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{{Short description|American anthropologist (1927–2020)}}
{{More citations needed|date=June 2020}}
'''Robert Leonard Carneiro''' (June 4, 1927 – June 24, 2020) was an [[United States|American]] [[anthropologist]] and curator of the [[American Museum of Natural History]]. Carneiro earned a [[Ph.D.]] from the [[University of Michigan]] in 1957.<ref>Deflem, Mathieu. 2013. [https://deflem.blogspot.com/2013/09/robertcarneiro.html "Carneiro, Robert L."] Pp. 104-106 in Theory in Social and Cultural Anthropology: An Encyclopedia, edited by R. Jon McGee and Richard L. Warms. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.</ref><ref>{{cite encyclopedia |last1=McGee |first1=Jon R. |last2=Warms |first2=Richard L. | date=2013 |encyclopedia=Theory in Social and Cultural Anthropology: An Encyclopedia | publisher=SAGE Publications | pages=1056 | location=California}}</ref>
'''Robert Leonard Carneiro''' (June 4, 1927 – June 24, 2020) was an American [[anthropologist]] and curator of the [[American Museum of Natural History]] who is widely held to be one of the prominent [[Sociocultural evolution|sociocultural evolutionists]].<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.sociostudies.org/journal/articles/2759628/ |title=Robert L. Carneiro (1927–2020) |last=Chacon |first=Richard |website=Social Studies |access-date=2020-12-24}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Sanderson|first=Stephen K. | pages=161–171|date=2007 |title=Evolutionism and its Critics: Deconstructing and Reconstructing an Evolutionary Interpretation of Human Society}}</ref> He is mostly known for his [[Circumscription theory]] which explains how early political [[Sovereign state|states]] may have formed as a result of interactions between environmental constraints, [[population pressure]]s, and [[war]]fare.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Carneiro |first=Robert L. |date=21 August 1970 |title=A Theory of the Origin of the State |journal=Science |volume= 169 |issue=3947 | pages=733–738 |doi=10.1126/science.169.3947.733|pmid=17820299 |s2cid=11536431 }}</ref>


Carneiro was born of Cuban parents in New York City. He took his first course in anthropology as an undergraduate at the [[University of Michigan]], while studying Political Science with the goal of becoming a lawyer. His teacher in that first course was [[Leslie White]] and during that course he discovered that anthropology was what he was really looking for.<ref>Chernela, Janet (2012). "Amazonia and the origin of state: an interview with Robert L. Carneiro," ''Journal of the Society for the Anthropology of Lowland South America'', vol 10 (1), p 66, https://digitalcommons.trinity.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1154&context=tipiti</ref> Later Carneiro took two more classes with White and also with [[Elman Service]].
Carneiro was an influential cultural [[Evolutionism|evolutionist]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Sanderson|first=Stephen K. | pages=161–171|date=2007 |title=Evolutionism and its Critics: Deconstructing and Reconstructing an Evolutionary Interpretation of Human Society}}</ref> He was especially known for his theory of the state formation ("[[Carneiro's Circumscription Theory]]") that explains how the constraints of the environment interact with [[population]] pressures and [[war]]fare to form [[Sovereign state|states]].<ref>{{cite journal |last=Carneiro |first=Robert L. |date=21 August 1970 |title=A Theory of the Origin of the State |journal=Science |volume= 169 |issue=3947 | pages=733–738 |doi=10.1126/science.169.3947.733|pmid=17820299 }}</ref>


