Anthropology

Anthropology is the scientific study of humanity. It looks at many parts of human life, such as human behavior, human biology, cultures, societies, and linguistics, both now and in the past, including archaic humans.

Social anthropology focuses on patterns of behavior, while cultural anthropology looks at the meanings behind cultural norms and values. Today, many people use the term sociocultural anthropology to describe this area. Linguistic anthropology studies how language shapes our social lives. Biological (or physical) anthropology examines the biology and evolution of humans and their close primate relatives.

Archaeology, often called the "anthropology of the past," studies human activity by looking at physical remains. In North America and Asia, archaeology is usually seen as a part of anthropology. In Europe, it is sometimes considered its own subject or a part of related areas like history and palaeontology.

Etymology

The word anthropology comes from old Greek words. It started being used in Germany during the Renaissance by writers like Magnus Hundt and Otto Casmann. They created the word from two Greek words: ánthrōpos, meaning "human," and lógos, meaning "study." This idea was also used by Aristotle a long time ago. The word slowly made its way into English during the early 1700s.

Origin and development of the term

Main article: History of anthropology

Through the 19th century

In 1647, early scholars at the University of Copenhagen described anthropology as the study of humans, dividing it into two parts: the body (anatomy) and the mind (psychology).

Bernardino de Sahagún is considered to be the founder of modern anthropology.

Later, scientists began using the word anthropology more often. For example, in 1839, a scientist named Étienne Serres used it to study ancient human remains. Museums and groups dedicated to studying humans started forming all over the world.

The idea of comparing different groups of people helped scientists understand how humans developed. The work of Charles Darwin on how species change over time inspired many of these scientists.

20th and 21st centuries

By the end of the 19th century, anthropology had become a special area of study in schools and universities. It grew quickly in the 20th century, with many new departments forming around the world.

Two important researchers, Franz Boas and Bronisław Malinowski, helped shape how anthropology is studied today. They focused on comparing different cultures and spending long times living among the people they studied.

In the United States, anthropology is often divided into four main areas: the study of human biology, cultural studies, archaeology, and language studies. These areas sometimes overlap but use different methods to understand humans.

Fields

Further information: American anthropology

Anthropology is a wide-ranging study that looks at humans from many angles. It combines ideas from science, humanities, and social studies. It explores human biology, behavior, cultures, and societies, both today and in the past. This includes learning about early humans and how they have shaped modern life.

Sociocultural anthropology joins together the study of cultures and social groups. Cultural anthropology looks at how people understand the world and give meaning to their lives. Social anthropology studies the relationships between people and groups. Both help us see how societies work and how people live together. They also look at family ties, how societies organize themselves, and many other parts of daily life.

Sociocultural

Main articles: Cultural anthropology, Social anthropology, and Sociocultural anthropology

Sociocultural anthropology brings together the study of cultures and social groups. Cultural anthropology examines how people make sense of their world and each other. Social anthropology focuses on the relationships among individuals and groups. Both help us understand how societies are organized and how people live together. They study family ties, social structures, economies, politics, laws, customs, arts, and many other aspects of life.

Biological

Main article: Biological anthropology

Biological anthropology studies humans and other primates from a biological point of view. It looks at how humans have evolved and how they vary today. This includes studying human remains, genetics, and health. Subfields include studying fossils, teeth, and primates.

Archaeological

Main article: Archaeology

Archaeology studies the past by looking at things people left behind, like tools and buildings. Archaeologists examine these objects to learn about ancient societies and their lives. Ethnoarchaeology studies living groups to understand past peoples better.

Linguistic

Main article: Linguistic anthropology

Linguistic anthropology looks at how people communicate and how language relates to culture. It studies how language changes over time, how people use it in different ways, and how it connects to social life. This field uses methods from language study to understand human behavior and culture.

Ethnography

Main article: Ethnography

Ethnography is a way to study how people interact in their daily lives. It often involves watching and participating in community activities. Ethnographers learn about cultures by living among people and understanding their experiences.

