Showing papers in "American Anthropologist in 1973"
TL;DR: In this paper, it has been shown that several important and far reaching generalizations can be formulated which promise to throw considerable light on prescientific man's understanding of his biological universe.
Abstract: Since about 1954, modern field research has been carried out by a number of ethnographers and biologists in an effort to understand more fully the nature of folk biological classification. Much of this work has been devoted to studies dealing with the naming and classification of plants and animals in non-Western societies. It has now become apparent that several important and far reaching generalizations can be formulated which promise to throw considerable light on prescientific man's understanding of his biological universe.
692 citations
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TL;DR: This paper reviewed the use of the notion of "key symbol" in anthropological analysis and analyzed phenomena which have been or might be accorded the status of key symbol in cultural analyses, categorizing them according to their primary modes of operating on thought and action.
Abstract: This paper reviews the use of the notion of “key symbol” in anthropological analysis. It analyzes phenomena which have been or might be accorded the status of key symbol in cultural analyses, categorizing them according to their primary modes of operating on thought and action.
545 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, play is seen as a way of orchestrating the ends and means of action in which the means are the center of interest, in which survival is subordinated to combinatorial flexibility.
Abstract: Two main questions are asked here about play (1) Is it really a coherent category of activity in spite of the diverse forms it takes in man and animals? (2) Does it make sense in terms of the evolution of behavior that play should have become so ubiquitous among our activities? These questions are approached by looking at play as a way of orchestrating the ends and means of action in which the means are the center of interest, in which the economics of survival are subordinated to combinatorial flexibility
208 citations
TL;DR: A theory of the status of women is presented in this article, which draws primarily on ecological and economic factors and posits a relationship between female production and female status, concluding that female contribution to subsistence activities would be a function of certain ecological factors and/or a prolonged drain of male labor.
Abstract: A theory of the status of women is presented which draws primarily on ecological and economic factors and posits a relationship between female production and female status. It was hypothesized that female contribution to subsistence activities would be a function of certain ecological factors and/or a prolonged drain of male labor. It was found that these factors were related to female production activities. A scale of female status was then derived from a small pilot sample and correlated with female contribution to subsistence. The results indicated that female production is a necessary but not sufficient condition for the development of female status THE CURRENT EFFORT on the part of women's groups in the United States to escape from existing stereotpyes and to remove barriers traditionally confronting women in the economic and political spheres has attracted widespread and largely unverified speculation of the causes of the status of women in general. These causes have been attributed to psychoanalytic, biological, and environmental factors, or, to some combination of all three. This article presents and examines a theory of the status of women which draws primarily on environmental, specifically ecological and economic, factors. Female status will be defined in terms of the number of economic and political rights which accrue to women. Prestige and position are not to be included in this discussion. This, along with Goodenough's (1969) general treatment of status in terms of rights and duties, is a departure from past emphases in discussions of the concept of status. Either status has traditionally been
122 citations
TL;DR: This article investigated the relationship between war, sport and aggression and found that war and combative sports are positively correlated, thus discrediting aggression as a drive in humans and supporting it as a learned cultural behavior pattern.
Abstract: This paper investigates relationships between war, sport and aggression. Two rival models of behavior are tested: the Drive Discharge Model and the Culture Pattern Model Two test strategies are used: a cross-cultural correlation study and a diachronic case study of the U.S. War and combative sports are found to be positively correlated, thus discrediting aggression as a drive in humans and supporting it as a learned cultural behavior pattern.
121 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, a partial generative grammar of covert but empirically discoverable narrative elements is proposed to account for base narrative sequences in well-formed North Alaskan Eskimo folktales.
Abstract: This is a partial generative grammar of covert but empirically discoverable narrative elements. The grammar is a theory which seeks to account for base narrative sequences in well-formed North Alaskan Eskimo folktales. The narrative elements are hierarchically organized into a categorial component with both context free and context sensitive rules. The theory claims some replicability and predictive power. FOLK NARRATIVE has resisted the dis
114 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, it was concluded that the area supported a viable human population at this time whose primary adaptive strategy centered around the communal hunting of bison, and that the lack of evidence for human occupation is a result of sampling, geological variables and nonrecognition of the artifact types in surface collections.
Abstract: The concept of a cultural hiatus, when it is believed the Northern Plains was essentially abandoned by prehistoric bison-hunting cultures because of extremely adverse climatic conditions in the interval 5500–3000 B.C. has become generally entrenched in archaeological thought and literature. However consideration of the current palynological data and climatic models indicate that a grassland environment which supported a viable bison population existed at this time. Examination of the archaeological data indicates the lack of evidence for human occupation is a result of sampling, geological variables and nonrecognition of the artifact types in surface collections. It is concluded that the area supported a viable human population at this time whose primary adaptive strategy centered around the communal hunting of bison.
