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We use a mix of qualitative and quantitative analyses to examine 1354 survey responses from members of the American Anthropological Association about their practice and teaching of cultural anthropology research methods. Latent profile analysis and an examination of responses to open‐ended survey questions reveal distinctive methodological clustering among anthropologists. However, two historical approaches to ethnography remain prominent: deep hanging out and a mixed methods toolkit, with the former remaining central to the practice and teaching of all forms of contemporary cultural anthropology. Further, many anthropologists are committed to advancing research methods that account for power imbalances in fieldwork, such as through community‐based and participatory approaches. And a substantial number also teach a wider array of methods and techniques that open new career pathways for anthropologists. Overall, our study reveals a core set of ethnographic practices—loosely, participant‐observation, informal interviews, and the experiential immersion of the ethnographer—while also highlighting the great breadth of cultural anthropological research practice and pedagogy. The findings presented here can help inform how current and future anthropological practitioners and educators position themselves to meet the ever‐changing demands of community members, funders, clients, collaborators, and students. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the second edition of the book "Race, Monogamy, and Other Lies They Told You: Busting Myths about Human Nature" by Agustín Fuentes. The book aims to debunk myths about race, aggression, and sex by providing scientific theories and evidence. Fuentes explores his own positionality and how it has influenced his work, and he argues that these myths about naturalness and biology contribute to social inequities. The book is organized into two parts, with the first part providing foundational knowledge and the second part addressing specific myths about human behavior. While the book effectively challenges these myths, it could benefit from further analysis of power dynamics and societal hierarchies. Overall, the book serves as a call to action to approach social issues with a nuanced understanding of cultural and biological complexity. [Extracted from the article]

