Gaylord Nelson RIP

"vincent p. norris" wrote in message
...
It's been a long time since I read Benedict's book......'76-'77 was the
year
of anthropology and paleontology for me.....Boas, Mead, Montagu, Dart,
Chagnon, Leakey, etc......a trip down memory lane.

I've read a little by or about most of those--just for fun-- except
Dart. Never encountered him.

Dart was one of the premier early twentieth century anthropologists, famous
chiefly for his discovery of the celebrated "Taung" child in 1924. I don't
know if any of his works are still in print, but older copies shouldn't be
hard to find. Some of his stuff may be in the public domain by now, and
thus available for free on line.

Napoleon Chagnon was on the faculty here at PSU for some years--1960s
- '70s. Used to come to our TGIF beer parties at a local pub but
never brought his own cigarets. What a cheap *******! But his films
of the Yanamomo are terrific!

Years later I read in the Washington Post that he was in serious
trouble for some kind of hanky-panky he had pulled but I can't
remember the details. Somehow it didn't surprise me.

Chagnon was (and presumably still is) at the center of the biggest ****storm
ever to hit anthropology. It all started with his study of the Yanomami
Indians and the subsequent publication of his enthnography, "Yanomamo: The
Fierce People." The book was hugely popular....the first to outsell
Margaret Mead's "Coming of Age in Samoa," and was a mainstay of college
introductory anthro courses, including the one I took in about 1976, for
decades. There were rumblings from skeptical colleagues from the beginning,
and they got continually louder and more strident as time passed, but the
excrement REALLY hit the air circulating device with the publication of
Patrick Tierney's "Darkness in El Dorado: How Scientists and Journalists
Devastated the Amazon" in 2000. The short version.....

Tierney (as well as many others) accused Chagnon (as well as many others) of
just about every possible ethical breach, sin, misdemeanor and felony
possible in their dealings with and exploitation of the Yanomami.....all
ostensibly in the name of science but, according to their critics, really in
pursuit of their own nefarious agendas. "Darkness in El Dorado" with its
references to the careless spread of disease, murder, economic exploitation,
incitement to war, sexual misconduct, illicit relationships with corrupt
govermental agencies, gangsters, gold miners and other ne'er-do-wells,
conflicts with missionaries, internecine strife among the princciple
anthropologists, etc., reads like some sort of demented acid-induced latter
day "Heart of Darkness."

Chagnon was a protégé of James Neel who in turn was (if memory serves) a
student of Claude Levi-Strauss. It seems that all three had some very
strong ideas concerning the salutary role of violence in human reproductive
success. At the heart of the accusations against Chagnon and Neel is the
widespread belief that they were more than willing to do whatever was
necessary to ensure that an already notoriously violent people would behave
in such a manner as to corroborate their claims and validate their theories.

Needless to say, Tierney doesn't lack critics of his own, but he also has a
lot of support from other heavyweights in the anthro business.

If you're interested, a Google search on Chagnon, Neel (who died recently, I
believe), Jacques Lizot (a French anthropologist and Chagnon rival working
in the same area at the same time.....and a serious whack-job if Tierney is
to be believed), Tierney, and Terence Turner (another major Chagnon critic)
should turn up millions of hits. Good luck!

I enjoyed Benedict's Patterns of Culture and a couple of Mead's books
but the anthropologists I found most interesting are Robert Redfield,
V. Gordon Childe and Karl Polanyi--though I'm not sure whether Polanyi
was an anthropologist or economist. His work overlapped both
disciplines.

I'm not familiar with Redfield, Childe or Polanyi. I'll keep an eye out for
them......I still have a bit of uncovered floor space somewhere.

Wolfgang

Thanks for filling me in on the Chagnon flap, Wolfgang.

.... his enthnography, "Yanomamo: The Fierce People." The book was hugely popular..

I can understand why. Two of my kids took his course and so the book
was lying around here, and I read it. Fascinating!

...the first to outsell Margaret Mead's "Coming of Age in Samoa,"

In that case, the cheap ******* could have afforded to buy cigarets
and beer for all of us!

