American Industry and the American Artist

Abstract

I have attempted to acquaint the reader with the pressing need to accurately identify the important kinds of intellectual and expressive behaviors evident in the act of expressive forming, point out some failures in our recent efforts to do that, and suggest some institutional policies necessary for achieving that goal in ways supportive of our students and our programs. In addition, I have offered some suggestions for how we can make our cognitive claims more evident by encouraging more intelligent art learning in schools—by, for example, deciding what students really need to be able to know and be able to do in the arts and how authentically we can assess their achievements. Finally, I have urged that the whole process speak to the educational importance of aesthetic objects, which express artistic qualities, have specific aesthetic value, reflect human motivations, and are both cognitive and emotional in nature. It is all done in the pursuit of a practice that is in itself fulfilling because it satisfies the expressed needs and cultural functions of a real world.     

Native American mtDNA prehistory in the American Southwest

This study examines the mtDNA diversity of the proposed descendants of the multiethnic Hohokam and Anasazi cultural traditions, as well as Uto-Aztecan and Southern-Athapaskan groups, to investigate hypothesized migrations associated with the Southwest region. The mtDNA haplogroups of 117 Native Americans from southwestern North America were determined. The hypervariable segment I (HVSI) portion of the control region of 53 of these individuals was sequenced, and the within-haplogroup diversity of 18 Native American populations from North, Central, and South America was analyzed. Within North America, populations in the West contain higher amounts of diversity than in other regions, probably due to a population expansion and high levels of gene flow among subpopulations in this region throughout prehistory. The distribution of haplogroups in the Southwest is structured more by archaeological tradition than by language. Yumans and Pimans exhibit substantially greater genetic diversity than the Jemez and Zuni, probably due to admixture and genetic isolation, respectively. We find no evidence of a movement of mtDNA lineages northward into the Southwest from Central Mexico, which, in combination with evidence from nuclear markers, suggests that the spread of Uto-Aztecan was facilitated by predominantly male migration. Southern Athapaskans probably experienced a bottleneck followed by extensive admixture during the migration to their current homeland in the Southwest.     

American Glass

Exploring the complicated issues of assessment in the arts, the authors discuss assessment of arts education and arts programs from a qualitative perspective: experiential, naturalistic, and ethnographic interpretation. With special attention to the practices of teaching, learning, and administration of education in the arts, quality is sought with emphasis on observations and judgment rather than instruments and measurement.