May 28th (day 3)

Notes for today:

1. Make sure to sign up for Aris and check out the tutorials over the next few days see https://anthro4320kissel.blogspot.com/p/notes-on-sutori.html for details
2. 
   
3. The only reading for today is a classic paper on evo theory by Steven Jay Gould and Richard Lewontin: Gould and Lewontin 1979 The Spandrels of San Marco and the Panglossian Paradigm-A Critique of the Adaptationist Programme
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5. 
   

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2. Also, take the time to watch the YouTube link for today (for convenience, here is a direct link). 
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4. 
   

At 1:00 pm EST today I will host a Zoom chat. Like i said, not required at all but stop by if you want to catch up or talk about any of the readings.  See email or slack for the link to the Zoom

Finally, if you look to the right of this post you can see the class blog roll. You can use this to see what new posts show up. I'll be sending out another list with all the sites and other ways you can follow along but probably the easiest is just to refer to "class blogs" links on the side bar

Welcome to day 2!

Hi everyone!

Hope you all are doing well (it is rainy and foggy in Boone this morning).

Two things to get done today: the readings and signing up for a paleoanthropology site for our class project

First thing to do:
Today's readings are a bit different from what we might expect in a class about human evolution, but i think they are important in that they set the stage for thinking not just what is human evolution but how we can create more realistic models of human origins.
below are direct links to the three readings on the class Perusall site ( the are also on AsULearn)

• Athreya and Ackermann 2018 Colonialism Narratives Human Origins Asia Africa
• Dunsworth_2018_It is unethical to teach evolution without confronting racism and sexism
• Sterling_2015_Black Feminist Theory in Prehistory

The 3 readings all argue about how we can make paleoanthropology better by making it more inclusive of different ways of thought.
If you are interested in this topic, this review of a new book on human origins gives a nice overview. The book itself, Darwin's Hunch, is amazing and if you want to think more on these issues i highly recommend it

As you read, please make notes etc on the Perusall site. I see people have started to do this already and it makes me happy! You can always download the main articles from AsULearn to read offline and then come and make annotations later.
Note that while I hope you use your blogs all the time, by this Friday I'd like you to have written your response to the first prompt......

Write your first blog post based on the readings. One topic could be how your previous classes have dealt w/ the issues raised in the readings; examples of how this can be done better; or simply what you thought while reading the papers. You could also use the readings as a jumping off point for discussing other aspects of anthropology that intersect with these ideas.

Second thing to do:

For the semester, you will pick one site/fossil and investigate it (note: some are a lot more info-filled than others so you might want to investigate first). Sign up for one of them using the Google Sheet linked below. Over the course we are going to do a few things with these data(as seen on the syllabus):

1. create a Sutori presentation
2. use your knowledge to help make a location based game using Aris
3. bonus: make an infographic about a site/fossil

Check out the detail on the project here
Here is a link to a Google Sheet that lists hominin fossils:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/15NREIlw57OPmHCAX61hv2ksrehYVjhPyj6zEHvhJNR4/edit?usp=sharing
Select whichever site you want and put your name next to it.






Note:
**Thursday, May 28th  we will have an optional Zoom hangout at 1 pm. EST Not required but i thought it might be fun. I'll do these at least once a week (more if you want) and we can chat about the articles etc and just see how everyone is doing.

Why use a blog in this class

Why we are using blogs?

ONE THING THAT I learned from last semester is that the discussion boards didn't seem to work very well. They are somewhat old school anyway and don't really emulate how modern discussions go. Plus, the idea that you need to do X number of posts and Y number of responses just seems to produce quantity rather than quality.

Instead, we are going to try something different. Each of you will make a blog and use that to post notes, thoughts, reflections, etc (feel free to make it anonymous). My hope is that you will use this blog to not only respond to questions, but to reflect about class themes and ideas. I hope it would allow for a more critical, problem-posing learning.


While we are doing this in the open, i know that some might not want to have their name attached. The 4th link here talks about how to be anonymous. If you would rather do that, that is totally fine. I'll have to know which blog is yours but I'll delete all info i have after class ends. You could even setup a separate email account when you log into Blogger if you prefer (that is what i did when i had a blog in grad school that i have since forgotten how to log into..)

Steps to create a blog* from Laura Gibbs

- [Starting a Blog: Your First Post]

- [Blog URLs: Homepage and Posts]
- [Online Identity and Pseudonyms]
- [Configuring Your Blog for Comments]
- [Other Basic Blog Settings]

Posts

In the course calendar you will find the times that I ask you to respond to writings and ideas. But you don't have to only post then. Use the blog however you see fit. If one of the posts doesn't seem useful to you just let me know. I want these posts to not seem like busy work

Lists of blog posts

- post on decolonizing human origins (aim by Friday May 29 at 11:59 PM)
- post on If humans came from chimps, why are there still chimps? (aim for Friday June 5th at 11:59 PM)
- post on skeletal evidence of bipedalism  (aim for  Monday June 8 at 11:59 PM)
- post on Ardipithecus (aim for  Friday June 12th at 11:59 PM)
- post on "when two hominins meet" (aim for Monday, June 22 by 11:59 PM)
- last post on "why this all matters" (aim for  Wendesday June 24th at 11:59 PM)

Comments

As you can read here it is pretty easy to configure your blog for comments. Once you have all set up a blog I will post links on my blog (the main site for this class!) and as a list I will share. You can also use Slack to let us know when you have a new post!

You should check often to see if there are any new blog posts by your fellow classmates (One way to do this is to use Inoreader to set up a feed. For help on this see this post by Laura Gibbs

There is no 'set number of comments' that you must make. But I hope that you interact and leave comments when you feel motivated to do so

Class projects

Here are the course projects we will be doing

Your blog 

This is the main writing project for the course. You will use your blog to interact virtually  with other class members and to share your thoughts on the readings, videos, and concepts. 

[click here for more information, for an overview of how to set this all up and for details on blog posts]

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Readings and annotations

We will be using the Perusall site to make annotations on our reading list.  All of the class articles are there (see the calendar for a list of when to be reading them) . You don't have to comment  on all of them but I ask that you do so a few times during the week at least. You can also answer or respond to other comments. This is sort of taking the place of the standard discussion board which seems to never work very well 

To use this site, go here https://app.perusall.com  **Make sure to use the class code XXXXX when you sign up so you get access to our site**. Also, the interactive course calendar has links to the articles on the Perusall site

The readings are posted on AsULearn as well in case you want to batch download them

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Slack

This is the way we will communicate about class ideas etc informally (kinda like a group chat).

You can create and join our Slack using this link

More on slack here

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Your presentation on a fossil hominin

We will be using Sutori to create an interactive presentation on a fossil. You can pick one from the Google sheet HERE or choose your own and add it to the list. [See here for more info on using this site and creating a good presentation]

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Our game

This is the major group project. I admit that it might not work out perfectly but i think it will be fun to try. Find out more here

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Capstone

If you are in the capstone let me know and we will make a separate group for that.