Showing papers in "Mankind Quarterly in 2005"

Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria

Abstract: Race and Racism w “Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria?” featuring Dr. Beverly Tatum’s book. w “Recovering from Racism: Redefining What it Means to be White.” w “50th Anniversary of Brown vs. Board of Education.” w “The Mis-Education of the Negro” featuring Dr. Carter Woodson’s book. w “Moving Past the Margins: Creating successful strategies for Black males on campus,” presenting the Black Male Development Initiative (BMDI). w “He had a Dream... What is Yours?” Addressing Dr. King’s “I Have a Dream” speech and its current relevance in our society. w “Demystifying Malcolm X.” w “Racial Stereotyping and Responses to Terrorism.” w “Racial Stereotyping – Responding to Fear.” w “Free, White and (over) 21: Being White in a Multicultural World.” w “Constructing Race and Ethnicity in the 21st Century.” w “How did I Learn about Culture and Race?” Sharing your personal experiences and memories of moments where you become aware of similarities and differences among people. w “ABC: American-Born... and Confused?” w “The Invisible Asian: Where are the Asians in Diversity?” w “100 Years of Race Talk: Is It Enough?”

The Flynn Effect in the Caribbean: Generational Change of Cognitive Test Performance in Dominica

Abstract: Mental ability, as assessed by standardized tests, is not fixed in time. Large IQ gains have been recorded in many industrialized countries during the 20th century, but very little is known about IQ trends in the less developed countries. The present study investigates generational changes in mental test performance on the Caribbean island of Dominica. In a cross-sectional design, Raven's Standard Progressive Matrices were administered to two age groups: young adults between the ages of 18 and 25 years, and older adults between the ages of 51 and 62 years. Raw scores were 23.3 ± 11.4 points for the older generation and 36.1 ± 10.9 points for the younger generation. Compared to the current British norms for their respective age groups, the average IQs of these two cohorts were estimated as 61 and 73, respectively. Since the age-specific British norms reflect a rising IQ trend in Britain already, the real gain in Dominica is not 12 points but approximately 17 to 19 points. The results on a vocabulary test suggest similar cohort gains in word knowledge. Differences between the Afro-Caribbean majority and the native Caribs were small. Data are presented to show that the difference between the two age groups represents a cohort effect rather than an aging effect. The implications of the Flynn effect for economic development and cultural evolution are discussed.

Life's Solution: Inevitable Humans in a Lonely Universe

Abstract: Life's Solution: Inevitable Humans in a Lonely Universe Simon Conway Morris Cambridge University Press, 2003 In a voluminous work that contains much solid information, S C Morris deals with the fundamental question of whether the evolution of organic forms was inevitable He provides a mass of solid information; but as his book progresses, many of his readers will conclude that he is sympathetic to the unprovable notion of "intelligent design," which is presently fashionable among those who wish to build a bridge between evolution and traditional beliefs in monotheistic causation In some respects, his technical approach is similar to that adopted earlier by R Riedl in his books on The Strategy of Genesis and Biology of the Theory of Cognition? However, Morris openly professes his intent to find a "metaphysics of evolution," an approach that is in line with the religious sensibilities of "creationists" To do this, he first leads the reader through a number of evolutionary facts concerning the closeness of man to the apes Here he cites a genetic difference of "only" 04% In a passage that appears to be seeking to leave the door open for the theory of "intelligent design," he stresses what he sees as the unpredictability of the process of evolution, citing as an example the many possible assemblies of proteins If only 20 varieties of amino acids combine in a relatively simple protein, consisting of, for the sake of argument, 100 building blocks, the potential number of proteins is in the range of 20100 or 10130, making the process of evolution highly uncertain The number of proteins that are encymatically active would be astronomical, and the actual number of proteins known to exist on Earth is a small fraction of the total Morris concludes that the probability of finding similar proteins on some other planet is exceedingly small But, he says, in spite of this enormous variability, there is a strong similarity of developed forms and organs on Earth Thus, he argues, it matters little where the starting point may have been if there is what he calls a "convergence to similar ends" The known amino acids in nature are a small fraction of those possible, and some forms have been found in meteorites that are not found on Earth Their total number is likely to be around 1018, and the structure of earthly DNA is just one possible form in a multitude of other forms, perhaps realized on other planets This leads to the question: is life a cosmic principle? Tackling this question, Morris outlines the fundamental contingencies of the astrophysical world and the boundary conditions that would be necessary for life to exist on other planets At this point, he looks at the solar system as it was during its formation, when comets brought in the basic raw material, carbon, water, nitrogen, etc, to install a natural laboratory on Earth, some four billion years ago Morris casts some doubt on the well-developed ideas as to how the precursors of life have formed The formation of compounds like formaldehyde and hydrogen cyanide are in themselves no guarantee for the formation of amino acids, hydrocarbons, sugars, etc, as fundamentals to DNA Morris points out that, so far, life has not been created in a scientific laboratory A functioning cell has not yet been created, due to the difficulty of forming ATP (Adenosin-Triphosphate), even though it has been possible to make a virus, which is a much simpler structure than a living cell Morris also outlines the complex problem of ribose, a sugar important for the formation of DNA However great the difficulties of retracing the origin of life on Earth, we have to keep in mind that progress has been made and that this process of the creation of life went through development during billions of years, and as such is not simple to repeat in a laboratory setting Morris discusses the important tests by Miller and Urey as though they are something not remotely germane to the original situation on the early Earth …

