BLOOMSBURG STATE COLLEGE
Bloomsburg
Pennsylvania
Anthropology Newsletter
Vol. 2, No. 7
April 1978
Department of Philosophy and Anthropology

Anthropology Party There will be a party for anthropology majors at Mr.
Reeder's house (235 West Eleventh Street, Bloomsburg) on May 5. You
may bring a guest. Enterta;nment will include a performance on the water
harmonica by Mike Williams, impressions of favorite singing cowboys by
Steve Styers, a lecture by Marj Witmer on ''Housetraining the New Wnrld
Monkey" and a mime routine by Minde~hout and Re~der based on the Southwest tour slides. For more details, see the faculty.
Book Review Anthropologis~ doing field work in tribal and peasant cultures often encounter food which is beyond description. Some of it is
incredibly good, and anthropologists lament for years afterwards about
the unavailability of some food item in this country. Others are best
remembered only. Jessica Kuper has collected some of these unique recipes in a book called The Anthropologist's Cookbook (Universe Books,
1978). The recipes given in the book reflect their cultural hertiage.
Note, for instance, Isobel White's recipe for damper, a bread made by
Australian aborigines, which begins: "Retrieve your axe from whomever
has borrowed it." The recipe then describes building a campfire from
local acacia pieces left over from woodworking. Step 2 begins: "Find
a large pan. This may be the hardest task of all." Precautions are
added about keeping children out of the flour, keeping dogs away from
the food, and remembering not to ask a man to fetch water since that is
demeaning for males in this culture. Other recipes include matanza, a
roast pig dish from Spain; kisu, a cracked wheat recipe from Turkey; and
a recipe for roasted dog from the Caroline Islands. Each recipe will
increase your appreciation of cuisine as a cultural artifact. As Mary
Douglas says in the introduction, "Food is not feed. Let this be a beginning to a systematic anthropology of food."
Welcome to new majors Michael Dinsmore, Tim Eldridge, Chris Hagner,
Janice Gitomer, Laura Marshall, and Karen Schick.
Thank you to all those who supported Dr. Kurland's visit and presentation
in March. The faculty has received many compliments from other departments about Dr. Kurland, and for his part, Kurland remarked about the
significant level of enthusiasm and academic curiosity he met during his
visit here. Just having returned from a job interview in California,
he told us: "This place (BSC) is more alive academically than Berkeley."
Graduate Programs: The faculty has just received a resume 0f the graduate program in anthropology at the State University of New York at
A1bany. SUNY at Albany offers both an MA and a Ph.D., in anthropolo gy ,

2

Graduate Programs continued: encompassing all the major subdisciplines
of anthropology. The 15 faculty members include some well-known names
in the field and reflect a high degree of competence. SUNY at Albany
might be an admirable alternative for some of BSC's anthropology majors.
If you would like to learn more about this program, see Dr. Minderhout.
Write when you get work . . . Anthropology major Stu Marvin is better
known to the BSC community as an outstanding NCAA swimmer. Stu holds
several BSC swimming records and is generally considered one of the· best
college swimmers in the United States.
Stu's interest in anthropology developed from his exposure to introductory courses in the subject Rt BSC. Last summer Stu accompanied Reeder
and Minderhout on an archaeology/ethnography tour of the American Southwest. Although the desert environment may be somewhat alien to a swimmer, Stu demonstrated his speciality to the touring group one evening.
High in the Superstition Mountains between Tucson and Phoenix a clear
calm lake provided the media for Stu's talents. There is still some
debate as to where the water for the gooey spaghetti came that night.
The Superstition Mountains, mysterious locale of the legendary "Lost
Dutchman's Mine," was not the only place where Stu demonstrated his .
abilities. During a tour of the zoo at Colorado Springs, Stu, who is
academically very much interested in primates, found himself teaching
his fellow students details of primate physiology and behavior. In
fact, Stu plans to combine swimming and anthropology as a career. He
would like to get a MA in anthropology in order to teach at a junior
college or community college and coach the swimming team at the same
time. We wish him "hon voyage!"
Request for a Fourth Staff Member: Minderhout and Reeder have addressed the
following letter to the administration:
Last fall we in the Anthropology division of the Department of Philosophy/
Anthropology requested "preliminary consideration" by the Administration
for the hiring of a fourth staff anthropologist. In reply to that request,
commentary was received by us regarding class overloads etc.rand special
note was made of the significance of the increasing number of student
majors in anthropology (the BA in Sociology/Anthropology). The suggestion by
Dean Drake was to the effect that the number of student majors constituted a
valid criteria by which assessment of staff needs in anthropology could be
made. At that time we noted that within the course of one year we had
doubled the number of majors from about 10 to about 20. Academic departments
in the Arts and Sciences with a total staff of three faculty do not commonly
have so many majors.
The principal reason for this note and renewed request for staff is that the
number of majors has now increased to 35! Indeed we have arrived at a
point that the number of anthropology staff itself becomes a LIMITING FACTOR
on the number of majors we can accoannodate. Gentlemen, we do not see
how it is possible for us to demonstrate need more clearly than by this pressure

