Chapter One What Is Anthropology?

1
Chapter One What Is Anthropology?

• Key Terms

2

• physical anthropology The study of humans from a
  biological perspective.
• paleoanthropology Area of physical anthropology
  interested in reconstructing the evolutionary
  record of the human species.

3

• primatologyThe study of our nearest living
  relatives (apes, monkeys, and prosimians) in
  their natural habitat.
• GeneticsThe study of inherited physical traits

4

• population biologyThe study of the relationship
  between population characteristics and
  environment
• epidemiology The study of differential clusters
  of disease in populations over time.

5

• archaeology The study of the lifeways of people
  from the past through excavating and analyzing
  the material culture they leave behind.
• artifactsObjects that have been made or modified
  by humans and that can be removed from the site
  and taken to the laboratory for further analysis.
  (Ex. tools, arrowheads,and fragments of pottery).

6

• featuresObjects made or modified by people that
  cannot be readily carried away. (Ex. house
  foundations, fireplaces, and postholes.)
• ecofactsObjects found in the natural environment
  (such as bones, seeds, and wood) that were not
  made or altered by humans but were used by them.

7

• anthropological linguisticsBranch of
  anthropology that studies human speech and
  language.
• historical linguisticsDeals with the emergence
  of language in general and how specific languages
  have diverged over time.

8

• descriptive linguisticsThe study of sound
  systems, grammatical systems, and the meanings
  attached to words in specific languages.
• ethnolinguisticsBranch of anthropological
  linguistics that examines the relationship
  between language and culture.

9

• sociolinguisticsExamines the relationship
  between language and social relations.
• cultural anthropologyThe branch of anthropology
  that deals with the study of specific
  contemporary cultures and the more general
  underlying patterns of human culture derived
  through cultural comparisons.

10

• ethnographyDetailed descriptions of the features
  of specific cultures, the result of extensive
  field studies in which the anthropologist
  observes, talks to, and lives with the people he
  or she is studying.
• ethnologyThe comparative study of contemporary
  cultures, wherever they may be found.

11

• paleopathologyThe analysis of disease in ancient
  populations.
• holismCovering as many aspects of a culture as
  possible in the total cultural context.

12

• ethnocentrismThe belief that ones own culture
  is superior to all others.
• cultural relativismThe notion that any part of a
  culture (such as an idea, a thing, or a behavior
  pattern) must be viewed in its proper cultural
  context rather than from the viewpoint of the
  observers culture.

13

• emic approachRefers to the insider view, which
  seeks to describe another culture in terms of the
  categories, concepts, and perceptions of the
  people being studied.
• etic approachRefers to the outsider view,
  whereby observing anthropologists use their own
  categories and concepts to describe the culture
  under analysis.