WHAT IS ANTHROPOLOGY
Chapter 1
Sections:
I.
The Scope of Anthropology
II. The Holistic Approach
III. The Anthropological Curiosity
IV. Fields of Anthropology
Section I:
The Scope of Anthropology
The Scope of Anthropology
Anthropology defined: the study of
humans, focusing on differences and
similarities, both biological and cultural, in
human populations; the study of typical
biological and cultural characteristics of
human populations in all periods and all
parts of the world.
Anthropos – “human”
Logos - “study of”
The Scope of Anthropology
• Anthropology begins with the
immediate ancestors of
humans (who lived a few
million years ago), and traces
the development of humans
until the present.
• Traditionally, anthropologists
studied on non-western
cultures Now they study all
cultures.
cultures.
The Scope of Anthropology
• Anthropologists look for traits in a culture
that apply to many times and places in
human history, and take a skeptical
attitude towards anything that does not
apply cross-culturally.
• Example: in the 1960s, educators thought
black students didn’t drink milk because
off llackk off money or education.
d
i
Anthropologists proved there was a sociog
reason.
biological
Section II:
The Holistic Approach
The Holistic Approach
Anthropology is a holistic, or
multifaceted, approach to the
study
t d off h
human b
beings.
i
The Holistic Approach
• The history of the area in which they live
• The physical environment
• The organization of family life
• The features of their language
• The group’s settlement patterns
• Political and economic systems
• Religion
y of art and dress
• Styles
The Holistic Approach
• Although each feature can be described separately,
anthropologists try to make connections between each facet
(holistic approach)
• A
Anthropologists
h
l i used
d to try to cover as many aspects off a
culture as possible; now they tend to focus on one area and
p g
for synthesis.
y
relyy on other anthropologists
Section III:
The Anthropological Curiosity
The Anthropological Curiosity
Anthropologists are curious about
th ttypical
the
i l characteristics
h
t i ti off human
h
groups-how and why populations
and their characteristics have varied
around the globe and throughout
the ages.
The Anthropological Curiosity
Examples of anthropological curiosity:
• Where,
Where when
when, and why did people first begin to farm?
• Why do some populations have lighter skin than others?
• Why do some languages have more terms for colors than
others?
• Why do some societies have more political participation than
others?
Whereas an economist would study how a
monetary system operates, an
anthropologist would ask how frequently
monetary systems are found
found, why they vary,
vary
and why only some societies use money.
Section IV:
Fields of Anthropology
Fields of Anthropology
Two broad classifications of subject matter in anthropology
1 Biological (physical) anthropology
1.
2. Cultural anthropology
Cultural anthropology has three sub-fields:
1 Archeology
1.
2. Linguistics
3.
3 Ethnology
Fields of Anthropology
Ethnology
gy is now commonly
y called cultural anthropology,
p gy,
giving anthropology four fields:
1 Biological anthropology
1.
2. Cultural anthropology
3 Archaeology
3.
Archaeolog
4. Linguistics
Fields of Anthropology
Past
Recent Past and
Present
A fifth field,, applied
pp
((or
practiced) anthropology,
combines all four fields.
Basic Research
Applied Anthropology
Cultural Anthropology
Physical Anthropology
Fields of Anthropology
Biological anthropology attempts to answer two distinct sets
i
off questions:
1. Questions about the emergence of
humans and their later evolution
(human paleontology or
p
paleoanthropology)
p gy)
2. Questions about how and why
contemporary humans populations
vary biologically (human variation)
Biological Anthropology
Fields of Anthropology
The First Focus: Evolution
To reconstruct evolution, human paleontologists study
fossils of humans
humans, prehumans,
prehumans and related animals
animals.
Biological Anthropology
Fields of Anthropology
Fossils are buried, hardened
remains or impressions.
impressions
Biological Anthropology
Fields of Anthropology
Paleontologists are also interested in primates’ behavior
and evolution.
The order of primates is our closest relatives – humans,
prosimians,
p
, monkeys,
y , and apes.
p
Anthropologists, psychologists, and biologists who study
primates are called
primatologists.
Biological Anthropology
Fields of Anthropology
The Second Focus: Human Variation
All living people belong to one species, Homo sapiens, because they can
all successfully interbreed.
