Module 3: Anthropology and the Study of Culture

Introduction to Anthropology
Humans studying humans. This is the field of anthropology. Unlike other disciplines of
the social sciences, anthropology promotes a holistic study of human. Derived from two Greek
words antropos (human) and logos (study), anthropology seeks to answer this primary
question: What does it mean to be human? This allows for an extensive and inclusive approach
such that anthropology studies humans as both biological and social creatures. Biological, it
inquires on the genetic composition of humans, their relationship with other primates, and
their evolution. Socially, it inquires on human behaviors, attitudes, and belief , which range
from birth to practices to burial rites.
Another key element that makes anthropology holistic is its research time frame, which
ranges from the evolution of humans as a species to our current development. It also studies
humans from various ethnic group and geographic locations.
As such, anthropology can be defined as “the study of people ----- their origins, their
development, and contemporary variations, wherever and whenever they have been found on
the face of the earth” (Ember, Ember, and peregrine, 2010).
These points of inquiry are addressed by the sub disciplines, of anthropology:
archaeological, culture, linguistic, physical, and applied.
 Archaeological examines the remains of ancient and historical human populations to
promote an understanding of how human have adapted to their environment and
developed.
 Culture anthropology promotes the study of society’s culture through their beliefs
systems, practices, and possessions.
 Linguistic anthropology examines the language of a group of people and its relation to
their culture.
 Physical anthropology looks into the biological development of humans and their
contemporary variation.
 Applied anthropology attempts to solve contemporary problems through the
application of theories and approaches of the discipline.

During the 19th century, anthropologists, who were often from Western societies, would
investigate on the system of beliefs, behaviors, and material possessions of non-Western,
preliterate, and technologically simple societies. One of the classic studies in anthropology,
Tristes Tropiques, was made by Claude Levi-Strauss, a French anthropologists. This work
presented the lives of a nonmodern society in Brazil.
In the advent of the 21st century, human experiences diversified, and as globalization’s
effects were felt in almost societies, anthropology extended its study to cultural and subcultural
groups in industrialized societies. Issues that were once the turf of other disciplines, such as
deviance and social organization, were studied by anthropology. Philippe Bourgois, a professor
of anthropology at the University of Pennsylvania, studied the lives of street-level dealers.
In the both studies, the methodology used in gathering information was crucial.
Anthropologists need to establish rapport with their host societies before they can extract the
life stories of people. This is important as people would not usually discuss personal matters to
a stranger. After a significant amount of time, when the key informant is already accustomed to
the presence of the anthropologists, questions could now be asked. Key informants are
individuals in a society who have significant knowledge on the topic being studied by the
anthropologist.
Apart from interviews, anthropologists also use participants-observation methods,
which entail the participation of the researcher on the daily practices and rituals of the group
being studied. In the case of Levi-Strauss and Bourgois, both anthropologists stayed in the field
for more than two years and lived in the communities that they were documenting.