LECTURE O1

ANTHROPOLOGY
AND
ANTHROPOLOGISTS
 Lecture Outline
A. The Four‑Field Discipline of Anthropology
• Biological Anthropology
• Cultural Anthropology
• Archaeology
• Anthropological Linguistics
B. Fundamental Concepts in Cultural Anthropology
• Culture
• Society
• Ethnicity
• Cultural Relativism
C. Specialties in Cultural Anthropology
D. Applied Anthropology: A Fifth Field?
E. Pioneers
• The Beginnings of Cultural Anthropology
• Frank Hamilton Cushing (1857‑1900)
• Franz Boas (1858‑1941)
• Bronislaw Malinowski (1884‑1942)
F. Conclusion
G. Lecture Summary
 ANTHROPOLOGISTS

• Frank Hamilton Cushing (1857-1900), Zuni,

participant observation

• Franz Boas (1858-1941), Northwest Coast

Indians, especially, the Kwakiutl, cultural
particularism

• Bronislaw Malinowski (1884-1942), Trobrianders

(Trobriand Islanders), functionalism
 SELECTED IMPORTANT WORDS

• Dani (New Guinea)

• Herodotus (ca. 485-425 B.C.)
• Zuni of New Mexico
• Pueblo Indians of American Southwest
• Indians of the Northwest Coast, e.g., Kwakiutl,
Tsimshian, and Haida
• Eskimo or Inuit
• Trobriand Islanders or Trobrianders
 TERMS INTRODUCED
• anthropological linguistics (linguistic anthropology): the
field of anthropology that focuses on languages

• applied anthropology: the use of anthropological ideas and

methods to achieve practical ends outside the academic
community

• archaeology: the field of anthropology that focuses on the

material remains of people of the past

• artifact: any material thing created by people

• biological (physical) anthropology: the field of

anthropology that focuses on the biological aspects of being
human
• cultural anthropology: the study of culture

• cultural evolution: the notion that cultures evolve, usually

gradually, steadily, and in the direction of greater
efficiency and complexity

• cultural relativism: a central idea in modern cultural

anthropology; that a culture must be evaluated in terms of
its own values, not according to the values of another
culture.

• culture: everything that people collectively do, think,

make, and say
ethnic group: a group whose members share basic cultural
traditions and values and a common language, and identify
themselves (and are identified by others) as distinct from
other such groups

• ethnicity: the identification of individuals with particular

ethnic groups

• ethnocentrism: the belief that one's own society or culture

is superior to all others

• ethnology: an alternative term for cultural anthropology

• functionalism: in one sense, the idea that aspects of culture
function to fulfill the biological, psychological, or other
needs of individuals

• historical particularism: the idea that every culture,

because it is the product of specific historical
circumstances, is unique

• illiterate: lacking the ability to read and write while living

in a literate society nonliterate: lacking a tradition of
reading and writing

• participant observation: ethnology's major research tool,

involving sharing in peoples' lives as well as observing
them
• peasants: typically agricultural people who share the same
general cultural tradition as members of the larger and
more technologically‑complex societies in which they live

• social anthropology: especially in England, the brand of

anthropology focusing on societies rather than on culture

• social structure: the web of relationships binding members

of a society

• society: a group of people whose members live in the same

place and whose lives and livelihoods are interdependent

• sociocultural anthropology: a term for cultural

anthropology that emphasizes society

• urban anthropology: the anthropological study of

urban‑dwellers