ANT208H1 Lecture Notes - Lecture 1: Ethnography, Health Promotion, Historical Particularism
Document Summary
Anthropologists are interested in investigating the many aspects of human behaviour and biology (and the interaction between the two). It is rooted in the 19th century- based interest in the world vis-a-vis exploration and colonialism, i. e. the awareness of human diversity and an interest in trying to understand and learn about the said diversity. Rudolf virchow was a german pathologist, i. e. a person interested in anatomy and pathology. He is considered the father of social medicine, which is at the core of medical anthropology. He made the connection between health/disease and wealth/ power. He did not hold with darwinian evolution. As such, he was considered an anti- evolutionist by haeckel, one of his students who took with darwinian theory and pushed his theories. He tried to push it with regards to society, i. e. social darwinism and the superiority/inferiority of certain races.