3

we are experiencing for courses and staffing in anthropology. We believe
that there is an opportunity here that BSC at this time can exploit or
frustrate. We of the anthropology staff view the hiring of a fourth
anthropologist as the critical determinate of BSC's desire to do something
substantial with the interest demonstrated by BSC's students. We feel
we can offer a solid undergraduate anthropology program, which is
complete, with a fourth staff member.
Ethnographic Facts: Desmond Morris has said that man is the "sexiest primate
alive." Morris does not mean physical appeal, but rather that humans
have a stronger sexual drive than other primates. Copulation in apes and
monkeys is often very brief, lasting only a few seconds in baboons, and
most female non-human primates seem incapable of orgasm. The way humans
satisfy their sexual drives varies considerably from culture to culture.
In most cultures there is little privacy for the couple who is copulating.
For instance, in northern India, if a man wants intercourse with his wife,
he gets up during the night and goes to the women's quarter~, where many
women and children may be sleeping. As in many cultures there is little
or no foreplay, little kissing, and no manipulation of the breasts. Oralgenital contacts are taboo. The couples seldom undress beyond exposing
their genitals, and the woman's role is passive. The position used in
intercourse may vary as well, though the "missionary" position seems to be
most common. However among the Trobriand Islanders the man is usually in
a squatting position while among the Murngin the woman lies on her side
with her back to the man. In many cultures sexual intercourse is viewed
as draining the man's strength, and so is avoided by warriors before
batt~e and by religious specialists before important rituals. Many Hindus
believe that semen is stored in the head and that to accumulate the
supply leads to physical and spiritual power. As a result, there is some
reluctance to engage in intercourse.
An Interview With Keith and Theresa Zob~ by Steve Styers
Keith and Theresa Zoba are both juniors and 20 years old. Keith is majoring
in Anthropology and Philosophy. Theresa majors in Anthropology and Social
Welfare. Keith was born in Harrisburg, PA, lived in Pittsburgh, and since
the age of two, he has lived in Ringtown, PA. Theresa was born in Queens,
NY, ~d has lived most of her l_ife in Bethlehem, PA. They have been
married since August, 1977.
(The following interview has been condensed from 1\ hours of conversation
during the last afternoon of March.)
S:
K:
T:
K:
S:
T:
K:

How did you meet?
At a party, through friends • • .
I thought he was an intellectual . . • who wouldn't want to get
involved.
And I thought she was cute and probably attached, and a great personality.
Then what?
We went to a couple of TM lectures together • • •
It's strange and stupid • • . our first "date" was to see "All the
President's Men," though we'd both seen it before.

