The concept of ‘cultural transmission’ is central to much contemporary anthropological theory, since successful human reproduction through social systems is essential for effective survival and for enhancing the adaptiveness of individual humans and local populations. Yet, what is understood by the phrase and how it might best be studied is highly contested. This book brings together contributions that reflect the current diversity of approaches – from the fields of biology, primatology, palaeoanthropology, psychology, social anthropology, ethnobiology, and archaeology – to examine social and cultural transmission from a range of perspectives and at different scales of generalization. The comprehensive introduction explores some of the problems and connections. Overall, the book provides a timely synthesis of current accounts of cultural transmission in relation to cognitive process, practical action, and local socio-ecological context, while linking these with explanations of longer-term evolutionary trajectories.
Table of Content
List of Figures
List of Tables
Preface
List of Contributors
Introduction
Roy Ellen and Michael Fischer
Chapter 1. What Animals Other Than Primates can tell us about Cultural Transmission
Kevin Laland, Alice Cowie and Tom Morgan
Chapter 2. Cultural Transmission in Non-human Primates: Definitions and Evidence
Tatyana Humle and Nicholas Newton-Fisher
Chapter 3. Cultural Transmission Theory and fossil Hominin Behaviour: A Discussion of Epistemological and Methodological Strengths
Stephen Lycett
Chapter 4. Studying Cultural Transmission Within an Interdisciplinary Cultural Evolutionary Framework
Alex Mesoudi
Chapter 5. Do Transmission Isolation Mechanisms (TRIMS) Influence Cultural Evolution? Evidence from Patterns of Textile Diversity Within and Between Iranian Cultural
Jamshid Tehrani and Mark Collard
Chapter 6. Co-evolution Between Bentwood Box Traditions and Languages on the Pacific Northwest Coast
Sean O’Neill
Chapter 7. The Transmission of Ethnobotanical Knowledge and Skills Among Tsimane’ in the Bolivian Amazon
Viki Reyes-Garcia and TAPS Bolivian Study Team
Chapter 8. Processual Perspectives on Traditional Knowledge: Continuity, Erosion, Transformation, Innovation
Stanford Zent
Chapter 9. The Transmission of Basketry-making Knowledge in East Kalimantan
Rajindra Puri
Chapter 10. On the Transmission of Gardening Knowledge: Innovation and Consensus in the Planting of Allotment Vegetables
Simon Platten
Chapter 11. Thinking Like a Cheese?: An Exploration of the Ecology of Knowledge in Artisan Cheesemaking
Harry West
Chapter 12. Lineages of Cultural Transmission
Stephen Shennan
Index
About the author
Sarah E. Johns is a Lecturer in Evolutionary Anthropology at the University of Kent, Canterbury. Her recent publications include’Red is not a proxy signal for female genitalia in humans’ (PLo S ONE 2012); “Perceived environmental risk as a predictor of teenage motherhood in a British population” (Health and Place 2011); and “Teenage pregnancy and motherhood: How might evolutionary theory inform policy?” (Journal of Evolutionary Psychology 2011).
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