1. ANTHROPOLOGY: A DISCIPLINE OF INFINITE CURIOSITY ABOUT HUMAN BEINGS
Introduction
ANTHROPOLOGY: A DISCIPLINE OF INFINITE CURIOSITY ABOUT HUMAN BEINGS

2. THE DISCIPLINE THE SCOPE OF ANTHROPOLOGY THE HOLISTIC APPROACH
ANTHROPOLOGY & SCIENCE
THE ANTHROPOLOGICAL CURIOSITY

3. A sample of Questions that Anthropology ponders:
Why can human beings throw baseballs?
Why do we stand up on two fragile limbs when so many other animals sensibly move about on all four?
Why are we relatively hairless (and, thus, get sunburn)?
Why do we speak, form societies, fight wars?
Why do we think about our own impending deaths?
How long have human beings been around?
When did people first start farming, or forming states?

4. “First Contact” What types of questions would you ask?
How would you respond to these people?
What types of things would you look for while observing these people?
The anthropologist may also experience "culture shock”
a psychological reaction that ranges from mild to severe when we experience a different culture

5. SPECIFIC FIELDS OF STUDY
PHYSICAL ANTHROPOLOGY
ONE MAJOR FIELD
CULTURAL ANTHROPOLOGY
ARCHAEOLOGY
LINGUISTICS
ETHNOLOGY

6. PHYSICAL ANTHROPOLOGY
HUMAN PALEONTOLOGY or PALEOANTHROPOLOGY
HUMAN VARIATION
HUMAN GENETICS
POPULATION BIOLOGY
EPIDEMIOLOGY

7. CULTURAL ANTHROPOLOGY
ARCHAEOLOGY
PREHISTORY
HISTORICAL ARCHAEOLOGY
LINGUISTICS
HISTORICAL LINGUISTICS
STRUCTURAL LINGUISTICS
SOCIOLINGUISTICS
ETHNOLOGY
ETHNOGRAPHY

8. ETHNOLOGY
ETHNOGRAPHER
ETHNOHISTORIAN
CROSS-CULTURAL RESEARCHER

9. METHODS WITHIN-CULTURE COMPARISONS NONHISTORICAL CONTROLLED COMPARISON
CROSS-CULTURAL RESEARCH
HISTORICAL RESEARCH

10. APPLIED ANTHROPOLOGY ALL FOUR SUBDISCIPLINES REPRESENTED EXAMPLES
Utilize anthropological knowledge to achieve practical goals
EXAMPLES
Museum work
Forensics
Bilingual education
Community development

11. THE SCIENTIFIC METHOD provides orderly and supported explanations
a logical system used to evaluate data that are obtained by systematic observation
science theories are falsifiable
scientific explanations are testable, tentative, and subject to change
The scientific method rests on the faith that the universe possesses order and this order can be discerned and interpreted

12. THE SCIENTIFIC METHOD (cont.)
Two ways of generating testable propositions or what are called hypotheses:
inductive method
begins with specific observations from which you then draw conclusions or make generalizations
deductive method
begins with a generalization or theory and from it you predict specific observations, actions, or applications

13. SUMMARY
Eric Wolf has called anthropology "the most scientific of the humanities and the most humanist of the sciences."