BLOOMSBURG STATE COLLEGE
Bloomsburg
Pennsylvania
Anthropology Newsletter
Vol. 5, No. 6
April-May, 1981
Department of Philosophy/Anthropology
Anthropology Get-Together: There will be a picnic for all anthropology majors
and participants in the 1981 Southwest Tour at Bob Reeder's house at 4 p.m.,
Friday, May 15. Bob's house is at 235 West Eleventh Street in Bloomsburg. Come
along and get acquainted!
Summer School Update: Summer school pre-registration is now going on in Dean
Pantaleo's office in Waller. Anthropology offerings for summer 1981 include
46.100, General Anthropology; 46.200, Cultural Anthropology; and 46.440, Language
and Culture. According to Dean Pantaleo, in most cases a course will have to have
18 students enrolled in it before it will be offered in a particular session. So,
if you'd like to take a particular course, you might want to interest your friends
in signing up, too.
For all you Bigfoot fans: Since our series on the Berwick Bigfoot we have received
notice of a new book put out by the University of British Columbia entitled Manlike
Monsters on Trial: Early Records and Modern Evidence. Written by ,Marjorie M.
Halpin and Michael Ames, anthropologists at UBC, the book reviews the evidence on
Bigfoot, the abominable snowman, and other related phenomena. Among the questions
addressed are "Why are manlike monsters a persistent part of myth and legend?" and
"What psychological and mythological influences affect our perceptions of them?"
Color photographs of Bigfoot from the controversial 1967 Patterson-Gimlin film
are presented and analyzed. The book costs $24.95, but the first orders will receive a cardboard footprint photographed to actual size of the Bigfoot track found
by Patterson and Gimlin in California. Now, how can you pass up a deal like that?
And for all you chimpanzee fans: The April issue of Smithsonian contains a long
article by Tanis Carter on her attempts to teach captive-raised chimpanzees to
survive as wild animals on a game preserve in the African country of Gambia. The
chimp population is made up of chimps used as laboratory subjects in various experiments, including sign language experiments, and chimpanzees seized by the Gambian
government from poachers and intended for the pet or zoo trade. The former animals
are healthy, but have no experience with life outside the laboratory; the latter
have been captured in the wild, but due to mistreatment or neglect, are often unhealthy or near death. Among the lab chimps is Lucy, th~ near famous subject of
language experiments with Maurice and Jane Temerlin and Roger Fouts. Lucy was raised
from infancy in the Temerlin's home; her exploits have been richly recorded in
publications.such as Psychology Today. Carter has faced many problems persuading
the animals to eat wild foods and to be independent of her. For those of you who
would like to work with chimps, you might like to know that she has had success by
serving as a model, hooting, eating leaves and termites, and climbing in trees. She
finds that most of the more famous behaviors, such as tool use, recorded by Jane
Goodall and others, appear in her chimps. As one example, a red colobus monkey
appeared in the preserve and became a subject for the hunt for the chimps. But one
young female, Lakey, made friends with the monkey, and Carter recorded scenes of
the two grooming each other and sleeping together. Then another chimp, Marianne,
captured the monkey. "Lakey was clearly hysterical, sc:::-eaming to the point of choking
herself. With her small outstretched, upturned hand, she was using a common begging

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gesture for me to intervene." Marianne's look kept Carter from intervening. The
chimp killed the monkey and proceeded to eat it, as other chimps begged for a taste-including Lakey. Marianne did not shar~ unlike wild chimps observed in similar
circumstances. This article is of interest to anyone interested in non-human
primates.
The Anthropologist's Cookbook. In appreciation of this year i s Southwest Tour,
members of which will have many opportunities to sample the cuisines of Texas,
Arizona and New Mexico, we are providing our readership with two recipes for Texas
chili. If you're used to chili out of a Hormel can, get ready for a fiery experience.
Modern chili arose through the contact of 19th century white immigrants with native
Indians and Mexicans in Texas; supposedly as a combination of the Mexican tradition
of spices flavored with chili peppers and the European notion of a beef stew based
on chunks of browned meat. The word "chili" itself is a descendant of the Aztec
word for capsicum peppers. This dish with its myriad variation is found throughout
the Southwest, in the homes of Indians, Hispanics, and Anglo-1\mericans alike. Here
are two variations on the chili theme:
Simplified Texas Chili
1/2 cup paprika
1 tablespoon cayenne
1 sprig fresh coriander,
chopped
1/3 cup finely chopped ·
garlic

