American Anthropologist 1957
Adams, John Boman. Culture and Conflict in an Egyptian Village. American Anthropologist April, 1957 Vol. 59 (2):225-235.
In this article, Adams attempts to examine the implications and factors involved in the social revolution in Egypt through the context of an Egyptian village in the Delta area. He hopes to show how the social cleavages expressed in the national revolution by describing the change in government at the village level.
Adams moves on to describe the leaders of the revolution and their opposition. He likens villagers to poets in interpreting the content of communications from the government. The villagers, Adams describes, judge the content of communications by the speaker’s tone, friendliness or hostility, and sincerity or lack thereof.
Peer groups, Adams writes, are increasingly gaining influence upon youth and importance in villages. Peer groups, egalitarian in nature, are rebellious and hostile to authoritarian institutions and have increased significance in the arena of social revolution. Adams explains that the leaders of this revolution, rebels against authority, were heavily influenced by peer groups in their respective villages. Their ideologies, the use of “we” instead of “I”, and concern for mankind, and propaganda justify whatever hostility is necessary to achieve their political goals.
Taking into consideration communication and interpretation in villages, whatever government comes into power in Egypt must stress friendly communication with villagers. Villagers, Adams concludes, are not likely to settle for compromises; they favor absolutes, and government must appeal through villagers using absolutes to obtain the loyalty of villagers.
This article was written in the midst of the social revolution in Egypt. It is therefore not comprehensive, nor does it provide a detailed account of what was taking place at the time. Yet Adams still provides a cursory description of the events in Egypt at the time and the corresponding effects on villages there.
CLARITY RANKING: 5
NEHA SHAH University of Pennsylvania (Melvyn Hammarberg)
Adams, J. Culture and Conflict in an Egyptian Village. American Anthropologist 1957 Vol. 59:225-235
In this article, the author H\John Adams addresses the significances of the existing social evolution in Egypt and its effects on a single village in the Delta are. Adams demonstrates how “the social cleavages expressed in the national revolution by the change in government appeared at village level.” He discusses how there were many factors involved and shows the aspects of approval and condemnation towards the “government’s propaganda and communiqués.”
Adam basic argument is to show the existing conflict between the officially established with new ideals and the traditional institutions that are unwilling to change their concepts. He shows how these differences have “socially frustrated the young men of the community.” Adam argues that in order for these issues to change the government must communicate with the villages.
The argument is constructed through a discussion of the situations within the village and an explanation of how oppositions were formed. Adams then explains the views of each side. He discusses how on one side the leaders Omdah and Sheik Mohammed accepted and supported the propaganda of the revolutionary government in order to change some of the existing traditional methods of the society. He also shows the opinions of the leaders on the other side. He refers to Sheiks Hamid who was “opposed to any traditional way, was revivalistic in his reaction to new” and Sheik Farid who “wanted to maintain structure of tradition but realized the need for change when problems rose.”
CLARITY RANKING: 3
SARAH RICHARDSON York University, Toronto, Ontario (Naomi Adelson)
Bohannan, Paul. An Alternate Residence Classification. American Anthropologist February, 1957 Vol. 59:126-131.
Traditional residence classifications of newly married couples, by anthropologists and sociologists, have been singularly defined as patrilocal when the couple lives in the locality of the husband’s parents, or matrilocal when the couple lives in the locality of the wife’s parents. This traditional method of classification, however, is regarded by some as too limiting and sometimes misleading.
The main argument of this article is that expressions traditionally used to explain kinship ties upon marriage do not reflect the dynamics of relationships and shared values and norms on which residences are actually managed. The author reviews a number of systems in which classifications are not based solely on the residence location of the married couple vis-B-vis their kinsmen ties, but rather on “families and households.”
Bohannan suggests that two alternate areas should be considered while assessing residence classifications:
First, that it is under one relationship, chosen from among Murdock’s eight primary relationships within the nuclear family, that all others function: (1) husband-wife, (2) father-son, (3) father-daughter, (4) mother-son, (5) mother-daughter, (6) brother-brother, (7) sister-sister, and (8) brother-sister. The author further supports that the state of those relationships, particularly those in conflict, are responsible for how the domestic groupings are arranged in any given society. For example, he cites Hausa of Northern Nigeria, where the new husband would seek to set up his own house as soon as possible, so as to avoid potential resentment by his new wife over work expected of her by his family (1). In such conflicts between new wives and their in-laws, however, the Tiv in Central Nigeria take a direct opposite line with the son almost always siding with his father (2).
Secondly, the author asserts that norms and values can been seen as arising from the organization of household economy such as the care of children, management of land, and/or distribution of food. For example, in the Hopi of Arizona, “a man considers his sister’s house his real home and he leaves his ritual objects there when he takes his mundane property to the house of his wife.”
The author concludes with a suggestion that all classifications must be supported by quantitative data; however, that exactitude as seen in traditional classifications would contribute to dissatisfaction amongst anthropologists.
CLARITY RANKING: 5
ALISON PENTLAND-FOLK York University (Naomi Adelson)
Buettner-Janusch, John. Boas and Mason: Particularism versus Generalization. American Anthropologist April, 1957 Vol. 59 (2):318-324.
This article examines an exchange of the viewpoints of Franz Boas and Otis Tufton Mason on ethnological theory. The author suggests a link between the theoretical positions of scientists and the social context in which these scientists exist.
The author begins by making references to a series of letters between Boaz and Mason regarding the relation of particulars to generalization published in 1887. These selected letters illuminate the reason behind the theoretical emphasis of anthropology in the first quarter of the twentieth century. Selected excerpts from the letters focus on the two scientists’ opposing viewpoints on exhibition of ethnological specimens, ethnological research methods, and scientific law.
Boas’ attitude towards science, taking a stand against informed opinions, and passion for individual phenomenon is highlighted in these letters. Boas’ opinions make clear the movement of anthropology away from the methods of science. His personality and idiosyncrasies as well as those of his colleague William James, contributed to the rejection of science in early twentieth century anthropology.
The author then categorizes scientists into to major categories: generalizers or theory builders and empiricists or particularists. The thrust behind the argument of the latter group rests on the idea that generalization of man and culture is never valid because there are always exceptions to theories. The success of this view in the field of anthropology is due to the sociological forces that favors the rejection of predictable, scientific patterns in the history of mankind.
The excerpts from letters of prominent scientists add to the historical value of the article. The purpose of this article, an examination the history of ethnological theory in anthropology, is clearly and succinctly achieved.
CLARITY RANKING: 4
NEHA SHAH University of Pennsylvania (Melvyn Hammarberg)
Buettner-Janusch, John. Boas and Mason: Particularism versus Generalization. American Anthropologist 1957:318-324.
This essay is an investigation of the development of anthropological science. Buettner-Janusch uses a written dialogue between Mason and Boas to point out problems he perceives in Boas’ approach and understanding of science. He then uses this as an example of a need for study of the causes of trends within the anthropological field. Buettner-Janusch ends with a revival of Mason’s contested analogy of culture as an organism, and an articulation of his own desire to study the development of anthropological thought following the evolutionary model.
The correspondence in question centers around a report by Mason describing his theory of “like causes producing like effects” and that therefore cultural artifacts could be arranged in the museum according to their similarities. Boas responded to this by stating that exhibitions should be arranged according to the tribe or culture that produced the objects, and that only in this way could the exhibition hope to represent that people’s “physical and ethnical surroundings.” Buettner-Janusch states that Boas is confused about the nature of the inductive method, that he has forgotten that scientific method always takes the limitations of generalization into account and that he has mistaken generalization for analogy. Buettner-Janusch rejects Boas’ desire to “treat each ethnological datum as discrete.” Buettner-Janusch then gives an account of Powel’s response to Boas, in which Powel calls Boas’ system of ethnological and geographical classification contradictory and sides with Mason.
Buettner-Janusch concludes that Boas’ position went against the “informed opinion of most anthropologists and eminent social scientists of his day” and that it is “antiscientific” (322). Buettner-Janusch then states that his main purpose is to question why anthropology and most of social science followed Boas’ thought. This shift in the field of anthropology, he concludes, was in fact caused by a backlash against current groundbreaking scientific theories such as entropy and natural selection that favored determinism and materialism. The acceptance of Boas’ position by the anthropological and social science community, therefore, was an articulation of an ideological entrenchment of “naïve and optimistic mythology proposed by the Mosaic cosmology and the Protestant theologians of the day” (323). Buettner-Janusch upholds the validity of generalizations on the order of scientific laws in the examination culture.
(Thankfully, this position is now generally regarded as untenable.)
CLARITY: 3
PHILLIP MATRICARDI Columbia University (Paige West)
Burgh, Robert F. Earl Halstead Morris. America Anthropologist 1957 Vol. 59 (3): 521-523.
Earl Halstead Morris (1889-1956) began his professional career in 1912, although he was interested in archeology for sixty years. At the end of his life, he stood in front of New World archeologists. Earl Morris received a bachelor’s degree in psychology and matured as a professional archeologist while still an undergraduate. He then pursued his M.A. also from the University of Colorado. The following year Morris undertook an excavation of the Aztec Ruin in New Mexico. In 1923, Morris married Ann Axtell, who later became an archeologist, and they had two daughters. After the death of his first wife, Morris remarried Lucile Bowman.
Earl Morris received many distinguished awards for his archeology work. His professional achievements are noteworthy both for comprehensive range and for exceptional quality. Some of his excavations included the Aztec Ruin, Temple of the Warriors, the La Plata district, Mesa Verde region, Durango rock shelters, and countless other excursions in New Mexico and the Greater Southwest and Central America. Although Morris was not always able to actively participate in professional organizations, he gave wholehearted support and was a master of the principles of research. He balanced his imagination, talents, and curiosity in order to give scrupulous presentation and interpretation of archeological evidence.
The work of Earl Morris is characterized by his preoccupation with “hard” evidence, his informal discourse, and his own personal style and experiences that contributed to his studies. Morris is remembered for his unfailing thoughtfulness, habitual courtesy, humor, innocence of pomp.
CLARITY RANKING: 5
ERICA STONE University of Pennsylvania (Melvyn Hammarberg)
Burridge, Kenelm O. L. Disputing in Tangu. American Anthropologist 1957 Vol. 59:763-780
The author’s objective is to describe how equivalence and amity play an important role among the Tangu, and how if equivalence is not achieved, significant problems may arise. There is a co-operative relationship between Tangu in their more significant relationships, with their strongest ties to their immediate family. Managers are those individuals who form relationships among some of the other households in order to create alliances. “Normally, in each community, alliances are forged at the beginning of each horticultural cycle so that the participating households form two approximately equivalent groups in a mutual exchange relationship.” Trouble begins, however, when these exchanges are not equivalent. This often leads to feelings of anger, which often result in the use of sorcery. A “br’ngun’guni… is a mechanism for initiating, continuing, containing, or resolving disputes, and it is a vehicle for political management”. Rather than go to court, the Tangu use the “br’ngun’guni” as a means of allowing relationships to work themselves out and for re-establishing the equivalence so they may once again reach amity.
The author describes the circumstances leading to dispute among these people as well as the results of such arguments. The reasons for the “br’ngun’guni” are discussed, as well as what the “br’ngun’guni” actually entails. The author uses several case studies to illustrate these concepts further.
The author achieves his objectives in this article through detailed explanations of the Tangu response to equivalence and amity. The case studies add further insight into the Tangu culture, and these make the concepts all the more personal.
CLARITY RANKING: 5
DAYLE J. BEKIER University of Pennsylvania (Melvyn Hammarberg)
Burridge, Kenelm O. L. Disputing in Tangu. American Anthropologist 1957 Vol.59: 763-780
Burrige’s article deals with the techniques used by the Tengu people to resolve conflicts among themselves. He emphasizes that for Tengu, it is absolutely necessary to live in a state of equilibrium, free of any conflicts that would disturb that state. However, disputes are frequent and, when they do occur, Tengu use a system of rituals designed to bring the village back to normality. The main idea behind those rituals is to allow each side of the conflict to express their grievances towards each other without causing damage to the household.. Burridge argues that the basic and most important social and economic unit for Tengu is the household. Therefore it is the household’s duty to resolve the problem so that it will continue to exist in unity.
The main ritual, and the one most described in the article, is called br’ngun’guni. In this ritual, the parties involved state their cases by standing up in a circle and shouting out their grievances towards the other party. Large-scale physical movements, designed to make the point more influential, usually accompany the shouting. The purpose of this display is not to place blame on one of the parties, as a western court would do, but to bring back the state of amity (peace) to the household. A central figure usually acts as a medium between the two- the article calls them “managers”. They have the delicate role of ensuring equivalence, but they also must not allow themselves to look like they are in a position of power over others. Solutions to most problems involve the exchange of foodstuffs or an invitation to a dance. However, when the two conflicting parties do not agree, threatening the state of amity, the managers may decide to send both parties out to the bushes for few a weeks. This ensures that the angry parties do not contaminate the rest of the household and that the situation does not reach a point of no return.
To illustrate his observations, Burridge writes about four cases in which the ritual of br’ngun’guni was used to resolve complicated situations. Each time order prevailed and amity was sustained.
CLARITY RANKING: 4
LUKASZ DZIEDZINSKI York University (Naomi Adelson)
Codere, Helen. Kwakiutl Society: Rank without Class. America Anthropologist 1957 Vol. 59 (3): 473-486.
Franz Boas’s conclusions based on his extensive study of the Kwakiutl Society were questioned by many critics soon after his report was published. Boas argued that the Kwakiutl Society possessed a system of social rank but lacked definitive social classes. Others claim Boas’s was in error; these claims if validated would not only devalue Boas’s work but destroy his reputation. According to the author, Boas was correct in his deductions and the article is intended to support Boas’s theory that the Kwakiutl Society was a “classless society in which social rank was the organizing principle.”
A social class is defined as a segment of the community in which the members maintain a degree of unity and a form of homogeniety among its members. The Kwakiutl society is classified by ranks and places more importance on primogeniture than nobility. Since these ranks are subject to change at any time and have no distinguishing identities or subcultures, they cannot be categorized as social classes. Individuals may move from a commoner’s position to a potlatch position or chief position and vice versa several times throughout their life.
The Kwakiutl recipes are a main source of information regarding Kwakiutl social organization. They are more than mere instructions for dishes; actually, they specify minute details of the social procedures and personnel involved in the acquisition, preparation, serving, and social meaning of food. Since this material is in text and covers such a wide range of social situations, it is ideal for testing whether Kwakiutl social organization is along class lines. In an overwhelming majority on recipes, a man from any rank may be the host and invite guests from any other rank to join him and his family. Hospitality rules apply and no class lines, behaviors or distinctions exist. Often persons in low and high in social position are entertained together. All people used the same manners and had access to the same means of learning these social graces; thus, indicating a non-class society.
Boas is careful to make direct references to specific incidents in order to prove his theory that the Kwakiutl society is a society with distinctive social ranks but no class divisions. His conclusions are fully supported by the data he used and cited directly and consistent with other reports and outside resources.
CLARITY RANKING: 4
ERICA STONE University of Pennsylvania (Melvyn Hammarberg)
Codere, Helen. Kwakiutl Society: Rank without Class American Anthropologist 1957 59:473-485
Through the early 1900s, Franz Boas stayed with the Kwakiutl people, studying their society and ways of life. In this article, Helen Codere attempts to prove, using the ethnography by Boas, that the Kwakiutl people lived in a classless society. Citing various sections of Boas’ works as well as Kwakiutl recipes, she does so very successfully.
Starting with Boas’ early writings, Codere describes the social ranking system of the Kwakiutl and its constant change. An excellent example is the one of the younger brother of “common” parents. Although he has no birth-given status (a status which did not exist in Kwakiutl life), he has earned a form of power due to his strategic giving of potlatches. Due to this strategy he earned himself a seat. Later in life, he passed his seat to a man not related to him thus giving his status to a man who previously was a “commoner.” The younger brother, on the other hand, gave up his seat and in a matter of minutes became a “commoner” once more. Boas’ writings are full of instances similar to this, situations in which power is transferred like a small irrelevant gift.
Codere then writes about Kwakiutl recipes and how most of the recipes of the Kwakiutl were written with a specific audience in mind. Recipes for hosting a large party involving people with large amounts of power, recipes for hosting a small party from another village, as well as any other situation imaginable. In all of the recipes found, only one contains the word for “commoner.” This implies not that commoners weren’t welcome at these feasts, but that few people were regarded as commoners. It is much too likely that a current commoner could have just yesterday been a very high status member of the tribe, or will tomorrow become an important figure. Class did not exist in the Kwakiutl society because it was all too likely to change at a moment’s notice.
CLARITY RANKING: 5
MICHAEL FILLITER York University, Toronto (Naomi Adelson)
Coe, Michael D. Monuments in Middle America: A Reconsideration. American Anthropologist 1057. Vol. 59: 597-611.
Michael D. Coe looks at the Long Count dates of the Maya and questions if, in fact, Mayans created the Ling Count date system? He looks at Morley and Thompson to determine if other groups before the Mayans used the Long Count system. Coe prefers Thompson to Morley; Thompson “opposed acceptance of monuments which seem to bear Long Count dates prior to any recorded by the Classic Maya.”
The Long Count method is a dating system that the Maya used; it involves a series of lines and dots that indicate Baktun, Katun Tun, Uinal, Kin, and Day in Calendar Round. These dates are usually found on monuments. The monuments he looks at are Stela C, Tres Zapotes; Stela 1, Piedra Labrada; and Stela 1, El Baul. Coe uses diagrams to illustrate his examples and each monument is described in great detail.
Coe concludes by saying that unless there is more evidence, “the lowland May did not originate the Long Count or the practice of erecting dated stone monuments.” He believes that the La Venta Olmecs invented it.
CLARITY RANKING: 1
CHRISTINA SAUNDERS York University (Naomi Adelson)
Coe, Michael D. Cycle 7 Monuments in Middle America: A Reconsideration. American Anthropologist. 1957 Vol. 59:597-609.
Coe analyzes Classic Maya civilization culture, by reviewing information on early monuments. Coe references several controversial monuments, which, according to Thompson, the author of The Dating of Certain Inscriptions of Non-Maya Origin, are insignificant for five solid reasons.
Thompson dismisses one of these monuments, Stela C, Tres Zapotes, as insignificant because the dates seem incorrect, although Coe argues the monument is legitimate because of its characteristically Cycle 7 stylistic context. Coe suggests that Stela C is perhaps the earliest contemporary Long Count date yet discovered. Coe argues that another monument, Stela 1, Piedra Labrada, offers symbolic carvings, which can be studied for further Cycle 7 monument information. The Stela 1, El Baul also sparked much controversy over the legitimacy of its categorization as a Cycle 7 monument, but Coe believes it is indeed a significant component of the Long Count. The final monument Coe discusses, Stela 2, Colomba, has unknown archeological context, although it is stylistically related to the earliest Maya art, and thus Coe believes it too must be in the 7th Cycle of the Long Count.
Essentially, Coe delivers a well-researched counter-attack to Thompson’s novel, stating that all the monuments Thompson denied as 7th Cycle of the Long Count actually are.
CLARITY RANKING: 2
ALISON SILBER University of Pennsylvania (Dr. Melvyn Hammarberg)
Coe, Michael D. Monuments in Middle America: A Reconsideration. American Anthropologist May,1957 Vol. 59(4): 597-611.
This article addresses the question of whether or not the Classic Maya civilization created the Long Count method of dating. Coe categorizes the lives of a people as organized around a certain aspect of their culture. He states that this method of counting did not originate from the Mayans, and that one may not categorize Maya civilization with the Long Count dating system. Coe asserts that this system instead originated in the lowland region of Veracruz, amongst the Olmec-La Venta people. To prove his argument, Coe rejects the statements of his colleague, Thompson. Thompson says that the monuments found outside of the Classic Maya territory, with some form of dating system inscribed into them, do not display the Maya Long Count symbols. Coe testifies that these monuments are indeed older than the oldest Mayan artifact, the Leyden Plate, and that they do contain Long Count dates. By proving this statement correct, Coe would also prove that the Long Count dating system did not originate with the Maya.
To provide evidence for his theory, Coe looks at three distinct monuments found outside of the Maya region. These monuments are the Stela C from Tres Zapotes, the Stela 1 from El Baul and the Stela 2 from Colomba. For each of these monuments, Coe refutes the arguments presented by Thompson with his own counter arguments. For example, to respond to Thompson’s assertion that the Stela 1 is similar to monuments from the San Juan phase, Coe attacks Thompson’s excavation techniques. The San Juan phase is a later period of monument dating. Coe claims that Thompson bases this assertion on taking a sample of rock near to where the monument was found, but that the rocks may have shifted in the meantime. This back and forth analysis defines the paper.
Overall, this paper is far from convincing. Coe presents Thompson’s published results and then attempts to pick them apart. Coe often uses other people’s theories in replace of his own arguments, instead of presenting actual research. One of Coe’s paragraphs even attempts to quote Thompson admitting that he (Thompson) is wrong about the dating of the monuments (608). After picking apart Thompson’s works on the three monuments, Coe sums up his paper by saying that since there is currently no other evidence, the monuments must have come from outside of the Mayan region. His conclusion that the Long Count dating system must have originated in some other culture remains yet to be supported by any of his own data.
CLARITY RANKING: 2
JULIA NAGLE Columbia University (Paige West)
Cole, Fay-Cooper. Frederick Webb Hodge. America Anthropologist 1957 Vol. 59 (3): 517-520.
Frederick Webb Hodge (1864-1956) was intimately interwoven with the origin of the American Anthropological Association and its journal. Born in England but raised in Washington D.C., Hodge graduated from Columbian (now George Washington) University. After a brief experience in a law office, he became secretary of the U.S. Geological Survey and Bureau of American Ethnology. Hodge temporarily left his latter position and became secretary to the Hemenway Archeological Expedition. This was his first encounter with Southwestern culture which later became his field of interest. From 1901-1910 Hodge conducted field work among the Indians of Arizona and New Mexico and aided in the production of the Handbook of American Indians.
During this time, several groups amalgamated to form the American Anthropological Association, of which Hodge was founder and publisher of its journal. For several years, Hodge was also the editor and in 1915 he was elected President of the AAA. Hodge appeared as chairman of a couple committees and was a member of several others. Another involvement of Hodge’s was in working with the committee to establish strong anthropology departments in colleges and universities. Throughout this time, he was still pursuing his interest in North American Indian cultures and became director of excavations at a site in the Southwest.
Hodge received honorary degrees by the University of New Mexico, Pomona College, and the University of Southern Carolina. He continued to join and establish other anthropological organizations into his later life, while maintaining his own field work in the Southwest. The accomplishments and achievements of Frederick Hodge are recognized in societies both here and abroad.
CLARITY RANKING: 5
ERICA STONE University of Pennsylvania (Melvyn Hammarberg)
Cole, Cooper. Frederick Webb Hodge. American Anthropologist. 1957 59; 517-520
Throughout this article, Cole illustrates the life of Frederick Webb Hodge and lays out the achievements he has made throughout his successful life.
Hodge was born in England in the year of 1864 and was raised in Washington D.C. He attended Columbian University which is now known as the George Washington University. Later in his life, Hodge was awarded honorary degrees by the University of New Mexico, Pomona College and the University of South California. Hodge became secretary of the U.S Geological Survey and the Bureau of American Ethnology after same brief experience in a law office. As part of the staff for the Bureau of American Ethnology, Hodge went to the Southwest to conduct fieldwork among the Indians of Arizona and New Mexico.
Hodge became an executive officer of the Smithsonian Institution in 1901 and held that post till 1905. In 1910, Hodge gathered data and edited materials for the handbook of American Indians which was viewed as a landmark to the advancement in American anthropology. He was the editor of the American Anthropologist through the years of 1902-1914. He was not only the editor, but also the business manager, literary critic, proof reader, collector of news items and his own office boy.