Key topics by field: sociocultural

Art, media, music, dance, and film

Art

One big question in the study of art is whether "art" means the same thing in all cultures. Some researchers have noticed that words like "painting" or "sculpture" don’t always match up with how other cultures see things. To understand this better, they look at objects that have beautiful qualities, even if they aren’t called "art." Books like Boas' Primitive Art, Claude Lévi-Strauss's The Way of the Masks (1982), and Geertz's 'Art as Cultural System' (1983) help turn the study of art into a study of what different cultures consider beautiful.

Media

Main article: Media anthropology

Media anthropology looks at how people make and watch media, like TV or newspapers, and how it affects their lives. Researchers study everything from how news is made to how people react to it at home. This also includes cyber anthropology, which is a newer way to study the internet, and other areas like social movements or health education. Classic studies also look at how radio, the press, new media, and television have become important since the 1990s.

Music

Main article: Ethnomusicology

Ethnomusicology is the study of music in different cultures. It looks at music’s role in society, its history, and how it connects to people’s lives. While it started in the 18th and 19th centuries, it became a formal field around 1950 thanks to Dutch scholar Jaap Kunst. It led to journals like Ethnomusicology and groups like the Society of Ethnomusicology.

Visual

Main article: Visual anthropology

Visual anthropology studies how people use pictures, films, and other visual ways to share culture. This includes photography, film, and since the mid-1990s, new media. It also looks at things like performances, museums, and how people in different cultures express themselves visually, such as through sandpaintings, tattoos, and paintings.

Economic, political, economic, applied, and development

Economic

Main article: Economic anthropology

Economic anthropology looks at how people handle money and resources in many different places and times. It often disagrees with traditional economics. It started with researchers like Bronisław Malinowski and Marcel Mauss who studied gift-giving. Today, it examines big topics like corporations and the global financial system.

Political economy

Main article: Political economy in anthropology

Political economy in anthropology uses ideas from history to study societies, especially those without big governments. It looks at topics like hunter-gatherer societies, peasant life, and colonialism. Recently, it has also studied modern capitalism around the world.

Applied

Main article: Applied anthropology

Applied anthropology uses anthropology ideas to solve real-world problems. It helps communities by studying their needs and finding ways to improve their lives. It is closely linked to development anthropology.

Development

Anthropology of development looks at development projects with a critical eye. It asks why poverty still grows even when the goal is to reduce it. It questions why plans often fail and why outside groups often lead development instead of local people.

Kinship, feminism, gender, and sexuality

Kinship

Main article: Kinship

Kinship is the study of family and relationships in different cultures. Anthropologists look at how families are formed, including blood ties and chosen families. They study how people are related by birth, called consanguinity, and by choice.

Feminist

Main article: Feminist anthropology

Feminist anthropology looks at how gender and women’s roles are studied in anthropology. It aims to correct biases in research and includes the study of pregnancy and childbirth in different cultures.

Medical, nutritional, psychological, cognitive, and transpersonal

Medical

Main article: Medical anthropology

Medical anthropology studies health and disease across cultures. It looks at how different cultures understand health, how doctors and patients interact, and how health systems work together. It also studies how social and environmental factors affect health.

Nutritional

Main article: Nutritional anthropology

A Punu tribe mask, Gabon, Central Africa

Nutritional anthropology studies how food, health, and economics connect. It looks at how changes in the economy and environment affect what people eat and their health.

Psychological

Main article: Psychological anthropology

Psychological anthropology studies how culture shapes the mind. It looks at how growing up in a culture affects thinking, feelings, and health.

Cognitive

Main article: Cognitive anthropology

Cognitive anthropology studies how people in different cultures understand the world. It uses ideas from psychology and biology to see how shared knowledge shapes how people think and act.

Transpersonal

Main article: Transpersonal anthropology

Transpersonal anthropology studies how people experience different states of mind and how culture influences these experiences. It looks at how myths, rituals, and other cultural practices affect these states.

