Anthropology 1
Human Evolution in Philosophical Perspective
Research Projects

Professor Christopher N. Matthews
Department of Sociology and Anthropology
Hofstra University

Fall 2004
Section 3, T-TH 11:10-12:35

You will develop and prepare three short research papers on the discourse of evolution in modern society.  These papers and their due dates are described below.

As part of this exercise you will share your findings with others in class  This means showing up with three copies of your paper to share, one of which you will turn in.  If you fail to show up in class with a paper on the due date you will be asked to leave and receive an unexcused absence on your record.

The point of the project is three-fold.

• First, it is intended to allow you to explore the meaning(s) of evolution from a variety of modern perspectives.  While we will be mostly examining the scientific approach in class, these papers lead you to look at alternative views that co-exist with and challenge the scientific one. A valuable clue to succeeding in these papers is to develop for each a succinct statement on the definition of humanity or the meaning of being human according to your source(s).

• Second, this project helps you develop your academic skills most specifically library research, identification of primary sources, critical analysis of texts, and writing.

• Third, the project lets you explore with your peers some of the basic questions that define anthropology as a distinct discipline and thus to better answer the questions many of you will get about why you are taking this class. As part of the assignment you will share your research with other students who will read your paper and ask questions about your findings and your sources.  The purpose of this exercise is both to put you on the spot (you need to be capable of representing what you found) and allow you to learn from your peers about  their findings to see how they contrast with your own.  This gives you a chance to practice your critical analytical skills and develop an understanding of how to make statements based on research not opinion.

Porject 1: Creationism
(Due October 5, 3-4 pages)

In a November 2001 poll 47% of Americans believe that the theory of evolution is probably or definitely not true.  While this does not mean that these people are practicing creationists, many indeed are sympathetic to the creationist point of view.  The fact is, however, there are a diversity of creationisms and creationist arguments.

Your goal is to define a particular creationist perspective and identify how the perspective is logically coherent.  A good place to get an introduction to the debates is at the Talk.Origins Archive, specifically the page “What is Creationism?” (http://www.talkorigins.org/faqs/wic.html) which is a very useful outline of creationist perspectives providing weblinks and search topics to explore.

A good source for understanding the philosophical issue underlying this debate is the article called “Science as a Way of Knowing”, Chapter 7 in the Park, Reader. Another good article-length overview of Creationism is “Antievolutionism and Creationism in the United States” by Eugenie C. Scott (Ann. Rev. of Anthropology 1997 26:263-89) which is on library reserve.

Assignment:
For the paper you must refer to primary sources (original texts, not newspaper review articles) from the library, the internet, or other sources (such as your place of worship if you belong to one) that represent a creationist voice.  You should tell us what they believe and why they think it is true.  The most important sources will be those that explain how your example specifically refutes evolution, and in your review you should explain what data and ideas your perspective uses to reject evolution.  Your paper should also include some explanatory examples of their alternative interpretations of anthropological and evolutionary data.

Sources:
You can use any number of sources, including websites.  But you must adequately reference any ideas and text that is not your own. A guide to acceptable referencing styles is attached at the end of this page or click here.

Search engine topics:
creationism, flat earth, creation science, intelligent design, teaching evolution, Darwinism, cloning, stem cells

Books
    Darwin on Trial, Philip Johnson
    Darwin’s Black Box, Michael Behe
    Finding Darwin’s God, Kenneth Miller
    The Evolution Wars, Michael Ruse
    Reinventing Darwin, Niles Eldredge
    Defending Evolution: A guide to the creation/evolution controversy, Brian J. Alters and
        Sandra M. Alters
    Evolution: The Fossils Say No!, Duane Gish
    Darwinism, Peter Bowler, Twayne Pubishers, 1993
    Scientists Confront Creationism, Laurie Godfrey, Norton, 1983
    The Creation Controversy, Dorothy Nelkin, Norton, 1982
    Creation and Evolution, Norman Newell, Columbia, 1982

Videos (These may be borrowed from the professor)
    A Walk Through History
    When Two Worldviews Collide

Film
    Inherit The Wind based on the courtroom drama of the 1925 “Monkey Trial” in Dayton, Tennessee.
    Also see http://xroads.virginia.edu/~UG97/inherit/intro.html

Websites:
Creationism
    Institute for Creation Research http://www.icr.org/
    Critiques of Creationism http://www.atheist.org/bone.pit/wild.html
    Center for Scientific Creationism http://www.creationscience.com/
    The Discovery Institute http://www.discovery.org/
    The International Society for Complexity, Information, and Design  http://www.iscid.org/

