Anthropology

cultural anthropology, a major division of Definition and scope Etymologically, anthropology is the Anthropology, which is concerned with the study of human differences, was born after the Age of Discovery had opened up societies that had remained outside the technological civilization of the modern West. In fact, the field of research was at first restricted to those societies that had been given one unsatisfactory label after another: “savage,” “primitive,” “tribal,” “traditional,” or even “preliterate,” “prehistorical,” and so on. What such societies had in common, above all, was being the most “different” or the most foreign to the anthropologist; and in the early phases of anthropology, the anthropologists were always European or North American. The distance between the researcher and the object of his study has been a characteristic of anthropological research; it has been said of the anthropologist that he was the “astronomer of the sciences of man.” Anthropologists today study more than just primitive societies. Their research extends not only to village What has just been said refers especially to the branch of anthropology concerned with the cultural characteristics of man. Anthropology has, in fact, gradually divided itself into two major spheres: the study of man’s biological characteristics and the study of his cultural characteristics. The reasons for this split are manifold, one being the rejection of the initial mistakes regarding correlations between race ...

Anthropology takes a broad approach to understanding the many different aspects of the human experience. Some anthropologists consider what makes up our biological bodies and genetics, as well as our bones, diet, and health. Others look to the past to see how human groups lived hundreds or thousands of years ago and what was important to them. Around the world, they observe communities as they exist today, to understand the practices of different groups of people from an insider’s perspective. And they study how people use language, make meaning, and organize social action in all social groups and contexts. In the community of anthropologists in the United States, these four fields—human biology, archaeology, cultural anthropology, and linguistics—are understood to be the pillars on which the whole discipline rests. Any individual anthropologist will probably specialize in one or two of these areas but have general familiarity with them all. We understand these varied approaches to complement one another and give a well-rounded picture not only of what we all share as humans, but also of our rich diversity across time, space, and social settings. For example, everyone needs to eat, but people eat different foods and get food in different ways, so anthropologists look at how different groups of people get food, prepare it, and share it. They look at the meaning of different food traditions, such as what makes a dish appropriate for a special occasion. They focus on the inte...

Anthropology is the study of the origin and development of human societies and cultures. Culture is the learned behavior of people, including their languages, belief systems, social structures, institutions, and material goods. Anthropologists study the characteristics of past and present human communities through a variety of techniques. In doing so, they investigate and describe how different peoples of our world lived throughout history. Anthropologists aim to study and present their human subjects in a clear and un biased way. They attempt to achieve this by observing subjects in their local environment. Anthropologists then describe interactions and customs, a process known as ethnography. By participating in the everyday life of their subjects, anthropologists can better understand and explain the purpose of local institutions, culture, and practices. This process is known as participant-observation. As anthropologists study societies and cultures different from their own, they must evaluate their interpretations to make sure they aren’t biased. This bias is known as ethnocentrism, or the habit of viewing all groups as inferior to another, usually their own, cultural group. Taken as a whole, these steps enable anthropologists to describe people through the people's own terms. Subdisciplines of Anthropology Anthropology’s diverse topics of study are generally categorized in four subdisciplines. A subdiscipline is a specialized field of study within a broader subject o...

Anthropology is the systematic study of humanity, with the goal of understanding our evolutionary origins, our distinctiveness as a species, and the great diversity in our forms of social existence across the world and through time. The focus of Anthropology is on understanding both our shared humanity and diversity, and engaging with diverse ways of being in the world. Anthropology is divided into three subfields: sociocultural, biological, and archaeology. Sociocultural anthropology Sociocultural anthropologists interpret the content of particular cultures, explain variation among cultures, and study processes of cultural change and social transformation. UC Davis sociocultural anthropologists conduct research on most areas of the world, focusing on topics that include: human ecology; gender relations; culture and ideology; demography and family systems; race, class and gender inequality; resistance movements; colonialism, neocolonialism, and development; and cultural politics in the West. Biological anthropology Biological anthropologists study a variety of aspects of human evolutionary biology. Some examine fossils and apply their observations to understanding human evolution; others compare morphological, biochemical genetic, and physiological adaptations of living humans to their environments; still others observe behavior of human and nonhuman primates (monkeys and apes) to understand the roots of human behavior. Archaeology Archaeologists study the material remains...

The Origin of Anthropology The word anthropology dates back to the late 16th century, but it was not until the 19th century that it was applied to the academic discipline that now bears its name. In the United States, this field of study is typically divided into four distinct branches: physical (or biological) anthropology, archaeology, cultural (or social) anthropology, and linguistic anthropology. Anthropology is from the New Latin word anthropologia (“the study of humanity”) and shares its ultimate root in Greek, anthrōpos (“human being”), with a number of other words in English, such as Recent Examples on the Web As an anthropology major at Yale, Hocker has traveled and studied in various countries. — Diane Herbst, Peoplemag, 23 Feb. 2023 According to Takeshi Inomata, a professor of anthropology at the University of Arizona, society was already struggling as a result of social problems, warfare and administrative issues. — Sara Novak, Discover Magazine, 6 Sep. 2022 That may represent the future, but the past is just a short walk across campus in the stacks of the anthropology library. — Tim Arango, BostonGlobe.com, 2 May 2023 Youngstown police started to work on identifying the remains, and took the bones to the anthropology department of Youngstown State University, Simon said. — Cara Tabachnick, CBS News, 28 Feb. 2023 My mom and her work in anthropology and archeology [were a big motivator]. — Leah Campano, Seventeen, 27 Jan. 2023 Arewa, who is also an anthropology ...

Attempt to define the scope of the humanities from the dawn of humankind to the Golden Gate Bridge anthropology, “the Homo sapiens to the features of society and see below). Archaeology ( see below), as the method of investigation of prehistoric see Overview Throughout its existence as an academic discipline, anthropology has been located at the intersection of natural science and Homo sapiens and the evolution of the capacity for culture that distinguishes humans from all other species are indistinguishable from one another. While the evolution of the human species is a In the middle of the 20th century, the distinct fields of research that separated anthropologists into specialties were (1) Homo sapiens from other species, (2) archaeology, based on the physical remnants of past cultures and former conditions of contemporary cultures, usually found buried in the earth, (3) linguistic anthropology, emphasizing the unique human capacity to communicate through The concept of culture as the entire way of life or system of meaning for a human Anthropology in 1950 was—for historical and economic reasons—instituted as a discipline mainly found in western Europe and