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मुख्य Cultural anthropology
Cultural anthropologyCarol R. Ember, Melvin R. Ember, Peter N. Peregrine
Explains how and why human cultures vary so greatly across space and time Cultural Anthropology, 14/e helps students understand how humans vary culturally and why they got to be that way. It provides both a comprehensive and scientific introduction to cultural anthropology. This new edition has an expanded and updated focus on environmental issues. REVEL from Pearson is an immersive learning experience designed for the way todays student read, think, and learn. REVEL modernizes familiar and respected course content with dynamic media interactives and assessments, and empowers educators to increase engagement in the course, better connecting with students. The result is increased student engagement and improved learning. Teaching and Learning Experience This program will provide a better teaching and learning experience- for you and your students. It: Immersive Learning Experiences with REVEL: REVEL delivers immersive learning experiences designed for the way today's students read, think, and learn. Engaging Pedagogically-Driven Design: Learning Objectives in each chapter correspond to chapter summary materials A Clear Understanding of humans: Readers will learn the major variations in human kinship, economic, political, and religious systems and why it is significant. Focus on Contemporary issues: Students will understand contemporary social problems and how anthropology might be used to address them.
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Cultural Anthropology Fourteenth Edition Carol R. Ember Human Relations Area Files Melvin Ember Boston Columbus Indianapolis New York San Francisco Upper Saddle River Amsterdam Cape Town Dubai London Madrid Milan Munich Paris Montréal Toronto Delhi Mexico City São Paulo Sydney Hong Kong Seoul Singapore Taipei Tokyo Editorial Director: Dickson Musslewhite Publisher: Charlyce Jones-Owen Editorial Assistant: Maureen Diana Program Manager: Emily Tamburri Project Manager: Nicole Conforti Marketing Coordinator: Jessica Warren Procurement Manager: MaryAnn Gloriande Art Director: Kathryn Foot Cover Art: Keren Su/Corbis Director, Digital Studio: Sacha Laustein Media Product Manager: David Alick Media Project Manager: Amanda Smith Full-Service Project Management: Jenna Vittorioso Composition: Lumina Datamatics, Inc. Printer/Binder and Cover Printer: RR Donnelley; Phoenix Color DK Maps designed and productioned by DK Education, a division of Dorling Kindersley Limited, 80 Strand, London WC2R ORL. DK and the DK logo are registered trademarks of Dorling Kindersley Limited. This book was set in 10/12, ITC Galliard Std. Credits and acknowledgments borrowed from other sources and reproduced, with permission, in this textbook appear on the appropriate page within the text (or on pages 465–467). Copyright © 2015, 2011, 2007, 2005, 2002, 1999 Pearson Education, Inc., 330 Hudson Avenue, Hoboken, NJ. All rights reserved. Manufactured in the United States of America. This publication is protected by Copyright, and permission should be obtained from the publisher prior to any prohibited reproduction, storage in a retrieval system, or transmission in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or likewise. To obtain permission(s) to use material from this work, please submit a written request to Pearson Education, Inc., Permissions Department, 330 Hudson Ave., Hoboken, NJ. The Cataloging-in-Publication Data is on record at the Library of Congress. 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Student Edition ISBN-10: 0-205-95719-6 ISBN-13: 978-0-205-95719-4 A la Carte Edition ISBN-10: 0-13-404181-X ISBN-13: 978-0-13-404181-0 For Mel– Always the optimist, who believed that there were laws governing human behavior that could be found if you thought hard enough, worked hard enough, and tested ideas against the anthropological record. 1933–2009 Brief Contents Part I Introduction to Anthropology 1 What Is Anthropology? 1 2 Culture and Culture Change 17 3 Culture and the Individual 52 4 Understanding and Explaining Culture 78 5 Communication and Language 100 Part II Cultural Variation 6 Getting Food 131 7 Economic Systems 152 8 Social Stratification: Class, Ethnicity, and Racism 184 9 Sex and Gender 207 10 Marriage and the Family 231 11 Marital Residence and Kinship 260 12 Associations and Interest Groups 286 13 Political Life: Social Order and Disorder 304 14 Religion and Magic 330 15 The Arts 354 Part III Using Anthropology 16 Practicing and Applying Anthropology 372 17 Health and Illness 388 18 Global Problems 406 Contents Boxes ix Preface xi About the Authors xvi Part I Introduction to Anthropology Chapter 1 What Is Anthropology? 1 What Is Anthropology? 2 The Scope of Anthropology 2 The Holistic Approach 3 Anthropological Curiosity 3 Fields of Anthropology 3 Specialization 12 The Relevance of Anthropology 13 Chapter 2 Culture and Culture Change 17 Defining Culture 18 Cultural Constraints 21 Attitudes That Hinder the Study of Cultures 22 Cultural Relativism 23 Describing a Culture 25 Culture Is Patterned 28 How and Why Cultures Change 29 Culture Change and Adaptation 40 Globalization: Problems and Opportunities 42 Ethnogenesis: The Emergence of New Cultures 45 Cultural Diversity in the Future 47 Chapter 3 Culture and the Individual 52 The Universality of Psychological Development 53 The Anthropology of Childhood 57 Cross-Cultural Variation in Childrearing 60 Psychological Variation in Adulthood 69 Psychological Explanations of Cultural Variation 72 Individuals as Agents of Cultural Change 73 Chapter 4 Understanding and Explaining Culture 78 Explanations 79 Why Theories Cannot Be Proved 81 Overview of Theoretical Approaches 82 Evidence: Testing Explanations 85 Types of Research in Cultural Anthropology 90 Chapter 5 Communication and Language 100 Communication 101 The Origins of Language 106 Descriptive Linguistics 110 Historical Linguistics 114 The Processes of Linguistic Divergence 118 Relationships Between Language and Culture 119 The Ethnography of Speaking 123 Writing and Literacy 127 Part II Cultural Evolution Chapter 6 Getting Food 131 Foraging 132 Food Production 136 Environmental Restraints on Food-Getting 146 The Origins of Food Production 147 The Spread and Intensification of Food Production 149 Chapter 7 Economic Systems 152 The Allocation of Resources 153 The Conversion of Resources 159 The Distribution of Goods and Services 165 The Worldwide Trend Toward Commercialization 175 Chapter 8 Social Stratification: Class, Ethnicity, and Racism 184 Variation in Degree of Social Inequality 185 Egalitarian Societies 186 Rank Societies 188 Class Societies 189 Racism and Inequality 197 Ethnicity and Inequality 200 The Emergence of Stratification 202 Chapter 9 Sex and Gender 207 Gender Concepts 209 Physique and Physiology 209 Gender Roles 210 Relative Contributions to Work: Who Works More? 213 Political Leadership and Warfare 216 The Relative Status of Women 218 Personality Differences 220 Sexuality 224 Chapter 10 Marriage and the Family 231 Marriage 232 Why Is Marriage Nearly Universal? 234 How Does One Marry? 236 Restrictions on Marriage: The Universal Incest Taboo 240 Whom should One Marry? 244 How Many Does One Marry? 247 The Family 252 Possible Reasons for Extended-Family Households 256 Chapter 11 Marital Residence and Kinship 260 Patterns of Marital Residence 262 The Structure of Kinship 264 Variation in Unilineal Descent Systems 267 Functions of Unilineal Descent Groups 271 Ambilineal Systems 273 Explaining Variation in Residence 273 The Emergence of Unilineal Systems 278 Explaining Ambilineal and Bilateral Systems 278 Kinship Terminology 279 Chapter 12 Associations and Interest Groups 286 Characteristics of Associations 287 Nonvoluntary Associations 288 Voluntary Associations 294 Chapter 13 Political Life: Social Order and Disorder 304 Variation in Types of Political Organization 305 The Spread of State Societies 316 Variation in Political Process 317 Resolution of Conflict 319 Chapter 14 Religion and Magic 330 The Universality of Religion 331 Variation in Religious Beliefs 335 Variation in Religious Practices 340 Religion and Adaptation 345 Religious Change 346 Chapter 15 The Arts 354 Body Decoration and Adornment 356 Explaining Variation in the Arts 357 Viewing the Art of Other Cultures 367 Artistic Change, Culture Contact, and Global Trade 368 Part III Using Anthropology Chapter 16 Practicing and Applying Anthropology 372 Ethics of Applied Anthropology 373 Evaluating the Effects of Planned Change 376 Difficulties in Instituting Planned Change 377 Environmental Anthropology 379 Business and Organizational Anthropology 380 Cultural Resource Management 382 Museum Anthropology 383 Forensic Anthropology 385 Chapter 17 Health and Illness 388 Cultural Understandings of Health and Illness 389 Treatment of Illness 393 Political and Economic Influences on Health 396 Health Conditions and Diseases 396 Chapter 18 Global Problems 406 Natural Events, Disasters, and Famine 407 Inadequate Housing and Homelessness 409 Family Violence and Abuse 413 Crime 416 War 419 Terrorism 421 Making the World Better 423 GLOSSARY 426 NOTES 431 BIBLIOGRAPHY 437 CREDITS 465 INDEX 468 Boxes Applied Anthropology Development Programs and Culture Change: A Bedouin Case Study 37 Schools: Values and Expectations 68 There Is Nothing Like Evidence to Shake Mistaken Beliefs 95 Can Languages Be Kept from Extinction? 107 The Effect of Food-Getting on the Environment 145 Impact of the World System—Deforestation of the Amazon 180 Unequal in Death: African Americans Compared with European Americans 199 Economic Development and Women's Status 221 The Changing Family and "Social Security": A Look at Japan 255 From Cross-Cultural Research to Archaeology: Reconstructing Marital Residence in the Prehistoric U.S. Southwest 275 NGOs: Powerful National and International Interest Groups in the Modern World 301 Democracy and Economic Development 314 Religion: A Force for Cooperation and Harmony? 339 Rock Art: Preserving a Window into the Past 356 Getting Development Programs to Include Women Farmers 375 General Motors: Creating a Better Business Culture 381 Exploring Why an Applied Project Didn't Work 392 Eating Disorders, Biology, and the Cultural Construction of Beauty 400 Climate Change: What Can Anthropologists Contribute to Research and Policy? 411 Current Research and Issues Researcher at Work: Alyssa Crittenden 6 Researcher at Work: Timothy G. Bromage 10 Culture Change and Persistence in China 31 Emotional Expressiveness: What Accounts for Cultural Differences? 65 Evaluating Alternative Theories 85 Does Communal Ownership Lead to Economic Disaster? 156 Global Inequality 195 Love, Intimacy, and Sexual Jealousy in Marriage 250 One-Parent Families: Why the Recent Increase? 254 Do Neolocality and Rebellious Teenagers Go Together? 277 Why Do Street Gangs Develop, and Why Are They Often Violent? 295 Do Masks Show Emotion in Universal Ways? 364 Ethnic Conflicts: Ancient Hatreds or Not? 420 Migrants and Immigrants Increasing Cultural Diversity Within the Countries of the World 46 Why are "Mother Tongues" Retained, and for How Long? 109 Food on the Move 143 Working Abroad to Send Money Home 178 Arranging Marriages in the Diaspora 246 Blood Is Thicker Than Water 268 Ethnic Associations in "Chinatowns" 297 The Growth of Cities 311 Colonialism and Religious Affiliation 347 The Spread of Popular Music 361 Refugees Are a Global Social Problem 413 Perspectives on Gender Researcher at Work: Elizabeth M. Brumfiel 8 Does the English Language Promote Sexist Thinking? 125 Why Do Some Societies Allow Women to Participate in Combat? 217 Women's Electoral Success on the Northwest Coast 219 Variation in Residence and Kinship: What Difference Does It Make to Women? 270 Do Separate Women's Associations Increase Women's Status and Power? 