ANTHROPOLOGY

Group presentations:
1. Intro
2. Background
3. Thesis / Main point of article
4. Evidence used to support main point of article
5. Conclusions of article
6. Your thoughts on article
7. Questions for class
8. References

8/30
SOME TERMS
Anthropology
Culture
Ethnocentrism
Cultural relativism
Structure/agency
Space/place
Scale

THREE QUESTIONS
What is anthropology?
Study of humans
What is culture?
It’s what makes humans, human.
What is universal for humans?
Culture, religion, language, instincts, marriage, breathing, eating, death, learning,
and pooping.

WHAT IS ANTHROPOLOGY
Four (+1) fields:
Archaeology
Linguistics
Cultural (social) anthropology
Biological anthropology
Applied anthropology

We can determine that anthropology can be defined as: “the study of human beings.”

Yet many other humanities, sciences and social sciences could also be defined as “the
study of human beings” since the definition itself is so broad.

CHARACTERISTICS OF ANTHROPOLOGY
 a. Anthropology is transcultural; looks all human groups, large and small; distant and
near
b. Anthropology spans all human history, the ancient and the modern. We must know
the past to understand the present.
c. Anthropology is holistic; seeks to demonstrate how

QUOTE
“Anthropology is the most humanistic of the sciences and the most scientific of the
humanities.” – Attributed to Alfred Kroeber

SOMETHING I DON’T KNOW (BIOLOGICAL ANTRHOPOLGY)

Biological anthropology seeks to understand human behavior from a biological base
especially

Some examples of biological anthropology are paleontology; primatology; the study of

human variation…

CULTURAL ANTHROPOLOGY
It seeks to understand universals and variations in human cultures both past and present.

ARCHAEOLOGY
It seeks to understand human history through the study (primarily) of material remains
and artifacts. Sometimes the work of archaeologists overlaps with the work of historians
in a specialization, historical archaeology.

LINGUISTICS
It seeks to understand human language, written and non-written, spoken and non-verbal.
The study of how languages change over time is termed historical linguistics. The study
of how language is used in social contexts is termed socio-linguistics.

ETHNOLOGY
It seeks to understand the patterns of human thought and behavior over time. A holistic,
detailed

Underscoring all of the sub

FURTHER COMMON DIVISIONS WITHIN ANTHROPOLOGY INCLUDE:

1. Area specializations (SE Asia, Europe, Latin America, etc.; areas which share some
cultural-historical characteristics)
2. Topic specializations

DEFINITIONS OF CULTURE
Edward Tyler (1871):
 Culture… is that complex whole which includes knowledge, belief, art, law,
morals, custom, and any other capabilities and habits acquired by man as a
member of society.

ELEMENTS OF CULTURE
Culture is… a system of learned and shared ideas; a “map” for getting around.
Values and Beliefs
Norms (rules – formal and informal)
Institutions
Actions (rituals and)

ACQUISTION OF CULTURE
Enculturation – the processes by which a child learns his or her culture

Assimilation – the process whereby a minority group gradually adapts to the customs and
attitudes of the prevailing culture and customs.

Acculturation – Accul

Ethnocentrism
The use of values, ideals, and morals from one’s own culture to judge the behavior of
someone from another culture.

Cultural Relativism
Asserts that cultural values are arbitrary.

Therefore, the values of one culture should not be used as standards to evaluate the
behavior of persona from outside that culture.

On to the History and Philosophy of Science (Way too briefly)

What is science?
Study of the natural world, Study of matter, Study of science shit
Is science cultural?
What makes knowledge “scientific”?
What is a hypothesis vs. a theory?
Theory – a big idea
Hypothesis – something I can test
What is the scientific method?

