Browsing by Author "Morris, A G"

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    Pulling teeth for Fashion: Dental modification in modern day Cape Town, South Africa
    (2007) Friedling, L J; Morris, A G
    Friedling and Morris (2005) have reported that intentional removal of incisors as a form of dental modification is relatively common in Cape Town. In this paper we further report on the style of modification and the reasons for the modification. A survey of eight adjoining areas in the northern suburbs of the Cape Town Metropole in the Western Cape was done to investigate the current prevalence of this practice. The survey was conducted by means of a questionnaire. Three groups of study subjects (scholars, working people and retired people) were included to gain a perspective of the community in general. The individual ages ranged from 15 to 83-years-old. A total of 2167 individuals participated in this study. Forty one percent had modified their teeth. More males (44,8%) than females (37,9%) were involved in this practice. Six "styles" of modification were identified. The removal of the upper four incisors was by far the most common modification (93,7%). There were four reported reasons for dental modification i.e. gangsterism, peer pressure, fashion and medical (dental) or accidental. More than two thirds (69,8%) of individuals with modifications also wore dentures.
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    Zuckerman versus Marais: a Primatiological collision
    (2009) Morris, A G
    The Afrikaans poet and writer Eugène Marais is well known in South Africa but not elsewhere. The publication of his The Soul of the Ape in 1969 triggered a hard hitting response from the British primatologist Solly Zuckerman, in which he attacked Marais' writings and rejected him as a legitimate scientist. The two never met and Marais had been dead for nearly 40 years when Zuckerman's attack took place. This paper examines the basis for Zuckerman's attack and looks at the context of both men, especially in the light of Zuckerman's combativeness and Marais' naivety and lack of scientific rigour.