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    <title>Pinboard (cshalizi)</title>
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    <description>recent bookmarks from cshalizi</description>
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	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://arxiv.org/abs/2502.12057"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1090513812001237"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://www.naturalhistorymag.com/editors_pick/1966_08-09_pick.html"/>
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	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://www.degruyter.com/document/isbn/9780292758476/html"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/09/19/science/punan-borneo-nomadic-clan.html"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://www.jstor.org/stable/3773462"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/evolutionary-human-sciences/article/ethnoscientific-expertise-and-knowledge-specialisation-in-55-traditional-cultures/00756899A412BE98809E1A03C3307C99"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/evolutionary-human-sciences/article/entropy-tradeoffs-in-artistic-design-a-case-study-of-tamil-kolam/C1EBAE83D2E57EC19A22F53E010339A0"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://www.pnas.org/content/118/15/e2020430118"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-020-76658-2#Sec12"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://www.sup.org/books/title/?id=32282"/>
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	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://arxiv.org/abs/2012.12532"/>
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	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/1059712318822298"/>
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	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/706879"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://www.annualreviews.org/doi/abs/10.1146/annurev-anthro-102218-011154"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://tompepinsky.com/2019/10/08/the-idea-of-power-in-american-culture/"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://jhupbooks.press.jhu.edu/title/collectors-lost-souls"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt16gznnw"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1525/j.ctt1ppxmx"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1525/j.ctt1pnz46"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1525/j.ctt1ppr4x"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt7zv45h"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://www.bloomsbury.com/us/the-kingdom-of-women-9781784537241/"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/B/bo28509221"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/knowledge-and-power-in-prehistoric-societies/A288E8E359CB6F7F09465F56DFD11549#fndtn-information"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/power-of-ritual-in-prehistory/1C80D07EC1D8036E3633F8A8F4527467#fndtn-information"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://yalebooks.yale.edu/book/9780300223453/minds-make-societies"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="http://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/I/bo27664524"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2016/10/17/the-fantastic-ursula-k-le-guin"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="http://sup.org/books/title/?id=27681"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://www.thenation.com/article/barbarian-virtues/"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="http://www.pnas.org/content/114/30/7846.abstract"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="http://www.yorku.ca/jarvie/gellner/pdf/gellsheep.pdf"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://www.dukeupress.edu/transparency-and-conspiracy"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://utpress.utexas.edu/books/urtsoc"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2017/07/06/anthropologist-studies-why-professors-dont-adopt-innovative-teaching-methods"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="http://www.cambridge.org/us/academic/subjects/anthropology/social-and-cultural-anthropology/evolution-human-co-operation-ritual-and-social-complexity-stateless-societies?format=HB&amp;isbn=9781107180550#M7cTCR8y39ftsf6E.97"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="http://press.princeton.edu/titles/10969.html"/>
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	<rdf:li rdf:resource="http://www.pnas.org/content/113/48/13708.abstract"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="http://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/distributed/D/bo25521264"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="http://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/I/bo25011505"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="http://press.princeton.edu/titles/2616.html"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="http://press.princeton.edu/titles/10588.html"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://rowman.com/ISBN/9780759106659"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="http://www.ucpress.edu/book.php?isbn=9780520285996"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="http://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/S/bo3622251.html"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="http://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?isbn=9780674417311"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="http://www.pnas.org/content/111/49/17414.abstract.html?etoc"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="http://www.versobooks.com/books/1038-the-mental-and-the-material"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="http://sup.org/book.cgi?id=23296&amp;promo=SUPANT14"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="http://sup.org/book.cgi?id=23182"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="http://blogs.swarthmore.edu/burke/2013/02/20/particularism-as-a-big-idea/"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="http://jacobinmag.com/2012/08/debt-the-first-500-pages/"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="http://mitpress.mit.edu/catalog/item/default.asp?ttype=2&amp;tid=13030"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="http://escholarship.org/uc/item/1ks0g7dr"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="http://www.newyorker.com/arts/critics/books/2012/07/02/120702crbo_books_kolbert?currentPage=1"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="http://www.powells.com/biblio?isbn=9780199214617"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="http://www.pnas.org/content/108/49/19546.abstract"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2011/09/david-graeber-on-the-invention-of-money-%E2%80%93-notes-on-sex-adventure-monomaniacal-sociopathy-and-the-true-function-of-economics.html"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="http://www.ucpress.edu/book.php?isbn=9780520271241"/>
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  </channel><item rdf:about="https://www.annualreviews.org/content/journals/10.1146/annurev-anthro-052721-091031">
    <title>The Great Pirahã Brouhaha: Linguistic Diversity and Cognitive Universality | Annual Reviews</title>
    <dc:date>2026-02-18T14:31:31+00:00</dc:date>
    <link>https://www.annualreviews.org/content/journals/10.1146/annurev-anthro-052721-091031</link>
    <dc:creator>cshalizi</dc:creator><description><![CDATA["Claims made by linguist Daniel Everett, that the Pirahã language, spoken by a small group of native Amazonians, lacks features thought to be universally present in languages, captured the imaginations of scholars and prompted broader questions on the nature of language, the diversity in languages, and the universals shared by them. Everett claimed that, in Pirahã, he had found a language without numbers, colors, mythology, abstract thinking, or recursive embedding. These claims were challenged by proponents of a universal grammar and by other biological linguists concerned with identifying shared faculties that undergird human cognitive capacities and by linguistic anthropologists concerned with the products of those potentials as they are actualized in the interactivity of speaking. Situating the Pirahã in historical and sociological context, I question the novelty of a faculty of language and many of Everett's claims of Pirahã exceptionality, and I explore the renewed interest in the nature of language."]]></description>
<dc:subject>to:NB linguistics anthropology debunking</dc:subject>
<dc:source>https://pinboard.in/</dc:source>
<dc:identifier>https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/b:d34aae3de961/</dc:identifier>
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	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:linguistics"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:anthropology"/>
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<item rdf:about="https://arxiv.org/abs/2502.12057">
    <title>[2502.12057] Culture is Not Trivia: Sociocultural Theory for Cultural NLP</title>
    <dc:date>2025-09-05T16:16:36+00:00</dc:date>
    <link>https://arxiv.org/abs/2502.12057</link>
    <dc:creator>cshalizi</dc:creator><description><![CDATA["The field of cultural NLP has recently experienced rapid growth, driven by a pressing need to ensure that language technologies are effective and safe across a pluralistic user base. This work has largely progressed without a shared conception of culture, instead choosing to rely on a wide array of cultural proxies. However, this leads to a number of recurring limitations: coarse national boundaries fail to capture nuanced differences that lay within them, limited coverage restricts datasets to only a subset of usually highly-represented cultures, and a lack of dynamicity results in static cultural benchmarks that do not change as culture evolves. In this position paper, we argue that these methodological limitations are symptomatic of a theoretical gap. We draw on a well-developed theory of culture from sociocultural linguistics to fill this gap by 1) demonstrating in a case study how it can clarify methodological constraints and affordances, 2) offering theoretically-motivated paths forward to achieving cultural competence, and 3) arguing that localization is a more useful framing for the goals of much current work in cultural NLP."]]></description>
<dc:subject>to:NB anthropology natural_language_processing</dc:subject>
<dc:source>https://pinboard.in/</dc:source>
<dc:identifier>https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/b:b823cad18c57/</dc:identifier>
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<item rdf:about="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1090513812001237">
    <title>Infant and child death in the human environment of evolutionary adaptation - ScienceDirect</title>
    <dc:date>2025-06-16T20:59:25+00:00</dc:date>
    <link>https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1090513812001237</link>
    <dc:creator>cshalizi</dc:creator><description><![CDATA["The precise quantitative nature of the Environment of Evolutionary Adaptedness (EEA) is difficult to reconstruct. The EEA represents a multitude of different geographic and temporal environments, of which a large number often need to be surveyed in order to draw sound conclusions. We examine a large number of both hunter–gatherer (N = 20) and historical (N = 43) infant and child mortality rates to generate a reliable quantitative estimate of their levels in the EEA. Using data drawn from a wide range of geographic locations, cultures, and times, we estimate that approximately 27% of infants failed to survive their first year of life, while approximately 47.5% of children failed to survive to puberty across in the EEA. These rates represent a serious selective pressure faced by humanity that may be underappreciated by many evolutionary psychologists. Additionally, a cross-species comparison found that human child mortality rates are roughly equivalent to Old World monkeys, higher than orangutan or bonobo rates and potentially higher than those of chimpanzees and gorillas. These findings are briefly discussed in relation to life history theory and evolved adaptations designed to lower high childhood mortality."

--- I don't care about the evol. psych. bit here, but I do want to give The Kids in inequality a bit of a sense of what things used to be like...
--- (The arithmetic of patriarchy: If ~1/2 of births fail to survive to reach puberty, getting 2 kids per woman to puberty means 4 births; in fact you'd need more because what matters is getting _through_ puberty to reproduction.  So that's a minimum of something like 5 births per woman just to maintain a stable population, each of which will consumes several years for pregnancy and breast-feeding; at least 10 years and maybe more like 15.  But this starts tracking at birth, so it doesn't account for pregnancies that don't lead to births.  On average, then, with even a moderate rate of stillbirths, women would have to 15--20 years pregnant or caring for newborns, just to avoid population shrinkage.  That's an average across all women, so if some don't have children, for whatever reason, the rest have to have more to make up for it, adding to the time demand on them.  Reduce that death rate and things look very different.)]]></description>
<dc:subject>to:NB to_read demography anthropology to_teach:statistics_of_inequality_and_discrimination the_nightmare_from_which_we_are_trying_to_awake</dc:subject>
<dc:source>https://pinboard.in/</dc:source>
<dc:identifier>https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/b:033c141061f8/</dc:identifier>
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	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:demography"/>
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	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:to_teach:statistics_of_inequality_and_discrimination"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:the_nightmare_from_which_we_are_trying_to_awake"/>
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<item rdf:about="https://www.naturalhistorymag.com/editors_pick/1966_08-09_pick.html">
    <title>Shakespeare in the Bush | Natural History Magazine</title>
    <dc:date>2025-05-15T15:08:46+00:00</dc:date>
    <link>https://www.naturalhistorymag.com/editors_pick/1966_08-09_pick.html</link>
    <dc:creator>cshalizi</dc:creator><description><![CDATA[--- Exactly as I remembered it from reading it age 10 or 12.]]></description>
<dc:subject>anthropology cultural_differences funny:academic literary_criticism</dc:subject>
<dc:source>https://pinboard.in/</dc:source>
<dc:identifier>https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/b:60da535ceae4/</dc:identifier>
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	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:funny:academic"/>
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<item rdf:about="https://www.acjol.org/index.php/NJP/article/view/6329">
    <title>IMPACT OF ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE ON WITCHCRAFT BELIEFS AND HUMAN IDENTITY IN IGBOLAND | Nnadiebube Journal of Philosophy</title>
    <dc:date>2025-02-21T15:35:36+00:00</dc:date>
    <link>https://www.acjol.org/index.php/NJP/article/view/6329</link>
    <dc:creator>cshalizi</dc:creator><description><![CDATA["This paper explores the impact of Artificial Intelligence (AI) on witchcraft beliefs and human identity in Igboland, southeastern Nigeria. Witchcraft, known locally as Amosu, has long been a core component of Igbo spirituality and social structure, traditionally serving as an explanation for misfortunes and a mechanism for maintaining social order. However, the rapid development and integration of AI technologies — defined as machines capable of performing tasks requiring human intelligence — present new challenges and opportunities for these beliefs. Using a qualitative research approach, participant observation, and content analysis to examine how AI intersects with traditional spiritual practices and societal roles. The findings reveal that AI is perceived by some as a new form of “spiritual power” akin to mystical forces, while others see it as a scientific challenge to witchcraft beliefs. Additionally, the study highlights shifts in the attribution of misfortunes, erosion and adaptation of traditional beliefs, and the implications of AI on human identity and agency. Despite concerns about technological determinism, many respondents emphasized the resilience of Igbo cultural identity and the potential for integrating AI into indigenous knowledge systems. This evolving dynamic between modern technology and traditional frameworks underscores the need for a culturally sensitive understanding of AI’s impact on belief systems and human identity in Igbo society."]]></description>
<dc:subject>to:NB large_language_models_(so_called) witchcraft anthropology via:???</dc:subject>
<dc:source>https://pinboard.in/</dc:source>
<dc:identifier>https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/b:2b41529db142/</dc:identifier>
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<item rdf:about="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1090513824000497?via%3Dihub#bb0015">
    <title>Female foragers sometimes hunt, yet gendered divisions of labor are real: a comment on Anderson et al. (2023) The Myth of Man the Hunter - ScienceDirect</title>
    <dc:date>2025-01-01T16:05:29+00:00</dc:date>
    <link>https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1090513824000497?via%3Dihub#bb0015</link>
    <dc:creator>cshalizi</dc:creator><description><![CDATA["Gendered divisions of labor are a feature of every known contemporary hunter-gatherer (forager) society. While gender roles are certainly flexible, and prominent and well-studied cases of female hunting do exist, it is more often men who hunt. A new study (Anderson et al., 2023) surveyed ethnographically known foragers and found that women hunt in 79% of foraging societies, with big-game hunting occurring in 33%. Based on this single type of labor, which is one among dozens performed in foraging societies, the authors question the existence of gendered division of labor altogether. As a diverse group of hunter-gatherer experts, we find that claims that foraging societies lack or have weak gendered divisions of labor are contradicted by empirical evidence. We conducted an in-depth examination of the data and methods of Anderson et al. (2023), finding evidence of sample selection bias and numerous coding errors undermining the paper's conclusions. Anderson et al. (2023) have started a useful dialogue to ameliorate the potential misconception that women never hunt. However, their analysis does not contradict the wide body of empirical evidence for gendered divisions of labor in foraging societies. Furthermore, a myopic focus on hunting diminishes the value of contributions that take different forms and downplays the trade-offs foragers of both sexes routinely face. We caution against ethnographic revisionism that projects Westernized conceptions of labor and its value onto foraging societies."]]></description>
<dc:subject>to:NB human_evolution sex_differences gender anthropology</dc:subject>
<dc:source>https://pinboard.in/</dc:source>
<dc:identifier>https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/b:d6192f0a5551/</dc:identifier>
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	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:sex_differences"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:gender"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:anthropology"/>
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</item>
<item rdf:about="https://www.3-16am.co.uk/articles/noble-savage-redux-rousseau-meets-the-pirah%C3%A3">
    <title>Noble Savage Redux: Rousseau meets the Pirahã - 3:16</title>
    <dc:date>2025-01-01T01:28:08+00:00</dc:date>
    <link>https://www.3-16am.co.uk/articles/noble-savage-redux-rousseau-meets-the-pirah%C3%A3</link>
    <dc:creator>cshalizi</dc:creator><dc:subject>linguistics anthropology have_read via:? evisceration</dc:subject>
<dc:source>https://pinboard.in/</dc:source>
<dc:identifier>https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/b:797fb2d51297/</dc:identifier>
<taxo:topics><rdf:Bag>	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:linguistics"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:anthropology"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:have_read"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:via:?"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:evisceration"/>
</rdf:Bag></taxo:topics>
</item>
<item rdf:about="https://www.degruyter.com/document/isbn/9780292758476/html">
    <title>Cultural Economies Past and Present</title>
    <dc:date>2024-01-07T21:02:42+00:00</dc:date>
    <link>https://www.degruyter.com/document/isbn/9780292758476/html</link>
    <dc:creator>cshalizi</dc:creator><description><![CDATA["When anthropologists and other students of culture want to compare different societies in such areas as the organization of land, labor, trade, or barter, they often discover that individual researchers use these concepts inconsistently and from a variety of theoretical approaches, so that data from one society cannot be compared with data from another.