299 New Courts Allow Women to Address Grievances in Papua New Guinea 323 maps Map 1. THE FIRST HOMINIDS Map 2. THE EMERGENCE OF MODERN HUMANS Map 3. THE SPREAD OF MODERN HUMANS Map 4. THE SPREAD OF AGRICULTURE Map 5. THE FIRST CIVILIZATIONS Map 6. TRADE, CROPS, AND THE SPREAD OF DISEASE, 500–1500 a.d. Map 7. TRADING IN HUMAN LIVES Map 8. THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION AND THE SPREAD OF TECHNOLOGY Map 9. WESTERN IMPERIALISM Map 10. MIGRATION IN THE 19TH CENTURY Map 11. BIOLOGICAL EXCHANGES Map 12. EUROPEAN EXPANSION IN THE 16TH CENTURY Preface One of the most obvious changes in this fourteenth edition of Cultural Anthropology is the new format—a single-column format with larger photographs which we hope will be more engaging. But the changes go far beyond style. As always, we spend considerable time updating the research, not only on topics already covered, but on topics we think should be added. In this edition, we have also reorganized and reordered some chapters. For example, we have moved the chapter on culture and the individual to follow culture and culture change to reinforce the idea that individuals are agents of change. To make more room for discussion of practicing and applied anthropology, we have taken medical anthropology out of applied anthropology and put it into its own chapter on health and illness. But because we did not want to add more chapters, we incorporated some discussion of theory, formerly in a separate chapter, into understanding and explaining culture. We remain committed to some basic principles. The first is that we want our readers to develop a better understanding of, and hopefully, greater tolerance for human diversity. The second is that we believe that to better understand cultural variation, we need to consider the physical and social environments in which people live. The third is that while an introductory book must impart core knowledge and concepts, we try very hard to convey that research is an ongoing, exciting process and therefore ideas and understandings change over time. Most importantly, we have always tried to go beyond descriptions to explain not only what humans are and were like but also why they got to be that way, in all their variety. This edition is no different. An important part of updating the text is finding new explanations, and we try to communicate the necessity to evaluate these new explanations logically as well as on the basis of the available evidence. Throughout the book, we try to communicate that no idea, including ideas put forward in textbooks, should be accepted even tentatively without supporting tests that could have gone the other way. What's New to This Edition Engaging Pedagogically-Driven Design NEW! Learning Objectives have been added to each chapter helping readers to focus on the material ahead. Chapter-ending summary materials have been completely revised to link back to the Learning Objectives presenting a more clear overview of the important material covered in the chapter. A Clear Understanding of humans NEW! Application of major topics. Applied Anthropology Boxes provide students a better understanding of the vast range of issues to which anthropological knowledge can be usefully applied. These boxes offer an additional way to show how anthropology helps people lead better lives. Significant expansion of practicing anthropology with an expanded chapter and separation of medical anthropology into its own chapter. Focus on Contemporary issues NEW! Environmental issues. An expanded focus on environmental issues is presented. Chapter-by-Chapter Changes Part I: Introduction to Anthropology Chapter 1: What Is Anthropology? Two new boxes on individual anthropologists–an ethnographer and a physical anthropologist–and their work. Chapter 2: Culture and Culture Change This chapter has been revised considerably to make it more engaging. New examples on food preferences and taboos are used to illustrate that culture is learned. The section on controversies about the concept of culture has been rewritten. A new section and figure on baby names in the United States illustrates random copying of neutral traits. A broader and more historical view of globalization is introduced. The revolution section now contains a discussion of the Arab Spring and the difficulties of bringing about change by revolution. The second box has been updated and discusses an applied anthropologist's attempts to accommodate Bedouin needs in designed change programs with the Oman government. Chapter 3: Culture and the Individual We have repositioned this chapter after culture and culture change to emphasize the importance of individuals and their role in culture change. The first box on how cultures vary in tightness or looseness of rules and emotional expressiveness is new and integrates anthropological research with research on countries. The second box is updated and discusses how schools may consciously and unconsciously teach values by comparing preschools in Japan, China, and the United States. This box includes studies suggesting ways that preschools have changed. A new figure is introduced to help explain changes in cognitive development of children. The second box is updated and discusses how schools may consciously and unconsciously teach values by comparing preschools in Japan, China, and the United States. Chapter 4: Understanding and Explaining Culture This reworked chapter now integrates some of the theory that was in a separate chapter in the previous edition. Rather than trying to convey all of the important theoretical orientations, we concentrate on evolutionary and ecological paradigms, some of which are important for understanding our adaptational orientation. We have added a new section on ethnography as source material for other research. Part II: Cultural Variation Chapter 6: Getting Food Two sections have been expanded. We have expanded our discussion of complex foragers for this edition. To put food-getting in better historical perspective, we have significantly expanded our discussion of the origin of food production in prehistory—when it occurred and the theories about why it occurred. Chapter 7: Economic Systems We have introduced a body of experimental and observational research providing evidence that sharing and cooperation may be universally associated with pleasure. Chapter 8: Social Stratification: Class, Ethnicity, and Racism We have expanded our section on caste, adding a discussion of occupational caste in Africa. The section on "race" is extensively expanded with a new section on the concept of race in biology. The first box on global inequality is extensively rewritten and updated with new material. The second box updates the discussion of why there are disparities in death by disease between African Americans and European Americans. Chapter 9: Sex and Gender This chapter has been extensively rewritten to be more engaging and easier to read with more subheadings for clarity. The box on women in combat has been updated to reflect recent changes in policy. Chapter 11: Marital Residence and Kinship To make this chapter more engaging, this chapter now opens with a new introduction with a piece of poetry from Robert Frost that we hope raises awareness of what it means to be kin. Chapter 12: Associations and Interest Groups There is a new introduction to this chapter which begins with a Hopi fable about common purpose. New research on how male age-sets and separate dwelling effect the status of women is also included. The chapter has also been rearranged so that explanations of various types of association follow immediately after they are described and illustrated. The first updated box addresses the question of whether separate women's associations increase women's status and power. Chapter 13: Political Life: Social Order and Disorder We have added a new section that discusses the concepts of nation-states, nationalism and political identity. They point out that people living in states may not identify with the state they live in nor have their notion of nationhood correspond to political boundaries. In the warfare section we also discuss the controversy about whether violence has increased or decreased in human history. Chapter 14: Religion and Magic The authors have added a new theoretical discussion on the need for human cooperation and the recent research that supports that theory. Also added is new research on the relationships between religiosity and stress and anxiety as well as a new discussion on how most religions began as minority sects or cults. The first box, which is updated, raises the question of whether and to what degree religion promotes moral behavior, cooperation, and harmony. Chapter 15: The Arts In a new section we discuss the problematic and fuzzy distinctions made in labeling some art negatively as "tourist" art versus more positively as "fine" art. Part III: Using Anthropology Chapter 16: Practicing and Applying Anthropology This chapter used to include medical anthropology, but to enable us to expand other areas of applied anthropology, we have moved medical anthropology into its own chapter. The introductory section now explicitly discusses specializations in practicing and applied anthropology such as development anthropology, environmental anthropology, business or organizational anthropology, museum anthropology, cultural resource management, and forensic anthropology. The authors have updated the ethics section with an extended discussion of displacement projects, their risks, and the dilemma of whose lives are actually improved. Greatly expanded the section on anthropologists as advocates and collaborators and updated the forensics section with detail about estimating time of death. The sections on environmental anthropology and business and organizational anthropology are completely new. The first box is new to this chapter and is about how to get development programs to include more women. The second box is new and is about anthropological work to help a car company improve its business culture. Chapter 17: Health and Illness This is now its own chapter, broken out from the previous edition where it was combined with applied anthropology. Much of the research has been updated. Chapter 18: Global Problems We have extensively updated the research in this chapter. In revising the section on natural disasters and the famines that frequently result from them, the authors gave increasing attention to the inequalities that contribute to them. New research on relationships to gender equality is included in the family violence section. In the section on war, we discuss changes over the long course of history, the complex relationship between disasters and war, and the increasing attention to how the vulnerability of populations to disasters can be reduced. The first box has been extensively reworked and updated and now emphasizes climate change and ways anthropologists can contribute to understanding solutions. Organization of the Text Part I: Introduction to Anthropology We see anthropology as a unified discipline that combines the insights of ethnographers, linguists, archaeologists, and physical anthropologists to create a holistic understanding of humans. In this section, we introduce the discipline of anthropology, outline its history and its major theoretical perspectives, and give an overview of the methods employed by anthropologists. Chapter 1: What Is Anthropology? Chapter 1 introduces the student to anthropology. We discuss what we think is distinctive about anthropology in general, and about each of its subfields in particular. We outline how each of the subfields is related to other disciplines such as biology, psychology, and sociology. We direct attention to the increasing importance of applied anthropology and the importance of understanding others in today's more globalized world. To emphasize the excitement of research we include three boxes on individual researchers (an ethnographer, an archaeologist, and a physical anthropologist). Chapter 2: Culture and Culture Change After introducing the concept of culture and some of the controversies surrounding the concept, we emphasize that culture is always changing. Throughout the chapter we discuss individual variation and how such variation may be the beginning of new cultural patterns. We also discuss attitudes that hinder the study of culture, cultural relativism and the issue of human rights, patterning of culture, culture and adaptation, and mechanisms of culture change, before getting to the emergence of new cultures and the impact of globalization. The first box is on culture change and persistence in China. The second box has been updated and discusses an applied anthropologist's attempts to accommodate Bedouin needs in designed change programs with the Oman government. The third box discusses the increasing cultural diversity within countries of the world as a result of immigration and migration. Chapter 3: Culture and the Individual In this extensively revised and updated chapter, we discuss some of the universals of psychological development and also the processes that contribute to differences in childhood experience and personality