Anthropology and the Study of Humanity

by Scott M. Lacy (Actor), The Great Courses (Director)

11hrs 55mins

What does it mean to be human? Where did we come from? And what unites us in our diversity today? Anthropology and the Study of Humanity is your chance to tackle these big questions as you survey one of the world's most engaging - and human - sciences. Taught by acclaimed professor and field researcher Scott M. Lacy of Fairfield University, these 24 wide-ranging lectures are the ideal guide through the world of anthropology, or the study of humanity across time and space.

Professor Lacy gives you an elegant blend of theory and application to help you understand this extraordinarily interdisciplinary field as a whole. You will examine how humans evolved and built civilizations, review humanity's changing attitudes about our relationship to the cosmos, and consider the many ways we express ourselves. In the end, what you'll discover is that while our species is rich with diversity, we are all one human race.

To anchor this course, Professor Lacy gives you a historical overview of Homo sapiens, starting at the very root of our family tree, when proto-humans split away from other primates in the animal kingdom. As he wends his way across time and around the world, he also introduces the field's four major academic sub-disciplines: biological, archaeological, linguistic, and cultural anthropology.

One of the joys of this course is that it is truly global in the way Professor Lacy introduces you to the boots-on-the-ground practice of the field. When you complete this course, you will have a new appreciation for our world and its many cultures, but you will also have a new appreciation for the cultural connections and similarities we share as one race of Homo sapiens. With a passionate and knowledgeable professor as your guide, this course gives you a broad understanding of academic anthropology, as well as a deeper appreciation for humanity as a whole.

Genres: Anthropology, Nonfiction, History, Science, Audiobook, Cultural

DVD

Reviews

[فؤاد · Rating 2 out of 5]

نصفش رو گوش دادم و دورۀ بدی بود. مدرس به جای اطلاعات علمی و روش پژوهش یاد دادن، بیشتر انگار سعی می‌کنه «دید» آدم رو باز کنه. نگاه آدم رو به زندگی و فرهنگ و تاریخ تغییر بده. اونم نه به شکل علمی. شاید این طوری بگم بهتره: به نظر یه رسالت نجات‌بخشی برای انسان‌شناسی قائله که می‌خواد اون رو با جملات شعاری و لحن تشویق‌کننده به مخاطب القا کنه. و این لحن شعاری هم سطحی و کم محتواست، انگار مخاطب بچه‌های دبیرستانی باشن.

[Clif Hostetler · Rating 3 out of 5]

Anthropology is the study of humankind over time and space. This defines a broad field of study since the activities of humans are so varied. In the first of these twenty-four lectures we learn of the four major subfields of anthropology which in turn include numerous specializations.

Biological Anthropology: This subfield includes everything from primatology and paleontology to evolution, biology, genetics, health, and forensic science.

Archaeology: This subfield uncovers and interprets artifacts to reveal the histories of people.

Linguistic Anthropology: This subfield dissects the structure of language, preserves and investigates dead languages, tells language histories, and provides a record of human migrations and cultural interaction.

Cultural Anthropology: This subfield is an interdisciplinary subfield that explores kinship, economics, gender, development, religion, art, and just about anything else human do.

This publication consists of twenty-four lectures, each thirty minutes long, that could easily serve as an undergraduate introductory class to the field of anthropology. The following is a listing of the lecture titles which gives an indication of the diversity and structure of the lecture series:

Unit 1: Anthropological Origins
1. Why Anthropology Matters
2. Science, Darwin, and Anthropology
3. Our Primate Family Tree
4. Paleoanthropology and the Hominin Family
5. Tracing the Spread of Humankind
6. Anthropology and the Question of Race

Unit 2: Sole Survivors
7. Archaeology and Human Tools
8. Agricultural Roots of Civilization
9. Rise of Urban Centers
10. Anthropological Perspectives on Money
11. Anthropological Perspectives on Language
12. Apocalyptic Anthropology

Unit 3: Human Diversity
13. Cultural Anthropology and Human Diversity
14. Field Research in Cultural Anthropology
15. Kinship, Family and Marriage
16. Sex, Gender, and Sexualiy
17. Religion and Spirituality
18. Art and Visual Anthropology

Unit 4: Applying Anthropology
19. Conflict and Reconciliation Across Cultures
20. Forensics and Legal Anthropology
21. Medical Anthropology
22. Anthropology and Economic Development
23. Cultural Ecology
24. The Anthropology of Happiness

[Linda ~ they got the mustard out! ~ · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a very interesting and insightful overview on anthropology, its history and evolution up to its current applications. It's a much broader field of study than I thought it was, and has applications in fields I wouldn't have imagined. And in studying other cultures, we learn more about our own, including our shortcomings and prejudices. That means the earliest studies in this field were influenced by some nasty presumptions, with some disastrous outcomes, but this is a field of study that celebrates changing ones world view and frame of reference, and over the years, a lot of positive has come from it.

