The Anthropology and Ethics of Human Conflict

 

Course Objectives

From their origins in our primate ancestry through modern times, aggression, violence, and warfare appear to have been among the most constant features of human society. Utilizing data and theories from two of the subfields of anthropology—archaeology and ethnology—as well as from history and political science, this interdisciplinary course examines human aggressive behavior and warfare around the world from their earliest known occurrence, at c, 20,000 B.C, to the most recent conflict in Iraq. Exemplary cases from prehistoric, historical, and recent times for North and South America, Oceania, the Mediterranean, Eurasia, and Africa form the core of the course. Throughout the course, we will examine and discuss violence and warfare both from an adaptive perspective and, where appropriate, from an ethical standpoint.

 

 

Instructor’s Background

B.A., Political Science, University of Washington; M.A., Spanish, San Diego State University; M.A. and Ph.D., Anthropology, University of Michigan. My archaeological research on the Peruvian north coast has focused on population growth and warfare as especially critical features in the origins and development of complex prehispanic societies in that area of the world. My recent book, Indigenous South Americans of the Past and Present, deals with a number of ethnographic and archaeological cases of violent, warlike societies around South America and I have a long-standing interest in this theme at a worldwide level from my undergraduate background in Political Science and from teaching ANTH 3319/Human Ecology, ANTH 3313/South American Indians Past and Present, and ANTH 2302/People of the Earth at SMU.

 

Texts

· Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies , Jared Diamond

· Demonic Males: Apes and the Origins of Human Violence , Richard Wrangham and Dale Peterson

· Indigenous South Americans of the Past and Present , David Wilson

· A History of Warfare , John Keegan

· Carnage and Culture: Landmark Battles in the Rise of Western Power , Victor Davis Hanson