In dummy terms what is anthropology and what do anthropologists do?

Question

i want to be an anthropologist. it sounds interesting and i have tried reading about it in my library but i dont understand it much except that they pretty much observe life and what not

Answer 1

Simply put, it's the study of human biological and cultural diversity across time and space. There are a variety of subfields, including archeology, social-cultural anthropology, biological anthropology, and linguistic anthropology. And because of the differences between these subfields, it can be hard to define an anthropologist's work; however, they all interact and deal with the diversity that involves in "being human."

hope this helps!!

Answer 2

Anthropology  is the study of humanity. Anthropology has origins in the natural sciences, the humanities, and the social sciences.

anthropology the study of humankind in all its aspects, especially human culture or human development.

The anthropologist Eric Wolf once described anthropology as "the most scientific of the humanities, and the most humanistic of the sciences." Contemporary anthropologists claim a number of earlier thinkers as their forebears, and the discipline has several sources; Claude Lévi-Strauss, for example, claimed Montaigne and Rousseau as important influences. Anthropology can best be understood as an outgrowth of the Age of Enlightenment, a period when Europeans attempted systematically to study human behavior, the known varieties of which had been increasing since the 15th century as a result of the First European colonization wave. The traditions of jurisprudence, history, philology, and sociology then evolved into something more closely resembling the modern views of these disciplines and informed the development of the social sciences, of which anthropology was a part. At the same time, the Romantic reaction to the Enlightenment produced thinkers, such as Johann Gottfried Herder and later Wilhelm Dilthey, whose work formed the basis for the "culture concept," which is central to the discipline.



Institutionally, anthropology emerged from the development of natural history (expounded by authors such as Buffon) that occurred during the European colonization of the 17th, 18th, 19th and 20th centuries. Programs of ethnographic study originated in this era as the study of the "human primitives" overseen by colonial administrations. There was a tendency in late 18th century Enlightenment thought to understand human society as natural phenomena that behaved in accordance with certain principles and that could be observed empirically. In some ways, studying the language, culture, physiology, and artifacts of European colonies was not unlike studying the flora and fauna of those places.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthropolog...

Answer 3

d**n, I had 2 take that boring-@$§ class 2 satisfy a field requirement! Anthropology is the study of human beings & evolution & stuff. U have 2 examine a whole buncha old skulls & know, like, some genetic stuff & how humans intermarry. Something like that. But that's my "dummy" answer. Incidentally, I passed that class just by showing up & turning in my assignments. Hey, I went to a community college! (Got my Associate's, too.)

Answer 4

Anthropology is nothing but the yesterday of to-day.

Answer 5

Anthropology is the study of humanity.  There are really two main branches of anthropology, cultural and physical.

Cultural anthropology is the study of the human culture, I never really got into this in school but you basically talk about the social dynamics of humans and contrast them.  Sadly, I use these courses more then I do any other at work to help understand the mystery that is the human dynamic.  This is a newer branch of the generic discipline of Anthropology.

What most people see as the "true" area that an anthropologist focuses on is called Physical Anthropology.  in Physical Anthropology you  focus on the mechanisms of biological evolution, genetic inheritance, human adaptability and variation, primatology, primate morphology, and the fossil record of human evolution (thank you wikipedia).  I have a degree (my second degree actually cause I am a big nerd) in in this field.

Depending on what you want to do with your degree you will also, down the road, be asked to specialize your degree.  I really geeked out on the skeleton and physical aspects of anthropology so I specialized in Forensic Anthropology.  I use areas of both cultural and physical anthropology along with courses I took in psychology and other social sciences.  It is a great field and it will change the way you think and look at life in general.

Good luck!

Answer 6

Anthropology is the study of human societies.

Answer 7

sorry i dont speak spanish