The lecturer did a fairly good job overall. He gave a lot of great and varied examples and he clearly has a passion for his work, so no complaints there. But he had a couple of tendencies that could certainly be annoying to the wrong listener. I didn't mind it, but I wouldn't advise making a drinking game for every time he says "but wait" or "let's go back."

[Morgan Blackledge · Rating 5 out of 5]

This Course WAY lives up to the Great.

What a treat. What a pleasure. What a thrill. What a learning adventure. Seriously, thank god (or what ever) for this series.

And thank....ummm.....you know....what ever god thing you're into....if you're into that type of thing....for this particular GREAT COURSE.

I'm just now discovering the joys of anthropology in midlife, and I'm officially hooked.

It's really engendering new insights for me, you know, just about life and stuff, but also professionally as a mental health clinician.

We (therapists) get training in psychology, where the important unit of interest is the individual in isolation (i.e. white guys), and some (way too little) systems theory, where we look at dyadic and family systems.

But sadly, we get very little to no cultural component (except for maybe one lame course in grad school) in our training.

That is probably why most therapists are ineffective. Particularly when working within culturally different populations.

And social workers suck too so don't start!

Anyway.

I really wish I had more sociology and anthropology as a part of my training. But I didn't. So I'm getting mine as best as I can. Auto-didactically as it were.

Which is just fine with me. Because I view learning as a life long pursuit. I'm never going to stop doing it.

That's (I think) the point of the Great Courses series.

They are for people (like me and maybe you too) who missed out on (large and important) aspects of a proper, well rounded liberal arts and sciences undergraduate education, and now have a need/desire for exposure to various fields, but ain't got the time/money to go to no 'William and Marry' or (insert some other awesome, east coast hog warts style liberal arts school that only lucky, smart and or rich kids get to go to).

The Instructor/lecturer of this course is the estimable and flat out FANTASTICAL Dr. Scott M. Lacy.

He's like my new educator hero.

He's funny, entertaining, really well versed in his field, and clearly in command of his lecture material, which has obviously been honed in front of decades worth of undergraduate students.

He's creative, and experiential in his teaching style. And if it's not clear by now. I'm a fan. This guy can teach the fudge out of some anthropology!

And this Great Course is pretty clearly a greatest hits compilation of his didactic material.

Additionally, Dr. Lacy (or Dr. Scott, which is what he probably prefers, because he's like one of those 'cool' professors) has extensive field work experience that he refers to throughout the course, lending validity and interest to his teaching.

Wonderful and inspiring, from both the perspective of a consumer, and from the perspective of a producer of educational content, I learned a lot.

He makes it look easy, but that's just cuz he's so fuckin' good.

Bravo!

[Lee · Rating 2 out of 5]

This Great Courses series has a lot of great information, but I thought the lecturer was lacking.

First, he talks a lot about the history of anthropology rather than focusing on on what anthropology does. This makes for a very meta kind of narrative. He spends a lot of time talking about how a particular branch of anthropology evolved rather than about what that branch does. In other words, when he talks about medical anthropology, legal anthropology or visual anthropolgoy, he often times ends up talking about how those branches of anthropology emerged, rather than talking about the things one could do with medical anthropology or the way that visual anthropologists study art. Rather than being a course about anthropology, it becomes a course on the history of anthropology, which is not only not what I wanted, but it also comes off as a little too self-referential.

This is not helped by the way the lecturer talks a lot about his work in Mali and the non-profit he founded. He spends most of the first lecture using his work to introduce the field of anthropology, but this comes off as if he is spending the whole lecture talking about himself. For the twenty three following lecture, he frequently discusses his own work in Mali in some form in each of the lectures. It is not that bringing the research you do into your classroom is a bad thing. But do it moderately. Certainly there are other anthropologists who have different contributions to make. Bring them in more.

And finally, I just hated was so assertive about the definitions of his field being the only correct way to understand a concept. He says that humans only have one race, and anyone who says otherwise, including the US Census is wrong. He stupidly says that the point of life is to be happy. Of course, the US Census, scholars who do work on the field of Critcal Race Studies are not all wrong and normal people who use the concept of race to talk about skin color are not all wrong. They are simply defining the word differently. People who claim that happiness is not the only point of living are also not wrong, just rather may have a different set of values.

