Jim Bindon (BA UC Berkeley, MA, PhD Penn State) is a biological anthropologist who studies human nutrition, growth and health from the perspective of human adaptability. Focusing on the interactions between biology and culture, he has pursued his research for over 25 years by examining the health repercussions of modernization among Samoans and others. Jim is shown at left studying his first grandchild, Mia Laine, born in 2006. Her younger sister, Ava Marie, was born in 2009 and a surname continuer, Chad, was born in 2011. The picture in the upper right was taken during a break from survey research in American Samoa in 1976. Professor Bindon has studied a variety of biological outcomes among Samoans such as infant and childhood health and growth, adult obesity and blood pressure, DNA polymorphisms and physique, and chronic diseases including diabetes and cardiovascular disease. He has related these health outcomes to residence in different communities, diet and activity patterns, education and occupation, and stresss due to changing lifestyles as a result of modernization and migration (see several of the papers listed below for details). He has also conducted similar research on biocultural aspects of health among the Mississippi Choctaw, in an African-American population in Alabama and among hotel workers in Hawaii. Professor Bindon is a strong advocate of the biocultural approach, frequently belaboring this topic to less sympathetic colleagues. He is convinced of the importance of fieldwork for graduate education and his students have successfully completed research projects in Alabama, Mexico, the Bahamas, and Samoa. For insight into how he got to this point in his career, see Dr. Bindon's essay on how I became an anthropologist. He enjoys collecting Disney Duck comics, playing guitar (click on the samples to play my mp3s: Blues in A, Candyman, Hesitation Blues, Keep Your Lamp Trimmed and Burning), and rereading his collection of Nero Wolfe and Ellery Queen mysteries. Late summer afternoons frequently find him floating or canoing on nearby Lake Tuscaloosa.
Some of Dr. Bindon's instructional websites include:
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| 2009 |
| Soloway L.E., E.W. Demerath, N. Ochs, G.D. James, M.A. Little, J.R. Bindon, and R.M. Garruto Blood pressure and lifestyle on Saba, Netherlands Antilles. American Journal of Human Biology, 21:319–325. Pdf available by e-mail. |
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| 2008 |
| Greywoode, E.P., and J.R. Bindon. A "Notty" situation: An exploration of University of Alabama College students' opinions and attitudes towards a potentially controversial campus civic symbol. The University of Alabama McNair Journal, 8:29-61. (Available online) |
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| 2007 |
| Bindon, J.R. Biocultural Linkages—Cultural Consensus, Cultural Consonance, and Human Biological Research (Review article). Collegium Antropologicum, 31:3-10. Full text pdf available |
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| 2007 |
| Bindon, J.R., M.J. Gilliland, W.W. Dressler, and D.E. Crews. A Cross-Cultural Perspective on Obesity and Health in Three Groups of Women: The Mississippi Choctaw, American Samoans, and African Americans. Collegium Antropologicum, 31(1):47-54. Full text pdf available. |
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| 2004 |
| Bindon, J.R. Box 11.7 Opinion: Thrifty genes in Polynesia? In: Human Evolutionary Genetics: Origins, Peoples & Disease, Jobling M.A., Hurles, M.E, Tyler-Smith, C. New York: Garland Science. p. 362. Full text pdf available |
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| 2004 |
| Bindon, J.R. Samoans. In: Ember, M. and Ember, C. (editors). Encyclopedia of Medical Anthropology: Health and Illness in the World's Cultures, Volume II: Cultures, Kluwer Press, pp. 929-937. Full text pdf available |
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| 2002 |
| Bindon, J. R. and V.J. Vitzthum Alternate economic strategies and nutritional anthropometry of women in American Samoa and Highland Bolivia. Social Science & Medicine, 54:1299-1308. Pdf available by e-mail. Full text pdf available |
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| 2001 |
| Neggers, Y.H., J.R. Bindon, and W.W. Dressler The relationship of zinc and copper status and lipid levels in African Americans. Biological Trace Element Research, 79(1):1-13. |
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| 2000 |
| Dressler, W.W. and J.R. Bindon The Health Consequences of Cultural Consonance: Cultural Dimensions of Lifestyle, Social Support and Arterial Blood Pressure in an African American Community. American Anthropologist, 102:244-260. Pdf available by e-mail. |
