ARTURO MICHELENA UNIVERSITY

FACULTY OF ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL SCIENCES

SCHOOL OF PSYCHOLOGY

FUNDAMENTALS OF ANTHROPOLOGY

Student:

Mariali Rivas Granados

C.I:11.507.387
Section: T3
Prof. Jesús Olmos
Subject: Anthropology
April 15, 2021
1. ANTHROPOLOGY:
Anthropology is the study ofto be
humanfrom a
perspectiveholistic(integral), which takes in
it accounts for both its physical traits and
animals, such as those that make up
oncultureand its civilization. Its man
it comes from the Greek words anthropos,
man, and logos, knowledge”, in such a way
which can be defined as the study of
thehumanity.Anthropology is probably the best-prepared discipline to
understand the human phenomenon in its complexity.

Appreciation: It is the science that studies physical, social, and cultural traits.
through the time of human beings. In other words, it is the science that studies the
evolution of the human being in all its phases.

2. MAIN BRANCHES OF ANTHROPOLOGY:

Anthropology is divided into several subdisciplines. Thus, the tasks to be carried out may change.
depending on the branch chosen. These are the most notable:
• Cultural anthropology. It is dedicated to the preservation of cultures in the face of globalization.
It usually focuses on the study of minority or marginalized cultures.
• Physical or biological anthropology. It aims to study the interactions of the
biological processes and their effects on human populations. In other words,
analyze the human being considering its nature.
• Linguistic anthropology. In this case, anthropologists focus their study on the
languages. Specifically, through genetics and human development.
• Medical anthropology. It focuses its attention on the cultural representations of the
health, illness, and care or assistance practices.
 • Urban anthropology. It focuses on urban reorganization plans.
example, the creation of neighborhoods and parks and urban modifications in general.
• Forensic anthropology. Collaborates with the police to find the identities of
deceased and missing persons.
• Gender anthropology. It focuses on the creation of prevention policies.
gender violence.

Appreciation: It can be observed that Anthropology has various branches that range from
the study of cultures over time, how biological processes have affected the being
human, also the study of different languages, according to genetics and development
human, also consider urban reorganization, also the different
diseases that have existed throughout time.

3. COLLABORATION OF ANTHROPOLOGY WITH OTHER DISCIPLINES:

Anthropology is asciencevery
close to other fields of knowledge
social-scientific how
thesociologyoh thepsychologyto the
who often comes in search of
tools. It is also linked
with othersnatural scienceshow
thebiologysince its approach to
thehumanityIt is much more complex and requires both a social and a biological perspective.
This is how physics, geology, and chemistry are used to date fossils and artifacts; from botanists,
zoologists and paleontologists to recognize remains of animals and plants, found alongside
human remains.
Sociology and Anthropology.

Psychology and Anthropology: The behavior of individuals and how they respond to
specific stimuli. Psychology teaches us how humans learn to learn and the
Anthropology teaches us how this looks in different societies and how they reward it.
and they punish the success or failure of learning.

Physics and Anthropology: Studies man in

its biological aspects. To the extent that the
man is the result of the evolutionary process, it
it also focuses on the study of differences
or physical variations among populations
humans throughout time.

Archaeology y Anthropology:
Behavior and the sociocultural system of
human groups in the past.
 Linguistics and Anthropology: It is the study of the languages of each country, nations, and peoples.
ancient civilizations in which culture and its habits are classified verbally.

Philosophy and Anthropology: It studies and links between the positive and metaphysical sciences where
it is considered that man is an essential being and is the center of the universe cosmos and destiny
last of man and soul.

Law, political science, economics and public health and Anthropology: The law is
intended to deter certain forms of behavior and encourage others. The economy and the system
Politicians can only succeed if they deeply connect with the cultures of the people.
they want to influence. It has been accepted as an auxiliary science by medicine thanks to the
training of hygienists.

History and Anthropology: Study of man on a more solid scientific path regarding
the validity and verification of results.