"In this book, Rhoda Halperin offers an analytical tool kit for studying economic processes in all societies and at all times. She uniquely organizes the book around key concepts: economy, ecology, equivalencies, householding, storage, and time and the economy. These concepts are designed to facilitate the understanding of similarities, differences, and changes between contemporary and past economies. While this is not only a "how-to" book or handbook, it can be used as such. It will be of great value to scholars and students of archaeology and history, as well as to ethnographers and economists."

--- Not in our library's subscription?  Also not in JSTOR.]]></description>
<dc:subject>to:NB books:noted economics anthropology to_download</dc:subject>
<dc:source>https://pinboard.in/</dc:source>
<dc:identifier>https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/b:6edcca846076/</dc:identifier>
<taxo:topics><rdf:Bag>	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:to:NB"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:books:noted"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:economics"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:anthropology"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:to_download"/>
</rdf:Bag></taxo:topics>
</item>
<item rdf:about="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/09/19/science/punan-borneo-nomadic-clan.html">
    <title>A Vanishing Nomadic Clan, With a Songlike Language All Their Own - The New York Times</title>
    <dc:date>2023-09-29T16:14:28+00:00</dc:date>
    <link>https://www.nytimes.com/2023/09/19/science/punan-borneo-nomadic-clan.html</link>
    <dc:creator>cshalizi</dc:creator><dc:subject>anthropology indonesia historical_genetics lansing.stephen</dc:subject>
<dc:source>https://pinboard.in/</dc:source>
<dc:identifier>https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/b:4dd77c7480b4/</dc:identifier>
<taxo:topics><rdf:Bag>	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:anthropology"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:indonesia"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:historical_genetics"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:lansing.stephen"/>
</rdf:Bag></taxo:topics>
</item>
<item rdf:about="https://www.jstor.org/stable/3773462">
    <title>Divination: &quot;Adaptive&quot; from Whose Perspective? on JSTOR</title>
    <dc:date>2023-06-15T19:45:51+00:00</dc:date>
    <link>https://www.jstor.org/stable/3773462</link>
    <dc:creator>cshalizi</dc:creator><dc:subject>to:NB divination magic anthropology cultural_evolution via:?</dc:subject>
<dc:source>https://pinboard.in/</dc:source>
<dc:identifier>https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/b:48687cf314f0/</dc:identifier>
<taxo:topics><rdf:Bag>	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:to:NB"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:divination"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:magic"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:anthropology"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:cultural_evolution"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:via:?"/>
</rdf:Bag></taxo:topics>
</item>
<item rdf:about="https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/evolutionary-human-sciences/article/ethnoscientific-expertise-and-knowledge-specialisation-in-55-traditional-cultures/00756899A412BE98809E1A03C3307C99">
    <title>Ethnoscientific expertise and knowledge specialisation in 55 traditional cultures | Evolutionary Human Sciences | Cambridge Core</title>
    <dc:date>2021-07-27T12:30:07+00:00</dc:date>
    <link>https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/evolutionary-human-sciences/article/ethnoscientific-expertise-and-knowledge-specialisation-in-55-traditional-cultures/00756899A412BE98809E1A03C3307C99</link>
    <dc:creator>cshalizi</dc:creator><description><![CDATA["People everywhere acquire high levels of conceptual knowledge about their social and natural worlds, which we refer to as ethnoscientific expertise. Evolutionary explanations for expertise are still widely debated. We analysed ethnographic text records (N = 547) describing ethnoscientific expertise among 55 cultures in the Human Relations Area Files to investigate the mutually compatible roles of collaboration, proprietary knowledge, cultural transmission, honest signalling, and mate provisioning. We found relatively high levels of evidence for collaboration, proprietary knowledge, and cultural transmission, and lower levels of evidence for honest signalling and mate provisioning. In our exploratory analyses, we found that whether expertise involved proprietary vs. transmitted knowledge depended on the domain of expertise. Specifically, medicinal knowledge was positively associated with secretive and specialised knowledge for resolving uncommon and serious problems, i.e. proprietary knowledge. Motor skill-related expertise, such as subsistence and technological skills, was positively associated with broadly competent and generous teachers, i.e. cultural transmission. We also found that collaborative expertise was central to both of these models, and was generally important across different knowledge and skill domains."]]></description>
<dc:subject>to:NB anthropology science_as_a_social_process expertise</dc:subject>
<dc:source>https://pinboard.in/</dc:source>
<dc:identifier>https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/b:e0aae46f7af9/</dc:identifier>
<taxo:topics><rdf:Bag>	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:to:NB"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:anthropology"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:science_as_a_social_process"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:expertise"/>
</rdf:Bag></taxo:topics>
</item>
<item rdf:about="https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/evolutionary-human-sciences/article/entropy-tradeoffs-in-artistic-design-a-case-study-of-tamil-kolam/C1EBAE83D2E57EC19A22F53E010339A0">
    <title>Entropy trade-offs in artistic design: A case study of Tamil kolam | Evolutionary Human Sciences | Cambridge Core</title>
    <dc:date>2021-04-19T14:58:23+00:00</dc:date>
    <link>https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/evolutionary-human-sciences/article/entropy-tradeoffs-in-artistic-design-a-case-study-of-tamil-kolam/C1EBAE83D2E57EC19A22F53E010339A0</link>
    <dc:creator>cshalizi</dc:creator><description><![CDATA["From an evolutionary perspective, art presents many puzzles. Humans invest substantial effort in generating apparently useless displays that include artworks. These vary greatly from ordinary to intricate. From the perspective of signalling theory, these investments in highly complex artistic designs can reflect information about individuals and their social standing. Using a large corpus of kolam art from South India (N = 3139 kolam from 192 women), we test a number of hypotheses about the ways in which social stratification and individual differences affect the complexity of artistic designs. Consistent with evolutionary signalling theories of constrained optimisation, we find that kolam art tends to occupy a ‘sweet spot’ at which artistic complexity, as measured by Shannon information entropy, remains relatively constant from small to large drawings. This stability is maintained through an observable, apparently unconscious trade-off between two standard information-theoretic measures: richness and evenness. Although these drawings arise in a highly stratified, caste-based society, we do not find strong evidence that artistic complexity is influenced by the caste boundaries of Indian society. Rather, the trade-off is likely due to individual-level aesthetic preferences and differences in skill, dedication and time, as well as the fundamental constraints of human cognition and memory."]]></description>
<dc:subject>to:NB inequality art information_theory anthropology color_me_skeptical</dc:subject>
<dc:source>https://pinboard.in/</dc:source>
<dc:identifier>https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/b:db90d87117de/</dc:identifier>
<taxo:topics><rdf:Bag>	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:to:NB"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:inequality"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:art"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:information_theory"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:anthropology"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:color_me_skeptical"/>
</rdf:Bag></taxo:topics>
</item>
<item rdf:about="https://www.pnas.org/content/118/15/e2020430118">
    <title>Combat stress in a small-scale society suggests divergent evolutionary roots for posttraumatic stress disorder symptoms | PNAS</title>
    <dc:date>2021-04-14T14:49:59+00:00</dc:date>
    <link>https://www.pnas.org/content/118/15/e2020430118</link>
    <dc:creator>cshalizi</dc:creator><description><![CDATA["Military personnel in industrialized societies often develop posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) during combat. It is unclear whether combat-related PTSD is a universal evolutionary response to danger or a culture-specific syndrome of industrialized societies. We interviewed 218 Turkana pastoralist warriors in Kenya, who engage in lethal cattle raids, about their combat experiences and PTSD symptoms. Turkana in our sample had a high prevalence of PTSD symptoms, but Turkana with high symptom severity had lower prevalence of depression-like symptoms than American service members with high symptom severity. Symptoms that facilitate responding to danger were better predicted by combat exposure, whereas depressive symptoms were better predicted by exposure to combat-related moral violations. The findings suggest that some PTSD symptoms stem from an evolved response to danger, while depressive PTSD symptoms may be caused by culturally specific moral norm violations."]]></description>
<dc:subject>to:NB anthropology violence ptsd culture-bound_syndromes</dc:subject>
<dc:source>https://pinboard.in/</dc:source>
<dc:identifier>https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/b:d0ee95b56737/</dc:identifier>
<taxo:topics><rdf:Bag>	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:to:NB"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:anthropology"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:violence"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:ptsd"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:culture-bound_syndromes"/>
</rdf:Bag></taxo:topics>
</item>
<item rdf:about="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-020-76658-2#Sec12">
    <title>Diversity begets diversity in mammal species and human cultures | Scientific Reports</title>
    <dc:date>2021-03-01T19:04:15+00:00</dc:date>
    <link>https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-020-76658-2#Sec12</link>
    <dc:creator>cshalizi</dc:creator><description><![CDATA["Across the planet the biogeographic distribution of human cultural diversity tends to correlate positively with biodiversity. In this paper we focus on the biogeographic distribution of mammal species and human cultural diversity. We show that not only are these forms of diversity similarly distributed in space, but they both scale superlinearly with environmental production. We develop theory that explains that as environmental productivity increases the ecological kinetics of diversity increases faster than expected because more complex environments are also more interactive. Using biogeographic databases of the global distributions of mammal species and human cultures we test a series of hypotheses derived from this theory and find support for each. For both mammals and cultures, we show that (1) both forms of diversity increase exponentially with ecological kinetics; (2) the kinetics of diversity is faster than the kinetics of productivity; (3) diversity scales superlinearly with environmental productivity; and (4) the kinetics of diversity is faster in increasingly productive environments. This biogeographic convergence is particularly striking because while the dynamics of biological and cultural evolution may be similar in principle the underlying mechanisms and time scales are very different. However, a common currency underlying all forms of diversity is ecological kinetics; the temperature-dependent fluxes of energy and biotic interactions that sustain all forms of life at all levels of organization. Diversity begets diversity in mammal species and human cultures because ecological kinetics drives superlinear scaling with environmental productivity."]]></description>
<dc:subject>to:NB cultural_evolution anthropology ecology diversity via:?</dc:subject>
<dc:source>https://pinboard.in/</dc:source>
<dc:identifier>https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/b:381cc85fd508/</dc:identifier>
<taxo:topics><rdf:Bag>	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:to:NB"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:cultural_evolution"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:anthropology"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:ecology"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:diversity"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:via:?"/>
</rdf:Bag></taxo:topics>
</item>
<item rdf:about="https://www.sup.org/books/title/?id=32282">
    <title>Slow Anti-Americanism: Social Movements and Symbolic Politics in Central Asia | Edward Schatz</title>
    <dc:date>2021-01-26T15:04:17+00:00</dc:date>
    <link>https://www.sup.org/books/title/?id=32282</link>
    <dc:creator>cshalizi</dc:creator><description><![CDATA["Negative views of the United States abound, but we know too little about how such views affect politics. Drawing on careful research on post-Soviet Central Asia, Edward Schatz argues that anti-Americanism is best seen not as a rising tide that swamps or as a conflagration that overwhelms. Rather, "America" is a symbolic resource that resides quietly in the mundane but always has potential value for social and political mobilizers. Using a wide range of evidence and a novel analytic framework, Schatz considers how Islamist movements, human rights activists, and labor mobilizers across Central Asia avail themselves of this fact, thus changing their ability to pursue their respective agendas. By refocusing our analytic gaze away from high politics, he affords us a clearer view of the slower-moving, partially occluded, and socially embedded processes that ground how "America" becomes political. In turn, we gain a nuanced appreciation of the downstream effects of US foreign policy choices and a sober sense of the challenges posed by the politics of traveling images.
"Most treatments of anti-Americanism focus on politics in the realm of presidential elections and foreign policies. By focusing instead on symbols, Schatz lays bare how changing public attitudes shift social relations in politically significant ways, and considers how changing symbolic depictions of the United States recombine the raw material available for social mobilizers. Just like sediment traveling along waterways before reaching its final destination, the raw material that constitutes symbolic America can travel among various social groups, and can settle into place to form the basis of new social meanings. Symbolic America, Schatz shows us, matters for politics in Central Asia and beyond."
