Chapter 9 Anthropological Foundation of Education

The term “Anthropology” is derived from two Greek words, anthropos meaning human and
logos meaning study. So, in the simplest terms, Anthropology is the study of human beings. An
anthropologist tries to study and understand everything that can be related to humans and not limited by
time and space

Thus, Anthropology can be defined as “The study of human populations where we holistically
explore the biological, socio-cultural, archaeological and linguistic aspects of human existence.” An
anthropologist must have sufficient knowledge of all these aspects to specialize in one.

Anthropology- it is the study of civilizations and cultures of people:their

origins,customs,traditions,beliefs, folkways, and practices . Also included are languages ,forms of writing
tools and weapons,building and other physical structures.

The term holistic is an important feature of the discipline which means that while studying any
population, all the characteristics of the population are studied in connection with each other. In general,
an anthropologist may seek answers to the following questions:

Why some people are dark-skinned while some are light-skinned?

Why in European countries O blood group is the most prevalent whereas in India it’s B and in
Central Asia it’s A?

Why some languages have more specific terms for colours while others do not?

What are the power distribution and resource-control pattern in any community?

Why people belonging to a particular community suffer more from a given disease than others?

What is the means of subsistence in a community and how it has changed with time?

Why in some cultures do children leave the house of their parents when they grow old while in
some they do not?

How the birth, marriage, and death ceremony varies within communities?

These are very few examples of questions that an anthropologist may possibly want to know.
Anthropologists are curious about the typical characteristics of populations around the globe.

Fieldwork is a research method specific to the field of Anthropology. It is considered as an important

part of an anthropologist’s professional training. Fieldwork was developed by Polish Anthropologist
Bronislaw Malinowski who conducted fieldwork for 6 years amongst the Trobrianders of Malensia which
is considered as the best fieldwork to date. Malinowski is considered as the “Father of Social
Anthropology” and is also known for his theory of functionalism. Fieldwork basically involves living
with the people in a culture different from ours and studying and engaging in the daily activities of their
lives. Fieldwork methodology is quite different from those of “arm-chair” anthropologists who study
people within their comfort zones i.e. in the libraries.

Anthropology mainly has four major branches: Socio-cultural anthropology, Biological or physical
anthropology, Archeological anthropology, and Linguistic Anthropology.
Socio-cultural anthropology is also known as cultural anthropology or social anthropology. It is the
study of societies and cultures around the world. How the social structure, norms, economic and religious
organizations, kinship system, marriage system, cultural practices, behavioral patterns, etc varies around
the world.

The detailed study of a culture including the description of lives of people like family, religion,
economic system, marriage, etc. through fieldwork is known as Ethnography. Ethnology is the
comparative study and analysis of different cultures, including the differences and relationships within
them.

Social Anthropology includes various sub-disciplines like medical anthropology, psychological

anthropology, social institutions, kinship, family and marriage, visual anthropology, theories in social
anthropology, fieldwork methodology, ethnography, ethnology, museology, etc.

Physical anthropology involves an evolutionary perspective towards the study of human

populations and their diversity. To understand variations, they use the techniques and principles of
genetics, biology, and epidemiology.

Paleoanthropologists analyze fossil records and reconstruct the past of humans to trace the direct
ancestors and genetic and anatomical variation with evolution. They study the characteristics that are
similar and different between humans and chimpanzees and to understand how evolution has resulted in
many changes in humans including bipedalism, straight posture, opposable thumb, ability to grasp, loss of
tail, increase in cranial capacity, etc.

Through epidemiology and nutritional studies, they study the variation in dietary patterns and
health because of different bio-cultural factors like food taboo, local practitioners, faith healing, etc.
Study of human genetics helps in categorizing various genetic disorders due to inheritance, mutations in
genes/chromosomes, etc. Social anthropologists, for example, may study the implications of these
diseases on the lives of the affected and their families. This is how both social and biological
anthropology could be related and studied together. Physical anthropology can also be used in the field of
forensics. For example forensic anthropologists recover bones from sites of mass excavations and use the
studies of anthropometry to trace the identity of the dead ones.
Anthropometry is a science used to measure the physical attributes of humans. These could be hand
length, skull width, etc. It is an important tool in physical anthropology.

