UNIT I.

INTRODUCTION TO ANTHROPLOGY

1. NATURE AND SCOPE OF ANTHROPOLOGY

The word “anthropology” has been derived from two Greek words, Anthropos (man) and
logus (study or science). Anthropology is, thus science of man. More precisely, anthropology
may be called “the science of man and his works and behaviour”. Anthropologists are
interested in all aspects of the human species and human behaviour, in all places and at all
times, from the origin and evolution of the species through it’s prehistoric civilizations down
to the present situation.

Anthropologists study human behaviour not concerned with particular men as such but with
men in “groups”, with races and people’s and their happenings and doings. So, anthropology
may be defined briefly as “science of groups of men”. Unlike many other subjects such as
physiology, psychology, pathology, economics, sociology etc. each of which confines to one
aspect only. Anthropology studies various aspects of man. The anthropologist focuses his
attention on men in groups and studies the total society consisting of different races or people
of the world, both past and present. Anthropology is the science which comes nearest to the
total study of man. It may be called a holistic or synthesizing discipline or a science of “man
and its totality”.

Anthropology is both a biological and a social science. It deals on the one hand with man as a
member of the animal kingdom and on the other hand with man’s behaviour as a member of
society.

SCOPE OF ANTHROPOLOGY:

Anthropology has two main branches:

1. Physical Anthropology
2. Cultural Anthropology

PHYSICAL ANTHROPOLOGY

Physical Anthropology deals mainly with:-

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 a) Human biology
b) Human Evolution
c) Human variation
d) Human genetics

HUMAN BIOLOGY

The Physical anthropologist studies human biology as he is interested in Homo sapiens alone.
He studies man out of the vast range of creatures that claim the attention of the general
biologists. Therefore, there is close relationship between the physical anthropology and the
study of other living beings. The physical anthropologist tells about the man’s place in the
animal kingdom by making a comparative study on the different groups of man and his near
relations like apes, monkeys, etc. whom we call primates.

HUMAN EVOLUTION

Another object of physical anthropology is to deal with human evolution. Like other
creature’s man is also a living organism. It is difficult to explain under what conditions life
had appeared on Earth. But from geological and palaeontological evidences it has been
known that the first living organism that that had appeared on Earth consisted of one cell
only, which is known as unicellular organism or amoeba. In course of time this simple
homogeneous organism through the process of changes attained the heterogeneous form at
various stages. Ultimately, a complex form of animal called man had emerged.

HUMAN VARIATION

The physical anthropologist after having studies the origin, development and place of
evolution of man focuses his attention on the study of the different varieties of man.
Outwardly through they appear different, all men have some common characteristics and
belong to the species – Homo sapiens. However, it is generally found that in common
hereditary does not resemble those of other groups in various ways. Each of these groups is
designated as race. So, in physical anthropology the different aspects of race are studied.
Somatology – Somato-scopic observation and anthropometry is useful for this purpose.

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HUMAN GENETICS

The classical physical anthropology was mainly interested in the classification and not in the
interpretation. For example, a black native African has a platyrrhine nose whereas the
European has the leptorrhine nose. Previously it was not interpreted why these two groups of
people had different types of noses. Now, explanations are being put forward why they have
different types of noses.

In recent times the attention of physical anthropologists has been diverted to genetics a
branch of biology, which deals with descent, variation and hereditary. They now study the
blood types, difference in musculature etc. They also study the group differences in time of
sexual maturation, in growth rates and various disease immunities.

Another aspect of study of physical anthropology is demography which is directly related to

fertility and mortality. There are various factors including heredity and environment that
influence fertility and mortality. These are studied by the physical anthropologists.

There is another subject called pedagogical anthropology which is directly concerned with
education. In various educational fields pedagogical studies are utilised by many advanced
countries. On the whole, the physical anthropology is highly a specialized branch of
anthropology.