formation. We then turn to how understanding psychological processes may help us understand cultural variation. The chapter closes with a section on the individual as an agent of culture change. Chapter 4: Understanding and Explaining Culture We begin by discussing what it means to explain and what kinds of evidence are needed to evaluate an explanation. To illustrate the concept of theoretical orientations, we discuss the changing nature of evolutionary and ecological paradigms. We then describe the major types of study in anthropology including ethics in fieldwork. The first box discusses alternative theories for explaining the Abelam custom of growing giant yams. The second box describes how cross-cultural research on potato farming around the world helped change policy on potato farming. Chapter 5: Communication and Language To place language in perspective, the chapter begins with a discussion of communication more broadly, including nonverbal human communication and communication in other animals. We discuss how language differs from other forms of communication and ideas about the origins of language. We then turn to some fundamentals of descriptive linguistics, the processes of linguistic divergence, and postulated relationships between language and other aspects of culture. Toward the end of the chapter we discuss the ethnography of speaking, and writing and literacy. The first box, an applied box, discusses language extinction and what some anthropologists are doing about it. And to stimulate thinking about the possible impact of language on thought, we ask in the last box whether the English language promotes sexist thinking. Part II: Cultural Variation This section of the book focuses on the evolution of humans from early mammals to the present. We emphasize evolution as both a foundational and potentially unifying perspective within anthropology. We also emphasize the fact that humans continue to adapt to their environments both physically and culturally. Thus, anthropology must combine biological understanding and cultural understanding if we wish to develop an accurate understanding of humans. Chapter 6: Getting Food This chapter discusses how societies vary in getting their food, how they have changed over time, and how the variation seems to affect other kinds of cultural variation. Our first box explores where particular foods came from and how different foods and cuisines spread around the world as people migrated. Our second box deals with the negative effects in preindustrial times of irrigation, animal grazing, and overhunting. To put food-getting in better historical perspective, we have significantly expanded our discussion of the origin of food production in prehistory—when it occurred and the theories about why it occurred. Chapter 7: Economic Systems Not only does this chapter describe variation in traditional economic systems and how much of it has been linked to ways of getting food, but there is also integrated discussion of change brought about by local and global political and economic forces. This chapter begins with a discussion of how societies vary in the ways they allocate resources, convert or transform resources through labor into usable goods, and distribute and perhaps exchange goods and services. The first box addresses the controversy over whether communal ownership leads to economic disaster. The second box discusses the impact of working abroad and sending money home. The third illustrates the impact of the world system on local economies, with special reference to the deforestation of the Amazon. Chapter 8: Social Stratification: Class, Ethnicity, and Racism This chapter explores the variation in degree of social stratification and how the various forms of social inequality may develop. We point out concepts of how "race," racism, and ethnicity often relate to the inequitable distribution of resources. The first box on global inequality is extensively rewritten and updated with new material. After addressing the degree of inequality between countries, we discuss why the gap between rich and poor countries may have widened. The second box updates the discussion of why there are disparities in death by disease between African Americans and European Americans. Chapter 9: Sex and Gender This chapter opens with a section on culturally varying gender concepts, including diversity in what genders are recognized. After discussing universals and differences in gender roles in subsistence and leadership, we turn to theories about why men dominate political leadership and what may explain variation in relative status of women and men. In the second part of the chapter we discuss variation in attitudes and practices regarding heterosexual and homosexual sexuality. In the first box, we examine cross-cultural research about why some societies allow women to participate in combat. A second box discusses research on why women's political participation may be increasing in some Coast Salish communities of western Washington State and British Columbia now that they have elected councils. The last is a box that examines the impact of economic development on women's status. Chapter 10: Marriage and the Family After discussing various theories and evidence about why marriage might be universal, we move on to discuss variation in how one marries, restrictions on marriage, whom one should marry, and how many one should marry. We close with a discussion of variation in family form and customs of adoption. We now discuss the phenomenon of couples choosing to live together, and to better prepare students for understanding kinship charts in the chapter that follows, we have a diagram explaining different types of family structures. Our first box discusses arranged marriage and how it has changed among South Asian immigrants in England and the United States. The second box discusses variation in love, intimacy, and sexual jealousy. The third updated box discusses why one-parent families are on the increase in countries like ours. The fourth box, on the changing family and social security in Japan has been completely rewritten and updated. Chapter 11: Marital Residence and Kinship Rather than jumping right into principles of kinship, we broadly discuss the different functions of kinship, the consequences of different kinship systems, and how the importance of kin changes with economic fortunes. In addition to describing the variation that exists in marital residence, kinship structure, and kinship terminology, this chapter discusses theory and research that try to explain that variation. The first box, "Blood is Thicker than Water," discusses the role that Chinese lineages play in supporting migration and making a living in the diaspora. The second box explores how variation in residence and kinship affects the lives of women. The third box discusses how cross-cultural research on the floor area of residences in matrilocal versus patrilocal societies can be used to help archaeologists make inferences about the past. The last box discusses the possible relationship between neolocality and adolescent rebellion. Chapter 12: Associations and Interest Groups We distinguish associations by whether they are nonvoluntary (common in more egalitarian societies) or voluntary, and whether they are based on universally ascribed characteristics (like age and sex), variably ascribed characteristics (like ethnicity), or achieved characteristics. The first box discusses why street gangs may develop and why they often become violent. The second box discusses the role of ethnic associations in Chinatowns in North America. The third box looks at the importance of NGOs in bringing about change at the local and international levels. And the last updated box addresses the question of whether separate women's associations increase women's status and power. Chapter 13: Political Life: Social Order and Disorder We look at how societies have varied in their levels of political organization, the various ways people become leaders, the degree to which they participate in the political process, and the peaceful and violent methods of resolving conflict. We emphasize change, including what may explain shifts from one type of organization to another, such as colonialization and other outside forces have transformed legal systems and ways of making decisions. We then discuss the concepts of nation-states, nationalism, and political identity. The first box is on the role of migrants in the growth of cities. The second box deals with the cross-national and cross-cultural relationship between economic development and democracy. The third box deals with how new local courts among the Abelam of New Guinea are allowing women to address sexual grievances. Chapter 14: Religion and Magic The chapter opens with a discussion of how the concepts of the supernatural and natural have varied over time and space and then turn to theories about why religion is universal. We go on to discuss variation in the types, nature, and structure of gods, spirits, and forces; human/god interactions, concepts of life after death; ways to interact with the supernatural; and the number and types of religious practitioners. A major portion of the chapter deals with religious change, religious conversion and revitalization, and fundamentalist movements. The first box, raises the question of whether and to what degree religion promotes moral behavior, cooperation, and harmony. The second discusses the role of colonialism in religious change. Chapter 15: The Arts After discussing how art might be defined and the appearance of the earliest art, we discuss variation in the visual arts, music, and folklore, and review how some of those variations might be explained. In regard to how the arts change over time, we discuss the myth that the art of "simpler" peoples is timeless, as well as how arts have changed as a result of European contact. We address the role of ethnocentrism in studies of art in a section on how Western museums and art critics look at the visual art of less complex cultures. Similarly in a new section we discuss the problematic and fuzzy distinctions made in labeling some art negatively as "tourist" art versus more positively as "fine" art. The first box explores ancient and more recent rock art and the methods that can be used to help preserve it. The second box discusses the global spread of popular music. The last box deals with universal symbolism in art, particularly research on the emotions displayed in masks. Part III: Using Anthropology Humans are unique in our ability to use culture to adapt to new or changing environments, both physical and cultural. In this section, we discuss evidence for when and how culture developed, and what may have fostered more complex cultural developments over time. We examine the emergence of agriculture, settled communities, and complex political and economic systems in the framework of cultural adaptation. Chapter 16: Practicing and Applying Anthropology An introductory section discusses specializations in practicing and applied anthropology. We move on to an expanded section on ethics, evaluating the effects of planned change, and difficulties in bringing about change. Since most of the examples in the first part of the chapter have to do with development, the remainder of the chapter gives an introduction to a number of other specialties; environmental anthropology, business and organizational anthropology, museum anthropology, cultural resource management, and forensic anthropology. Chapter 17: Health and Illness This chapter concerns itself with cultural understandings of health and illness, the treatment of illness (particularly from a biocultural rather than just a biomedical point of view), varying medical practitioners, and political and economic influences on health. To give a better understanding of what medical anthropologists do, we focus on AIDS, mental and emotional disorders (particularly susto and depression), and undernutrition. The first box discusses an anthropologist's attempt to evaluate why an applied medical project didn't work, and the second updated box explores eating disorders, biology, and the cultural construction of beauty. Chapter 18: Global Problems We begin this chapter with a discussion of the relationship between basic and applied research, and how research may suggest possible solutions to various global social problems, including natural disasters and famines, homelessness, crime, family violence, war, and terrorism. There are three boxes. The first now