Anthropology and Social Work Essay

What is anthropology? This is a question that can be answered in numerous ways, but we are going to define it as simple as possible. If we break the word down into its two components it means the study of human beings. “Anthropo” means human beings or human kind and “logy” or “logia” is Greek for the study or knowledge of something. When we put it all together, it is the study of human beings which can be very broad. Anthropology can be broken down into four subfields: physical anthropology, archaeology, linguistic anthropology, and cultural anthropology.

Anthropology is something we should value because it allows us as human beings to learn about our origins and also to understand the cultures in the world outside of our own. Anthropology uses many techniques to learn and study such cultures that we do not understand. Ethnography is the gathering and interpretation of information based on intensive firsthand study of a participation culture -or- the written report of this study.

Anthropology is holistic. Humans are social beings more than anything, but with underlying psychological, biological and cultural connotations. The field of anthropology encompasses everything and anything having to do with humankind throughout history. Anthropology attempts to answer the tough questions about the human condition. What influences our actions? How has our species changed? Why do we look down on other cultures or societies? The questions are endless. It is the anthropologists’ job to try and answer them with unbiased subjectivity in order to come analytical conclusions about us as humans. (Kottak 14). To understand humans and the complexity of our cultures anthropology uses knowledge not only from the social and biological sciences, but also the physical sciences and humanities. In order to cover such a wide base of human history and interaction, anthropology itself has been split up into four different subsets that allow us to delve deeper into the understanding of the human condition. What is common throughout all the subsets is the application of knowledge in an effort to solve human problems. Throughout history though, the problems we have faced as humans have not always been the same. In fact they often change from generation to generation. For anthropology to keep up with these changes it’s had to

In society today, the discipline of anthropology has made a tremendous shift from the practices it employed years ago. Anthropologists of today have a very different focus from their predecessors, who would focus on relating problems of distant peoples to the Western world. In more modern times, their goal has become much more local, in focusing on human problems and issues within the societies they live.

The way the world is seen varies with each passing person. What is observed as good from one may be the damning pathway to hell for another. Many times these beliefs are instilled upon us at a very early age which can result with a twisted outlook on life that we had little to no control over. As we grow older we are than further influenced through our religion (or lack of), culture, and passed experiences. With that in mind, it is easy to see that reality can be just as interchangeable and further raises the difficult question of what is real? Robert Neville, a man who on a daily basis struggles with the reality of being the last man on earth often only manages to keep going by holding on to the intangibles of hope, denial, and

Sometimes, it seems that the best representation of fiction is reality, not the other way

As we begin to go on an excursion through literature, it is important to understand the concept of what an ethnography is. Ethnography is known to be a descriptive type of work that analyzes culture and customs of individual people. James Clifford has implemented this work into his studies and has influenced many others to do the same. I saw through the books I have read, ethnography makes these books become vivacious for a reader.

A long time ago the difference between perception and reality was defined as the act of understanding in contrast to the act of being real. Reality could be tricky; most of us including myself depending on scenarios of our lives tend to give in to ideas which are not applicable to reality as a whole. The best example of this is written in the short story “All Over” by Guy de Maupassant. In which his main character Lormerin is very self conscious and narcissistic also Lise de Vance, a former old love plays a big role in hurting Lormerin ego and opening his eyes by showing him, his real self. Many would say that when reality knocks it could be harsh and confusing. In the next couple of

Anthropology is the study of humans and cultures. The Chicago Tribunes article relates to the subject of physical anthropology because the Zika virus affects the communities of people around the world. The Zika virus is transmitted through mosquitos

What we think is reality will ultimately become our reality if we believe certain things about an individual; he/she begins acting in exactly that way.

Anthropology is the study of the human world. Anthropologists investigating the origin and development of human. Anthropology as a science split (physical anthropology, archaeological, linguistic, and cultural) and also in areas that are specialized as (forensic, medical, economic and business).

Not all proof that we are coming into this reality is scientific, some of it is emotional. People in this day are becoming very aware of the feelings of their fellow man. No one in this world or the B N W wants to offend anyone or make anyone feel any pain, if they can avoid it. People of this world avoid it by not saying offensive things and being politically correct. The people of the B N W avoided this pain by taking Soma, a mood altering drug that constantly makes you feel happy. Another method they used was to ban anything, like books, that made them think and alter they state of happiness. Mustapha Mond, one of the ten World Controllers, basically said that to be happy the world had to make sacrifices. This sacrifice referring to banning books and people no longer having people be free thinkers. In the B N W reality, the savage said to the world controller; "You seem to have paid a fairly high price for your happiness." Which is true, in our reality that would be a huge sacrafice but, we have not gone to an extreme and made sacrafices of not allowing people to be free thinkers, we do want people to be aware of their fellow man. In this way also, we are realizing the B N W as a reality.

By viewing reality in this bifurcated way, it is still philosophically useful to an extent as it provides different perspectives to worldly problems. It forces humans to critically evaluate their knowledge, along with ethical and practical considerations and practices When adopting this view, it should be done so with caution as there are still some flaws within this way of thinking.

Anthropology is the social sciences discipline that looks to understand humanity. In this discipline there are subdivisions such as cultural anthropology and primatology, and the beauty of anthropology is that you can more than you think, link some of your life event to some anthropological context.

Politically we are confronted with a host of issues ranging from matters pertaining to local taxation, planning, and zoning to regional (if not global) terrorism and other manifestations of conflict. The study of geography allows us to participate and enjoy our planet. Geography gives us a sense of reference to where we live and where we may be going in relationship to where we have been. Its appreciation of the world we live in. Anthropology is the study of human kind and culture, everybody wants to know where and how humans came to be. Some examples we can apply anthropology in our daily lives would be in relating to our families, friends, co-workers, in understanding work dynamics, in understanding and communicating with teens,, and in proposing new ideas, and plans. Its unique contribution to studying the bonds of human social relations been the distinctive concept of culture.