You are on page 1of 24

The Four Fields of

Anthropology
Culture as the Central Concept

Culture and the Four Fields of


Anthropology
Anthropology is centered around culture
Next question: what do cultures have to do
with the following?
Physical anthropology
Linguistics
Archaeology
This is where the definition of
anthropology itself comes in

So How Do We Define
Anthropology?
Your syllabus: The Holistic and Comparative Study of
Humankind
Holistic: Asks two questions:
Ethnographic Holism: Asks whether, and if so how, all
parts of a culture fit together
This has already been covered under Culture is
Patterned or Integrated
Disciplinary Holism: Asks how all the four subfields of
anthropology fit together; this, we cover next.
Comparative Method: Tries to answer the questions of
why cultures are both diverse and similar
We cover both the disciplinary holistic and comparative
strategies in turn

Disciplinary Holism and the


Four Fields of Anthropology
Disciplinary Holism: This method asks why we
include the following under anthropology
Cultural Anthropology: The comparative study of
cultures around the world
Physical Anthropology: The comparative study of
human attributes, past and present
Linguistics: The study of spoken language, a
distinctly human trait
Archaeology: The comparative study of past cultures
through its material cultural remains
All fields involve a question about culture: where it
came from, what it entails, what its consequences are

Defining Cultural Anthropology:


Research Techniques
It involves the study of
mostly non-Western cultures
Basic technique involves
fieldwork
You will be practicing virtual
fieldwork using EthnoQuest
Sometimes, ethics are
involved, as this cartoon
implies
A fair question: just what do
anthropologists use their
information for?

Defining Cultural
Anthropology: Topics
Central concern is kinship, because
marriage and family are our first institutions
Reflected by this three generations of
Native American females (upper left)
Also includes technology, from hunting to
housebuilding
Economic Anthropology: how goods and
services are produced and distributed
Political Anthropology: The study of
power and social control (lower left)
Other areas: supernatural beliefs,
psychology, culture change, arts and oral
tradition

Defining Physical Anthropology


The studies of past and present human
forms
Comparative Primate Anatomy: How
similar or different we are from the monkeys
and apes
Fossil Hominins: How we evolved from
Australopithecus (Lucy, depicted in cartoon)
to Homo
Cultural Capacity: Defines how we acquired
ability to speak, make tools, walk on two feet
Human Variation: Study of so-called races
a present concern
Forensic Science: Tracing evidence of
criminal activity

Tying Physical Anthropology to


Culture
Our brain:
Source of our language
Source of our tool-making
ability
Our Lungs and Mouth: Our
ability to speak
Our Arms and Hands: Our
ability to make and use tools
Our Bipedal Skeleton: Our
ability to stand, walk, and
ability to do all of the above

Defining Linguistics
The study of spoken language
around the world
Focuses on phones (speech
sounds) and phonemes
(sound units that carry
language)
Looks at word and sentence
formation
Examines how children learn
to speakin one-word
sentences! (See cartoon)
Relates language to culture

Tying Linguistics to Culture


We learn everything through
language:
Even the blind and deaf (Helen Keller
and her mentor Ann Sullivan, upper
left photo)
They use Braille and sign language
to communicate
We can think of things not tangible:
math equations (lower left), things
not present, things nonexistent
We can produce new words when
necessary, from blip to iPod

Defining Archaeology
Reconstruction of past
cultures: focus is on
techniques analyzing remains
of material culture
Looks at artifacts: portable
objects from tools to Venus
sculptures
Looks at structures: Huts to
pyramids
Excavations destroy
everything: Objects have to
be measured exactly where
found before removal

Tying Archaeology to Culture


Archaeology is primarily about
cultural remains of human societies
(Even stone tools are hard to
identify, as Gary Larson tells us)
Human and prehuman physical
remains are also important
(Did this Neanderthal mate with
that human female? Stay tuned!
Both archaeologists and physical
anthropologists would like to know.)
Comparison of present with past
cultures is also essential

Anthropology and other Social


Sciences
By their nature, economics, political science,
sociology are all specialized
They create specialized perceptions of humankind
Economics focuses on economic man (and
woman)
Political science is about humans hungry for power
Psychology is about human with various drives:
sexual, hunger, prestige
Sociology is about social humans

Recall the Fable of the Six Blind


Men Defining an Elephant

Each man feels a part of the elephant


And describes his take on what it is like

The First Two Parts of an Elephant


The first man feels
the side of the
elephant.
He calls it a wall
The second man feels
one of the elephants
tusks.
He compares it to a
spear

Two More Parts of an Elephant


The third man feels the
trunk.
He then calls it a snake
The fourth man then
feels the elephants legs.
Lo and behold, he says,
here we have a tree

Last Two Parts of an Elephant


The fifth man touches the
ears.
He then says that it is like a
big fan
Finally, the sixth man grabs
the tail
He proclaims I see (though
hes blind) its very like a rope
Now the argument begins. . .

What do we get? A Metaphorical


Elephant
And so like six blind men
Specialists dispute loud and
long
Though each is partly in the
right,
All are in the wrong
And so we get a caricature
of the social sciences
Like this (reconstructed)
elephant.

Economics and Its Limits


Economics posits an economic
man whose aim is to maximize
his wealth and to get the most out
of his assets
But peoples of many cultures are
not that obsessed with wealth
This Ache (Indonesian) man is
actually sharing the meat he just
hunted
Does he look like economic man to
you?

Political Science and Its Limits


Political man lusts for
power, even at the
point of a sword (or
barrel of a gun)
Some peoples curb
others power.
For example, drum
song duels kept
Eskimos from taking
over the band

The Bottom Line of Holism


Anthropology concerns all aspects of
society
How do the economy, social control,
myths, and all else fit in with the culture as
a whole.
This will be the central question as we
examine each subfield of cultural
anthropology

Second, Anthropology is
Comparative

If we are to understand how cultures function


We have to compare them
All science involves comparison
Take families
In Non-western societies, people rely on family
and its extensions for all social functions
Such as this Vietnamese immigrant family in
Canada
These include education, economic needs,
social control
In Western societies, families are nuclear and
thereby play fewer important roles
Schools educate the young, workplaces are
the sources of livelihood, and governments
exercise social control

Anthropology and Other Disciplines


Most other social sciences specialize in industrial
societies:
Economics: Focus is on industrial societies
Sociology: Social relations in industrial societies
Psychology: Study of hang-ups in industrial societies
Anthropology provides data on all these aspects cross
all cultures around the world.
Any valid social explanation has to address all cultures,
not just industrial ones

Conclusion: Culture, Holism, and


Comparison
Basic Question: Why are People so Different?
This is a question about culture
Culture is learned, symbolic, shared, integrated,
and adaptive
It involves questions of how parts of a culture fit
a holistic issue of ethnography
It involves questions of what every subfield has
to say about culturea disciplinary holism
It demands an explanation of culturesa
comparative and therefore scientific question.

You might also like