Knowledge systems
Rooted in experience and meaning, therefore in places
Interconnected bodies of knowledge; cannot operate in fragments
Each system has an internal logic that may conflict with the logic of other systems
Not necessarily internally coherent
 May contain defensive knowledge that renders other knowledge invalid
Also include systematic interested ignorance

Plato
Plato’s epistemology denigrated scientific knowledge (knowledge of natural and material
regularities) – such knowledge was not of the true reality, but merely of “shadows in the
cave”

Most importantly for Plato was knowledge of the Forms, the abstract entities which
define the moral and metaphysical structure of the universe

Knowledge of the Forms was to be gained not via observation and interference
Aristotle
Inductive-Deductive Model

General Principles
^ \
/ \
Induction Deduction

Pythagoreanism
Pythagoreans revered numbers and mathematical relations to the point of mysticism

History and Philosophy of Science

The history and philosophy of science can inform our research in science by providing
Theories of explanation and scientific knowledge;
Views of discovery

The concerns of the Philosophy of Science

Philosophy

Hypothetico-Deductive Method
Popularized by William Whewell (Who-wul) in the 1800’s

Karl Popper and Falsification

A focus on confirmation raises Hume’s problem of induction. That is, past evidence may
not be indicative of future events.

Popper suggests a focus of falsification where scientists seek to refute their hypothesis
through experiment

Falsification posits that one cannot prove theories or hypotheses true, or even probable.

Under this view, hypotheses are either false or corroborated.

 Popper’s philosophy required the sciences to establish falsifiable hypotheses – anything
else is pseudoscience.

Scientific Discovery
Philosophers largely ignore

Scientific Progress: Kuhn

Thomas Kuhn distinguished between two types of science.

Normal science involved puzzle solving activity that revolved around some current
scientific theory.
Revolutionary science arose when anomalies

Scientific Progress: Lakatos

Imre Lakatos posited two types of knowledge in a theory:
The hard core consisted of those ideas central to a research programme

Scientific Community: Polanyi

Michael Polanyi was a contemporary of Popper
Worked as a chemist, economist, and philosopher
Argued that science is a social process
Tacit knowledge: that necessary knowledge that is difficult to see or verbalize
Argued against reducibility: for example, that the properties of DNA cannot be reduced
to chemical bonds and molecular shape.

Deductive Reasoning
Logical deduction is often characterized by modus ponens:
If P, then Q

Inductive Reasoning
Inductive reasoning identifies specific commonalities across several events and posits a
corresponding general claim.

Q1 is P
Q2 is P
Qm is P
Therefore, all Q’s are P

Abductive Reasoning
Abductive reasoning involves explaining an event by positing a statement that, if true,
would manifest that event.
9/11

THE DISCOVERY OF NEPTUNE

After predicting the orbit of Uranus using Newtonian theory, Alexis Bouvard noticed
irregularities in its observed orbit.

Bouvard conjectured that an unknown planet was causing the discrepancy but did not investigate.

John Adams and Urbain Le Verrier became independently aware of Bouvard’s

WHAT IS EVOLUTION?
Change over time
Micro-evolution
Macro-evolution

OLDER IDEAS OF EVOLUTION

Greece
Anaximander: first animal life began in water; humans descended from other animals

GREAT CHAIN OF BEING

Non-religious
Aristotle (Scala Naturae)
Linnaeus (Systema Naturae)
Theological
God
Orders of Angels
Humans
Orders of Animals
Orders of Plants
Orders of Demons

OLDER IDEAS OF EVOLUTION

Islamic science
Ibn Khaldun: the Muqaddimah
Species change and increase in numbers over time. Species are related to one
another, from simple to complex.

MEDIEVAL EUROPE
Focus on classification, not origins
Unchanging species concept from Greek philosophy (Plato, Aristotle)
MEANWHILE, IN GEOLOGY
1699: Nicholas Steno, Danish scientist, laid the groundwork for stratigraphy
Law of superposition
Principle of original horizontality
Principle of lateral continuity
Principle of cross-cutting relations

STILL GEOLOGY
James Hutton: “Father of Modern Geology”
Uniformitarianism: Earth was shaped by the same processes we see today.
Earth had to be ancient to account for changes
Charles Lyell: popularized Hutton’s ideas
Named geologic eras
Georges Cuvier
Catastrophism: Earth and species were shaped by periodic catastrophes, such as
floods

LATER THEORIES
Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon: species changer over time, vary between areas
and may improve or degenerate
Critique of Practical Reason, Immanuel Kant speculates that animals with physical
similarities may have come from a single ancestral source.