Carneiro was more broadly interested in [[evolutionism]] and the development of a very general, scientific theory of culture. His work is very influential, though it has also elicited criticisms.<ref>[https://www.academia.edu/30911274/Circumscription_Theory_of_the_Origins_of_the_State_A_Cross-Cultural_Re-Analysis Zinkina J. et al. Circumscription Theory of the Origins of the State: A Cross-Cultural Re-Analysis.] ''Cliodynamics'' 7/2 (2016): 187–203.</ref> He was strongly opposed to any humanistic and anti-scientific tendencies in anthropology.<ref>Deflem, Mathieu. 2013. [https://deflem.blogspot.com/2013/09/robertcarneiro.html "Carneiro, Robert L."] Pp. 104-106 in Theory in Social and Cultural Anthropology: An Encyclopedia, edited by R. Jon McGee and Richard L. Warms. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.</ref>
As a graduation gift, his father (who hoped his son would run the family business someday) arranged for a trip around the globe on an ocean liner. After the trip, Carneiro began work at his father's company, manufacturing presses used to print magazines and newspapers.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.sociostudies.org/journal/articles/2759628/ |title=Robert L. Carneiro (1927–2020) |last=Chacon |first=Richard |website=Social Studies |access-date=2020-12-24}}</ref> Traveling the world, however, had more fueled Carneiro's interest in anthropology, so he returned to the University of Michigan to become White's graduate student. His graduate research took him to Brazil where fieldwork with an indigenous people, the [[Kuikuro]], revealed large earthworks and ancient trenches. Based on those observations, he earned a [[Ph.D.]] in 1957,<ref name="deflem">Deflem, Mathieu. 2013. [https://deflem.blogspot.com/2013/09/robertcarneiro.html "Carneiro, Robert L."] Pp. 104-106 in Theory in Social and Cultural Anthropology: An Encyclopedia, edited by R. Jon McGee and Richard L. Warms. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.</ref> and went on to teach at several universities.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.amnh.org/research/staff-directory/robert-carneiro |title=Robert Carneiro |publisher=Open Publishing |website=American Museum of Natural History - Staff Directory |access-date=2020-12-24}}</ref> In 1999, he was elected to the [[National Academy of Sciences]]. He is survived by his son Brett Carneiro and three grandchildren.


Carneiro worked toward a general theory, to explain the emergence of political culture, strongly opposed to humanistic and non-scientific tendencies in anthropology<ref name="deflem" /> and to history for its lack of scientific approach.<ref>Carneiro, Robert (2000). ''The Muse of History and the Science of Culture''. (New York: Kluwer Academic/Plenum Publishers).</ref> Besides cultural evolution, he worked also on political evolution and South American ethnology. His [[Circumscription theory|main work]] remains influential,<ref name="deflem2">Deflem, Mathieu. 1999. [https://deflem.blogspot.com/1999/08/warfare-political-leadership-and-state.html “Warfare, Political Leadership, and State Formation: The Case of the Zulu Kingdom, 1808-1879.”] Ethnology 38(4):371-391.</ref> but also has its critics.<ref>[https://www.academia.edu/30911274/Circumscription_Theory_of_the_Origins_of_the_State_A_Cross-Cultural_Re-Analysis Zinkina J. et al. Circumscription Theory of the Origins of the State: A Cross-Cultural Re-Analysis.] ''Cliodynamics'' 7/2 (2016): 187–203.</ref>
== Significant publications ==


==List of selected works==
⚫
Carneiro, R. L. "The Transition From Quantity to Quality: A Neglected Causal Mechanism in Accounting for Social Evolution." Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 97 (2000): 12926-12931.