]]></description>
<dc:subject>to:NB books:noted central_asia post-soviet_politics american_hegemony anthropology political_science</dc:subject>
<dc:source>https://pinboard.in/</dc:source>
<dc:identifier>https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/b:e90488423ae3/</dc:identifier>
<taxo:topics><rdf:Bag>	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:to:NB"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:books:noted"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:central_asia"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:post-soviet_politics"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:american_hegemony"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:anthropology"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:political_science"/>
</rdf:Bag></taxo:topics>
</item>
<item rdf:about="https://science.sciencemag.org/content/371/6526/292">
    <title>Local convergence of behavior across species | Science</title>
    <dc:date>2021-01-16T03:55:54+00:00</dc:date>
    <link>https://science.sciencemag.org/content/371/6526/292</link>
    <dc:creator>cshalizi</dc:creator><description><![CDATA["Behavior is a way for organisms to respond flexibly to the environmental conditions they encounter. Our own species exhibits large behavioral flexibility and occurs in all terrestrial habitats, sharing these environments with many other species. It remains unclear to what extent a shared environment constrains behavior and whether these constraints apply similarly across species. Here, we show that foraging human populations and nonhuman mammal and bird species that live in a given environment exhibit high levels of similarity in their foraging, reproductive, and social behaviors. Our findings suggest that local conditions may select for similar behaviors in both humans and nonhuman animals."]]></description>
<dc:subject>to:NB ecology human_evolution anthropology</dc:subject>
<dc:source>https://pinboard.in/</dc:source>
<dc:identifier>https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/b:1471e6352131/</dc:identifier>
<taxo:topics><rdf:Bag>	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:to:NB"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:ecology"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:human_evolution"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:anthropology"/>
</rdf:Bag></taxo:topics>
</item>
<item rdf:about="https://arxiv.org/abs/2012.12532">
    <title>[2012.12532] The opportunities and challenges of integrating population histories into genetic studies of diverse populations: a motivating example from Native Hawaiians</title>
    <dc:date>2020-12-26T17:37:53+00:00</dc:date>
    <link>https://arxiv.org/abs/2012.12532</link>
    <dc:creator>cshalizi</dc:creator><description><![CDATA["There is an urgent and well-recognized need to extend genetic studies to diverse populations, but several obstacles continue to be prohibitive, including (but not limited to) the difficulty of recruiting individuals from diverse populations in large numbers and the lack of representation in available genomic references. These obstacles notwithstanding, studying multiple diverse populations would provide informative, population-specific insights. Using Native Hawaiians as an example of an understudied population with a unique evolutionary history, I will argue that by developing key genomic resources and integrating evolutionary thinking into genetic epidemiology, we will have the opportunity to efficiently advance our knowledge of the genetic risk factors, ameliorate health disparity, and improve healthcare in this underserved population."]]></description>
<dc:subject>to:NB human_genetics historical_genetics anthropology</dc:subject>
<dc:source>https://pinboard.in/</dc:source>
<dc:identifier>https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/b:1a0c0d449ade/</dc:identifier>
<taxo:topics><rdf:Bag>	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:to:NB"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:human_genetics"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:historical_genetics"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:anthropology"/>
</rdf:Bag></taxo:topics>
</item>
<item rdf:about="https://traditionsofconflict.com/blog/2020/9/8/the-weirdest-people-in-the-world-gets-polygyny-wrong">
    <title>'The WEIRDest People in the World' gets polygyny wrong — Traditions of Conflict</title>
    <dc:date>2020-12-19T18:52:54+00:00</dc:date>
    <link>https://traditionsofconflict.com/blog/2020/9/8/the-weirdest-people-in-the-world-gets-polygyny-wrong</link>
    <dc:creator>cshalizi</dc:creator><description><![CDATA[TL;DR: Even in societies which sanction polygyny, it's less common than monogamy, and it's usually pretty coercive for the women (even among hunter-gatherers).  Explaining it as a result of adult female choice is absurd.]]></description>
<dc:subject>anthropology evolutionary_psychology practices_relating_to_the_transmission_of_genetic_information patriarchy</dc:subject>
<dc:source>https://pinboard.in/</dc:source>
<dc:identifier>https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/b:81edeaa5a0aa/</dc:identifier>
<taxo:topics><rdf:Bag>	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:anthropology"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:evolutionary_psychology"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:practices_relating_to_the_transmission_of_genetic_information"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:patriarchy"/>
</rdf:Bag></taxo:topics>
</item>
<item rdf:about="https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/evolutionary-human-sciences/article/no-universals-in-the-cultural-evolution-of-kinship-terminology/0BF406C9CFC182F9142749FDD0442471">
    <title>No universals in the cultural evolution of kinship terminology | Evolutionary Human Sciences | Cambridge Core</title>
    <dc:date>2020-12-16T19:49:47+00:00</dc:date>
    <link>https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/evolutionary-human-sciences/article/no-universals-in-the-cultural-evolution-of-kinship-terminology/0BF406C9CFC182F9142749FDD0442471</link>
    <dc:creator>cshalizi</dc:creator><description><![CDATA["Kinship terminologies are the semantic systems of language that express kinship relations between individuals: in English, ‘aunt’ denotes a parent's sister. Theoretical models of kinship terminology diversity reduce over 10 billion possible organisations to six key types, each of which are hypothesised to be aligned with particular cultural norms of descent, marriage or residence patterns. Often, terminological type is used to infer social patterns in past societies based on these putative relationships between kinship terminologies and social structure, and these associations are staples of ‘Anthropology 101’. However, these relationships have not been scrutinised using modern comparative methods. Here we show that kinship terminologies vertically track language phylogeny in Austronesian, Bantu and Uto-Aztecan, three languages families of different time-depths and environments. We find no unidirectional or universal models of evolution in kinship terminology. Of 18 existing anthropological coevolutionary theories regarding kinship terminology and cultural practices across 176 societies, we find only patchy support, and no evidence for putative universal drivers of evolution in kinship terminologies."

]]></description>
<dc:subject>to:NB cultural_evolution kinship anthropology phylogenetics</dc:subject>
<dc:source>https://pinboard.in/</dc:source>
<dc:identifier>https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/b:008bb08b6e8a/</dc:identifier>
<taxo:topics><rdf:Bag>	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:to:NB"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:cultural_evolution"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:kinship"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:anthropology"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:phylogenetics"/>
</rdf:Bag></taxo:topics>
</item>
<item rdf:about="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/1059712318822298">
    <title>Cultural complexity and complexity evolution - Dwight Read, Claes Andersson, 2020</title>
    <dc:date>2020-12-15T19:27:58+00:00</dc:date>
    <link>https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/1059712318822298</link>
    <dc:creator>cshalizi</dc:creator><description><![CDATA[We review issues stemming from current models regarding the drivers of cultural complexity and cultural evolution. We disagree with the implication of the treadmill model, based on dual-inheritance theory, that population size is the driver of cultural complexity. The treadmill model reduces the evolution of artifact complexity, measured by the number of parts, to the statistical fact that individuals with high skills are more likely to be found in a larger population than in a smaller population. However, for the treadmill model to operate as claimed, implausibly high skill levels must be assumed. Contrary to the treadmill model, the risk hypothesis for the complexity of artifacts relates the number of parts to increased functional efficiency of implements. Empirically, all data on hunter-gatherer artifact complexity support the risk hypothesis and reject the treadmill model. Still, there are conditions under which increased technological complexity relates to increased population size, but the dependency does not occur in the manner expressed in the treadmill model. Instead, it relates to population size when the support system for the technology requires a large population size. If anything, anthropology and ecology suggest that cultural complexity generates high population density rather than the other way around.]]></description>
<dc:subject>cultural_evolution anthropology to:NB re:do-institutions-evolve</dc:subject>
<dc:source>https://pinboard.in/</dc:source>
<dc:identifier>https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/b:3833124db470/</dc:identifier>
<taxo:topics><rdf:Bag>	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:cultural_evolution"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:anthropology"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:to:NB"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:re:do-institutions-evolve"/>
</rdf:Bag></taxo:topics>
</item>
<item rdf:about="https://press.princeton.edu/books/paperback/9780691192949/islands-of-order">
    <title>Islands of Order | Princeton University Press</title>
    <dc:date>2020-04-14T17:44:59+00:00</dc:date>
    <link>https://press.princeton.edu/books/paperback/9780691192949/islands-of-order</link>
    <dc:creator>cshalizi</dc:creator><description><![CDATA["Over the past two decades, anthropologist J. Stephen Lansing and geneticist Murray Cox have explored dozens of villages on the islands of the Malay Archipelago, combining ethnographic research with research into genetic and linguistic markers to shed light on how these societies change over time. Islands of Order draws on their pioneering fieldwork to show how the science of complexity can be used to better understand unstable dynamics in culture, language, cooperation, and the emergence of hierarchies.
"Complexity science has opened exciting new vistas in physics and biology, but poses challenges for social scientists. What triggers fundamental, discontinuous social change? And what brings stable patterns—islands of order—into existence? Lansing and Cox begin with an incisive and accessible introduction to models of change, from simple random drift to coupled interactions, phase transitions, co-phylogenies, and adaptive landscapes. Then they take readers on a series of journeys to the islands of the Indo-Pacific to demonstrate how social scientists can harness these powerful tools to discover out-of-equilibrium social dynamics. Lansing and Cox address empirical questions surrounding the colonization of the Pacific, the relationship of language to culture, the emergence and disappearance of male and female hierarchies, and more."]]></description>
<dc:subject>books:noted complexity anthropology lansing.j._stephen social_science_methodology books:owned in_NB downloaded</dc:subject>
<dc:source>https://pinboard.in/</dc:source>
<dc:identifier>https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/b:35c3541bab02/</dc:identifier>
<taxo:topics><rdf:Bag>	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:books:noted"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:complexity"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:anthropology"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:lansing.j._stephen"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:social_science_methodology"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:books:owned"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:in_NB"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:downloaded"/>
</rdf:Bag></taxo:topics>
</item>
<item rdf:about="https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/706879">
    <title>Why Divination?: Evolved Psychology and Strategic Interaction in the Production of Truth | Evolved Psychology and Strategic Interaction in the Production of Truth: Ahead of Print</title>
    <dc:date>2020-01-21T17:03:29+00:00</dc:date>
    <link>https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/706879</link>
    <dc:creator>cshalizi</dc:creator><description><![CDATA["Divination is found in most human societies, but there is little systematic research to explain (1) why it is persuasive or (2) why divination is required for important collective decisions in many small-scale societies. Common features of human communication and cooperation may help address both questions. A highly recurrent feature of divination is “ostensive detachment,” a demonstration that the diviners are not the authors of the statements they utter. As a consequence, people spontaneously interpret divination as less likely than other statements to be influenced by anyone’s intentions or interests. This is enough to give divination an epistemic advantage compared with other sources of information, answering question 1. This advantage is all the more important in situations where a diagnosis will create differential costs and benefits, for example, determining who is responsible for someone’s misfortune in a small-scale community. Divinatory statements provide a version of the situation that most participants are motivated to agree with, as it provides a focal point for efficient coordination at a minimal cost for almost all participants, which would answer question 2."

