Anthropology Exit Exam
What is Anthropology?
Anthropology is a conglomerate of subfields that focuses around the general study of humans. To a true scholar to the field of anthropology, anthropology is not just another field offered in an education program such as biology, and mathematics. Anthropology is a mindset, and a toolbox for understanding, and classifying every aspect of human interaction of the past, present and future. The mindset of an anthropologist is a unique personal feature, but each mindset shares common themes, this mindset is witnessed on page 75 of Wade Davis’ book The Serpent and the Rainbow.
“Yet images alone cannot begin to express the cohesion of present society, like a psychic education, must come in symbols, in invisible tones sense and felt as much as observed”
Being an anthropologist does not give a person super human senses such hearing capacity to hear invisible tones, yet what it does is allow every anthropologist to capture and the ability to take all the senses seen in human activity, and break them down so that meaning can be attached to them so that they can be understood.
When it comes to the educational tool box of an anthropologist, the most important characteristic is its holistic nature of unifying the subfields of anthropology; cultural, biological, linguistics, and archaeology. The holistic nature of the tool box can be represented by a revolving lens that an anthropologist uses to get a multi-perspective on the area of study, from page 402 of David Anthony book entitled The Horse The Wheel and Language.
“The RV (Rig Veda) and the AV (Avesta) agreed that the essence of their shared parental Indo-Iranian identity was linguistic and ritual, not racial.”
In this one sentence, all f...
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...out than culture diversity is how the behavior of humans varies. Both culture and biological diversity are equally important when it comes to understand and tolerating other humans.
Global society
Anthropology gives the knowledge that people need to think outside of their own culture. Example; two men are watching television, one with some anthropological knowledge and other with none, and a movie comes on about African children passing through a ritual to manhood. The man with anthropology training has the knowledge to reflect on similar ritual from his culture, and understand the reasoning behind that ritual. Now the man with no anthropology knowledge would most likely be grossed out and turn the channel. And that’s a problem because the globe is not so large anymore, and people need to reflect, and understand when they see things not of their own culture.
Cultural Anthropology: The Human Challenge, 14th Edition William A. Havilland; Harald E. L. Prins; Bunny McBride; Dana Walrath Published by Wadsworth, Cengage Learning (2014)
In the book titled Around the World in 30 Years, Barbara Gallatin Anderson’s makes a precise and convincing argument regarding the acts of being a cultural anthropologist. Her humor, attention to detail, and familiar analogies really allow for a wholesome and educating experience for the reader. Her credible sources and uniform writing structure benefits the information. Simply, the book represents an insider’s look into the life of a cultural anthropologist who is getting the insider’s look to the lives of everybody
Anthropology is the study of humans through the ages. It aims to understand different cultures and practices that have existed from the origins of mankind as well. It differs from sociology in that it takes into account humans and cultures that no longer exist.
Anthropology, akin to other academic disciplines, has stirred among its colleagues debates of theories. As anthropologists have attempted to explain human behavior and culture a few of these premises have been discredited, others dismantled and portions renovated, and still others have become staples of anthropological analysis. Regardless of modern opinion regarding the theories of past anthropologists, elements of each concept remain essential to study. By utilizing the resources of McGee and Warms, Moore, Perry, Salzman, Sokolvosky, and Spencer, I will evaluate pairs of ideas in anthropology that include ideographic and nomeothetic, unilinear evolution and neoevolution, and organic and superorganic, while also indicating their influences on other aspects of anthropological thought.
Ninth grade freshmen year 2010, subject Global history. I first came to know of this word call Anthropology. Since then I vaguely remember that it had something to do with human evolutions. This word anthropology came back to my life this year as a college course. This time anthropology became a lot more crystal to me through various readings. The two that readings that mainly synthesized anthropology down for me are ANTHROPOLOGY and Modern life by Franz Boas and Prologue: The Power of the Between by Paul Stoller.
“The anthropologist is a human instrument studying other human beings”. This quote can only be described as extremely relevant when reading McHugh’s ethnography, a detailed analysis on the Gurung people of Nepal. She involved herself emotionally, physically, and mentally during her stay, portraying what it’s like and what it takes to study other people from an outsider’s point of view. The relationships McHugh created throughout her stay deepened her understanding and paved the way for her fieldwork as she dived into the unknown.