Frederick Hodge was also chairman of the committee that dealt with the Linguistic Families North of Mexico. He was a member of the Committee on Archaeological Nomenclature and on the Committee of Policy. Hodge associated with anthropologist such as Boas and other known anthropologist that changed had a hand in the advancement in anthropology though and theory.
In 1917, Hodge resigned from the Bureau of American Ethnology to be involved in the newly founded museum of the American Indian were he became the director of the museum in 1932. Hodge held that position till 1956 where he became Director Emeritus. Throughout his career, Hodge had a number of monographs and articles in scientific and historical publications and in addition Hodge had more than 350 published literature pieces. Hodge was interested in presenting facts and raising problems rather than just dealing with theory.
September 29, marked the end of a great role model of Anthropology. Thirty days short of his ninety-second birthday, Dr. Frederick Hodges passed away.
CLARITY RANKING: 4
TAMAR PAPISMEDOV York University, (Naomi Adelson)
Collier, John. Photography in Anthropology: A Report on Two Experiments. American Anthropologist 1957 Vol. 59:843-859
The author’s objective is to examine “practical ways in which photography could widen the field of scientific recognition and accelerate the processes of research”. This article presents “an application of photographic surveying and… a more or less controlled experiment on the aid of photography in interviewing”, to achieve this goal. Photography is generally used for purposes of illustration and does not play a role in actual research. Researchers do not trust a camera to record anything more than a superficial observation. The dynamics of an environment are lost.
The author begins with an application of photographic surveying. During the course of some fieldwork, researchers experienced difficulty in rating and comparing housing units. Each field worker came from a different cultural background and had his/her own standards for housing, which influenced the researcher’s basis of comparison. For this reason, the group decided to use photography to display all the homes up for comparison at once. Thus, the researcher could support his/her findings with ever-present images. The result of this was the coordination in defining a set standard for the group. This experiment proved successful. The following experiment tested the effects of photography in interviewing. This experiment demonstrates how informants become more involved and focused when images are presented. The pictures stir an informant’s memory, and play a role in explaining what the researcher is attempting to understand.
Through his presentation of these experiments, the author achieves his objective in understanding possible ways in which photography could aid in research. “We look upon the use of photographs as an interview aid, rather than an infallible technique”.
CLARITY RANKING: 5
Dayle J. Bekier University of Pennsylvania (Melvyn Hammarberg )
Collier Jr., John. Photography in Anthropology: A Report on Two Experiments. American Anthropologist 1957 Vol.59:843-859.
Photography is a very useful tool in anthropology for analyzing data and comparing viewpoints. Photography can give a visual account on a subject with many sociological opinions. The public does not realize the further benefits that are associated with using a camera in anthropological fieldwork. Anthropologists have generally used pictures solely to support their findings by illustration. Collier sets out to prove that the camera is a useful tool for experiments.
Photography in anthropology is reported by means of two instances: (1) an application of photographic surveying and (2) a more or less controlled experiment on the aid of photography in interviewing. In the first area of analysis, a housing survey was conducted to present the distribution of affluence and poverty in an area. The houses were rated good, average or poor by field personnel based on the size of the house and the conditions of physical substances. When the field workers returned to compare notes, their findings were very inconclusive and widespread because they tended to let their own personal judgments of housing affect their work. The best solution to resolve this problem of human impression was to use photography. The houses then became easier to critically examine based on visible characteristics and accessibility of the photos.
The second area of analysis involved a study of migration of French-Acadians to the English industrial town of Bristol. Four families altogether were interviewed altogether. The Plenn and the Chiasson family were in the first group of comparison. One interview employed photographs whereas the other focused on verbal communication with the last step being a “check” to see if the introduction of photos affected the study. Both families originated from similar occupations and class. The Chiasson family was interrogated verbally. They appeared to become bothered by the notebook that was used to record their comments. In the Plenn family, this did not take place because the photographs were focused on. They removed some of the one-on-one conversation that can be so awkward. The pictures also compelled the Plenn family to stay on track in the line of conversation. On the other hand, the answers of the Chiasson family were very broad. Eventually, the Chiasson family asked to view pictures as well when they heard that the Plenn family had this luxury in their interviews. When this occurred, they seemed more interested in the experiment and open about their feelings. Photos trigger responses that can sometimes be hidden in verbal interviewing.
The second group of families compared, which was the Dumas and Campeau families, basically reiterated the results of the study from the first group. Photos actually sparked an appeal from each family member to participate in the study.
Photographs permitted more precise conclusions based on the following categories: Work, People, Community, Family, Migration, Religion, Pleasure, Ethnic Relations, Interaction and Associations. Graphic images can assist both the interviewer and the people being studied in explaining the topic and obtaining accurate results. Photographs represent reality and stimulate interest that could not otherwise be gained.
CLARITY RANKING: 4
LISA ARGENTINI York University (Naomi Adelson)
Crowley, Daniel J. Plural and Differential Acculturation in Trinidad. American Anthropologist 1957 Vol. 59:817-824
The author’s objective is to “show some of the means by which Trinidadians of diverse origins have managed to adjust to their complex social situation without losing their subcultural identities”. The author begins by discussing the dynamics of Trinidad. Many subcultures can be found in Trinidad, such as: “Creoles”, the descendants of Indian indentures, “European-African Coloreds”, “whites”, “Chinee-Creoles”, “Dooglas”, etc. The author then gives a brief background on these subcultures and the hierarchy they compose. “Although ideally each group mates endogamously, there are many casual sexual contacts between members of different groups which result in children”. Thus, some Trinidadians claim to have “six or more racial and national strains in their ancestry” and are proud of it.
The author discusses the similarities between the groups and the role language plays between these groups. Many Trinidadians speak English, as well as languages used in schools, or in that particular region and its borders. However, these groups do not lose their cultural identities. For example, an individual of several different backgrounds will follow the customs of whichever culture is present at that time. “Nearly every Trinidadian is affiliated with at least one organized religion, but he commonly attends services of other denominations”. Thus, while there is large amount of interchange between the subcultures of Trinidad, they still retain their identities. “Each member of each group accepts or rejects these alien ways in varying degrees to suit particular needs and situations, which we may call differential acculturation”.
The author accomplishes his objective through numerous examples, with attention to detail.
CLARITY RANKING: 5
Dayle J. Bekier University of Pennsylvania (Melvyn Hammarberg)
Cunnison, Ian. History and Genealogies in a Conquest State. American Anthropologist February, 1957 Vol. 59 (1): 20-31
The author begins his article discussing the work of Fortes in his first volume on the Tallensi and how he contrasted the historical notions of the Tallensi to those societies who have royal dynasties. Fortes writes that the political and social structure including governing values directly shapes the ideas of time and history amongst a people. The author of this article considers the relationship between history and social structure in a nonsegmentary and heterogeneous society. To do this, the author mainly focuses on genealogy, history, and the concept of time. By history he means simply what is in the past of a society. In this article the author shows that the form of history in a segmentary society is much different than that of a kingship. He demonstrates both types of societies and compares them to one another.
In this article the author uses tribes such as the Shila, Lungu, and the Bwilile to demonstrate his points. The author writes that historically a society is made up of layers of immigration, each bringing its own political, economic, ritual, and other customary relationships. These different aspects are all represented in the history of a people. The author writes that through time multiple groups merge to form one society that is made up of the different social parts due to these immigrations. The author writes that if genealogy supports history, then history will support genealogy. Also, if genealogies do not form a system, also do not form a framework for a history that is the case for some segmentary societies.
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Greg English University of Pennsylvania (Melvyn Hammarberg)
Cunnison, Ian. History and Genealogies in a Conquest State. American Anthropologist February, 1957 Vol. 59(1):20-31.
In this article Ian Cunnison considers the relationship between history and social structure in a nonsegmentary and heterogeneous society. He emphasizes the genealogical aspects of its social structure when pointing out the comparison with segmentary societies. Cunnison’s discussion is based on a “comparison of the histories and genealogies of the king, Kazembe, and his Lunda overlords, which comprise his subjects.”(21) The valley of the Luapula is the home of the Central Bantu groups under the domination of a Lunda group.
Cunnison discusses four main categories of inhabitants whose ancestors migrated to the Luapula Valley. They are listed from the earliest to the latest. The four main categories are Bwilile, Shila, Lunda and immigrant groups. The author discusses the Bwilile and the Shila together because the lineages have historical forms, which correspond to genealogical forms. Which are also of the same kind for both groups.
In the article Cunnison compares three kinds of histories and genealogies. The first two categories are Bwilile and Shila. These categories have four-to seven-generation lineages and are telescoped at the top. Some lineages of the same clan are joined by perpetual kinship links in a way that they seem to be of equal genealogical status. While others are linked to lineages of other clans in the same way. The third category discussed is the immigrants who have genealogies of about the same depth, but telescoping has not taken place. According to the author “they have the same institutions of positional succession and perpetual kinship which order relations both inside and outside the lineages.” (29) Later in the article Cunnison mentions segmentary societies. He concludes by stating that a lineage of whatever kind has an internally consistent system with regard to genealogical, historical, and temporal relations.
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DAGMARA ROMASKA York University (Naomi Adelson)
D’Azevedo, Warren, L. Washo Peyote Songs. American Anthropologist August, 1957 Vol.59(4):615-641.
In their article, “Washo Peyote Songs,” Warren D’Azevedo and Alan Merriam discuss the importance of singing within the Washo culture, located in Nevada and California. Before focusing on the singing aspect of the Washo culture, D’Azevedo and Merriam provide some important historic information in regards to this topic. An important factor that D’Azevedo and Merriam examines when presenting the Washo history is the difference between Washo and Peyote community, which is a tribe that is closely connected to the Washo descendants. The rest or the article concentrates on the studies of significance of singing within the Washo community and how it is integrated with the Peyote language.
The concept of Washo music within the article is divided into different sections, making it easier to understand the complexity and broadness of this particular topic. D’Azevedo and Merriam first addresses the importance of the drum and the rattle, which are the only instruments that are used when the Washo community sings a song. The second factor of the Washo music that D’Azevedo and Merriam examines is the type of song this is sung. When explaining the song types D’Azevedo and Merriam notes that the Washo community often uses other tribal Indian languages for their songs. The use of Peyotism language in Washo songs is important to know because the rest of the article often refers to this factor. The rest of the article is used to show the general value of Washo songs it terms of its tone, tempo, style, melody and its structure. By addressing the numerous aspects of Washo music and indicating it’s significant connection with the Peyote culture D’Azevedo and Merriam tires to indicate that most Washo songs are often sung in the Peyote language.
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SARAH CEREZO York University (Naomi Adelson)
Devereux, George. Dream Learning and Individual Ritual Differences in Mohave Shamanism. American Anthropologist. 1957. Vol.59:6, 1036-1045
In this article Devereux uses Freudian psychology to pick apart Mohave Shamans’ claims to having dreamt entire texts of healing song cycles and myths. He strives to prove that in fact, these dreams are pressured by Mohave society, and when dreamed at all, are dreamed in a condensed and allusive form. Devereux’s first step to proving this is latching onto the Mohave model of a “catch phrase” with broad mythical meaning.
There are three ways of interpreting catch-phrases: semantic, meta-semantic, and exegetic—these levels of translation make available a plethora of cultural meanings to a single dreamed catch-phrase. In fact, the very substance of the dreams is learned in waking life and then re-experienced through allusive dreams. This means that any lengthy myth, rife with significance, can be reduced to a catch-phrase, as can be an entire song cycle or dreamt myth. Furthermore, Devereux claims that “Mohave ritual itself provides a model for its simplification and ultimate obsolescence: the menstrual rite is a greatly simplified version of the puberty rite, and therefore provides a living example for stripping the rite down to its essentials.” If all rituals are basically the same, then the conflict between shamans arises from “the narcissism of small differences” between competitors. Each shaman overvalues his specific version of the myth (even if it is just a semantic difference that breaks his version from the norm). Finally, Devereux argues that this broad shamanistic pattern is a social solution available to young, potential shamans who experience “type conflicts” related in substance to the unconscious group personality.
The article is interesting in a historiographic context. While it seems a sore misdeed of academia to use “revolutionary” psychology to aim to disprove the foundation of an entire culture, we can now recognize that the content of this article is no longer relevant, and use it instead as a foray into the history of the profession of anthropology.
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LENYA BLOOM University of Pennsylvania (Melvyn Hammarberg)
Devereux, George. Dream Learning and Ritual Differences in Mohave Shamanism. American Anthropologist 1957 Vol.59:1036-1045
In Mohave society, Shamanism is the key religion that is characterized by belief in spirits, myths and dream interpretations. A shaman priest bases substantial emphasis on his own dreams and meanings in comparison with that of other shamans. The overall problem is whether or not knowledge is gained through a dream or whether it is learned before and then refined in a dream.
Devereux sets out to prove that the reason why so many shamans have similar spiritual beliefs is because they are derived from previous knowledge of myth and not because they stem from personal experiences. The actually dreamed material is elaborated through addition of information about myths, songs, and rituals acquired when the person is awake. Songs of students in Mohave culture have greater meaning not only for the shaman, but also for the audience. Two words can convey an extended significance than that which they actually say. This is called the “halo meaning.” There are three different translations of these two words – the semantic, the meta-semantic and the exegetic. A basic feature of Mohave supernaturalism is that it is greatly offensive if another shaman offers another version of a myth or song opposing his own, especially during ailment practices. Devereux proposes to show that the reason why there exist multiple versions of the same myth, song or ritual is because they are condensations of the genuine one myth. Curing power is derived from the actual myth rather than the song composed by the shaman containing hints of the myth. A shaman retaliates against an opposing priest with different views by using witchcraft. Psychoanalysts call this the “narcissism of minor differences,” which is a tendency to attach great meaning to one’s own version of a myth and challenge others who offer a different point of view.
The Mohave shaman religion is, in truth, a social defense against internal struggles. Shamans use dreams and their meanings in a spiritual sense to reveal their inner conflicts. Knowledge is, in fact, obtained during daily life and not in dreams.
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LISA ARGENTINI York University (Naomi Adelson)
Dittman, Allen T. and Moore, Harvey C. Disturbance in Dreams as Related to Peyotism among the Navaho. American Anthropologist. 1957 Vol. 59:642-649.
In this study, Dittman and Moore study Navaho respondents’ dreams and judged them for signs of disturbance, yet departs from the typical use of dreams in ethnographical research since most other studies used dreams to analyze one, independent subject’s personality. The general hypothesis is that disturbance would be greater among people who adhered to the Peyote cult than those who did not.
The data was collected in three different communities in northern/eastern parts of Navaholand during the summer of 1952. Choice of respondents was restricted by time issues; however, there was a conscious attempt to securely stratify by age, sex, economic condition, clan membership, and religious affiliation. Essentially, interviews were conducted, where the respondents were asked three questions: if they dream, if it’s a bad dream, and if it’s a good dream.
After varied methods of analysis, conclusions were made. First, no relationship was found between age/educational background of the respondents and disturbance in dreams. With respect to health and illness, the peyotists did report a far greater proportion of bad dreams. In the economy category, there were also more disturbing dreams for peyotists than non-peyotists, and in the denial category the reverse was true.
Although this study did yield new findings and discoveries, the authors remark that one of the most important observations is that dreams are still hugely useful as a source of information in social anthropological research.
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ALISON SILBER University of Pennsylvania (Dr. Melvyn Hammarberg)
Dittmann, Allen T. and Moore, Harvey C. Disturbance in Dreams as Related to Peyotism among the Navaho. American Anthropologist 1957. Vol. 59:642-649.
Dittmann and Moore’s theory about the Peyote Cult used Navaho respondents as a basis for their research. The Peyote Cult followed Peyotism, a hybrid of Native American and Christian ideas, with its followers believing that eating the peyote cactus caused communication with God. Dream data was not used for ethnographic research; rather, it was used to highlight personal and cultural differences between the Peyote Cult as a Navaho subculture and the Navaho tribe as a whole. The preliminary hypothesis was that disturbance dreams occur more often with people associated with the Peyote Cult than non-Peyote people. The definition of disturbance was broken down into major categories such as “good” and “bad” dreams.
David F. Aberla and Moore did the actual field research about the Peyote Cult, studying Navaho peyotism as a whole. The source of the core beliefs came from the Plains Indians. Factors associated with Navaho Peyotism had to be clarified, as well as discovering covert and overt problems and discovering real and imagined solutions. Open ended questions formed the interview schedule—“What is a bad/good/do you believe in dreams?” It had to be elucidated that the interviewer had no inherit bias and believed that dreams were prophetic signs. Of the fifty-nine responses, only forty-eight were dreams and eleven were denials. Denial answers were found to be direct and intellectual, without any references to specific dreams or classification of good or bad dreams. Only twelve respondents identified themselves as Peyote Cult members and they were set aside. Their general status, such as age, sex, and educational level was temporarily discarded.
Results showed that the dreams were mostly about illness and economic trouble. Economic troubles included loss of money, stock, and hard times and illness dreams were largely about surgery and general well-being. Instances of death and recurring dreams about illness were given twice the amount of weight. Good dreams wee mostly about getting gifts, most coming anonymously, some from white men, good health and happiness. When statistics about the Peyote Cult members were brought in, there weren’t any relation of dream content to age and educational level. No significant Navaho community differences could be seen, but the mean for disturbance dreams for Peyote Cult members were slightly higher than non-members. As a whole, most of the dreams (Peyote and Navaho combined) were bad, with a ratio of 4:1.
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SUE ANN NELSON Barnard College (Paige West)
Dittmann, Allen T. and Moore, Harvey C. Disturbance in Dreams as Related to Peyotism among the Navaho. American Anthropologist, 1957. Volume 59: (642-649).
In this article, Dittmann and Moore examined the dreams of Navaho Indians and used these dreams to judge whether or not an individual was psychologically disturbed. This data was then used to determine if disturbance had a higher occurrence among people who were a part of the Peyote Cult, a cult-like religious movement that sees consumption of the peyote cactus as a way of coming closer to God. As they began research, Dittmann and Moore thought that disturbance would be more common among members of the cult than among non-members. This is mainly thought because membership in the cult is looked down upon by most Navaho communities, and Dittmann and Moore assumed that this might imply that disturbed individuals would be more likely to join it.
Dittmann and Moore began their study by selecting a diverse group of Navaho and interviewing them. They asked questions about dreams, as well as other things, and conducted fairly open-ended interviews. They interviewed 66 people, 59 of whom gave usable answers. Of these 59, 48 reported their dreams, while 11 denied having them.
Their responses were put on cards, with nothing to identify the respondent’s identity or status, so as not to influence judgments. They selected three individuals, with varying educational backgrounds, to judge disturbance among the respondents. They used a five point rating scale, and the judges had a reliability rating of .51. They felt that this was due to the difficulty of judging dreams from another culture. As a result, they broke the dreams down by content so that rating them would be more simple.
The dreams were broken down into areas of health-illness, economic difficulty, and the supernatural. The dreams were “weighted” by their content, and the more disturbed a dream was, the higher its weight was. Three judges worked on this part of the study and their reliability ranged from .73 to .80. After the judgments had been made, they compared the findings to age and education of the respondents. They found no relationship between either. They then compared the findings to the Peyote Cult. Only 12 of the 59 people they interviewed were members, and they found that although Cult members tended to be slightly more disturbed than non-members, it was hard to differentiate the two. More non-Peyotists denied their dreams than did Peyote Cult members.
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NICOLE MCMILLAN Barnard College (Paige West)
Donahue, John D. An Eta Community in Japan: The Social Persistence of Outcaste Groups American Anthropologist 1957 Vol.59: 1000-1017
Though through the Eta compromise a significant proportion of the Japanese population were “liberated” in 1871, they remain socially subordinated and are considered inherently inferior to the rest of the Japanese. The Eta are distinguished by living in segregated and isolated communities. Donahue gives a brief historical background in which he pinpoints the popularity of Buddhism in 645 A.D. As the trigger for this social phenomenon, Buddhists believed that taking life led to human impurity and thus the guilds whose livelihood depended upon animal slaughter were cast from legitimate society as morally inferior. These people became the Eta class. Donahue’s study is centered in an Eta community near Toyoda in N.E. Japan.
Donahue’s first discussion is of attitudes and beliefs of the non-Eta people in Toyoda. He finds that discrimination is propagated by “disgust,” “fear,” and rumors and legends about the sexuality of both Eta men and women. Following this survey is a description of Shin-Machi, the Eta district, where Eta people live in poverty and poor hygiene. However, Eta have high occupational stability since each household practices the same occupation through generations. Shin-Machi also demonstrates a great deal of community organization and social solidarity through town meetings, drinking sprees, and religious celebrations. Yet there are class separations even in the Eta community from which stem varying degrees of social tension. But Japanese normative systems frown upon migration and thus those born in communities like Shin-Machi, remain. Finally, because of vested interests in the economic success of Shin-Machi, community leaders and upper-class Eta members are further motivated to remain.
This article is very informative and well thought out. It has a good balance of social history and ethnographic analysis. Donahue is also successful in distributing explanation away from simple discriminatory attitudes of non-Eta Japanese and focusing on the Japanese scarcity-economy and other traditional social factors.
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LENYA BLOOM University of Pennsylvania (Melvyn Hammarberg)
Doob, W. Leonard. The Effect of Language on Verbal Expression and Recall. American Anthropologist February,1957 Vol. 59 (1): 88-100
The author of this article asks the question, is the opinion of people influenced by the language in which an issue is expressed? The author writes that acculturation people learn culture and values that are recalled in the same language or in a different language. Because of this the author wonders if the memory is affected by the difference in language and does this affect learning or recall. Her goal of her research is to explore the limits of linguistic problems by using carefully selected controls.
To conduct this experiment the author got a large number of informants who were randomly assigned to different groups. The author used three different samples of African students for her study from secondary schools in the East and South of Africa. Each different sample gave twenty statements. These statements were translated into the native language and being translated back into English tested the accuracy of these translations. Half of the statements were in English and the other half in the native language. After the statements were given the children were asked to recall as much of the material given to them as they could and to state which language they remembered it in.
The results of this experiment show that language can have an effect on the psychological processes. More statements were recalled in the native language than in English. This is possibly due to the fact that recalling events are depend on one’s recall of past events which are mostly in the native language. This gives proof that the opinion and recall of a people is effected by the language in which the issue is expressed.
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Greg English University of Pennsylvania (Melvyn Hammarberg)
Doob, Leonard W. The Effect of Language on Verbal Expression and Recall. American Anthropologist February, 1957 Vol.59 (1): 88-100.
Since English has become widespread and accessible in many parts of the world, it is not uncommon to find the English language being taught in schools to many young children and even adults. Of course with this issue of bilingualism there appears to arise many problems and issues. Bilingualism can impact society in many ways, such as influencing values, beliefs and social interactions amongst different diverse people.
Doob sets out to investigate the contexts in which English and native languages are used and to see if certain opinions are influenced and formed by a specific language. Furthermore, he seeks to answer the question of how and if memory is influenced by a specific exposure and recall language.
He proceeds to investigate these concerns through a number of experiments involving four groups of East and South African students. The experiment involves a series of written and oral tests using both English and native languages to see if students agree with statements written in their native language or with English statements and which of these statements could be remembered.
Doob clearly describes all aspects of his experiment including providing information about his informants, attaching a copy of the statements used and presenting his results in charts based on mean averages. He further discusses certain other factors of both exposure and recall that could have affected the general outcome of results.
Throughout the experiment, Doob makes several important assumptions that may have affected the results of his initial experiments; these include the issue of unclear translations and how certain outside social contexts and events could have caused students to identify more with statements written in their native languages and to deny those statements written in English. In addition, Doob also deduces that information can be accumulated and recalled without being influenced by the language of contact. Finally, he acknowledges that verbal expression of attitude is not always expected to be influenced by a certain exposure language; rather, it is highly varied and unpredictable.
