I don't know if this question meets the requirements of this subreddit, but I figured I'd ask here because I'm genuinely curious to know. I wanted to know what the differences or similarities are between the Mississippian Cultures and SECC. Are these labels interchangeable, if not what are the main distinctions?

I'm not an anthropologist, I just recently wanted to learn more about the indigenous cultures of North America. Since I'm here I wanted to ask also if any anthropologists here have any good book recommendations for beginners about these native cultures or about the archaeology of this part of the US.

Studying Anthropology in undergrad right now, and the word "social relation" gets thrown around a lot in both Linguistic and Social Anthropology courses. I did learn about the term previously when reading Marx's Wage Labour and Capital, and I would like to know where he got this concept from and if Anthropology in particular got it through him or through other means. Was it a common unit of analysis for contemporaries, or did he develop it directly from Hegel's dialectical method?

When I refer to "social relations", I am particularly emphasizing the relational aspect of the concept, where human communication, cooperation, competition, and general intercourse is the substrate of social forms. I understand that ideas like "collective consciousness" or "social action", formulated by Durkheim and Weber, were developed around Marx's time, but they seem to emphasize society as an entity or thing, rather than a system of relations.

I could be wrong in my understanding though, so please feel free to correct me.

Did they push out, or de-populate it's previous Chadic inhabitants? or were they simply numerically superior and assimilate the Chadic peoples who were already in west Africa

Hello,

I read often in some feminist books and articles than prehistoric women were hunters like men, with some scientific articles as sources, often because someone found one women skemeton with hunting position somewhere.

Often the suggested idea in those article is than at this time, men and women were equal, I even read than men and women were probably as muscular as men and became weaker on average through the time because men were keeping more food for them...

On the other hand, some other articles, accused to be anti feminist, were saying that because women were having child, they have a high risk to die because of giving birth. And in order to share the risk to die, that was just logical to see men hunting, because the society that were having a lot of women hunting just desapear. That's a kind of darwinist argument.

Then, I really have the filling that there is a mismatch between ideolgy and anthropoly is these questions. Everyone is picking the study he want to write a "story" that fit with their opinion.

Then, this is my question :

What are the state or the art global knowledge concerning the role of women in prehistory ?

There was an ethnography I read once about an anthropologist who was doing his first proper fieldwork with a community in the Amazon. Then when he saw that one of the women was sick, he insisted that they take her to hospital, but the journey was really heavy. When they got to the hospital, there was nothing they could do because she had terminal cervical cancer so they had to just go back home. The journey was so terrifying and exhausting that she died immediately when she arrived home. Members of the community hated the anthropologist for insisting she go to hospital. The anthropologist would have dreams about the woman. And yeah, I cannot remember for the life of me any more details or who wrote it or anything else. I just remember that in the reading it said that this was the anthropologists first actual fieldwork expedition. If anyone has any idea then please help!!

I sort of remember reading something about a culture who writes on their dishes. I'm pretty sure they were writing magical words around the lips of their plates and bowls but it just as well could have had cultural meaning rather than spiritual.

I want to say that they were somewhere in the Caucasus or Balkan region but I definitely could be wrong on this.

I know this is all very vague but I would greatly appreciate it if anyone has any idea what culture this could be.

History shows that high ranking men in East Asia, South Asia and the Middle East kept large harems. This is still done in Africa, and polygamy with up to 4 wives is still practiced by around 1% of Muslims in countries where it is permitted.

But it’s extremely rare for men in the modern western world to choose this lifestyle. I wonder why that is given that it has historically been a coveted choice for powerful men in number of societies.

One might say that it’s not legal or accepted here, but men do all sorts of things that are neither legal or accepted in order to satisfy their desires. For example, Leonardo DiCaprio’s habit of dating 20 year old girls for a few years and then dumping them at 25 is unusual. Elon Musk maintains strange relationships with Grimes and Shivon Zills, but neither are his girlfriend. Both DiCaprio and Musk have the means to maintain a harem, but it is evidently not in their interests. We almost never see powerful men that openly parade around with two girlfriends. Many such men cheat, but they keep that discrete while having one official wife or girlfriend they admit to. Almost no one openly claims to have two long term girlfriends with the expectation that these women be faithful to him.

Hefner was an exception, but he almost the only one that comes to mind. He set curfews and strictly maintained who his many girlfriends could invite over in efforts to keep them faithful. But generally, a powerful man in the west only expects fidelity of his wife or main girlfriend. Trump seems somewhat typical of a powerful man who desired more than one woman in that he would expect fidelity of Melania, but not of Stormy Daniels who he secretly cheated with.

