Download What is anthropology?

WHAT IS ANTHROPOLOGY? OR, HOW TO DETERMINE WHAT IS ANTHROPOLOGY IS NOT

ANTHROPOLOGY • Study of the human species and its immediate ancestors

OTHER KEY TERMS • Society: organized life in groups • Culture: traditions and customs, transmitted through learning, that form and guide the behavior of the people exposed to them

MATCH THE FIELD! • Primarily uses ethnography to study a particular community • Study variation in language due to geography • Compares and contrasts cultures to make generalizations about society • Ask questions like “Did this past society hunt or gather for food?” • Study topics like human genetics, growth and development, and evolution of primates • Study changes in grammar, sounds, and vocabulary over time • Reconstructs human behavior and culture through material remains • Excavate areas

ANTHROPOLOGY IS A SCIENCE!

WHAT DO ANTHROPOLOGISTS DO? • • • • • • • • • •

Observe Interview Research Collect Data Write Photograph, Film, Document Fieldwork Participant Observation Live with subjects under study Cross reference and Compare/Contrast Findings

APPLIED ANTHROPOLOGY • Application of anthropological data, Perspectives, theory, and methods to Identify, assess, and solve modern problems

TO BE AN ANTHROPOLOGIST…

WHAT IS NOT ANTHROPOLOGY • Doing research or observation or participant observation without the permission or knowledge of the subjects under study • Doing Harm to a person or subject under study • Violating Ethical principles of the society or culture under study or the society or culture of the anthropologist • Violating Human Rights (See UN Declaration) • http://www.un.org/en/documents/udhr/ • Gathering or disseminating information that could be used to harm people • Forgetting that all people have dignity and worth and that every individual deserves to be treated equitably.

BIAS • prejudice in favor of or against one thing, person, or group compared with another, usually in a way considered to be unfair

NAPOLEON CHAGNON & THE YANOMAMO