The Scope of Anthropology
The Scope of Anthropology, Part 1
Through what lenses do Anthropologists Gain a Comprehensive View of Human Cultures?
Four-Field Approach: Subfields under the study of Anthropology
Cultural Anthropology (class focus)
Archaeology
Linguistic Anthropology
Biological Anthropology
Applied Anthropology
Draws on information provided by the other subspecialties
Applied onto real word problems
CULTURAL ANTHROPOLOGY – the study of living human culture
ETHNOGRAPHY – the recording and analysis of a culture
You can write it and do it while spending time living in a certain culture
A volume based on what an anthropologist did in a certain community
FIELDWORK – the process of collecting information about a culture
Complex process, going to new communities and adjust to parts of that culture
PARTICIPANT OBSERVATION – to understand another culture, we must not simply look at it from a distance but live among it and partake in the activities of daily life (#1 way to collect information on that culture)
This is how anthropologists learn the most information about other cultures
Collecting information can happen through many ways:
Interviewing: one-on-one meeting with a person from that culture and asking them a series of questions
Focus groups: doing an interview with multiple people at once
Genealogies: “tell me about your family, kinship practices, generations”
Life histories: focusing on one person in particular
Case studies, surveys, questionnaires
e.g. Buchman and Gilmore as Illustration
Buchman went to Egypt and learned Arabic, went on to translate many books, had a laptop delivered and pulled out little Arabis Script stickers, so he could transcribe into Arabic out of English and vice versa
He went to conduct fieldwork in Yemen to know how religion is passed down from elder men in the community down to the younger boys
Gilmore was interested in how manhood was made, traveled to Spain and conducted fieldwork among olive farmers, he worked on the olive farm and built relationships with the farmers himself
Anthropologists put themselves in other people’s shoes and try to build connections to get to know the culture
Gender can make a difference in communicating the truth about culture (there may be segregated societies based on sex)
Taking part in a culture creates a better understanding of it and happens organically
Anthropologists may continue good relationships and bonds for years after their fieldwork
ARCHAEOLOGY – the study of past cultures
Examine material remains of past cultures
The stuff that people leave behind, the idea is if we can study those objects, we can decipher who they were
EXCAVATE (dig) below the surface of the earth to try an uncover how cultures were in the past
People of past cultures may not be alive anymore, this way we can analyze how they lived based on those objects
FOSSILS AND ARTIFACTS—the past is tangible as reflected through physical remains
Reconstruct cultures
Study the process of cultural change
No culture always remains the same, we are continually changing
PREHISTORIC ARCHEOLOGY – studies physical remains and artifacts to reconstruct human behavior prior to the existence of written records
HISTORIC ARCHAEOLOGY – explores the more recent past, studying both oral and written records along with physical remains and artifacts
Indirectly, we learn about ourselves today, here and now
We can compare to see what has changed today and who we were 100, 200, etc. Years ago
Alexa Smith
“Ancient grains revealed roots of early social inequality” (article)
Northern Syria (Iraq)
Plant remains can explain how elite cultures changed farming practices and changed traditional
LINGUISTIC ANTHROPOLOGY – the study of human language
How we communicate
Written and unwritten, ancient and modern
Language sets us apart from other primates because it makes us “human”
Traces history of language
Uses of languages over time
Examines how language influences, and is influences by, other aspects of human life
Examines how languages evolve or change through time
Examines how language shapes cultural perceptions
Styles of speech
Code-switching: changing the way of talking, based on environment
Technology
Quiz Discussion: “Body Ritual among the Nacirema” by Horace Miner (1956)
Describing American culture without context
Authors must be mindful about the way they describe cultures because it can be misleading and imply certain things
Miner’s descriptions of the Nacirema convey a classic anthropological goal
To “make the strange seem familiar and the familiar seem strange”
Examples like this help develop an anthropological perspective that avoids the tendencies of ethnocentrism
Context matters; words matter
The Scope of Anthropology, Part 2
Linguistic Anthropology continued...
SUBDIVISIONS
Historical Linguists: study how a language changes as it moves through time and across different cultures
Sociolinguists: study how variation in language use relates to differences in gender, race, class, or ethnicity
How is language impacting these other aspects of culture?
