Anthropology
Google for the Anthropology Student (Part I?)
Image via CrunchBase
I’m a big fan of Google. I know a lot of people tend to get a little paranoid about big corporations like Google, Microsoft, Intel, etc. getting their fingers in everything, but so far everything that Google gets into is practically free to the average user. And, for the anthropology student, free can [...]
Sacrifice and the Anthropology of Religion
Image via Wikipedia
Mention the word “sacrifice” in a religious context and, for many people, thoughts of young virgins tossed in volcanoes by a Polynesian King or lying on altars below the obscenely sharp obsidian blade of an Aztec ruler. Or perhaps they’re reminded of the story of blind faith by Abraham who was prepared to [...]
Anthropology of Religion
Image via Wikipedia
I don’t often post on religious topics on this blog. At least not topics related to modern religion like Christianity. I’m more interested in ancient religion and expression of religion and belief in the material record of antiquity than modern squabbles about “belief in God,” etc.
But I took the time to listen to [...]
The Incredible Human Journey!
My friend Jeff Rose is interviewed on a recent BBC2 program. Jeff’s a lithicist who works in Oman on early human sites and his presence on camera is dynamite! Here’s hoping we see more of Jeff Rose on BBC -archaeology can use spokesmen as gifted as he.
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The Chrysanthemum and the Sword: Reviewing an Ethnography
I recently had the pleasure of reading Ruth Benedict’s The Chrysanthemum and the Sword, an ethnography done in an experimental style just at the end of World War II in 1946. Benedict studied anthropology under Franz Boas and was the friend (and lover, I believe) of Margaret Mead. There’s plenty I could go one to [...]
Religion and the Imagination – Cue a John Lennon Song
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jEOkxRLzBf0]
According to an anthropologist at the London School of Economics, the very process that John Lennon suggested we use to put religion and other human institutions out our minds might very well be the reason we have religion to begin with.
Imagination, says Maurice Bloch [New Scientist], is what sets humans apart from other animal species. [...]
Man’s Best Friend
One of my most popular blog entries is actually an article I wrote on Anthropology.net called Man’s Best Friends: Part I – The Dog. I had always intended to do at least three parts to that post and things just got hectic and I was distracted from Part II, which would have been about The Horse.
I’ve [...]
The Anthropology of Catastrophe: Volcanoes
Humans have always been afflicted by natural catastrophes ranging from tectonic to weather related and, possibly, even impacts from space! But none, perhaps, have found the significance both culturally and destructively, as the volcano. Throughout the history and prehistory of man, volcanoes have erupted, obliterating entire islands, destroying settlements and cities, ruining local crops and [...]
Video: Dawkins vs. McGrath
I reviewed Alister McGrath’s book, Dawkins’ God: Genes, Memes, and the Meaning of Life over a year ago and have been waiting ever since for Dawkins and McGrath to square of and hash out their disagreements.
John Loftus at, Debunking Christianity, has posted a link to the Google Video of their recent debate. I’m [...]
The Last Foragers of Tanzania – A Farewell to the Hadza?
Chris O’Brien at Northstate Science has a gut-wrenching post on the plight of the Hadza of northern Tanzania. Their very existence is threatened by wealth, ignorance, and a complete lack of compassion by the government that should be responsible stewards of the cultural diversity of its citizens.
Instead, the Tanzanian government is coming to an [...]