What’s the reason polygamy, which came with a rigid expectation of multiple women’s fidelity to one man, was not that uncommon throughout the world, but modern men very rarely pursue it?

I've had people tell me that only male human/female Neanderthal couples could produce fertile offspring, but when I look it up, it seems the evidence is mixed. This source for example says that male Neanderthal/female human pairs could produce fertile offspring but not male human/female Neanderthal pairings, but this source says the reverse. What gives?

My friend and I were talking about how strange the dynamics of parties are to us: occasions for people (often strangers to some degree) to gather together and socialize, meet new people, get to know each other better, etc - and yet, more often than not, they're more like a cafe where people already familiar with each other just want to carry that familiarity into a novel context (surrounded by strangers doing the same).

Of course we don't live in Regency England or the Russia of War & Peace, and even acknowledging the fantasy inherent in retellings of history, not to mention that we live in very different political/economic motivations for balls/soirees/etc (and likely this is also a very Western view), but if anyone could point to conversation in the literature around this topic I'd be incredibly thankful.

Hi--some of the programs I am applying to are more fieldwork intensive than others and this will likely be a major deciding factor when considering my partner. How does it work to have field work out of country and how do I tactfully ask about the time spent away without sounding uncommitted? Part of me worries bringing up questions about this in regards to a parter would seem unprofessional or immature or like I am not fit to pursue a PhD if I don't understand how fieldwork works. If I am away for a semester (do they go this long?) can I bring my partner if he can work remote and pay our expenses? Does it depend on where we are?

BTW, I'm really not trying to ask an ethnicity/race related question, as to me the answer must be to do with culture not race.

Before I start, I just want to make it clear that yes, I know in an ideal world we would be referring to a person by their specific cultural group, rather than lumping them all together as ‘Aboriginal’, but that obviously hasn’t happened. And also, yes, I’m sure that the simplest answer is ‘colonistion’, but I genuinely want to know.

What is so different/special about Torres Strait Islanders that separates them from the rest of Aboriginals? What are the cultural/linguistic/ethnic reasons why Torres Strait Islanders have been singled out? And why not Tasmanian or Tiwi Islanders (for e.g.), shouldn't they also be separate?

Is it linguistic? There are two distinct languages spoke in the Torres Strait. Yes, one of them, belongs to the Eastern Trans-Fly language family, but the other one belongs to the Pama-Nyungan language family, the same as the vast majority of Aboriginal languages. On the other hand, the Tasmanian languages are unknown/not Pama-Nyungan. Therefore, shouldn’t Tasmanians not be considered ‘Aboriginal’?

Is it cultural? I don’t know enough about the specific cultural differences between groups to bring up many points, but I do know that Tasmanians were isolated from the mainland for several thousand years, and I am sure that that would mean they are culturally distinct.

Is it ethnicity? I know that Torres Strait Islanders are considered Melanesians, and Aboriginals are not. Whilst a person from Fremantle is probably not ethnically Melanesian, surely there are other ‘Aboriginals’ that are more closely related to Torres Strait Islanders/Melanesians than they are to Fremantle or Sydney? Melanesians are known for being one of the few groups outside Europe to have blond hair, but some Aboriginals, particularly in the Northern Territory (I think) also have blond hair. Would a Torres Strait Islander not be more genetically similar to someone from Arnhem land or Cape York than from Victoria?

I’m not trying to argue that Torres Strait Islanders should be considered Aboriginal. I’m sorta trying to gather why other groups are NOT considered separate to Aboriginals, like Torres Strait Islanders are. Google tells me its because Torres Strait Islanders are ‘genetically, linguistically and culturally distinct’, but as I’ve already mentioned, I’m sure there are ‘Aboriginals’ that are more ‘genetically, linguistically and culturally’ similar to Torres Strait Islanders than other ‘Aboriginals,' yet they don't get their own category. Plus, Torres Strait doesn't appear to be that linguistically distinct.

Hi, lovely people!

I’m thinking about phd in food studies in the US, choosing between NYU Steindhart and Indiana Bloomingtoon. I’m interested into food politics/identity/class/digital etnography.

Any thoughts on those schools or in general recs for other schools focusing on it?

I’m in my 30s with a graduate degree from Europe and a lot of research experience.

I was reading a few things claiming Neanderthals are thought to be at least equal in intelligence to Homo sapiens. But I’ve found erectus is thought to be less intelligent, is this true? If so are there any theories as to why there is such a substantial intelligent gap?

I'm a senior undergraduate anthropology major minoring in business and I am curious about going to graduate school. I'm hoping to work as a business/corporate anthropologist; I want to help companies better understand their customers and employees using anthropological research and methods. I am trying to create a path to a stable job for myself.

