Seminar explores roots of humanity

To answer these and other questions, first-year students enrolled in the Scribner Seminar titled "Human Origins: An Interdisciplinary Inquiry" have visited Skidmore's biology and anthropology laboratories, as well as the American Museum of Natural History in New York City, in addition to reading some great literary and scientific texts, to more fully understand human ancestry.

	Professor Roth and Kiki Pohlad '13 (Photo by Keith Kallas '12)

Professor of English Phyllis Roth is teaching the seminar for a second year, having developed the course in collaboration with Biology Professor Bernie Possidente.  (Last year Possidente team-taught the course with Roth; this year, he presented a guest lecture on genetic analysis when students visited his lab in the Dana Science Center.) For Roth, who once aspired to be a scientist, the seminar offers the perfect opportunity to read, talk, and teach writing about science, which she does with gusto.

From the beginning, with a literary analysis of evolution, the students spend the semester making connections across time and disciplines to address the question of human ancestry. 

In each of the last two summers, Roth's seminar students received an email with a special offer:  would they like to participate in National Geographic's Genographic Project?

Kiki Pohlad, Laura Dudek, James Lyness, and Chris Gazarian in the DNA lab. (Photo by Korlarp Suwacharangkul '10)

According to the project's web site, "DNA studies suggest that all humans today descend from a group of African ancestors who—about 60,000 years ago—began a remarkable journey." The Genographic Project uses sophisticated laboratory and computer analysis of DNA contributed by hundreds of thousands of people from around the world to learn more about the migratory paths of the human species.

Roth later learned that the subject became a topic of discussion on Facebook. Recalling the incident, she chuckled.  It was to be the first of many discussions in a course that grapples with big questions.

	Joe Phalen, Rachel Port, and Anna Farrell examine skeletal reconstructions. (Photo by Keith Kallas '12)

The point of students doing DNA analysis, which also includes hands-on research in Possidente's lab, is to discover the story that DNA tells about human origins.  A session at the College's Archaeology/Anthropology lab, under the guidance of anthropology Professor Susan Bender, increased that body of knowledge, all in preparation for the visit to the American Museum of Natural History in New York City.  There, in the museum's Hall of Human Origins, students see it all, "laid out visually and narratively," says Roth.  The museum's exhibit "is itself a narrative that moves through a series of spaces from early primates to the human brain, and to art."

A packet of readings to prepare the students for the museum trek focused on how to read both DNA evidence and the fossil record. Said Roth, "Wonderfully, the central text for the course is Human Origins:  What Bones and Genomes Tell Us About Ourselves, by Rob Desalle and Ian Tattersall, who are also the curators of the Hall of Human Origins."

Sathya Andavolu and Chris Gazarian at the American Museum of Natural History. (Photo by Phyllis Roth)

Toward the end of the semester, attention centers on a new dimension:  the psychological analysis of human origins in which people are inscribed with social constructs, such as race and gender. At this point, students encounter what Roth calls "the fulcrum of the course"—a lecture by Skidmore psychology Professor Sheldon Solomon on uniquely human consciousness:  as a species, we know that we will die.  How do we cope with this knowledge?

In the closing days of the semester, students explore the dilemmas created by genetic engineering, including questions regarding what generates belief.  Roth explained, "What questions–and possible answers–does physics ask?  Sociology? Art History? Religion? U.S. History?  What do we read next?"

"It's a lot of material," Roth acknowledged, yet she is confident that the students are able to handle it. Writing assignments completed by students during the Fall 2008 semester were "remarkable," she said, adding, "These are some of the best students I've seen at Skidmore."

According to Roth, "Exploring the narratives of our origins and evolution provides a marvelous springboard for learning how to read disciplinary narratives across the curriculum. I ask the students to consider what is the story that your faculty member is trying to tell you, in any course that you take?" 

DNA lab details: Using micropipettes, mini-tubes, and centrifuges, students discovered used an enzyme to cut a virus chromosome at five specific places.  DNA is a long string of four molecules, represented by the letters A, T, G, and C.  Depending on the combination of letters, it can be cut at certain specific sites, unless there is a mutation.  Such chromosomal analysis aids in the identification of mutations.  More broadly, by examining the differences in DNA sequencing, it is possible to trace the history of humans back to Africa, and determine the ancestral roots of people alive today. The Scribner Seminar students gained first-hand knowledge of how their own DNA was being analyzed by the National Geographic's Genographic Project.

Archaeology/Anthropology lab details: Students encountered fossil casts and data that support our interpretation of human evolution­–a picture of what happened to the hominid form over time. They measured and observed the difference cranial sizes, for example, and were surprised to learn that the skeleton of Lucy  (one of the earliest known members of the hominid family, whose skeleton was found in 1974 in Ethiopia) was so small—she was about three feet, eight inches tall.  The archaeology lab preceded the field trip to the American Museum of Natural History, where students would view more skeletal reconstructions.

Tags: scribner seminars, human origins: an interdisciplinary inquiry, phyllis roth