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TRACY OLIVEIRA York University (Naomi Adelson)
Driver, E. Harold and Schuessler, F. Karl. Factor Analysis of Ethnographic Data. American Anthropologist, 1957 Vol 59:655-662
The main objective of Driver’s and Schuessler’s article is to arrive at an objective classification or typology from square tables(matrices) of correlation coefficients. They demonstrate the advantages of factor analysis over cluster analysis for certain kinds of ethnographic data. In order to do this they must use the same data that Clements and Driver used on northwest California Indian cultures. Clements and Driver were responsible for sketching the history of the application of correlation concepts and coefficients to ethnological data.
Until 1935, numerical correlations were few and far between. With the appearance of high speed electronic calculators over the last ten years (when this article was written), the calculations that would have taken the greater part of a year can now be done within a couple of hours. Problems which were viewed as formidable in the past have now become simple routine.
Cluster analysis and factor analysis attempt to simplify a correlation matrix, but they proceed along different lines. Cluster analysis merely groups the variables in clusters, whereas factor analysis determines how many common factors are needed to account for the correlations between variables. Comparison of the two techniques indicate that factors are normally less numerous than clusters, and therefore more summary in character. They also feel that factor analysis is more objective and that it is a more precise technique that leaves fewer arbitrary decisions to the researcher. Both of them, however, are applicable and useful to apply to any problem of typology to determine such things as the culture areas in a continent.
They also look at the two types of errors that can take place in these types of analysis, which are observational and sampling. The article then examines Q-Technique and R-Technique, which refer to the corellations of individuals with their performances on a series of tests and correlations between various abilities or test results respectively.
Finally, Driver and Schuessler look at the factors among the 16 northwest California tribes. By doing this, they illustrate that factor analysis can become a valuable classificatory tool in all fields of anthropology where large numbers of variables are intercorrelated.
This article is good for people who are interested in Factor analysis of Ethnographic data, but it is very complicated and hard to understand.
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SHANE MATTE York University (Naomi Adelson)
Driver, Harold E. and Schuessler, Karl F. Factor Analysis of Enthographic Data. American Anthropologist. 1957 Vol. 59:655-664.
The chief purpose of this article is to demonstrate the advantages of factor analysis over cluster analysis, both of which are valid for any problem of typology. Factor analysis is also applicable to the data of comparative linguistics and helps produce sophisticated linguistic typologies which exist today.
This article first analyzes observational errors, and finds the reliability coefficients between the responses of 16 local groups in Northwest California. Sampling errors are discussed, essentially the possibility that the study did not adequately represent a larger totality. Also mentioned are Q-technique, the correlation of individuals with respect to their performances on tests, and R-technique, the correlation of between various abilities. Factor loadings, as displayed in two tables, are additionally analyzed.
After this analysis and analysis of analysis, the article concludes that “we believe that factor analysis can become a valuable classificatory tool in all fields of anthropology where large numbers of variables are intercorrelated.”
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ALISON SILBER University of Pennsylvania (Dr. Melvyn Hammarberg)
Driver, E. Harold and Schuessler, F. Karl. Factor Analysis of Ethnographic Data. American Anthropologist, 1957 Vol. 59: 655-662.
In this article, Driver and Schuessler plan to arrive at an objective classification from square table of correlation coefficients. They also want to explain the differences between factor analysis and cluster analysis, and how factor analysis has more advantages over cluster analysis in some ethnographic data. They use the evidence on the northwest California Indian culture. Up until 1935, numerical correlations and methods to solve problems were so few. As the numbers of variables and correlations increase, the table becomes so big that it could not be solve in a short period of time. Methods in reducing the huge table to small units for easy computation are needed. In the last ten years, calculations are faster and easier with the presence of high speed electronic calculators that problems can be solved in a few hours compared to a part of a year in the past. Complicated problems in the past now become simpler.
Cluster analysis and factor analysis proceed different ways in simplifying a correlation matrix. Cluster analysis groups the variables together in a cluster, and factor analysis determines how many common factors are needed to account for the correlations between variables. Factor analysis is more objective than cluster analysis, and it is more precise in calculations which do not leave researchers with illogical answers. Both cluster and factor analysis can be applied to any problem of typology. Factor analysis can also be applied to other subjects such as to the data of comparative linguistics and to archeological data. Northwest California “tribes” study serves as factors in clarifying their definitions of factor and cluster analysis.
Driver and Schuessler talk about two main kinds of errors that can be seen in factor and cluster analysis: observational and sampling. Observational error is the accuracy of reliability coefficients. Sampling error is the representiveness of data and of correlations arises from them. After observational and sampling errors are the descriptions of Q-technique and R-Technique. R-Technique refers to correlations between different abilities or test results. Q-Technique refers to correlations of individuals performances of a series of tests. The last point this article talks about is factor. The authors use the study of 16 northwest California tribes to describe the variation and classification of the tribes.
In concluding, the authors bring up their belief that factor analysis is a useful tool in classifying large numbers of variables and make them intercorrelated.
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ANH NGUYEN Barnard College (Paige West)
Edmunson, Munro S. Kinship Terms and Kinship Concepts. America Anthropologist 1957 Vol. 59 (3): 393-433.
This article presents the results of an examination of kinship terminology in Europe and Southwestern North America. The analysis includes conceptual variations in kinship terms comparatively in relation to cultural diffusion and patterning. It is possible to represent all the varieties of terminologies of close kinship in two areas. The elements of analysis are the numbered persons of kinship, relationships between the persons (generation, mating, and accidentals), and attributes of the persons (age and sex). A kinship set is established as a category of relatives defined by one or more relationships, and a kinship element is a subdivision of the former qualified by person and attribute. A kinship term is a single linguistic form applied to one or more kinship elements.
Additionally, there are two typological constructs: a set-type which the configuration of elements within a set; and a term-type which is the configuration of kinship elements that define a kinship term. These set-types and term-types were compared for similarity between languages for evidence of the concluded structure of terminology and for the existence and impact of this terminological structure. A percentage index was used to show these comparisons among languages. Researchers concluded that kinship systems are subject to change at varying rates and times although they maintain a level of internal consistency.
Upon conclusion of the external relationships among languages using the established terminological system, the internal structure was examined. The existing typology only included a part of the symmetry of the arrangement of terms, so it was suggested to use a system that incorporated general concepts shared by related languages. All of the European languages and the majority of the Southwestern languages were found to display conceptual symmetries. The concepts of kinship found in the areas studied are as follows: lineal in western Europe and Tiwa; tri-generational in northwestern Europe; five-generational in southern and eastern Europe; concentric in Yuman, Piman, and Apachean; relative in Tiwa; and sex of reference in Germanic areas.
The description of conceptual regularities in kinship systems may clarify some of the confusion in this field of study. This study used wide geographic areas as the basic unit for analysis. It explained the anomalies of the kinship classification system and stressed the crucial need for accuracy of reporting the kinship field.
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ERICA STONE University of Pennsylvania (Melvyn Hammarberg)
Edmonson, Munro S. Kinship Terms and Kinship Concepts. American Anthropologist 1957 Vol. 59: 393-415.
This article focuses on the use of Kinship terms and concepts amongst different cultures and geographical areas. It does not focus solely on one segment of time or one location, but instead makes the attempt of tying together multiple terms and concepts and looking at their uses. Numerous diagrams, including an entire appendix, are provided to aid the reader in following the discussion of kinship terms and concepts. Examples of a number of historical cultures that many people want to study in modern times, such as the Romans, etc., are included. The primary area of examination is Europe and the American Southwest, comprising a total of 31 European and 35 American systems.
They proceed by defining the situation and terms and then moving on into analysis of terms and situations. They then explain how to use the kinship system to focus attention and understanding on certain essential characteristics, notably numbers of kin terms in a given culture and how they are used. A hypothesis of constant rate of change is used to provide some context to the actual usage of terms and concepts and their survivability into the modern era. Also, this article examines other hypotheses such as the independence of sets, universal patterning, and typological consistency. Finally, the article uses the information and tools it imparts to analyze the kinship terms and concepts of a large group, the European and Americans. This analysis provides an interesting insight into the nature of kinship in the modern counterparts of these regions.
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JAMES STREET York University (Naomi Adelson)
Firth, Raymond. Siegfried Frederick Nadel. American Anthropologist. 1957 59; 117-122
This article is an obituary of the late Siegfried F. Nadel. The article examines his life achievements and illustrates the great influence his work had on the discipline of anthropology. Nadel was born in Vienna, where he later wed his wife Elizabeth and proceeded to study musicology. In addition to music, Nadel saw an interest in philosophy and psychology from where he graduated as Dr. Philosophy in November of 1925. In 1930, Nadel published a book on musical typology. He joined the team of two other students with the aim of studying the musicology of primitive peoples at the Phonogrammarchiv in Berlin. During the same time Nadel began the study of African languages at the University of Berlin.
The Rockefeller Fellowship, which enabled Nadel to have post graduate training in anthropological field research in Africa, was awarded to him in 1932. Nadel studied at the London School of Economics under the guidance of Malinowski, and was labeled as one of the Mandarins, those that brought experience as well as intellectual animation to the seminars. Nadel began his fieldwork in Nigeria in 1933 and received his Ph. D in anthropology from the London School of Economics. Nadel enlisted in the Sudan Defense Force in 1941 and later during that same year transferred to the British army were he was positioned as the Secretary of Native Affairs as well as the Deputy Chief Secretary, Nadel held these positions till his release from the army in 1944.
The first chair of anthropology at the University of Australia was appointed to Nadel in 1950. Nadel was found throughout the world lecturing his experiences of war and his field research done in Nigeria and Sudan. Nadel hoped to examine the foundations that brought about the knowledge that we had of all societies. Nadel had stated that anthropologist needed to leave their own surroundings and study more in depth the areas that were outside of their surroundings.
Nadel died in 1956 in the midst of developing an innovative theoretical perspective for the field. His work is still much respected – decades later.
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TAMAR PAPISMEDOV York University (Naomi Adelson)
Fischer, J. L. Totemism on Truk and Ponape. American Anthropologist April, 1957 Vol. 59 (2):250-265.
In this article, Fischer addresses the differences that exist between two genetically related high island cultures, Truk and Ponape. These two cultures, separated by nearly 400 miles of open sea, are similar in that they both have customs and beliefs about animals, known as totemic. However, while the Ponape culture exhibits classical sib or clan totemism, the Truk culture exhibits something more of an individual totemism. Both cultures have exogamous matrilineal sibs, yet there exist significant differences between the totemism among the two cultures. Truk totemism is connected with curing, while the connection of animals with medicine and disease is generally weak on Ponape.
Fischer examines the cultural basis of these differences. First, sib totemism prevalent on Ponape is probably due intense conflicts of individual and lineage duties and privileges. Also noteworthy is the relatively strong conflict concerning maternal dependence in childhood on the Ponape. On the Truk, medicinal totemic emphasis is compatible with intense conflicts of interest between older and younger generations. While these types of conflicts may not be unique to only one culture, the emphasis or intensity of the conflict in one culture is most likely the primary factor explaining the differences in totemic practices.
Fischer ends the article by emphasizing the need to look beyond cultures with exogamous sibs or with intense childhood conflict over parental dependence for classical sib totemism. Instead, factors intensifying the conflict for members of the society between their interests as individuals and their interests as sib or lineage members should be sought out. The author also emphasizes the need for cross-cultural comparisons between pairs or groups of related cultures either possessing or lacking totemism. Such large scale testing would help reduce irrelevant variation due to separate historical traditions.
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NEHA SHAH University of Pennsylvania (Melvyn Hammarberg)
Fischer, J.L. Totemism on Truk and Ponape. American Anthropologist 1957 Vol.59:250-265.
The author looks at two related cultures, the Truk and Ponape on the Eastern Caroline Islands, to study the struggle an individual experiences between his role as a sib and a lineage member. Fisher finds that the Ponape culture is more highly developed than Truk and questions the reason for this difference. Through his argument and comparison of sib totemism on the Eastern Caroline Islands, we find that the culture must be studied and looked for on a number of levels.
Fisher looks at personal conflicts within the social structure of the cultures and at the culture of totemism for the Truk and Ponape peoples. It is made apparent to the reader that Ponape and Truk are strikingly different simply through their political structures. Ponape’s is more highly developed and complex, partly due to their larger population size. They have an organized political structure that differentiates the members along hierarchical lines. A member’s rank is partly determined by their age and the chronological age of their mothers, so that a struggle exists between generationally similar members. Prestige is equated with food among the Ponape people as a way to divide food sources with little conflict. Truk, however, have a simple and primitive political structure. It is such that there exists an equal distribution of food sources and less of a struggle between generations for coveted titles. Their lifestyle is based more on co-operation and community than Ponape, where co-operation exists only as a means of furthering one’s goals. Truk does experience conflict, as there is a constant struggle between generations. The culture seems to be divided between those that are taken care of and those that do the caring. Without a strict political structure it becomes difficult for the people to decide when they switch out of one role and into another. Hence, conflict exists between the elders and juniors in terms of responsibility and lineage order.
Fisher then looks at the differences between totemistic culture between the two groups. Ponape has been able to develop to classical sib totemism where the myths are familiar to all sib members and these myths control many of their practices and beliefs. Truk has only developed to the more primitive individual medical totemsim. The culture is based on medical practices but only the owner of certain practices and a few students hold knowledge of the medicine. Variation exists from person to person so that the community as a whole is not familiar with the practices.
The author’s presentation of the differing cultures shows the reader that at first glance Truk may not appear to be a totemist culture as it is not as fully developed as the Ponape. However, close examination of their practices shows us that totemism is primitive on Truk as is their political structure, but it exists nonetheless. Ponape has been able to more fully develop due to their larger population size, which necessitates more complex structure to avoid conflict. We should look for classic sib totemism wherever there exists a conflict between members of the society between their individual interests and their interests as a sib member.
CLARITY RANKING: 2
KARA STEWART York University (Naomi Adelson)
Freed, A. Stanley. Suggested Type Societies in Acculturation Studies. American Anthropologist February, 1957 Vol. 59 (1): 55-67
The author of this article writes that small ethnic groups who undergo acculturation feel that their way of life is being threatened, which causes them to react by trying to preserve the parts of its culture which it holds in the highest regard. He writes about “boundary maintaining mechanisms” such as rituals and languages that are used as a shield against the invading outside culture. The author writes that these maintaining mechanisms alone are not enough to save a culture, and he writes that other factors such as the society’s social organization and its cultural patterns are also very important.
In his paper the author discusses a number of societies with successful ways of maintaining their culture. Two main societies are studied. They are the shtetl Jews of Eastern Europe and the Old Order Amish of Pennsylvania. The societies are discussed in detail and compared to each other. The author then gives example of different societies, which failed to preserve their culture, and he attempts to explain the reasons for their failure.
The main difference between the Amish and the shtetl Jews is that fact that the shtetl contains a group of specialists who are dedicated only to maintaining the distinctive features of their life and culture from outside influences. The author writes that the Amish lacks such specialists and their culture’s maintenance is due to the equal responsibility among the adult members of the society. The Amish exhibit a strong means of social control to maintain their culture.
CLARITY RANKING: 3
GREG ENGLISH University of Pennsylvania (Melvyn Hammarberg)
Freed. Stanley A. Suggested Type Societies in Acculturation Studies. American Anthropologist 1957 Vol. 59:55-67.
The general issue of this article is the reaction that is a result of when an ethnic group (undergoing acculturation) feels that its beliefs, practices, and other ways of life are being threatened. Freed concludes that this perpetuative – rational nativistic movement lies in the way the society is organized and culture how it maintains its cultural patters.
The author describes many different societies where this perpetuative movement is present, but focuses on two ethnic groups: The shtetl (small-town) Jews of Eastern Europe and the Old Order Amish of Pennsylvania. The two societies are discussed in
great detail. Themes such as religion, education, wealth, class, readiness for change, controlling deviants, and endogamy are discussed. Other societies, or ethnic groups, are also analyzed and are shown be similar to either the Amish or the shtetl society.
According to Freed, the shtetl and the Amish represent two different ways of approaching the problem of preserving traditional culture in the ever-changing world. The difference
between these societies and their approaches is that the shtetl consist of defined social classes, whereas the Amish is characteristic of a lack of this type of system. Also the shtetl possess a group of ‘specialists’ who are responsible for protecting the society from the outside world. On the other hand, the adults among the Amish population are given this responsibility, which results in strong social control. The author concludes his
discussion of perpetuative movements by emphasizing the fact that these two types of societies and approaches are tentative due to the fact that they are based on the studies of a limited number of societies. Also he concluded that the Amish type society movement occurs more often, when compared to the shtetl type movement.
CLARITY RATING: 4
NEETA K. MAKHIJA Columbia University (Paige West)
Garn, Stanley M. Race and Evolution. American Anthropologist April, 1957 Vol. 59 (2):218-224.
Stanley Garn’s article focuses on the rather recent debate of whether race is as static as once thought, or evolving. While recognizing that evidence for evolution in man is very hard to target, Garn suggests its existence is not only possible; it is likely. He examines different traits that distinguish one race from another and evaluates the possibility of their adaptive values.
Garn first discusses the previously held theories by scientists and anthropologists alike that racial traits are nonadaptive. As he points out, Earnest Hooton in Up from the Ape stressed that nonadaptive bodily traits were the determining factors in racial criteria. This view of race holds that race is simple, and it does not change. It holds that the features distinguishing races thousands of years ago are the same as the ones today. Such logic prompts the question, “If races do not change, how did races come to be?”
His question leads to an investigation of evolutionary mechanisms operating on races. He discusses the Rh factor and its adaptive value, and how it is probable that Rh+/Rh- rates have probably evolved and will probably continue to evolve in the American white populate because of this adaptive value. Heterozygosity in the ABO blood system and heterozygosity in the gene for Mediterranean anemia also prove to be advantageous for its carriers and racially adaptive.
Garn successfully attempts to lead the reader to two conclusions. The first is that human races can change, and the second is that the traits distinguishing races from one another can undergo natural selection and are not taxonomically fixed.
Garn concludes by highlighting the fact that races can change rapidly in the course of a few generations, and therefore, the search for ancestors is much more complicated than originally thought. He stresses that because there is no guarantee that genes once considered neutral can later prove to be adaptive, the academic community must focus on studying change rather than constancy. He admits that documenting and explaining change are challenging if not daunting tasks, but these challenges should be confronted and accepted by the academic community.
CLARITY RANKING: 4
NEHA SHAH University of Pennsylvania (Melvyn Hammarberg)
Garn, Stanley. Race and Evolution. American Anthropologist. 1957 Vol. 59:218-223
In his article Race and Evolution, Garn challenges the notion that race is fixed, unchanging and static. Characteristics that distinguish one race from another, such as blood type and skin colour have always been considered constants, neither adaptive nor inadaptive, but adaptively neutral. These characteristics are reexamined by Garn to theorize whether race is adaptive or genetically static.
Unlike Darwinian thought that assumes evolution occurs in whole species, Garn contends that individual races also evolve. Garn believes in the importance of looking beyond differences between races to the differences within a race. One focus of his argument centers on the survival advantage(s) of different blood groups of people from different races. His research refers to the adaptive genes found in those people living in the world’s malaria zones. These people who are carriers of Thallasemia trait and sickle cell trait are genetically protected against malaria. Based on this notion, migration of a race would lead to a change in the frequency of genes, thus indicating evolution in that race. The other central point in his discussion relates to how the proportion of the Rh blood factors may change within a race. Garn believes Rh factors and blood groups could be a useful marker of evolution within a race.
Based only on theories and assumptions, Garn’s work, as depicted in this article, is not substantiated by any offer of proof showing change in gene frequency over time.
CLARITY RANKING: 2
MARCIE GOLDMAN York University (Naomi Adelson)
Geertz, Clifford. Ritual and Social Change: A Javanese Example. American Anthropologist February, 1957 Vol. 59 (1): 32-54.
The main idea of this author’s article suggests that one of the major reasons for the inability of functional theory to cope with social change can be found in its failure to treat sociological and cultural processes on equal terms. He writes that usually one of these two is ignored which leads to one of them becoming exactly like the other until one part of this culture looks like it came directly from the other. He writes that elements of social change that arise from the failure of cultural patterns to be the same as each other are often not capable of formulation.
The author writes that revisions in functional theory which would make them capable of dealing with historical materials should begin with the attempt to distinguish between the cultural and social aspects of human life, and to treat these as being independent from each other. He says that in most societies change is often a characteristic rather than an abnormal occurrence. He writes that in these differences anthropologists find some of the primary forces for driving social change. Throughout this article he uses the Javanese as an example for his work.
CLARITY RANKING: 3
Greg English University of Pennsylvania (Melvyn Hammarberg)
Geertz, Clifford. Ritual and Social Change – a Javanese Example. American Anthropologist Vol 59:32-54
This article deals with the religious split in Java that occurred at the turn of the 20th century from a unified syncretic mix of Buddhism, Islam and animism to a two-religion system of Islam and Buddhism-animism. The syncretic religion intertwined components of the three source belief systems, creating a functional social system in which religious principles were imbedded. The split is partially political and partly religious, but the social and religious observances in Java do not yet reflect the split.
Some of the conflicts experienced by the Javanese as they adapt to world pressures and transition from a unified rural peasant society to a stratified urban society are documented in the article. Culturally, the Javanese are still peasants, but socially they have become urbanites. The central rural ritual form is the slametan, a communal meal shared with the neighbors in contiguous houses, regardless of occupation or religious affiliation. The slametan is an intrinsic part of all rites of passage. In urban society, this ritual form is less effective since neighbors are not necessarily known, and the neighborhood reflects divergence in ideology, class, occupation and politics rather than the commonality and inter-reliance that is characteristic of rural environments.
This article describes how the split manifested itself during the funeral of a 10-year old boy. In Java, a funeral is normally a low-key event, but in this instance it became the focus of religio-political friction. The problems were caused by trying to separate the source rituals, to ensure that the non-Islamic aspects were the only ones observed. The funeral became the pivot for a discussion of the religious and political struggle, rather than a rite of passage.
The author’s contention is that the religious disintegration of the Javanese syncretic religion has destroyed the basic meaning of their cultural practices and transformed them to political posturing. Politics have become the battleground for sacrelized bitterness. The disrupted funeral reflects the lag time that is being experienced between the physical urbanization of Javanese peasants and changes to their cultural behaviors.
Belief and ritual reinforce traditional social ties between individuals, so religion tends to preserve, rather than transform, social structure. If the social structure is changed through external sources a dislocation exists between the basic belief systems of a society and their social systems or pattern of social integration.
CLARITY RANKING: 4
CAROL ANNE ROBINSON York University (Naomi Adelson)
Goodman, Mary Ellen. Values, Attitudes, and Social Concepts of Japanese and American Children American Anthropologist 1957 Vol.59: 979-999
This article analyzes the value-attitude-concept systems of school children in Japan and the United States by examining their occupational aspirations. Goodman’s analysis can be broadened into an understanding of patterns and themes in the nations where these children’s ideologies have been molded. Goodman gathered her information by assigning and reading essays written by school children in both countries. The first collection of work Goodman examines are essays on occupational choices by Japanese and American boys. She finds that boys from both nations share an intense interest in sports (especially baseball) and in indifference for the arts. They differ greatly in terms of specialized occupations. Japanese boys want to be sailors, while American boys want to be pilots. The most striking differences, Goodman notes, are between religious and military roles. The author next discusses the occupational choices of girls of both nations. Girls are less interested in sports, the military, or religion; nor do they express interest in domestic careers, business or the professions. Most want specialized careers in teaching or the arts (dressmaking in Japan, and hairdressing in the US). The following sections go on to compare the proportion of girls interested in professions choosing a particular one, the proportion of girls interested in specialties choosing one, reasons for occupational choices given by both boys and girls.
The reasons children give are divided into “others-orientations” (societal or individual) and “self-orientations” (satisfaction, fame, money). The author notes that girls are more likely to want to make family happy, and the boys want to make family proud. Goodman also uses her studies as evidence that sharp sex-role differentiation exists. Japanese children ignore military careers, reflecting their countries belief in peace, and American children lust for military careers, reflecting America’s vigorous patriotism.
