Barry Bogin (born May 20, 1950) is an American physical anthropologist trained at

Temple University Temple University (Temple or TU) is a public state-related research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was founded in 1884 by the Baptist minister Russell Conwell and his congregation Grace Baptist Church of Philadelphia then called ...

who researches physical growth in Guatemalan Maya children, and is a theorist upon the evolutionary origins of human

childhood A child ( : children) is a human being between the stages of birth and puberty, or between the developmental period of infancy and puberty. The legal definition of ''child'' generally refers to a minor, otherwise known as a person young ...

. He is a professor at

Loughborough University Loughborough University (abbreviated as ''Lough'' or ''Lboro'' for Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a public university, public research university in the market town of Loughborough, Leicestershire, England. It has been a university sinc ...

in the UK, after professorships at the University of Michigan-Dearborn, and

Wayne State University Wayne State University (WSU) is a public research university in Detroit, Michigan. It is Michigan's third-largest university. Founded in 1868, Wayne State consists of 13 schools and colleges offering approximately 350 programs to nearly 25,000 ...

. During 1974–1976, he was a visiting professor at the

Universidad del Valle de Guatemala The Universidad del Valle de Guatemala (UVG) (University of the Valley of Guatemala) is a private, not-for-profit, secular university in Guatemala City, Guatemala. It was founded in 1966 by a private foundation, which had previously oversee ...

Human evolution

Barry Bogin is notable for arguing that human evolution introduced two new pre-reproductive stages, childhood and

adolescence Adolescence () is a transitional stage of physical and psychological development that generally occurs during the period from puberty to adulthood (typically corresponding to the age of majority). Adolescence is usually associated with t ...

, into development. He argues that these stages are absent in the pattern of growth in nonhuman mammals, in particular, in other

Homininae Homininae (), also called "African hominids" or "African apes", is a subfamily of Hominidae. It includes two tribes, with their extant as well as extinct species: 1) the tribe Hominini (with the genus ''Homo'' including modern humans and numerou ...

such as chimpanzees. This makes them biologically specific to humans. He further argues that the physical, behavioral, and emotional characteristics of children and adolescents that derive from these two stages play a key role in creating modern human adults. According to him, appreciating this aspect of human evolution has important implications for

child development Child development involves the biological, psychological and emotional changes that occur in human beings between birth and the conclusion of adolescence. Childhood is divided into 3 stages of life which include early childhood, middle childhood, ...

theory and practice in

psychology Psychology is the scientific study of mind and behavior. Psychology includes the study of conscious and unconscious phenomena, including feelings and thoughts. It is an academic discipline of immense scope, crossing the boundaries betwe ...

education Education is a purposeful activity directed at achieving certain aims, such as transmitting knowledge or fostering skills and character traits. These aims may include the development of understanding, rationality, kindness, and honesty. V ...

, and child welfare.

Guatemalan children

Starting in 1974 Bogin began research on the physical development of Guatemalan Maya children, and their families. Since 1992 he has researched Maya child growth and development after migration to the United States. The purpose of this research has been to document and model the social, economic, and political influences on differences in physical growth and health between Maya children living in Guatemala compared to those in the USA.

Books

* * ''The Family as an Environment for Human Development'', edited with N. Wolanski (1996, Kamal Raj Publishers) * ''Human Biology: An Evolutionary and Biocultural Approach'', edited with S. Stinson, R. Huss-Ashmore, & D. O'Rourke (2000, Wiley) * ''The Growth of Humanity'' (2001, Wiley) * ''Methods in Human Growth Research'' (2005)

References

External links

Barry’s home page
1950 births Living people Academics of Loughborough University American anthropologists Psychological anthropologists Temple University alumni University of Michigan–Dearborn people Wayne State University faculty Auxologists {{US-anthropologist-stub