Human Genome, Stem Cell, and Cloning Research
    http://www.ornl.gov/TechResources/Human_Genome/home/html

Scientific Critiques of Creationism
    National Association of Biology Teachers http://www.nabt.org/Evolution.html
    National Center for Science Education http://www.natcenscied.org/
    McLean vs. Arkansas Board of Education http://cns-web.bu.edu/pub/dorman/mva.html

Religious Views of Evolution
    Statement by Pope John Paul II http://www.natcenscied.org/pope.htm
    Christian Answers http://www.christiananswers.net
    Answers in Genesis Ministries http://www.answersingenesis.org
    Catholic Answers http://www.catholic.com/library/adam_eve_and_evolution.asp
    http://www.cco.caltech.edu/~newman/sci-faith.html
    http://www.knight.org/advent
    http://www.catholic.com/answers/tracts/adam_eve.htm
    Time Line Display of Jewish History http://www.jewishamerica.com
    The Secular Web http://www.infidels.org/index.shtml
    The Wild, Wild World of Creation http://www.atheist.org/bone.pit/wild.html
    http://www.infidels.org/electronic/news/

Planet of the Apes Movies
        This 1960s series of films sets Apes as the more evolved with humans as slaves and refugees.
            Please do not use only the 2001 version as your source.
            For more info go to http://www.abacus.ghj.com/Sci_Fi/apes/apes.htm

For this topic you will make an introductory exploration of a key aspect of  anthropological study: what makes human beings different from animals or a unique kind of animal?  This is a simple question, but you will be exploring it by using specific resources produced by those involved in the effort to challenge our current definitions.

Your sources will draw from the animal rights and liberation movement.  This movement has made some of the most eloquent statements about what being human is, but their purpose is to expand that definition to include non-human species.  You may also choose to explore the defense of animal studies by scientists who offer a counter-point to animal rights activists.

Assignment:
Your assignment is to identify and review a specific animal rights argument that challenges the definition of being human.  You should begin reviewing the article we discussed in the first part of the class by Tim Ingold, “Humanity and Animality” (on reserve), and by reading a brief review of the issue published in the Village Voice (August 13, 2002, vol. XLVII, No. 32, p. 70-76)  Both of these readings are on library reserve.  These articles are not intended to be direct sources for you, but to give you one or more entry points for accomplishing the assignment.  You should expand from these to explore primary sources from the animal rights movement.  In particular, you need to state what aspect of being human is being challenged, and then elaborate how the challenge is coherent.  You should also include a review of how this perspective fits with scientific evolution regarding the development of modern species.
 
 

Sources:
Search engine terms: animal liberation, animal welfare, speciesism, laboratory animals, vivisection, circus animals.

Books:
    Introduction to Animal Rights: Your Child or the Dog?, Gary L. Francione
    Vivisection and Dissection in the Classroom: A Guide to Conscientious Objection,
        Gary L. Francione and Anna E. Charlton
    The Great Ape Project: Equality Beyond Humanity, Paola Cavalieri and Peter Singer

Basic Information
    Animal Welfare Information Center http://www.nal.usda.gov/awic/
    People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals http://www.peta-online.org/
    Animal Concerns http://animalconcerns.netforchange.com/
    American Association for Laboratory Animal Science http://www.aalas.org/
    American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals http://www.aspca.org/

Animal Rights
    Animal Rights History  http://www.sciam.com/0297issue/0297trends.html
    Herbweb http://www.hedweb.com/herbweb/index.html
    Animal Rights FAQ  http://www.hedweb.com/arfaq/welcome.htm
    All for Animals http://www.allforanimals.com/

    American Anti-Vivisection Society  http://www.aavs.org
    Animal Rights Law Center http://www.animal-law.org
    Feminists for Animal Rights http://www.farinc.org/info.html
    Online Library for animal rights resources  http://www.questia.com/Index.jsp?CRID=animal_rights&OFFID=se1
    Animal Concerns Community http://www.animalconcerns.org/
    Association for Veteranarians for Animal Rights http://www.avar.org/
    Animal Welfare Institute www.awionline.org
Animal Rights Personalities
    Richard Dawkins  http://www.feedmag.com/dna/darwin.html

         http://www.temple.edu/tempress/titles/1359_reg.html
    David DeGrazia http://www.hedweb.com/animals/

Speciesism
    Arguments defining speciesism http://snaefell.tamu.edu/~gary/awvar/singer_arguments.html
    Vegan Outreach  http://www.veganoutreach.org/starterpack/speciesism.html
    Great Ape Standing and Personhood  http://www.personhood.org/speciesism/speciesism.html
    Speciesism, Alive and Well  http://www.personhood.org/speciesism/speciesism.html

