10 Questions
What is the focus of early anthropologists' study?
Understanding pre-industrial societies
Which anthropologists initiated ethnography and fieldwork among the studied population?
Franz Boas and Bronislaw Malinowski
In what way did anthropology shift its focus in the structural functionalist tradition?
Understanding how institutions fit together to create a functioning society
Which anthropological branch explores differing experiences of medicine and disease?
Medical anthropology
What did Johannes Fabian highlight as important in historical anthropology?
The people studied inhabiting the same time as the researcher
What do modern anthropologists continue to do in a rapidly changing world?
Apply ethnographic methods to modern people
What is significant about the flint tool discovered in North America?
It is made of flint, a material not native to the area but shows beautiful flint-napping around its edges
How do the locally found tools differ from known Native American tools?
They resemble older, non-Native tools such as Oldowan and Mousterian tools
What is the primary association of Mousterian tools?
Neanderthals in Europe
What does the presence of 180,000 to 200,000-year-old tools at the Calico site suggest?
The similarity to European paleolithic tools suggests an early human presence in North America
Study Notes
- Anthropology is the study of people and their cultures with roots dating back over a thousand years.
- Early anthropologists studied customs and beliefs in pre-industrial societies to understand their past and the development of institutions.
- Franz Boas and Bronislaw Malinowski initiated ethnography, intensive long-term fieldwork, with a focus on living among and communicating with the studied population.
- Anthropology shifted focus to understanding how institutions fit together to create a functioning society (structural functionalist tradition).
- Political anthropology questions assumptions of global politics, medical anthropology explores differing experiences of medicine and disease, feminist anthropology examines fundamental questions about society, and ritual process explores the power of symbols.
- Claude Levi-Strauss introduced structuralism, viewing cultures as built on hidden underpinnings formed from human perceptions and activity.
- Clifford Geertz suggested interpreting cultures as scholars in search of meaning, challenging the focus on culture as a scientific construct.
- Johannes Fabian highlighted the importance of considering the people studied as inhabiting the same time as the researcher to avoid othering and inspired the development of historical anthropology.
- Today, anthropologists continue to re-evaluate old problems and apply ethnographic methods to modern people in a rapidly changing and globalizing world.
Explore the history and key concepts of anthropology, from the early studies of pre-industrial societies to the modern application of ethnographic methods in a globalized world. Learn about influential anthropologists and their contributions to the field.
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