- Paperback: 384 pages
- Publisher: University of California Press (6 April 2010)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0520253426
- ISBN-13: 978-0520253421
- Product Dimensions: 22.6 x 15.2 x 2 cm
- Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 542,380 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
The Hadza
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Review
"This quantitative ethnography ... introduces readers to the contemporary field of understanding human behaviour from an evolutionary perspective."--Times Higher Ed Supp (Thes) "Riveting... It is the most important single source of information about the Hadza, and it is superb, combining many of the virtues of classical ethnography with rigorous quantitative description and experimental hypothesis testing. "--American Scientist "Thought-provoking."--Choice
Product Description
In "The Hadza", Frank Marlowe provides a quantitative ethnography of one of the last remaining societies of hunter-gatherers in the world. The Hadza, who inhabit an area of East Africa near the Serengeti and Olduvai Gorge, have long drawn the attention of anthropologists and archaeologists for maintaining a foraging lifestyle in a region that is key to understanding human origins. Marlowe ably applies his years of research with the Hadza to cover the traditional topics in ethnography - subsistence, material culture, religion, and social structure. But the book's unique contribution is to introduce readers to the more contemporary field of behavioral ecology, which attempts to understand human behavior from an evolutionary perspective. To that end, "The Hadza" also articulates the necessary background for readers whose exposure to human evolutionary theory is minimal.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This is a book anyone with an interest in anthropology, human behaviour, culture and evolution should read. Marlowe is a first rate scientist who has devoted many years to studying one of the only immediate return hunter-gatherer groups left in the world--the Hadza. As such, they offer fascinating insights into the kind of life we used to lead. Eschewing easy categorisations or simple explanations Marlowe shows us the kinds of things that can only be discovered with dedication and scholarship. He shows how some of the simplifcations of evolutionary psychology need to be updated and revised--while avoiding the vacuous "it's all down to culture" style of non-explanation, that those who want to pretend that biology and ecology have no influcence on human behaviour wallow in.
Format:Paperback
Frank Marlowe has spent many years studying and measuring this extraordinary hunter-gatherer tribe, the Hadzas - and this book is an eminently readable distillation of his work. For professionals it is a rich source of information and ground-breaking insights. For the lay reader, it is a fascinating and eye-opening account of what life must have been like for us humans for eons in our evolutionary past.
Marlowe is conscious that the Hadza are in a way an oddity. They have maintained their ancient way of life in spite of outside efforts from missionaries and governments, and external pressure from surrounding tribes like the Masai. Where necessary he points up where they differ from other savanna forager models such as the !Kung San as exemplified by Richard Lee's classic studies in the 1960s Kalahari Hunter-Gatherers: Studies of the !Kung San and their Neighbors
For example, compared to the San, the Hadza seem to be less territorial and less confrontational. If someone tries to boss them around, they just move away or even move to another camp. There are only a few hundred Hadza in total so they seem to regard themselves as one big extended family rather than (as with other foragers) a collection of rival bands maintaining bitter-sweet relations with each other.
It is refreshing to find that Marlowe is not infected with the starry-eyed ideals of the `noble savage' or the grotesque aberrations of the Standard Social Science Model (SSRI) promoted by (notably) Franz Boas, Margaret Mead, Richard Lewontin and Steven J. Gould. (For a fine debunking of the SSRI see The Blank Slate: The Modern Denial of Human Nature (Penguin Press Science).) So it is that Marlowe drily reports on the men always on the lookout to have extra-marital affairs; stepfathers, in spite of their protestations to the contrary, giving preference to their biological offspring; males being fiercely sexually jealous (leading sometimes to murder); gender roles being specific - men hunt (and do it alone), women forage (and do it in parties of average size 5).
The range of phenomena Marlowe reports on is truly startling: In a lifetime on average, Hadza women only menstruate 100 times, compared to 400 times with western women; boys get their first bow and arrows at the age of three (and spend hours a day practising); grandmothers provide more food than any other group; baobab paste is weaning food; squabbles are more prevalent in bigger camps than smaller; for protection, the foraging party of women bring along a young boy armed with his bow and arrows; scavenged meat (often rotten) gives them stomach aches - but they still eat it; fruits provide 40% by weight of the diet in camp; male body-fat percentage is 10 and female 18; the pull on an average Hadza bow is high at 69 lb; falling out of baobab trees is a notable cause of death in old age; women walk 5.5 km per day when foraging, men 8.3 km per day when hunting;...
