Anthropology definition and examples without any unnecessary things only theory
- 2. SINDH AGRICULTURE UNIVERSITY, TANDOJAM FACULTY OF AGRICULTURAL SOCIAL SCIENCES DEPARTMENT OF RURAL SOCIOLOGY INTRODUCTION TO ANTHROPOLOGY: UNDERSTANDING HUMAN LIFE & POSSIBILITY DR. GHULAM MUJTABA KHUSHK Professor Department of Rural Sociology
- 3. INTRODUCTION “Man is a Social Animal” Plato • Anthropology studies human life, at the intersection of the sciences and the humanities. • An introduction to anthropology encompasses human biology and evolution, archaeology, culture, and language. • Evolution of Earth, Evolution of Man; • From simple to complex • Ape Man, Chimpanzee….
- 4. WHAT IS ANTHROPOLOGY? • Anthropology is the study of various aspects of humans within past and present societies. • The science of human beings; especially : the study of human beings and their ancestors through time and space and in relation to physical character, environmental and social relations, and culture. • The study of the human race, its culture and society, and its physical development. • The science that deals with the origins, physical and cultural development, biological characteristics, and social customs and beliefs of humankind. • Theology dealing with the origin, nature, and destiny of human beings.
- 5. • The scientific study of the origin, development, and varieties of human beings and their societies, particularly so-called primitive societies • The study of human beings' similarity to and divergence from other animals. • The science of humans and their works. • The scientific study of humans, especially of their origin, their behavior, and their physical, social, and cultural development. • The study of humans, their origins, physical characteristics, institutions, religious beliefs, social relationships. • "science of the natural history of man," • Anthropology demonstrates the complexity of hunting and gathering as well as the complex processes known as domestication.
- 6. Anthropology is the study of people throughout the world, their evolutionary history; - How they behave, -Adapt to different environments; -Communicate and; -Socialize with one another. -The study of anthropology is concerned both with the biological features that make us human (such as physiology, genetic makeup, nutritional history and evolution) and with social aspects (such as language, culture, politics, family and religion). -Whether studying a religious community in London, or human evolutionary fossils in the UAE. -Anthropologists are concerned with many aspects of people’s lives: -The everyday practices as well as the more dramatic rituals, ceremonies
- 7. A few common questions posed by anthropology are: -How are societies different and how are they same? -How has evolution shaped how we think? -What is culture? -Are there human universals? -By taking the time to study peoples’ lives in detail, anthropologists explore what makes us uniquely human. -In doing so, anthropologists aim to increase our understanding of ourselves and of each other.
- 8. Physical/Biological Anthropology • Physical/ biological anthropology is the study of the past and present evolution of the human species and is especially concerned with understanding the causes of present human diversity. • Within this broad definition it encompasses fields as disparate as human palaeontology(study of fossils), evolutionary biology, human genetics, comparative anatomy and physiology, primate behaviour, human behavioural ecology, and human biology. • Human biology broadly covers the areas of modern human biological variation, human ecology, nutrition and demography. • What makes physical/ biological anthropology unique is that it brings all of these areas to bear on our understanding of the human condition.
- 9. • Evolutionary studies also extend to modern human biological and behaviour variation. • One fascinating area of current interest is the degree to which human behaviour is rooted in biology rather than culture. • In the general area of human ecology recent concerns emphasise the implications for vulnerable human groups of changes in climate, land tenure and economy. • This area also impinges on questions of environmental conservation in the modern world. • These more recent interests in human ecology occur alongside the more traditional concerns which focus on human biological variation and the correlates of this variation. •
- 10. • Evolutionary perspectives encompass the origins of modern humans and of modern human diversity; • the relationship between climate and human evolution; • the evolution of language and cognition. • What underlies all of these areas is the interpretation of archaeological and palaeontological evidence. • Such evidence is considered within the broader theoretical context of evolutionary biology and furthermore draws on evidence from comparative morphology and behavioural research on both humans and non-human primates.
- 11. Archaeology: Domesticaton, Agriculture, and Civilization • Archaeology, or archeology, is the study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. • The scientific study of historic or prehistoric peoples and their cultures by analysis of their artifacts, inscriptions, monuments, and other such remains, especially those that have been excavated. • The study of man's past by scientific analysis of the material remains of his cultures • The recovery and study of material objects, such as graves, buildings, tools, art works, and human remains, to investigate the structure and behavior of past cultures. • Archaeologists rely on physical remains as clues to the emergence and development of human societies and civilizations. •
- 12. • The archaeological record consists of artifacts, architecture, biofacts or ecofacts, and cultural landscapes. • The discipline involves surveying, excavation and eventually analysis of data collected to learn more about the past. • Archaeologists study human prehistory and history, from the development of the first stone tools at Lomekwi in East Africa 3.3 million years ago up until recent decades. • Archaeology explores the domestication of plants and animals through the rise of states and empires. • The archaeology starts its working at the point when Homo sapiens populated all the habitable continents.
- 13. Cultural-Social anthropology • It is a branch of anthropology focused on the study of cultural variation among humans. • Cultural anthropology has a rich methodology, including participant observation (often called fieldwork because it requires the anthropologist spending an extended period of time at the research location); • Interviews, Case studies and surveys. • Since humans acquire culture through the learning processes of acculturation and socialization, people living in different places or different circumstances develop different cultures. • Anthropologists have also pointed out that through culture people can adapt to their environment in non-genetic ways, so people living in different environments will often have different cultures.
- 14. Anthropological Linguistic/ Linguistic anthropology • Anthropological linguistics is the subfield of anthropology which deals with the place of language in its wider social and cultural context, and its role in making and maintaining cultural practices and societal structures. • Linguistic anthropology is the interdisciplinary study of how language influences social life. • Anthropological linguistics is one of many disciplines which studies the role of languages in the social lives of individuals within communities. • To do this, experts have had to understand not only the logic behind linguistic systems – such as their grammars – but also record the activities in which those systems are used. • Anthropological linguistics came about in the United States as a subfield of anthropology, when anthropologists were beginning to study the indigenous cultures, and the indigenous languages could no longer be ignored. • Conventional linguistic anthropology also has implications for sociology and self- organization of peoples.
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