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Huinan Ethology Bulletin HUInan Ethology Bulletin http://evolution.anthro.univie.ac.at/ishe.html VOLUME 15, ISSUE 3 ISSN 0739-2036 SEPTEMBER 2000 © 1999 The International Society for Human Ethology THE. STOR#{S OF SALAMAWCA Upon arrival in this Spanish medieval university town the first thing I noticed were the large graceful storks circling overhead and nesting in the ancient towers, and I knew that this was a special place. Human ethologists were flying in too from all over the world for the 15th Biennial Conference of the International Society for Human Ethology. Our Spanish hosts, Francisco and Sally Abati, did a marvelous ph welcoming their guests, and organizing the conference, banquets and several excursions. Plenary speakers were Jose Miguel Fernandez Dols, Jaak Panksepp, and Carol Worthman who each addressed the theme "ethology of emotion". For more info on the conference see Society News and Photo Gallery. Human Ethology Bulletin, 15 (3), 2000 2 The caveat HOMO SAPIENS IS It is a logical category that agencies of the BIOCULTURAL OR IS NOT: United Nations, the staff of the U.s. Bureau of the Census, and the staff of the Yearbook of SOME RUBICONS ARE WIDER American and Canadian Churches are a II engaged in a conspiracy of distorting the THAN OTHERS demographics relative to their respective charge. While keeping the caveat in mind, let's assume, just for the moment, that ro such by Wade Mackey conspiracy exists, and that the numbers these organizations present are clean enough to be Rule #1: All politics are local. diagnostic. Diagnoses are available from a - Rep. Tip O'Neill global perspective and from a perspective Rule #2: All long-term politics are reproductive specific to the U.S. A global perspective The strategies. United Nations inter allia1 clearly illustrate Rules #3: All effective long term politics that some countries/areas, e.g. Germany /Europe, camouflage Rule #2. are reproducing below replacement value (2100 - Ipsoc Macquire children [minimum] per 1000 women); whereas other countries/areas, e.g. Egypt/Islamic north Africa & the Middle East are reproducing well If students of human ethology see humans as above replacement value. It seems intuitive biocultural beings whose contemporary that, across generations, any biocultural formula exemplars are products of generations of highly which procreates in excess of replacement value filtered ancestors, then both the "bio-" part and will supplant or displace any biocultural formula the "-cultural" part would be given focused which fails to replace itself. attention. If both facets are not simultaneously given proper deference, then a distorted Virtually all of Europe is below replacement perspective is almost assuredly guaranteed. To value. In contrast, all of the Moslem swathe, resurrect an analogy, the knowledge of the area running eastward from Mauritania to Pakistan, is of a rectangle is difficult to determine if only the well above replacement value. Not only is this height is given, but the width is kept secreted. swathe of countries attaining a greater Let me suggest that current human ethologsts are proportion of the world's population per year, it comfortable with rigorously analyzing "height", is also sending to Europe large numbers of but are decorously and assiduously keen m immigrants who bring with them their avoiding "width". biocultural packages which generated their initial existence as well as the maintenance of To wit: A small to medium cottage industry has that existence to adulthood. The ratio of the emerged and solidified which profiles the immigrants' assimilation into the "European" "biological " package that humans have worldview versus cultural diffusion is not known, inherited from Lucy and her descendants. but certainly the level of cultural diffusion is not Studies on behavioral strategies which lent an zero. As long as the reproductive gap between evolutionary advantage to some of our ancestors, Europe and the Moslem swathe continues, then but precluded others from having descendants, the Moslem swathe's biocultural formula is have graced journals and libraries shelves m poised to supplant/displace the Europeans' several continents for several decades. Yet biocultural formula: Le. cultural evolution will obvious cultural analogues with the same result occur. have been systematically "no-shows" in those same journals and those same shelves for those A U.s. perspective same decades. With only one caveat, the fact that cultural evolution is occurring with some Within the hurly-burly, polyglot mega-tribe robustness is remarkably easy to demonstrate. of the U.s., two patterns are clear. First, the U.s. has been below replacement value since 1972. Second, rates of natural increase are not Human Ethology Bulletin, 15 (3),2000 3 evenly distributed among the disparate groups. Yearbook. NY: United Nations; United Nations "Religion" serves as a good vehicle to illustra te (1990 ) Demographic Yearbook. New York: the variable rates. The Shakers operated at the United Nations;. United Nations (1992) zero mark and are simply an historical footnote. Demographic Yearbook. New York: United From the 19605 to the 1990s, the numbers of Nations. United Nations. (1995) Demographic Unitarian-Universalists shrank by 15%. During Yearbook. New York: United Nations.U.S. the same time frame, the ranks of Episcopalians Bureau of the Census (1972 - 1997) Statistical decreased by a quarter. abstract of the United States (92nd -117th ed.) Washington, D. c.: U. S. Government Printing On the other side of the coin and for the same Office; Yearbook of American and Canadian time interval, the numbers of Mennonites and Churches (1926 - 1998 ) Nashville, TN: Latter Day Saints more than doubled. The Old Abingdon Press, 1926 - 1998. Order Amish trebled and the Hutterites quintupled. Quintupling will beat stasis any day 2 Using Occam's razor with some skill, Judith K. of the week, Le. cultural evolution will occur. It Brown ([1970] A note on the division of labor. would seem a tough case to make that the American Anthropologist 72: 1073-1078) gives to fertility differences - which are large - reflect us a clean theoretical perspective on the issue. differences in the biological potential to conceive Both J. Barkow ([1980] Biological evolution of and to birth children. The feedback loop that is culturally patterned behavior. In J. Lockard (ed.) more likely to be a reali ty is the one between The evolution of human social behavior [pp. 277- cultural traditions and a psychology consonant 290]. NY: Elsevier); and W. H. Durham ([1990] with the expectations of those traditions.2 Advances in evolutionary culture theory. Annual Review of Anthropology 19: 187-210) give a The key factor in both the global and the U.S. textured context to the argument. samples seems to be how a "culture" treats the relationship between the genders. A group/tribe/culture/clan can socialize its ISHE FINANCIAL STATEMENT: members to expect and to actualize gender JAN - JULY 2000 egalitarianism or to expect and to actualize gender complementarity. Empirically, a bias toward gender egalitarianism, viz. Europe, BALANCE JAN 14, 2000 $19481.52 Unitarians, Episcopalians, tamps down birth rates. A bias toward gender complementarity, viz. the Moslem swathe, Mennonites, Latter Day CREDITS Saints, Amish, Hutterites, is associated wi th elevated birth rates. As mentioned earlier, the MEMBER'S DUES $2195.00 lack of focus by behavioral scientists on the "- cultural" facet of Homo's biocultural character and subsequent evolution is fairly obvious. What DEBITS is less obvious is "Why?" "Why" is there a lack BANK CHARGES $115.30 of interest. Our discipline, compared to other behavioral sciences, is much better positioned to BULLETIN PRINTING $2435.56 understand the dynamics involved and then to BULLETIN POSTAGE $878.53 explain those dynamics to the "huddled masses". An emphasis on the "bio-" part of the (DEC 99/MAR 2000) human condition, at the expense of the "- EDITOR'S EXPENSES $678.00 cultural" part, may not well serve the interests of our discipline nor those of the "huddled masses" AIRFARE FOR SPEAKER $1022.52 (DR. PANKSEPP) .FOOTNOTES DEBIT TOTAL $5129.91 1 For the data, see Sivard, R. (1995) Women...A world survey. Washington, D. c.: BALANCE JULY 31, 2000 $16546.61 World Priorities; UNESCO (1994) Statistical Human Ethology Bulletin, 15 (3), 2000 4 Society News Montreal was chosen as the site for the next ISHE conference· of 2002 primarily because of ISHE Officers accessibility. It was felt that too few members and students would be able to go to Australia. President Potential sites for 2004 include: Moscow, Dublin, Linda Mealey New York, Netherlands, and Oxford. Several Psychology Department themes for 2.002 were mentioned: observation and College of St. Benedict measurement, primatology, conflict and conflict St. Joseph, MN 56374 USA resolution, sex and gender - but nothing was tel. 1-320-363-5481 decided upon yet. We will keep the format of fax 1-320-363-5582 inviting 3 or 4 plenary speakers to address the [email protected] chosen theme. People expressed an interest in earlIer publicity, advance press contacts, funding Vice-President for Information to enable us to offer special rates to students and Peter LaFreniere retired faculty, and assistance to scholars from (see Editorial Staff box) poorer nations to attend. Depending m attendance, an extra day may be necessary, Secretary espeCially to provide a free afternoon during the Karl Grammer conference. Ludwig-Boltzmann-Institute for Urban Ethology/Human Biology Althanstrasse 14 A-I090 Vienna, Austria Call for Nominations tel. 49-815237355 [email protected] At the officer's meeting Karl Grammer informed Tr.easurer us that he will be resigning as secretary so that Dori LeCroy he can devote more time to the ever-expa.nding PO Box418 ISHE web site. The offieers have suggested that Nyack, N.Y. 10960 USA we create a new position for Karl as ISHE [email protected] webmaster. If any member would like to contribute his or her thoughts on this rna tter Membership Chair please contact Linda Mealey.
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