About the Author
Katherine A. Dettwyler is a biocultural anthropologist. She received her MA (1981) and Ph.D. (1985) from Indiana University, Bloomington. She taught for two years at the University of Southern Mississippi (1985-1987) and for 13 years at Texas A&M University (1987-2000). Her research focuses on breastfeeding and weaning from cross-cultural and evolutionary perspectives, and includes field research in Mali. Her book, Dancing Skeletons: Life and Death in West Africa, was awarded the 1995 Margaret Mead Award from the American Anthropological Association and the Society for Applied Anthropology. Her co-edited volume, Breastfeeding: Biocultural Perspectives, is a best seller among lactation consultants. She is a frequent speaker at lactation/breastfeeding conferences. Her current research focuses on women and children in the US who breastfeed longer than 3 years. She has always enjoyed teaching four-fields introductory anthropology to college freshmen. She currently lives in Delaware with her husband, 3 children, two dogs and three cats, and divides her time between research, publishing, and working for the American Philosophical Association.Vaughn M. Bryant is a professor of anthropology and Director of the Center for Ecological Archaeology at Texas A&M University. After receiving his doctorate from the University of Texas at Austin in 1969, he taught at Washington State University before joining the newly created Department of Sociology and Anthropology at Texas A&M University in 1971. As the first anthropologist at Texas A&M, he was the first chairperson and helped build a separate doctoral-granting department of anthropology. He enjoys teaching and consistently teaches both introductory four-fields anthropology and graduate courses each semester. Dr. Bryant is a trained anthropologist and botanist who is best known for his research in paleoethnobotany (the study of how ancient humans use plants), pollen analysis, and prehistoric diet analysis. During the 1980s and 1990s, Dr. Bryant compiled a book that detailed how the vegetation and climates of North America changed during the past 30,000 years, completed the editing of the first and second editions of the McGraw Hill book, Through The Looking Glass, finished editing a book on techniques used in pollen sampling and analysis and completed an atlas of the modern pollen flora found in the Southeastern United States. Dr. Bryant is a frequent guest on television programs and has appeared on network programs including the Today Show, 1-2-3 Contact (produced by the Children's Television Workshop in New York City), CNN, BBC, Discovery Channel, FOX-Network News, and the quiz program, To Tell The Truth. Dr. Bryant also writes popular articles, which have appeared in such magazines as People, Reader's Digest, Popular Science, Biblical Archaeology, Science Digest, Scientific American, Seventeen, the National Geographic Magazine, and National Geographic World. International magazines that have featured his research include Colours, Der Spiegel, The World And I, and Geowissen Nahrung & Gesundheit. Dr. Bryant lives in College Station, Texas, where he teaches anthropology, continues his research, and enjoys time with his wife, three children, six grandchildren, and two Yorkshire Terriers.
Table of Contents
PrefaceCorrelation Charts to Four-Field Introductory Anthropology Books
CHAPTER 1: What is Anthropology?“Transforming the Culture of Intolerance” by Mark Nathan CohenCHAPTER 2: Applying Anthropology“The Archaeology of Grief” by Sylvia Grider“Breastfeeding and Culture” by Katherine A. DettwylerCHAPTER 3: Ethics and Methods in Physical Anthropology and Archaeology“They Died with Custer: Preface/Prelude” by Douglas D. Scott, P. Willey and Melissa A. Connor“The Case of the Purloined Pots” by Kent BlackCHAPTER 4: Evolution and Genetics“Reading the Language of Our Ancestors” by Jeff Wheelwright“15 Answers to Creationist Nonsense” by John RennieCHAPTER 5: The Primates“Aping Culture” by Meredith Small“Disturbing Behaviors of the Orangutan” by Anne Nacey Maccioncalda and Robert M. SapolskyCHAPTER 6: Primate Evolution“In the Realm of Virtual Reality” by Richard Conniff and Harry MarshallCHAPTER 7: Early Hominids“Not Out of Africa: Alan Thorne's Challenging Ideas about Human Evolution” by Joseph DAgnese“Eating Right: Lessons Learned from our Prehistoric Ancestors” by Vaughn M. BryantCHAPTER 8: Modern Humans“The Evolution of Human Birth” by Karen R. Rosenberg and Wenda R. Trevathan“Care-Worn Fossils: Bones Reopen Controversy about Ancient Assistance” by Bruce BowerCHAPTER 9: Human Diversity and “Race”“Race Counts” by David Berreby“Interracial Generation: We Are Who We Are” by Daryl StricklandCHAPTER 10: The First Farmers“First to Ride” by William Speed Weed“Invisible Clues to New World Plant Domestication” by Vaughn M. Bryant“Who Were the First Americans?” by Sasha NemecekCHAPTER 11: The First Cities and States“1491” by Charles C. MannCHAPTER 12: Ethics and Methods in Cultural Anthropology“Bad Breath, Gangrene, and Gods Angels” by Katherine A. Dettwyler“Too Many Bananas, Not Enough Pineapples, and No Watermelon at All: Three Object Lessons in Living with Reciprocity” by David CountsCHAPTER 13: Culture“Thinking Inside the Box” by Caroline Kettlewell“A Woman's Curse? From Taboo to Time Bomb: Rethinking Menstruation” by Meredith SmallCHAPTER 14: Ethnicity“Pais de mis Sueños: Reflections on Ethnic Labels, Dichotomies, and Ritual Interactions” by Gisela Ernst“People of the Reindeer” by John F. RossCHAPTER 15: Language and Communication“Face the Music” by Susan Milius“Last Words” by Payal SampatCHAPTER 16: Making a Living“Sea Hunters of Lamalera” by Fred Bruemmer“A Fair Share of the Pie” by Bruce BowerCHAPTER 17: Political Systems“The Social Psychology of Modern Slavery” by Kevin Bales“A Tribal Chair's Perspective on Inherent Sovereignty” by Billy Evans Horse and Luke Eric LassiterCHAPTER 18: Families, Kinship, and Descent““Soup Night”: Community Creation through Foodways” by Lin T. HumphreyCHAPTER 19: Marriage“Land of the Walking Marriage” by Lu Yuan and Sam MitchellCHAPTER 20: Gender“The Five Sexes, Revisited” by Anne Fausto-Sterling“Multiple Genders Among North American Indians” by Serena NandaCHAPTER 21: Religion“The Religious Success Story” by Jared Diamond““From Here On, I Will Be Praying to You”: Indian Churches, Kiowa Hymns, and Native American Christianity in Southwestern Oklahoma” by Luke Eric LassiterCHAPTER 22: The Arts“Mysterious Island” by Paul TrachtmanCHAPTER 23: The Modern World System“Trading Places” by Paul StollerCHAPTER 24: Colonialism and Development“The Himba and the Dam” by Carol EzzellCHAPTER 25: Cultural Exchange and Survival“Birth” by Anne Fadiman “Patio Man and the Sprawl People” by David Brooks