-
PeerJ 2022Finite element analysis (FEA) is no longer a new technique in the fields of palaeontology, anthropology, and evolutionary biology. It is nowadays a well-established... (Review)
Review
Finite element analysis (FEA) is no longer a new technique in the fields of palaeontology, anthropology, and evolutionary biology. It is nowadays a well-established technique within the virtual functional-morphology toolkit. However, almost all the works published in these fields have only applied the most basic FEA tools ., linear materials in static structural problems. Linear and static approximations are commonly used because they are computationally less expensive, and the error associated with these assumptions can be accepted. Nonetheless, nonlinearities are natural to be used in biomechanical models especially when modelling soft tissues, establish contacts between separated bones or the inclusion of buckling results. The aim of this review is to, firstly, highlight the usefulness of non-linearities and secondly, showcase these FEA tool to researchers that work in functional morphology and biomechanics, as non-linearities can improve their FEA models by widening the possible applications and topics that currently are not used in palaeontology and anthropology.
Topics: Paleontology; Finite Element Analysis; Biological Evolution; Anthropology; Bone and Bones
PubMed: 35966920
DOI: 10.7717/peerj.13890 -
Medecine Tropicale Et Sante... Jun 2021How do funeral rituals adapt when death is of infectious origin, or when death occurs in an epidemic context? What changes are needed? What anthropological fundamentals...
How do funeral rituals adapt when death is of infectious origin, or when death occurs in an epidemic context? What changes are needed? What anthropological fundamentals are altered, diverted or reversed? We will see, in the following anthropological and historical examples, how the community of the living deals with its fears and metaphysical demands vis-à-vis the community of the deceased, dealing with codes and beliefs. In short, how parallel rituals have been established to satisfy both parties.
Topics: Ceremonial Behavior; Funeral Rites
PubMed: 35586582
DOI: 10.48327/mtsibulletin.2021.107 -
Clinical Microbiology and Infection :... Nov 2016
Topics: Anthropology; Biological Evolution; Communicable Diseases; Humans; Paleopathology
PubMed: 27789377
DOI: 10.1016/j.cmi.2016.10.018 -
Transcultural Psychiatry Dec 2013Cultural psychiatry research in the UK comprises a broad range of diverse methodologies, academic disciplines, and subject areas. Methodologies range from... (Review)
Review
Cultural psychiatry research in the UK comprises a broad range of diverse methodologies, academic disciplines, and subject areas. Methodologies range from epidemiological to anthropological/ethnographic to health services research; mixed methods research is becoming increasingly popular, as are public health and health promotional topics. After briefly outlining the history of cultural psychiatry in the UK we will discuss contemporary research. Prominent themes include: the epidemiology of schizophrenia among Africans/Afro-Caribbeans, migration and mental health, racism and mental health, cultural identity, pathways to care, explanatory models of mental illness, cultural competence, and the subjective experiences of healthcare provision among specific ethnic groups such as Bangladeshis and Pakistanis. Another strand of research that is attracting increasing academic attention focuses upon the relationship between religion, spirituality, and mental health, in particular, the phenomenology of religious experience and its mental health ramifications, as well as recent work examining the complex links between theology and psychiatry. The paper ends by appraising the contributions of British cultural psychiatrists to the discipline of cultural psychiatry and suggesting promising areas for future research.