Animal Liberation
    All for animals organization  http://www.allforanimals.com/
    Animal Liberation.com http://www.animal-liberation.com/
    Animal Defense League  http://www.animaldefense.com/
    Animal Liberation Front  http://www.animalliberationfront.com/
                         http://www.nocompromise.org/alf/alf.html

Pro-Medical Research Sites
    Scientists Center for Animal Welfare http://www.scaw.com/
    American for Medical Progress Educational Foundation http://www.ampef.org/armvt.htm
    Links to Pro-Medical Research Articles http://www.ampef.org/articles/index.htm

For topic 3 you will explore the use of evolutionary discoveries and theory in modern popular culture and find one example to consider in detail.  The point is to analyze the representation of evolution as it presented for public consumption.  While you have had to represent other people’s ideas up to this point, in this component you will represent other people’s representations.  This double removal from the source is useful since the source is evolution, an idea that by now you are very familiar with.

Assignment:
The assignment is to choose a particular popular representation such as a movie, novel, advertisement, or several related examples of the use of a stock character (e.g., chimpanzee or caveman) and analyze how the representation teaches us what evolution is or means.  You need to bring your critical eye to the representation to see not only how evolution is being used to make a point, but what aspects of evolution is being used to do so.  You may feel free to criticize inaccuracies about how the evolutionary process is shown to work, but you should avoid simply saying, for example, that Planet of the Apes is misleading because apes never developed the capacity for language.  Rather, you need to see how the writer/director uses something like talking apes to make a more important point regarding humanity and our own ideas of ourselves in evolutionary terms.  You should comment on these underlying statements especially regarding how they show that the meaning of evolution can vary based on how and why it being used.  You may also cite parallels between how you see evolution being used for popular consumption and the way it is used and rejected by creationists.
 

Sources:
Ape Films and Videos:
King Kong, Mighty Joe Young, Congo, Instinct, Any Which Way but Loose, Planet of the Apes.
There are a multitude of films, TV shows, and advertisements that portary Apes, Monkeys, in ways that you can analyze for the messgaes about evolution and humanity.  Be sure to compliment watchingh a film with research on it from websites or text references.

    Check out websites on some of these films for other leads, for example,
           http://www2.netdoor.com/~campbab/kong4.html
           http://www.sculptureone.com/kong/index.html
           http://www.angelfire.com/ri/KingKong33/index.html
           http://www.geocities.com/~whittakill/lancelot.htm
           http://www.abacus.ghj.com/Sci_Fi/apes/apes.htm

Also check out comic books, novels, video games, advertising, and other media sources where evolution is the key to the story.  For example, see http://www.donkey.com

Hollywood films on prehistory
    One Million Years B.C., Prehistoric Women, Quest for Fire
    For additional titles See the Cave Filmography http://www.ptconnect.infi.net/~elizoz.film.html

Cavemen and Neanderthals
    Caveman's Plea for Help  http://funnies.paco.to/printerHelp.html
    Caveman doesn't age well http://www.bizjournals.com/denver/stories/1997/03/17/smallb8.html
    Cavemen: The Latest Objects of Feminist Critique http://www.rightgrrl.com/steph/cavemen.html
    Neanderthal http://www.fo.hik.se/Eng/wij99/gender/survival.htm
    Images of Neanderthals  http://www.talkorigins.org/faqs/homs/savage.html

Tarzan
    There have been many of these movies.  See one and check out
    Tarzan http://movies.yahoo.com/shop?d=hv&cf=info&id=1800019431
    Tarzan on the Internet http://www.wwu.edu/~stephen/Tarzan/
    Taking Tarzan Seriously  http://www.georgetown.edu/departments/amer_studies/limit/tarzan.html

Clan of the Cave Bear
    This novel series portrays life in Paleolithic Europe.  The books are long, but novel readers will enjoy them.
    Check out http://www.us.imbd.com/M/title-exact?Clan+of+the+Bear and
    the Cave Filmography http://www.ptconnect.infi.net/~elizoz.film.html for alternative sources.
    Other novels can be found at http://www2.gol.com/users/steve/f_prehis.htm
                                         http://www.talkorigins.org/faqs/homs/fiction.html