* "A Theory of the Origin of the State". ''Science''. 169 (3947) (1970): 733–738.
⚫
Carneiro, R. L. "Process vs. Stages: A False Dichotomy in Tracing the Rise of the State." In Alternatives of Social Evolution. Ed. by [[Nikolay Kradin]], [[Andrey Korotayev]], [[Dmitri Bondarenko]], Victor de Munck, and Paul Wason, pp.&nbsp;52–58. Vladivostok: Far Eastern Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, 2000.
⚫
* "The Transition From Quantity to Quality: A Neglected Causal Mechanism in Accounting for Social Evolution." ''Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences'' 97 (2000): 12926-12931.
⚫
* "Process vs. Stages: A False Dichotomy in Tracing the Rise of the State." In ''Alternatives of Social Evolution.'' Ed. by [[Nikolay Kradin]], [[Andrey Korotayev]], [[Dmitri Bondarenko]], Victor de Munck, and Paul Wason, pp.&nbsp;52–58. Vladivostok: Far Eastern Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, 2000.
⚫
* ''The Muse of History and the Science of Culture.'' New York: Kluwer Academic/Plenum Publishers, 2000 <ref>Sanderson, Stephen K. [http://www.socionauki.ru/journal/articles/130158/ Review of Robert L. Carneiro The Muse of History and the Science of Culture]. Social evolution & History . Vol. 2, num. 1. March 2003. Pp. 238–246</ref>
⚫
* "What Happened at Flashpoint? Conjectures on Chiefdom Formation at the Very Moment of Conception." In ''Chiefdoms and Chieftaincy in the Americas.'' Ed. by Elsa M. Redman, pp.&nbsp;18–42. Gainesville: University Press of Florida, 1998.
⚫
* ''Evolutionism in Cultural Anthropology: A Critical History.'' Westview Press, Boulder, CO, 2003.
⚫
* ''The Evolution of the Human Mind From Supernaturalism to Naturalism, An Anthropological Perspective.'' New York: Eliot Werner Publications, Inc., 2010.
* ''The Checkered History of the Circumscription Theory.'' AuthorHouse, Bloomington, IN, 2018.


==See also==
⚫
Carneiro, R. L. The Muse of History and the Science of Culture. New York: Kluwer Academic/Plenum Publishers, 2000 <ref>Sanderson, Stephen K. [http://www.socionauki.ru/journal/articles/130158/ Review of Robert L. Carneiro The Muse of History and the Science of Culture]. Social evolution & History . Vol. 2, num. 1. March 2003. Pp. 238–246</ref>
*[[Stephen K. Sanderson]]

⚫
Carneiro, R. L. "What Happened at Flashpoint? Conjectures on Chiefdom Formation at the Very Moment of Conception." In Chiefdoms and Chieftaincy in the Americas. Ed. by Elsa M. Redman, pp.&nbsp;18–42. Gainesville: University Press of Florida, 1998.

Carneiro, R. L. "Human History: A Domain of Competing Perspectives." Europaea 3, no. 2 (1997): 9-32.

⚫
Carneiro, R. L. "Evolutionism in Cultural Anthropology: A Critical History" Westview Press, Boulder, CO, 2003.

⚫
Carneiro, R. L. The Evolution of the Human Mind From Supernaturalism to Naturalism An Anthropological Perspective. New York: Eliot Werner Publications, Inc., 2010.

== External links ==
* [https://www.scribd.com/doc/24465321/Origins-and-Evolution-of-Chiefdoms-Reviews-in-Anthropology-Vol-30-4-2001-P-373%E2%80%93395 A critical assessment of Carneiro's theory of the origins of the state]
*[http://www.mnsu.edu/emuseum/information/biography/abcde/carneiro_robert.html] Faculty Page at Minnesota University.
* [http://www.socionauki.ru/authors/carneiro_r/ Robert Carneiro] is a member of [[Social Evolution & History]] journal


==References==
==References==
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[[Category:1927 births]]
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Revision as of 11:22, 10 February 2024

Robert Leonard Carneiro (June 4, 1927 – June 24, 2020) was an American anthropologist and curator of the American Museum of Natural History who is widely held to be one of the prominent sociocultural evolutionists.[1][2] He is mostly known for his Circumscription theory which explains how early political states may have formed as a result of interactions between environmental constraints, population pressures, and warfare.[3]

Carneiro was born of Cuban parents in New York City. He took his first course in anthropology as an undergraduate at the University of Michigan, while studying Political Science with the goal of becoming a lawyer. His teacher in that first course was Leslie White and during that course he discovered that anthropology was what he was really looking for.[4] Later Carneiro took two more classes with White and also with Elman Service.

As a graduation gift, his father (who hoped his son would run the family business someday) arranged for a trip around the globe on an ocean liner. After the trip, Carneiro began work at his father's company, manufacturing presses used to print magazines and newspapers.[5] Traveling the world, however, had more fueled Carneiro's interest in anthropology, so he returned to the University of Michigan to become White's graduate student. His graduate research took him to Brazil where fieldwork with an indigenous people, the Kuikuro, revealed large earthworks and ancient trenches. Based on those observations, he earned a Ph.D. in 1957,[6] and went on to teach at several universities.[7] In 1999, he was elected to the National Academy of Sciences. He is survived by his son Brett Carneiro and three grandchildren.

