Part 1, Biological Anthropology: Human Nature, Race, Evolution
Explores biological anthropology, emphasizing biology and evolution as dynamic processes and anthropological documentation of human possibility. These sections are also available on Amazon as a Kindle eBook, Anthropology I: Human Nature, Race, Evolution in Biological Anthropology.
My preferred textbooks specifically for biological anthropology are The Alternative Introduction to Biological Anthropology (Jonathan Marks 2010) and The Human Species: An Introduction to Biological Anthropology (John Relethford 2012). For an accessible and popularly-written book, see Race, Monogamy, and Other Lies They Told You: Busting Myths about Human Nature (Agustín Fuentes 2012).
Darwin wrote of “descent with modification.” Evolution and natural selection describe natural processes, but there are potential problems with these terms.
To understand human evolution, from hominin species classification to Denisovan debates, it is essential to understand biological anthropology and racism.
Human head shape is considerably plastic–there is no natural or genetically-determined head shape. The Boas head shape studies have been revalidated.
Anthropology successfully debunked race, but we now see race revival, from “A Family Tree in Every Gene” to attacking anthropology. How did this happen?
Race Reconciled: How Biological Anthropologists View Human Variation features an important set of articles re-debunking race.
Anthropology reveals how race becomes biology, intertwining social categories and biology. This is dynamic and developing biology, not genetic determinism.
Primates vary by species, group, and individually. Primatology reveals there is no single primate behavior pattern at the base of human evolution.
Habitual bipedalism–not big brains–differentiated hominid ancestors from apes. But walking is a learned behavior, not easily explained by selection.
Stone tools date to 2.5million years ago, yet direct ape-to-human comparisons persist. As Jonathan Marks comments: “We evolved, get over it.”
Were Denisovans and Neandertals ancestors of modern humans? Different species? Or sub-species, like races? Anthropology shows porous species and admixture.
Embracing Mitochondrial Eve was problematic for anthropology. Recent admixture studies show anthropology should recapture multiregionalism.
Human biologies are biocultural platforms of possibility. Anthropology reveals the naturenurtural of humanity rather than determining genes and instincts.