Class Notes for January 21 2015 Anthropology the study of humanity in the past present and future What are the 3 fundamental questions of anthropology 1 What are our origins 2 How do we explain human behavior 3 How will the decisions we make today change how we live tomorrow Subfields of anthropology 1 Paleoanthropology it deals with our origins where humanity began Fossil remains are how paleoanthropology studied the past and now use genetics 2 Archaeology a more recent past The people who onced live in this culture are now gone but have left behind a material culture Archaeologists are like detectives they study objects found to figure out how the people lived 3 Cultural Anthropologists They deal with present and future cultures They try to understand how the decisions today will affect the cultures tomorrow Culture a set of learned beliefs and behaviors that humans use to adapt to and change their environment Reasons why culture is fascinating and frustrating 1 Always changing 2 Complex 3 Invisible Why invisible Because culture is so immersive people often don t consider the influence our culture has on beliefs and decisions Social Networks the greater they are the more likely we are to succeed and survive When these are threatened people will defend them Social Networks are essential to our survival because humanity lived in small fragile groups in the very beginning We were hunted not the hunters Yet we became the dominant species Why Culture we share and learn from each other We learned to change ourselves and the world Survivalism If civilization ends according to survivalists it will the only ones who will survive are the prepared ones You need to be prepared with your own food and be willing to kill All cultures are dynamic but they change at different rates of speed Traditional Cultures change very slowly Values are important so they hold onto these while changing Contemporary Cultures quickly changing almost daily It is more difficult to hold onto values which can cause conflict The Great Paradox of Culture Culture limits our choices while at the same time allows us to become fully human When humans are isolated they become 1 Emotionally ill 2 Psychologically ill 3 Physically ill 4 Dead