The Ancestor's Tale: A Pilgrimage to the Dawn of Life

Abstract: The Ancestor's Tale: A Pilgrimage to the Dawn of Life Richard Dawkins The Orion Publishing Group, London, 2004 In his latest book: The Ancestor's Tale, A Pilgrimage to the Dawn of Life, Dawkins reviews the ancestry of living entities on this planet, going back four billion years. He seeks to trace related species to the point where they unite in descent from a common ancestral population. Thus the common origin of Homo and chimpanzees was some 6 million years ago, and for Old and New World monkeys, some 40 million years ago. We are also led through the earth's tectonic displacements with their influence on animal clade developments. Excellently illustrated, the book shows that modern humanity originated not only out of Africa but that there were separate evolutionary developments in the four main regions: Europe, Africa, Asia, and Australasia/Pacific. He notes that during the past thirty thousand years there have been many exchanges between certain of these areas. With all this emphasis on development in nature, it is astonishing to read, in his chapter "The Grasshopping Tale," that he chooses to accept the common and simplistic interbreeding criterion as the only measure for recognizing separate species with different genetic structures. Accordingly, Dawkins finds the human species today rather homogeneous with "only" a five to fifteen percent genetic variation (this is incidentally also the number for the genetic differences between humans and chimpanzees). As this is to be measured with respect to hundreds of millions of genes or more, there are still tens of millions of possible variations. Yet Dawkins comes to the conclusion that "race" is not an important aspect in human relations. To find that conclusion in a book on the variations of mammals in nature can only be explained by the term "political correctness." Dawkins' so-called "uniform species Homo" has enormous variances in brain capacity and development. Modern gene determination shows clear, race-defined variations in the efficiency of drugs. In studies of "single nucleotide polymorphism" in the three major groups (White, Black, Asian), it becomes clear that there are genetically based differences which must be considered in drug efficiency tests (Science, 18th February, 2005; p. 1072). Here it is shown that identifiable SNPvariations, the linkage disequilibria of functional genomic elements, explain differences in complex human traits and allow us to investigate genetic variation within and between human populations. When Dawkins overlooks the importance of differences in human development and plays down the social significance of racial classification, he seems to be making the kind of statement an author will make when he wishes to look like a nice guy, after having listed all the enormous, evolutionary differences in nature that his book describes. …

The Incarnation of Max Weber's Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism in Post-Colonial Sub-Saharan African Economic Discourse: The Quest for an African Economic Ethic

Abstract: Max Weber's thesis that there was an early connection between the Protestant ethic and the ascendance of Western capitalism has been integral to contemporary scholarly efforts to explain why capitalism has failed in Africa while succeeding in the Western world. The failure of Western capitalistic development in post-colonial Africa is construed as evidence of the absence of the spirit of capitalism. The argument of this article is that African traditional religion and ethics are incompatible with the spirit of capitalism, and that it would be fallacious to expect the spirit of capitalism to incarnate in all social contexts when opposed by the values of that particular society. Contemporary attempts by African scholars to devise a modified system of economic philosophy that would incorporate traditional African indigenous values are aimed at making capitalism contextually relevant to African cultural realities.

