Molecular methodologies are crucial to our understanding of human population diversity, as well as our evolutionary relationships with nonhuman primates. The completion of the Human Genome Project has given researchers a complete human reference sequence of genes. Combined with very important advances in sequencing and bioinformatics technologies, genetic research projects are now of a multidisciplinary nature. Anthropologists have the tools to seek information related to questions concerning the origin of the human species. Genomics in Biological Anthropology: New Challenges, New Opportunities explores the impact of new advances in molecular methods, such as DNA sequencing, amplification and analysis on our knowledge about the genetics of prehistoric and existing humans. Topics covered in this volume include an overview of genomic projects, mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) analysis, ancient DNA, mutation rates in chromosome Y, genomics of isolated populations, complex phenotypes and forensic anthropology. This volume is a concise primer for students and general readers learning the basics about human genetics, human evolution and biological anthropology

he Handbook of Sociocultural Anthropology presents a state of the art overview of the subject - its methodologies, current debates, history and future. It will provide the ultimate source of authoritative, critical descriptions of all the key aspects of the discipline as well as a consideration of the general state of the discipline at a time when there is notable uncertainty about its foundations, composition and direction. Divided into five core sections, the Handbook: examines the changing theoretical and analytical orientations that have led to new ways of carrying out research; presents an analysis of the traditional historical core and how the discipline has changed since 1980; considers the ethnographic regions where work has had the greatest impact on anthropology as a whole; outlines the people and institutions that are the context in which the discipline operates, covering topics from research funding to professional ethics.Bringing together leading international scholars, the Handbook provides a guide to the latest research in social and cultural anthropology. Presenting a systematic overview - and offering a wide range of examples, insights and analysis - it will be an invaluable resource for researchers and students in anthropology as well as cultural and social geography, cultural studies and sociology.

This volume summarizes the history and findings of the First Mariners Project, which the author, Robert G. Bednarik, commenced in 1996 in order to explore the Ice Age origins of seafaring. This is the largest archaeological replication project ever undertaken with several hundred people involved in the construction of eight primitive vessels with stone tools under scientifically controlled conditions, six of them sailing. Four bamboo rafts have succeeded in accomplishing the historically documented crossings they sought to replicate. One of the successful experiments, a 1000 kilometer journey to Australia in 1998, attempted to recreate the first human arrival in Australia, probably around 60,000 years ago. Other voyages attempted to address the much earlier sea crossings documented to have taken place in the islands of Indonesia, the earliest of which may have occurred nearly a million years ago. These experiments have also featured in BBC and National Geographic documentaries. The First Mariners comprehensively describes the archaeological background and relevant issues of the project and features an extensive pictorial record, of both the experiments and the archaeological basis of this research – giving a unique experience to readers interested in understanding the earliest marine adventurers from a historical and technical perspective.

A study of demography in the Iberian Peninsula (4th century BC to the end of the Roman period), focusing on its largest province, Hispania Citerior/Tarraconensis. A multidisciplinary approach is employed, compiling archaeological, epigraphic, architectonic, osteological, and genetic data, to paint a nuanced picture of the ancient Mediterranean.

Culture is not simply an explanation of last resort, but is itself a rich, multifaceted and contested concept and set of practices that needs to be expanded, appreciated and applied in fresh ways if it is to be both valued in itself and to be of use in practical development. This innovative book places culture, specifically in the form of the arts, back at the centre of debates in development studies by introducing new ways of conceptualizing art in relation to development. The book shows how the arts and development are related in very practical ways – as means to achieve development goals through visual, dramatic, filmic and craft-inspired ways. It advocates not so much culture and development, but rather for the development of culture. Without a cultural content to economic and social transformation the problems found in much development – up-rooting of cultures, loss of art forms, languages and modes of expression and performance – may only accelerate. Paying attention to the development of the arts as the content of development helps to amend this culturally destructive process. Finally, the book argues for the value of the arts in attaining sustainable cultures, promoting poverty alleviation, encouraging self-empowerment, stimulating creativity and the social imagination, which in turn flow back into wider processes of social transformation. Discussion questions at the end of each chapter make this book ideal to help foster further thinking and debate. This book is an inspiring read for postgraduate students and researchers in the fields of development studies, cultural studies and sociology of development.

