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The Human Journey
These articles are the first steps in ongoing research
for ISHK's Human Journey project. ISHK would like to thank the contributors
for allowing us to reprint their work here. Other articles will be added
as they become available.
The articles below are in Adobe Acrobat PDF format.
Adobe Acrobat Reader is a free download from www.adobe.com.
To purchase the books cited in these articles, please
see the ISHK Recommended Reading
list.
Who Set off from
Africa
Human Universals
This review of the book by Donald E. Brown discusses the author’s
criticism of the field of anthropology—namely, that it has been
dominated by extreme cultural relativism for decades—and his position
in the debate on human universals vs. cultural differences.
The Great Human Diasporas
A report on the book in which geneticist Luigi Luca Cavalli-Sforza presents
his experiences among the Pygmies as part of his research on the genetic
diversity of human populations. He discusses human evolution and the
spread of agriculture over thousands of years and addresses controversial
topics such as the Human Genome Project.
Early Cultures
The Sage Kings
Although few remain, the Chinese stories of the beginnings of civilization
focus on the Sage Kings - a series of cultural heroes credited with
the basic technological inventions and also with the creation of social
structures and political norms. This article discusses some of those
stories and suggests references to obtain more information.
Early Humans in
China
Drawing on information from several sources, including Gina Barnes'
The Rise of Civilization in East Asia, this article discusses
archaeological finds that have much to reveal about early Chinese cultures.
The Forest People
Over the past thousands of years, following the completion of man's
migration around the planet, the majority of human populations have
switched from a hunter-gatherer lifestyle to an agricultural one, yet
the African Pygmy tribes are a notable exception. This report on the
book by Colin Turnbull discusses these tribes and what our studying
them can teach us about the Human Journey.
Civilization:
The Early Years
New evidence emerging in the progressively intermingled fields of archaeology,
anthropology and geology is beginning to uproot long-held theories of
the earliest human cultures. From DNA studies of ice-age Mesoamerican
settlers to mysterious underwater structures identified off the coasts
of Asia, the Middle East, the Americas and elsewhere, our newest science
may finally be catching up with our oldest memories..
Language
Babel and Language Diversity
Deriving its overall focus from the work of several scholars including
Noam Chomsky and Jared Diamond, this article discusses various topics
surrounding language, such as the emergence of spoken language in early
humans, the mental faculty of recursion, how pidgins and creoles arise,
comparative linguistics, and language families.
Language and Human
Culture
Based on the works of several authors, this article discusses how our
awareness, our communication and our culture not only influence, but
are also influenced by, our biological heritage and the symbols and
mental models we employ.
The Language Faculty
Our ability to use language in normal creative conversation is one of
the unique—yet often misunderstood—aspects of human nature.
Among the topics discussed in this article are how human language differs
from animal communication; how language is acquired, not learned; how
we express and interpret language; and the controversy over the degree
of the innateness of language.
Music
The Function of Music
To date the majority of ethnomusicologists believe that no culture exists
that does not use what is commonly defined as music. This review explores
some important questions about music pertaining to its psychological
and physiological effects on the listener and its association with religion
and spirituality.
Mathematics
Mathematics in the Human Journey
The human mind is capable of recognizing similarities between objects,
and therefore an understanding to some degree of mathematics—the
science of analogy—is common to all humans. This article discusses
the development of mathematics in pre-history and early civilizations
in different parts of the world, and how these have contributed to mathematics
as we know it today.
Myth and Religion
History of God
Religion differs greatly by culture and changes within cultures over
time, but one constant is that it always has an important social purpose.
This article is a report on the book by Karen Armstrong in which the
author traces the history of how people have perceived and experienced
God, from the time of Abraham to the present.
Muhammad
This report on the biography by Karen Armstrong outlines the life of
the gifted leader Muhammad, who created a literary masterpiece, founded
a major religion and world power and, by his death, had brought unity
to most of Arabia, converting almost the entire population to Islam.
Islam
In her book Islam: A Short History, Karen Armstrong refutes
the common misconception of Islam as a backward, violent religion and
provides a concise history of Islam, from Muhammad in the sixth century
to the present day.
Myths of Mind
Over the last 400 years in the West—and earlier in some other
cultures—a view of multiplicity of the human mind has come to
replace the former “myth” of the apparent unity of the mind.
Starting with Hume, this article analyzes various approaches to understanding
the human mind that are essential for our Human Journey.
Evolution: Culture
and Genetics
Axemaker’s Gift
Each of humankind’s technological developments—from early
hominids’ use of tools to Gutenberg’s printing press to
computers—has had a double-edged effect. This book is a journey
through human culture in which authors James Burke and Robert Ornstein
trace significant technological advances and their relation to culture,
history and the human mind.
The Blank Slate
In The Blank Slate author Steven Pinker offers an insightful
summary of our knowledge of human nature, arguing that many intellectuals
have denied the existence of human nature and instead have embraced
three linked dogmas. He discusses the implications of a complex human
nature, skillfully relating this to issues in politics, the arts, gender,
violence and parenting.
