Home About us Contact | |||
Declaration
Kinds of Declaration Selected AbstractsUNIVERSAL DRAFT DECLARATION ON BIOETHICS AND HUMAN RIGHTSDEVELOPING WORLD BIOETHICS, Issue 3 2005Cultural Organization, Scientific, United Nations Educational First page of article [source] THE IMPACT OF THE UNIVERSAL DECLARATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS ON THE STUDY OF HISTORYHISTORY AND THEORY, Issue 1 2009ANTOON DE BAETS ABSTRACT There is perhaps no text with a broader impact on our lives than the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR). It is strange, therefore, that historians have paid so little attention to the UDHR. I argue that its potential impact on the study of history is profound. After asking whether the UDHR contains a general view of history, I address the consequences of the UDHR for the rights and duties of historians, and explain how it deals with their subjects of study. I demonstrate that the UDHR is a direct source of five important rights for historians: the rights to free expression and information, to meet and found associations, to intellectual property, to academic freedom, and to silence. It is also an indirect source of three duties for historians: the duties to produce expert knowledge about the past, to disseminate it, and to teach about it. I discuss the limits to, and conflicts among, these rights and duties. The UDHR also has an impact on historians' subjects of study: I argue that the UDHR applies to the living but not to the dead, and that, consequently, it is a compass for studying recent rather than remote historical injustice. Nevertheless, and although it is itself silent about historians' core duties to find and tell the truth, the UDHR firmly supports an emerging imprescriptible right to the truth, which in crucial respects is nothing less than a right to history. If the UDHR is a "Magna Carta of all men everywhere," it surely is one for all historians. [source] DECLARATION OF CONFLICTS OF INTEREST: The Journal of Sexual Medicine Editorial Board Declaration of Conflicts of InterestTHE JOURNAL OF SEXUAL MEDICINE, Issue 1 2009Article first published online: 8 JAN 200 [source] DECLARATION OF CONFLICTS OF INTEREST: The Journal of Sexual Medicine Editorial Board Declaration of Conflicts of InterestTHE JOURNAL OF SEXUAL MEDICINE, Issue 5 2008Article first published online: 24 APR 200 [source] CONFLICT OF INTEREST DECLARATIONS: COULD A ,TRAFFIC LIGHT' SYSTEM WORK?ADDICTION, Issue 11 2009ROBERT WEST No abstract is available for this article. [source] Shoe contact dermatitis from dimethyl fumarate: clinical manifestations, patch test results, chemical analysis, and source of exposureCONTACT DERMATITIS, Issue 5 2009Ana Giménez-Arnau Background: The methyl ester form of fumaric acid named dimethyl fumarate (DMF) is an effective mould-growth inhibitor. Its irritating and sensitizing properties were demonstrated in animal models. Recently, DMF has been identified as responsible for furniture contact dermatitis in Europe. Objective: To describe the clinical manifestations, patch test results, shoe chemical analysis, and source of exposure to DMF-induced shoe contact dermatitis. Patients, Materials, and Methods: Patients with suspected shoe contact dermatitis were studied in compliance with the Declaration of Helsinki. Patch test results obtained with their own shoe and the European baseline series, acrylates and fumaric acid esters (FAE), were recorded according to international guidelines. The content of DMF in shoes was analysed with gas chromatography and mass spectrometry. Results: Acute, immediate irritant contact dermatitis and non-immunological contact urticaria were observed in eight adults and two children, respectively. All the adult patients studied developed a delayed sensitization demonstrated by a positive patch testing to DMF , 0.1% in pet. Cross-reactivity with other FAEs and acrylates was observed. At least 12 different shoe brands were investigated. The chemical analysis from the available shoes showed the presence of DMF. Conclusion: DMF in shoes was responsible for severe contact dermatitis. Global preventive measures for avoiding contact with DMF are necessary. [source] Teaching workshop on ,Implications of the Bologna Declaration for Teaching Physiology in Medical Education' at the joint meeting of the German Physiological Society and the Federation of European Physiological Societies, Cologne, 2,5 March 2008ACTA PHYSIOLOGICA, Issue 2 2008L. H. E. H. Snoeckx No abstract is available for this article. [source] Beijing Plus Ten: An Ambivalent Record on Gender JusticeDEVELOPMENT AND CHANGE, Issue 6 2005Maxine Molyneux The 1995 Fourth World Conference on Women (the ,Beijing Conference') was a landmark in policy terms, setting a global policy framework to advance gender equality. Ten years after Beijing, in March 2005, the UN's Commission on the Status of Women presided over an intergovernmental meeting in New York to review the progress achieved on the commitments made in the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action. This ,Plus 10' event was decidedly low key. Its aim was not agenda setting but agenda confirming; not policy formulation but policy affirmation. Whether it proves to be part of an ongoing worldwide movement in support of gender equality, or whether it marks the decline of that process, is