Final exam review - text format University of California, Irvine ANTHRO 2A 2A
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Final Exam Review Guide – Extended Text form (Articles 10, 11, 12, 13, 15)
Article 10: Race, Human Variation, and the Forces of Evolution
In Marvin Harris’s article “Race, Human Variation, and the Forces of Evolution,” he
proposes multiple claims and then supports or argues them by givin...
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Final Exam Review Guide – Extended Text form (Articles 10, 11, 12, 13, 15)
Article 10: Race, Human Variation, and the Forces of Evolution
In Marvin Harris’s article “Race, Human Variation, and the Forces of Evolution,” he
proposes multiple claims and then supports or argues them by giving evidences and
explanation. His main message of his article is to explain why all individuals are different and
why. One of the claims he make in his article is that the IQ tests do not actually show the level
of intelligence but is rather culture bound. In addition, psychologists say that IQ is due to
heritability and environment. This idea can be rejected because the concept of heritability is
flawed when applied to humans, and difference of IQs can be eliminated by changing the
environment. However, heritability is only valid only in a given set of environmental
conditions. Another claim harris makes is about the nose shape and the body build, in which
he believes that the shape of the nose is affected by temperature, humidity, and other
climatological factors. In fact, he believes that Europeans have long noses because they live in
a cold weather, while people He also believes that body shape is affected by heat production
and heat conservation in which the greater biomass, the more heat generated, the smaller the
surface area, and the less heat that is lost. In hot temperatures, it is the exact opposite and that
is people living in Africa, a region of high temperatures, are tall and thin.
Harris talks about the Sickle cell anemia and how it was originated in Africa, around
the Mediterranean region and India because these regions are noted to have high defense
against malaria. As the old generations migrated from the regions with sickle cell anemia so
did the allele for that disease. Thus the more they spread, the less likely they were to have
malaria. Harris makes another claim about lactase deficiency, in which he states that it is
another polymorphism. The ability to consume lactase depends on the productivity of the
enzyme lactase. However, over time adults and animals lose the capability to exhibit lactase,
causing them to experience severe indigestion when consuming unfermented milk. Certain
populations in different areas are seen to have more lactase deficiency than others and this is
scientifically proven as there is a higher probability of finding the allele that produces lactase
in areas around the world where milk represents a large part of their diet.
Not only is lactase deficiency an example of how diverse people are but also skin
color. Sunlight is associated with vitamin D and people vary in their ability to process vitamin
D depending on their skin color. Areas around the world would be diversified as a result of
natural selection and cultural selection. Some cultures would have to choose which infants
they wanted to nourish or neglect and they would choose them based on their skin color,
believing that a certain shade was prettier and healthier than another. This led to certain areas
consisting of more dark or light skin colored individuals, depending on their environment and
standards.
Polymorphisms are when a gene has one or more alleles. An example of polymorphism
is the blood group variation. It is found that genetic differences occur within local groups
within the major races. Instead of using racial archetypes to explain the distribution of
polymorphism, anthropologists found it more productive to approach the problem from an
evolutionary viewpoint. An example that Harris used was that the ABO blood type was more
resistant to diseases due to the history of the exposures of different populations to different
diseases in the environment. In different areas of the world, each area has individuals that have
certain characteristics that are influenced by the environment.
Article 11: Fathers and Matrilineality
Interrupted sleep
Fathers and Matrilineality, an article by Annette B. Weiner, details the roles of the
, Final Exam Review Guide – Extended Text form (Articles 10, 11, 12, 13, 15)
Trobrianders parents with their offspring and their belief in procreation. Weiner describes the
cultural procedure of pregnancy of the Trobrianders. When a married pregnant woman
becomes near the end of her term, she leaves her husband’s house, and goes back to her
mother’s house. She remains there after the birth, secluded with her infant, for several of
months. Her husband, along with his kin, are required to bring Naseluma food, but only her
matrilineal kin are allowed to cook for her and assist with other needs. During the first two
months after pregnancy, the diet of the wife is strict (not eating yams or pork), and is required
to lay in a high bed with a long, light-colored cape (made with dried banana-leaf fibers) with a
fire burning aside her. Weiner then compares a mourner and a nursing mother. Like a mother, a
mourner cannot eat yams and pork and must sit on a high bed. On the other hand, a mourner
has no fire and blacken their body instead of a banana-leaf fiber cape. There is a giant
celebration of live in the middle of the square to recognize the dead which is very different
from the secluded birth ritual.
Birth and ancestors
Trobrianders believe in reincarnation, in which the spirit (baloma) of the deceased travels to an
island called Tuma. Here, the spirit enjoys all the activities that it participated in, in the human
world. The baloma ages and by bathing in the ocean water, and becomes a young spirit again
(waiwaia). The waiwaia then swims across the ocean towards the Trobriand Island to search
for a woman of the same matrilineage that the waiwaia originated from. The woman’s blood
and an ancestral spirit (sibububula) forms the fetus with the mother’s matrilineal identity. At
birth, infants always receive a name from its mother that previously belonged to a deceased
member of her matrilineage—developing a physical connection between women and the
spirits of their matrilineal ancestors. Various forms of pregnancy by magic have also been
observed. A waiwaia was to be sent to a woman in a dream. Women also reported to
Malinowski that pregnancy can occur if a woman bathed in the sea, where waiwaia spirits
might be floating back to Kiriwana from Tuma.
Role of Sex
The Trobrianders do not share the same Western view of insemination and pregnancy because
it does not account for the role of the spirit. They believe that sex opens the channel to allow a
waiwaia spirit to enter the body. Sex after a woman becomes pregnancy is highly encouraged
because they believe that semen nourishes the baby while it develops.
A Father’s care
Trobriand babies receive a lot of attention and care from all adults. However, public
responsibility for the economic care of the child falls on the father. It is up to the father to
provide his children with food and wealth. Fathers tend to care for their children by working
hard i.e. chopping firewood, buying fish, growing yams, and killing chicken/pig for food.
When the baby is weaned and grows older, the father immediately fulfills the role of caretaker.
In addition, the father is responsible for the social beauty of his child. First, the child is
adorned with turtle earring when they are too young for necklaces (kuwas). Earrings represent
signs of a man’s wealth and his presence in his child’s life. Necklaces are very valuable. Their
prestige stems from the amount and the potency of the color. The redder the shell the more
economic power the child carries. Shells represent the first important political step in the
child’s life. If their ears are not pierced, they are seen as fatherless. If the child has pierced ears
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