ANTH 2 Lecture Notes - Lecture 7: Franz Boas, Sickle-Cell Disease, Evolutionism
Document Summary
Evolution: idea of how things change in a regular and patterned way through time. Trying to get things to survive, and all are competing with each other for these resources. Biological make-up has a certain relationship to which that individual is located and will vary from others. Everyone else thought that there was an eventual endpoint. Darwin studied these birds and noticed the variety of different beak sizes the finches had. Strong beaks were best able to survive drought conditions. Saw how the beaks were being selected by the conditions they were put through. Still a huge variety, so after a new condition arose the beak size shifted. One of each (heterozygous) = nonlethal sickle-cell syndrome. Not about individuals but how groups can organize themselves to change conditions. Different groups build themselves in a variety of ways. Cultural adaptation happens much faster through ideas and culture. No individual cultures as people, we have a shared culture.
