Fields and Branches of Anthropology Literal meaning of anthropology Bohannan: each science has its definition of human. —【

Fields and Branches of Anthropology
    Good morning, everyone. In today’s lecture, I’m going to talk about anthropology. It sounds a complicated word, right? You may want to know the origin of the word or anything about anthropology. Actually, the Greek word for " man " is " anthropos," and uh, to tell you the truth, the word anthropology has been in the English language for centuries. But just what does the word anthropology mean? Literally, anthropology means "the study of man. " As Paul Bohannan, who is a renowned anthropologist, pointed out a number of years ago, "Each science that deals with people has its own definitions of human. An economist," he explains, " defines a human as a choice-making animal. Philosophers define man as a rationalizing animal..." And then, how does anthropology define humans? Well, anthropology attempts to be all-inclusive in the study of human behavior in all places and throughout time. Anthropology specializes in the description of humanistic, scientific, biological, historical, psychological, and social views of humans.
    To paraphrase Barbara Miller’s statement in her textbook Cultural Anthropology, the popular impression of anthropology is based mainly on movies and television shows that depict anthropologists as, ur, adventurers and heroes. Well, some do have adventures and discover treasures in Egyptian tombs and elsewhere, but mostly, their work is, ur, less glamorous and involves rather repetitive and tedious activities. Today, I’m not going into anthropologists’ adventures. What I’m going to do is to explain to you all the fields and branches of anthropology. Let’s begin by stating once again that anthropology is the study of human behavior in all places and at all times.
    Western civilization takes credit for the development of anthropology, which, as a matter of fact, was a relatively late science. Earlier Greek and Roman philosophers were more interested in speculating about the ideal society rather than describing those known to them.
    After the onset of the Age of Exploration, which included the discovery of the Americas, as well as travel to other distant places, the study of non-Western people began in earnest. In modern day, anthropology is a recognized social science with two broad fields and several branches or subfields.
    Okay. First, what are the two broad fields? They are physical anthropology and cultural anthropology. Let me give you a brief description of each. Physical anthropology is concerned with the development of man as a mammal. Related subjects are anatomy, biology and paleontology. Physical anthropologists study the evolution of the human species. One way they do this is by examining the fossils of what were once living creatures and living primates. Those include human beings. Common fossils are shells, bones and molds and imprints. These are found buried in the earth or permanently frozen in glaciers. Living primates are analyzed in order to study the mechanics of evolution and genetic differences among human populations.
    Ok. Next, let’s talk about cultural anthropology. This field is the study of learned behavior in human societies. Most cultural anthropologists will limit themselves to a few geographic areas, for example, Margaret Mead in Samoa and New Guinea, and Clyde Kluckhohn, with the Navajo Indians in the southwestern United States. I should mention that Kluckhohn’s work, which is Mirror for Man, is considered one of the best introductions to anthropology. Cultural anthropology and the scientific study of human culture will be discussed in more detail in our next lecture. Today we just take a brief look at the subfields of cultural anthropology.  They are archaeology, linguistics, and ethnography.
    So, what is archaeology? It is the study of different cultures through material sources, through historical objects that still remain today rather than direct interviews or observations of the group under study. One famous example of archaeological study is King Tut’s Tomb near Luxor, Egypt, which was discovered in 1922.
    Another subfield of cultural anthropology is linguistics, as I said just now. As you probably know, linguistics is the study of language as communication among humans. Culture is learned and transmitted primarily through language.
    And ethnography, a subfield of cultural anthropology, is, on the whole, the systematic description of human societies, mostly based on gathering the firsthand information about something in a real, natural environment rather than inner place study, such as a laboratory or classroom. Based on ethnographies, anthropologists can provide explanations of the behavior of different peoples. Let me also mention very briefly psychological anthropology, which deals with human personality and feelings. These are greatly influenced by an individual’s biological and mental characteristics as well as physical surroundings and personal experiences. Related subjects are psychology and psychiatry. And it is important to note that there are several universal features common among all societies, for example, the basic similarities in human biology and the existence of two sexes. Another of these universal features is education—either formal or informal, or both. Education is necessary to provide the young with the skills and attitudes needed to carry on as adults.
    So, you might ask, what are the practical applications for such a broad field of anthropology? The answer is that anthropology helps us plan the future and helps us contribute to the solution of human problems. You know the newest area of the study of man is applied anthropology. Formerly, anthropology was limited to the academic field, and most anthropologists were teachers or museum curators. But for the past several decades, large numbers of " anthro" graduates have been employed in other fields, such as urban planning and administration, health care, and international development. This shows that anthropology is not just an academic discipline, it has social and practical applications.
    Okay, to wrap up, we have briefly talked about the definition, development, and the fields and branches of anthropology. I hope after today’s lecture, you will understand that anthropology is not a scholarly field only. What’s more important is that although anthropologists have taken up the task of recording the processes and changes of cultures past and present, they also provide the necessary insights into where the human species is heading.