The basics of anthropology (originally posted by polygirl, 09/10/2007)

Ok so I am an anthropology magior. Just wanted to have a topic here where everyone can get a basic understanding of anthropology and its components. As I have noticed that people who have never encountered it before Bones may not understand that it is a varied feild.



Biological or physical anthropology seeks to understand the physical human being through the study of human evolution and adaptability, population genetics, and primatology. Subfields or related fields include anthropometrics, forensic anthropology, osteology, and nutritional anthropology.
Socio-cultural anthropology is the investigation, often through long term, intensive field studies (including participant-observation methods), of the culture and social organization of a particular people: language, economic and political organization, law and conflict resolution, patterns of consumption and exchange, kinship and family structure, gender relations, childrearing and socialization, religion, mythology, symbolism, etc. (U.S. universities more often use the term cultural anthropology; British universities have tended to call the corresponding field social anthropology, and for much of the 20th century emphasized the analysis of social organization more than cultural symbolism.) In some European countries, socio-cultural anthropology is known as ethnology (a term also used in English-speaking countries to denote the comparative aspect of socio-cultural anthropology.) Subfields and related fields include psychological anthropology, folklore, anthropology of religion, ethnic studies, cultural studies, anthropology of media and cyberspace, and study of the diffusion of social practices and cultural forms.
Linguistic anthropology seeks to understand the processes of human communications, verbal and non-verbal, variation in language across time and space, the social uses of language, and the relationship between language and culture. It is the branch of anthropology that brings linguistic methods to bear on anthropological problems, linking the analysis of linguistic forms and processes to the interpretation of sociocultural processes. Linguistic anthropologists often draw on related fields including anthropological linguistics, sociolinguistics, cognitive linguistics, semiotics, discourse analysis, and narrative analysis.[29]
Archaeology studies the contemporary distribution and form of artifacts (materials modified by past human activities), with the intent of understanding distribution and movement of ancient populations, development of human social organization, and relationships among contemporary populations; it also contributes significantly to the work of population geneticists, historical linguists, and many historians. Archaeology involves a wide variety of field techniques (remote sensing, survey, geophysical studies, coring, excavation) and laboratory procedures (compositional analyses, dating studies (radiocarbon, optically stimulated luminescence dating), measures of formal variability, examination of wear patterns, residue analyses, etc.). Archaeologists predominantly study materials produced by prehistoric groups but also includes modern, historical and ethnographic populations. Archaeology is usually regarded as a separate (but related) field outside North America, although closely related to the anthropological field of material culture, which deals with physical objects created or used within a living or past group as a means of understanding its cultural values.

I plan to study athropology next quarter. Many think I'm changing my major because of the show but it isn't. It really piqued my intrest. so here we are. ..this will help me. SO thanks!!

I so love Anthropology but stupid me, didn't take it as an undergraduate course. I must say that at first I was drawn in because of Dr. William Maples! The guy was just an adorable forensic anthropologist! But poly, I've been into reading about Ethnology and some Linguistic discourses; I'm making a short about it.

...and human osteology! Love this article
[Only admins are allowed to see this link]

I have wanted to be an Anthropologist since I was 7. I plan on doing it at Uni. Physical and Social Anthropology are my main interests.

har har lol you love it till you have to take it as a class and your getting graded on it!

lol taking human osteology now while I still love it right now it is driving me nuts also!