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Chapter 5 - The Confluence of Anthropological Genetics and Anthropological Demography
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- By James H. Mielke, University of Kansas, Alan G. Fix, University of California
- Edited by Michael H. Crawford, University of Kansas
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- Book:
- Anthropological Genetics
- Published online:
- 05 June 2012
- Print publication:
- 30 November 2006, pp 112-140
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- Chapter
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Summary
Introduction
The relationship between demography and evolution is close and long-standing. After all, it was by reading Malthus' (1798) essay on population that both Darwin and Wallace achieved their insight into natural selection. The importance of demography for anthropological genetics continues to be strong. Anthropological genetics, concerned with understanding the patterns and causes of genetic variation within and among populations, depends on anthropological demography to provide data on population sizes and fluctuations, mating structure, and migration patterns and histories that are crucial for that understanding.
While demographers study many aspects of human populations (Preston et al., 2001; Siegel and Swanson, 2004), anthropological demography usually focuses on small-scale populations and is often linked with studies of human biology. Anthropological demographic studies have been undertaken expressly to provide information necessary to understand genetic variation.
Demography is the study of human population. More specifically, as the classic definition states: ‘Demography is the study of the size, territorial distribution, and composition of population, changes therein, and the components of such change’ (Hauser and Duncan, 1959: 31). The size and composition of a population is caused by three fundamental factors: fertility (births), mortality (deaths), and migration (in-migration and out-migration). The discipline of demography has historically emphasized measurement and description of these vital processes, usually at the macro level of the national population. It is generally the population characteristics of countries that are analysed and compared (e.g. see Keyfitz and Fleiger, 1968).
10 - War and population composition in Åland, Finland
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- By James H. Mielke, Department of Anthropology, University of Kansas, 1415 Jayhawk Blvd, Lawrence, KS 66045–7556, USA
- Edited by D. Ann Herring, McMaster University, Ontario, Alan C. Swedlund, University of Massachusetts, Amherst
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- Book:
- Human Biologists in the Archives
- Published online:
- 12 August 2009
- Print publication:
- 05 December 2002, pp 216-233
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Summary
Introduction
Traditionally, anthropologists have focused their research on small populations, examining diversity and illuminating the complexity of many factors. Since an anthropological perspective is different from that of a demographer or historian, the analysis of historical archives by biological anthropologists provides new and different insights into human population dynamics. Using archival resources in studies of historical population structure and historical epidemiology will undoubtedly advance our understanding of demographic changes, the history and evolution of diseases, and the factors influencing population growth and decline. Thus, the temporal and biocultural perspective of anthropologists often uncovers intriguing relationships, contributing to our broader understanding of evolution and population change.
Historical demographers have often explained mortality patterns and demographic changes in terms of living standards and wages (Landers 1992a). A number of historical demographers are now shifting their focus, arguing that local and regional diversity in the spatial structure of populations affects the degree and intensity of exposure to infectious agents (Dobson 1992; Landers 1992b; Langford and Storey 1993). Studies now examine such things as population size and density, migration patterns, and economic and social variation within an area as major contributing factors to the spread and impact of diseases. Some researchers are now also shifting their focus from large continental populations to local and regional levels. Dobson (1992) even suggests that the term epidemiological landscapes may be appropriate to characterize the complex diversity seen in disease patterns and epidemic outbreaks.