Histories of American Physical Anthropology in the Twentieth Century

Contributions by C Loring Brace, Kaye Brown, Matt Cartmill, Eugene Giles, Bernice Kaplan, Kenneth A. R. Kennedy, Clark Spencer Larsen, Jonathan Marks, Donald J. Ortner, John H. Relethford, William A. Stini, Emoke J. E. Szathmáry Edited by Michael A. Little, Kenneth A. R. Kennedy

Not available to order

Publication date:

23 December 2009

Length of book:

272 pages

Publisher

Lexington Books

ISBN-13: 9780739135136

Histories of American Physical Anthropology in the Twentieth Century chronicles the history of physical anthropology_or, as it is now known, biological anthropology_from its professional origins in the late 1800 up to its modern transformation in the late 1900s. In this edited volume, 13 contributors trace the development of people, ideas, traditions, and organizations that contributed to the advancement of this branch of anthropology that focuses today on human variation and human evolution. Designed for upper level undergraduate students, graduate students, and professional biological anthropologists, this book provides a brief and accessible history of the biobehavioral side of anthropology in America.

1 Table of Contents
2 Preface
3 Contributors to the Volume
Chapter 4 1. Introduction to the History of American Physical Anthropology
Chapter 5 2. "Physical" Anthropology at the Turn of the Last Century
Chapter 6 3. Franz Boas's Place in American Physical Anthropology and Its Institutions
Chapter 7 4. Ale? Hrdlicka and the Founding of the American Journal of Physical Anthropology: 1918
Chapter 8 5. Principal Figures in Early 20th Century Physical Anthropology: With Special Treatment of Forensic Anthropology
Chapter 9 6. The Founding of the American Association of Physical Anthropologists (AAPA): 1930
Chapter 10 7. Principal Figures in Physical Anthropology before and During World War II
Chapter 11 8. The Post War Years: The Yearbook of Physical Anthropology and the Summer Institutes
Chapter 12 9. Sherwood Washburn and "The New Physical Anthropology"
Chapter 13 10. The Two Twentieth Century Crises of Racial Anthropology
Chapter 14 11. Race and the Conflicts within the Profession of Physical Anthropology during the 1950s and 1960s
Chapter 15 12. 75 Years of the Annuals Meetings of the American Association of Physical Anthropologists, 1930-2004
Chapter 16 13. Description, Hypothesis Testing, and Conceptual Advances in Physical Anthropology: Have We Moved On?

From a one-dimensional, typological focus to a dynamic, problem-oriented one; from being racist to the main opponent of racism, physical anthropology has had a mixed history. Little and Kennedy have assembled an excellent set of papers that describe, analyze, and synthesize this fascinating story. This is a book that should be read by students and professionals alike.