Section 602
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Culture and
Evolution Fall 2005 |
Instructor: Dr. Michael S.
Alvard
Office: Anthropology 223
Telephone: 862-3492
e-mail: Alvard@tamu.edu
Web: http://anthropology.tamu.edu/faculty/alvard/profile.htm
Office Hours: 2:00 - 3:00 R
and by appointment
Class Time: R 11:10AM-02:00PM
Location: Anthropology 214
This seminar will seek to
integrate the study of culture with the natural sciences. That is, we will seek consilience
(a phrase I borrow from the title of E.O. Wilson's new book). The foundation of
the course will be the assumption that culture is a biological adaptation and
that we can examine it scientifically. Initial discussion will develop a
definition of culture that satisfies the rigor of the scientific method. Some
of the questions we will ask: do animals have culture and does it matter? Why did culture evolve in humans? Does biology constrain culture? The course
straddles the sub disciplines of anthropology and will appeal to students
interested in human ecology, cultural anthropology, archeology, primatology, and human paleontology.
Text:
Richerson, P., & Boyd, R. (2004). Not by genes alone:
How culture transformed human evolution.
Articles:
Most articles will be
available online and are accessed by clicking on the following symbol: PDF. Since the University has subscription to many
journals – students also have the right to access the electronic versions –
provided you access from via the Texas A&M system.
If you need PDF reader
software, you can download it free from
Requirements:
- Article reviews:
Each student will submit a 500-word review of the week’s articles or
chapters. Not counting the first week,
there are 12 weeks of readings.
Students are responsible for 10 reviews. Each review is worth 10 points for a
total of 100 points. The reviews should not be simple abstracts of the
articles, though some indication that you actually read the paper is
important. For any given week, most
of the papers work together along a common theme. Try to identify that theme and the
papers’ contribution. Be critical;
identify any weaknesses; note any strength. Reviews are due on the
Monday before the seminar, at midnight. Late submissions will be
reduced one grade. The score will be further reduced one grade for each
week the submission is late. Please submit as a Microsoft Word
document. In the text, please
include your name and the week number (as indicated on the syllabus). Format the review as you would if it
were hardcopy; be neat; check spelling. Name the file using the following
format; For example: Jones, week 1; Smith, week 3. Send as an attachment to an e-mail to my
address (alvard@tamu.edu).
Please put the file name in the subject line. This is important so that I
will not lose the e-mails. I will grade the papers with a score of between
1 and 10. I will add comments using
Microsoft Word’s review function and return them to you via email.
- An in-class final exam
- A term paper
(details to be provided).
The assignments will be
valued as follows
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Assignment |
Percent |
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33.333% |
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Final Exam |
33.333% |
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Term paper |
33.333% |
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Total |
100% |
Grades:
Grade scale: 100-90: A,
89.99-80: B, 79.99-70: C, 69.99-60: D, 59.99-0: F
Listserv:
I have established a
listserv for this class. Join the listserv by sending an email to listserv@listserv.tamu.edu. Leave the subject line blank. In the body write:
subscribe ANTH689-602 your
name
For example:
Subscribe ANTH689-602
Michael Alvard
You are required to join the listserv and are
responsible for reading the messages that I post. You can also exchange
opinions, comments, ideas, and thoughts about course materials with other
students in class. Do not use the list to proselytize, complain, or look for football
tickets. Keep in mind that when you send
a message to the list, you are sending the message to all the students in the
class.
Course Outline
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Week |
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Topic |
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Week 1: |
9/1 |
Introduction to the course |
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Week 2: |
9/8 |
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Smith EA (2000) Three styles in the evolutionary
study of human behavior. In L Cronk, Mesoudi A, Whiten A, and Laland KN (2004)
Perspective: Is human cultural evolution Darwinian? Evidence reviewed from
the perspective of The Origin of Species. Evolution 58:1-11. PDF Kuznar LA (1997) Reclaiming a scientific
anthropology. Wilson E (1998)
Resuming the Enlightenment Quest: Wilson Quarterly. PDF |
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Week 3: |
9/15 |
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R&B Chapter 1 and 2 Tooby J, and Cosmides L (1992) The
psychological foundations of culture. In J Barkow,
L Cosmides and J Tooby (eds.): The Adapted Mind: Evolutionary Psychology and
the Generation of Culture Alford J, Funk
C, and |
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Week 4: |
9/22 |
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R&B (103-111) Laland KN, and Hoppitt W
(2003) Do animals have culture? Evolutionary Anthropology 12:150-159. PDF Whiten A, Goodall J, McGrew WC, Nishida T, Reynolds V, Sugiyama Y, Tutin CEG, Wrangham RW, and Boesch C (1999) Cultures in chimpanzees. Nature 399:682-685. PDF Byrne RW,
Barnard PJ, Davidson L, Janik VM, McGrew WC, Miklosi A, and Wiessner P (2004) Understanding culture
across species. Trends In Cognitive Sciences 8:341-346. PDF Galef BG, and Laland KN
(2005) Social learning in animals: Empirical studies and theoretical models.