emphasizes climate change and ways anthropologists can contribute to understanding solutions. The second box is on how the problem of refugees has become a global problem. The last box describes ethnic conflicts and whether or not they are inevitable. Features Applied Anthropology Boxes. Anthropology is not a discipline focused on pure research. Most anthropologists want their work to be actively used to help others. And in our increasingly interconnected world, it would seem that anthropological knowledge would become increasingly valuable for understanding others. For these reasons, in the last few editions we have emphasized applied anthropology. Seventeen of the 18 chapters have an applied anthropology box in each chapter. We hope this will provide students a better understanding of the vast range of issues to which anthropological knowledge can be usefully applied. Current Research and Issues Boxes. These boxes deal with current research, topics students may have heard about in the news, and research controversies in anthropology. Examples include variation in love, intimacy, and sexual jealousy in the husband-wife relationship; increasing global inequality; and whether ethnic conflicts are ancient hatreds. Migrants and Immigrants Boxes. These boxes deal with humans on the move, and how migration and immigration have impacted recent and contemporary social life. Examples include why some immigrant groups retained their "mother tongues" longer than others, the spread of foods in recent times, arranging marriages in the diaspora, and the problem of refugees. Perspectives on Gender Boxes. These boxes involve issues pertaining to sex and gender, both in anthropology and everyday life. Examples are sexism in language, separate women's associations and women's status and power, and mother–infant communication and the origin of language. Dorling Kindersley Maps. To emphasize important themes, we have adapted maps originally produced by Dorling Kindersley, a leading publisher of educational maps. Student-Friendly Pedagogy Readability. We derive a lot of pleasure from trying to describe research findings, especially complicated ones, in ways that introductory students can understand. Thus, we try to minimize technical jargon, using only those terms students must know to appreciate the achievements of anthropology and to take advanced courses. We think readability is important not only because it may enhance the reader's understanding of what we write but also because it should make learning about anthropology more enjoyable! When new terms are introduced, which of course must happen sometimes, they are set off in boldface type and defined in the text, set off in the margins for emphasis, and of course also appear in the glossary at the end of the book. Learning Objectives. Learning objectives are new to this edition. Each chapter begins with learning objectives that indicate what students should know after reading the material. The learning objectives are reinforced with specific questions at the end of each chapter that unite the topics, help students gauge their comprehension, and signal what topics they might have to reread. Key Terms and Glossary. Important terms and concepts appearing in boldface type within the text are defined in the margins where they first appear. All key terms and their definitions are repeated in the Glossary at the end of the book. Summaries. In addition to the learning objectives provided at the beginning of each chapter, each chapter has a detailed summary organized in terms of the learning objectives that will help students review the major concepts and findings discussed, along with review questions to reinforce and to complement the summary. End of Book Notes. Because we believe in the importance of documentation, we think it essential to tell our readers, both professionals and students, what our conclusions are based on. Usually the basis is published research. The abbreviated notes in this edition provide information to find the complete citation in the bibliography at the end of the book. Supplements This textbook is part of a complete teaching and learning package that has been carefully created to enhance the topics discussed in the text. Instructor's Resource Manual with Tests: For each chapter in the text, this valuable resource provides a detailed outline, list of objectives, discussion questions, and classroom activities. In addition, test questions in multiple-choice and short-answer formats are available for each chapter; the answers to all questions are page-referenced to the text. MyTest: This computerized software allows instructors to create their own personalized exams, to edit any or all of the existing test questions and to add new questions. Other special features of this program include random generation of test questions, creation of alternate versions of the same test, scrambling question sequence, and test preview before printing. PowerPoint™ Presentation Slides: These PowerPoint slides combine text and graphics for each chapter to help instructors convey anthropological principles in a clear and engaging way. Strategies in Teaching Anthropology, Sixth Edition (0-205-71123-5): Unique in focus and content, this book focuses on the "how" of teaching anthropology across all four fields and provides a wide array of associated learning outcomes and student activities. It is a valuable single-source compendium of strategies and teaching "tricks of the trade" from a group of seasoned teaching anthropologists, working in a variety of teaching settings, who share their pedagogical techniques, knowledge, and observations. The Dorling Kindersley/Prentice Hall Atlas of Anthropology (0-13-191879-6): Beautifully illustrated by Dorling Kindersley, with narrative by leading archaeological author Brian M. Fagan, this striking atlas features 30 full-color maps, timelines, and illustrations to offer a highly visual but explanatory geographical overview of topics from all four fields of anthropology. Please contact your Prentice Hall representative for ordering information. Acknowledgments Over the years we have had many editors, but we especially want to thank Nancy Roberts for her long and steadfast stewardship over many editions, her insightful suggestions, and especially her passionate interest in the educational enterprise. We also want to thank Nicole Conforti and Jenna Vittorioso for seeing the manuscript through the production process. Carol Ember especially wants to thank Tulin Duda for her extensive research help and her thoughtful and inquisitive editing to make the book more accessible to students. We want to thank the following people for reviewing our chapters and offering suggestions for the fourteenth edition: Richard Blanton, Purdue University; Kristrina Shuler, Auburn University; Wanda Clark, South Plains College; Jim Mielke, University of Kansas; Heidi Luchsinger, East Carolina University; and Andrew Buckser, Purdue University. We continue to appreciate reviewers from previous editions: Alice Baldwin-Jones, City College of New York; Richard E. Blanton, Purdue University; James L. Boone, University of New Mexico; Beau Bowers, Central Piedmont Community College; Gregory Campbell, University of Montana; Garrett Cook, Baylor University; Daniel R. Maher, University of Arkansas-Fort Smith; Sheperd Jenks, Albuquerque TVI Community College; Max E. White, Piedmont College; Jean M. Wynn, Manchester Community College Thank you all, named and unnamed, who gave us advice. Carol R. Ember and Melvin Ember About the Authors Carol R. Ember started at Antioch College as a chemistry major. She began taking social science courses because some were required, but she soon found herself intrigued. There were lots of questions without answers, and she became excited about the possibility of a research career in social science. She spent a year in graduate school at Cornell studying sociology before continuing on to Harvard, where she studied anthropology, primarily with John and Beatrice Whiting. For her PhD dissertation, she worked among the Luo of Kenya. While there, she noticed that many boys were assigned "girls' work," such as babysitting and household chores, because their mothers (who did most of the agriculture) did not have enough girls to help out. She decided to study the possible effects of task assignment on the social behavior of boys. Using systematic behavior observations, she compared girls, boys who did a great deal of girls' work, and boys who did little such work. She found that boys assigned girls' work were intermediate in many social behaviors compared with the other boys and girls. Later, she did cross-cultural research on variation in marriage, family, descent groups, and war and peace, mainly in collaboration with Melvin Ember, whom she married in 1970. All of these cross-cultural studies tested theories on data for worldwide samples of societies. From 1970 to 1996, she taught at Hunter College of the City University of New York. She has served as president of the Society of Cross-Cultural Research and was one of the directors of the Summer Institutes in Comparative Anthropological Research, which were funded by the National Science Foundation. She has recently served as President of the Society for Anthropological Sciences and is currently the Past President. Since 1996, she has been at the Human Relations Area Files, Inc., a nonprofit research agency at Yale University, first serving as Executive Director, then as Acting President, and is currently President of that organization. Melvin Ember majored in anthropology at Columbia College and went to Yale University for his PhD. His mentor at Yale was George Peter Murdock, an anthropologist who was instrumental in promoting cross-cultural research and building a full-text database on the cultures of the world to facilitate cross-cultural hypothesis testing. This database came to be known as the Human Relations Area Files (HRAF) because it was originally sponsored by the Institute of Human Relations at Yale. Growing in annual installments and now distributed in electronic format, the HRAF database currently covers more than 385 cultures, past and present, all over the world. Melvin Ember did fieldwork for his dissertation in American Samoa, where he conducted a comparison of three villages to study the effects of commercialization on political life. In addition, he did research on descent groups and how they changed with the increase of buying and selling. His cross-cultural studies focused originally on variation in marital residence and descent groups. He has also done cross-cultural research on the relationship between economic and political development, the origin and extension of the incest taboo, the causes of polygyny, and how archaeological correlates of social customs can help us draw inferences about the past. After four years of research at the National Institute of Mental Health, he taught at Antioch College and then Hunter College of the City University of New York. He served as president of the Society for Cross-Cultural Research. From 1987 until his death in September, 2009, he was president of the Human Relations Area Files, Inc., a nonprofit research agency at Yale University. Cultural Anthropology Part I Introduction to Anthropology Chapter 1 What Is Anthropology? Learning Objectives 1.1 Explain the general definition and purpose of anthropology. 1.2 Describe the scope of anthropology. 1.3 Explain the holistic approach. 1.4 Explain anthropology's distinctive curiosity. 1.5 Differentiate among the five major fields of anthropology. 1.6 Explain the ways in which anthropologists specialize within their fields of study. 1.7 Communicate the relevance of anthropology. What Is Anthropology? 