---Exercise for the reader (easy but cynical): Apply this argument to (i) personality tests, (ii) macroeconomic forecasts, (iii) "history will not look kindly on...".]]></description>
<dc:subject>to:NB anthropology divination cognitive_science boyer.pascal evolution_of_cooperation to_read</dc:subject>
<dc:source>https://pinboard.in/</dc:source>
<dc:identifier>https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/b:96284ecd6522/</dc:identifier>
<taxo:topics><rdf:Bag>	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:to:NB"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:anthropology"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:divination"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:cognitive_science"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:boyer.pascal"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:evolution_of_cooperation"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:to_read"/>
</rdf:Bag></taxo:topics>
</item>
<item rdf:about="https://www.annualreviews.org/doi/abs/10.1146/annurev-anthro-102218-011154">
    <title>Population Demography, Ancestry, and the Biological Concept of Race | Annual Review of Anthropology</title>
    <dc:date>2019-10-24T13:47:50+00:00</dc:date>
    <link>https://www.annualreviews.org/doi/abs/10.1146/annurev-anthro-102218-011154</link>
    <dc:creator>cshalizi</dc:creator><description><![CDATA["For more than 50 years, biological anthropology has argued against the use of the biological race concept. Despite such efforts, aspects of the concept remain in circulation within society and within the discipline itself. As commonly articulated, anthropology's rejection of the biological race concept lacks an evolutionarily based explanatory grounding. Biological patterns of variation in living humans do not map onto commonly utilized categorizations of race, but this knowledge does not explain why human evolution has not produced such structures. This article attempts to offer one such explanation by constructing a biocultural framing of race around ancestry. By examining ancestry through two related lenses, genealogical and genetic, it is shown that the coherence of race as a biological concept has been disrupted by demographic changes in our recent evolutionary past. The biological construction of race is invalid not because it is impossible but because evolutionary forces have actively worked against such patterns in our evolutionary past."]]></description>
<dc:subject>anthropology human_evolution human_genetics race to_teach:statistics_of_inequality_and_discrimination in_NB</dc:subject>
<dc:source>https://pinboard.in/</dc:source>
<dc:identifier>https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/b:d12359b64977/</dc:identifier>
<taxo:topics><rdf:Bag>	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:anthropology"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:human_evolution"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:human_genetics"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:race"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:to_teach:statistics_of_inequality_and_discrimination"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:in_NB"/>
</rdf:Bag></taxo:topics>
</item>
<item rdf:about="https://tompepinsky.com/2019/10/08/the-idea-of-power-in-american-culture/">
    <title>The Idea of Power in American Culture</title>
    <dc:date>2019-10-23T21:26:44+00:00</dc:date>
    <link>https://tompepinsky.com/2019/10/08/the-idea-of-power-in-american-culture/</link>
    <dc:creator>cshalizi</dc:creator><dc:subject>anthropology funny:malicious us_politics pepinsky.thomas</dc:subject>
<dc:source>https://pinboard.in/</dc:source>
<dc:identifier>https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/b:189b640b455e/</dc:identifier>
<taxo:topics><rdf:Bag>	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:anthropology"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:funny:malicious"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:us_politics"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:pepinsky.thomas"/>
</rdf:Bag></taxo:topics>
</item>
<item rdf:about="https://jhupbooks.press.jhu.edu/title/collectors-lost-souls">
    <title>The Collectors of Lost Souls | Johns Hopkins University Press Books</title>
    <dc:date>2019-08-29T21:51:11+00:00</dc:date>
    <link>https://jhupbooks.press.jhu.edu/title/collectors-lost-souls</link>
    <dc:creator>cshalizi</dc:creator><dc:subject>to:NB anthropology medicine cannibalism books:noted history_of_science sociology_of_science</dc:subject>
<dc:source>https://pinboard.in/</dc:source>
<dc:identifier>https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/b:5aae7d0f4bec/</dc:identifier>
<taxo:topics><rdf:Bag>	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:to:NB"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:anthropology"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:medicine"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:cannibalism"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:books:noted"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:history_of_science"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:sociology_of_science"/>
</rdf:Bag></taxo:topics>
</item>
<item rdf:about="https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt16gznnw">
    <title>Everyday Life in Central Asia: Past and Present on JSTOR</title>
    <dc:date>2019-08-26T13:20:15+00:00</dc:date>
    <link>https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt16gznnw</link>
    <dc:creator>cshalizi</dc:creator><dc:subject>in_NB downloaded books:noted central_asia history anthropology post-soviet_life ussr persianate_culture</dc:subject>
<dc:source>https://pinboard.in/</dc:source>
<dc:identifier>https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/b:4da507cc21ab/</dc:identifier>
<taxo:topics><rdf:Bag>	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:in_NB"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:downloaded"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:books:noted"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:central_asia"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:history"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:anthropology"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:post-soviet_life"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:ussr"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:persianate_culture"/>
</rdf:Bag></taxo:topics>
</item>
<item rdf:about="https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1525/j.ctt1ppxmx">
    <title>Envisioning Power: Ideologies of Dominance and Crisis on JSTOR</title>
    <dc:date>2019-08-24T18:05:30+00:00</dc:date>
    <link>https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1525/j.ctt1ppxmx</link>
    <dc:creator>cshalizi</dc:creator><dc:subject>to:NB to_read downloaded books:noted anthropology ideology comparative_history fascism aztec_empire</dc:subject>
<dc:source>https://pinboard.in/</dc:source>
<dc:identifier>https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/b:0d851d2400eb/</dc:identifier>
<taxo:topics><rdf:Bag>	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:to:NB"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:to_read"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:downloaded"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:books:noted"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:anthropology"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:ideology"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:comparative_history"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:fascism"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:aztec_empire"/>
</rdf:Bag></taxo:topics>
</item>
<item rdf:about="https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1525/j.ctt1pnz46">
    <title>Discipline and Debate: The Language of Violence in a Tibetan Buddhist Monastery on JSTOR</title>
    <dc:date>2019-08-24T16:35:56+00:00</dc:date>
    <link>https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1525/j.ctt1pnz46</link>
    <dc:creator>cshalizi</dc:creator><dc:subject>to:NB to_read downloaded buddhism academia rhetoric logic anthropology</dc:subject>
<dc:source>https://pinboard.in/</dc:source>
<dc:identifier>https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/b:5427dda248c7/</dc:identifier>
<taxo:topics><rdf:Bag>	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:to:NB"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:to_read"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:downloaded"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:buddhism"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:academia"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:rhetoric"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:logic"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:anthropology"/>
</rdf:Bag></taxo:topics>
</item>
<item rdf:about="https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1525/j.ctt1ppr4x">
    <title>The Chumash World at European Contact: Power, Trade, and Feasting Among Complex Hunter-Gatherers on JSTOR</title>
    <dc:date>2019-08-24T16:27:34+00:00</dc:date>
    <link>https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1525/j.ctt1ppr4x</link>
    <dc:creator>cshalizi</dc:creator><dc:subject>to:NB downloaded archaeology first_contact native_american_history anthropology books:noted hunter-gatherers california human_ecology</dc:subject>
<dc:source>https://pinboard.in/</dc:source>
<dc:identifier>https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/b:1c8cd67202b4/</dc:identifier>
<taxo:topics><rdf:Bag>	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:to:NB"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:downloaded"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:archaeology"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:first_contact"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:native_american_history"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:anthropology"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:books:noted"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:hunter-gatherers"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:california"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:human_ecology"/>
</rdf:Bag></taxo:topics>
</item>
<item rdf:about="https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt7zv45h">
    <title>Afghanistan on JSTOR (Dupree, 1980)</title>
    <dc:date>2019-08-22T04:14:03+00:00</dc:date>
    <link>https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt7zv45h</link>
    <dc:creator>cshalizi</dc:creator><dc:subject>to:NB books:recommended anthropology afghanistan dupree.louis to_download</dc:subject>
<dc:source>https://pinboard.in/</dc:source>
<dc:identifier>https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/b:178fd93b9631/</dc:identifier>
<taxo:topics><rdf:Bag>	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:to:NB"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:books:recommended"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:anthropology"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:afghanistan"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:dupree.louis"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:to_download"/>
</rdf:Bag></taxo:topics>
</item>
<item rdf:about="https://www.bloomsbury.com/us/the-kingdom-of-women-9781784537241/">
    <title>The Kingdom of Women: Life, Love and Death in China's Hidden Mountains: Choo WaiHong: I.B. Tauris</title>
    <dc:date>2019-08-20T00:56:13+00:00</dc:date>
    <link>https://www.bloomsbury.com/us/the-kingdom-of-women-9781784537241/</link>
    <dc:creator>cshalizi</dc:creator><description><![CDATA["In a mist-shrouded valley on China's invisible border with Tibet is a place known as the 'Kingdom of Women', where a small tribe called the Mosuo lives in a cluster of villages that have changed little in centuries. This is one of the last matrilineal societies on earth, where power lies in the hands of women. All decisions and rights related to money, property, land and the children born to them rest with the Mosuo women, who live completely independently of husbands, fathers and brothers, with the grandmother as the head of each family. A unique practice is also enshrined in Mosuo tradition - that of 'walking marriage', where women choose their own lovers from men within the tribe but are beholden to none.   Choo Waihong, a corporate lawyer who yearned for escape, ended up living with the Mosuo for seven years - the only non-Mosuo to have ever done so. She tells the remarkable story of her time in the remote mountains of China and gives a vibrant, compelling glimpse into a way of life that teeters on the knife-edge of extinction"]]></description>
<dc:subject>to:NB books:noted anthropology tibet central_asia extraordinary_if_true travelers'_tales</dc:subject>
<dc:source>https://pinboard.in/</dc:source>
<dc:identifier>https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/b:e292c0f5bb43/</dc:identifier>
<taxo:topics><rdf:Bag>	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:to:NB"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:books:noted"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:anthropology"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:tibet"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:central_asia"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:extraordinary_if_true"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:travelers'_tales"/>
</rdf:Bag></taxo:topics>
</item>
<item rdf:about="https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/B/bo28509221">
    <title>Battle in the Mind Fields, Goldsmith, Laks</title>
    <dc:date>2019-04-04T16:34:59+00:00</dc:date>
    <link>https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/B/bo28509221</link>
    <dc:creator>cshalizi</dc:creator><description><![CDATA["“We frequently see one idea appear in one discipline as if it were new, when it migrated from another discipline, like a mole that had dug under a fence and popped up on the other side.” 
"Taking note of this phenomenon, John Goldsmith and Bernard Laks embark on a uniquely interdisciplinary history of the genesis of linguistics, from nineteenth-century currents of thought in the mind sciences through to the origins of structuralism and the ruptures, both political and intellectual, in the years leading up to World War II. Seeking to explain where contemporary ideas in linguistics come from and how they have been justified, Battle in the Mind Fields investigates the porous interplay of concepts between psychology, philosophy, mathematical logic, and linguistics. Goldsmith and Laks trace theories of thought, self-consciousness, and language from the machine age obsession with mind and matter to the development of analytic philosophy, behaviorism, Gestalt psychology, positivism, and structural linguistics, emphasizing throughout the synthesis and continuity that has brought about progress in our understanding of the human mind. Arguing that it is impossible to understand the history of any of these fields in isolation, Goldsmith and Laks suggest that the ruptures between them arose chiefly from social and institutional circumstances rather than a fundamental disparity of ideas. "]]></description>
<dc:subject>books:noted linguistics history_of_ideas mathematics logic anthropology in_NB</dc:subject>
<dc:source>https://pinboard.in/</dc:source>
<dc:identifier>https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/b:433be62eff42/</dc:identifier>
<taxo:topics><rdf:Bag>	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:books:noted"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:linguistics"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:history_of_ideas"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:mathematics"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:logic"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:anthropology"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:in_NB"/>
</rdf:Bag></taxo:topics>
</item>
<item rdf:about="https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/knowledge-and-power-in-prehistoric-societies/A288E8E359CB6F7F09465F56DFD11549#fndtn-information">
    <title>Knowledge and Power in Prehistoric Societies by Lynne Kelly</title>
    <dc:date>2019-01-06T03:03:10+00:00</dc:date>
    <link>https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/knowledge-and-power-in-prehistoric-societies/A288E8E359CB6F7F09465F56DFD11549#fndtn-information</link>
    <dc:creator>cshalizi</dc:creator><description><![CDATA["In this book, Lynne Kelly explores the role of formal knowledge systems in small-scale oral cultures in both historic and archaeological contexts. In the first part, she examines knowledge systems within historically recorded oral cultures, showing how the link between power and the control of knowledge is established. Analyzing the material mnemonic devices used by documented oral cultures, she demonstrates how early societies maintained a vast corpus of pragmatic information concerning animal behavior, plant properties, navigation, astronomy, genealogies, laws and trade agreements, among other matters. In the second part Kelly turns to the archaeological record of three sites, Chaco Canyon, Poverty Point and Stonehenge, offering new insights into the purpose of the monuments and associated decorated objects. This book demonstrates how an understanding of rational intellect, pragmatic knowledge and mnemonic technologies in prehistoric societies offers a new tool for analysis of monumental structures built by non-literate cultures."]]></description>
<dc:subject>to:NB books:noted archaeology anthropology science_as_a_social_process</dc:subject>
<dc:source>https://pinboard.in/</dc:source>
<dc:identifier>https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/b:3ecaaa2d3c80/</dc:identifier>
<taxo:topics><rdf:Bag>	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:to:NB"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:books:noted"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:archaeology"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:anthropology"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:science_as_a_social_process"/>
</rdf:Bag></taxo:topics>
</item>
<item rdf:about="https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/power-of-ritual-in-prehistory/1C80D07EC1D8036E3633F8A8F4527467#fndtn-information">
    <title>The Power of Ritual in Prehistory by Brian Hayden</title>
    <dc:date>2019-01-06T02:30:48+00:00</dc:date>
    <link>https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/power-of-ritual-in-prehistory/1C80D07EC1D8036E3633F8A8F4527467#fndtn-information</link>
    <dc:creator>cshalizi</dc:creator><description><![CDATA["The Power of Ritual in Prehistory is the first book in nearly a century to deal with traditional secret societies from a comparative perspective and the first from an archaeological viewpoint. Providing a clear definition, as well as the material signatures, of ethnographic secret societies, Brian Hayden demonstrates how they worked, what motivated their organizers, and what tactics they used to obtain what they wanted. He shows that far from working for the welfare of their communities, traditional secret societies emerged as predatory organizations operated for the benefit of their own members. Moreover, and contrary to the prevailing ideas that prehistoric rituals were used to integrate communities, Hayden demonstrates how traditional secret societies created divisiveness and inequalities. They were one of the key tools for increasing political control leading to chiefdoms, states, and world religions. Hayden's conclusions will be eye-opening, not only for archaeologists, but also for anthropologists, political scientists, and scholars of religion."]]></description>
<dc:subject>to:NB books:noted initiation initiation_as_hazing anthropology inequality ritual institutions religion</dc:subject>
<dc:source>https://pinboard.in/</dc:source>
<dc:identifier>https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/b:39b1bb4eb947/</dc:identifier>
<taxo:topics><rdf:Bag>	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:to:NB"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:books:noted"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:initiation"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:initiation_as_hazing"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:anthropology"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:inequality"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:ritual"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:institutions"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:religion"/>
</rdf:Bag></taxo:topics>
</item>
<item rdf:about="https://yalebooks.yale.edu/book/9780300223453/minds-make-societies">
    <title>Minds Make Societies | Yale University Press</title>
    <dc:date>2018-05-16T12:06:32+00:00</dc:date>
    <link>https://yalebooks.yale.edu/book/9780300223453/minds-make-societies</link>
    <dc:creator>cshalizi</dc:creator><description><![CDATA["“There is no good reason why human societies should not be described and explained with the same precision and success as the rest of nature.” Thus argues evolutionary psychologist Pascal Boyer in this uniquely innovative book.
