xliii

Odyssey—A Life in Anthropology

When Dr. H. James Birx, the editor of the Encyclo-pedia of Anthropology, and I first met over lunch ina restaurant near the La Brea Tar Pits in Los Angeles,we discovered that, in addition to our commitmentto anthropology, we both have a passion for CharlesDarwin and the profound way that his writings havepermeated the fabric of Western science and culture.At that lunch, James proposed that I write the fore-word to the encyclopedia, a foreword that relates tomy life in anthropology.

Anthropology is the scientific study of human-kind’s origin, biology, and culture. It encompasses avast—and some might say, untidy—body of knowl-edge that has rarely been organized. In real-life terms,an informal but yawning gap has existed betweenthose who study culture, especially of present andpast historically known societies, and those whowrestle with the issues of human origin.

Anthropology has many mothers and fathers, butit was Charles Darwin who shone the brightest lighton the biological nature of humans and the fact thathuman culture ultimately emerged out of the biolog-ical reality of human beings and their evolution.Darwin also emphasized the unmistakable kinship ofhumans and apes.

It has been said that freedom is like air: You don’tnotice it, but if you lose it, then you suffocate. Cultureis also like air in that most people don’t notice it, butit is essential to human survival. Culture is the knowl-edge, beliefs, patterns of behavior, and institutionsthat are transferred from one generation to the nextand shared by a group of people. Culture has enabledhuman beings to survive as a species, to prosper, andultimately to have dominion over the earth. Culture is

the interface between humans and the environment.It buffers us. The extent of our dependence on cultureis part of what makes us unique as a species. Withoutculture, a human being is naked.

I have been studying a population of wild orang-utans now for almost 35 years. When a group of col-leagues and I recently published a paper in Science

FOREWORD

Source: Photograph by Linda Leigh/OFI.

G G G G G

Volume 1.qxd 9/13/2005 3:29 PM Page xliii

ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ANTHROPOLO GYxliv

citing evidence that orangutans have culture, themedia took notice. We were interviewed by theNew York Times and the Washington Post, as well asby other media. Our conclusion was seen as news. Yet,the observation that orangutans have culture shouldnot have come as a surprise. Human beings and thegreat apes are close relatives, and we have known forsome time that great apes possess the most funda-mental elements of culture. Jane Goodall and othershave long demonstrated that wild chimpanzees maketools in their natural environments according to pat-terns learned from other chimpanzees. In captivity,great apes such as the gorilla Koko and, under free-ranging conditions, the orangutan Princess haveexhibited a limited but demonstrable ability to com-municate through symbols.

The exception proves the rule. Other animalsdemonstrate culture, and it has been argued that evensome bird species do. Nonetheless, in some ways,human culture is unique. Complex tool-making andfull-blown language have long been considered thedistinguishing characteristics of humans. It has beenargued that humans are the only animals who maketools to make other tools. Yet, I have never believedin an absolute divide between humans and otheranimals. At most, we can certainly argue that no otheranimal depends so much on culture to survive as dohuman beings.

Thus, anthropology is the most global and inclu-sive of all disciplines. When H. James Birx first askedme to write the foreword to this encyclopedia, I wassurprised to learn that this will be the first compre-hensive international encyclopedia of anthropology. Iwas immediately impressed by the worldwide natureof the enterprise. Over 250 authors from dozens ofuniversities, institutes, and museums have con-tributed to these five volumes, which were assembledin California for printing in China. In addition, con-tributors present subjects and issues in geology, pale-ontology, biology, evolution, sociology, psychology,philosophy, and, yes, even theology that are relevantto anthropology.

I became an anthropologist out of my interest inhuman origins and history. Human evolution hasbeen interwoven with cultural evolution. I thought,like many before me, that the better we understandanimals—especially our closest living relatives in theanimal kingdom, the great apes—the better we wouldunderstand ourselves, our culture, and our evolution.My initial odyssey into anthropology came from

reading. I was a child who read everything that cameinto my hands, including the proverbial back of thecereal box. In elementary school, the very first bookI took out from the public library was Curious George,the story of an adventurous and unruly monkey, whowas brought to an urban environment by an explorerin a tall yellow hat. It had a profound affect on me.But it wasn’t until my third year in university thatI actually took an anthropology class, and the effectwas like a parched person receiving water.