1.1 Explain the general definition and purpose of anthropology. Anthropology, by definition, is a discipline of infinite curiosity about human beings. The term comes from the Greek anthropos for "man, human" and logos for "study." Anthropologists seek answers to an enormous variety of questions about humans. They are interested in both universals and differences in human populations. They want to discover when, where, and why humans appeared on the earth, how and why they have changed, and how and why the biological and cultural features of modern human populations vary. Anthropology has a practical side too. Applied and practicing anthropologists put anthropological methods, information, and results to use in efforts to solve practical problems. Anthropology A discipline that studies humans, focusing on the study of differences and similarities, both biological and cultural, in human populations. Anthropology is concerned with typical biological and cultural characteristics of human populations in all periods and in all parts of the world. The study of human beings is not an adequate definition of anthropology, however, since it would appear to incorporate a whole catalog of disciplines: sociology, psychology, political science, economics, history, human biology, and perhaps even the humanistic disciplines of philosophy and literature. Most of the disciplines concerned with human beings have existed longer than anthropology, and each has its distinctive focus. There must, then, be something unique about anthropology—a reason for its having developed and grown as a separate discipline for over a century. ••• The Scope of Anthropology 1.2 Describe the scope of anthropology. Anthropologists are generally thought of as individuals who travel to little-known corners of the world to study exotic peoples or dig deep into the earth to uncover the fossil remains, tools, and pots of people who lived long ago. Though stereotypical, this view does suggest how anthropology differs from other disciplines concerned with humans. Anthropology is broader in scope, both geographically and historically. Anthropology is concerned explicitly and directly with all varieties of people throughout the world, not just those close at hand or within a limited area. Anthropologists are also interested in people of all periods. Beginning with the immediate ancestors of humans, who lived a few million years ago, anthropology traces the development of humans until the present. Every part of the world that has ever contained a human population is of interest to anthropologists. Listen to the Audio: The Traits that Make Us Human Anthropologists have not always been as global and comprehensive in their concerns as they are today. Traditionally, they concentrated on non-Western cultures and left the study of Western civilization and similarly complex societies, with their recorded histories, to other disciplines. In recent years, however, this division of labor among the disciplines has begun to disappear. Now anthropologists work in their own and other complex societies. What induces anthropologists to choose so broad a subject for study? In part, they are motivated by the belief that any suggested generalization about human beings, any possible explanation of some characteristic of human culture or biology, should be shown to apply to many times and places of human existence. If a generalization or explanation does not prove to apply widely, anthropologists are entitled or even obliged to be skeptical about it. The skeptical attitude, in the absence of persuasive evidence, is our best protection against accepting invalid ideas about humans. Because anthropologists are acquainted with human life in an enormous variety of geographic and historical settings, they are also often able to correct mistaken beliefs about different groups of people. For example, when American educators discovered in the 1960s that African American schoolchildren rarely drank milk, they assumed that lack of money or education was the cause. But evidence from anthropology suggested a different explanation. Anthropologists had known for years that people do not drink fresh milk in many parts of the world where milking animals are kept; rather, they sour it before they drink it, or they make it into cheese. Why they do so is now clear. Many people lack the enzyme lactase that is necessary for breaking down lactose, the sugar in milk. When such people drink regular milk, it actually interferes with digestion. Not only is the lactose in milk not digested, but other nutrients are less likely to be digested as well. In many cases, drinking milk will cause cramps, stomach gas, diarrhea, and nausea. Studies indicate that milk intolerance is found in many parts of the world.1 The condition is common in adulthood among Asians, southern Europeans, Arabs and Jews, West Africans, Inuit (Eskimos), and North and South American native peoples, as well as African Americans. The Holistic Approach 1.3 Explain the holistic approach. In addition to its worldwide and historical scope, anthropology has the distinguishing feature of having a holistic approach to the study of human beings. Anthropologists study the many aspects of human experience as an integrated whole. For example, an anthropologist's description of a group of people is likely to encompass their physical environment, a history of the area, how their family life is organized, general features of their language, their settlement patterns, their political and economic systems, their religion, and their styles of art and dress. The goal is not only to understand these aspects of physical and social life separately but to glean connections among them. Throughout this book, you will see that these seemingly separate factors in a culture regularly co-occur; that is, they form patterns of traits. Anthropologists want not only to identify those patterns but to explain them. Holistic Refers to an approach that studies many aspects of a multifaceted system. Anthropological Curiosity 1.4 Explain anthropology's distinctive curiosity. Thus far, we have described anthropology as being broader in scope, both historically and geographically, and more holistic in approach than other disciplines concerned with human beings. But this statement again implies that anthropology is the all-inclusive human science. How, then, is anthropology really different from the other disciplines? We suggest that anthropology's distinctiveness lies principally in the kind of curiosity it arouses. Anthropologists tend to focus on the typical characteristics of the human populations they study rather than on individual variation or variation in small groups. Why do some populations have lighter skin than others? Why do some societies practice polygamy whereas others prohibit it? Where and when did people first start to farm rather than collecting and hunting wild resources? Anthropologists want to know why the characteristics that others might take for granted exist. Whereas economists take a monetary system for granted and study how it operates, anthropologists ask how frequently monetary systems occur, why they vary, and why only some societies have had them during the last few thousand years. It is not that anthropologists do not concern themselves with individuals. For instance, in studying political systems, anthropologists might want to know why certain people tend to be leaders. But when they study individual traits of leaders in order to answer the question, it may be because they want to better understand the political process in a larger social group, such as a society. Or, anthropologists might ask an even broader question, such as whether certain qualities of leaders are universally preferred. Because anthropologists view human groups holistically, their curiosity may lead them to find patterns of relationships between seemingly unrelated characteristics. So, for example, the presence of the ability to digest lactose (a physical trait) in a population seems to be found in societies that depend heavily on dairying. In recent times, as more anthropologists work in larger and more complex societies, the focus of inquiry has shifted from looking at a whole society to smaller entities such as neighborhoods, communities, organizations, or social networks. But the focus on the whole entity is still strong. Fields of Anthropology 1.5 Differentiate among the five major fields of anthropology. In the past, an anthropologist covered as many subjects as possible. Today, as in many other disciplines, so much information has accumulated that anthropologists tend to specialize in one topic or area (see Figure 1–1). Some are concerned primarily with the biological or physical characteristics of human populations; others are interested principally in what we call cultural characteristics. Hence, there are two broad classifications of subject matter in anthropology: biological (physical) anthropology and cultural anthropology. While biological anthropology is one major field of anthropology, cultural anthropology is divided into three subfields—archaeology, linguistics, and ethnology. Ethnology, the study of recent cultures, is now usually referred to by the parent name cultural anthropology. Crosscutting these four fields is a fifth, applied or practicing anthropology. Figure 1-1 The Four Fields of Anthropology The subdisciplines of anthropology (In bold letters) may be classified according to the period with which each is concerned (distant past or recent past and present) or by subject matter. Traditionally, the three fields shown in Blue are classified as Cultural Anthropology, as distinct from Biological (or Physical) Anthropology, shown in green. Found in all four fields is a fifth subfield Applied Anthropology. Biological (physical) anthropology The study of humans as biological organisms, dealing with the emergence and evolution of humans and with contemporary biological variations among human populations. Cultural anthropology The study of cultural variation and universals in the past and present. Applied (practicing) anthropology The branch of anthropology that concerns itself with applying anthropological knowledge to achieve practical goals. Biological Anthropology Biological (physical) anthropology seeks to answer two distinct sets of questions. Human paleontology or paleoanthropology poses questions about the emergence of humans and their later evolution. A focus on human variation includes questions about how and why contemporary human populations vary biologically. Human paleontology The study of the emergence of humans and their later physical evolution. Also called paleoanthropology. Human variation The study of how and why contemporary human populations vary biologically. To reconstruct evolution, human paleontologists search for and study the buried, hardened remains or impressions—known as fossils—of humans, prehumans, and related animals. Paleontologists working in East Africa, for instance, have excavated the fossil remains of humanlike beings that lived more than 4 million years ago. These findings have suggested the approximate dates when our ancestors began to develop two-legged walking, very flexible hands, and a larger brain. Fossils The hardened remains or impressions of plants and animals that lived in the past. In attempting to clarify evolutionary relationships, human paleontologists may use not only the fossil record but also geological information on the succession of climates, environments, and plant and animal populations. Moreover, when reconstructing the past of humans, paleontologists are interested in the behavior and evolution of our closest relatives among the mammals—the prosimians, monkeys, and apes—which, like ourselves, are members of the order of Primates. Anthropologists, psychologists, and biologists who specialize in the study of primates are called primatologists. The various species of primates are observed in the wild and in the laboratory. One especially popular subject of study is the chimpanzee, which bears a close resemblance to humans in behavior and physical appearance, has a similar blood chemistry, and is susceptible to many of the same diseases. It now appears that chimpanzees share 99 percent of their genes with humans.2 Primate A member of the mammalian order Primates, divided into the two suborders of prosimians and anthropoids. Primatologists People who study primates. From primate studies, biological anthropologists try to discover characteristics that are distinctly human, as opposed to those that might be part of the primate heritage. With this information, they may be able to infer what our prehistoric ancestors were like. Birute Galdikas works with two orangutans in Borneo. The inferences from primate studies are checked against the fossil record. The evidence from the earth, collected in bits and pieces, is correlated with scientific observations of our closest living relatives. In short, biological anthropologists piece together bits of information obtained from different sources. They construct theories that explain the changes observed in the fossil record and then attempt to evaluate their theories by checking one kind of evidence against another. Human paleontology thus overlaps such disciplines as geology, general vertebrate (particularly primate) paleontology, comparative