(If I may digress even further off topic, you reminded me of a
humorous tale: When that book appeared--if that's the one in which
she argued that all social roles are culturally learned-- an older
anthropologist, perhaps Franz Boas, wrote a very brief book review in
one of the journals. I quote it in full: "It is a very nice book,
Margaret, but do you know any societies in which the men have the
babies?")

I notice you used the spelling "Yanomami" --ending in i--which I
recall seeing elsewhere. In his book, Chagnon uses the "o" ending.
Why are two different spellings used?

If you're interested, a Google search on Chagnon.....

I just did. A goldmine!

I'm not familiar with Redfield, Childe or Polanyi. I'll keep an eye out for
them.....

For Redfield, I recommend his _Primitive World and its
Transformations_, and a paper on the "Folk Society," an "ideal type"
construct. I encountered it as a reprint published by Bobbs-Merrill,
IIRC.

And that reminds me of _The Preindustrial City_ by Gideon Sjoberg,
another interesting discussion of "pre-modern" society. (I suppose an
anthropologist would be horrified by that term.)

Childe: A general intro to achaeology whose title I don't recall, and
_The Bronze Age_.

Polanyi: _The Great Transformation_ , Some of which Robert Heilbroner
adopted for his _Making of Economic Society_ ( like _The Worldly
Philosophers_ and _The Quest for Wealth_), a wonderful non-technical
intro to economics, and later his basic economics textbook, _The
Economic Problem_. Also, _Trade and Market in Ancient Empires_.

I still have a bit of uncovered floor space somewhere.

Wolfgang

You still have a few years to go. When you have reached my age, you
will no longer have that problem.

vince

"vincent p. norris" wrote in message
...
Thanks for filling me in on the Chagnon flap, Wolfgang.

.... his enthnography, "Yanomamo: The Fierce People." The book was hugely
popular..

I can understand why. Two of my kids took his course and so the book
was lying around here, and I read it. Fascinating!

I thought so too, when I first read it. After reading "Darkness in El
Dorado" I found and bought another copy but haven't done any more than
glance through it. The whole mess is interesting enough as an example of
academic infighting, science gone ape-****, etc., but my interest in
anthropology per se has waned over the years, and a detailed analysis of the
original work vs. Tierney's criticism is a lot more than I care to bite off.

...the first to outsell Margaret Mead's "Coming of Age in Samoa,"

In that case, the cheap ******* could have afforded to buy cigarets
and beer for all of us!

Judging by descriptions of the resources available to him in the Amazon
basin, the cheap ******* could have afforded to buy a tobacco company and a
brewery. Which, incidentally, brings to mind another of the nefarious
characters who has played a major role in the skullduggery, a decidedly
shady individual named Charles Brewer Carias. Brewer (as Tierney usually
refers to him) appears to be worthy of a book or two all by himself.
Cigarettes, for what it's worth, are listed with seven page references in
the index of Tierney's book.

(If I may digress even further off topic, you reminded me of a
humorous tale: When that book appeared--if that's the one in which
she argued that all social roles are culturally learned-- an older
anthropologist, perhaps Franz Boas, wrote a very brief book review in
one of the journals. I quote it in full: "It is a very nice book,
Margaret, but do you know any societies in which the men have the
babies?")

California. I believe the governator once bore a child.

I notice you used the spelling "Yanomami" --ending in i--which I
recall seeing elsewhere. In his book, Chagnon uses the "o" ending.
Why are two different spellings used?

I have no idea. I've wondered about that myself. I don't recall whether or
not Tierney made mention of the difference or whether I've seen any other
reference. As far as I recall virtually every source I've seen aside from
Chagnon uses the "i" spelling as opposed to the "o".

If you're interested, a Google search on Chagnon.....

I just did. A goldmine!

I'm not familiar with Redfield, Childe or Polanyi. I'll keep an eye out
for
them.....

