ANTHROPOLOGY
THE STUDY OF HUMANITY FROM
ITS EVOLUTIONARY ORIGINS TO
TODAY’S CULTURAL DIVERSITY
KEY CONCEPT
CULTURE
KNOWLEDGE OF HOW TO ACT AS A
MEMBER OF SOCIETY
KNOWLEDGE OF EXPECTATIONS
KNOWLEDGE OF APPROPRIATE AND
WRONGFUL ACTIONS
ANTHROPOLOGY
FOCUSES ON STUDY OF HUMANS AND
ALL ASPECTS OF BEING HUMAN
FIELD HAS MANY CONCEPTS AND
SUBJECTS IN COMMON WITH OTHER
SOCIAL SCIENCES AND HUMANITIES
KEY CONCEPTS DISTINGUISH
ANTHROPOLOGY FROM OTHER SOCIAL
SCIENCE DISCIPLINES
KEY TERMS
SOCIETY
CULTURE
COMPARATIVE PERSPECTIVE
HOLISTIC PERSPECTIVE
ETHNOCENTRISM
CULTURAL RELATIVISM
GLOBALIZATION
SOCIETY
SHARED GEOGRAPHICAL TERRITORY
PEOPLE LIVING IN ORGANIZED
GROUPS WITH SOCIAL INSTITUTIONS
AND EXPECTATION OF BEHAVIOR
RELATIONS BETWEEN INDIVIDUALS
AND GROUPS OF INDIVIDUALS
UNIQUE SOCIAL SCIENCE
Time Depth
Global Focus
Comparative Approach
Holistic
Four Field Approach
Core Concept of Culture
Globalization
HOLISTIC
View Cultures from holistic perspective
Culture as integrated whole.
No part of culture can be studied in isolation
Study culture means studying the relationship
between Things
EXAMPLE OF HOLISM
Arrangement of Furniture in USA reflects core
cultural value of individualism
Arrangement of rooms is directly related to
marriage and family patterns which in turn
related to way Americans earn a living
Individual bedrooms reflect value on
individualism & consistent with an economy
where families are dependent on individual wage
earners
COMPARATIVE PERSPECTIVE
Anthropology is basically comparative bases its
findings on cultural data drawn from throughout
the world and from throughout human history
Collect data about behavior and beliefs in many
societies in order the diversity of human cultures
Also, to understand common patterns in ways
people adapt to their environment, adjust to
their neighbors, and develop cultural institutions
BENEFITS OF COMPARATIVE
VIEW
Challenge commonly held assumptions about
human life- ways based solely on European and
North American perspective
For Example “Marriage”
Cultural Institution
Monogamy not the preferred type of marriage in
majority of societies
CULTURE
Learned values, beliefs, rules of conduct shared
to some extent by the members of society, that
govern their behavior with one another and their
thinking about themselves and the world.
Everything that people have, think, and do as
members of a society
All cultures are comprised of material objects;
ideas, values, attitudes and patterned ways of
behaving.
Four Fields
ARCHAEOLOGY
BIOLOGICAL OR PHYSICAL
ANTHROPOLOGY
ANTHROPOLOGICAL LINGUISTICS
CULTURAL ANTHROPOLOGY
ARCHAEOLOGY
STUDY OF PAST CULTURES
PREHISTORIC AND HISTORIC
RELAY ON EVIDENCE (ARTIFACTS)
FROM MATERIAL CULTURE AND THE
SITES WHERE PEOPLE LIVED
EVIDENCE REALS HOW PEOPLE LIVED
AND RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN
GROUPS OF PEOPLE.
ANTHROPOLOGICAL
LINGUISTICS
STUDY OF LANGUAGE AND THE
SPEAKERS USE OF LANGUAGE AND
THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN
LANGUAGE AND OTHER ASPECTS OF
CULTURE AND SOCIETY
CULTURE IS LEARNED THROUGH
LANGUAGE
HISTORIC AND DESCRIPTIVE
LINGUISTICS
PHYSICAL ANTHROPOLOGY
Biological Anthropology
Study of Human origins (evolution) and
contemporary Human variation
Primate social organization
Interface between biology and culture. Ex
Andes greater lung capacity adaptation to low
oxygen
HUMAN VARIATION
“Race” is always a social not a biological concept
Conventional Classification of “Races” is
pseudoscience.
