Anthropological Demography Research Articles

Who Are Brazil's Indígenas? Contributions of Census Data Analysis to Anthropological Demography of Indigenous Populations

With the goal of fostering discussion of anthropological demography, we assess Brazil's indigenous population using data from the 1991 census. We assert that an anthropological demography that includes the use of census data can help maximize the validity and reliability of social research. Despite problems with the conceptualization, coverage, and reporting of indigenas in Brazil's 1991 census, the first part of the analysis shows that census-based and key-informant-based estimates of indigenous populations in Brazil match very well. Given that the census data are no worse than those of other sources, the last part of the analysis projects Brazil's indigena population, and the results indicate rapid growth, from 294,000 in 1991 to 386,000 in 2001. These findings bear implications for ethnographic research on Brazilian Indians, the role of anthropologists in census enumerations, political strategies of Brazil's indigenist movement, and changes in state Indian policies.

Anthropological Demography: Toward a New Synthesis

Anthropological Demography: Toward. New Synthesis. David I. Kertzer and Tom Fricke. eds. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1997. ix. 294 pp., contributors, index.

Book Reviews : International Union for the Scientific Study of Population: Com mittee on Anthropological Demography in co-operation with the Centre for Development Studies, Trivandrum, India, Socio-cultural and Political Aspects ofAbortion in a Changing World. Liege (Belgium), 1997, $30 (pb)

Book Reviews : International Union for the Scientific Study of Population: Com mittee on Anthropological Demography in co-operation with the Centre for Development Studies, Trivandrum, India, Socio-cultural and Political Aspects ofAbortion in a Changing World. Liege (Belgium), 1997, $30 (pb)

When Nomads Settle: The Effects of Commoditization, Nutritional Change, and Formal Education on Ariaal and Rendille Pastoralists

When Nomads Settle: The Effects of Commoditization, Nutritional Change, and Formal Education on Ariaal and Rendille Pastoralists

The Methods and Uses of Anthropological Demography

Introduction: Approaches to Anthropological Demography 1. Methodological Advances in Studying the Social Context of AIDS in Africa 2. Participant Observation in Demographic Research: Fieldwork Experiences in a Ghanaian Community 3. Using Qualitative Data for Understanding Old-Age Security and Fertility 4. Anthropological Insights into the Links between Women's Status and Demographic Behaviour, Illustrated with the Notions of Hypergamy and Territorial Exogamy 5. Kinship Structures, Marriage Systems, and Reproductive Behaviour: The Use of Anthropology and Demography in a Brazilian Case Study 6. Education, Fertility, and Child Survival: Unravelling the Links 7. A Rereading of Historical Material: An Alternative Account of the Position of Women in Ancient India 8. Political Economy and Cultural Processes in the Fertility Decline of Sicilian Artisans 9. Anthropological Perspectives on Migration in Africa 10. Are Men Weaker or Do their Sisters Talk Too Much? Sex Differences in Childhood Mortality and the Construction of 'Biological' Differences 11. Cultural Models and Demographic Behaviour 12. Social Norms, Natural Fertility, and the Resumption of Postpartum 'Contact' in The Gambia 13. The Limits of Diffusionism

Basu Alaka Malwade, Aaby Peter Eds — The Methods and Uses of Anthropological Demography

Basu Alaka Malwade, Aaby Peter Eds — The Methods and Uses of Anthropological Demography

The Continuing Demographic Transition

From the perspective of human society, one of the most significant occurrences of the twentieth century has been the demographic transition -- the movement from tragic and wastefully high death and birth rates to low rates in many countries. Many other countries, however, are still at only the early or intermediate stages of this process. In these countries, means need to be found to accelerate the transition. This book brings new evidence to bear on aspects of the demographic trasition, with contributions from leading demographers, anthropologists, sociologists, and historians. The book ranges widely over the history and current experience of both developed and developing countries, with particular emphasis on Asia and Africa. The new field of anthropological demography is strongly represented, with contributions challenging much conventional wisdom.

Anthropological Demography: Toward a New Synthesis. Edited by David I. Kertzer and Tom Fricke (Chicago, University of Chicago Press, 1997) 294 pp. $18.95

<i>Anthropological Demography: Toward a New Synthesis.</i> Edited by David I. Kertzer and Tom Fricke (Chicago, University of Chicago Press, 1997) 294 pp. $18.95

Anthropological Demography: Toward a New Synthesis:Anthropological Demography: Toward a New Synthesis.

Anthropological Demography: Toward. New Synthesis. David I. Kertzer and Tom Fricke. eds. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1997. 294 pp.