CULTURAL ANTHROPOLOGY

Cultural anthropology deals with learned behavioural characteristics of the past, present and
future of human societies. Now, the main fields studies under Cultural anthropology are:
Prehistoric archaeology, Ethnology and Ethno-linguistics. Under ethnology again economic
anthropology, social anthropology, ethnography, religion, art, musicology, recreation,
folklore etc. are studied.

2.SUB-DISCIPLINES WITHIN ANTHROPOLOGY: PHYSICAL, CULTURAL,

ARCHAEOLOGY, LINGUISTIC

PREHISTORIC ARCHAEOLOGY

It is now a specialized branch of cultural anthropology. The pre-historians with their pick and
shovel have been contributing much to get the first-hand knowledge about the extinct peoples
and their cultures and the past phases of living people. They enlighten us with how the

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prehistoric people coped with the natural setting by making tools and implements, weapons
and other necessary equipment’s in order to serve their biological and psychological needs
such as food, clothing, art, etc. Prehistoric archaeology has also been helpful in finding out
the sequence of culture and dating the past by adopting the various methods such as
Stratigraphy, Radio-carbon methods, etc.

PALEONTOLOGY

There is another scientific discipline called palaeontology which is closely associated with
prehistory and helpful to make a study on the extinct races from their fossilized forms. It tells
us how the modern races have evolved from those extinct fossil races.

Technology: In order to satisfy his wants and to live by adjusting with the natural
environment man had to make some material objects such as tools and implements, weapons,
utensils, clothes, houses, canoes, etc. This is called the material culture of the people. The
study of the techniques of making these objects of material culture is known as Technology.
This aspect of culture in the past is being studied with the help of Prehistoric Archaeology.

ETHNOLOGY

Ethnology is another field of study under cultural anthropology. It made its appearance as a
recognized branch in about 1840 and it developed very greatly during the next hundred years.
It makes a comparative study of the cultures of the world and emphasizes the theory of
culture. It is often called cultural anthropology and sometimes used as synonym for
anthropology also.

ETHNOGRAPHY

Ethnologic studies are essential for cultural anthropologists to know the links between the
different cultures and the principles guiding the socio-cultural systems. Ethnology includes in
its fold Economic anthropology, social anthropology, religion, art, musicology and
recreation, folklore, etc. Ethnography is the study of the cultures of the living people of the
world through direct and indirect observation of behaviour.

ECONOMIC ANTHROPOLOGY

The anthropologist studies under Economic Anthropology the different means of subsistence
of man. He studies different feature of production, distribution and consumption of material

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goods and their relationships with other aspects of socio-cultural complex. It is a field that
attempts to explain human economic behaviour in its widest historic, geographic and cultural
scope. It is practiced by anthropologists and has a complex relationship with the discipline of
economics, of which it is highly critical. Thus, the anthropologist studies what man produces,
how he produces, what and how he consumes and what and how he distributes or exchanges.

SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY

Man is gregarious animal and lives in a society. So, he has to adapt to the social environment
and learn to live in social cohesion. A man is born in a family, the smallest unit of a society.
He is socialized through this unit. As a society is a web of social relationships, a man is tied
to the society with various strings of social relationships. He is a member of different kinship
groups such as the family, the lineage, the clan, the phratry, the moiety etc. as well as he may
be a member of various non kin groups or associations viz. boy’s club, secret society, village
council etc.

RELIGION

It is a product of psychic reaction and adjustment of man to the supernatural world. Man
could not explain why there exist the earth, the sun, the moon, the stars, fire, water, air, other
etc. Man also did not know what were the causes of storm and thunder, earthquake and
volcano, drought and floods, life and death, etc. He most often questioned why man suffers
from diseases. Similarly he was curious about many other natural phenomena. These made
him think and believe that there were some supernatural powers in the background by the
action of which these phenomena had come into being. Thus religious ideas and beliefs
seemed to have arisen out of these situations.

