Andreatta and Ferraro Flashcards
Physical anthropology
\:the scientific study of humans from a biological perspective Subfields 1. Paleoanthropology 2. Primatology 3. Human variation 4. Forensic anthropology 5. Applied physical anthropology
Paleoanthropology
- reconstructing the anatomical and behavioral evolutionary record of the human species from fossil remains
- ask questions about the emergence of humans and how humans have evolved up to the present time
Primatology
:the study of the evolutionary fossil record of our nearest living relatives and the behavior of living populations in their natural habitats
-the study of our nearest living relatives in their natural habitats
Human variation
:deals with how and why the physical traits (skin color) of contemporary human population vary throughout the world
-tells us about human adaptation
Physical or human variation
:physical or biological
-attempted to document human physical variations by dividing the population into various racial categories
Race
:group of people who share a greater statistical frequency of genes and physical traits with one another than they do with people outside the group
Race as a biological entity does not matter. There is no biological reason to separate groups this way and there can actually be more differences inside that group than compared with another.
-today they don’t consider these to be useful and view as oversimplification
-skin and melanin example
Archaeology
\:study the life ways of people from the past by excavating and analyzing the material culture they have left behind -use artifacts, features, and ecofacts Subfields 1. Historical 2. Prehistoric 3. Contract 4. Applied 5. Cultural resource management
Artifacts
:objects that have been made or modified by humans and that can be removed from the site and taken to the lab for further analysis
Features
:made or modified by people, but cannot be readily carries away from the dig site
Ecofacts
:objects from. In the natural environment that were not made or altered by humans but were used by them
Cultural resource management
:specialty area to ensure that the laws are properly followed, that high quality research is conducted, and that data from the archaeological sites are not destroyed by federally funded building projects
Anthropological linguistics
\: the branch of anthropology that studies human speech and language -:studies the contemporary human language as well as those of. Te past, looks at structure and origin Subfields 1. Historical 2. Descriptive 3. Ethnolinguistics 4. Sociolinguistics 5. Applied linguistics
Historical linguistics
:emergence of language in general and how specific languages have diverged over time
Descriptive linguistics
:the study of sound systems, grammatical systems, and the meanings attached to words in specific languages
Cultural or ethnolinguistics
:examines the relationship between language and culture
Sociolinguistics
:examines the relationship between language and social relations
Cultural anthropology
\:scientific study of general patterns of human behavior derived through cultural comparison \:the branch of anthropology that deals with the study of specific contemporary cultures (ethnography) and the more general underlying patters of human culture derived through cultural comparisons (ethnology) is called cultural anthropology Subfields 1. Development 2. Psychological 3. Environmental 4. Medical 5. Urban 6. Political 7. Applied
Ethnography
-descriptive, based on direct fieldwork, and focuses on a single culture or subculture
Ethnology
- comparative, based on data collected by other ethnographers, generalizes across cultures or subcultures
- comparative study of contemporary cultures
Areas of specialization
- Urban anthropology- focus on social problems
- Medical anthropology- relationship of biological and sociocultural factors
- Development- focuses more on people and assessing value
- Environmental- examines now human. Populations interact with their environments
- Psychological- looks at relationship between culture and the psychological makeup of individuals and groups
Paleopathology
:the analysis of disease in ancient populations
Holism
Anthros that study human societies as systematic sums of their parts, as integrated wholes. It takes a great deal of time to observe human behavior and time to interview members. Human behavior as complex set of interacting behaviors and ideas.
:analysis of a society as a whole which refuses to break society into component parts
1. More comprehensive when looking at biological and sociocultural aspects
2. Longest possible time frame
3. Studies all varieties of people wherever they may be found
Ethnocentrism
:the belief that ones own culture is superior to all others
-viewing the rest of the world through the narrow lens of ones own cultural perspectives
Cultural relativism
: notion that any part of a culture must be viewed in its proper cultural context rather than from the viewpoint of the observers culture
Contributions
- Enhancing understanding
- Building skills for the twenty first century
- develop a broad perspective
- appreciate other perspectives
- balance contradictions
- emphasize global teamwork
- develop cognitive complexity
- develop perceptual acuity
Culture
:system of shared beliefs, values, customs, behaviors, and artifacts that the members of society use to cope with the world and each other
- culture as a set of meaning people create in specific environmental contexts
- dynamic, creative, diverse, and changing
Branches of anthropology
- Physical anthropology
- Archaeology
- Anthropological linguistics
- Cultural anthropology
