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Amazonian Tribal Warfare Sheds Light on Modern Violence, Says MU Anthropologist

By Guest PostOctober 10, 2012Culture, Scienceafghanistan, altercation, Amazon, amazon forest, amazonian, amazonian warfare, anthropologist, cause, christianity, civilization, clash, cultural factor, cultural identity, culture influence, deadly attack, death, drew bailey, european contact, europeans, evolutionary history, external raid, frequency, global goal, humans, instinctual motivation, intensity, internal raid, intertribal warfare, libya, missouri, modern gang, mortality, primate ancestor, rival group, river basin, robert walker, south america, tribal life, tribal society, university, us embassy, violence, violent conflict, war, was treachery

Developing a shared sense of global community could help reduce major episodes of violence

In the tribal societies of the Amazon forest, violent conflict accounted for 30 percent of all deaths before contact with Europeans, according to a recent study by University of Missouri anthropologist Robert Walker. Understanding the reasons behind those altercations in the Amazon sheds light on the instinctual motivations that continue to drive human groups to violence, as well as the ways culture influences the intensity and frequency of violence.

“The same reasons – revenge, honor, territory and jealousy over women – that fueled deadly conflicts in the Amazon continue to drive violence in today’s world,” said Walker, lead author and assistant professor of anthropology in MU’s College of Arts and Science. “Humans’ evolutionary history of violent conflict among rival groups goes back to our primate ancestors. It takes a great deal of social training and institutional control to resist our instincts and solve disputes with words instead of weapons. Fortunately, people have developed ways to channel those instincts away from actual deadly conflict. For example, sports and video games often involve the same impulses to defeat a rival group.” (more…)

Humans Have Love-Hate Relationship With the Environment

By Guest PostJune 26, 2012Environmentanthropologist, canal irrigation, climate changes, Environment, environmental change, environmental trend, geomorphological characteristics, global warming, hominid ancestors, human pollution, humans, industrial revolution, interaction, irrigation agriculture, james watson, la playa site, local landscape, love hate, methane, mother nature, natural disaster, North America, northern mexico, northern sonora, relationship, soil deposition, sonoran desert, southern arizona, steep slope, toxic gases, village settlement

James Watson, a UA anthropologist, has published chapters describing how long-term environmental trends encourage stable adaptations within local environments.

Human/environment interactions have a history as long as the existence of our species on the planet.

Hominid ancestors began polluting their environment nearly 700,000 years ago with the control of fire, and humans have not looked back since.

The modern phenomenon of global warming is very likely the direct result of human pollution and destruction of the environment, said James Watson, a University of Arizona assistant professor in the School of Anthropology. (more…)

Do I Look Bigger With My Finger on a Trigger? Yes, Says UCLA Study

By Guest PostApril 12, 2012Culture, Generalair force office, american, anthropologist, brandishing a weapon, caulking gun, colin holbrook, craigslist, dangerous, daniel fessler, dimension, dirty harry, electric drill, handgun, jeffrey k snyder, kitchen knife, magnitude, mechanicalturk, meg sullivan, paint brush, photograph, pistol, rambo, scrawny thugs, ucla, violent conflict, website

UCLA anthropologists asked hundreds of Americans to guess the size and muscularity of four men based solely on photographs of their hands holding a range of easily recognizable objects, including handguns. (more…)

‘Runner’s High’ Played a Role in Human Evolution

By Guest PostMarch 23, 2012Scienceadam foster, aerobic activity, aerobic exercise, alexandre seillier, andrea giuffrida, anthropologist, athletes, cannabis, david raichlen, dog, endocannabinoids, gregory gerdeman, human, neurotransmitters, obesity, reward centers, runner, university of texas

Aerobic exercise triggers a reward system in the body of long-distance running creatures like humans and dogs, but not ferrets, a study led by UA anthropologist David Raichlen suggests.

In the last century, something unexpected happened: Humans became sedentary. We traded in our active lifestyles for a more immobile existence.

But these were not the conditions under which we evolved – our hunter-gatherer predecessors were long-distance endurance athletes. (more…)

Making The Bones Speak

By Guest PostFebruary 21, 2012Scienceafrican skeleton, african sun, albania, ancient egypt, andrea clowes, angela soler, anthropologist, bones, british museum, carolyn hurst, cate bird, derek welsby, dietary habits, excavation, forensic scientist, fourth cataract, giltner hall, kailey shelton, lindsey jenny, margaret zywicki, merowe dam, michigan state university, middle ages, mis island, nile river, nubian bones, nubian remains, nubians, sex, skeletal collection, sudan, todd fenton, tracey tichnell, trauma, unexplored culture, yellow scorpion

EAST LANSING, Mich. — In a narrow, modest laboratory in Michigan State University’s Giltner Hall, students pore over African skeletons from the Middle Ages in an effort to make the bones speak.

Little is known about these Nubians, meaning the information collected by graduate and undergraduate students in MSU’s Forensic Anthropology and Bioarchaeology Program will help shed light on this unexplored culture. (more…)

Q&A: Yale Library Aims Both To Serve And Preserve, Says Gibbons

By Guest PostJanuary 17, 2012Education, Generalanthropologist, atmosphere, beinecke, freshman, kianti roman, knowledge, nancy foster, North America, river campus, sterling, sterling memorial library, susan gibbons, university librarian, university of rochester, yale, yale library

Susan Gibbons began a five-year term as University librarian in July 2011. In that role, she oversees one of the largest university libraries in North America, which includes over 12.5 million volumes housed in 18 different libraries.

Before coming to Yale, Gibbons worked at the University of Rochester, where she began as digital initiatives librarian in 2000. In 2008, she was appointed vice provost and dean of the River Campus Libraries.

Gibbons took time out of her hectic schedule to meet with YaleNews. The following is an edited transcript of that conversation. (more…)

Examining The Changing Face of Christianity

By Guest PostNovember 28, 2011Cultureafrica, anthropologist, asia, chaplains in guatemala, charismatic christianity, China, christianity, christians, diversity, downtown toronto, Europe, faith, girish daswani, god, ju hui judy han, kevin o neill, korean missionaries, latin america, nigeria, North America, north korea, pamela klassen, pentecostal christianity, pentecostalism, politics of global christianity, rural villages, ruth marshall, simon coleman, social process, spiritual warriors, university of toronto, valentina napolitano

U of T leading centre for study of global Christianity

A century ago, 80 per cent of the world’s Christians lived in Europe and North America; today, nearly 70 per cent live in Africa, Asia, and Latin America, making Christianity a predominantly non-Western religion.

A critical mass of scholars who are looking into the implications of this shift has made the University of Toronto a leading centre for the study of global Christianity.

Christianity today has more than 2.2 billion adherents worldwide. The majority are overwhelmingly poor, displaced from rural villages into overcrowded cities in search of work, and adhere strictly to the word of Scripture, which can command their loyalty far more than state or society. (more…)

Love: What Brain Says

By ShamsAugust 20, 2010Culture, Scienceanthropologist, brain, helen fisher, love, romantic

Scientists believe by looking into the brain it’s possible to say whether couples are in deep love or …. (more…)

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