ART, MUSICOLOGY, RECREATION

By adapting to the natural, social and supernatural environments in order to satisfy his
biological, social and spiritual needs man wants to undertake such other activities as would
give him some satisfaction and relaxation. That is why man took to art and recreation such as
songs and dances, folk tales, poetry, play, art and various other intellectual pursuits.

FOLKLORE

Folklore may be treated as one of the branches of cultural anthropology. But it has also been
treated as a separate discipline. It is a science “which deals with the survivals of archaic

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beliefs and customs in civilized peoples. It embraces everything relating to ancient
observances and customs, to the notions, beliefs, traditions, superstitions and prejudice of the
common people. But also folk tales, songs, legends, myths, proverbs, riddles, folk, music and
folk dance as well as folk drama belong to the sphere of folklore”.

ETHNOLINGUISTICS

Another branch of cultural anthropology is the ethnolinguistics which is highly specialized.

Ethnolinguistics (sometimes called cultural linguistics) is a field of linguistics which studies
the relationship between language and culture, and the way different ethnic groups perceive
the world. It is the combination between ethnology and linguistics. The former refers to the
way of life of an entire community i.e. all the characteristics which distinguish one
community from the other. Those characteristics make the cultural aspects of a community or
a society. It is the study of human speech and of the various dead and living languages and
dialects of the different groups of people of the world. By studying these anthropologists tries
to find out the origin and development of the languages and their inter relationships.

OTHER SPEACIALITIES OF CULTURAL ANTHROPOLOGY

Ethno-ecology: This is a special sub-field of anthropological study which deals with

adaptation of human beings to their total environment.

URBAN ANTHROPOLOGY

Urban anthropology came to grow as a distinctive area of study in anthropology in recent

times. It is a subset of anthropology concerned with the issues of urbanization, poverty, urban
space, social relations, and neoliberalism. The field has become consolidated in the 1960’s
and 1970’s. Although some anthropologists studied ethnic populations in urban settings since
the beginning of this century, urban anthropology in fact was started as a special study since
1967 when there broke out riots in some cities of the United states. The urban anthropologists
are trying to bring the unique attributes of anthropology to the study of urban cultures in
contemporary cities. Urban anthropology is heavily influenced by sociology, especially the
Chicago School of Urban Sociology. The traditional difference between sociology and
anthropology was that the former was traditionally conceived as the study of civilized
populations, whilst anthropology was approached as the study of primitive populations.

POLITICAL ANTHROPOLOGY

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Since World War II and the consequent emergence of independent developing countries from
the erstwhile empire holdings in Asia and Africa, the economics and political science have
become actively interested in studying the indigenous cultures of these parts of the world.
The study of primitive and the colonial system of politics has been undertaken since 1950.
Political anthropology concerns the structure of political system, looked at from the basis of
the structure of societies.

APPLIED ANTHROPOLGY AND ACTION ANTHROPOLOGY

Nowadays, there are various applications of anthropology. Mentioned below are some of its
applications.

ANTHROPOMETRY

Anthropometry is the science of measuring the different limbs of the body. It is an inevitable
part of physical anthropology, and with its help various measurements of the limbs of the
body taken so as to know the proportions of the limbs. With this knowledge the physical
anthropologists can give advice in respect of sitting arrangements in aeroplanes, railways,
class rooms, offices, etc. Physical anthropology is also useful in detecting criminals. With the
knowledge of foot and handprints it becomes easier to detect criminals as the types of foot
and handprints are never changed during man’s life time.

ACTION ANTHROPOLGY

IT has been coined by Sol Tax. According to him in an action anthropologists is to study the
processes of change in the society and help the people to overcome the adverse effects of
change and guide planning in such a way that the people do better in the process of change.
The action anthropologists involve themselves intimately with anthropological problems and
pursue their studies in a context of action. In such a study, the distinction between the pure
research and the applied research generally disappears.

