It’s time to gather around the Four Stone Hearth. The season is turning, so we’ll have to gather a little closer this week to stay warm. If you’re new to Clashing Culture, take a look around. This is a place where ideas about science and Christianity are compared, debated and argued. Today is extra-special because while I host the anthropology carnival, my co-blogger Mike is putting on the Carnival of the Liberals. So there’s plenty to warm you up while you’re here.
Speaking of Christianity, Magnus Reuterdahl documents at Testimony of the Spade a recent visit to the Gammelstaden Church town and its medieval Nederlulea church in the northern part of Sweden at Testimony of the Spade. We North Americans find it difficult to imagine worshiping in something dating to medieval times. I think that explains the draw we have to European Churches when in the “Old World” – even if we aren’t believers.
But speaking of old worlds, Europe isn’t just home to early Christian activity. There was plenty of early human activity. Of the Neandertal variety. Julien Riel-Salvatore at A Very Remote Period Indeed reviews a current controversy concerning the role sea creature foraging had on human impacts. His point is that the evidence does not quite add up to identify sea foraging as a dominant subsistence activity at the Gibraltar assemblages. Science thrives on a little controversy, eh!
One need not look back to hominid development for controversy, however. Just watch the debates. Or read this week’s Carnival of the Liberals. Or talk about race in politics. That last tack is exactly what Daniel Lende does in his recent post at Neuroanthopology. In his cleverly titled post, “Race in the Race,” he makes observations that the concept of race is still an evolving one. His entry is a good one for the multi-media minded.
And the open minded should head over to Paddy K’s Swedish Extravaganza to consider what the link between racism, sexism and specism is. The author invites us to conduct a modern day thought experiment about human behavior. Just don’t think about it for very long. Someone once said that he who entertains lust has already committed adultery.
While I’m mincing words, I should direct you to two very nice posts concerning linguistic anthropology. Regular contributor Mark Dingemanse writes at The Ideophone about one of my favorite linguistic devices: onomatopoeia. And be sure to visit Stephen Chrisomalis’ new blog, Glossographia. In the featured article, Stephen points out that while he agrees in the four stone premise, it’s linguistic anthropology that applies to each of the other fields.
Finally, Paul Mason at Neuroanthropology posits that
collaborative research between neuroscientists, anthropologists, and the various musicians and dancers of the world will offer us deeper insights into the workings of the human brain.
Might I suggest that his concept of neuroprospecting is already being done in the neuroscientific investigations of the effect of faith activities and meditation?
So ends this brief foray by Clashing Culture into anthropology blogging. Thanks for reading. The next Four Stone Hearth will be held at Greg Laden’s Blog. Don’t forget to email him with your next entry before the October 22 carnival.
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Thanks so much for your kind words about my new blog, Glossographia!
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