Article
Anthropology
Xochitl Bada, Jonathan Fox
Summary: This study compares the rural population and cross-border out-migration trends in Mexico between the 2000 and 2010 censuses. Despite predictions of depopulation post-NAFTA, Mexico's rural population has remained steady and there has been a decrease in migration to the United States. However, there were contradictory trends with increased migration intensity in some rural municipalities and a majority of the rural population living in areas with low dependency on cross-border migration.
JOURNAL OF PEASANT STUDIES
(2022)
Article
Anthropology
Dean Chahim
Summary: This article discusses how the government of Mexico City strategically transforms potential catastrophic flooding into routine environmental issues for the poor through engineering measures. By utilizing drainage systems and regulating flooding, the engineers ensure that the disaster remains within manageable limits for the government.
AMERICAN ETHNOLOGIST
(2022)
Article
Anthropology
Giedre Motuzaite Matuzeviciute, Elina Ananyevskaya, Jorune Sakalauskaite, Orozbek Soltobaev, Kubatbek Tabaldiev
Summary: Stable isotope analyses confirm the significance of C-4 plants in the Eurasian prehistoric diet. This study provides evidence of the integration of crops into the diet of Central Asian populations and reveals important findings regarding the timing and means of early crop spread.
Article
Anthropology
Milena Marchesi
Summary: This paper examines the implementation of relational welfare in Milan by focusing on the efforts of new welfare professionals to stimulate participation and foster relationships among migrants and low-income parents in deprived neighborhoods. The concept of the intimate public is introduced as a means of activating a diverse public in the absence of traditional welfare resources. The paper reveals that incitement to participate both promotes new forms of solidarity and presents challenges to social cohesion and integration. Additionally, the paper highlights the emotional labor involved in sustaining citizen-based solidarity and the complex relationships that emerge within the intimate public.
Article
Anthropology
Kelsey D. Pugh
Summary: Despite intensive study, many aspects of the evolutionary history of great apes and humans are still not well understood. This study aims to provide an updated hypothesis of phylogenetic relationships for Middle-Late Miocene fossil apes, revealing the relationships between different fossil taxa. Results show that many European hominoids are stem hominids, while Asian fossil hominoids are part of the orangutan clade.
JOURNAL OF HUMAN EVOLUTION
(2022)
Article
Anthropology
Thore J. Bergman, Jacinta C. Beehner
Summary: In 1963, Niko Tinbergen published a foundational manuscript identifying four key questions in animal behavior research: how behavior emerges across the lifespan, how it functions, how and why it evolved, and why it is adaptive. By categorizing these questions into causes and consequences, scientists have successfully linked evolution, development, and mechanism into a continuous process.
EVOLUTIONARY ANTHROPOLOGY
(2022)
Article
Anthropology
Rutgerd Boelens, Arturo Escobar, Karen Bakker, Lena Hommes, Erik Swyngedouw, Barbara Hogenboom, Edward H. Huijbens, Sue Jackson, Jeroen Vos, Leila M. Harris, K. J. Joy, Fabio de Castro, Bibiana Duarte-Abadia, Daniele Tubino de Souza, Heila Lotz-Sisitka, Nuria Hernandez-Mora, Joan Martinez-Alier, Denisse Roca-Servat, Tom Perreault, Carles Sanchis-Ibor, Diana Suhardiman, Astrid Ulloa, Arjen Wals, Jaime Hoogesteger, Juan Pablo Hidalgo-Bastidas, Tatiana Roa-Avendano, Gert Jan Veldwisch, Phil Woodhouse, Karl M. Wantzen
Summary: Mega-damming, pollution and depletion pose threats to rivers worldwide. However, the modernist idea of controlling "unruly waters and humans" has become the foundation of hydraulic-bureaucratic and capitalist development, leading to environmental injustices. Nevertheless, numerous new water justice movements (NWJMs) are emerging, advocating for alternative river-society relationships and bridging global divides through transdisciplinary approaches. This paper proposes the concept of "riverhood" to engage with NWJMs and promote river commoning initiatives by exploring different ontologies of rivers as eco-societies, territories, subjects, and movements.
