Anthropology

The term was coined by 16th century philosophy teachers in German universities.

Anthropology
Georges Buffon (1707-1788)
Histoire Naturelle (Natural History) o humans as a zoological species.
o

Anthropology
Physical Anthropology
developed by Blumenbach, Johann Friedrich (1752-1840) o comparative anatomy in the study of human history o divided humanity into five families or races
o

Physical Anthropology
Biological aspects Racial differences Study fossil remains Observe other primates

Sub Areas of Physical Anthropology

Comparative anatomy Evolution Genetics

Early History of Physical Anthropology (1)

19th century interest in the origin of humankind (as a way to explain the contemporary human condition)
Voices of Significant Racists

Early History of Physical Anthropology (2)

Assertion of a great chain of being in which all species were arranged in a hierarchical order

Early History of Physical Anthropology (3)

Methods included:
Comparative anatomy Measuring brain size Cranial capacity; arm and leg length; and height o Color of skin, and personality traits to categorize animals and races
o o o

Early History of Physical Anthropology (4)

Charles Darwin
Origin of species by means of natural selection in 1859 o Evolution asserts
o

natural selection (nature selects those forms that are better adapted to a particular geographic zone and way of life)

Early History of Physical Anthropology (5)

Gregor Mendel
Austrian monk formulates laws of heredity in 1865 o laying the foundation for the science of genetics
o o

Modern History of Physical Anthropology (1)

Shift in thought accompanies the beginning of the 20th century with the rediscovery of genetic principles by European botanists.

Modern History of Physical Anthropology (2)

Karl Landsteiner discovers blood types: O, A, B, and AB ushering in blood type comparisons between races.

Modern History of Physical Anthropology (3)

Study of inherited traits essential to:
o o

understanding human variations differences between races.

Dating Methods for Physical Anthropologists

Relative
Shows order in which events occurred-not exact date

Absolute
o

fair degree of precision

o o o o

Layering Fluorine Potassium-argon Carbon

Cultural Anthropologys Schools of Thought

Evolutionism Historical Particularism Diffusionism Functionalism Structuralism Neo-evolutionism

Evolutionism (1)
Influenced by Darwins text

Evolutionism (2)
Theory argued that wo/man is an animal and possesses many of the instincts and needs as do other social animals

Evolutionism (3)
Natural selection supported the most fit species to survive Asserted universal development of societies

Evolutionism (4)
1855 Herbert Spencer claimed that societies developed from simple to complex

Evolutionism (5)
Lewis J. Morgan asserts three basic stages of social development:
Savagery - The lowest stage, sustenance on wild plants, no soil tilling or animal domestication. Barbarism - Starting to use agriculture Civilization - Begins with the art of writing, which binds together the past and the future.

Evolutionism (6)
Sir Edward Tylor asserts three basic stages related to religious thought:
o o o

Animism Polytheism Monotheism

Tylor said stages could be skipped by learning from other cultures (missionary)

Evolutionism (6)
Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels proposed a cultural evolution determined by the production and distribution of goods and services in the following order:
o o o o o o

Communalism Slavery Feudalism Capitalism Socialism Communism

Historical Particularism (1)

Starts around the beginning of the 20th century Rejects belief that all societies develop in the same way

Historical Particularism (2)

Asserts the uniqueness of each culture due to:
o o o o

Separate geography History Creativity Degree of contact with its neighbors

Historical Particularism (3)

Franz Boas advocated immersion into the studied culture with no less than the studying of its language and ideally, thinking like the subject culture.

Historical Particularism (4)

Boas advocated collection of histories and folklores.

Historical Particularism (5)

He believed that any similarities that existed between cultures was the result of similar outside influencesnot universal laws of development.

Historical Particularism (6)

Other anthropologists who followed Boas:
o o o o

Ruth Benedict Alfred L. Krober Margaret Mead Edward Sapir

Diffusionism (1)
This school believed that a few core cultures influenced all later societies Originally based among a group of Austro-German anthropologists, they were led by:
o o

Friz Graebner Wilhelm Schmidt

Diffusionism (2)
A British group asserted that only one civilization, ancient Egypt, was responsible for all cultural development.

Diffusionism (3)
This group was led by:
o o

Grafton Elliot Smith (1871 1937) William J. Perry (1887 1949)

They were called the Manchester or heliocentric school of thought.

Functionalism (1)
Post World War I group that rejected historical approaches to the study of cultures. Culture was to be interpreted at one point in time.

Functionalism (1)
A main contributor in this area was one Bronislaw Malinowski (1884 - 1942) who believed that in order to understand a culture it had to be perceived in its totality with the interrelationship of its parts.

Functionalism (2)
The central focus of this school of thought was the function of cultural traits as interrelated cogs in a cultural machine.

Functionalism (3a)
Ruth Benedict (1887 1948) asserted that each culture gave its members a unique orientation toward reality. This determined how its members saw and processed information from their environment.

Functionalism (3b)
She believed it was necessary to study this mental or psychological conditioning to see how it functioned in society.

Functionalism (4)
Culture was to be interpreted at one point in time. This school of thought has added analytical contributions to the observations of:
o o o o

Families. Kinship roles. Rites of passage. Political organization.

Structualism (1)
Two major contributors in this area were:
A. R. Radcliffe-Brown (1881 1955). o Claude Levi-Strauss (b. 1908).
o

This 20th century school of thought is similar to functionalism except it looked at the structure of a culture.

Structualism (2)
Levi-Strauss and Radcliff-Brown asserted that a structural model of society might actually escape recognition by the participants of that society. These anthropologists view structures, like languages, as analytical avenues to the worldviews of groups of people.

Neo-evolutionism (1)
This is a modification of the earlier evolutionist paradigm in that it does not require a cultural diffusion or a universal formula of stages for all cultures.

Neo-evolutionism (2)
Julian Steward advocates similar stages of development are apparent in the cultural histories of various civilizations that were independent of each other. For Steward, what was important was the pattern of development and the commonality of patterns between various cultures.

Neo-evolutionism (3)
Leslie White (1900 1975) saw cultural development as a natural process that results from the increasing ability to efficiently and effectively harness energy. In his model of cultural ecology, similar environments produce cultures that are similar.

Sub Areas of Cultural Anthropology

Prehistoric archaeology Historical anthropology Linguistic anthropology

Applied Anthropology
Support to governments in social; economic; historical; psychological policy development