Henry Harpending
| Henry Harpending | |
|---|---|
| Born |
Henry Cosad Harpending January 13, 1944 Dundee, New York, U.S. |
| Died | April 3, 2016 (aged 72) |
| Residence | Salt Lake City, Utah, U.S. |
| Nationality | American |
| Fields |
Anthropology Population genetics |
| Institutions |
University of Utah Pennsylvania State University University of New Mexico |
| Alma mater |
Hamilton College Harvard University |
| Thesis | !Kung hunter-gatherer population structure. (1971) |
| Doctoral advisor | William W. Howells |
| Known for |
The 10,000 Year Explosion Theory of Ashkenazi Intelligence |
Henry Cosad Harpending (January 13, 1944 – April 3, 2016) was an American anthropologist, population geneticist, and distinguished professor at the University of Utah.[1][2] Harpending received his A.B. degree from Hamilton College and his Ph.D. from Harvard University in 1972.[2] He was a member of the National Academy of Sciences.[3]
Career
Harpending studied genetic and morphometric variation within and between human populations with mathematical models, examining hypotheses such as population growth, divergence, and gene flow.
Harpending did extensive fieldwork in Southern Africa (Botswana, Namibia) and spoke the !Kung language fluently.[3][4] He died at the age of 72 on April 3, 2016.[5][6]
The 10,000 Year Explosion
In The 10,000 Year Explosion, which he co-authored with Gregory Cochran, Harpending suggests a common belief that human genetic adaptation stopped 40,000 years ago is incorrect and that humans evolved increasingly rapidly in response to the new challenges presented by agriculture and civilization. The result was accelerating evolution which has varied according to new niches or environments that particular populations inhabit.
The final chapter of The 10,000 Year Explosion expands on their paper from the Journal of Biosocial Science[7] on the issue of Ashkenazi Jewish intelligence. Harpending and Cochran argue the cause of the claim of Ashkenazim having higher mean verbal and mathematical intelligence than other ethnic groups (as well as having a relatively high number of genetic diseases, such as Tay-Sachs Disease, Canavan, Niemann-Pick, Gaucher, Familial Dysautonomia, Bloom Syndrome, Fanconi anemia, Cystic Fibrosis and Mucolipidosis IV) is due to the historically isolated population of Jews in Europe.[8]
Views on race
The Southern Poverty Law Center has documented Harpending's works and statements on race, noting his association with white supremacist groups and referring to his work as an attempt to perpetuate scientific racism. The SPLC notes he attributed stereotypes of different human populations to genetic differences, often saying that Africans, Papua New Guineans, and "Baltimore"[9] (African-Americans) possess the same genetic temperamental predispositions which he said are characterized by "violence, laziness, and a preference for 'mating instead of parenting'",[10] while Europeans and northern Asians "have evolved higher intelligence and 'tend to be more disciplined than people who take life for granted'";[10] he favored mass deportation of illegal immigrants from the United States using FEMA camps as part of the process and did not believe that more money should be spent on education in the United States because he thought the race-based disparities are based on genetics rather than disparities in funding; gave conferences at what the SPLC says are white supremacist groups; and supported eugenics, crediting it in the form of the death penalty for the "genetic pacification" of the western European population.[9]
Works
Books
- Renee Pennington; Henry Harpending (1993). The Structure of an African Pastoralist Community: Demography, History, and Ecology of the Ngamiland Herero. Clarendon Press. ISBN 978-0-19-852286-7.
- Jennie Keith; Christine L. Fry; Anthony P. Glascock; Charlotte Ikels; Jeanette Dickerson-Putman; Henry C. Harpending; Patricia Draper (22 September 1994). The Aging Experience: Diversity and Commonality Across Cultures. SAGE Publications. ISBN 978-1-4522-5484-5.
- Gregory Cochran; Henry Harpending (2009). The 10,000 Year Explosion: How Civilization Accelerated Human Evolution. Basic Books. ISBN 0-4650-0221-8.
See also
References
- ↑ "Henry C. Harpending - Biography - Faculty Profile - The University of Utah". faculty.utah.edu. Retrieved October 31, 2015.
- 1 2 American Men & Women of Science: A Biographical Directory of Today's Leaders in Physical, Biological and Related Sciences. Detroit, Michigan: Gale. 2009. p. 509. ISBN 1-4144-3303-4.
- 1 2 "Henry Harpending". nasonline.org. National Academy of Sciences. Archived from the original on 13 Oct 2015. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
- ↑ Keith, Jennie (1994). The Aging experience diversity and commonality across cultures. Thousand Oaks, California: SAGE Publications. p. 24. ISBN 1-4522-5484-2.
The Herero research team was headed by Henry Harpending. His American research assistant was Renee Pennington, then a graduate student in anthropology at Penn State University. Harpending spoke !Kung because of his previous fieldwork in the area, and many Herero speak !Kung.
- ↑ "Henry Harpending". Retrieved July 11, 2016.
- ↑ West Hunter blog – Henry Harpending
- ↑ G. Cochran, J. Hardy, H. Harpending. "Natural History of Ashkenazi Intelligence", Journal of Biosocial Science 38 (5), pp. 659–693 (2006).
- ↑ "Henry Harpending." Contemporary Authors Online. Detroit: Gale, 2010. Biography In Context. Web. 1 Sept. 2013.
- 1 2 Henry Harpending, quoted in "Henry Harpending". Extremist Files. Southern Poverty Law Center. Retrieved 2016-09-17.
- 1 2 Double quotes: SPLC; single quotes: Henry Harpending; both quoted in "Henry Harpending". Extremist Files. Southern Poverty Law Center. Retrieved 2016-09-17.
External links
- West Hunter Blog of Harpending and Cochran.
- Henry Harpending, Southern Poverty Law Center