Anthropology:
Are People Really Different?
Ed. Note: This article is offered
as a preface to the forthcoming
visit of Margaret Mead to the campus.
by Peggy Kirkman
Probably the most popular conception of an anthropologist is
that dedicated soul who devotes
the entirety of his life searching
for the missing link between man
and the ape. Or, as Mr. Kluck-
hohn dryly comments in his Mirror for Man, "To most people,
anthropology still means measuring skulls, treating little pieces of
broken pottery with fantastic care,
and reporting the outlandish customs of savage tribes." However,
anthropology covers a very wide
scope of subjects—so wide that it
is difficult for one person to be
equally schooled in all its aspects.
Roughly, anthropology can be
broken down into two major divisions: physical anthropology,
which includes paleontology and
ethnology, and cultural anthropology, which encompasses archaeology and sociology.
Broadly considering anthropology, it is the science of human
relations; some have even gone so
far as to label it the science of history. As a learned discipline, anthropology is little more than 100
years old. During much of this
time, particularly during the lastl
century, it has served as a name
under which to file odds and ends
of information which could not be
pigeonholed elsewhere. It served—
and continues to serve — as a
source of "interesting" information about the so-called "primitive" peoples, particularly useful
as dinner-party conservation.
But anthropology is not a study
to be justified by the trite "knowledge for Knowledge's sake"; anthropology justifies itself on the
grounds of its contribution to the
understanding of the human being,
both individually and generically.
It seeks answers to such questions
as: What common ground is there
between human beings of all tribes
and nations: What differences exist? What is their source? How
deep-going are they? It considers
such things as the course of human evolution, both biologically
and culturally and any general
laws governing this evolution; any
necessary connections existing between the physical type, the
speech, and the customs of peoples
past and present; the generalizations which can be made human
beings in groups; the plasticity of
man, and the extent to which he
can be molded by training or by
the necessity of environmental
pressures; why certain personality
types are more characteristic of
e societies than others. Anthropology is concerned not only
with the study of the evolution of
and his works, but also with
the ways in which those works
have acted upon man to change
him and his works.
It is the task of anthropologists
to record the variations and the
similarities in human physique,
the things people make, and in
the many ways of life. Only when
we find out just how men who
have had different upbringings,
who come from different physical
stocks, who speak different languages and who live under different physical conditions meet their
problems can we be certain as to
what all human beings have in
common. Only then can we claim
scientific knowledge of raw hu-
From The
CO-BOARD
by Pat Walters
May Day Chairman this year is
Faye Harris. Terry Shutt is Assistant Chairman.
In the past, two members of the
student body were elected by the
Co-Board to serve as co-chairmen
for May Day, one planning the
afternoon activities and the other,
the evening. This year, however,
it was decided that it will be better
to have a chairman, who will assume responsibility for both afternoon and evening activities. She
will be assisted by an associate
chairman.
The various committees of May
Day will be headed by chairmen
appointed by the May Day Chairman.
On request from various students, the Co-Board has arranged
for facilities for disposal of cigarettes and matches. These will be
placed in front of Arts and
Science, Odell, and Finch Chapel.
Until recently most anthrop-
ologists have hesitated to apply
the results so obtained to our own
civilization, which they considered
too complex or too difficult to
study. With the most abundant
of all sources of evidence ruled
off the field, anthropologists failed to test their generalizations
against the workings of our own
society. It is this very complexity
which has made it necessary to
find simpler societies in which to
make these studies. By working
i simpler scene, the anthropologist can isolate certain crucial
factors which can then be investigated more effectively than in
the complex picture. A homogeni-
ous society which has been bypassed by civilization offers the
situation most similar to laboratory conditions. (A suitable analogy would be the study of human
physiology through such animals
as the guinea pig.) The purer the
culture, the fewer variables with
which the anthropologist has to
control.
Anthropology cuts across the
boundaries which separate the
sciences from the humanities, and
embraces both. The science of
man and his works deals with both
the physical evolution and the
cultural development of the most
plastic and most educable of all
the creatures on the face of the
earth. Anthropology is the search
for the reactions that men inevitably have as human beings, regardless of their particular biological or social heritage. Much
of what is ascribed to human nature is no more than a reaction
to the restraints put upon us by
our civilization.
Differences between peoples
have in the past often been made
the basis for misjudgments and
misunderstandings. We need to
understand these differences in
order that they may be appreciated for what they are.
WSGA News
Honor System: Dual Or Single
BY CAROLEE WOOD
At last Monday's meeting of the
WSGA President Anne Merrill explained a proposal offered by the
Men's Student Government Association in regard to a joint Honor
System.
Since the women have just completely renovated their Honor System, in fact, this being its first
year in effect, and since the students had debated and worked on
this new code for a long while,
feel no immediate need for
haste in making changes; however,
the Men's Student Government,
which did not feel ready last year
a universal system, has requested that the women consider
the possibilities of now having
such a system. For this purpose,
there will be elected from each
class, one woman representative to
a committee which will collaborate
with the MSGA committee. There
