I am always suspicious of invocations of the phrase “human nature.” It is not necessarily because I think there is no such thing, it’s simply that it is typically invoked with little consideration of the vastly diverse physical, cultural, and physical-cultural contexts in which human beings find themselves, and have found themselves. This 3 1/2 minute introduction to a BBC special, Human Planet, sent in by (my mom) Kay West, illustrates some of this diversity. While I’m a little anxious about the exotification that the clip might include (especially of “the primitive”), I still think it does a wonderful job of hinting at the wildly different contexts in which humans live:
Also, this (Gwen, do not watch!):
Found at Blame it on the Voices.
Lisa Wade, PhD is an Associate Professor at Tulane University. She is the author of American Hookup, a book about college sexual culture; a textbook about gender; and a forthcoming introductory text: Terrible Magnificent Sociology. You can follow her on Twitter and Instagram.
Comments 13
Yrro Simyarin — June 21, 2011
I am somewhat disappointed that, from the impression given by that short intro, that the only interesting things done by the western world are extreme sports like surfing and rock climbing. The contrast between normal activities and extreme leisure activities seems a bit odd. You'd think that a religious service in the vatican or some footage of steel mills could be as exciting and as indicative of human differences and experience as the pictures from "exotic" locations.
That said, it still looks like some absolutely beautiful photography and really interesting places and people to see.
AngryBroomstick — June 21, 2011
my fave part of the trailer is the Mongolian men riding horses. Beautiful and cool
mf — June 21, 2011
I was astonished by the almost total absence of women. Half of humanity!