In my last year of undergraduate work, when I was19, I had an epiphany. My psychology professor men-tioned, in passing, a young English woman, who wasliving with wild chimpanzees in Africa. I didn’t knowwho the woman was, but I later discovered that it wasJane Goodall. At that moment, in the psychologyclass, I knew that my destiny was to live with andstudy orangutans in their native habitat. I decided,however, that I would first get my PhD in archaeol-ogy. When I had achieved that, I would go toSoutheast Asia and study wild orangutans in theirnatural habitat. I conducted archaeological fieldworkin Arizona, California, British Columbia, and theformer Yugoslavia.

But fate intervened in the form of the late charis-matic paleoanthropologist, Louis S. B. Leakey. In1959, Louis and his wife Mary had electrified theworld by finding ancient hominid fossils that demon-strated the great antiquity of humankind. He putactual bones, fossil bones that were dated scientifi-cally, into the evolutionary story of our species. Andhe believed that the study of our nearest living kin,the great apes, would help add flesh and blood tothose bones. Louis Leakey enabled me to pursue mylife’s work: the study and conservation of orangutansin Indonesia. Consequently, instead of archaeology,I received my PhD in physical anthropology for mystudy of wild orangutans.

Other anthropologists also inspired me. As Ientered the graduate program in anthropology atUCLA, I learned about many anthropologists whoplayed important roles in the life of Western societies.I am proud to be an anthropologist because anthro-pologists played a key role in steering Western cultureaway from racism and sexism. Anthropologists arealso playing an important role in trying to save greatapes from extinction in their own environments andby fighting for their rights in captivity. Clearly,anthropologists are not immune to the thoughts andbeliefs of their times. But, both generally stressing the

Volume 1.qxd 9/13/2005 3:29 PM Page xliv

FOREWORD xlv

unitary origin of our modern human species, interms of biological evolution, and documenting thediversity and legitimacy of human cultures areimportant achievements that resonate in Westernthinking.

We tend to understand the more recent work in ourfield better than we do its history. Cultural evolution isnot a new area of work. Edward Tylor, who was thefirst professor of anthropology at Oxford, a Quakerwho nurtured anthropology in Great Britain, influ-enced anthropology by his investigations into the sim-ilarities among cultures. Tylor also tried to understandprehistory when no historical record existed. Darwin’swritings influenced Tylor; he saw cultures as examplesof progressive evolution rather than cultures being theproducts of random selection. That the goal of culturewas to progress to the next state or grade was a viewthat persisted in anthropology even into the 1960s.

Rebelling against 19th century cultural evolution-ists, Franz Boas, the father of American anthropology,taught respect for technologically primitive peoplesand fought long and hard against racism during allthe years of his adult life in academia. He also leftgenerations of his students, “Boasians,” who wereinfluenced by his views and carried on his work. Oneof his students, Alfred Kroeber, saw anthropology asa united field rather than a collection of specializa-tions (physical/biological anthropology, archaeology,cultural/social anthropology, and linguistics). At theDepartment of Anthropology at UCLA where I wasa graduate student in the 1960s, Kroeber’s influencewas very much felt. I had to take core courses in allfour of the disciplines of anthropology before Ireceived my master’s degree.

While I was a graduate student at UCLA, two ofthe “stars” of the department were the archaeologistsLewis and Sally Binford. The Binfords introduced the“new archaeology” to the world, an archaeology thatstressed scientific method and the processes that pro-duced prehistoric societies. The Binfords ultimatelydeparted UCLA, but the excitement they generatedwas palpable; like Louis Leakey, Lewis Binford couldhave been an Old Testament prophet for all the emo-tions that he stirred up with his proselytization ofthe new archaeology among faculty and students.But the new archaeology had not sprung fully formedfrom Binford’s brain, like fully-armed Athena fromthe head of Zeus. Rather, Julian Steward’s influencein developing ideas about cultural ecology andmultilinear evolution was very apparent. Cultural

ecology, similar to biological ecology, investigatesthe relationship between environments and culturesor societies. Although his view of evolution stemmedfrom the idea of evolution as progress, Steward didnot believe that all cultures follow the same pathway.Similarities among groups with no demonstrablecontact were due to adaptations rather than diffusion.

