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Work: Anthropology
Biographical: Education: 1973 Bachelor of Arts, University College, University of Toronto 1974 MA, Physical Anthropology, University of Toronto 1981 Ph.D. Anthropology, University of Toronto, Thesis title: The Kua of the Southeastern Kalahari: A study in the socio-ecology of dependency, based on 28 months fieldwork and archival research in Botswana. Scholarships and Awards: 1974-75 Doctoral Fellowship, National Research Council of Canada 1975-76 Doctoral Fellowship, National Research Council of Canada 1976-77 Doctoral Fellowship, National Research Council of Canada 1977-78 Doctoral Fellowship, Canada Council, Award #452-773310 1978-79 Doctoral Fellowship, Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, Award #452-784295 Research Related Employment Experience: June 1997-June 1998 Researcher, GIEF (Gender Issues Education Foundation), Edmonton. This research concerned such issues as the frequency of gender bias in reporting on family violence and child abuse and involved extensive review of the literature on these subjects collected from Canadian, American, and British sources. July 1981 - July 1985 Principal Social Anthropologist, Economic Program, International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT), Cooperative Program, Stationed at Kamboinse, near Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso (formerly Upper Volta) This research was funded by the International Development Research Centre (IDRC). The objectives were to supply ICRIST with baseline data on the agricultural production system in the semi-arid zones in West Africa. Work was carried out in collaboration with other ICRISAT scientists, notably the economist, agronomist, and the sorghum breeders. As the Principal Staff member, my job was to direct and oversee the work of some fifteen research assistants, with a budget of $140,000 pre year. I was also involved in doing primary research on special topics, such as collection of life histories, and interviewing people in the villages on subjects such as land tenure and social organization. Fieldwork was concentrated in six villages located in three agro-climatic zones. Intensive studies of land use and tenure, division of labour, and the social organization of production groups were the major aspects of this work. Data were also gathered on cereal consumption, wood and water use, health and nutritional status and labour migration. Sept. 1981- December 1981 Researcher for Treaty Nine Band, Northern Ontario, on the subject of local self-government on Native reservations. Much of this research was done at the National Archives in Ottawa and necessitated a federal security clearance. May 1979 to January 1980 Consultant: Research into the socio-economic impact of the 1979 drought in rural Botswana. The work was funded by the German Agency for Technical Assistance. This work involved several months of fieldwork in the Kalahari desert an the preparation of two reports documenting the impact of the drought and recommending appropriate policy to the Botswana Government. October 1976 to May 1979 Informally seconded to the Ministry of Local Government and Lands, Botswana During the period of fieldwork with the Kua and the Bakgalahadi in the Kalahari, reports were submitted to the Ministry of Local Government and Lands and to the District Development Officer of the Kweneng to aid in development planning.
Favourite Publications: Science Lancet Nature Discover Scientific American Before Farming
One of the most widely read anthropological articles of the past year
This is not a blog, rather it is an invitation for discussion. I found it a provocative article, since Richard Lee happens to have been my thesis supervisor. I had some uneasiness over Diamond before this. What do the rest of you think? I will put in the link but also quote part of the article below.
Agriculture as "Worst Mistake in the History of the Human Race"?
From the article:
"..
Many anthropologists have worked with gatherers and hunters, but Richard Borshay Lees work with !Kung San in the Kalahari most challenged prevailing paradigms. Lee did not just live with the !Kung to learn their wisdom: he was an expert at weighing game, counting calories, and calculating work hours. Lees seminal article was What Hunters Do for a Living, or, How to Make Out on Scarce Resources
Much of Worst Mistake in the History of the Human Race appears in Diamonds bookThe Third Chimpanzee(1991). Here, Diamond again uses the quote about mongongo nuts, and again does not cite Lee. Diamond mentions Lees work one time, at the end, in a suggestion for further readings. Although such lack of citation might be somewhat excused in his shorter magazine article, it seems to border on unethical plagiarism in a longer book. As I point out below, Diamond borrows more from Lee and DeVoresMan the Hunter
than he acknowledges: he lifts some passages inMan the Hunterfor Worst Mistake in the History of the Human Race.Diamond uses Lee for his very first piece of contrarian evidence:
It turns out that these people have plenty of leisure time, sleep a good deal, and work less hard than their farming neighbors. For instance, the average time devoted each week to obtaining food is only 12 to 19 hours for one group of Bushmen, 14 hours or less for the Hadza nomads of Tanzania. One Bushman, when asked why he hadnt emulated neighboring tribes by adopting agriculture, replied, Why should we, when there are so many mongongo nuts in the world? (Diamond 1987:65)
The quote about mongongo nuts directly from Lees article, but Diamond does not cite or mention Lee. As the Worst Mistake in the History of the Human Race continues to circulate, people now associate the quote more with Diamond than with Lee. However, it is a direct reference to Lees work. (See for example the 2009 BBC blog-post by Tom Feilden Do hunter-gatherers have it right? which mentions one Kalahari Bushman quoted by Jared Diamond.)