3. RELATION WITH SOCIOLOGY AS A DISCIPLINE

THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN TWO SCIENCES-

According to Hoebel, “Sociology and Social Anthropology are, in their broadcast sense one
and the same”. Evans Pritchard considers social anthropology a branch of sociology.
Sociology is greatly benefitted by anthropological studies.

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Sociologists have to depend upon anthropologists to understand the present day social
phenomena from our knowledge of the past which is often provided by anthropologists. The
studies made by famous anthropologists like Radcliffe Brown, B. Malinowski, Ralph Linton,
Lowie, Raymond Firth, Margaret Mead, Evans Pritchard and others, have been proved to be
valuable in sociology.

Sociological topics such as the origin of family, the beginning of marriage, private property,
the genesis of religion, etc. can be better be understood in the light of anthropological
knowledge.

Further, sociology has borrowed many concepts like cultural area, cultural traits,
interdependent traits, cultural lag, cultural patterns, culture configuration, etc. from socio-
cultural anthropology.

Anthropology as a discipline is so closely related to sociology that the two are frequently
indistinguishable. Both of them are fast growing. The socio-cultural anthropologists today are
also making a study of the present peoples and their societies. In a number of universities
anthropology and sociology are administratively organised into one department.

The conclusions drawn by sociologists have also helped the anthropologists in their studies.
For example, anthropologists like Morgan and his followers have come to the conclusion
regarding the existence of primitive communism from the conception of private property in
our modern society.

DIFFERENCE-

The study of human beings can be the study of a timeline. Trying to understand human
behaviour has been a task that has occupied some of the greatest thinkers of our race for
thousands of years. Disciplined study of the human race has been taking place since the
Renaissance. Today there are many fields and sub-fields of study.

DEFINITION OF ANTHROPOLOGY AND SOCIOLOGY-

1. Anthropology: Is a science that is concerned with human culture as well as the

physical and social characteristics that create that culture. Often it will compare one
group of humans to another or even compare humans with animals.

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 2. Sociology: Is a social science that studies the functionality of human society including
origins, development and organization. It will also look at these attributes inside
institutions and organizations.

HISTORY OF ANTHROPOLOGY AND SOCIOLOGY-

1. Anthropology: Human beings have been observing and recording the behaviour of
others since the dawn of civilizations. Traditionally, anthropology has been about
Westerners studying the culture of less technologically advanced people. In some
instances the study of anthropology led to racist theories about the overall
advancement of difference groups.
2. Sociology: Has also been practiced since the Greek period as a study of one’s
surrounding society. However, it wasn’t until late nineteenth century that sociology
was recognized as an academic discipline and became part of university curriculum.

FOCUS OF ANTHROPOLOGY AND SOCIOLOGY-

1. Anthropology: Is interested in the overall culture of a group of people. This includes

social institutions, art, history, mythology, and common mores, among other traits.
Anthropologies now study societies all over the world, but look for overarching
themes that are reinforced through case studies.
2. Sociology: Is a quantitative social science. Most theories are based on polls, statistical
analysis, sampling and large collections of life histories. Sociologists strive to be as
impartial and scientific as possible as they gather data. The data analysed by
sociologists is often used by government officials and market researchers alike.

SUMMARY-

1. Anthropology and sociology are both fields of social science that study the behaviour
of humans within their societies.
2. Traditionally anthropology dealt with the study of cultures different from one’s own,
especially those less advanced while sociology was used to understand one’s own
society.
3. Today anthropology tends to look at the big picture of human culture while sociology
spends more time analysing data from a specific study.
4. Anthropology is considered to be a softer science than sociology as it bases more of
it’s conclusions on case studies than hard data.

