Anthropology is the study of humans. This may seem like a broad definition,
and you might object that other disciplines also study humans: sociology
studies humans in society; medicine studies human bodies; philosophy studies
human thought. Anthropology includes all of these specific studies and
more, but from a unique perspective. What is distinctive about anthropology
is that, anthropologists, no matter what the focus of their research, always
remember that they are seeing only one possible way out of many that humans
can think about and act in the world. Thus, anthropologists examine how
human cultures differ from each other as well as in what makes humans different
from other animals.
Culture is the central concept of anthropological research. For example,
when studying how humans differ from other animals,physical
anthropologists look at how human evolution led to our capacity for
culture. Physical anthropologists compare human culture to that of the
non human primates, such as gorillas or chimpanzees. They also examine
how culture is imprinted in the human body; years of working at a computer
can actually leave a physical mark!
Human cultures vary greatly over time and around the world.Archaeologists
study human society using things that people left behind or threw away
rather than words that they wrote down. These material remains might be
thousands of years old, or they might be what someone put in the garbage
dump yesterday. Social
anthropologists look at contemporary human societies, from small groups
of people living in the Brazilian Amazon rainforest to people living in
the biggest cities of the world.Linguistic
anthropologists are interested in how language and culture interact:
why do your professors insist that you write "grammatically correctly"
anyway?
While most anthropologists would agree in general with this definition
of their discipline, each offers a unique perspective on anthropology.
Here is what some of the anthropologists on campus think about anthropology:
Susan Vincent:
Anthropology is an extremely liberating field of study. I am
not bound by disciplinary limits to study only one aspect of a society,
nor only one society nor even to use only a specific methodology. I can
study what people do or have done, what they and others think about it
and how they imagine a better future. At the same time, I know that anthropology
has been less than liberating for many of the people being studied. This
is anthropology's current challenge: to ensure that anthropology works
for the benefit of those we study, and not only for the benefit of those
who study.
Clare Fawcett:
Anthropology helps me question my taken-for-granted assumptions
about the world. When I read anthropological studies, watch ethnographic
films or do research in another cultural setting, I am able to see life
from another point of view. The diverse perspectives revealed by anthropology
fascinate me and help me imagine other ways to live in this world. Furthermore,
anthropology lets me think about some of the crucial questions facing all
of us: "How can we learn to live together on this small planet?"; "How
can we decrease the gap between rich and poor in our communities and between
nations?"; "Have people ever lived in harmony with the natural world? Can
we live as we do today and preserve the environment?"; and "How do we learn
to talk to each other so we listen, hear, and understand?" Anthropology
is a truly eclectic discipline. As an anthropologist I have learned to
speak Japanese, studied botany, zoology and physics, read social theory
and traveled around the world. I have imagined the past and wondered about
the future. And I have stood on the margins of my own and other cultures
and marveled at what I saw.
