Admas University

Department of Computer Science

Course Title- Anthropology

Name- kelem fikadu
ID -ADMA0133/23
Assessment

May,2023
Sub fields of anthropology
Accordingly, anthropology has often categorized into four major subfields:
Physical/Biological Anthropology, Archeology, Linguistic Anthropology and
Socio-Cultural Anthropology. Let us explain turn by turn.
A. Physical or Biological Anthropology
 It is the branch of anthropology most closely related to the natural
sciences, particularly biology; it is often called biological anthropology.
 Physical anthropologists study how culture and environment have
influenced these two areas of biological evolution and contemporary
variations.
 Human biology affects or even explains some aspects of behavior,
society, and culture like marriage patterns, sexual division of labor,
gender ideology etc. The features of culture in turn have biological
effects like the standards of attractiveness, food preferences, and
human Sexuality.
 Biological variations such as morphology/structure, color, and size are
reflections of changes in living organism.
B. Archaeological Anthropology
Archaeological anthropology or simply archaeology studies the ways of lives
of past peoples by excavating and analyzing the material culture/physical
remains (artifacts, features and eco-facts) they left behind.
 Artifacts are material remains made and used by the past peoples
and that can be removed from the site and taken to the laboratory for
further analysis. Tools, ornaments, arrowheads, coins, and fragments
of pottery are examples of artifacts.
 Features are like artifacts, are made or modified by past people, but
they cannot be readily carried away from the site. Archaeological
features include such things as house foundations, ancient buildings,
fireplaces, steles, and postholes.
 Eco-facts are non-art factual, organic and environmental remains
such as soil, animal bones, and plant remains that were not made or
altered by humans. Eco-facts provide archaeologists with important data
concerning the environment and how people used natural resources in
the past.
C. Linguistic Anthropology
 Linguistic anthropology or anthropological linguistics studies human
language as a cultural resource and speaking as a cultural practice in
its social and cultural context, across space and time.
  Language is basically a system of information transmission and
reception. Humans communicate messages by sound (speech), by
gesture (body language), and in other visual ways such as writing.
 Analogous to genes that carry and transmit genetic materials to
offspring, languages hand down cultural traits from one generation to
another.
D. Socio-Cultural Anthropology
 It is also often called social anthropology or cultural anthropology.
 It is the largest sub-fields of anthropology. It deals with human society
and culture.
 Society is the group of people who have similar ways of life, but culture
is a way of life of a group of people. Society and culture are two sides
of the same coin.
 Socio-cultural anthropology describes, analyzes, interprets, and
explains social, cultural and material life of contemporary human
societies. It studies the social (human relations), symbolic or
nonmaterial (religious, language, and any other symbols) and material
(all man-made Objects) lives of living peoples.
Similarity between anthropology and
- Sociology - Psychology - Political science - Economics -
History
Sociology is defined by the American Sociological Association as:
“Sociology is the study of social life, social change, and the social causes and
consequences of human behavior. Sociologists investigate the structure of
groups, organizations, and societies and how people interact within these
contexts. Since all human behavior is social, the subject matter of sociology
ranges from the intimate family to the hostile mob; from organized crime to
religious traditions; from the divisions of race, gender and social class to the
shared beliefs of a common culture. “

Many topics or branches of sociology exist, ranging from theory to

Quantitative and qualitative methods of study, from the sociology of culture,
to political and economic sociology; from urban sociology to criminology;
from the sociology of religion to historical sociology; and from macro
sociology to micro sociology. This breadth of topical range provides an
umbrella of knowledge areas that leads some sociologists to see their
discipline as the mother of all social sciences.

Anthropology is defined by the American Anthropological Association as

“Anthropology is the study of what makes us human. Anthropologists take a
broad approach to understanding the many different aspects of the human
experience, which we call holism. They consider the past, through
archaeology, to see how human groups lived hundreds or thousands of years
ago and what was important to them. They consider what makes up our
biological bodies and genetics, as well as our bones, diet, and health.
Anthropologists also compare humans with other animals (most often, other
primates like monkeys and chimpanzees) to see what we have in common
with them and what makes us unique.”