59 citations
TL;DR: In the area of the major river valleys south of the Great Lakes, a significant example of this concern has been the question of the role of cultivation in changing subsistence economies from the Late Archaic through Woodland periods as discussed by the authors.
Abstract: Archaeology has become increasingly concerned with the interpretation of prehistoric subsistence settlement systems. In the area of the major river valleys south of the Great Lakes, a significant example of this concern has been the question of the role of cultivation in changing subsistence economies from the Late Archaic through Woodland periods. This article assembles all published (and unpublished) archaeological information on the remains of cultivated plants recovered from Woodland sites in the Midwest-Riverine area. It then reviews current hypotheses for the beginnings of cultivation in light of this evidence.
54 citations
TL;DR: The weaknesses of urban anthropology in South Africa are discussed from a methodological, analytical, and political point of view in this paper, where the authors argue that colonial policy demands on urban anthropology placed limits on the choice of subject matter and concepts.
Abstract: The weaknesses of urban anthropology in South Africa are discussed from a methodological, analytical, and political point of view. The article asserts that colonial policy demands on urban anthropology placed limits on the choice of subject matter and concepts. This is illustrated from a three volume work, The Xhosa in Town, done in South Africa under the direction of Philip Mayer, the senior author.
50 citations
TL;DR: Many Japanese companies train their new employees according to a philosophy of "spiritualism", a set of ideas about human psychology and character development that inspired much of the country's pre-war education as mentioned in this paper.
Abstract: Many Japanese companies train their new employees according to a philosophy of “spiritualism,” a set of ideas about human psychology and character development that inspired much of the country's pre-war education. “Spiritualism's” debts to the Zen, Confucian and samurai traditions are quite apparent. It emphasizes social cooperation and responsibility, an acceptance of reality, and perseverance. Its educational methods emphasize specially constructed training experiences. As a case study in the anthropology of education, Japanese company spiritual education points to the value of (1) studying educational processes outside formal school systems; (2) considering native concepts of psychology in analyzing educational processes; (3) finding relationships between educational techniques and techniques found in religious conversion, psychological therapy, and social initiation; and (4) discovering avenues of education that proceed by non-verbal means.
45 citations
TL;DR: The foundation of this prejudice seems to be Western individualism as mentioned in this paper, expressed itself by excluding contrary ideas from its public forums (publications, symposia, and so forth) and elaborating and escalating ideas in conformity with it.
Abstract: This article deals with some deep forms of prejudice in American anthropology in terms of its dominant ideas and its products. The foundation of this prejudice seems to be Western individualism. It expresses itself by excluding contrary ideas from its public forums (publications, symposia, and so forth) and by elaborating and escalating ideas in conformity with it. In spite of its cross-cultural protestations, American anthropology will become White American anthropology unless our fraternity consciously takes a more open-minded approach to other competing assumptions—rooted in other cultures—about man and what makes him run. There is a world of difference between a truly cross-cultural science of man and a White centered science of man with cross-cultural decorations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors examine the apparent increase in interpersonal conflict that often accompanies economic change, focusing initially on the drinking behavior of the Naskapi Indians of Schefferville, Quebec, and find that when economic change results in the introduction of new ways of access of persons to goods or activities that serve to maintain identities, there will be an increase in frequency of identity struggles, and a corresponding increase in those ritualized or formalized social interactions which serve as identity-resolving forums.
Abstract: This paper proposes to examine the apparent increase in interpersonal conflict that often accompanies economic change. Focusing initially on the drinking behavior of the Naskapi Indians of Schefferville, Quebec, it is held that when economic change results in the introduction of new ways of access of persons to goods or activities that serve to maintain identities, there will be an increase in frequency of identity struggles, and a corresponding increase in those ritualized or formalized social interactions which serve as identity-resolving forums.
TL;DR: In this article, compositional principles of decorated textiles in East Sumba, Indonesia, find parallels in the formal rules by which major activities of the society are organized, suggesting that this art does not reflect society but that both respond to the same structural principles which are preferred as intellectual forms by the local culture.
Abstract: This article demonstrates that compositional principles of decorated textiles in East Sumba, Indonesia, find parallels in the formal rules by which major activities of the society are organized. In exploring the implications of this common use of structures, it suggests that this art does not reflect society but that both respond to the same structural principles which are those preferred as intellectual forms by the local culture.