"Integrating recent insights from evolutionary biology, genetics, psychology, economics, and other fields, Boyer offers precise models of why humans engage in social behaviors such as forming families, tribes, and nations, or creating gender roles. In fascinating, thought-provoking passages, he explores questions such as, Why is there conflict between groups? Why do people believe low-value information such as rumors? Why are there religions? What is social justice? What explains morality? Boyer provides a new picture of cultural transmission that draws on the pragmatics of human communication, the constructive nature of memory in human brains, and human motivation for group formation and cooperation."]]></description>
<dc:subject>to:NB books:noted social_theory epidemiology_of_representations evolutionary_psychology anthropology boyer.pascal evolution_of_cooperation cultural_transmission re:do-institutions-evolve books:owned</dc:subject>
<dc:source>https://pinboard.in/</dc:source>
<dc:identifier>https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/b:28923fdbb275/</dc:identifier>
<taxo:topics><rdf:Bag>	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:to:NB"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:books:noted"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:social_theory"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:epidemiology_of_representations"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:evolutionary_psychology"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:anthropology"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:boyer.pascal"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:evolution_of_cooperation"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:cultural_transmission"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:re:do-institutions-evolve"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:books:owned"/>
</rdf:Bag></taxo:topics>
</item>
<item rdf:about="http://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/I/bo27664524">
    <title>Islam and the Rule of Justice: Image and Reality in Muslim Law and Culture, Rosen</title>
    <dc:date>2018-04-08T18:17:08+00:00</dc:date>
    <link>http://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/I/bo27664524</link>
    <dc:creator>cshalizi</dc:creator><description><![CDATA["In the West, we tend to think of Islamic law as an arcane and rigid legal system, bound by formulaic texts yet suffused by unfettered discretion. While judges may indeed refer to passages in the classical texts or have recourse to their own orientations, images of binding doctrine and unbounded choice do not reflect the full reality of the Islamic law in its everyday practice. Whether in the Arabic-speaking world, the Muslim portions of South and Southeast Asia, or the countries to which many Muslims have migrated, Islamic law works is readily misunderstood if the local cultures in which it is embedded are not taken into account.
"With Islam and the Rule of Justice, Lawrence Rosen analyzes a number of these misperceptions. Drawing on specific cases, he explores the application of Islamic law to the treatment of women (who win most of their cases), the relations between Muslims and Jews (which frequently involve close personal and financial ties), and the structure of widespread corruption (which played a key role in prompting the Arab Spring). From these case studie the role of informal mechanisms in the resolution of local disputes. The author also provides a close reading of the trial of Zacarias Moussaoui, who was charged in an American court with helping to carry out the 9/11 attacks, using insights into how Islamic justice works to explain the defendant’s actions during the trial. The book closes with an examination of how Islamic cultural concepts may come to bear on the constitutional structure and legal reforms many Muslim countries have been undertaking."]]></description>
<dc:subject>to:NB books:noted law islam anthropology</dc:subject>
<dc:source>https://pinboard.in/</dc:source>
<dc:identifier>https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/b:29320c40d7ac/</dc:identifier>
<taxo:topics><rdf:Bag>	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:to:NB"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:books:noted"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:law"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:islam"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:anthropology"/>
</rdf:Bag></taxo:topics>
</item>
<item rdf:about="https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2016/10/17/the-fantastic-ursula-k-le-guin">
    <title>The Fantastic Ursula K. Le Guin | The New Yorker</title>
    <dc:date>2018-01-30T16:50:22+00:00</dc:date>
    <link>https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2016/10/17/the-fantastic-ursula-k-le-guin</link>
    <dc:creator>cshalizi</dc:creator><dc:subject>have_read lives_of_the_artists fantasy science_fiction anthropology</dc:subject>
<dc:source>https://pinboard.in/</dc:source>
<dc:identifier>https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/b:c6cc5ec4267f/</dc:identifier>
<taxo:topics><rdf:Bag>	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:have_read"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:lives_of_the_artists"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:fantasy"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:science_fiction"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:anthropology"/>
</rdf:Bag></taxo:topics>
</item>
<item rdf:about="http://sup.org/books/title/?id=27681">
    <title>Jinnealogy: Time, Islam, and Ecological Thought in the Medieval Ruins of Delhi | Anand Vivek Taneja</title>
    <dc:date>2017-11-24T18:31:50+00:00</dc:date>
    <link>http://sup.org/books/title/?id=27681</link>
    <dc:creator>cshalizi</dc:creator><description><![CDATA["In the ruins of a medieval palace in Delhi, a unique phenomenon occurs: Indians of all castes and creeds meet to socialize and ask the spirits for help. The spirits they entreat are Islamic jinns, and they write out requests as if petitioning the state. At a time when a Hindu right wing government in India is committed to normalizing a view of the past that paints Muslims as oppressors, Anand Vivek Taneja's Jinnealogy provides a fresh vision of religion, identity, and sacrality that runs counter to state-sanctioned history.
"The ruin, Firoz Shah Kotla, is an unusually democratic religious space, characterized by freewheeling theological conversations, DIY rituals, and the sanctification of animals. Taneja observes the visitors, who come mainly from the Muslim and Dalit neighborhoods of Delhi, and uses their conversations and letters to the jinns as an archive of voices so often silenced. He finds that their veneration of the jinns recalls pre-modern religious traditions in which spiritual experience was inextricably tied to ecological surroundings. In this enchanted space, Taneja encounters a form of popular Islam that is not a relic of bygone days, but a vibrant form of resistance to state repression and post-colonial visions of India."

--- I suspect the writing will be somewhat dreadful, but this sounds truly interesting.]]></description>
<dc:subject>to:NB books:noted anthropology religion delhi islam jinn cultural_exchange</dc:subject>
<dc:source>https://pinboard.in/</dc:source>
<dc:identifier>https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/b:d81c91c0abbf/</dc:identifier>
<taxo:topics><rdf:Bag>	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:to:NB"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:books:noted"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:anthropology"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:religion"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:delhi"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:islam"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:jinn"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:cultural_exchange"/>
</rdf:Bag></taxo:topics>
</item>
<item rdf:about="https://www.thenation.com/article/barbarian-virtues/">
    <title>Barbarian Virtues | The Nation</title>
    <dc:date>2017-10-07T17:21:53+00:00</dc:date>
    <link>https://www.thenation.com/article/barbarian-virtues/</link>
    <dc:creator>cshalizi</dc:creator><dc:subject>books:noted book_reviews state-building ancient_history anthropology moyn.samuel via:? have_read scott.james_c.</dc:subject>
<dc:source>https://pinboard.in/</dc:source>
<dc:identifier>https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/b:5f0e826d99ca/</dc:identifier>
<taxo:topics><rdf:Bag>	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:books:noted"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:book_reviews"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:state-building"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:ancient_history"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:anthropology"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:moyn.samuel"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:via:?"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:have_read"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:scott.james_c."/>
</rdf:Bag></taxo:topics>
</item>
<item rdf:about="http://www.pnas.org/content/114/30/7846.abstract">
    <title>Cultural macroevolution matters</title>
    <dc:date>2017-08-28T22:39:49+00:00</dc:date>
    <link>http://www.pnas.org/content/114/30/7846.abstract</link>
    <dc:creator>cshalizi</dc:creator><description><![CDATA["Evolutionary thinking can be applied to both cultural microevolution and macroevolution. However, much of the current literature focuses on cultural microevolution. In this article, we argue that the growing availability of large cross-cultural datasets facilitates the use of computational methods derived from evolutionary biology to answer broad-scale questions about the major transitions in human social organization. Biological methods can be extended to human cultural evolution. We illustrate this argument with examples drawn from our recent work on the roles of Big Gods and ritual human sacrifice in the evolution of large, stratified societies. These analyses show that, although the presence of Big Gods is correlated with the evolution of political complexity, in Austronesian cultures at least, they do not play a causal role in ratcheting up political complexity. In contrast, ritual human sacrifice does play a causal role in promoting and sustaining the evolution of stratified societies by maintaining and legitimizing the power of elites. We briefly discuss some common objections to the application of phylogenetic modeling to cultural evolution and argue that the use of these methods does not require a commitment to either gene-like cultural inheritance or to the view that cultures are like vertebrate species. We conclude that the careful application of these methods can substantially enhance the prospects of an evolutionary science of human history."

--- I wish I could remember who it was that said "Of course, like any tool, human sacrifice can be mis-used..."]]></description>
<dc:subject>to:NB cultural_evolution anthropology human_sacrifice</dc:subject>
<dc:source>https://pinboard.in/</dc:source>
<dc:identifier>https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/b:dddbf3e4082c/</dc:identifier>
<taxo:topics><rdf:Bag>	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:to:NB"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:cultural_evolution"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:anthropology"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:human_sacrifice"/>
</rdf:Bag></taxo:topics>
</item>
<item rdf:about="http://www.yorku.ca/jarvie/gellner/pdf/gellsheep.pdf">
    <title>The Sheep and the Saint (Ernest Gellner, 1956)</title>
    <dc:date>2017-08-28T14:58:54+00:00</dc:date>
    <link>http://www.yorku.ca/jarvie/gellner/pdf/gellsheep.pdf</link>
    <dc:creator>cshalizi</dc:creator><dc:subject>have_read anthropology ethnography gellner.ernest via:henry_farrell</dc:subject>
<dc:source>https://pinboard.in/</dc:source>
<dc:identifier>https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/b:f1deaab746aa/</dc:identifier>
<taxo:topics><rdf:Bag>	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:have_read"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:anthropology"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:ethnography"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:gellner.ernest"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:via:henry_farrell"/>
</rdf:Bag></taxo:topics>
</item>
<item rdf:about="https://www.dukeupress.edu/transparency-and-conspiracy">
    <title>Transparency and Conspiracy | Duke University Press</title>
    <dc:date>2017-08-19T19:52:18+00:00</dc:date>
    <link>https://www.dukeupress.edu/transparency-and-conspiracy</link>
    <dc:creator>cshalizi</dc:creator><description><![CDATA["Transparency has, in recent years, become a watchword for good governance. Policymakers and analysts alike evaluate political and economic institutions—courts, corporations, nation-states—according to the transparency of their operating procedures. With the dawn of the New World Order and the “mutual veil dropping” of the post–Cold War era, many have asserted that power in our contemporary world is more transparent than ever. Yet from the perspective of the relatively less privileged, the operation of power often appears opaque and unpredictable. Through vivid ethnographic analyses, Transparency and Conspiracy examines a vast range of expressions of the popular suspicion of power—including forms of shamanism, sorcery, conspiracy theory, and urban legends—illuminating them as ways of making sense of the world in the midst of tumultuous and uneven processes of modernization.
"In this collection leading anthropologists reveal the variations and commonalities in conspiratorial thinking or occult cosmologies around the globe—in Korea, Tanzania, Mozambique, New York City, Indonesia, Mongolia, Nigeria, and Orange County, California. The contributors chronicle how people express profound suspicions of the United Nations, the state, political parties, police, courts, international financial institutions, banks, traders and shopkeepers, media, churches, intellectuals, and the wealthy. Rather than focusing on the veracity of these convictions, Transparency and Conspiracy investigates who believes what and why. It makes a compelling argument against the dismissal of conspiracy theories and occult cosmologies as antimodern, irrational oversimplifications, showing how these beliefs render the world more complex by calling attention to its contradictions and proposing alternative ways of understanding it. "]]></description>
<dc:subject>books:noted conspiracy_theories anthropology in_NB</dc:subject>
<dc:source>https://pinboard.in/</dc:source>
<dc:identifier>https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/b:46e0ab03d74e/</dc:identifier>
<taxo:topics><rdf:Bag>	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:books:noted"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:conspiracy_theories"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:anthropology"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:in_NB"/>
</rdf:Bag></taxo:topics>
</item>
<item rdf:about="https://utpress.utexas.edu/books/urtsoc">
    <title>The Social Life of Numbers A Quechua Ontology of Numbers and Philosophy of Arithmetic By Gary Urton</title>
    <dc:date>2017-08-19T19:32:19+00:00</dc:date>
    <link>https://utpress.utexas.edu/books/urtsoc</link>
    <dc:creator>cshalizi</dc:creator><description><![CDATA["Unraveling all the mysteries of the khipu—the knotted string device used by the Inka to record both statistical data and narrative accounts of myths, histories, and genealogies—will require an understanding of how number values and relations may have been used to encode information on social, familial, and political relationships and structures. This is the problem Gary Urton tackles in his pathfinding study of the origin, meaning, and significance of numbers and the philosophical principles underlying the practice of arithmetic among Quechua-speaking peoples of the Andes.