4

An Interview With Keith and Theresa Zoba continued

&:

When did you decide to get married?
K: June 19 was the day I asked her • . .
T: He hinted around a few days before. We didn't tell anybody right
then . • . it was made ''off-icial" about two weeks later.
K: I gave her the rock in mid-July .
T: And we were married August 20, at two o'clock in the afternoon.
S:
Is it fun Being married?
T & K: Great.
K:
I wouldn't want to have it any other way.
T: I had thought I would have been content to live alone my whole life;
I was independent, but . . .
K:
I'd always said I wouldn't get married till I was at least 30 . • •
but when you find the right person . • • it's right.
S: Favorite books:
T: Alan Watts' Cloud Hidden: Whereabouts Unknown, and a book of Chinese
poetry, Four Seasons of Tang, among others.
K:
I gave her the Watts book, so that's one of my favorites, of course.
Also, Tao, The Watercourse Way by Watts, and the Castaneda books.
S.: Favorite buildings?
T: I like old pyramids, and any Indian ruins . . .
K: She's got archaeology blood in her.
I like the St. Louis arch.
S: Films?
T:
I liked "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest'' a lot.
K: I like "Father Goose", an old movie with Cary Grant. It's a comedylove story.
S: Colors?
T: Yellow; I like the sun, fire, flowers.
K: Blue; I like the blue of an early morning dawn
As the sun rises over the treetops.
I like the blue of the deep dark sea
T: That's what blue means to me.
(and we laugh)
S: Favorite season?
T: I like all of them.
K:
I like them all, but spring is my favorite. It's the season of renewal--everything's alive again--emotions, trees, nature. Besides,
we met in the spring.
S: Hobbies and interests?
T: Taking care of plants, hiking; I collect and write poetry. I would
paint more if I had more time. I like to play the recorder.
K: Hiking, playing the Japanese bamboo flute, reading Oriental philosophy and religion and mythology . . . We both like music, except
country and western
We are both pacifists.
S: What's your definition of love?
K: A feeling shared between two people
T: Sharing but not restricting
K: Caring.
S:
If you could bring one dead person back to life, who would it be and
why?

s
An Interview With Keith and Theresa Zoba continued
T:
K:

Thoreau; I admire the way he lived, and I'd like to talk to him.
I'd like to meet Alan Watts; he's dead you know. I know him well-I've read 17 of his books.
&: Which of your majors is more important to you?
T: Anthropology. It encompasses everything.
K: Anthropology. I have a holistic outlook; I'd love to be a Renaissance
man.
S: Do you believe in life after death?
T: I don't believe in heaven--the Christian concept. I don't believe
in any type of punishment or reward after death.
K:
I accept that too; I don't believe in personal survival, though there
may be something to Jung's collective consciousness.
S: How did you discover anthropology?
T: Before I came to college, I was reading Bronowski's Ascent of Man,
and was interested in it then. I was a Psychology major, but I felt
it held too narrow a viewpoint of the world, and Anthropology was
broad.
K:
I was looking for a social science credit . . • Trese suggested I
try Cultural Ar.thropology with Dave Minderhout. It was my first
night course, and I loved it , . • . it agreed with my outlook.
s~ Did you enjoy this interview?
T: Yeah, it was funny . • •
· Keith laughs.
A Change for the Better? by Marj Witmer The human body is indeed an
amazing phenomenon, but have you ever considered the changes that could
be made to improve the present design? Let me suggest some alterations
that just might get used in the future:
Starting with the eyes, wouldn't it be practical to have a sensor band
all around the head? The two front color 3-D eyes are great for zeroing
in on specifics, but I think we can all recall times when we wished we
could see on all sides. Never again would little kids have to worry abou t
mom sneaking up on them while they raid the cookie jar.
Ever since my first cavity, I've thought the teeth could use a revamping .
How about if we had the shark's system of dentition? When a tooth gets
worn out, it is just replaced by another. I can't think of too many
people who would dislike this alteration--other than dentists!
When it comes to bumps, bruises, scrapes, scratches, and general minor
injuries, I've taken quite a few awards. So for me and anyone else who
has suffered, I would like to dedicate the following modifications:
First, that palms and soles should be covered with a supple leather-like
skin that wouldn't be so susceptible to burns, paper cuts, and blisters!
My second suggestion can be appreciated by anyone who spent some of their
· life as a child. Remeber those brush-burned knees and elbows? Well,
how about if they could be covered by scales that could regenerate if
lost? True it would be similar to wearing a turtle shell on each joint,
but wouldn't it save lots of band-aids?

