major lineages, 431 McCorriston, Joy, 212 patterns of human variation and, 156–58
Makarewicz, Cheryl A., 178, 179 McDermott, LeRoy D., 132 phenotype, environment, and culture,
Maladaptation, 506 McKinnon, S., 8 162–65
Malcolm X, 489 McNeill, J. R., 353 Middle classes, 472
Malefyt, Timothy de Waal, 375, 517–18 Mead, Margaret, 11, 395 Middle Eastern men, 399–400
568 Index
Middle Paleolithic/Middle Stone Age N Nicaragua

culture, 121–27 colorism, 480–81
NAGPRA (Native American Graves
Middle Stone Age (MSA), 121, 121–27 sexual practices, 404–6, 414–15
Protection and Repatriation Act),
Mielke, James, 152, 155 Niche construction, 53, 202–4, 203
184, 185
Mignolo, Walter, 254–55 as adaptive process, 53–55
Najmabadi, Afsaneh, 415–17
Migrations, 13 Andean, 231
Nambikwara, 319
the Americas, 135–36 favorable to domesticated
Nation, 376
asylum-seekers, 495, 497–98 animals, 208
Nationalism
Australasia, 136 as formal model, 164
for Chinese diaspora, 386, 387
diaspora, 379 in material culture, 241
long-distance, 379–80
Eastern Asia and Siberia, 134 plant cultivation as, 204–7
subordinate cultural groups and, 376
to Europe, 380–84 selection pressures and, 136, 152, 158
Nationality, 376, 379–80
international, families affected by, 453, Niche Construction (Odling-Smee, Laland,
National sovereignty, 385, 489
455–58 and Feldman), 53, 55
Nation building, in Fiji, 377–78
in Late Pleistocene, 131, 134–36 Niches, 202
Nation-states, 376
nation-state boundaries and, 378–79 ecological, 64, 202, 203
citizenship and globalization,
skin color and, 161 evolutionary, 202, 203
385–89
trans-border identities, 379–80 Niezen, Ronald, 491, 492
globalization and, 378–85
Millenarianism, 330 Nishida, Toshisada, 72
politics of, 376–78
Miller, Daniel, 7, 238, 357–59, 455 Nissen, Hans, 225
rights to culture and, 489, 490
Milton, Katherine, 76 NitroMed, 150
transnational, 380
Mingas, 389 Nixon, Ron, 153–55
Native American Graves Protection and
Minimal lineage, 431 Nocturnal, 65
Minor lineages, 431 Repatriation Act (NAGPRA), 184, 185 Non, Amy, 159–60
Miocene, 78–79, 91 Native American reservations, 15–16 Nonagentive mode of power, 372
Mitchell-Kernan, Claudia, 290 Native Americans, 135, 184–86 Nonconjugal family, 447
Mitosis, 43, 43–44 in Chesapeake region, 193 Nonisotopic dating, 89, 89–90
Mitra, Subrata, 478 cosmopolitan archaeology, 196 Nootka, 344, 345
Moche civilization, 231 gender distinctions, 192 Norm of reaction, 51, 51–53, 55
Modern evolutionary synthesis, 144–48 historical archaeology, 192–94 Nuclear family, 410, 447, 449
Modes of exchange, 343, 343–45 Nativism, 330, 331 Nucleated cell, 51
Modes of production, 347, 348, 350 Natufians, 212–17, 222 Nuer, 431–32, 441–42
Modood, Tariq, 382 Naturalizing discourses, 470, 471 Numerical (absolute) dating methods, 82,
Molecular anthropologists, 10 Natural selection, 38–41, 39, 85–90
Molecular clock, 90 152, 155–56 Nurturance, adoption and, 446
Mombasa Swahilis, 412–14 in action, 40–41 Nutrition, 359–60
Monkeys, 66–68, 78, 79, 155, 156, 240 mutation and, 157–58 Nyinba, 444–45
Monogamy, 443, 443–44 mutations, 49
Monte Verde, Chile, 135 population thinking, 39–40
Monumental architecture, Natural world, pre-Darwinian views of, O
223, 223–24 33–38 Obama, Barack, 290, 291
Morais, Robert J., 375, 517–18 Navajo, 432–33 Objectification, 486–87
Moral model, 339 Nazca lines, 231, 232 Objectivity, 26, 26–27
Morbeck, Mary Ellen, 72 Ndebele, 484 Obsidian, 216, 217
Moretti-Langholtz, Danielle, 193 Ndjegn, 485 Obsidian hydration, 85
Morgan, Henry, 180 Neandertals, 119, 119–21 Occupational specialization, 222, 224
Morgan, Lewis Henry, 366 appearance of, 122 Odling-Smee, F. John, 53, 55, 164, 203
Morgan, Marcyliena, 289 Atapuerca fossils, 118 Oldowan tradition, 110, 110–12, 114
Morphemes, 275–76, 298 cultural remains, 123 Oligocene, 77–78, 91
Morphology, 63, 298 DNA, 126–27 Olsen, Bjørnar, 177–78
Morton, Samuel George, 9 fate of, 129–30 Olszewski, Deborah I.., 209
Mosaic evolution, 99 hunting, 124 Oma, Kristin Armstrong, 208
“Mostly out of Africa” model, 119 interbreeding with neighbors, Omnivorous, 100
Mothers of Plaza de Mayo, 242 127, 130 Omomyids, 77
Mount, Hagen, New Guinea, 396–98 tools, 123, 129 Ong, Aihwa, 385–87
Mousterian tradition, 121 Necrolemur, 77 On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural
MSA (Middle Stone Age), 121–27 Negative reciprocity, 344, 346 Selection (Darwin), 32, 40
Müller, Gerd, 55 Neoclassical economics, 343 Openness (language), 274–75, 304
Multiculturalism, 265, 487 Neo-Darwinism, 144, 146–47 Oracles, 327, 327–28
Multiple strand theories, 212 Neolithic, 215, 216, 222 Orangutans, 69, 71
Multisited fieldwork, 261, 261–62, Neolocal residence, 443 Organizational power, 364
268, 269 Nervous attacks, 507 Organ transplantation, 440–41
Música de Maestros, 312 Neutral mutations, 50 Origin myths, 315
Muslim immigrants, 381–82 Never Pure (Shapin), 28 Orrorin tugenensis, 100
Muslim Swahilis, 412–14 New Age movement, 329 Orthodoxy, 315
Mutation(s), 48, 48–50, 152, 152, 155–58 New Stone Age, 216 Orthopraxy, 320, 321
Mutualism, 204, 208 Newton, Isaac, 22, 23 Ortner, Sherry, 321, 396, 398
Myths, 22, 314, 314–17 Nguyen, Vinh-Kim, 525–26 Ortony, Andrew, 274
Index 569
Oruro, 182 Pleistocene, 91 Primates, 61–80