a question that many in international women's movements are asking. This article, drawing on research undertaken for the UNRISD report, Gender Equality: Striving for Justice in an Unequal World, reflects on the ambivalent record of progress achieved by women over the last decades and considers how the policy environment has changed over the period since the high point of global women's movements. It examines how the changing international policy and political climate over this period has given rise to new issues and challenges for those active in global women's movements. [source] Insulin therapy in EuropeDIABETES/METABOLISM: RESEARCH AND REVIEWS, Issue S3 2002Werner A. Scherbaum Abstract The prevalence of type 1 diabetes is rising in all European countries, particularly in Scandinavia and the UK. Insulin therapy in Europe is strongly influenced by the results of the Diabetes Control and Complications Trial (DCCT) and the United Kingdom Prospective Diabetes Study (UKPDS), both of which showed the importance of tight metabolic control in patients with diabetes. The importance of tight glycemic control is also emphasized in the Saint Vincent Declaration, which established 5-year goals for antidiabetic therapy in Europe. Insulin therapy in Europe has been significantly improved over the past 10,years, owing to a number of developments. These include increased use of intensive insulin therapy in patients with type 1 diabetes; the development of new insulin analogs, including insulin glargine for injection therapy and short-acting agents that are particularly suitable for use in pumpsand the establishment of comprehensive and standardized treatment goals and guidelines. Nevertheless, important obstacles must still be overcome to optimize therapy for patients with diabetes and reduce the long-term complications of this disease. These obstacles include low public awareness of diabetes and its symptoms, training of physicians as well as patients that is often insufficient to ensure adherence to professional guidelines for diabetes care, and limitations in communication among professional care providers. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] The Declaration of Hawaii andClarence BlomquistACTA PSYCHIATRICA SCANDINAVICA, Issue 399 2000J. O. Ottosson The international code of ethics of psychiatry, the Declaration of Hawaii was in the main the achievement of Clarence Blomquist. There were several prerequisites for the success of this work. 1. The unique profile of the education of Clarence Blomquist, combining training to be a specialist in psychiatry with a doctor's degree in practical philosophy. 2. An outstanding competence in analyzing complicated issues and in putting thoughts into words. 3. The courage to challenge the Hippocratic ethics and adapt the principles of ethics to modern health care. 4. A scholarship at the Institute of Society, Ethics and the Life Sciences, Hastings-on-Hudson, New York, where he could test his ideas in an intellectual interdisciplinary atmosphere. 5. Support from the late Professor Leo Eitinger, Norway and Professor Gerdt Wretmark, Sweden, who together with Clarence Blomquist constituted a task force on ethics of the World Psychiatric Association. 6. A continuous backing-up by Dr Denis Leigh, the then secretary general of the World Psychiatric Association. Denis Leigh was convinced that a code of ethics was the only means to reconcile the various member countries on issues of misuse of psychiatry and, in addition, would raise the quality of psychiatric care throughout the world. [source] A Declaration of IndependenceECONOMIC AFFAIRS, Issue 4 2000David Graham Television was a true mass medium, its ,classic' output located within the concerns and lives of ordinary people. Television was also the amphitheatre of the nation, in which great events were played out. As a result of its massive power, regulation was imposed on it. By the 1970s, the unitary power of national channels was beginning to break down, first with the arrival of the VCR, then with satellite and cable. Along with this, came a growing separation of the broadcasting from the creative or programme making function driven by ,independent' producers. This divergence is now being hastened by the end of ,spectrum scarcity'. Creative companies and teams will strive to control their work and share in the rewards of their success in a way that will create a very different kind of entertainment industry in the 21st Century. [source] Measuring the Impact of State Accountability ProgramsEDUCATIONAL MEASUREMENT: ISSUES AND PRACTICE, Issue 4 2005Mitchell D. Chester "No Child Left Behind is a law that makes good people bad and bad people worse." Declaration of the keynote speaker at the public forum on the No Child Left Behind Act in Columbus, Ohio, on November 17, 2004, sponsored by the Kappa Delta Pi International Honor Society in Education, the National Academy of Education, and the National Society for the Study of Education. [source] The Bologna Process: From a European Law PerspectiveEUROPEAN LAW JOURNAL, Issue 2 2010Sacha Garben The Bologna Process, an intergovernmental process of voluntary policy convergence towards a common higher education structure, poses several concerns from a European law perspective. The Bologna Process takes place outside the institutional framework of the