ANTH 111 Lecture Notes - Lecture 1: Dian Fossey, Biological Anthropology, Historical Linguistics
Major Themes and Goals of Course:
Understand what cultural anthropology is and what cultural
anthropologist's do
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Learn about cultures and how they are changing
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Learn and understand key cultural anthropological concepts
What makes up culture
○
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Recognize and challenge ethnocentric assumptions
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Interpret the fundamental role of culture in shaping your own as well as
other's beliefs, behaviors, and "common sense"
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Why study Anthropology
Who we are, where we have been, and where we are going
○
We seek to understand the human experience
○
Ethnocentrism: the assumption that ones own way of doing
things is correct, while dismissing other peoples practices or
views as wrong or ignorant
○
It makes us better people
○
Cross Cultural awareness and the ability to communicate are two
of the top assets sought by employers
○
Richer understanding, and a deeper curiosity, of humanity and
the human experience
○
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Anthropology is the study of humanity, including prehistoric origins and
contemporary human diversity
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Anthropology is holistic and integrative
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Holism is the approach in modern anthropology to view human biology
and behaviour together, as a whole, to understand our species but also
within the holistic approach, anthropologists recognize the human
behaviours can be broken down into a series of parts that work
together to allow people to survive
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Anthropology is also comparative
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Consider that similarities and differences in a wide range of societies
before making generalization
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The attempt to understand ourselves
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Doesn’t mean to study of the exotic, primitive or savage
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4 subfields of anthropology in North America
Biological (or physical anthropology)
The study of the biological aspects of the human species,
past and present, along with those of our closest relatives,
the non-human primates
Primatology
Study of non-human primates, the closets living
relatives of human beings.
®
Most famous studies are by Jane Goodall
(chimpanzees), Biruté Galdikas (orangutans),
Dian Fossey (gorillas)
®
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Paleoanthropology
Is the study of human evolution on the basis of
the fossil record
®
□
Contemporary Human Biological Variation
Seeks to define, measure, and explain
differences in the biological makeup and
behaviour of contemporary humans
®
□
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1)
Archaeology Anthropology
The study of the human past through the analysis of
material remains
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Scientific methods used to record time and space
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Material remains archaeologists study include:
Artifacts - objects that show traces of human
manufacture
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Ecofacts - recovered from an archaeological context
that are the remains of biological organisms
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Features are the non-portable portions of an
archaeological site
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Sites are locations where people lived, worked, made
tools worshipped, etc. (a place of human activity)
□
CRM (Cultural Resource Management)
TLU (Tradition Land Use)
®
TEK (Traditional Ecological Knowledge)
®
□
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2)
Linguistics Anthropology
The study of how people communicate with one another
through language and how language use shapes group
membership and identity
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Three subfields
Historical linguistics□
Descriptive linguistics□
Sociolinguistics □
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3 ways linguistics are important in today's society
Study language and power□
Study how information technology is changing
communication
□
Study the rapid extinction of Indigenous languages □
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3)
Cultural Anthropology
The study of the social lives of living communities
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Considers variations and similarities across cultures and
how they change over time
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Cultural anthropologists study cultural diversity in all living
human societies, including their own
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Many areas of specialization
…□
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4)
Applied Anthropology
The use of anthropological knowledge to prevent or solve
problems or to shape and achieve policy goal
§
E.g., forensic anthropologists - use their knowledge of
human skeletal anatomy to aid law enforcement and
human rights investigators
§
5)
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Intro
Week 1 Lecture 1 (pg. 1-10)
Thursday, January 5, 2017
2:24 PM
Document Summary
Understand what cultural anthropology is and what cultural anthropologist"s do. Learn about cultures and how they are changing. Interpret the fundamental role of culture in shaping your own as well as other"s beliefs, behaviors, and "common sense" Ethnocentrism: the assumption that ones own way of doing things is correct, while dismissing other peoples practices or views as wrong or ignorant. Cross cultural awareness and the ability to communicate are two of the top assets sought by employers. Richer understanding, and a deeper curiosity, of humanity and the human experience. Anthropology is the study of humanity, including prehistoric origins and contemporary human diversity. Consider that similarities and differences in a wide range of societies. Consider that similarities and differences in a wide range of societies before making generalization. Doesn"t mean to study of the exotic, primitive or savage. The study of the biological aspects of the human species, past and present, along with those of our closest relatives, the non-human primates.