“Out of Africa” model, 118 Pliocene, 91 biological classification of, 62–64
Plotkin, Henry, 50 call systems, 274–76
Plundering of the past, 186–90 diversity of, 64, 70
P PMS (premenstrual syndrome), 505 of Eocene, 77
Pääbo, Svante, 126, 127 Polanyi, Karl, 343, 345 ethnoprimatology, 72–73
Pachacamac, 232 Political anthropology, 364, 366–74 future diversity of, 70
Pagels, Hans, 21–22 analyzing power in terms of domination haplorhines, 65–72
Pakistani culture, 243, 244 and resistance, 370 of Miocene, 78–79
Paleoanthropology, 10, 15, 27, 82–92 biopower and governmentality, of Oligocene, 77–78
Paleocene, 76–77, 91 372–74 of Paleocene, 76–77
Paleodemography, 506 domination and hegemony, 371–72 patterns in evolution of, 74–76
Paleoindian Hudson-Meng site, 176 history of, 364 strepsirrhines, 64–65
Paleoindians, 135 political power as coercion and, 366 Primate Visions (Haraway), 72
Paleomagnetism, 90 resistance to coercion, 366–70 Primatology, 10
Pangenesis, 41, 41–42 Political relations, 363–90 Principle of segregation, 43
Parallel cousins, 433, 434 anthropological study of, 366–74 Principles of Geology (Lyell), 36
Parallel relatives, 433 contemporary global politics, 389 Private polymorphisms, 147
Parapithecoids, 77 culture and, 364–66 Processual archaeology, 170
Parkin, David, 281 globalization and, 378–85 Proconsul, 78, 79
Parsons, Talcott, 244 in nation-states, 376–78 Production, 339, 342
Participant observation, 12, 257, Political violence, in Haiti, 515–16 as driver of economic activities, 347–51
260–61 Pollock, Ann, 150–51 means of, 347
Partners in Health, 522 Polyandry, 443, 444–45 mode of, 347, 348, 350
Pastoralists, 178 Polygamy, 443 relations of, 347, 350
Patniak, Soumendra M., 513 Polygeny, 44, 48, 158 study of, 339, 342
Patriarchy, 394, 395, 400 Polygynous family, 449–50 Project Camelot, 260
Patrilineages, 428–32, 429 Polygyny, 443, 444 Propliopithecids, 77, 78
Patrilocal residence, 443 Polymorphic alleles, 147 Prosimians, 63, 64
Patterned cultural variation, 238, 239 Polymorphous, 147 Protestant Reformation, 330
Pavlovian-Kostenkian-Gravettian (PKG) Population genetics, 147 Provenance, 171
statuettes, 132 Populations, 49, 144 Public/private divide, 394, 395–96
Peer review, 27 Population thinking, 39–40, 146 Punctuated equilibrium(--a), 96–98, 97,
Peirce, Charles Sanders, 277 Postcranial skeleton, 74 118–19
Peletz, Michael, 436 Postnational ethos, 387
Pena, Servando Puerta, 368 Postprocessual archaeology, 170, 226
Pennington, Renee, 219 Potassium-argon dating, 83, 86–87 Q
Peruvian Amazon, 368–69 Potlatch, 212, 344–45 Quaternary, 91
Petrie, Flinders, 83–85 Potts, Rick, 100, 111, 112, 136, 240, 241 Queer, 411
Pharaonic circumcision, 247, 249 Power, 364 Questioning Collapse (McAnany and Yoffee),
Pharmaceuticalization of public as coercion, 366 352–53
health, 524 gender, 398 Quipu, 233
Phenetic Fossil Species Concept, 144 in human societies (See Political
Phenotypes, 50–53, 51, 55 relations)
microevolution and, 162–65 interpersonal, 364 R
race and, 147–52 organizational, 364 Rabinow, Paul, 264–66, 267–68
Phenotypic plasticity, 158, 158–60 as productive, 372 Race(s), 8, 479, 479–81
Phonemes, 298 social, 364 British colonial law and, 377
Phones (sounds), 298 structural, 364 classification of, 8–10
Phonology, 298, 299 worldviews as instruments DNA testing and, 153–55
Phyletic gradualism, 96–98, 97, 116 of, 332–33 genetics and, 147–52
Phylogenetic Species Concept, 63, 64, PPNA (Pre-Pottery Neolithic A), 216 as imagined communities, 480
144, 146 PPNB (Pre-Pottery Neolithic B), intelligence and, 162
Physical anthropology, 10. See also 216, 217 whiteness, 480, 481
Biological anthropology Pragmatics, 275, 284, 284–85 Racial inequality, 403
Physiological exercise, 323 Prakash, Suraj, 452 Racialization of ethnicity, 486
Pidgins, 14, 286, 286–87, 295 Prayer, 323, 328, 329, 508, 509 Raciolinguistics, 290, 290–91
Piette, Édouard, 132 Prehensile, 66 Racism, 9, 479
Pigliucci, Massimo, 55 Prehistoric climates, 91, 92 localism and, 385
Pizango, Alberto, 368, 369 Prehistory, 14, 182, 183 in Nicaragua, 480–81
PKG (Pavlovian-Kostenkian-Gravettian) Premenstrual syndrome (PMS), 505 reification and, 487
statuettes, 132 Pre-Pottery Neolithic A (PPNA), 216 scientific, 9
Plant cultivation, 204–7, 209, 210 Pre-Pottery Neolithic B (PPNB), Radcliffe-Brown, A. R., 180
Plato, 33 216, 217 Radiocarbon dating, 87–88
Platyrrhines, 65, 66, 77 Prevarication, 276 Ramírez, Rosario, 47
Play, 304, 304–5, 317, 319–21 Preventive archaeology, 188–89 Random hunting, 211
Pleiotropy, 45, 158 Price, T. Douglas, 205, 223 Rapp, Rayna, 520
Pleisiadapiforms, 76 Priests, 325, 325–26 Rasmussen, Morten, 135–36, 184
570 Index
Recent epoch, 91 Rice, Prudence, 228 Semanticity, 276, 300