"Based on fieldwork in communities around Sucre, in south-central Bolivia, Urton argues that the origin and meaning of numbers were and are conceived of by Quechua-speaking peoples in ways similar to their ideas about, and formulations of, gender, age, and social relations. He also demonstrates that their practice of arithmetic is based on a well-articulated body of philosophical principles and values that reflects a continuous attempt to maintain balance, harmony, and equilibrium in the material, social, and moral spheres of community life."]]></description>
<dc:subject>to:NB books:noted mathematics anthropology</dc:subject>
<dc:source>https://pinboard.in/</dc:source>
<dc:identifier>https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/b:fa4eefaa7a08/</dc:identifier>
<taxo:topics><rdf:Bag>	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:to:NB"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:books:noted"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:mathematics"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:anthropology"/>
</rdf:Bag></taxo:topics>
</item>
<item rdf:about="https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2017/07/06/anthropologist-studies-why-professors-dont-adopt-innovative-teaching-methods">
    <title>Anthropologist studies why professors don't adopt innovative teaching methods</title>
    <dc:date>2017-08-13T15:13:28+00:00</dc:date>
    <link>https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2017/07/06/anthropologist-studies-why-professors-dont-adopt-innovative-teaching-methods</link>
    <dc:creator>cshalizi</dc:creator><description><![CDATA[I was a native informant for this study...]]></description>
<dc:subject>anthropology academia education innovation track_down_references via:?</dc:subject>
<dc:source>https://pinboard.in/</dc:source>
<dc:identifier>https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/b:c86a0e3bcd30/</dc:identifier>
<taxo:topics><rdf:Bag>	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:anthropology"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:academia"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:education"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:innovation"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:track_down_references"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:via:?"/>
</rdf:Bag></taxo:topics>
</item>
<item rdf:about="http://www.cambridge.org/us/academic/subjects/anthropology/social-and-cultural-anthropology/evolution-human-co-operation-ritual-and-social-complexity-stateless-societies?format=HB&amp;isbn=9781107180550#M7cTCR8y39ftsf6E.97">
    <title>Evolution human co operation ritual and social complexity stateless societies | Social and cultural anthropology | Cambridge University Press</title>
    <dc:date>2017-08-08T22:17:43+00:00</dc:date>
    <link>http://www.cambridge.org/us/academic/subjects/anthropology/social-and-cultural-anthropology/evolution-human-co-operation-ritual-and-social-complexity-stateless-societies?format=HB&amp;isbn=9781107180550#M7cTCR8y39ftsf6E.97</link>
    <dc:creator>cshalizi</dc:creator><description><![CDATA["How do people living in small groups without money, markets, police and rigid social classes develop norms of economic and social cooperation that are sustainable over time? This book addresses this fundamental question and explains the origin, structure and spread of stateless societies. Using insights from game theory, ethnography and archaeology, Stanish shows how ritual - broadly defined - is the key. Ritual practices encode elaborate rules of behavior and are ingenious mechanisms of organizing society in the absence of coercive states. As well as asking why and how people choose to co-operate, Stanish also provides the theoretical framework to understand this collective action problem. He goes on to highlight the evolution of cooperation with ethnographic and archaeological data from around of the world. Merging evolutionary game theory concepts with cultural evolutionary theory, this book will appeal to those seeking a transdisciplinary approach to one of the greatest problems in human evolution."]]></description>
<dc:subject>to:NB books:noted evolution_of_cooperation human_evolution ritual anthropology evolutionary_game_theory</dc:subject>
<dc:source>https://pinboard.in/</dc:source>
<dc:identifier>https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/b:998accf14750/</dc:identifier>
<taxo:topics><rdf:Bag>	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:to:NB"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:books:noted"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:evolution_of_cooperation"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:human_evolution"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:ritual"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:anthropology"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:evolutionary_game_theory"/>
</rdf:Bag></taxo:topics>
</item>
<item rdf:about="http://press.princeton.edu/titles/10969.html">
    <title>Weitzman, S.: The Origin of the Jews: The Quest for Roots in a Rootless Age. (eBook and Hardcover)</title>
    <dc:date>2017-06-06T21:06:29+00:00</dc:date>
    <link>http://press.princeton.edu/titles/10969.html</link>
    <dc:creator>cshalizi</dc:creator><description><![CDATA["The Jews have one of the longest continuously recorded histories of any people in the world, but what do we actually know about their origins? While many think the answer to this question can be found in the Bible, others look to archaeology or genetics. Some skeptics have even sought to debunk the very idea that the Jews have a common origin. In this book, Steven Weitzman takes a learned and lively look at what we know—or think we know—about where the Jews came from, when they arose, and how they came to be.
"Scholars have written hundreds of books on the topic and have come up with scores of explanations, theories, and historical reconstructions, but this is the first book to trace the history of the different approaches that have been applied to the question, including genealogy, linguistics, archaeology, psychology, sociology, and genetics. Weitzman shows how this quest has been fraught since its inception with religious and political agendas, how anti-Semitism cast its long shadow over generations of learning, and how recent claims about Jewish origins have been difficult to disentangle from the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. He does not offer neatly packaged conclusions but invites readers on an intellectual adventure, shedding new light on the assumptions and biases of those seeking answers—and the challenges that have made finding answers so elusive."]]></description>
<dc:subject>to:NB books:noted history anthropology historical_genetics</dc:subject>
<dc:source>https://pinboard.in/</dc:source>
<dc:identifier>https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/b:13860f28f906/</dc:identifier>
<taxo:topics><rdf:Bag>	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:to:NB"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:books:noted"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:history"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:anthropology"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:historical_genetics"/>
</rdf:Bag></taxo:topics>
</item>
<item rdf:about="http://www.ucpress.edu/book.php?isbn=9780520294790">
    <title>Caravan of Martyrs - David B. Edwards - Hardcover - University of California Press</title>
    <dc:date>2017-04-23T22:00:07+00:00</dc:date>
    <link>http://www.ucpress.edu/book.php?isbn=9780520294790</link>
    <dc:creator>cshalizi</dc:creator><description><![CDATA["What compels a person to strap a vest loaded with explosives onto his body and blow himself up in a crowded street? Scholars have answered this question by focusing on the pathology of the “terrorist mind” or the “brainwashing” practices of terrorist organizations. In Caravan of Martyrs, David Edwards argues that we need to understand the rise of suicide bombing in relation to the cultural beliefs and ritual practices associated with sacrifice.
"Before the war in Afghanistan began, the sacrificial killing of a sheep demonstrated a tribe’s desire for peace. After the Soviet invasion of 1979, as thousands of people were killed, sacrifice took on new meanings. The dead were venerated as martyrs, but this informal conferral of status on the casualties of war soon became the foundation for a cult of martyrs exploited by political leaders for their own advantage. This first repurposing of the machinery of sacrifice set in motion a process of mutation that would lead nineteen Arabs who had received their training in Afghanistan to hijack airplanes on September 11 and that would in time transform what began as a cult of martyrs created by a small group of Afghan jihadis into the transnational scattering of suicide bombers that haunts our world today.
"Drawing on years of research in the region, Edwards traces the transformation of sacrifice using a wide range of sources, including the early poetry of jihad, illustrated martyr magazines, school primers and legal handbooks, martyr hagiographies, videos produced by suicide bombers, the manual of ritual instructions used by the 9/11 hijackers, and Facebook posts through which contemporary “Talifans” promote the virtues of self-destruction. "]]></description>
<dc:subject>books:noted afghanistan terrorism anthropology sacrifice history_of_ideas history_of_morals in_NB</dc:subject>
<dc:source>https://pinboard.in/</dc:source>
<dc:identifier>https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/b:f6d27e38459c/</dc:identifier>
<taxo:topics><rdf:Bag>	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:books:noted"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:afghanistan"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:terrorism"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:anthropology"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:sacrifice"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:history_of_ideas"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:history_of_morals"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:in_NB"/>
</rdf:Bag></taxo:topics>
</item>
<item rdf:about="http://www.haujournal.org/index.php/hau/article/view/hau4.3.007/1651">
    <title>Anthropology and the rise of the professional-managerial class | Graeber | HAU: Journal of Ethnographic Theory</title>
    <dc:date>2017-01-15T19:12:42+00:00</dc:date>
    <link>http://www.haujournal.org/index.php/hau/article/view/hau4.3.007/1651</link>
    <dc:creator>cshalizi</dc:creator><description><![CDATA[The here-is-how-the-ideology-I-dislike-arises-from-my-opponents-class-situation bit is something I am skeptical of on general grounds; it is too easy to make that sort of analogy-mongering come out however one likes (cf. Gould on adaptationist "just-so storytelling").  But much of the rest of this seems very good to me.  Especially the last section.]]></description>
<dc:subject>academia anthropology the_french_disease class_struggles_in_america graeber.david via:vaguery ideology</dc:subject>
<dc:source>https://pinboard.in/</dc:source>
<dc:identifier>https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/b:4ae9f5c521fc/</dc:identifier>
<taxo:topics><rdf:Bag>	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:academia"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:anthropology"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:the_french_disease"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:class_struggles_in_america"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:graeber.david"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:via:vaguery"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:ideology"/>
</rdf:Bag></taxo:topics>
</item>
<item rdf:about="http://www.pnas.org/content/113/48/13708.abstract">
    <title>Multiplex social ecological network analysis reveals how social changes affect community robustness more than resource depletion</title>
    <dc:date>2016-12-07T14:30:44+00:00</dc:date>
    <link>http://www.pnas.org/content/113/48/13708.abstract</link>
    <dc:creator>cshalizi</dc:creator><description><![CDATA["Network analysis provides a powerful tool to analyze complex influences of social and ecological structures on community and household dynamics. Most network studies of social–ecological systems use simple, undirected, unweighted networks. We analyze multiplex, directed, and weighted networks of subsistence food flows collected in three small indigenous communities in Arctic Alaska potentially facing substantial economic and ecological changes. Our analysis of plausible future scenarios suggests that changes to social relations and key households have greater effects on community robustness than changes to specific wild food resources."

--- See if analysis is interesting enough, and data sets are available, for use in a future version of the networks class?]]></description>
<dc:subject>to:NB network_data_analysis social_networks anthropology ecology to_teach:baby-nets</dc:subject>
<dc:source>https://pinboard.in/</dc:source>
<dc:identifier>https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/b:d3af8247963c/</dc:identifier>
<taxo:topics><rdf:Bag>	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:to:NB"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:network_data_analysis"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:social_networks"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:anthropology"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:ecology"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:to_teach:baby-nets"/>
</rdf:Bag></taxo:topics>
</item>
<item rdf:about="http://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/distributed/D/bo25521264">
    <title>Dictionary of Indo-European Concepts and Society, Benveniste, Palmer, Agamben</title>
    <dc:date>2016-12-07T04:39:44+00:00</dc:date>
    <link>http://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/distributed/D/bo25521264</link>
    <dc:creator>cshalizi</dc:creator><description><![CDATA["Since its publication in 1969, Émile Benveniste’s Vocabulaire—here in a new translation as the Dictionary of Indo-European Concepts and Society—has been the classic reference for tracing the institutional and conceptual genealogy of the sociocultural worlds of gifts, contracts, sacrifice, hospitality, authority, freedom, ancient economy, and kinship. A comprehensive and comparative history of words with analyses of their underlying neglected genealogies and structures of signification—and this via a masterful journey through Germanic, Romance, Indo-Iranian, Latin, and Greek languages—Benveniste’s dictionary is a must-read for anthropologists, linguists, literary theorists, classicists, and philosophers alike."]]></description>
<dc:subject>to:NB books:noted ancient_history anthropology indo-europeans linguistics</dc:subject>
<dc:source>https://pinboard.in/</dc:source>
<dc:identifier>https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/b:4643a3f20b9b/</dc:identifier>
<taxo:topics><rdf:Bag>	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:to:NB"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:books:noted"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:ancient_history"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:anthropology"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:indo-europeans"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:linguistics"/>
</rdf:Bag></taxo:topics>
</item>
<item rdf:about="http://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/I/bo25011505">
    <title>The Invention of Culture, Wagner, Ingold</title>
    <dc:date>2016-12-07T04:36:57+00:00</dc:date>
    <link>http://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/I/bo25011505</link>
    <dc:creator>cshalizi</dc:creator><description><![CDATA["In anthropology, a field that is known for its critical edge and intellectual agility, few books manage to maintain both historical value and contemporary relevance. Roy Wagner's The Invention of Culture, originally published in 1975, is one.
"Wagner breaks new ground by arguing that culture arises from the dialectic between the individual and the social world. Rooting his analysis in the relationships between invention and convention, innovation and control, and meaning and context, he builds a theory that insists on the importance of creativity, placing people-as-inventors at the heart of the process that creates culture. In an elegant twist, he shows that this very process ultimately produces the discipline of anthropology itself.
"Tim Ingold’s foreword to the new edition captures the exhilaration of Wagner’s book while showing how the reader can journey through it and arrive safely—though transformed—on the other side."]]></description>
<dc:subject>to:NB books:noted anthropology cultural_evolution</dc:subject>
<dc:source>https://pinboard.in/</dc:source>
<dc:identifier>https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/b:d995636e038c/</dc:identifier>
<taxo:topics><rdf:Bag>	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:to:NB"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:books:noted"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:anthropology"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:cultural_evolution"/>
</rdf:Bag></taxo:topics>
</item>
<item rdf:about="http://press.princeton.edu/titles/2616.html">
    <title>Dupree, L.: Afghanistan (eBook, Paperback and Hardcover).</title>
    <dc:date>2016-06-22T18:23:44+00:00</dc:date>
    <link>http://press.princeton.edu/titles/2616.html</link>
    <dc:creator>cshalizi</dc:creator><description><![CDATA["The ancient land and the modern nation of Afghanistan are the subject of Louis Dupree's book. Both in the text and in over a hundred illustrations, he identifies the major patterns of Afghan history, society, and culture as they have developed from the Stone Age to the present.
"Originally published in 1973."

--- A classic, but now only historical.]]></description>
<dc:subject>books:recommended in_NB afghanistan anthropology 20th_century_history 19th_century_history</dc:subject>
<dc:source>https://pinboard.in/</dc:source>
<dc:identifier>https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/b:b581a8ddeffb/</dc:identifier>
<taxo:topics><rdf:Bag>	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:books:recommended"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:in_NB"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:afghanistan"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:anthropology"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:20th_century_history"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:19th_century_history"/>
</rdf:Bag></taxo:topics>
</item>
<item rdf:about="http://press.princeton.edu/titles/10588.html">
    <title>Keane, W.: Ethical Life: Its Natural and Social Histories. (eBook and Hardcover)</title>
    <dc:date>2015-10-22T01:43:04+00:00</dc:date>
    <link>http://press.princeton.edu/titles/10588.html</link>
    <dc:creator>cshalizi</dc:creator><description><![CDATA["The human propensity to take an ethical stance toward oneself and others is found in every known society, yet we also know that values taken for granted in one society can contradict those in another. Does ethical life arise from human nature itself? Is it a universal human trait? Or is it a product of one’s cultural and historical context? Webb Keane offers a new approach to the empirical study of ethical life that reconciles these questions, showing how ethics arise at the intersection of human biology and social dynamics.
