What is Anthropology ?

1. What is Anthropology ? . 

2. What is Anthropology? • Anthropology is the broad study of humankind around the world and throughout time.  • It is concerned with both the biological and the cultural aspects of humans

3. Four Main Subdivisions: • Physical Anthropology • biological evolution • genetic inheritance • human adaptability and variation • Primatology • the fossil record of human evolution

4. Cultural Anthropology • culture • ethnocentrism • cultural aspects of language and communication • subsistence and other economic patterns • Kinship • sex and marriage • socialization • social control • political organization • Class • Ethnicity • Gender • Religion • culture change

5. Archaeology • Prehistory and early history of cultures around the world • Major trends in cultural evolution • Techniques for finding, excavating, dating, and analyzing material remains of past societies • Linguistic • Human communication focusing on: • Importance of socio-cultural influences • Nonverbal communication • The structure, function, and history of languages, dialects

6. Culture - Shared by most members of a particular society: • Symbols • Values • Beliefs • Behaviours

7. Participant-observation • Best way to get to know another society & its culture is to live in it as an active participant rather than simply an observer.  • By physically and emotionally participating in the social interaction you become accepted as a member. 

8. Dian Fossey • Dian Fossey believed that in order to study gorillas effectively she had to immerse herself with them in an effort to get them to accept her presence

9. Jane Goddall • Lives with and studied chimpanzees

10. How Does Change Happen Externally • Diffusion – spread of cultural traits through social contact (sushi) • Acculturation – process of contact, exposure, & exchange of ideas (incorporation, directed change, cultural evolution) Internally • Invention (a new product, idea, or social pattern) • An invention that affects daily life

11. Why do we need Anthropologists? Don’t they tell us what we already know to be true? • Intuition is believing something to be true because a person’s emotions and logic support it • Intuition is not proof of fact – this is why we need anthropologists – they prove or disprove what we BELIEVE to be true

12. Kinship • A family relationship based on what a culture considers a family to be • The family unit can vary depending on the culture in which the family lives

13. Methods used by Anthropologists • Participant-observation • Collection of statistics • Field interviews • Collection of detailed notes • Fieldwork

14. Anthropological Schools of Thought There are many but two that relate specifically to change: • Functionalism • Cultural Materialism

15. Functionalism • The function of beliefs & institutions is to meet the needs of the majority of society • Change occurs by consensus, based on shared values and norms. • The body is a common used analogy to describe this theory • Change must be slow because every institution is connected to others so they are linked

16. Cultural Materialism • Technological and economical factors are the most important in molding a society – known as materialism • Determinism – states that the types of technology and economic methods that are adopted always determine (or act as deciding factors in forming) the type of society that develops

17. Cultural Materialism - This theory views cultural change within a framework of 3 levels: • Infrastructure – (base of the pyramid) • How people attend to their basic needs of survival & reproduction • It influences the other 2 levels • Changes to demographics or economics will change the organization & ideology of a culture • Structure - (middle) • How a culture is organized (politics, laws, & families) • Superstructure - (top of the pyramid) • Ideology of a culture, its beliefs & values, such as religion