This Handbook brings together experts from around the world to reflect critically on the relationship between tourism and rural community development. It first orients the reader in the important conceptual and epistemological foundations of the topic, before moving to consider key concepts and the most significant and salient theoretical and methodological developments in the field.

Advancing the rising field of engaged or participatory anthropology that is emerging at the same time as increased opposition from Indigenous peoples to research, this book offers critical reflections on research approaches to-date. The engaged approach seeks to change the researcher-researched relationship fundamentally, to make methods more appropriate and beneficial to communities by involving them as participants in the entire process from choice of research topic onwards. The aim is not only to change power relationships, but also engage with non-academic audiences. The advancement of such an egalitarian and inclusive approach to research can provoke strong opposition. Some argue that it threatens academic rigour and worry about the undermining of disciplinary authority. Others point to the difficulties of establishing an appropriately non-ethnocentric moral stance and navigating the complex problems communities face. Drawing on the experiences of Indigenous scholars, anthropologists and development professionals acquainted with a range of cultures, this book furthers our understanding of pressing issues such as interpretation, transmission and ownership of Indigenous knowledge, and appropriate ways to represent and communicate it. All the contributors recognise the plurality of knowledge and incorporate perspectives that derive, at least in part, from other ways of being in the world.

The aim of this book is to develop a framework for describing the field as it currently exists together with well-established views. As far as possible the book describes rather than prescribes, to avoid taking up any single approach or theory regarding what constitutes the legitimate approach to TEFL research. Of course, the personal views of the authors will colour the account provided as it is imposible to separate description from interpretation. Thus, in a way, this book involves the theories, beliefs, knowledge, methods and practices of foreign language teachers and how these can enhance teacher education. This book is planned for pre-service or in-service teachers of a foreign language at primary, secondary or tertiary levels, although the criterions examined are useful to teachers of English as a foreign language, teacher trainers, or modern language teachers involved in teaching any language whether in Spain or overseas. Our main purpose is to help readers to help themselves. Accordingly, the reader is encouraged to be engaged in an examination of foreign language teaching and learning in hope of improving his/her practice and making language teaching more controllable, more interesting and more effective. The chapters are organized into four sections. In Section I, three chapters describe some perspectives in teacher education. In the first chapter, José M. Vez focuses on the hypothesis that the key to producing well-qualified EFL teachers is to greatly strengthen their professional learning across the continuum of a career in the foreign language classroom. He emphasizes the fact that foreign-language teaching must become a learning profession in order to prompt greater learning among foreign language students and describes the innovative aspects of foreign language teacher education. In the second chapter, Sheena Davies provides an overview of language teacher education today, with particular reference to English language teaching, discusses some current issues associated with the field, and gives notice of her experience working with both native speaker and non-native speaker teachers of English from all over the world on a variety of in-service and pre-service courses and seminars. In chapter 3, we examine the perspectives on teacher thinking and teachers' beliefs in general, and about language learning in particular. .

First published in 2002. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

This companion provides an indispensable overview of contemporary and classical issues in social and cultural anthropology. Although anthropology has expanded greatly over time in terms of the diversity of topics in which its practitioners engage, many of the broad themes and topics at the heart of anthropological thought remain perennially vital, such as understanding order and change, diversity and continuity, and conflict and co-operation in the reproduction of social life. Bringing together leading scholars in the field, the contributors to this volume provide us with thoughtful and fruitful ways of thinking about a number of contemporary and long-standing arenas of work where both established and more recent researchers are engaged. The companion begins by exploring classic topics such as Religion; Rituals; Language and Culture; Violence; and Gender. This is followed by a focus on current developments within the discipline including Human Rights; Globalization; and Diasporas and Cosmopolitanism. It provides an interesting and challenging look at the state of current thinking in anthropology, serving as a rich resource for scholars and students alike.