Topics: Anthropology; Biomedical Research; Epidemiology; Ethnopsychology; Humans; Mental Health; United Kingdom
PubMed: 24114263
DOI: 10.1177/1363461513498618 -
PloS One 2020Human societies exhibit a diversity of social organizations that vary widely in size, structure, and complexity. Today, human sociopolitical complexity ranges from... (Comparative Study)
Comparative Study
Human societies exhibit a diversity of social organizations that vary widely in size, structure, and complexity. Today, human sociopolitical complexity ranges from stateless small-scale societies of a few hundred individuals to complex states of millions, most of this diversity evolving only over the last few hundred years. Understanding how sociopolitical complexity evolved over time and space has always been a central focus of the social sciences. Yet despite this long-term interest, a quantitative understanding of how sociopolitical complexity varies across cultures is not well developed. Here we use scaling analysis to examine the statistical structure of a global sample of over a thousand human societies across multiple levels of sociopolitical complexity. First, we show that levels of sociopolitical complexity are self-similar as adjacent levels of jurisdictional hierarchy see a four-fold increase in population size, a two-fold increase in geographic range, and therefore a doubling of population density. Second, we show how this self-similarity leads to the scaling of population size and geographic range. As societies increase in complexity population density is reconfigured in space and quantified by scaling parameters. However, there is considerable overlap in population metrics across all scales suggesting that while more complex societies tend to have larger and denser populations, larger and denser populations are not necessarily more complex.
Topics: Civilization; Cultural Diversity; Ethnology; Government; Humans; Leadership; Models, Organizational; Politics; Population Density; Social Sciences; Social Theory
PubMed: 32614836
DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0234615 -
American Journal of Human Biology : the... Jul 2021Humans are able to thrive in a multitude of ecological and social environments, including varied environments over an individual lifetime. Migration-leaving one place of... (Review)
Review
Humans are able to thrive in a multitude of ecological and social environments, including varied environments over an individual lifetime. Migration-leaving one place of residence for another-is a central feature of many people's life histories, and environmental change goes hand-in-hand with migration, both in terms of cause and consequence. Climate change has amplified this connection between environment and migration, with the potential to profoundly impact millions of lives. Although climate-induced migration has been at the forefront of other disciplines in the social sciences, evolutionary anthropologists (EAs) have given it little attention. In this paper we draw upon existing literature and contribute our EA perspective to present a framework for analyzing climate-induced migration that utilizes theoretical approaches from a variety of social science disciplines. We focus on three overlapping dimensions-time, space, and severity-relevant to understanding the impact of climate change on human migration. We apply this framework to case studies from North America of people impacted by climate change and extreme weather events, including hurricanes, droughts, rising sea-levels, and wildfires. We also consider how access to both economic and social resources influence decisions regarding migration. Research focused on climate-induced human migration can benefit equally from the addition of EA perspectives and a more interdisciplinary theoretical approach.
Topics: Anthropology, Cultural; Climate Change; Cultural Evolution; Human Migration; Humans
PubMed: 34212453
DOI: 10.1002/ajhb.23635 -
Philosophical Transactions of the Royal... Dec 2010Evolutionary approaches to cultural change are increasingly influential, and many scientists believe that a 'grand synthesis' is now in sight. The papers in this Theme...
Evolutionary approaches to cultural change are increasingly influential, and many scientists believe that a 'grand synthesis' is now in sight. The papers in this Theme Issue, which derives from a symposium held by the AHRC Centre for the Evolution of Cultural Diversity (University College London) in December 2008, focus on how the phylogenetic tree-building and network-based techniques used to estimate descent relationships in biology can be adapted to reconstruct cultural histories, where some degree of inter-societal diffusion will almost inevitably be superimposed on any deeper signal of a historical branching process. The disciplines represented include the three most purely 'cultural' fields from the four-field model of anthropology (cultural anthropology, archaeology and linguistic anthropology). In this short introduction, some context is provided from the history of anthropology, and key issues raised by the papers are highlighted.
Topics: Anthropology, Cultural; Cultural Diversity; Cultural Evolution; Humans; Linguistics; Models, Theoretical
PubMed: 21041203
DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2010.0202 -
Culture, Medicine and Psychiatry Jun 2023Much has been written about the multifaceted significance of food and eating from an anthropological perspective; the same can be said about the role of food in...
