Anthropology “is the study of the human species and its immediate ancestors” (Kottak 5). It is comparative and holistic, which indicates that anthropology study human diversity in time and space (Kottak 4). This is done in order to understand the human condition (Kottak 4). According to Kottak, the human condition includes, “past, present, and future; biology, society, language, and culture” (Kottak 5). Anthropology helps to compare one society to the other to deepen our perspectives or understandings of that culture as it relates to other cultures studied (Kottak 5). Anthropology helps to further understand, on one hand, what is shared between societies, and on the other hand, what is a distinct culture with unique cultural traditions of that …show more content…
Anthropology does not just focus on the present it also ponders about the past by the examination of bones and tools that have helped to shed light on human existence (Kottak 5). This human existence that had anthropologist study human adaptation, variation, and change and discovering that “humans also habitually rely on cultural means of adaptation” (Kottak 5), and that “organisms cope with environmental forces and stresses by adapting to their changing environment (Kottak 5). On a similar note, anthropology includes four subfields that play important roles in adding to the science of Anthropology in unique ways (Kottak 8). According to Kottak, the four subfields are sociocultural, archaeological, biological, and linguistic anthropology (8). These four subfields will be discussed in detail in the following …show more content…
This is the third subfield of anthropology mentioned previously. Biological anthropology is one of the four subfields that has a multiplicity of subfields under it. According to Kottak, common interest in human biological variations, adaptations, and changes has given rise to five specialties within biological anthropology, which as the following: “1) human evolution as revealed by the fossil record (paleoanthropology), 2) human genetics, 3) human growth and development, 4) human biological plasticity (the living body’s ability to change as it copes with stresses, such as heat, cold, and altitude) and 5) primatology (the biology, evolution, behavior, and social life of monkeys, apes, and other nonhuman primates)” (Kottak 12). These five specialties bond biological anthropology to other fields such as biology, zoology, geology, anatomy, physiology, medicine, and public health. (Kottak 12). Kottak stated that it is in biological anthropology that we discovered that “people with a genetic tendency to be tall will be shorter if they are poorly nourished during childhood” (Kottak 12). Biological anthropology includes osteology and primatology, which is the study of bones and the study of apes and monkeys,
Robbins Burling, David F. Armstrong, Ben G. Blount, Catherine A. Callaghan, Mary Lecron Foster, Barbara J. King, Sue Taylor Parker, Osamu Sakura, William C. Stokoe, Ron Wallace, Joel Wallman, A. Whiten, Sherman Wilcox and Thomas Wynn. Current Anthropology, Vol. 34, No. 1 (Feb., 1993), pp. 25-53
Culture - Anthropologists study early hominid culture, and they can peace a picture of the early peoples’ cultural behavior. Many modern humans still have cultural beliefs.
Anthropological researchers have considerable moral and ethical standards by which their work must be conducted in order to preserve the accuracy and the posterity of the information gathered during the study and also to the persons or cultures of which they study. These two important parts of anthropology – the research and those being researched – can be conflicting. The Code of Ethics of the American Anthropological Association presents itself as a body of guidelines for discussing these ethical and moral conflicts. This allows for researchers in the field of anthropology to have a foundation for understanding what decisions must be made regarding these ethical and moral conflicts and to whom the disclosures of those decisions should be made.
William Haviland, Harald Prins, Dana Walrath, Bunny McBride, Anthropology: The Human Challenge (Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Cengage Learning, 2011), 58.
Name: Patrick Wrenn Take home Exam Anthropology 104: Biological Anthropology. Answer all of the questions to the fullest. 1. What is the difference between a. and What are the three types of speciation?
Since its inception, the academic discipline of anthropology has gone through constant paradigm shifts. In the nineteenth century, anthropology began as a nomothetic study based upon the development of cultures and societies through the process of evolution. Later on, several anthropologists, particularly Franz Boas, shifted the nomothetic approach of American anthropology into an idiographic approach, which focuses on assessing the development of cultures individually as their own separate entity. (Moore 2012:161) In the twentieth century, however, anthropology ushered in another paradigm shift.
Paleolithic age presents the era when key human adaptations evolved in response to a variety of environmental changes experienced at the time. This period of human evolution coincided with change within the surrounding of man. Such included cooling, drying and unpredictable climatic patterns over the time. This increased amount of variability in environmental conditions raised the level of uncertainty and instability in their respective terms of survival, necessitated the man to adopt new habits to increase adaptability to the new and changing surroundings. The evolved structures and behaviors led to specialization to enable coping with changing and unpredictable conditions.
Peoples, James, and Garrick Bailey. Humanity: An Introduction to Cultural Anthropology. 9th ed. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth/Thomson Learning, 2003. Print.
In some countries, this “new physical anthropology” were still practiced in anthropology departments, while in other countries, it moved into biology departments and museums. Lindee and Santos’ suggestion is that a deeper understanding of the development of biological anthropology across a larger range can be educational and productive. Recent discussions within anthropological circles in the United States often fail to consider that in other countries, biological anthropology has been practiced for many decades separate from other areas of anthropology. G´ısli Pa´lsson proposed that anthropology is currently organized around two radically separated domains: biological and social. Humans are both social and biological, not either or, and studying human beings should be both as well. Biological anthropology, with its emphasis on understanding human biology in social terms, seems to fill the privileged epistemic position in relation to social anthropology.
Anthropology is the study of humans through the ages. It aims to understand different cultures and practices that have existed from the origins of mankind as well. It differs from sociology in that it takes into account humans and cultures that no longer exist.
Ember, Carol R., Melvin Ember, and Peter N. Peregrine. Anthropology. Thirteenth ed. Boston, MA: Prentice Hall, 2011. Print.
One cannot generalize or predict all human behaviors, thought processes, morals, and customs. Because human nature is dominated by different types of cultures and societies in various parts of the world, this can often lead to misunderstanding which ultimately leads to the illusion of cultural superiority, and in most cases this can lead to genocide - the systematic murder or annihilation of a group of people or culture. Anthropology is the study of humans, our immediate ancestors and their cultural environments this study stems from the science of holism - the study of the human condition. Culture is crucial in determining the state of the human condition, as the cultures are traditions and customs that are learned throughout an individual
Boas, F. (1930). Anthropology. In, Seligman, E. R. A. ed., Encyclopaedia of Social Sciences. Macmillan: New York.
Cultural anthropology known as the comparative study of human societies and cultures and their development. Cultural anthropology is also known as the study of human cultures, their beliefs, practices, values, ideas, technologies, economies and other domains of social and cognitive organization. Cultural anthropology studies how human cultures are shaped or shape the world around them and it focus a lot on the differences between every person. Human societies has been culturally involved throughout generations because of human development and advanced. The goal of a cultural anthropology is to teach us about another culture by collecting data about how the world economy and political practices effect the new culture that is being studied. However, cultural anthropology has gave us a understanding of world affairs and world problems, the way to interpret the meaning of social actions by putting them in as much context as possible, and a deeper insight of humankind-at all times, in all places and of yourself as part of a culture.
Cultural anthropology has taught me a lot in such a short time. This class has been very eye opening to me and has made me think more about the different cultures around me and just how important it is to learn about them. One of the things I have learned is how religion is related to culture. Culture is behaviors of a community such as the food they make, the music they listen to, and the rituals they take part in. This can be very similar to religion because a culture is based off of their religious beliefs. Some cultures do not eat pig because it is against their religious beliefs. Some cultures listen to particular songs because it is based off of their religious beliefs. Another thing cultures relate closely to is languages. Without language