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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.
“This is an important contribution to the study of human knowledge and cultural transmission, and it squarely addresses contemporary concerns to cultivate a cross-disciplinary exchange of ideas and methods…The chapters are of high academic standard, well written and accessible to the interested reader who does not (and is unlikely to) possess expertise in each of the fields represented.” · Trevor H.J. Marchand, SOAS, University of London
“The editors have assembled an excellent slate of authors.” · Mike O’Brien, University of Missouri
Roy Ellen is Professor of Anthropology and Human Ecology at the University of Kent, Canterbury. His recent publications include On the Edge of the Banda Zone (University of Hawaii Press, 2003), The Categorical Impulse: Essays on the Anthropology of Classifying Behavior (Berghahn Books, 2006), and Nuaulu Religious Practices: The Frequency and Reproduction of Rituals in a Moluccan Society (KITLV Press, 2012). He is a Fellow of the British Academy and a member of its Council. He was President of the Royal Anthropological Institute between 2007 and 2011.
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