Lamarck
No common ancestor
Inheritance of acquired characteristics
Transmutation of species
Erasmus Darwin
Charles Darwin’s grandfather
Common ancestry
“The strongest and most active animal should propagate the species, which should thence
become improved.”

NATURAL SELECTION
Developed by Charles Darwin
AND Alfred Russel Wallace
“Survival of the Fittest” (coined by Herbert Spencer)

GENETICS
What is genetics?
“Genetics is the study of heredity, the process in which a parent passes certain genes onto
their children.”
What does that mean?
Children inherit their biological parent’s genes (genotype) that express specific traits,
such as some physical characteristics, natural talents, and genetic disorder (phenotype).
 GENETIC CONCEPTS
Heredity describes how some traits are passed from parents to their children.
The traits are expressed by genes, which are small sections of DNA that are coded
for specific traits.
Genes are found on chromosomes.
Humans have two sets of 23 chromosomes – one set from each parent.
A map of chromosomes sorted from large to small is a karyotype.

MENDELIAN INHERITANCE
1. The inherited traits are determined by genes that are passed from parents to children.
2. A child inherits two sets of genes – one from each parent.
3. A trait may not be observable, but its gene can be passed to the next generation.

Each person has 2 copies of every gene – one copy from mom and second from dad. These
copies may come in different variations, known as alleles, that express different traits.

FIRST PRESENTATION

Introduction
The Panda’s Thumb: More Reflections

Background
China shipped two pandas to the Washington zoo which intrigued Gould to go and
observe them. He saw that “they sat upright and manipulated “

Evidence
Panda’s spend a majority of their time eating bamboo. They could subsist almost entirely
on bamboo if need be.
Their thumb is actually just an elongated extension of the radial sesamoid bone. So what
makes up the thumb is nothing that wasn’t already part

Conclusion
The panda’s thumb provides an elegant zool

AUTOSOMAL DOMINANT AND RECESSIVE

Huntington Disease – Dominant Disease
Cystic Fibrosis – Recessive Disease
Sickle Cell Anemia (Recessive)
Tay-Sach’s (Recessive)
PKU (Recessive)

EVOLUTION
Big time
Whole population
Adaptation – Individual
DIGENIC AND POLYGENIC TRAITS
Monogenic: controlled by a single gene (a single pair/can have multiple alleles)
Digenic: two genes at two sites (two pairs/each could have multiple alleles)
Polygenic: many genes across multiple chromosomes

9/18

More terms
Punctuated equilibrium
Selective sweep – an organism with an advantage in an ecosystem is dominant among
other organisms of the same species
Genotype/phenotype
Race
Monogenic/Polygenic
Complete/Incomplete/co dominance
Melanin (Eumelanin – brown/black, Pheomelanin, Neuromelanin)
Melanocytes (melanin producing cells)
Melanosomes (vesicles for storing melanin)

MONOGENIC TRAIT WITH MULTIPLE ALLELES: BLOOD TYPE

A
B
AB
O
IA and IB are codominant
i is recessive

A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE RACE CONCEPT

Definition: subspecies
Two populations
Rarely or never interbreed
Genetically very difficult from one another
Typological difference (clear physical patterns)
Relatively recent (last 400-500 years); used to justify European colonialism and slavery
Race
Essential part of the global discourse of power
Deeply embedded in our cultural unconscious

“RACE” SCIENCE IN THE 19TH AND 20TH CENTURY

The logic of “race science” – or scientific racism
Typological model
See Stephen Jay Gould, The Mismeasure of Man
Typically three “races” (trait problem)
The methods employed
Seeds and lead pellets (skull volume)
Identifying what skulls go in what groups
EARNEST HOOTON
His “Big 3” racial groupings (1926):
Caucazoid
Mongoloid
Negroid
Notice the tremendous skin color variation that he collapses into a category. So his is not
simply about skin color, then what is his criteria?

His specific perceptions of facial features and body type

His research in the 20th century reflected the scientific racism of the time, but is

THE HISTORY OF HUMAN CLASSIFICATION

European scholars of the 18th through early 20th centuries classified humans into a series of
subspecies based on geography and features such as skin color, body size, head shape, and hair
texture.

Some scholars went a step further and placed these types into a hierarchical framework in which
the “white” race was considered superior to others.

