Michael A. Little
Education:
PhD, Penn State University 1968
About:
Distinguished Professor of Anthropology. Environmental biology, growth, reproduction, adaptability, multidisciplinary research, history of biological anthropology; Andes, East Africa.
Contact:
mlittle@binghamton.edu
Research Interests:
My interests and efforts have shifted in recent years from field studies of East African pastoralists to historical studies of human biology and physical anthropology. This requires library and archival rather than comparative or experimental data collection. Gary James and I completed a history of the Human Biology Association early in 2005, and I am currently working on an edited history of the American Association of Physical Anthropologists. I continue to be interested in bio-behavioral aspects of human ecology, and recently worked on a review of the effects of climate change on human health and adaptability with Ralph Garruto.
Selected Bibliography:
(Last five years) Little, M.A. 2000. Biological anthropology today. Anthropology News 41(3):21.
Johnston, F.E. and M.A. Little. 2000. History of human biology. In: Human Biology: An Evolutionary and Biocultural Approach, ed. by S. Stinson, B. Bogin, R. Huss-Ashmore, and D. O'Rourke, pp. 27-46. Wiley-Liss, New York.
Little, M.A. and W.E. Davis. 2000. Establishment of U.S. National Committee for IUAES. Anthropology News 41(6):16.
Little, M.A. 2000. 4. Biological Anthropology. The Encyclopedia Americana: International Edition, Volume 2, pp. 44-49. Grolier, Danbury, Connecticut.
Leslie, P.W., M.A. Little, and K.L. Campbell. 2001. Environmental change and ecology of reproduction in Turkana, Kenya. In Proceedings of the Kongress der Gesellschaft für Anthropologie, pp. 476-482. Cuvillier Verlag, Göttingen.
Little, M.A. 2001. Lessons from the South Turkana Ecosystem Project. In: Human Ecology in the New Millennium, ed. by V. Bhasin, V.K. Srivastava, and M.K. Bhasin, pp. 137-149. Kamla-Raj Enterprises, Delhi.
Little, M.A., S.J. Gray, and B.C. Campbell. 2001. Milk consumption in African pastoral peoples. In: Drinking: Anthropological Approaches, ed. by I. de Garine and V. de Garine, pp. 66-86. Berghahn Books, New York.
Little, M.A., C. Badgley, C.M. Beall, M. Balick, L.E. Munstermann, K.M. Weiss, T.M. Bert, and B. Chernoff. 2001. A framework for a Program in the Human Dimensions of Biodiversity. Biology International (Paris) 42:3-15.
Little, M.A. 2002. Growth and development of Turkana pastoralists. In: Physical Anthropology: Original Readings in Method and Practice, ed. by P.N. Peregrine, C.R. Ember, and M. Ember, pp. 219-238. Prentice Hall, Upper Saddle River, New Jersey. (Reprinted from Little 1995)
Little, M.A. 2002. Human biology, health, and ecology of nomadic Turkana pastoralists. In: Human Biology of Pastoral Populations, ed. by W.R. Leonard and M.H. Crawford, pp.151-182. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
Little, M.A. 2002. Herding. In: Encyclopedia of Food and Culture, Vol. 2, ed. by Solomon Katz, pp. 195-198. Charles Scribner's Sons, New York.
Little, M.A. 2002. Climate and food. In: Encyclopedia of Food and Culture, Vol. 1, ed. by Solomon Katz, pp. 422-424. Charles Scribner's Sons, New York.
Little, M.A. 2002. Cannibalism. In: Encyclopedia of Food and Culture, Vol. 1, ed. by Solomon Katz, pp. 313-316. Charles Scribner's Sons, New York.
Leslie, P.W. and M.A. Little. 2003. Human biology and ecology: variation in nature and the nature of variation. American Anthropologist 105:28-37.
Silverman, S. and M.A. Little. 2003. Foreword. In: Human Biology in the Archives: Health, Nutrition, and Genetics in Historical Populations, ed. by D.A. Herring and A.C. Swedlund, pp. xi-xvi.. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
Gray, S., M. Sundal, B. Wiebusch, M.A. Little, P.W. Leslie, and I.L. Pike. 2003. Cattle raiding and human population biology of East African pastoralists. Current Anthropology 44:3-30 (Suppl.).
Little, M.A. 2003. Gabriel Ward Lasker (1912-2002). American Anthropologist 105:889-892.
Little, M.A. and C.G.N. Mascie-Taylor. 2004. Introduction -- human migration and mobility: demographic, environmental, and evolutionary Issues. American Journal of Human Biology 16:363-364.
Mascie-Taylor, C.G.N. and M.A. Little. 2004. History of migration studies in biological anthropology. American Journal of Human Biology 16:365-378.
Garruto, R.M., M.A. Little, and C.A. Weitz. 2004. Environmental stress and adaptational responses: consequences for human health outcomes. Collegium Antropologicum 28:509-540.