anatomy, and the study of comparative primate behavior. Watch the Animation: The Subfields of Biological Anthropology The second major focus of biological anthropology, the study of human variation, investigates how and why contemporary human populations differ in biological or physical characteristics. All living people belong to one species, Homo sapiens. Yet much varies among human populations. Investigators of human variation ask such questions as: Why are some peoples generally taller than others? How have human populations adapted physically to their environmental conditions? Are some peoples, such as Inuit (Eskimos), better equipped than other peoples to endure cold? Does darker skin pigmentation offer special protection against the tropical sun? Homo sapiens All living people belong to one biological species, Homo sapiens, which means that all human populations on earth can successfully interbreed. The first Homo sapiens may have emerged about 200,000 years ago. To understand better the biological variations among contemporary human populations, biological anthropologists use the principles, concepts, and techniques of at least three other disciplines: human genetics (the study of inherited human traits); population biology (the study of environmental effects on, and interaction with, population characteristics); and epidemiology (the study of how and why diseases affect different populations in different ways). Although research on human variation overlaps research in other fields, biological anthropologists remain primarily concerned with human populations and how they vary biologically. Cultural Anthropology Cultural anthropology is the study of how and why cultures in the past and present vary or are similar. But what is culture? The concept of culture is so central to anthropology that we will devote an entire chapter it. Briefly, the term culture refers to the customary ways that a particular population or society thinks and behaves. The culture of a social group includes many things—from the language that people speak, childrearing, and the roles assigned to males and females to religious beliefs and practices and preferences in music. Anthropologists are interested in all of these and other learned behaviors and ideas that have come to be widely shared or customary in the group. Current Research and Issues Researcher at Work: Alyssa Crittenden When an anthropologist's best-laid plans meet the "facts on the ground," the results can be unexpected. For Alyssa Crittenden, an anthropology professor at the University of Nevada, fieldwork also brought some delightful revelations. In 2004, Crittenden began working with the Hadza, a hunter-gatherer people in Tanzania. (Because hunter-gatherers subsist by foraging for their food, they represent the basic economy and way of life that has characterized most of human history. Therefore, such few remaining peoples are valued subjects for anthropological study.) As a biological anthropologist, Crittenden was especially interested in what Hadza culture might reveal about the evolution of the human diet. She chose the diets of women for study and measured the relationship between their reproductive capacity and the amount and nutritional value of the food they foraged. Yet that data told only part of the previously untold story of Hadza women. "I quickly realized," Crittenden says, "that I could not study the women's diet in isolation. These women belonged to a community of people, a support system of kin and neighbors. To understand women's contributions to the Hadza economy, I had to be an ethnographer, as well as a biological anthropologist." Thus, after 10 years of fieldwork among the Hadza, Crittenden characterizes herself as a biocultural anthropologist. Alyssa Crittenden interacting with Hadza children. One surprising discovery Crittenden made was that Hadza children were hunters and gatherers in their own right. They were helping their mothers indirectly by providing their own food and thus contributing to their economy. This evidence contradicted what was known about the children of other hunter-gatherer groups, such as the San of the Kalahari Desert, whose children were observed to help process mongongo nuts but otherwise do little else but play. The difference may partly be due to the environment. The Kalahari has less variable terrain, less water, and more predators than southwestern Tanzania. For Hadza children, foraging for their own food becomes an extension of play. Children who are 5 years old and younger can contribute up to 50 percent of their caloric needs by foraging for their own food. By the time they turn 6, children can contribute up to 75 percent of their own food. While girls collect water and plant foods, boys also hunt, using a bow and arrow like their elders. Indeed, at age 3, Hadza boys receive their own child-sized bow and arrow and begin to hunt for the birds, rodents, bush babies, and lizards that make up their meat diet. Moreover, children learn to process and cook their own food. Crittenden observed children as young as 4 years old building their own miniature fires with embers from camp to cook their foraged meals. Hadza children spend their days together in groups, seemingly unsupervised, though there is usually an older child nearby keeping an eye on them. Toddlers join a group of children as soon as they are weaned—that is, when their mothers can no longer carry them, usually between 1 1/2 and 3 years of age. "Observing Hadza children, you can't help but wonder how the long, dependent childhood most of us experience evolved," says Crittenden. Source: Crittenden 2013. Archaeology Archaeology is the study of past cultures, primarily through their material remains. Archaeologists seek not only to reconstruct the daily life and customs of peoples who lived in the past but also to trace cultural changes and to offer possible explanations for those changes. While their subject matter is similar to that of historians, archaeologists reach much farther back in time. Historians deal only with societies that left written records, which limits their scope to the last 5,000 years of human history and to the small proportion of societies that developed writing. Human societies have existed for more than a million years, however, and archaeologists serve as historians for all those past societies that lacked a written record. With scant or no written records to study, archaeologists must try to reconstruct history from the remains of human cultures. Some of these remains are as grand as the Mayan temples discovered at Chichén Itzá in Yucatán, Mexico. More often, what remains is as ordinary as bits of broken pottery, stone tools, and garbage heaps. Archaeology The branch of anthropology that seeks to reconstruct the daily life and customs of peoples who lived in the past and to trace and explain cultural changes. Often lacking written records for study, archaeologists must try to reconstruct history from the material remains of human cultures. See also Historical archaeology. Most archaeologists deal with prehistory, the time before written records. But a specialty within archaeology, called historical archaeology, studies the remains of recent peoples who left written records. This specialty, as its name implies, employs the methods of both archaeologists and historians to study recent societies. Prehistory The time before written records. Historical archaeology A specialty within archaeology that studies the material remains of recent peoples who left written records. To understand how and why ways of life have changed through time in different parts of the world, archaeologists collect materials from sites of human occupation. Usually, these sites must be unearthed. On the basis of materials they have excavated and otherwise collected, they then ask a variety of questions: Where, when, and why did the distinctive human characteristic of toolmaking first emerge? Where, when, and why did agriculture first develop? Where, when, and why did people first begin to live in cities? To collect the data they need to suggest answers to these and other questions, archaeologists use techniques and findings borrowed from other disciplines, as well as what they can infer from anthropological studies of recent and contemporary cultures. For example, to guess where to dig for evidence of early toolmaking, archaeologists rely on geology to tell them where sites of early human occupation are likely to be found, because of erosion and uplifting, near the surface of the earth. More recently, archaeologists have employed aerial photography and even radar imaging via satellite (a technique developed Archaeologists try to reconstruct the cultures of past societies like those who created this "Cliff Palace" in what is today Mesa Verde National Park. Perspectives on Gender Researcher at Work: Elizabeth M. Brumfiel Elizabeth M. Brumfiel (1945–2012) became interested in the origins of social inequality when she was an undergraduate. Archaeologists had known for some time that substantial wealth differences between families developed only recently—that is, only since about 6,000 years ago. Some archaeological indicators of inequality are clear: elaborate burials with valuable goods for some families and large differences in houses and possessions. When Brumfiel was in graduate school at the University of Michigan, she did not accept the then-current explanation that inequality provided benefits to the society—for example, that the standard of living of most people improved as the leaders got richer. Consequently, when Brumfiel undertook her PhD research in central Mexico, she began to test the "benefit" explanation in an area that had been independent politically and then became part of the Aztec Empire. She studied the surface material remains in the area and historical documents written by Europeans and Aztec nobility. Her findings contradicted the benefit explanation of social inequality; she found little improvement in the standard of living of the local people after the Aztec Empire had absorbed them. Brumfiel also focused on how everyday women lived and how the expansion of the Aztec Empire had affected them. She found that women's workload increased under the Aztecs. Brumfiel studied Aztec artwork for evidence of differences in status based on gender. In art from the Aztec capital of Tenochtitlán, images of militarism and masculinity became increasingly important with the growth of the empire, thus elevating the position of men. Sculptures of women, on the other hand, showed them in positions of work (kneeling). Yet the images of women in the area of Brumfiel's fieldwork did not change. Unlike their rulers, these commoners usually depicted women as standing, not kneeling. Aztec artwork showing daily activities of women. Just as Brumfiel challenged conventional wisdom, she recognized that others too will challenge her work. As she said, she was quite comfortable with knowing that someone will think that she has "gotten it wrong, and will set out on a lifetime of archaeological research to find her own answers." Sources: Brumfiel 2008, 2009. by NASA) to pinpoint sites. To infer when agriculture first developed, archaeologists date the relevant excavated materials by a process originally developed by chemical scientists. Information from the present and recent past can also help illuminate the distant past. For example, to try to understand why cities first emerged, archaeologists may use information from historians, geographers, and political scientists about how recent and contemporary cities are related economically and politically to their hinterlands. By discovering what recent and contemporary cities have in common, archaeologists can speculate about why cities developed originally. Anthropological Linguistics Anthropological linguistics is the anthropological study of language. Linguistics, or the study of languages, is an older discipline than anthropology, but the early linguists concentrated on the study of languages that had been written for a long time—languages such as English, which existed in written form for nearly a thousand years. Anthropological linguists began to do fieldwork in places where the language was not yet written. This meant that anthropologists could not consult a dictionary or grammar to help them learn the language. Instead, they first had to construct a dictionary and grammar. Then they could study the structure and history of the language. Anthropological linguistics The anthropological study of languages. Like