Cultural anthropology

The field of Anthropology is a robust and eclectic field of study that covers virtually all aspects of human existence, but focuses on social and cultural development. Its scope extends from the analysis of the oldest fossil records, tools, artifacts and evidences of society and culture to tell us hopefully the complete story of humanity. In recent years, the field has undoubtedly been reshaped as it adapts to the changes in advancements of technology and scientific instruments, which have…

by different authors in the nineteenth century under the perspective called “Social Darwinism”, it is in the early twentieth century when Anthropology emerges as a modern discipline with a theoretical and methodological corpus that allowed its professionalization and inclusion within the university programs of the country. The greatest exponent of anthropology in the United States during the first half of the twentieth century was Franz Boas (1858- 1942) and, later, his disciples. Boas was born…

Three Primitive Societies as one my favorite work because it illustrates the “attempt to mingle anthropological research work with educational planning makes the book attractive for large groups of people, but may sometimes lead the student in anthropology…

Margaret Mead was a popular American writer, cultural, and visual anthropologist. Throughout her career, Margaret Mead has also conducted over twenty field trips (Yans-McLaughlin 2000). In addition, Mead’s fieldwork focused on the development and growth of adolescents. The reason why I chose Margaret Mead is because of the tremendous contributions that she has made to the field of anthropology and the public. In addition, I find it very astounding that Mead “offers a resolution of the old…

Academic anthropology is the study and knowledge of regular anthropology such as cultural, archaeological, biological, and/or linguistic. In the video “Doing Anthropology” Heather Paxson states “not only as anthropologist do we talk to people and ask them what they think but we do things with them alongside them” (Mitanthro 0:17-0:27). This is an example of academic anthropology as they try to learn more about what they are observing. Asking a lot of questions will help find out a lot about the…

topics of poverty, addiction and homelessness, and to reveal how political and social structures are responsible for such a destructive part of society. Bourgois’ ethnographies boast strong influence of both political-economy and interpretative anthropology. I argue that Bourgois writes his ethnographies with the long-term goal to better the lives of those he is writing about. He does this by understanding the people and suggesting various policies. Growing up on the Upper East Side of New York,…

Beginning in the 1920s, anthropology in America took a separate path away from the foundations of British social anthropology. Franz Boas, known as the father of American Anthropology, created a set of ideas that would revolutionize the field. His ideas included a rejection of unilinear social evolution, as well as historical particularism, or a focus on the history of a culture to find understanding. He believed that in order to fully understand the culture of a society, one must understand the…

Margaret Mead was a popular American writer, cultural, and visual anthropologist. Throughout her career, Margaret Mead has conducted over twenty field trips (Yans-McLaughlin 2000). In addition, Mead’s fieldwork focused on the development and growth of adolescents. The reason why I chose Margaret Mead is because of the tremendous contributions that she has made to the field of anthropology and the public. In addition, I find it very astounding that Mead “offers a resolution of the old apparent…

Both Symbolic anthropology and Postmodern Anthropology had huge effects on the theory and practice of anthropology in the 60’s and 70’s. Beginning with symbolic anthropology and moving through he post-modern movement we see from the work of anthropologists such as Geertz that these movements created major challenges for anthropological theory and practice. In this essay I will Firstly debate the challenges that symbolic anthropology and postmodernism posed to anthropological theory and then…

incomprehensible mass of beliefs and values shared among all of us. Anthropology exists to study and explain how and why culture exists. Additionally, it helps to explain how humankind has created cultures which are so diverse and rich in tradition, and yet still somehow are strikingly…