Recessive traits, 43 Richerson, Peter, 56, 164 Semantics, 275, 300, 300–301
Recife, Brazil, cancer treatments in, 512–13 Rich points, 264 Semiotics, 277
Reciprocal exchange, 356 Rightmire, G. Philip, 117, 118 Separation, marital, 451
Reciprocity, 343, 343–47 Right to culture, 489–90 Seriation, 83, 83–85
Redistribution, 344, 344–45, 356 Rindos, David, 204 Service, Elman, 181, 225
Reeves, Edward, 348, 349 Rione Monti (Rome), 381, 383–85 Sex, 395
Reflexivity, 215, 264, 269, 296, 304 Rising Star Cave, South Africa, 109 culturally-expected behaviors and, 395
Refugees Rites of passage, 318, 319 gender vs., 396
asylum-seekers, 495, 497–98 Rituals, 317, 317–21 other forms of identity and, 402–4
nation-state boundaries and, 378–79 acts in, 317–18 Sex, gender, and sexuality, 393–418
in Norway, 456 circumcision, 247, 248 connections among the body and, 406–8
Regional continuity model, 119 defining, 317 connections between bodies and
Reichel-Dolmatoff, Gerardo, 21 initiations into adulthood, 247–50 technologies, 408–9
Reification, 486–87 play and, 319–21 documenting variable culture
Reinach, Salomon, 132 rites of passage, 318, 319 understandings concerning, 411–17
Relatedness, 12, 421–65, 422 Robust australopiths, 106, 107 feminism and anthropological study of,
adoption, 434–36 Rolland, Nicolas, 123 394–98
descent in kinship, 427–29 Roma, 476–77 organizing study of, 398–402
family, 447, 449–58 Romero, Simon, 368–69 other forms of identity and, 402–4
flexibility of, 436–41 Rubin, Gayle, 396 studying relations between, 409–11
flexibility of marriage, 458–63 Rukullakta, Ecuador, 387–88, 492–93 Sex assignment, 409
friendship, 423–26 Running, 115–16 Sexism, 394
genealogical connection and, 422 Rylands, Anthony, 70 Sexologists, 410
human organization of interdependence, Ryle, Gilbert, 245 Sexual dimorphism, 69, 114, 161
422–23 Sexuality(-ies), 409, 409–11, 445. See also
kinship, 426–27 Sex, gender, and sexuality
kinship terminologies, 433–34 S Shackel, Paul A., 193
lineages and descent, 429–33 Sacrifice, 324 Shamans, 325, 325
marriage, 441–47 Sahelanthropus tehadensis, 100 Shani dolls, 482
reciprocity and, 346 Sahlins, Marshall, 343, 354, 355, Shanks, Michael, 226
shared substance and, 422 365–66, 407 Shapin, Steven, 28
Relations of production, 347, 350 Salvador de Bahia, Brazil, 522–24 Shared bodily substance, 470
Relative age, kinship and, 433 Sambia, 398 Shared substance, 422
Relative dating, 82, 82–85 Sangatte transit center, 497–98 Sharma, Dev Dutt, 449
Relatives, 428 Sangree, Walter, 445 Sharma, Hem Lata, 449
Relethford, John, 119, 152, 155 Santos, Ricardo Ventura, 27 Sharma, Nicha, 448–49
Religion, 322–26, 323 Sanza, 296 Sharma, Ursula, 473, 478, 479, 486
behaviors of, 323, 324 Sapir, Edward, 282, 284, 290, 298 Sharma, Vandana, 448
communication in, 324 Sausse, Ferdinand de, 277 Sharp, Lesley, 440, 441
evolution and, 34–36, 38 SAVA (substance abuse, violence, and Shawnee language, 298, 299
Great Chain of Being, 34–37 AIDS), 506 Sheedy, Anne, 266, 267
immigrants and, 381–82 Schengen Agreement, 378 Sheep, 210–11
Kiowa Christians, 252–53 Scheper-Hughes, Nancy, 507 Shepherd, Gill, 412–14
ritual and, 317 Schiller, Nina Glick, 379–80, 385, 403–4 Sherds, 224, 225
social organization and, 324–26 Schneider, David, 422 Shining Path, 436
as worldview, 322–24 Schwartzman, Helen, 304 Shipman, Pat, 111
Remarriage, 451 Science, 22, 22–28 Shiro, MC, 314