Amazons and Ancient Goddesses are seen as a lternative evoutionary story and often related with the feminist movment
    Amazon women http://www.speakeasy.org/~music/amazon.html
    The New AmazoNation http://www.amazonation.com
    Wild Women http://www.arthistory.sbc.edu/imageswomen/papers/snideramazons/fact_fiction.html
    The Amazon society http://www.angelfire.com/tx2/amazonsociety/
    The Amazons http://www.gaygate.com/media/pages/Amazons.html
    Goddess Resources  http://www.wildwolfwomen.com/resources/goddess.html
    Celebrating Goddess http://www.wordweb.org/sacredjo/index.html
    Goddess 2000 project  http://www.goddess2000.org/
    Marija Gimbutas  http://www.webcom.com/gimbutas/

Cannibals (read Chapter 27 in the Park reader)
    Canibalism Digest  http://easyweb.easynet.co.uk/~palindrome/sep98/cannibal.html
    Eaten up by Sterotypes  http://eserver.org/race/eaten.txt
    Unspeakable Rites  http://www.findarticles.com/cf_0/m2267/1_66/54668873/print.jhtml
    Florida State Cannibalism Club http://garnetacns.fsu.edu/~lrt8174
    The Cannibal Puzzle http://ala.bio.cornell.edu:8080/puzzle.html

The Future is as much a part of this assignment as the past.  So you can conisder the representation of evolution in DNA, cloning, and genetic engineering.  For example, see Gattaca, The 6th Day, or the X-Men,

Super Heroes
As the opposite of primitive, the creators of Superman and other super heroes work the same literary themes as those of the primitives by setting modern man against the extreme.
    Kryptonian Cybernet http://www.kryptonian-cybernet.com/
    Superman Super Site http://www.angelfire.com/sc/startreking/superman.html
    New Batman/Superman Adventures http://www.batman-superman.com/
    Superman Web Central http://members.nbci.com/hiphats/suptoons.html

Mythical Beings
Otherkin  1 : one who identifies with various mythological archetype as vehicles of spiritual evolution and self-expression,     similar to Native totemism only with a stronger level of self-identification. 2 : someone who believes in reincarnation, and that not all of their reincarnations were as a human
        http://www.otherwonders.com/otherkin
        http://www.rialian.com/
        http://www.villagevoice.com/issues/0107/mamatas.shtml

The final component of the assignment is to tie your previous research together into a single full-length paper.   To do this you need to add one more theme: evolution as narrative.  You will first read and review Misia Landau’s article “Human evolution as narrative” (on reserve).  You should be able to see how her treatment of the scientific study of evolution makes points similar to what you have discovered in your own research on how evolution and the definition of humanity is used in our own society despite the findings and ideas of the scientists doing the work.

With your notes on her article you will then sit down with the previous components and put together a final essay that considers the relationship between evolution and representation in our world.  The key here is to draw from your own research, that of the students you have worked with over the semester, and the subject matter of the lectures to explore how the study of evolution is more than just a scientific pursuit, but equally an important aspect of knowing what it means to be human.  Some clues for this are the idea of storytelling, language, and other specifically cultural adaptations discussed in the readings and in class.

Forms of acceptable references

In-text referencing
You may choose either to use footnotes/endnotes or parenthetical reference forms.  For footnotes/endnotes please allow the word processor to establish the margins and scripts.  The body of the note should cite the author (D. Lan), the title of the work (Guns and Rain)or its date of publication (1985), and, if it is a quotation or a reference of specific data or ideas, page numbers (pp.134-37).  Thus the body of the note should be either D. Lan, Guns and Rain, pp.134-37 or D. Lan, 1985, pp. 134-37.

If you choose to do parenthetical referencing I expect that same sort of information but just set off within the text by parentheses.  An example would be:
“The Guanches who survived the conquest were dispossessed, exiled, and enslaved” (Bodley 2000, p. 399).

When citing websites or web pages please make sure that you cannot also cite an particular author and date.  If you cannot identify these, please cite either in footnotes or parenthetical references both the title of the website and its URL.  For example, National Center for Science Education, http://www.natcenscied.org/.  You may abbreviate as long as it is very clear for example, Nat. Center for Science Ed., http://…natcenscied.org/
 

Bibliographies
When creating bibliographies please list your sources alphabetically by author’s name.  If you need to cite an institution or group treat it as you would a regular proper name.  Please make sure to include the date of publication and the publisher’s name.  For example:

Bodley, John H.
2000    Cultural Anthropology: Tribes, States, and the Global System, 3rd ed. Mayfield Publishing Co. Mountain View, CA

Ferguson, Leland
1992     Uncommon Ground: Archaeology and Early African America. Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington.

Lan, David
1985     Guns and Rain: Guerrillas and Spirit Mediums in Zimbabwe.  University of California Press, Berkeley.

National Center for Science Education
2000     http://www.natcenscied.org/
 

Go to Anth 1 Syllabus

Go to Class Policies

Go to Courses Page