ANTHROPOLOGY

As a discipline of Social Sciences

WHAT IS ANTHROPOLOGY?
– is the study of human
kind. Human culture or
human development.
WHAT IS ANTHROPOLOGY?
– the study of PEOPLE – their
origins, their development, and
contemporary variations,
wherever and whenever they have
been found on the face of the
earth.
ANTHROPOLOGISTS…
•consider the past, through ARCHAEOLOGY,
to see how human groups lived hundreds
or thousands of years ago and what was
important to them.
•They consider what makes up our biological
bodies and genetics, as well as our bones,
diet, and health.
ANTHROPOLOGISTS…
•also compare humans with other
animals (most often, other
primates like MONKEYS and
CHIMPANZEES) to see what we
have in common with them and
what makes us unique.
ANTHROPOLOGISTS…
•Anthropologists also try to understand how
people interact in social relationships (for
example with families and friends).
•They look at the different ways people
dress and communicate in different
societies. Anthropologists sometimes use
these comparisons to understand their own
society.
•Many anthropologists work in their own
societies looking at economics, health,
education, law, and policy (to name just a
few topics).
•When trying to understand these
complex issues, they keep in mind what
they know about biology, culture, types
of communication, and how humans lived
in the past.
ANTHROPOLOGICAL APPROACH
5
SUBDISCIPLINES
OF
ANTHROPOLOGY:
ARCHAEOLOGY
•the scientific study of the
material remains of
past human life and
activities
 ARCHAEOLOGY
•Archaeologists study human culture by
analyzing the objects people have made.
They carefully remove from the ground
such things as pottery and tools, and they
map the locations of houses, trash pits, and
burials in order to learn about the daily
lives of a people.
 ARCHAEOLOGY
•They also analyze human bones and teeth to
gain information on a people’s diet and the
diseases they suffered.
•Archaeologists collect the remains of plants,
animals, and soils from the places where people
have lived in order to understand how people
used and changed their natural environments.
•The time range for archaeological research
begins with the earliest human ancestors
millions of years ago and extends all the
way up to the present day.
•Like other areas of anthropology,
archaeologists are concerned with
explaining differences and similarities in
human societies across space and time.
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.
 BIOLOGICAL ANTHROPOLOGY
•Biological anthropologists seek to
understand how humans adapt to different
environments, what causes disease and
early death, and how humans evolved
from other animals. To do this, they study
humans (living and dead), other primates
such as monkeys and apes, and human
ancestors (fossils).
•They are also interested in how
biology and culture work together
to shape our lives. They are
interested in explaining the
similarities and differences that
are found among humans across
the world.
CULTURAL ANTHROPOLOGY
•This promotes the study of
a society’s culture through
their belief systems,
practices and possessions.
 CULTURAL ANTHROPOLOGY
• Sociocultural anthropologists often find that the
best way to learn about diverse peoples and cultures
is to spend time living among them.
• They try to understand the perspectives, practices,
and social organization of other groups whose
values and lifeways may be very different from their
own. The knowledge they gain can enrich human
understanding on a broader level.
LINGUISTIC ANTHROPOLOGY
• It is a branch of anthropology that studies the
role of language in the social lives of individuals
and communities.
• Linguistic anthropology explores how language
shapes communication.
• It examines the language of a group of people
and its relation to their culture.
•This includes the ways we use
language to build and share meaning,
to form or change identities, and to
make or change relations of power.
For linguistic anthropologists,
language and communication are keys
to how we make society and culture.
APPLIED ANTHROPOLOGY
• It attempts to solve
contemporary problems through
the application of theories and
approaches of the discipline.
WHAT IS CULTURE?
•It is everything that a
person learns as a
member of a society.
•CULTURE is everything.
•CULTURE is learned.
•CULTURE is shared.
•CULTURE affects biology.
•CULTURE is adaptive.
•CULTURE is maladaptive.
•CULTURE changes.
CULTURE IS EVERYTHING
•It is what a person has, does,
and thinks as part of society.
• MATERIAL CULTURE
– includes all the tangible and visible parts of
culture, which include clothes, food and even
buildings.
- Example is the CULINARY CULTURE OF THE
PHILIPPINES is different from even that of its
neighbors in Asia such as Japan.
- Another example is the GADGETS that are
produced in the United States become part of
the Philippines through trade.
• NON-MATERIAL CULTURE
• Includes the intangible parts of the culture,
which consist of values, ideas, and knowledge.
• Values are concepts that are culturally
determined; it separates what is acceptable
from that which is taboo.
• Example is the belief in the phrase “bahala na”,
which was derived from the older phrase
“bathala na”, supports the religious values
system that is present in the society.
CULTURE IS LEARNED
•It is set of belief, attitudes, and practices
that an individual learns through his or her
family, school, church and other social
institutions.
• ENCULTURATION
-The process of learning your own
culture.

• ACCULTURATION
- The process of transferred forms of culture
from one society to another.
• DECULTURATION
-When the culture of the older
generation comes into conflict with the
needs and realities of the younger
generation, where the reason for the
culture has been lost and even the
cultural trait itself is in the process of
being forgotten.
CULTURE IS SHARED
• The set of behaviors, attitudes and beliefs that a
person posses is part of a greater collection of values
and ideas that is communally owned and practiced
by members of a society.
• Culture is shared intergenerationally.
• To share a culture, it must taught to members of
contemporary society who will in turn teach the
younger generation.
CULTURE AFFECTS BIOLOGY
•Humans are born into cultures that have on
beauty and body.
•Example: The Mursi tribe of Ethiopia in
Africa, wearing lip plates is a sign of
beauty. Women are the ones are expected
to wear them to appear desirable to men.
CULTURE IS ADAPTIVE
•Culture is a tool for survival that
humans use in response to the
pressures of their environment.
CULTURE IS MALADAPTIVE
•Culture can also cause problems
for the people who subscribe to it.
•These problems arise when the
environment has changed and
culture has remained the same.
CULTURE CHANGES
• This dynamism of culture is due to the changing
needs of human as they interpret and survive in
their environment.
• As such, culture is continuously reinvented by
people.
• Example: from the clothes that we wear to the
food that we eat, culture can be seen as ever
changing.