Renfrew, Colin, 170, 173, 175, 184, 189, Science studies, 13, 16–17, 21–22, 27, Shona, 484
194, 195 27–28 Siberia, migration to, 134
Replacement model, 118, 118–19 Scientific racism, 9 Sickle-cell anemia, 157–59, 506, 507
Reported speech, 406 Scientific theory, 26 Sickness, 504
Reproduction Scott, James, 367, 369–71, 388 cultural understanding of causes of,
assisted, 408–9, 439, 520 Second Life, 509–11 508–16
global capitalism and, 519–22 “Sedaka” village, 367, 369–71 global capitalist economy and, 516,
Reproductive capacity, sexuality vs., 445 Sedentism, 206 518–22
Reproductive technologies, 437–39 consequences of, 218–21 See also Medical anthropology
Residence rules/patterns, 427, 443 in Southwest Asia, 212–17 Sidi Lahcen Lyussi, 267
Resistance Segmentary opposition, 431 Sign languages, 274
analyzing power in terms of domination Segregation, principle of, 43 Silverman, S., 8
and, 370 Self(-ves) Silverstein, Michael, 284, 285
to coercion, 366–70 bounded, 509 Singer, Merrill, 16, 506, 514, 516
Restrepo, Eduardo, 27 decentered, 509–11 Singer, Natasha, 249
Reticulation, 144, 146 dividual, 510, 511 Single-sited fieldwork, 257–61
Revitalization, 330 kinds of, 508–9 Site, 170
Revivalism, 330 subjectivity and, 511–13 Skin color, 160–61. See also Race
Rezende, Claudia Barcellos, 424 unified and integrated, 509 Slash-and-burn horticulture, 180
Rice, Dan, 228 Self-interested model, 339 Slater, Don, 455
Index 571
Slobin, Dan, 284 Spencer, Herbert, 40 Symbol(s), 240, 274, 308, 321–22
Smedley, Audrey, 480 Spiritual Disciplines Project, 509 meta-, 358, 359
Smith, Andrea, 329 Stabilization adaptations, 116 power of, 332
Smith, Bruce, 205, 217, 218 Stanley, Steven, 32, 56, 98 Symbolic, culture as, 240
Smith, Daniel, 462–63 State(s), 181, 182, 225 Symbolic coding, 240, 241
Smith, Gavin, 16 apparent, 380 Symbolic forms, 308
Smith, M. G., 471 origin of, 180–83 Symbolic language. See Language(s)
Smith, Wilfred Cantwell, 269 transborder, 379–80 Symbolic practice, worldview and, 321
Smitherman, Geneva, 290 Statecraft, 388–89 Symbolic thought, as exaptation, 124
Snow, Clyde, 4, 46 Statistics, 373 Symbolism, gender, 403
Social anthropology, 11 Status, 182 Syncretism, 330
Social complexity, 222–33 achieved, 434 Syndemics, 506, 516
Andean civilization, 229–33 ascribed, 434 Synonymy, 300
archaeological evidence for, 223–26 in Mombasa, 413–14 Syntax, 275, 299, 299–300, 316
ecological consequences of, 228 in polygynous families, 450
explaining rise of, 226–29 women’s wealth and, 356
in foraging societies, 222–23 Steiner, Christopher, 357 T
Social contract, 407 Stereoscopic vision, 75, 76 Taboo, 323
Social exclusion, 520, 520–22 Stewart, Michael, 477 Taliban, 186–87
Social inequality, 469–99 Stini, William, 247, 264, 427 Tambiah, Stanley, 483
anthropological study of human rights, Stoler, Ann, 403 Tango, 311
487–95, 497–98 Stone cache hypothesis, 112 Tanzania
caste, 473–79 Stone tools, 110–12, 114–15, 135 AIDS in, 524–25
class, 471–73 Storytelling, 21–22, 28 childbirth in, 520–22
ethnicity, 482–87 Strathern, Marilyn, 396–98, 403, 437, 510 Taphonomy, 110, 110–11
race, 479–81 Stratified societies, 470. See also Social Tarsiers, 65, 66, 77
Socialization, 238 stratification Tarsiiformes, 65
Social justice, human-rights discourse and, Stratigraphic superposition, 82, 83 Tattersall, Ian, 22, 32, 41, 110, 113, 116,
487–88 Stratum, 82 123–24, 144, 147–49
