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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rights reserved.

Most common answers from our class

assessment

What is Anthropology?

The study of mankind, humanity, evolution and

adaptation
2. Study of human behavior, culture, interaction, and
relationship between humans and the environment
1.

What is Cultural Anthropology?

The study of culture, customs, beliefs, and traditions
2. Study of differences in culture
1.

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

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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rights reserved.

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.