Anthropology

ANTHROPOLOGY 

  • The study of people- their origins, their development and Contemporary variations, wherever and whenever they. have been found on the face of the earth.

  • It promotes a holistic study of humans. Derived from two Greek words

a. antropos (human)

b. logos (study)

 

SUBDISCIPLINES OF ANTHROPOLOGY

ARCHAEOLOGY

  • examines the remains of ancient and historical human populations to promote an understanding of how humans have adapted to their environment. and developed.

CULTURAL ANTHROPOLOGY

  • promotes the study of a society's culture through their belief systems, practices, and possessions.

LINGUISTIC ANTHROPOLOGY

  • examines the language relation to their culture.

PHYSICAL ANTHROPOLOGY

  • looks into the biological development of humans and their contemporary variation.

APPLIED ANTHROPOLOGY

  • attempts to solve contemporary problems through the application of theories and approaches of the discipline.

 

Anthropologists - need to establish rapport with their host societies before they can extract the life stories of people.

establish raport - this is important as people would not usually discusspersonal matters to strangers.

 

KEY INFORMANTS

  • are individuals in a society who have significant. knowledge on the topic being studied by the anthropologist.

apart from interview, anthropologists also use the participant- observation method.

- This method entails the participation of the researcher on the daily practices and vituace of the group being studied.

 

CULTURE

  • the customary beliefs, social forme, and material traits of a racial, religious or social group.

  • Culture is everything that a person learns as a member of society.

 

Characteristic Of Culture

CHARACTER IS EVERYTHING

  • it is what a person have, does, and thinks as part

of society.

*MATERIAL CULTURE

  • includes all the tangible and visible parts of culture, which include clothes, food, and even buildings.

*NONMATERIAL CULTURE

  • includes all the intangible parts of culture, which consist of values, ideas, and knowledge.

CULTURE IS LEARNED

  • Culture is a set of beliefs, attitudes, and practices that an individual learns through his/her family, school, church, and other social institutions.

ENCULTURATION

  • the process of learning your own culture.

ACCULTURATION

  • accommodating desirable traits from other culture.

DECULTURATION

  • the culture has been lost and even the cultural trait itself is in the process of being forgotten.

CULTURE IS SHARED

  • The act of behaviors, attitude, and beliefs that a person possess and collection of values and ideas that is communally owned and practiced by members of society.

Culture affects Biology 

  • humans are born into cultures that have values on beauty and body. As such, they alter their bodies to fit into the physiological norms that are dictated by culture.

Ex. Lip plate in Africa & Lotus feet in China

Culture is Adaptive 

  • is a tool for survival that humans use in response to the pressures of their environment.

Culture is Maladaptive 

  • Culture can cause problems arise for the people who subscribe to it.

  • These problems arise when the environment has changed, and culture has remained the same.

Culture Changes 

  • The final characteristic of culture is that it is never static.

  • This dynamism of culture is due to the changing needs of humans as they interpret and survive in their environment.