Remembering Humanity: How to Include Human Values in a Scientific Endeavor

2005 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 275-280 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dorothy Lippert

TheBonnichsendecision has been heralded as a victory for anthropology, because it appears to vindicate the position of the plaintiffs who brought their suit in order to be allowed to conduct scientific research on a 9,000-year-old skeleton from North America. It appears to be a defeat for Native Americans, who view this skeleton as an ancestor and who would prefer to see the remains of this individual returned to the ground to continue the long journey back to the earth. In fact, this polarized view of the case returns the discourse surrounding repatriation to a previous level in which arguments were made over the question, “who owns the past?” While this may be a rhetorically satisfying problem to wrestle with, it does not capture the true nature of how archaeology can engage with Native people in the process of understanding ancient lives. It presumes that the past exists as a form of property. Under this simplistic construction, human remains can exist as property and can be owned by one group or another.

Author(s):  
Elizabeth Weiss ◽  
James W. Springer

Weiss and Springer summarize the bioarchaeological research that has challenged previously held stereotypes of Native Americans, answering questions about population size in North America prior to Columbus’s arrival; social structure of pre-contact Native Americans; violence rates in Native American tribes both before and after Columbus’s arrival; Native Americans health and diseases, such as tuberculosis and syphilis, before and after contact with Europeans; Native American diet throughout time; and Native Americans’ relationship with their environment.


2013 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 59-81
Author(s):  
Jaap Jacobs

The Tawagonshi document suggests that an official treaty was conducted between the Dutch and Native Americans in 1613. Yet a close look at the background of Dutch-Native interaction in the Hudson and Delaware Valleys during the 1610s throws doubt on the historical veracity of the document. Prior to 1621, Dutch traders did not have any need for an official treaty with local Indian groups on behalf of the authorities in the Dutch Republic, nor were they authorized to engage in such treaty-making. Thus any agreement cannot be construed to be a treaty between sovereign nations. Yet there is reason to believe that Dutch traders and local native people entered into some form of negotiation. The Dutch building of Fort Nassau on native lands and the military collaboration of which the Kleyntjen affair is evidence suggest as much.


1918 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 181-191
Author(s):  
Simon Litman

From tyrannical autocracy to a most radically socialistic régime, from an empire oppressing subjugated peoples to a country proclaiming the principle of “self-determination of nationalities”—such has been the remarkable record of Russia during the past year. These changes, which have come to many as a surprise, were to those acquainted with the ferment permeating Russian life but the logical outcome of Russia's historic development.In order to be able to interpret the trend of recent events there, events which since the overthrow of Tsarism have been moving with such bewildering rapidity, it is necessary to know what have been the forces that have shaped the life of the country. Russian evolution has come through periods of subjugation, through century long struggles for self-assertion against invaders, through many internal uprisings and through successful wars of expansion. Beginning as a small principality in the interior of a plain, Russia spread to the north and to the south, to the west and to the east until she became a world empire, in area the greatest compact country on the face of the earth, occupying 8,505,000 square miles, or larger in size than all of North America, and having a population of over 175,000,000 people.


2017 ◽  
Vol 6 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Colette Leung

Charleyboy, Lisa, and Mary Leatherdale, editors. Dreaming in Indian: Contemporary Native American Voices. Annick Press, 2016.This magazine-like anthology for young adults presents a plurality of contemporary Native American voices, using beautiful design and high quality photographic layouts. The forms of expression these voices take are varied, and include poetry, art, memoir, hip-hop lyrics, question and answer interviews, fiction pieces, and fashion photography, among others. Over fifty pieces are featured, from well-known Native American artists from across North America, such as throat singer Tanya Tagaq Gillis, author Joseph Boyden, and actress Michelle Thrush, although many other voices are represented too, including those of chefs, youths, fashion designers, journalists, and more. Native American Nations from all over North America are represented, including Blackfoot, Cree, Blood, Metis, and mixed race. Short biographies on each contributor are featured at the end of the book. Although Dreaming in Indian is meant for young adults, it will appeal to a broad spectrum of the population, including children and adults.Dreaming in Indian is presented in four different sections: ‘Roots,’ ‘Battles,’ ‘Medicines,’ and ‘Dreamcatchers’. ‘Roots’ covers pieces related to ideas of home and the past, ‘Battles’ examines issues such as racism, gender identity, abuse, addiction, and poverty, ‘Medicines’ shows the innovative ways youth have found healing in music, art, sports, and cultural traditions such as jingle dancing and hoop dancing, and ‘Dreamcatcher’ looks towards how Native people are currently shaping the future for Native youth. Topics covered within these sections also include bullying, the effects of residential schools, and suicide, but also extend to feeling like an outsider both within and outside of your culture, career advice, how culture must grow, and reactions to stereotypical portrayals of Native Americans in popular culture. In addressing these issues, Dreaming in Indian offers glimpses and directions for how to move forward without patronizing or becoming removed from the topic. Even more powerful are the multiple viewpoints that are brought to the same issue.  Different Native voices often offer differing thoughts on the same topic, illustrating how myriad and complex the people and these issues are.Ultimately, Dreaming in Indian is a powerful book that provides a well realized portrayal of Native people by Native people. As a non-fiction work, it fills a niche not often addressed, and showcases the talent and passion of the people it engages. The book can be read in a couple of hours, but due to its rich content and the fantastically detailed visuals, it is the kind of work that one returns to multiple times, and that stays with the reader long after it is finished. This book will appeal not only to those of Native descent, but to anyone who has sought to connect to their own identity, and to other human beings.Highly Recommended: 4 out of 4Reviewer: Colette LeungColette Leung is a graduate student at the University of Alberta, working in the fields of Library and Information science and Humanities Computing who loves reading, cats, and tea. Her research interests focus around how digital tools can be used to explore fields such as literature, language, and history in new and innovative ways.