Social model of human nature, 339 Street gangs, 454–55 Tawantinsuyu, 232
Social organization, 338 Strepsirrhines, 64–65, 77 Taxon, 63
conflict in material life, 350–51 Strier, Karen, 70 Taxonomy, 35, 62
in foraging vs. in complex societies, Stringer, Chris, 89, 109, 119, 125 biological, 35
222–23 Structural ambiguity (language), 299 cladistics, 64–64
Natufian, 213–17 Structural power, 364 as inclusive hierarchy, 63
religion and, 324–26 Structural violence, 514 of primates, 62–64, 75
Social power, 364 embodied inequality and, 520–22 Taylor, Julie, 311
Social stratification, 213 health and, 525 TCP (traditional cultural property) sites,
chiefdoms, 182 subjectivity and, 514–16 178
Natufian, 213–17 Style (art), 305 Technologies, 12–13
origin of, 222 Subchrons, 90 for archaeological surveys, 173, 174
permanently ranked subgroups in, 470 Subjectivity, 511 connections between body and, 408–9
(See also Social inequality) self and, 511–13 domestication and, 226
states, 182 structural violence and, 514–16 of foragers, 222
See also Social complexity trauma and, 513–14 global flows of, 13
Social zooarchaeology, 208 Subsistence, 178 human experiences with, 7
Societal collapse, 352–53 Subsistence strategies, 178, 178–80, organ transplantation, 440–41
Societies, stratified, 470 202–21 reproductive, 408–9, 437–39, 520
Sociobiology, 164 animal domestication, 207–11 Upper Paleolithic, 129
Sociocultural anthropology, 11 consequences of domestication and See also Tools
Sociolinguists, 14 sedentism, 218–21 Temperature regulation adaptations,
Sociology, 11 human dependence on culture, 202–4 116, 159
Sodalities, 181, 182 motors of domestication, 211–12 Territorial citizenship, 387–88
Somalis (Northern), 338 plant cultivation, 204–7 Terrorism, 382, 498
Somatization, 514 in Southwest Asia, 212–17 Tertiary, 91
Sororal polygyny, 444 Substantive citizenship, 380 Testability, 25, 25–26, 32
Southwest Asia, domestication in, 212–17 Succession, 427 Thayer, Zaneta, 159–60
Spangler, Sydney, 520–22 Suffering, 504, 513–16. See also Medical Theodicy, 328
Species, 35, 144 anthropology Theories, 26, 32
anagenesis, 96, 97 Sunda, 136 Theories of practice, 218
of early Homo, 109–10 Superposition, law of, 82 Thermoluminescence, 88, 89
homology and homoplasy, 63 Surplus production, 222 Third gender, 412
mutualism, 204 Surrogate family, gangs as, 454–55 Thomas, Nicholas, 254
names of, 63 Surveys, 172–75, 173 Thomas, R. Brooke, 16
race and, 148–49 Sushi, 496–97 Tikal, Guatemala, 223
See also Biological evolution Sussman, Robert, 76 Tilley, Christopher, 226
Species selection, 98 Swahilis, 412–14 Titicaca basin culture, 231
Spector, Janet, 192, 194 Swidden, 180 Tiv, 430, 431
572 Index
Tiwanaku (Tiahuanaco), 231, 232 Unilineal cultural evolutionism, 180 Weismantel, Mary, 434–35
Tombs, 224 Unilineal descent, 427, 427–29 Wellness, 504
Tools United States flag, 321, 322 Wenke, Robert, 176, 204, 205, 209,
Mousterian/MSA, 121, 123, 124 Universal Declaration on Human Rights, 223, 229
Natufian, 212 487, 489, 490 Wentzell, Emily, 400–402, 408
stone, 110–12, 114–15, 135 University of Arizona AMS lab, 88 Werbner, Pnina, 254, 486–87
Upper Paleolithic/LSA, 127–28, Upper Paleolithic/Late Stone Age (LSA), Werowocomoco research project, 193
130, 131 127, 127–34 West-Eberhard, Mary Jane, 50, 158
used by women, 191 Uranium-series dating, 87 Weston, Kath, 458
