Biological and Evolutionary Perspectives in American Anthropologist: An Editorial Provocation

Developing evolutionary anthropology in local ecosystems

“…For example, Cartmill 2 ,p.188 ), in discussing this issue, states “It is noteworthy, for instance, that not one of all the physical anthropologists who has studied and theorized about the mystery of human bipedalism and its origins has ever undertaken a systematic comparison of human beings with large flightless birds.” Evolutionary anthropology's cynosure with humans and nonhuman primates is compounded by the recognition that the four subfields that traditionally represent American anthropology have been increasingly disassociated 4 . Despite repeated calls for unification and cross‐pollination, 5,6 including the development of integrative anthropology research programs that bring multiple subdisciplines and fields together 7‐9 there is much to be done. Our contention, like many others, is that we have much to gain from stepping outside of the order primates, and many evolutionary anthropology studies have done so 10‐14 .…”

“…We suggest we can make additional gains in our field by expanding the traditional regional focus of evolutionary anthropology—typically defined as places where hominin fossils, nonhuman primates, and non‐western populations reside—to include temperate, “westernized” regions (Figure 1). As Arsdale and Schenk 6 ,p.13 note: “Many of us continue to see the value of ‘big‐tent’ anthropology—research that engages across and within domains of knowledge production.” We argue that evolutionary anthropologists are missing opportunities to characterize the diversity of environments that have influenced human behaviors, as well as the selective pressures that have contributed to evolutionary convergences between nonhuman primates and other mammals.…”

“…Evolutionary anthropology's cynosure with humans and nonhuman primates is compounded by the recognition that the four subfields that traditionally represent American anthropology have been increasingly disassociated. 4 Despite repeated calls for unification and cross-pollination, 5,6 including the development of integrative anthropology research programs that bring multiple subdisciplines and fields together [7][8][9] there is much to be done. Our contention, like many others, is that we have much to gain from stepping outside of the order primates, and many evolutionary anthropology studies have done so.…”