© 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. 1 What Is Anthropology?

© 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. 2 Overview –How we originated. –How we have changed. –How we are changing still. Anthropology confronts basic questions of human existence and survival.

© 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. 3 Anthropology is holistic –Past, present, and future –Biology –Society –Language –Culture Interested in the whole of the human condition

© 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. 4 Four subfields Cultural anthropology – examines cultural diversity of the present and recent past. Archaeology – reconstructs behavior by studying material remains

© 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. 5 Biological anthropology – study of human fossils, genetics, and bodily growth and nonhuman primates Four subfields Linguistic anthropology – considers how speech varies with social factors and over time and space

© 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. 6 Human Adaptability Culture – traditions, customs and innovations that govern behavior and beliefs –Distinctly human –Transmitted through learning Society – organized life in groups

© 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. 7 Adaptation, Variation, and Change Adaptation – process by which organisms cope with environmental forces and stresses Humans adapt using biological and cultural means

© 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. 8 –Foraging sole basis of human subsistence for millions of years –Only took few thousand years for food production – cultivation of plants and domestication (stockbreeding) of animals Adaptation, Variation, and Change Rate of change accelerated during the past 10,000 years

© 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. 9 –More recently, spread of industrial production profoundly affected human life –Today’s global economy and communications link all contemporary people, directly or indirectly, in modern world system Adaptation, Variation, and Change First civilizations arose between 6000 and 5000 B.P. (Before the Present)

© 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. 10 Table 1.1 Forms of Cultural and Biological Adaptation (to High Altitude)

© 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. 11 General Anthropology –Sociocultural (cultural anthropology) –Archaeological –Biological –Linguistic Academic discipline of anthropology includes:

© 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. 12 Four-field Approach Developed in U.S. –Early American anthropologists studying native peoples of North America combined studies of customs, social life, language, and physical traits

© 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. 13 General Anthropology Sound conclusions about “human nature” cannot be derived from studying a single nation, society, or cultural tradition

© 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. 14 Cultural Forces Shape Human Biology –Culture key environmental force in determining how human bodies grow and develop –Cultural standards of attractiveness and propriety influence participation and achievement in sports Biocultural – inclusion and combination (to solve a common problem) of biological and cultural perspectives and approaches

© 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. 15 Cultural Anthropology –Ethnography – Fieldwork in a particular culture; provides account of that community, society, or culture –Ethnology – cross cultural comparison; the comparative study of ethnographic data, of society and of culture Describes, analyzes, interprets, and explains social and cultural similarities and differences

© 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. 16 Table 1.2 Ethnography and Ethnology – Two Dimensions of Cultural Anthropology

© 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. 17 Archeological Anthropology –Artifacts (e.g., potsherds, jewelry, and tools) –Garbage –Burials –Remains of structures Study of human behavior and cultural patterns and process through material remains

© 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. 18 Archeological Anthropology –Archaeological record provides unique opportunity to look at changes in social complexity over time Archaeologists use paleoecological studies to establish ecological and subsistence parameters within which given groups lived

© 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. 19 Archeological Anthropology –Historical archaeology combines archaeological data and textual data to reconstruct historically known groups –Rathje’s garbology shows what people report may contrast with real behavior Archaeologists also study the cultures of historical and living people

© 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. 20 Biological Anthropology Study of human biological variation in time and space Includes evolution, genetics, growth and development, and primatology Draws on biology, zoology, geology, anatomy, physiology, medicine, public health, osteology, and archaeology

© 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. 21 Biological Anthropology Special interests: –Paleoanthropology – human evolution as revealed by the fossil record –Human genetics –Human growth and development –Human biological plasticity– Body’s ability to change –Primatology – study of biology, evolution, behavior, and social life of primates

© 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. 22 –Historical linguists – reconstruct ancient languages and study linguistic variation through time –Sociolinguistics – investigates relationships between social and linguistic variation [anthropological linguistics:] to discover varied perceptions and patterns of thought and practice in different cultures Linguistic Anthropology Study of language in its social and cultural context across space and time

© 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. 23 Anthropology and Other Academic Fields –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 Anthropology is a science

© 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. 24 Anthropology and Other Academic Fields –Encompasses study of and cross-cultural comparison of languages, texts, philosophies, arts, music, performances, and other forms of creative expression –Form of knowledge is often intersubjective Anthropology is an art

© 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. 25 Anthropology and Other Academic Fields –Share an interest in social relations, organization, and behavior –Originally, sociologists focused on industrial West Anthropology and Psychology –Malinowski contended that cultural context molds individual psychology Cultural Anthropology and Sociology

© 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. 26 Science, Explanation, and Hypothesis Testing –Explains how and why the thing to be understood (the explicandum) is related to other things in some known way –Associations – observed relationships between two or more measured variables Scientists strive to improve understanding by testing hypotheses that suggest explanations of things and events

© 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. 27 Science, Explanation, and Hypothesis Testing –Explanatory framework, containing a series of statements, that helps us understand why (something exists or happens in a particular way) –Theories suggest patterns, connections, and relationships that may be confirmed by new research A theory is more general

© 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. 28 Science, Explanation, and Hypothesis Testing –Theories cannot be proved; we evaluate them through the method of falsification –Theories that are not disproved are accepted because the available evidence seems to support them –Associations usually state probabilistically with two or more variables that tend to be related in a predictable way, but there are exceptions