WHAT IS ANTHROPOLOGY?

ANTHROPOLOGY
Classifications
1. Physical or Biological Anthropology
2. Cultural Anthropology: Subdivisions
a.) Archaeology
b.) Linguistics
c.) Ethnology
3. Applied Anthropology
Anthropology
* Greek words anthropos- man, human and
logos-study

*Anthropologist seeks answers to an enormous

variety of questions about humans. They 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.

It is interested to all people of all periods. It

traces the development of humans until the
present.

It is holistic or multifaceted. It study not only all

varieties of people but many aspects of human
experience e.g.. physical environment, political
& eco. system etc. and deals with typical
characteristics (traits, customs) of particular
population
Physical Anthropology studies the emergence of humans and their later
evolution. This is called human paleontology or paleoanthropology.
Anthropologist, psychologists, and biologists who specialize in the study
of primates are called primatologists. Biological anthropologists use the
principles, concepts, and techniques of at least three other disciplines:
human genetics, population biology and epidemiology.
Cultural Anthropology

refers to the customary ways of thinking and behaving of a

particular population or society. It includes language, religious
beliefs, food preferences, music, work habits, gender roles, how
they rear their children, how they construct their houses, and
many other learned behaviors and ideas that have come to be
wildly shared or customary among the group.
Archaeology is the study of past cultures, primarily through their material
remains. They seek not only to reconstruct the daily life and customs of
peoples who lived in the past but also to trace cultural changes and to
offer possible explanations of these changes. Most archaeologists deal
with prehistory, the time before written records. But there is specially
within archaeology, called historical archaeology, that studies the
remains of recent peoples who left written records.
Linguistics or the study of languages, is somewhat older discipline than
anthropology, but the early linguists concentrated on the study of languages
that had been written for a long time- languages such as English that had
been written for nearly thousand years.

Historical linguistics the study of how languages change over time and how
they may be related. It is also concern with the emergence of language and
also with the divergence of language over thousands of years.

Structural or descriptive linguistics is interested in how contemporary

languages differ, especially in their construction.

Sociolinguistics is the study of how language is used in social context.

Ethnology is the study of existing and recent cultures. It is concern with
patterns of thought and behavior, such as marriage customs, kinship
organization, political and economic systems, religion, folk art, and music,
and with the ways in which these patterns differ in contemporary societies.
It also studies how various cultures develop and change. The ethnologists
gather data through observation and interview of living peoples.

Ethnographer spends a year or so living with, talking to, and observing the
people whose customs he or she is studying. It provides detailed description
of peoples thought and behavior called ethnography .

Ethnohistorian tries to reconstruct the recent history. It relies on the report

of others. By trying to put all together all these information to make sense of
the history of the people who did not themselves leave written records.

Cross-cultural researcher collect and analyze the data collected by the

ethnographer and ethnohistorian.
 Applied anthropology refers to the application of method and theory in
anthropology to the analysis and solution of practical problems. Inasmuch as
anthropology proper comprises four sub-disciplines -- biological, cultural,
linguistic, and archaeological anthropology -- the practical application of any of
these sub-disciplines may properly be designated "applied anthropology".

For example, ethnography may involve assessing the current and recent
historical cultural characteristics of the community, linguistics may be applied
to restoring language competence, and biological, or more specifically
"medical" anthropology may be applied to determine the factors contributing
to dietary deficiency diseases, etc.
Examples of questions that an applied anthropologist would attempt to solve
might be:
If an American buys diapers at 2AM on a Saturday in a grocery store, what is
likely to be his/her next purchase?
How can public health authorities promote condom use amongst members of
a particular subculture?
Why do people migrate to XYZ place or from PQR place?