This essay is rather lengthy in declaring what is quite obvious, that Japan is caught between Westernization and Japanese tradition, and that America is culturally imperialistic and patriotic. Goodman’s arguments are not as entirely convincing as her methods are. Teachers in the US and in Japan may find this article particularly interesting.
CLARITY RANKING: 4.5
LENYA BLOOM University of Pennsylvania (Melvyn Hammarberg)
Gould, Harold A. The Implications of Technological Change for Folk and Scientific Medicine. America Anthropologist 1957 Vol. 59 (3): 507-516.
Although some research has been conducted on the functional role of folk medicine within a specific culture, there is very little general material available on the interactions between modern and primitive forms of medical practice. This essay addresses the problems of the convergence of modern medicine and folk medicine through data obtained in seven months of field work among peasant villagers in North India.
Typically, the nonscientific approach to disease called “country medicine’ or village medicine” prevails in North India. For the most part, this form of medicine has a beneficial effect, but the villager is both unaware of and unconcerned with the rational basis for this practice. Folk medicine is utilized in cases of chronic nonincapacitating dysfunctions characterized by long period of suffering, only partially debilitating and usually non-fatal.
“Doctor medicine” is the modern, scientific approach to disease including therapeutic services rendered by doctors, nurses, and technicians. Most often this form of medicine is a last resort only when the folk procedures have proved ineffectual. However, it is also employed in cases of chronic incapacitating ailments involving sudden and violent onsets and rather complete debilitation in at least one aspect of an individual’s life.
There continues to be much competition in North India villages between folk and scientific forms of medicine. Since all men must work to assure subsistence, there is a strong motivation to overcome critical disabilities as rapidly and quickly as possible. Statistics do show the peasants’ growing dependence upon medical science for treatment of critical incapacitating illnesses.
Economic status and well being are two variables that have influenced the paths through which scientific medical traditions enter primitive villages. One of the major goals of the central government is to realign the caste system leading to ultimate supremacy of scientific over folk medicine, especially in areas where folk medicine is particularly unsuccessful. Data verifies the conclusion that economic abundance contributes to the practice of scientific medicine, while poverty is associated with the usage of folk medicine. Many villagers report that they use folk remedies only when scientific medicines are unobtainable, often because they are unaffordable. Although the overall trend appears to be moving toward the adoption of scientific therapy, folk medicine will probably never wholly disappear from Indian rural life.
CLARITY RANKING: 5
ERICA STONE University of Pennsylvania (Melvyn Hammarberg)
Hallowell, A. Irving. The Impact of the American Indian on American Culture. American Anthropologist April, 1957 Vol. 59 (2):201-212.
Hallowell in his article examines the impact of native populations in the Americas upon the European cultural tradition in the New World. He seeks to demonstrate how these influences vary among nations and whether the differences can be explained. Hallowell gives a history of academic publications on the topic of Native American influence on American culture. He describes the impact on all aspects of culture, mentioning everything from corn to moccasins to literature.
He emphasizes the complexity of cultural interchange in Hispanic American culture, yet he also emphasizes the less obvious but equally important cultural consequences of Native American influence on the United States. Hallowell categorizes historians writing on this topic into two categories. One view dictates that the impact of Native American culture was in no way significant in the shaping of American democracy and nationalism. This view portrays Native American influence as a cultural step downward in order to make possible a cultural leap ahead on a higher progressive level. The alternate view recognized the significance of native cultures on the development of the United States.
The author writes at length about nineteenth-century fiction and the various themes that emerged in the portrayal of frontier interaction. He ends by stressing the importance of not overlooking the influence of native cultures on the culture, character, and psyche of Americans. Hallowell calls for a reevaluation of the impact of native cultures in all aspects of American life today. This article makes several well written and developed points, which were probably novel at the time it was written.
CLARITY RANKING: 5
NEHA SHAH University of Pennsylvania (Melvyn Hammarberg)
Hamamsy, Laila. The Role of Women in a Changing Navaho Society. American Anthropologist February, 1957 Vol. 59 (1): 101-112
Laila Hamamsy, the author of this article, did her field work for this paper in the Fruitland Irrigation Project in San Juan County, at the northwestern corner of New Mexico. She collected her data mainly through open-ended interviews. Hamamsy discusses three ways in which the role of women in Navaho society have changed from their traditional role. The first is her economic position, the second is her significance within the family unit, and the third is her sense of security within the family.
The author writes that the world of the Navaho has drastically changed and that the men have been compensated for this change in lifestyle by wage work to replace the declining livestock economy. Women on the other hand have not replaced the loss of their sheep farming and in the process they have lost their economic independence. To survive in the increasingly white society, women must depend on the men for their economic stability. The husband is now the only economic provider in the family. Hamamsy writes, ” Navaho men are adjusting to the changing conditions by increasingly adopting the life and culture of the white world, but the women are being left stranded on the reservation.” Middle aged women, who once were highly respected and given prestige and wealth in the traditional Navaho society, now are in the poorest category of women without male providers.
After a new land policy was initiated in 1933, only men were eligible for land on the condition that they made proper use of it. Women who were traditionally important land owners were now not allowed to buy land. The only way a woman could gain land was through her husband. Families in the Navaho area were unable to survive only on farming and the men were forced to get jobs in the white communities around Fruitland. Men now were the sole providers of economic support within the family. In her interview Hamamsy finds that only 11 women out of 43 interviewed had ever held a job. When these women did find work it was a poorly paying job in comparison to the men. The author tells the reader that with the males working in the white communities this left the women to do all of the house and farm work. Women in Navaho society have not only lost their economic position in the society, but they have also lost some of the respect and prestige that was once given to a woman in traditional Navaho society.
CLARITY RANKING: 3
Greg English University of Pennsylvania (Melvyn Hammarberg)
Hamamsy, Laila. The Role of Women in a Changing Navaho Society. American Anthropologist 1957 Vol. 2 101-111
Laila Hamamsy’s article illustrates the drastic changes in the Navaho economic pattern within a twenty year time frame. She shows the direct effects on women’s economic position within the family base as well as the transition of the redefining role of Navaho women.
The author focuses on life in the Fruitland. Hamamsy suggests that there are three bearings of the women’s role that have been affected by the social and economic changes: her economic position, the significance of her function and her bargaining standpoint in the family. The economic position is drawn by a need to obtain the “white man’s” possessions. Her function within the family is based upon economic wealth and material goods, which is far from their traditional society. Bargaining within the family has diminished due to the absence of support from close relatives. This, in turn, lessens the significance of her functions that has greatly lowered the bargaining position in the family.
Hamamsy concludes that the Navaho women have become subject to a changing economic position that inevitably has altered the roles and functions of the women within the family unit.
CLARITY RANKING: 4
SIMON ISRAEL York University (Naomi Adelson)
Harper, Edward B. Hoylu: A Belief Relating Justice and the Supernatural. American Anthropologist 1957 Vol. 59:801-816
The author’s objective is “to show how a particular religious concept, called a hoylu, is related to the social structure of a caste-stratified village in South India, and how the expression of this belief changes as other aspects of the culture change”. A hoylu occurs when a person has been cheated and is “a plea for the help of a spirit to remedy an injustice”. A hoylu is often held in response to land disputes, stolen goods (such as jewelry), or unpaid debts. In some cases, a Havik Brahmin might lend money to someone of a lower caste in exchange for his labor. “Haviks frequently tried to prevent “servants” from breaking off the relationship or tried to recoup their money by threatening to give a hoylu”. In hoylus for stolen jewelry, it too is often the higher caste person holding the hoylu against the poor. However, this is usually reversed in cases of land disputes. In these cases, it is usually the lower classes holding the hoylu, as they are more dependent on their land than those who are better off. However, as time moves on and the economy changes, land is constantly being divided among the generations, leaving little land to dispute.
In his article, the author provides substantial information regarding the hoylu. There is in depth discussion, with examples, of why a hoylu is held and the practices associated with them. However, there is little evidence to support the thesis proposed at the beginning of the article. The caste system is barely touched upon in the different uses of hoylu among differing classes. As the culture changes, the role of literacy and land division was briefly mentioned.
Although the author’s objectives are achieved, attention seemed to focus on the more general idea of the hoylu, as opposed to the author’s specific goals. This article must be read carefully, as there is also some confusion, as the author compares two separate cultures simultaneously.
CLARITY RANKING: 2
Dayle J. Bekier University of Pennsylvania (Melvyn Hammarberg)
Harris, Grace. Possession “Hysteria” in a Kenya Tribe American Anthropologist 1957 Vol.6: 1046-1067
In this article Harris investigates possession hysteria as a feminine social disease stemming from cultural inequalities in material goods distribution between the sexes. Harris focuses on the Waitaita people of Kenya, and refers to the attacks as saka. Married women are particularly susceptible to saka, and attacks can be brought on by a desire for a particular thing (sugar, male blood, cigarettes, entertainment), which is usually forbidden to women. Harris has broken desires into three categories: 1) cigarettes, bananas, a husband’s blood, washing water from men; 2) nondurable purchased goods like clothing, sugar, cloth; and 3) items of foreign provenance: car, train whistle, foreign words, a fez. Saka is often referred to as “a matter of the heart” among the Waitaita, because for them, illnesses of the heart involve abnormal cravings, fears, or urges.
Waitaita women are completely excluded from fiscal competition and achievement. However, the socially ordained concerns with housekeeping and food production and allocation gives them a natural awareness of money and the consumer goods which money can buy. But while men can have land (often from the wife’s family) livestock, material goods etc., with the money they earn, women have no way of purchasing things themselves. In saka attacks, then, women are portrayed as “uncontrollable consumers” with no experience of the outside world and who acknowledge the prestige attached to masculine activities and possessions but cannot feel any indisputable ownership. Women are shown to contrast with men in every way possible, and the symbol of this contrast is saka, a personal malady.
This article has an excess of information but makes a clear portrayal of its argument. It does not strive for an emic understanding of saka, but gives an intelligent description of the social impetus for possession hysteria.
CLARITY RANKING: 4
LENYA BLOOM University of Pennsylvania (Melvyn Hammarberg)
Harris, Grace. Possession “Hysteria” in a Kenya Tribe. American Anthropologist 1957. Vol.59:1046-1066.
In this article the author is primarily concerned with spirit possession in Africa and it’s treatment. This article is a short excerpt of ethnographic fieldwork carried out from July 1950 to August 1952. It describes spirit possession occurring in Wataita Taita society that is referred to as the saka complex. The saka complex has numerous aspects: the set of characteristics to which people give the name saka; the distribution in the population of susceptibility to attack; the immediate causes of the attacks; the form of treatment, and Taita notions about saka.
The article’s basic argument is that the saka complex sanctions a roundabout acknowledgment of conflict concerning gender relations within this society. Saka attacks primarily afflict women within Wataita society. The beginning of saka occasionally exhibits signs of onset, restlessness and anxiety. However, sometimes without forewarning, a woman may be possessed. Spirit possession manifests itself characteristically by convulsive movements, repetition of behavior, and glossolalia. The treatment of saka varies. What is important to notice is that most remedies deal with the grant of what is appealed for by the spirit at great cost to the men involved with the women being possessed. The first includes things that are normally forbidden to women that are usually the concern of men according to the author. The second comprises purchased goods of a non-durable kind: clothing, sugar, and cloth. The third, includes items of foreign paraphernalia to be given to the women during the attack to satisfy and promote healing or to end the possession. The saka complex supports a mature understanding of the relationship between normal and abnormal behavior. This field investigation is important for social anthropologists because it contributes to the analysis and interpretation of behavior in social terms.
The ethnography is constructed reasonably well, albeit brief. The fieldwork carried out is a comparative analysis to exemplify possession behavior in Africa. The author begins with informing the reader of a previous monograph written by Gerhard Lindblom and moves forward referring to many other social scientists who have completed fieldwork in this area of interest. Furthermore, Harris divides her ethnographic work into sections that allow the reader to follow the argument readily from the descriptive to the abstract; she submits her findings enthusiastically.
The author provides a reasonable argument providing easily accessible data. She provides detailed notes and references that are helpful to an improved understanding of the information being offered. The author has succeeded to produce a well-organized and detailed ethnological report that is easily followed. The data can be cross-referenced and properly examined in different forums that can provide a wide rage of information for scholars who are interested in this topic.
CLARITY RANKING: 5
GIROLOMA D’ALESSANDRO York University (Naomi Adelson)
Herskovits, J. Melville. Some Further Notes on Franz Boas’ Artic Expedition. American Anthropologist February, 1957 Vol. 59 (1): 112-116
The author of this article writes of Franz Boas’ decision to change his study during the course of his field research in the Artic. The author wrote the article in response to numerous comments by colleagues on the matter. Franz Boas departed for the Artic in order to study the physical world, and he later decided to study the psychological world of the Eskimos. Franz Boas’ decision to change his study in the field is considered to be important because it not only shaped his career, but it also shaped the development of Anthropology. Herskovits uses two letters to show Boas’ change of mind. First he uses a letter that Boas sent to his uncle six months before he departed for the Artic in 1882. This letter informs the reader that Boas’ purpose of going to the Artic was to study the geography and physical aspects of the Artic along with how the Eskimos used the knowledge of it in order to survive. Boas writes of his preparation for this trip, along with stating that he has learned the Eskimo language.
The second letter which was written by a friend of Boas’ daughter, Gladys Reichard , in 1955. She tells the reader the reason for Boas’ change of study in the Artic. She writes that Boas was disappointed with his research on the colors of seawater because his results were overly subjective. She writes, “He was interested in the geography of the country to which he was going and its physical aspects, and in depicting them with accuracy from the view point of physics. His life with the Eskimo made him change radically his predisposition to assign geographic influence as primary to the development of culture.” This letter shows that Boas decided to study the psychological aspects of life in the Artic, rather than the physical aspects.
The author writes that his change of study while in the field is important because many anthropologists go into the field with certain ideas and change them completely once their research is completed. Franz Boas teaches a valuable lesson to Anthropology in that field work should be flexible so that the reorientation of ones study is allowed.
CLARITY RANKING: 4
Greg English University of Pennsylvania (Melvyn Hammarberg)
Herskovits, Melville J. Some Further Notes on Franz Boas’ Arctic Expedition. American Anthropologist 1957 Vol. 59: 112-114.
The reasons for Franz Boas’s Arctic Expedition are presented here along with an argument that essentially states that Boas was indeed aware of what he was doing, as well as the consequences of his studies. We are provided a basic history of the situation, along with some analysis of what happened and why it is significant. As Franz Boas was the ‘father of modern anthropology’ it is important in the mind of the author to gain some more insight into this historic trip, one of Boas’ first fieldwork assignments. The author is quick to point out that Boas had chosen to study in the Arctic specifically to focus on the issue of how the environment can and will affect those living in it both physically and psychologically. In this case, Boas was studying Inuit peoples, hoping to gain insight into their lives and how their environment had affected them, specifically by studying their names for different colours of ocean. The end result of his research was not what he had intended from the beginning, but it did serve to assist him in increasing his flexibility to the results of his research.
The author uses some actual letters of Boas as well as his son to illustrate the consistent reasons for which Boas had travelled to the Arctic. These reasons were not necessarilly the end result of the data Boas gathered, but instead were the main determinant of his choice of location. Boas changed his reason upon completing his study in the Arctic, and the author posits that this is another reason to pay close attention to the letters he writes. Boas’ letters provides great insight into the reason he chose to conduct his study in the Arctic as well as what he was hoping to gain. Upon completion of his study, Boas realized that he needed to change his focus in order to take full advantage of what he learned, and did so. It is apparent that Boas teaches one of the most important lessons of anthropology, that the necessity of flexibility in the field is absolute.
CLARITY RANKING: 3
JAMES STREET York University (Naomi Adelson)
Herskovits, Melville. Some Further Notes on Franz Boas’ Arctic Expedition. American Anthropology, 1957 Vol (59): 112-116.
In “Some Further Notes on Franz Boas’ Arctic Expedition” Melville Herskovits
Demonstrates the some of the important contributions Boas made to American anthropology. In particular Melville speaks about Boas’ trip to the Eskimo in 1883-84 because it was that trip that shaped his career as an anthropologist.
Herskovits makes not specific contentions or arguments, but he does suggest that it is crucial for an anthropologist to spend time with the subjects of his or her research. Herskovits intends to clarify several points that he raised in his prior writings about Boas, and he presents letters written by Boas. One of the letters that Herskovits cites is the one that Boas wrote to his uncle that expressed interest in geographical studies of the Eskimos. Boas sought to further his career in the hard sciences by applying to a fellowship that he foresaw would earn him a professorship teaching geography. Boas was particularly interested in the relationship between the individual, their psychological being, and their environment. Boas’ experience with the Eskimos was not foreseen nor expected: Boas experience with the Eskimos radically influenced not only his worldview but also his career. Herskovits supposes that Boas’ experience was sharply defined the fact that he went into the field with preconceived notions of the Eskimos, and during his tenure those views changed as well as Boas’ understanding of how to understand people that seemed totally unlike himself. Herskovits underscores the point that “if the hypothesis concerning the reason for the discrepancy between his actual aims and his later statement of what he did is correct, we have here a valuable lesson in the importance of flexibility in the field situation.” Boas argued that one must collect massive amounts of data to make any solid but historically particular conclusion, and Herskovits furthers that point by contending that an anthropologist must behave much like Boas did in the field. An anthropologist should be flexible with their data and objectives, and consider various viewpoints.
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JOEL MARRERO Columbia University (Paige West)
Honigmann, John J. and Richard N. Carrera. Cross Cultural Use of Machover’s Figure Drawing Test. American Anthropologist 1957. Vol. 56 ( ): 650-654.
Honigmann and Carrera describe a study conducted upon Eskimo and Cree Indian children (grouped by age and gender) based on the use of human form drawing tests. The objective was to find out if there were any differences among the children psychologically, as there was a speculation that the Indian children would be more advanced based upon their greater integration into Canadian society. There was a common expectation that “intelligence might be below American norms in both cases” (650).
Four types of analyses were used to interpret the drawings. The first analysis is a subjective personality assessment by a psychologist, examining such issues as guilt about sex, low self-esteem, assertiveness and aggression. The second analysis looks at the same drawings and rates them on three scales based upon some of the above categories. The third analysis involves the use of the Goodenough drawing standards and the use of I.Q. scores. The fourth evaluation was based on the Machover drawing model.
Contrary to the original belief that the Indians would fare better, in two cases Eskimos were favoured, in I.Q. Indians were favoured and the use of the Machover test could not distinguish between the two.
The author concludes that the Machover test “offers little promise for anthropological field study” (654).
CLARITY RANKING: 5
AMANDA JONES York University (Naomi Adelson)
Honigmann, John J. and Carrera, Richard N. Cross-Cultural Use of Machover’s Figure Drawing Test. American Anthropologist. 1957 Vol. 59:650-654.
The purpose of this article is to present information, which may aid in evaluating the use of projective figure-drawing tests, for cross-cultural research.
Both Cree Indian and Eskimo children drew two pictures in a private, schoolroom setting. Because of the function of the Indian community’s more intense involvement in Canadian society, the hypothesis of this study was that the intelligence of the Attawpiskat children, as reflected in each pair of drawings, would be higher than that of the Eskimo children. After the children completed their drawings, a psychologist examined each pair to determine the child’s personality. Then, using a less subjective approach, the examiner again analyzed the same records, but this time used three rating scales that measure aggression-submission, dependence-independence, and the presence/absence of intrapersonal sexual conflicts. Additionally, the examiners applied the norms of Goodenough, and scored each set of drawings according to the Short Scale of Figure Drawing Items developed by Machover.
Although the research admittedly did not use sampling nor did the examiner have extensive previous interpreting experience, conclusions were reached. Indian boys proved to be more self-assertive than Eskimo boys, and, in both communities, girls showed more tension with the opposite sex than boys. However, the anthropologist chose to disregard the finding of a large difference in intelligence between the two groups due to the lurking variable of poor skill in drawing. For this reason, this article claims that’s Machover’s technique offers “little promise for anthropological field study.”
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ALISON SILBER University of Pennsylvania (Dr. Melvyn Hammarberg)
Honigmann, John J. and Carrera, Richard N. Cross Cultural Use of Machover’s Figure Drawing Test. American Anthropologist February, 1957 Vol. 59 (1): 650-654.
Honigmann and Carrera describe a study of Eskimo children in Quebec in 1950 and Cree Indian children in Ontario in 1955. They studied the children through drawings that the children made. They wanted to examine the psychological differences between Indian and Eskimo children because the assumption (or expectation) was that the Indian children would perform better because they were more assimilated in Canadian society than were the Eskimo children.
Honigmann and Carrera analyzed the drawings in four ways:
First, a psychologist examined each child’s two pictures to determine their personality in terms of feelings about sex, aggression and independence. This analysis led to the conclusion that the Indian children had more conflicts with sex, aggression and independence than Eskimo children, and that their personalities were less organized and more hostile.
Second, Honigmann and Carrera used a more objective type of analysis. The examiner used three categories (aggression-submission, dependence-independence, and the presence or lack of intrapersonal sexual conflicts) to rate their drawings. This analysis resulted in the idea that Indian children are sexually more maladjusted than Eskimo children, while aggression-submission and dependence-independence analyses led to no difference.
Third, they examined IQ scores and found that Indian children had a significantly higher IQ mean than Eskimo children.
Fourth, they used the Machover drawing model to determine the correlation between personality and perception of surroundings, as a greater correlation was more desirable. This analysis resulted in little difference between Indian and Eskimo children.
The assumption before the study was that Indian children would perform better because of Canadian integration, but they only performed better in the IQ test. In fact, Eskimo children were better adjusted (especially sexually) than Indian children. (They also found that girls had more sexual tension than boys). And Honigmann and Carrera dismissed the significant IQ difference because it could be attributed to a lack of drawing skill. They therefore concluded that Machover’s test is almost useless in field studies.
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NATHALIE NEPTUNE Columbia College (Paige West)
Howard, James H. The Mescal Bean Cult of the Central and Southern Plains: An Ancestor of the Peyote Cult? American Anthropologist 1957 Vol.59:75-86
In this piece, the author explains, some of the features of a mescal bean cult amongst twelve tribes of the Plains and the Southwest and shows how the mescal bean influenced these places.
From his work, Howard was able to determine two forms of the cult, the first being what he calls a magical “shooting” of mescal beans with the help of animal skins and the second being more closely associated with the modern peyote ritual. Howard clearly proves that the mescal bean was commonly used amongst these cults as a narcotic drink as well as a powerful fetish. By comparing the accounts of those from the Apache, Comanche, Delaware, Iowa, Kansas, Omaha, Oto, Osage, Pawnee, Ponca, Tonkawa and Wichita tribes, he provides examples of how the mescal bean affected their lives. The Apache tribe found it useful to use the bean as a force to enhance their normal ability to perform daily tasks. The Comanche believed it encouraged them to dance more efficiently. Delaware made use of the bean more ritualistically , whereas Iowa felt it improved their dance and enhanced their medicine. The Kansas tribe made use of it as a “fetish” and Omaha used it for medicinal purposes. All of the Oto, the Osage, the Tonkawa and the Wichita made effective use of the bean as narcotic and well as for dance and medicine.
Regardless of its use, the mescal bean played an extremely prominent and essential role in the lives of those within the twelve tribes. The author successfully accomplishes what he set out to do by specifically describing the links that the mescal beans had to each tribe and providing a chart explaining their importance to each tribe. The paper is clear and easy to read.
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ANGELA ADU York University (Naomi Adelson)
Howard, H. James. The Mescal Bean Cult of the Central and Southern Plains: An Ancestor of the Peyote Cult? American Anthropologist February, 1957 Vol. 59 (1): 75-87.
The author of this article writes about a very important religious expression of Central and Southern Plains tribes known as the mescal bean cult. This cult centered on beans that were often used like medicines as an oral narcotic. In this article the author suggests that the mescal bean ceremony may have been an ancestor of the peyote cult.
