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What Is Anthropology?

Anthropology:
The Exploration of Human Diversity

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2005 The McGraw-Hill Companie

Overview

Anthropology confronts basic questions

of human existence and survival
How we originated
How we have changed
How we are changing still

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Overview

Anthropology is holistic
Interested in the whole of the human
conditions

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Past, present, and future

Biology
Society
Language
Culture

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Overview

Four subfields
Cultural anthropologystudy of human
society and culture; describes, analyzes,
interprets, and explains social and cultural
similarities and differences
Archaeologyreconstructs behavior
by studying material remains

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2005 The McGraw-Hill Companie

Overview
Biological anthropologystudy human
fossils, genetics, and bodily growth and
nonhuman primates
Linguistic anthropologydescriptive,
comparative, and historical study of
language and of linguistic similarities and
differences in time, space, and society;
considers how speech varies with social
factors and over time

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Human Adaptability
Humans among the worlds most
adaptable animals

Anthropologystudy of human
species and its immediate ancestors
Constantly compares customs of one
society with others

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Human Adaptability
Anthropology
Societyorganized life in groups
Culturetraditions and customs that
govern behavior and beliefs
Distinctly human feature
Transmitted through learning
Not biological, but ability to use culture
rests in hominid biology

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General Anthropology

Academic discipline of anthropology

includes:
Cultural anthropology
Archaeological anthropology
Biological or physical anthropology
Linguistic anthropology

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General Anthropology

Four-field approach:
Developed in U.S.
Early American anthropologists studying native peoples of
North America became interested in exploring origins and
diversity of the groups

Subdisciplines share similar goal of

exploring variation in time and space to
improve understanding of basics of human
biology, society, and culture
Subdisciplines influence each other
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General Anthropology
Sound conclusions about human
nature cannot be derived from studying
a single nation, society, or cultural
tradition

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General Anthropology
Cultural Forces Shape Human Biology
Culture key environmental force in
determining how human bodies grow and
develop
Bioculturalinclusion and combination (to
solve a common problem) of biological and
cultural perspectives and approaches

This is one of anthropologys hallmarks

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General Anthropology
Cultural standards of attractiveness and
propriety influence participation and
achievement in sports
Brazilian women avoid competitive
swimming because of that sports effects
on the body

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The Subdisciplines of
Anthropology

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Cultural Anthropologydescribes,
analyzes, interprets, and explains social
and cultural similarities and differences
EthnographyFieldwork in a particular
culture; provides account of that
community, society, or culture
Cultures not isolated from local, regional, national, and
global systems of politics, economics, and information
that expose villagers to external influences
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The Subdisciplines of
Anthropology
Ethnologycross cultural comparison; the
comparative study of ethnographic data, of
society and of culture

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The Subdisciplines of
Anthropology
Ethnography and EthnologyTwo
Dimensions of Cultural Anthropology
Insert Table 1.2

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The Subdisciplines of
Anthropology

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Archaeological Anthropologystudy
of human behavior and cultural patterns
and process through the cultures
material remains
Artifacts (e.g., potsherds, jewelry, and
tools)
Garbage
Burials
Remains of structures
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The Subdisciplines of
Anthropology

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Archaeological Anthropology
Archaeologists use paleoecological studies
to establish ecological and subsistence
parameters within which given groups lived
Archaeological record provides unique opportunity to
look at changes in social complexity over thousands
and tens of thousands of years

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The Subdisciplines of
Anthropology

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Archaeologists also study the cultures

of historical and living people
Historical archaeology combines
archaeological data and textual data to
reconstruct historically known groups
William Rathjes garbology project in Tucson,
Arizona

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The Subdisciplines of
Anthropology
Biological Anthropologystudy of
human biological variation in time and
space
Includes evolution, genetics, growth and development,
and primatology

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The Subdisciplines of
Anthropology
Special interests
within biological
anthropology:
Paleoanthropology
Human genetics
Human growth and
development
Human biological
plasticity
Primatology

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human evolution as
revealed by the fossil
record
Bodys ability to change as
it copes with stresses such
as heat, cold, and altitude

study of biology, evolution,

behavior, and social life of
primates

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The Subdisciplines of
Anthropology
Biological anthropology draws on
biology, zoology, geology, anatomy,
physiology, medicine, public health,
osteology, and archaeology

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The Subdisciplines of
Anthropology
Linguistic Anthropologystudy of
language in its social and cultural
context across space and time
Historical linguistsreconstruct ancient languages
and study linguistic variation through time
Sociolinguisticsinvestigates relationships between
social and linguistic variation to discover varied
perceptions and patterns of thought in different cultures

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Applied Anthropology
Applied Anthropologyapplication of
anthropological data, perspectives,
theory, and methods to identify, assess,
and solve contemporary social
problems

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Applied Anthropology

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American Anthropological Association

(AAA) recognizes two dimensions
Theoretical/academic anthropology
includes cultural, archaeological, biological,
and linguistic anthropology
Directed at collecting data to test
hypotheses and models created to
advance anthropology

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Applied Anthropology
Practicing or applied anthropology
application of anthropological data,
perspectives, theory, and techniques to
identify, assess, and solve contemporary
social problems
Standard subdivisions include:

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Medical anthropology
Environmental anthropology
Forensic anthropology
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Applied Anthropology

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Applied anthropologists generally

employed by international development
agencies
World Bank
United States Agency for International
Development (USAID)
World Health Organization (WHO)
United Nations
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Applied Anthropology

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Applied Anthropologists:
Assess social and cultural dimensions of
economic development
Development projects often fail when
planners ignore cultural dimensions of
development

Work with local communities to identify

specific social conditions that influence the
failure or success of a development project
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Anthropology and Other

Academic Fields
Anthropology links to interdisciplinary
collaboration
Anthropology is a science
Systematic field of study or body of
knowledge that aims, through experiment,
observation, and deduction, to produce
reliable explanations of phenomena, with
reference to the material and physical
world

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Anthropology and Other

Academic Fields

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Anthropology also a humanity

Encompasses study of and cross-cultural
comparison of languages, texts,
philosophies, arts, music, performances,
and other forms of creative expression

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Anthropology and Other

Academic Fields

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Cultural Anthropology and Sociology

Sociologist traditionally used quantitative
research, while cultural anthropological
used qualitative methodologies
Anthropology and sociology converging

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Anthropology and Other

Academic Fields

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Anthropology and Psychology

Statements about human psychology
cannot be based solely on observations
made in one society or in a single type of
society
Cultural anthropology (psychological
anthropology) studies cross-cultural
variation in psychological traits
Anthropology helps us understand ourselves
through its cross-cultural perspective
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2005 The McGraw-Hill Companie