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SIMILARITIES BETWEEN SOCIOLOGY AND ANTHROPOLOGY-

Sociology and Anthropology both study human society, how societies are organized and how
humans interact and behave within them. The difference is in how all of this is studied.
Anthropology and forensic anthropology can be seen as more oriented to the biological,
historical and holistic nature of human society and interaction, while sociology looks at the
entire spectrum of human interaction, social structure and social organization with interest in
quantitative analysis of the causes and effects of individual and group activity. Sociology
looks at groups, from small to global in scope, while Anthropologists work closely or even
live with groups and societies in order to study the holistic enterprise of human action and
interaction.

Both field are integrated into the other social sciences and are ,in fact, provide the origins of
many of them. These include environmental anthropology and sociology, women studies,
political science and hundreds of other specialities.

Both fields share some detailed interests in the same theory, methods, historical backgrounds,
and scientific approach. It is important that the student of both fields remain aware that the
individual is not the key unit of study, since the individual is a product of the society, which,
in turn is not the product of actions of any individual. Psychology is more appropriate for
study of the individual.

Sociology and Anthropology are also highly understanding of the fact that some aspects of
human life and society cannot be studied in the same ways that are dictated by the “hard”
scientific approaches. In most cases, there is no testing under strictly controlled conditions,
where results can be replicated.

Both fields reject arguments that are solely based on human nature as the sole or overriding
causative factor in a situation. It is overall society and it’s cultural influence and how it
affects the nature of human that is of interest to sociologists and anthropologists. While all
causation as dependent upon individual action is rejected, neither field allows slacking off
with over broad argumentation, such as society is entirely the cause of a person’s actions,
either.

Both fields consider that some aspects of human behaviour, culture and action may have
nothing to do with the group or society as a whole, and seek to understand how people who

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form into social groups, or huge societies work, live, develop their thoughts, beliefs, norms
and values.

4. FIELD METHODS IN ANTHROPOLOGY:

ETHNOGRAPHY: ANTHROPOLOGY’S DISTINCTIVE STRATEGY-

Anthropology developed into a separate field as early scholars worked on Indian(Native

American) reservations and travelled to distant lands to study small groups of foragers and
cultivators. This type of first hand personal study of local settings is called ethnography.
Traditionally, the process of becoming a cultural anthropologists has required a field
experience in another society. Early ethnographers lived in small-scale, relatively isolated
societies, with simple technologies and economies.

Ethnography thus emerged as a research strategy in societies with greater cultural uniformity
and less social differentiation than are found in large, modern, industrial nations. In such non
industrial settings, ethnographers have needed to consider fewer paths of enculturation to
understand social life. Traditionally, ethnographers have tried to understand the whole of an
alien culture (or, more realistically, as much as they can, given limitations of time and
perception).

ETHNOGRAPHIC TECHNIQUES-

The characteristic field techniques of the ethnographer include the following:

1. Direct, first hand observation of daily behaviour, including participant observation.

2. Conversation with varying degrees of formality, from the daily chitchat that helps
maintain rapport and provides knowledge about what is going on to prolonged
interviews, which can be unstructured or structured.
3. Interview schedules to ensure that complete, comparable information is available for
everyone of interest to the study.
4. The genealogical method
5. Detailed work with well-informed informants about particular areas of community
life.
6. In depth interviewing often leading to the collection of life histories of particular
people.

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 7. Emic(actor-oriented) research strategies that focus on local beliefs and perceptions
and etic(observer-oriented) approaches that give priority to the ethnographer’s
perceptions and conclusions.
8. Problem oriented research of many sorts.
9. Longitudinal research – the continuous long term study of an area or site.

OBSERVATION-

Ethnographers must pay attention to hundreds of detail of daily life, seasonal events, and
unusual happenings. They must observe individual and collective behaviour in varied
settings. They should record what they see as they see it. Things will never seem quite as
strange as they do during the first few days and weeks in the field. The ethnographer
eventually gets used to, and accepts as normal cultural patterns were initially alien. Many
ethnographers record their impressions in a personal diary which is kept separate from more
formal field notes.

