Around 19,000 years ago, a woman ̶ possibly a woman of some special status ̶ from a group of hunter-gatherers died and was buried in El Mirón Cave in northern Spain. In 1996, archaeologists started exploring the cave, finding abundant evidence of prehistoric people. In 2010 Lawrence Straus, Emeritus Leslie Spier Distinguished Professor at The University of New Mexico, and a Spanish student found the woman’s remains, including her jaw, after Straus had what he described as “a hunch” to dig in an area behind an engraved block at the back of the cave’s huge vestibule.
The Red Lady s jaw
The excavation was directed by Straus and Manuel Gonzalez Morales of the Universidad de Cantabria in Santander between 1996-2013 with the participation of many students from UNM, Cantabria and universities around the world. They found El Mirón has a cultural sequence ranging from the late Middle Paleolithic to the Bronze Age.
An interview by Eshe Lewis with anthropologist Camee Maddox-Wingfield for
Sapiens explores how practitioners of
bèlè on the island of Martinique find agency, healing, and connection. Lewis holds a Ph.D. in cultural anthropology and is the public anthropology fellow at SAPIENS.
As public discussions about social justice and Black resistance continue in the aftermath of the murder of George Floyd, an African American man, by a White, Minneapolis police officer last year, protestors around the world have filled city streets calling for structural changes that will protect and value Black lives. At the same time, Black communities are continuing conversations about creating safe spaces where members can continue to share knowledge, heal, honor their pasts, and build dignified futures.
Black scientists denounce racism at Penn Museum
The following excerpts are from an April 28 statement regarding the unethical, possession and callous racist use of the remains of the children of MOVE who died in the 1985 state bombing of their home in Philadelphia:
The Association of Black Anthropologists, the Society of Black Archaeologists and the Black in Bioanthropology Collective are painfully aware of the barbaric history of anthropology, especially when it comes to populations of peoples of African descent.
We know that our discipline has been mobilized to rationalize eugenics and white supremacy and to justify slavery and colonialism. . . . Ethnographic museums, like Penn’s Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology (which houses the collection of the notorious racist Samuel Morton), have supported the academic rationale for the institutionalization of racism in anthropology textbooks, courses and curricula. (tinyurl.com/2tbb33td) . . . .
Students hold protest in solidarity with MOVE dailyprincetonian.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from dailyprincetonian.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Academia Becomes More Ideological and More Coercive
Commentary
Universities as a community of autonomous scholars delving into knowledge and seeking to expand it is a model long out of date. With the explosive growth of university, scientific, and granting agency bureaucracies, coercive oversight and imposition has grown by magnitudes.
One example is mandatory research ethics tests for professors and students. These became popular in the 1970s and 1980s, as universities became more ideological. When research ethics reviews were first proposed at McGill University, my senior colleagues argued that this was not meant to be an imposition on faculty and students; it was a helpful opportunity for researchers to reflect on ethical responsibilities. But, of course, this non-imposition became an imposition once bureaucrats were appointed to administer and impose the requirement.