ANTH 101 Chapter 1 notes
To get to the ANTH 101 lecture notes, follow these links on the CSI web page, www.csi.edu:
1) "Faculty and staff"
2) "Faculty and staff directories"
3) “W"
4) "Jim Woods"
5) "Personal Webpage"
6) "ANTH 101"
7) "ANTH 101 Lecture Notes"
What Is Anthropology?
Anthropology is the study of humankind.
Anthropology studies all people, all places, and all times
Anthropology is multi-disciplinary
Anthropology is divided into four major subfields
Anthropology is divided into four subfields:
1) Cultural anthropology
Studies present-day people
Culture defined as transmitted, learned behavior
2) Archaeology
Studies past human societies
Focuses on material remains and the processes behind them
3) Linguistic anthropology
Studies the construction and use of language by human societies
Language defined as a set of written or spoken symbols
4) Physical or Biological anthropology
Studies all aspects of present and past human biology
Deals with the evolution of and variation among human beings and our
relatives in the animal kingdom
The Nature of Anthropology
1) No anthropologist is an expert in all four branches of anthropology.
2) All anthropology acknowledges the diversity of humans in all contexts.
3) Within the field there is a commitment to the notion that humans are both cultural
and biological beings.
4) Anthropology focuses on a broad, comparative (holistic) approach.
Anthropology is multi-disciplinary
What Is Physical Anthropology?
The study of human biological evolution and human biocultural variation
Two key concepts:
a) Each person is a product of evolutionary history
b) Each person is a product of an individual life history
What Do Physical Anthropologists Do?
Study living people
Study other primates
Study past people and past societies
Attempt to answer: What does it mean to be human?
Apply anthropology to societal issues or concerns
Forensic anthropology
Communicable diseases
Environmental impacts on health
How We Know What We Know: The Scientific Method
Systematic observation of the world
Identify problems, develop questions, and gather evidence (data)
Data are used to test hypotheses.
Hypotheses explain, predict, and can be refuted.
This process is called the scientific method.
A way of acquiring knowledge
Results in an ever-expanding knowledge base
Empirical, or based on observation