ANT 115 Introduction to Anthropology Lecture 1 PDF

ANT 115: Introduction to Anthropology Lecture 1: Origin and Definition of Anthropology Origin  Anthropology is derived from two Greeks words: Anthropo and Logia.  While Anthropo means human; logia means study.  The conjugation of the two terms prod...

ANT 115: Introduction to Anthropology Lecture 1: Origin and Definition of Anthropology Origin  Anthropology is derived from two Greeks words: Anthropo and Logia.  While Anthropo means human; logia means study.  The conjugation of the two terms produces the term Anthropologia, a Greek’s term meaning study of human.  Assimilation of this term in English language established the term Anthropology, meaning the study of human beings. Definition of Anthropology  Several definitions have been offered for anthropology.  According to Beals and Hoijer (1971) anthropology is the systematic analysis and comparison of all that can be discovered about humanity.  While Ember and Ember define anthropology as a science of humanity, Havilland defines anthropology as the study of “humankind everywhere, throughout time, seeking to produce useful generalizations about people and their behavior and to arrive at the fullest possible understanding of human diversity” (p5).  We can define anthropology as a science dealing with identification of human culture, explanation of how those culture are formed, identification of the elements of those culture that form the structure of those culture and explaining how those structures are linked together to generate specific functions for the effective running of the society.  Simply put, anthropology deals with holistic analysis of human culture: explaining the origin of man, how man invented culture, identifying elements of those culture and explaining the diverse ways those culture have functioned in the running of the society. Scope of Anthropology  Primarily anthropology deals with human culture. That is the studying of every aspects of human culture. Since culture is broad and diverse, anthropology has departmentalized its scope into several sub-disciplines.  Traditionally, anthropology is said to be divided into four main sub-disciplines.  These are: o Physical/Biological anthropology; o Archaeology; o Cultural Anthropology/Ethnology and o Linguistic Anthropology.  Nonetheless advances in anthropology have established more sub-disciplines in anthropology.  Biological and physical components of human study of primatology, odontology, fossil remains, embryology, human body responses to climate and physical adaptation to environment, genetics study, human variations and racial division, and forensic analysis of human remains for crime control. The 21st century anthropology seems to have separated physical anthropology from biological anthropology. According to  Robert Jumain, Physical anthropology deals with fossils evidences of human culture and how human has adapted to various environment. It also deals with climatic influence on human body structure and how such might be used to explain changes in human cultural development. Whereas biological anthropology deals with human body structures and their influences on culture. Such specific interests include the study of primatology, embryology, odontology, human variations and human genetics. While medical anthropology largely evolves from both cultural and biological anthropology, forensic anthropology evolves from both physical and cultural anthropology.  Archaeology is an aspect of anthropology that studies human past records and remains from the remotest time to explain the course of human cultural development. Both material and non-material remains are studied. Such includes technological products, human settlements, folklores, oral traditions and human fossil remains among others. Archaeology seeks to explain cultural development that have occurred in prehistoric times and those that occurred in the historic time but lacking proper documentary evidence. Through critical scientific analysis, archaeology seeks to reconstruct human cultural history.  Cultural Anthropology/Ethnology deals with study of people living in modern (recent) societies. The sub-discipline establishes interests in family, marriage and kinship, subsistence patterns, social control, society and individuals, religions and belief systems as well as politics and leadership among others. The interest of cultural anthropologists and ethnologists is to study humanity in all times and places. Through the conduct of ethnography cultural anthropologists identify the structures of culture and functionalize how culture exists to maintain social equilibrium in societies.  Linguistic Anthropology has to do with study of language in human society. Since language is a complex system involving symbolic communication in human societies, in such a way that other disciplines of anthropology such as biological anthropology and cultural anthropology influence language and culture. Thus, language assumes a sub-discipline status in anthropology. Linguistic anthropology therefore focuses on description of language, features and structures of language; culture and language and the ethnography of communications. Anthropology as Science and Humanity Anthropology and other Disciplines  The scope of anthropology provides opportunities for the discipline to be related with other disciplines. The closest among other disciplines which anthropology is related with are :  Archaeology,  History; and  Sociology. Is Anthropology an Art or Science?  Anthropology as art discipline: deals with culture within the scope of culture contents such as tradition, norms, history, ethos, values, practices and knowledge. All these are situated in arts.  As an art discipline, its methods of research is qualitative using ethnography.  Majorly explain culture without much use of physical scientific apparatus. Anthropology as a Science discipline  The discipline began as a physical science discipline.  Physical/Biological anthropology require research apparatus to examine the course of culture.