Bioscience 55:489-499. PDF |
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Week 5: |
9/29 |
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R&B Chapter
3 (58-80) R&B chapter
4 (111-126) Henrich J, and
Boyd R (1998) The evolution of conformist transmission and the emergence of
between-group differences. Evolution And Human Behavior 19:215-241. PDF Henrich J, and
Gil-White FJ (2001) The evolution of prestige - Freely conferred deference as
a mechanism for enhancing the benefits of cultural transmission. Evolution
And Human Behavior 22:165-196. PDF Eastland L
(2004) The Empty Cradle Will Rock: The American Spectator. PDF |
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Week 6: |
10/6 |
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R&B Chapter 4 (126-147) Potts R (1998)
Variability selection in hominid evolution. Evolutionary Anthropology 7:81-96. PDF Alvard M (2003a)
The adaptive nature of culture. Evolutionary Anthropology 12:136-149. PDF Kaplan H, Hill
K, Lancaster J, and Hurtado AM (2000) A theory of human life history
evolution: Diet, intelligence, and longevity. Evolutionary Anthropology 9:156-185. PDF Henshilwood CS, and Marean CW
(2003) The origin of modern human behavior - Critique of the models and their
test implications. Current Anthropology 44:627-651. PDF |
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Week 7: |
10/13 |
R&B Chapter 5 Henrich J
(2004b) Demography and cultural evolution: How adaptive cultural processes
can produce maladaptive losses - The Tasmanian case. American Antiquity 69:197-214. PDF Henrich J
(2002) Decision-making, Cultural Transmission and Adaptation in Economic
Anthropology. Theory in economic anthropology. :251-295. PDF |
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Week 8 |
10/20 |
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Henrich J
(2001) Cultural transmission and the diffusion of innovations: Adoption
dynamics indicate that biased cultural transmission is the predominate force
in behavioral change. American Anthropologist 103:992-1013. PDF Bentley RA, and
Shennan SJ (2003) Cultural transmission and
stochastic network growth. American Antiquity 68:459-485. PDF Shennan SJ, and Wilkinson JR (2001) Ceramic style
change and neutral evolution: A case study from Neolithic Europe. American
Antiquity 66:577-593. PDF Kuhn SL (2004)
Evolutionary perspectives on technology and technological change. World Archaeology
36:561-570. PDF Wiessner P
(1983) Style And Social Information In Kalahari-San Projectile-Points.
American Antiquity 48:253-276. PDF |
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Week 9: |
10/27 |
R&B (chapter 3) pp. 80-98 Henrich J, Boyd
R, and Richerson P (n.d.) Five Misunderstandings
about Cultural Evolution. In D Sperber (ed.): The
epidemiology of Ideas: Open Court Publishing. PDF Sperber D (1996) Explaining culture : a naturalistic
approach. Boyer P (1998)
Cognitive tracks of cultural inheritance: How evolved intuitive ontology
governs cultural transmission. American Anthropologist 100:876-889. PDF Atran S (2001) The trouble with memes - Inference
versus imitation in cultural creation. Human Nature-an Interdisciplinary
Biosocial Perspective 12:351-381. PDF |
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Week 10: |
11/3 |
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Tomasello M, Carpenter M, Call J, Behne
T, and Moll H (in press) Understanding and sharing intentions: The origins of
cultural cognition. Behavioral and Brain Sciences. PDF Gergely G, Bekkering H,
and Kiraly I (2002) Rational imitation in preverbal
infants. Nature 415:755-755. PDF |
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Week 11: |
11/10 |
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Henrich J
(2004a) Cultural group selection, coevolutionary
processes and large-scale cooperation. Journal Of Economic Behavior &
Organization 53:3-35. PDF Sober E, and
Wilson DS (1998) Unto others : the evolution and
psychology of unselfish behavior. Wilson DS
(2001) Religious groups as adaptive units. History and Philosophy of the Life
Sciences 23:467-503. PDF |
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Week 12: |
11/17 |
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R&B Chapter 6 &7 Alvard MS
(2003b) Kinship, lineage, and an evolutionary perspective on cooperative
hunting groups in Gil-White F (in
review) Is ethnocentrism adaptive? Current Anthropology. PDF |
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Week 13: |
11/24 |
thanksgiving |
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Week 14: |
12/1 |
Culture phylogeny |
Holden CJ
(2002) Bantu language trees reflect the spread of farming across sub-Saharan Mace R, and
Holden CJ (2005) A phylogenetic approach to
cultural evolution. Trends in Ecology & Evolution 20:116-121. PDF Tehrani J, and Collard M (2002) Investigating
cultural evolution through biological phylogenetic
analyses of Turkmen textiles. Journal Of Anthropological Archaeology 21:443-463. PDF |
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Week 15: Redefined day |
12/6 |
Final Exam |
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The Americans with Disabilities Act (
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Disabilities Act (ADA) is a federal anti-discrimination statute that provides
comprehensive civil rights protection for persons with disabilities. Among
other things, this legislation requires that all students with disabilities are
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accommodation, please contact the Office of Support Services for Students with
Disabilities in Room 126 of the
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tolerate those who do."
All syllabi shall contain a section that states the
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