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Essays on anthropology
Cultural diversity in the medical field
Essays on anthropology
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The Telegraph. (2015). Barack Obama touches bones of humankind's ancient ancestor 'Lucy'. Retrieved from www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/barackobama/11766721/Barack-Obama-touches-bones-of-humankinds-ancient-ancestor-Lucy.html
This article represents the paleoanthropology, primatology and skeletal biology of anthropology subfield. It tells the reader about “Lucy”, the skeleton of hominid from the Australopithecus afarensis species, discovered 41 years ago. As the research claims she is believed to have lived between 3.2 million years ago. Lucy walked on two legs and she is the closest primate to Homo genus. From the biological perspective the research point is not represented in the best way as it mostly aimed on the event of Obama’s visit rather than on scientific discovery.
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(2014). Ebola Teams Need Better Cultural Understanding, Anthropologist Say. Retrieved from http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/crux/2014/12/09/ebola-cultural-anthropologists/#.Vq_9CvEduGU
The article shows the possible advance in preventing Ebola with the help of medical anthropology. It is claimed that anthropology experts can bring a lot of effort working on this issue as American Anthropological Association executive director Edward Liebow said that “epidemiologists are making oversimplifies assumptions about transmission, setting these wild upper limit bounds”. Anthropologists are working on developing culturally appropriate and effective treatment and prevention plans. Content provided in the article depicts how the anthropological contribution could be made by taking attention to other important aspects of the problem. The research goals are clear and the effort is well
Over the last few hundred years, more and more has been added to the world’s fossil collection, fossils from all over the world. New theories have been created and old theories have almost been proven about the evolution of man. For example, we have proof that different species of man existed with certain types of DNA sequences and instincts, some we may not have anymore, or some that other species did not have back then. Even though it is subjected to much debate, one of the most widely accepted theories however, is that Homo sapiens interbred with the slightly more primitive species of man, the Neanderthal.
A study performed by Martin Hausler and Peter Schmid of the University of Zurich, Switzerland, appeared in the October 1995 issue of Journal of Human Evolution, igniting controversy over the 1974 Australopithecus discoveries in Hadar, Ethiopia. The most famous of the Hadar specimens is the 3-million-year-old skeleton, “Lucy,” who was recovered by paleoanthropologist, Donald Johanson. In his article, Shreeve presents the methods and findings of Hausler and Schmid’s study as well as some counter arguments from other scientists in the field.
Ardipithecus Ramidus Kadabba: The Oldest Hominid. There was a chief new discovery of fossil bones and teeth belonging to the earliest human ancestors ever discovered. The fossil bones predate the oldest formerly discovered human ancestor by more than a million years. The discovery was of fossil remains of a hominid that lived in present day Ethiopia between 5.2 and 9.8 million years ago. Hominids include all species following the split as of the chimpanzees on the “human” side of the evolutionary tree.
In a search to find our ancestors, several anthropologists have found evidence to support their conclusions. In the films about Don Johanson's discovery of Lucy in Hadar, one may be very intrigued by the first film but very disturbed by the second film.
When you go to the mall to pick up a pair of jeans or a shirt, do you think about where they came from? How they were made? Who made them? Most consumers are unaware of where their clothes are coming from. All the consumer is responsible for is buying the clothing from the store and most likely have little to no knowledge about how it was manufactured, transported, or even who made the clothing item and the amount of intensive labor that went into producing it (Timmerman, 3). In my paper, I will utilize the book Where Am I Wearing? by Kelsey Timmerman and the textbook Cultural Anthropology: A Toolkit for a Global Age by Kenneth J. Guest to examine globalization in the context of the clothing industry.
On November 24, 1974, an American Anthropologist by the name of Donald Johanson and his research team, made a ground-breaking discovery that caused a mass dispute in human evolution. Dr. Johanson documented in his book, Lucy The Beginning Of Mankind, the discoveries he and his team have come across. Dr. Johanson and his team discovered a skeleton of a hominid, dated between 3.9 to 3 million years old (164). The hominid, which they referred to as Lucy, was discovered while surveying Hadar, in the Dafar region of Ethiopia (164-166). Lucy’s discovery, a 41% complete human ancestor caused a controversial alteration in the human origins. Lucy was the oldest human ancestor. During the following year, Johanson’s team discovered fossilized remains
Australopithecus afarensis who existed 3.5 million years ago and a 4.4 million year old skeleton of an Ardipithecus ramidus are the closest science has come to discovering the human lineage. Shattered Ancestry an article written by Katherine Harmon discusses the remains of two hominids found within Ethiopia. These skeletal remains have created a huge controversy within the topic of evolution questioning many assumptions that have been made referencing the human lineage. The skeleton of the Australopithecus afarensis was named Lucy and was discovered in 1974. The evidence of her walking upright on her two feet essentially guaranteed her a spot in the human lineage line. Lucy was a chimplike ape that was said to walk upright making scientists believe the human ancestry was simple. The complete skeleton found in Ethiopia of an Ardipithecus ramidus named Ardi completely changed all assumptions made from scientists about the complexity of the human lineage. These remains have encouraged researches that the human line is not the only lineage to have evolved but the chimpanzee line has undergone drastic changes as well. There are many traits that researchers have always directly linked to the human lineage however since these discoveries occurred researchers are reconsidering. The recent discoveries that have shattered what has always suggested what linked a species to the human lineage have changed the certainty of whether it is possible to confidently identify the human’s last common ancestor. Majority of scientist had forgotten that there would have been many hominid species living together at one time. New theories have been suggested since scientists revealed that the foot of a hominid found called the Burtele site was found ju...
