Anthropology

Cultural Anthropology and archaeology are two fields of study that have plenty in common with each other along with uncommon with each other. Both archeology and cultural anthropology focus on studying culture, the difference is these fields study them in different ways (Waweru). Cultural anthropology is a term that is in everyday lives and topics. When thinking of anthropology one may think of the study of extinct human cultures or the study of past human cultures commonly referred to as archaeology (Goodenough). However, cultural anthropology is every where and consist of the study of living people of all walks of life. Cultural anthropologist can explore cultural facts, their meanings and provide realistic solutions personally. This…

Anthropology is the science of humans; this particular science is dedicated to the comparative study of humans as physical and cultural beings. Cultural anthropology and Physical anthropology are two distinct specialties within the broader discipline. Early on when anthropologists studied physical anthropology, they were studying humans as biological organisms based on fossil remains containing DNA. Cultural anthropology studies human beings by examining the culture of different groups and…

debate on whether or not the biological concept of race can actually be applied to modern humans. When anthropologists say that "race" is a cultural concept, it is actually used as a social construct that is used to classify human beings from different societies. In the cultural context, race is how society perceives the physical characteristics of people and their human structure. It is based on how a society views themselves and others. This is difference from biological taxonomy. An example…

The study of Anthropology has proven to be flexible in the way in which cultures are studied. From when the study first began to the 20th century, many different ways of viewing culture have been documented, and many of those ways have been refuted. Our analyses of different anthropologists starts with Tylor a 19th century evolutionary anthropologist and ends with Malinowski a 20th century functional anthropologist. What falls between them are Boas and his student Kroeber. All four of them have…

When talking about the topic of anthropology, most people think of exploring distant lands, abstruse theories detached from any sensitive significance, or Indiana Jones. Aside from the all too familiar movie references to adventure, perilous, intrigue temples, anthropology has many beneficial applications that are relevant to today’s world. Anthropology in itself, is the study of understanding ourselves in relation to others. It is the study that helps us understand what it means to be human.…

At the time of Tom Boellstorff’s (2007) article ‘Queer Studies in the House of Anthropology,’ little anthropological research had been undertaken in the realm of non-normative sexualities and genders in non-western contexts. Along with this, there was a lack of scholarship on female non-normative sexualities in both western and non-western contexts. Boellstorff (2007:21) argued that this gap in anthropological research was due to a range of factors; particularly the continued barriers women face…

The feminist perspective on anthropology has, like in numerous other disciplines, run ‘parallel’ to the subject. The attempt to shift the paradigms has created some tension between the ideas of the feminist perspective and the existing archetypes of anthropology. However, feminist thinking in anthropology has reshaped the study of gender and has become somewhat accepted by mainstream social anthropologists. In this essay my aim is to explore the ways in which male-bias has been allowed to occur…

Did you know that forensic anthropologists can tell you the age, sex, gender, race and cause of death all by examining the skeletal remains of a deceased individual? Well, it’s true! Forensic Anthropology may be a field that is relatively new to the criminal justice world, but new or not, it sure does add significant value to any investigation having to do with unidentifiable remains. The world of forensic anthropology is known by few, but the community is a very well educated and close-knit…

Sahlins made a highly profound statement in an earlier portion of the book “in the void left in our understanding of ourselves by biology lays the whole of anthropology.” Now we are left to seek the validity of this statement. In Sahlins text The Use and Abuse of Sociobiology, he argues that certain elements of human nature and civilization cannot be reduced to biological principles; moreover the importance of anthropology as a science is its significant contribution to understanding the variety…

The Anthropology of Fundamentalism Fundamentalism from an anthropological perspective is interpreted quite differently than fundamentalism from the historical perspective. First and foremost, there is no argument about whether or not fundamentalism describes movements outside of the Protestant movement in the United States. Anthropologists interpret fundamentalism as one of many human reactions to modern society. For the fervently religious, fundamentalism is an attempt to reunite the morals…