Guns, Germs, and Steel Jared Diamond, in his book Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies, explains how he went from being a biologist, studying birds in New Guinea, to developing an entirely new theory on the evolution of human societi Continue Reading...
As the world is more thoroughly explored, social scientists seem to find that the words social and science are largely contradictory and an oxymoron. Even rational choice theory bases its conclusions upon statistics and upon a costs and benefits ana Continue Reading...
Till the period up to 11,000 BC every individuals remained Stone Age hunters/gatherers. Nearly that time, the roads of growth of human societies on various continents started to move away in a large scale. (Guns, Germs, and Steel- the Fates of Human Continue Reading...
Cultural Change: Guns, Germs and Steel vs. Culture Sketches: Case Studies in Anthropology As indicated by the title of Jared Diamond's book and the films based on his text Guns, Germs and Steel, Diamond takes a relatively fatalistic view of how th Continue Reading...
What are the symbols of group identity in the United States? Are they good or bad in your opinion? Symbols of group identity often pertain to foodstuffs (such as the critical evolution of wheat, corn, and the animals consumed) and cultural symbols Continue Reading...
9. Wild almonds contain cyanide: a person can die from eating only a few dozen of them (Diamond, p. 114). They taste bitter due to the presence of amygdalin, the precursor to cyanide. The chemical serves as a defense mechanism for the almond, deter Continue Reading...
Guns, Germs, and Steel is the documentary film version of Jared Diamond's Pulitzer Prize winning book of the same name. Like the book, the documentary is divided into three separate sections. This allows for the logical development of Diamond's idea Continue Reading...
The Italian cities prospered from the transport of Crusaders. Trade passed through Italian hands to Western Europe at a large profit that created a commercial power, which served as the economic base for the Italian Renaissance (History World Int., Continue Reading...
Native Americans The Age of Exploration and Discovery enriched Europe, but it decimated the populations of both North and South America. From Christopher Columbus onward, European explorers and settlers encountered Native Americans when they arrived Continue Reading...
(Macdonagh-Dumler and Pebbles et al. 1-14) The Marquette Range, which consisted of huge deposits of high quality iron ore, was discovered in the year 1844, the operations were initiated in the year 1846. Other ranges that were opened by the year 19 Continue Reading...
Then, in 1000 a.D., Polynesian farmers colonized New Zeeland -- the group would break into two tribes, the Maori and the Moriori, who would later on collide (Diamond). In 1500 a.D., Portuguese explorer Pedro Alvares Cabral discovered Brazil and cla Continue Reading...
Triumph of Western Civilization In the book Guns, Germs, and Steel, the historian and New Guinea anthropologist Jared Diamond argues that the geography and the environment of the West played the major role in determining the dominance of Western ci Continue Reading...
Human Ecology At the beginning of this course, I offered that my stance on the human ecological situation was generally pessimistic. That stance has not changed, because I do not see how any thinking human could be optimistic about the present state Continue Reading...
Of course, this is only one perspective on history. But one of the most exciting things about reading Guns, Germs, and Steel, and the March of Folly is that they had such a clear perspective, unlike the textbook the Human Venture. Sometimes when a Continue Reading...
Orientalism The work of Edward Said and Thomas Mitchell provides a unified insight into the way that the Occidental mind has succeeded in 'othering' and marginalizing the reality of the Orient. Orientalism, as suggested by Said is a form of represen Continue Reading...
These conservatives are, in the authors' estimation, anti-Western, even though they perceive themselves to be upholding Western values. But is this really a useful or complete understanding of the complexities of the religious and cultural debates Continue Reading...
History Naval Warfare What was naval power in the age of sail and how did different sea going states exercise it from the period 1650-1850? "There is a deep landlubber bias in historical and social research," writes Charles King. "History and socia Continue Reading...
Given that Christianity tended to view history as progressive, and Christ's sacrifice and the event of Christendom being the ultimate apex of earlier civilization, the past was often seen as an inferior precursor to the present in a particularly ju Continue Reading...
They goal for globalization is to increase material wealth and the distribution of goods and services through a more international division of labor and then, in turn, a process in which regional cultures integrate through communication, transportat Continue Reading...
Samantha Vargas Chinese Religion Intro to Cultural Anthropology Ch'en, Kenneth K.S. Buddhism in China: A Historical Survey. New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1907-1964. In this text, Professor Kenneth Ch'en writes a historical account of th Continue Reading...
In the 21st century, American, European, and Asian trans-national corporations (e.g., General Motors; Toyota; Coca Cola; IBM; Nestle, etc., build plants in Mexico and Latin America, where indigenous labor is cheaper than American labor. Meanwhile, t Continue Reading...
globalization is generally understood to be the expansion of businesses and corporations to foreign markets either to expand their consumer base or to utilize a cheap workforce. However, the history of globalization really dates back to colonial and Continue Reading...
Accordingly, the significance of the application of the conflict perspective to American food is that its accuracy is so blatantly valid that it has progressed almost unnoticed through our nation's history. Out of the philosophical roots of Marx, co Continue Reading...
Mann challenges the belief that superior weaponry was the main factor in the Inca loss to the Spanish. Give two examples of Inca weaponry or strategy that was viable in warfare against the Spanish. 1) Huge roadway system connecting all parts of the Continue Reading...
Catholicism and the Catholic Church played a significant and major role in the colonization of the New World and subsequent colonization of South America. Although people imagine the Church and State to have worked hand-in-hand in order to meet the g Continue Reading...
Joseph Tainter, Sustainability What does moving toward sustainability really entail? Joseph Tainter's article on "Social Complexity and Sustainability" makes a crucial distinction at the outset, differentiating sustainability from resiliency. Sustai Continue Reading...
, lands useful to man, but according to technical and conspicuous for purposes that each civilization. When business needs and adds prestige to urban heritage, religions, however, that mark their territories of pagodas, churches, monasteries, mosque Continue Reading...
Arctic Climate Change and Its Effects on Inuit The Arctic is located on the middle of the North Pole. The Arctic Ocean, the northern parts of Alaska, Canada, Norway, Russia, and most of Iceland, Greenland and the Bering Sea are included in the Arcti Continue Reading...
