Have you seen a Mpafako?

Conrad Kottak's international edition of Anthropology: the exploration of human diversity is my bible this week. Here's part of the glossary. The 13th item on the list is mentioned on the author's account of his study on the economy and social life of the Betsileo people in Madagascar.



1. adapids early (Eocene) primate family ancestral to lemurs and lorises



2. advocacy view the belief that precisely because anthropologists are experts on human problems and social change, and because they study, understand, and respect cultural views, they should make policy affecting people



3. affinals relatives by marriage, whether of lineals (e.g., son's wife) or collaterals (e.g., sister's husband)



4. agnates members of the same patrilineal descent group



5. ahimsa Hindu doctrine that prohibits harming life, and thus cattle slaughter



6. allele a biochemical difference involving a particular gene



7. Allen's rule Rule stating that the relative parts of protruding body parts (such as ears, tails, bills, fingers, toes and limbs) tend to increase in warmer climates



8. anatomically modern humans (AMHs) including the Cro Magnons of Europe and the older fossils of Skhul and Qafzeh; continue through the present



9. apical ancestor in a descent group, the individual who stands at the apex, or top of the common genealogy



10. Anthropoidea one of two suborders of primates; includes monkeys, apes and humans



11. arboreal theory Theory that the primates evolved by adapting to life high up in the trees, where visual abilities would have been favored over the sense of smell, and grasping hands and feet would have been used for movement along branches



12. archaic state nonidustrial state



13. mpakafo the Malagasy vampire

Megan and Janet host

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