A belief in superiority (prejudice) plus thee power in society to enforce cultural dominance =
racism.
The above definition is why “reverse” racism can’t exist.

THE HISTORY OF THE “RACE” CONCEPT

“Race” refers to subspecies, and no subspecies exist within modern Homo sapiens

In biology, race is a population of a species that differs in the frequency of the variants of some
gene or genes from other populations of the same species.

In the past, phenotypic differences – skin color, body size, head shape, and hair texture – were
used to identify different “races”

Anthropologists have worked to expose the fallacy of race as a biological concept while
recognizing the existence of race as a social construct.

FACTORS IN THE BIOLOGICAL DEFINITION OF RACE

It is arbitrary; there is no agreement on how many differences it takes to make a race.

Any one race does not have exclusive possession of any particular variant of any gene or genes.
Populations are genetically “open,” meaning that genes flow between them and no fixed
racial groups exist.

The differences among individuals and within a population are generally greater than the
differences between populations.
THE TURNING OF THE TIDE
Dubois and Boas ~ 1920s
Boas: Ethnological research on Northwest Coast: biological traits flow and circulate
Studies of European immigrant children skulls
Importance of environment

THE DEMISE OF THE RACE CONCEPT IN BIOLOGY

Subspecies: clearly not the case
3 traits:
Skin color
Hair texture
Facial physiognomy

Do not co-vary
These traits = phenotypes, NOT genotypes

HUMAN POPULATION GENETICS

DNA, Genes, Alleles
Humans have thousands of genes
For each gene, as many as 100 alleles
We are polytypic
Distribution of alleles within populations: Gene frequencies

CLINICAL OR POPULATIONAL?
Genetic variation between humans is low, 94% same
By 1940s, scientists looking at difference as populational
Today, evidence indicates difference is best understood as clinical,

CLINES
Anthropologists study biological diversity in terms of clines, or the continuous gradation over
space in the form or frequency of a trait.

The Clinal analysis of a continuous trait such as body shape, which is controlled by a series of
genes, allows

GENETIC VARIATION WITHIN AND BETWEEN HUMAN POPULATIONS

The genetic variation within any human population is greater

THE PROBLEM OF THINKING GENETICALLY

Genotype vs phenotype
Genes, environment, proteins: complex web yields phenotype
(what genes make skin color, )
9/20
HUMAN SKIN COLOR DISTRIBUTION
Factors contributing to skin color
Keratin (top layer)
Yellowish hue
Melanin
Brownish hue, 2 types: dark and light
Hemoglobin
Reddish hue
Role of melanin pigmentation
Prevents UV radiation from penetrating into the body (absorbs it)

HUMAN SKIN COLOR THEORIES

1. Protection from malignant melanoma:
Pre-human primates likely had fur
Lethal form of skin cancer can even afflict children

2. Vitamin D synthesis: we are photosynthetic!

Vitamin D required for absorption of a part. Mineral?
Calcium, which is necessary for:
Bone health
Vitamin D deficiency (chronically): rickets (bone disease)
Vitamin D efficiency: hypervitaminosis D
Selection of light and dark melanin accordingly

3. Folate levels: (folic acid) as B Vitamin

4. Frostbite susceptibility (Cold damage)
Dark skin is more susceptible to cold damage, in areas where frostbite is likely,
light skin would have selective advantage

HUMAN BIOLOGICAL DIVERSITY

For characteristics controlled by a single gene (polymorphic), different versions of that gene,
known as alleles, mediate variation.
Example: Blood type may appear in any of four distinct phenotypic forms (A, B, AB, O)

SKIN COLOR AND HUMAN EVOLUTION

The first Australians came from tropical Southeast Asia, spreading throughout Australia
eventually to what is

In Australia, those populations that spread south of the tropics (where, as in northern latitudes,
ultraviolet radiation is less intense) underwent some reduction of pigmentation but their skin
color

Therefore, it seems that it takes more than 60,000 years to produce significant depigmentation.

It may also
CONDITIONS FOR EVOLUTION
Natural Selection acts on individuals, leading to evolution in populations.
Genetic definition of evolution: Evolution is a change in allele frequencies over time.

