Current Developments In Anthropological Genetics

The papers in this volume were presented as part of the University of Kansas Department of Anthropology Distinguished Lecture Program on Anthro pological Genetics. Consecutively, each contributor spent approximately a week on the campus at Lawrence participating in a seminar. The contributors to this volume were not on campus at one time, but visited us on alternating weeks; hence, a symposium-type interchange was not possible between all participants. However, the students and faculty of Kansas University acted as a sounding board. This volume can be considered a companion and continuation of Methods and Theories of Anthropological Genetics, which was based upon a symposium on the state of the art in 1971. This present volume reflects what we consider to be some of the advances and current developments in anthropological genetics since 1973. Emphasis has shifted, to some degree, away from population struc ture analysis (as depicted in Crawford and Workman) to genetic epidemiology. However, population structure still remains a fertile and ongoing area of research with many theoretical questions still remaining unanswered.

This volume examines the interrelationship of ecology, subsistence pat terns, and the observed genetic variation in human populations. Hence, the book is divided conceptually into the following categories: nonhuman primates, hunters and gatherers, nomads, swidden agriculturalists, peas ant farmers, religious isolates, and modern and urban aggregates. While many of these populations have experienced (and are experiencing) ac culturation as a result of contact with technologically more advanced groups, the genetic structures described in this volume attempt to recon struct the traditional patterns as well as genetic changes because of con tact. Most chapters also integrate biological (genetic), social, and de mographic data within an ecological frame thus presenting a holistic view of the population structures of ecologically distinct groups. The first chapter examines the body of early nonhuman primate lit erature that emphasized ecological determinism in effecting the popula tion structure of our primate ancestors-relatives. It also examines more recent literature (since 1970) in which it became apparent that greater flexibility exists in primate social structure within specific environmental frameworks. Thus, it appears that our nonhuman primate evolutionary heritage is not one of ecological determinism in social organization but one of flexibility and rapid change suggesting the evolutionary success of our species is based upon a system of flexibility and that social ad aptations can be accomplished in a number of diverse ways.

While the previous two volumes in this series were based upon methodol ogy, theory, and the relationship between ecology and population structure, this book can be viewed as an in-depth case study. The population genetics of a multitude of diverse groups geographically distributed throughout the world was examined in the first two volumes. In contrast, this volume focuses upon a single ethnic group, the Black Caribs (Garifuna) of Central America and St. Vincent Island, and explores the interrelationships among the ethnohistory, sociocultural characteristics, demography, morphology, and genetic structure of the group. This volume offers a broad and intensive treatment of the Black Caribs and their interactions with surrounding populations. My interest in the genetics of the Black Caribs was sparked by an accidental meeting in Amsterdam, Holland, in March 1975. A conversation with Nancie Gonzalez at the Applied Anthropology Meetings revealed the "truth-is-stranger than·fiction" history of the Black Carib peoples of the Caribbean. This was a popUlation with a small-sized founding group and a unique biological success story. Nancie Gonzalez was particularly interested in estimating the Carib Indian admixture in the contemporary Garifuna popUlation. Given my previous experi ence in estimating Spanish and African admixture in the Tlaxcaltecan population (whose gene pool consisted predominantly of Indian alleles), a group that appeared to be primarily African with some Indian admixture was of great interest. Aside from the ethnohistorical interest, I believe that such a population may add conSiderably to our understanding of the inheritance of complex morphological traits.

While the previous two volumes in this series were based upon methodol ogy, theory, and the relationship between ecology and population structure, this book can be viewed as an in-depth case study. The population genetics of a multitude of diverse groups geographically distributed throughout the world was examined in the first two volumes. In contrast, this volume focuses upon a single ethnic group, the Black Caribs (Garifuna) of Central America and St. Vincent Island, and explores the interrelationships among the ethnohistory, sociocultural characteristics, demography, morphology, and genetic structure of the group. This volume offers a broad and intensive treatment of the Black Caribs and their interactions with surrounding populations. My interest in the genetics of the Black Caribs was sparked by an accidental meeting in Amsterdam, Holland, in March 1975. A conversation with Nancie Gonzalez at the Applied Anthropology Meetings revealed the "truth-is-stranger than·fiction" history of the Black Carib peoples of the Caribbean. This was a popUlation with a small-sized founding group and a unique biological success story. Nancie Gonzalez was particularly interested in estimating the Carib Indian admixture in the contemporary Garifuna popUlation. Given my previous experi ence in estimating Spanish and African admixture in the Tlaxcaltecan population (whose gene pool consisted predominantly of Indian alleles), a group that appeared to be primarily African with some Indian admixture was of great interest. Aside from the ethnohistorical interest, I believe that such a population may add conSiderably to our understanding of the inheritance of complex morphological traits.

The papers in this volume were presented as part of the University of Kansas Department of Anthropology Distinguished Lecture Program on Anthro pological Genetics. Consecutively, each contributor spent approximately a week on the campus at Lawrence participating in a seminar. The contributors to this volume were not on campus at one time, but visited us on alternating weeks; hence, a symposium-type interchange was not possible between all participants. However, the students and faculty of Kansas University acted as a sounding board. This volume can be considered a companion and continuation of Methods and Theories of Anthropological Genetics, which was based upon a symposium on the state of the art in 1971. This present volume reflects what we consider to be some of the advances and current developments in anthropological genetics since 1973. Emphasis has shifted, to some degree, away from population struc ture analysis (as depicted in Crawford and Workman) to genetic epidemiology. However, population structure still remains a fertile and ongoing area of research with many theoretical questions still remaining unanswered.