The author writes that evidence indicates that the presence of the mescal bean cult existed in twelve tribes of the Plains and Southwest. These tribes include the Apache, Comanche, Delaware, Iowa, Kansa, Omaha, Oto, Osage, Pawnee, Ponca, Tonkawa, and Wichita. The author writes that there are two main forms of this cult. The first resembles the Midewiwin or Grand Medicine Lodge of the Central Algonquin tribes. A magical shooting of mescal beans occurs with the use of animal skins. The second form resembled the modern day peyote ritual. Both forms, however, used the mescal bean as a narcotic drink along with having magical ceremonies by shamans. Throughout this article the author draws many similarities between the mescal bean cult and the peyote bean cult to suggest the possibility that mescal bean cult is an ancestor of the peyote cult.
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Greg English University of Pennsylvania (Melvyn Hammarberg)
Kroeber, A.L. Gwendoline Harris Block (1906-1956). American Anthropologist February, 1957 Vol. 59(1): 125.
This obituary is about Gwendoline Harris Block, the editor of the anthropological publications of the University of California in Berkeley. She was born in Johannesburg, South Africa and came to the United States with her parents at the age of eight. After settling in San Francisco and graduating from high school in 1924, Block began her very first job. Under Edward W. Gifford, she became a museum helper at the University of California’s Museum of Anthropology. Some of Block’s daily tasks included typing and making book catalog entries. Later, she learned stenography and in 1928 she was named Assistant in Anthropology.
Block resigned from her position in the Museum when she married Doctor Coleman A. Block. Within a year, she went back to work in the Museum after it changed its location from San Francisco to Berkeley. At this time, Block became well known and recognized for her work. She began to regularly “style, edit, and proofread” (Kroeber 125) the teaching department’s publications.
Collaborating with Gifford in 1930, she published California Indian Nights Entertainments, a book full of “myths and tales from California tribes” (Kroeber 125). She also edited the book Essays in Anthropology in honor of Alfred Louis Kroeber in 1936 and was named Editor in Anthropology in 1938.
Block was a “highly intelligent, spirited, and courageous person, loyal, kindly, and thoroughly devoted” (Kroeber 125). She was greatly admired and respected by those who worked with her.
CLARITY RANKING: 5
CRYSTAL MARSONIA Barnard College (Paige West)
Kroeber, A.L. Gwendoline Harris Block (1906-1956). American Anthropologist February, 1957 Vol. 59(1): 125.
This obituary is about Gwendoline Harris Block, the editor of the anthropological publications of the University of California in Berkeley. She was born in Johannesburg, South Africa and came to the United States with her parents at the age of eight. After settling in San Francisco and graduating from high school in 1924, Block began her very first job. Under Edward W. Gifford, she became a museum helper at the University of California’s Museum of Anthropology. Some of Block’s daily tasks included typing and making book catalog entries. Later, she learned stenography and in 1928 she was named Assistant in Anthropology.
Block resigned from her position in the Museum when she married Doctor Coleman A. Block. Within a year, she went back to work in the Museum after it changed its location from San Francisco to Berkeley. At this time, Block became well known and recognized for her work. She began to regularly “style, edit, and proofread” (Kroeber 125) the teaching department’s publications.
Collaborating with Gifford in 1930, she published California Indian Nights Entertainments, a book full of “myths and tales from California tribes” (Kroeber 125). She also edited the book Essays in Anthropology in honor of Alfred Louis Kroeber in 1936 and was named Editor in Anthropology in 1938.
Block was a “highly intelligent, spirited, and courageous person, loyal, kindly, and thoroughly devoted” (Kroeber 125). She was greatly admired and respected by those who worked with her.
CLARITY RANKING: 5
CRYSTAL MARSONIA Barnard College (Paige West)
Lange, Charles H. Acculturation in the Context of Selected New and Old World Peasant Cultures. American Anthropologist. 1957 Vol.59:6, 1067-1073
This brief paper compares New World Pueblo Indian cultures with Old World Tyrolean cultures in the context of a new anthropological interest in Volkskunde, folklore. Lange holds that Pueblo Indians are Volkerkunde, while the Tyrolean culture is the aforementioned folklore. Lange argues that these two dissimilar cultures can only be compared through considerations of acculturation—its process and gradual outcome. He writes that, “there is an obvious advantage in working with cultures for which there is a long sequence of written records…” and thus responds to a few hypotheses about “peasant societies” that came before his own.
In the process of becoming acculturated, groups such as these reach a “peasant society” way of life intermediate between primitive culture and or urban culture. On the grounds that values of agricultural work, high levels of procreation, hard work, close family, marriage as a means, and patrilocal residence are of utmost importance to both Puebloan groups and Tyrolean groups, they can both be considered peasant societies. Therefore their processes of acculturation will be similar. Both groups are situated inland and have at one point or another been evangelized by the Roman Catholic Church. The church plays a role in their degrees of acculturation, as does an increasing tourist industry, and increasing availability of education.
The author does not so much convince the reader that the two cultures in question are comparable, as show where the comparisons might be possible, and on what grounds. This article is not a difficult read, and is a helpful way to begin considering incorporating new thought into new procedures of investigation.
CLARITY RANKING: 5
LENYA BLOOM University of Pennsylvania (Melvyn Hammarberg)
Levine, Morton H. Prehistoric Art and Ideology. American Anthropologist 1957 Vol. 59: 949-964
This is a relatively concise investigation of the similarities and differences between contemporary (to 1957) Australian aboriginal art, and Upper Paleolithic Art. Primarily the author refers to aboriginal art as the basis for his analogous interpretations of culture in art. Levine uses the existence of art to peer into and reconstruct cultural patterns for he maintains that “art of such a high level of achievement points to specialization of some sort within the groups.” He begins his comparisons by outlining themes in artistic behavior of indigenous Australians. Aboriginal art focuses on nature and man’s relationship to it, ceremony, and ritual. From this Levine concludes that art represents two relationships: “the life situation and belief, and belief and the practice of art.” The author then addresses potential contributions to the interpretation of prehistoric art in stylistic analysis, concluding that style reveals meaning in that it reflects selection and manner of depiction. In the following sections Levine attempts to interpret some features of Upper Paleolithic art. Handprints on cave walls, superimposed images of animal killings and anthropomorphic features, animals with darts sticking out of their hides are all examples that Levine ideologically and philosophically deconstructs. Finally, he uses his analyses to describe aspects of Upper Paleolithic culture, using the culture reflected in aboriginal art as a model. Levine finds that elements of religion, ritual, and naturalism relate of progressive learning on the part of Upper Paleolithic peoples.
This article is somewhat confusing, as the basis for comparison between aboriginal and Upper Paleolithic art is somewhat obscure. However, in his philosophical explanations as to why art mimics culture, Levine is clear and thorough. “Prehistoric Art and Ideology” raises interesting questions that merit further exploration.
CLARITY RANKING: 3.5
LENYA C. BLOOM University of Pennsylvania (Melvyn Hammarberg)
Levine, Morton H. Prehistoric Art and Ideology. American Anthropologist 1957. Vol.59:949-964.
This article addresses the issue of ancient peoples’ artwork is not merely a separate entity from culture, but that it instead reflects the culture as a whole and that culture’s ideology. The author’s basic argument is divided into two sections: what kind of controls on interpretation can be derived from the study of ethnographic materials; and what problems can be approached fruitfully through the analysis of styles of art? He uses Upper Paleolithic and aboriginal Australian art, specifically paintings and sculpture as evidence. He looks at Upper Paleolithic art to display problems in reconstruction of ideology and looks to aboriginal Australian art for examples of what ethnographic materials can provide by way of suggestions for and limitations on interpretation.
CLARITY RANKING: 2
WAYLAND GILL York University (Naomi Adelson)
Little, Kenneth. The Role of Voluntary Associations in West African Urbanization. American Anthropologist 1957 Vol.59: 579-596.
This article examines the relationship of associations in the urbanized settings of West Africa during colonial rule. The effect of ‘modernism’ has lead to new and different conditions of living for West Africans. Kenneth Little examines these effects through new uprisings of associations within the urban context and proposes that West Africa is still influenced by tribal culture during the process of adaptation.
He begins with the development of the new social effects created by new ‘Western’ cities in West Africa. The migration into these towns by men and women happen because of a new ideology of commerce that has been brought by the development of Western industries. These towns include a diversity of culture of a wide range, from colonists to many different tribes.
He then begins describing the types of voluntary associations as tribal unions, friendly societies, occupational associations and entertainment and also recreational associations. These associations consist of many diverse groups that have a variety of functions such as political, religious, and occupational. They grow out of the needs of people in this new urban environment. Tribal unions are usually based upon the connection of a family, clan or ethnic group. These groups help with many aspects of life but are mainly there to keep alive traditions such as tribal songs, history, language and beliefs. These help keep attachments with family lineage and/or native towns. Friendly societies are like tribal unions but consist of many tribes. The main objective of this group is to give aid and benefits to the members such as funeral benefits, charities and a mechanism to save money. There is usually a fee or monthly subscription that is acquired with these groups. The next form is the occupational association where a western-type union is formed. These associations are formed to control the supply of goods or price. They also work as a way of controlling the quality of services or commodities by limiting membership and having union dues. These work similar to western unions such as guilds of a specific trade. Finally, the last association he describes is the entertainment and recreational associations that provide dancing and musical entertainment. There are usually forms of traditional music being played with an admission fee charged to enter. There are also westernized ‘social clubs’ formed that hold dances, public functions and other activities.
He then remarks on the organization of the voluntary associations and separates them into three categories: ‘traditional’, ‘traditional-modernized’ and ‘modern’. ‘Traditional’ is usually for religious, occupational and/or recreational purposes. The persons involved are of the same village or town and are often related to other traditional institutions. The second, ‘traditional-modernized’, is somewhat the same as the latter but contains a moderate use of European culture. They tend to be tribally or regionally oriented but allow for more variability. The ‘modern’ association is more like a ‘social club’ of European standards and is usually a medium for social prestige. It contains a wide variety of peoples and is most common for sociability.
In conclusion, he mentions these voluntary associations as an adaptive mechanism to the new industrial economy and urban life. The tribal system changed because of new interests and ambitions; therefore the new associations are a way of dealing with these new developments. There becomes a different status structure in the urbanized towns giving a need for new functions by these associations. The voluntary associations help with new interests and human needs. He states there are two factors for the growth of these voluntary associations. One, the population is mostly immigrant and secondly, the adaptability of old traditional institutions. These conditions create the voluntary associations within urban towns of West Africa.
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JOHN PARENTE York University (Naomi Adelson)
Little, Kenneth. The Role of Voluntary Associations in West Africa Urbanization. American Anthropologist. 1957 Vol. 59:579-594.
Little argues that although the West African region was relatively unaffected by the modern world until the end of the 19th century, it began “culture contact,” or acculturation, after World War II. He believes that the cultural change did not simply begin because Africa adopted western values, such as Christianity, but because Africa had to reestablish itself within a new surrounding of these western values.
Instances of adoption of western culture include tribal unions. These tribal unions range from little unions, consisting of a few members of one large family or clan, to much larger bodies which are collections of little unions. West Africa additionally took on friendly societies, tribal societies with a primary objective of mutual aid and benefit. Friendly societies generally rank their members by class, while simultaneously attempting to provide funeral benefits, charity, and financial investment advice. West Africa also formed occupational associations to control the supply/price of commodities within a trade as well as entertainment and recreational associations, which generally involve dancing and musical forms of entertainment.
These voluntary associations West Africa formed generally fall within three categories, those which concern: traditional activities (traditional associations), traditional activities manipulated to serve modern purposes (traditional-modernized associations), and completely modern objectives (modern associations.) These categorizations of associations embody the different roles associations play in the acculturation of West Africa, the roles being the essence of Little’s article.
CLARITY RANKING: 5
ALISON SILBER University of Pennsylvania (Dr. Melvyn Hammarberg)
Little, Kenneth. The Role of Voluntary Associations in West African Urbanization. American Anthropologist August, 1957 Vol.59(4):579-596.
Following World War II, West Africa, under British and French rule, underwent major technological and industrial changes that resulted in a mass migration from the rural countryside to towns and cities. The author examines the role that voluntary associations played in West African urbanization; additionally, he challenges the common belief that West Africans underwent a process of detribalization, arguing instead that tribal structures and traditions, in their adaptations to new circumstances and situations in the urban center, continued to play a dominant and vital role.
The author details a number of different types of voluntary associations: (1) “Tribal Unions,” consisting of members of the same extended family or clan, provide financial and emotional assistance to members in need, promote and nurture tribal culture, and maintain members’ attachment to their native village. More recently, tribal unions have begun to wield impressive political power by exploiting their positions as tax collectors and lobbying local governments for better roads, hospitals, and other public services. (2) “Friendly Societies” are organized around mutual aid and benefit for members. Depending on their membership base, these societies provide sickness and bereavement benefits, intervene in domestic disputes, and monitor complex monetary savings systems in which members’ contributions are collected and then redistributed to the member whose name appears at the top of a rotating list of names. (3) “Occupational Associations” seek to control the price and supply of the goods in which their members trade, and to monitor the compensation and treatment of their workers. Quite often, occupational associations provide essential social services to their members, such as maternity and child welfare clinics for women in weaving co-operatives and legal assistance/insurance for members in motor drivers unions. (4) “Entertainment and Recreational Associations” divide admission fees collected at entertainment and recreational events among their members; leftover receipts are used to purchase new musical or sports equipment. Westernized, wealthy white-collar professionals often participate in elite recreational “social clubs,” European-like associations that coordinate weekly dances, hold adult education classes, and host teams of visiting football clubs.
The author then discusses the three different organizational structures of voluntary associations: (1) “Traditional associations” are limited to a specific religious, recreational, or occupational cause; membership is often confined to persons of a specific tribe or age group; internal organization of the traditional association is informal and most members are illiterate. (2) “Traditional-modernized associations” are more formally organized and possess a written constitution; membership is often composed of different tribes and most members are literate; the traditional-modernized association is not limited in functional scope but performs a wide, diverse variety of activities. (3) “Modern associations,” wherein social prestige plays a key role, most typically resemble the social clubs mentioned above.
What unifies all types/organizations of voluntary associations, the author notes, is their common aim at some sense of sociability and fraternity; as a result, the associations are predominantly composed of gregarious young people. Additionally, both women and men, who are frequently denied formal membership into associations of the opposite sex, are almost always included in their activities.
Finally, the author concludes that the voluntary association serves as an adaptive mechanism for the urban immigrant, acting as a bridge between the compact, homogeneous group of tribal kinsmen and the impersonal, dispersed, and heterogeneous urban center. For on the one hand, the voluntary association serves as a surrogate village for the immigrant and substitutes for his extended family, providing economic aid, emotional protection, and a sorely-missed cultural backdrop. Yet on the other hand, the voluntary association attempts to integrate the immigrant into a heterogeneous, cosmopolitan setting, exposing him to different tribes and introducing him to the standards of etiquette, hygiene, punctuality, and thrift.
CLARITY: 3
SAM MYEROWITZ-VANDERHOEK Columbia College (Paige West)
Merriam, Alan P. and d’Azevedo, Warren L. Washo Peyote Songs. American Anthropologist. 1957 Vol. 59:615-641.
After reviewing Peyotist history, from the culture’s origin through its rises and falls, this article focuses on a musical analysis of song cycles sung by three current Washo members of “The Tipi Way,” one of the Peyote sects.
The musical instruments the Peyote singers use are the drum and the rattle, which has four important elements: gourd, stones, tuft and handle. The drum and drumstick are also important and meticulously created, usually carved and highly polished. All Peyote musicians drum and rattle uniquely, each depending on their personally thoughts and feelings, attempting to reach their personal ideal of good music.
The article also delves into song types, as in “main” songs, which are considered special and “unconnected” songs, which may be sung at any time in anyone’s company. Main songs are never changed, while unconnected songs be varied to the point of becoming new. Apparently, there are two major sources for these songs: other people and improvisational inspiration. Because these songs originate from such a rich history and culture, they are impact with many listed values, many pertaining to the mandatory reaction and respect the audience must experience.
Additionally, Merriam and d’Azevedo discuss the audible details of the songs the Tipi Way members sang for them. They review the vocal style, song texts, instrumental accompaniments, and instrumental introductions and closings. Also included are analyses of tonal range, melodic direction and contour, meter and note values, melodic structure, and tempo.
CLARITY RANKING: 5
ALISON SILBER University of Pennsylvania (Dr. Melvyn Hammarberg)
Merriam, Alan P. and d’Azevedo, Warren L. Washo Peyote Songs. American Anthropologist 1957 Vol. 59: 615-641.
This article focuses on Peyotism among the Washo people of Nevada and California. The authors concentrate on the musical aspects of the Peyotists of “The Tipi Way”. This sect reveres singing as a very important aspect of their ideology. “Singing is a measure of prestige and spiritual eminence” (618). Through song, men were given influence and power and were thought to be in touch with Peyote.
The instruments that were employed within the Peyotists singing rituals were rattles, drums and vocalists. The instruments were extremely important to the production of their music. Additionally, the construction and materials used were very significant to the end product of performing. The different parts of the instruments were viewed as symbols of certain aspects of their rituals and lives. For example, the different stripes of colors that created the handle of the rattle signified evening, midnight, daybreak and sunlight which corresponds with Peyote ritual.
There existed two distinct sources of songs: those of “other people” and those of “on-the-spot inspiration” (623). The songs created by other people were much more prevalent. The songs were intended to have dramatic teachings within them in order to evoke emotion and feeling. Over time, different songs were altered and combined to produce variations of numerous songs with some new and additional sections. However, the rhythm found within the songs stayed basically the same since the people understood it to be an integral and special part of the song.
The Washo Peyotists believed very strongly in the values that their songs were intended to convey. Each was supposed to contain unity and power, the songs were not supposed to be analyzed but instead taken as a gift from Peyote, the songs must be performed at the right time or else it could lose its power, and the intricacy of a song bestowed much admiration upon its performers. They believed that songs are “vehicles through which religious emotions and concepts are expressed” (626).
Additionally, the authors uncover the very methodical side of the Peyotists’ music. They discuss the tonal range, melodic direction, contour, meter, note value, ornamental devices, melodic intervals and patterns, scales and tempos that all exist within the music that is produced. These sections seem to distance the lay-reader who is not educated in these complicated aspects of music.
CLARITY: 4
MIA NATHANSON Barnard College (Paige West)
Moore, Omar. Divination: A New Perspective. American Anthropologist. February, 1957 Vol. 59 (1): 69-74
Moore, the author of this paper writes that the purpose of his paper is to suggest a new interpretation of some aspects of divination. He states that his suggestion is a supplement to existing theories on magic, and it is not to be taken as a replacement. After accessing many magical practices, he states that some of the magical techniques need to be reassessed for their function. Moore writes that humans are unable to do things randomly, even if they wish to do so, without a random table of numbers or some other random pattern to follow. He says that many magical processes provide a way of making an outcome random which may be useful in a case where avoiding fixed patterns of activity may be an advantage. He uses hunting as an example throughout this paper.
Moore writes about the divination ritual of the Montagnais-Naskapi eastern Indians. He uses research done by the Anthropologist Speck as his source of information on the subject. The Naskapi Indians use animal bones and various other objects to carry out divination. They use the shoulder blade of an animal to determine where to hunt when game is scarce. The shoulder blade is held over hot coals until it causes the bone to form cracks along with burnt spots. They use the way that these cracks are formed as a way of interpreting which way to hunt in their upcoming expedition. The cracks directly relate the physical direction in which the hunters should move to find game. This process shows that the final decision as to where to hunt is not a personal choice of the Indians. The decisions are made through a completely random process, which may be favorable due to the fact that through this random process game is not totally depleted from a single source each year.
In this paper Moore goes into detail as to the effects of divination on the lives of the Naskapi. Moore writes that the same rituals are used by other peoples in Asia, North America, India, and Europe. He gives other examples such as the Chinese divination by interpreting cracks formed in tortoise shells and the Azande poison oracle . He states that in all of these processes, a random form of action will occur which may have a positive effect over the society.
CLARITY RANKING: 3
Greg English University of Pennsylvania (Melvyn Hammarberg)
Moore, Omar, Khayyam. Divination: A New Perspective. American Anthropologist 1957 Vol. 59:69-74.
The purpose of this paper is to bring forth a new interpretation of particular magical practices – more specifically, the practice of divination – to supplement existing theories of magic. The impetus for this analysis grows from a study of “classic” ineffective problem-solving techniques, such as magic. Moore posits that although the efficacy of magic is coincidental at best, and does not always achieve the desired results, the “positive latent functions” of the magic serves its practitioners, and society. In this sense, practices categorized as magic may be seen as directly effective techniques to achieving particular ends. The Montagnais-Naskapi have a religion based solely on divination. Moore uses the example described by the anthropologist F. G. Speck on how divination is carried out, and what the Naskapi hope to achieve in order to illustrate his points.
The Naskapi use the shoulder blade of a caribou in a divination ritual to find answers to questions such as where to hunt. The bone is held briefly over hot coals and the cracks and spots that result on the bone are then interpreted, and answers are found. Because the Naskapi do not control where the spots or cracks appear on the bone, the final decision of where to go is “[an] impersonal and relatively uncontrolled process”, based on the outcome of a number of random variables such as bone structure, and the temperature of the fire. The use of divination breaks the causal link between where to hunt and group preferences the bone itself becomes an effective randomizing instrument. Randomization is an important strategy to avoiding increased animal sensitivity to fixed hunting patterns — a vital strategy of survival to a society heavily dependent on the success of the hunt. Although the bone is not completely unbiased (e.g. certain parts of the bone may crack more often than others), it is compensated by the fact that the Naskapi often change campsites and because of this, the same spotting could point in a completely different direction.
Moore offers a new interpretation to some aspects of divination to supplement existing theories of magic, highlighting the fact that the utility in some magical practices need to be reassessed. This is illustrated by pointing to the example of the Naskapi where a randomizing mechanism is introduced into their divinatory practices resulting in a greater efficacy than previously presumed.
CLARITY RANKING: 5
MARY CHUNG York University (Naomi Adelson)
Murdock, George Peter. World Ethnographic Sample. American Anthropologist. 1957. Vol. 59: 664-687
Murdock attempts to categorized historically and ethnographically as well as according to pre-designated ethnographical standards. He aims to provide a broadly based representation of all known cultures and to quantify incidence, guided by their geographical distribution worldwide and by collecting and tabulating data from a wide range of European and Far Eastern descriptive sources.
To solve the problem of sample selection, an intricate system of division and subdivision was devised, as earlier attempts at a system of sampling were discovered to have serious flaws. Division along geographic location lines alone was demonstrated to be unbalanced with omissions and under-representations. A revised ethnographic sampling system was devised that divided the world into six major regions, namely, Africa, Circum-Mediterranean, East Eurasia, the Pacific region and North and South America. These six major regions were further divided into 10 smaller areas, making 60 divisions in all. In each of these areas representative cultures were selected, following specific criteria. Division was based on population, dominant cultures, basic economic types, the major language found in the area, as well as additional distinctive cultures that warranted inclusion. Duplication was avoided and categories were cross-linked by historically related languages and by cultural diversity.
