BLOOMSBURG STATE COLLEGE
Bloomsburg
Pennsylvania
Anthropology Newsletter
Vol. 2, No. 5
February, 1978
Department of Philosophy and Anthropology
A BRIEF HISTORY OF ANTHROPOLOGY AT BSC AND IN THE U.S. by Robert Reeder
Academic anthropology in the U.S. has its origins at such places as Columbia, Harvard,
Berkeley, Penn, and the University of C~1icago. However, the establishment of major programs
at state universities and small colleges is a comparatively recent phenomenon. In fact,
the popularity of academic anthropology at state universities and small colleges was well
established in the Western states at such universities as New Mexico, Arizona, Utah, and
Colorado long before its development in the East.
There are three essential reasons for the more recent development of anthropology in the East.
One, unlike in the Western states, there were no large, nearby populations of native cultures.
Second, archaeology sites in the East are neither as well preserved nor as numerous as in the
West. Thus, for over a hundred years scholars have been working in the West in innnediate
. proximity to native cultures. During this time cultural sequences, carefully dated by
dendrochronology, stratigraphy, and floral and faunal associations, have been well established
and documented thousands of years into the past. By contrast, in the East only generalized
knowledge of prehistory has been established to date,, and there is no very effective interregional synthesis.
The third reason for anthropology having a recent development in the East is that a general
shift in academic directions regarding general educational philosophy began throughout the
U.S. in the 1960's. This shift, deemphasizing history, foreign languages, etc., had the
effect of enabling students to choose academic courses more freely by interest rather than
through the directives of required curricula. Thus anthropology became more accessible to
student course schedules. Today anthropology is a major subject area at most universities,
often drawing higher student enrollments at the undergraduate level than more established
disciplines such as sociology.
During the early and middle Sixties BSC listed five anthropology courses. Essentially all
of these courses was taught by Professor Solenberger, the first anthropologist hired by BSC.
(Originally, however, Solenberger taught courses in history and political science as well
as Sociology~) Technically these five courses were listed as sociology courses, and they
were usually taught in the fall semester. From 1961 to 1965 anthropology courses enrolled
an average of 15-20 students per year! (Today nearly 1,000 students enroll in anthropology
courses at BSC in a year.) Between 1965 and 1968 the number of anthropology students at BSC
began to increase resulting in the hiring of Professor Reeder. When Reeder was hired at BSC
(1968) the academic dean told him that he would have to teach half sociology and half anthropology, Reeder's agreement with BSC stipulated that if enough BSC students became interested
in anthropology, he would be able to teach 100% anthropology. In the spring semester of 1969,
180 students enrolled in anthropology courses. Subsuquently Solenberger and Reeder initiated
catalog and curriculum changes which (a) presented a separation of anthropology courses from
sociology courses by title and curriculum code number (46); (b) provided for a "concentration"
in anthropology within the sociology department; and (c) increased the number of course
offerings in anthropology from five to nine. In the spring semester of 1971 anthropology was
attracting 300 students, and the college administration established a position for a third
anthropologist to help with archaeology courses and to teach new courses in Primitive Arts

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and South American Indians. The arrival of the third full time anthropologist (Dr. Peter
Roe) made it possible for the first time to present the equivalent of a full major in an~
thropology.
One additional significant development of the early 1970's in anthropology at BSC was the
establishment of summer archaeology tours for course credit. Thus, in the spring of 1972
and again in 1973, BSC students spent three weeks visiting the great archaeological areas
of Mexico from the Mayan centers on the Yucatan peninsula to Oaxaca to the Valley of Mexico.
Professor David Minderhout •~as hired as a replacement for Peter Roe in August 1974. Since
Minderhout joined the anthropology staff, great strides have been made in expanding the
course offerings in anthropology and in developing a formal BA program in anthropology
(Soc/Anthro.). Presently the course enrollments in anthropology are approaching 500 per
semester and the need for an additional staff anthropologist is evident to the students
(who cannot schedule as much anthropology as they would like because of the limits on the
teaching time of three anthropologists) and to the professors who routinely teach overload
in anthropology courses.
·
This continuing pressure in anthropology courses at BSC implies that a fourth staff anthro. pologist may make it possible to teach as many as 10 or 12 different anthropology courses
per semester, enroll as many as 600 students per semester, and perhaps have as many as 50
majors in anthropology (currently 32).
Far down the road, with the cooperation of the BSC administration, the Department of Education in Harrisburg, and if anthropology enrollment pressures continue as they have for
the last decade, it is conceivable that BSC may one day offer a M.A. in anthropology.
Fall Semester Scheduling
46.100
46.200
46.301
46.405
46.410
46.430
46.470

The following anthropology courses will be offered next fall:

