Thinking Like an Anthropologist

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Thinking Like an Anthropologist A1: Introduction to Anthropology Definitions The word anthropology comes from the Greek words “anthropos” (humans) and “logia” (study). Anthropology, then, ... is the study of humans, both past and present. Anthropologists study human beings as well as our closest related species, the primates (lemurs, monkeys, and apes). Anthropologists study the following fields and subfields of specialization: ● Social and cultural anthropology, which is the study of culture and societies from around the world; ● Ethnography and ethnology, which is the study and analysis of people from around the world through fieldwork and participant-observation; ● Archaeology, which is the study of human societies through what they have left behind as their material remains; ● Physical or biological anthropology, which is the study of human evolution and human biology; ● Paleoanthropology, which is the study of human and primate evolution through the study of fossilized remains; ● Primatology, which is the study of primates including gorillas, chimpanzees, monkeys, and lemurs; ● Forensic anthropology, which is the study of human remains by applying anthropological expertise. The remains might be of a very old specimen, or human remains might be found in a legal setting (ranging from the study of local criminal cases to international cases of war crimes through the excavation of the graves of victims); and ● Linguistic anthropology, which is the study of human language with specialized methods developed to record and analyze languages worldwide and language use in everyday life. [Show More]

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