Although Degerando’s work is considered one of the earliest influential works serving as a foundation for the field of anthropology, the work was not successful at the time of its publication. Many reasons for its failure are speculated within reviews of the text which offer both criticism and approval. Moore provides an extensive overview of the history of the text in his introduction to The Observations of Savage Peoples, as well as an assessment of its success and failures at the time of its publication. Also, the article, “Disappearing Savages? Thoughts on the Construction of an Anthropological Conundrum” by John W Burton, also offers some criticism of Degerando’s text.
As the earliest extinct human relatives to become known to science, the Homo neanderthalensis have snatched a relatively iconic influence in human evolutionary investigations. A significance that has been enormously reinforced by the substantial behavioral and fossil record that has expanded since the original Feldhofer Cave skullcap and partial skeleton were unexpectedly uncovered in 1856, by miners working in Germany’s Neander Valley (Tattersall & Jeffrey 1999: 7117-7119). ‘The Neanderthals’ is the informal classification of a particular group of large-brained hominids whom inhabited Europe and Western Asia between 130,000 to around 35,000 years ago. Complementary human populations lived at the same time in Africa and Asia. The Neanderthals were a highly successful race for a substantial period of time, but this situation chang...
The clash between the western (or scientific) and traditional approaches to medicine has existed for many years. The conceptual differences between the two schools of thought resulted in mistrust between scholars of representing them. Each one of the approaches can be effective in some medical cases and neither can offers complete solutions in others. However, the western approach has been proven to be much more effective in treating serious deadly conditions that require complex diagnosis, surgeries, and drugs. South Africa, where the HIV/AIDS epidemic takes countless lives daily, could greatly benefit from an availability of medical achievements provided by the western doctors. At the same time, due to political, cultural, and economic reasons, the traditional healing is still the dominating method in this country. Being trusted by the local population and an integral part of the local culture, traditional healers can play a key role in building a trust between the local population and western doctors.
Anthropologists conduct fieldwork by studying people, their behaviours, and their culture. This is done in the field by actively striving to interpret and understand the world from the perspective of those studied (Powdermaker, 1968, Keesing 1981). Anthropological participant-observation includes a “deep immersion into the life of a people” (Keesing, 1981 p.16) with an aim to produce an ethnography that accurately details the experience in a holistic and valuable style (Powdermaker, 1968, Keesing 1981). Generally, full participation in a culture is thought to reduce the interference the researcher has on the behaviour of the informants (Seymour- Smith, 1986). Participant-observation is still widely used by anthropologists as it offers deeply insightful real world accounts which are difficult to achieve using other methods (Seymour-Smith, 1986, Li,
Thesis Statement: The deadly virus Ebola is killing thousands of innocent people world wide, but there are some simple steps that are being taken to prevent this coming tide of death.
Lewis Henry Morgan has been credited as being the founder of American cultural anthropology or more broadly as the father of “American Anthropology.” Many anthropologists at the time were called “arm-chair” academics, meaning that they studied anthropology from a distance while sitting in chairs, reading and thinking; Morgan was not an “arm-chair” anthropologist. He went out into the field to learn about other cultures. As noted by Kinton, Jacob Bachofen and John McLennan influenced Morgan (1974:4).
also films that could have been seen for a small price, but if one has the time
One cannot generalize or predict all human behaviors, thought processes, morals, and customs. Because human nature is dominated by different types of cultures and societies in various parts of the world, this can often lead to misunderstanding which ultimately leads to the illusion of cultural superiority, and in most cases this can lead to genocide - the systematic murder or annihilation of a group of people or culture. Anthropology is the study of humans, our immediate ancestors and their cultural environments this study stems from the science of holism - the study of the human condition. Culture is crucial in determining the state of the human condition, as the cultures are traditions and customs that are learned throughout an individual