Some terms…
Allele frequency: the proportion of an allele in a population (0-100%)
Population: A group that interacts and may interbreed
Fitness: The relative ability of an individual to survive and reproduce based on its traits
(phenotype)
Genetic drift: Changes in a population’s genetic makeup (allele frequency) due to
random events.
Founder effect: Population-level effects in allele frequency due to small initial
population
Cline: a “spectrum” of traits, often distributed across a geographic area

A population that is NOT evolving is said to be at Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium (balance)

There are 5 conditions that are necessary for this equilibrium:

Population must be very large
Population must be isolated from other populations (no immigration or emigration)
No mutations
Random mating
No natural selection (i.e. every individual has an equal chance to survival)

If ANY of these conditions are not met, the population will evolve.

ISOLATION
Temporal isolation
Pinus radiata (Monterey Pine)
Pinus attenuate (Knobcone pine)

Monterey pine and Knobcone pine are prevented from hybridizing because they have
separate pollination times.

Ecological isolation
The two species are in the same area, but live in different habitats.

Behavioral isolation
Animals exhibit courting behavior (song, dance, etc.) or release pheromones to attract
mates. Individuals are only attracted to, and will only mate with members of the opposite
sex

Mechanical isolation
Different species of bush baby (Galago) have particular shapes for their genitalia and
they are physically incapable of copulation. It’s like a lock and key.
HYBRID INVIABILITY
Male horse + Female donkey = Mule

Mules have 63 chromosomes. Odd number means no offspring. Infertile.

CONVERGENT EVOLUTION
Features that come about by convergent evolution are known as analogous structures.
Dolphins and sharks. Eagles and bats.

HOMOLOGOUS STRUCTURES
Similar internal structures.

The pentadactyl limb as the ‘ancestral’ terrestrial vertebrate’s limb plan, subsequently
adapted by modification for different uses/habitats

PHYLETIC GRADUALISM
As the name suggests, is the idea that evolution occurs at a slow-but-steady pace.

PUNCTUATED EQUILIBRIUM
Is the idea that, for the most of the time, species are stable. But every now and then there
is a disruptive event that stops evolution.

PROBLEMS
Assumes that all living things have 7 levels of organization
Based on visual vs genetic similarity
Sticks around because we continue to teach it
Basis of scientific naming AKA binomial nomenclature – probably a good thing (Genus
species, eg Homo sapiens)
How many Kingdoms? 3? 5?
Archaea, Prokaryotes, Eukaryotes

PRIMATES
Monophyly (Clade)
All related, plus a common ancestor
Paraphyly (missing members)
All related, but excludes some
Polyphyly (not related)
Grouped together, though not a clade
GENTICS REVIEW
In somatic (body) cells
DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid) -> more DNA (replication; mitosis)
DNA -> RNA (ribonucleic acid) (transcription, in the nucleus)
RNA -> Protein (translation, in the ribosome)

In sexual reproduction:
DNA (2n) -> DNA (1n) (meiosis, making gametes, aka sex cells)
The half that is included is random (due to crossing over, independent assortment)
(1n) DNA (Parent 1) + (1n) DNA (parent 2

SOURCES OF VARIATION
Mutation (fidelity errors)
Crossing over (homologous pairs line up )

HUMAN SEXUAL GENETIC

Genetic males generally have XY chromosomes
(but may have XXY, XYY, XXXY due to nondisjunction; cannot have only Y)
May also have XX (XX male syndrome) due to crossing over (not fertile)
Genetic females generally have XX chromosomes
(But may have X, XXX, XXXX, etc. due to nondisjunction)
May also have XY (Swyer syndrome) due to crossing over (not fertile)

Result: Y chromosomes are passed only through the paternal line; Y chromosomes inheritance is
more direct and less varied.

MOLECULAR CLOCK
Also called a gene clock
Can be used on DNA, RNA, or proteins
Many mutations are neutral (have no effect on phenotype)
Neutral mutations accumulate over time – twice as many = twice as much
Like stratigraphy, gives relative dates
Firm Dates set using other techniques including radiometric dating (next unit)

CHICKEN OR EGG
Which came first? (egg)
DNA analysis can tell us (gene clock)