General Anthropology
Principles of Cultural Anthropology
Field Archaeology
Primates
Primitive Arts
Cultures and Peoples of Oceania
History of Anthropological Thought and Theory

The Anthropology Theory course will be team taught by Minderhout and Reeder. It is strongly
recommended that all junior and senior majors (and all other interestep persons) sign up for
this course. Anthropology majors may pre-register with any of the anthropology faculty;
advisors are not formally assigned. Please ignore any advisement notices received from the
Sociology Department. By mutual agreement with that department, all SocJAnthro. majors
are to be advised by the anthropologists.
Welcome to new majors Al Casterline, Suzette Lindemuth, Malinda Price, and Keith Zoba.
Each is a double major. Al and Malinda will also major in psychology, Suzette in art, and
Keith in Philosophy.

J

A BOOK REVIEW by Steve Styers
Return to Laughter by Elenore Smith Bowen (the pen name of Laura Bohannan) is an anthropological novel, first published in 1954. Dr. Bohannan gives a fictionalized account of
her experiences doing fieldwork among the Tiv in West Africa. While the book is a novel,
it is also largely autobiographical, and it is often impossible to tell where real events
begin and imagined ones end. This is a subtle book, to me at least, because the author's
style is not dramatic as she considers the details of the days spent living with "her"
tribe. She recounts what happens around her while simultaneously interweaving these
exterior events with her reflections, thoughts, and reactions to them. She presents the
problem of the ethical conflicts involved in obtaining field data from people of the tribe
who become quite close friends to her. In one instance, a particular woman, very gentle
and kind, almost ideally humane, becomes one of the author's favorite friends. When this
woman dies in childbirth, Bohannan wonaers if she did enough to save her life - should
she have forcefully taken her friend to outside doctors for help, or was it right to remain aloof? The book is not explicit, but implicit and yet it still has the sense of the
scientific and true. The point of view is completely personal while, paradoxically, remaining faithful to an objective observation of reality. One of the broad themes here is
an attempt to discover and accept "reality" for what it is rather than for what one would
wish it to be. The "reality" of witchcraft for the people Bohannan studies receives important emphasis. The climactic episode of the book, involving a smallpox plague, shows
how terror can infect and warp one's sense of reality, even the reasonable mind of a highly educated anthropologist who finds herself in the midst of the crisis. After accepting
the presence of "terror and death and hate", but also "love and friendship and plenty"
which are the tribe's values, they and the author need only "return to laughter" as the
least that can be done to be in and of reality, by any person of any culture. Return to
Laughter is a finely written, finely human book.
AN ANOMALOUS INTERVIEW by Steve Styers
Tom Trocki . is a senior majoring in anthropology, 22 years old, married, born in Exeter,
California, raised in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
SS: How do you cope with the fact of your inevitable death?
TT: Are you kidding me ••• ? Would you believe you have "nothing to fear but fear itself."
We were taught to fear death; it's a learned response.
SS: Did you .like your childhood?
TT: It was dull. I had no heroes to follow or any direction, so I felt it was very disoriented.
SS: Do you have any heroes now?
TT: I have no national heroes, because you really can't tell if they're real people;
my heroes are on a personal basis, personal friends.
SS: What was your educational background?
TT: Public schools in New Mexico and Pennsylvania; I quit school after 10th grade, joined
the army and spent two years in Germany. While in the army, I had some friends who were
college graduates, whom I admired. They were probably my first models, I came back to
Pennsylvania, where I attended Luzerne County Community College, then I transferred here.
SS: How would you describe your entrance into anthropology?
TT: Accidental. I took a course during summer school, just because I didn't know what
it was, and I was curious.
SS: And that's when you decided ••• ?
TT: Yes. Dave Minderhout had an honest face, which was lacking in most of the professors
at BSC - ha ha •. And if he was a true representation of what an anthropologist was, I
wanted to be one too.

