1. What is Anthropology?
Unit 1

2. Human Diversity
Anthropologists study humans – wherever and whenever they find them
Rural Kenya
Turkish café
Mesopotamian tomb
North American shopping mall
Humans are some of the world’s most adaptable animals
Creativity, adaptability, and flexibility are basic human attributes
Human diversity is the subject matter of anthropology

3. Human Diversity
Anthropology: study of the human species and its immediate ancestors
It is a uniquely comparative and holistic science
Holism: refers to the study of the whole of the human condition: past, present, and future; biology, society, language, and culture

4. Human Diversity
True/False: Anthropologists study fossils and nonindustrial peoples
FALSE:
Examines all societies, ancient and modern, simple and complex
Constantly compares the customs of one society with others

5. Human Diversity Society – organized life in groups
Several animals have societies
Wolves, ants, baboons
Culture is distinctly human
Culture: traditions and customs, transmitted through learning, that form and guide the beliefs and behavior of people exposed to them

6. Human Diversity
Children learn culture through a process called enculturation
Culture includes customs and opinions, developed over the generations, about proper and improper behavior
How should we do things?
How do we make sense of the world?
How do we tell right from wrong?
What is right and wrong?
Gives consistency in behavior and thought of people in a society

7. Human Diversity Culture is transmitted through learning, not genetics
It does rest on certain feature of human biology
Ability to learn, think symbolically, use language, employ tools and other products to organize their lives and adapt

8. Human Diversity
Anthropology confronts and ponders major questions of human existence as it explores human biology and cultural diversity in time and space
We are still adapting and changing as a species, both biologically and culturally

9. Adaptation, Variation, and Change
Adaptation: process by which organisms cope with environmental forces, such as those posed by climate and terrain
Both biological and cultural

10. Adaptation, Variation and Change
How do humans adapt to high altitude and oxygen deprivation?
Cultural: technology such as pressurized airplane cabin with oxygen masks
Biological: genetic adaptation (over generations) – larger “barrel chests” of native highlanders
Biological: long-term physiological adaptation (during growth and development of the individual organism) – more efficient respiratory system to extra oxygen from “thin air”
Biological – short-term physiological adaptation (occurs when an organism enters a new environment) – increased heart rate, hyperventilation

11. Adaptation, Variation, and Change
Social and cultural means of adaptation have become more and more important
Rate of cultural adaptation has increased in past 10,000 years
For millions of years, hunting and gathering was basis of human survival
Only took few thousand years for food production to replace foraging
Food production: cultivation of plants and domestication of animals
I.E.: Farming/agriculture

12. Adaptation, Variation, and Change
Spread of industrial production has profoundly affected human life
Major innovations spread at the expense of earlier ones
Each economic revolution has social and cultural repercussions
Global economic links, larger systems (region, nation, world)

13. Adaptation, Variation, and Change
Globalization creates new challenge for anthropology
Cultures of world peoples need to constantly rediscovered as people reinvent them in changing historical circumstances” (Marcus and Fischer 1986, p. 24)

14. General Anthropology
Anthropology, also called general anthropology or “four field” anthropology contains four main subdisciplines or subfields
Sociocultural (also called cultural anthropology)
Archaeological
Biological
Linguistic

15. General Anthropology Why four subfields?
Early American anthropologists wanted to know more of the history and cultures of Native Americans
Brought together studies of customs, social life, language, and physical traits
Still pondering where Native Americans came from and their links between them and Asia
Interest between biology and culture

16. General Anthropology Why is it still united?
Each field considers variations in time and space
Each subdiscipline influences the others
Ex: Linguists may reconstruct ancient languages by studying modern ones
Cultural anthropologists and archaeological anthropologists can exchange information to piece together how ancient societies may have lived
Biological anthropologists look at evolutionary changes that may have caused origin or tool use or language
Human nature cannot be derived from studying a single nation, society, or cultural tradition

17. Cultural Forces Shape Human Biology
Biocultural: combining biological and cultural approaches to a given problem
Culture is key environmental force in determining how human bodies grow and develop
Promote certain activities and abilities while discouraging others
Set standards of physical well-being and attractiveness

18. Subdisciplines of Anthropology
Ethnography
Ethnology
Requires field work to collect data
Uses data collected by a series of researchers
Often descriptive
Usually synthetic
Group/community specific
Comparative/cross-cultural
Cultural anthropology: comparative, cross- cultural, study of human society and culture
Engage in two types of activities:
Ethnography (based on fieldwork): fieldwork in a particular cultural setting
Gathers data that they organize, describe, and interpret to build and present that account
Usually small communities
Ethnology (based on cross-cultural comparison)

19. Subdisciplines of Anthropology
Ethnology examines, interprets, analyzes, and compares the results of ethnography
Compare and contrast to make generalizations about society and culture
Attempt to identify and explain cultural differences and similarities, test hypotheses, and to build theory to enhance our understanding of how social and cultural systems work
Get data from ethnography and other subfields

20. Subdisciplines of Anthropology
Archaeological anthropology is the study of human behavior through material remains
Includes tools, weapons, camp site buildings, garbage, plant and animal remains
They analyze the data to answer questions about ancient economies and societies

21. Subdisciplines of Anthropology
Archaeologists spend much of their time studying pot shards, fragments of earthenware
Textiles and wood are not as durable
Ex: Groups with similar pots may be historically related in some way