There is so much more, most of it seriously scientific. That makes this book a valuable work of reference in naturally adapted human behavior, feeding patterns, physical activity, spirituality, and lifestyle generally. It provides rich material for studies like mine where we analyze and describe how lifestyle diseases typified by cancer, heart disease, stroke, diabetes etc. are due to the mismatch between the way we live today and the lifestyle designed by our hunter-gatherer evolutionary past.
As an evolutionary lifestyle anthropologist, I fully recognize the unique contribution this book makes to our state of knowledge, and this encyclopedic information would have provided enriching backup for my own (but earlier) book Deadly Harvest: The Intimate Relationship Between Our Health and Our Food.
I thoroughly recommend Marlowe's book to anyone interested in understanding what it means to live like nature intended - and of course, anyone studying evolutionary anthropology and related fields.
Oh, and by the way - for those new to such topics, Marlowe helpfully provides simple introductions to the ideas of natural selection (Darwin), altruism within blood relations (Hamilton), parent/child conflict (Trivers), and game theory to explain sharing patterns within groups (Maynard Smith).
Marlowe is conscious that the Hadza are in a way an oddity. They have maintained their ancient way of life in spite of outside efforts from missionaries and governments, and external pressure from surrounding tribes like the Masai. Where necessary he points up where they differ from other savanna forager models such as the !Kung San as exemplified by Richard Lee's classic studies in the 1960s Kalahari Hunter-Gatherers: Studies of the !Kung San and their Neighbors
For example, compared to the San, the Hadza seem to be less territorial and less confrontational. If someone tries to boss them around, they just move away or even move to another camp. There are only a few hundred Hadza in total so they seem to regard themselves as one big extended family rather than (as with other foragers) a collection of rival bands maintaining bitter-sweet relations with each other.
It is refreshing to find that Marlowe is not infected with the starry-eyed ideals of the `noble savage' or the grotesque aberrations of the Standard Social Science Model (SSRI) promoted by (notably) Franz Boas, Margaret Mead, Richard Lewontin and Steven J. Gould. (For a fine debunking of the SSRI see The Blank Slate: The Modern Denial of Human Nature (Penguin Press Science).) So it is that Marlowe drily reports on the men always on the lookout to have extra-marital affairs; stepfathers, in spite of their protestations to the contrary, giving preference to their biological offspring; males being fiercely sexually jealous (leading sometimes to murder); gender roles being specific - men hunt (and do it alone), women forage (and do it in parties of average size 5).
The range of phenomena Marlowe reports on is truly startling: In a lifetime on average, Hadza women only menstruate 100 times, compared to 400 times with western women; boys get their first bow and arrows at the age of three (and spend hours a day practising); grandmothers provide more food than any other group; baobab paste is weaning food; squabbles are more prevalent in bigger camps than smaller; for protection, the foraging party of women bring along a young boy armed with his bow and arrows; scavenged meat (often rotten) gives them stomach aches - but they still eat it; fruits provide 40% by weight of the diet in camp; male body-fat percentage is 10 and female 18; the pull on an average Hadza bow is high at 69 lb; falling out of baobab trees is a notable cause of death in old age; women walk 5.5 km per day when foraging, men 8.3 km per day when hunting;...
There is so much more, most of it seriously scientific. That makes this book a valuable work of reference in naturally adapted human behavior, feeding patterns, physical activity, spirituality, and lifestyle generally. It provides rich material for studies like mine where we analyze and describe how lifestyle diseases typified by cancer, heart disease, stroke, diabetes etc. are due to the mismatch between the way we live today and the lifestyle designed by our hunter-gatherer evolutionary past.
As an evolutionary lifestyle anthropologist, I fully recognize the unique contribution this book makes to our state of knowledge, and this encyclopedic information would have provided enriching backup for my own (but earlier) book Deadly Harvest: The Intimate Relationship Between Our Health and Our Food.
I thoroughly recommend Marlowe's book to anyone interested in understanding what it means to live like nature intended - and of course, anyone studying evolutionary anthropology and related fields.
