Short notes

Serogenetics and cytogenetics in reproductive biology.

Definition

Medical Genetics: It is the standard method for understanding the inheritance patterns of Mendelian disorders such as Huntington’s disease, Sickle-cell anemia, and Thalassemia.

Example / case study

  • Information is reconstructed almost entirely through archaeological evidence.
  • Together they explain humans from biological, cultural, linguistic and historical perspectives.
  • Anthropology today extends far beyond the study of tribes.

Thinkers

  • E.A. Hoebel: “Anthropology is the study of man and his works.”
  • Franz Boas — historical particularism and the four-field approach (biological, archaeological, linguistic, cultural).
  • Radcliffe-Brown: Used genealogies to reconstruct descent groups and social structure in Africa.
  • Malinowski: Used them to understand kinship and land inheritance among the Trobriand Islanders.
  • Claude Lévi-Strauss: Used genealogical/kinship data to develop Alliance Theory, focusing on marriage and exchange between lineages.