3 lbs. lean beef
2 ozs. suet or vegetable oil
2-4 chilis anchos
2 tablespoons cumin
1 tablespoon oregano

Cut the beef into bite-sized chunks. Brown the beef in the suet or oil. Pour the
liquid from the skillet into a heavy pot, leaving a small am0unt in the pan. Continue
cooking the meat until it is well browned on all sides. Mea~while, remove stems from
the chilis and puree in a blender with a small amount of water. Add puree to chili
pot. When meat is browned, add it to the chili pot and simmer for 30 minutes. Add
the remaining ingredients and simmer for another 30 minutes or until meat is tender.
Keep the chili overnight; in the morning, scrape off the grease that comes to the top,
heat, and serve. Yields 6-8 servings.
Lone Star Texas Chili With Beans
tablespoons vegetable oil
lbs. stewing beef, cubed
cup chopped onions
green pepper, chopped
clove garlic, minced
12 oz. can tomato paste
2½ cups water

2
2
1
1
1
1

2 pickled jalapeno peppers, rinsed,
seeded, and chopped
l½ tablespoons chili powder
½ teaspoon crushed red pepper
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon dried oregano
½ teaspoon cumin
1 15½ oz. can pinto beans, drained

In a large pan, heat oil and brown beef cubes on all sides. Add onions, green pepper,
and garlic, and fry with beef for about 5 minutes. Add all of the remaining ingredients
except beans, and simmer the chili for l½ hours or until the beef is tender. Add beans
and simmer 30 minutes more. Yields 4-6 servings.

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Anthropology .Enrollments 1980-81: 469 students signed up for the 11 anthropology
courses in the spring semester, 1981. Combined with the 480 students in 12 courses
last fall, this spring total gives us our highest enrollment totals ever. Thank
you for your support.
Folklore and Disreputable Themes: George Devereux in a talk in 1959 suggested
that art could function as a social safety valve by allowing people to deal with
socially disreputable themes in an open and safe manner. In art, he argues, the
actual content of a theme is officially defined as subordinate to its forms. Thus
a painting of a female nude by Rubens may be art, while a Playboy centerfold may
be pornographic (to some), or to quote Devereux, "'Let us roll in the hay' differs
from 'Oh come with me and be my love' only in that the second of these statements,
by submitting to the conventions of Victorian art, provides jtself with a social
alibi." Folklore, itself an art form, makes good use of this principle. Behaviors
which are outlawed in ordinary social intercourse often become prominent themes in
folklore. Thus, if a culture exercises prominent and explicit taboos against incest,
folklore themes will tend to accentuate incest. As a result, the people in the culture
are allowed to talk about incest in a socially acceptable way. The folklore theme
may even be used to rationalize anti-social behavior. As Ian Hogbin says in describing
the New Guinea culture of Wogeo, "When (myths) are told formally, it is true, the
accent is on the moral content--a certain hero stole and was punished for it; thieving
is therefore unwise. But after listening to fireside conversations I came to the
conclusion that the actions of these beings are often used as sanctions for behavior
which is in fact anti-social. Thus a person who covets something belonging to a
member of another village is as likely as not to ignore the r.ero's fate and to argue
that, as stealing was apparently common in the past, there is no reason why he should
not help himself." In another article Hogbin tells how the tale which describes the
dire consequences of the first adulterous relationship is used not so much as
justification for vengeance as for an excuse for promiscuity.

SEE YOU IN THE FALL