Anthropology

Anthropos = Humanity

Logos = Study of…

Anthropology seeks to describe and
account for the past, the present, and
the future of Homo sapiens

Anthropology’
Anthropology’s Reputation:

• The Study of the Bizarre and the

Marginal
– The Study of Oddments by Eccentrics
– The Study of Strangers by Strangers
– Making the Strange, Familiar and the
Familiar, Strange

The Unique Scope of Anthropology

The topical, temporal, and geographic

scope of anthropology is broader than
that of any other social or human science

All of the other human sciences take a

partial view of humanity
 Topical Scope

• Sociology: patterns of social life

• Political Science: governance and power
• Economics: production, distribution and
consumption
• Psychology: mental processes and
behavior
• Religious Studies: supernatural beliefs
and practices

Anthropology adopts a holistic

perspective on humanity

Geographical Scope

• Anthropologists study every part of

the world that has ever contained
human beings or human ancestors
• The other social sciences have a
strong bias towards studying
Western peoples

Anthropology adopts a global

perspective on humanity

Temporal Scope

• Anthropologists seek to understand

not only the historical development
of our own species, but of those
ancestral to it, as well.
• The other social sciences tend to
limit their study to literate, modern
human societies.

Anthropology adopts a diachronic

perspective on humanity
 Four Fields of Anthropology

Linguis l
Ph
ys

tics
ica

Cultural
Archaeology
Applied
anthropologists
come in all four
By approximate flavors
numbers within
each subdiscipline

Anthropological Fields of Study

Two Broad Foci of Study: Biology and Culture

• Physical (Biological) Anthropology

– Human Origins (Paleontology and Primatology)
Primatology)
– Human Variation
• Cultural Anthropology
– Archaeology
– Linguistics
– Ethnology (also called Cultural or Social Anthropology

Physical Anthropology

Key Concept: Evolution

Human Origins
– Human Paleontology:
Paleontology: the study of the human and
human ancestral fossil records
• What are the evolutionary phases leading up to humanity
and how has humanity itself evolved?
– Primatology:
Primatology: the study of the mammalian group to
which humans belong: Primates (including the
prosimians,
prosimians, monkeys and apes)
• Primatologists study primate biology and behavior to
place humanity in its natural evolutionary perspective.
 Physical Anthropology

Human Variation
– The study of how and why contemporary
and recent human populations vary
biologically
– Race → Human Adaptation
• Modern populations and skeletal remains
– Borrow techniques and concepts from:
• Human Genetics:
Genetics: inheritance of traits
• Population Biology:
Biology: impact of the environment
• Epidemiology:
Epidemiology: impact of diseases

Physical Anthropology

University of Alabama
– ANT 270: Introduction to Physical
Anthropology
• Offered in the Fall
• Syllabus:
– http://www.as.ua.edu/ant/bindon/ant270/syllabus.pdf
• Web site:
– http://www.as.ua.edu/ant/bindon/ant270/
• Lab work with hands on experience

Cultural Anthropology

Key Concept: Culture

Cultural Anthropology is divided into
several distinct disciplines based on the
nature of the data used to understand
patterns of human thought and behavior
– Archaeology
– Linguistics
– Cultural (a.k.a. Social Anthropology or
Ethnology)
 Archaeology

The study of past human societies by the

analysis of their material remains

– Prehistory:
Prehistory: study of the material remains of pre-
pre-
literate peoples

– Historical Archaeology:
Archaeology: study of the material remains
of peoples who also left written records.

Archaeology

University of Alabama
– ANT 103: Great Discoveries in Archaeology
• SB core credit
• Syllabus:
– http://www.as.ua.edu/ant/courses/ANT103.pdf
– ANT 107: Introduction to Archaeology
• SB core credit
• Syllabus:
– http://www.as.ua.edu/ant/courses/Ant107.pdf

Linguistic Anthropology

The study of human languages, the

primary vehicles of culture
– Historical Linguistics:
Linguistics: how languages
change and how they are related to one
another
– Structural Linguistics:
Linguistics: study of the variation
in language construction
– Sociolinguistics:
Sociolinguistics: study of how language is
actually used in social contexts.
 Linguistic Anthropology

University of Alabama
– ANT 210: Language and Culture

Cultural Anthropology

(Text calls Ethnology): the study of the

customary thought and behavior of
contemporary or recent societies
– Ethnography:
Ethnography: detailed description of the customary
behavior and thought of a particular people
– Cross-
Cross-cultural comparison:
comparison: investigation of the
relationship between cultural and social elements
across societies
– Ethnohistory:
Ethnohistory: study of written documents in order to
analyze recent social and cultural change.

Cultural Anthropology

University of Alabama
– ANT 102: Introduction to Cultural
Anthropology
• Same format as 100: lecture and lab
• Syllabus:
– http://www.as.ua.edu/ant/courses/ANT102.pdf
 • Humanistic perspective
– emphasis on relativity
– emphasis on the understandings of
participants
– emphasis on meaning
• Scientific perspective
– emphasis on objectivity
– emphasis on observation
– emphasis on explanation

• Scientific approach--there are regularities in

behavior and biology that can be discovered
– Hypothesis: Provisional statement of relationship
between facts--usually a “because” statement
– Theory: Broad explanatory statement that has been
subjected to testing and falsification and found to be
accurate given current knowledge
• To say something is “just a theory” is inappropriate since
theory has grounding in empirical knowledge

Why Study Anthropology?

“Know then thyself, presume not God to scan;

the proper study of mankind is man.”
man.”
Alexander Pope, An Essay on Man (1733-34)
 Why Study Anthropology?

Learning something about the biological

and cultural history of, and variation within,
our species produces insight into the
human condition
It reminds us that:
– Each of us is like all human beings
– Each of us is more like some subset of humans
than the rest
– Each of us is unique

Why Study Anthropology?

• Anthropology helps us overcome

ethnocentrism and avoid unnecessary
cross-
cross-cultural misunderstandings

• Racial and ethnic differences take on

much less significance if they are
understood in anthropological
perspective

Anthropological Skills

• Cultural Relativism:
Relativism: view other cultures from their
own internal perspective
– Interact with people of diverse cultures, making allowances for
differences in customs and beliefs
– Provide insight into social problems by supplying information about
how issues such as aging or bereavement are dealt with in other
cultures
• Social Sensitivity:
Sensitivity anthropologists learn the
importance of events and conditions that cause people to do
things differently
• Social Agility:
Agility: learn how to quickly size up of the “cultural
rules”
rules” of novel social settings
• Social Perspective:
Perspective: learn to evaluate how the behavior of
individuals is shaped by their positions in specific socio-
socio-cultural
systems
– This enables the anthropologist to “act locally and think globally”