EU, while there would have been legal competence to enact the content of the Bologna Declaration as a Community measure. Hence it could be argued that Member States have straddled the borders of loyal cooperation by avoiding the institutional framework of the EC with its built-in checks and balances. They have obstructed the Community in the attainment of its tasks, which stands in tense relation to Article 10 EC. Moreover, there exist several other objections against the Bologna Process, particularly in terms of democracy, transparency and efficiency. The Bologna Process resembles a deal done in a smoke-filled room, and its voluntary character combined with a lack of coordination prevents its effective implementation. [source] The Secret of Leopold AmeryHISTORICAL RESEARCH, Issue 181 2000William D. Rubinstein Leopold Amery (1873-1955) is best-known as a lifelong champion of imperial preference and empire unity, and was an important figure in the Conservative party during the first half of the twentieth century. Yet Amery was also a man with an extraordinary secret, which this article explores. Amery's mother Elisabeth Leitner (née Saphir) was Jewish. Amery went to extraordinary lengths to conceal his Jewish background, which was unknown until recently. Yet Amery might also be described as a ,secret Jew', who frequently used his influence on behalf of Jewish causes. He was the real author of the Balfour Declaration of 1917. Most remarkably and tragically, his eldest son John Amery (1912-1945) was a wartime Nazi who was hanged for treason. [source] THE IMPACT OF THE UNIVERSAL DECLARATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS ON THE STUDY OF HISTORYHISTORY AND THEORY, Issue 1 2009ANTOON DE BAETS ABSTRACT There is perhaps no text with a broader impact on our lives than the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR). It is strange, therefore, that historians have paid so little attention to the UDHR. I argue that its potential impact on the study of history is profound. After asking whether the UDHR contains a general view of history, I address the consequences of the UDHR for the rights and duties of historians, and explain how it deals with their subjects of study. I demonstrate that the UDHR is a direct source of five important rights for historians: the rights to free expression and information, to meet and found associations, to intellectual property, to academic freedom, and to silence. It is also an indirect source of three duties for historians: the duties to produce expert knowledge about the past, to disseminate it, and to teach about it. I discuss the limits to, and conflicts among, these rights and duties. The UDHR also has an impact on historians' subjects of study: I argue that the UDHR applies to the living but not to the dead, and that, consequently, it is a compass for studying recent rather than remote historical injustice. Nevertheless, and although it is itself silent about historians' core duties to find and tell the truth, the UDHR firmly supports an emerging imprescriptible right to the truth, which in crucial respects is nothing less than a right to history. If the UDHR is a "Magna Carta of all men everywhere," it surely is one for all historians. [source] Introduction , The MDGs and Beyond: Pro-poor Policy in a Changing WorldIDS BULLETIN, Issue 1 2010Andy Sumner This issue of the IDS Bulletin is dedicated to discussing and reviewing the MDGs and the global effort that grew from the UN Millennium Declaration. This article provides an overview of this IDS Bulletin and introduces the key themes. [source] God's Free Grace and the Freedom of the Church: Theological Aspects of the Barmen DeclarationINTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF SYSTEMATIC THEOLOGY, Issue 4 2010MICHAEL WEINRICH This article explores the fundamental theological decisions of the ,six evangelical truths' of the Barmen Theological Declaration of 1934 on the occasion of its 75th anniversary. Seeing it in close proximity to the theology of Karl Barth, the essay considers in turn the substance and ongoing significance of the Declaration's reaffirmation of the First Commandment, its iteration of the threefold form of the Word of God, its repudiation of natural theology, its ringing affirmation of the positive freedom of the church and, finally, its ecumenical importance as an impulse to Christian unity. [source] Justification as Declaration and DeificationINTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF SYSTEMATIC THEOLOGY, Issue 1 2002Bruce D. Marshall Theological accounts of the way God justifies sinners often struggle to combine forensic or declarative ideas about justification with transformationist ones. Luther seems to have especially steep problems here, not because he fails to think of justification as transformation , indeed deification , but because his forensic claims seem to take back what he says about transformation. Yet in the end Luther shows how forensic and transformationist ideas of even the boldest sort can cohere. At one level the concept of justifying faith as union with Christ extra nos combines the two, but their deeper unity is trinitarian: it lies in the Father's eternal verdict on the work of his incarnate Son, whose death and resurrection win for us the coming of the Spirit. [source] Does "Smarter" Lead to