For Redfield, I recommend his _Primitive World and its
Transformations_, and a paper on the "Folk Society," an "ideal type"
construct. I encountered it as a reprint published by Bobbs-Merrill,
IIRC.

And that reminds me of _The Preindustrial City_ by Gideon Sjoberg,
another interesting discussion of "pre-modern" society. (I suppose an
anthropologist would be horrified by that term.)

Childe: A general intro to achaeology whose title I don't recall, and
_The Bronze Age_.

Polanyi: _The Great Transformation_ , Some of which Robert Heilbroner
adopted for his _Making of Economic Society_ ( like _The Worldly
Philosophers_ and _The Quest for Wealth_), a wonderful non-technical
intro to economics, and later his basic economics textbook, _The
Economic Problem_. Also, _Trade and Market in Ancient Empires_.

I still have a bit of uncovered floor space somewhere.

Wolfgang

You still have a few years to go. When you have reached my age, you
will no longer have that problem.

About a year and a half ago I took a bit of vacation time and did a tour of
small town libraries in Wisconsin. It didn't occur to me at the time but at
my present rate of accumulation, and long before I reach your age (assuming
I don't starve or get crushed by falling books), I will someday BE a small
town library.

Wolfgang

On 7/9/05 4:52 PM, in article , "Wolfgang"
wrote:


If you're interested, a Google search on Chagnon, Neel (who died recently, I
believe), Jacques Lizot (a French anthropologist and Chagnon rival working
in the same area at the same time.....and a serious whack-job if Tierney is
to be believed), Tierney, and Terence Turner (another major Chagnon critic)
should turn up millions of hits. Good luck!

Or ask a reference librarian, who can probably find you four or five bits to
read that will nicely summarize all of the above. :-)

Bill
(that is, unless you *want* to slog through millions of hits...)
(not that there is anything wrong with that :-)

"William Claspy" wrote in message
...

...ask a reference librarian...

Be careful what you wish for, bookworm!

Wolfgang
so, what can you tell me about the "u.s. ex. ex."?

On 7/10/05 9:54 AM, in article , "Wolfgang"
wrote:


"William Claspy" wrote in message
...

...ask a reference librarian...

Be careful what you wish for, bookworm!

Now, I didn't say "ask THIS reference librarian." Heck, you ask me, all
I'll give you is a wry grin and a shrug of the shoulders.

Wolfgang
so, what can you tell me about the "u.s. ex. ex."?

Nix nix. Though you did ask nice...

Speaking of which (u.s. ex. ex., not asking nice), I'm thinking of doing a
display, similar to the fishing books display I did last year, of the
multivolume collection of reports of the railroad planning expeditions of
the 1840s-1850s. Those fascinate me and the volumes are impressive. In
fact, I ought to look through the southern route volumes and see if there is
mention of the Gila trout.

B

"William Claspy" wrote in message
...
On 7/10/05 9:54 AM, in article , "Wolfgang"
wrote:


"William Claspy" wrote in message
...

...ask a reference librarian...

Be careful what you wish for, bookworm!

Now, I didn't say "ask THIS reference librarian." Heck, you ask me, all
I'll give you is a wry grin and a shrug of the shoulders.

Wolfgang
so, what can you tell me about the "u.s. ex. ex."?

Nix nix. Though you did ask nice...

Speaking of which (u.s. ex. ex., not asking nice), I'm thinking of doing a
display, similar to the fishing books display I did last year, of the
multivolume collection of reports of the railroad planning expeditions of
the 1840s-1850s. Those fascinate me and the volumes are impressive. In
fact, I ought to look through the southern route volumes and see if there
is
mention of the Gila trout.

B


Some of the art work from those expiditions is amazing. Hand tinted etc..
There is(was?) a book/map store on a backstreet of Georgetown that sells
originals of this stuff pulled from disassembled books.

Sidenote: As a junior officer, Civil War General McClellan's reports of his
explorations of the middle Cascades, North of the Columbia/South of Raineer,
in that series, suggest he wasn't above a little "dry lab-ing", ie making up
****.

Dave