What is Extinction?  A Fall Colloquium-Seminar, Anthropology Department, UPenn

“Hominin diversity: fact or fantasy? reflections on origins and extinctions in the fossil record”

Speaker: Bernard Wood (George Washington)

The Fall Anthropology colloquium series will explore the concept of extinction as it is being understood, witnessed, and debated in the early 21st century. What kind of deliberations and actions are made on the basis of something—a way of life, a language, or a body of evidence—that is said to be disappearing?  Answers to the question of extinction often exceed theoretical frames, making extinction, near-extinction, and the ‘hour’ of extinction, for that matter, not at all transparent phenomena. An anthropological ‘four-field’ approach will help navigate this boundary object and the complex empirical realities it entails. Topics are broad and include biodiversity loss and extinction events, language endangerment and cultural and ethnic genocide; sex-selection and femicide, end-of-life ethics and care; climate change and food insecurity, the extinction of diseases & the emergence of new ones, ‘salvage anthropology’ and colonial legacies, and war and contemporary heritage loss.

The colloquium talk starts promptly at noon and runs for 45-50 minutes, followed by Q & A. Please note that this is a yearlong colloquium event.  The list of spring speakers will be announced soon. If you have any questions, please contact Ariel Smith, department administrator, at arields@sas.upenn.edu.