Hair texture, skin color and facial characteristics
are arbitrary and randomly selected
Skin tone is function of evolutionary adaptation
to climate
Race as conventionally used is wrong!
APPLIED ANTHROPOLOGIST
MEDICAL ANTHROPOLOGIST
BRIDGES DISCIPLINE OF CULTURAL
ANTHROPOLOGY AND BIOLOGY
STUDIES SUSCEPTIBILITIES AND
RESISTANCE OF CERTAIN POPULATION
TO SPECIFIC DISEASE
STUDIES HEALTH CARE DELIVERY
SYSTEM
FORENSIC ANTHROPOLOGY
SUB-FIELD WITHIN BIOLOGICAL
ANTHROPOLOGY
ANALYZE HUMAN REMAINS IN
SERVICE OF CRIMINAL JUSTICE AND
FAMILIES OF DISASTER VICTIMS
HUMAN RIGHTS ABUSES
GENOCIDE
APPLIED ARCHAEOLOGY
CULTURAL RESOURCE MANAGEMENT
APPLICATION OF ARCHAEOLOGY TO
PRESERVE AND PROTECT HISTORIC
STRUCTURES AND PREHISTORIC SITES
OUTGROWTH OF FEDERAL AND STATE
LAWS TO PROTECT PREHISTORIC AND
HISTORIC SITES
CONTRACT ARCHAEOLOGY
APPLICATION OF ARCHAEOLOGY TO
ASSES THE POTENTIAL IMPACT OF
CONSTRUCTION ON
ARCHAEOLOGICAL SITES
SALVAGE ARCHAEOLOGY
CULTURAL ANTHROPOLOGY
The ways people organize their living in societies
The study of cultural behavior in recent and
contemporary cultures
Ethnology-building theories to explain cultural
practices based on comparative study of
societies throughout the world
Ethnography, a holistic intensive study of
groups, through observation, interview and
participation
CULTURAL ANTHROPOLOGY
ETHNOGRAPHY
ETHNOGRAPHER
FIELD WORK
PARTICIPANT OBSERVATION
ETHNOCENTRISM
The widespread human tendency to perceive to
perceive the ways of doing things and beliefs
about things in one’s culture as normal and
natural and that of others as strange, inferior,
and possibly un-natural
One’s own culture is superior, the best and
others are inferior
Everybody everywhere is a little ethnocentric
CULTURAL RELATIVISM
Counters Ethnocentrism
Stresses the importance of analyzing cultures in
their own terms rather than in terms of the
culture of the anthropologist
This does not mean that all cultural practices,
cultural beliefs and behaviors can be condone
Different from ethical relativism—all right and
wrong relative to time, place, and culture so that
no moral judgments of behavior can be made
GLOBALIZATION
DISTINGUISHES ANTHROPOLOGY
FROM OTHER SOCIAL SCIENCES
CULTURAL CONTACT AND CONTACT
CHANGES SPECIFIC CULTURES
RAPID TRANSFORMATION OF
CULTURES WORLD WIDE IN RESPONSE
TO ECONOMIC AND TECHNOLOGICAL
INFLUENCES
GLOBALIZATION
OCCURRED IN THE PAST WHEN STATES
AND EMPIRES EXPANDED THEIR
INFLUENCE BEYOND THEIR BOARDERS
COLONIALISM
CONTEMPORARY GLOBALIZATION
BASED ON INTERCONNECTED
ECONOMIES CHANGE CULTURAL
INSTITUTIONS AT THE LOCAL LEVEL
AMERICANIZATION
BY PRODUCT OF GLOBALIZATION
THE SPREAD OF DOMINANT AMERICAN
AND EUROPEAN CULTURAL
PRACTICES, CONSUMERISM, CULTURAL
ICONS, AND MEDIA AND
ENTERTAINMENT