Signs of the Self: An Exploration in Semiotic AnthropologySinger, Milton
doi: 10.1525/aa.1980.82.3.02a00010pmid: N/A
Peirce's general theory of signs, or semiotic, as he called it, yields a theory of the self that sees it both as the object and the subject of semiotic systems. From this viewpoint, the locus, unity, and continuity of the self will be found in the systems of signs that constitute the dialogues between utterers and interpreters of the signs. Personal identity, in this theory, is also a social and cultural identity and is not confined to the individual organism. Peirce's anti‐Cartesianism, which denies intuitive and introspective knowledge of the self, derived that knowledge from the fallible inferences we all make from the observations of external facts, including the signs of the self. This laid the foundation for a semiotic psychology as well as for a semiotic anthropology. [self, semiotic anthropology, personal identity, C. S. Peirce]
You Can't Do NothingBohannan, Paul
doi: 10.1525/aa.1980.82.3.02a00020pmid: N/A
Unless we can think right down to the reaches of mankind's long past and into the future in which the earth is only one part of a known and explored solar system, and in which mankind's problems will become extraordinarily different, we shall not be what we want to be: anthropologists, whatever our area, whatever our specialty, whatever our subdivision.
Surnames in the Study of Human BiologyLasker, Gabriel W.
doi: 10.1525/aa.1980.82.3.02a00030pmid: N/A
Use of surname analysis in human population biology depends on surnames being inherited like genes. In societies that meet this condition, communities with a few surnames at high frequency are the more inbred ones, and marriages between persons of the same surname can be used to estimate rates of inbreeding. Furthermore, the degree of commonality of the surnames of two communities estimates their biological relationship provided that any two persons of the same surname derived it from a common ancestor and that virilocal and uxorilocal migration is equal. Although the assumptions are only partially met, the surname method yields results which correlate with the amount of marital migration and with geographical and historical features. Rare surnames meet the assumptions better than common ones. Documents, both old and new, yield surnames of large numbers of people which can easily be analyzed to show the cumulative effect of marital migration since the establishment of surnames (in England in the Middle Ages). Surnames thus serve to delineate the breeding structure of some human populations over a longer span of time than is usually possible with pedigrees, over a more definite span of time than in genetic studies, and more easily in broad surveys than alternative methods. [isonymy, surnames, inbreeding, coefficient of relationship, England]
Clients, Contracts, and Profits: Conflicts in Public ArchaeologyRaab, L. Mark; Schiffer, Michael B.; Klinger, Timothy C.; Goodyear, Albert C.
doi: 10.1525/aa.1980.82.3.02a00040pmid: N/A
The client‐oriented approach to contract archaeology is a technical service rather than genuine scientific research. Such an approach fails to meet the requirements of the law, fails to satisfy the needs of archaeological science, and frequently fails to protect the client's interests. A client orientation encourages an excessive emphasis on profits from contract work. Profits not only exclude a balance of archaeological, client, and public interests but threaten the scientific future of contract work. Solutions to the problem of client‐oriented work include better academic training as researchers, support for government archaeologists, a strong professional consensus on ethical and performance standards, and attention to public interests. [contract archaeology, client‐oriented archaeology, research profits, research obligations, professionalism]