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A Key symposium will be presented for the first time at the 1999 meetings.
Co-Chairs:
B. James Starr (Howard University)
Douglas R. Raybeck (Hamilton College)
Systems analyses have resulted in important developments in both the physical and life sciences over the past half-century. The social and behavioral sciences have also profited from general systems approaches and cybernetic models, particularly in offering solutions to the mind-body problem and with issues of social process. Systems theory in the social sciencescan be traced to the work of Durkheim, Spencer and other theorists who likened social systems to organic entities or, more appropriately, to superorganic entities. Indeed, many of the theoretical tenets of functionalism reflect its origins as a systems approach to social organization.
Although systems approaches have gradually made inroads in the physical and life science under the rubrics of fractal structures, chaos theory, and autopoeisis the social sciences have approached systems theory hesitantly and inconsistently. Gregory Bateson was among the first the argue for the utility of systems theory in anthropology, and calls to heed its importance in anthropology and in other disciplines have come from major figures in the field.
Grandiose expectations about human-like computers have been replaced by more temperate, informed views and new ways of thinking about computers. The wellspring for these novelties is the tolerance springing from a newfound climate of epistemological diversity. When coupled with like developments in our ways of conceptualizing control systems, language, and human functioning, the new ideas have spurred exceptional changes in the way some workers view and do cognitive science.
This symposium aims at promoting further research utilizing systems approaches by presenting papers that focus on systems thinking. Systems theory has inconsistently affected the disciplines represented in our organization. It is our belief that this approach offers fruitful lines of conceptualization and enquiry that can contribute to our thinking about culture and comparison.
Participants:
B. James Starr & Adisa A. Ajamu, Howard U; Setting Your Sights Toward Expanding Method Systems
Donald E. Brown, UC Santa Barbara; The Plural Society, Ethnocentrism, and Irrationality
Candice Bradley, Lawrence U; Bateson, the Digerati, and the Origins of Cyberculture.
Douglas Raybeck, Hamilton Coll & Paul Ngo, St. Norbert Coll; Outline for Behavior and the Brain: Mediation of Acquired Skills
Ralph Bolton, Pomona Coll; A Systems Approach to the Study of Aggression: The Case of the Qolla.
Garry Chick, Organizer
Participants:
Garry Chick (Illinois) "The Units of Culture: An Introduction"
Joseph G. Jorgensen (UC, Irvine) "An Empirical Procedure for Defining and Sampling Culture Bearing Units"
Susan C. Weller (U Texas Medical Branch) "High Concordance Codes?"
Marc J. Swartz (UC, San Diego) Some Difficulties in Identifying Culture's Units: Dependence on Inference, Individual Variation, Multiple Forms, and Sharing
A. Kimball Romney and Carmella C. Moore (UC, Irvine) "Semantic Structure as a Model for Universal Culture Patterns"
.W. Penn Handwerker (Connecticut) "Minds, Meaning, and Experience"
Roy G. D'Andrade (UC, San Diego) "A Cognitivist's Approach to Units of Culture"
William T. Divale (CUNY) "Modernization and Cultural Evolution"
John B. Gatewood (Lehigh) TBA
Douglas Caulkins (Grinnell) TBA
Organizer: Edith Williams
Participants
Anna Figueira (Arizona State) "Caring Teachers: Exploring Teacher Empathy in American Indian Classrooms."
Kip Coggins (Texas at El Paso) The Traditional Tribal Values of Ojibwa Parents and the School Performance of their Children: An Exploratory Study"
Edith Williams (Jackson State University)"Grandfather Involvement in Childrearing and the School Performance of Ojibwa Children."
Organizers: Mel and Carol Ember
Lewellyn Hendrix (Southern Illinois University) and Mark Schneider (Southern Illinois University) "Assumptions of the Biosocial Theory of Incest Taboos."
Carol R. Ember (Human Relations Area Files) and Melvin Ember (Human Relations Area Files) "A Re-examination of the Relationship between Matrilocal Residence and Internal Peace. "
Robert W. Schrauf (Duke University) "Mother Tongue Maintenance Among North American Ethnic Groups."
Victor de Munck (SUNY, New Paltz) "Re-analysis of Rosenblatt's Cross Cultural Study of the Function of Romance."
William Jankowiak (University of Nevada, Las Vegas) and Angela Ramsey (University of Nevada, Las Vegas) "Femme Fatale and Status Fatale: A Cross-Cultural Perspective."
Winifred L. Mitchell (Minnesota State U-Mankato) "Refinements and Corollaries in the Quest for Patterns in Gender Relations" Discussant: Ann Metcalf, Mills College
Leigh Minturn will present a paper on the Relative Antiquity of Weaving and Metallurgy and Robin O'Brian will present a paper on "The Roles of Trade and Technology on Weavers"
Organizer: Ali Moghaddam
Presenters: Ali Moghaddam Nicki Slocum (Georgetown University); Don Taylor (McGill University); Bob Weigle (Franklin Institute) and Uwe Gielen as discussant.
Dr. Jane Lancaster is organizing a session with her colleagues from the
cultural ecology group at the University of New Mexico. Details of the session
are not available at this time.
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