Received: by alpheratz.cpm.aca.mmu.ac.uk id MAA17179 (8.6.9/5.3[ref pg@gmsl.co.uk] for cpm.aca.mmu.ac.uk from fmb-majordomo@mmu.ac.uk); Mon, 17 Jul 2000 12:41:51 +0100 Message-ID: <2D1C159B783DD211808A006008062D310174592A@inchna.stir.ac.uk> From: Vincent Campbell <v.p.campbell@stir.ac.uk> To: "'memetics@mmu.ac.uk'" <memetics@mmu.ac.uk> Subject: RE: Memes and sexuality Date: Mon, 17 Jul 2000 12:39:59 +0100 X-Mailer: Internet Mail Service (5.5.2650.21) Content-Type: text/plain Sender: fmb-majordomo@mmu.ac.uk Precedence: bulk Reply-To: memetics@mmu.ac.uk
I just had this vague recollection of reading about a case where the
conclusion that a tribal community didn't know the connection between sex
and child birth, was shown to be false by a later study where a researcher
spent a greater period of time with the tribe.
I'm sorry that this is horribly vague. I have a feeling that I read about it
in Robert Wright's book 'The Moral Animal', but I can't remember.
I entirely agree with the last point, though.
Vincent
> ----------
> From: Aaron Lynch
> Reply To: memetics@mmu.ac.uk
> Sent: Friday, July 14, 2000 5:59 pm
> To: memetics@mmu.ac.uk
> Subject: RE: Memes and sexuality
>
> 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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This was distributed via the memetics list associated with the
Journal of Memetics - Evolutionary Models of Information Transmission
For information about the journal and the list (e.g. unsubscribing)
see: http://www.cpm.mmu.ac.uk/jom-emit
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