There were things I enjoyed about this lecturer, and there were things that I lenared, but overall, these problems were hard for me to get past.

[Tammam Aloudat · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very nice introduction to Anthropology, but like any undergraduate level course, this is more wide than deep. This is not usually a problem although I find this specific course to be a little faster and shallower than other courses. It is probably because it is one of the short ones with only 12 hours of lectures as opposed to the philosophy and psychology courses that are three times as long.

The lectures are clear and professor Lacy is motivated and enthusiastic. He is clear and articulate. However, he is a little too positive and optimistic for my taste. He mentions, for example, the fact that anthropology has been associated with colonialism and militarism but avoids discussing this and focuses on anthropology's move to emancipate itself and people it serves. This is fine, but the historical record should be further understood if the new generation of anthropologists are to avoid mistakes of the past. He mentions evolutionary anthropology and its downfall but avoids discussing the pervasive presence of its ideas today despite his assertion that anthropology has moved beyond it to a relativistic and culturally appropriate line of thought. Anthropology may have mostly moved forward, society hasn't yet entirely caught up.

But again, this is an introduction and as such it does a great job.

[Scott · Rating 2 out of 5]

The lecturer is a bona fide Peace Corps alum bleeding heart liberal. By the way he speaks about developing nations, you'd think that they're all far more progressive and enlightened than other nations.

[Mitchell Felix · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting stuff, just not sure what I can actually apply or what will stick with me.

[mike osman · Rating 3 out of 5]

Scott Lacy provides a good overview of the field of Anthropology, with good information on human evolution, the state of the field, personal experiences of fieldwork, and a variety of other topics. He has an informal style. Sometimes his stories are more about the anthropologists and less about the anthropology. He mentions Ishi, the last surviving member of a California Indian tribe (the Yahi), and describes his mistreatment by whites, and that Ishi eventually became a university lecturer to talk about his lost culture, but then Lacy says very little about what Ishi's culture was like. In unit 3, Lacy paints a very heroic picture of enlightened cultural relativists revolutionizing anthropology and dethroning "racially-charged" social evolutionists. Lacy does not really attempt to explain how societies developed differently, instead providing only platitudes like "we are all equal," "everyone is modern," and "we are all part of the same human race." This seems shabby treatment of what is one of the founding theories of anthropology, which need not be interpreted in the racist way Herbert Spencer did (plenty of writers like Jared Diamond refer to social evolution without resorting to racism). Like Jared Diamond, I am particularly interested in how some societies developed stronger institutions and more advanced technologies than other societies, so the answer that "everyone is modern" rings hollow for me and really teaches us nothing, instead burying important questions under trite platitudes. Lacy does teach us a lot of things, but not as much as he could have.

[Michael · Rating 4 out of 5]

A pretty good, thorough overview of anthropology. I liked Lacy's personal anecdotes, they added to the content. I didn't love his impassioned Fe voice at times. Lecture 16 on Sex, Gender and Sexuality was helpful and probably worth listening to again.

ToC listed for reference.

Unit 1: Anthropological Origins
Lecture 1 Why Anthropology Matters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3
Lecture 2 Science, Darwin, and Anthropology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .9
Lecture 3 Our Primate Family Tree . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .17
Lecture 4 Paleoanthropology and the Hominin Family . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .25
Lecture 5 Tracing the Spread of Humankind . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .33
Lecture 6 Anthropology and the Question of Race . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .41
Unit 2: Sole Survivors
Lecture 7 Archaeology and Human Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .49
Lecture 8 Agricultural Roots of Civilization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .56
Lecture 9 Rise of Urban Centers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .64
Lecture 10 Anthropological Perspectives on Money. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .72
Lecture 11 Anthropological Perspectives on Language . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .80
Lecture 12 Apocalyptic Anthropology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .88
Unit 3: Human Diversity
Lecture 13 Cultural Anthropology and Human Diversity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .97
Lecture 14 Field Research in Cultural Anthropology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .104
Lecture 15 Kinship, Family, and Marriage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .111
Lecture 16 Sex, Gender, and Sexuality . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .118
Lecture 17 Religion and Spirituality. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .126
Lecture 18 Art and Visual Anthropology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .135
Unit 4: Applying Anthropology
Lecture 19 Conflict and Reconciliation across Cultures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .143
Lecture 20 Forensics and Legal Anthropology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .153 Lecture 21 Medical Anthropology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .161
Lecture 22 Anthropology and Economic Development . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .168
Lecture 23 Cultural Ecology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .177
Lecture 24 The Anthropology of Happiness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .186

[Matthew Bee · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good overview anthropology course with a heavy emphasis on cultural and applied anthropology. The lecturer was moderately engaging but at times made controversial assertions with complete confidence.