Safer?INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION, Issue 4 2003An Assessment of the US Border Accords with Canada, Mexico The terrorist attacks of September 11 and their immediate aftermath along the US-Canadian and US-Mexican borders focused attention on border management strategies in ways previously unimaginable. Suddenly confronted by the fact that existing systems and processes were not particularly effective either at protecting security or facilitating legitimate traffic, the United States, in conjunction with the Canadian and Mexican Governments, demonstrated an uncharacteristic willingness to reconceptualize its approach to physical borders. While initiating a series of internal policy adjustments to secure themselves against terrorist threats, the US, Canadian, and Mexican Governments also signed two bilateral agreements , the 12 December 2001 United States-Canada Smart Border Declaration and the 22 March 2002 United States-Mexico Border Partnership Agreement. These agreements represent an important development in the US's relationship with each of its North American neighbours, acknowledging not only the deep economic, social, and cultural ties, but also the new reality that the United States cannot attain the additional security it desires through unilateral actions alone. Thus, while September 11 forced a reassessment of vulnerabilities, it simultaneously provided the United States an opportunity to work more systematically with its contiguous neighbours for security benefits, a realization likely to flow into other areas where the benefits of cooperation eclipse those of unilateralism. This paper analyses the first year of the two border accords, tracking their implementation and evaluating their successes and failures. Most importantly, the paper outlines outstanding challenges, highlights steps that the governments should take to achieve additional border security and efficiency, and draws conclusions regarding factors likely to make their efforts more, or less, successful. [source] Human Rights of Migrants: Challenges of the New DecadeINTERNATIONAL MIGRATION, Issue 6 2001Patrick A. Taran This review summarizes main trends, issues, debates, actors and initiatives regarding recognition and extension of protection of the human rights of migrants. Its premise is that the rule of law and universal notions of human rights are essential foundations for democratic society and social peace. Evidence demonstrates that violations of migrants' human rights are so widespread and commonplace that they are a defining feature of international migration today. About 150 million persons live outside their countries; in many States, legal application of human rights norms to non-citizens is inadequate or seriously deficient, especially regarding irregular migrants. Extensive hostility against, abuse of and violence towards migrants and other non-nationals has become much more visible worldwide in recent years. Research, documentation and analysis of the character and extent of problems and of effective remedies remain minimal. Resistance to recognition of migrants' rights is bound up in exploitation of migrants in marginal, low status, inadequately regulated or illegal sectors of economic activity. Unauthorized migrants are often treated as a reserve of flexible labour, outside the protection of labour safety, health, minimum wage and other standards, and easily deportable. Evidence on globalization points to worsening migration pressures in many parts of the world. Processes integral to globalization have intensified disruptive effects of modernization and capitalist development, contributing to economic insecurity and displacement for many. Extension of principles in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights culminated in the 1990 International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families. With little attention, progress in ratifications was very slow until two years ago. A global campaign revived attention; entry into force is likely in 2001. Comparative analysis notes that ILO migrant worker Conventions have generally achieved objectives but States have resisted adoption of any standards on treatment of non-nationals. A counter-offensive against human rights as universal, indivisible and inalienable underlies resistance to extension of human rights protection to migrants. A parallel trend is deliberate association of migration and migrants with criminality. Trafficking has emerged as a global theme contextualizing migration in a framework of combatting organized crime and criminality, subordinating human rights protections to control and anti-crime measures. Intergovernmental cooperation on migration "management" is expanding rapidly, with functioning regional intergovernmental consultative processes in all regions, generally focused on strengthening inter-state cooperation in controlling and preventing irregular migration through improved border controls, information sharing, return agreements and other measures. Efforts to defend human rights of migrants and combat xenophobia remain fragmented, limited in impact and starved of resources. Nonetheless, NGOs in all regions provide orientation, services and assistance to migrants, public education and advocating respect for migrants rights and dignity. Several international initiatives now