ANTHROPOLOGY
THE STUDY OF HUMANITY FROM
ITS EVOLUTIONARY ORIGINS TO
TODAY’S CULTURAL DIVERSITY
KEY CONCEPT
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CULTURE
KNOWLEDGE OF HOW TO ACT AS A
MEMBER OF SOCIETY
KNOWLEDGE OF EXPECTATIONS
KNOWLEDGE OF APPROPRIATE AND
WRONGFUL ACTIONS
ANTHROPOLOGY
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FOCUSES ON STUDY OF HUMANS AND
ALL ASPECTS OF BEING HUMAN
FIELD HAS MANY CONCEPTS AND
SUBJECTS IN COMMON WITH OTHER
SOCIAL SCIENCES AND HUMANITIES
KEY CONCEPTS DISTINGUISH
ANTHROPOLOGY FROM OTHER SOCIAL
SCIENCE DISCIPLINES
KEY CONCEPTS
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SOCIETY
CULTURE
COMPARATIVE PERSPECTIVE
HOLISTIC PERSPECTIVE
ETHNOCENTRISM
CULTURAL RELATIVISM
GLOBALIZATION
SOCIETY
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SHARED GEOGRAPHICAL TERRITORY
PEOPLE LIVING IN ORGANIZED
GROUPS WITH SOCIAL INSTITUTIONS
AND EXPECTATIONS OF BEHAVIOR
SOCIETY COMPOSED OF RELATIONS
BETWEEN INDIVIDUALS AND GROUPS
OF INDIVIDUALS
SOCIAL INSITUTIONS
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MARRIAGE AND DIVORCE
FAMILY
LAW
RELIGION
ECONOMIC SYSTEM
POLITICAL SYSTEM
SOCIAL ROLES AND STATUSES
SOCIAL ROLE AND STATUS
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STATUS IS THE SOCIAL POSITION YOU
OCCUPY. FOR EXAMPLE, MOTHER,
FATHER, DAUGHTER, SON, SISTER,
BROTHER AND SO ON
SOCIAL ROLE IS THE CULTURALLY
APPROPRIATE BEHAVIOR ASSOCIATED
WITH SOCIAL STATUS
ANTHROPOLOGY
UNIQUE SOCIAL SCIENCE
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Time Depth
Global Focus
Comparative Approach
Holistic
Four Field Approach
Core Concept of Culture
Globalization
HOLISTIC
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View Cultures from holistic perspective
Culture as integrated whole.
No part of culture can be studied in isolation
Anthropology concerned with all aspects of
being human
EXAMPLE OF HOLISM
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Arrangement of Furniture in USA reflects core
cultural value of individualism
Arrangement of rooms is directly related to
marriage and family patterns which in turn
related to way Americans earn a living
Individual bedrooms reflect value on
individualism & consistent with an economy
where families are dependent on individual wage
earners
COMPARATIVE PERSPECTIVE
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Anthropology is comparative in its approach.
Findings on cultural data drawn from
throughout the world &throughout human
history
Collect data about behavior and beliefs in many
cultures to understand the diversity of human
cultures
To understand common patterns in ways people
adapt to their environment
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BENEFITS OF COMPARATIVE
APPROACH
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Challenge commonly held assumptions about
human life- ways based solely on European and
North American perspective
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For Example “Marriage”
Cultural Institution Marriage in US
Monogamy not the preferred type of marriage in
majority of societies
CULTURE
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Learned values, beliefs, rules of conduct shared
to some extent by the members of society, that
govern their behavior with one another and their
thinking about themselves and the world.
Everything that people have, think, feel,
experience, say and do as members of a society
All cultures are comprised of material objects;
ideas, values, attitudes and patterned ways of
behaving.
Four Fields
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ARCHAEOLOGY
BIOLOGICAL OR PHYSICAL
ANTHROPOLOGY
ANTHROPOLOGICAL LINGUISTICS
CULTURAL ANTHROPOLOGY
ARCHAEOLOGY
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STUDY OF PAST CULTURES
PREHISTORIC AND HISTORIC
RELAY ON EVIDENCE (ARTIFACTS)
FROM MATERIAL CULTURE AND THE
SITES WHERE PEOPLE LIVED
EVIDENCE REVEALS HOW PEOPLE
LIVED AND THE RELATIONSHIPS
BETWEEN GROUPS OF PEOPLE.