Descriptive Linguists: recording different languages to preserve languages in a rapidly homogenizing and global world
There are many languages that have disappeared and forgotten
Today, many cultures have only a handful of people left that speak that language
BIOLOGICAL/PHYSICAL ANTHROPOLOGY – the study of human origins and biological diversity
Another way we can learn about cultures around the world
Focus on the biological (versus cultural) aspects of being human
A snapshot of our species around the world
Often concerned with the evolution of homo sapiens and adaptation to different environments
SUBDISCIPLINES
PRIMATOLOGY – the study of living, nonhuman primates and primate fossils to better understand human biology, evolution, and social life
She talked about her experience learning about biological anthropology in college
Nonhuman primates have interesting culture among themselves
PALEOANTHROPOLOGY – tracing the history of human evolution by reconstructing the human fossil record
Trying to learn about how we were in the past and seeing how we evolved through time
FORENSIC ANTHROPOLOGY – identifies victims of murder and accidents (past and present), established identity of criminals, determines cause of death
Her colleague studied a site where buried bodies were found from long ago
Forensic Anthropologists can uncover what has happened in this kind of scenario
being sent to places of genocide to investigate what happened to those bodies
APPLIED ANTHROPOLOGY – applies the findings of other sub-disciplines to solve practical problems affecting:
Education
Security
Health
Prosperity of humans in many different settings
Practitioners are often employed by government agencies or private organizations
SUB-SPECIALTIES
MEDICAL ANTHROPOLOGY – health, nutrition, social environment, and cultural beliefs
DEVELOPMENT ANTHROPOLOGY – helps agencies adapt projects to community needs
Looking at communities of people
EDUCATIONAL ANTHROPOLOGY – deals with issues of learning and teaching
CORPORATE ANTHROPOLOGY – advising executive and staff on intercultural communication for business overseas
This role would aid in the communication and understanding of other cultures among the corporate setting
Give people the tools and knowledge needed to understand those cultures
The Scope of Anthropology
The Scope of Anthropology, Part 1
Through what lenses do Anthropologists Gain a Comprehensive View of Human Cultures?
Four-Field Approach: Subfields under the study of Anthropology
Cultural Anthropology (class focus)
Archaeology
Linguistic Anthropology
Biological Anthropology
Applied Anthropology
Draws on information provided by the other subspecialties
Applied onto real word problems
CULTURAL ANTHROPOLOGY – the study of living human culture
ETHNOGRAPHY – the recording and analysis of a culture
You can write it and do it while spending time living in a certain culture
A volume based on what an anthropologist did in a certain community
FIELDWORK – the process of collecting information about a culture
Complex process, going to new communities and adjust to parts of that culture
PARTICIPANT OBSERVATION – to understand another culture, we must not simply look at it from a distance but live among it and partake in the activities of daily life (#1 way to collect information on that culture)
This is how anthropologists learn the most information about other cultures
Collecting information can happen through many ways:
Interviewing: one-on-one meeting with a person from that culture and asking them a series of questions
Focus groups: doing an interview with multiple people at once
Genealogies: “tell me about your family, kinship practices, generations”
Life histories: focusing on one person in particular
Case studies, surveys, questionnaires
e.g. Buchman and Gilmore as Illustration
Buchman went to Egypt and learned Arabic, went on to translate many books, had a laptop delivered and pulled out little Arabis Script stickers, so he could transcribe into Arabic out of English and vice versa
He went to conduct fieldwork in Yemen to know how religion is passed down from elder men in the community down to the younger boys
Gilmore was interested in how manhood was made, traveled to Spain and conducted fieldwork among olive farmers, he worked on the olive farm and built relationships with the farmers himself
Anthropologists put themselves in other people’s shoes and try to build connections to get to know the culture
Gender can make a difference in communicating the truth about culture (there may be segregated societies based on sex)
Taking part in a culture creates a better understanding of it and happens organically
Anthropologists may continue good relationships and bonds for years after their fieldwork
ARCHAEOLOGY – the study of past cultures
Examine material remains of past cultures
