Chapter 1 - Lecture notes 1 PDF

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This is lecture notes on the first chapter of Into to Anthropology called What is Anthropology? ...

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Chapter One: What Is Anthropology? Anthropology: the study of humankind across all times and places. • •

Anthropos: Greek for “man” Logos: Greek for “Study of”

4 Subfields of Anthropology: 1. 2. 3. 4.

Archaeology: the study of the part through things left behind, artifacts of material culture. Cultural: the study of society groups, how they live and adapt to their environment. Linguistics: the study of language and communication Physical/ Biological: looks at the role of biology in adaptation, evolution.

2 Main Branches of Anthro. 1. Cultural Anthro: Cultural, Linguistics, Archaeology 2. Physical Anthro: Physical/ Biology Applied Anthropology: look at how to use anthropology theories and methods to address contempt problems. 2 Differences from other social sciences 1. Holistic Approach: human culture and biology should be viewed in the broadest context to understand the interconnections and interdependence of human existence; must see how every aspect of humans are connected; Ex: family, gender, religion, economics 2. Comparative cross-cultural approach: comparing different families and cultures to analyze humanity. Culture: a society’s shared and socially transmitted ideas, values, and perceptions, which are used to make sense of experience and generate behavior and are reflected in that behavior. Ethnocentrism: the belief that one’s own culture, or way of life, is normal and natural; using ones own culture to evaluate and judge the practices of others; Ex: how an Indian man blows his nose compared to an American man. Your culture teaches you to look at the world through a lens. Primatology: the study of primates; the great ape humans, chimpanzees, gorillas, orangutans. • •

Dian Fossley: studied gorillas, died, “Gorillas in the Mist” Jane Goodall: studies chimpanzees, East Africa

Father of American Anthropology: Franz Boas • •

Fighter of social justice, fought against the Eugenic Movement (race based pseudoscience, thinks white is superior). First to do ethnographic fieldwork in American

Empirical: findings that are reached based on observations of the world rather than on intuition of faith. • •

Hypothesis: an educated guess Theory: an explanation backed with reliable data.

William’s Dressler’s Theory: perceived racism results in in elevated cortisol (stress induced hormone, triggers fight or flight response) levels, resulting in high blood pressure. Ted Talk • • • • •

Wade Davis: Endangered Cultures Ethnosphere: the collective cultural knowledge accumulated over the span of human existence. Ethnocide: the destruction of people’s cultural traditions or heritage. Inuit People: these people originate from the Artic; originally called Eskimo’s (racist) Power is the cause of the shrinking Ethnosphere....