Application of these criteria produced a total world sample of 565 cultures divided amongst the previously stated geographic locations. The collected data on human societies is presented in tabular form. In Table 1 the selected societies are grouped by region. Columns, numbering 1 to 15 with appropriate symbols and letters, classify the categories. In Column1 are listed the cultivated plants and domesticated animals used by the particular culture. Column 2 is a division of agricultural activities, Column 3, animal husbandry and Column 4, fishing activities. Column 5 categorizes hunting and gathering activities, whilst Column 6 divides cultures by settlement pattern and community organization. Column 7 makes a distinction between family and household types (extended families, lineal families, etc.). Column 8 describes marital residence type, such as avunculocal, matrilocal and so on, for a total of 14 residence types. Column 9 is a division of marriage types (monogamy, polygamy, and methods of wife acquisition). Column 10 lists specialized patrilineal kin groups, distinguishing between acceptable and non-acceptable or forbidden forms. Similarly, Columns 11 and 12 listed specialized division of matrilineal kin groups and exogamy, and bilateral and bilinear kin groups and exogamy, according to permitted, disapproved and forbidden unions. Column 13 lists the various types of kinship terminology, describing the intricate pattern of cousins and cross-cousins amongst the relevant cultures, using this complex system of kinship establishment and hierarchy. Column 14 differentiates according to social stratification, including wealth distinctions and slave types. Column 15 provides a distinction between the forms of political integration and succession according to the type of community as described in Column 2. Table 1 calculates the approximate incidence of tabulated traits worldwide. Table 2 tabulates the various marriage types and Table 3 lists the relationships of preferential marriage types according to descent.
It was concluded, however, that despite this intricate system, Table 1 contains errors of faulty judgement in categorization. The author acknowledges this and requests that readers submit corrections and new data in order to provide a revised sample at some future date.
CLARITY RANKING: 5
BERTIE FRIEDLANDER York University (N. Adelson)
Murdock, George Peter. World Ethnographic Sample. American Anthropologist. 1957 Vol. 59: 664-687.
The two main objectives of this article are to present a carefully selected sample of all the cultures known to history/ethnography and to then classify selected cultures according to certain ethnographic categories.
Essentially, this article contains organized tabulated data concerning basic economy, settlement patterns, and social/political organization about certain cultures. The sample was not found randomly, although it includes over 300 cultures, large enough to have minimal bias. (Additionally, care was taken to prevent over-representation of any particular type.) Beyond economy/social characteristics, division of labor by sex, marriage, kin-group organization, and social stratification are also documented.
Over twenty pages are then dedicated to the description of these 300 cultures and their characteristics. This article makes a successful reference source, as it clearly organizes a plethora of information. Yet, as a narrative, the article fails since it includes no language besides that necessary to understand the charts.
CLARITY RANKING: 4
ALISON SILBER University of Pennsylvania (Dr. Melvyn Hammarberg)
Murdock, George Peter. World Ethnographic Sample. American Anthropologist 1957 Vol.59: 664-687.
This article’s objective is to present a sample of all the cultures in the world. This article aims to organize cultural traits such as basic economy, settlement patterns, social and political structures in a table that can be of use to other anthropologists and provide references for cross-cultural comparison.
The author begins by informing the reader of how the needed data was obtained. The author has read all the pertinent ethnographies himself except a few reports by graduate students. Further proof of the encompassing and thorough quality of this research is that the author is multilingual and has read different ethnographies in different languages aside from his use of a few translated ethnographies.
To make this world sample as representative as possible, the author does not randomly choose cultures but devises a system of selection to determine which cultures are represented in this sample. The author divided the world into “six approximately equivalent ethnographic regions”: Africa, Circum-Mediterranean, East Eurasia, Insular Pacific, North America, and South America. These regions are then subdivided into ten smaller areas thereby making sixty regions. The author chooses which cultures to represent according to a loose quota of ten cultures per area that was expanded for areas with diverse, heterogeneous cultures, and shrunk in areas of cultural homogeneity. Within the chosen culture, the society chosen was the most populous, best described, with examples of economy and descent, and an example of each linguistic and major sub-linguistic group. A few cultures were omitted due to insufficient ethnographies or descriptions.
After describing his selection criteria, the author provides a key for all the codes he uses in his world ethnographic sample. Table 1 separates cultures according to area and Table 2 according to marriage practices. Table 2 provides the finding that 24 percent of the world’s societies in the sample practices monogamy, 1 percent for polyandry, 75 percent for polygyny.
The tables provided in this article are truly amazing and appear to be painstakingly created. Though the objective of this piece seems overwhelmingly difficult, the author describes the reasoning for his classification and the manner of his organization so clearly and simply to allow anyone to understand and wonder at the possibility of a world ethnographic sample.
CLARITY RANKING: 4
CHRISTINE MESIAS Barnard College (Paige West)
Murphy, Robert F. Intergroup Hostility and Social Cohesion. American Anthropologist. 1957 Vol.59:6, 1018-1035
This interesting article takes various approaches to proving that social cohesion and aggression in the Mundurucu of Brazil stem from the persistence of patrilineal clans in a matrilocal society where intervillage matrilocality aggravates hostility and makes internal release systems less workable. For the Mundurucu conflict with outside groups structures social relationships between societies, while going in to battle together leads to solidarity among Mundurucu men while providing them ways to garner respect and prestige within their clan. Their reputation for ruthlessness in battle partially stems from their world view which consisted of two spheres: people (Mundurucu) and periwat (non-Mundurucu humans). Without question, all periwat were enemies, and since their lives were not valuable, could be hunted and attacked for sport. The Mundurucu rarely took booty from their raids, only children, which they would raise as their own, and skulls which they took by strict protocol.
Women often accompanied men on these raids, but never to fight, as was priorly believed. In fact, social gender roles within the Mundurucu are very rigid in that women tend the home and family, while men hunt and fight. Male solidarity on the village and tribal was necessarily augmented through shared violence, and conscious efforts were made to suppress conflict. Intravillage or intratribal conflict would have led to the pitting of patrilineal kind against one another finally destroying the kindship structure. Murphy concludes that a system of matrilocality and patrilineality and “the institution of warfare were mutually reinforcing” and served to maintain the cohesion of Mundurucu society.
This highly readable article progresses towards it conclusion smoothly, keeping the reader always informed as to how the proof and the thesis are connected. There is a wealth eyewitness data that is analyzed informatively without being pedantic.
CLARITY RANKING: 5
LENYA BLOOM University of Pennsylvania (Melvyn Hammarberg)
Murphy, Robert F. Intergroup Hostility and Social Cohesion. American Anthropologist. 1957 Vol. 59:1018-1035.
Robert Murphy’s argument is constructed from Simmel and Coser’s exploration of the positive aspects of war. Coser’s extension of Simmel’s argument is closer to Murphy’s examination of social structure as foundation and its consequent dependency on warfare. Murphy analyzes of the dualistic matrilocal-patrilocal Brazilian native Mundurucu in terms of social structure as mechanism for war serving the purpose of unification.
Although the Munurucu recognize lineage maternally, it maintains patrilineal clans as distinct and superior because of their role in warfare. The men are united within separate households, which are really military units. Murphy refers to Coser’s “safety valve” in which social cohesion forbids internal aggression and deflects a gneralized aggression to non-group members. This ‘us vs. them’ position is embedded in Mudurucu ideology whih sees non –Mundurucu as non-human pariwat as inherent enemies.
The author feels the persistence of Mundurucu patrilinear clan after its partial conversion to matrilocal structure accounts for the development of war as an institution. Various examples and interviews illustrate that warfare was not truly a means to acquire material gains, but that it was a reason in itself. Murphy describes warfare as an institution embedded in the foundations of Mundurucu society. This can be seen in the warfare related religious rites and ceremonies, the cult of the sacred icons and in the chief’s position as war leader.
Murphy provides an excellent source of information for contrasting theories of warfare, especially the benefits of warfare as an institution. This article would also be useful to someone interested in the contrast between matrilocal and patrilocal societies, especially in terms of how to maintain social stability.
CLARITY RANKING: 3
SUSIE MORGADO York University (Naomi Adelson)
Nash, Manning. The Multiple Society in Economic Development: Mexico and Guatemala. American Anthropologist 1957 Vol. 59:825-833
The author’s objective is to correct an anthropological error of “taking the behavior of a member for the behavior of a system” when studying culture change and economic development. “The concept suggested is that of a multiple society with plural cultures…The utility of the concept and its research implications will be shown by reviewing some of the facts of Guatemalan and Mexican economy and society from this perspective.” The author begins by defining the terms of his theory and describes a multiple society. He then discusses the hierarchy of social/political control in Guatemala, coming to the conclusion that “The nature of economic development and culture change in Guatemala depends not on the characteristics of the Ladino society nor on the features of the Indian society alone, but on the relations of the segments of the multiple society and the possible roles each segment may or can play in the historical process.” The two groups value different things, and only those higher in the hierarchies are in a position to make changes. However, in societies such as Guatemala and Mexico, these communities do not have the resources needed to accomplish a task such as economic development on their own. There is a need for cooperation between the groups. After all, those who control the majority of the wealth of these countries seek to increase only their wealth, widening the economic gap.
The author makes comparisons between Guatemala and Mexico, and illustrates Mexico’s success in working around a multiple society. “Although it is a relatively poor nation, Mexico’s rapid and substantial economic progress came in the wake of thirty years of revolution in which political control over economic resources was placed in the hands of the middle class, rather than the cosmopolitans or upper class.” The author then concludes that “the Mexican experience with economic development is more clearly comprehensible when viewed by means of the concept of multiple society with plural cultures.”
The author accomplishes his goal in this article by demonstrating how economic development is affected by various groups in a multiple society.
CLARITY RANKING: 4
Dayle J. Bekier University of Pennsylvania (Melvyn Hammarberg)
Nash, Manning. The Multiple Society in Economic Development: Mexico and Guatemala. American Anthropologist, 1957 Vol. 59: 825-833
Manning Nash’s article examines the question of economic development and cultural change in non-Western countries through the dissection of various cultural and social classes within these countries; in particular, he examines the cases of Guatemala and Mexico. Furthermore, Nash investigates the questions of how income-raising technologies and knowledge can be adopted by a given society. Which members of this society are best to implement such changes, and what forms of social and cultural changes will be necessary to implement these changes.
Nash outlines how many of the countries seeking or having to endure “economic betterment” cannot be viewed as one culture. Instead, Nash offers the concept of a “Multiple Society with plural cultures” where these unique and separate cultures operate within a common national territory. He proposes that economic development can only be effectively realized when all the various cultures are considered along with their interests. Consequently, to generalize one nation by only studying one of these cultures would be an “egregious error” upon the researcher.
In the case of Mexico and Guatemala, there are marked distinct social and cultural differences between the native Indian (Indio in Mexico) and the westernized Ladino (White-Mexicano) segments of the population. Nash argues that the nature of economic development and culture change depends not on one of these two ethnic groups alone but on their relationship and the roles that each can play in this process. Moreover, the Indian population’s willingness to accept new innovations lies in the way that these innovations can give them an advantage in their local economic process based on accumulation of wealth, added skill, what it would be replacing, by how much effort is required to replace a given method, and by the cultural reception such innovation would get from other Indian populations. The fundamental issue is that the Indios have a completely separate scale of values and preferences from the Ladino society, and given that their economic structure is based on the economic strength of the household and not the firms, their capacity to implement income-raising innovations is limited.
In the case of the Ladino population, the cultural basis remains homogeneous but the economic status varies drastically; creating a system of economic classes. Nash points out how there are four classes in this social context: clase baja (lower class), masa media (middle class), the local upper class, and finally the upper or cosmopolitan class. Out of these classes, the middle class is the key towards economic development since it is educated yet economically dependent on the wealthier upper classes. Its only opportunity to implement economic changes is through accessing political power, therefore gaining the support of the lower class and the Indian populations whom represent the larger segment of the national population. Nash argues that the middle class is the best target for economic innovations, as it must target the poorer classes’ economic interests in order to gain political support. The upper classes have no interests in changing the economic order since they presently benefit from the existing economic structure. Nash uses the example of Mexico in the 1940s as proof to his argument.
CLARITY RANKING: 4
ERNESTO WULFF York University (Naomi Adelson)
Newell, W. H. Family Quarrels in a North Malayan Teochiu Chinese Vegetable-Growing Community. American Anthropologist April, 1957 Vol. 59 (2):266-277.
In his article, Newell highlights family organization and conflicts in Teochiu-speaking communities in North Malaya. He studied one such community while doing research at the University of Malaya during 1954-1955. Formerly occupied by the Chinese about 30 years before the article was written, this land at the time the article was written was predominantly a vegetable growing community.
Newell discusses the various quarrels that arise due to changes in family structure after the son marries. Often, mothers live with married sons and fathers go to live with married daughters. Newell describes the competition and conflicts that may arise from mother and daughter-in-law interaction in this new family. He describes three possible solutions to quell this conflict: (1) defeat of the wife or mother, (2) an agreement to share the husband and children, and (3) suicide of the daughter-in-law.
Newell goes on to describe friendly relations between mothers and their daughters-in-law and father-son conflicts. The latter, however, Newell points out, can only be resolved through the independence of the son. Gender roles and a strong patrilineal heritage are also described briefly.
Newell summarizes by stressing that families in Malay villages are atypical of traditional Chinese families in values and structure. Malay families stress the importance of joint families and individual relations within the elementary family unit. At the time this article was written, little had been written on this topic, yet the article provides a brief and clear account of family structure and conflict in the Teochiu villages of North Malaya.
CLARITY RANKING: 4
NEHA SHAH University of Pennsylvania (Melvyn Hammarberg)
Newell, W. H. Family Quarrels in a North Malayan Teochiu Chinese Vegetable-Growing Community American Anthropologist 1957, Vol.59 (266-276)
W.H. Newell, in Family Quarrels in a North American Teochiu Chinese Vegetable-Growing Community, attempts to examine the individual relationships between family members according to traditional Chinese patrilineal, virilocal and patripostal society. However, Newell comes to discover that although these Chinese vegetable farmers of North Malaya claim to live according to these specific norms, it appears they have great difficulty conforming to these traditions/ideals. This shift in “lifestyle” is primarily able to occur due to the new geographical environment that permits and promotes family self-sufficiency. Another factor contributing to this non-conformist attitude of the Teochiu community may be attributed to the lack of economic sanctions provided for strong and capable sons who must give their labour for the sake of supporting these traditional Chinese norms, in return, causing quarrels to develop between fathers and sons.
Interestingly, this article demonstrates that fathers and sons are not the only ones among this community that experience quarreling. Oftentimes, quarrels may occur between mothers-in- law and daughters-in law on the basis of such things as household duties, the upbringing of children and the role each plays among the family. Father and son quarrels, on the other hand, are principally due to the struggle over power and authority and are hardly ever resolved, whereas female conflicts can often be disentangled. The emphasis on patriliny lowers any open conflicts between men and women in positions of authority, as it is clear the men carry the strongest position. This strong division in sex roles thus produces conflicts of interest, which occur mainly between those of the same sex. Overall, the study of this community has shown a form of social organization in which patrilineal values are secondary to a family system where the emphasis is on individual relationships between members of the elementary family. Families unable to resolve quarreling amid its members predominantly results in the separation of the disputing parties.
CLARITY RANKING: 3
LEILA BAHRAMI York University (Naomi Adelson)
Oliver, Douglas L. and W.W. Howells. Micro-evolution: Cultural Elements in Physical Variation American Anthropologist 1957 Vol.59: 965-978
Oliver and Howells begin be reiterating two points made in a previous article published a year earlier in the same journal. The first point deals with “the influence of culture on breeding behaviors” the necessitating further and more profound communication between cultural and physical anthropology. The second point is that very little could yet be said about traits of continuous variation which are determined by “several loci.” Oliver and Howells own introductory point, however, is this: one must bear in mind the difference of behavior expected between measurements and traits, and the importance of linkage to building sets of polygenes into chromosome units.
The body of this essay discusses the island of Bougainville, where two unique culture niches provide an ideal opportunity for controlled study of micro-evolution. The people living in these areas are “genetically derived from a single population” and once shared both a culture and a language. Oliver and Howells comparatively discuss the habitat, language, economy, technology, social structure, and mating habits of the Nagovasi and Siuai people. Expected results from foregone evidence are that the Siuai will have a greater within group variance than the Nagovasi such that the greater intergroup gene exchange within the Siuai should “maintain variation within breeding populations at a slightly higher level.” The Nagovasi then will have a greater between-group variation. The authors then use Snedecor’s F test to sample the differences and relative variation between the two cultures, providing the reader with an in-depth chart. The results delineate consistent physical variations between the two populations, from chest-breadth to jaw-size. Oliver and Howells finally reconclude that it is nearly impossible to have laboratory control over live human “data” and that they lack sufficient information about both environmental/dietary factors and how measured traits respond to environmental influences.
This essay is difficult to read because its authors assume that its readers already know quite a bit about genetic variation, micro-evolution, anthropometric measurement, and analytical methods like the Snedecor F test. However, this does not make the topic they treat any less fascinating. I only wonder why, if they knew their experiments wouldn’t work, did they put the people of Bougainville through all those measurings?
CLARITY RANKING: 3
LENYA BLOOM University of Pennsylvania (Melvyn Hammarberg)
Oliver, Douglas L. and Howells, W.W. Micro-Evolution: Cultural Elements in Physical Variation. American Anthropologist 1957 Vol. 59:965-978.
This article is about the study of human populations using the genetic population theory and the micro-evolution processes. In addition, the authors discuss the neglected relationship between cultural and physical anthropology. Culture influences the characteristics of population, breeding behaviour, and the opportunity for gene exchange. Both physical characteristics and genetic material are not definitely an accurate representation of a given population, just as the population itself is not necessarily a breeding unit. The only way that ethnographic study can be accurate is through the combination of both physical and cultural anthropology. Genetic population theories rely on single gene-pair traits. However, all the processes of micro-evolution, including environment and the relationship between and within populations, are involved in human variation in size and shape. If the study of human genetics is to advance and progress in the analysis of racial characteristics, the atomistic approach that is currently being used must be complemented. The significance of genetic variability must be developed.
In order for this type of study to occur, the group or groups that are to be studied must be fairly isolated and have breeding behaviour that is differentiated by culture. The anthropologist who is conducting the study must have a general knowledge of the genetic stock and all of the factors involved. Oliver studied two populations, the Sinuai and Nagovisi, of Southern Bougainville in 1938-39, because they fulfilled these characteristics. These two cultures are now, for the most part, isolated from each other and derive genetically from one culture and language. At the time of Oliver’s study, however, they had been differentiated for 10 generations. The question that Oliver and Howells are trying to answer is that since the breeding units or local populations are more distinctly defined in Nagovisi than Sinuai, are then too the anthropometric characteristics?
To answer this question Oliver and Howells studied the habitat, economy, technology, social structure, and mating habits of both the Nagovisi and the Sinuai. The authors also use physical measurement charts and refer to these charts within their analysis. They do, however, note that the subtle distinctions among measurements are not well known. Oliver and Howells found that the genetic theory or anthropometric information couldn’t explain some of their findings. They feel that both cultural and physical anthropology could benefit from the exploration of these findings, and they offer both cultural and physical anthropologist feasible ways to go about this.
CLARITY: 3.5
RYAN MASON York University (Naomi Adelson)
Olmsted, D.L. Three Tests of Glottochronological Theory. American Anthropologist 1957 Vol. 59:839-842
“Since glottochronology is by all odds the most challenging hypothesis about linguistic history since Sapir’s Time Perspective, the methodology prescribed for testing it deserves careful scrutiny.” The author’s objective in this article is to examine three aspects of the given theory. Olmsted makes comparisons between ten Bantu languages, looking for similarities in morphemes or cognates. The author constructs a table of his results, offering average time separations between the languages. However, it is determined that the results may significantly vary depending on the methodology. Thus, this test is inconclusive. “My Lucumi data do not constitute a sample adequate to test differential rates of change in ‘basic’ and ‘cultural’ vocabulary. Before these rates can be compared we must develop some notion of what constitutes an adequate sample of the ‘cultural’ vocabulary, since we obviously cannot use the entire inventory of the ‘cultural’ vocabulary.” Although, there appear to be several factors interfering with this study, the author is able to come to one conclusion. “These figures do suggest, even if all other items on the standard ‘basic’ list should turn out to be perfect cognates, that the rate of loss of basic-root-morphemes has been about twice as high as expected.”
The author accomplishes his goal of scrutinizing the methodology used in glottochronology, by determining their results inconclusive. This article may be difficult to understand without some background in linguistics.
CLARITY RANKING: 2
Dayle J. Bekier University of Pennsylvania (Melvyn Hammarberg)
Olmsted, D.L. Three Tests of Glottochronological Theory. American Anthropologist 1957 Vol. 59: 839-842.
Olmsted is discussing and analyzing the glottochronology theory. Glottochronology is defined by Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary as “a linguistic method that uses the rate of vocabulary replacement to estimate the date of divergence for distinct but genetically related languages.” Olmsted is not interested in arguing the validity of the theory, but rather examining the methods used in testing it. Olmsted looks at three tests in particular.
1. Those words that are commonly used every day are to be compared as being generically alike, not words which are uncommon to our vocabulary.
2. Testing, under the assumption that an adequate historical linguistic analysis of the particular language is completed before the test can be applied.
3. The words that contain no smaller meaningful parts (morpheme) are replaced at a slower rate than the words used daily within a specific culture’s language.
Table 1 relates to the first test that Olmsted explains. The table presents two figures: the first is a percentage of shared cognates between the two languages, and the second is the centuries of separation between the two languages. The reason is that the sources used to acquire this information make no distinction between words that are commonly used every day and words that are not common to vocabulary but exist nonetheless.
Table 2 explains the ambiguity of the lack of distinction between common words used regularly and the uncommon words of a language. ‘Average maximum’ refers to the number of centuries if all the words that were used to conduct the study were ambiguous or not commonly used. The ‘average minimum’ represents the century difference with the assumption that all the words in the study were correctly used as words only used on a daily basis. Then all the maximum and minimums are ranked in order against each other explicitly showing which languages were less and which were more ambiguous within the study.
Olmsted is interpreting through the second table that the languages ranked higher are probably languages that utilized most of its words on a regular basis. Those ranked lower probably did not. There could be several explanations for this. For example, the Mongo language could be very simple in its variety of words and limited in its ability to form descriptions. Mongo on the other hand, could rather be a culture of exceptionally advanced speakers that make good use of the different linguistic interpretations when speaking.
Olmsted questions those who pioneered this study and also questions the assumption that in previous years the historical analysis was conducted properly.
Olmsted stresses that an accurate sample of words from languages must be chosen when analyzing “cultural vocabulary.” Reason being, languages are so elaborate that it is impossible to compare their entire inventory.
CLARITY RANKING: 3
RON SOREANU York University (Naomi Adelson)
Sahlins, Marshall D. Land Use and the Extended Family in Moala, Fiji. America Anthropologist 1957 Vol. 59 (3): 449-462.
Keteira, a village in Moala Island, Fiji, maintains a traditional family structure, while Naroi, another village in Moala exists with disjointed individual nuclear families. It is surmised that the exploitation of scattered land resources in Keteira is responsible for the continuation of the extended family there, while the dependence of land only in their own village is sufficient reason for the emergence of independent nuclear families in Naroi. The author describes the traditional Moalan extended family, compares the familial relationships in Keteira and Naroi, analyzes his observations, and draws conclusions in support of his hypothesis.
The traditional Moalan family is when the extended family occupies close living houses and the entire family shares one cooking house. Women contribute to the family unit by caring for children, keeping house, preparing meals, and doing chores. Generally, the men plant, harvest, attend business, and run the household. Distinctions are made by seniority and the older men and women divide up the workload giving more demanding labor to the young. The traditional extended family pools its property resources as well as its labor resources.
The nuclear core family exemplified in the village of Naroi is a family group composed of a married pair, possible offspring, additional single relatives, exclusively occupying one living house and cooking house. The extended family described previously is dominant in the Keteira village.
Cultural contact with Europe does not cause the breakdown of the traditional extended family because Keteira has felt a greater European influence than Naroi; yet, the traditional extended family has survived.
According to the author, the reason is that Keteira still follows an old practice of exploiting land resources both near and far from their home village. On the contrary, the individual families of Naroi farm only their own plots of land in the immediate vicinity of their village. Since Keteira members have such large extended families living together, members may leave for a while and plant on land far from their own village without leaving their families alone. In the absence of a parent who had left home to cultivate distant land, other family members would care for his children and responsibilities. In this way, Keteira members cultivate more land and produce larger quantities. The large size of the Keteira families, the internal hierarchy, the centralized control of resources, and the sharing of property and food, all make it possible for the group to extend its productive operations over a large area of land.
