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Introduction to Cultural Anthropology, Spring 2012

1.3 Overview of Anthropology

TopicsWhat Is Anthropology? What Makes Anthropology Unique? Ethnography/Ethnology.

Anthropology: Social Science or Humanities? Evolutionism and the Roots of Anthropology

(McGee and Warms). The Methods of Ethnology (Boas)

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Anthropology

* Anthropology: the exploration of human diversity in time and space.

*Anthropology studies the whole of the human condition (past, present, and future): biology,society, language, culture, etc.

The Four Sub-Fields of Anthropology

* Physical/Biological Anthropology

* Archaeology

* (Socio)Cultural Anthropology (including Medical Anthropology)

* Linguistic Anthropology

What do Anthropologists Produce?

Ethnography

* A descriptive account of a particular community, society, or culture.

* Based on first-hand fieldwork during which ethnographer adopts a holistic approach.

Ethnology

* Examines, analyzes, and compares the results of ethnographiesthe data gathered in different

societies.

* Goal is to make generalizations about society and culture through detailed comparisons (grandtheories).

Should Anthropology Be . . .

* A quest for empathic understanding?

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An interpretive endeavor to shed light on how others view the world?

* A quest to provide explanations for why people act the way they do?

A scientific endeavor to reveal regularities and generalizations about the human condition?

Evolutionism and the Roots of Anthropology (McGee and Warms)

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* Early Theorists

* Degenerationism: we were all once civilized, but after dispersing (Tower of Babel) some

degenerated while others remained civilized.

* Progressivism: human history is characterized by advances from primitive to civilized.

Differences emerge from different experiences.

Evolutionary Theories: From Biology to Society

* Jean Lamarck (1744-1829)

Geographic or climatic changes pressure life forms to adapt.

* Charles Darwin (1809-82)

Concept of natural selection. (Some variations more beneficial for survival and reproduction

than others (long-term adaptation).

* Herbert Spencer (1820-1902)

Human societies analogous to biological organisms. Identify functions of organs in

maintaining society.

The Comparative Method

* Assumption 1:psychic unity of mankind humans everywhere think alike.

* Assumption 2: all societies undergo parallel but independent evolutionary stages.

* Step 1: Place all societies on a scale from primitive to civilized.

* Step 2: Analyze living fossils (the so-called primitive societies) as evidence of previousevolutionary stages.

* Step 3: Compare institutions (e.g. political systems, kinship, religion) to understand

evolutionary trajectory from primitive to civilized.

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Social Darwinism

* Some societies are more fit than others.

* Colonial justification for European powers to dominate other societies (a moral imperative).

Franz Boas

* Physicist turned geographer (Berlin).

* Developed interest in studying culture.

* Professor of Anthro, Columbia Univ, 1899.

* Helped develop anthropology as a methodologically rigorous field of inquiry:

* Critiqued grand theories on race, evolution, and cultural determinism.

Rejection of Scientific Racism

1908 Study: Cranial dimensions in immigrants and their kids.

Evidence: Immigrant kids had different skull shapes than parentsresult of differentdiets, habits, environment, etc.

Therefore, cranial morphology is not an immutable marker of race; it can vary

through time and according to environment.

Historical Particularism

* Cultures can only be understood with reference to their particular historical developments.

* No general theories (e.g., evolution, diffusion) can explain processes of culture change.

* Every culture is unique and must be studied in terms of its.

* Rejection of scientific method (hypothesis testing) in anthropology; rejection of comparativemethod used by evolutionists.

* American anthropology (1900-1950s) becomes more aligned with humanities than socialscience.