biological anthropologists, linguists study changes that have taken place over time as well as contemporary variation. Historical linguistics is the study of how languages change over time and how they may be related. Descriptive or structural linguistics is the study of how contemporary languages differ, especially in their construction. Sociolinguistics examines how language is used in social contexts. Historical linguistics The study of how languages change over time. Descriptive (structural) linguistics The study of how languages are constructed. Sociolinguistics The study of cultural and subcultural patterns of speaking in different social contexts. In contrast with human paleontologists and archaeologists, who have physical remains to help them reconstruct change over time, historical linguists deal only with languages—and usually unwritten ones at that. (Remember that writing is only about 5,000 years old, and only a few languages have been written.) Because unwritten languages are transmitted orally, the historical evidence dies with the speakers. Linguists interested in reconstructing the history of unwritten languages must begin in the present, with comparisons of contemporary languages. On the basis of these comparisons, they draw inferences about the kinds of change in language that may have occurred in the past and that may account for similarities and differences observed in the present. Historical linguists might typically ask, for example, whether two or more contemporary languages diverged from a common ancestral language. And if so, how far back in time they began to differ? Unlike historical linguists, descriptive (structural) linguists are concerned with discovering and recording the principles that determine how sounds and words are put together in speech. For example, a structural description of a particular language might tell us that the sounds t and k are interchangeable in a word without causing a difference in meaning. In American Samoa, one could say Tutuila or Kukuila to name the largest island, and everyone, except perhaps newly arrived anthropologists who knew little about the Samoan language, would understand that the same island was meant. Sociolinguists are interested in the social aspects of language, including what people speak about, how they interact conversationally, their attitudes toward speakers of other dialects or languages, and how they speak differently in different contexts. In English, for example, we do not address everyone we meet in the same way. "Hi, Sandy" may be the customary way a person greets a friend. But we would probably feel uncomfortable addressing a doctor by her or his first name; instead, we would probably say, "Good morning, Dr. Brown." Such variations in language use, which are determined by the social status of the people being addressed, are significant for sociolinguists. Ethnology (Cultural Anthropology) The subfield of ethnology, now commonly called cultural anthropology, seeks to understand how and why peoples today and in the recent past differ or are similar in their customary ways of thinking and acting. They ask how and why cultures develop and change and how one aspect of culture affects others. Cultural anthropologists seek answers to a variety of questions, such as: Why is the custom of marriage nearly universal in all cultures? Why do families live with or near their kin in some societies but not in others? What changes result from the introduction of money to a previously nonmonetary economy? How are relationships impacted when family members move far away to work? What happens to a society that suffers severe stress because Ethnology The study of how and why recent cultures differ and are similar. Current Research and Issues Researcher at Work: Timothy G. Bromage When Timothy Bromage was young, his parents took him to hear a lecture by the legendary paleoanthropologist Louis Leakey. He was not sure why they had driven so far and paid so much to hear the lecture nor why they had dragged him along, but he knows that visit started him on the way to becoming a paleoanthropologist himself. Decades later, Bromage's lectures have undoubtedly inspired other young people to study the life histories of our ancient ancestors. He hopes future paleoanthropologists will also think outside the box of their discipline when they begin their research. That approach has led Bromage to major breakthroughs in his study of ancient teeth and facial bones. In graduate school, Bromage was struck by the fact that fossils were treated as static, as if age did not make a difference. Yet humans—ancient and modern—change physically during their lives. Working with new methods and a scanning electron microscope at the University College London, Bromage found that it is possible to determine how ancient faces change as an organism matures. Different individuals die at different ages, but, in examining fossils, Bromage and his colleagues saw distinctive patterns of bone tissue forming and dissolving across the period of development. Working with specimens that were about 2 million years old, Bromage found that the hominins commonly referred to as australopithecines grew to adulthood in an apelike manner. The front parts of the skull built up tissue that grew into forward-jutting faces and jaws. Bromage found that a later group ahominin, the paranthropoids, had a pattern of facial growth that resulted in a flatter face, more like the face of a modern human than that of the australopithecines. Bromage has also looked at patterns of enamel deposition in ancient fossil teeth using similar techniques. Early hominin teeth are important specimens in paleoanthropology because they tend to survive well-preserved, which means they can be analyzed in much the same way as the teeth of recent humans. It has been known for some time that when children grow, tooth enamel is put down daily, but every 8 or 9 days there are substantial changes in tooth enamel formation. Why this happens was not well understood. But Bromage and his colleagues have discovered that these rhythmic cycles may be a kind of systemic growth spurt. Bone and tissue (muscle and organs) grow at the same time, and heart and respiration rates increase, suggesting that our bodies have a metabolic clock that makes sure that cells divide and bones grow in time to accommodate growing organs. Smaller animals have shorter cycles. Comparisons with other primates have enabled Bromage to infer some life history differences in fossil forms. Such research shows the promise of the integrative approach Bromage favors. Working across disciplines and collaboratively adds to our knowledge of human evolution as well as to health research today. Sources: Bromage 2009; Lacruz, Rossi, and Bromage 2005, 2006. of natural disasters or violent conflicts? Although the aim of ethnologists is largely the same as that of archaeologists, ethnologists generally use data collected through observation and interviews of living peoples. One type of ethnologist, the ethnographer, usually spends a year or so living with, interviewing, and observing the people whose customs are being studied. This fieldwork provides the data for a detailed description (ethnography) of customary behavior and thought. Earlier ethnographers tended to strive for holistic coverage of a people's way of life. In part because those earlier ethnographies already exist for many cultures, recent ethnographers have tended to specialize or focus on narrower realms such as ritual healing or curing, interaction with the environment, effects of modernization or globalization, or gender issues. Ethnographies often go beyond description; they may address current anthropological issues or try to explain some aspect of culture. Ethnographer A person who spends some time living with, interviewing, and observing a group of people to describe their customs. Ethnography A description of a society's customary behaviors and ideas. Because many cultures have undergone extensive change in the recent past, an accurate view of them may depend on understanding what their life was like before the changes came about. Ethnohistorians study how the way of life of a culture has changed over time. They examine such written documents as missionary accounts, reports by traders and explorers, and government records to identify the cultural changes that have occurred. Unlike ethnographers, who rely mostly on their own observations and interviewing, ethnohistorians rely on the reports of others. They often must piece together and make sense of widely scattered, and even apparently contradictory, information. Ethnohistorian An ethnologist who uses historical documents to study how a particular culture has changed over time. Ethnographic and ethnohistorical research are both very time-consuming, and it is rare for one person to study more than a few cultures. It is the role of the cross-cultural researcher (who may be a cultural anthropologist or some other kind of social scientist) to discover general patterns across cultures—that is, what characteristics are universal, which traits vary and why, and what the consequences of the variability might be. They may ask such questions as: Why is there more gender inequality in some societies than in others? Is family violence related to aggression in other areas of life? What are the effects of living in a very unpredictable environment? In testing possible answers to such questions, cross-cultural researchers use data from samples of cultures (usually described initially by ethnographers) to try to arrive at explanations or relationships that hold across cultures. Archaeologists may find the results of cross-cultural research useful for making inferences about the past, particularly if they can discover material indicators of cultural variation. Cross-cultural researcher An ethnologist who uses ethnographic data about many societies to test possible explanations of cultural variation to discover general patterns about cultural traits—what is universal, what is variable, why traits vary, and what the consequences of the variability might be. Because ethnologists may be interested in many aspects of customary behavior and thought—from economic behavior to political behavior to styles of art, music, and religion—ethnology overlaps with disciplines that concentrate on some particular aspect of human existence, such as sociology, psychology, economics, political science, art, music, and comparative religion. But the distinctive feature of cultural anthropology is its interest in how all these aspects of human existence vary from society to society, in all historical periods, and in all parts of the world. Applied (Practicing) Anthropology All knowledge may turn out to be useful. In the physical and biological sciences, it is well understood that technological breakthroughs like DNA splicing, spacecraft docking in outer space, and the development of miniscule computer chips could not have taken place without an enormous amount of basic research to uncover the laws of nature in the physical and biological worlds. If we did not understand fundamental principles, the technological achievements we are so proud of would not be possible. Researchers are often driven simply by curiosity, with no thought to where the research might lead, which is why such research is sometimes called basic research. The same is true of the social sciences. If a researcher finds out that societies with combative sports tend to have more wars, it may lead to other inquiries about the relationships between one kind of aggression and another. The knowledge acquired may ultimately lead to discovering ways to correct social problems, such as family violence and war. For most of anthropology's history as a profession, anthropologists generally worked in academic institutions. But more and more, anthropologists are increasingly working outside academia—today there are probably more anthropologists who work outside academia than in it.3 Applied or practicing anthropology is explicitly intended to making anthropological knowledge useful.4 Practicing anthropologists, as practitioners of the subdiscipline increasingly call themselves, may be trained in any or all of the fields of anthropology. In contrast to basic researchers, who are almost always employed in colleges, universities, and museums, applied anthropologists are commonly employed in settings outside traditional academia, including government agencies, international development agencies, private consulting firms, businesses, public