Race and human evolution / Milford Wolpoff and Rachel Caspari.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Wolpoff, Milford H.

Contributor:

Caspari, Rachel, 1957-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Human evolution--Philosophy.

Human evolution.

Fossil hominids.

Racism--History.

Racism.

History.

Racism in anthropology--History.

Racism in anthropology.

Physical Description:

462 pages : illustrations, map ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

Boulder, Colo. : Westview Press, 1998.

Summary:

Race and Human Evolution is a far-ranging account by leading researchers in the field that describes the latest scientific evidence and the conflicting theories about human evolution. Milford Wolpoff and Rachel Caspari describe the "Eve" or "Out-of-Africa" theory, which holds that all living people are the descendants of a single common ancestor ("Eve") who began a new species of humanity in Africa some 200,000 years ago and whose progeny spread throughout the world, giving rise to the different human races. The authors show that the evidence of the fossil record and genetic data support "Multiregionalism", which posits that for some two million years human populations have been entwined in a network of widespread peoples who evolved together because they met and interbred, giving the races today many ancestors, not a single common one. Race and Human Evolution shows how the debate over the "Eve" theory reflects a long history of theories about human origins and race that has been fraught with social and political implications. The debate now raging cannot free itself of this background. Certain to be controversial but also to illuminate an argument that has persisted for centuries and which persists in some of today's most inflammatory social and political issues, Race and Human Evolution provides an authoritative account of the science and the scientists behind the controversy over the origin of humanity and its racial differences.

Contents:

Multiregional evolution and Eve: science and politics

A first lesson in the politics of paleoanthropology

Polygenism, racism, and the rise of anthropology

Slavery and its reverberations

Polygenism after Darwin

The last stand

The straw man

Functional morphology, orthogensis, and the Dubois Syndrome

Center and edge

Multiregional evolution

Modern humans, modern races?

Notes:

"First published in hardcover in 1997 by Simon & Schuster"--T.p. verso.

Includes bibliographical references (pages [411]-437) and index.

ISBN:

0813335469

OCLC:

40071592