Chapter 1

What is Anthropology?
 The Scope of Anthropology
The Holistic Approach
 The Anthropological Curiosity
 Fields of Anthropology
 Specialization
 The Relevance of Anthropology
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Most common answers from our class assessment…
What is Anthropology?
1. The study of mankind, humanity, evolution and adaptation
2. Study of human behavior, culture, interaction, and relationship
between humans and the environment

What is Cultural Anthropology?

1. The study of culture, customs, beliefs, and traditions
2. Study of differences in culture
 The Scope of Anthropology
 Anthropology can be defined as the study
of humankind in all times and places
 Broader in scope than other disciplines
 Every part of the world containing human
populations is of interest to anthropological
study.
 Includes studying other primates to look
for clues about our ancestral origins
 The Holistic Approach
 Anthropology is a unique discipline
because it employs a holistic, or
multifaceted, approach to the study of
human beings.
 The Anthropological Curiosity
 Anthropologists generally focus on typical
characteristics of a population.
 When describing a group of people, anthropologists may
discuss:
 the history of the area in which they live,

 the physical environment,

 the organization of family life,

 the general features of their language,

 their political and economic systems,

 their religion,

 their diet, or

 their styles of art and dress.

 Fields of Anthropology

Figure 1-1 (p. 5)

The Subdivisions of Anthropology
The four major subdisciplines of anthropology (in bold
letters) may be classified according to subject matter
(physical or cultural) hand according to the period with
which each is concerned (distant past versus recent
past and present). There are applications of
anthropology in all four subdisciplines.
Biological (physical) Anthropology
 Two Primary Focuses of Study:
 Human Paleontology
 Look at the emergence of humans and their later evolution
 Reconstruct human evolution through fossils

 Human Variation
 Investigate how and why human populations differ in biological or
physical characteristics
 Cultural Anthropology
 Cultural anthropology is concerned with
how and why cultures vary or are similar
in the past and present.

The Three Branches of Cultural Anthropology are:

Archaeology
Linguistics
Ethnology

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 Archaeology
 Archaeologists try to reconstruct history
from the remains of human cultures.
 How do archaeologists differ from
historians?
Most studies deal with prehistory
Some specialize in historical archaeology
 Anthropological Linguistics
The anthropological study of
language.
Historical Linguistics
Study of how languages change over time and how they are
related
Descriptive or Structural Linguistics
Study how contemporary languages may differ
Sociolinguistics
Study how language is used in social context

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rights reserved.
 Ethnology
 Commonly referred to as cultural
anthropology, ethnology is concerned
with patterns of thought and behavior.
Ethnographers
Ethnohistorian
Cross-Cultural Researcher

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rights reserved.
 Applied Anthropology
About half of all professional
anthropologists are applied, or
practicing, anthropologists.

Applied anthropologists may be

trained in one or more of the subfields
of anthropology.
 The Relevance of Anthropology
In order to understand humans, it is
essential that we study humans in all
times and places.

Anthropological studies can illustrate

why other people are the way they
are, both culturally and physically.