Showing papers in "Annual Review of Anthropology in 1988"

Ethnopharmacology: Biobehavioral Approaches in the Anthropological Study of Indigenous Medicines

Abstract: Ethnopharmacology, broadly, constitutes the study of plant, mineral, and animal substances used to affect health, the prefix "ethno-" designating preventive and therapeutic modalities other than Western biomedicine. To the extent that most medicinal substances are of plant origin, ethnopharmacology is closely allied with medical ethnobotany, but it is more appropriately viewed as a multidisciplinary study that encompasses Western/botanical and ethnotaxonomic classifications, assessments of how plants are perceived and used in varied sociocultural contexts, constituent analyses and investigations of pharmacologic activities, and examinations of the physiologic or clinical impact of plant use on human health. A proper study of ethnopharmacology should embrace a broad ecological perspective that is both biobehavioral and multidisciplinary. In this regard, it is consistent with some of the central debates in anthropology that seek to comprehend the dynamics of human­ environment relationships and to assess their impact on health and disease.

Anthropological Presuppositions of Indigenous Advocacy

Abstract: One often comes across the idea that social scientists must refrain from expressing opinions which can be characterized as political. It is high time we all recognize this dilemma as part of an old doctrine of academic conduct inherent in contemporary social science. Any concern with politically sensitive issues can be branded as "political," due among other reasons, to the fact that our research draws its data from human reality, which is at the same time the very object of activities and decisions of politicians. Confronted by a world where genocide, exploitation and deprivation of control over one's own life are constant facts of life for fellow human beings, social science must become the indefatigable eye watching over human inviolability. Only then will the social scientist become anything more than a predator consuming data. And only then will the concept of responsibility mean more than a buttonhole flower worn at academic ceremo· nies.

Human Growth: Selected Aspects of Current Research on Well-Nourished Children

Abstract: A central theme in biological anthropology is human variability, its nature, distribution, and significance. Much variability is rooted in the years of growth and maturation, beginning prenatally and continuing into the third decade postnatally, as the genotype expresses itself in its interaction with a variety of environmental conditions. Scientists with a variety of specializations focus on various growth and maturation processes, including cellular and enzymatic activities in specific tissues, the neuroendocrine regulation of sexual maturation, energy and pro­ tein requirements, mathematical propelties of growth curves, and many oth­ ers. The recent volumes edited by Falkner & Tanner (31 ) provide an excellent synopsis of the many faces of growth and maturation research. The last review of human growth in this series (39) focused primarily on factors affecting growth prenatally and postnatally--e.g. smoking, fatness, socioeconomic status, and secular changes. This review, in contrast, focuses

Language and Disputing

Abstract: In an introductory essay on the anthropology of law, Laura Nader (159, p. 24) stressed the importance of attending to the "wrangling" involved in any dispute-i.e. to the argumentative forms, stylistic devices, and other com­ municative resources upon which disputants and third parties rely in further­ ing their own interests or in attempting to resolve the conflict. Such a study of language use in dispute focuses on a critical juncture between social and linguistic anthropology. On the one hand lie broad issues of social organiza­ tion, political economy, and power; on the other are the often apparently minuscule specifics of pronoun choice, syntactic variation, and tum-taking. In the pursuit of conflict-and, occasionally, of its resolution-power and language articulate in complex ways. The studies discussed in this essay address the "wranglings" of disputing talk from a wide range of perspectives and with a variety of audiences in mind. It is, indeed, characteristic of this topic that those issues which some researchers assume as unproblematic are taken as most critical by others. Many legal anthropologists assume the language of conflicts to be important but relatively transparent, while many linguists become so involved with textual details that sociopolitical contexts are taken for granted. When the contributions of lawyers, deVelopmental psychologists, and conversational analysts are added, the literature represents a complicated mix. A number of survey articles are particularly helpful. Danet (48), Grimshaw (94), and White & Watson-Gegeo (215) cover a broad range of issues from linguistic, sociological, and ethnographic perspectives. The language of courtrooms and other formal legal contexts has been extensively reviewed (50,83,132,161,176,195). Levi (132) and Shuy (195) focus on the possible practical applications of such research. Finally, Shantz (194) has published a comprehensive analytical review of the literature on children's disputes.