Much has been written about the multifaceted significance of food and eating from an anthropological perspective; the same can be said about the role of food in collective identity construction and nation building. In contrast, the nexus of food, memory, psychological trauma, and disordered eating has been less explored. The aim of this interdisciplinary article is to synthesize available knowledge on this topic by engaging with research literature in fields such as food history, anthropology, sociology, and psychiatry as well as autobiographical works, cookbooks, etc. One main section of the article focuses on the role of food and cooking in exile and refuge. Another section deals with the role of food in the aftermath of historical trauma, whereas a final section discusses various works on disordered eating in the wake of traumatic experiences. In sum, the dual nature of food and cooking-at once concrete and abstract, material and symbolic-offers an arena in which ambivalent memories of trauma can take on tangible form. The concept of postmemory may be useful in understanding how food and cooking can function both as a vehicle and as a remedy for intergenerational trauma.
Topics: Humans; Anthropology; Psychological Trauma; Psychiatry
PubMed: 35377110
DOI: 10.1007/s11013-022-09785-2 -
Journal of Ethnobiology and... Jul 2011Ancient connections between animals and human are seen in cultures throughout the world in multiple forms of interaction with the local fauna that form the core of... (Review)
Review
Ancient connections between animals and human are seen in cultures throughout the world in multiple forms of interaction with the local fauna that form the core of Ethnozoology. Historically, ethnozoological publications grew out of studies undertaken in academic areas such as zoology, human ecology, sociology and anthropology--reflecting the interdisciplinary character of this discipline. The rich fauna and cultural diversity found in Brazil, with many different species of animals being used for an extremely wide diversity of purposes by Amerindian societies (as well as the descendents of the original European colonists and African slaves), presents an excellent backdrop for examining the relationships that exist between humans and other animals. This work presents a historical view of ethnozoological research in Brazil and examines its evolution, tendencies, and future perspectives. In summary, literature researches indicated that ethnozoology experienced significant advances in recent years in Brazil, although from a qualitative point of view improvement is still needed in terms of methodological procedures, taxonomic precision, and the use of quantitative techniques. A wide range of methodologies and theories are available in different areas of learning that can be put to good use in ethnozoological approaches if the right questions are asked. The challenges to studying ethnozoology in Brazil are not insignificant, and the tendencies described in the present study may aid in defining research strategies that will maintain the quantitative growth observed in the recent years but likewise foster needed qualitative improvements.
Topics: Animals; Anthropology, Cultural; Brazil; Cultural Diversity; Ecology; Humans; Indians, South American; Zoology
PubMed: 21767370
DOI: 10.1186/1746-4269-7-22 -
PloS One 2022Technologies and their production systems are used by archaeologists and anthropologists to study complexity of socio-technical systems. However, there are several...
Technologies and their production systems are used by archaeologists and anthropologists to study complexity of socio-technical systems. However, there are several issues that hamper agreement about what constitutes complexity and how we can systematically compare the complexity of production systems. In this work, we propose a novel approach to assess the behavioural and structural complexity of production systems using Petri nets. Petri nets are well-known formal models commonly used in, for example, biological and business process modelling, as well as software engineering. The use of Petri nets overcomes several obstacles of current approaches in archaeology and anthropology, such as the incompatibility of the intrinsic sequential logic of the available methods with inherently non-sequential processes, and the inability to explicitly model activities and resources separately. We test the proposed Petri net modelling approach on two traditional production systems of adhesives made by Ju/'hoan makers from Nyae, Namibia from Ammocharis coranica and Ozoroa schinzii plants. We run simulations in which we assess the complexity of these two adhesive production systems in detail and show how Petri net dynamics reveal the structural and behavioural complexity of different production scenarios. We show that concurrency may be prevalent in the production system of adhesive technologies and discuss how changes in location during the process may serve to control the behavioural complexity of a production system. The approach presented in this paper paves the way for future systematic visualization, analysis, and comparison of ancient production systems, accounting for the inherent complex, concurrent, and action/resource-oriented aspects of such processes.
Topics: Technology; Archaeology; Anthropology; Aizoaceae; Amaryllidaceae; Receptor Protein-Tyrosine Kinases
PubMed: 36445915
DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0278310