22. Subdisciplines of Athropology
Many archaeologists examine paleoecology – looking at ecosystems of the past
Ecology is the study of interrelations among living things in an environment - ecosystems

23. Subdisciplines of Anthropology
Archaeologists infer cultural transformations from the ecological patterns
Example: observing changes in the size and type of sites and the distance between them
Reconstruct behavior patterns and lifestyles by excavating (digging through several levels)
Over time settlements may change in form as purpose

24. Subdisciplines of Anthropology
Archaeologists also study cultures of historical and living peoples
Sunken ships off the Florida coast
Looking at contemporary life by studying garbage (Garbology)

25. Subdisciplines of Anthropology
Biological or physical anthropology: study of human biological variation in time and space
Five special interests within it:
Human evolution as revealed by the fossil record (paleoanthropology)
Human genetics
Human growth and development
Human biological plasticity (ability to change as it copes with stresses such as heat, cold, etc)
Biology, evolution, behavior, and social life of monkeys, apes, and other nonhuman primates

26. Subdisciplines of Anthropology
Physical anthropology linked with zoology, biology, geology, anatomy, physiology, medicine, public health.
Osteology (study of bones) helps examine skills, teeth, etc to chart changes in anatomy over time
Paleoanthropologist is a sort of paleontologist (scientist who studies fossils) who studies fossil record of human evolution
Often collaborate with archaeologists

27. Subdisciplines of Anthropology
Different types of tools provide info on habits, customs, lifestyles of ancestral humans
Biological anthropology also investigates the influence of environment on the body as it grows and matures
Biological anthropology also includes primatology
Study biology, evolution, behavior and social life of primates – apes and monkeys
Primate behavior may shed light on early human behavior and human nature

28. Subdisciplines of Anthropologys
Linguistic anthropology: study of language and linguistic diversity in time, space and society
May never know when out ancestors acquired the ability to speak
Some make inferences about universal features of languages linked to uniformities in human brain
Others reconstruct ancient languages
Some study linguistic differences to discover perceptions and patterns of thought in different cultures

29. Subdisciplines of Anthropology
Historical linguists consider variations in time
Ex: changes in sounds, grammar, and vocabulary between Middle and modern English
Sociolinguists investigate relationships between social and linguistic variation
How do different speakers use a given language?
How do linguistic features correlate with social factors?

30. Middle English vs. Modern English
Introduction of the Canterbury Tales in Middle English
Middle English opening with modern English next to it:
prolog-para.html

31. Anthropology and Other Academic Fields
Anthropology uses holism and its unique blend of biological, social, cultural, linguistic, historical, and contemporary perspectives to study people
Anthropology is a science – a field of study that seeks reliable explanations, with reference to the material and physical world
Also has strong links to the humanities
Humanities include English, literature, classics, folklore, philosophies, and the arts

32. Cultural Anthropology and Sociology
Share an interest in social relations, organization, and behavior
Difference in kinds of societies each traditionally studied
Sociologists – industrial West
Anthropologists – nonindustrial
Each needed different forms of data collection and analysis

33. Cultural Anthropology and Sociology
Anthropology and sociology now starting to converge
Sociologists in more non-industrial countries and anthropologists in industrial nations

34. Anthropology and Psychology
Psychological anthropology studies cross- cultural variation in psychological traits
Societies install different values by training children differently
Adult personalities reflect a culture’s child- rearing practice

35. Applied Anthropology
Applied anthropology: using anthropology to solve contemporary problems
Public health, family planning, business, economic development, and cultural resource management
Look at things like:
Implications of disease and illness
Perceptions of good and bad health

36. Applied Anthropology Also called public anthropology
Cultural resource management
Contract archaeology
Public education
Historic preservation
Cultural resource management – deciding what needs saving when entire archaeological sites cannot be saved

37. The Scientific Method
Ethnology is the comparative science that attempts to enhance our understand of how social and cultural systems work
Theory – set of ideas formulated to explain something
Effective ones can be applied to multiple cases
Association – an observed relationship between two or more variables
Theories suggest of imply multiple associations and try to explain them
The truth of a scientific statement is confirmed by repeated observations

38. The Scientific Method
In social sciences, associations are usually stated in the form of probability than in absolute law
Theories suggest patterns, connections, and relationships that may be confirmed by new research
Have a research question
Why do some societies have long postpartum taboos?
Conduct a hypothesis
Delaying martial sex reduces infant mortality when diets are low in protein
Posit a mechanism
Babies get more protein when they nurse longer; nursing in not a reliable method of contraception
Get data to test your hypothesis
Use a (random) sample of cross-cultural data
Devise a way of measuring
Code societies when they have a postpartum taboo or one year or longer, 0 when they do not; 1 when diet is low protein, 0 when it is not
Analyze your data
Notice patterns in the data, use statistical methods to evaluate the strength of associations
Draw a conclusion
In most cases, the hypothesis is confirmed
Derive implications
Such taboos tend to disappear when diet gets better or new reproductive technology becomes available
Contribute to a larger theory
Cultural practice can have adaptive value because they can enhance the survival of offspring

39. The Scientific Method
In anthropology, it does not have to be a single research question
Often, the data collected enables them to pose and test a number of separate hypotheses about attitudes and behaviors