Received: by alpheratz.cpm.aca.mmu.ac.uk id SAA11274 (8.6.9/5.3[ref pg@gmsl.co.uk] for cpm.aca.mmu.ac.uk from fmb-majordomo@mmu.ac.uk); Fri, 14 Jul 2000 18:06:24 +0100 Message-Id: <4.3.1.0.20000714113715.01eea1e0@popmail.mcs.net> X-Sender: aaron@popmail.mcs.net X-Mailer: QUALCOMM Windows Eudora Version 4.3.1 Date: Fri, 14 Jul 2000 11:59:00 -0500 To: memetics@mmu.ac.uk From: Aaron Lynch <aaron@mcs.net> Subject: RE: Memes and sexuality In-Reply-To: <2D1C159B783DD211808A006008062D3101745926@inchna.stir.ac.uk > Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"; format=flowed Sender: fmb-majordomo@mmu.ac.uk Precedence: bulk Reply-To: memetics@mmu.ac.uk
At 02:12 PM 7/14/00 +0100, Vincent Campbell wrote:
>Isn't that one of the famous cases where the natives were playing tricks on
>the investigators?
Vincent,
Do you have a reference, or can you recall any general information about
your source?
Malinowski himself expressed doubt about whether a tribe could really not
know what causes pregnancy, and it is easy to see how a critic could come
up with the idea that he must have been duped. But I don't know of any
convincing evidence. The problem, of course, is that studies based on the
Trobriand islanders after the arrival of missionaries would not count as
evidence that Malinowski was duped. As for his observations of child
sexuality, I assume that you are not raising questions about Malinowski's
observations.
Assuming that missionaries have long since reached the Trobriand islands,
it may now be impossible to prove that the natives did not know of the
connection between sex and reproduction as recently as the early 20th
century. It does, however, seem that bonobos do not know the connection.
Unless we suppose that the knowledge developed as an innate innate trait in
our pre-human ancestors, then it seems very likely that the discovery was
made sometime after the biological evolution of modern humans.
Even if knowledge of what causes pregnancy has been universal through the
entire history of modern humans, that still does not argue against such
knowledge playing a role in the memetic evolution of sexual repression and
the evolution of a double standard for males and females.
--Aaron Lynch
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