Anthropological Implications Research Articles

III. Adult weight gain, accuracy of stated weight, and their implications for constitutional anthropology

III. Adult weight gain, accuracy of stated weight, and their implications for constitutional anthropology

Hemoglobins, Haptoglobins, and Transferrins in Man

lapped. The distribution of genes within a population, and the differences in the frequency of their alleles which characterize one population and distinguish it from another, need not be considered trivial if selection plays a part in determining them. A search for additional loci as aids in classification may be sterile and boring; but a quest for the sources of human variation and the analysis of the interactions of genetic and ecological factors stimulates continuing interest. Recently accumulated evidence indicates that some, and perhaps most, aspects of polymorphism in man are adaptive and that cultural factors are commonly involved in the process of adaptation. By their joint efforts cultural and physical anthropologists are in a position to contribute to a deeper understanding of those factors which have made us what we are today. Such collaboration is dependent upon the degree of communication established between scholars in these two facets of anthropology. The student of human biology needs to hear frequently about recent advances in the analysis of culture, and especially of cultural practices which affect the genetic structure or phenotypic appearance of different populations. In return, new developments in human biology should be brought to the attention of anthropologists in general. Significant among such advances is the understanding of the structure, function, and inheritance of various protein fractions of the blood. A number of these are inherited in simple Mendelian manner and thus lend themselves readily to genetic analysis. As they occur in varying frequencies among different human populations, they can, like the blood types, suggest the degree of ancestral relationships between them. Like the blood types, too, their variety demonstrates the widespread extent and probable utility of balanced polymorphism in the human species. In 1949 when Neel established the genetic mechanism for sickle cell trait and sickle cell anemia and Pauling et al. (1949) demonstrated the electrophoretic difference between normal and sickle cell hemoglobin, doors were opened to unique research opportunities in genetics, biophysics, biochemistry, medicine, and anthropology. The past dozen years have witnessed vast strides in the understanding of the structure of the hemoglobin molecule, the strategy of the gene in producing its end product in the individual, and the ebb and flow of genes in the course of human history.

MacLeish and the Fortunate Fall

ARCHIBALD MACLEISH first treated the myth of the lost Paradise it, in the verse play Nobodaddy, which appeared in 1926. Though the fact that it was never reprinted argues that he came to consider this play unsatisfactory either in idea or in technique, it is a revealing expression of his mood in the mid-twenties, serving in particular as a companion piece to The Pot of Earth, written in the same period, in which he uses the pagan myth of the dying and resurrected fertility god to question the meaning of a girl's life absorbed and snuffed out in service to survival of the race. In the Foreword to Nobodaddy MacLeish says that he is using the myth not as metaphor but solely as a dramatic presentation of the plight of human consciousness in an indifferent universe, without anthropological implications.' It is hard, however, to see how this use differs from metaphor, or from the reinterpretation of myth widely practiced from time immemorial. At all events, Nobodaddy, though not to be taken as identical with Yahweh, is here the nature god, aloof and incomprehensible, the Fall is alienation from him through aroused human self-consciousness (as in Songs for Eve twenty-eight years later, Eve is not Eve until she has eaten the apple), and the rebellion of Cain is the assertion of human integrity against the amoral nature worship of Abel. Though these ideas are echoed in various guises throughout his career, MacLeish did not again use the myth of the lost Paradise until the fifties, when it became implicit in This Music Crept by Me upon the Waters (I953) and explicit in Songs for Eve (954). In This Music the Earthly Paradise is an island in the Antilles, where the winds of time and change are stilled and the innocent moon is supernaturally haunting and beautiful. The primitive Indians could live here, with reefs and sharks as angels at the

The Growing Demand for Behavioral Science in Government: Its Implications for Anthropology

My remarks this evening do not reflect much inside information on governmental activities and interests as they relate to the behavioral sciences. My connections with the federal government are slight. So when I speak of a growing demand for behavioral science in government, I am giving voice only to a personal impression.

