Studia Generalia: Professor Robert H. Layton
05/19/2011 - 15:00 - 15:00
Add to calendar
iCal calendar
The next public lecture of Studia Generalia entitled "Art and the Evolution
of Culture" will be delivered by Robert H. Layton, Professor of
Anthropology at Durham University (United Kingdom). The lecture will take
place in the auditorium M-134 (TU Mare building, Uus-Sadama 5) on Thursday,
May 19 at 16:00. The lecture will be in English.Professor Layton's lecture
will focus on the evolution of art and culture. Several attempts have been
made by evolutionary psychologists to explain the evolution of art, in
particular Miller’s (2000) argument that art originated during the
Pleistocene era, as a form of male display to attract mates, and Thornhill
and Gangestad’s (1999) experiments suggesting that our appreciation of
symmetry evolved because facial symmetry signals reproductive health.These
theories will induce a sense of déjà vu among many anthropologists.
Durkheim argued as long ago as 1901 that socio-cultural phenomena ‘should
not be confused with biological phenomena, since they consist of
representations and actions; nor with psychological phenomena, which exist
only in the individual consciousness.’ However, evolutionary biology and
psychology have made huge advances during the last hundred years. If
anthropology can benefit from their findings without repeating the mistakes
of nineteenth-century science, we may indeed advance our knowledge of how
and why art evolved in human culture. The ethnologist Tinbergen famously
distinguished four questions to ask about any evolved social behaviour.
Applying these questions to anthropological case studies of art helps to
distinguish the universal from the culturally-specific, and inherent
psychological tendencies from their diverse expressions in social
life.Robert H. Layton is an anthropologist interested in social change and
social evolution, indigenous rights and non-Western art. He has carried out
fieldwork in rural France and with a number of Australian Aboriginal
communities.He lived in Australia from 1974 to 1981, working for the
Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies in
Canberra (A.C.T), and the Northern [Aboriginal] Land Council in Darwin
(N.T). During this time he studied Australian rock art and helped prepare a
number of Aboriginal Land Claims, of which the first was the claim to the
Uluru (Ayers Rock) National Park. This research has been published in his
books "Uluru: An Aboriginal history of Ayers Rock" (Aboriginal Studies
Press, Canberra, 1986 reissued 2001) and "Australian rock art: A new
synthesis" (Cambridge University Press 1992). He has revisited Australia
several times, working on the Hodgson Downs land claim in 1993-4 and
helping to prepare the Australian Government's submission to UNESCO to
place the Uluru National Park on the World Heritage List as a cultural
landscape of universal value. The Uluru National Park was one of the first
two indigenous landscapes to be so recognized.Robert H. Layton also works
on the evolution of the hunter-gatherer society and culture. He is
interested in the co-evolution of genes and culture, and in tracing the
emergence of modern human forms of social organization.Studia Generalia is
a series of public lectures delivered by the teachers, researchers and
visiting lecturers of Tallinn University. Anyone who enters the University
building can listen to what prominent thinkers have to say on current
topics that affect society, and also participate in the discussion. The
lectures are held once a month on Thursdays. Students can obtain two
credits after participating in the whole series. Participation is free of
charge. In order to watch past lectures, please visit the Tallinn Virtual
University.
For further information please contactKaie LepikProject Manager, TU Studia
GeneraliaPhone: +372 641 0089Email: studia@tlu.ee
www.tlu.ee/studiageneralia
of Culture" will be delivered by Robert H. Layton, Professor of
Anthropology at Durham University (United Kingdom). The lecture will take
place in the auditorium M-134 (TU Mare building, Uus-Sadama 5) on Thursday,
May 19 at 16:00. The lecture will be in English.Professor Layton's lecture
will focus on the evolution of art and culture. Several attempts have been
made by evolutionary psychologists to explain the evolution of art, in
particular Miller’s (2000) argument that art originated during the
Pleistocene era, as a form of male display to attract mates, and Thornhill
and Gangestad’s (1999) experiments suggesting that our appreciation of
symmetry evolved because facial symmetry signals reproductive health.These
theories will induce a sense of déjà vu among many anthropologists.
Durkheim argued as long ago as 1901 that socio-cultural phenomena ‘should
not be confused with biological phenomena, since they consist of
representations and actions; nor with psychological phenomena, which exist
only in the individual consciousness.’ However, evolutionary biology and
psychology have made huge advances during the last hundred years. If
anthropology can benefit from their findings without repeating the mistakes
of nineteenth-century science, we may indeed advance our knowledge of how
and why art evolved in human culture. The ethnologist Tinbergen famously
distinguished four questions to ask about any evolved social behaviour.
Applying these questions to anthropological case studies of art helps to
distinguish the universal from the culturally-specific, and inherent
psychological tendencies from their diverse expressions in social
life.Robert H. Layton is an anthropologist interested in social change and
social evolution, indigenous rights and non-Western art. He has carried out
fieldwork in rural France and with a number of Australian Aboriginal
communities.He lived in Australia from 1974 to 1981, working for the
Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies in
Canberra (A.C.T), and the Northern [Aboriginal] Land Council in Darwin
(N.T). During this time he studied Australian rock art and helped prepare a
number of Aboriginal Land Claims, of which the first was the claim to the
Uluru (Ayers Rock) National Park. This research has been published in his
books "Uluru: An Aboriginal history of Ayers Rock" (Aboriginal Studies
Press, Canberra, 1986 reissued 2001) and "Australian rock art: A new
synthesis" (Cambridge University Press 1992). He has revisited Australia
several times, working on the Hodgson Downs land claim in 1993-4 and
helping to prepare the Australian Government's submission to UNESCO to
place the Uluru National Park on the World Heritage List as a cultural
landscape of universal value. The Uluru National Park was one of the first
two indigenous landscapes to be so recognized.Robert H. Layton also works
on the evolution of the hunter-gatherer society and culture. He is
interested in the co-evolution of genes and culture, and in tracing the
emergence of modern human forms of social organization.Studia Generalia is
a series of public lectures delivered by the teachers, researchers and
visiting lecturers of Tallinn University. Anyone who enters the University
building can listen to what prominent thinkers have to say on current
topics that affect society, and also participate in the discussion. The
lectures are held once a month on Thursdays. Students can obtain two
credits after participating in the whole series. Participation is free of
charge. In order to watch past lectures, please visit the Tallinn Virtual
University.
For further information please contactKaie LepikProject Manager, TU Studia
GeneraliaPhone: +372 641 0089Email: studia@tlu.ee
www.tlu.ee/studiageneralia