ANTHROPOLOGY

Sheila C. Cruz, Ed. D.

 Anthropology

 Claude Levi Strauss, a French anthropologist and ethnologist, along with

others has been called the father of modern Anthropology. He thought that
Anthropogy has humanity as its object of research, but unlike other human
sciences, it tries to grasp its object through its most diverse manifestations.
 In other word Anthropoloy is about how different people can be, but it also
tries to find out in what sense it can be said that all humans have something
in common.
 Anthropology
 Clifford Geertz, a prominent Anthropologist has expressed Anthropology
that deals with the differences between humans and animals. That if we
want to discover what man amounts to, we can only find it what men are:
what men are, above all other things is various. It is by understanding that
vriousness, its range, its nature, its basis, and its implications that we shall
come to construct a concept of human nature.
 This discipline is also concerned with accounting for the interrelationships
between different aspects of human existence.
 Investigates the relationships in a society, of local life in a particular society
or a delineated social environment.
 Asks large questions and at the same time, draws its most important insights
from small places.
 Anthropology
 What then is Anthropology?
 Compound two Greek words ANTHROPOS and LOGOS which means
HUMAN and REASON. So it means reason(study) about humans or
knowledge about humans.
 So social anthropology would then mean knowledge about humans in
socieities
 Is the branch of knowledge which deals with scientific study of man, his
works, his body, his behavior and values in time and space (Palispis 2007)
 Helps by providing insights into strange aspects of past or even prrsent
socieities which historians and sociologists find difficult to comprehend and
explain.
Examples where Anthropology can be seen

Strange aspects like conflict and violence

Superstitious beliefs and withccrafts
fashion
Myths and legends
Rituals concerning rites, courtships and
marriage
Human sacrifices
Examples of Questions where Anthropology is applied

How does my culture, training, or personality influence

my…?
Where does this thing lead to?
What do people mean by…?
Do others understand the same context of…?
How is this idea changing…?
How do humans interact in its physical environment?
How do rules affects relationships and personal
choices…?
What do people I’m being with think of …?
 Main Branches of Anthropology
A. Physical (biological) Anthropology-study of man as a biolocal organism. It
is the study of the nature of the similarities and differences in the make up
of different human population. Ex. Study of events and processes of
human evolution.

B. Lingusitc Anthropology-is the study of the relationship between language

and the importance of language as an instruments of communication
between members of a society. Ex. Study of ancient mother languages.

C. Socio-cultural Anthropology-studies man in the context of society and

culture. Ex. Life patterns of people, its similarities and differences without
limitations.
 Main Branches of Anthropology

D. Ethnology-comparative study of primitive cultures only. This concerns with

past and its evolution. Ex. Variations in terms of race, language, culture,
customs, and practices.

E. Ethnography-The descriptive account of the total way of life of the people

at a given time. Ex. History of a particular nation.

f. Archaeological Anthropology- Archaeology is defined as detective

looking for evidences which are found buried under the ground in different
layers of earth in the form of cultural remains. So it means that the study deals
with the period of human existence prior to the invention of scripts. Mans’
prehistoric remote past when evidence of beginnings of man is available.
 Culture
From Latin COLERE which means to cultivate. So Cultural Anthropology is
means knowledge about cultivated humans. It is a knowledge about aspects
of humanity which are related to what it acquires that are not natural at the
beginnings.

Geertz said CULTURE is a whole and a puzzle. A system where meaning was
shared by a population with a little variations within groups.

Refers to ACQUIIRED cognitive and symbolic aspects of existence whereas

society refers to the organization of human life, patterns, of interactions and
power relationships. Thus ANTHROPOLOGY is the comparative study of cultural
and social life.
 Culture
Central concept of Anthropology

Encompasses religion, food, what we wear, language, marriage, music, what

we believe, right or wrong, manners, how we behave with people

Shared patterns of behaviour and interactions

Way of life

Systems of knowledge shared by large groups of people

Totality of a person’s learned accumulated experience, which is socially

transmitted, or behaviour through social learnings.
Culture
Knowledge

Morals Beliefs

CULTURE

Customs Arts

Laws
Significance of Studying Culture, Society, and
Politics
Accdg. To Mark Banaag, Culture functions in the following ways:

 Cuture makes it possible for man to adapt himself to his environment as a

means of survival.
 Culture establishes patterns of acceptable social behavior such as
etiquette, protocols, good manners, right conduct, roles and duties as
established by folkways, mores and laws
 Culture conveys meanings through verbal-non verbal, written-non written,
expressions, and symbolisms.
 Culture produces man made things such as clothing, tools, instruments,
machines, structures, and others.
 Culture contributes to over-all human satisfaction as we develop ways to
make life more comfortable,.
 ADAPTATION

CULTURE
AND
INTEGRATION

PATTERNS AND
HUMAN ACCEPTABLE
SATISFACTION BEHAVIORS

SIGNIFICANCE
OF CULTURE

CONVEYS
PRODUCTION
AND
OF MAN MADE
THINGS FACILITATES
MEANING
 Society
 Came from Latin SOCIETAS, SOCIUS described as bond or interaction
between friendly people

 Group of people living together in a more or less ordered community.

 Group of individuals involved in social interaction, sharing the same

geographical or social territory, typically subject to the same political
authority and dominant cultural expectations.

 Synonymous to humankind, people, company, community, association,

population, commonwealth, camaraderie, comradeship, friendship general
public, social order
SOCIETY
REPRESENTATION OF
OUR IDENTITY

SIGNIFICANCE CHARACTERIZE
AVENUE FOR STUDYING SOCIETY THE TOTALITY
ECONOMIC OF A TERRITORY
INTERDEPENDENCE

SYMBOL OF POLITICAL
INDEPENDENCE
 Politics

o From Greek POLITIKA which means affairs of the cities.

o Is the process of making decisions that apply to members of a group

o The activities associated with the governance of a country or other area

o The activities of governments concerning political relations between

countries

o The academic study of government and state

o Organized control over human community particulary a state.

 CONSENS

POLITICS US AND
COMPROMISE

SOCIETY
ACADEMICS

POLITICS

PUBLIC POWER AND

DISTRIBUTION
AFFAIRS
OF
RESOURCES
ART OF
GOVERNMENT
 Cultural Variations

Refers to the differences in social

behaviors that different cultures exhibit
around the world. What may be
considered good etiquettes in another
may be considered bas in others.
 Ethnocentrism

 From Greek ETHNOS meaning a people. Meaning evaluating other people

from one’s own vantage point and describing them in one’s own term.

 Is the practice of judging another culture by the standards of one’s own

culture.

 Is judging another culture solely by the values and standards of one’s own
culture.

 Is a perception that arises from the fact that cultures differ and each culture
defines reality different.
 Cultural Relativism

 The attempt to judge cultural variations or behaviors according to its

cultural contents.

 The principle that an individual person’s beliefs and activities should be

understood by others in terms of that individual’s own culture.

 Is sometimes posited as the opposite of ethnocentrism.

 This is the doctrine that societies or cultures are qualitative different and
have their own unique logic and cannot be rank on a scale.
 The Problem of Ethnocentrism

 A society or a culture must be understood on its own term.

 It warns against the application of a shared, universal scale to be used in
the evaluation of every society.
 Ranking of people is irrelevant and judgement is limited if one does not
understand that society from within.
 What may be conceived as good life in the society in which we live may
not appear attractive at all in others.
 It is necessary to try to grasp the totality of others experiential world in order
to understand within.
TO BE CONTINUED…
Sheila C. Cruz, Ed. D.