Keith F Otterbein
Biographic Data
| ID | 78188 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Keith F Otterbein |
| GIVEN NAMES | Keith F |
| FAMILY NAME | Otterbein |
| SIGNATURE | OTTERBEIN K F |
| AFFILIATIONS | University at Buffalo, State University of New York |
| VERIFIED | No |
| TOTAL WORKS | 72 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 967 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 71 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 1 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1964 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2020 |
| H-INDEX | 14 |
The Evolution of Zulu Warfare 1
The Anthropology of War
While many anthropologists have devoted attention to phenomena variously designated as warfare, feuding, armed conflict, or armed combat, they seldom attempt to define what they are describing. Two review articles dealing with the anthropology of conflict scarcely touch upon the subject of warfare. Warfare, when it has been analyzed by anthropologists, has been treated as a topic, not a theoretical approach. That is, it is a topic to be studied i…
Feuding and Warfare: Selected Works of Keith F. Otterbein
Originally published in 1994, the late Keith F. Otterbein’s scholarship had followed an overall design since 1962, when he began conducting comparative studies of warfare using both ethnographic and cross-cultural methods. Through a conceptual framework derived from systems theory, he made signal contributions to our understanding of the role of warfare in human social evolution. He formulated a Fraternal Interest Group theory, utilizing it to ex…
The Earliest Evidence for Warfare: A Comment on Carbonell et al
Warfare and Its Relationship to the Origins of Agriculture
Nobel Peace Prize-Passed Over Again
Melvin Lawrence Ember (1933-2009)
Archeology Division
On Hunting and Virilocality
The Archaeology of War: An Alternative View
The Doves Have Been Heard from, Where Are the Hawks
Five Feuds: An Analysis of Homicides in Eastern Kentucky in the Late Nineteenth Century
Kentucky feuds are an example of market-based feuding, one of two major types of feuding. Compensation is not paid for a homicide in regions where a local market system is linked to the world system. Feuding kinship groups in Kentucky struggle to eliminate each other, whereas in regions where compensation is paid functional/equilibrium theories are used to explain the balance that seems to occur between kinship groups. The trouble case method is …
Killing of Captured Enemies: A Cross-cultural Study
A History of Research on Warfare in Anthropology
In this brief history of warfare research, I identify four major periods: Foundation Period, Classical Period, Golden Age, and Recent Period. The myth of the peaceful savage arose in the Classical Period rather than in the later periods, as argued by Lawrence Keeley. The myth has its origins in an early evolutionary approach as well as in cultural relativism. It continues to play a major role in warfare research with some anthropologists arguing …
The origins of war
In War Before Civilization, Lawrence H. Keeley argues that prehistoric as well as primitive mankind was more warlike than has been recognized by most scholars. Such scholars subscribe, according to Keeley, to “the myth of the peaceful savage,” the subtitle of his book. But Keeley, who leads a long list of Hawks, has replaced this myth with another, the “myth of the warlike savage.” Anthropologists who argue that serious warfare arose only after t…
The Military and Society in Haiti . Michel S. Laguerre
Feuding and Warfare: Selected Works of Keith F. Otterbein
More on the Nuer Expansion
The Comparative Method in Anthropology [and Comments and Reply]
Feuding and warfare: Selected works of Keith F. Otterbein
Keith F. Otterbein's scholarship has followed an overall design since 1962, when he began conducting comparative studies of warfare using both ethnographic and cross-cultural methods. Through a conceptual framework derived from systems theory, he has made signal contributions to our understanding of the role of warfare in human social evolution. He has formulated a Fraternal Interest Group theory, utilizing it to explain not only feuding and warf…
Ethnic soldiers, messiahs, and cockalorums
Ferguson, R. Brian, and Neil L. Whitehead, eds. War in the Tribal Zone: Expanding States and Indigenous Warfare. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1992. xiv + 303 pp. including appendix, collected references, and index. $35.00 cloth, $15.95 paper. Brown, Michael F., and Eduardo Fernandez. War of Shadows: The Struggle for Utopia in the Peruvian Amazon. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1991. xv + 280 pp. including notes, bibliograph…
"The Original "First
General/Theoretical Anthropology: Conflict Resolution: Cross‐Cultural Perspectives . Kevin Avruch, Peter W. Black , and Joseph A. Scimecca
Egalitarian Behavior and Reverse Dominance Hierarchy [and Comments and Reply]
The Human Community as a Primate Society [and Comments]
Egalitarian Behavior and Reverse Dominance Hierarchy [and Comments and Reply]
The Human Community as a Primate Society [and Comments]
The Comparative Method in Anthropology [and Comments and Reply]
Violence and Sociality in Human Evolution [and Comments and Replies]
