Chapter 1: What is Anthropology?

Learning Objectives- After reading this chapter and coming to class you should be able to:
1.	Explain what is meant by the statement that anthropology is the holistic and comparative study of humanity.
2.	Know the four primary types of human adaptation and consider why their interrelationship has been particularly important for the human species.
3.	Explain how culture can influence the body shapes of individuals.
4.	Be able to identify, distinguish, and describe the four subfields of American anthropology. Know, for example, what distinguishes ethnography and ethnology.
5.	Explain why anthropology is considered a social science, how it integrates scientific and humanistic perspectives, and the role that the scientific method plays in structuring anthropological research and explanation.
6.	Identify the kinds of work in which applied anthropologists from all four subfields (as well as applied medical anthropology) typically engage and the aspects of anthropology that make the discipline uniquely valuable in understanding and addressing social problems.

Terms-  You should understand these terms and be ready to identify them:
anthropology The study of the human species and its immediate ancestors.  
applied anthropology The application of anthropological data, perspectives, theory, and methods to identify, assess, and solve contemporary social problems.  
archaeological anthropology The study of human behavior and cultural patterns and processes through the culture's material remains.  
association An observed relationship between two or more variables.  
biocultural Referring to the inclusion and combination (to solve a common problem) of both biological and cultural approaches—one of anthropology's hallmarks.  
biological (physical) anthropology The study of human biological variation in time and space; includes evolution, genetics, growth and development, and primatology.  
cultural anthropology The study of human society and culture; describes, analyzes, interprets, and explains social and cultural similarities and differences.  
cultural resource management (CRM) The branch of applied archaeology aimed at preserving sites threatened by dams, highways, and other projects.  
culture Distinctly human; transmitted through learning; traditions and customs that govern behavior and beliefs.  
ethnography Field work in a particular culture.  
ethnology Cross cultural comparison; the comparative study of ethnographic data, society, and culture.  
food production Cultivation of plants and domestication (stockbreeding) of animals. 
general anthropology The field of anthropology as a whole, consisting of cultural, archaeological, biological, and linguistic anthropology. 
holistic Interested in the whole of the human condition: past, present, and future; biology, society, language, and culture.  
humanistic Emphasizing the value and agency of human beings, individually and collectively, and generally preferring critical thinking and evidence over established doctrine or faith. (This term is not in your text.)
hypothesis A suggested but as yet unverified explanation.  
linguistic anthropology The descriptive, comparative, and historical study of language and of linguistic similarities and differences in time, space, and society.  
science A systematic field of study or body of knowledge that aims, through experiment, observation, and deduction, to produce reliable explanations of phenomena, with reference to the material and physical world.  
sociolinguistics Investigates relationships between social and linguistic variations.  
theory A set of ideas formulated (by reasoning from known facts) to explain something.