CLARITY RANKING: 5
ERICA STONE University of Pennsylvania (Melvyn Hammarberg)
Sahlins, Marshall D. Land Use and the Extended Family in Moala, Fiji. American Anthropologist 1957 Vol.59: 449-462.
Sahlins is concerned with the implications of changes in land use and how these changes affect the form of the traditional extended family in Moala, Fiji. Sahlins’ contention is that the organization of the traditional Moalan extended family depends on customs of land tenure and land use. He maintains that when these customs change, the family form tends to change.
He defines the traditional family as a group, which constitutes a man, wife, unmarried daughters and sons and married sons with their wives and their children. This traditional family relies heavily on customs of social ranking, hierarchical authority, centralized control of resources, distribution of work, and resource sharing.
In his analysis, Sahlins compares the villages of Keteira and Naroi in order to demonstrate how the changes in land use shape familial patterns. Firstly, he describes the composition and operation of the traditional Moalan extended family. Secondly, he analyzes the present familial forms in Keteira and Naroi. Finally, he describes the relationship between family types and land usage.
Traditional Moalan patriarchal extended families live in a group of houses sharing one hearth. Fathers are succeeded by the next capable son according to birth rank. All members of the family perform duties contingent upon gender and capability. Property, produce and possessions are part of a collective to be used by all members of the family.
Sahlins continues his argument by comparing the subsistence patterns of the Keteira, who practice the traditional extended familial organization, and the Naroi who live in groups of nuclear families or nuclear core families.
Both groups of Moalans hold ancestral ties to land, however only the Keteira have maintained cultivation of these areas. These ancestral lands are located far from the villages; thus, the organization of the extended family is much more suited for these kinds of subsistence patterns. When members of the family travel to these far off lands, the village is not left short-handed. The Naroi have rich, arable lands in the environs of their village and thus do not need to cultivate their ancestral land. As a result the extended family organization becomes redundant and nuclear families are formed.
CLARITY RANKING: 4
ALEKSANDRA STANIMIROVIC York University (Naomi Adelson)
Schneider, David M. Political Organization, Supernatural Sanctions and the Punishment for Incest on Yap. American Anthropologist 1957 Vol. 59:791-800
The author’s objective is to explain “the nature and severity of the punishment for incest on Yap” and “to demonstrate the relevance of the question of who has the right to inflict punishment”. The author begins by defining the culture’s definition of incest as sexual relations among members of the nuclear family, the patrilineal lineage or the matrilineal clan. “Diffuse sanctions in the form of disapproval and shunning are applied if incest should occur, but these are actually mild”. There is no formal punishment among these people. Not even their kin groups, who may suffer the consequences of a member’s actions, punish the offender. “It would therefore compound the evil should a surviving brother punish the offending brother”. Rather, the kin group makes offerings and seeks favor among the spirits and ancestral ghosts. “The Yaps see incest as an offense against the ancestral ghosts” and if they are not appeased, they will bring death to any member of the patrilineage.
The author sets his goals straightforwardly in the introduction to the article, explaining any terms that might be of relevance to understanding his thesis. Yap rules and regulations are then discussed, with specific attention on the roles of the kin group and the community. However, attention soon shifts to the spirits and their roles in punishment and forgiveness. “In sum, because the Yap kin groups are practically autonomous and self-regulating, no outside agency has the right to punish intra-kin group offenses, and just for this reason any punishment which is administered must be carried out by the kin group itself. Yet the Yap lineage concretizes and personifies authority in its spirits, which are controlled by lineage ghosts, and separates these from its living members”.
CLARITY RANKING: 4
Dayle J. Bekier University of Pennsylvania (Melvyn Hammarberg)
Schneider, David M. Political Organization, Supernatural Sanctions and the Punishment for Incest on Yap. American Anthropologist 1957 Vol. 59: 791-800
This article deals with the relationships between kinship lineages in the context of social offences and the punishment applied to these offences in the Yap. The culture originates from the West Carolines, Micronesia. Schneider looks at the question of who has the right to inflict punishment in relation to the severity of the punishment. He compares various offences from incest, patricide, fratricide, to extra-lineage offences, and their relationship with the ghost lineage of each particular kinship lineage.
Schneider outlines how the Yap consider each individual kin-lineage a whole entity; thus when an offence occurs by a member of a kin-group it affects the whole kin-group and the group’s relationship with the spiritual. In the cases of incest or patricide (when the father is killed by a member of the family), the nature of the offence applies to the relationship between the kin-group and the lineage ghosts. In the case of a fratricide (when one sibling kills another), the offence also affects the lineage ghosts, but the living father of the kin-group can mediate it. With extra-lineage offences, the family or kin-group of the offender must provide gifts and apologies to the family or kin-group that was offended. Depending on the offence and the value of the gifts (which measures the value of the offence), the offended kin-group may decide that it is acceptable or it may retaliate by killing or injuring any member of the offender’s kin-group. Schneider effectively compares the political relationship between two kin-groups as being the same as the political-relationship between a kin-group and its lineage ghosts; the lineage ghosts represent an external, spiritual kin-group possessing similar political relevance as any other living king-group.
Schneider also outlines the difference between lineage ghosts and supernatural beings. In this context, lineage ghosts represent the dead spirits of the kin-group and the supernatural beings relate to nature, and it is they who establish the social and moral regulations of Yap life. The lineage ghosts can have influence on supernatural beings; thus, when an offence occurs, the father prays to the lineage ghosts so they positively influence the supernatural beings and, consequently, the kin-group as a whole will not be affected.
Schneider concludes by assessing the Yap as an autonomous kin-group who has the choice, as a group, of applying punishment to its own members or delegating the responsibility to supernatural agencies.
CLARITY RANKING: 4
ERNESTO WULFF York University (Naomi Adelson)
Schneider, Harold K. The Subsistence Role of Cattle Among the Pakot an in East Africa. American Anthropologist April, 1957 Vol. 59 (2):278-299.
The purpose of this article is to describe the behavior of the Pakot of west central Kenya towards cattle. The Pakot have been labeled by Herskovits as having the cattle-complex, a strong attachment to cattle, leading to their use in areas of life to which they are foreign among other people who possess many cattle. Other characteristics of the cattle-complex include affection for and identification with cattle, and association of cattle with life, death, marriage, wealth, power, prestige, and rituals. The Pakot have an aversion towards killing cattle, sex taboos are associated with cattle, and there are special customs relating to the use of milk. In his article Schneider hopes to demonstrate that the Pakot have exploited cattle in their subsistence economy more than previously thought.
He describes in detail the many rituals that cattle are engaged in. He then moves on to describe the system of exchange in the Pakot subsistence economy. Cattle are used as mediums of exchange to obtain goods, to secure rights in other persons, to maintain ties that have important subsistence elements, to acquire stock, and to secure brides. Consumption of the flesh, blood and milk of cattle can be ceremonial or non-ceremonial. The consumptive and exchange use of cattle imply that they are foremost regarded as economic goods.
Schneider also includes a discussion on subsistence use of cattle in other parts of East Africa. He concludes by reiterating that cattle are more fully exploited for subsistence that has generally been acknowledged in East Africa. The paper’s content was presented in the author’s doctoral dissertation in 1953. The author makes a clear, well-organized argument in this paper.
CLARITY RANKING: 5
NEHA SHAH University of Pennsylvania (Melvyn Hammarberg)
Schneider, Harold K. The Subsistence Role of Cattle Among the Pakot and in East Africa.American Anthropologist 1957 Vol.59:278-300
Schneider’s purpose is to show that cattle are extensively exploited in the subsistence economy of the Pakot of Kenya. He also tries to prove that more extensive subsistence use of cattle than is usually acknowledged is characteristic in general of East African cultures and a feature accompanying what he calls the “cattle-complex”.
The cattle complex can be summarized as being chiefly an extensive religious use of cattle. This concept has become widely used in anthropology, but along with the use the impression has been conveyed that cattle are exploited only partially for subsistence. Among the Pakot, cattle are used as a form of wealth and are also used in rituals and ceremonies such as weddings and funerals. However, the author tries to show that the Pakot, as well as other East African cultures, rely on cattle in order to survive. Their milk, and in some cases their meat, is used as nourishment.
The author states that in addition to the subsistence value of milk, examination of exchange and consumption utilization has shown that, both overtly and to some degree covertly, cattle are essential to subsistence. The fact that cattle are valued for other than subsistence reasons, and that this valuation is associated with a variety of nonsubsistence uses, does not exclude their use to support life. The author does not attempt to establish a simplistic kind of subsistence determinism among Pakot. It is possible that some Pakot could derive a better living, in terms of subsistence, by following another road than pastoralism. However, they have made this choice historically and defend it fiercely.
CLARITY RANKING: 5
LINDSAY GRANT York University (Naomi Adelson)
Sebeok, Thomas & Wheeler-Voegelin, Erminie. The Subsidy of Research Publications. American Anthropologist 1957 Vol. 59:860-870
The author’s objective is to present survey results regarding the publication policies of both academic institutions and foundations. “Research in the anthropological sciences is an everflowing stream; its publication, due to lack of funds, is intermittent”. Thus, the goal of the surveys was to collect information on current practices and policies, in order to substantiate the argument for improving upon anthropological publications.
“University-sponsored and subsidized research is a rather recent development” on many college campuses. Policies are still in their early stages, and resources are spread thin between different academic departments. Thus, many researchers depend on outside resources in their funding.
The author presents detailed results of the surveys, often including some excerpts of the responses. Reasons for the lack of funding are provided as well as statistical information for the universities and foundations studied. Statistics play a key role in the data analysis, as responses to each of the survey questions are grouped accordingly.
The author is efficient in providing a detailed analysis of the results. However, while providing extensive information on publication policies, these surveys do not provide specific information about publication of anthropological research. They are too broad. At the same time, no fixed pattern emerged from this study. Thus, this study is inconclusive.
CLARITY RANKING: 4
Dayle J. Bekier University of Pennsylvania (Melvyn Hammarberg)
Sebok, Thomas A. and Wheeler-Voegelin, Erminie. The Subsidy of Research Publications.American Anthropologist 1957 Vol.59:860-870.
In this article, Thomas Sebok and Erminie Wheeler-Voegelin discuss the irregularity of publication of anthropological work due to a lack of funding. The authors briefly inform their readers that the Editorial Council of the American Anthropological Association, with the help of Indiana University, has distributed a survey that was meant to discover the various publication policies of both universities and foundations.
Many of the responses from university faculty and administration show that when a research subsidy is available it rarely will cover the costs of production, and anthropologists seeking publication must seek financial support from sources outside of the university. Other comments on the survey, however, report that in such fields as engineering or agriculture, publication support is commonplace. Many universities have established a university press and many also have printing facilities. The problem that lies within the university press system is that the press itself is underfunded, and so when choosing books to publish, one of its requirements must be that the book will sell enough copies to cover as much of the publication costs as possible. It seems that the faculty at most universities are not informed about the publication possibilities at their own schools. Within the results of the questionnaire, twice as many faculty members as administrators surveyed stated that they believe that publication using university grants must be used to publish using the press at their own school. Only eight percent of the universities surveyed stated that they include money in research grants that is specifically meant for publication.
The authors then discuss the 144 foundations that were issued surveys. Of the many foundations surveyed, 44 of them have a policy on research and publication already in place, with about half including some publication funds in research subsidies. More than half of the foundations surveyed acknowledge research and publication as two key components of any project. Foundations are also beginning to address the fact that many commercial printing presses as well as university presses are hesitant to print studies with limited readership because they lack saleability.
This relatively brief article is a fairly clear and detailed display of an important survey that investigates an important issue of the time.
CLARITY RANKING: 4
RYAN MASON York University (Naomi Adelson)
Smith, Robert J & Reyes, Eudaldo P. Community Interrelations with the Outside World: The Case of a Japanese Agricultural Community. America Anthropologist 1957 Vol. 59 (3): 463-472.
Anthropologists are becoming increasingly aware of the lack of ethnographic reports on the interrelations of the community with its social-cultural environment. This neglect of community interrelations is not necessarily attributed to a lack of interest on the part of anthropologist, but rather a feeling of inadequacy to undertake such a study. No community can ever be completely independent of outside influences no matter how isolated or seemingly self-sufficient it may be. Anything that people obtain from, know about, or do in the outside, represents interrelations with others and are expressed by intellectual awareness, physical mobility, and organizational affiliation.
This article examines the interrelations of Kurusu, a small Japanese social unit also referred to as a hamlet (buraku), and analyzes its outside interactions between 1930-1955. The community of Kurusu is organized into a co-operative unit called a dÇgyÇ. The main concern of a specific interrelation was whether it has vanished altogether over the span of twenty-five years, declined in importance, remained unchanged, or increased in importance or been newly introduced. Aspects of Kurusun life that had completely been abandoned were Buddhist prayer groups, a division of the hamlet into three co-operative work groups, and hamlet co-operative groups. Certain features on the decline were the dÇgyÇ’s festival for the patron deity, and intrahamlet agricultural exchange labor system. Those that remained unchanged were the observances of the dÇgyÇ grouping in all ceremonies, and intrahamlet bridge repair groups; there were no increasing or new activities or associations that internally defined Kurusu. The dÇgyÇ made use of communal property at major ceremonies and events such as weddings, births, and funerals, in which at least one representative of each household must have been in attendance.
There were many changes in the activities that externally defined Kurusu over the allotted twenty-five years. The ones vanished were land reform committee, conscription, rationing program, and crop requisition; whereas; those declining included the Women’s Club and the Youth Organization. Those virtually unchanged consisted of land records, family registrar, postal address unit, police and fire-fighting units among others. Finally, the newly developed associations or activities were the election unit, school system, taxation records, and a couple Buddhist ceremonies.
The twenty-five year trends had results on the area of interrelations with the outside community as well. One important type of interrelation with the outside world was the adoption of technological devices, as well as other new or increased mass communication media and modes of transportation. Although all of these interrelated the community with the outside world, it in no way guaranteed that the community would become more “urbanized” or “modernized” as a result. Over the twenty-five years that Kurusu was studied, there was a steady increase in the quality and availability of means for the extension into the outside world.
CLARITY RANKING: 5
ERICA STONE University of Pennsylvania (Melvyn Hammarberg)
Smith, J. Robert and Reyes, P. Eudaldo. Community Interrelations with the Outside World: The Case of a Japanese Agricultural Community. American Anthropologist. 1957 Vol. 59:463-472.
In the article, Community Interrelations with the Outside World: The Case of a Japanese Agricultural Community, the authors discuss community interrelations, which have been neglected by most community studies. They show that no community that has been studied has been totally isolated from the outside world and do not think that one could exist, since most communities depend on other communities for certain goods and services. In the article, the authors look at an agricultural community within Japan to observe changes in the interrelations over a period of time. The authors studied this Japanese community in 1951 and 1952 and revisited it in 1955.
The authors give a good description of how the prefectures of Japan are subdivided, which helps throughout the article. They look at a twenty-five year timeline and try to see if a certain interrelation or identifier has (a) vanished altogether (b) declined in importance (c) remained unchanged or (d) increased in importance or newly introduced.
The first aspect of this community’s life, which is examined, is the activities that internally define them and provide a sense of community. Mainly, they look at how religion, the labour exchange system and rites of passages have changed over twenty-five years. The next feature that is considered is the interrelationships, which externally define the community. Some of the things that are looked at are crop requisition, women’s club, land records and the school system. The last facet the authors studied for any trends was the interrelation between individuals and groups within the community and individuals and groups outside the community. Characteristics of the community, which were focused on, are refugee urbanite groups in the hamlet, interhamlet exchange labour, extended family and hamlet sawmill connections.
The authors agree with Morris Edward Opler, who suggested that the unity and identity of a community are linked to its extensions. They conclude by stating, only after the network of interrelations within which the community operates has been mapped out, can we understand the internal functioning of that community.
CLARITY RANKING: 3
COLIN COOPER York University (Naomi Adelson)
Stern, Theodore. Drum and Whistle “Languages”: An Analysis of Speech Surrogates. America Anthropologist 1957 Vol. 59 (3): 487-506.
This article focuses on the adaptation of human speech into corresponding sounds for transmission in signaling systems with regard to the Northern Chins of Burma. Signaling systems may be related in various ways to the oral messages they communicate. There are phonemic points of reference, lexical (and morphemic) points of reference, and reference to the message-unit. Under the phonemic category fall phonemic representation, encoding, and abridgment; while the lexical (morphemic) group includes lexical representation, direct transmission, translation, contraction, enphrasing, and lexical ideograph. Messages may sometimes be translated in the course of transmission. Occasionally a base message must be extended by circumlocution. Messages can be expressed in both its lexical components and also a message ideograph.
The nature of a base language must affect the characteristics of an abridging signal system. Several examples of noninstrumental techniques are whistling, humming, syllabic substitution in contrast with instrumental abridging systems using musical devices such as wind, stringed, and percussive instruments. There are many instances where the class of signaling involved whether abridging, encoding, or ideographic is uncertain. Many times the lack of base messages which the signal transmits inhibits the assertion of a relationship between the two. The labeling of a system as encoding, abridging, or ideographic must be approached with circumspection and an adequate knowledge of the base language. Sometimes, two forms of abridging communication are found within the same culture and both are used freely interchanged.
In the act of abridgment many signaling systems transform the sound correspondences which they retain. Even when no instrumentation is employed, abbreviatory signaling may involve some modification. Instrumentation may lead to the further conventionalization of an abridging system. The use of instruments may lead to further accommodations when tonal glides must be represented. This article emphasizes the forms of communications related by abridgment to speech with a particular emphasis upon defining their relationship to other signaling systems. The restricted number of speech characteristics that can be reproduced through abridgment, together with the limited range of instrumentation combine to produce convergent systems. Encoding, less tightly constrained to the representation of linguistic pattern, evinces a greater variety in form. Ideographic representation on morphemic and gross-message levels can be expected to exhibit the widest diversity of all.
CLARITY RANKING: 5
ERICA STONE University of Pennsylvania (Melvyn Hammarberg)
Stern, Theodore. Drum and Whistle “Languages”: An Analysis of Speech Surrogates.American Anthropologist 1957 Vol. 59: 487-506.
Theodore Stern looks at the makeup of spoken language and representational language and their relationship to one-another. Stern refers to these languages as signaling systems and groups them into three categories: phonemic representation, encoding and abridgement.
Stern defines phonemic representation as a representative system that remains tonally similar to the base language. Encoding creates a message that is not similar to the base language but carries meaning (such as Morse code). Abridgement shows a lot of similarity to the base language but reduces the length of the message into parts. Stern also describes a message delivery system called translation, in which the whole message is changed and often “…refers in part to certain obsolescent words, which are retained only in this medium” (489).
Stern outlines some difficulties concerning the use of speech surrogates. The first problem is the apparent lack of ability for the evolution of representational language. The second is the problem of eliminating confusion when representing words in the base language that are tonally similar: “…the system might be expected to lose effectiveness as the vocabulary increases. In order to be understood, the Duala may repeat each drum-figure as many as ten times…may transmit a brief utterance in the form of a long message…retaining little of the original phrasing” (491). Another difficulty raised is that of the continued understanding of the original and true meaning of the message: “…the younger generation may lose sight of the immediate significance of the long signal and think of it as an arbitrary sign inherited from their fathers” (494). Because of the nature of the speech surrogate as non-verbal, in order to have the necessary volume to convey the message, increased range of sound and tone are given up.
According to Stern, some mediums for creating speech surrogates include: whistling, humming, syllabic substitution, falsetto, wind instruments, stringed instruments and percussive instruments.
Stern concludes his argument by stating that “…the labeling of a system…should rest upon an adequate knowledge of the base language” (494).
CLARITY RANKING: 1
AMANDA JONES York University (Naomi Adelson)
Stoodley, Bartlett H. Some Aspects of Tagalog Family Structure. American Anthropologist April, 1957 Vol. 59 (2):236-249.
This paper is the culmination of many research projects conducted in the Philippine Islands over a period of four months studying the social organization and informal relations in a representative Tagalog barrio. Panel discussions, interviews, questionnaires, census data, and written accounts were collected regarding structural and emotional aspects of family life.
Stoodley emphasizes the close ties between barrios and families. Indeed, barrio obligations, neighbor obligation and kin obligations are often interrelated and inseparable from one another.
The author then describes various aspects of family structure and life. For instance, he describes the many sex neutral kinship terms that Tagalogs employ, but he also mentions terms used to distinguish order of birth and sex of family members. Stoodley also goes into detail about sibling-sibling, parent-child, and husband-wife relations, making references to the Civil Code of the Philippines.
Stoodley comments on the infiltration of American values and versions of romantic love and the subsequent strain it imposes on the Tagalog family. Gender roles seem to be nonexistent until the age of ten or eleven. However, Stoodley describes the role of the male head of the family and later contrasts it with that of the female head of the family. He also mentions some aspects of life for unmarried women. Finally, there is a discussion on the economy and employment in the Philippines. Mobility between various female roles seems flexible due to the structure of Philippino extended families.
This article is a fair description of family life in the Philippines. Comparisons between western and Tagalog family structures are helpful. The paper provides a cursory glance at family structure and lifestyle in Tagalog barrios.
CLARITY RANKING: 5
NEHA SHAH University of Pennsylvania (Melvyn Hammarberg)
Stoodley H., Barlett. Some Aspects of Tagalog Family Structure. American Anthropologist Vol.59:236—249.
In the article, Some Aspects of Tagalog Family Structure, Stoodley discusses the structural makeup and social organization within the Tagalog family. Stoodley’s discussion is based on the results of participant observation conducted by a team of researchers and recorded panel discussions of six Tagalog university students who were chosen to represent the different sex, social, economic, birth order and size of barrio within the Tagalog community.
The author provides detailed descriptions of the social organization among Tagalogs. Most traditional Tagalog families live in nuclear or conjugal barrios, which normally consists of ten to 1000 homes. The houses are in close proximity to each other and are separated by rows of rice paddies. Since all homes are spatially close, family and neighbors become important forces in the maintenance of community relationships. Family members are obligated to support each other during political matters and the all important barrio fiesta in which everyone in the community contributes time to the processional, mass and decorating the plaza, which is used for the dance. These families also depend on each other for cooperative efforts such as house building and cultivating rice paddies.
Within the Tagalog household there are sex-neutral kinship terms; therefore emphasis is not placed on gender. Children are distinguished by birth-order so that elder siblings hold more authority over younger siblings and can exert physical punishment as they see fit. Although older siblings hold more power, there are strong sibling bonds among Tagalogs and this sense of solidarity is extended from the household to the community. Parents are also important and children are expected to show reverence even after marriage. Power is equally shared between parents and both take part in making decisions for the family. Stoodley points out that this is quite unique from the American model of the middle-class family, which is patriarchal but is becoming more equalitarian. He also notes that parents play an important role in influencing their children’s choice in marriage partners.
Stoodley states that power and prestige are important to Tagalog male identity and can be achieved by cutting through bureaucratic “red tape” for governmental positions or by achieving a prestigious career in law due to their education. The author then compares Tagalog males to married American females to demonstrate their similar struggle for identity, respect and economic independence.
CLARITY RANKING: 4
NEKEISHA MOHAMMED York University (Naomi Adelson)
Tremblay, Marc-Adélard. The Key Informant Technique: A Nonethnographic Application. American Anthropologist. 1957 Vol. 59: 688-701.
The clear objective of this article is to introduce a technique of selecting key informants. Objectives of the key informant technique in research are first to develop a definition of the dimensions involved, to discover boundaries of communities, to identify extremes and to increase knowledge of the problem.
The article first defines a key informant. A key informant is not someone who might add to our total understanding of their culture, but as someone who might have expected to have specialized information on particular topics.