Coevolution and Milk
If milk was not available as a food source for the first humans, why
can members of some cultures now absorb lactose, while others have zero
tolerance? Summarizing parts of William Durham’s Coevolution:
Genes, Culture, and Human Diversity, this article uses lactose
tolerance as an example of how the coevolutionary process results in
diversity.
Cultural Materialism:
Applications
One application of anthropologist Marvin Harris’ theory of Cultural
Materialism—which aims to demonstrate how the practical conditions
of human life have a decisive influence on cultural patterns—is
that of Hindus’ cow worship in India, the topic of this article.
Cultural
Materialism: Riddles of Culture
This article summarizes three of Marvin Harris’ books to answer
some riddles of human culture—for example, why some cultures worship
a particular animal, why some seem obsessed with meat consumption, and
why some early cultures practiced cannibalism.
Guns, Germs And Steel:
The Fates of Human Society
Why did Eurasians conquer, displace, or decimate Native Americans, Australians,
and Africans, instead of the other way around? Jared Diamond's book,
summarized comprehensively in this article, attempts to answer this
question by revealing the environmental factors actually responsible
for history's broadest patterns.
Human Natures
Biologist Paul Ehrlich makes us think twice about the saying, “You
can’t change human nature,” arguing that human nature is
not a single, unitary entity, but is as diverse as humanity itself.
Read this article on his book to see how human nature is as much the
result of genetic coding as it is of cultural and environmental factors.
Maps of Time
An introduction to a new way of looking at history, from a perspective
that stretches from the Big Bang to the present to hints at possible
futures, David Christian's Maps of Time is world history on
an unprecedented scale. This article discusses the stimulating work
by one of the leading proponents of the “Big History” approach.
Moral Animal
Author Robert Wright introduces evolutionary psychology in an entertaining
way to explain “why we are the way we are.” This report
outlines examples of human behavior from the book, including “midlife
crises,” altruism, honor and justice, conscience, lying, guilt
and self-deception.
Nature's Thumbprint
The nature/nurture controversy has too long favored the role of the
environment, according to authors Peter Neubauer and Alexander Neubauer.
This book report discusses their contention that we should not underestimate
the role played by genes, as they strongly influence one’s personality
and physiology.
The Nurture Assumption
In this book author Judith Harris challenges the “nurture assumption”—the
belief that what makes children turn out the way they do, aside from
their genes, is the way their parents bring them up. Instead, she argues,
what children experience outside the home, in the company of their peers,
is more influential in shaping the sort of people they will become.
Edward T. Hall
This article highlights the work of anthropologist Edward T. Hall, noted
for describing how people’s view of the world and behavior are
largely determined by a complex grid of unconscious cultural patterns.
Mind and Perception
Battle for the Mind
A report on the book in which author William Sargant illustrates the
basic technique used by evangelists, psychiatrists, and brainwashers
to disperse the patterns of belief and behavior already established
in the minds of their hearers, and to substitute new patterns for them.
Brave New Brain
In her book Brave New Brain: Conquering Mental Illness in the Era
of the Genome, leading neuroscientist Nancy Andreasen offers a
look at what we know about the human brain and the human genome—and
shows how these two vast branches of knowledge are coming together in
an ambitious effort to conquer mental illness.
Executive Brain
A summary of Elkhonon Goldberg’s book, this article discusses
the functions of the frontal lobes, which perform the most advanced
and complex functions in the brain—the so-called “executive
functions”—involving intentionality, purposefulness, and
complex decision making.
The Infant's World
Author Philippe Rochat departs from the traditional “self contained”
approaches to psychology to make a case for an ecological approach to
human development. Read this overview of his book to see how it stimulates
readers’ curiosity and sense of wonder about infants.
A Mind So Rare
Author Merlin Donald proposes that the human mind is a hybrid product
of the brain and culture and is our main evolutionary advantage, as
it allowed humanity as a species to break free of the limitations of
a mammalian brain. This article highlights Donald’s thesis and
his critique of the prevailing view that dismisses consciousness as
an irrelevant factor in human evolution.
Myth of Repressed
Memory
Following the wave of “recovered” memories of sexual abuse
in the ’80s and ’90s, psychologist Elizabeth Loftus writes
about her involvement in such cases, criticizing the tools used by some
therapists to extract memories from patients and giving insight into
the malleability of memory.
The Presentation
of Self in Everyday Life
Using the metaphor of theatrical performance to describe the ways in
which we present ourselves to others, author Erving Goffman offers keen
insights about mundane social situations in everyday life. This report
on his book highlights his stimulating approach and discussion of the
various techniques we employ in the performance of social interaction.
Stigma
Stigmatized individuals—those ostracized from mainstream society
who must constantly strive to adjust their precarious social identities—and
their relationship to “normals” are the subject of Erving
Goffman’s illuminating book, summarized in detail in this article.
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