PARTICIPANT OBSERVATION-

Ethnographers don’t study animals in laboratory cages. The experiments that psychologists
do with pigeons, chickens, guinea pigs and rats are very different from ethnographic
procedure. Anthropologists don’t systematically control subjects rewards and punishments or
their exposure to certain stimuli. Our subjects are not speechless animals but human beings. It
is not part of ethnographic procedure to manipulate them, control their environments, or
experimentally induce certain behaviours. One of the ethnography’s characteristic procedures
is participant observation, which means that we take part in community life as we study it. As
human beings living among others, we cannot be totally impartial and detached observers.
We must also take part in many of the events and processes we are observing and trying to
comprehend.

CONVERSATION, INTERVIEWING, AND INTERVIEW SCHEDULES-

Participating in local life means that ethnographers constantly talk to people and ask
questions about what they observe. As their knowledge of the native language increases, they
understand more. There are several stages in learning a field language. First, is the naming
phase – asking name after name of the objects around us. Later we are able to pose more
complex questions and understand the replies.

THE GENEALOGICAL METHOD-

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Another ethnographic technique is the genealogical method. Early ethnographers developed
genealogical notation to deal with principles of kinship, descent, and marriage, which are the
social building blocks of nonindustrial cultures. In contemporary North America most of our
contacts outside the home are with nonrelatives.

WELL INFORMED INFORMANTS-

Every community has people who by accident, experience, talent, or training can provide the
most complete or useful information about particular aspects of life. These people are well
informed informants.

LIFE HISTORIES-

In nonindustrial societies as in our own, individual personalities, interests and abilities vary.
Some villagers prove to be more interested in the ethnographer’s work and are more helpful,
interesting and pleasant than others. Anthropologists develop likes and dislikes in the field as
we do at home. Often when we find someone unusually interesting, we collect his or her life
history.

EMIC AND ETIC RESEARCH STRATEGIES-

To study cultures, anthropologists have used two approaches, the emic(actor oriented) and the
etic(observer oriented). An emic approach investigates how natives(or one native, in the case
of life history) think. How do they perceive and categorize the world? What are the rules for
the behaviour and thought? What has meaning for them? How do they imagine and explain
things? The anthropologist seeks the “native viewpoint” and relies on the culture bearers –
the actors in a culture – to determine whether something they do, say =, or think is
significant.

PROBLEM ORIENTED ETHNOGRAPHY-

Although anthropologists are interested in the whole context of human behaviour, it is

impossible to study everything and field research usually addresses specific questions. Most
ethnographers enter the field with a specific problem to investigate and they collect data
about variables deemed relevant to that problem. And informant’s answers to the questions
are not the only data source. Anthropologists also gather information on factors like
population density, environmental quality, climate, physical geography, diet and land use.
Sometimes this involves direct measurement – of rainfall, temperature, fields, yields, dietary

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quantities, or time allocation (Bailey 1990: Johnson 1978). Often it means that we consult
government records and archives.

LONGITUDINAL RESEARCH-

Geography limits anthropologists less now than in the past, when it could take months to
reach a field site, and return visits were rare. New systems of transportation allow
anthropologists to widen the area of their research and to return repeatedly. Ethnographic
reports now routinely include data from two or more field stays. Longitudinal research is the
long term study of a community, religion, society, culture, or other unit, usually based on
repeated visits.

SURVEY RESEARCH-

As anthropologists work increasingly in large-scale societies, they have developed innovative

ways of blending ethnography and survey research (Frickle 1994). Before considering such
combinations of field methods, I must describe survey research and the man differences
between survey research and ethnography as traditionally practiced. Working mainly in large,
populous nations, sociologists, social psychologists, political scientists, and economists have
developed and refined the survey research design, which involves sampling, impersonal data
collection, and statistical analysis. Survey research usually draws a sample (a manageable
study group) from a much larger population. By studying a properly selected and
representative sample, social scientists can make accurate inferences about the larger
population.

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