Advanced Anthropogeny Spring 2012
A course during which the diverse group of students is immersed in the full breadth of the scope of Anthropogeny. The CARTA online Matrix of Comparative Anthropogeny (MOCA) serves as a partial scaffold for this second course. This informal database consists of 24 different domains of knowledge grouping over 500 different topics. Each Topic addresses a uniquely human trait. Included are traits that are incorrectly claimed to be uniquely human.
Each of the 10 sessions consists of student-presented seminars on how their respective fields could contribute to the understanding of human origins by explaining uniquely human phenomena. Special consideration would be given to the importance of students benefiting from their varied mutual types of expertise, as they would have the opportunity to contribute to the training of their peers in the areas of their own expertise. As an example, biological anthropology students can educate students in molecular and cell biology on comparative gross anatomy and primate behavioral ecology, while learning about molecular mechanisms of development such as gene regulation and genome evolution from their peers (an opportunity which existing TA-ships do not offer).
Domains of knowledge where uniquely human traits are claimed or documented:
- Anatomy and Biomechanics
- Genomics
- Behavior
- Immunology
- Cell Biology and Biochemistry
- Medical Disease
- Cognition
- Mental Disease
- Communication
- Neuroscience
- Culture
- Nutrition
- Dental Biology and Disease
- Organ Physiology
- Development Pathology
- Ecology
- Pharmacology
- Endocrinology
- Reproductive Biology and Disease
- General Life History
- Skin Biology and Disease
- Genetics
- Genomics
- Social Organization
