Anthropology Basics

Concepts in Anthropology

• Anthropology is the study of humans, encompassing their origins, development, and contemporary variations, wherever and whenever they have been found.
• The term "anthropology" comes from the Greek words "anthropos" (human being/mankind) and "logos" (reason/study/science).
• Humans have two important characteristics: biological and cultural, which are inseparable elements.
• Anthropology is dedicated to the comparative study of humans as a group.

Scope and Focus of Anthropology

• Investigates the strategies for living that are learned and shared by people as members of human social groups.
• Examines the characteristics that human beings share as members of one species (homo sapiens) and the diverse ways that people live in different environments.
• Analyses the products of social groups, including material objects (material cultures) and non-material creations (religion/beliefs, social values, institutions, practices, etc).
• Aims to achieve an understanding of culture, society, and humanity through detailed studies of community life, supplemented by comparison.

Goals and Insights of Anthropology

• Produces knowledge about the actual biological and cultural variations in the world.
• Offers methods and theoretical perspectives enabling the practitioner to explore, compare, understand, and solve the varied expressions of the human condition.
• Develops an integrated picture of humankind.

Historical Development of Anthropology

• Anthropology is a fairly recent discipline with roots in the works and ideas of ancient and medieval Greek, Roman, and Hebrew philosophers and social thinkers.
• Originated in Western countries: France, Great Britain, the USA, and Germany.
• Historically, it is a European discipline that began to emerge as a profession in the late 1870s.
• The expansion of western colonial powers contributed to the growth of anthropology.

Scope and Subject Matter of Anthropology

• Covers the past, present, and future, as well as all aspects of human ways of life experiences and existence.
• Studies humanity with its all aspects of existence, and in its all means of differences (diversity) and similarities (commonality).
• Concerned with understanding both connections within societies and connections between societies.

Sub-fields of Anthropology

• Anthropology has four major subfields:
  • Physical/Biological Anthropology
  • Social/Cultural Anthropology
  • Linguistic Anthropology
  • Archaeological Anthropology