Early Human Kinship
From Sex to Social Reproduction
Published on 6. June 2008
Book
Hardback
336 pages
978-1-4051-7901-0 (ISBN)
Description
Questions of 'kinship' have always been at the center of anthropology. Was there a connection between the beginnings of language and the beginnings of organized 'kinship and marriage'? How far did evolutionary selection favor gender and age as abstract principles for regulating social relations within and between ancient bands of our early ancestors? This book debates these and other fundamental questions about the emergence of human society.
Early Human Kinship brings together original studies from leading figures in the biological sciences, social anthropology, archaeology, and linguistics. The volume takes as its starting point the evolutionary link between enlarged brain capacity and the ability of human ancestors to support increasingly large population groups. It then moves beyond traditional Darwinian questions to ask how far early humans might have organized these groups according to rules about mating and social reproduction that we would recognize today.
Sponsored by the Royal Anthropological Institute, in conjunction with the British Academy, Early Human Kinship provides a major breakthrough in the debate over human evolution and the nature of society.
Reviews / Votes
"This is an important and timely volume, which in its multiple approaches brings new questions to bear on a topic that is the bedrock of anthropology."Stanley Ulijaszek, University of Oxford
"An international collection of leading figures in paleontology, linguistics, geography and anthropology consider the transition from the biological kinship of primates to social kinship of modern humans which also marks the transition to language and the social control of the environment."
R.H. Barnes, University of Oxford
"For too long, studies of the cultural and the genetic aspects of kinship have proceeded in isolation from one another. This volume marks the beginning of what promises to be a fruitful conversation between evolutionary biology and social anthropology."
Daniel Nettle, Newcastle University
"Early Human Kinship brings together exciting new perspectives from a range of human sciences. Useful for teaching, it will also encourage further cross-disciplinary research into the origins of human kinship, and therefore of humanity itself."
Robert Parkin, University of Oxford
"This important book puts the study of kinship back in the center of deep history-exactly where nineteenth century anthropology first found it. Welcome back!"
Thomas Trautmann, University of Michigan
"In the middle of last century, Levi-Strauss advanced that our ancestors came out of their animal state as the result of two "big bangs". Symbolic thinking and language, he claimed, suddenly appeared, and humans were then able to leave off bedding their sisters or their daughters, and instead exchange them for other men's daughters. Thus the incest taboo and male domination were sufficient to promote our ancestors from a state of nature to one of culture. Today the authors of Early Human Kinship show that these "big bangs" never happened and that the ancestors of modern humans shook off their original animal state through a series of transformations that began with the appearance of Homo erectus and the domestication of fire (500,000 BP). It was above all the development of our ancestors' cognitive capacities that enabled them to imagine and gradually to put into practice various social forms of sexual intercourse and to decide that the children born of these unions belonged to a given group of adults considered to be their kin. Kinship relations have always formed systems, but they have never been the only founding principle of any society."
Maurice Godelier, Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales
More details
Product info
gebunden
Edition
1. Auflage
Language
English
Place of publication
Hoboken
United Kingdom
Publishing group
John Wiley and Sons Ltd
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Advanced students and scholars in social and cultural anthropology, biological anthropology, and archaeology.
Product notice
sewn/stitched
Cloth over boards
With dust jacket
Dimensions
Height: 246 mm
Width: 175 mm
Thickness: 23 mm
Weight
748 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-4051-7901-0 (9781405179010)
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
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01/2011
Wiley
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E-Book
01/2009
Wiley-Blackwell
€30.99
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Persons
Nicholas J. Allen is Emeritus Fellow of Wolfson College, University of Oxford. He has published on the Himalayas, kinship theory, the Durkheimian School and Indo-European Comparativism. His books include Categories and Classifications (2000) and Marcel Mauss: A Centenary Tribute (1998). Hilary Callan has been Director of the Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland since 2000. Her research and publications include work on biological and social anthropology, occupational cultures, and gender, including Ethology and Society (1970)and The Incorporated Wife (edited with Shirley Ardener, 1984).
Wendy James was until recently Professor of Social Anthropology at the University of Oxford, and is now Emeritus Fellow of St Cross College, Oxford. She has carried out ethnographic research in North East Africa, and her books include War and Survival in Sudan's Frontierlands: Voices from the Blue Nile (2007) and The Ceremonial Animal: A New Portrait of Anthropology (2003).
Robin Dunbar is Professor of Evolutionary Anthropology, University of Oxford, and specializes in primate behaviour. He is co-director of the British Academy's Centenary Research Project ('From Lucy to Language: The Archaeology of the Social Brain'). He is the author or co-author of numerous books, including The Human Story (2004) and Evolutionary Psychology: A Beginner's Guide (2005).
Wendy James was until recently Professor of Social Anthropology at the University of Oxford, and is now Emeritus Fellow of St Cross College, Oxford. She has carried out ethnographic research in North East Africa, and her books include War and Survival in Sudan's Frontierlands: Voices from the Blue Nile (2007) and The Ceremonial Animal: A New Portrait of Anthropology (2003).
Robin Dunbar is Professor of Evolutionary Anthropology, University of Oxford, and specializes in primate behaviour. He is co-director of the British Academy's Centenary Research Project ('From Lucy to Language: The Archaeology of the Social Brain'). He is the author or co-author of numerous books, including The Human Story (2004) and Evolutionary Psychology: A Beginner's Guide (2005).
Content
Preface and Acknowledgments.
Notes on Contributors.
Introductory.
Why 'Kinship'? New Questions on an Old Topic: Wendy James (University of Oxford).
A Brief Overview of Human Evolution: John A. J. Gowlett and Robin Dunbar (University of Liverpool and University of Oxford).
Part I: Where and When: the Archaeological Evidence for Early Social Life in Africa:.
1. Kinship and Material Culture: Archaeological Implications of the Human Global Diaspora: Clive Gamble (Royal Holloway College, University of London).
2. Deep Roots of Kin - Developing the Evolutionary Perspective from Prehistory: John A. J. Gowlett (University of Liverpool).
Part II: Women, Children, Men: And the Puzzles of Comparative Social Structure:.
3. Early Human Kinship was Matrilineal: Chris Knight (University of East London).
4. Alternating Birth Classes: A Note from Eastern Africa: Wendy James (University of Oxford).
5. Tetradic Theory and the Origin of Human Kinship Systems: Nicholas J. Allen (University of Oxford).
6. What Can Ethnography Tell us about Human Social Evolution: Bob Layton (University of Durham).
Part III: Other Primates and the Biological Approach:.
7. Kinship in Biological Perspective: Robin Dunbar (University of Oxford).
8. The Importance of Kinship in Monkey Society: Mandy Korstjens (University of Bournemouth).
9. The Meaning and Relevance of Kinship in Great Apes: Julia Lehmann (University of Oxford).
10.Grandmothering and Female Coalitions: A Basis for Matrilineal Priority?: Kit Opie and Camilla Power (both University of East London).
Part IV: Reconstructions: Evidence from Cultural Practice and Language:.
11. A Phylogenetic Approach to the History of Cultural Practices: Laura Fortunato (University College London).
12. Reconstructing Ancient Kinship in Africa: Christ Ehret (University of California at Los Angeles).
13. The Co-evolution of Language and Kinship: Alan Barnard (University of Edinburgh).
14. Epilogue: Reaching Across the Gaps: Hilary Callan (Royal Anthropological Institute, London).
Appendices.
Bibliography