Some Anthropological Implications of the Racial Admission Policy of the U.S. Sisterhoods

Some Anthropological Implications of the Racial Admission Policy of the U.S. Sisterhoods

Anthropological Implications of Sickle Cell Gene Distribution in West Africa1

DURING the past fifteen years, data on the frequency of the sickle cell gene have accumulated to such an extent that its world distribution can now be outlined in considerable detail. Frequencies of more than 20 percent of the sickle cell trait have been found in populations across a broad belt of tropical Africa from the Gambia to Mozambique. Similar high frequencies have been found in Greece, South Turkey, and India. At first it appeared that there were isolated "pockets" of high frequencies in India and Greece, but more recently the sickle cell gene has been found to be widely distributed in both countries (Choremis and Zannos 1956; Sukumaran, Sanghvi, and Vyas 1956). Moreover, between these countries where high frequencies are found, there are intermediate frequencies, in Sicily, Algeria, Tunisia, Yemen, Palestine, and Kuwait. Thus, the sickle cell gene is found in a large and rather continuous region of the Old World and in populations which have recently emigrated from this region, while it is almost completely absent from an even larger region of the Old World which stretches from Northern Europe to Australia.

The Perspective for Fundamental Research in Anthropology

I propose to treat this broad topic in terms of three main questions: 1.The shift in emphasis in anthropological research from culture-history-culture philosophy to “social engineering”,2.The question of whether these two types of emphasis are related or not, and if so in what manner, and3.The implications of anthropology for other fields of knowledge.

ON THE IMPLICATIONS FOR ANTHROPOLOGY OF THE GESELLILG APPROACH TO MATURATION1

American AnthropologistVolume 49, Issue 1 p. 69-77 Free Access ON THE IMPLICATIONS FOR ANTHROPOLOGY OF THE GESELLILG APPROACH TO MATURATION1 MARGARET MEAD, MARGARET MEAD American Museum of Natural History New York CitySearch for more papers by this author MARGARET MEAD, MARGARET MEAD American Museum of Natural History New York CitySearch for more papers by this author First published: January‐March 1947 https://doi.org/10.1525/aa.1947.49.1.02a00060Citations: 8 1 This paper appeared on the program of the American Anthropological Association, December 1945, and was read at a Viking Fund dinner, in February, 1946. AboutPDF 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 Citing Literature Volume49, Issue1January‐March 1947Pages 69-77 ReferencesRelatedInformation

Wheeled Toys in Mexico

It is the purpose of this paper to bring together all of the known examples of those archaeological objects from Mexico which it seems best to refer to as wheeled toys. All but one of these have previously been described and illustrated, but I have thought it worthwhile to repeat to a certain extent in order to put all the evidence into readily available form. I shall also discuss briefly certain of the historical and general anthropological implications of the presence of wheeled toys in ancient America.

Some Historical Implications of Physical Anthropology. T. D Stewart, pp. 15–50.

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A Definition of Sociology Derived from Titles of Courses

T HIS paper ventures a definition of sociology as reflected in the courses which are offered in the subject at representative American Universities for the academic year of I93 I-I932. The forty institutions whose catalogues were studied represent not only geographic divisions but also state and privately endowed universities. Of this number two universities offer no sociology, three have departments combined with economics, two with anthropology, one with social technology, and there is one where sociology is sandwiched in between economics and government,-all three being in one department. The faculties of these universities count among their number the leading American sociologists. The total of some 803 courses offered by these faculties of sociology provides a wide and varied range of study. It is from the courses which are offered by ten or more universities that a definition of sociology has been made. Sociology is a discipline embodying a set of theories and principles (Introductory courses-38; Social Theory-35; Recent or Contemporary Theory-io; Principles of Sociology-I,) which studies normal social phenomena (Social Control -i8; Community Organization-I3; Family-z6; Rural Sociology-zI; Urban Sociology-I7) as well as pathological social phenomena (Social Pathology-zz; Child Welfare-I9; Criminology-35; Immigration-I5; Population-z5; Poverty-I3) with some attention to anthropological and psychological implications (Anthropology-Io; Social Psychology-i5) and which offers a method of dealing with the material (Methods of Social Research -I8; Statistics-I4; Social Work-z3; Case WorkI5) in which research and direction are carried on. Such is sociology when the most typical courses alone are considered, but it is scarcely a true picture of sociology as it is taught in American Universities. When all the offerings in the subject are considered, sociology appears to be some kind of glorified Irish stew in which are found liberal amounts of the usual ingredients and also a surprising conglomeration of other materials to give it variety and a spice to suit anyone's taste. In order to support this contention, lists of the courses are arranged in the frequency of their occurrence.