The stuff that people leave behind, the idea is if we can study those objects, we can decipher who they were
EXCAVATE (dig) below the surface of the earth to try an uncover how cultures were in the past
People of past cultures may not be alive anymore, this way we can analyze how they lived based on those objects
FOSSILS AND ARTIFACTS—the past is tangible as reflected through physical remains
Reconstruct cultures
Study the process of cultural change
No culture always remains the same, we are continually changing
PREHISTORIC ARCHEOLOGY – studies physical remains and artifacts to reconstruct human behavior prior to the existence of written records
HISTORIC ARCHAEOLOGY – explores the more recent past, studying both oral and written records along with physical remains and artifacts
Indirectly, we learn about ourselves today, here and now
We can compare to see what has changed today and who we were 100, 200, etc. Years ago
Alexa Smith
“Ancient grains revealed roots of early social inequality” (article)
Northern Syria (Iraq)
Plant remains can explain how elite cultures changed farming practices and changed traditional
LINGUISTIC ANTHROPOLOGY – the study of human language
How we communicate
Written and unwritten, ancient and modern
Language sets us apart from other primates because it makes us “human”
Traces history of language
Uses of languages over time
Examines how language influences, and is influences by, other aspects of human life
Examines how languages evolve or change through time
Examines how language shapes cultural perceptions
Styles of speech
Code-switching: changing the way of talking, based on environment
Technology
Quiz Discussion: “Body Ritual among the Nacirema” by Horace Miner (1956)
Describing American culture without context
Authors must be mindful about the way they describe cultures because it can be misleading and imply certain things
Miner’s descriptions of the Nacirema convey a classic anthropological goal
To “make the strange seem familiar and the familiar seem strange”
Examples like this help develop an anthropological perspective that avoids the tendencies of ethnocentrism
Context matters; words matter
The Scope of Anthropology, Part 2
Linguistic Anthropology continued...
SUBDIVISIONS
Historical Linguists: study how a language changes as it moves through time and across different cultures
Sociolinguists: study how variation in language use relates to differences in gender, race, class, or ethnicity
How is language impacting these other aspects of culture?
Descriptive Linguists: recording different languages to preserve languages in a rapidly homogenizing and global world
There are many languages that have disappeared and forgotten
Today, many cultures have only a handful of people left that speak that language
BIOLOGICAL/PHYSICAL ANTHROPOLOGY – the study of human origins and biological diversity
Another way we can learn about cultures around the world
Focus on the biological (versus cultural) aspects of being human
A snapshot of our species around the world
Often concerned with the evolution of homo sapiens and adaptation to different environments
SUBDISCIPLINES
PRIMATOLOGY – the study of living, nonhuman primates and primate fossils to better understand human biology, evolution, and social life
She talked about her experience learning about biological anthropology in college
Nonhuman primates have interesting culture among themselves
PALEOANTHROPOLOGY – tracing the history of human evolution by reconstructing the human fossil record
Trying to learn about how we were in the past and seeing how we evolved through time
FORENSIC ANTHROPOLOGY – identifies victims of murder and accidents (past and present), established identity of criminals, determines cause of death
Her colleague studied a site where buried bodies were found from long ago
Forensic Anthropologists can uncover what has happened in this kind of scenario
being sent to places of genocide to investigate what happened to those bodies
APPLIED ANTHROPOLOGY – applies the findings of other sub-disciplines to solve practical problems affecting:
Education
Security
Health
Prosperity of humans in many different settings
Practitioners are often employed by government agencies or private organizations
SUB-SPECIALTIES
MEDICAL ANTHROPOLOGY – health, nutrition, social environment, and cultural beliefs
DEVELOPMENT ANTHROPOLOGY – helps agencies adapt projects to community needs
Looking at communities of people
EDUCATIONAL ANTHROPOLOGY – deals with issues of learning and teaching
CORPORATE ANTHROPOLOGY – advising executive and staff on intercultural communication for business overseas
This role would aid in the communication and understanding of other cultures among the corporate setting
Give people the tools and knowledge needed to understand those cultures
