Unit 1: What is Anthropology?
Class 1-1
What are the four subfields in anthropology?
● Archeology: studies the past based on materials
○ Look at temples, monuments, etc.
○ Keep careful records and reconstruct artifacts
● Physical anthropology:
○ Paleoanthropology: studies human evolutionary history
○ Primatology: work with chimps and other primate species to see how close/how
different humans are from them
○ Human variation: studying human races
■ Race: a social concept, not scientific
● Linguistic anthropology: studies languages and the history of languages
○ Which languages are closely connected?
○ Keeping track of languages that are fading away
○ Different social groups communicate differently
● Cultural anthropology:
Anthropology describes what it means to be human in the broadest possible sense
1. The holistic (integrated) study of human
a. Entirety of human existence
2. Comparative science based on evidence from the widest possible range
a. Compare all evidence
i. Compare past to present, compare rural to urban, compare primates to
human, etc. to deepen understanding
3. Field-based discipline away from the office
a. Field based work, working outside on dig sites, etc.
, Class 1-2
How did Anthropology begin?
Historical Context:
1. Sailing tech, and weapon development after 15th century
a. European encounters with others
i. Marco Polo sails around Asia in the 13th century
ii. Magellan goes from Europe to Africa to Australia and back again from
1519-1522
iii. James Cook travels the pacific and Africa
b. Improved technology allows Europeans to travel farther and find new societies,
which lets them interact w/ new people with different cultures
i. Leads to colonialism (european violence and control over indengious
peoples’ and, wealth, and labor)
2. The Enlightenment (1685-1815)
a. Galileo - astronomy, telescope
b. Issac Newton - principle of mathematics
c. John Locke - “essay concerning human understanding”
d. Jean Jaques Rousseau - inspired french revolution
e. Thomas Jefferson - “Declaration of Independence”
People start to wonder why some people are different from others based on where they lived.
Anthropology is made to answer the questions in regards to human condition/diversity.
Class 1-1
What are the four subfields in anthropology?
● Archeology: studies the past based on materials
○ Look at temples, monuments, etc.
○ Keep careful records and reconstruct artifacts
● Physical anthropology:
○ Paleoanthropology: studies human evolutionary history
○ Primatology: work with chimps and other primate species to see how close/how
different humans are from them
○ Human variation: studying human races
■ Race: a social concept, not scientific
● Linguistic anthropology: studies languages and the history of languages
○ Which languages are closely connected?
○ Keeping track of languages that are fading away
○ Different social groups communicate differently
● Cultural anthropology:
Anthropology describes what it means to be human in the broadest possible sense
1. The holistic (integrated) study of human
a. Entirety of human existence
2. Comparative science based on evidence from the widest possible range
a. Compare all evidence
i. Compare past to present, compare rural to urban, compare primates to
human, etc. to deepen understanding
3. Field-based discipline away from the office
a. Field based work, working outside on dig sites, etc.
, Class 1-2
How did Anthropology begin?
Historical Context:
1. Sailing tech, and weapon development after 15th century
a. European encounters with others
i. Marco Polo sails around Asia in the 13th century
ii. Magellan goes from Europe to Africa to Australia and back again from
1519-1522
iii. James Cook travels the pacific and Africa
b. Improved technology allows Europeans to travel farther and find new societies,
which lets them interact w/ new people with different cultures
i. Leads to colonialism (european violence and control over indengious
peoples’ and, wealth, and labor)
2. The Enlightenment (1685-1815)
a. Galileo - astronomy, telescope
b. Issac Newton - principle of mathematics
c. John Locke - “essay concerning human understanding”
d. Jean Jaques Rousseau - inspired french revolution
e. Thomas Jefferson - “Declaration of Independence”
People start to wonder why some people are different from others based on where they lived.
Anthropology is made to answer the questions in regards to human condition/diversity.
