...Every weekend, millions of Americans go shopping at the grocery store for the food they’ll need for the week ahead. Any casual glance down the aisles and you’ll be bound to see thousands of products that advertise “Now with 40% Less Fat!”, “Low in Saturated Fat!”, or something of the like in blinding bright colors across the packages. According to a 2011 census done by the CDC, at least 35.7% of all American adults are classified as obese (CDC 2011); so it’s no wonder that products advertising low-fat are so popular. However, while many people who buy these food-products are seeking to remedy their weight problem, they are simply making it worse. In order to fully understand why this “low fat craze” is causing so many problems for Americans today, we have to travel back in time about one hundred thousand years, or so, into the past. For quite some time, anthropologists falsely believed that our ancestors primarily obtained their energy from plant sources. However, in more recent and “later studies, [they] demonstrated that animal foods, rather than plant foods, comprised the majority of energy in the typical hunter-gatherer diet” (Miller 31). This means that the food humans evolved to eat was mostly comprised of animal tissue and meat. “Carnivorous diets reduce the evolutionary, selective pressures that act to maintain anatomical and physiological features needed to process and metabolize large amounts of plant matter”(Miller 35). Evidence supporting the homo-sapiens’...
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...lost fertility. Another main character is Tokuwaga Jeayasu, a shogun of Japan in 1600, who prohibited Christianity in 1600 and protected his country againt deforestation. The book takes us to a lot of places around the globe: Mayan cities, Rwanda, Viking colonies of Vinland or Greenland, Haiti and Dominican Republic, Easter Island and Polynesian colonies in Pacific, and the Chaco villages in New Mexico (United States). The time period was from 800 AC, when collapsed Mayan cities to 2005. Other locations are the Viking ships, isolated churches in Greenland, ghostly stone heads in Easter Island, sheep farms in Australia or the farmers of Montana (United States). The book is richly informative, with a lot of places of diferent peoples and cultures. All the characters were trying to build a wealthy society but they persued bad enviromental politics...
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...attempts to embrace an understanding of all of humanity • Helps us understand ourselves an others Anthropology Perspectives • Holistic Approach (broadest view) o To view things in the broadest possible contest o To cover the whole scope of humanity o To provide a total or composite view o Human culture as a system, functional whole, all parts relate o Biocultural Perspective Studies both the PHYSICAL and SOCIAL EX: kuru disease (neurological disease)- disease caused by culture, transmitted by mortuary practices • Cultural Relativism o To view the beliefs and customs of other peoples within the context of their culture not one’s own o Practice of not judging other cultures based on the standards of one’s own culture o ENDOCENTRISM Group centeredness Tendency to see ones own culture as the center of everything The measure or standard against which all other lifeways are evaluated Tendency to consider ones own culture as superior or better than all others o Anthropologists must be unbiased, objective o Involves an effort to remain unbiased in ones observations o Acknowledges that cultures are DIFFERENT, but NOT RANKED o No right or wrong cultures, cultures are simply different o A problem-solving Process Evaluated by efficiency of meeting problems o Anthropologist injects themselves into the cultural system being studied o Interpretations are based on that system o Recognizes plural interest groups o Understands power relationships o Human...
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...duration can profoundly affect an ecosystem and may force an ecosystem to reach a threshold beyond which a different regime of processes and structures predominates.Human activities that adversely affect ecosystem resilience such as reduction of biodiversity, exploitation of natural resources,pollution, land-use, and anthropogenic climate change are increasingly causing regime shifts in ecosystems, often to less desirable and degraded conditions. Interdisciplinary discourse on resilience now includes consideration of the interactions of humans and ecosystems via socio-ecological systems, and the need for shift from the maximum sustainable yield paradigm to environmental management which aims to build ecological resilience through "resilience analysis, adaptive resource management, and adaptive governance". The concept of resilience in ecological systems was first introduced by the Canadian ecologist C.S. Holling in order to describe the persistence of natural systems in the face of changes in ecosystem variables due to natural or anthropogenic causes. Resilience has been defined in two ways in ecological literature: 1. as the time required for an ecosystem to return to an equilibrium or steady-state following a perturbation (which is also defined as stability by some authors). This definition of resilience is used in other fields such as physics and engineering, and hence has been termed...