1962 ◽  
Vol 14 ◽  
pp. 133-148 ◽  
Author(s):  
Harold C. Urey

During the last 10 years, the writer has presented evidence indicating that the Moon was captured by the Earth and that the large collisions with its surface occurred within a surprisingly short period of time. These observations have been a continuous preoccupation during the past years and some explanation that seemed physically possible and reasonably probable has been sought.


2018 ◽  
Vol 6 (9) ◽  
pp. 5
Author(s):  
Poonam Chourey

The research expounded the turmoil, uproar, anguish, pain, and agony faced by native Indians and Native Americans in the South Dakota region.  To explain the grief, pain and lamentation, this research studies the works of Elizabeth Cook-Lyn.  She laments for the people who died and also survived in the Wounded Knee Massacre.  The people at that time went through huge exploitation and tolerated the cruelty of American Federal government. This research brings out the unchangeable scenario of the Native Americans and Native Indians.  Mr. Padmanaban shed light on the works of Elizabeth Cook-Lynn who was activist.  Mr. Padmanaban is very influenced with Elizabeth Cook-Lynn’s thoughts and works. She hails from Sioux Community, a Native American.  She was an outstanding and exceptional scholar.  She experienced the agony and pain faced by the native people.  The researcher, Mr. Padmanaban is concerned the sufferings, agony, pain faced by the South Dakota people at that time.  The researcher also is acknowledging the Indian freedom fighters who got India independence after over 200 years of sufferings.  The foreign nationals entered our country with the sole purpose of business.  Slowly and steadily the took over the reign of the country and ruled us for years, made all of us suffer a lot.


Radiocarbon ◽  
1997 ◽  
Vol 39 (1) ◽  
pp. 27-32 ◽  
Author(s):  
John C. Vogel ◽  
Joel Kronfeld

Twenty paired 14C and U/Th dates covering most of the past 50,000 yr have been obtained on a stalagmite from the Cango Caves in South Africa as well as some additional age-pairs on two stalagmites from Tasmania that partially fill a gap between 7 ka and 17 ka ago. After allowance is made for the initial apparent 14C ages, the age-pairs between 7 ka and 20 ka show satisfactory agreement with the coral data of Bard et al. (1990, 1993). The results for the Cango stalagmite between 25 ka and 50 ka show the 14C dates to be substantially younger than the U/Th dates except at 49 ka and 29 ka, where near correspondence occurs. The discrepancies may be explained by variations in 14C production caused by changes in the magnetic dipole field of the Earth. A tentative calibration curve for this period is offered.


2020 ◽  
Vol 24 (6) ◽  
pp. 1311-1328
Author(s):  
Jozsef Suto

Nowadays there are hundreds of thousands known plant species on the Earth and many are still unknown yet. The process of plant classification can be performed using different ways but the most popular approach is based on plant leaf characteristics. Most types of plants have unique leaf characteristics such as shape, color, and texture. Since machine learning and vision considerably developed in the past decade, automatic plant species (or leaf) recognition has become possible. Recently, the automated leaf classification is a standalone research area inside machine learning and several shallow and deep methods were proposed to recognize leaf types. From 2007 to present days several research papers have been published in this topic. In older studies the classifier was a shallow method while in current works many researchers applied deep networks for classification. During the overview of plant leaf classification literature, we found an interesting deficiency (lack of hyper-parameter search) and a key difference between studies (different test sets). This work gives an overall review about the efficiency of shallow and deep methods under different test conditions. It can be a basis to further research.


2021 ◽  
Vol 28 (1) ◽  
pp. 37-49
Author(s):  
Uroš Matić

AbstractThe paper examines epistemological problems behind a recent study claiming to provide a synthesis of a vocal sound from the mummified remains of a man named Nesyamun and behind racial designations in Egyptian mummy studies more generally. So far, responses in the media and academia concentrated on the ethical problems of these studies, whereas their theoretical and methodological backgrounds have been rarely addressed or mentioned only in passing. It seems that the media reaction has targeted the synthesis of a sound rather than other, equally problematic, assumptions found in Egyptian mummy studies. By focusing on the epistemological problems, it will be demonstrated that the issues of greatest concern are endemic to a general state of a considerable part of the discipline of Egyptology and its unreflective engagement with the material remains of the past, especially human remains.


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