highlight migrant protection concerns, notably the UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights of Migrants, the Global Campaign promoting the 1990 UN Convention, UN General Assembly proclamation of International Migrants Day, the 2001 World Conference Against Racism and Xenophobia, anti-discrimination activity by ILO, and training by IOM. Suggestions to governments emphasize the need to define comprehensive, coordinated migration policy and practice based on economic, social and development concerns rather than reactive control measures to ensure beneficial migration, social harmony, and dignified treatment of nationals and non-nationals. NGOs, businesses, trade unions, and religious groups are urged to advocate respect for international standards, professionalize services and capacities, take leadership in opposing xenophobic behaviour, and join international initiatives. Need for increased attention to migrants rights initiatives and inter-agency cooperation by international organizations is also noted. [source] Safety, effectiveness and comparability of professional skin cleansersJOURNAL DER DEUTSCHEN DERMATOLOGISCHEN GESELLSCHAFT, Issue 10 2010Flora K. Terhaer Summary Background: There are no widely-accepted methodical specifications with which to objectify cleansing effectiveness and skin compatibility of occuptional skin cleansing products in Europe. Therefore the German Social Insurance Agency (DGUV) initiated a study with the goal to evaluate such products in view of the potency and the safety of hand cleansers. A market analysis was a part of the project. Methodology: The product descriptions and safety data sheets of 120 products (5,20/manufacturer) of 11 manufacturers were evaluated between 02/2008 and 04/2008. Results: The manufacturers used mainly ingredients of low irritancy. The declaration of the applied ingredients was in the majority of the cases correctly labeled according to the INCI Declaration. Although there was documentation of skin tolerability for most products, the manufacturers used widely differing tests of skin compatibility. Evidences for cleansing effectiveness were not declared or have not been provided. One manufacturer even promised medical effects of its products. There was no uniform general classification of products making it difficult to identify characteristics of cleansers and choose between them. Conclusions: Presently, there are no commonly accepted criteria to classify products in view of cleansing effectiveness und skin compatibility. Generally accepted criteria and test methods are needed for the evaluation of hand cleansers in order to provide the possibility of transparency and comparability. [source] Changes in Nursing Education in the European UnionJOURNAL OF NURSING SCHOLARSHIP, Issue 2 2006Adelaida Zabalegui Purpose: To provide an overview of changes in nursing education in the European Union (EU) within the framework of the Bologna Declaration, signed in 1999 by the European ministers of education, and to describe specific efforts and changes in Spain. Organizing Constructs: (a) the Bologna Declaration process, its recent reforms in all disciplines including nursing, and perspectives on future developments; (b) the Tuning Project, designed and carried out by a group of European universities to meet the challenges posed by the Bologna Declaration; and (c) efforts in a group of Spanish universities to promote higher education in nursing. Findings and Conclusions: These changes promote enhanced academic recognition, professionalism in nursing education, and graduates' competencies in practice in most European countries by specifying the undergraduate nursing degree as the minimal entrance level for practice and master's and doctoral programs for further career development. [source] Wingspread Declaration on School ConnectionsJOURNAL OF SCHOOL HEALTH, Issue 7 2004Article first published online: 9 OCT 200 No abstract is available for this article. [source] Mediators, when the court comes calling, remember: It's not your business to declare this settlement to be fairALTERNATIVES TO THE HIGH COST OF LITIGATION, Issue 7 2009Jeff Kichaven Jeff Kichaven and Jay McCauley, of Los Angeles, explain why mediators enlisted for a so-called Fairness Declaration should just say no. [source] Cultures, Conventions, and the Human Rights of Women: Examining the Convention for Safeguarding Intangible Cultural Heritage, and the Declaration on Cultural DiversityMUSEUM INTERNATIONAL, Issue 4 2007Valentine Moghadam [source] Museums of ,human suffering' and the struggle for human rightsMUSEUM INTERNATIONAL, Issue 1 2001Terence M. Duffy Following the fiftieth anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Terence M. Duffy describes museum exhibits of ,human suffering' and the struggle for human rights, particularly recent museums and proposals for museums in places where genocide has occurred, or where human beings were held in bondage. Human rights issues constitute important subjects for museums, from concentration camps to museums of slavery. Professor Duffy teaches Peace Studies at the University of Ulster and directs the Irish Peace Museum Project. [source] Has the United Nations General Assembly Special Session on HIV/AIDS made a difference?NEW DIRECTIONS FOR EVALUATION, Issue 103 2004Nicole Massoud The 2001 Declaration of