"Genes for Intelligence": A Review of Recent Progress

Abstract: Between 40% and 80% of the variability in test intelligence among adults in modern societies is accounted for by genetic factors. Therefore there must be "genes for intelligence" that are responsible for this genetic contribution. In this review I survey the results about the molecular genetics of intelligence up to October 2005, including (1) direct association studies of cognitive ability with functional polymorphisms in brain-expressed "candidate genes"; (2) indirect association studies that have identified chromosomal regions in which quantitative trait loci for intelligence appear to be located; and (3) polymorphisms and recent evolutionary trends in two genes that are related to brain size. Since general intelligence is correlated with brain size, these latter polymorphisms are likely to affect mental development. Rapid progress in the field has been possible only recently in the wake of the human genome project. Further advances have to be expected in the near future.

From Ape to Apollo

Abstract: From Ape to Apollo Ape to Apollo David Bindman Cornell University Press, 2003 Ever since the successful establishment in the nineteen-sixties of a spirit of "permanent revolution" in the world of art, the profile of the visual arts of ancient Greece and Rome has continually receded in the imagination of the West, their status having been reduced to that of occasional entertainment and a (misunderstood) source for questionably-crafted ornaments. As a result, people today would find it hard to appreciate the sociopolitical power that Graeco-Italic antiquity exerted upon the thoughts and events of the Neoclassical period. The Neoclassical was both part of the Enlightenment and gave birth to the Romantic. The sculpted face of Apollo was a truly revered symbol in the hearts and minds of the educated. Although equated with ideas that were not Christian, it was celebrated as though sacred, albeit in a way more poetic and political than religious, without attracting the charges of blasphemy that were leveled against fifteenth century Florentine enthusiasm for the pagan traditions of the classical world. Ape to Apollo is riot primarily about pagan revivalism in the eighteenth century: it is about the integration of new knowledge about primitive peoples with the ideas of the early Neoclassical period. This integration encouraged unwavering respect for the Classical Hellenes, a respect thai made their civilization an example to be lived up to and the prime reference point by which contemporary and ancient cultures could be judged and measured. The book makes two arguments, and these explain the choice of title. As Europeans of the eighteenth and nineteenth century explored the world more extensively, and as Darwin's theory of evolution began slowly to be accepted, Europeans, accustomed to regarding finely-honed, Nordic features as aristocratic, came to see evolution, as a progression from prognathous, low-browed, flat-nosed apelike facial features to the refined, finely chiselled profile portrayed in the statues of the Greek Gods, as symbolizing human evolution. I surmise that the author chose the title with more than a whiff of sarcasm, because his purpose seems to be to attack the "racism" inherent in the idea of an aesthetic advance in the evolution of the human face from its anthropoid origins. He is no doubt concerned about this because some living populations still seem to remind us of our earlier hominoid ancestors more than others, with the Apollo-style features having come to be regarded in Europe as the most advanced and highly perfected of evolved human profiles. The author seeks to find the roots of modern racism in a combination of European Neoclassicism and European exploration of the world and its diverse populations. He organizes his thesis around two tenets: the first is that what he calls "biological nationalism" and "prejudice" can be identified in the sixteenth and seventeenth century Europe, but that the idea of race itself, and consequently "racism," did not fully develop in Europe before the second half of the eighteenth century. This tenet is put forth in the introduction and used as an established premise thereafter. His second tenet is that the influence of Neoclassicism, combined with the discovery and study of diverse primitive and hitherto isolated human populations, gave rise to what with great circumspection he chooses to call a "new category of human variety" called "race." The book contains four chapters. The first is rather a stock pot of ideas covering research during the late seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, and this is the more interesting and pleasantly readable part of his book. Starting with Locke's aesthetics and 'human variety' debate, this chapter discusses, though not always sympathetically, the concept of the 'savage' as a step in human development, moral and otherwise; the importance of eighteenth century responses to the Greek concept of kalokagalhia, which combined beauty with 'goodness'; affectation as the outward evidence of a moral and intellectual decline; climatic and subsistence explanations of human variety; and the contributions of Linnaeus and Kant to the formulation of the earliest scientific concepts of race. …

