1. Learning Goal: I can demonstrate an understanding of the main concepts and theories within APS – foundations

2. What is Anthropology? Greek word meaning: “The Study of People”
Anthropology is the broad study of humankind around the world and throughout time.
It is concerned with both the biological and the cultural aspects of humans. 

3. Why do we need Anthropologists?
Don’t they tell us what we already know to be true?
Intuition is believing something to be true because a person’s emotions and logic support it
Intuition is not proof of fact – this is why we need anthropologists – they prove or disprove what we BELIEVE to be true

4. Branches of Anthropology
There 2 main subdivisions (areas) in the study of Anthropology:
Physical Anthropology
Cultural Anthropology

5. Physical Anthropology – Main Concepts
How the human species has changed physically over time (hundreds of millions of years) – called Biological Evolution
Study of Primatology – primates (apes, chimps as ancestors of humans)
Why we have certain physical characteristics from our ancestors (i.e. skin colour…) - called Genetic Inheritance

6. Physical Anthropology – Main Concepts
Evolution refers to change or transformation over time - how have humans changed and adapted over time – called Adaptation.
Archeology - Techniques for finding, excavating, dating, and analyzing material remains of past societies

7. Forensic Anthropology: Forensic Archaeology:
Careers in Physical Anthropology - Forensics
Forensic Anthropology:
Forensic Archaeology:
Can determine: gender, age, stature, racial affiliation, time since death, cause of death from markings on bones, identify illnesses and wounds
The systematic archaeological recovery of buried remains and artifacts.
Osteology: bones
Dentition: teeth
Ethnobotony: plant
remains and pollen

8. What is Culture?
Culture and traditions of a group of people (language, kinship, beliefs, food rituals…)
The term was first used in this way by the pioneer English Anthropologist Edward B. Tylor in his book, Primitive Culture, published in 1871.

9. Culture - Edward B. Tylor
Tylor said that culture is "that complex whole which includes knowledge, belief, art, law, morals, custom, and any other capabilities and habits acquired by man as a member of society.”
For anthropologists and other behavioral scientists, culture is the full range of learned human behavior patterns

10. Kinship – Main Concept in Anthropology
Kinship is a family relationship based on what is a culture considers a family to be
The family unit can vary depending on the culture in which the family lives
Anthropologists have concluded that human cultures define the concept of kinship in three ways: mating (marriage), birth (descent) and nurturance (adoption)

11. Cultural Anthropology – Main Concepts
Linguistic Anthropology - The structure, function, and history of languages - Verbal and nonverbal communication

12. ‘Ain’t Nothing' but a Slang Thang Baby’
Even those of us who speak English also use some kind of slang in certain circumstances. Slang is a kind of language that Merriam-Webster describes as "peculiar to a particular group. An informal nonstandard vocabulary composed typically of coinages, arbitrarily changed words, and extravagant, forced, or facetious figures of speech." This lesson explores different "slang languages," and how they developed
Discuss what you think this means:
"That ossified big six over there with the cheaters on thinks he'll get a bearcat because he rides a gravy train!"
And this:
"But that's baloney! He may think he's a big cheese, but a razzle dazzle dame will fly the coop once she realizes he orders some plonk."

13. Translation

14. Modern Day Change in Language

15. Early Communication
Communication was an essential skill for our ancestors
Co-operation during the hunt
Warning of potential danger
Anatomical structures for oral language existed in our early ancestors, but their speech was most likely restricted to grunts and other noises
Included body gestures & facial expressions
Communication allows us to express feelings, describe tasks, argue or discuss a position or ideas

16. Physical Attributes Enabling Speech are:
Larger brain
Brain organized to allow abstract thoughts
Development of the Broca’s area that controls speech
Lowered voice box and strategically positioned hyoid bone

17. Communication Process
Includes:
verbal communication – language
– writing
– speech
– sign language
(b) non-verbal communication
- body language
- tone & character of voice
- interaction distance
- outward appearance

18. Language - verbal
A sophisticated communication system that includes vocabulary and lexicon as well as a set of grammar rules outlining its proper use
Characteristics of human language:
Open - evolves to include new terms and concepts
Discrete – distinct messages can be sent
Arbitrary assignment of words to concepts or objects
Conveys information about events in time

19. Non-Verbal Communication
Have you ever made an instant judgment about a person, without ever speaking to him or her? Can you tell when people are worried, afraid, or angry? Research suggests that very little of our communication is actually verbal. About 93% of the information we give and receive is actually nonverbal.