ANTHROPOLOGICAL
LINGUISTICS
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STUDY OF LANGUAGE AND THE
SPEAKERS USE OF LANGUAGE
THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN
LANGUAGE AND OTHER ASPECTS OF
CULTURE
CULTURE IS LEARNED THROUGH
LANGUAGE
SOCIOLINGUISTICS=SPEAKERS USE OF
LANGUAGE IN EVERYDAY LIFE
PHYSICAL ANTHROPOLOGY
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Biological Anthropology
Study of Human origins (evolution) and
contemporary Human variation
Primate social organization
Interface between biology and culture. Example:
People of the Andes Mountains have greater
lung capacity which is an adaptation to low
oxygen
HUMAN VARIATION
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“Race” is always a SOCIAL not a biological
concept
Conventional Classification of “Race” is
pseudoscience.
Hair texture, skin color and facial characteristics
are arbitrary and randomly selected
Skin tone is function of evolutionary adaptation
to climate
Race as conventionally used is wrong!
APPLIED ANTHROPOLOGIST
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MEDICAL ANTHROPOLOGIST
BRIDGES DISCIPLINE OF CULTURAL
ANTHROPOLOGY AND BIOLOGY
STUDIES SUSCEPTIBILITIES AND
RESISTANCE OF CERTAIN POPULATION
TO SPECIFIC DISEASE
STUDIES HEALTH CARE DELIVERY
SYSTEM
FORENSIC ANTHROPOLOGY
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SUB-FIELD WITHIN BIOLOGICAL
ANTHROPOLOGY
ANALYZE HUMAN REMAINS IN
SERVICE OF CRIMINAL JUSTICE AND
FAMILIES OF DISASTER VICTIMS
USED TO DOCUMENT HUMAN RIGHTS
ABUSES&GENOCIDE
APPLIED ARCHAEOLOGY
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CULTURAL RESOURCE MANAGEMENT
APPLICATION OF ARCHAEOLOGY TO
PRESERVE AND PROTECT HISTORIC
STRUCTURES AND PREHISTORIC SITES
OUTGROWTH OF FEDERAL AND STATE
LAWS TO PROTECT PREHISTORIC AND
HISTORIC SITES
CULTURAL ANTHROPOLOGY
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The ways people organize their living in societies
The study of cultural behavior in recent and
contemporary cultures
Ethnology-building theories to explain cultural
practices based on comparative study of
societies throughout the world
Ethnography, a holistic intensive study of
groups, through observation, interview and
participation
CULTURAL ANTHROPOLOGY
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ETHNOGRAPHY
ETHNOGRAPHER
FIELD WORK
PARTICIPANT OBSERVATION
ETHNOCENTRISM
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The widespread human tendency to perceive the
ways of doing things and beliefs about things in
one’s culture as normal and natural and that of
others as strange, inferior, and possibly unnatural
One’s own culture is superior, the best and ALL
others are inferior
Everybody everywhere is a little ethnocentric
CULTURAL RELATIVISM
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Counters Ethnocentrism
Stresses the importance of analyzing cultures on
their own terms rather than in terms of the
culture of the anthropologist
This does not mean that all cultural practices,
cultural beliefs and behaviors can be condone
Different from ethical relativism—all right and
wrong relative to time, place, and culture so that
no moral judgments of behavior can be made
GLOBALIZATION
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OCCURRED IN THE PAST WHEN STATES
AND EMPIRES EXPANDED THEIR
INFLUENCE BEYOND THEIR BOARDERS
CONTEMPORARY GLOBALIZATION
BASED ON INTERCONNECTED
ECONOMIES & TECHNOLOGY
CULTURAL CHANGE DUE TO GREATER
CONTACT AMONG CULTURES
AMERICANIZATION
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BY PRODUCT OF GLOBALIZATION
THE SPREAD OF DOMINANT AMERICAN
AND EUROPEAN CULTURAL
PRACTICES, CONSUMERISM, CULTURAL
ICONS, AND MEDIA
VIEWS OTHER CULTURES AS PASSIVE
OTHER CULTURES RESIST
AMERICANIZATION