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...a legitimation for ‘superior western culture’ Authoritarian, conformist, evolutionist Begin 20th century: Modernity/modernism: ambivalent view on truth, morality and progress More liberal and tolerant thought (cfr. 18th century - Enlightenment) WW I: 4 founding fathers [in what follows ‘4ff’] of anthropology: Franz BOAS (USA) Bronislaw MALINOWSKI (Britain) Alfred RADCLIFFE-BROWN (Britain) Marcel MAUSS (France) → caused modern, largely non-evolutionist revolution in respectively American, British and French anthropological thinking. German tradition remains: diffusionism → 4ff no shared programme, significant methodological & theoretical differences → evolutionism had failed, but evolutionists (Morgan, Tylor) established basic parameters of anthropological discipline Boas and historical particularism: • Influence from German diffusionism (critical to evolutionism) • Development of theory = sufficient empirical grounding → collect and systematize detailed data on particular cultures → theoretical generalisations (but with great care) • Four-field-approach: linguistics, physical anthropology, archaeology, cultural anthropology (↔ France, Britain: not specialized, but generalistic approach) • Field work: Inuit, Kwakiutl, NW coast of America, short, repeated visits, teamwork • CULTURAL anthropology (USA): culture = everything mankind has created, including...
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...EVOLUTION AND SELF-INTEREST Richard Dawkins argues that at its most fundamental level, the genetic level, life is self-interested.1 Genes do only one thing; they replicate themselves. These replicators reside in and are carried around by biological vehicles (trees, animals, humans, fungus, etc.). The resources that support these biological vehicles are finite, so the process of life has become a competition among genes to create vehicles that can successfully compete for limited resources and survive to pass on their genetic code. Dawkins coined the term ‘selfish gene’ to emphasize the single, focused object of a gene’s existence. What he means is that the sole purpose of a gene is to make copies of itself using the Darwinian selection process; very selfishly ignoring the consequences this pursuit may have on other living entities. Self-interest is a requirement for survival. This does not mean, of course, that animals and humans cannot be altruistic sometimes, in certain activities.2 It does mean that no living entity can survive for long if it is only purely altruistic. On the other hand, survival is not necessarily jeopardized when an organism is purely self-interested. Altruism, in the absence of self-interest, is not evolutionarily stable in the biological world; it leads to extinction. It is for this reason that all extant life forms must be selfish. Humans, like all creatures, are self-interested; not because it is good to be selfish but because we would not be here if...
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...Social influence occurs when one's emotions, opinions, or behaviors are affected by others.[1] Social influence takes many forms and can be seen in conformity, socialization, peer pressure, obedience, leadership, persuasion, sales, and marketing. In 1958, Harvard psychologist, Herbert Kelman identified three broad varieties of social influence.[2] 1. Compliance is when people appear to agree with others, but actually keep their dissenting opinions private. 2. Identification is when people are influenced by someone who is liked and respected, such as a famous celebrity. 3. Internalization is when people accept a belief or behavior and agree both publicly and privately. Morton Deutsch and Harold Gerard described two psychological needs that lead humans to conform to the expectations of others. These include our need to be right (informational social influence), and our need to be liked (normative social influence).[3] Informational influence (or social proof) is an influence to accept information from another as evidence about reality. Informational influence comes into play when people are uncertain, either because stimuli are intrinsically ambiguous or because there is social disagreement. Normative influence is an influence to conform to the positive expectations of others. In terms of Kelman's typology, normative influence leads to public compliance, whereas informational influence leads to private acceptance. [edit] Types Social Influence is a broad term...