20. Non-Verbal Activities
Activity 1: Non-Verbal Acting
Activity 2: We Have to Move Now!
Activity 3: Stack the Deck

21. Body Language
The means of communicating information and attitudes in a non-verbal manner
i.e. facial expressions and gestures
May be used consciously or sub-consciously
Compliments verbal language and reinforces the oral message
Cross-cultural communication awareness to prevent misunderstandings

22. Skills and Methods used by Anthropologists
Participation-observation
Collection of statistics
Field interviews
Rigorous compilation of detailed notes
Fieldwork on anthropologists is know as “ethnography”: the scientific study of human races and cultures

23. Participation-Observation
Anthropologists have learned that the best way to really get to know another society and its culture is to live in it as an active participant rather than simply an observer
By physically and emotionally participating in the social interaction of the host society it is possible to become accepted as a member.
Example: Jane Goodall 

24. Jane Goodall's quest to work with live animals in the wild began more than forty years ago. After hiring Jane as an assistant on a fossil-hunting dig at Olduvai Gorge in Africa, noted paleontologist and anthropologist Dr. Louis Leakey arranged for Jane to travel to Gombe to study the behavior of the chimpanzees that make their home there.
Jane's relationship with Gombe's chimpanzees goes beyond a mere scientific interest - it has evolved into a genuine affection and commitment to their survival. Fascinated by the twenty-square-mile park and its charismatic inhabitants, Goodall established what has become the longest continuously running study of animals in the wild.

25. Jane Goodall http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k5Q6-hh49mU
Jane Goodall's Wild Chimpanzees invites viewers to be among the few humans who have ventured into the realm of the wild chimpanzee to see them at close range.
Research has proven that chimpanzees and humans share nearly 99% of the same DNA, making chimps the closest relative to humans.
Dr. Goodall's discoveries in forty years of research at Gombe in Africa - including her groundbreaking observations of chimpanzees making and using tools - have not only revolutionized our understanding of chimps, but ultimately of human behavior itself.

26. The Leakeys
Anthropolgists

27. Big Discoveries
East Africa has been where the Leakeys found exciting fossils that provide evidence of human origins.
Mary and Louis Leakey (married couple) found the remains of a skull of a human ancestor dated to be 1.75 million years old.
They named it “The Nutcracker Boy” due to the huge cheek teeth.
Significance: more proof that all humans originated in Africa and that humans had a complicated and long evolution process

28. Footprints in Volcanic Ash
Mary also discovered the footprints of human ancestors preserved in volcanic ash
Significance: human ancestors walked upright before they used tools; evolution took longer than once thought/originated in Africa

29. Anthropological Theories
Anthropology Schools of Thought 1. Functionalism 2. Structuralism 3. Culturalism –
(Materialism, Determinism, Relativism)

30. Great Thinker: Bronislaw Malinowski (1884-1942)
Founder of the “functional” school of anthropology, which maintains that human institutions should be examined in the context of the culture as a whole
Belief that all components of society interlock to form a well- balanced system.
Emphasized characteristics of beliefs, ceremonies, customs, institutions, religion, ritual and sexual taboos.

31. Functionalism:
The Functionalists examined how a particular cultural phase is interrelated with other aspects of the culture and how it affects the whole system of the society.
The method of functionalism was based on fieldwork and direct observations of societies.
Societies must have a set standard of laws and practices to provide stability. These are referred to as social institutions.

32. Functionalism:
Society is based upon the basic needs (both physical and psychological) that must function in the best interest by the needs of the majority
Examples include food for hunger, and a feeling of safety for society’s members.
In order to understand a society, you must understand/comprehend the culture and their actions.
The role of anthropologists is to explain not judge
The belief is that all society’s actions make up their culture and that they all serve a purpose.

33. Structuralism:
Aspects of culture are based on common properties/ties within a society.
The goal of Structuralism is to discover universal principles of the human mind underlying each cultural trait and custom.

34. Structuralism: Cultural aspects: language and communication,
subsistence and other economic patterns,
kinship (family), sex and marriage,
socialization,
social control,
political organization,
class, ethnicity, gender, religion,
culture change

35. Structuralism:
Theory of binary opposites - everything in society is divided between two ends of the spectrum: good vs. evil, male vs. female, etc.
Binary opposites differ from society to society and are defined in a particular culture in a way that is logical to its members
The divisions within society are not always considered just right or wrong, it depends on the context in which they are used.
i.e.) shoes are “good” when you wear them outside but “bad” if you put them on the table
Question: How does this theory apply to alcohol use?

36. Cultural Materialism:
The most important factors in molding a society are technology and economics/$$$.
This is known as materialism
There are different structures to society:
Infrastructure (material goods)
Structure (class system)
Superstructure (arts, sports, etc.)
Question: How does this apply to our culture?

37. Cultural Determinism:
Determinism –the types of technology and economic methods that are adopted determine the type of society that develops
i.e. Amish Society vs. Western Society
The culture in which we are raised determines who we are at emotional and behavioral levels - environmental influences dominate who we are instead of biologically inherited traits

38. Cultural Relativism:
Cultural relativism means that the function and meaning of a trait are relative to its cultural setting.
A trait is neither good nor bad in itself.
It is good or bad only with reference to the culture in which it is to function.

39. Great Thinker: Franz Boas (1858-1942)
Pioneer of modern Anthropology
World is full of distinct cultures rather than of societies whose evolution could be measured by how much or how little "civilization" they had
Coined “cultural relativism” -- the principle that an individual human's beliefs and activities should be understood by others in terms of that individual's own culture (promotes understanding instead of judgment)

40. Cultural Relativism - Ethnocentrism:
Different societies or cultures are analyzed without using the values of one culture to judge the worth of another.
Cannot understand actions of other groups if they are analyzed in terms of our motives and values.
Must interpret their behavior in the light of their motives, habits and values if we are to understand them.