The fertility paradox: Gender roles, fertility and cultural evolution

Abstract: A sea-change in gender-roles occurred in Europe and North America during the latter half of the twentieth century. This resulted from increased options for women to direct their own life histories, including greater educational and employment opportunities and the ability to exercise reproductive choice. This new philosophy of gender egalitarianism is in direct contrast to the older tradition of gender complementarity that still survives in many other cultures despite technological modernization. The greater freedom of women in gender egalitarian societies has nevertheless created a paradox: gender egalitarian societies are likely to be replaced by gender complimentary societies. This is because the increased autonomy and freedom of women is accompanied by a declining birthrate, and societies that practice gender equality must therefore be inevitably replaced by the surplus population from societies that restrict the activities of women to childbearing, and maintain a competitively higher birthrate. The authors suggest that no current community has managed to solve this paradox.

The Just Meritocracy: IQ, Class Mobility, and American Social Policy

Abstract: The Just Meritocracy: IQ, Class Mobility, and American Social Policy Paul Kamolnick Praeger, 2005 This textbook, which is intended for use as required ancillary reading in graduate and advanced courses in sociology and anthropology, brings with it the hope that social scientists may at long last begin to abandon the tradition of Franz Boas, Margaret Mead, et al. It is an indication that notwithstanding any political commitments they may have social scientists may at last be ready to face up to the biological realities that shape human beings, and to the way society is shaped by these same biological limitations and proclivities. Paul Kamolnick, its author, is an associate professor at East Tennessee State University. This does not mean to say that Kalmonick rejects all efforts to change society arid improve the human condition. He acknowledges that as an undergraduate he "embraced university-induced Marxian orthodoxy." Currently, he walks an academically cautious but highly significant line, warning his fellow social scientists that however much they wish to reshape society in accordance with their own dreams, they must take into consideration the biological realities that shape the capabilities and behavior of men and women, and the potential form of society. Serious scholarship, a devotion to knowledge, and an intelligent, questioning mind, were clear prerequisites for his ability to break from the bonds of ideology. Like others, Kamolnick came to respect Max Weber as "perhaps the greatest comparativist sociology will ever claim," and to learn to discriminate between what one believes "ought to be" and what is real, what simply "is." Inspired by his own investigations into the moral legacy of ancient Greek culture, into "Anglo-centered conservative empiricism," and into the sacred literature of Christianity, Judaism and Islam, Kamolnick came to ask how all this measured up against the human animal as shaped by, and as "the beneficiary of, 3.8 billion years of natural history." What followed, in his own words, was this book - an attempt to make "as practicable and realistic as possible the contemporary policy-relevance of modern scientific findings and humanistic ethical goals." The author has studied the work of the major researchers into the biology of intelligence, the heritability of intelligence, and the correlation that exists between IQ and life achievement. Included in the text, which is amply supported by figures and tables, are references to the work of names well known to most readers of this journal, among them, Burt, Cattell, Darwin, Gallon, Gottfredson, Haldane, Jensen, Bouchard, McGue, Lykken, Nyborg, Plomin, Scarr, Termin and Wexler. To a large extent, Kamolnick is resuscitating Herrnstein and Murray's epic work, The Bell Curve, which was said by some of its critics to have been based largely on the work of researchers who had published in The Mankind Quarterly. …

Finger and palmar dermatoglyphics in beta-thalassemia patients

Abstract: The dermatoglyphic patterns of 149 beta-thalassemia patients (107 males, 42 females) from northwestern India were compared with 198 normal healthy controls (96 males, 102 females) A preponderance of loops over other digital patterns was noticed among the thalassemics represented in the present study, although more whorls had been described in earlier studies of Western and Bengali counterparts The mean total finger ridge count was significantly higher in thalassemia patients than in controls In contrast to patients of Western origin, the thalassemia patients in our study possessed significantly higher mean 'ab' and 'cd' interdigital ridge counts than the normal subjects 'atd' angles were significantly greater in our patients than in controls The distal placement of the axial triradius, noticed in 24% of female and 1% of male thalassemia patients, appears to be a noteworthy finding of our study The predominant occurrence of open fields and the presence of loops, whorls and arches in the interdigital and hypothenar areas were also found in some patients Substantial differences in selected dermatoglyphic traits of thalassemia patients have been noted in studies from different parts of the world These differences appear to be racial/ethnic in origin Distinctive dermatoglyphic features can be used to reinforce clinical judgment in the diagnosis of beta-thalassemia patients hailing from northwestern parts of India