One of the most important qualities that a good anthropologist should possess is the ability to stay objective during his/her research. Turnbull told his readers that the Ik were not his first choice and in reality they were not even his second. His first two research trips did not pan out and so he “settled” for the Ik. He admits to us that while he was not “enthusiastic” about his trip like he was the other two, he does say that this might have helped to be more objective overall. Another thing that helps anthropologist stay objective is experience in the field. Turnbull already wrote one book, The Forest People. With Turnbull already having on...
Schultz, Emily A. & Lavenda, Robert H. 2005, Cultural Anthropology, 6th edn, Oxford University Press, New York, Chapter 3: Fieldwork.
...hat is considered appropriate in one part of the world may not be acceptable in other parts of the world. This indigenous multiplicity of cultures across the globe is probably what makes Anthropology an enriching subject. (Flesche, 1912)
Perhaps the most ubiquitous subset in anthropology is the socio-cultural subfield of sociocultural anthropology. This branch analyzes social patterns and customs across cultures. Focusing in particular on how people from different cultures live and their respective societal organization. Sociocultural anthropologists observe societies as a whole entity but break it down into smaller subsections including nationality, race, sexuality, gender and class then look at how these sections work in conjunction to create the entire society. These are the anthropologists which come to my mind when I conjure up a mental image of anthropology, the researcher who “goes-native” immersing themself into a society to gain firsthand knowledge of a distant culture. They learn how a society handles their everyday problems and what is of importance. Some of the areas which this branch of anthropology is concerned with are health, education, agriculture and work.
In some countries, this “new physical anthropology” were still practiced in anthropology departments, while in other countries, it moved into biology departments and museums. Lindee and Santos’ suggestion is that a deeper understanding of the development of biological anthropology across a larger range can be educational and productive. Recent discussions within anthropological circles in the United States often fail to consider that in other countries, biological anthropology has been practiced for many decades separate from other areas of anthropology. G´ısli Pa´lsson proposed that anthropology is currently organized around two radically separated domains: biological and social. Humans are both social and biological, not either or, and studying human beings should be both as well. Biological anthropology, with its emphasis on understanding human biology in social terms, seems to fill the privileged epistemic position in relation to social anthropology.
As Kluckhohn describes, the technical term of culture has a broader meaning to the anthropologist than the "humble cooking pot", and the "people of culture." He implies that the anthropologist needs to be concerned with all aspects and biological conditions involved that have shaped a society. Humans can be easily understood just by studying their surroundings, and as Kluckhohn has stated, "they can also be easily predicted by knowing a people's design for living."
It analyzes similarities and differences in various cultures and societies. Culture is learned and affects our perception of the world throughout our life. Overtime, a sense of cultural superiority is formed amongst individuals who are constantly exposed to their own culture. Anthropology can help eliminate culturally based biases, also known as ethnocentrism. It is a common practice we all in engage in when evaluating other cultures, however, by practicing anthropology this allows us to learn about other cultures by placing themselves into the cultural environment allows us to learn the traditions and customs by experience. Marjorie Shostak`s study of the !Kung people revealed that they organized themselves differently than Western cultures, which included solving conflicts with discussion, communal behavior, and basic living traditions. Moreover, by interviewing and living in this cultural environment, Shostak was able to empathize with the !Kung people and she also considered that all humans share an emotional life, which is important when studying the history of our human
If those who are being studied decide to behave differently during the study, then the anthropologist is likely to make wrong conclusions, and thus the research will not be very effective. The ethnographic studies usually take a very long time as it is very time-consuming (In Botin et al., 2015, p. 136). The anthropologists have to go and stay in the society that they are studying for a month or even a year as they study them. The anthropologist might make the wrong conclusion based on what they have observed in the field as they study. The anthropologists who make such wrong conclusions are the ones who are not willing to inquire for more explanation from the people that they are studying. In some circumstances, the anthropologist might be infringing on the right to privacy of those that they are studying (Walle, 2013, p. 101).
Boas, F. (1930). Anthropology. In, Seligman, E. R. A. ed., Encyclopaedia of Social Sciences. Macmillan: New York.