Broad anthropology question?

Question

I have to write an 8 page paper about any piece of art (i am writing about the sphinx in Egypt) and explain/analyze it from an anthropological perspective. I have never taken anthropology before and was wondering if anyone could tell me some key things that i must include that are important to anthropology. Thanks so much!

Answer 1

Some anthropological "keys" - as you put it - are:

What does this piece of art reflect about the culture of the artist? (Note that you have to know something about the time and culture the artist came from to answer properly)

What symbols does the artist choose and how are these to be interpreted in the context of the artist's culture?

What is the socioeconomic context of the art?  Was the art commissioned and how are/were the artesan class supported?  What, if any, aspects of the art reflect these contexts?

Good luck!

Answer 2

Why they would make it, who would make it (what class the workers would represent, etc), what does it signify, what does it tell you about Egyptian society, what kind of organization it would require, social structure, possible work conditions, possible difficulties in planning and coordinating the building of it. Those are just some ideas. I hope it helps even a little bit!

Answer 3

Since you have 8 pages, you will have an intro and conclusion which will leave about 6 pages. You could write about its meaning in:

1) religion

2) government (sphinx is part pharaoh)

3) construction  

4) defense (psychological defense)

5) domestication of animal (you might talk about the Egyptian's domestication of cats. The sphinx is part lion)

6) art

http://www.lightomega.org/Ind/Message-of...

http://ww2.netnitco.net/users/legend01/s...

Answer 4

Is it the Great sphinx on the Giza plateau or sphinx in general? The sphinx is part of great mythology and the Great Sphinx (plus others in Egypt) were named later based on the Greek myth.

"The name 'sphinx' which means 'strangler' was first given by the Greeks to a fabulous creature which had the head of a woman and the body of a lion and the wings of a bird. The sphinx appears to have started in Egypt in the form of a sun god. The Egyptian sphinx is usually a head of a king wearing his headdress and the body of a lion . There are, however, sphinxes with ram heads that are associated with the god Amun."

http://interoz.com/egypt/sphinx.htm

See the links below

Answer 5

Anthropology is the study of humans, so you'd want to focus on the human perspective.  For instance, maybe you could write about the mythology behind the Sphinx, or as the above poster said, about the workers involved with it and how they lived.  Maybe you could talk about the politics of the era it was built in and how that affected it- for instance, the Statue of Liberty's history is tied in with the US's Revolutionary War and that of France.

As long as your paper is either human-focused or focused on something invented by humans- not on, say, its environmental impact or where the stone was quarried or its dimensions- then it's written from an anthropological perspective.