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| 1998 |
| Dressler, W.W., J.R. Bindon, and Y.R. Neggers Culture, socioeconomic status, and coronary heart disease risk factors in an African American community. Journal of Behavioral Medicine, 21:527-544. Pdf available by e-mail. |
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| 1998 |
| Dressler, W.W., J.R. Bindon, and Y.R. Neggers John Henryism, gender, and arterial blood pressure in an African American community. Psychosomatic Medicine, 60:620-624. |
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| 1997 |
| Dressler, W.W. and J.R. Bindon Social status, social context and arterial blood pressure. American Journal of Physical Anthropology, 102:55-66. |
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| 1997 |
| Bindon, J.R. and P.T. Baker Bergmann's rule and the thrifty genotype. American Journal of Physical Anthropology, 104:201-210. Full text pdf available. |
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| 1997 |
| Bindon, J.R. Coming of age of human adaptation studies in Samoa. In: S.J. Ulijaszek and R.A. Huss-Ashmore (editors). In: Human Adaptability: Past, Present, and Future. Oxford University Press. Pp. 126-156. Pdf available by e-mail. |
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| 1997 |
| Bindon, J.R., A.L. Knight, W.W. Dressler, and D.E. Crews Social Context and Psychosocial Influences on Blood Pressure among American Samoans. American Journal of Physical Anthropology, 103:7-18. Full text pdf available. |
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| 1996 |
| Dressler W.W., J.R. Bindon, and M.J. Gilliland. Sociocultural and Behavioral Influences on Health Status among the Mississippi Choctaw. Medical Anthropology, 17:165-180. Full text pdf available. |
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| 1995 |
| Bindon, J.R. Polynesian responses to modernization: Overweight and obesity in the South Pacific. In: I. de Garine and NJ Pollock (editors). Social Aspects of Obesity. London: Gordon and Breach. Pp. 227-251. Full text pdf available upon request |
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| 1994 |
| Bindon, J.R. Some implications of the diet of children in American Samoa. Collegium Anthropologicum, 18:7-15. Full text pdf available. |
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| 1993 |
| Crews, D.E., J.R. Bindon, and M.I. Kamboh. Apolipoprotein polymorphisms and phenotypic variability in American Samoans: preliminary data. American Journal of Human Biology, 5:39-48. |
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| 1993 |
| Bindon, J. R. and D.E. Crews. 1993. Changes in some health status characteristics of American Samoan men: a 12 year follow up study. American Journal of Human Biology, 5:31-38. Full text pdf available. |
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| 1992 |
| Bindon, J.R. and W.W. Dressler. Social status and growth: Theoretical and methodological considerations. MASCA Research Papers, Vol. 9:61-70. Full text pdf available upon request |
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| 1991 |
| Crews, D.E. and J.R. Bindon. Ethnicity as a taxonomic tool in biomedical and biosocial research. Ethnicity and Disease, 1:42-49. Full text pdf available. |
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| 1991 |
| Crews, D.E., M.I. Kamboh, J.R. Bindon, and R.E. Ferrell. Genetic studies of human apolipoproteins XVII. Population genetics of apolipoprotein polymorphisms in American Samoa. American Journal of Physical Anthropology, 84:165-170. |
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| 1990 |
| Bindon, J.R. and C.C. Cabrera-Mereb. The health status of infants in American Samoa during the first year of life. American Journal of Human Biology, 2:511-519. Full text pdf available. |
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| 1988 |
| Bindon, J.R. and C. Cabrera. Infant feeding patterns and growth of infants in American Samoa during the first year of life. Human Biology, 60:80-92. Full text pdf available. |
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| 1988 |
| Bindon, J.R. Taro or rice, plantation or market: Dietary choice in American Samoa. Food and Foodways, 3:59-78. Full text pdf available upon request |
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| 1986 |
| Bindon, J. R. and S.M. Zansky. 1986. Growth and Morphology (Chapter). In: The Changing Samoans: Behavior and Health in Transition. P.T. Baker, J.M. Hanna, and T.S. Baker (editors). New York: Oxford University Press. Pp. 222- 253. Full text pdf available upon request |
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