Oh, and by the way - for those new to such topics, Marlowe helpfully provides simple introductions to the ideas of natural selection (Darwin), altruism within blood relations (Hamilton), parent/child conflict (Trivers), and game theory to explain sharing patterns within groups (Maynard Smith).
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
3 reviews
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Good source of information about the Hadza
30 Jan 2011
Format:Kindle Edition
The Hadza are the last tribe of hunter-gatherers in Tanzania. I had the opportunity to visit a group of this tribe (they are located close to Lake Eyasi in Northern Tanzania). I read this book just after my visit to the tribe and it was a good way to learn more about the Hadza.
I definitly did not find it borring any minute. It is well documented and full of explanation. I would definitly recommand it.
Of course it is an ethnology/antropology book which contains a lot of data. Not being a specialist I concentrated more on the narrative part and I found it very informative.
I definitly did not find it borring any minute. It is well documented and full of explanation. I would definitly recommand it.
Of course it is an ethnology/antropology book which contains a lot of data. Not being a specialist I concentrated more on the narrative part and I found it very informative.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
A wondrous addition to the literature on the hunter-gatherer way of life
29 Jan 2012
Format:Paperback
Frank Marlowe has spent many years in the field researching this extraordinary hunter-gatherer tribe, the Hadzas - and this book is an eminently readable distillation of his work. For professionals it is a rich source of information and ground-breaking insights. For the lay reader, it is a fascinating and eye-opening account of what life must have been like for us humans for eons in our evolutionary past.
Marlowe is conscious that the Hadza are in a way an oddity. They have maintained their ancient way of life in spite of outside efforts from missionaries and governments, and external pressure from surrounding tribes like the Masai. Where necessary he points up where they differ from other savanna forager models such as the !Kung San as exemplified by Richard Lee's classic studies in the 1960s. See his book: Kalahari Hunter-Gatherers.
For example, compared to the San, the Hadza seem to be less territorial and less confrontational. If someone tries to boss them around, they just move away or even move to another camp. There are only a few hundred Hadza in total so they seem to regard themselves as one big extended family rather than (as with other foragers) a collection of rival bands maintaining bitter-sweet relations with each other.
It is refreshing to find that Marlowe is not infected with the starry-eyed ideals of the `noble savage' or the grotesque aberrations of the Standard Social Science Model (SSSM) promoted by (notably) Franz Boas, Margaret Mead, Richard Lewontin and Steven J. Gould. (For a fine debunking of the SSSM see Steven Pinker's book: The Blank Slate: The Modern Denial of Human Nature.) So it is that Marlowe drily reports on the men always on the lookout to have extra-marital affairs; on stepfathers, in spite of their protestations to the contrary, giving preference to their biological offspring; on males being fiercely sexually jealous (leading sometimes to murder); on gender roles being specific - men hunt (and do it alone), women forage (and do it in parties of average size 5).
The range of phenomena Marlowe reports on is truly startling: In a lifetime on average, Hadza women only menstruate 100 times, compared to 400 times with western women; boys get their first bow and arrows at the age of three (and spend hours a day practising); grandmothers provide more food than any other group; baobab paste is weaning food; squabbles are more prevalent in bigger camps than smaller; for protection, the foraging party of women bring along a young boy armed with his bow and arrows; scavenged meat (often rotten) gives them stomach aches - but they still eat it; fruits provide 40% by weight of the diet in camp; male body-fat percentage is 10 and female 18; the pull on an average Hadza bow is high at 69 lb; falling out of baobab trees is a notable cause of death in old age; women walk 5.5 km per day when foraging, men 8.3 km per day when hunting;...
There is so much more, most of it seriously scientific. That makes this book a valuable work of reference in naturally adapted human behavior, feeding patterns, physical activity, spirituality, and lifestyle generally. It provides rich material for studies like mine where we analyze and describe how lifestyle diseases typified by cancer, heart disease, stroke, diabetes etc. are due to the mismatch between the way we live today and the lifestyle designed by our hunter-gatherer evolutionary past.
As an evolutionary lifestyle anthropologist, I fully recognize the unique contribution this book makes to our state of knowledge, and this encyclopedic information would have provided enriching backup for my own (but earlier) book Deadly Harvest: Our past, present and future diets - and why we should care.
