WHAT IS ANTHROPOLOGY?
© Boise State u. Dept. of anthropology
From the Greek
`anthropo' human beings',
`logos' originally meaning word, reason, speech or
account and later doctrine, theory or science.
Literally then, Anthropology is the science of the
nature of Human beings.
Oxford English Dictionary
`The science of the nature of man
embracing human physiology and
psychology and their mutual bearing'.
Websters
`the study of Man, the study of body
and mind in their interrelationships'
ANTHROPOLOGY
Cultural
Physical
Archaeology
Anthropological
Linguistics
Social/
Cultural
• Paleoanthropology
• Prehistoric
• Historical
• Economic
• Primatology
• Historical
• Descriptive
• Kinship
• Human Genetics
• Contract
• Sociolinguistics
• Medical
• ethnolinguistics
• Psychological
• Demography
• Growth &
Development
• Urban
• Osteology
(Forensic)
• Gender
• Applied
• Political
• Religion
What makes social/cultural anthropology
different from sociology?
“A Science is a systematic or orderly
way of thinking about a particular
subject matter” R.G. Collingwood
Anthropology Departments around the world 2006
S. Africa
Egypt
Kenya
Namibia
Nigeria
Zimbabwe
11
3
1
1
2
1
USA
Canada
323
33
Australia
New Zealand
Hong Kong
Japan
Pakistan
Israel
N.Am
Europe
11
5
1
1
1
1
356
101
Chile
Argentina
Bolivia
Brazil
Columbia
Mexico
Panama
Uruguay
1
6
2
2
1
2
1
1
Austria
Belgium
Bulgaria
Czech Rep
Denmark
Finland
France
1
2
1
1
3
4
11
Oceania
Africa
16
19
Germany
Greece
Hungary
. Ireland
Italy
Netherlands
Norway
Poland
Russia
Spain
Sweden
Switzerland
Ukrane
UK
9
3
1
1
2
3
2
3
8
8
4
6
2
26
Asia
4
S. Am. 16
© Gary Larson
Enaotai Island, West PNG
What are the aims and purposes of anthropology?
What value
does
anthropology
have?
What is
this ad
saying?
YES! YES! YES!
A TOTALLY ORGANIC
EXPERIENCE
Core Concepts
What is the difference between ethnography
and ethnology?
What is anthropology’s holistic approach?
What is the difference between emic and
etic?
Ethnocentrism
The practice of regarding one’s own cultural group
as the centre of everything and scaling and relating
all others with reference to it.
Cultural Relativism
The perspective that beliefs and practices of
any society can only be judged by the values
and standards prevalent in that society.
What’s your opinion on each of
the following?
• Infanticide
• Gay Marriages
• Female Genital
Mutilation (FGM)
• Suicide Bombings
• Cannibalism
• Abortion of Female Fetuses
India loses 10 million daughters
National Post January 09, 2006
As many as 10 million female fetuses have been aborted in India after ultrasounds
were used to reveal their sex in a country where daughters are a liability…. And
the more education a woman has, the less likely she is to give birth to a girl.
… The Lancet …study is based on an analysis of actual and expected sex ratios.
The researchers estimate 13.6 million to 13.8 million girls should've been born in
India in 1997. But only 13.1 million were.
The biggest number of missing females was in couples having their first child. And
the gap was twice as large among mothers who have a Grade 10 or higher
education versus illiterate women
The number of girls per 1,000 boys aged zero to six was 962 in 1981, 945 in 1991
and 927 in 2001. The difference is even more pronounced in urban areas than
rural ones.
If couples had a boy as their first child, the second baby stood about a 50-50
chance of being a girl. But in families that had a baby girl to begin with, there
were 30% fewer girls than boys amongst their second babies. And after two girls
were born in a family, any third baby was even more unlikely to be a girl.
Anthropological
Perspectives
• Holistically
• Objectively
• Relativistically
• Comparatively
• Interdisciplinary
• Focus on Ethnography
• Emically
• Methodologically
and theoretically diverse
Unification Church mass wedding
ceremony, Madison Square Garden,
NY 1998. Thousands of brides met
their grooms for the first time at the
ceremony.
SOCIAL AND CULTURAL ANTHROPOLOGY
ETHNOGRAPHY:
– the process of observing and
producing published descriptions of
societies, in whole or in part
METHOD:
– how the ethnographer selects and treats
the data of observation
THEORY:
– basic propositions about human nature and
motivation, and about the nature of society and
culture which guide the inquiry.
Deduction
Induction
1. I know Joe is a terrible cook, because I've
eaten at his house three times and each time
the food has been awful.
Induction or Deduction?
2. Francois was French, so like all
Frenchmen, we knew we would enjoy fine
dining.
Induction or Deduction?
Deductive Methodology
Theories
Logical
Deduction
Generalizations
Hypotheses
Hypotheses
Patterns
Observations
Inductive Methodology
Interpretations
Meaning and Interpretation
Manifest and latent Functions
Mandan Rain dance George Catlin
Intended versus unintended consequences
Martin Luther (1483 – 1546)
The Ideal versus the Actual
Ego's cross cousins (in yellow) are distinguished from his parallel
cousins (in green) as the children of opposite and same sexed
parental siblings, respectively.
In many societies the ideal is to marry one’s cross cousin, as he/she
will belong to a different lineage (for alliance purposes), or parallel
cousin, as the cousin will be in the same lineage (for inheritance
purposes). Although the ideal, in actuality only 10% of marriages
will be of the ideal type.
Summary
1. Define anthropology
2. What is the four-field approach?
3. What is the difference between anthropology and sociology?
4. What is the difference between ethnology and ethnography?
5. What are five areas of specialization in cultural anthropology
6. What is anthropology’s holistic approach?
7. What is the difference between emic and etic?
8. What is the difference between ethnocentrism and cultural
relativism?
9. What is the value of anthropology?