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

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

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?

“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

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

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

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

ETHNOLOGY ETHNOGRAPHER ETHNOHISTORIAN CROSS-CULTURAL RESEARCHER

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

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

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

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

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