But perhaps the most famous anthropologist inthe world was Margaret Mead, certainly the anthro-pologist who was the most widely read of her timeand a “Boasian” herself. Her work in Samoa, specifi-cally on adolescence and child-rearing, had anunprecedented impact on American child-rearingpractices through her influence on Dr. BenjaminSpock, the child-rearing guru of post-World War IINorth America. Her tangential influence on Dr.Spock permeated his advice. Child-rearing practicesin North America reflected his thinking so much thathis advice was taken as the natural way to parent.

Margaret Mead’s influence on the developmentof feminism was also indirect but persuasive. Herdetailed ethnographies were interesting for the waythat they exploded conventional Western thinking ongender and sexual divisions in society. Other writerstook division of labor for granted. Mead, however,demonstrated that gender differences meant morethan just foraging issues and that they were playedout in very complex and different ways in differentsocieties. Mead described three cultures in NewGuinea: In one, men were expected to be feminine (byWestern standards); in another, women were mascu-line, even “macho”; in a third, gender differences wereconsidered inconsequential because men and womenwere thought to be alike.

Although Mead’s research was questioned afterher death, she was probably the most influentialanthropologist of the 20 th century. In addition to herbooks, her frequent columns in a popular women’smagazine helped propagate her views on child-rearing and gender. I briefly met Margaret Mead at aconference a few years before her death, and she wasas solid as the Rock of Gibraltar. Ironically, I also hada long correspondence with Derek Freeman, theAustralian National University professor who led acampaign against Mead’s academic work after herdeath. This campaign generated much controversyand very much reflected the stubborn character Iknew through his correspondence. But in the end,North American society had moved on beyond thecontroversy and Mead’s influence remains.

Volume 1.qxd 9/13/2005 3:29 PM Page xlv

ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ANTHROPOLO GYxlvi

The influence of Louis Leakey, Raymond Dart,and Phillip Tobias in demonstrating that humankindhad a unitary origin, which includes all modernhumankind, also cannot be underestimated, and Ishould mention as well the late Ashley Montagu asan indefatigable fighter against racism. In lectures,conferences, and documentaries and also in theirwritings, these men preached the message that allmodern humans are descended from the same ances-tors and are therefore kin. Perhaps this is the reasonwhy a very inclusive Encyclopedia of Anthropology is soneeded. We need to underscore the fact that anthro-pology gets its strength from its diversity of practi-tioners and disciplines, and that one of its mainstrengths is its global nature. Also, we need to under-stand that, ultimately, every human being is a naturalanthropologist, simply by becoming aware of his orher own biology and culture.

As we do air, we frequently take culture for grantedand ignore its influence on our own thoughts, beliefs,actions, and prejudices. Even in this era of global com-munication, we interpret what we see through our ownlocal cultural lens. At the same time, human exploitsand activities are constrained by the biological realitiesand limits imposed by our own origin and evolution.

This is why anthropology is so important: It illuminatesand explains the continuum of human biological andcultural evolution, and it addresses its limits. Until weunderstand and acknowledge the importance of cul-ture, we are doomed to make terrible mistakes. As theworld becomes increasingly global, these mistakes canhave greater repercussions than ever before. Ideally,there should be anthropologists at every importanttreaty negotiation, that is, anthropologists who caninterpret the cultural realities that so often guide con-flict and war. Perhaps if anthropologists rode on thetanks going to war, then there would be less war.

This monumental encyclopedia makes an aston-ishing contribution to our understanding of humanevolution, human culture, and human reality throughan inclusive global lens. These interesting fivevolumes will be important in explaining humans asbiological and cultural beings, not only to academicanthropologists but also to all the natural anthropol-ogists who constitute our human species.

— Biruté Mary F. GaldikasCamp Leakey,

Tanjung Puting National Park,Borneo, Indonesia

Volume 1.qxd 9/13/2005 3:29 PM Page xlvi