Archaeological anthropology studies human societies and cultures from prehistory and how
they have changed with evolution, changes in climatic conditions and advancements in tools and
techniques. They collect material remains from various archeological sites and try to reconstruct the past.
These artifacts could be tools, remains from human cultures like pottery, cave paintings, etc. They use
different dating techniques like carbon dating, pollen dating, stratigraphy, etc. to arrange the findings in a
chronological order and understand the cultural development in the past.

Linguistic anthropology studies the diversity of languages among the different cultures in the
world and how they affect or are affected by cultures and societies around the world.

ANTHROPOLOGY AND EDUCATION

- Education at its core refers to the pursuit of knowledge. Anthropology is the study of culture and its
people.
- Since inherent learning structures are a part of anthropology in terms of human development, then
education can be considered a primary feature of people and their culture. In other words, without
education, there would be no possibility for people to persist in their cultural development and less
there would be less emphasis on studying cultural trends. In the process of education, History is
being studied which is the main and the basic record of culture, hence, it cannot be denied that it is
being nourished by education.

The needs of the society whether religious, social, cultural or psychological, all are
fulfilled only by education.BRANCHES OF ANTHROPOLOGY

Anthropology mainly has four major branches: Socio-cultural anthropology, Biological or physical
anthropology, Archeological anthropology, and Linguistic Anthropology.
Socio-cultural anthropology is also known as cultural anthropology or social anthropology. It is the
study of societies and cultures around the world. How the social structure, norms, economic and religious
organizations, kinship system, marriage system, cultural practices, behavioral patterns, etc varies around
the world.

Socio -Cultural Anthropology

Physical (Biological)Anthropology

Archaeological Anthropology

Linguistic Anthropology

Applied Anthropology

1. Socio-Cultural Anthropology:

- Evolution after the Darwin’s Publication of the Origin of Species.

 - focused in the study of preliterate societies in the belief that they represented the earliest condition
of human society and culture.

- By the beginning of the 20th century its earlier designation as Ethnology was gradually abandoned. It
is replaced by the terms cultural Anthropology in America and by social Anthropology in Britain

- In America, a tradition of study of whole cultures developed, while in Britain the comparative study of
social structures was considered to be the subject matter of social anthropology.

- It resulted in the origin and growth of several sub-branches from the elementary branch of socio-
cultural Anthropology such as Economic Anthropology, Political Anthropology, Psychological
Anthropology, Anthropology of Religion and so on and so forth. We shall overview only these
subbranches of major interest.

ECONOMIC ANTHROPOLOGY

POLITICAL ANTHROPOLOGY

PSYCHOLOGICAL ANTHROPOLOGY

ETHNO – ARCHAEOLOGY

ANTHROPOLOGY OF RELIGION

2. Physical Anthropology:

- attempts to explore human mystery related to their origin, differentiation, diversities and
distributions. With the advancement of genetical sciences, it becomes more and more biology oriented
divided into the following subbranches.
3. Archaeological Anthropology:

- attempts to trace the origin, growth and development of culture in the past. By past we meant
the period before history when man had not acquired the capabilities of language, not merely to speak but
also to write in order to record the story of his life. The Archaeological Anthropologist differs from the
socio – cultural Anthropologist in two important aspects :

The former studies past cultures while the latter studies present.

The former lacks the advantage of personal contact and interaction with the people he is studying which
the former enjoys.

4. Linguistic Anthropology:

Linguistic Anthropology is that branch of anthropology which deals with language. It is

concerned with the languages of all people, past and present as it is the chief vehicle through which man
preserves and transmits his culture from generation to generation.

Linguistic Anthropology has following branches

Descriptive or structure linguistics – deals with the description of languages.

Historical Linguistics – deals with origin and development of languages.

Socio – cultural linguistics or Ethno linguistics – studies how languages are used in actual speech and
cognition.

5. Applied Anthropology:
The ultimate aim of the study of man is not only merely acquiring knowledge regarding
man, society and culture, but in applying the knowledge so gained in solving the practical problems faced
by mankind all over the world. In this effort, Anthropologists often work closely with the administrators
of the government.

Educational Implication of Anthropology to Education

Concept and Characteristics of Culture

1.Culture is learned
2.culture is instinctive

3.Culture may be acquired through imitation, conditioning, suggestion, formal or informal or mass media.

4.Culture is a group product developed by many person interacting in group.

5.Culture is transmitted to generation to generation.

6. Culture is adaptive

7.Culture under Economic System

8.Culture under Political System

9.Culture (WARFARE) men vs women