The preliminary research design goes as follows: find informants with applicable criterion (regarding role in community, knowledge, willingness, communicability, internal consistency, productivity, reliability and impartiality), make a preliminary selection of informants, and conduct research. While conducting research, one should be aware of deviation from the preliminary design, the overlapping of informants’ roles, informants’ lack of knowledge, and the always possible discovery of new informants.
CLARITY RANKING: 5
ALISON SILBER University of Pennsylvania (Dr. Melvyn Hammarberg)
Tremblay, Marc-Adélard. The Key Informant Technique: a Nonethnographic Application. American Anthropologist August, 1957 Vol.59:688-701.
In his paper, Tremblay attempts relate the role of a key informant style of interview, its purpose and method, through its role in the Stirling County Sudy. In his introduction, he states his objectives of a definiton and purpose of the method, what it was hoped to discover, the research design, and the way the interviews were conducted. The key informants are interviewed indefinately in order to provide for the researcher a deep description of the sociocultural particularities of the subject. They are predominantly qulaitative while also providing some factual information. Through the interviews are openended, they researcher uses a systematic selection and style with a focused use of the key informant in order to achieve a specific objective. This paper focuses on the poverty-affluence dynamic of Sterling County, one of seven conditions in the overall study, and the key informant technique was used specifically to define those two poles, to fit communities of the county into those poles, to discover boundaries of the communities, to identify the most extreme examples of the terms, and to bring up further knowledge and insight into the problem. The key informants are selected though an intense process primarily judged on their role in the community; their interviews are then evaluated based on their internal consistency, productivity, and reliability though cross-comparison. The priliminary list for this particular socioeconomic study is based on the key informant candidate’s knowledge on financial conditions in the county, generally though their professions; however, there was a deviation from this original design due to factors which either added or subtracted key informants. In terms of method, the interviews are constructed to get as much knowledge as possible out of the key informant. In this particular study of affluence and poverty, the interviewees were given maps to facilitate their explanations, and their goal ultimately was to define “poverty” and “wealth” in terms of local preceptions. This key informant technique not only opened the study up for furter investigations, but it also proved its values for further sociocultural evaluations.
CLARITY: 4
LEE NORSWORTHY Barnard College (Paige West)
Tremblay, Marc-Adélard. The Key Informant Technique: A Nonethnographic Application.American Anthropologist 1957 Vol.59:688-700.
The article address the issue of using the “the key informant technique” in conducting anthropological research. It explains that informants “are interviewed intensively over an extensive period of time for the purpose of providing a relatively complete ethnographical description of the social and cultural patterns of their group” (688).
The manner in which this is done is clearly delineated. Interviews are very flexible, but there is a structure where techniques are employed to maintain an informant on topic. Tremblay states that “we searched not for informants who might add to our total understanding of the culture, but for informants who might be expected to have specialized information on particular topics”(689) and “a large number of key informants are selected and interviewed within a restricted framework of questions with highly focused objectives”(690).
Evidence is of an ethnographic study of terms of wealth and poverty within a certain county of Canada. The research design focused on criteria for informants based on their role in the community, knowledge, willingness to participate, communicability and impartiality.
The article further discussed research operations. It discussed deviations from the preliminary design with overlapping of roles, lack of knowledge, the discovery of new informants and the different types of interviews actually used (intensive versus extensive interviewing). In the end, informants were not representatives of different races, classes, regions, etc and a recommended device to find “good” informants is to look at their formal roles instead.
In conclusion, Tremblay states that “On the basis of these focused key informant operation, we were able to gather the information necessary for the designs of a sample survey to be used in the study area as a whole, and for the preliminary selection of focus communities for intensive analysis with both ‘structured’ and ‘nonstructured’ techniques of interviewing and observation”(697).
CLARITY: 5
SABRINA MONDSCHEIN Columbia University (Paige West)
Wallis, Wilson D. Anthropology in England Early in the Present Century. American Anthropologist 1957 Vol. 59:781-790
The author clearly expresses his objective at the beginning of his article, stating: “The Editor of the American Anthropologist has asked me to record my impressions of anthropology and anthropologists in England early in the intellectual ferment of the time, trying to recapture not only the personalities but the meaningful problems as they were seen during your student days”. The author then addresses this objective through a brief summary of England’s history of anthropology. Many of England’s early anthropologists are discussed, such as the renowned E. B. Tylor and James G. Frazer. Many other early anthropologists are recognized through their various works mentioned in this article, but with the exception of Tylor and Frazer, their theories are not mentioned in this article. Anthropology, in the beginning of the century, was not recognized as an independent academic field. Those involved in this discipline came from other fields such as biology, anatomy, or classical studies. Archaeology was not a major concern at the time. Thus more anthropologists focused on physical anthropology and field ethnography. British schools began to offer anthropology as a field of study when Cambridge and Oxford both established “courses leading to a Diploma in Anthropology”. The author then continues by describing his experiences in these academic settings. Originally, there was no formal teaching, and the “absence of rigidly confining limitations” allowed for a loose program of study. The author then summarizes his argument and closes with a quote dealing with individual customs.
Although the author has a clear goal set from the beginning of this article, his argument is not supported well. His arguments are brief and scattered, while they lack substantial evidence to support them. This article provides an overview of early anthropology and anthropologists in England, but does not live up to the expectations established from the thesis.
CLARITY RANKING: 3
Dayle J. Bekier University of Pennsylvania (Melvyn Hammarberg)
Wallis, D. Wilson. Anthropology in England Early in the Present Century. American Anthropologist. 1957 Vol. 59: 781-791
In the article, “Anthropology in England Early in the Present Century, ” Wilson Wallis, who studied anthropology in Britain in the nineteenth century, discusses his thoughts and experiences with anthropology and, as well, talks over the works of various anthropologists who were researching in England at the same time.
The article is divided into four sections. Firstly, Wallis begins by clarifying his misleading references to “British” anthropology, explaining that the term is used due to the meaningful movements that have occurred in Britain, but he emphasizes that “intellectual ferments are bounded by neither geography, nor politics” (781).
Wallis continues by describing the works of several influential anthropologists, which include: Boas; his study on Northwest Coast tribes; Tyler’s degeneration theory describing how the earlier, “primitive” man went through stages to reach civilization; Müllers’ naturalistic interpretations of myths and folklore; Andrew Lang’s work challenging Müllers’ theories. Other anthropologists discussed include the works of : General Pit Rivers for his work on archeology and Arthur Thompson and W.l.H. Duckworth for their contributions to physical anthropology. The article shows how ethnographies were largely undertaken in Britain. However, these ethnographies mainly studied individuals in West Africa who, at the time, were considered “primitive.” Later in the century, cultural comparative studies were introduced, which considered the phases and development of culture.
Secondly, Wallis explains that up until the beginning of the century anthropology was not recognized academically, nor was formal training available for someone to pursue a career in it. Wallis relays his first- hand experiences of studying anthropology at different universities in England where selected courses were available (e.g., physical anthropology) but describes how even these courses lacked professionalism.
Thirdly, Wallis attempts to provide reasons why anthropology remained an unrecognized discipline for such an extended period of time. Some reasons include lack of professional training, views and standards of scholars based on tradition and the past and individuals professionally occupied with other things since they were not granted academic recognition in the area.
Lastly, Wallis discusses the importance of culture and its impact in changing the mode and thinking of the anthropological discipline. As a final note, Wallis provides an excerpt from the manuscript of a never- before published British anthropologist, Marett. Marett’s work describes the influence of culture on the individual, which vividly shows the progression of anthropology , as a discipline, in the nineteenth century.
CLARITY RANKING: 4
DIMITRA LAZAROU York University ( Naomi Adleson)
Washburn, S. L. Australopithecines: the Hunters or the Hunted? American Anthropologist. 1957 Vol. 59:4, 612-614.
In this brief article, S. L. Washburn reports his observations of a baboon kill site in the Wankie Game Reserve, Southern Rhodesia, following the Third Pan-African Congress in 1955. He relates his findings of animal skeletal remains to issues in the reconstruction of the ecology of the australopithecines, particularly theories of tool use and diet. In his words: “The conclusion of this examination of the kills in the Wankie Game Reserve is that the high frequency of jaws, skulls, and upper cervical vertebrae in the australopithecine deposits is not necessarily evidence for hunting, head hunting, or human activities, but may be due to selective eating by carnivores.” (613) Further, the accumulated concentrations of bones may also be a function of “normal eating habits of carnivores,” making it probable “that the australopithecines were themselves the game, rather than the hunters.” (614)
CLARITY RANKING: 4
ALISON SILBER University of Pennsylvania (Melvyn Hammarberg)
Washburn, S.L. Austrolopithicus: the hunters or the hunted? American Anthropologist 1957 Vol.59(4): 612-614
This article raises the question of whether early humans were hunters or were the prey of other carnivores. Washburn presents the issue by using the example of the exceedingly large number of cranial remains among the thousands of austrolopithicine bones. This evidence had been used to justify the argument that not only was early humans hunters, but more specifically headhunters and trophy keepers. Washburn proceeds to dispute this theory and present early humans as prey, rather than predators. To do so the author draws on observations made at the Wankie Game Reserve in east Africa. The carnivores at the reserve, lions, baboons and hyenas among others displayed highly selective hunting and eating habits that likely haven’t changed much over the past several thousand years. The results of such habits were that in only one instance the skull was missing after a kill. After the initial kill, the author surmises that this was likely done by lions, other animals would then pick at the remains of the prey. Because the heads are the least edible part of the prey’s body they were left alone.
Though Washburn makes sure to note that no single animal could have been responsible for all the kills, many of them can be attributed to brown hyenas. This theory is based on numerous sightings of cranial remains strewn around hyena dens. Thus Washburn concludes that the high frequency of cranial remains is a result of normal carnivorous eating habits, and not evidence of head hunting. Although this point is clearly made, the notion that early humans were hunted rather than hunters does not seem well founded based on the evidence presented by Washburn. Although the evidence and argument is clearly presented, the results simply do not seem to make logical sense. If the exemption of cranial remains from consumption is normal for carnivores then why does this not extend to humans. Washburn avoids this question altogether. The argument would have been stronger if the author had avoided taking on such a sweeping argument in a mere two-page article and instead focused on a more narrow topic.
CLARITY : 2
JULIA MCCALLUM Barnard College ( Paige West)
Wen-Chung, Pei. Giant Ape’s Jaw Bone Discovered in China. American Anthropologist 1957 Vol. 59:834-838
The author’s objective in this article is to present an analysis of the jaw bone discovered in China. Originally, only the teeth were found, and it was thought that these bones belonged to a giant man classified as a “Gigantanthropus”. The author then looks at various considerations when analyzing the findings. The author provides a brief discussion of the location in which the bones were found and their dating. Once, however, the actual jaw bone was discovered, the author comes to the conclusion that this was not the jaw of a man, but rather a giant ape, “Gigantopithecus”. Throughout this article, the author also addresses related questions about the findings. For example, “Why were bones of the giant ape and those of other animals found in the same cave?” “What was the giant ape’s relationship to Peking Man?”
The author provides a good argument for his theories in answering these questions, at times mentioning the theories of others. His arguments are well supported and concise.
CLARITY RANKING: 5
Dayle J. Bekier University of Pennsylvania (Melvyn Hammarberg)
Wen-Chung, Pei. Giant Ape’s Jaw Bone Discovered in China. American Anthropologist 1957 Vol.59: 834-838
This article describes the discovery of a jawbone that, apparently, belonged to a Giant Ape and caused anthropologists to revise the theories about the genus of the Giant Ape. Wen-Chung briefly outlines the history of, what the Chinese call “Dragon Bones”. He explains how new facts and discoveries shed light onto the issue of whether the bones belonged to an Ape or of they belong to a human. After establishing that they indeed belong to a Giant Ape, he goes further and compares the environments of the Peking Man and the Giant Ape. This comparison explains the reasons for the evolution of the Peking Man, and the demise of the Ape.
The existence of the Dragon Bones was known for centuries, however it was only in 1935 when the western paleontologist G.H.R. Von Koenigswald noticed their potential historical value. Because the teeth were similar to the ones of a human, it was initially believed that they belonged a giant human. Later discoveries of a full jaw reversed that view. It was decided that the bones belonged to an ape. Along with the jaw, researchers found bones of animals like deer and rhinoceros. Author argues that those bones were the remains if animals that the Ape hunted for.
This would explain why this species did not evolve into humans, while others did. Peking Man lived at approximately the same time, yet it managed to develop tools, which in the eyes of the researchers classified it as a part of the human genus. Wen-Chung sees the differences in the environments where those species lived, as the cause of this separation. He argues that the Peking Man had less food available to it; therefore it had to develop skills and tools to get it. The Giant Ape on the other hand had abundance of food available, therefore no change was necessary, and none occur.
This article is pleasant and easy to read/understand. It holds a sufficient number of evidence to prove its point and might be useful to anyone interested in the subject.
CLARITY RANKING: 5
LUKASZ DZIEDZINSKI York University (Naorni Adelson)
White, Charles B. A Comparison of Theories on Southern Athapaskan Kinship Systems. America Anthropologist 1957 Vol. 59 (3): 434-448.
The kinship systems of Athapaskans were analyzed repeatedly in the 1930’s and 1940’s, namely in five studies. These five studies of Opler, Kroeber, Bellah, Hoijer, and Murdock, with revisions by the author White, are delineated in this article. Their similarities are discussed and their differences revealed.
Kroeber believed that the original Athapaskan kinship society presented four separate terms for grandparents; four different terms for siblings to differentiate older and younger brothers and sisters; cross-cousins differentiated from parallel cousins and siblings; and uncle-aunt terms uncertain, but often merged father’s brother and father’s sister into a single term.
Hoijer concluded that the Athapaskan society included two grandparent terms; six terms for parents and their siblings; four sibling terms to denote sex and relative age; no cousin terms, but possible indication they were grouped with siblings; two terms for children; and a single grandchild term.
Opler divides the system into two basic types, the Chiricahua and the Jicarilla. The Jicarilla type included the tribes of Jicarilla, Lipan, and Kiowa-Apache, while the Chiricahua type represented the Mescalero and Chiricahua tribes. Navaho and Western Apache were viewed as transitional in this model.
Bellah uses Murdock’s approach in classifying the kinship, but avoided a theoretical reconstruction of a sequence of kinship systems. Bellah concurs with some of Murdock’s conclusions, but uses the Jicarilla tribe as a standard with which to compare all the others in the Athapaskan society.
Murdock proposed that there is a single original type of social organization for each linguistic stock. He stated that the Chiricahua, Navaho, and the Kiowa-Apache were derived from a common type classified as Normal Hawaiian. Additionally, he suggested that only two types of cousin terminology need to be considered, Hawaiian and Iroquois. Murdock concluded that there are eleven major types of social organization. The seven named tribes are Navaho, Western Apache, Jicarilla, Lipan, Kiowa-Apache, Chiricahua, and Mescalero contain four sub-types which are as follows: Normal Iroquois, Matri-Yuman, Matri-Hawaiian, and Normal Hawaiian, each defined in the text.
Once each study is explained and its system of kinship established, comparisons between the five are made. One major difference is the number of kinship categories selected for reconstruction. Another is that some men depended upon linguistics and comparative-historical methods for their research while others were influenced by the underlying social structures of the various tribes. Each anthropologist offered his own conclusions based on individual research, none of which is solely correct nor can it be verified. Future reconstruction of the Athapaskan kinship system may benefit from combining linguistic stock with social data.
CLARITY RANKING: 3
ERICA STONE University of Pennsylvania (Melvyn Hammarberg)
White, Charles. B. A Comparison of Theories on Southern Athapaskan Kinship Systems.American Anthropologist, 1957 Vol 59:434-448
This article seeks to reconstruct a basic pattern from which all Athapaskan tribes deviated in one way or another. There have already been four attempts at constructing a pattern of the deviation, and this attempt by White is the fifth. White feels that a comparison of the five postulated reconstruction’s reveals some interesting disagreements. Because of this, each of the five analyses are summarized in this article with their differences revealed and discussed. These summaries are not arranged in chronological order but an order that will make it easier to facilitate comparison.
The article begins with a summary of Kroebers work and his belief that each group retains some features of an aboriginal Athapaskan kinship system and at the same time reveals alterations due to outside contacts. It then compares his work to Hoijer’s, Opler’s, and finally Bellah’s. He then examines their comparability.
After he goes through comparing all of the previous four anthropologist’s theories he makes some conclusions of his own which he lists at the end of the article. These conclusions critique some of the arguments that the other four anthropologists have.
This articles does a good job of examining the different types of theories surrounding the Southern Athapaskan Kinship system. By summarizing all of the earlier work done on the subject the author does a good job of giving a background information on the topic. He also makes some conclusions of his own which are interesting and unique with regards to the other theories. His critique of the earlier work done is also very informative.
CLARITY RANKING: 3
SHANE MATTE York University (Naomi Adelson)
White, C. Raymond. The Luiseno Theory of “Knowledge”. American Anthropologist February, 1957 Volume 59 (1): 1-18
The author of this article discusses his recent fieldwork among the Luiseno Indians of southern California. In this study he has revealed native concepts concerned with the basis of “knowledge”. This knowledge involves the properties of the Luiseno’s world and what they perceive and believe about that world. The native term for knowledge is Ayelkwi, which in this case is concerned with how this knowledge is gotten, used, and passed on. Throughout this article the author tries to show that this theory of knowledge forms the foundation for the Indians old native religion and their early social structures. The author describes some social ceremonies of the Luiseno Indians along with attempting to show some of the problems that this knowledge raises in their society. This knowledge is involved in strict moral and social controls within the Luiseno culture that has emerged since the pre-Spanish era.
The author breaks down this knowledge into four different parts. The first is common knowledge that is cultural and common to all the Luiseno. The second is innate knowledge that is the different knowledge which individuals receive when they are born. The third is formulated knowledge that is the ritual knowledge of the Luiseno. The final part is residual knowledge that makes up all of the unknown areas of the world and its environment.
The Luiseno theory of knowledge forms a set of concepts and principles that make up every part of the old native life. This knowledge is helpful, amoral, dangerous, and can never be destroyed. The knowledge exists everywhere in life and it has many different ways of expressing itself. The knowledge exists in every part of life and binds the living world to be to what is. The Luiseno believe that all living beings are supernatural because they possess this magic knowledge.
CLARITY RANKING: 3
Greg English University of Pennsylvania (Melvyn Hammarberg)
White, Raymond C. The Luiseno Theory of “Knowledge”. American Anthropologist 1957 Vol. 59: 1-19
This piece looks at the Luiseno Indians, a ‘Mission Tribe’ of Southern California and the concept of “knowledge”, or ayelkwi, whose nature is considered inherent to their cosmogony. The author presents the LuiseZo theory of knowledge and its role in maintaining their old culture core. According to White, the combination of the role that ayelkwi has played in conserving religious structure, as well as native diffusion, alludes to a pre-contact existence of social structure characteristics.
White begins by recounting the history of the dislocation of the Luiseno tribe beginning in the late 18th and through the 19th centuries, disease, dispossession and territorial encroachment perpetuated. By the mid 20th century, after great dispersal and destruction of the majority of the Luiseno, there were but a few groups found near Palomar Mountain and Mt. St. Jacinto. The crowding together of these remaining groups most certainly disturbingly impacted the social structure of the Indians, as they were once a collection of scattered and discrete units. White chooses to examine the nature of ayelkwi and its significance related to religion and religion’s leaders, the Luiseno cosmogony and the prominence given to different types of knowledge, thus leading up to the social structure present and past.
Significant to White’s presentation are the different groups that make up the structure of Luiseno society and ‘social rank being dependent on knowledge-power’. The cosmogony of the Luiseno, as stated by White, emphasizes different kinds of knowledge and historically infers that it was ayelkwi struggles that gave into the rank-ordering pattern determining the ‘hierarchy of the species’. Luiseno social structure can be described as organized religious moieties. Within these moieties are small societies within which social rank is dependent on knowledge power. Acculturation, which took place often through initiation into secret societies related to intra-village relationships, was also largely apparent during intervillage hostilities. Youths were taught and initiated early to ‘strive for ayelkwi in their local environment and often forced acquisition from other sources on the occasion of inter village warfare, as the emphasis upon ayelkwi was capitalized on at these times. White finally shows that the Chinginshnish Cult gives clues to the preservation of the Luiseno theory of knowledge. Chingishnish, a spirit, is said to play a moralistic and conservative role in the maintenance of the status quo.
White claims that ‘historical alterations appearing on the Luiseno scene can to some extent be traced backward through time’, and ayelkwi or their ‘knowledge’ tends to tie into social structure, and the agency of its own perpetuation, perhaps closely linking the phenomenon with their past.
CLARITY RANKING: 3
KARRIE SANDFORD York University (Naomi Adelson)
Wike, Joyce. More Puzzles on the Northwest Coast. American Anthropologist April, 1957 Vol. 59 (2):301-317.
This article addresses the limitations and criticisms of Boas’ and Hunt’s description of the Kwakiutl on the Northwest Coast. This situation is likened to that of Swanton’s study of the Haida and the Tlingit. Verne Ray as well as Wike addresses the reluctance of colleagues to criticize these descriptions and asserts that there should be an open forum for discussion of such disagreements. This reluctance to criticize in print need not continue because the author and Ray imply that the field of anthropology is mature enough to handle such controversy if it exists.
Wike points out that the main reason behind criticism and controversy is due to the nature and organization of the research conducted in the Northwest Coast by Boas and Swanton. Neither study is published in finished form. Wike points out in Boas’ research method, there is a scientific objectification of his description. She also discusses an often overlooked ethnocentrism in most American ethnographic research in treating all aspects of a culture adequately, which is often incompatible with cultures such as the Kwakiutl. Boas’ objectification and ethnocentrism have significantly influenced American anthropology in the twentieth century. Thus, when comparing Boas’ and Hunter’s research to such standards, these studies will prove to be inadequate.
Wike then moves on to discussions of the social organization of Haida and Tlingit villages. She relies on research conducted by one of Swanton’s most prominent critics, Murdock regarding clan structure. Varying interpretations and confusion of terms in Swanton’s description are discussed briefly before a thorough discussion of the relevance of the problem of village social organization in the Northwest Coast. This discussion continues with commentary on a “royal marriage” and “potlatch,” and other aspects of village life.
Wike concludes by highlighting the basic differences in scientific approach of Boas and others that have studied the villages in the Northwest Coast. These differences can be attributed to three primary emphases in research methods: (1) the essential primacy of fact or reality over theory or hypothetical construct; (2) the complexity of cultural and social phenomena and the precise nature of that complexity: the complex interrelatedness of these phenomena; and (3) a historical orientation. Wike clearly highlights these themes in her article, and in doing so, sheds light not only on the differences in scientific approach of studies conducted in the Northwest Coast but other studies as well.
CLARITY RANKING: 4
NEHA SHAH University of Pennsylvania (Melvyn Hammarberg)
Wike, Joyce. More Puzzles on the Northwest Coast. American Anthropologist 1957 Vol.59:301-317
The author’s aim in this article is to support the suggestion that specialists be less reticent in their criticism by demonstrating some of the consequences of ambiguity. She speaks mostly about the nature of Haida-Tlingit village organization. She examines the different ways in which this issue was approached and raises some issues about how the public is given different information on an issue depending on who studied it and from what angle it was looked at.
In the presentation of controversies, it is clear that we are not confronted with the questions involving personal predilection, but rather with the results of basic differences in scientific approach. These basic differences can be elucidated in relation to three well known emphases in the scientific approach: the essential primacy of fact or reality over theory or hypothetical construct, the complexity of cultural and social phenomena and a historical orientation.
This article is presented in answer to a constructive request for a more open and thorough discussion of ethnological problems involving the scientific position of Boas’ Northwest Coast researches.
CLARITY RANKING: 2
LINDSAY GRANT York University (Naomi Adelson)