persons and theories | antropologi.info

Why do we laugh? – Interdisciplinary project on cartoons

Published on October 8, 2004 by lorenz Posted in anthropology in the news, culture traditions, interdisciplinary, persons and theories

TownOnline.com

A team of researchers from several fields at the University of Michigan is launching a study of why people laugh at cartoons. Come on, guys: Because they’re funny! That’s not good enough for the psychologists, linguists, anthropologists, historians and others who will be able to confront their subjects with every cartoon every published in The New Yorker magazine, all 68,647 of them. (no longer available online), see more here: What’s so funny about humor (The New York Times / kniff.de)

TownOnline.com

A team of researchers from several fields at the University of Michigan is launching a study of why people laugh at cartoons. Come on, guys: Because they're funny! That's not good enough for the psychologists, linguists, anthropologists, historians and others…

Universal children’s sign language gives new insights into how languages evolve

Published on September 20, 2004 by lorenz Posted in anthropology in the news, language, persons and theories, youth

BBC

A new sign language created over the last 30 years by deaf children in Nicaragua has given experts a unique insight into how languages evolve. The language follows many basic rules common to all tongues, even though the children were not taught them.

It indicates some language traits are not passed on by culture, but instead arise due to the innate way human beings process language, experts claim.

The development of language has long been the focus of debate. Some people in the extreme “nature” camp believe that grammar is essentially hard-wired in the brain, while those in the extreme “nurture” camp think language has no innate basis and is just culturally transmitted. >> continue

(via Sybille Ambers Blog)

BBC

“It will take a long time for people to grasp the illusory nature of race”

Published on September 15, 2004 by lorenz Posted in anthropology in the news, culture traditions, persons and theories, Us and Them

Washington Post

A hundred social scientists and geneticists gathered this week in Alexandria to sort out the meaning of race, and didn’t, quite. When Leith Mullings, an anthropologist from the City University of New York, sardonically said that “only people of color have race, and only women have gender,” everyone knew what she meant.

A professor who argues that race is a biological myth sat next to a professor who wants the U.S. government to pay reparations to African Americans. Their positions are not inconsistent, but they require a bit of explaining. Race is complicated.

“It doesn’t exist biologically, but it does exist socially,” said Alan Goodman, incoming president of the American Anthropological Association, which sponsored the meeting at the Holiday Inn in Old Town. It will take a long time for people to grasp the illusory nature of race at the biological level, Goodman said. It’s like understanding that the Earth isn’t flat >> continue

Washington Post

A hundred social scientists and geneticists gathered this week in Alexandria to sort out the meaning of race, and didn't, quite. When Leith Mullings, an anthropologist from the City University of New York, sardonically said that "only people of…

“I think that anthropology has never been as strong as it is now…”

Published on September 13, 2004 by lorenz Posted in anthropology (general), anthropology in the news, persons and theories, University / Academia

Anthropolis (Hungary)

An interview, about the current perspective of Central-European and Polish anthropology, with Dr. Marcin Brocki (PhD adjunct professor – Department of Ethnology and Cultural Anthropology – University of Wroclaw, Poland).

– We are surprised how popular ethnology is now. There are almost 200 candidates each year for the study in Wroclaw. It is definitely fashionable discipline. I suppose that it is because of interdisciplinarity of the course, emerging “anthropologization” of humanities and social sciences (especially sociology and philosophy), and also general trend toward searching for more stable structures in our culture.

– People are seeking for something to rely on against globalization, “McDonaldization”, “hypermarket” culture, and they usually think of ethnology as a kind of remedy or a good source of alternative knowledge (alternative views). Due to those processes we are observing a growing interest in ethnical issues, ethnic music, roots searching, so that is the reason why students come to us in such a “giant” number.
>> continue

Anthropolis (Hungary)

An interview, about the current perspective of Central-European and Polish anthropology, with Dr. Marcin Brocki (PhD adjunct professor - Department of Ethnology and Cultural Anthropology - University of Wroclaw, Poland).

- We are surprised how popular ethnology is now. There…

Did the First Americans Come From, Er, Australia?

Published on September 7, 2004 by lorenz Posted in anthropology in the news, indigenous people / minorities, migration, Native American, persons and theories

Reuters

Anthropologists stepped into a hornets’ nest on Monday, revealing research that suggests the original inhabitants of America may in fact have come from what is now known as Australia. The claim will be extremely unwelcome to today’s native Americans who came overland from Siberia and say they were there first.

Silvia Gonzalez from John Moores University in Liverpool said skeletal evidence pointed strongly to this unpalatable truth and hinted that recovered DNA would corroborate it. She said there was very strong evidence that the first migration came from Australia via Japan and Polynesia and down the Pacific Coast of America. >>continue

Reuters

Anthropologists stepped into a hornets' nest on Monday, revealing research that suggests the original inhabitants of America may in fact have come from what is now known as Australia. The claim will be extremely unwelcome to today's native Americans who…