Introduction to Anthropology

Prepared by: Arnel O. RiveraMAT-SS

What is Anthropology?

Anthropology comes from the Greek word anthropos for “man, human” and logos for “study”.

It seeks to answer an enormous variety of questions about humans. They are interested in discovering when, where and why humans appeared on earth, how and why they have changed since then, and how and why modern human populations vary in certain physical features.

Anthropologists are also interested in how and why societies in the past and present have varied in their customary ideas and practices.

Anthropology's basic concerns are…

1. What defines Homo sapiens?2. Who are the ancestors of modern

Homo sapiens?3. What are humans' physical traits?4. How do humans behave?5. Why are there variations and

differences among different groups of humans?

6. How has the evolutionary past of Homo sapiens influenced its social organization and culture?”

Fields of Anthropology

• Biological anthropology

• Cultural and Social anthropology

Biological Anthropology

• Biological anthropology or Physical anthropology, focuses on the study of human populations using an evolutionary framework.

• Biological anthropologists have theorized about how the globe has become populated with humans as well as tried to explain geographical human variation and race.

• Many biological anthropologists studying modern human populations identify their field as human ecology - itself linked to sociobiology.

Branches of Biological Anthropology

Human paleontology – this set includes questions about the emergence of humans and their later emergence

Human variation – this set includes questions about how and why contemporary human populations vary biologically.

Human Evolution

• Evolution is the change in the inherited traits of a population of organisms through successive generations.

• After a population splits into smaller groups, these groups evolve independently and may eventually diversify into new species.

Mutation and sexual reproduction Mutation and sexual reproduction produces variationproduces variation

Natural (and cultural) selection is involved Natural (and cultural) selection is involved in who leaves offspring and how manyin who leaves offspring and how many

Each generation is genetically different Each generation is genetically different than the previous generationthan the previous generation

Over time, the species becomes different. Over time, the species becomes different.

Human EvolutionHuman Evolution

Cultural and Social Anthropology

Cultural Anthropology It seeks to study how populations or societies

vary in their cultural features. It also deals with man’s behavior and with the ways human beings carry out the activities of daily living. The diversity of human behavior is seen in : food habits, ways food is cooked, habits of dress and ornaments and relations with in-laws. Cultural anthropology has the following subdivisions: Ethnology, Anthropological Linguistics & Archeology

Ethnography

It seeks to understand how and why people today and in the recent past differ in their customary ways of thinking and acting.

It is the study of culture, and is often based on ethnography. can refer to both a methodology and a product of research, namely a monograph or book.

• Ethnography is a grounded, inductive method, that heavily relies on participant-observation.

• It is grounded on the study of kinship and social organization.

Archaeology

Archeology deals with ancient cultures and

past phases of modern civilization based on documents, stone carvings, relics etc. It seeks to reconstruct the daily life and customs of peoples who lived in the past but also to trace cultural changes and to offer possible explanations of those changes.

•Archaeology is the study of human material culture, including both artifacts (older pieces of human culture) carefully gathered in museum pieces and modern garbage.

Archaeology: A preserve body on Pompei from the eruption of Mount Vesuvius

Linguistic Anthropology

•Linguistic anthropology seeks to understand the processes of human communications, verbal and non-verbal, variation in language across time and space, the social uses of language, and the relationship between language and culture.

•It is the branch of anthropology that brings linguistic methods to bear on anthropological problems, linking the analysis of linguistic forms and processes to the interpretation of sociocultural processes.

• Linguistic anthropologists often draw on related fields including sociolinguistics, pragmatics, cognitive linguistics, semiotics, discourse analysis, and narrative analysis.

Branches of Linguistic Anthropology Historical linguistics – is the study of how

languages change over time and how they may be related.

Structural/Descriptive linguistics – is the study of how contemporary languages differ, especially in their construction.

Socio – linguistics – the study of how language is used in social context.

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