Biomonitoring: The Crucial Link Between Natural Systems and Society

Abstract: How ironic that, in humankind's quest for sustainability, so little attention is given to the biospheric life support system upon which the human species depends. Since natural systems cannot speak to human society, a continuously operating feedback loop is essential for providing information about a natural system's condition in time to take corrective action when necessary. Investigators must replicate the important cause/effects pathways of natural systems. Biomonitoring is surveillance undertaken to ensure that previously established quality control conditions are being met. Surveillance is the systematic and orderly gathering of data to determine what is happening, but without a prior commitment to initiate remedial action if quality control conditions do not remain within an acceptable range. In order to take remedial action before severe damage has occurred, sampling must be sufficiently frequent and the results quickly available to provide an early warning of deleterious conditions. Micro- and mesocosms are not miniature ecosystems, but rather systems of lesser complexity that provide useful information on selected ecosystem attributes. Their design, study, and extrapolation to larger, multivariate ecosystems require considerable professional judgment. Properly used, micro- and mesocosms provide evidence for decision making that can prevent or diminish damage to larger natural systems for which they act as surrogates.

The Western Contact Field of the Uralic Languages

Abstract: This paper, published in English for the first time only now, seeks to enquire into the problem of the origin of the Finns and Estonians, who on the basis of the biological evidence are clearly of European origin, but who speak languages that are classified as belonging to the Uralic family of languages spoken primarily in Asia by persons who are biologically very different. His proposals have received little support from linguists who specialize in the Uralic languages, other than those scholars he mentions in his text, but the genetic similarity between the Finns and Estonians, and their North European neighbors who speak Indo-European (Germanic) languages, requires some explanation, and the author hopes that the publication of an English translation of his paper will attract research by scholars in fields other than Uralistics.

Pioneering Medical Research: N. I. Pirogov in Tartu

Abstract: The author presents readers with a biographical description of the life of a leading Estonian surgeon and pioneer of medical research, which provides an interesting insight into the historical conditions prevailing in Nineteenth Century Baltic States.

Ukko, the finnish god of thunder : Separating pagan roots from christian accretions - part one

Abstract: This is the first portion of Unto Salo's comprehensive study of the primeval Finnish god of thunder, fire and lightning which because of its length appears in The Mankind Quarterly in two consecutive parts. It seeks to trace the mythic history of Ukko from it earliest identifiable origins, investigating its relationship to the Indo-European God of Thunder, until its eventual extinction under the influence of Christianity. He achieves this through an interdisciplinary synthesis that seeks to integrate evidence from linguistic, archaeological and literary records. Key Words: Finnish mythology; Lapps; Saami; Ilmari/Ukko; Thor; Zeus; Thunderbird; Thundergod; Neolithic; Bronze Age; Iron Age; lightning; thunderbolts; iron-forging. The Mythology of the Ancient Finns and its Sources The mythology of the ancient Finns has survived until recent times in folk traditions: beliefs, sayings, customs, ancient epic poems, and incantations. In other words, in material that has been written down very late, mainly since the 170Os. Descriptions and notes are from the period, when Christianity had already strongly influenced pagan traditions by initially changing and eventually destroying them. Can one hope to reconstruct the pure form of the Pre-Christian world of these deities? We must, at the very least, take into account the changes that have occurred in the sources. The oldest written description of the ancient Finnish mythology dates back to the year 1551. The Renaissanceeducated bishop, Mikael Agricola, describes in his foreword to the Psalter of David the pantheon of the Hame and Karelian Finns, clearly modeled on the pantheons of the ancient Greeks and Romans with their twelve main deities. Agricola's description is, however, rather short. It is further constrained by its meter and rhyme, and is thus understandably both limited and inaccurate, too. It is nonetheless irreplaceable for the historical study of the ancient religion. The incompleteness of Agricola's description is seen in the fact that he only described the gods of the Hame and Karelian peoples and did not even mention the beliefs of the Finns of Finland Proper (in southwestern Finland) and Ostrobothnia. This may, however, be due to an assumption that the gods of the Harne people represented the western Finns' gods, and that the gods of the Karelians represented the eastern Finnish pantheon. We can, therefore, consider his descriptions as generalizations that do not depict regional variation within these two major areas of Finland although more recent sources reveal that such variation existed. It is also worth noting that Agricola does not mention the God of Thunder of the Hame Finns and the southwestern Finns at all, although an abundance of folk traditions of this god were to some extent already recorded during the 1600s and 1700s. An additional inaccuracy is that Agricola has classified certain spirits as gods so as to include in the Olympus of the Hame and Karelian people the same number of gods as the pantheons of the Greeks and Romans of antiquity. Iron Age Society and its Gods Folk traditions and Agricola's writings demonstrate that the ancient Finns did not have a hierarchically-organized family of gods like that of the Greeks and Romans of Antiquity. Iron Age society did not require a hierarchically-organized pantheon because it was to a large extent an unstratified society. However, those who had become wealthy through the fur trade and by collecting taxes in Lapland possessed magnificent weapons and abundant jewelry. There were, therefore, some tendencies toward social stratification, which were noticeable throughout the entire Iron Age starting during the Older Roman Iron Age (AD 50-200). This stratification was expressed mainly in burial goods and constructions, very rarely in monumental and exceptional grave structures, as with certain graves in Laitila (in Finland Proper), Tyrvaa (Vammala in Satakunta), Laihia (in southern Ostrobothnia) dating back to the Younger Roman Iron Age (AD 200-400), and certain graves of the Migration Period (AD 400-600) in southern Ostrobothnia. …

