I need help with Anthropology?

Question

ok now im kind of confused because i always thought that anthropology is the study of the human mind and culture, i was just reading up on anthropology and everyone says its the study of human culture but not just culture, modern culture. what i need help with is "when i grow up" lol i mean for my career i want to work in a museum and study asian culture but not modern asian culture, i want to study the geisha and samurai and dynastys and all that, i also want to like minor in english culture so what exactly is that, somoene said its archaeology but you know whenever most people think of that they think of digging up remains or dinosaur bones, i dont want to dig c**p up i want to be more behind the scenes discovering stuff and i need to know kind of quick coz im starting college soon so i dont want to spend tons of time and money in the wrong field.

Answer 1

First off as others have mentioned archaeologists DO NOT dig up dinosaurs. They also don't just "dig up c**p". They uncover prehistoric and historic pasts throught through material culture. It sounds like you are more interested in cultural anthropology.  I took plenty of Asian studies courses for my MA in cultural anthropology. You can choose to focus on a specific area of study.  Anthropology is much broader than you think. Take a few course and I bet you will love it. As for a job, you better plan on getting a graduate degree if you want to work in the field.

Answer 2

Anthropology is a broad field. You can study what you want, it isn't deteremines what they study each year. Don't worry about it, if you want to study a particular thing then you can :) it's a very open field.

Answer 3

Sounds like you want to be a cultural anthropologist. They work closely with physical anthropologists to create a big picture, and sometimes go out to dig sites but generally to get a view, not actually dig. Cultural anthropology is a huge field and you can most certainly have a speciality within Asian Studies. I wouldn't get any more pecific than that with my focus though if I were you so that you don;t limit yourself out of a job.

I would choose an academic major in either social science or cultural anthropology and a minor in Asian studies. Or do not declare at all at first, take your core classes as an underclassmen and get a feel for what you really want before you commit yourself.

Answer 4

Archaeology is a subfield of anthropology, but it's more concerned with ancient peoples and digging stuff out of the ground.  Really, all these fields are kinda mixed up together, but it would be entirely possible for you to study ancient cultures and never get within ten feet of a trowel, except for in college (they might make you take field school).  There are plenty of museum workers and professors out there.  Also, you want to study a historic era, which makes it easier to avoid the dirt (historic= written language).  

By the way, it's highly unlikely that you'll ever find a dinosaur being an archaeologist.  It's a bit of a joke in the profession, with one of the major job lists having a T. Rex with a cross through it as their logo.  Go for anthro, study the Asian cultures, and try field school out, just to see if you might like digging in the dirt.

Answer 5

There are four broad fields of Anthropology.  :

Archaelogy

Biological/Physical Anthropology

Linguistic Anthropology

Socio-cultural Anthropology

Also, keep in mind that each field has several subfields.

You might want to look into taking courses in Asian history and  Eastern Humanities.

EDIT:  Also, it is always a good idea to consult with a counselor in the college of your choice that specializes in the field you are interested in.  He or she can provide you with all the information you will need so you won't waste your time in a major that isn't necessary for your career choice.

Answer 6

anthropology does NOT deal with the dinosaurs, we leave that to the paleoanthropologists. Anthropologists strictly deal with people.

Cultural Anthropologists study modern cultures, so you would probably be better off with archaeology. Then wherever you go for graduate school, you could work on asian cultures