Political and legal

Political

Main article: Political anthropology

Political anthropology studies how societies are organized politically. It looks at both simple and complex societies, including how governments and informal groups interact.

Legal

Main article: Legal anthropology

Legal anthropology studies how different cultures handle rules and justice. It looks at how people solve problems, respect rights, and organize their lives without formal laws.

Public

Main article: Public anthropology

Public anthropology aims to use anthropology to solve big social problems and encourage public discussions to create change.

Nature, science, and technology

Cyborg

Main article: Cyborg anthropology

Cyborg anthropology studies how humans and technology interact. It looks at how modern technology changes what it means to be human.

Digital

Main article: Digital anthropology

Digital anthropology studies how people and digital technology interact. It includes studying online communities, virtual worlds, and how technology affects culture.

Ecological

Main article: Ecological anthropology

Ecological anthropology studies how humans adapt to their environments. It looks at how culture and nature influence each other and how people manage resources.

Environment

Social sciences like anthropology help us understand environmental issues. Anthropology looks at how different cultures interact with their environments and how human activity changes the planet.

Historical

Main article: Ethnohistory

Religion

The anthropology of religion studies how religions work in different cultures. It looks at how religious beliefs and practices are part of everyday life and how they connect to other parts of society.

Urban

Main article: Urban anthropology

Urban anthropology studies cities and urban life. It looks at how people live in cities, the problems they face, and how cities change over time.

Key topics by field: archaeological and biological

Main articles: Archaeological and Biological anthropology

Main article: Anthrozoology

Anthrozoology studies how humans and animals interact with each other. This area looks at how humans and animals help each other and how they behave together. It includes ideas from many areas of study, such as biology, psychology, and medicine.

Main article: Biocultural anthropology

Biocultural anthropology looks at how human biology and culture are connected. In the past, scientists focused on how human biology might lead to cultural differences. Today, the focus is more on how culture shapes human biology.

Five of the seven known fossil teeth of Homo luzonensis found in Callao Cave

Main article: Evolutionary anthropology

Evolutionary anthropology studies how humans have changed over time in both their bodies and their behavior. It looks at how humans evolved from earlier species and how both biology and culture have developed. This field uses ideas from many areas, like archaeology, psychology, and genetics.

Main article: Forensic anthropology

Forensic anthropology uses the study of human bones to help solve crimes. It helps identify people whose remains are very broken or hard to recognize. This work is used in courts of law.

Main article: Palaeoanthropology

Palaeoanthropology is the study of ancient humans using fossils like bones and footprints. By studying these remains, scientists learn about how early humans lived and what they ate. The shape and marks on these fossils give clues about the lives of people from the past.

Organizations

Anthropology is studied in many universities and colleges around the world. The largest group for people who study anthropology is the American Anthropological Association, which was started in 1903. It includes anthropologists from many countries.

In 1989, some scholars from Europe and America created the European Association of Social Anthropologists. This group helps support anthropology in Europe and aims to share ideas from all parts of the world.

There are many other groups for anthropologists, sometimes organized by country or area. Anthropologists often work with experts from other fields like geology, physics, zoology, paleontology, anatomy, music theory, art history, and sociology.

List of major organizations

Main category: Anthropology organizations

Ethics

As anthropology has grown, it has developed important rules to protect both the people studied and the researchers. These rules help make sure that everyone is treated fairly and with respect.

Anthropologists have sometimes helped governments with their projects, which has caused debates about right and wrong in the field. Today, anthropologists try to understand all cultures without judging them by their own standards. They also study serious issues like unfair treatment and harmful practices, aiming to learn more about why these things happen.

Post-World War II developments

Before WWII, two main ways of studying people existed: one from Britain and one from America. After the war, these two ways started to mix more, leading to a shared approach called sociocultural anthropology.

Anthropology looks at many sides of human life, using detailed and careful methods. Researchers often spend a lot of time studying one place or topic closely. They also study how humans have changed over time and how different groups live. This helps them understand big ideas about human behavior and culture.