1. Anthropology: The Exploration of Human Diversity1
What Is Anthropology?
Anthropology: The Exploration of Human Diversity

2. Overview
Anthropology confronts basic questions of human existence and survival
How we originated
How we have changed
How we are changing still

3. Overview Anthropology is holistic
Interested in the whole of the human conditions
Past, present, and future
Biology
Society
Language
Culture

4. Overview Four subfields
Cultural anthropology—study of human society and culture; describes, analyzes, interprets, and explains social and cultural similarities and differences
Archaeology—reconstructs behavior by studying material remains

5. Overview
Biological anthropology—study human fossils, genetics, and bodily growth and nonhuman primates
Linguistic anthropology—descriptive, comparative, and historical study of language and of linguistic similarities and differences in time, space, and society; considers how speech varies with social factors and over time

6. Human Adaptability
Humans among the world’s most adaptable animals
Anthropology—study of human species and its immediate ancestors
Constantly compares customs of one society with others

7. Human Adaptability Anthropology Society—organized life in groups
Culture—traditions and customs that govern behavior and beliefs
Distinctly human feature
Transmitted through learning
Not biological, but ability to use culture rests in hominid biology

8. General Anthropology Academic discipline of anthropology includes:
Cultural anthropology
Archaeological anthropology
Biological or physical anthropology
Linguistic anthropology

9. General Anthropology Four-field approach: Developed in U.S.
Early American anthropologists studying native peoples of North America became interested in exploring origins and diversity of the groups
Subdisciplines share similar goal of exploring variation in time and space to improve understanding of basics of human biology, society, and culture
Subdisciplines influence each other

10. General Anthropology
Sound conclusions about “human nature” cannot be derived from studying a single nation, society, or cultural tradition

11. General Anthropology Cultural Forces Shape Human Biology
Culture key environmental force in determining how human bodies grow and develop
Biocultural—inclusion and combination (to solve a common problem) of biological and cultural perspectives and approaches
This is one of anthropology’s hallmarks

12. General Anthropology
Cultural standards of attractiveness and propriety influence participation and achievement in sports
Brazilian women avoid competitive swimming because of that sport’s effects on the body

13. The Subdisciplines of Anthropology
Cultural Anthropology—describes, analyzes, interprets, and explains social and cultural similarities and differences
Ethnography—Fieldwork in a particular culture; provides account of that community, society, or culture
Cultures not isolated from local, regional, national, and global systems of politics, economics, and information that expose villagers to external influences

14. The Subdisciplines of Anthropology
Ethnology—cross cultural comparison; the comparative study of ethnographic data, of society and of culture

15. The Subdisciplines of Anthropology
Ethnography and Ethnology—Two Dimensions of Cultural Anthropology
Insert Table 1.2

16. The Subdisciplines of Anthropology
Archaeological Anthropology—study of human behavior and cultural patterns and process through the culture’s material remains
Artifacts (e.g., potsherds, jewelry, and tools)
Garbage
Burials
Remains of structures

17. The Subdisciplines of Anthropology
Archaeological Anthropology
Archaeologists use paleoecological studies to establish ecological and subsistence parameters within which given groups lived
Archaeological record provides unique opportunity to look at changes in social complexity over thousands and tens of thousands of years

18. The Subdisciplines of Anthropology
Archaeologists also study the cultures of historical and living people
Historical archaeology combines archaeological data and textual data to reconstruct historically known groups
William Rathje’s “garbology” project in Tucson, Arizona

19. The Subdisciplines of Anthropology
Biological Anthropology—study of human biological variation in time and space
Includes evolution, genetics, growth and development, and primatology

20. The Subdisciplines of Anthropology
Special interests within biological anthropology:
human evolution as revealed by the fossil record
Paleoanthropology
Human genetics
Human growth and development
Human biological plasticity
Body’s ability to change as it copes with stresses such as heat, cold, and altitude
study of biology, evolution, behavior, and social life of primates
Primatology

21. The Subdisciplines of Anthropology
Biological anthropology draws on biology, zoology, geology, anatomy, physiology, medicine, public health, osteology, and archaeology

22. The Subdisciplines of Anthropology
Linguistic Anthropology—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 to discover varied perceptions and patterns of thought in different cultures

23. Applied Anthropology
Applied Anthropology—application of anthropological data, perspectives, theory, and methods to identify, assess, and solve contemporary social problems

24. Applied Anthropology
American Anthropological Association (AAA) recognizes two dimensions
Theoretical/academic anthropology— includes cultural, archaeological, biological, and linguistic anthropology
Directed at collecting data to test hypotheses and models created to advance anthropology

25. Applied Anthropology
Practicing or applied anthropology— application of anthropological data, perspectives, theory, and techniques to identify, assess, and solve contemporary social problems
Standard subdivisions include:
Medical anthropology
Environmental anthropology
Forensic anthropology
Development

26. Applied Anthropology
Applied anthropologists generally employed by international development agencies
World Bank
United States Agency for International Development (USAID)
World Health Organization (WHO)
United Nations

27. Applied Anthropology Applied Anthropologists:
Assess social and cultural dimensions of economic development
Development projects often fail when planners ignore cultural dimensions of development
Work with local communities to identify specific social conditions that influence the failure or success of a development project

28. Anthropology and Other Academic Fields
Anthropology links to interdisciplinary collaboration
Anthropology is a science
Systematic field of study or body of knowledge that aims, through experiment, observation, and deduction, to produce reliable explanations of phenomena, with reference to the material and physical world

29. Anthropology and Other Academic Fields
Anthropology also a humanity
Encompasses study of and cross-cultural comparison of languages, texts, philosophies, arts, music, performances, and other forms of creative expression

30. Anthropology and Other Academic Fields
Cultural Anthropology and Sociology
Sociologist traditionally used quantitative research, while cultural anthropological used qualitative methodologies
Anthropology and sociology converging

31. Anthropology and Other Academic Fields
Anthropology and Psychology
Statements about “human” psychology cannot be based solely on observations made in one society or in a single type of society
Cultural anthropology (psychological anthropology) studies cross-cultural variation in psychological traits
Anthropology helps us understand ourselves through its cross-cultural perspective