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Anthropology
the academic discipline that studies all humanity
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5 Principal subfields of Anthropology
- 1) Archaeology
- 2) Biological Anthro
- 3) Cultural Anthro
- 4) Anthropological Linguistics
- 5) Applied Anthro
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Archaeology
investigates the human past through the excacation and analysis of material remains
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Prehistoric Archaeology
Study of ancient, preliterate cultures- those that never kept writen records of their customs, activities, and beliefs
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Historic Anthropology
- study of those who kept written records of beliefs, activities and customs.
- journals, diaries, land records, tax statements are all used to study the culture
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cultural resource management
locate sites of prehistoric and historic significance evaluate their importance, and make recommendations about total or partial preservation
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Contract Archaeology
companies bid competitivly for the privilege of locating, excavating, and reporting on sites affected or destroyed by construction
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Biological Anthropology
- also called physical
- focuses on areas such as the anatomy and behavior of monkeys and apes, the physical variations between different human populations and the biological evolution of the human species
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Primatology
study the evolution, anatomy, adaptation, and social behavior of primates, the taxonomic order to witch humans belong
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Human Variation
- type of biological anthropology
- studies how and why human populations vary physically due to hereditary, genetic factors
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Paleoanthropology
investigates human biological evolution
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forensic anthropology
work for or consult with law enforcement agencies, where they help identify human skeletal remains
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Cultural Anthropology
- also called social anthro, sociocultural anthro, and ethnography
- study of contemporary and historically recent human societies and cultures
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5 overall objectives for Cultural anthropologists
- study firsthand and report about the ways of living particular human groups
- compare diverse cultures in the search for general principles that might explain human ways of living
- understand how various dimensions of human life relate to one anotherin particular cultures
- analyze the causes and consequences of cultural change
- enhance public understanding and appreciation of cultural differences and multicultural diversity
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fieldwork
method used to collect information about a particular culture
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Ethnography
a written account of how a single human population lives
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Linguistics
- study of human language
- describe and analyze the sound patterns and combinations, words, meanings, and sentence structures of human language
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anthropological linguistics
concerned with the complex relationships between language and other aspects of human behavior and thought
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Applied Anthropology
methods, theories, concepts, and insights to help public institutions or private interprises deal with practical, real world problems
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Practicing Anthropology
includes professional anthropologists who hold jobs outside of universities or other educational institutions
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Developmental Anthropology
an area in which anthropologists apply their expertise to the solutions of practical human problems usually in a thrid world country
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Educational anthropology
some roles include adcising in bilingual education, conducting detailed observations of classroom interactions, training personnel in multicultural issues, and adapting teaching styles to local customs and needs
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they watch how employees interact with one another, analyze how workers understand the capabilities of office machines, study how the attitudes and styles of the managers affect worker performance, and perform a variety of other information-gathering and analysis tasks
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Medical Anthropology
investigate the complex interactions among human health, nutrition, social environment, and cultural beliefs and practices
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Applied anthropologists trained to do two things well
- first, to observe, record, and analyze human behavior in very diverse settings
- second, to look for and understand the cultural assumptions, values, and beliefs that underlie that behavior
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Globalization
the intermixing and migrations of people with diverse homelands, the multinational reach of communications media, the movement of production and services to overseas locales, the increase in international travel and tourism, and so forth
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3 Different Approaches when studying culture
- holistically
- comparatively
- relativistically
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essence of holistics perspective
look for connections and interreltionships and try to understand parts in context of the whole
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essence of Comparative perspective
do not make generalizations about humans without considering the full range of cultural diversity
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cultural relativism
no culture -taken as a whole- is inherenity superior or inferior to any other
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Ethnocentrism
belief that the moral standards, manners, attitudes, and so forth of one's own culture are superior to those of other cultures
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essential point to cultural relativism
in studying another culture, do not ecaluate the behabior of its members by the standards and values of your own culture
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relativism is a mediological principle
refers to an outlook that is essential for maximum objectivity and understanding when studying a people whose way of life differs from their own
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Three Values of Anthropology
- First anthropology helps us understand the biological, technological, and cultural development of humanity over long time spans
- Second value of anthropology is that it teaches the importance of understanding and appreciation cultural diversity
- thirdly because of its insistence on studying humanity from a comparative perspective, anthropology helps us to understand our own individual lives
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