Week
1: Anthropology 11--Introduction to Cultural Anthropology
Outline for Chapter 1:
The Nature of Anthropology
(2-29)
Professor John Wolford
Department of Anthropology
University of Missouri-St. Louis
Email: wolfordj@msx.umsl.edu
Links to outside web pages: [Wolford's
A11 Web Page] [My Gateway
Page] [Reserves
Page]
The important questions to consider
while reading this chapter:
What is anthropology?
What do anthropologists
do?
How do anthropologists
do what they do?
Outline for Haviland,
Cultural
Anthropology, 10th edition:
|
Putting the World in
Perspective and Chapter 1: 2-29
|
Putting the World in Perspective (xxiv-xxxiv)
Mercator (1569)
Mollweide (1805)
Van der Grinten (1904)
Robinson
Peters
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Japanese
Turnabout (1982)
Chapter 1: The Nature of Anthropology
(2-29)
Development of Anthropology (6-7)
|
| page 6 |
anthropology |
the study of humankind, in all
times and places |
PEOPLE: (both on p. 7)
Frank Hamilton Cushing
1857-1900
Matilda Coxe Stevenson 1849-1915
|
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Anthropology and the other Sciences (7-8)
|
The Discipline of Anthropology (8-22)
|
Physical anthropology (or biological anthropology)
[8]
|
| page 8 |
physical anthropology |
the systematic study of humans
as biological organisms |
| page 9 |
forensic anthropology |
field of applied physical anthropology
that specializes in the identification of human skeletal remains for legal
purposes |
| Anthropology
Applied: Forensic Anthropology
(9-10) |
Cultural anthropology (8-19)
|
| page 8 |
cultural anthropology |
the branch of anthropology that
focuses on human behavior |
| page 10 |
culture-bound |
theories about the world and
reality based on the assumptions and values of one's own culture |
| page 11 |
archaeology |
the study of material remains,
usually from the past, to describe and explain human behavior |
| page 13 |
linguistic anthropology |
the branch of cultural anthropology
that studies human language |
| page 13 |
ethnologist |
an anthropologist who studies
cultures from a comparative or historical point of view, utilizing ethnographic
accounts |
| page 13 |
ethnography |
the systematic description of
a particular culture based on firsthand observation |
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Archaeology
(11-13)
Linguistic Anthropology
(13)
Ethnology
(aka Sociocultural Anthropology) (13-19)
| page 13 |
participant observation |
in ethnography, the technique
of learning a peoples culture through direct participation in their everyday
life for an extended period |
| page 14 |
holistic perspective |
a fundamental principle of anthropology,
that the various parts of culture must be viewed in the broadest possible
context in order to understand their interconnections and interdependence |
| page 14 |
informants |
members of a society in which
the ethnographer works who help interpret what she or he sees taking place |
| Original Study: Encountering
Environmentalism in Rural Costa Rico (15-17) |
| page 11 |
culture-bound |
theories about the world and
reality based on the assumptions and values of one's own culture |
| page 18 |
applied anthropology |
the use of anthropological
knowledge and methods to solve "practical" problems, often for a specific
client |
Anthropology and Science (19-25)
|
| People: George Peter Murdoch
1897-1985 (23) |
| page 19 |
fact |
an observation verified by several
observers skilled in the necessary techniques of observation |
| page 19 |
hypothesis |
a tentative explanation of the
relation between certain phenomena |
| page 20 |
theory |
in science, an explanation
of natural phenomena supported by a reliable body of data |
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Difficulties of the scientific
approach (20-23)
| PEOPLE: (all on p. 22)
Franz Boas 1858-1942
Fredric Ward Putnam 1839-1915
John Wesley Powell 1834-1902
|
Real
Culture: the values and beliefs of a people as expressed by their behavior
Ideal Culture:
the values and beliefs of a people as expressed by their words and writings
Comparison in Anthropology (23-25)
| page 24 |
ethnohistory |
the study of cultures of the
recent past through oral histories, accounts left by explorers, missionaries,
and traders, and through analysis of such records as land titles, birth
and death records, and other archival material |
| PEOPLE: (on p. 25)
George Peter Murdoch 1897-1985
|
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Anthropology and the Humanities (25-26)
|
Humanistic anthropology
Question of Ethics (26-27)
|
Anthropology and Contemporary
Life (27-29)
|
NEXT WEEK'S [WEEK 2] MATERIAL:
Summary of "Tradition" and "Worldview"
Tradition [from Handler and Linnekin]
|
Tradition [from Handler and Linnekin]
symbolic reconstruction of the
past in the present
provides meaning to us by appealing
to our aesthetic sensibilities
can be trivial (how we make up our
beds) or deeply meaningful (religion)
a process, not a thing--not
reified
Worldview [from Barre Toelken]
|
the way a people see their environment
and their relationship to it
Navajo vs "American" worldview
created: December 05, 2000
previously revised: January 09, 2001
last revised: January 04,
2002