SOC 111 Introduction to Anthropology WHAT IS ANTHROPOLOGY?

What Is Anthropology? Human Diversity General Anthropology The Subdisciplines of Anthropology Anthropology and Other Academic Fields Applied Anthropology The Scientific Method

What Is Anthropology? What distinguishes anthropology from other fields that study human beings? How do anthropologists study human diversity in time and space? Why is anthropology both scientific and humanistic?

How does culture affect growth? What is proper behavior for boys and girls? What kind of work should men and women do? Where should people live? How should they spend their leisure time? What role should religion play? How should people relate to their family, friends and neighbors?

Genetic attributes are important in terms of growth and development, but human biology is plastic (malleable). Culture is an environmental force that affect our development as much as nutrition, climate and altitude. Culture also affects our emotional and cognitive growth and determine our personalities.

Anthropology is the social science that provides cross-cultural perspective. It aims to study not only our own kind but also others in order to grasp entire human behavior. One culture cannot tell us everything we ned to know about what it means to be “human”.

Culture is invisible It is assumed to be normal, we don’t realize it until it is placed in comparison to another culture. Remember the fish in water! Anthropology studies other places as well as other times. Exploration of human diversity in time and space.

What Is Anthropology? Anthropology: the study of the human species and its immediate ancestors Uniquely comparative and holistic: encompassing past, present, and future; looks at biology, society, language, and culture Cultures: traditions and customs, transmitted through learning, that form and guide the beliefs and behavior of the people exposed to them

Children learn culture through enculturation Children learn culture through enculturation. By growing up in a particular society. Cultural traditions include customs and opinions, developed over generations, about proper and improper behavior. Remember the questions we asked at the beginning!

Creativity, adaptability and flexibility are basic human attributes. Human diversity is the subject matter of anthropology. Anthropology requires a comparative examination of all societies, ancient and modern, simple and complex.

Adaptation, Variation, and Change Adaptation: the process by which organisms cope with environmental forces and stresses Humans adapt using biological and cultural means

Adaptation to high altitude Andes of Peru, Himalayas of Tibet and Nepal Genetic adaptation: larger chest and lungs Long-term physiological adaptation during body’s growth and development Immediate adaptation: increased breathing and heart rates

Cultural adaptation: using technology to balance air pressure; such as an airplane cabin equipped with oxygen masks. Humans devise diverse ways of coping with changing environments.

Recap 1.1

Adaptation, Variation, and Change Rate of change accelerated during past 10,000 years Foraging was the sole basis of human subsistence for millions of years It took only a few thousand years to develop food production: cultivation of plants and domestication (stockbreeding) of animals

The industrial revolution. Spread of industrial production has affected human life. Each economic revolution comes with social and cultural repercussions. Consider changing family forms. How is today’s family different from that a hundred years ago?

“Give Me a Hug” The world’s nations and cultures have strikingly different notions about displays of affection and personal space Such bodily movements illustrate culture Amy L. Best: The teenage embrace is more a reflection of the overall evolution of the American greeting

General Anthropology General anthropology: the academic discipline of anthropology, also known as “four-field” anthropology, includes: Sociocultural (cultural anthropology) Archaeological Biological Linguistic

General Anthropology Developed as scientific field in U.S. Early American anthropologists studying native peoples of North America combined studies of customs, social life, language, and physical traits in the 19th century

General Anthropology Subdisciplines explore variations in time and space Influence each other Sound conclusions about human nature cannot be derived from studying a single nation, society, or cultural tradition

Anthropology’s Four Fields Biological Anthropology Archaeology Cultural Anthropology Linguistic Anthropology Economic ant. Political ant. Medical ant. Psychological ant. Ethnobotany Development ant. Cultural change Feminist ant. Primatology Descriptive/ Structural Linguistics Paleoanthropology Historical Linguistics Prehistoric Archaeology Historic Archaeology Contemporary Human Variation Sociolinguistics Underwater Archaeology

Where the Subfields Come In: Disciplinary Holism Physical Anthropology: The comparative study of all aspects of human biology, fossil hominids, and contemporary human variation Linguistics: The comparative study of spoken language and its relationship to culture Cultural Anthropology: The comparative study of culture and of cultures Archaeology: The comparative study of past cultures from their material remains.

Tying the Four Fields Together: Culture Physical Anthropology: Our biological capacity for culture Linguistics: the communication base of culture Archeology: The reconstruction of cultures of the past from our trash and ruins Cultural Anthropology: Cultures of the recent past, present And of the future

Tying The Subfields to Culture: Physical Anthropology Our brain: Source of our language Source of our tool-making ability Our Lungs and Mouth: Our ability to speak Our Arms and Hands: Our ability to make and use tools Our Bipedal Skeleton: Our ability to stand, walk, and ability to do all of the above

Tying the Subfields to Culture: Linguistics We learn everything through language: Even the blind and deaf (Helen Keller and Ann Sullivan) We can think of things not tangible: math equations, things not present or nonexistent We can produce new words, from blip to iPod

Tying the Subfields to Culture: Archaeology Comparative study primarily of cultural remains of human societies Even stone tools are hard to identify (above) Human and prehuman physical remains are also important (Did Neanderthals mate with humans? (below)

Anthropology is Comparative It involves comparison Between diverse cultures That are still around today Of the recent past “Ethnographic present” Between reconstructed cultures Between related apes and humans (fossil and modern) What can we learn from comparison?

