Anthropology Study Questions

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Grant MacEwan University *

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Anthropology

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Apr 3, 2024

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Anthropology Study Questions Week 2 (Part 1): What is Anthropology? What is anthropology?  Anthropologists explore human societies, culture and physical diversity across time and space. It is also the scientific study of human beings as biocultural organisms. What is the concept of cultures?  The concept of cultures is that culture consists of beliefs, traditions, customs, and ideas that humans learn as members of society. Culture allows humans to adapt and transform the world around them. What makes anthropology a cross-disciplinary discipline?  Anthropology spans social science, natural science, and humanities.  Anthropology in North America Is traditionally divided into four subfields including: o Biological (or physical) anthropology o Cultural anthropology o Linguistic anthropology o Archaeology Anthropology’s subfields (biological, cultural and linguistic, archaeology)  Biological anthropology = focuses on biological variation and diversity among modern humans and non-human primates and their extinct ancestors. It examines human biological variations and patterns of adaptation across time and space.  Cultural Anthropology = cultural anthropologists explore cultural diversity among all living societies, including our own. o Contemporary issues such as gender and sexuality, urbanization, globalization, transnational migration, and human rights. o How patterns of cultural expression or material life and technology vary across cultures and over time.  Linguistic Anthropology = linguistic anthropology studies human language in its cultural and historical contexts to examine diversity. Language is a system of arbitrary symbols that enables communication ad transmission of cultural knowledge.  Archaeology = archaeology studies human culture by analyzing the material remains people leave behind. Material remains allow past cultural activities to be described, reconstructed, and interpreted. Applied and medical anthropology  Applied anthropology uses information gathered in the other anthropological subfields to address and find practical solutions for contemporary cross-cultural problems and issues.  Medical anthropology is the focuses on health in its cultural context. It examines the factors that contribute to disease or illness. Explores the ways that human populations react and handle disease or illness.

Week 2 (Part 2): Why is the study of culture important to anthropologists? How do anthropologists define culture?  Culture is sets of learned behaviour and ideas that humans acquire as members of society, together with the artifacts and structures humans create and use. Basic features/characteristics of culture:  Culture as learned and shared through the processes of socialization and enculturation.  Culture as shared = people share certain ideas, believes, experiences, and practices with most people in our society.  Culture is integrated or patterned. = culture is patterned in the related cultural beliefs and practices repeatedly appear in different areas of social life.  Culture as symbolic= in that we use symbols to communicate cultural meaning.  Culture is transformative and adaptive. = cultural traditions are reconstructed and enriched, generation after generation, primarily because humans’ biological survival depends on culture. What are the three parts of culture?  What we think (cognition) = the values we learn from our parents and the symbols we understand in our environments are cognitive.  What we do (Behaviours, actions) = actions and interactions with others are behavioral.  What we have (artifacts) = the material products of our society are artifacts. Interrelationship of biology, environment, and culture  The facts of human biology as facts of human culture: o Human evolutionary heritage has coevolved with technology for millions of years and cultural capacity has enabled humans to adapt to changing physical environment. o Humans manipulate environments and develop within environments are cultural. o Contemporary social, political, and economic ideas, aspirations, or expectations are outcomes of both biological and cultural transformation occurring over time. Culture, history, and human agency  Culture is historical because it is shaped by events and reconstructed every generation.  Culture allows us to overcome biological and individual limitations.  Individuals are limited by the historical and cultural contexts in which they act. Why do cultural difference matter?  The same objects, actions, or events frequently mean different things to people with different cultures.  Human experience is inherently ambiguous.  To resolve such, the experience must be interpreted. Week 3: Why do anthropologists study language? What do linguistic anthropologists do?  They study the origin, development, and diversity of human languages.  Study language both as a form of symbolic communication and as an important carrier of cultural information  Explore the interrelationship between language and culture. What is language?

 Language is the system of arbitrary symbols human beings use to encode and communicate about their experience of the world and one of another.  A system of communication using sounds or gestures put together in meaningful ways according to a set of rules. How do we communicate without language?  Primates communicate with one another through a vocal call system.  Human language is a second learned system that functions alongside the call system inherited.  Humans also send messages without using language, through non-verbal communication. o Gestures, postures, facial expressions, and use of space Type of language?  Verbal language = speech or spoken language  Non-verbal language = hand-signed, written language, feelings and information can be communicated through smells, tastes, and verbal vocalizations. How is human language different from non-human primate?  What makes language distinctively human?  Duality of patterning means = sounds of a language are organized into the smallest meaningful units.  Patterning also includes semantics (meaning) and pragmatics (how language is used) How does context affect language?  Context influences how people use language: o One would communicate differently, for example, on social media than at work or while giving a presentation. How does language affect how we see the world?  The linguistic relatively principle or the “Sapir Whorf hypothesis” suggests that language has the power to shape the way people see the world How are language and culture related? What happens when language come into contact? What is linguistic inequality? What is lost if a language dies? Week 4 (Part 1): Why is evolution important to anthropologists? What is evolutionary theory?  Evolutionary theory is testable, unified, and fruitful.  The theory of evolution allows us to explain the patterns of similarity and diversity common to life forms.  Evolutionary theory claims the following: o Living species change over time and give rise to new species. o All organisms ultimately share a common ancestry. What material evidence is there for evolution?  Material evidence for evolution relates to change over time and across space.

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