The most blatant of these in my opinion was his portrayal of Koko the gorilla when he stated she had “complete mastery of American Sign Language” which is undeniably false. While I do not claim to understand gorilla cognition, I can confidently say that the “ASL” koko used lacked any syntax or grammar and a large extent of the interpretation of her signing relied on the observer to infer meaning while imposing a human psyche onto her.

This is not to say that I believe Koko to be unintelligent or lesser than humans, but simply that in attempting to argue that Koko was on par with human signers is both offensive to the humans and shows a lack of objectivity in your representation of facts.

This as well as a few similar assertions by the author made me hesitate to trust his presentation on other fields.

[Stacie · Rating 1 out of 5]

This lecture series sounds like it was written and preformed by a High School student for Junior High and Elementary School kids. There is is a point in one lecture where he actually asks the audience what they think happened next- the only thing missing was "So, boys and girls...". His delivery is too casual for an academic audience, even one that is new to the subject, and filled with "so then", "hey!", "well", "right?", and "so, like". The material itself is superficial and unsatisfying. If this had been my only experience with anthropology I would never touch anything on the subject again.

[Roberta Westwood · Rating 5 out of 5]

Interesting and informative
I quite liked this offering from The Great Courses. Unlike most series, this was a series of audio recordings, as opposed to ‘lectures’, so there was a bit less of a performance aspect, which can sometimes get tedious. This series had a much more conversational tone. I found it was quite complete and a good introduction to cultural anthropology. Scott lives among the people he studies, so this was quite enlightening. A good listen.

[Ludmil · Rating 2 out of 5]

More like 1 and a half stars.
I don't know why this is considered science when so much of it is just arbitrary. The author who in my opinion tries to be honest (but is not able) offers a theory in an earlier chapter as a possible answer to sceptics and in later chapters refutes the same theory but in a different context.
Big parts of the book read like some social justice manifesto rather than scientific representation of facts, questions and information.

[Miss Syreena · Rating 3 out of 5]

Appreciated my first experience with an overview of this broad field of anthropology. Many topics are covered and it’s a lot to digest, so this won’t be my last on the subject, and might be something to revisit once I have a better understanding of how things connect. The professor was very engaging and he shared many personal stories throughout.

[Enrico · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting overview about Anthropology and it's myriad subbranches and applications in other fields with lots of examples from the authors own work.

[Esther · Rating 4 out of 5]

Relatively engaging. Well structured.

[Brian · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was a good introduction of Anthropology. The course cover of what it means to be an anthropologist and the improving the use of cultural anthropology. I enjoyed the course and at times very dense, but I am convinced this field of study needs much more time to define what exactly anthropology means and its needs. Not particularly use except in the use of a background of a TV plot of "Bones" or identifying mass murder graves remains.

[R. · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a really well done, enjoyable, and fun trip through human civilization and history. I really enjoyed Lacy's sense of humor and wit. I'd have to recommend this to everyone I know who goes to church and interprets the bible literally because I'm kind of a dick like that. I'd also highly recommend it to people looking for their next great read/audiobook. This was available through my local library for free on Overdrive.

[Elwin Kline · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely loved it.

One of my favorite Great Courses by far. I love the authors passion and his personal experiences living abroad in Africa really embedded with the people.

So many intriguing lectures in this that cover hunting, biology, religion, sex, trade, culture, etc.

Definitely highly recommend!

I am writing this review from my phone, so please disregard/understand any possible errors or auto-corrects.

[Alison · Rating 4 out of 5]

I listened to the audio of this book and enjoyed the speaker as he was engaging and talked more like a presenter rather than a boring professor. A good introduction to Anthropology and deals with each topic the same amount of time (half an hour) and makes it easier to digest each topic. A good book to get you started. Suitable for older teens and adults.

[Tecolotl · Rating 4 out of 5]

Anthropology is the Bible of Atheists. Such richness of the human experience! Resist the arrogance/pride impulse, and be willing to see it as a history of morality, all enlightening and good as it allowed us to survive to get where we are today.

[Phil Chenevert · Rating 4 out of 5]

I expected anthropology and found little of it in this book. It was more about helping third world cultures learn more about growing better crops. Perhaps I missed something.

[Kaz · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very motivational and stimulating lectures on social anthropology.

[Matthew Rutschky · Rating 5 out of 5]

A most fascinating history of humanity through anthropology