An Eye for an Eye, A Tooth for a Tooth: A Cross-Cultural Study of Feuding1
Reconsidering Violence in Simple Human Societies: Homicide among the Gebusi of New Guinea [and Comments and Reply]
Internal War: A Cross-Cultural Study1
In this study, three categories of variables-social structure, political organization, and intersocietal relations-are examined for their influence upon the occurrence of internal war (warfare between culturally similar political communities). A sample of fifty societies is used to test hypotheses that relate variables drawn from the three categories to the frequency of such war. It is demonstrated that fraternal interest groups and unauthorized …
A History of Research on Warfare in Anthropology
In this brief history of warfare research, I identify four major periods: Foundation Period, Classical Period, Golden Age, and Recent Period. The myth of the peaceful savage arose in the Classical Period rather than in the later periods, as argued by Lawrence Keeley. The myth has its origins in an early evolutionary approach as well as in cultural relativism. It continues to play a major role in warfare research with some anthropologists arguing …
Caribbean Family Organization: A Comparative Analysis1
The origins of war
In War Before Civilization, Lawrence H. Keeley argues that prehistoric as well as primitive mankind was more warlike than has been recognized by most scholars. Such scholars subscribe, according to Keeley, to “the myth of the peaceful savage,” the subtitle of his book. But Keeley, who leads a long list of Hawks, has replaced this myth with another, the “myth of the warlike savage.” Anthropologists who argue that serious warfare arose only after t…
Why Exceptions? The Logic of Cross-Cultural Analysis [and Comments and Reply]
This paper discusses the factors causing exceptions to rules in the social sciences in general and in social anthropology in particular. Exceptions may occur through defective classification by ethnologists. For example, the ethnologist may define the phenomena under consideration poorly. The importance of using operational definitions must therefore be stressed. He may class phenomena in the same category without making sure that their frequency…
Sampling in Cross-Cultural Research
On Reconsidering Violence in Simple Human Societies
Basic Steps in Conducting a Cross-Cultural Study
Killing of Captured Enemies: A Cross-cultural Study
Sampling and Samples in Cross-Cultural Studies
The various samples and sampling universes available to the researcher about to undertake a cross-cultural study are systematically reviewed. Discussed are the Human Relations Area Files, the "World Ethnographic Sample," the Ethnographic Atlas (both the complete atlas as well as the summary version), the Standard Cross-Cultural Sample, the Quality Control Sample (or HRAF Probability Sample), and the "Standard Eth nographic Sample." Following an a…
Five Feuds: An Analysis of Homicides in Eastern Kentucky in the Late Nineteenth Century
Kentucky feuds are an example of market-based feuding, one of two major types of feuding. Compensation is not paid for a homicide in regions where a local market system is linked to the world system. Feuding kinship groups in Kentucky struggle to eliminate each other, whereas in regions where compensation is paid functional/equilibrium theories are used to explain the balance that seems to occur between kinship groups. The trouble case method is …
Feuding and Warfare: Selected Works of Keith F. Otterbein
Higi Armed Combat
The Ultimate Coercive Sanction: A Cross-Cultural Study of Capital Punishment
Dominant Epistemological Presuppositions in the Use of the Cross-Cultural Survey Method [and Comments and Reply]
This article subjects to critical analysis the epistemological conceptions which have dominated the way cross-cultural survey research has been carried out and propagated within the anthropological discipline. These conceptions may be characterized as inductivist and empiricist. This orientation is critized primarily from the point of view of Popper's concept of science. In this context, problems of concept formation and theory construction as we…
Believers and Beaters: A Case Study of Supernatural Beliefs and Child Rearing in the Bahama Islands
The research described in this article tests the hypothesis that caretakers who fear the supernatural will inflict more pain on the children in their charge than will those caretakers who do not fear the supernatural. The hypothesis is drawn from a larger body of theory which states that child training practices influence adult personality, including beliefs in the supernatural-these beliefs in turn influence the training of children. In order to…
Feuding and Warfare: Selected Works of Keith F. Otterbein
Originally published in 1994, the late Keith F. Otterbein’s scholarship had followed an overall design since 1962, when he began conducting comparative studies of warfare using both ethnographic and cross-cultural methods. Through a conceptual framework derived from systems theory, he made signal contributions to our understanding of the role of warfare in human social evolution. He formulated a Fraternal Interest Group theory, utilizing it to ex…
On Hunting and Virilocality
Warfare: A Hitherto Unrecognized Critical Variable
Why the Iroquois Won: An Analysis of Iroquois Military Tactics
