Armageddon in New Guinea

realize that nearly all of the history books in the various South African school systems ignore these same facts of resistance because they would give historical base to a just struggle against the ruling regime. By perpetuating concepts of biological determinism without examining whether their data in fact support such a conclusion, Nurse, Jenkins and Weiner open their writings to be used in support of legalized racial discrimination in South Africa. Perhaps the saddest comment that can be made about this book is that its faults detract from its real value as a description of the living genetic patterns of the people of southern Africa. The range of information is impressive and many of the descriptive passages in the book are beautifully written. Add to this the wealth of genotypic information in the long appendix and you have some idea of how valuable the book should be, but the unyielding sociobiological and deterministic interpretations bury this usefulness. My great fear is that students of archaeology, genetics and physical anthropology will simply assume that this is the academic 'bible' on the subject and will absorb many of the speculative passages without criticism. study in human ecology. In Ecological studies in Southern Africa (ed. D. H. S. Davis) pp 67-68. Junk: The Hague. Tobias, P V. 1985. History of Physical Anthropology in Southern Africa. Yearbook of Phys. Anth. 28: 1-52

Ethnology · New guinea · Political science · Sociology · African cultural and philosophical studies · South African History and Culture

• Forgetful and memorious landscapes

  Open Access•Harrison, Simon Harrison•Social Anthropology•2007

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