"Drawing on the latest findings in psychology, conversational interaction, ethnography, and history, Ethical Life takes readers from inner city America to Samoa and the Inuit Arctic to reveal how we are creatures of our biology as well as our history—and how our ethical lives are contingent on both. Keane looks at Melanesian theories of mind and the training of Buddhist monks, and discusses important social causes such as the British abolitionist movement and American feminism. He explores how styles of child rearing, notions of the person, and moral codes in different communities elaborate on certain basic human tendencies while suppressing or ignoring others."]]></description>
<dc:subject>books:noted ethics moral_psychology anthropology in_library downloaded color_me_skeptical in_NB</dc:subject>
<dc:source>https://pinboard.in/</dc:source>
<dc:identifier>https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/b:7fbddb621b62/</dc:identifier>
<taxo:topics><rdf:Bag>	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:books:noted"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:ethics"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:moral_psychology"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:anthropology"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:in_library"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:downloaded"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:color_me_skeptical"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:in_NB"/>
</rdf:Bag></taxo:topics>
</item>
<item rdf:about="https://rowman.com/ISBN/9780759106659">
    <title>How the Bible Works: An Anthropological Study of Evangelical Biblicism, By Brian Malley, 9780759106659 | Rowman &amp; Littlefield</title>
    <dc:date>2015-08-14T16:33:04+00:00</dc:date>
    <link>https://rowman.com/ISBN/9780759106659</link>
    <dc:creator>cshalizi</dc:creator><description><![CDATA["What do evangelicals believe when they 'believe in the Bible?' Despite hundreds of English versions that differ in their texts, evangelicals continue to believe that there is a stable text—'the Bible'—which is the authoritative word of God and an essential guide to their everyday lives. To understand this phenomenon of evangelical Biblicism, anthropologist and biblical scholar Brian Malley looks not to the words of the Bible but to the Bible-believing communities. For as Malley demonstrates, it is less the meaning of the words of the Bible itself than how 'the Bible' provides a proper ground for beliefs that matters to evangelicals. Drawing on recent cognitive and social theory and extensive fieldwork in an evangelical church, Malley's book is an invaluable guide for seminarians, social scientists of religion, or for anyone who wants to understand just how the Bible works for American evangelicals."]]></description>
<dc:subject>in_NB books:noted ethnography christianity religion anthropology belief social_life_of_the_mind</dc:subject>
<dc:source>https://pinboard.in/</dc:source>
<dc:identifier>https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/b:405ddda87f03/</dc:identifier>
<taxo:topics><rdf:Bag>	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:in_NB"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:books:noted"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:ethnography"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:christianity"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:religion"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:anthropology"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:belief"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:social_life_of_the_mind"/>
</rdf:Bag></taxo:topics>
</item>
<item rdf:about="http://www.ucpress.edu/book.php?isbn=9780520285996">
    <title>Race, Monogamy, and Other Lies They Told You - Agustin Fuentes - Paperback - University of California Press</title>
    <dc:date>2015-05-20T15:03:28+00:00</dc:date>
    <link>http://www.ucpress.edu/book.php?isbn=9780520285996</link>
    <dc:creator>cshalizi</dc:creator><description><![CDATA["There are three major myths of human nature: humans are divided into biological races; humans are naturally aggressive; and men and women are truly different in behavior, desires, and wiring. In an engaging and wide-ranging narrative, Agustín Fuentes counters these pervasive and pernicious myths about human behavior. Tackling misconceptions about what race, aggression, and sex really mean for humans, Fuentes incorporates an accessible understanding of culture, genetics, and evolution, requiring us to dispose of notions of “nature or nurture.” Presenting scientific evidence from diverse fields—including anthropology, biology, and psychology—Fuentes devises a myth-busting toolkit to dismantle persistent fallacies about the validity of biological races, the innateness of aggression and violence, and the nature of monogamy and differences between the sexes. A final chapter plus an appendix provide a set of take-home points on how readers can myth-bust on their own. Accessible, compelling, and original, this book is a rich and nuanced account of how nature, culture, experience, and choice interact to influence human behavior."

--- What makes this more interesting to me is that Fuentes is a _biological_ anthropologist, i.e., a member of a tribe with an enduring and vicious feud with cultural anthropologists.]]></description>
<dc:subject>to:NB books:noted anthropology human_evolution race racism evolutionary_psychology debunking practices_relating_to_the_transmission_of_genetic_information in_library</dc:subject>
<dc:source>https://pinboard.in/</dc:source>
<dc:identifier>https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/b:d10e69bceddc/</dc:identifier>
<taxo:topics><rdf:Bag>	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:to:NB"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:books:noted"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:anthropology"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:human_evolution"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:race"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:racism"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:evolutionary_psychology"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:debunking"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:practices_relating_to_the_transmission_of_genetic_information"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:in_library"/>
</rdf:Bag></taxo:topics>
</item>
<item rdf:about="http://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/S/bo3622251.html">
    <title>The Social Production of Indifference: Exploring the Symbolic Roots of Western Bureaucracy, Herzfeld</title>
    <dc:date>2015-05-05T16:47:53+00:00</dc:date>
    <link>http://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/S/bo3622251.html</link>
    <dc:creator>cshalizi</dc:creator><description><![CDATA["Herzfeld argues that "modern" bureaucratically regulated societies are no more "rational" or less "symbolic" than the societies traditionally studied by anthropologists. He suggests that we cannot understand national bureaucracies divorced from local-level ideas about chance, personal character, social relationships and responsibility."]]></description>
<dc:subject>in_NB books:noted bureaucracy anthropology</dc:subject>
<dc:source>https://pinboard.in/</dc:source>
<dc:identifier>https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/b:755fc0ed8923/</dc:identifier>
<taxo:topics><rdf:Bag>	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:in_NB"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:books:noted"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:bureaucracy"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:anthropology"/>
</rdf:Bag></taxo:topics>
</item>
<item rdf:about="http://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?isbn=9780674417311">
    <title>The Myth of Race — Robert Wald Sussman | Harvard University Press</title>
    <dc:date>2015-03-11T22:10:42+00:00</dc:date>
    <link>http://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?isbn=9780674417311</link>
    <dc:creator>cshalizi</dc:creator><description><![CDATA["Biological races do not exist—and never have. This view is shared by all scientists who study variation in human populations. Yet racial prejudice and intolerance based on the myth of race remain deeply ingrained in Western society. In his powerful examination of a persistent, false, and poisonous idea, Robert Sussman explores how race emerged as a social construct from early biblical justifications to the pseudoscientific studies of today.
"The Myth of Race traces the origins of modern racist ideology to the Spanish Inquisition, revealing how sixteenth-century theories of racial degeneration became a crucial justification for Western imperialism and slavery. In the nineteenth century, these theories fused with Darwinism to produce the highly influential and pernicious eugenics movement. Believing that traits from cranial shape to raw intelligence were immutable, eugenicists developed hierarchies that classified certain races, especially fair-skinned “Aryans,” as superior to others. These ideologues proposed programs of intelligence testing, selective breeding, and human sterilization—policies that fed straight into Nazi genocide. Sussman examines how opponents of eugenics, guided by the German-American anthropologist Franz Boas’s new, scientifically supported concept of culture, exposed fallacies in racist thinking.
"Although eugenics is now widely discredited, some groups and individuals today claim a new scientific basis for old racist assumptions. Pondering the continuing influence of racist research and thought, despite all evidence to the contrary, Sussman explains why—when it comes to race—too many people still mistake bigotry for science.
"Robert Wald Sussman is Professor of Physical Anthropology at Washington University in St. Louis."]]></description>
<dc:subject>books:noted race racism debunking anthropology in_NB books:owned</dc:subject>
<dc:source>https://pinboard.in/</dc:source>
<dc:identifier>https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/b:ea4a89745836/</dc:identifier>
<taxo:topics><rdf:Bag>	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:books:noted"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:race"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:racism"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:debunking"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:anthropology"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:in_NB"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:books:owned"/>
</rdf:Bag></taxo:topics>
</item>
<item rdf:about="http://www.pnas.org/content/111/49/17414.abstract.html?etoc">
    <title>Phylogenetic reconstruction of Bantu kinship challenges Main Sequence Theory of human social evolution</title>
    <dc:date>2014-12-17T15:35:42+00:00</dc:date>
    <link>http://www.pnas.org/content/111/49/17414.abstract.html?etoc</link>
    <dc:creator>cshalizi</dc:creator><description><![CDATA["Kinship provides the fundamental structure of human society: descent determines the inheritance pattern between generations, whereas residence rules govern the location a couple moves to after they marry. In turn, descent and residence patterns determine other key relationships such as alliance, trade, and marriage partners. Hunter-gatherer kinship patterns are viewed as flexible, whereas agricultural societies are thought to have developed much more stable kinship patterns as they expanded during the Holocene. Among the Bantu farmers of sub-Saharan Africa, the ancestral kinship patterns present at the beginning of the expansion are hotly contested, with some arguing for matrilineal and matrilocal patterns, whereas others maintain that any kind of lineality or sex-biased dispersal only emerged much later. Here, we use Bayesian phylogenetic methods to uncover the history of Bantu kinship patterns and trace the interplay between descent and residence systems. The results suggest a number of switches in both descent and residence patterns as Bantu farming spread, but that the first Bantu populations were patrilocal with patrilineal descent. Across the phylogeny, a change in descent triggered a switch away from patrifocal kinship, whereas a change in residence triggered a switch back from matrifocal kinship. These results challenge “Main Sequence Theory,” which maintains that changes in residence rules precede change in other social structures. We also indicate the trajectory of kinship change, shedding new light on how this fundamental structure of society developed as farming spread across the globe during the Neolithic."

- So much does the prior drive this result?]]></description>
<dc:subject>to:NB cultural_evolution anthropology phylogenetics</dc:subject>
<dc:source>https://pinboard.in/</dc:source>
<dc:identifier>https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/b:17340c654054/</dc:identifier>
<taxo:topics><rdf:Bag>	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:to:NB"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:cultural_evolution"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:anthropology"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:phylogenetics"/>
</rdf:Bag></taxo:topics>
</item>
<item rdf:about="http://www.versobooks.com/books/1038-the-mental-and-the-material">
    <title>The Mental and the Material</title>
    <dc:date>2014-05-10T09:24:46+00:00</dc:date>
    <link>http://www.versobooks.com/books/1038-the-mental-and-the-material</link>
    <dc:creator>cshalizi</dc:creator><description><![CDATA["What is the specificity of the human race within nature? How is its history to be explained? What impact do material realities, natural and man-made, have on human beings? What role does thought, in all its dimensions, play in the production of social relations? How are the human sciences to be advanced today? These are among the crucial questions confronted by Godelier in this key book of contemporary social theory. Its point of departure lies in a fact and a hypothesis. The fact: in contrast to other social animals, human beings do not just live in society; they produce society in order to live. The hypothesis: because they have the unique capacity to appropriate and transform nature, they produce culture and create history.
"Drawing on his own extensive fieldwork and ranging over the most diverse ethnographic data, Godelier substantiates his case by attending to the analysis of both social relations of production and the production of social relations. In a sustained challenge to currently dominant schemas, he offers a series of highly original theses on the constitution, reproduction and transformation of societies, recasting the distinction between infrastructure and superstructures, illuminating the relations between economic determination and political/ideological dominance, and clarifying the character of ideology and its central role in the perpetuation of dominance and exploitation."]]></description>
<dc:subject>in_NB books:noted anthropology historical_materialism</dc:subject>
<dc:source>https://pinboard.in/</dc:source>
<dc:identifier>https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/b:5a26399f9750/</dc:identifier>
<taxo:topics><rdf:Bag>	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:in_NB"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:books:noted"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:anthropology"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:historical_materialism"/>
</rdf:Bag></taxo:topics>
</item>
<item rdf:about="http://sup.org/book.cgi?id=23296&amp;promo=SUPANT14">
    <title>The Right Spouse</title>
    <dc:date>2014-04-28T13:40:35+00:00</dc:date>
    <link>http://sup.org/book.cgi?id=23296&amp;promo=SUPANT14</link>
    <dc:creator>cshalizi</dc:creator><description><![CDATA["The Right Spouse is an engaging investigation into Tamil (South Indian) preferential close kin marriages, so-called Dravidian Kinship. This book offers a description and an interpretation of preferential marriages with close kin in South India, as they used to be arranged and experienced in the recent past and as they are increasingly discontinued in the present. 
"Clark-Decès presents readers with a focused anthropology of this waning marriage system: its past, present, and dwindling future. The book takes on the main pillars of Tamil social organization, considers the ways in which Tamil intermarriage establishes kinship and social rank, and argues that past scholars have improperly defined "Dravidian" kinship. Within her critique of past scholarship, Clark-Decès recasts a powerful and vivid image of preferential marriage in Tamil Nadu and how those preferences and marital rules play out in lived reality. What Clark-Decès discovers in her fieldwork are endogamous patterns and familial connections that sometimes result in flawed relationships, contradictory statuses, and confused roles. 
"The book includes a fascinating narration of the complex terrain that Tamil youth currently navigate as they experience the complexities and changing nature of marriage practices and seek to reconcile their established kinship networks to more individually driven marriages and careers."]]></description>
<dc:subject>to:NB books:noted kinship anthropology india tamil_nadu how_they_did_it_back_in_the_old_country</dc:subject>
<dc:source>https://pinboard.in/</dc:source>
<dc:identifier>https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/b:89444d96d4ae/</dc:identifier>
<taxo:topics><rdf:Bag>	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:to:NB"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:books:noted"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:kinship"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:anthropology"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:india"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:tamil_nadu"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:how_they_did_it_back_in_the_old_country"/>
</rdf:Bag></taxo:topics>
</item>
<item rdf:about="http://sup.org/book.cgi?id=23182">
    <title>Incest Avoidance and the Incest Taboos: Two Aspects of Human Nature</title>
    <dc:date>2014-03-05T23:08:56+00:00</dc:date>
    <link>http://sup.org/book.cgi?id=23182</link>
    <dc:creator>cshalizi</dc:creator><description><![CDATA["Why do most people never have sex with close relatives? And why do they disapprove of other people doing so? Incest Avoidance and Incest Taboos investigates our human inclination to avoid incest and the powerful taboo against incest found in all societies. Both subjects stir strong feelings and vigorous arguments within and beyond academic circles. With great clarity, Wolf lays out the modern assumptions about both, concluding that all previous approaches lack precision and balance on insecure evidence. Researchers he calls "constitutionalists" explain human incest avoidance by biologically-based natural aversion, but fail to explain incest taboos as cultural universals. By contrast, "conventionalists" ignore the evolutionary roots of avoidance and assume that incest avoidant behavior is guided solely by cultural taboos. Both theories are incomplete.
