Anthropology

Anthropology ( /ænθrɵˈpɒlədʒi/) is the study of humanity. It has origins in the humanities, the natural sciences, and the social sciences. The term "anthropology" is from the Greek anthrōpos (ἄνθρωπος), "human being", and -logia (-λογία), "discourse" or "study", and was first used in 1501 by German philosopher Magnus Hundt.

Anthropology's basic concerns are "What defines Homo sapiens?", "Who are the ancestors of modern Homo sapiens?", "What are humans' physical traits?", "How do humans behave?", "Why are there variations and differences among different groups of humans?", "How has the evolution Anthropology ( /ænθrɵˈpɒlədʒi/) is the study of humanity. It has origins in the humanities, the natural sciences, and the social sciences. The term "anthropology" is from the Greek anthrōpos (ἄνθρωπος), "human being", and -logia (-λογία), "discourse" or "study", and was first used in 1501 by German philosopher Magnus Hundt.

Anthropology's basic concerns are "What defines Homo sapiens?", "Who are the ancestors of modern Homo sapiens?", "What are humans' physical traits?", "How do humans behave?", "Why are there variations and differences among different groups of humans?", "How has the evolutionary past of Homo sapiens influenced its social organization and culture?" and so forth.

In the United States, contemporary anthropology is typically divided into four sub-fields: cultural anthropology also known as social anthropology, archaeology, linguistic anthropology, and physical (or biological) anthropology. The four-field approach to anthropology is reflected in many undergraduate textbooks as well as anthropology programs (e.g. Michigan, Berkeley, Penn). At universities in the United Kingdom, and much of Europe, these "sub-fields" are frequently housed in separate departments and are seen as distinct disciplines.

The social and cultural sub-field has been heavily influenced by structuralist and post-modern theories, as well as a shift toward the analysis of modern societies (an arena more typically in the remit of sociologists). During the 1970s and 1990s there was an epistemological shift away from the positivist traditions that had largely informed the discipline.During this shift, enduring questions about the nature and production of knowledge came to occupy a central place in cultural and social anthropology. In contrast, archaeology, biological anthropology, and linguistic anthropology remained largely positivist. Due to this difference in epistemology, anthropology as a discipline has lacked cohesion over the last several decades. This has even led to departments diverging, for example in the 1998–9 academic year at Stanford University, where the "scientists" and "non-scientists" divided into two departments: anthropological sciences and cultural & social anthropology; these departments later reunified in the 2008–9 academic year. ...more

Most Read This Week Tagged "Anthropology"

Hunt, Gather, Parent: What Ancient Cultures Can Teach Us About the Lost Art of Raising Happy, Helpful Little Humans

The Bone Hacker (Temperance Brennan, #22)

The Dawn of Everything: A New History of Humanity

Eve: How the Female Body Drove 200 Million Years of Human Evolution

Sapiens: A Graphic History, Volume 1 - The Birth of Humankind

The Way of the Bear (Leaphorn, Chee & Manuelito, #26)

Children of Ash and Elm: A History of the Vikings

Fluke: Chance, Chaos, and Why Everything We Do Matters

The Rise and Reign of the Mammals: A New History, from the Shadow of the Dinosaurs to Us

Generations: The Real Differences Between Gen Z, Millennials, Gen X, Boomers, and Silents―and What They Mean for America's Future

Written in Bone: Hidden Stories in What We Leave Behind

La società senza dolore: Perché abbiamo bandito la sofferenza dalle nostre vite

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Anthropology Books

Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies

Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed

The Gift: The Form and Reason for Exchange in Archaic Societies

The Third Chimpanzee: The Evolution and Future of the Human Animal

The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down: A Hmong Child, Her American Doctors, and the Collision of Two Cultures

1491: New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus

Coming of Age in Samoa: A Psychological Study of Primitive Youth for Western Civilisation

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Lists

The Hero With a Thousand Faces by Joseph Campbell

The Man Without Qualities by Robert Musil

How we see the world

257 books — 183 voters

La Biographie Du Prophète Mouhammad, Le Nectar Cacheté by Ar-Rahik

The Sacred and the Profane by Mircea Eliade

A History of Religious Ideas, Volume 2 by Mircea Eliade

New Age Religion and Western Culture by Wouter J. Hanegraaff

Pontifex Maximus by Christopher Lascelles

Religious studies

133 books — 35 voters

13 Ways of Looking at a Fat Girl by Mona Awad

Gender, Sexuality, Eating Disorders & The Body

7 books — 2 voters

In Search of Respect by Philippe Bourgois

The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down by Anne Fadiman

Death Without Weeping by Nancy Scheper-Hughes

Argonauts of the Western Pacific by Bronisław Malinowski

Good Ethnography

132 books — 96 voters

Anatomy of an Epidemic by Robert Whitaker

The Birth of the Clinic by Michel Foucault

The Myth of the Chemical Cure by Joanna Moncrieff

Critical Psychiatry and Mad Studies

195 books — 36 voters

The Horse, the Wheel, and Language by David W. Anthony

475 books — 170 voters

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Quotes Tagged “Anthropology”

“ I chose cultural anthropology, since it offered the greatest opportunity to write high-minded balderdash. ”
― Kurt Vonnegut, Palm Sunday: An Autobiographical Collage

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