TL;DR: The authors analyzed the use of stylized rhetoric in one kind of seance, the domestic seances where all the congregation are kin or neighbors and they divine at home, and found that it was used by Kalanga of Botswana.
Abstract: Anthropological studies of divination have given much attention to decision making at seances and the allocation of blame for specific complaints or misfortunes. Less attention has been paid to the various courses of communication which people pursue at distinct kinds of seance. This article analyzes the use which Kalanga of Botswana make of stylized rhetoric in one kind of seance, the domestic seances where all the congregation are kin or neighbors and they divine at home.
TL;DR: A century has passed since Tylor first traced for us the anthropological concept of culture and the subsequent history of the concept has been an unfortunate one, due to inadequate, unclear, nebulous, even mystical formulations as discussed by the authors.
Abstract: A century has passed since Tylor first traced for us the anthropological concept of culture. The subsequent history of the concept has been an unfortunate one, due to inadequate, unclear, nebulous, even mystical formulations. An attempt is made in this article to adjust the concept so that it will conform to a matter-of-fact reality. In so doing, the relationships between culture and society, culture and humanness, and culture and cultural systems, are discussed. A list of terms with strict definitions is provided as a culmination to the argument, and as an alternative to the formulations of the past.
TL;DR: A reassessment and redefinition of the whole field of political groupings from the most spontaneous to the most institutionalized, using comparative data, is presented in this article, where some current generalizations and hypotheses concerning factionalism (such as those of Nicholas, Spiro, and Friedrich) are reviewed.
Abstract: A reassessment and redefinition of the whole field of political groupings from the most spontaneous to the most institutionalized, using comparative data. The paper reviews some current generalizations and hypotheses concerning factionalism (such as those of Nicholas, Spiro, and Friedrich), and attempts a comparative analysis of the circumstances conducive to change in factional situations.
TL;DR: In this paper, the rhetorical theory of Kenneth Burke and the sociolinguistic method of William Labov are synthesized to derive a formal and functional analytical framework for the study of narrative.
Abstract: In this paper, the rhetorical theory of Kenneth Burke and the sociolinguistic method of William Labov, are synthesized to derive a formal and functional analytical framework for the study of narrative. The resulting framework provides for the identification of narrative style and performance in any sub-genre of narrative.
TL;DR: It is concluded that economic features are of great significance in the evolution of sibling terminologies in the Polynesian unit, and likely paths of evolution of the terminologies are suggested.
Abstract: Relations between anthropology and linguistics are explored through the examination of the taxonomy and phylogeny of a small lexical set (sibling terms) within the Polynesian genetic language/culture unit using traditional and mathematical techniques of historical semantics and ethnology. Preliminary to examination of the Polynesian case a theory of sibling terminologies is developed, building on those of Murdock and of Nerlove and Romney. Beginning with the lattice of all possible partitions of sibling terms, assumptions are developed which reduce the number of terminologies (4140) to a smaller number (146), based on conjunctive concepts. The terminologies of a sample of twenty-three Polynesian languages/cultures are shown to be five of the 146 types. Four of the five types are shown to be adjacent points in an upper semi-lattice of the whole lattice. An evolutionary hypothesis is developed which further reduces the number of evolvable types, from 146 to nineteen for the Polynesian unit. The relation of the evolution of the terminologies and the daughter languages is shown. Likely paths of evolution of the terminologies are suggested. Functional correlates of the types are also examined, and it is concluded that economic features are of great significance in the evolution of sibling terminologies.
TL;DR: The authors compared the results of a formal analysis of the three variant patterns of the Fanti kinship terminology and the marking hierarchy they form with the result of a multi-dimensional scaling and linear regression analysis of bases of the bases of Fanti ascription of behavior to kinsmen.
Abstract: This article compares the results of a formal analysis of the three variant patterns of the Fanti kinship terminology and the marking hierarchy they form with the results of a multi-dimensional scaling and linear regression analysis of the bases of Fanti ascription of behavior to kinsmen. Terminological categories are shown to be a product of, but not a simple reflection of, patterns of behavior in the culture.
TL;DR: This paper explored the use of multivariate statistical procedures for examining the combined effects of certain socio-cultural and climatic variables on seasonal variations in conception using data from rural Uganda and Mexico.
Abstract: Using data from rural Uganda and Mexico, this study explores the use of multivariate statistical procedures for examining the combined effects of certain socio-cultural and climatic variables on seasonal variations in conception. In addition, it fails to support the hypotheses advanced by Nurge (1970) that more conceptions occur during periods of heavy work and that more births occur during periods of light work. Different results and alternative conclusions are presented.