Little, M.A. and G.D. James. 2005. A brief history of the Human Biology Association:1974-2004. American Journal of Human Biology 17:141-154.
Garruto, R.M. and M.A. Little. In press. Biomedical Anthropology: a unique graduate degree program. In: International Union of Anthropological and Ethnological Sciences (IUAES) Congress Proceedings, Florence, Italy, July 2003, ed. by. P. Rudan and S. Spoljar-Vrzina. IUAEC, Zagreb, Croatia.
Little, M.A. and A.T. Steegmann, Jr. In press. Acclimatization and adaptation: responses to cold. In Handbook of North American Indians, Vol. 3: Environment, Origins and Populations, ed. by D.H. Ubelaker. Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.
Campbell, B.C., P.W. Leslie, M.A. Little, and K.C. Campbell. In press. Pubertal timing, hormones and body composition among adolescent Turkana males. American Journal of Physical Anthropology.
Little, M.A. Submitted. Human ecology and anthropology: There is a history, but is there a future? American Journal of Human Biology. (AAA Symposium being compiled by VV Vitzthum.).
Other Key Publications (1958-1999)
Little, M.A. 1969. Temperature regulation at high altitude: Quechua Indians and U.S. Whites during foot exposure to cold water and cold air. Human Biology, 41:519-535.
Little, M.A. 1970. Effects of alcohol and coca on foot temperature responses of highland Peruvians during a localized cold exposure. American Journal of Physical Anthropology, 32:233-242.
Little, M.A. and J.A. Rummel. 1971. Circadian variations in thermal and metabolic responses to heat exposure. Journal of Applied Physiology, 31:556-561.
Little, M.A., R.B. Thomas, R.B. Mazess and P.T. Baker. 1971. Population differences and developmental changes in extremity temperature responses to cold among Andean Indians. Human Biology, 43:70-91.
Little, M.A. and G.E.B. Morren, Jr. 1976. Ecology, Energetics and Human Variability. Wm. C. Brown Co., Dubuque, 90 pp.
Baker, P.T. and M.A. Little (eds.). 1976. Man in the Andes: A Multidisciplinary Study of High Altitude Quechua. Dowden, Hutchison & Ross, Stroudsburg, PA, 482 pp.
Little, M.A. (ed.). 1981. State of Knowledge Report on Andean Ecosystems (MAB/Unesco/UNEP). Volume 1: A General Prospectus on the Andean Region. Mountain Research and Development, 1(2)[Special Issue]:87-186.
Little, M.A. 1982. Development of ideas on human ecology and adaptation. In History of American Physical Anthropology, 1930-1980, ed. by Frank J. Spencer, pp. 405-433. Academic Press, New York.
Dyson-Hudson, R. and M.A. Little (eds.). 1983. Rethinking Human Adaptation: Biological and Cultural Models. Westview Press, Boulder, 180 pp.
Little, M.A., N. Dyson-Hudson, R. Dyson-Hudson, J.E. Ellis, and D.M. Swift. 1984. Human biology and the development of an ecosystem approach. In The Ecosystem Concept in Anthropology, ed. by E.F. Moran, pp. 103-131. Westview Press, Boulder.
Little, M.A. and P.T. Baker. 1988. Migration and adaptation. In Biological Aspects of Human Migration, ed. by C.G.N. Mascie-Taylor and G.W. Lasker, pp. 167-215. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
Little, M.A. and J.D. Haas (eds.). 1989. Human Population Biology: A Transdisciplinary Science. Oxford University Press, New York.
Little, M.A. 1989. Human biology of African pastoralists. Yearbook of Physical Anthropology 32:215-247.
Little, M.A., P.W. Leslie, and K.L. Campbell. 1992. Energy reserves and parity of nomadic and settled Turkana women. American Journal of Human Biology 4(6):729-738.
Little, M.A., S.J. Gray, and P.W. Leslie. 1993. Growth of nomadic and settled Turkana infants of northwest Kenya. American Journal of Physical Anthropology 92(3):273-289.
Little, M.A. 1997. Adaptability of African pastoralists. In: Human Adaptability: Past, Present and Future, ed. by S.J. Ulijaszek and R.A. Huss-Ashmore, pp. 29-60. Oxford University Press, Oxford.
Little, M. 1997. Aspectos metodológicos de la ecología humana. In: Estudios de Antropología Biológica Vol VIII, ed. by R.M. Ramos Rodríguez and M.E. Peña Reyes, pp. 319-352. Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México and Instituto de Investigaciones Antropológicas, México.
Little, M.A. 1998. Growth of African pastoralist children. In: Cambridge Encyclopedia of Human Growth and Development, ed. by S.J. Ulijaszek, F.E. Johnston, and M.A. Preece, pp. 354-355. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
Little, M.A. and P.W. Leslie (eds.). 1999. Turkana Herders of the Dry Savanna: Ecology and Biobehavioral Response of Nomads to an Uncertain Environment. Oxford University Press, Oxford. (see chapters below)