"Wolf tests his own theory with three natural experiments: bint'amm (cousin) marriage in Morocco, the rarity of marriage within Israeli kibbutz peer groups, and "minor marriages" (in which baby girls were raised by their future mother-in-law to marry an adoptive "brother") in China and Taiwan. These cross-cultural comparisons complete his original and intellectually rich theory of incest, one that marries biology and culture by accounting for both avoidance and taboo."]]></description>
<dc:subject>to:NB books:noted incest anthropology evolutionary_psychology psychology practices_relating_to_the_transmission_of_genetic_information kinship</dc:subject>
<dc:source>https://pinboard.in/</dc:source>
<dc:identifier>https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/b:f76987895dfb/</dc:identifier>
<taxo:topics><rdf:Bag>	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:to:NB"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:books:noted"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:incest"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:anthropology"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:evolutionary_psychology"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:psychology"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:practices_relating_to_the_transmission_of_genetic_information"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:kinship"/>
</rdf:Bag></taxo:topics>
</item>
<item rdf:about="http://blogs.swarthmore.edu/burke/2013/02/20/particularism-as-a-big-idea/">
    <title>Particularism as a Big Idea | Easily Distracted</title>
    <dc:date>2013-02-21T18:10:38+00:00</dc:date>
    <link>http://blogs.swarthmore.edu/burke/2013/02/20/particularism-as-a-big-idea/</link>
    <dc:creator>cshalizi</dc:creator><description><![CDATA[A more aggressive man than Tim might make some pointed remarks about people who would rather have scientific-sounding conclusions than adequate empirical evidence...]]></description>
<dc:subject>social_science_methodology anthropology historical_materialism</dc:subject>
<dc:source>https://pinboard.in/</dc:source>
<dc:identifier>https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/b:44c425327728/</dc:identifier>
<taxo:topics><rdf:Bag>	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:social_science_methodology"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:anthropology"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:historical_materialism"/>
</rdf:Bag></taxo:topics>
</item>
<item rdf:about="http://jacobinmag.com/2012/08/debt-the-first-500-pages/">
    <title>Debt: The First 500 Pages | Jacobin</title>
    <dc:date>2012-08-29T02:04:09+00:00</dc:date>
    <link>http://jacobinmag.com/2012/08/debt-the-first-500-pages/</link>
    <dc:creator>cshalizi</dc:creator><dc:subject>book_reviews graeber.david anthropology economics economic_history political_economy beggs.michael via:crooked_timber money</dc:subject>
<dc:source>https://pinboard.in/</dc:source>
<dc:identifier>https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/b:90e30cd41ac4/</dc:identifier>
<taxo:topics><rdf:Bag>	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:book_reviews"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:graeber.david"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:anthropology"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:economics"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:economic_history"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:political_economy"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:beggs.michael"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:via:crooked_timber"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:money"/>
</rdf:Bag></taxo:topics>
</item>
<item rdf:about="http://mitpress.mit.edu/catalog/item/default.asp?ttype=2&amp;tid=13030">
    <title>The Encultured Brain: An Introduction to Neuroanthropology - The MIT Press</title>
    <dc:date>2012-08-16T10:19:52+00:00</dc:date>
    <link>http://mitpress.mit.edu/catalog/item/default.asp?ttype=2&amp;tid=13030</link>
    <dc:creator>cshalizi</dc:creator><description><![CDATA["The brain and the nervous system are our most cultural organs. Our nervous system is especially immature at birth, our brain disproportionately small in relation to its adult size and open to cultural sculpting at multiple levels. Recognizing this, the new field of neuroanthropology places the brain at the center of discussions about human nature and culture. Anthropology offers brain science more robust accounts of enculturation to explain observable difference in brain function; neuroscience offers anthropology evidence of neuroplasticity’s role in social and cultural dynamics. This book provides a foundational text for neuroanthropology, offering basic concepts and case studies at the intersection of brain and culture.
"After an overview of the field and background information on recent research in biology, a series of case studies demonstrate neuroanthropology in practice. Contributors first focus on capabilities and skills--including memory in medical practice, skill acquisition in martial arts, and the role of humor in coping with breast cancer treatment and recovery--then report on problems and pathologies that range from post-traumatic stress disorder among veterans to smoking as a part of college social life."]]></description>
<dc:subject>to:NB books:noted anthropology neuroscience social_life_of_the_mind</dc:subject>
<dc:source>https://pinboard.in/</dc:source>
<dc:identifier>https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/b:8748c2fe5bf0/</dc:identifier>
<taxo:topics><rdf:Bag>	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:to:NB"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:books:noted"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:anthropology"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:neuroscience"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:social_life_of_the_mind"/>
</rdf:Bag></taxo:topics>
</item>
<item rdf:about="http://escholarship.org/uc/item/1ks0g7dr">
    <title>Centralization/Decentralization in the Dynamics of Afghan History [eScholarship]</title>
    <dc:date>2012-07-19T18:53:29+00:00</dc:date>
    <link>http://escholarship.org/uc/item/1ks0g7dr</link>
    <dc:creator>cshalizi</dc:creator><description><![CDATA["The analysis of political organization in Afghanistan is clouded by a number of myths (unconquerable, ungovernabale and graveyard of empires) that are contradicted by the facts.  Historically Afghanistan was peacefully governed by a wide variety of conquerors and native dynasties, but all used combinations of direct and indirect rule to create stable polities. They also relied on theories of political legitimacy that vested authority in ruling elites that, once established, returned to power after periods of disruption to bring order to the country.  This pattern of successful governance has been overlooked in rebuilding Afghanistan today to the detrement of political stability."

(Sounds like a reprise of his excellent book.)]]></description>
<dc:subject>to:NB afghanistan political_science imperialism barfield.thomas via:? state-building legitimacy anthropology</dc:subject>
<dc:source>https://pinboard.in/</dc:source>
<dc:identifier>https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/b:89264cc6991b/</dc:identifier>
<taxo:topics><rdf:Bag>	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:to:NB"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:afghanistan"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:political_science"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:imperialism"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:barfield.thomas"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:via:?"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:state-building"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:legitimacy"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:anthropology"/>
</rdf:Bag></taxo:topics>
</item>
<item rdf:about="http://www.newyorker.com/arts/critics/books/2012/07/02/120702crbo_books_kolbert?currentPage=1">
    <title>Why Are American Kids So Spoiled? : The New Yorker</title>
    <dc:date>2012-07-13T14:12:02+00:00</dc:date>
    <link>http://www.newyorker.com/arts/critics/books/2012/07/02/120702crbo_books_kolbert?currentPage=1</link>
    <dc:creator>cshalizi</dc:creator><description><![CDATA[More systematic comparisons across industrialized countries, please.]]></description>
<dc:subject>anthropology ethnography something_about_america parenting consumerism</dc:subject>
<dc:source>https://pinboard.in/</dc:source>
<dc:identifier>https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/b:e8a8d9c19a8c/</dc:identifier>
<taxo:topics><rdf:Bag>	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:anthropology"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:ethnography"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:something_about_america"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:parenting"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:consumerism"/>
</rdf:Bag></taxo:topics>
</item>
<item rdf:about="http://www.powells.com/biblio?isbn=9780199214617">
    <title>Cognitive Variations: Reflections on the Unity and Diversity of the Human Mind by Geoffrey E R Lloyd - Powell's Books</title>
    <dc:date>2012-03-30T21:00:39+00:00</dc:date>
    <link>http://www.powells.com/biblio?isbn=9780199214617</link>
    <dc:creator>cshalizi</dc:creator><description><![CDATA["Sir Geoffrey Lloyd presents a cross-disciplinary study of the problems posed by the unity and diversity of the human mind. On the one hand, as humans we all share broadly the same anatomy, physiology, biochemistry, and certain psychological capabilities--the capacity to learn a language, for instance. On the other, different individuals and groups have very different talents, tastes, and beliefs, for instance about how they see themselves, other humans and the world around them. These issues are highly charged, for any denial of psychic unity savors of racism, while many assertions of psychic diversity raise the specters of arbitrary relativism, the incommensurability of beliefs systems and their mutual unintelligibility.
"Lloyd surveys a fascinating range of subjects, examining where different types of arguments, scientific, philosophical, anthropological and historical can take us. He discusses color perception, spatial cognition, animal and plant taxonomy, the emotions, ideas of health and well-being, concepts of the self, agency and causation, varying perceptions of the distinction between nature and culture, and reasoning itself. To avoid the pitfalls of misleading dichotomies (especially between cross-cultural universalism and cultural relativism) he pays due attention to the multidimensionality of the phenomena to be apprehended and to the diversity of manners, or styles, of apprehending them. The weight to be given to different factors, physical, biological, psychological, cultural, ideological, varies as between different subject-areas and sometimes even within a single area. He uses recent work in social anthropology, linguistics, cognitive science, neurophysiology, and the history of ideas to redefine the problems and clarify how our evident psychic diversity can be reconciled with our shared humanity."]]></description>
<dc:subject>cultural_differences cultural_transmission_of_cognitive_tools evolutionary_psychology diversity anthropology history_of_ideas books:owned have_read in_NB books:recommended</dc:subject>
<dc:source>https://pinboard.in/</dc:source>
<dc:identifier>https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/b:6943f057afbe/</dc:identifier>
<taxo:topics><rdf:Bag>	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:cultural_differences"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:cultural_transmission_of_cognitive_tools"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:evolutionary_psychology"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:diversity"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:anthropology"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:history_of_ideas"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:books:owned"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:have_read"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:in_NB"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:books:recommended"/>
</rdf:Bag></taxo:topics>
</item>
<item rdf:about="http://www.pnas.org/content/108/49/19546.abstract">
    <title>Global human mandibular variation reflects differences in agricultural and hunter-gatherer subsistence strategies</title>
    <dc:date>2011-12-07T04:15:26+00:00</dc:date>
    <link>http://www.pnas.org/content/108/49/19546.abstract</link>
    <dc:creator>cshalizi</dc:creator><description><![CDATA["Variation in the masticatory behavior of hunter-gatherer and agricultural populations is hypothesized to be one of the major forces affecting the form of the human mandible. However, this has yet to be analyzed at a global level. Here, the relationship between global mandibular shape variation and subsistence economy is tested, while controlling for the potentially confounding effects of shared population history, geography, and climate. The results demonstrate that the mandible, in contrast to the cranium, significantly reflects subsistence strategy rather than neutral genetic patterns, with hunter-gatherers having consistently longer and narrower mandibles than agriculturalists. These results support notions that a decrease in masticatory stress among agriculturalists causes the mandible to grow and develop differently. This developmental argument also explains why there is often a mismatch between the size of the lower face and the dentition, which, in turn, leads to increased prevalence of dental crowding and malocclusions in modern postindustrial populations. Therefore, these results have important implications for our understanding of human masticatory adaptation."]]></description>
<dc:subject>to:NB human_genetics human_ecology anthropology teeth</dc:subject>
<dc:source>https://pinboard.in/</dc:source>
<dc:identifier>https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/b:4d30b7e13e1a/</dc:identifier>
<taxo:topics><rdf:Bag>	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:to:NB"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:human_genetics"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:human_ecology"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:anthropology"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:teeth"/>
</rdf:Bag></taxo:topics>
</item>
<item rdf:about="http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2011/09/david-graeber-on-the-invention-of-money-%E2%80%93-notes-on-sex-adventure-monomaniacal-sociopathy-and-the-true-function-of-economics.html">
    <title>David Graeber: On the Invention of Money – Notes on Sex, Adventure, Monomaniacal Sociopathy and the True Function of Economics « naked capitalism</title>
    <dc:date>2011-09-13T19:57:58+00:00</dc:date>
    <link>http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2011/09/david-graeber-on-the-invention-of-money-%E2%80%93-notes-on-sex-adventure-monomaniacal-sociopathy-and-the-true-function-of-economics.html</link>
    <dc:creator>cshalizi</dc:creator><description><![CDATA[I have been avoiding reading Graber's book, since it didn't sound like it was any advance over Polanyi's (classic!) _The Great Transformation_.  But this is great, so I'm sold.
]]></description>
<dc:subject>economic_history economic_anthropology anthropology economics money evisceration historical_myths via:jbdelong ancient_trade sumeria</dc:subject>
<dc:identifier>https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/b:1e8612d24324/</dc:identifier>
<taxo:topics><rdf:Bag>	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:economic_history"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:economic_anthropology"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:anthropology"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:economics"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:money"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:evisceration"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:historical_myths"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:via:jbdelong"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:ancient_trade"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:sumeria"/>
</rdf:Bag></taxo:topics>
</item>
<item rdf:about="http://www.ucpress.edu/book.php?isbn=9780520271241">
    <title>The Chumash World at European Contact : Power, Trade, and Feasting Among Complex Hunter-Gatherers : Lynn H. Gamble - University of California Press</title>
    <dc:date>2011-08-30T12:44:09+00:00</dc:date>
    <link>http://www.ucpress.edu/book.php?isbn=9780520271241</link>
    <dc:creator>cshalizi</dc:creator><description><![CDATA["When Spanish explorers and missionaries came onto Southern California's shores in 1769, they encountered the large towns and villages of the Chumash, a people who at that time were among the most advanced hunter-gatherer societies in the world. The Spanish were entertained and fed at lavish feasts hosted by chiefs who ruled over the settlements and who participated in extensive social and economic networks. In this first modern synthesis of data from the Chumash heartland, Lynn H. Gamble weaves together multiple sources of evidence to re-create the rich tapestry of Chumash society. Drawing from archaeology, historical documents, ethnography, and ecology, she describes daily life in the large mainland towns, focusing on Chumash culture, household organization, politics, economy, warfare, and more."
]]></description>
<dc:subject>archaeology first_contact native_american_history anthropology books:noted hunter-gatherers california human_ecology</dc:subject>
<dc:identifier>https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/b:f07017c959c9/</dc:identifier>
<taxo:topics><rdf:Bag>	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:archaeology"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:first_contact"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:native_american_history"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:anthropology"/>
	<rdf:li rdf:resource="https://pinboard.in/u:cshalizi/t:books:noted"/>
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