WHAT IS ANTHROPOLOGY?
EXPLORING THE FOUR FIELDS OF ANTHROPOLOGY
Introductory Lecture
Anthropology 100: Survey of Anthropology
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
 1. Develop an understanding of anthropology and
how the subfields of anthropology interrelate
 2. Develop an understanding for the importance of
anthropology in today’s world
 3. Practice thinking like an anthropologist
ANTHROPOLOGY
 anthro = human
 ology = the study of
 Study of the past and present biological and cultural
variation within the human species
ANTHROPOLOGY
Major question addressed within anthropology:
What Does It Mean To Be Human?
DISTINCTIVE WAY OF STUDYING
HUMANS
Unique Perspective of What Does It Mean to Be Human:
 1. Holistic
 Emphasizes the functional relation between parts and the
whole
Past
Culture
Language
Genetics
Present
Holism=
Integration
Anatomy
DISTINCTIVE WAY OF STUDYING
HUMANS
Unique Perspective of What Does It Mean to Be Human:
 2. Comparative
 Compare patterns of variation
 Biologically and Culturally
 Consideration of similarities & differences
Skeletal Features
Left: Chimpanzee; Right: Modern Human
Coming of Age Ceremonies
Left: Korean; Right: Maasi (Kenya)
DISTINCTIVE WAY OF STUDYING
HUMANS
Unique Perspective of What Does It Mean to Be Human:
 3. Field-based
 Data collection; direct contact
Linguistic Anthropology
Project on Beaver Language
Archaeology in the Middle East
Primatology: Baboon
Dominance Calls
Cultural Anthropology
Mursi women in Ethiopia
DISTINCTIVE WAY OF STUDYING
HUMANS
Unique Perspective of What Does It Mean to Be Human:
 4. Evolutionary
 Observations placed in
temporal framework
 Consider change over time
 Evolution
 Humans
 Primates
CONCEPT OF CULTURE
 What is culture?
 Set of learned behavior and ideas that humans beings acquire as
members of a society
 Humans are biocultural organisms
Environment
 Triangle of Adaptation
 Biological and cultural factor
influence the world around us
Biology
Culture
ANTHROPOLOGY:
CROSS-DISCIPLINARY DISCIPLINE
 Spans the social sciences, natural sciences, and
humanities
 Diversity with the discipline : 4 subfields
 Biological (Physical) Anthropology
 Cultural Anthropology
 Linguistic Anthropology
 Archaeology
Holistic
Applied
Anthropology
FIGURE 1.1 THE SUBFIELDS OF ANTHROPOLOGY
Copyright © 2008 by Robert H. Lavenda and Emily A. Schultz.
BIOLOGICAL ANTHROPOLOGY
 Human beings as biological organisms
 Aims to discover what characteristics make
humans different from other organisms and what
Paleoanthropology
characteristics they share
 Attention focused on patterns of variation &
adaptation
Dental Anthropology &
Bioarchaeology
Primatology
BIOLOGICAL
ANTHROPOLOGY
Research – What Can It Tell Us?
• Allocation of energy –
breastfeeding, health & disease,
primates
• Skeletal anatomy – disease, stress,
activity patterns, trauma, forensic
anthropology
• Susceptibility to disease – access
to resources, lower immunity,
genetics
Lesion on a rib with M
tuberculosis DNA
BIOLOGICAL ANTHROPOLOGY
Research – What Can It Tell Us?
CULTURAL ANTHROPOLOGY
 Variation in beliefs and behaviors of members of different
human groups
 Shaped by sets of learned behaviors and ideas that human
beings acquire as members of society
 Study all human societies
 Urban & Rural, Developed & Developing, Western & Non-
Western
 Conduct fieldwork: Participant observation & Ethnography
CULTURAL ANTHROPOLOGY
CULTURAL
ANTHROPOLOGY
Research – What Can It Tell Us?
• Social organization – comparison of different forms of
human social life, kinship patterns, social groupings
• Cultural conflict – war,
ethnicity, politics,
aftermath of conflict
• Subsistence patterns –
strategies, land
ownership, environment
CULTURAL ANTHROPOLOGY
LINGUISTIC ANTHROPOLOGY
 Study of human language
 Language: system of arbitrary
vocal symbols used to encode
one’s experience of the world
and of others
 Broader cultural, historical
and/or biological contexts
LINGUISTIC ANTHROPOLOGY
LINGUISTIC ANTHROPOLOGY
Research – What Can It Tell Us?
• Multi-lingualism – usage of
language, circumstances, education
• Language socialization – children,
new language, cross-cultural
studies
• Power and Control – linguistic
dimensions
LINGUISTIC ANTHROPOLOGY
ARCHAEOLOGY
 Study of past societies and their cultures, especially
the material remains of the past
 Examine evidence of past human cultural activity
 Artifacts
 Garbage heaps
 Postholes
 Settlement patterns
 Plant pollen
Amber Beads
from Stonehenge
Excavation
Sigatoka Valley, Fiji
ARCHAEOLOGY
Research – What Can It Tell Us?
• Human-Environmental Interactions
– use of the environment, climate
change, paleoclimates
• Garage heaps – past and
contemporary; consumption
patterns
• Agricultural production –
emergence of the first agricultural
complexes
ARCHAEOLOGY
Research – What Can It Tell Us?
IN-CLASS ACTIVITY
 Four-Field Approach Worksheet
 In this activity, students will:
 Describe the distinguishing features of anthropology
 Identify the four subfields of anthropology
 We will do one example as a class
 The other two examples will be worked on in small-groups. Be
prepared to share your responses with the class.
Linguistic Anthropology
Language use in trading and business
Differences in languages
among SES
Archaeology
Cultural Anthropology
Local and regional spheres
Local / regional trade
of interaction
Globalization
Economics
Labor distribution
Development & effects on
Subsistence
traditional societies
Subsistence regime
Biological Anthropology
Health consequences (skeletal &
living populations)
Non-human primate societies
ANTHROPOLOGY - SUMMARY
Anthropology is devoted to the broad, “holistic”
study of humankind, to the understanding and
explanation of human beings in all of their diverse
aspects at all times and places