Commitment on HIV/AIDS by 189 countries serves as a benchmark for global action. Definition of specific and time-bound targets put pressure on these countries to accelerate program implementation, but the first progress reports indicate a low response rate for some indicators and concern about data quality. [source] Complexities of indigeneity and autochthony: An African exampleAMERICAN ETHNOLOGIST, Issue 1 2009Michaela Pelican ABSTRACT In this article, I deal with the complexities of "indigeneity" and "autochthony," two distinct yet closely interrelated concepts used by various actors in local, national, and international arenas in Africa and elsewhere. With the adoption of the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples by the United Nations General Assembly in September 2007, hopes were high among activists and organizations that the precarious situation of many minority groups might be gradually improved. However, sharing the concerns of other scholars, I argue that discourses of indigeneity and autochthony are highly politicized, are subject to local and national particularities, and produce ambivalent, sometimes paradoxical, outcomes. My elaborations are based on in-depth knowledge of the case of the Mbororo in Cameroon, a pastoralist group and national minority recognized by the United Nations as an "indigenous people" although locally perceived as "strangers" and "migrants." For comparative purposes, and drawing on related studies, I integrate the Bagyeli and Baka (also known as Pygmies) of southern and southeastern Cameroon into my analysis, as they share the designation of indigenous people with the Mbororo and face similar predicaments. [indigeneity, autochthony, identity, United Nations, Cameroon] [source] 10.,The Universal Concept of Human Rights as a Regulative Principle: Freedom Versus PaternalismAMERICAN JOURNAL OF ECONOMICS AND SOCIOLOGY, Issue 1 2009Article first published online: 18 FEB 200, Edward Demenchonok This essay examines the current debates regarding the politics of human rights. The universal concept of human rights is considered as a regulative principle for the possible critique of any state, including a democratic one. Moreover, the philosophical justification of the universal regulative principle for evaluating these states is vital for progressive political change and for the politics of human rights. At the heart of the analysis is Kant's concept of human rights as freedom. It is opposed to a more utilitarian interpretation of rights and political paternalism. Kant's philosophy helps us to better understand the meaning of the definition of human rights as inherent, sacred, and inalienable, as formulated by Thomas Jefferson in the Declaration of Independence. Kant makes these meanings explicit, and he elaborates on the moral-philosophical explanations of humanitarian rights. His philosophy of law was developed in a process of a systematic criticism of political paternalism (which is the flip side of dependence). Kant developed his definition of individual freedom in opposition to authoritarian paternalism, utilitarian arbitrariness, and the "despotism of paternalistic benevolence." The categorical imperative is threefold: the imperatives of morality, right, and peace. Thus it could be interpreted as "the categorical imperative of peace." The analysis shows the ongoing relevance of Kant's ideas and their recent development by the theorists of "discourse ethics" and of "cosmopolitan democracy." It affirms that the solution to the problems of securing peace and protecting human rights can only be achieved by peaceful means, based on the international rule of law. [source] The origins of American physical anthropology in PhiladelphiaAMERICAN JOURNAL OF PHYSICAL ANTHROPOLOGY, Issue S49 2009Alan Mann Abstract With its location on a river with easy access to the sea, its central placement between the English speaking colonies to the north and south and its trading connections with the western frontier, there were many reasons Philadelphia became one of the most important towns of prerevolutionary America. In the early 1770s, it was the site of the first meeting organized to deal with the perceived inequities of the British government toward the colonies. It was where Thomas Jefferson wrote much of the Declaration of Independence, whose soaring statements reflecting the Age of Enlightenment spoke of the equality of all men. It was to this debate, centered on just who was included in this declaration that the origins of physical anthropology in America can be traced. Notable men in the early phases of this disputation included Samuel Stanhope Smith and especially Samuel George Morton, considered the founder of American physical anthropology. The American School of Anthropology, which argued for the polygenic origins of human races was substantially founded on Morton's work. Recent accusations that Morton manipulated data to support his racist views would appear unfounded. The publication of The Origin of Species in 1859 and the issuing of the Emancipation Proclamation in 1862-63 effectively ended the earlier debates. By the time of the American Civil War, 1861-65, physical anthropology was beginning to explore other topics including growth and development and anthropometry. Yrbk Phys Anthropol 52:155,163, 2009. © 2009 Wiley-Liss, Inc. [source] |