Overview

Based on intensive study of human origin illustrations, responses from students and colleagues and research into reconstructive illustration and feminist criticism of Western art, this ground-breaking book traces the subtle ways in which paleoanthropological conventions have influenced and have shifted in the creation of these illustrations. Wiber reveals that embedded meanings in these illustrations go beyond gender to include two other ubiquitous themes â racial superiority and upward cultural progress. Underlying all these themes, she found a basic conservatism in the paleoanthropological approach to evolutionary theory. Erect Men/Undulating Women provides a deeper understanding of popularized illustrations of human origins, but, more importantly, it encourages readers to gain a sensitivity to the ways in which Western culture constructs ""scientific"" findings that are compatible with its deeply held beliefs and values.

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9780889202740

Table of Contents

Reviews

Wiber has produced an interesting account of how visual imagery in reconstructive illustrations of human evolution has itself evolved over the years.... Her distinction between the naked form and the nude form--the latter meant to affect the viewer through eroticism--is an excellent one.... Wiber's book is well written and includes 16 illustrations and a more than adequte index.''--M.J. O'Brien Choice, June 1998

Wiber has produced an interesting account of how visual imagery in reconstructive illustrations of human evolution has itself evolved over the years.... Her distinction between the naked form and the nude form--the latter meant to affect the viewer through eroticism--is an excellent one.... Wiber's book is well written and includes 16 illustrations and a more than adequte index.'' - M.J. O'Brien - Choice, June 1998 In critiquing the whole framework in which palaeoanthropologists and scientific illustrators operate, Wiber gives us much to think about.'' - Pamela R. Willoughby Provides a valuable update concerning schools of thought on evolutionary theory and the effects of these theories on society's comprehension of how humans came to be.... Erect Men/Undulating Women is an engaging pice of valuable and transferrable research for the professional in the sociological/anthropological field and for anyone interested in the influence of illustrative media on our perception and acceptance of large scope ideas, concepts, and themes.'' - Katie Cottreau-Robins - Atlantic Books Today, Number 20, Spring 1998

Author Information

Melanie G. Wiber is a professor of anthropology at the University of New Brunswick. She has published numerous articles in legal anthropology journals; recent books include, Erect Men/Undulating Women: The Visual Imagery of Gender, ""Race"" and Progress in Reconstructive Illustrations of Human Evolution, and Politics, Property and Law in the Philippine Uplands, both published by Wilfrid Laurier University Press.

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