Tornow, Matthew, 10 U.S. Agency for International Development Wheat, 206–7
Trade, in PPNA Jericho, 216 (AID), 348 White, Leslie, 223
Traditional cultural property (TCP) Ussher, James, 38 White, Tim, 100
sites, 178 Whitehead, Mary Beth, 438
Traits, 44–45, 48–51, 148 “Whiteness,” 480, 481
Transborder citizenry, 379 V Whitten, Phillip, 181
Trans-border identities, 379–80 Valentine, Bettylou, 260–61 Whorf, Benjamin, 282, 284
Transborder states, 379, 379–80 Valentine, Charles, 260–61 Wieringa, Saskia, 414
Transculturation, 494 Values, cultural, 489 WIIN Act, 186
Transegalitarian society, 225 Van den Berghe, 479 Wiley, Andrea, 17
Transformational evolution, 34, 36–38, 37, Van Gennep, Arnold, 318 Wilk, Richard, 338, 339, 343
48–49 Van Willigen, John, 452 Williams, Brackette, 376, 470
Transformist hegemony, 376 Variation, trait, 44–45, 48, 49. See also Williams, Brett, 459
Transgender, 410, 410–11 Human variation Wilson, E. O., 164
Transnational nation-state, 380 Variational evolution, 38, 39 Wilson, Richard, 488
Transracialism, 291 Varna, 473 Witchcraft, 326, 326–28, 508, 514
Transsexuality, 415–17 Vaughan, James, 308 Witherspoon, Gary, 432–33
Transvestics, 406 Venus figures, 132 Wittfogel, Karl, 226–27
Transvestism, 405, 405–6 Vera (shaman), 325 Wolcott, Harry, 269
Trauma, 513, 513–14 Vernacular statecraft, 388, 388–89 Wolf, Eric, 347, 348, 364, 366
Tribes, 181, 225 Vertical archipelago system, 231 Wolfe, Linda, 72
Tributary mode of production, 348 Video cameras, 319 Wolpoff, Milford, 119
Trinidad Vietnam Veterans Memorial, 308, 309 Woman marriage, 441–42
Coca-Cola in, 357–59 Villmoare, Brian, 109 Women
Internet use in, 455 Vincent, Joan, 364 of color, 408
Trinkaus, Erik, 120 Vineyard Christian Fellowship, 328, 329 as gender category, 402
Tristan da Cunha, 157 Violence See also Female(s)
Trobriand Islanders, 315–16, 355–56 against females, 452 Women’s studies, 398, 399
Trotter, Robert, 510–11 political, 515–16 Women’s wealth, 355–56
Trouillot, Michel-Rolph, 251 SAVA (substance abuse, violence, and Woolard, Kathryn A., 287
Truth AIDS), 506 Worldview(s), 321, 321–33
language and, 295–96 structural, 513–16, 520–22, 525 of Azande, 326–28
myth and, 315 Vision, 76 ideologies as, 371
ritual and, 320 Visual predation hypothesis, 76 as instruments of power, 332–33
Tsing, Anna, 254, 266 Vocation, anthropology as, 9 maintaining/changing, 330–32
Tswana, 246, 372 Voloshinov, V. N., 285, 308 religion as, 322–24
Tukano people, 21, 22 Vrba, Elisabeth, 40, 41 symbolic practice and, 321
Tuna trade, 496–97 of U.S. evangelicals, 328, 329
Turkana boy, 113 Wrangham, Richard, 116
Turner, Terence, 319 W
Turner, Victor, 318 Wade, Peter, 27, 148
Tuscany, 359–60 Walker, Alice, 247 Y
Tuskegee Study of Untreated Syphilis in the Wallace, A. F. C., 323 Yoffee, Norman, 352–53
Negro Male, 150 Wallace, Alfred Russel, 38 Yoruba, 321
Tutankhaman’s tomb, 224 Walsh, Michael, 294, 295 Yuval-Davis, Nira, 265
Two spirit, 412 Ward, T. W., 454–55
Tylor, E. B., 251, 503 Wari, 231, 232
Typological sequences, 82–85U Warner, W. Lloyd, 473 Z
Umatilla tribe, 185 Washburn, Sherwood, 10, 108, 144 Zeder, Melinda, 205, 206, 208, 217, 218
Uneven pluralism, 381 Wax, Murray L., 258, 259 Zhoukoudian, China, 115
Unified and integrated selves, 509 Weatherford, Jack, 220 Zimmer, Carl, 70
Unified theories, 32 Webster, David, 227 Zooarchaeology, social, 208
Uniformitarianism, 34, 36 Weiner, Annette, 355–56 Zumbagua, 434–35

