Category Archives: Human evolution

What Anthropology Teaches Us about COVID-19, Part 1-Early Thoughts

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Lesson 1: Like the ducks and brants my husband and I see congregating regularly by the dozens along the shore’s edge of Narraganssett Bay near our coastal home, we humans are a social species.  (Audobon’s description of the Brant: “Feeds in flocks at most times of year”), Whether indoors or

Anthropology, Community, Cooperation, Creative thinking, Empathy, Ethnography, Germany, Human evolution, Humans as a social species Read more

When Women’s Laughter Keeps Men in Line; or, What Gathering-Hunting Women of Central Africa Have in Common with Nancy Pelosi, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, et al.

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Among the Mbendjele gathering-hunting people who live in the Republic of Congo, “women’s laughter manages to keep men in line.” Drawing from ethnographic research by Jerome Lewis, anthropologist Chris Knight relates that among the Mbendjele, “senior women exercise a special privilege, seeing it as their enjoyable role to bring down

Africa, Anthropology, Congo, Cultural Anthropology, Current Issues, Donald Trump, Ethnography, Feminism, Gender equity, Gender relations, Human evolution, Humans as a social species, Hunter-gatherers, Inequality, Mbendjele, Nancy Pelosi, Politics and society, Sexism, Social activism, Social justice, U.S. Congress, Women, Women's activism Read more