I thoroughly recommend Marlowe's book to anyone interested in understanding what it means to live like nature intended - and of course, anyone studying evolutionary anthropology and related fields.
Oh, and by the way - for those new to such topics, Marlowe helpfully provides simple introductions to the ideas of natural selection (Darwin), altruism within blood relations (Hamilton), parent/child conflict (Trivers), and game theory to explain sharing patterns within groups (Maynard Smith).
Marlowe is conscious that the Hadza are in a way an oddity. They have maintained their ancient way of life in spite of outside efforts from missionaries and governments, and external pressure from surrounding tribes like the Masai. Where necessary he points up where they differ from other savanna forager models such as the !Kung San as exemplified by Richard Lee's classic studies in the 1960s. See his book: Kalahari Hunter-Gatherers.
For example, compared to the San, the Hadza seem to be less territorial and less confrontational. If someone tries to boss them around, they just move away or even move to another camp. There are only a few hundred Hadza in total so they seem to regard themselves as one big extended family rather than (as with other foragers) a collection of rival bands maintaining bitter-sweet relations with each other.
It is refreshing to find that Marlowe is not infected with the starry-eyed ideals of the `noble savage' or the grotesque aberrations of the Standard Social Science Model (SSSM) promoted by (notably) Franz Boas, Margaret Mead, Richard Lewontin and Steven J. Gould. (For a fine debunking of the SSSM see Steven Pinker's book: The Blank Slate: The Modern Denial of Human Nature.) So it is that Marlowe drily reports on the men always on the lookout to have extra-marital affairs; on stepfathers, in spite of their protestations to the contrary, giving preference to their biological offspring; on males being fiercely sexually jealous (leading sometimes to murder); on gender roles being specific - men hunt (and do it alone), women forage (and do it in parties of average size 5).
The range of phenomena Marlowe reports on is truly startling: In a lifetime on average, Hadza women only menstruate 100 times, compared to 400 times with western women; boys get their first bow and arrows at the age of three (and spend hours a day practising); grandmothers provide more food than any other group; baobab paste is weaning food; squabbles are more prevalent in bigger camps than smaller; for protection, the foraging party of women bring along a young boy armed with his bow and arrows; scavenged meat (often rotten) gives them stomach aches - but they still eat it; fruits provide 40% by weight of the diet in camp; male body-fat percentage is 10 and female 18; the pull on an average Hadza bow is high at 69 lb; falling out of baobab trees is a notable cause of death in old age; women walk 5.5 km per day when foraging, men 8.3 km per day when hunting;...
There is so much more, most of it seriously scientific. That makes this book a valuable work of reference in naturally adapted human behavior, feeding patterns, physical activity, spirituality, and lifestyle generally. It provides rich material for studies like mine where we analyze and describe how lifestyle diseases typified by cancer, heart disease, stroke, diabetes etc. are due to the mismatch between the way we live today and the lifestyle designed by our hunter-gatherer evolutionary past.
As an evolutionary lifestyle anthropologist, I fully recognize the unique contribution this book makes to our state of knowledge, and this encyclopedic information would have provided enriching backup for my own (but earlier) book Deadly Harvest: Our past, present and future diets - and why we should care.
I thoroughly recommend Marlowe's book to anyone interested in understanding what it means to live like nature intended - and of course, anyone studying evolutionary anthropology and related fields.
Oh, and by the way - for those new to such topics, Marlowe helpfully provides simple introductions to the ideas of natural selection (Darwin), altruism within blood relations (Hamilton), parent/child conflict (Trivers), and game theory to explain sharing patterns within groups (Maynard Smith).
1 of 14 people found the following review helpful
Boring
27 Dec 2010
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
I gave it 5 stars because it's not their fault this is a boring book but it is. If you need it for class, this is the right one and it's legit. Get it and get a good grade in your class.
A++ WOULD BUY AGAIN IF I HAD TO BECAUSE OF A CLASS, NOT BECAUSE I WANT TO READ IT.
A++ WOULD BUY AGAIN IF I HAD TO BECAUSE OF A CLASS, NOT BECAUSE I WANT TO READ IT.
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