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...COLLAPSE HOW S O C I E T I E S CHOOSE TO FAIL OR S U C C E E D JARED DIAMOND VIK ING VIKING Published by the Penguin Group Penguin Group (USA) Inc., 375 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014, U.S.A. Penguin Group (Canada), 10 Alcorn Avenue, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M4V 3B2 (a division of Pearson Penguin Canada Inc.) Penguin Books Ltd, 80 Strand, London WC2R ORL, England Penguin Ireland, 25 St. Stephen's Green, Dublin 2, Ireland (a division of Penguin Books Ltd) Penguin Books Australia Ltd, 250 Camberwell Road, Camberwell, Victoria 3124, Australia (a division of Pearson Australia Group Pty Ltd) Penguin Books India Pvt Ltd, 11 Community Centre, Panchsheel Park, New Delhi—110 017, India Penguin Group (NZ), Cnr Airborne and Rosedale Roads, Albany, Auckland 1310, New Zealand (a division of Pearson New Zealand Ltd) Penguin Books (South Africa) (Pty) Ltd, 24 Sturdee Avenue, Rosebank, Johannesburg 2196, South Africa Penguin Books Ltd, Registered Offices: 80 Strand, London WC2R ORL, England First published in 2005 by Viking Penguin, a member of Penguin Group (USA) Inc. 13579 10 8642 Copyright © Jared Diamond, 2005 All rights reserved Maps by Jeffrey L. Ward LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGING IN PUBLICATION DATA Diamond, Jared M. Collapse: how societies choose to fail or succeed/Jared Diamond. p. cm. Includes index. ISBN 0-670-03337-5 1. Social history—Case studies. 2. Social change—Case studies. 3. Environmental policy— Case studies. I. Title. HN13. D5 2005 304.2'8—dc22...
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...Canada Global Cultural José A. Rivera Osorio GRST 500 Research Paper Prof. Jared Mink April 8, 2014 Abstract Canada is the second largest country in the globe with population of over 32 million, the largest and most important industry Canada has is oil and logging. For businesses who want to expand towards Canada they are eight dimensions of business culture that will be detail in this analysis, and how NAFTA was formed. The agreements between U.S. and Canada with provisions that will benefit both countries, Canada also has bilateral agreements in trade with European Union and Asia, however we will only analyze U.S.-Canada cultures in business. Canada’s History The first inhabitants of Canada were native’s Indian people, primarily the Inuit “Eskimos. The Norse explorer Leif Eriksson reaches the shores of Canada at Nova Scotia in the year 1000, but the country actually begun 1497 with the introduction of the white man, John Cabot Italian at the service of King Henry VII of England reaches Nova Scotia. Canada was lost to the English in the year 1534 by Jacques Cartier which was the settlement of New France 1604, but was then was Nova Scotia in 1608. Quebec was founded, France’s colonization were not successful and ended at the end of 17th century. They penetrated beyond the Great Lakes to the western prairies and south along the Mississippi to the Gulf of Mexico. The English Hudson’s Bay Company in 1670 establishes themselves because of the abundance of fisheries...
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...Anthropologist tries to discover if there are structural similarities and all four subfields bridge the gap between the knowledge and the human race. Physical anthropology is the human adaptation or alteration comes from this research for example genetics and forensics. Archaeologists seek and examine artifacts whether it is trash, historic or prehistoric. Linguistic anthropology is how language is used and acquired in a social network of humans historically from caveman’s to modern language today. Cultural anthropology or ethnology is the study of progressive culture throughout the world. Political Science relates to anthropology is tremendous as modern research is racial divide, customs and habits of man which has helped us the real background and development of the primitive man or woman. The behavior of man is biased by his racial origin and surroundings in which he or she resides. Sociology is the study of human culture or societal relations which relates to our four subfields of anthropology as sociology is part of scientific research. Sociologist asks questions then strategize answers around the questions. They do major investigation which enhances their purpose as they try to explain a purpose for what people do and the influences around them as Anthropology and Sociology share the same premise. Philosophy is majorly related to the subfields of anthropology as it is the research on nature of life as it...
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...ANTHROPOLOGY 327: The Anthropology of Gender Sexualities Human sexuality is a very complex topic with several distinct components, including desires, practices, beliefs and attitudes, and identity. Human sexuality is clearly a product of both genetic and environmental factors. Twin studies focusing on homosexuality suggest a 40-60% contribution from either set of factors (the results vary depending on the study). The actual mechanisms for determination, both environmental and genetic, remain unclear at present. Human sexuality is bewildering in its variety and elaboration. Desire and practice vary along multiple dimensions which interact in complex ways. In consequence, we cannot adequately describe the full range of human sexuality with a single simple term. Sources for Human Sexuality Sexuality is one of the most closely regulated activities in every human society. It is therefore difficult to ascertain what is “natural” (biological) and what is cultural (learned). Anthropology has historically shared the general Western reticence regarding sex and has seldom made sexuality a central topic of research. Margaret Mead and a few others did some research on the topic and it is sometimes included in general ethnographic studies. Proper scholarly study of human sexuality really begins with Alfred Kinsey and continues through Masters and Johnson and the Social Science Survey Project. While there has been a dramatic increase in research on the topic in the past 30 years, it is still...
