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Anthropology is the study of humans and human societies across time and space. It takes a holistic approach, examining biological, cultural, linguistic and archaeological evidence to understand human diversity and cultural variations among populations, both past and present. The main subfields of anthropology are biological/physical anthropology, archaeology, socio-cultural anthropology, and linguistic anthropology. Anthropologists seek to understand humans from an evolutionary and global perspective to explain what makes us both unique and universal.
Anthropology is the study of humans and human societies across time and space. It takes a holistic approach, examining biological, cultural, linguistic and archaeological evidence to understand human diversity and cultural variations among populations, both past and present. The main subfields of anthropology are biological/physical anthropology, archaeology, socio-cultural anthropology, and linguistic anthropology. Anthropologists seek to understand humans from an evolutionary and global perspective to explain what makes us both unique and universal.
Anthropology is the study of humans and human societies across time and space. It takes a holistic approach, examining biological, cultural, linguistic and archaeological evidence to understand human diversity and cultural variations among populations, both past and present. The main subfields of anthropology are biological/physical anthropology, archaeology, socio-cultural anthropology, and linguistic anthropology. Anthropologists seek to understand humans from an evolutionary and global perspective to explain what makes us both unique and universal.
Anthropology: the study of differences and similarities, both biological and cultural, in
human populations. Concerned with typical biological and cultural characteristics of
human populations in all periods and in all parts of the world. Derived from Greek Anthropos for “man, human” and logos for “study” Anthropologists are interested in discovering when, where and why humans appeared on the earth, how and why they have changed since then, and how and why modern human populations vary in certain physical features. Interested in how and why societies in the past and present have varied in their customary ideas and practices. A Short History of Anthropology in Canada Fathers of Canadian ethnology were the missionaries who lived in French Canada in the 1600s. o Interested in knowing the lifeways and beliefs of the native people they lived among, and they provided the detailed descriptions that were used by modern anthropologists. Grew from records written by Jesuits and other missionaries, or explorer-traders, or two centuries later from teachers in our early universities in the mid-1800s. Geological Survey of Canada – made records of their travels, including details about the native people they met and observed in the course of their work. George Mercer Dawson – responsible for the establishment of a professional Canadian anthropology. 1910 – Wilfrid Laurier established a Division of Anthropology within the Geological Survey, marking the beginning o The Victoria Memorial Museum in Ottawa housed its offices The Scope of Anthropology Anthropology is broader in scope, both geographically and historically. Concerned with all varieties of people throughout the world, not just those close at hand or within a limited area, and they are also interested in people of all time periods. Anthropology traces the development of humans Traditionally, anthropologists concentrated on non-Western cultures and left the study of Western civilization and similarly complex societies, with their recorded histories to other disciplines. The Holistic Approach Anthropology takes a holistic (multi-faceted) approach to the study of human beings. o Study people as well as their experiences Many different specialities describe many aspects of human existence, both past and present The Anthropological Curiosity All-inclusive human science All questions asked in anthropology deal with diversity (both biological and cultural) within and between populations in both the past and present Four Sub-Fields of Anthropology Biological or physical anthropology: concerned primarily with the biological diversity of humans, their ancestors, and closely related primates o Seeks to answer a variety of questions about the human biological condition in both past and present populations o Palaeoanthropology: emergence of humans and their evolutionary relationship with other primates Search for and study the buried, hardened remains or impressions, known as fossils, of human, prehumans, and related animals. o Primates: a member of the mammalian order, primates, divided into the two suborders of prosimians and anthropoids Chimpanzees share over 95% of their genes with humans o All living people belong to one species, Homo Sapiens, for all can successfully interbreed o Physical anthropologists use the principles, concepts, and techniques of at least three other disciplines to further their understanding of human bioligcal diversity: human genetics, population biology, epidemiology Archaeology: the study of past human cultures, primarily through their material remains o Seeks to reconstruct daily life and customs of