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anthropology

Published in the United States of America by Oxford University Press

© 2018, 2015, 2012, 2008 by Robert H. Lavenda and Emily A. Schultz

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

CHAPTER 1 What Is Anthropology? ​ 3

CHAPTER 2 Why Is Evolution Important to Anthropologists? ​ 31

CHAPTER 5 What Can Evolutionary Theory Tell Us about Human Variation? ​ 143

CHAPTER 6 How Do We Know about the Human Past? ​ 169

CHAPTER 8 Why Is the Concept of Culture Important? ​ 237

CHAPTER 9 Why Is Understanding Human Language Important? ​ 273

CHAPTER 10 How Do We Make Meaning? ​ 303

CHAPTER 12 How Do Anthropologists Study Political Relations? ​ 363

CHAPTER 15 What Can Anthropology Tell Us about Social Inequality? ​ 469

CHAPTER 16 How Is Anthropology Applied in the Field of Medicine? ​ 503

CHAPTER 1 What Is Anthropology? 3

MODULE 1: Anthropology, Science, and Storytelling ​ 21

Scientific and Nonscientific Explanations ​ 21

CHAPTER 2 Why Is Evolution Important to Anthropologists? ​ 31

What Is Natural Selection? ​ 38

ANTHROPOLOGY in Everyday Life: Investigating Human-Rights

CHAPTER 3  hat Can the Study of Primates Tell Us

IN THEIR OWN WORDS: The Future of Primate Biodiversity ​ 70

Are There Patterns in Primate Evolution? ​ 74

MODULE 2: Dating Methods in Paleoanthropology and Archaeology ​ 82

Relative Dating Methods ​ 82

CHAPTER 4  hat Can the Fossil Record Tell Us

IN THEIR OWN WORDS: Finding Fossils ​ 103

What Happened to the Neandertals? ​ 129

CHAPTER 5  hat Can Evolutionary Theory Tell Us

IN THEIR OWN WORDS: Have We Ever Been Individuals? ​ 145

IN THEIR OWN WORDS: DNA Tests Find Branches but Few

CHAPTER 6 How Do We Know about the Human Past? ​ 169

How Is the Past Being Plundered? ​ 186

What Are the Critical Issues in Contemporary

ANTHROPOLOGY in Everyday Life: Archaeology as a Tool

CHAPTER 7  hy Did Humans Settle Down, Build Cities,

ANTHROPOLOGY in Everyday Life: Çatalhöyük in the Twenty-First

How Do Anthropologists Define Social Complexity? ​ 222

CHAPTER 8 Why Is the Concept of Culture Important? ​ 237

IN THEIR OWN WORDS: Culture and Freedom ​ 241

Culture, History, and Human Agency ​ 242

MODULE 3: On Ethnographic Methods ​ 257

The Dialectic of Fieldwork: An Example ​ 266

CHAPTER 9 Why Is Understanding Human Language Important? ​ 273

IN THEIR OWN WORDS: Cultural Translation ​ 281

What Does It Mean to “Learn” a Language? ​ 281

IN THEIR OWN WORDS: Varieties of African American

How Are Language and Truth Connected? ​ 295

MODULE 4: Components of Language ​ 298

CHAPTER 10 How Do We Make Meaning? ​ 303

IN THEIR OWN WORDS: Tango ​ 311

How Does Hip-Hop Become Japanese? ​ 313

IN THEIR OWN WORDS: Video in the

IN THEIR OWN WORDS: For All Those Who Were Indian in a

IN THEIR OWN WORDS: Custom and

How Are Worldviews Used as Instruments of

CHAPTER 11  hy Do Anthropologists Study Economic

CHAPTER 1 What Is Anthropology? 3

CHAPTER 2 Why Is Evolution Important to Anthropologists? 31

CHAPTER 5 What Can Evolutionary Theory Tell Us about Human Variation? 143

CHAPTER 6 How Do We Know about the Human Past? 169

