1. Window on Humanity Conrad Phillip Kottak Third Edition
Chapter 1
What Is Anthropology?
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3. CHAPTER 1 What Is Anthropology?
Study of the human species and its immediate ancestors
Holistic discipline: concerned with human biology, society, language, and culture in the past, present, and future
Unique cross-cultural perspective
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4.
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5. Fields of Anthropology
Activity:
Review the Anthropology undergraduate course list from Columbia University. Can you find ways to categorize the courses into different fields of Anthropology?
Physical Anthropology
Cultural Anthropology
Archeology
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6. Fields of Anthropology
Subdisciplines of American anthropology
Cultural anthropology -
Archaeological anthropology –
Biological (or physical) anthropology –
Linguistic anthropology –
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7. Fields of Anthropology
Anthropology and other academic fields
Anthropology is both a scientific and a humanistic discipline
Besides its links to the natural sciences (e.g., geology) and social sciences (e.g., sociology), anthropology has strong ties to the humanities (e.g., comparative literature)
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8. Activity Center for Learning: Subdisciplines in Anthropology
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9. Fields of Anthropology
Dimensions of American anthropology:
Academic or theoretical anthropology
Applied anthropology
Application of anthropological data, perspectives, theory, and methods to identify, assess, and solve contemporary social problems
All four subdisciplines
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10. ACTIVITY: CAREERS IN ANTHROPOLOGY
Use the following websites on the handout to help answer the questions:
Identify 6 current jobs that are available to which you would be interested in applying. Try to find jobs that are in at least 3 different disciplines.
Identify whether the jobs you listed are academic or applied anthropology.
Which of the field of Anthropology is most interesting to you? Why?
Look at the skills websites. Write a paragraph explaining what you would need to do to pursue a career in that field of Anthropology.
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11. Human Adaptability Human Adaptability
Humans are among the most adaptable animals in the world, able to inhabit widely variant ecological niches
Humans share both society and culture
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12. Adaptability Adaptation, Variation, and Change
Adaptation: process by which organisms cope with environmental forces and stresses
Human adaptation: interaction between culture and biology to satisfy individual goals
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13. Four types of human adaptation
1. Technological adaptation; Cultural
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14. Four types of human adaptation
2. Genetic adaptation – Biological; occurs over generations.
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15. Four types of human adaptation
Long-term physiological or developmental adaptation
Occurs during growth and development of the individual organism
BIOLOGICAL
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16. Four types of human adaptation
Short-term or immediate physiological adaptation
-occurs spontaneously when the individual organism enters a new environment.
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17. Adaptation, Variation, and Change
Social and cultural adaptation have become increasingly important for human groups
Spread of industrial production profoundly affected human life
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18. Relation between biology and culture
“In World history, those who have helped to build the same culture are not necessarily of one race, and those of the same race have not all participated in one culture.”
Anthropologist Ruth Benedict (1940)
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19. How do contemporary anthropologists deal with issues of human biological diversity and race?
Racial classification (now largely abandoned)
Current explanatory approach – focuses on specific differences
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20. Human biological diversity and the race concept
Racial classification – the attempt to assign humans to discrete categories based on common ancestry
Biological race – a geographically isolated subdivision of a species
Biological races do not exist among humans
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21. which traits are the most important?
Human Diversity
Human biological diversity and the race concept
Race supposedly reflects genetic ancestry, but racial classifications are usually based on phenotypical traits (e.g., skin color)
Phenotype refers to an organism’s evident traits, its “manifest biology”
*Racial classifications based on phenotype race the problem of deciding -
which traits are the most important?
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22. Race the Power of an Illusion
Complete the activity “Sorting People”. How did you do?
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23. Problems with phenotype-based racial classifications:
Impossible to determine which trait(s) should be considered primary
Racial classifications do not accurately represent the wide range of skin colors and other biological diversity among human populations
Particular traits (e.g., skin color, stature, skull form, facial features) do not necessarily co-occur
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24. Assumption that phenotypical traits reflect shared, unchanging genetic material is problematic
Phenotype doesn’t necessarily have genetic basis
Phenotypes in a population may change without any genetic change
environmental variables can greatly affect the growth and development of individuals
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25. So what does cause the difference? How do we explain variations?
Natural Selection
Process by which the forms most fit to survive and reproduce in a given environment due so at much greater numbers than others in the same environment.
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26. Example: Explaining Skin Color
Melanin – primary determinant of skin color; helps to screen out ultraviolent radiation from the sun, providing protection
Natural selection provides an explanation for the geographic distribution of different skin colors
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27. Culture and Biology Cultural forces shape human biology
Biocultural: inclusion and combination of cultural and biological perspectives to address a particular problem
Culture is a key environmental force that shapes how human bodies grow and develop
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28. Quiz: Chapter 1 MONDAY, January 30
Make sure you have done the reading and answered the questions.
Study the questions
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