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Introduction. ANTHROPOLOGY : A DISCIPLINE OF INFINITE CURIOSITY ABOUT HUMAN BEINGS. THE DISCIPLINE. THE SCOPE OF ANTHROPOLOGY THE HOLISTIC APPROACH ANTHROPOLOGY & SCIENCE THE ANTHROPOLOGICAL CURIOSITY. A sample of Questions that Anthropology ponders:. Why can human beings throw baseballs?
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Introduction ANTHROPOLOGY:A DISCIPLINE OF INFINITE CURIOSITY ABOUT HUMAN BEINGS
THE DISCIPLINE • THE SCOPE OF ANTHROPOLOGY • THE HOLISTIC APPROACH • ANTHROPOLOGY & SCIENCE • THE ANTHROPOLOGICAL CURIOSITY
A sample of Questions that Anthropology ponders: • Why can human beings throw baseballs? • Why do we stand up on two fragile limbs when so many other animals sensibly move about on all four? • Why are we relatively hairless (and, thus, get sunburn)? • Why do we speak, form societies, fight wars? • Why do we think about our own impending deaths? • How long have human beings been around? • When did people first start farming, or forming states?
“First Contact” • What types of questions would you ask? • How would you respond to these people? • What types of things would you look for while observing these people? • The anthropologist may also experience "culture shock” • a psychological reaction that ranges from mild to severe when we experience a different culture
SPECIFIC FIELDS OF STUDY • PHYSICAL ANTHROPOLOGY • ONE MAJOR FIELD • CULTURAL ANTHROPOLOGY • ARCHAEOLOGY • LINGUISTICS • ETHNOLOGY
PHYSICAL ANTHROPOLOGY HUMAN PALEONTOLOGY or PALEOANTHROPOLOGY HUMAN VARIATION HUMAN GENETICS POPULATION BIOLOGY EPIDEMIOLOGY
CULTURAL ANTHROPOLOGY ARCHAEOLOGY PREHISTORY HISTORICAL ARCHAEOLOGY LINGUISTICS HISTORICAL LINGUISTICS STRUCTURAL LINGUISTICS SOCIOLINGUISTICS ETHNOLOGY ETHNOGRAPHY
ETHNOLOGY • ETHNOGRAPHER • ETHNOHISTORIAN • CROSS-CULTURAL RESEARCHER
METHODS • WITHIN-CULTURE COMPARISONS • NONHISTORICAL CONTROLLED COMPARISON • CROSS-CULTURAL RESEARCH • HISTORICAL RESEARCH
APPLIED ANTHROPOLOGY • ALL FOUR SUBDISCIPLINES REPRESENTED • Utilize anthropological knowledge to achieve practical goals • EXAMPLES • Museum work • Forensics • Bilingual education • Community development
THE SCIENTIFIC METHOD • provides orderly and supported explanations • a logical system used to evaluate data that are obtained by systematic observation • science theories are falsifiable • scientific explanations are testable, tentative, and subject to change • The scientific method rests on the faith that the universe possesses order and this order can be discerned and interpreted
THE SCIENTIFIC METHOD (cont.) • Two ways of generating testable propositions or what are called hypotheses: • inductive method • begins with specific observations from which you then draw conclusions or make generalizations • deductive method • begins with a generalization or theory and from it you predict specific observations, actions, or applications
SUMMARY • Eric Wolf has called anthropology "the most scientific of the humanities and the most humanist of the sciences."