Should I apply to graduate school and if so what should I get my masters in? I was thinking about an MBA but I am open to any and all thoughts!

I am a PhD in cultural anthropology currently 10 months into a 2 year fieldwork. So far, my financial situation has been okay. I am an international student in the US and my fieldwork is in a 3rd country. The 2.5 years at grad school I had a stipend and tuition remission. On top of that I got two awards for an extra $10k that helped with visa stuff and preliminary fieldwork.

Now I am doing fieldwork I am not a TA and do not have remission. I applied for Wenner Gren but didn't make the cut and now the timing is off for applying again. I have looked into 3rd party grants but I do not see anything whose requirments I fall under.

So anyway I am getting a job in the field to try and help with things.

I was wondering if people would share their own stories or advise as this is keeping me up at night!

Are there any Neanderthal bones that have homo sapien DNA? I understand there are Neanderthal genes in modern human genomes so clearly Homo sapiens could mate with Neanderthals. But could Neanderthals mate with these hybrids? Are there any bones that are predominately Neanderthal that have traces of homo sapien DNA? This might explain the extinction of Neanderthals as well as the isolated populations that survived longer than others.

Hello, everyone! I hope your day has treated you well.

A few years ago, my professor told me a story about an American cultural anthropologist who was conducting research with a group considered by the US government to be terrorists somewhere in the Middle East. She said the anthropologist was arrested in America for refusing to give up the real names and contact information of those involved in her research, but my professor couldn't remember her name. I would really love to finally get to read what happened and what came of her work, but I can't seem to find anything about this, and my professor has not responded to my correspondence.

Would anyone happen to know the name of this anthropologist, or of similar stories? I'm particularly interested in ethnographers who have put themselves in dangerous situations for their research.

Hi all,

I graduated recently with a B.A. in Anthropology, and things are sucking alot. I couldn't find a job for 5 months, and finally found a job doing a blue collar survey work job (figured it would at least be somewhat applicable to archaeology work) but I'm hating it. Every day feels so My 2nd choice after archaeology would be primatology work, but with the market being so bad right now and hating my job I'm not sure what to do/what opportunities there are because going right back to school right now isn't really an option.

Any advice helps

Is there one? Is there a database of some sort where I can search ancient skeletons by their ID?

I’ve recently added my DNA to an archaeological research site and they’ve matched me through direct descent to multiple ancient skeletons they’ve found. I want to do some deep research on the individuals I’m descended from but can’t seem to google them by their ID.

Any suggestions?

Hi! I’m interested in eastern Europe and especially in ethnics in Russia and caucasus. Im looking for some publications/books (maybe even documentaries?) about ethnics and fairytales in Russia (and specifically siberia and north caucasus). If you would have some recommendations share them with me pretty please! The publications can be in eng/cz/ru)

So I'm in my final year of a double major in business and anthropology, considering continuing anthropology at a post-grad level. However, even after nearly four years of studying the subject my knowledge still feels very superficial. I often find myself stumped or lost when class discussion or readings go into a more conceptual or abstract level. I'm looking for some ethnographies/books that will help me to improve the depth of my knowledge on the subject.

How much do we know about attitudes towards homosexuality in the lands of Canaan prior to the development of strict monotheism? Was homosexuality always a frowned upon or at least controversial topic, or was this a later development that coincided with its changing towards monolatry and eventually strict monotheism?

Additionally, do we have any evidence of homosexuality in relation to the cults of other Canaanite Gods besides Yahweh and El, such as Ashera or Ba’al? Were there differences in opinion on homosexuality between different regions and cults?

I have heard it said that throughout North America (perhaps not mesoamerica), participation in military operations (besides defensive ones I imagine) was voluntary and individually chosen. Someone who was uninterested in fighting would or could not be coerced to fight, and sometimes members of the same nation would fight on opposite sides of wars depending on their conscience or other incentives. Does this generality really hold throughout North America? Did the diverse cultures from the Haudenosaunee to the Tlingit to the Osage really all have this in common? If so, what is special about North American cultures that may have led to this?

Should we create tags to differentiate those questions?

The Americas has a huge history of assimilating many cultures. The US being an obviously huge and powerful one with people from literally every part of the world. Same with many latin american countries.

Meanwhile it’s very different in other places. A syrian could speak like a turk, look like a turk and act like a turk but would not be considered Turkish. Similarly, south asians can live in many gulf arab countries for generations and would still distinctly be identified as South Asian. It’s similar in Europe tho not as extreme as Arab countries that have strict citizenship laws.

So outside the legal and historic, what are the social and cultural reasons that the Americas are distinct in this way?