The great population debate: an opinion paper.

Abstract: The debate over the ongoing explosion of population in the developing countries has become more muted since the 1960s, but the author maintains that population pressure is a major cause of the contemporary problems that plague so much of the Third World. He also argues that the wide disparity in regional birthrates threaten the peace of the world, and advocates the diversion of greater resources toward the provision of contraceptives to those countries that are too poor to provide them to their own people. Many impoverished Third World countries are currently doubling their population every twenty to twenty five years, and funds spent on ameliorating the demographic problem would not only reduce much of the misery afflicting these countries but would result in far greater savings in other areas.

Art, intelligence, and the limbic system

Abstract: In this essay, a professor of music surveys the evolution of art forms in Western civilization, and their roots in human intelligence and in impulses originating in the human limbic system.

The Evolution of Auditory Pathways Underlying Human Hearing

Abstract: The projections from the superior olivary complex to the inferior colliculus (IC) were studied in five diverse mammalian species, including monodelphis and didelphis opossum, rat, ferret, and bushbaby, and compared to the same projections in cat. In each animal, injections of tritiated-glycine or horseradish peroxidase (HRP) were made in IC, and retrogradely-labeled neurons in the lateral superior olive (LSO), medial superior olive (MSO), and the dorsomedial periolivary nucleus (DMPO) or its homologue the superior paraolivary nucleus (SPN) were examined. While HRP was used to demonstrate the totality of projections from these nuclei, tritiated-glycine was used to demonstrate the subset of these projections which are glycinergic, and hence, inhibitory. The results confirmed earlier work showing that in each animal, LSO sends both uncrossed and crossed projections to IC. Although the relative proportion of projections from LSO to each IC varied among species, in each, both sets of projections are substantial. This is the first across-species comparison showing that the uncrossed projections from LSO to IC in all these species are largely glycinergic, while the crossed projections are not. In addition, this study shows that these projections arise from different areas in LSO in each species. Similarly, in each species, MSO sends both uncrossed and crossed projections to IC. In contrast to the LSO projections, however, the relative proportion of projections from MSO to the ipsilateral and contralateral IC varies widely. Consistent with the reports of others, in the placentals, the majority of projections from MSO were found to terminate in the ipsilateral IC. However, the marsupials differed from placentals in having a strong bilateral projection from the MSO. That is, in the marsupials, MSO projections terminate more or less equally in the ipsilateral and contralateral IC. SPN/DMPO was labeled ipsilateral but rarely contralateral to the IC injection and was found to have a glycinergic projection to IC.