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Human Diversity (human + diversity)

Distribution by Scientific Domains

Life Sciences	33%

Selected Abstracts

Beyond Cultural Competence: Human Diversity and the Appositeness of Asseverative Goals

CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGY: SCIENCE AND PRACTICE, Issue 1 2005
Arthur M. Nezu
I argue that, as a profession, psychology needs to aspire beyond the goal of achieving cultural competence when addressing issues of human diversity. Although laudable, cultural competency as a goal may not set the bar high enough to achieve equity regarding those minority groups traditionally neglected or marginalized. As such, I further argue that asseverative objectives,ones that ask us to aver, affirm, and embrace human diversity,would be more consistent with a truly egalitarian perspective and our own code of ethics. I then describe barriers to achieving such goals that exist as endemic aspects of clinical psychology's worldview of human behavior and psychopathology, as well as inherent characteristics of simply being human. Last, I suggest that in order to reach such asseverative goals, we need to be more active (as compared to simply reading relevant journal articles) in our daily activities when it comes to issues of human diversity. [source]

The science of human diversity: A history of the pioneer fund

AMERICAN JOURNAL OF HUMAN BIOLOGY, Issue 5 2002
William H. MuellerArticle first published online: 21 AUG 200
No abstract is available for this article. [source]

Modern human cranial diversity in the Late Pleistocene of Africa and Eurasia: Evidence from Nazlet Khater, Pe,tera cu Oase, and Hofmeyr

AMERICAN JOURNAL OF PHYSICAL ANTHROPOLOGY, Issue 2 2009
Isabelle Crevecoeur
Abstract The origin and evolutionary history of modern humans is of considerable interest to paleoanthropologists and geneticists alike. Paleontological evidence suggests that recent humans originated and expanded from an African lineage that may have undergone demographic crises in the Late Pleistocene according to archaeological and genetic data. This would suggest that extant human populations derive from, and perhaps sample a restricted part of the genetic and morphological variation that was present in the Late Pleistocene. Crania that date to Marine Isotope Stage 3 should yield information pertaining to the level of Late Pleistocene human phenotypic diversity and its evolution in modern humans. The Nazlet Khater (NK) and Hofmeyr (HOF) crania from Egypt and South Africa, together with penecontemporaneous specimens from the Pe,tera cu Oase in Romania, permit preliminary assessment of variation among modern humans from geographically disparate regions at this time. Morphometric and morphological comparisons with other Late Pleistocene modern human specimens, and with 23 recent human population samples, reveal that elevated levels of variation are present throughout the Late Pleistocene. Comparison of Holocene and Late Pleistocene craniometric variation through resampling analyses supports hypotheses derived from genetic data suggesting that present phenotypic variation may represent only a restricted part of Late Pleistocene human diversity. The Nazlet Khater, Hofmeyr, and Oase specimens provide a unique glimpse of that diversity. Am J Phys Anthropol, 2009. © 2009 Wiley-Liss, Inc. [source]

Front and Back Covers, Volume 25, Number 3.

ANTHROPOLOGY TODAY, Issue 3 2009
June 200
Front & back cover caption, volume 25 issue 3 Front & back cover HERITAGE PROTECTION Created in the aftermath of World War II, UNESCO was mandated to engage in a worldwide educational campaign aimed at establishing the conditions for lasting peace. This involved working out and disseminating a new world view based on a revised conception of human diversity. The founders of UNESCO argued that prejudice relating to human diversity is the main cause of war, and hoped that a radical modification of the existing vision of that diversity would help to guarantee of peace. Over the 60 years of its history UNESCO's doctrine has been subject to numerous modifications. Initially, cultural diversity was often described in terms of unequal economic progress and presented as an obstacle to be overcome. But in the 1960s ,progress', and the resulting cultural homogenization, began to be considered a major threat to human diversity, particularly diversity of culture. Co-ordinated by UNESCO, the international salvage of the Abu Simbel temples, threatened with submersion in Lake Nasser, became a symbol of a new moral obligation, incumbent upon all humans, to safeguard a common ,world heritage' (exemplified in the images on the back and front covers of this issue). Over the last decade, the notion of common heritage of humanity has been extended to all expressions of cultural traditions, thought to be endangered by the deleterious effects of globalization. UNESCO has chosen to put its support behind local identities and the right of the minorities to conserve their traditional differences. Alongside the principle of the equality of individuals, UNESCO now also upholds the equality of cultures, suggesting that the charter of human rights needs to be supplemented by a charter of cultural rights. The major challenge to UNESCO's current ideology is the compatibility of universal human rights with particular cultural rights. If all traditions deserve to be protected, should this privilege be bestowed equally on masterpieces of the past as on traditional practices. Wearing the burqa need not be controversial, but what about practices like genital mutilation or ,honour killings'? As Wiktor Stoczkowski argues in his article, such issues are intensely anthropological challenges deserving our attention. [source]

