Explain all the different types of anthropology?

Question

i know there are quite a few. Please only answer if you actually know what you're talking about...

Answer 1

There are four main subcategories of Anthropology. 1.) Archaeology which is the study of ancient cultures, 2.) Physical Anthropology which is the study of evolution, 3.) Cultural Anthropology which is the study of the impact of culture and for some reason I can't think of the fourth one. I think it might actually be Applied Anthropology.

Answer 2

Traditional American Anthropology speaks of four main kinds of anthropology, and you'll see universities which place a strong emphasis on this stressing a, "Four Field Approach."  These four fields are...

1) Cultural anthropology, or the study of the lived experiences of human beings anywhere in the world.  Think of ethnography as an example.

2) Archaeological anthroplogy (archaeology), or the study of the material remains of past people.  Think of excavation as an example.

3) Physical anthropology (biological anthropology), or the study of humans as physical, biological beings.  Think of human evolution as an example.

4)  Linguistic anthropology, or the study of human language in its context and considering its impact on the whole human experience.  Think of dictionary studies as an example.

Some people also talk about a "sometimes-Fifth Field," applied anthropology.  This centers on the practical application of knowledge from the other fields, e.g. in relief work or in training cross-cultural workers.

In Europe, they speak of /Social Anthropology/ rather than /Cultural Anthropology/.  This is more than a simple choice of words, but also reflects a different stress.  The American focus is mostly on the lived experience of individuals and the European focus tends to be on how people organize themselves into groups and then operate within and between those groups.

In addition to these, some specilizations and cross-disciplinary approaches have risen to prominence in their own right, for instance:

* Medical anthropology, which looks at things like public health, traditional health systems, the intersection of nutrition and culture, etc...

* Forensic anthropology, which takes the skills of biological anthropology and uses them in a medico-legal context to help identify and interpet skeletal remains.

There are a number of other forms of anthropology, and this is only  a partial list of them.  In actuality, these are basically refinements or re-castings of some forms already mentioned.

- Political anthropology

- Economic anthropology

- Development anthropology

- Anthropology of religion

- Dental anthropology

- Paleoanthropology

- Paleopathology

- Ethnomusicology

Answer 3

That's the problem.  Anthropology is so wide and varied, that is includes alot of subjects that many don't consider Anthropology.

At its core, it is the study of Man's interaction with himself and his environment.  

Archaeology is specifically focusing on cultural remains, including human remains.  Usually, the remains are centuries, if not milennia old.

Cultural anthropology focuses on modern cultures and how they interact.

Forensic focuses on bones.

There is also Paleo-Archaeology which focuses on early hominid species.

Sociology is often part of Anthro- for it studies societies, including past ones.  

Most of them are fairly easy to guess what they focus on though.

Alot of what it breaks down to is the university.  In Europe, Archaeology is NOT part of Anthropology depts, it is its own separate dept.  Some large US universities have them separate too; but others place Archaeology in Classics (like Florida State), or History departments (Penn State).

My sister's school, which was small offered a joint Sociology/Anthropology major.  So there you go.