6

A Change for the Better? continued
It has long been assumed that the flexibility of the hand is very ade-·

quate. I have found, however, that if the fingers were lengthened, especially the thumb, this flexibility could be greatly improved. Also,
in my 22 years I've never noted a real use for fingernails, except of
course, for biting.
Moving to the trunk of the body, I think it's time that our skeletal
structure help rid us of the ever present problem of bulging stomachs.
Obviously for flexibility any hard bone structure has to be ruled out,
but a flat flexible piece of cartilage extended from the pelvic bone upwards would suffice very nicely. This suggestion sounds good, but somehow I don't think it would be as easy to admit the imperfections of humanity if everyone had a faultless physique.
My final suggestion is one which I'm surprised didn't make it into the
original design. Although the structure of the foot is strong, it is
extremely small in proportion to all the weight it has to hold up. Being
basically top heavy, any slight blow can cause us to lose balance, and
we wind up on the area that was designed specifically to pad the landing.
If our feet were bigger, the weight should be a little easier to handle,
and we would have less need for that specifically designed landing pad!
The only foreseen problem may be that if my plan is accepted to enlarge
everyone's feet, we might have to use a new trait to describe Big Foot.
These suggestions can be taken lightly, since man has been getting along
just fine with his present design. But the next time you get a cavity
or fall and·scrape an elbow, confider my proposals. I'm not as crazy
1
as you might think!
i

Rage and Compassion, or The Practice and Theory of Anthropology Damned
and Praised in one Paragraph by ~teve Styers
'

Short scenes: On the last day ol! 1977, my grandmother was being helped
down the hall to the bathroom by :my mother. I was in my bedroom, reading,
as usual. My grandmother was bo~n in 1890, is rather deaf, slightly
senile, very fragile, but I heard! her say, "Louise, I never thought it
was going to be like this." Ove1 Easter vacation, my younger brother's
dog Sam (Samantha\ bit the head off of one of her eleven puppies, and
two others "disappeared" and wer barking hoarsely, wouldn't move. / Eventually, I discovered that somehow
he had lost his left hind foot cl,.1ring the winter, mysteriously, and that
the rear part of his body seemed to be paralyzed. He has been blind in
his left eye for several years. ( He's 15 years old, an ancient dog,
but I couldn't call a vet to fir.'/j out when it would be possible to ''put
him out of his misery." And thEl'n I read this in a science fiction trilogy by Samuel R. Delany: "You are trapped in that bright moment where
you learned your doom." So, wh,t does all this have to do with anthropology? Not much, Though it d{pends on how you define "anthropology".
The first time I tried to write/ this paragraph, it was all praise to the

i

i

,.

7
glory of anthropology as the source of my personal renaissance, a revolution of my mind. I think I was defining anthropology differently from
how I think of it in this present paragraph; in my first paragraph, it
was almost like a religion I was singing a hymn to. In this paragraph,
it is something else indeed; what, I'm still not sure. I discovered
Anthropology a year ago this April, so this is my first anniversary with
it, but I'm not celebrating. Because: my grandmother lives in a society
that has disowned her; my dog has been with me 15 years, and life is
disowning him; and "We are trapped in that bright moment • • • '' And
Anthropology doesn't make a bit of difference. And as long as it stays
locked up in the academic establishment, divorced from "reality," though,
of course, this depends on how you define the most real reality, anthropology is never going to be relevant. I don't know what "applied anthropology" does, but I'm finding that if all anthropology is not an applied
science, then I don't want to learn its tedious details. If Anthropology
is going to perpetuate itself only in an academic setting, and if that is
its only justification for calling itself a science in this last quarter
of the 20th century, and if it makes no difference to the way I live, the
way 4 billion others live, the way we will live tomorrow, then it is an
empty thing of meaningless facts designed to fill the void in educated
minds, and I would not want it. But, if i t ~ going to make a difference
in the development of a feasible utopia, or in just preventing our
extinction by the bright nuclear light, then I may celebrate my anniversary
after all. I will have to decide soon. As T. S. Eliot pointedly observed:
"April is the cruellest month."
Last Issue? This issue for the Newsletter will be the last for the 1977-78
academic year. But don't despair - we'll be back in September with even
bigger and better issues. Graduating seniors may leave their addresses
with Dr. Minderhout if they'd like to keep in touch and receive the Newsletter next year.