UNESCO's doctrine of human diversity: A secular soteriology?

ANTHROPOLOGY TODAY, Issue 3 2009
Wiktor Stoczkowski
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) was created in 1945, in the aftermath of the Second World War. Its principal mission, as initially defined, was to establish the conditions of peaceful coexistence between nations. This mission was equivalent to an experiment in social engineering on a global scale, which consisted in working out and disseminating a new worldview based on a revised vision of humankind. In this worldview an important place was granted to a particular vision of human diversity, both cultural and genetic. The paper reconstructs the main presuppositions of UNESCO's doctrine of human diversity and examines theirs historical transformations. [source]

Front and Back Covers, Volume 25, Number 2.

ANTHROPOLOGY TODAY, Issue 2 2009
April 200
Front cover caption, volume 25 issue 2 Front cover Ethnicity, Race and the Limits of Human Identity The front and back covers show artist Sean Weisgerber's interpretation of the theme of this issue, the problem of classifying human identity in a world of fusion and change. Articles address biometric security, the use of the concept of ,tribe' in US army counter-insurgency programmes, and human identity as constituted in and through debate among Afghani refugees recently returned from northern Pakistan to Afghanistan. The difficulty of fitting human diversity into strictly defined categories is most acutely evident in questions asked on census forms. In this issue, Peter Aspinall considers the broad range of terms proposed and debated for the ,mixed race' population. Many have complex histories and have been used to subsume individuals of varied and sometimes disparate ethnic and racial origins. Dissatisfaction with the widely used term ,mixed race', contested by anthropologists and sociologists among others on the grounds that it references the now discredited concept of ,race', has led to the search for an alternative. In 1994 the Royal Anthropological Institute advanced ,mixed origins', although such advocacy has gained little momentum. ,Mixed race' now competes with terms such as ,mixed heritage', ,dual heritage' and ,mixed parentage' amongst data users, and UK government usage also reflects this diversity in terminology. However, research indicates that the term of choice of most respondents in general and student samples of this population is ,mixed race'. Terms invoking just two groups , such as ,mixed parentage', ,dual heritage', and ,biracial', are preferred by few. While ,mixed origins' is likely to have a continuing niche role in professional practice, such as legal usage and assessment of health risks, it is premature to argue that the umbrella term ,mixed race' should be replaced by candidates that are not self-descriptors. Bruno Latour's editorial places such questions in a broader context as he draws attention to a lively debate on the biggest question of all, the essence of nature itself. In the context of an emergent multi-naturalism, has anthropological theory itself been ,decolonizing enough'? [source]

Analysis of ancient human genomes

BIOESSAYS, Issue 5 2010
000-year-old human from Greenland has been obtained, 20-fold coverage of the genome of a , Using next generation sequencing
Abstract High-capacity sequencing technologies have dramatically reduced both the cost and time required to generate complete human genome sequences. Besides expanding our knowledge about existing diversity, the nature of these technologies makes it possible to extend knowledge in yet another dimension: time. Recently, the complete genome sequence of a 4,000-year-old human from the Saqqaq culture of Greenland was determined to 20-fold coverage. These data make it possible to investigate the population affinities of this enigmatic culture and, by identifying several phenotypic traits of this individual, provide a limited glimpse into how these people may have looked. While undoubtedly a milestone in ancient DNA research, the cost to generate an ancient genome, even from such an exceptionally preserved specimen, remains out of reach for most. Nonetheless, recently developed DNA capture methods, already applied to Neanderthal and fossil human mitochondrial DNA, may soon make large-scale genome-wide analysis of ancient human diversity a reality, providing a fresh look at human population history. [source]