phylogeny and culture

Mike Cole (mcole who-is-at weber.ucsd.edu)
Tue, 1 Jul 1997 14:37:04 -0700 (PDT)

The following quotation is taken from the Sunday N.Y. Times. It is
about the controversy over Americans and others who have been adopting
babies in the country of Georgia. It is a statement by Mrs. Shevardnadze,
the wife of the President and former foreign minister of the USSR.

It struck me as a succinct expression of the phenomonenon known as
ETHNIC identity, that is, an identity compounded out of ideas about
ones historical antecedents in phylogeny and cultural history.

This topic is of course relevant to the reading of Cultural Psychology,
where I do not take it up explicitly. It is relevant to understanding
how explosive this combination is.

mike
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"I am categorically against foreign adoption... Our nation's gene
pool is being depleted. No more children should leave Georgia.

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The original story is worth checking out for those interested. p. 1,
June 29 NY Times