JOURNAL OF PEASANT STUDIES
(2023)
Article
Anthropology
Saverio Bartolini-Lucenti, Omar Cirilli, Luca Pandolfi, Raymond Louis Bernor, Maia Bukhsianidze, Francesco Carotenuto, David Lordkipanidze, Nikoloz Tsikaridze, Lorenzo Rook
Summary: This study compares the zoogeographic distribution of mammal assemblages to reveal similarities between the Dmanisi Early Pleistocene large mammal community and similar-aged sites in Africa, Arabia, and Eurasia. The analysis suggests a progressive dispersal of large mammal communities from east to west during the late Early Pleistocene, with Dmanisi showing the closest resemblance to certain locations in Greece, Italy, and Spain. The habitats at Dmanisi consisted of drier areas, likely open wooded savannah and grassland, as well as mountainous to semiarid rocky terrain.
JOURNAL OF HUMAN EVOLUTION
(2022)
Article
Anthropology
Bent T. Christensen, Johannes L. Jensen, Yu Dong, Amy Bogaard
Summary: This study investigates the impact of animal manure on broomcorn and foxtail millet, and finds that fertilization significantly affects yield and δN-15 values, providing important indications for the reconstruction of prehistoric manuring practices.
JOURNAL OF ARCHAEOLOGICAL SCIENCE
(2022)
Article
Anthropology
Francesca Giardini, Daniel Balliet, Eleanor A. Power, Szabolcs Szamado, Karoly Takacs
Summary: Research in various disciplines has shown that humans are uniquely able to solve the problem of cooperation through reputation and gossip mechanisms. However, four puzzles need to be addressed to understand how reputation-based mechanisms operate: the formation and variation of reputations cross-culturally, how reputation is determined from imperfect inputs, the reliability and validity of reputation sharing and signaling, and the impact of interaction structure on the efficiency of gossip in establishing reputations and fostering cooperation.
HUMAN NATURE-AN INTERDISCIPLINARY BIOSOCIAL PERSPECTIVE
(2022)
Article
Anthropology
Anastasia Nikulina, Katharine MacDonald, Fulco Scherjon, Elena A. Pearce, Marco Davoli, Jens-Christian Svenning, Emily Vella, Marie-Jose Gaillard, Anhelina Zapolska, Frank Arthur, Alexandre Martinez, Kailin Hatlestad, Florence Mazier, Maria Antonia Serge, Karl-Johan Lindholm, Ralph Fyfe, Hans Renssen, Didier M. Roche, Sjoerd Kluiving, Wil Roebroeks
Summary: This study reviews paleoenvironmental proxies and their relevance for understanding hunter-gatherer niche construction activities in pre-agricultural Europe. The findings suggest that existing proxies are unable to establish clear differences between anthropogenic, climatic, and megafaunal impacts during different time periods. The study also highlights the similarities in landscape impacts between Neanderthals and humans during the Mesolithic period. Further research is needed to determine the local versus larger-scale effects of hunter-gatherer impact on landscapes during both time periods and gather comparative data on population sizes.
JOURNAL OF ARCHAEOLOGICAL METHOD AND THEORY
(2022)
Article
Anthropology
Joshua Babcock
Summary: This paper analyzes the emergence of Singlish as a site of ideological contestation through interviews, presentations, and published texts. It explores two contrasting positions and discourse registers and argues that they co-participate in the production of a sense of standard.
JOURNAL OF LINGUISTIC ANTHROPOLOGY
(2022)
Article
Anthropology
Olatunde Olayinka Ayinde, Olawoye Fadahunsi, Lola Kola, Lucas O. Malla, Solomon Nyame, Roselyne A. Okoth, Alex Cohen, John Appiah-Poku, Caleb J. Othieno, Soraya Seedat, Oye Gureje
Summary: In this study conducted in Sub-Saharan Africa, it was found that individuals who received care from traditional and faith healers had similar experiences of suffering and disability in various aspects of their lives. The primary attribution of illness was supernatural, even though biological causation was also acknowledged. Prayer and rituals played a significant role in both traditional and religious healing settings. The use of both traditional and conventional medical services was common, and harmful treatment practices were sometimes employed by traditional healers. Despite cultural and linguistic differences, there were common core beliefs and practices among the three cultural groups. These findings suggest that a collaborative approach designed for one cultural group could be applicable with adaptations to other cultural groups.
