WHAT IS
ANTHROPOLO
GY?
Lesson 1:
An overview of the discipline
Anthropology:
The study of all humans regardless of
where or when they live/lived.
Page 2 in Core Concepts in Cultural Anthropology
Who are Humans?
• Taxonomy – Homo sapiens
– Roughly 175,000 – 200,000 years old
– The genus Homo means “human” and
extends back to 2.5 million years ago
• Bipedal – meaning we walk on two feet
– The only living primate to do so
– Bipedal primates called – hominids
– Hominids are 5 – 7 million years old
People are generally like me:
• Same desires?
• Same beliefs?
• Same attitudes?
• Same values?
Naïve realism
The assumption that people are generally the
same all throughout the world
Reading 5 in Conformity and Conflicy
The Anthropological Perspective
• Holistic
• Comparative
• Field-Based
• Evolutionary
Pages 2-3 in Core Concepts in Cultural Anthropology
American Anthropology
• Differs from British social
anthropology
• Franz Boas - the “father” of
American anthropology
Pages 207 - 209 in Core Concepts in Cultural Anthropology
The Four Field Approach
• Physical
Anthropology
• Socio-cultural
Anthropology
• Linguistic
Anthropology
• Archaeology
Page 3 in Core Concepts in Cultural Anthropology
Physical/Biological Anthropology
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Humans as biological organisms
Present variation
Evolution
Paleoanthropology
Forensic anthropology
• Primates
Pages 3-4 in Core Concepts in Cultural Anthropology
The Primate Family Tree
The Primates
Prosimians
Anthropoids
Hominoids
Monkeys
Apes
Humans
Linguistic Anthropology
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Human language transmits culture
Language history
Language acquisition among children
Language in society and the power
embedded in language
Pages 6-7 in Core Concepts in Cultural Anthropology
Archaeology
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Diggers
Study material remains - artifacts
Reconstruct the past
Prehistoric
Historic
Pages 7-8 in Core Concepts in Cultural Anthropology
Socio-cultural Anthropology
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The study of present culture and society
Cross-cultural in scope
Comparative
Often study contemporary social issues
Pages 4-6 in Core Concepts in Cultural Anthropology
ANTHROPOLOG
Y’SHISTORY &
DEVELOPMENT
Anthropology as an Academic Discipline
The History of Anthropology
• Age of Exploration
– Beginning in the 15th Century
• Grew out of contact between Western
Europeans and others throughout the
world
• Encountered a wide range of peoples who
were physically and behaviorally different
Early Understandings of Diversity
• Europeans used their Judeo-Christian
background to interpret physical and
cultural differences
• By the middle 19th century, sciences like
geology and biology began to be used to
understand the world
The Birth of Anthropology
• Anthropology grows out of this shift to
rationale thought
• Initially, anthropologists were used by
colonial governments to study indigenous
peoples so that they could be better
governed
• Translation: Anthropology got its start as a
tool of colonial oppression
Early Anthropological Theory
• Positivism
• The first major approach was the Social
Evolutionist
Pages 202-203 in Core Concepts in Cultural Anthropology
Social Evolutionism

Lewis Henry Morgan
(1818-1881)
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Unilineal Social/
Cultural Evolution
Pages 203-205 in Core Concepts in Cultural Anthropology
Social Evolutionism
• Who first said the phrase “Survival of the fittest”?
Pages 204-205 in Core Concepts in Cultural Anthropology
Problems with Social Evolutionism
• Extremely biased
• Used biological arguments
• Used to justify Colonialism
Page 205 in Core Concepts in Cultural Anthropology
Time for a Change
• Rejection of social evolutionism
• Boas led the new school of American
anthropology
• He emphasized:
– Holistic perspective
– The comparative method
Page 206 in Core Concepts in Cultural Anthropology
Early British Social
Anthropology
• Bronislaw Malinowski (1888 – 1942)
• Anthropological fieldwork
• Functionalism
Page 206-207 in Core Concepts in Cultural Anthropology
Early British Social
Anthropology
• A.R. Radcliffe-Brown
(1881 – 1955)
• Structural-Functionalism
Page 206 - 207 in Core Concepts in Cultural Anthropology
The Great Debate
• What should be the defining concept in
anthropology?
The British camp:
Society
The American camp:
Culture
While this debate seems trivial, it divided both
sides
Page 207 - 208 in Core Concepts in Cultural Anthropology
Another Shift in Thought
• Postmodernism
• Can anthropology be scientific?
Exam Review Questions
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What are the 4 fields of American anthropology (Chapter 1 in Core
Concepts)?
– What are the sub-disciplines (if any) within the four fields?
Where, when, and how did anthropology develop as an academic discipline
(Chapter 12 in Core Concepts)?
– Is anthropology an old discipline?
– How did colonial Europeans view of humanity and how did this ideology
factor into anthropology’s development?
– Who were the key early anthropologists with regards to the following
theoretical ideas?
• Comparative method
• Structural-functionalism
• Functionalism
• Social Darwinism
• Unilineal cultural evolution