The Point of Comparison: Science All science involves comparison We have money and markets Tribesmen have done without money for millennia—and markets Yet reciprocity—exchange of goods and services—is everywhere

What Does Comparison Tell Us? Tribesmen usually can produce all they need We can get everything we need only by trade Trade means markets—and money Tribesmen do exchange goods—but they can survive without trade

Comparison: Anthropology Vs. Other Disciplines Economics: Focus is on industrial societies Sociology: Social relations in industrial societies Psychology: Study of hang-ups in industrial societies Anthropology provides data on all these aspects Across all cultures around the world.

Explaining Cultures Popular Approaches Religious Beliefs Ethnocentrism Culture Bound Approaches Scientific Approaches Humanistic Approaches

Cultural Forces Shape Human Biology Biocultural: inclusion and combination of biological and cultural perspectives and approaches to solve a particular issue or problem Culture: a key environmental force in determining how human bodies grow and develop Cultural standards of attractiveness and propriety influence participation and achievement in sports

Football Who plays football? How does it alter human physiology? Who goes to football games? Swimming in Brazil

Cultural Anthropology Describes, analyzes, interprets, and explains social and cultural similarities and differences Ethnography: fieldwork in a particular culture; provides an account of that community, society, or culture Ethnology: comparative, cross- cultural study of ethnographic data, society and culture

Recap 1.2: Ethnography and Ethnology—Two Dimensions of Cultural Anthropology

Archaeological Anthropology Archaeological anthropology: the study of human behavior and cultural patterns and processes through the culture’s material remains Artifacts (potsherds, jewelry, tools) Garbage Burials Remains of structures

Archaeological Anthropology Many archaeologists examine paleoecology Ecology: the study of interrelations among living things in an environment Possible to infer cultural transformations Reconstruct behavior patterns and lifestyles of the past

Archaeological Anthropology Archaeologists also study the cultures of historical and living people Historical archaeology combines archaeological data with textual data to reconstruct historically known groups Rathje’s “garbology” shows that what people report may contrast with their real behavior

Biological, or Physical, Anthropology Biological anthropology: the study of human biological variation in space

Biological Anthropology Human evolution (paleoanthropology) Human genetics Human growth and development Human biological plasticity Biology, evolution, behavior, and social life of monkeys, apes, and other nonhuman primates (primatology)

Linguistic Anthropology Linguistic anthropology: the study of language in its social and cultural context across space and time Historical linguists reconstruct ancient languages and study linguistic variation through time Sociolinguistics: investigates relationships between social and linguistic variation

Why Cultural Anthropology? Tylor’s Answer E.B. Tylor (1871) wrote that: “Knowledge from remote past Helps us to forecast the future and to Fulfill our duty to leave the world better than we found it” Today we know more than Tylor and his colleagues did Can ask more specific research questions than they could Provide some insight about the trajectory of our own society—well, we would hope so anyway!

Why Cultural Anthropology? To beat Ethnocentrism We see other cultures through Our own 3-D cultural lenses Everyone judges other cultures in terms of their own This is ethnocentrism Anthropologists learn to judge a culture By that culture’s standards

Why Cultural Anthropology: To apply the ethnographic record To see what has been done about problems besetting all cultures To see if addressing problems in the past can be applied to today’s cultures To see what will happen if we continue what we are doing now To see what could be done to improve society (Ignoring the homeless as in this cartoon is not one such solution)

Components of Culture Subsistence: How People Make a Living Marriage, Family, and Kinship Economic Anthropology Political and Legal Anthropology Psychological Anthropology Anthropology of the Supernatural Globalization and Culture Change

We humans meet basic needs in different ways Ways of getting food, shelter, clothing Ways of controlling ourselves (and others) Ways of explaining the universe (including what happens after death) Different cultures have different answers Anthropological Job Description: Recording and explaining these differences.

The Scope of Anthropology Anthropology, a discipline of infinite curiosity about human beings. Broader in scope than other disciplines Every part of the world containing human populations is of interest to anthropological study.

The Relevance of Anthropology In order to understand humans, it is essential that we study humans in all times and places. Anthropological studies can illustrate why other people are the way they are, both culturally and physically.

Anthropology and Other Academic Fields Anthropology is a science: a field of study that seeks reliable explanations with reference to the material and physical world Unique blend of biological, social, cultural, linguistic, historical, and contemporary perspectives Also linked to humanities

Anthropology and Other Academic Fields Cultural Anthropology and Sociology Share an interest in social relations, organization, and behavior Sociologists focused on industrial West, anthropologists on nonindustrial societies Different methods of data collection and analysis emerged In many areas and on many topics, anthropology and sociology are converging

Anthropology and Other Academic Fields Anthropology and Psychology Psychological anthropology studies cross-cultural variations in psychological traits Malinowski’s study of Trobriand Islanders of the South Pacific

Figure 1.1: The Location of Trobriand Islands 53

Anthropology and Other Academic Fields Applied anthropology: application of anthropological data, perspectives, theory, and methods to identify, assess, and solve contemporary social problems Usually called public archaeology

Applied Anthropology Includes cultural resource management, contract archaeology, public educational programs, and historic preservation Cultural resource management (CRM): decide what needs saving, and preserve significant information about the past when sites cannot be saved

Theories, Associations, and Explanations Theory: a set of ideas formulated to explain something Association: an observed relationship between two or more measured variables Hypotheses: suggested but as yet unverified explanations In social sciences, associations are usually stated in the form of probability

The Scientific Method In social sciences, associations are usually stated in form of probability Theories suggest patterns, connections, and relationships that may be confirmed by new research

When Multiple Variables Predict How has variable exposure to television affected Brazilians? Current viewing level and length of home TV exposure Strong correlation between liberal social views and current viewing hours Stronger correlation between years of home viewing by individuals and liberal social views

Recap 1.3: Steps in the Scientific Method