The Anthropology of Posture
The Anthropology of Posture
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姿势人类学
DOI：
10.1038/scientificamerican0257-122
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发表时间：
1957
影响因子：
3
通讯作者：
G. Hewes
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
G. Hewes
我们坐、跪或站立的方式不仅由人体解剖学决定，也由文化决定。世界各国人民的姿势风格不同，就像他们在服装、住房、烹饪和音乐方面的风格不同一样。然而，奇怪的是，这块衡量文化差异的重要试金石几乎没有受到科学界的重视。大约20年前，法国社会学家马塞尔·莫斯(Marcel Mauss)在一篇名为《身体的科技》(The Tech Niques Of The Body)的激动人心的论文中呼吁人们关注这类问题，但他只是暗示，他们的调查可能会为邪教和生物学之间的边界研究开辟一片肥沃的领域。一些政治学者写过关于特定部落或国家的姿势习惯的文章。这就是文学对这一主题的局限。很难理解为什么人类和社会的学生对他的行为留下了如此空白。对姿势模式的研究可以告诉我们许多关于人类生物和文化进化的信息。而且这个主题并不缺乏实际意义。姿势和相关的运动习惯与日常生活的许多方面密切相关：它们会影响我们的服装、鞋类、家具、住宅、办公室、车辆、工具和机器的设计。此外，他们在社交中会说一种雄辩的语言。我们大多数人在无休止地解释或评估人们的动机、情绪或行为时，都会关注姿势暗示，以及面部表情和言语本身。
The ways in which we sit, kneel or stand are determined not only by the human anatomy but also by culture. The peoples of the world differ in posture styles just as they do in styles of clothing, housing, cooking and music. Yet curiously this important touchstone of cultural differences has received little serious attention from science. About 20 years ago the French sociologist Marcel Mauss called attention to such matters in a stimulating paper called" The Tech niques of the Body," but he did not go much beyond the suggestion that their investigation might open up a fertile field for research on the borderline be tween cultm: e and biology. A few anthro pologists have written about the postural habits of particular tribes or countries. And that is about the limit of the litera ture on the subject.It is hard to understand why students of man and society have left this chap ter of his behavior so blank. Studies of postural patterns could tell us a great deal about man's biological and cultural evolution. And the subject is not Witllout practical importance. Postures and re lated motor-habits are intimately linked with many aspects of daily life: they af fect the design of our clothing, footgear, furniture, dwellings, offices, vehicles, tools and machines. Moreover, they speak an eloquent language in social intercourse. Most of us look to postural cues, as well as facial expressions and speech itself, in our never-ending efforts to interpret or evaluate people's motives, moods or behavior.