Appreciation: A relationship with other disciplines is observed, where one needs the other.
In such a way that to explain many areas of other disciplines, anthropology is necessary.

4. BASIC ANTHROPOLOGICAL CONCEPTS:

Cultura: Knowledge that includes belief,
art, morality, law, customs, and any
acquired capacity as a member of the
society
Acculturation:Group change process
culturally distinct.
Emic: Vision of the native in their own culture.
Ethics:Vision of the anthropologist through his
fieldwork.
Cultural particularity: Unique feature of a
society.
Cultural phenomena: Demonstrations
within human groups related to art, philosophy, and science
Evolution: It is the change that occurs from one state to another in an object or subject, such as
product of a gradual transformation process.
Appreciation: In many sciences, we encounter a series of concepts or
very commonly used words that we do not know and that are necessary to know their
meanings to understand what is meant to be explained. And Anthropology is not the
exception.
5. ANTHROPOLOGICAL CURRENTS OF THE CENTURIES:

SOCIAL EVOLUTIONISM:
Theory: It is the term that defines the changes that occur in a society throughout history.
becoming increasingly complex. It is based on anthropological theories of social development
that are credited to societies with primitive state terms that gradually become more
civilized over time.
Methodology: Comparative method
Representantes:Edward Taylor y Henry L. Morgan.

DIFFUSIONISM:
Theory: At the end of the 19th century, the "mobility" of cultural objects is discovered and
abandon the current that explains the issue through the formal concordances of different
cultures in the sense of parallel evolution, in favor of the search for a transmission
historical and its relationships.
Methodology: Historical method and culture
Representantes: W. Rivers y A.L. Kroe Ver

HISTORICAL PARTICULARISM:
Theory: School of thought that makes an analytical distinction of the characteristics of
each social group emphasizing historical cultural reconstruction. Particularism
historical (term coined by Marvin Harris in 1908) is widely considered as a
of the main currents in American anthropology.
Methodology: Historiographic method, comparative inductive.
Representantes: Franz Mead, Margaret Mead, Ruth Benedict.

NEOEVOLUTIONISM:
Theory; It is a social theory that seeks to explain the evolution of societies by resorting to
Charles Darwin and the theory of evolution, although it discards some dogmas of the old
social and cultural evolutionism. It deals with evolution, social change, and patterns
normal developmental milestones that can be seen in relation to culture.
Methodology: Comparative Method.
Representantes: Laeslie White

CULTURAL MATERIALISM:
Theory: It is a scientific research approach in anthropology and sociology that prioritizes
to the material conditions in the explanation of the causes of the differences and similarities
socio-cultural.
Methodology: Comparative method, observation, and participant.
Representative: Marvin Harris.

FUNCTIONALISM:
 Theory: It is characterized by the utilitarianism granted to the actions that must uphold order.
established in societies, it is a theoretical current that emerged in England in the 1930s in
social sciences, especially in sociology and also social anthropology.
Methodology: Ethnographic method.
Representantes: Bronislaw Malinosla. Radclife Bronw.

STRUCTURALISM
Theory: it is an anthropological approach that largely understands human culture as a
kind of languages (or language-based) performs its analysis in a manner similar to the
Linguistic structuralism; the most prominent representative of structuralist anthropology is
Claude Lévi-Strauss.
Methodology: Structuralism method, rational format.
Representatives: Claude Levi-Strauss

Appreciation: They are different approaches, in which they used different or the same methods, to
create a theory.

