© 2008 International Institute of
Anthropology
© 2008 Lolita Nikolova, PhD
Last updated: 10-07-09.
Anthropology
© 2008 Lolita Nikolova, PhD
Last updated: 10-07-09.
See also http://www.iianthropology.org/2009tagusaabstractthings
Enculturation, Social Brain and Balkan Prehistory
The application of enculturation as a lifelong process in the individual social biography to the social brain is at the scale of the whole human history. The
early stages of development of the human civilization had resulted in graduate discoveries and reproduction of basic for the human society social
parameters, and the evolution of the social brain always included changes that can be often traced straightforwardly in the material culture. However,
they become usually invisible when we turn our research toward social psychology of the individuals and communities (in terms of self-awareness, for
instance).
Balkan Prehistory is extremely wealthy source for the early development of the social brain. In our presentation we will approach archaeological
records that reflect specifically some characteristics of the social reproduction related to the role of the genealogy knowledge in the enculturation process
of the individuals and social psychology of the multi-scale communities in terms of norms of social interactions. We will attempt to destructure some
components of the Balkan prehistoric material culture in three directions.
At the outset, we will represent most recent contributions and especially how the prehistoric Balkan genealogy relates to the problems of social
identity (Bailey 2007), individual life histories (Zvelebil and Weber 2008), subsistence dietary pattern (Tasić 2000; Bonsall 2007:58), social competition
theory (Tripković 2003), early symbolic systems for communication (Nikolova, ed. 2003), anthropology of everydayness (Nikolova 2004, on-line), the
problem of accumulation of wealth (Nikolova & Merlini 2008), the interactions between the sexual and cultural reproductions (Schuster & Nikolova 2008),
etc.
Afterward, we will test our conclusions against the variety of scientific hypotheses of the emergence and early development of the social brain.
Finally, we will attempt to outline some perspectives for future research of prehistoric genealogy as enculturation and social reproductive means that
reflected on the evolution of the social brain and on the evolution of the social self-awareness in Prehistory.
External links:
Burns, Jonathan (2006). The social brain hypothesis of schizophrenia. http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?artid=1525115
Dunbar, Robin I.M. (1998) The Social Brain Hypothesis. http://www.liv.ac.uk/evolpsyc/Evol_Anthrop_6.pdf
Link to a session at TAG 2008 UK:
Becoming Human - the archaeology of the social brain. A session at TAG 2008, Southampton, UK organized by James Cole (University of Southampton;
jnc201@soton.ac.uk) and Lisa Cashmore (University of Southampton; lac1@soton.ac.uk)
Jonathan Burns:
"Patients with schizophrenia display abnormalities in a wide range of social cognition tasks such as emotion recognition, theory of mind and affective
responsiveness. Furthermore, recent research indicates that schizophrenia is a disorder of functional and structural connectivity of social brain networks.
These findings lend support to the claim that schizophrenia represents a costly by-product of social brain evolution in Homo sapiens. Individuals
with this disorder find themselves seriously disadvantaged in the social arena and vulnerable to the stresses of their complex social environments. This
state of "disembodiment" and interpersonal alienation is the core phenomenon of schizophrenia and the root cause of intolerable suffering in the lives of
those affected." (http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?artid=1525115)
Enculturation, Social Brain and Balkan Prehistory
The application of enculturation as a lifelong process in the individual social biography to the social brain is at the scale of the whole human history. The
early stages of development of the human civilization had resulted in graduate discoveries and reproduction of basic for the human society social
parameters, and the evolution of the social brain always included changes that can be often traced straightforwardly in the material culture. However,
they become usually invisible when we turn our research toward social psychology of the individuals and communities (in terms of self-awareness, for
instance).
Balkan Prehistory is extremely wealthy source for the early development of the social brain. In our presentation we will approach archaeological
records that reflect specifically some characteristics of the social reproduction related to the role of the genealogy knowledge in the enculturation process
of the individuals and social psychology of the multi-scale communities in terms of norms of social interactions. We will attempt to destructure some
components of the Balkan prehistoric material culture in three directions.
At the outset, we will represent most recent contributions and especially how the prehistoric Balkan genealogy relates to the problems of social
identity (Bailey 2007), individual life histories (Zvelebil and Weber 2008), subsistence dietary pattern (Tasić 2000; Bonsall 2007:58), social competition
theory (Tripković 2003), early symbolic systems for communication (Nikolova, ed. 2003), anthropology of everydayness (Nikolova 2004, on-line), the
problem of accumulation of wealth (Nikolova & Merlini 2008), the interactions between the sexual and cultural reproductions (Schuster & Nikolova 2008),
etc.
Afterward, we will test our conclusions against the variety of scientific hypotheses of the emergence and early development of the social brain.
Finally, we will attempt to outline some perspectives for future research of prehistoric genealogy as enculturation and social reproductive means that
reflected on the evolution of the social brain and on the evolution of the social self-awareness in Prehistory.
External links:
Burns, Jonathan (2006). The social brain hypothesis of schizophrenia. http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?artid=1525115
Dunbar, Robin I.M. (1998) The Social Brain Hypothesis. http://www.liv.ac.uk/evolpsyc/Evol_Anthrop_6.pdf
Link to a session at TAG 2008 UK:
Becoming Human - the archaeology of the social brain. A session at TAG 2008, Southampton, UK organized by James Cole (University of Southampton;
jnc201@soton.ac.uk) and Lisa Cashmore (University of Southampton; lac1@soton.ac.uk)
Jonathan Burns:
"Patients with schizophrenia display abnormalities in a wide range of social cognition tasks such as emotion recognition, theory of mind and affective
responsiveness. Furthermore, recent research indicates that schizophrenia is a disorder of functional and structural connectivity of social brain networks.
These findings lend support to the claim that schizophrenia represents a costly by-product of social brain evolution in Homo sapiens. Individuals
with this disorder find themselves seriously disadvantaged in the social arena and vulnerable to the stresses of their complex social environments. This
state of "disembodiment" and interpersonal alienation is the core phenomenon of schizophrenia and the root cause of intolerable suffering in the lives of
those affected." (http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?artid=1525115)
| Enculturation, social brain and Balkan Prehistory (Abstract) |
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