ANTHROP 1AB3 Lecture 1: Anthropology 1AB3 - Lessons 1-6
13 Jun 2018
School
Department
Course
Professor
What is Anthropology? 18-06-13 4:04 PM
What is Anthropology?
- Anthropos = ‘humankind’
- Logia = study of
- The systematic study of humankind in all times and places
- Relatively recent discipline
- Used to be a very academic but it is now in demand outside of academia
- So, anthropology is not just about the study of far away peoples and
places. Here are some examples of what we might study....
Crack Dealers in East Harlem, NYC
- Why study them?
• To understand how poverty and racism shape their choice to sell
crack and join gangs
- Anthropologist named Philippe Bourgois, cultural anthropologist, studied El
Bario, crack dealer group in Harlem
- Was selling drugs the option for these people? Why make this cultural
choice?
Extracting Ancient DNA
- Hendrick Poinar (McMaster Anthropology) – ancient DNA; disease in the
past; evolution of disease; sequencing genome of the Black Death
- 50 million people died from the disease of bacteria in the 1300s
- What makes this research significant?
• Sequencing of the Black Death
• First complete genome
• Show the origin of the Plague, shows the genesis of modern
plagues
• Diseases turn out to be emerging and re-emerging deaths
• Helping us predict future pandemics
• Learning about the evolution of disease
Mummies!
- Dr. Andrew Wade (McMaster) - The Mummipedia Project:
Margaret Lock – organ transplants (p. 4)
- Cultural anthropologist who studies health systems
- Wrote “Twice Dead: Organ Transplants and Reinvention of Death”
- North American – organ transplants are legal; mind/ body split
• the brain is need to function
• if the brain is dead, then it is okay to donate organ
• “personhood” is over
- Japan – transplants are rarely performed
• holistic approach
• immoral and unethical to harvest organs
- North American and Japan have very different attitudes toward
“personhood”
My work:
- Cultural anthropologists
- Sports celebrities (swimming and figure skating), nationalism and identity
- How do sport celebrities get promoted as national icons? Who gets
promoted and who doesn’t?
- Gender, sexuality, ethnicity come into play
Social Sciences:
- Anthropology, Geography, Sociology, Psychology – all study people
- So what makes anthropology unique or different from these disciplines?
1) Methods – Long term fieldwork – excavation (archaeologists and physical
anthropologists) or living/interacting with people for a year or more (cultural
or linguistics) – collecting primary data
2) Interest in prehistory – anthropologists have the ability to not only study
present-day cultures but prehistoric peoples as well
3) Commitment to holism –1) interdisciplinary perspective (working
together with other specialists) to get a more “complete” picture of a
culture; 2) exploring all integrated aspects of a society
Other important features of anthropology:
- Anthropology is Historical
• How did we come to be the way we are?
• What forces in the past have shaped us?
- Anthropology is Comparative
• What do all humans have in common?
• How do we differ?
• What are the reasons for this difference?
The Four Subfields of Anthropology
1. Physical (Biological) anthropology
2. Archaeology
3. Cultural anthropology
4. Linguistics
- Plus: Applied anthropology
- Note: Divisions among fields are “NOT SHARP”
Cultural Anthropology
- The study of contemporary (present-day) cultures and societies
- Culture is defined as transmitted, learned behavior
- Methodology – participant observation, interviews (HOW?)
- Ethnography – a book with a description of an aspect of culture within a
society written but cultural anthropologists
Archaeology
- The study of past societies and their cultures using material remains (e.g.,
tools, ceramics, sites)
- Matt Emery works on archaeological sites around the world, even in
Hamilton
Linguistic Anthropology
- Studies the construction and use of language by human societies
- Descriptive linguistics – how language works and how it has changed over
time
- Sociolinguistics – the relationship between language and social behaviour
in different cultures
- Historical linguistics – how are languages related to each other? How have
they changed over time?
Example: Anthropologist Paul Manning, Trent U
- “Coffee culture” and Starbucks lingo
- What types of things do you think we might learn by studying the language
used by Starbucks employees and customers? How is their speech different
from Tim Hortons, for instance?
Physical/Biological Anthropology
- Studies all aspects of the biology and behavior of the human species (and
our closest relatives), past and present
Primatology:
- Jane Goodall is a physical anthropologist (primatologist)
- Studied chimp behavior in Gombe Park, Tanzania
Forensic Anthropology (a type of Physical)
- Anthropology & the law
- Interested in human remains and human skeletons
- Accidental death, crime scene investigation, human rights investigations
Document Summary
The systematic study of humankind in all times and places. Used to be a very academic but it is now in demand outside of academia. So, anthropology is not just about the study of far away peoples and places. Here are some examples of what we might study Why study them: to understand how poverty and racism shape their choice to sell crack and join gangs. Anthropologist named philippe bourgois, cultural anthropologist, studied el. Hendrick poinar (mcmaster anthropology) ancient dna; disease in the past; evolution of disease; sequencing genome of the black death. 50 million people died from the disease of bacteria in the 1300s. Dr. andrew wade (mcmaster) - the mummipedia project: Wrote twice dead: organ transplants and reinvention of death . North american organ transplants are legal; mind/ body split: the brain is need to function if the brain is dead, then it is okay to donate organ, personhood is over.
