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 evolutiona 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"

Nexus: A Brief History of Information Networks from the Stone Age to AI

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

The Dawn of Everything: A New History of Humanity

Magnifica Humanitas: Lettre encyclique sur la protection de la personne humaine à l’ère de l’intelligence artificielle

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

The Bone Hacker (Temperance Brennan, #22)

Proto: How One Ancient Language Went Global

How to Kill a Language: Power, Resistance, and the Race to Save Our Words

Dinner with King Tut: How Rogue Archaeologists Are Re-creating the Sights, Sounds, Smells, and Tastes of Lost Civilizations

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

Pathogenesis: A History of the World in Eight Plagues

An African History of Africa: From the Dawn of Humanity to Independence

The Traveler: One Man's Quest for Humanity from the South Seas to Revolutionary Paris

The History of Money: A Story of Humanity

More most read this week tagged "anthropology"...

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

1491: New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus

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

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

More anthropology books...

Lists

The Battle of the Labyrinth by Rick Riordan

Best Books About Mythology

1,428 books — 2,301 voters

Who Hears Here? by Guthrie P. Ramsey Jr.

The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction by Walter Benjamin

The Origin of the Family, Private Property and the State by Friedrich Engels

Critique of cultural studies from within.

115 books — 26 voters

The Clan of the Cave Bear by Jean M. Auel

The Clan of the Cave Bear & The Valley of Horses by Jean M. Auel

Paleoanthropological Speculative Fiction , or....

85 books — 80 voters

Technological Slavery by Theodore John Kaczynski

Anti-Tech Revolution by Theodore John Kaczynski

Industrial Society and Its Future by Theodore John Kaczynski

The Human Animal

149 books — 103 voters

Ambedkar's Preamble by Aakash Singh Rathore

The Secret Life of a Weight-Obsessed Woman by Iris Ruth Pastor

Ambedkar — Books About Babasaheb

32 books — 7 voters

Anatomy of an Epidemic by Robert Whitaker

The Birth of the Clinic by Michel Foucault

I Love My Doctor, But... by Lawrence W. Gold

The Creation of Psychopharmacology by David Healy

Critical Psychiatry and Mad Studies

210 books — 57 voters

Related Genres

Nonfiction
Archeology

Featured News & Interviews

80 Horror Novels Set in Creepy Places (Your House, Deep Space, the Sea...)

Read »

Quotes Tagged “Anthropology”

“ History and man made each other. ”
― Mokokoma Mokhonoana

9 likes

“ One-third to one-half of humanity are said to go to bed hungry every night. In the Old Stone Age the fraction must have been much smaller. This is the era of hunger unprecedented. Now, in the time of the greatest technical power, is starvation an institution. Reverse another venerable formula: the amount of hunger increases relatively and absolutely with the evolution of culture. ”
― Marshall Sahlins, Stone Age Economics

25 likes

More quotes...