THE STUDY OF HUMANITY FROM
ITS EVOLUTIONARY ORIGINS TO
TODAY’S CULTURAL DIVERSITY

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CULTURE
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KNOWLEDGE OF HOW TO ACT AS A
MEMBER OF SOCIETY
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KNOWLEDGE OF EXPECTATIONS

KNOWLEDGE OF APPROPRIATE AND
WRONGFUL ACTIONS

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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

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SOCIETY

CULTURE
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COMPARATIVE PERSPECTIVE
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HOLISTIC PERSPECTIVE
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ETHNOCENTRISM
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CULTURAL RELATIVISM
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GLOBALIZATION

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SHARED GEOGRAPHICAL TERRITORY

PEOPLE LIVING IN ORGANIZED
GROUPS WITH SOCIAL INSTITUTIONS
AND EXPECTATION OF BEHAVIOR
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RELATIONS BETWEEN INDIVIDUALS
AND GROUPS OF INDIVIDUALS

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Time Depth
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Global Focus
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Comparative Approach
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Holistic
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Four Field Approach
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Core Concept of Culture
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Globalization

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View Cultures from holistic perspective

Culture as integrated whole.
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No part of culture can be studied in isolation
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Study culture means studying the relationship between Things

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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

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Anthropology is basically comparative bases its findings on cultural data drawn from throughout the world and from throughout human history

Collect data about behavior and beliefs in many societies in order the diversity of human cultures

Also, to understand common patterns in ways people adapt to their environment, adjust to their neighbors, and develop cultural institutions

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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

Monogamy not the preferred type of marriage in majority of societies

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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, and do as members of a society
All cultures are comprised of material objects; ideas, values, attitudes and patterned ways of behaving.


ARCHAEOLOGY

BIOLOGICAL OR PHYSICAL
ANTHROPOLOGY

ANTHROPOLOGICAL LINGUISTICS

CULTURAL ANTHROPOLOGY


STUDY OF PAST CULTURES

PREHISTORIC AND HISTORIC

RELAY ON EVIDENCE (ARTIFACTS)
FROM MATERIAL CULTURE AND THE
SITES WHERE PEOPLE LIVED

EVIDENCE REALS HOW PEOPLE LIVED
AND RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN
GROUPS OF PEOPLE.

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STUDY OF LANGUAGE AND THE
SPEAKERS USE OF LANGUAGE AND
THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN
LANGUAGE AND OTHER ASPECTS OF
CULTURE AND SOCIETY
CULTURE IS LEARNED THROUGH
LANGUAGE
HISTORIC AND DESCRIPTIVE
LINGUISTICS


Biological Anthropology

Study of Human origins (evolution) and contemporary Human variation

Primate social organization

Interface between biology and culture. Ex
Andes greater lung capacity adaptation to low oxygen

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“Race” is always a social not a biological concept

Conventional Classification of “Races” 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!

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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


SUB-FIELD WITHIN BIOLOGICAL
ANTHROPOLOGY

ANALYZE HUMAN REMAINS IN
SERVICE OF CRIMINAL JUSTICE AND
FAMILIES OF DISASTER VICTIMS

HUMAN RIGHTS ABUSES

GENOCIDE


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


APPLICATION OF ARCHAEOLOGY TO
ASSES THE POTENTIAL IMPACT OF
CONSTRUCTION ON
ARCHAEOLOGICAL SITES

SALVAGE ARCHAEOLOGY


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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

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ETHNOGRAPHY

ETHNOGRAPHER

FIELD WORK

PARTICIPANT OBSERVATION


The widespread human tendency to perceive 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 un-natural

One’s own culture is superior, the best and others are inferior

Everybody everywhere is a little ethnocentric

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Counters Ethnocentrism
Stresses the importance of analyzing cultures in 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

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DISTINGUISHES ANTHROPOLOGY
FROM OTHER SOCIAL SCIENCES

CULTURAL CONTACT AND CONTACT
CHANGES SPECIFIC CULTURES

RAPID TRANSFORMATION OF
CULTURES WORLD WIDE IN RESPONSE
TO ECONOMIC AND TECHNOLOGICAL
INFLUENCES


OCCURRED IN THE PAST WHEN STATES
AND EMPIRES EXPANDED THEIR
INFLUENCE BEYOND THEIR BOARDERS

COLONIALISM

CONTEMPORARY GLOBALIZATION
BASED ON INTERCONNECTED
ECONOMIES CHANGE CULTURAL
INSTITUTIONS AT THE LOCAL LEVEL


BY PRODUCT OF GLOBALIZATION

THE SPREAD OF DOMINANT AMERICAN
AND EUROPEAN CULTURAL
PRACTICES, CONSUMERISM, CULTURAL
ICONS, AND MEDIA AND
ENTERTAINMENT