What Is Anthropology? How Is It Done?
People enter the field of anthropology for a variety of reasons. Some people enter the field by accident. This means that they did not intend on becoming an anthropologist. Some people were interested in the field from the start. One person married a social anthropologist; and, after living with a group of people for two years wrote an ethnography about the people.
The first story is about Adrienne Zihlman. She is a paleoanthropologist. She collects all kinds of bones; so, she can "contrive and test ideas about the origins of humans by studying the remains of living things" (Shell 1991:37). Zihlman went to Miami University of Ohio, where she decided to major in anthropology after reading
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The second story is about Barbara Smuts. She is a primatologist. Smuts decided to be a primatologist after seeing Jane Goodall's first article about chimpanzees in National Geographic (Rosenthal 1991:23). She graduated from Harvard in 1972; so, she started her graduate studies in biology at Stanford (Rosenthal 1991:24). While doing her graduate research, she flew to Goodall's Gombe Stream Research Center in Tanzania to study foraging patterns and social relationships in female chimps (Rosenthal 1991:24).
During her first few years of research, Smuts had a lot of problems (Rosenthal 1991:24). On her first expedition, she and three other students were kidnapped (Rosenthal 1991:24). They were returned safe, but no one was allowed to research in Gombe except for Jane Goodall (Rosenthal 1991:24). Smuts decided to change the focus of her study to olive baboons (Rosenthal 1991:24). Her first baboon project fell through because of problems in Masai Mara, Kenya (Rosenthal 1991:24). She found that baboons are the perfect species to study because they are very social; and, she was interested in social relationships (Rosenthal 1991:24). She followed the baboons everywhere throughout the day (Rosenthal 1991:24). She thinks that she had a lot of success with the baboons because she was small and female (Rosenthal 1991:24).
In the late 1980s, Smuts started to study
In the book Through a Window by Jane Goodall, Jane describes the lifestyle of chimpanzees and her view of them. During the book, it discusses many different characters including characters such as Fifi, Flossie, David, Gilka, Flo, Lucy, etc. The lifestyle of chimpanzees are shown in great detail. Jane describes some chimpanzees such as Lucy having a “friendship” with her. An example of that “friendship” is in Chapter Two, Lucy and Jane had known each other so long, that Jane was holding her and Lucy hugged Jane and kissed Jane. Although Chimpanzees seem all sweet, they are known to cause wars, and even killing other animal’s infants. Chimps are also
Despite the fact that Jane Goodall’s family was always on the move, her childhood was exciting. She owned a few animals that she would frequently observe, and record what they did. According to an online source, Jane always seemed to have an interest in all kinds of animals (Early Days 1). When Jane was a child she
The similarities between the stories may not appear very apparent at first over closer analyzation the appear more apparent .Both stories are focused around a brother and a sister whom
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.
Goodall, J. (1971). In the Shadow of Man. Boston: Houghton Mifflin. The author’s goal in writing this book is to discuss her experiences and what she had learned from studying wild Chimpanzees. Goodall wrote this book in order to convey her knowledge of a species of animal she loves very much, so that others may become educated and join her in protecting them. She dreamed of going to Africa to see them, and was offered a job by Dr. Lewis Leakey. Goodall wanted nothing more than a chance to help. Her experiences in surrounding herself with them have completely changed the way scientists conduct field research. Whether she intended to or not, the data she has collected has debunked myths and uncovered truths about chimpanzees, while bringing more light to human behavior.
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.
Within this essay, we will study more in depth the behavioral as well as physical traits of two primates at a zoo from their interaction with their peers to their place in the group. This observation would enable us to further understand the possible existing correlation between humans and primates. First, I studied a female chimpanzee with her baby, and then, a dominant male gorilla, in San Francisco Zoo at about noon, on May 23, 2015, for an hour each. Even though they share some similarities such as having a large brain, living for a long time, and being bored in their enclosure, they are still different; when gorillas are the largest, chimpanzees are the smartest. In fact, chimps use tools to catch food, they would not be able to reach
Isbell and Wright’s articles both focus on monkey species and their native environments, Africa for Isbell’s (1994) vervet Old World monkey and South America, Peru area, for Wright’s (1994) owl and titis monkeys. The articles main focus is the relationship between these monkeys and their natural predators. Focusing on how the predator aspect of their lives is determined by their environment and adaptations they make to ensure survival. Isbell’s Vervets Year of Doom focuses more on the adaptations that was forced upon the vervets’ because of their changing environment, the death of fever trees. While Wright’s Night Watch on the Amazon focusses more on how the primates way of life affects their relationship with predators and the likelihood of attacks. Both articles have similar aspects however the species way of life, specifically their environment and sleep schedule, are quite different as well as the authors way of observing and studying the primates within their habitats.
1. The social structure and behavior of chimps in their communities or troops suggest many questions. What research questions might Dr. Hahn and her associates ask?
On Friday, March 31, a observation study was conducted at the L.A. Zoo. The time of arrival for the observation was at 11:48 am and the end of the observation was at 2:42 pm. The weather condition at the zoo was very sunny with a mild gust of wind every so often, which is a perfect weather condition to conduct a study. The main reason for conducting this observation study was to study and gather information about the many different types of primate that are located at the zoo. To see how different or similar each primate is to one anotherin different aspects.
As curiosity arose they began to think that the experiment was not working and becoming a negative factor. From the information provided about the behavior of the bonobos, and the actions the members involved took, I feel as though it was not
Anthropology, as a discipline in the field of human sciences, is based on certain ethical principles to guide its practitioners through their research. This creates a stable framework on which to start any research project. Avoiding deviation, however, can be complicated. Anthropologists have a responsibility to their field,
The two stories that is “Marley and me” written by John Grogan and another one is “As Birds bring forth the sun” by Alistair Macleod is an autobiographical story. This story shows about the love for their beloved pet. The first story begins with the John, his father bought him a dog named saint Shaun during his childhood. This dog was of kind who was perfectly fit in the family and was good friend of John. John grew up and then met his wife and gifted her a guinea pig but she was unable to take care of that plant and later on she asked the john to buy a dog.
The first story is Amy Tan’s Two Kinds starts out with a girl explaining her mother, and what
She says another man named Paulin Nkubili worked hard to stop the killing of gorillas for trophies. According to Fossey, this man has been pretty successful in his work to stop poaching and trophy hunting. Fossey concludes the chapter by stating that much of her information was learned by trial and error. For example, she learned the gorillas respected her more if she studied them while on her hands and knees rather than standing upright.