The four fields of anthropology
Download as PPTX, PDF5 likes13,531 views
Anthropology is the study of what it means to be human. It takes a holistic approach across four fields: archaeology studies how humans shape their material environments; physical anthropology examines human biological diversity and evolution; linguistic anthropology analyzes human language and communication; and cultural anthropology describes human cultures and learned knowledge systems. Together, these four fields seek to understand all aspects of human existence and behavior.
The four fields of anthropology
- 1. ANTHROPOLOGY’S FOUR FIELDS
- 2. What Is Anthropology? Anthropology is the scientific study of what it means to be human
- 3. What Is Anthropology? As a scholarly discipline, anthropology straddles the sciences, social studies and humanities.
- 4. What Is Anthropology? What makes anthropology unique is its holistic approach: the notion that hard sciences, social sciences and humanities can all speak to one another within the same disciplinary tradition.
- 5. Anthropology recognizes that almost all phenomena “are simultaneously real, like nature, narrated, like discourse, and collective, like society.”
- 6. The Four Fields What makes human beings unique? Human Characteristic Anthropological Subfield Humans shape their material environment Archaeology Humans differ in their physical form Physical/Biological Anthropology Humans have a unique communication Linguistic Anthropology system Humans act according to learned knowledge Cultural Anthropology systems
- 7. Archaeology Studies the ways humans manipulate their material environment Examines material environment of past societies for clues about their lives
- 8. Physical Anthropology Examines the ways humans are biologically similar to and different from other animals Primatology Human Evolution
- 9. Linguistic Anthropology How humans use language to communicate The spread and transformation of language Language acquisition Language revitalization
- 10. Cultural Anthropology Describes and analyzes the beliefs people have about their social and material worlds, and the ways these affect human action
- 11. Interdisciplinarity & Holism Cultural Archaeology Physical Linguistic