Anthropological Demography: Toward a New Synthesis

The chapters in this volume are substantially revised versions of papers originally presented at the Brown University Conference on Anthropological Demography November 3-5 1994.... This volume is motivated by a sense that the time is ripe for a reconsideration and renewal of past achievements together with the development of a new synthesis in the relationship between anthropology and demography.... The contributions take various and not always reconcilable points of view. The opening chapters for example illustrate that the foundations of demographic engagement with anthropology in issues of kinship social organization and the formation of domestic groups are as alive and valid today as in the past. Subsequent chapters expand on standard demographic concepts by demonstrating the role of anthropology in rethinking their cross-cultural validity. Some chapters more critically evaluate the relationship between demography and anthropology with reference to their epistemological roots while others apply specific frameworks from the general anthropological and theoretical literature to demographic issues. (EXCERPT)

Anthropological Demography: Toward a New Synthesis

Anthropological Demography: Toward a New Synthesis

Fellowships in Anthropological Demography

Fellowships in Anthropological Demography

A Case for Nonanthropological Qualitative Methods for Demographers

THERE IS A widespread impression that anthropology should be particularly privileged as a field to guide efforts at qualitative research on demographic behavior. This, however, is not a view I share. Qualitative methods have been developed and extensively used in numerous social science disciplines, by no means the least sociology, my home discipline. While work in anthropology and ethnography has influenced the development of some of these methods, and perhaps conversely, qualitative methods in other social science fields are not simply derivative of those characterizing anthropological or ethnographic research, nor are they necessarily used for the same purposes. I believe that most demographers interested in incorporating qualitative data and analysis in their research will find, as I have, that for many of our purposes the most practical and useful qualitative methods come from outside anthropology. I suspect the close and almost exclusive identification of anthropological and qualitative methods in demography that prevails in at least some circles has much to do with the decision by the IUSSP a decade or so ago to establish the Committee on Anthropological Demography (as opposed to a committee on qualitative demographic research), and with the Mellon Foundation's grants to major university population centers that were intended to foster closer links between anthropology and demography (Kertzer and Fricke 1997). Related to these initiatives, emphasis has been given to anthropological demography when conferences and seminars were organized to promote qualitative methods in our field. To be sure, these efforts have fostered important research on demographic phenomena using anthropological and ethnographic approaches, some of which was conducted by the participants in this symposium. And such work is likely to continue to be an important line of research in qualitative demography. Nevertheless, in my view, it is preferable to advocate a more inclusive promotion of qualitative methods in population studies than one that mainly

Emergency Decisions, Cultural-Selection Mechanics, and Group Selection [and Comments and Reply

Emergency behaviors of nonliterate groups are taken as a useful starting point for demonstrating that decisions can be integrated more directly into cultural analysis and that the explanatory pay-offs can be far-reaching. The methodological feasibility of studying group decisions directly is explored through three exceptional tribal ethnographies with a focus on emergency adaptive problem solving and its implications for both cultural- and gene-selection theory. Urgently discussed decision alternatives become apprehensible to fieldworkers through open group debate, while the reproductive effects of decisions are readily assessed whenever groups act in unison. Implications for the development of a more effective theory of cultural microselection and a truly processual definition of culture in its guided phase are suggested. With respect to long-term genetic evolution, the implications of emergency decision making are extended to foragers, exploring special possibilities that enable genetic group selection to become robust when groups are egalitarian and engage in consensual problem solving. Prehistorically, the verdict is that group-selection effects were amplified at the same time that individual effects were suppressed. On this basis it is hypothesized that the genetic evolution of human cooperative and altruistic tendencies can be explained in part by selection at the level of groups rather than inclusive fitness

New challenges for demography.

Challenges for demography have arisen from recognition of its potential contribution to interdisciplinary research in new areas of major public interest. This paper discusses three of these: research on anthropological demography, AIDS and the health transition. The paper examines priorities and the contribution of demography to progress in each area.

Anthropological Demography

Anthropological Demography

Anthropological Demography

Anthropology NewsVolume 34, Issue 4 p. 24-24 Anthropological Demography First published: April 1993 https://doi.org/10.1111/an.1993.34.4.24.8AboutPDF ToolsExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Share a linkShare onFacebookTwitterLinked InRedditWechat No abstract is available for this article. Volume34, Issue4April 1993Pages 24-24 RelatedInformation

Estimation of age structure in anthropological demography.

The past decade has produced considerable debate over the feasibility of paleodemographic research, with much attention focusing on the question of reliability of age estimates. We show here that in cases where age is estimated rather than known, the traditional method of assigning individuals to age classes will produce biased estimates of age structure. We demonstrate the effect of this bias both mathematically and by computer simulation, and show how a more appropriate method from the fisheries literature (the "iterated age length key") can be used to estimate age structure. Because it is often the case that ages are also estimated for extant groups, we suggest that our results are relevant to the general field of anthropological demography, and that it is time for us to improve the statistical basis for age structure estimation. We further suggest that the oft noted paucity of older individuals in skeletal collections is a simple result of the use of inappropriate methods of age estimation, and that this problem can be rectified in the future by using maximum likelihood estimates of life table or hazard functions incorporating the uncertainty of age estimates.

Anthropological Demography

Anthropology NewsVolume 33, Issue 5 p. 55-55 Anthropological Demography First published: May 1992 https://doi.org/10.1111/an.1992.33.5.55.5AboutPDF ToolsExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Share a linkShare onFacebookTwitterLinked InRedditWechat No abstract is available for this article. Volume33, Issue5May 1992Pages 55-55 RelatedInformation

From Hunters to Herders: Subsistence Change as a Reproductive Strategy among the Mukogodo

From Hunters to Herders: Subsistence Change as a Reproductive Strategy among the Mukogodo