Anthropological studies of women's status revisited: 1977–1987.

Abstract: This review focuses on studies of selected themes and theoretical issues relating to women's status published by anthropologists within the subdiscipline of cultural anthropology/ethnology from 1977 to 1987. The first section of the review seeks to determine what advances have been made in understanding the universality of gender asymmetry by looking at women's status in a cross-cultural manner. The next major section highlights major areas of concern in the ethnographic literature of the decade 1977-87, including economics, studies of sexuality, women's family roles, women's political activities, women's rituals, and women's culture. The third section reviews the development of the concept of women's "status" and looks at universal determinants of women's status such as differences from men in aggressive behavior, in strength, and in reproductive and economic roles. The next section reviews developing gender theory that moves beyond reproductive determinism to "deconstruct" gender concepts. A number of common themes that run through the various approaches to this research are identified. These include the fact that gender must be examined in its historical, economic, social, and conceptual framework. Ultimately, these themes require that the old and simple determinants of status, along with the concept itself, be viewed as complex, multidimensional processes. Language: en

DNA and Human Origins

Abstract: Phylogenetic reconstruction is a necessary step in the process of understand­ ing human biological evolution. Molecular anthropologists approach this step by making a number of assumptions about naturally occurring genetic poly­ morphisms in populations-such as random mating, a large number of alleles, equilibrium conditions, etc-that can be tested both quantitatively and quali­ tatively (41). They choose to focus on individual genes or the genotype, a collection of genes, rather than individual phenotypes. This shift in emphasis, where genes are more directly relevant to problems associated with phylogenetic reconstruction than phenotypes, is a basic difference in scientific orientation between paleontologists and evolutionary geneticists. Genes are units that show descent with modification and are in one sense eternal. Phenotypes and genotypes are ephemeral, subject to change in each generation due to environmental variation and genetic recombination, respec­ tively. There is no direct evidence that any individual in the fossil record with a particular phenotype and genotype left genes in modem descendents, yet geneticists operate with 100% certainty that genes in modem populations have a history that can be examined and will trace back in absolute time to real ancestors. This asymmetry demonstrates the inherent power of genetics to deal with evolutionary issues (27). Particular gene systems, such as the globin gene family of the cell's nucleus (51) and the cytoplasmic genes of the cell's mitochondria (10), allow us to test hypotheses which predict that genes will have unique distributions and abund­ ance as populations multiply, disperse, and differentiate. By analogy to these events in present day populations, geneticists infer that such processes had to have operated also in the past. Induction is then used to reconstruct evolution­ ary trees for ancestral populations with data assembled from variable gene

Critical Trends in the Study of Hunter-Gatherers

Abstract: "Hunter-gatherer studies" were authorized in anthropology by Lee & De Vore's imaginative combination of evolutionary and ecological adaptationist concerns in the Man the Hunter volume (108). While recent reviews of hunter-gatherer studies (16, 23) have explored significant substantive issues, they have not considered the importance of the comparative category itself in the formulation of anthropological research and theory. A major theme of this review is that the questioning of the category "hunter-gatherer"-rooted in varied responses to the evolutionary/ecological paradigm that constituted it-has been central to much contemporary work. Current writing about hunter-gatherers can be understand in terms of four categories of critique (or "attack") on the original paradigm of "hunter­ gatherer ways of life." I characterize the four broad theoretical orientations as (a) optimal foraging theory (or socioecology); (b) historicist (or ethnohistori­ cal) approaches; (c) comparative sociology in the Marxist and structuralist tradition; and (d) humanistic approaches. In the latter, grab-bag category, I include those emphasizing hermeneutic and meaningful interpretation of in­ sider's views, reflexive works, and the advocacy research of political engage­ ment often undertaken on behalf of hunter-gatherers. Given good reviews of optimal foraging theory (23, 52, 112, 159, 181), I focus on categories b, c, and d. Their joint critical stance towards single archetypes for hunter-gatherer society suggests that the "comparative method" be considered an enduring problem in anthropology, a problem particularly marked in the very constituting of the category "hunter-gatherer." For archeologists and social anthropologists, the category "hunter­ gatherer" as an evolutionary/ecological type had defined a shared area of