However, there are differences that anthropologists want to understand:
1. Why are some people taller than others?
2. How have human populations adapted
physically to their environmental
conditions?
3. Are some peoples better at enduring cold?
Biological Anthropology
Fields of Anthropology
Cultural Anthropology
Cultural anthropology is concerned with universals and
variation in culture in the ppast and ppresent.
Culture defined – the customary ways of thinking and behaving
in a particular population or society.
Fields of Anthropology
Culture includes many things, such as:
1. Language
2. Religious beliefs
3. Food preferences
4. Music
5. Work habits
6. Gender roles
7. Rearing children
8. Housing
Cultural Anthropology
Fields of Anthropology
The Three main Branches of Cultural Anthropology:
1. Archaeology
2 Linguistics
2.
3. Ethnology
Cultural Anthropology
Fields of Anthropology
Archaeology
• A
Archeologists
h l i t seek
k tto reconstruct
t t th
the ddaily
il lif
life and
d customs
t
off
peoples who lived in the past and to trace cultural changes and
offer explanations for those changes.
• Most archaeologists differ from historians in that they study
cultures in prehistory.
• Prehistory is the time before written records.
• Some archaeologists do study the remains of peoples with written
records (historical archaeology).
• In order to gain insight from past peoples, archaeologists look for
materials from sites of human
h man occupation.
occ pation
Cultural Anthropology
Fields of Anthropology
Linguistics
• Linguistics is the study of languages.
• Linguistics was around before anthropology, but anthropology
also examines cultures where the language is not written down
(they construct a dictionary and grammar pattern by living with
the group).
• Hi
Historical
t i l linguistics
li i ti is
i concernedd with
ith how
h languages
l
emerged,
d
change over time, and how they might be related.
• Descriptive or structural linguistics is concerned with how
contemporary languages differ, especially in their construction.
g
is concerned with how language
g g is used in social
• Sociolinguistics
contexts.
Cultural Anthropology
Fields of Anthropology
Ethnology
• Ethnology
gy is now commonly
y called cultural anthropology.
p gy
• Ethnologists seek to understand how and why peoples today and
in the recent past differ in their customary ways of thinking and
acting. They are concerned with things such as:
1. Marriage customs
4. Religion
2. Kinship organization
5. Folk art
3. Political and economic systems
6. Music
• Ethnologists also study the dynamics of culture – how various
cultures develop and change.
Cultural Anthropology
Fields of Anthropology
Types of ethnologists:
• Ethnographer- one who spends about a year living with, talking
to, and observing the people whose customs are being studied.
Thee they
t ey pproduce
oduce their
t e findings
d gs in an
a et
ethnography.
og ap y.
• Ethnohistorian- one who uses written documents (from a culture
or fellow anthropologists) to study how the ways of life of a
particular group of people have changed over time.
• Cross-cultural
Cross cultural researcher – one who uses information from
ethnographers and ethnohistorians to discover general patterns
about cultural traits: what is universal, what is variable, why traits
the consequences off variability.
i bilit
vary, andd th
Cultural Anthropology
Fields of Anthropology
Ethnology
Cultural anthropology overlaps with many fields
fields, including:
1. Sociology
2. Psychology
3. Economics
4. Political science
5 Art and music
5.
6. Comparative religion
Cultural Anthropology
Fields of Anthropology
Ethnology
The distinctive feature of cultural anthropology is that it is interested
in how all these aspects of human existence vary from society to
society, in all historical periods, and in all
parts of the world.
world
Cultural Anthropology
Fields of Anthropology
The Fifth Field – Applied
pp
Anthropology
p gy
• About half of today’s anthropologists practice applied
anthropology.
• Applied or practiced anthropology is concerned with making
anthropological knowledge useful.
Cultural Anthropology
Fields of Anthropology
The Fifth Field – Applied Anthropology
Examples of applied anthropology:
1. Forensic evidence in court
2. Working in public health
3. Designing clothes and
equipment to fit human anatomy
4. Bilingual education programs
5. Urban planning
Cultural Anthropology
WHAT IS ANTHROPOLOGY
Chapter 1