TL;DR: The structures which control harvesting qualities are critical in the domestication and improvement of many plants as mentioned in this paper, and the imperfect timing of harvests, an essential characteristic of transhumant hunting and gathering, puts heavy selective pressure on the genetic factors which control maturation and harvesting qualities.
Abstract: The structures which control harvesting qualities are critical in the domestication and improvement of many plants. Imperfect timing of harvests, an essential characteristic of transhumant hunting and gathering, puts heavy selective pressure on the genetic factors which control maturation and harvesting qualities. Genetic variants are most likely to be transported to new habitats under conditions of low latitude, mountain transhumance. The beginnings of American agriculture appear to coincide in time and area with such lifeways.
TL;DR: The structural pattern inherent in the genealogy of the Old Testament is delineated in this article, and it is hypothesized that genealogy functions as a model for the resolution of certain conflicts within the worldview of Ancient Israel.
Abstract: The structural pattern inherent in the genealogy of the Old Testament is delineated (1). Correlating this structural pattern with the worldview of Ancient Israel, it is hypothesized that the genealogy functions as a model for the resolution of certain conflicts within the worldview (II). Finally, an analysis of the Jacob narration demonstrates the structural isomorphism of genealogy and individual case (III).
TL;DR: In this paper, the methodological usefulness of the unconscious as a principle of intelligibility is placed in evidence, and the real inspiration of Levi-Strauss' notion is the Kantian notion of mental constraints and the postulate of isomorphism of mental and physical laws.
Abstract: Levi-Strauss claims that the unconscious activity of mind is more important than the conscious one for understanding social phenomena and that the unconscious consists of an aggregate of forms, which are imposed on psychological and physical content. The real inspiration of Levi-Strauss' notion is the Kantian notion of mental constraints and the postulate of isomorphism of mental and physical laws. The methodological usefulness of the unconscious as a principle of intelligibility is placed in evidence.
TL;DR: The Portuguese Estremaduran village of Sio Miguel as discussed by the authors is crowded with visitors for its own festival of Nossa Senhora de Saude, which occurs every year from the beginning of Holy Week until the end of the harvest season.
Abstract: AT THE BEGINNING of September, during the lull in the agricultural cycle in the Saloio2 countryside, between the grain harvests and threshing and the onset of the vindimas (grape harvests), the Portuguese Estremaduran village of Sio Miguel begins to spruce up. Houses are whitewashed, roads are cleaned, clothes are prepared, and arrangements are undertaken for the most important days of the year. It is during these days of the festival of the village's and parish's patron, Nossa Senhora de Saude, that the village becomes the center of activity for many miles around. From the end of Holy Week onward, the routines of daily life have been interrupted by frequent excursions to nearby villages and parishes for similar celebrations. However, on this one weekend of the year, Sio Miguel is crowded with visitors for its own festival.
TL;DR: Reactions by young monkeys to the adult male's mounts were observed in a Macaca irus colony, suggesting that they enjoy watching copulation and that appropriate sexual behavior may be partially learned by observation of copulation.
Abstract: Reactions by young monkeys to the adult male's mounts were observed in a Macaca irus colony. Age, sex, and mother dependence of the young monkey present, the mountee's age, sex, and relationship to the observing animal, and variables in the mount itself influenced behavior of a young monkey at a copulation. The interest in mounts shown by young suggests that they enjoy watching copulation and that appropriate sexual behavior may be partially learned by observation of copulation.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors test the hypothesis that caretakers who fear the supernatural will inflict more pain on the children in their charge than will those who do not fear the paranormal.
Abstract: The research described in this article tests the hypothesis that caretakers who fear the supernatural will inflict more pain on the children in their charge than will those caretakers who do not fear the supernatural. The hypothesis is drawn from a larger body of theory which states that child training practices influence adult personality, including beliefs in the supernatural—these beliefs in turn influence the training of children. In order to test the hypothesis it was necessary to find a group of people whose adults differ from each other in theirbeliefs in the supernatural and whose children receive differential training. The village of Congo Town, located on Andros Island in the Bahamas, provides such a group of people. In the course of ethnographic fieldwork carried out in 1968 in this village, twenty caretakers were interviewed about the training given to their forty-eight children and grandchildren, as well as about their beliefs in the supernatural. Differences both in beliefs in the supernatural and in child training practices exist. Three specific hypotheses are derived from the major hypothesis described above. Each of these hypotheses is found to be supported by data gathered in Congo Town. Since each of the derived hypotheses receives support, it is concluded that the major hypothesis is confirmed.