Jan 21 2022 What is Anthropology 4 Sub Fields Linguistic Considers how speech varies w social factors over time and space Ex How different people speak and communicate power dynamics gender etc 2 Sub Fields Social linguistics Structural linguistics Communication differences between classes and groups Grammar and its effects on communication Historical linguists reconstruct ancient languages and study linguistic variation through time Sociolinguistics investigates relationships between social and linguistic variation anthropological linguistics to discover varied perceptions and patterns of thought and practice in different cultures Biological Human fossils genetics and bodily growth and non human primates Ex How and why humans began to walk upright Special interests Paleoanthropology human evolution through fossil records Human genetics Human growth and development Human biological plasticity the body s ability to change Primatology study of biology evolution behavior and social life of primates Cultural differences 2 Dimensions Human culture and its impact on the world Cultural diversity of the past and present Describes analyzes interprets and explains social and cultural similarities and Ethnography fieldwork in a particular culture provides an account of that community society or culture Requires fieldwork to collect data Often descriptive Group community specific Ethnology cross cultural comparison comparative study of ethnographic data of society and of culture generalizes society and culture Used to form and test theories about how social and cultural systems work Uses data collected by a series of researchers Usual synthetic comparative cross cultural Archaeological remains Study of human behavior cultural patterns and processes through material Subfields Nautical studying things underwater Egyptian Slave Includes artifacts garbage burials structural remains Study the cultures of historical and living people Historical archaeology combines archaeological and textual data to reconstruct historically known groups Ex How the stone age people made tools How past humans cooked food TAMU includes Cultural Nautical Archaeological Biological Society organized life groups More abstract Culture traditions customs and innovations that govern behavior and beliefs Distinctly human Transmitted through learning Culture changes it is adaptive More of a connection between people harder to change First civilizations arose btwn 6000 and 5000 BP Industrial production greatly affected human life Human global economy and communication link all contemporary people in modern times There are few people without history Eric Wolf Everyone is interconnected capitalism transportation services Four Field Approach Developed in US Early American anthropologists studied native North American people and combined studies of customs social life language and physical traits Timestamps are typically in thousands of years or longer primate archaeology Science and arts humanities need to be together anthropology unites them 1940s 1980s things changed significantly Jan 25 2022 The Concept of Culture Culture is always connected to other aspects of humanity s existence to study religion you have to study gender roles to study gender roles you have to study the economy etc 1873 Edward Tyler the Father of Anthropology defined anthro as the study of culture Holism any given aspect of human life must be studied in relation to other aspects of human life Culture is based on symbols verbal or non verbal Language is most important Culture is LEARNED through enculturation Culture is SHARED we share the same meanings for symbols to be a part of culture Results in regularity and predictability BUT culture does NOT determine behavior we all maintain free will There is variability in the sharing of culture Age variation generation gaps Sex variation men and women are different Culture is INTEGRATED all aspects of culture function as an inter related whole As one part of a culture changes it affects another part Marshall Sahlins we have normalized and utilized the concept of culture Culture is ADAPTED Adaptation the way living populations relate to their environments so they can survive and reproduce Some cultures are neutral or maladaptive Avenues for adaptation Technological Organizational or Ideological Cultures are DYNAMIC ever changing cultural evolution Cultural Relativism any part of a culture must be viewed within its cultural context not from the observer s POV First formulated by Franz Boas Ex Nazi Germany ethnocentrism Eskimo Although cultures constantly change certain foundational beliefs are maintained through generations Culture relies on the human capacity for cultural learning Culture includes rules for internalized behavior of humans which lead them to think and act in specific ways Feb 8 2022 Pandian Ethnographic Experience Symbolic anthropology Views culture as a system of symbols that people create alter and share Focuses on understanding the symbolic words of others Clifford Geertz most notable scholar to push anthropology towards more ideographic and descriptive work Postmodern anthropological theory Theories built on the premise that positivist objective views of human phenomena are inherently limited and biased Brings questions of power history and the culture concept itself into the center of anthropological analysis Three important strands Cultural marxism Draws on Karl Marx s concepts of power inequality and class struggle to understand cultural change and analyze all forms of social inequality Feminism Highlights importance of gender as an analytic concept and women s presence in cultural analysis Feminist as a political stance is different from feminist theory First theory to emphasize the importance of recognizing power and privilege between the anthropologist the subject and reader Perspectivism standpoint theory Knowledge is generated by a knower who has a certain position reflecting a limited perspective objective unpositioned knowledge is not possible Increased the use of reflexivity the inclusion of the anthropologist s perspective experience in ethnographic writing Ethnography describing and understanding another way of life from the native POV Explores a cultural group lives with them and or documents their daily lives Has an evolving guided question during the study Used in cultural anthropology sociology business and organizational psychology AIM To identify behavior patterns and