This book traces the social and environmental determinants of human infectious diseases from the Neolithic to the present day. Despite recent high profile discoveries of new pathogens, the major determinants of these emerging infections are ancient and recurring. These include changing modes of subsistence, shifting populations, environmental disruptions, and social inequalities. The recent labeling of the term "re-emerging infections" reflects a re-emergence, not so much of the diseases themselves, but rather a re-emerging awareness in affluent societies of long-standing problems that were previously ignored. An Unnatural History of Emerging Infections illustrates these recurring problems and determinants through an examination of three major epidemiological transitions. The First Transition occurred with the Agricultural Revolution beginning 10,000 years ago, bringing a rise in acute infections as the main cause of human mortality. The Second Transition first began with the Industrial Revolution; it saw a decline in infectious disease mortality and an increase in chronic diseases among wealthier nations, but less so in poorer societies. These culminated in today's "worst of both worlds syndrome" in which globalization has combined with the challenges of the First and Second Transitions to produce a Third Transition, characterized by a confluence of acute and chronic disease patterns within a single global disease ecology. This accessible text is suitable for advanced undergraduate and graduate level students and researchers in the fields of epidemiology, disease ecology, anthropology, health sciences, and the history of medicine. It will also be of relevance and use to undergraduate students interested in the history and social dynamics of infectious diseases.
A gem. Armelagos and Van Gerven’s research on the skeletal biology of one region of the Nile Valley offers an engaging history of science as told through physical anthropology."--Alan C. Swedlund, coeditor of Plagues and Epidemics: Infected Spaces Past and Present "Captures the essence of the biocultural approach to anthropology and Nubian life in the past."--Margaret A. Judd, University of Pittsburgh "This truly enjoyable book and excellent research is a wonderful example of the collaborative investigations and advanced methodologies that characterize scholarship elucidating the lives of ancient Nubians."--Michele R. Buzon, Purdue University A monumental synthesis of a half century of research, this book investigates human remains from three communities from the ancient Nubian civilization of the Nile River Valley: Meinarti, Kulubnarti, and an unnamed shantytown of underclass laborers. The analyses of these surveys chart the evolution of the field of physical anthropology. During the first archaeological expeditions to Nubia in the early nineteenth century, anthropologists set out to identify the races of Nubian peoples during the rise and fall of their civilization, while the second wave of expeditions to Nubia in the 1930s caused a backlash against this racial determinism. The analyses at Wadi Halfa, part of the third-wave expeditions to Nubia sponsored by UNESCO in the 1960s, helped inspire the "biocultural approach" to human biology now used by anthropologists worldwide. Life and Death on the Nile, the life’s work of two highly accomplished anthropologists, exemplifies the very best of this perspective. George Armelagos and Dennis Van Gerven present studies of cranial morphology and evolution in Nubian populations. They look at patterns of physiological stress and disease, as well as growth and development, in infants and children. They study bone fractures and age-related bone loss in adults, and they discuss case studies of diseases such as cancers and congenital defects. Focusing on the link between human biology and the cultural and natural environment, they provide a holistic view of the lives of ancient Nubian peoples. George J. Armelagos (1936-2014) was the Goodrich C. White Professor of Anthropology at Emory University. One of the founders of the field of bioarchaeology, he was coeditor of Paleopathology at the Origins of Agriculture. Dennis P. Van Gerven is professor emeritus of anthropology at the University of Colorado Boulder.
Serving as both an accessible textbook and an original synthesis of interdisciplinary scholarship, Emerging Infections traces the social and environmental determinants of human infectious diseases from the Paleolithic to the present day. Contrary to earlier predictions of a post-infectious era, humanity now faces a post-antimicrobial era with the emergence of drug-resistant pathogens and the entry of new and deadly viruses such as Ebola and COVID-19 in the human population. Yet despite the novelty of these infections, their evolution is primarily driven by the same human activities of subsistence, settlement, and social organization that have been recurring over the last ten thousand years. Approaching these activities from a biocultural perspective, this book examines the prehistory and history of human infectious diseases. Much has happened in the decade since the first edition, with significant developments in both disease research and in the evolution of the diseases themselves. As such, this new edition has been expanded to include recent epidemics of Ebola, Zika, MERS, and of course, COVID-19. Indeed, the book's biocultural approach is especially relevant to the COVID-19 pandemic, examining it from a deep time perspective and placing it within a much-needed explanatory framework. Emerging Infections is suitable for advanced undergraduates, graduates, and researchers in anthropology, the medical social sciences, public health, and the history of medicine. The book will also appeal to a more general readership with an interest in public health and infectious diseases.
Genomics Evidence and the Origins of Agriculture introduces the origins of agriculture and the processes involved in domestication. This book synthesizes the information obtained on studies using genomics and presents it in the context of work from other fields. Focussing not simply on the processes at work in domestication, but also on the effects upon human health, this book also covers consideration of pathogens, the spread of technology, and human movement and admixture as well as the domestication of plants and animals. Geneticists and physical and cultural anthropologists will find this book useful.
Have you ever had questions about events in some ones life that affected you and you never ask? As we, Mariette and I were returning home from PA one evening and we had visited Barbara Bunting on the old farm, I ask Sis (that's what we call Mariette) "how did Dad find that farm". This 300 acre farm was in the middle of no where, about halfway between Springboro and Albion in rural PA. Sis, being the oldest of us 5 kids, surly would know about the move but she didn't. Another thing I had questions about was Mother and Dads meeting and their courtship in California where they were married. Again she had no idea. As you know, being young children, you were never interest in stuff like that and later you had your own group of friends and still not interested. Then you meet the love of your life and nothing else was important to you. Then kids, job and married life and time slips by and then you lose one parent and a short time later both are gone. They took all the life experiences and stories with them. I had questions for my Father and Mother that can never be answered by them so I have decided to write this book. Have my children ask me those questions, no. Do they want to sit and listen to me tell them my life's stories, no. Will they have questions when we are gone, most likely!
Sermons by George is a compilation of Rev. George O. Stapleton's best sermons over the last 50 years, and is offered for the reader's enlightenment, consideration, biblical understanding, and enjoyment. May God bless you as you read!
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