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...“A Learning Bridge for Aboriginal Adults” (ALBAA) Final Report Phase I – Aboriginal Transitions Research Fund May 29, 2009 Submitted to: Learning Programs Branch Ministry of Advanced Education 2nd Floor – 835 Humboldt Street PO Box 9882 Stn Prov Govt Victoria BC V8W 9T6 Submitted by: Faculty of Student Development Thompson Rivers University 900 McGill Road Box 3010 Kamloops BC V2C 5N3 Table of Contents Executive Summary .................................................................................................................................... 1 Introduction................................................................................................................................................ 5 Review of Literature ................................................................................................................................... 6 Institutional Factors............................................................................................................................. 7 Cultural Factors ................................................................................................................................. 11 Power and Control Factors ................................................................................................................ 15 Financial and Geographic Factors ..................................................................................................... 16 Limitations of the Current Literature ...
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... Marshall Sahlins Department of Anthropology, University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois 60637; e-mail: m-sahlins@uchicago.edu Key Words: modernity, indigenization, translocality, culture, development n Abstract A broad reflection on some of the major surprises to anthropological theory occasioned by the history, and in a number of instances the tenacity, of indigenous cultures in the twentieth century. We are not leaving the century with the same ideas that got us there. Contrary to the inherited notions of progressive development, whether of the political left or right, the surviving victims of imperial capitalism neither became all alike nor just like us. Contrary to the “despondency theory” of mid-century, the logical and historical precursor of dependency theory, surviving indigenous peoples aim to take cultural responsibility for what has been done to them. Across large parts of northern North America, even hunters and gatherers live, largely by hunting and gathering. The Eskimo are still there, and they are still Eskimo. Around the world the peoples give the lie to received theoretical oppositions between tradition and change, indigenous culture and modernity, townsmen and tribesmen, and other clichés of the received anthropological wisdom. Reports of the death of indigenous cultures—as of the demise of anthropology—have been exaggerated. CONTENTS Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ....
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...Chapter 1 - Geography Matters: Definitions: * Human geography the study of the spatial organization of human activity and of people’s relationships with their environments * Cartography: the body of practical and theoretical knowledge about making distinctive visual representations of Earth’s surface in the form of maps * Map projection: a systematic rendering on a flat surface of the geographic coordinates of the features found on Earth’s surface * Ethnocentrism: the attitude that a persona’s own race and culture are superior to those of others * Imperialism: the extension of the power of a nation through direct/indirect control of the economic and political life of other territories * Masculinism: the assumption that the world is and should be shaped mainly by men for men * environmental determinism: a doctrine holding that human activities are controlled by the environment * globalization: the increasing interconnectedness of different parts of the world through common processes of economic, environmental political and cultural change * ecumene: the total habitable area of a country. Sine it depends on the prevailing technology, the available ecumene varies over time. Canada’s ecumene is so much less than its total area. * Geodemographic research: investigation using census data and commercial data (i.e. sales data and property records) about populations of small districts to create profiles of those populations for market research ...
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...Reason and Experience DAA March 09 I. Mind as Tabula Rasa The Specification: - The strengths and weaknesses of the view that all ideas are derived from sense experience - The strengths and weaknesses of the view that claims about what exists must ultimately be grounded in and justified by sense experience. This is an analysis of the "empiricist" view: both Hume and Locke are empiricists as they argue that all knowledge depends on experience. Note that the first item asks us to evaluate empiricism as an explanation of the origin of ideas, and the second asks us to evaluate the claim that knowledge must be justified with reference to experience. Locke on the origin of Ideas AO1 Position and its implications: The mind is a tabula rasa or "blank slate" at birth, empty of all ideas and knowledge; it is gradually filled through experience AO1 Detail, Illustration: An Essay Concerning Human Understanding II.1 Locke's definition of "idea" = "the object of thinking" He gives examples: "such as are those expressed by the words whiteness, hardness, sweetness, thinking, motion, man, elephant, army, drunkenness, and others" We might say concepts rather than ideas, the basic mental building blocks of propositions or declarative sentences Ideas are acquired through two processes, sensation or reflection; each is a type of perception, the first of external objects, the second an inward perception of mental processes. Sensation ...
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