An anthropological approach is needed to counter a rising chorus of biobabble about masculinities, maleness, and violence. Anthropological lenses enable us to examine what we know and what we do not know about issues like testosterone, male primate aggression, and "pink and blue" brains and their relation to masculinities. Pseudoscientific concepts about masculinities and maleness act to justify, bolster, and provoke types of violence against many humans. Anthropologists should take the lead in engaging, untangling, and where necessary refuting narratives that naturalize this kind of violence. For humans, imagination, perceptions, and ideology matter as much as bone, muscle, and chromosomes. We provide here an introduction to a collection of essays offering insights into these issues by scholars across the diverse branches of anthropology and beyond, in order to spur dialogue across the all-too-familiar disciplinary and subdisciplinary divides. We do not wish to remain segregated by different vantage points, ideologies, and methodologies. We disregard traditional boundaries and absorb a full range of ideas, to identify and facilitate connectivities across approaches to men, maleness, and violence. If ever a topic cried out for integrated, borderless scholarship by anthropology in the broadest sense, maleness and violence, and their relations to masculinities, is certainly one example. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In its broadest conceptualization, violence includes everything from physical assault to the creation and maintenance of institutional structures that are discriminatory and exclusionary. However, violence as a topic of biological and archaeological anthropological inquiry has often been limited to malevolent physical assault perpetrated by men against other men. This is due to an outsized focus on the role that men played in the evolutionary history of our species. This conceptualization of violence obscures both the ways that other forms of harm—other violence(s) also often committed by men—structure the daily lives of people who do not have significant social or institutional power and how this harm becomes embodied. In this paper I explore how gendered knowledge production in anthropology has influenced our acceptance of what counts as meaningful harm. I posit that the threat of physical violence and encounters with other violence(s), specifically emotional and structural violence, shape the lives of people who are structurally disadvantaged in ways that are missing from our analyses. When we forgo emphases on war and murder and choose to study other violence(s) that are enacted in families and relationships, we become aware of the kinds of hidden assaults that are often meted out in small doses, eventually accumulating and impacting individual mental and physical health and survivorship. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Alloparental or extramaternal care is an integral aspect of human childrearing. This behavior has been explored both as an extension of the primary mother–infant dyad that evolved to meet the demands of altricial offspring and as an economic exchange of energy and resources. Much of this research centers on foraging or small-scale communities and positions the household as the central unit through which to explore negotiations of care. In this review, I use evidence from Black Caribbean communities living in industrialized countries to challenge the broad applicability of the analytical model of the bounded household and to question whether our current articulations of theory and empirical assessments of extramaternal care are well suited to investigations of these behaviors in the vast majority of contemporary human populations. Alloparental practices in the Caribbean reflect dynamic responses to maternal migration and the local influence of global labor markets. The children who remain at home experience variability in the care received from their surrogate parents. The dynamic aspect of the care practices enacted by these transnational families reveals the behavioral flexibility that has been integral to human survival. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives Although children are typically raised in familial care networks, not all children have access to kin. Here, I investigate the growth measures of children living in two different residential contexts in Jamaica: institutional care settings and familial homes. Methods This cross-sectional study sampled individuals ranging from 5-18 years old, residing in children's homes ( N = 113 participants) and familial homes ( N = 103 participants). Anthropometric measurements and interview data were collected from all participants. Height for age z-scores (ZHFA) and weight for age z-scores (ZWFA) were calculated using the 2007 WHO standards. Body fat was estimated from tricep and suprailiac skinfold thickness. Between group comparisons were completed using analysis of covariance (ANCOVA), with age included as a covariate. Significance was accepted at P ≤ 0.05. Results Context was more predictive of condition among children than adolescents. Both girls and boys ages 5-11 years living with family members had higher mean height and weight for age, and summed skinfold thickness measures, than their peers living in children's homes. Fewer correlations between home setting and growth measurements were found among 12-18 year olds. Notably, although children were randomly assigned to children's homes, boys in a single-sex institution did not differ in growth measurements from boys living with family members. Conclusions Younger children who lived with family members had better growth measurements than their peers living in institutional settings. However, improved growth measures for children living in one home were correlated to nonconventional counseling practices, and nutritional policies that mirror some aspects of familial care. Am. J. Hum. Biol. 28:493-502, 2016. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since the late 1990s, scholars have advocated for the adoption of political-economic approaches in biological anthropology. Despite this, the explicit application of these perspectives remains relatively rare. In this paper we argue for greater investment in this field of inquiry and advocate linking evolutionary-developmental and political-economic approaches to the study of human biology. We begin by discussing the historical development of human biology and the emergence of biocultural approaches in biological and medical anthropology. We then discuss evolutionary approaches grounded in phenotypic plasticity as an important framework for linking culture and biology. Finally, we consider the implications of culture theory based in political economy for building and expanding biocultural models. In particular, we examine the importance of inequality in structuring access to the means of cultural production and the creation of self-reinforcing norms. We finish with a discussion of the implications of these conclusions for future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Little is known about the climate of the scientific fieldwork setting as it relates to gendered experiences, sexual harassment, and sexual assault. We conducted an internet-based survey of field scientists (N = 666) to characterize these experiences. Codes of conduct and sexual harassment policies were not regularly encountered by respondents, while harassment and assault were commonly experienced by respondents during trainee career stages. Women trainees were the primary targets; their perpetrators were predominantly senior to them professionally within the research team. Male trainees were more often targeted by their peers at the research site. Few respondents were aware of mechanisms to report incidents; most who did report were unsatisfied with the outcome. These findings suggest that policies emphasizing safety, inclusivity, and collegiality have the potential to improve field experiences of a diversity of researchers, especially during early career stages. These include better awareness of mechanisms for direct and oblique reporting of harassment and assault and, the implementation of productive response mechanisms when such behaviors are reported. Principal investigators are particularly well positioned to influence workplace culture at their field sites. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents a study regarding the effect of childhood nutritional stress on the health outcomes of adults in Jamaica. It aims to determine the relevance of increased adiposity and body mass index of Jamaican adults to the decreased government budget and limited access for food during Jamaica's period of political and economic instability. After studying both women and men models, it concludes that unsteady social and political environment can trigger poor adult health outcomes.

The article discusses the hypervisibility of Blackness as a cornerstone of physical anthropology which continues to shape both the topical foci of studies and who gets to conduct them. Topics include the shift from a focus on race to a focus on adaptation in the field, how exclusionary practices isolate scholars of color and compromise their ability to advance professionally and how research by Black scholars is described.

Juneteenth commemorates the freeing of the last large group of enslaved people in 1865 at the end of the American Civil War. We asked several Black scientists what Juneteenth means to them in the context of science, technology, engineering, mathematics, and medicine (STEMM)? Their answers run the emotional gamut. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]