Carneiro worked toward a general theory, to explain the emergence of political culture, strongly opposed to humanistic and non-scientific tendencies in anthropology[6] and to history for its lack of scientific approach.[8] Besides cultural evolution, he worked also on political evolution and South American ethnology. His main work remains influential,[9] but also has its critics.[10]

List of selected works

  • "A Theory of the Origin of the State". Science. 169 (3947) (1970): 733–738.
  • "The Transition From Quantity to Quality: A Neglected Causal Mechanism in Accounting for Social Evolution." Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 97 (2000): 12926-12931.
  • "Process vs. Stages: A False Dichotomy in Tracing the Rise of the State." In Alternatives of Social Evolution. Ed. by Nikolay Kradin, Andrey Korotayev, Dmitri Bondarenko, Victor de Munck, and Paul Wason, pp. 52–58. Vladivostok: Far Eastern Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, 2000.
  • The Muse of History and the Science of Culture. New York: Kluwer Academic/Plenum Publishers, 2000 [11]
  • "What Happened at Flashpoint? Conjectures on Chiefdom Formation at the Very Moment of Conception." In Chiefdoms and Chieftaincy in the Americas. Ed. by Elsa M. Redman, pp. 18–42. Gainesville: University Press of Florida, 1998.
  • Evolutionism in Cultural Anthropology: A Critical History. Westview Press, Boulder, CO, 2003.
  • The Evolution of the Human Mind From Supernaturalism to Naturalism, An Anthropological Perspective. New York: Eliot Werner Publications, Inc., 2010.
  • The Checkered History of the Circumscription Theory. AuthorHouse, Bloomington, IN, 2018.

See also

References

  1. ^ Chacon, Richard. "Robert L. Carneiro (1927–2020)". Social Studies. Retrieved 2020-12-24.
  2. ^ Sanderson, Stephen K. (2007). Evolutionism and its Critics: Deconstructing and Reconstructing an Evolutionary Interpretation of Human Society. pp. 161–171.
  3. ^ Carneiro, Robert L. (21 August 1970). "A Theory of the Origin of the State". Science. 169 (3947): 733–738. doi:10.1126/science.169.3947.733. PMID 17820299. S2CID 11536431.
  4. ^ Chernela, Janet (2012). "Amazonia and the origin of state: an interview with Robert L. Carneiro," Journal of the Society for the Anthropology of Lowland South America, vol 10 (1), p 66, https://digitalcommons.trinity.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1154&context=tipiti
  5. ^ Chacon, Richard. "Robert L. Carneiro (1927–2020)". Social Studies. Retrieved 2020-12-24.
  6. ^ a b Deflem, Mathieu. 2013. "Carneiro, Robert L." Pp. 104-106 in Theory in Social and Cultural Anthropology: An Encyclopedia, edited by R. Jon McGee and Richard L. Warms. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.
  7. ^ "Robert Carneiro". American Museum of Natural History - Staff Directory. Open Publishing. Retrieved 2020-12-24.
  8. ^ Carneiro, Robert (2000). The Muse of History and the Science of Culture. (New York: Kluwer Academic/Plenum Publishers).
  9. ^ Deflem, Mathieu. 1999. “Warfare, Political Leadership, and State Formation: The Case of the Zulu Kingdom, 1808-1879.” Ethnology 38(4):371-391.
  10. ^ Zinkina J. et al. Circumscription Theory of the Origins of the State: A Cross-Cultural Re-Analysis. Cliodynamics 7/2 (2016): 187–203.
  11. ^ Sanderson, Stephen K. Review of Robert L. Carneiro The Muse of History and the Science of Culture. Social evolution & History . Vol. 2, num. 1. March 2003. Pp. 238–246
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