WHAT IS ANTHROPOLOGY?

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WHAT IS ANTHROPOLOGY?

• The term originates from two words in Greek
• (1) anthropos meaning man as in human being
• (2) logos meaning study.

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Consequently we can determine that
anthropology can be defined as the study of
human beings. Yet many other humanities,
sciences and social sciences could also be
defined as the study of human beings since the
definition itself is so broad.
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WHAT THEN IS UNIQUE OR CHARACTERISTIC OF
ANTHROPOLOGY?
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(a). anthropology is transcultural looks all
human groups, large and small distant and near.
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(b). anthropology spans all of human history, the
ancient and the modern. We must know past to
understand present.
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• (c). anthropology is holistic seeks to
  demonstrate how aspects of cultures are linked,
  how they affect one another seeks to understand
  all aspects of human behavior. It is a
  multi-faceted approach to the study of human
  behavior.

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Anthropology seeks to find the generalities about
human life while also explaining the differences.
To do this the examples must include a
transcultural and historical perspective.
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Anthropology seeks to understand and explain why
people do the things they do and say the things
they say. A goal is create better understanding
among people.
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In sum, we as anthropologists often say that
anthropology is the most humane of the sciences
and the most scientific of the humanities. Thus
we draw data from all kinds of sources.
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WHAT ARE the SUB-FIELDS of ANTHROPOLOGY as a
SOCIAL SCIENCE?
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THE TWO MAIN SUB-FIELD DIVISIONS WITHIN
ANTHROPOLOGY ARE

• (1) biological anthropology
• (2) cultural anthropology.
• In this course we will be focusing on cultural
  anthropology.

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Biological anthropology seeks to understand human
behavior from a biological base especially
focusing upon human evolutionary history and
biological variation among human populations.
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Some examples of biological anthropology are
paleontology primatology the study of human
variation
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Cultural anthropology seeks to understand
universals and variations in human cultures both
past and present.
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Archaeology seeks to understand human history
through the study (primarily) of materials
remains. Sometimes the work of archaeologists
overlaps with the work of historians in a
specialization, historical archaeology.
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Linguistics seeks to understand human language,
written and non-written, spoken and non-verbal.
The study of how languages change over time is
termed historical linguistics. The study of how
language is used in social contexts is termed
socio-linguistics.
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Ethnology seeks to understand the patterns of
human thought and behavior over time. A
holistic, detailed description of a culture is
termed an ethnography.
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Underscoring all of the sub-fields in both
biological and cultural anthropology is
Practicing or Applied anthropology, which seek to
apply anthropological knowledge to the solution
of human problems. All of the sub-fields in
anthropology have an applied, practicing
component.
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FURTHER COMMON DIVISIONS WITHIN ANTHROPOLOGY
INCLUDE

• (1) area specializations (SE Asia, Europe, Latin
  American, etc. areas which share some
  cultural-historical characteristics )
• (2) topic specializations (medical, ecological,
  gender, etc. themes upon which to focus within a
  holistic and deeply contextual framework of a
  culture)