What's New in African Paleoanthropology?

Abstract: Paleoanthropology is a multidisciplinary science, which its practitioners aim to evolve into an interdisciplinary one (547). It encompasses not only the study of "fossil man," now rephrased human paleontology, but also aspects of the earth sciences, prehistoric archeology, behavioral science, palynology, vertebrate and invertebrate paleontology, taphonomy, comparative and func­ tional morphology, biomechanics, systematics, evolutionary theory, and molecular biology. Historically, paleo anthropology is most firmly rooted at Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania, where Louis and Mary Leakey attracted a diverse group of scien­ tists to assist in their quest for human origins (271). Howell carried the approach to Spain and Ethiopia (106,205,206). Richard Leakey used it with rich return in northern Kenya (286). Now it i� a global practice (235, 283, 399, 471). Paleoanthropology has always been a curious business. But during the past 20 years, it has also become a big, and sometimes, bad and ugly business, in which science is adulterated with show biz. Megabucks are preeminent in the search for our taproot. The research expeditions and follow-up studies are costly; and, one's fortune can be made by shrewdly publicizing fossil dis­ coveries and evolutionary stories based upon them. As in politics and Holly­ wood, visibility is a vital springboard to power and money. Concomitantly, new and old bones of contention sometimes lapse to mere props in the soap operas and political maneuvers of media-mongering paleo anthropologists (107, 306, 317, 512, 570). Therefore, it is imperative that serious students and lay persons have a clear

Homo Erectus and Later Middle Pleistocene Humans

Abstract: Apart from several Neanderthals unearthed in Europe, the earliest discoveries of human fossils were made in Java toward the close of the last century. After finding a skullcap and later a femur at Trinil, Eugene Dubois named Pithecan­ thropus (now Homo) erectus in 1894. Since then, many more bones have come to light, in Africa as well as Asia. Much has been learned from the fossils themselves, and a great deal of effort has been put toward obtaining stratigraphic, paleoecological, and cultural information from the more impor­ tant sites. We now have a substantial understanding of the anatomy and behavior of Homo ereclus. Lately, this species has become a focus of particular interest among paleoanthropologists, and fresh questions have been raised. Some of these concern the geographic distribution of the taxon and whether it should be recognized in Europe , or for that matter anywhere outside of the Far East. Another issue is how much Homo erectus has changed throughout its long history. Many workers prefer to describe this species as a grade, or loose collection of populations all evolving toward more modem humans. Others argue that Homo erectus can be distinguished morphological­ ly from earlier or later groups. In this review, I comment on the anatomy of individual specimens to only a limited extent , although I list the key charac­ ters by which the taxon can be diagnosed. I emphasize points of controversy concerning the evolution of Homo erectus and its ties to later people .

The linguistic anthropology of native south america

Abstract: OVERVIEW Formerly described as the area of "greatest ignorance concerning the native languages" (135, p. 163), and dubbed "the least known continent," South America has lately been humming and buzzing with linguistic anthr opolo gical research. The work has concentrated in three principal areas: discourse, language structure, and multilingualism, with such areas as language acquisi­ tion remaining underdeveloped. Much of the ferment among South Americanists has focused on the dis­ course-centered approach to culture (192, 194), an emerging synthesis of linguistic and social anthropology. Because of its central tenets-namely, (a) that culture is carried in and transmitted by actual instances of language use, and (b) that microethnographi c