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SS: What's in the essence of anthropology that you love?
.
TT: I love anthropology because it takes no position on anything.
SS: How do you mean?!
TT: In regards to a right or a wrong way of doing something; there are no value
judgements.
SS: Wouldn't you day that that partially accounts for the failure of the developement
of a science of morality?
TT: Yes.
SS: Favorite books?
TT: Walden Two by B.F. Skinner and Positive Addiction by(?).
SS: Favorite word?
TT: Sharing.
SS: Favorite films?
TT: 2001 : A Space Odyssey and Do ct or Zhivago.
SS: Favorite color?
TT: Turquoise.
SS: Favorite topic of conversation?
TT: Behavior modification.
SS: Favorite food?
TT: Italian.
SS: What do you think of the changing role of marriage in our society?
TT: Since I just got married myself, I believe that marriage can work if people would
try to keep their own identities, rather than trying to become "one". I feel "becoming
one" is a romantic myth.
SS: What is your personal theory of knowledge?
TT: If it works for you, do it.
SS: What do you intend for the future?
TT: I want to expand or find some of my talents, then see which one makes me the happiest.
SS: I like to think of anthropology as a subversive social science. What do you think?
TT: I don't think that a science that questions why we do everything we do is subversive,
but it is necessary for growth.
SS: What changes would you make in the anthropology department?
TT: I would require Mr. Solenberger to learn a few jokes, for his sake and for ours.
SS: What are you non-academic activities?
TT: Yoga, bicycling, long distance running, and salamander hunting, not necessarily
in that order.
The Behavior of Great Apes in Captivity by Marj Witmer
In recent years, kinesics and proxemics have become hot topics in the world of anthropology.
These concepts can be readily carried over into the study of apes. In the cases of facial
expression and gesture, this can involve the study of the personality of one particular
ape or generalizations can be drawn in reference to the whole species.
Recently I had the opportunity to visit both the National Zoo in Washington, D.C. and the
Philadelphia Zoo to study the behavior of apes in captivity. There were several specific
situations that I wanted to note. These include: (1) Facial expression and gesture between
apes; (2) Human reactions to the apes or what impresses people most while viewing them.
I suggested that human-type behavior by the apes was what would most impress viewers.
(3) Maternal behavior; (4) Under what conditions such as carrying did they use bipedalism;
(5) Trying out facial expressions and observing the reactions of the apes; and (6) Feeding
behavior. Fortunately almost all of these were viewed and recorded along with numerous
other behaviors.

.,,
The Washington Zoo is at best an awful place to imprison an animal, although I understand
that the facilities will be greatly improved in the future. The orangutans, of which there
are three, one gorilla, and one chimpanzee were housed along one side of a building while
two additional elderly gorillas were caged in a different area of the same building. The
orangs appeared bored and when moving about were purposefully slow as if to extend' the time
of movement in the limited cage space. The gorillas and chimp were extremely passive, and
only once did the younger male gorilla walk around the cage in a slow, random manner only
to be reseated at the spot from which he had arisen. This particular zoo was a total failure when attempting to answer my questions, and although the apes were occasionally looking
at the visitors, this was done without interest, and the viewers had no reaction to the apes.
I am pleased to announce that the Philadelphia Zoo trip was a total success in all areas
and even offered several behavi ors that should indeed be studied and recorded.
The apes
at this zoo seem much more intere s t~d in their visitors and keepers. In Washington, the
keeper claimed that no one ever got c~ose to their younger male gorilla, while in Philadelphia, the keepers had regularly entered the cage of the gorillas (one male and three
female) and played with them •• This act was abandoned when it became apparent that the
male gorilla didn't know his own strength and that an accident could easily occur. Each
species of great ape was well represented in this one building where they could all be
viewed simultaneously. Six chimps, four gorillas, and five orangs were caged behind
plexiglas rather than bars to allow better viewing, both for us to look at the apes and
for them to study us!
The most functional way to present all the actions recorded may be to go through my six
preferred situations and discuss the behaviors of each ape species where applicable,
(1) Facial expressions and gestures among apes: Among the gorillas, there was very little
facial expression among the adults, and the male interacted surprisingly little with the
females. At one point, hcwever, in a play session to be described later, one of the females
blocked the passage that the male needed to use; he simply but not very gently removed her
with one arm that threw her a good ten feet!
Of the five orangs, an elderly male was alone, while four young about 4-5 years were caged
together. These young orangs ignored each other's presence to the point that they would
climb over their companions without regard for where they were stepping.
The chimpanzees offered the best example of interaction and interesting behavior. One of
the cages was designed to resemble a jungle with plenty of man-made tree limbs.and vines
on which the chimps could exercise. This particular cage houRed three adult females who
were eng2ged in mutual grooming. The action· of cooperative grooming was interesting to
note, but even more intriguing was that the grooming session occurred in the top of a tree
just below a sky light in the ceiling. In the wild it is known that grooming usually
occurs in sunlight, and this helps in Vitamin D synthesis, which would otherwise be
extremely difficult through their hair. I was interested to know that these females
usually do their grooming at this spot and that the window is washed regularly to allow
penetration of sunlight. The keeper mentioned that on cloudy days the grooming sessions
are short and do not always include all three chimps. On sunny days, however, the females
groom together peacefully for hours. This situation was very fascinating and deserves
a follow-up study.
To be continued •••••
Spring Semester Office Hours:
Dr. Minderhout, 219 BCH - 9 and 2 }IWF
Mr. Reeder, 219 BCH - 12:15 MW and TH; 10 TuTh
Mr. Solenberger, Boyer Garage - MWF at 3; WF at 10; Tu Th at 3:15