6. THE ANTHROPOLOGIST TODAY:

Few anthropologists are still dedicated to the study
of the ancient tribes, which almost no longer exist and only a
a limited number of them practice Anthropology
Forensic, how trendy is it in the series of
television.
The anthropologists they can to work in
public and private organizations. Although
they usually focus on creation and
dissemination of knowledge (that is, to the
research and teaching), they can develop their
career in the following areas:

• Government advisor.
• Advisor or consultant for private agency NGOs.
• Heritage conservator.
• Museum manager.
• Political analyst
• Communication and image analyst.
• Expert assessment of indigenous communities.
• Migration Policy Technician.
• Project managers for economic development.
• Professors-researchers in universities or scientific research centers.
• Ethnohistorical data analysts or ethnographic records
 • Expert witnessesin studies of human behavior

Appreciation: This part is really very enriching as I didn't know the value of a
anthropologist for society, with such varied activities in which they specialize
for the help of society.

7. BRANCHES OF ANTHROPOLOGY:

ANTHROPOLOGY

7.1. PHYSICAL AND BIOLOGICAL ANTHROPOLOGY:

• Result of the crossing between anthropology and

biology focuses its perspective on the human being in
the evolutionary issues and biological variability,
both present and past. Their approach to the phenomenon
the human is strongly anchored, as is evident, in
the natural and the physical, to the point of also studying other
non-human primates to compose a gaze
biocultural. Its main branches are:
oForensic anthropology. Dedicated to the identification and study of remains
skeletal or preserved humans, to obtainconclusionsregarding the
conditions oflifeof the deceased subject and, therefore, of their origins, when not of
his reason fordeath.
oGenetic anthropology. Its field of study is theevolutionof the hominids
yspeciesneighbors, through the understanding of theDNA.
oPaleoanthropology. Also calledpaleontologyhuman, is dedicated to the study
of primitive humanity and its processes ofevolutionfrom the fossil remains
and archaeological findings discovered today.
7.2. SOCIAL CULTURAL ANTHROPOLOGY:
Whose perspective on the human phenomenon is based on its
aspects cultural is to say
suspiciouscustomsmythsvalues,standards,beliefsy stories.
También considera sus aspectos sociales, esto es: sus formas de
action and organization, conflicts, contradictions and others
aspects of shared life. It encompasses the human being as
a social animal that inhabits incommunitiesmore or less
organized in which a form develops
ofthoughtybehaviorcommon, which is culture. This
the field can be divided into two branches:
oUrban anthropology. Focused on the study of life in thecitiesand of their
own phenomena, such as thepovertymarginality, thesocial classes, andtc.
oAnthropology of thereligion.Whose field of study focuses on the great
religious traditions, whether cults, churches, mystical traditions, etc.
oPhilosophical anthropology. As its name suggests, it focuses on reflection on
back to what the human being is, resorting to theinformationregarding your
history, its nature, etc.
oEconomic anthropology. Its main field of interest is production,
thetradeand thefinanceunderstood everything as an exclusively activity
human and profoundly determining in our history and our ways of
socialize.

7.3.LINGUISTIC ANTHROPOLOGY:
Anthropological linguistics is the meeting point of
both disciplines, whose interest in the human being is centered
in the aspects related to thelanguage.Aspires to
understand the dynamics of change that language has
suffered throughout thetimeas a system of
representation andcommunicationand also as a
set of cultural practices.

7.4.ARCHAEOLOGY:
Considered in the United States as a subfield
anthropological and in Europe as a discipline
autonomous, if center in the study of
thechangesoccurred throughout theprehistoryand the
human history, through the interpretation of the remains
found and preserved over the years. Use
varioustechniquesof excavation, preservation
yanalysisof the samples.
Its main branches are:
o Archaeastronomy. The result of the coexistence of both disciplines, it specializes
in the study of the astronomical and cosmological theories of ancient cultures, to
to judge by the remains found of observatories and calendars.
oUnderwater archaeology. Responsible for adapting to aquatic environments.
(Lagos,oceans, laughthe practice of archaeology.
oEvolutionary anthropology. Consisting of an interdisciplinary look at the origin.
of the ways ofsocializationand from the human physical features, starting from the
archaeological evidence.

Appreciation: These 4 main branches of Anthropology clearly explain their function.

They also make a division into branches, even subdividing each one. Explaining the objective
of each one.