Economics: “Economics is a social science concerned with the production,

distribution, and consumption of goods and services. It studies how
individuals, businesses, governments, and nations make choices about how
to allocate resources. ... The building blocks of economics are the studies of
labor and trade.” While the areas of economics may be framed as micro-and-
macro-economics, the range of specific topics can range from the study of
scarcity, the study of how people use resources and respond to incentives, or
the study of decision-making. It often involves topics like wealth and finance,
but it’s not all about money. Economics is a broad discipline that helps us
understand historical trends, interpret today’s headlines, and make
predictions about the coming years.” (American Economics Association).
Political Science is another institutional realm of sociology, though political
scientists focus heavily on “Political science focuses on the theory and
practice of government and politics at the local, state, national, and
international levels. We are dedicated to developing understandings of
institutions, practices, and relations that constitute public life and modes of
inquiry that promote citizenship.” (Dept of Political Science, University of
Washington).

Usual topics of classwork include International Relations, Comparative

Politics, American Government, Political Methodology, Theory and Political
Change.

Psychology From http://owlocation.com, ” What Is Psychology?

“Psychology is the study of people's behavior, performance, and mental

operations. It also refers to the application of the knowledge, which can be
used to understand events, treat mental health issues, and improve
education, employment, and relationships. The subject lies at the
intersection of applied, educational, and theoretical science.”

Psychology, the first behavioral science of humans, is the scientific study of

mind and behavior. It includes many sub-fields as human development,
health, sports, clinical social behavior and cognitive processes. William
Wundt, WIlliam James and George Herbert Mead were all early practitioners
of this focus on individual and social-psychological behavior.

History is in and of itself a unique discipline. It is subject to the continual

renewal of findings about history and the events of behavior and people at
momentous times throughout time. Topics are as numerous as the times and
spaces of all recorded history, including World History, Western History,
Rural History and Urban History, Roman and Greek History, American History
pre-and-post Civil War.

Economics focuses on the interaction and exchange of goods and services,

whether through barter of resources, to the more modern tempo of money
used for exchange of value.

Political Science focuses on the patterns of force, violence, war and peace.
It is misidentified in this sociologists’ eyes, because it is impossible for me to
think of politics without economics. My preference is to speak of political
economy, as the 2 subjects were originally conceived and written of by Adam
Smith, David Ricardo, Karl Marx and Max Weber. Sigh, the over-arching
perspective of sociology encompasses all these other disciplines, from the
historical to the present, and the theoretical as well as empirical evidence.

I graduated from undergrad with degrees in Philosophy and Sociology, as

well as Minors in Anthropology and Religion. I earned my Masters and
Doctorate degrees in Sociology at the University of Pennsylvania by 1980.
Proud to represent and understand the Mother of the Social Sciences and the
multitude of narrower topics derived from this perspective. They are all
worthwhile pursuits of knowledge, understanding and problem-solving

Write concepts & its definition found in unit one at lest five
1. Definition of Anthropology
 So anthropology means ‘reason about humans’ or ‘the study or
science of humankind or humanity.
 Man has two important characteristics: biological and cultural: It is
very important to understand that the biological and the cultural
characteristics are inseparable elements. Culture influences human
physical structures and the vise-versa.

2. Historical Development of Anthropology

Like the other social sciences, anthropology is a fairly recent discipline
Anthropology, considered as the science of humanity, originated in the
region we commonly but inaccurately call ‘the West’, notably in three or
four ‘Western’ countries: France, Great Britain, the USA and, until the
Second World War, Germany (Erikson, 2001).

3. Scope and subject matter of anthropology

 The breadth and depth of anthropology is immense.
 Anthropology not only tries to account for the social and cultural
variation in the world, but a crucial part of the anthropological project
also consists in conceptualizing and understanding similarities between
social systems and human relationships.

4. Misconceptions about anthropology and

A. Physical or Biological Anthropology
B. Archaeological Anthropology
 Artifacts
 Features
 Eco-facts
C. Linguistic Anthropology
D. Socio-Cultural Anthropology
5. Misconceptions about anthropology
 It is limited to study of primitive societies.
 It only studies the rural people and rural areas.
 It studies far away, remote exotic societies.