CHAPTER 8 Why Is the Concept of Culture Important? 237

CHAPTER 9 Why Is Understanding Human Language Important? 273

CHAPTER 10 How Do We Make Meaning? 303

CHAPTER 12 How Do Anthropologists Study Political Relations? 363

CHAPTER 15 What Can Anthropology Tell Us about Social Inequality? 469

CHAPTER 16 How Is Anthropology Applied in the Field of Medicine? 503

MODULE 1: Anthropology, Science, and Storytelling 21

Scientific and Nonscientific Explanations 21

CHAPTER 2 Why Is Evolution Important to Anthropologists? 31

What Is Natural Selection? 38

CHAPTER 3 hat Can the Study of Primates Tell Us

IN THEIR OWN WORDS: The Future of Primate Biodiversity 70

Are There Patterns in Primate Evolution? 74

MODULE 2: Dating Methods in Paleoanthropology and Archaeology 82

Relative Dating Methods 82

CHAPTER 4 hat Can the Fossil Record Tell Us

IN THEIR OWN WORDS: Finding Fossils 103

What Happened to the Neandertals? 129

CHAPTER 5 hat Can Evolutionary Theory Tell Us

IN THEIR OWN WORDS: Have We Ever Been Individuals? 145

CHAPTER 6 How Do We Know about the Human Past? 169

How Is the Past Being Plundered? 186

CHAPTER 7 hy Did Humans Settle Down, Build Cities,

How Do Anthropologists Define Social Complexity? 222

CHAPTER 8 Why Is the Concept of Culture Important? 237

IN THEIR OWN WORDS: Culture and Freedom 241

Culture, History, and Human Agency 242

MODULE 3: On Ethnographic Methods 257

The Dialectic of Fieldwork: An Example 266

CHAPTER 9 Why Is Understanding Human Language Important? 273

IN THEIR OWN WORDS: Cultural Translation 281

What Does It Mean to “Learn” a Language? 281

How Are Language and Truth Connected? 295

MODULE 4: Components of Language 298

CHAPTER 10 How Do We Make Meaning? 303

IN THEIR OWN WORDS: Tango 311

How Does Hip-Hop Become Japanese? 313

CHAPTER 11 hy Do Anthropologists Study Economic

IN THEIR OWN WORDS: Solidarity Forever 350

IN THEIR OWN WORDS: Questioning Collapse 352

CHAPTER 12 How Do Anthropologists Study Political Relations? 363

How Do Ethnographers Study Gender Performativity? 404

CHAPTER 14 here Do Our Relatives Come from and Why Do

Why Is Marriage a Social Process? 442

IN THEIR OWN WORDS: Two Cheers for Gay Marriage 460

CHAPTER 15 What Can Anthropology Tell Us about Social Inequality? 469

How Do Anthropologists Study Human Rights? 487

IN THEIR OWN WORDS: How Sushi Went Global 496

CHAPTER 16 How Is Anthropology Applied in the Field of Medicine? 503

IN THEIR OWN WORDS: The Madness of Hunger 507

FIGURE 1.1 Many people

FIGURE 1.3 Some biological anthropologists are primatologists, such as

Applied Anthropology FIGURE 1.6 Members of the Argentine Forensic Anthropolo-

FIGURE 1.7 Medical anthropolo-

Assumptions Assumptions are basic, unquestioned un-

Evidence In science, evidence refers to what we can see

FIGURE 2.1 Major locations discussed in Chapter 2.

TABLE 2.1 Pre-Darwinian Views of the Natural World

transformational evolution Also called Lamarckian evolution, it as-

FIGURE 2.8 Mendel crossbred

FIGURE 2.9 Cells divide in two Organism with two chromosome pairs

Independent assortment Linkage FIGURE 2.10 The principle of indepen-