Iroquois military success has been attributed to several factors. These include, a strategic position between the western fur supply and the eastern market, a political organization superior to those of their neighbors, access to guns and ammunition, and high morale.1 In recognizing the importance of these factors, scholars have overlooked the fact that the Iroquois achieved victory at critical times during the 17th century through the use of sup…
Principles Governing the Usage of In-Law Terminology on Andros Island, Bahamas
General and Culture Change: They Studied Man. Abram Kardiner and Edward Preble
An Eye for an Eye, A Tooth for a Tooth: A Cross-Cultural Study of Feuding1
Caribbean Family Organization: A Comparative Analysis1
Yoruba Warfare in the Nineteenth Century . J. F. Ade Ajayi, Robert Smith
Otterbein's Reply to Goode
Other: Descent from the Hills. Stanhope White
Why Exceptions? The Logic of Cross-Cultural Analysis [and Comments and Reply]
This paper discusses the factors causing exceptions to rules in the social sciences in general and in social anthropology in particular. Exceptions may occur through defective classification by ethnologists. For example, the ethnologist may define the phenomena under consideration poorly. The importance of using operational definitions must therefore be stressed. He may class phenomena in the same category without making sure that their frequency…
The Andros Islanders: A Study of Family Organization in the Bahamas
The Andros Islanders. A Study of Family Organization in the Bahamas
Internal War: A Cross-Cultural Study1
In this study, three categories of variables-social structure, political organization, and intersocietal relations-are examined for their influence upon the occurrence of internal war (warfare between culturally similar political communities). A sample of fifty societies is used to test hypotheses that relate variables drawn from the three categories to the frequency of such war. It is demonstrated that fraternal interest groups and unauthorized …
Higi Armed Combat
Basic Steps in Conducting a Cross-Cultural Study
Stratification: Family and Colour in Jamaica. Fernando Henriques
The Developmental Cycle of the Andros Household: A Diachronic Analysis1
This study focuses on the changes in house-hold composition that have occurred during the past decade in four villages located on southern Andros, Bahamas. A diachronic analysis of the changes that have occurred in the Andros household is presented, using as its methodology a statistical comparison of two censuses taken seven years apart. The statistical data fail to confirm the "typical" Andros developmental cycle, which had been derived from ad…
Black Carib Household Structure: A Study of Migration and Modernization
"Comment on "Correlates of Political Complexity
A Typology of Evolutionary Theories
A typology of evolutionary theories, derived from Steward's (1955) uni lincar, universal, and multilinear evolution, and from Sahlins' (1960) spe cific and general evolution, is developed in this article. Two attributes, the unit of analysis and the number of sequences, are found to be common to all five theories. The attributes are used to construct the typology. It is shown that unilinear and general evolution are the same theory, while univers…
Comparative Cultural Analysis: An Introduction to Anthropology
Believers and Beaters: A Case Study of Supernatural Beliefs and Child Rearing in the Bahama Islands
The research described in this article tests the hypothesis that caretakers who fear the supernatural will inflict more pain on the children in their charge than will those caretakers who do not fear the supernatural. The hypothesis is drawn from a larger body of theory which states that child training practices influence adult personality, including beliefs in the supernatural-these beliefs in turn influence the training of children. In order to…
Dominant Epistemological Presuppositions in the Use of the Cross-Cultural Survey Method [and Comments and Reply]
This article subjects to critical analysis the epistemological conceptions which have dominated the way cross-cultural survey research has been carried out and propagated within the anthropological discipline. These conceptions may be characterized as inductivist and empiricist. This orientation is critized primarily from the point of view of Popper's concept of science. In this context, problems of concept formation and theory construction as we…
Sampling and Samples in Cross-Cultural Studies
The various samples and sampling universes available to the researcher about to undertake a cross-cultural study are systematically reviewed. Discussed are the Human Relations Area Files, the "World Ethnographic Sample," the Ethnographic Atlas (both the complete atlas as well as the summary version), the Standard Cross-Cultural Sample, the Quality Control Sample (or HRAF Probability Sample), and the "Standard Eth nographic Sample." Following an a…
Warfare, Territorial Expansion, and Cultural Evolution
Warfare: A Hitherto Unrecognized Critical Variable
Sociology (47 works) · History (37 works) · Computer Science (29 works) · Anthropology (28 works) · History (28 works) · Library science (23 works) · Citation (20 works) · Political science (18 works) · Geography (14 works) · Law (14 works)