health organizations, medical schools, law offices, community development agencies, and charitable foundations. A large number of emigrants from the former Soviet Union, particularly from Black Sea cities and towns such as Odessa, live in the Brighton Beach neighborhood of Brooklyn. Migrant and immigrant communities, such as "Little Odessa," are an increasing focus of anthropological study. Biological anthropologists may be called upon to give forensic evidence in court, or they may work in public health or design clothes and equipment to fit human anatomy. Archaeologists may be involved in preserving and exhibiting artifacts for museums and in doing contract work to find and preserve cultural sites that might be damaged by construction or excavation. Linguists may work in bilingual educational training programs or may work on ways to improve communication. Ethnologists may work in a wide variety of applied projects ranging from community development, urban planning, health care, and agricultural improvement to personnel and organizational management and assessment of the impact of change programs on people's lives.5 In the past two decades, the speed of globalization has created great changes in applied or practicing anthropology. Whereas the field used largely to be the province of Western—and often colonizing—nations, it has since grown into a vital localized discipline all over the world. In a number of countries, among them Russia, China, Mexico, Egypt, Ecuador, and Brazil, applied or practicing anthropology focused on solving practical social problems dominates over the research-driven four fields.6 Specialization 1.6 Explain the ways in which anthropologists specialize within their fields of study. As disciplines grow, they tend to develop more and more specialties. This trend is probably inevitable since, as knowledge accumulates and methods become more advanced, there is a limit to what any one person can reasonably master. Thus, in addition to the general divisions we have outlined already, particular anthropologists tend to identify themselves with a variety of specializations. Anthropologists commonly have a geographic specialty, which may be as broad as Old World or New World or as narrow as the southwestern United States. Those who study the past (archaeologists or human paleontologists) may specialize in specific time periods. Ethnologists often specialize in specific subject matters in addition to one or two cultural areas. Just as most of the chapters in this book refer to broad subject specialties, so do some ethnologists identify themselves as economic anthropologists, political anthropologists, or psychological anthropologists. Others may identify themselves by theoretical orientations, such as cultural ecologists, anthropologists who are concerned with the relationship between culture and the physical and social environments. These specialties are not mutually exclusive, however. A cultural ecologist, for example, might be interested in the effects of the environment on economic behavior, political behavior, or childrearing. Does specialization isolate an anthropologist from other kinds of research? Not necessarily. Some specialties have to draw on information from several fields, inside and outside anthropology. For example, medical anthropologists study the cultural and biological contexts of human health and illness. Therefore, they need to understand the economy, diet, and patterns of social interaction as well as attitudes and beliefs regarding illness and health. They may also need to draw on research in human genetics, public health, and medicine. The Relevance of Anthropology 1.7 Communicate the relevance of anthropology. Anthropology is a comparatively young discipline. Anthropologists only began to go to live with people in faraway places in the late 1800s. Compared to our knowledge of the physical laws of nature, we know much less about people, about how and why they behave as they do. That anthropology and other sciences dealing with humans began to develop only relatively recently is not in itself a sufficient reason for our knowing less than in the physical sciences. Why, in our quest for knowledge of all kinds, did we wait so long to study ourselves? Leslie White has suggested that those phenomena most remote from us and least significant as determinants of human behavior were the first to be studied. The reason, he surmises, is that humans like to think of themselves as citadels of free will, subject to no laws of nature. Hence, White concludes, there is no need to see ourselves as objects to be explained.7 The idea that it is impossible to account for human behavior scientifically, either because our actions and beliefs are too individualistic and complex or because human beings are understandable only in otherworldly terms, is a self-fulfilling notion. We cannot discover principles explaining human behavior if we neither believe such principles exist nor bother to look for them. The result is ensured from the beginning; disbelief in principles of human behavior will be reinforced by the failure to find them. If we are to increase our understanding of human beings, we first have to believe it is possible to do so. If we aim to understand humans, it is essential that we study humans in all times and places. We must study ancient humans and modern humans. We must study their cultures and their biology. How else can we understand what is true of humans generally or how they are capable of varying? If we study just our own society, we may come up only with explanations that are culture-bound, not general or applicable to most or all humans. Anthropology is useful, then, to the degree that it contributes to our understanding of human beings everywhere. Watch the Video: Cooperation and Conflict: Caucasus and C. Asia In addition, anthropology is relevant because it helps us avoid misunderstandings between peoples. If we can understand why other groups are different from ourselves, we might have less reason to condemn them for behavior that appears strange to us. We may then come to realize that many differences between peoples are products of physical and cultural adaptations to different environments. For example, someone who first finds out about the !Kung as they lived in the Kalahari Desert of southern Africa in the 1950s might assume that the !Kung were "backward." (The exclamation point in the name !Kung signifies one of the clicking sounds made with the tongue by speakers of the !Kung language.) The !Kung wore little clothing, had few possessions, lived in meager shelters, and enjoyed none of our technological niceties, such as radio and computers. But let us reflect on how a typical North American community might react if it awoke to find itself in an environment similar to that in which the !Kung lived. People would find that the arid land makes both agriculture and animal husbandry impossible, and they might have to think about adopting a nomadic existence. They might then discard many of their material possessions so that they could travel easily to take advantage of changing water and food supplies. Because of the extreme heat and the lack of extra water for laundry, they might find it more practical to be almost naked than to wear clothes. They would undoubtedly find it impossible to build elaborate homes. For social security, they might start to share the food brought into the group. Thus, if they survived at all, they might end up looking and acting far more like the !Kung than like typical North Americans. Physical differences, too, may be seen as results of adaptations to the environment. For example, in our society, we admire people who are tall and slim. If these same individuals were forced to live above the Arctic Circle, however, they might wish they could trade their tall, slim bodies for short, compact ones because stocky physiques conserve body heat more effectively and may therefore be more adaptive in cold climates. Exposure to anthropology might also help to alleviate misunderstandings that arise between people of different cultural groups from subtle causes operating below the level of consciousness. For example, different cultures have different conceptions of the gestures and interpersonal distances that are appropriate under various circumstances. For example, different cultures have different conceptions of eye contact during conversation. Whereas some people—North Americans, most Europeans, and Arabs, among them—expect to maintain eye contact during conversation, in Japanese culture the gaze is averted when interacting with a superior or venerated older person. North Americans may feel suspicious when someone does not look them in the eye when speaking. But in another culture that same direct gaze may be experienced as brazen. If our intolerance for others results in part from a lack of understanding of why peoples vary, then the knowledge that anthropologists accumulate may lessen that intolerance.8 As the world becomes increasingly interconnected or globalized, the importance of understanding and trying to respect cultural and physical differences becomes more and more important. Minor misunderstandings can escalate quickly into more serious problems. Even when powerful countries think they are being helpful, they may convey that other countries are inferior. They may also unknowingly promote behaviors that are not in the best interest of the people they are trying to help. At the extreme, misunderstandings can lead to violent confrontations. In today's world, going to war with modern weapons of mass destruction can kill more people than ever before. Is understanding and respecting cultural and biological differences enough? Although education is undoubtedly useful, many anthropologists believe that more direct action is needed to solve real-world problems at both the global and local levels. At the global level, we have to deal with many types of violent conflict, the degradation of the environment, the growing inequality between rich and poor countries, and major threats to health. At the local level, we have to grapple with whether particular development plans are advantageous and how to improve nutrition and health of particular societies. One solution does not necessarily fit all—what is good for some may not be good for others in different circumstances. To find out if some change will be advantageous requires careful study. Many ethical issues arise. Is it ethical to try to interfere with other people's lives? Is it ethical not to, if they are suffering or ask for help? Knowledge of our past may bring both a feeling of humility and a sense of accomplishment. If we are to attempt to deal with the problems of our world, we must be aware of our vulnerability so that we do not think that problems will solve themselves. But we also have to think enough of our accomplishments to believe that we can find solutions to problems. Much of the trouble we get into may be a result of feelings of self-importance and invulnerability—in short, our lack of humility. Knowing something about our evolutionary past may help us to understand and accept our place in the biological world. Just as for any other form of life, there is no guarantee that any particular human population, or even the entire human species, will perpetuate itself indefinitely. The earth changes, the environment changes, and humanity itself changes. What survives and flourishes in the present might not do so in the future. Yet our vulnerability should not make us feel powerless. We have many reasons to feel confident about the future. Consider what we have accomplished so far. By means of tools and weapons fashioned from sticks and stones, we were able to hunt animals larger and more powerful than ourselves. We discovered how to make fire, and we learned to use it to keep ourselves warm and to cook our food. As we domesticated plants and animals, we gained greater control over our food supply and were able to establish more permanent settlements. We mined and smelted ores to fashion more durable tools. We built cities and irrigation systems, monuments and ships. We made it possible to travel from one continent to another in a single day. We conquered some illnesses and prolonged human life. In short, human beings and their cultures have changed considerably over the course of history. Human populations have often been able to adapt to changing circumstances. Let us hope that humans continue to adapt to the challenges of the present and future. Summary and Review What Is Anthropo