Showing papers on "Biological anthropology published in 2021"

Understanding racism in physical (biological) anthropology

Abstract: The mainstream of American physical anthropology began as racist and eugenical science that defended slavery, restricted "non-Nordic" immigration, and justified Jim Crow segregation. After World War II, the field became more anti-racial than anti-racist. It has continued as a study of natural influences on human variation and thus continues to evade the social histories of inequitable biological variation. Also reflecting its occupancy of white space, biological anthropology continues to deny its own racist history and marginalizes the contributions of Blacks. Critical disciplinary history and a shift toward biocultural studies might begin an anti-racist human biology.

Biological anthropology's critical engagement with genomics, evolution, race/racism, and ourselves: Opportunities and challenges to making a difference in the academy and the world.

Abstract: Biological anthropology can, and should, matter in the Anthropocene. Biological anthropologists are interested in human biology and the human experience in a broader ecological, evolutionary, and phylogenetic context. We are interested in the material of the body, the history of the body, and interactions of diverse bodies, communities, ecologies, and evolutionary processes. However, the cultural realities of bodies, histories, communities, livelihoods, perceptions, and experiences are as central to the endeavor and inquiry of biological anthropology as are their material aspects. Biological anthropology is a constant dialectic between the cultural and the biological. In this essay, I argue that Biological Anthropology has much to offer, a history to contend with, and a future that matters. To illustrate this, I highlight theoretical and methodological issues in genomics, evolutionary theory and connect them to the study of Race and Racism to emphasize specific arenas where Biological Anthropology has a great capacity, and a strong obligation, to play a central role. However, Biological Anthropology also has substantive internal issues that hinder our ability to do the best possible science. If we are to live up to our potential and make a difference in the 21st century we need to ameliorate our structural shortcomings and expand our voice, and impact, in academic and public discourse. The goal of this perspective is to offer suggestions for moving us toward this goal.

William Montague Cobb: Near the African diasporic origins of activist and biocultural anthropology.

Abstract: William Montague Cobb, AB, MD, PhD, was the first African American PhD in anatomy and physical anthropology. He produced 1,100 publications while a professor at Howard University. His influence on the civil rights struggle from the 1930s to 1970s was profound as were his contributions to science and medical history. This article shows how he continued the activist and interdisciplinary traditions of African diasporic intellectuals and that these innovated what is today labeled biocultural anthropology, which focuses on the political, economic, and other societal influences on human biology and health. The human biology of the White "mainstream" has tended toward reductionism, biodeterminism, and eugenics. It drew a causal arrow from biology to society. Had they been able to listen to Black intellectuals, the world might have avoided the tragedy of mid-20th century eugenics and its long continuing biodeterministic shadow.