title: Sherwood Washburn's New physical anthropology: rejecting the "religion of taxonomy".
abstract: Many physical anthropologists and nearly all of those studying primatology today can trace their academic genealogy to Sherwood Larned Washburn. His New physical anthropology, fully articulated in a 1951 paper, proposed that the study of hominid evolution must link understandings of form, function, and behavior along with the environment in order most accurately to reconstruct the evolution of our ancestors. This shift of concentration from strictly analyzing fossil remains to what Washburn termed adaptive complexes challenged not only Washburn's predecessors, but also led Washburn to critique the very system of academia within which he worked. Collaboration across multiple disciplines, linking the four fields of anthropology in order to understand humans and application of our understandings of human evolution to the betterment of society, are the hallmarks of Washburnian anthropology. In this paper I will explore how Washburn's New physical anthropology led him to not only change the research direction in physical anthropology, but also to challenge the academia within which he worked. I will conclude by reflecting on the prospects of continuing to practice Washburnian Anthropology.
authors.affiliation: Department of Sociology, University of Notre Dame, 810 Flanner Hall, Notre Dame, IN 46556, USA.
authors.forename: Jessica
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Mikels-Carrasco
mesh_terms: D000220:Adaptation, Biological; D000818:Animals; D000885:Anthropology, Physical / Q000193:education / Q000266:history*; D005075:Biological Evolution; D049673:History, 20th Century; D015186:Hominidae; D006801:Humans; D058025:Interdisciplinary Studies; D014481:United States