WHAT IS ANTHROPOLOGY?

ANTHROPOLOGY
• The term originates from two words in Greek:

• (1) anthropos meaning “man” as in “human

being”

• (2) logos meaning “study”.

 Consequently we can determine that
anthropology can be defined as: “the study
of human beings”.

Yet many other humanities, sciences

and social sciences could also be defined as
“the study of human beings” since the
definition itself is so broad.
WHAT THEN IS UNIQUE OR
CHARACTERISTIC OF
ANTHROPOLOGY?
(a). anthropology is transcultural;
looks all human groups, large and
small; distant and near.
(b). anthropology spans all of
human history, the ancient and
the modern. We must know past
to understand present.
(c). anthropology is holistic; seeks to
demonstrate how aspects of cultures are
linked, how they affect one another;
seeks to understand all aspects of human
behavior. It is a multi-faceted approach to
the study of human behavior.
Anthropology seeks to find the
generalities about human life
while also explaining the
differences. To do this the
examples must include a
transcultural and historical
perspective.
Anthropology seeks to understand
and explain why people do the
things they do and say the things
they say. A goal is create better
understanding among people.
In sum, we as anthropologists
often say that “anthropology is
the most humane of the
sciences and the most scientific
of the humanities”. Thus we
draw data from all kinds of
sources.
WHAT ARE the SUB-FIELDS of
ANTHROPOLOGY as a SOCIAL
SCIENCE?
THE TWO MAIN SUB-FIELD DIVISIONS
WITHIN ANTHROPOLOGY ARE:

• (1) biological anthropology

• (2) cultural anthropology.

In this course we will be

focusing on cultural
anthropology.
Biological anthropology seeks to
understand human behavior
from a biological base especially
focusing upon human
evolutionary history and
biological variation among
human populations.
Some examples of biological
anthropology are paleontology;
primatology; the study of human
variation…
Cultural anthropology seeks
to understand universals and
variations in human cultures
both past and present.
Archaeology seeks to
understand human history
through the study (primarily) of
materials remains. Sometimes
the work of archaeologists
overlaps with the work of
historians in a specialization,
historical archaeology.
Linguistics seeks to understand
human language, written and non-
written, spoken and non-verbal. The
study of how languages change over
time is termed historical linguistics.
The study of how language is used in
social contexts is termed socio-
linguistics.
Ethnology seeks to understand
the patterns of human thought
and behavior over time. A
holistic, detailed description of a
culture is termed an
ethnography.
Underscoring all of the sub-fields
in both biological and cultural
anthropology is Practicing or
Applied anthropology, which
seek to apply anthropological
knowledge to the solution of
human problems. All of the sub-
fields in anthropology have an
applied, practicing component.
FURTHER COMMON DIVISIONS WITHIN
ANTHROPOLOGY INCLUDE:

• (1) area specializations (SE Asia,

Europe, Latin American, etc.; areas
which share some cultural-historical
characteristics )
• (2) topic specializations (medical,
ecological, gender, etc.; themes
upon which to focus within a holistic
and deeply contextual framework of
a culture)