A good way to capture someone’s attention is to start off by saying, “I have a few things to get off my chest…” This is how science writer John Horgan begins his latest post at Scientific American. It works. I was leaning close to my laptop by the end of the first sentence, eager to…Continue Reading…
E. O. Wilson and Jared Diamond have a few things in common. Both are ecologists, popularizers of science, famous best-selling authors, meme creators, and lately, objects of ridicule and academic rage. Let’s recall that Wilson, before he became the bard of biodiversity, had withstood a furious assault on his reputation after the publication in 1975 of…Continue Reading…
I just don’t understand why academic anthropologists are so viscerally opposed to the Pentagon’s Human Terrain program. If injecting cultural sensitivity into the military can defuse tensions and reduce conflict in a war zone, isn’t that a good thing? I can appreciate the ethical concerns, but from what little I’ve followed on this, it seems…Continue Reading…
It’s the 21st century and we’re still getting simplistic, cliched depictions of natives in Hollywood movies like Avatar. How is it possible that people are enthralled with this one-dimensional, sci-fi clunker? I succumbed to the hype last night, mainly because I wanted to see what a $260 million dollar movie looks like. Aside from the…Continue Reading…
I recently wrote two stories for Archaeology magazine about the clash of history, science, and culture in the American Southwest. The main piece in the Nov/Dec issue juxtaposes Navajo claims to famous prehistoric sites, such as Chaco Canyon, with new archaeological data. This latest material evidence reinforces the strong scientific consensus that the Navajo didn’t…Continue Reading…
This story in Nature News about societal collapse in ancient Peru is worth noting, especially for this quote by one of the main researchers: Dramatic climactic events are always used to explain culture change in the Andes. But this is not satisfying based on what we know about human culture. It paints a picture of…Continue Reading…
Mysterious disappearances of adventurous young wander seekers seem to captivate journalists, Hollywood and the public. So of course there was a lot of buzz when National Geographic Adventure announced recently that it had identified the skeleton of Everett Ruess, who had disappeared 75 years ago in the Southwest’s Four Corners region. Not so fast, says…Continue Reading…
So the battle is joined: “The complaint has no merit at all,” Jared Diamond tells Science magazine in an exclusive interview published today, referring to the $10 million lawsuit filed against him and The New Yorker, for his April 2008 piece on a blood feud in Papua New Guinea. The Science story is only available…Continue Reading…
Hey, quite a spectacle over at Savage Minds, with a bunch of anthros, (apparent) journos and one sculptor/art historian-turned bloodhound ripping each other to shreds. People, people, is that any way to run a truth squad?
The wolf-pack is tearing away at Jared Diamond. Opportunity knocks: part of the reason…is to reclaim some of the ground among general readers lost to “experts” like Jared Diamond. With this series, StinkyJournalism.org and SavageMinds.org seek to capture that wider general audience for writings about anthropology. If the first essay is any indication of what’s…Continue Reading…