Anthropology

 

What is Anthropology? Anthropology is the scientific and humanistic study of human beings. It encompasses the evolutionary history of humanity, study of past societies and comparative study of human societies and cultures. Anthropology is divided into  four subfileds, 1.  Cultural Anthropology: is the study of human society and culture. 2.  Anthropological Linguistics: is the study of language and its relation to culture. 3.  Archeology:  The key focus of archeology is to look at the  material remains people leave behind and try to infer their cultural patterns from it. 4.  Biological or Physical Anthropology: Physical and biological anthropologists study humans as physical and biological entities. Focus primarily on aspects humankind that is  genetically inherited. I would like to talk a little about cultural anthropology and its impact on human society in today's world.  The goal of anthropology is to understand the development and the behavior of people by analyzing and comparing human characteristics and customs in all times and places. In comparative study anthropologists compare beliefs or practices of one particular cultural group with those of another group in a very systematic way and for the purpose of understanding and explaining the differences and similarities in terms of meanings and different adaptive functions. Field work is a wonderful experience that anthropologist do, in field work they live with a group of people they want to study, they observe their ways of life by becoming a part of their culture. Anthropologists spend a lot of time in reading and writing but field work is an essential component of the anthropological experience. Burnett Tylor  and Louise Henry Morgan  were the first anthropologist  who traveled  a lot but their work was not related to any field experience, they only compiled and  analyzed the ethnographic  accounts .Their  data  collection  consisted  of writings of ammeter travelers missionaries and  explorers  who wrote their own  experiences.Tylor and Morgan were influenced by the evolutionary theories of Darwin's and Spencer. They analyzed societies by the type of technology and social institutions on an evolutionary scale. However, Franz Boas, a German-American anthropologist found that evolutionary anthropology is both intellectually flawed and morally defective, because it treated other societies inferior to Europeans. Boas believed that one can understand and observe culture only by living among people, by learning their language, their religion, using their material goods, and this style of Boas' fieldwork   is called participant observation. Boas also believed that people are the product of their own histories therefore we cannot use our standards to judge other cultures on our own limited experience as keeping this belief increases ethnocentrism which creates misunderstanding. Therefore, anthropologists should free themselves of ethnocentrism and see each culture in its own values and beliefs, in other words people should see the other culture through the eyes of its own people and learn to understand what are the adaptive functions of their behavior. According to Boas, each particular group is a product of its own history with in its own particular context both social and environment .On the other hand another anthropologist, Malinowski while working with native Trobriand's found that reconstruction of history is a waste of time and that developing empathetic understanding with the people by learning their language and adapting their patterns helps understand culture  in its entirety. He believed that native cultural ways were logical and rational. Malinowski mainly focused on the contributions made by social practices and institutions to the maintenance and stability of the society. Boas and Malinowski both developed traditions of fieldwork and participant observation, both opposed racism, both see other cultures as rational and as neither superior nor inferior to their own, but they differed on actual methodology. Boas and Malinowski both are important and prominent anthropological figures and their contribution in the field of anthropology is invaluable. Regards,  Sohni  Humankind has not woven the web of life. We are but one thread within it. Whatever we do to the web, we do to ourselves. All things are bound together. All things connect. ~  Chief Seattle ~ Don't get soaked. Take a quick peak at the forecast with theYahoo! Search weather shortcut.

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