Ideas about Nature and Society in Writing About Human Evolution
This project explores the relationship between the environment and society reflected in scientific and popular writings on human evolution since 1860. Two of the broadest questions in this project are how scientific and popular views of human evolution differ and how narratives of human evolution have evolved. More specifically this research focuses on questions of human nature, including whether human evolution is presented as a tale of progress, how humanity’s relationship with nature is shown to change over time, and how some hominin species are presented more “human” or more “natural” than others. Writings about human evolution in scientific articles as well as popular science writing about human evolution throughout a wide time period have been surveyed, such as, in chronological order of publication: Evidence as to Man’s Place in Nature by Thomas Henry Huxley (1863), The First Men, by the Time-Life Series on Human Origins (1975), Third Chimpanzee by Jared Diamond (1991), and Last Ape Standing by Chip Walter (2013). Additionally, anthropology students and professors were consulted to better understand how popular writing on human evolution is viewed within its academic discipline. Wide differences between academic and popular writing about human evolution were found, particularly in willingness to use the idea of human nature to generalize traits found in early humans. Additionally, notable changes in narratives of human evolution over time were recognized. For example, at the time of their discovery, Neanderthals were portrayed as brutish and inhuman. Today popular writers tend to emphasize that they were empathetic and intelligent. This is evidenced by complex tools and by elaborate burial sites and bones showing signs of disease that would have killed the individual far sooner, were they not helped by friends or relatives. Preliminary conclusions suggest that latent ideas about nature and society help to inform the dominant social ideas about human evolution, which in turn then help to affirm these ideas about nature and society.
Recorded PowerPoint presentation: Narratives about Neanderthals
hi Laurel,
Thank you for an interesting and well-presented study. I was particularly intrigued by the section about geographic ancestry and your idea that a more positive perception might be tied to an understanding of Neanderthals as white or European. Did I get that right? and how might such tendency in attitudes be possible to affirm through the types of sources you use? Thank you
Thank you, Dr. Ahlqvist,
I don’t have particularly conclusive evidence towards this, but I personally wonder if it might be the case that a more positive perception of Neanderthals as compared with other premodern human groups could be tied to an understanding of Neanderthals as white or European. Sometimes authors who are especially sympathetic to Neanderthals explicitly state that Neanderthal had light skin (e.g. Chip Walker). From what I can tell from the science, we don’t know if Neanderthals had light or dark skin, but it is perpetuated throughout popular literature that they were white because we do know that they predominantly inhabited Europe and Western Asia. However, this isn’t to say that the change in views of Neanderthals over time would be due to this—the first Neanderthal bones were discovered in Germany in the 19th century, so they were always connected to Europe.
Hi Laurel,
I found your presentation very interesting and thorough! I find it particularly intriguing when you talk about how some hominin species are perceived as being more “human” or “natural” than others, especially in how this has the potential to connect to a hierarchy of people that we can see and experience today.