Anthropology

Introduction and Vocabulary

What is Anthropology?

Anthropology – is the social science that studies

the origin of man and development of culture.
Anthros- Human Logos- Study Of…

Culture is all that humans learn from the moment of

birth and most of their actions during the course of
a lifetime.
Do all anthropologists study the
same thing?
SocioCultural Anthropology
The social and cultural diversity of now and the
recent past. The rules that govern diverse
people’s lives.

Archaeology
Study of the customs/way of life of people no
longer living- How do they do this?

Anthropological Linguistics
Study history, structure, and function of
language. What do they do in the field?

Physical anthropology
Study our biological diversity and evolution. What would
they study?
More About The…
Physical Anthropologist
Concerned with our species,
homo sapiens, and its place in
evolutionary history
What they study is:
The evolution of our species
Fossil and skeletal evidence, thus
knowledge of biology, paleontology,
and zoology are very important to
their studies
They study our biological
diversity…our genetic code and
differences between individuals.
More About The…
SocioCultural Anthropologist
Studies humans in their
present form and the recent
past.
What they study is…
• Social, political, and economic
anthropology of a group.
• The Socio aspect looks at group
organization.
• The Cultural aspect looks at
beliefs, practices, and values of
different groups.
• Background in Sociology,
Political Science, and Economics
are important to this study.
Methods of Anthropological
Research
Field work- describes observable facts
found on sites, where first hand
observation is possible- Again… what
would Physical Anthropologists look
for?
Thus field work observes facts and
establishes connections among facts which
allows for making generalizations based on
evidence
Methods of Anthropological
Research
Participant Observation-When one lives
among a culture, tries to become one of
them- does not study the culture from
research or by doing surveys

Cross-Cultural Comparison- An
examination of the varied ways a certain
aspect of human life is treated in
different cultures
Why Study Anthropology??

To deepen your
understanding of
humans and their
accomplishments
over history
To better understand
human development
To better understand
about other cultures
Why is it important to
understand more about other
cultures?
Studying anthropology
helps to eliminate
racism, encourage
tolerance or
acceptance and
promote peaceful
solutions to problems