peoples who lived in the past and to trace cultural changes and offer possible explanations for those changes. o Must reconstruct history from the remains of human cultures o Deal with the written past, the time before written records o Historical archaeology: study of the remains of recent peoples who left written records o Collect materials from sites of human occupation Must be unearthed Socio-cultural anthropology: concerned with the study of recent or contemporary cultures o Interested in how populations or societies vary in their cultural features o Culture: the customary ways of thinking and behaving of a particular population or society o Ethnologists seek to understand how and why peoples today and in the recent past differ in their customary ways of thinking and acting Use data collected through observation and interviews with people o Prehistoric: time before written records o Ethnographer: a person who spends some time living with, interviewing, and observing a group of people so that he or she can describe their customs o Ethnohistorian: studies how the way of life of a particular group of people has changed over time. Rely on reports of others Concerned with people who did not leave their own written records o Cross-cultural researcher: interested in discovering why certain cultural characteristics may be found in some societies but not in others. Rely on data from samples of different cultures to explain cultural variation o Cultural anthropology: the study of cultural variation and universals o Ethnology: concerned with cultural patterns of behaviour and with the ways in which these patterns differ in contemporary societies. Anthropological linguistics: anthropological study of languages o Fieldwork where language did not have a written form o Had to construct a dictionary and grammar o Historical linguistics: the study of how languages change over time and how they may be related
1. Anthropology is literally the study of human beings. It differs from other
disciplines concerned with people in that it is broader in scope. It is concerned with humans in all places of the world (not simply those places close to us), and it traces human evolution and cultural development from millions of years ago to the present day 2. Anthropology is distinguished by it holistic approach to the study of human beings. Anthropologists study not only all varieties of people but also all aspects of those peoples’ experiences. 3. Anthropologists are concerned with identifying and explaining diversity within and between human populations, both in the present and in the past. 4. There are four major sub-fields of anthropology: physical or biological anthropology, archaeology, socio-cultural anthropology, and anthropological linguistics 5. Physical or biological anthropology is one of the major fields of the discipline. Physical anthropology studies the emergence of humans and their evolutionary relationship to other primates (palaeoanthropology). It also studies how and why contemporary human populations vary biologically. 6. Archaeologists seek to reconstruct the daily life and customs of prehistoric peoples and trace cultural changes and offer possible explanations of those changes. Archaeologists try to reconstruct history from the remains of human cultures. 7. Socio-cultural anthropologists seek to understand how and why peoples of today and the recent past differ in their customary ways of thinking and acting. One type of ethnologist, the ethnographer, usually spends a year or so living with and talking to a particular population and observing their customs. Later, she or he may prepare a detailed report of the group’s behaviour, which is called an ethnography. Another type of ethnologist, the ethnohistorian, investigates written documents to determine how the ways of life of a particular group of people have changed over time. A third type of ethnologist, the cross-cultural researcher, studies data collected by ethnographers and ethnohistorians for a sample of cultures and attempts to discover which explanations of particular customs may be generally applicable. 8. Anthropological linguists are concerned with the emergence of language and with the divergence of languages over time (historical linguists). They also study how contemporary languages differ, both in construction (structural or descriptive linguistics) and in actual speech (sociolinguistics) 9. In all four major sub-fields of anthropology, there are applied anthropologists, people who apply anthropological knowledge to achieve more practical goals, usually in the service of an agency outside the traditional academic setting. 10. Anthropology may help people to be more tolerant. Anthropological studies can show us why other people are the way they are, both culturally and physically. Customs or actions that appear improper or offensive to us may be other people’s adaptations to particular environmental and social conditions. 11. Anthropology is also valuable in that knowledge of our past may bring us both a feeling of humility and a sense of accomplishment. Like any other form of life, we have no guarantee that any particular human population will perpetuate itself indefinitely. Yet knowledge of our achievements in the past may give us confidence in our ability to solve the problems of the future.