TRANSCULTURAL PSYCHIATRY
(2023)
Article
Anthropology
Mette-Louise E. Johansen
Summary: This article explores the double-bind position of a group of immigrant parents in Denmark's largest social housing project, Gellerupparken. These parents are caught between two sets of social norms and rationalities on proper parenting, leading to dilemmas and anxieties in their parenting practices.
Article
Anthropology
Itishree Pattnaik, Kuntala Lahiri-Dutt
Summary: Based on a survey conducted in the Indian states of West Bengal and Gujarat, this paper examines the impact of women's labor on their decision-making autonomy in agriculture. The findings suggest that women's labor burdens have increased without corresponding benefits, highlighting the invisibility of the preparatory work they do to support agriculture. Policymakers are urged to address rural women's discontent in order to promote the prosperity of farming in India and ensure fulfilling lives for women farmers.
JOURNAL OF PEASANT STUDIES
(2022)
Article
Anthropology
Daniela Calmon
Summary: There are no fixed conditions that make potential agricultural frontiers attractive to capital, as different spaces and strategies are chosen based on previous failed experiments and social movements' contestations. Socio-environmental contestations can inadvertently lead to negative spillovers or indirect land use change. This study proposes the concept of redirected land use and control change, and explores the multi-scale politics of land grabbing through the case of Matopiba in Brazil.
JOURNAL OF PEASANT STUDIES
(2022)
Article
Anthropology
Gonzalo J. Linares-Matas, James Clark
Summary: This article examines the seasonal scheduling of resource procurement and technological investment in early hominins. It explores the behavioral flexibility of Oldowan hominins in targeting different seasonally vulnerable demographics and discusses the impact of seasonal environments on lithic assemblages and resource handling costs. It also highlights the adaptive nature of Oldowan hominins in response to seasonal constraints and opportunities.
JOURNAL OF HUMAN EVOLUTION
(2022)
Article
Anthropology
Ben A. Potter, James C. Chatters, Anna Marie Prentiss, Stuart J. Fiedel, Gary Haynes, Robert L. Kelly, J. David Kilby, Francois Lanoe, Jacob Holland-Lulewicz, D. Shane Miller, Juliet E. Morrow, Angela R. Perri, Kurt M. Rademaker, Joshua D. Reuther, Brandon T. Ritchison, Guadalupe Sanchez, Ismael Sanchez-Morales, S. Margaret Spivey-Faulkner, Jesse W. Tune, C. Vance Haynes
Summary: Various chronologies of the earliest Native American occupations have been proposed, with no widely accepted theory. Current data strongly support the Paleoindian Dispersal model, suggesting Native American ancestors expanded into the Americas after 16,000 cal yr BP. Models incorporating Chiquihuite or other claimed Pre-Paleoindian sites remain unsubstantiated.
Article
Anthropology
Xiu-Jie Wu, Christopher J. Bae, Martin Friess, Song Xing, Sheela Athreya, Wu Liu
Summary: This study presents the first reconstruction of a relatively complete posterior cranium, XJY 6, from the Xujiayao site in China. Through the assessment of its overall cranial size, it is estimated that XJY 6 had a similar endocranial volume to Xuchang 1, suggesting a brain size falling within the upper range of Neanderthals and modern Homo sapiens. This challenges the general pattern of gradual brain size increase over time and space.
JOURNAL OF HUMAN EVOLUTION
(2022)
Article
Anthropology
Barry Molloy
Summary: This paper extends the study of the relationship between human societies and climate change during the later Bronze Age to Europe for the first time. The author argues that around 1200 BC, many societies in Europe experienced a turning point, with climate playing a significant role in shaping this. The study shows that climate change acted as a force multiplier that undermined societal resilience, leading to socio-political collapse in some regions.
JOURNAL OF ARCHAEOLOGICAL RESEARCH
(2023)
