Anthropology is the scientific study of all aspects of the human species across the whole geographic and temporal span of human existence. It covers languages, customs, family structures, social behavior, politics, morality, health, and biology. As such, possible studies range from comparative analyses of human and chimpanzee family units to historical examinations of how languages change and to neurobiological studies of the roots of altruism in the brain. At its core, anthropology is concerned with what makes human beings who they are and why.
The word anthropology , meaning "study of man," predates the development of anthropology as a modern scientific field. It was first used in the sixteenth century to describe a philosophical or theological examination of the soul. The term was later used by nineteenth-century German scientist Johann Friedrich Blumenbach in a sense closer to its modern meaning, to denote the study of physical and psychological aspects of humankind. In the late nineteenth century, the science of anthropology was dominated by an ethnocentric approach that peered at global cultures through the lens of strict Victorian mores and that largely labeled these cultures as primitive curiosities. Early anthropologists believed cultural differences could be traced to genetic variances in the human species that resulted in moral and mental disparities (Source: EBSCO, 2024).
Cultural Anthropology. Cultural anthropology is the most widely practiced and well-known subfield of anthropology. It is the study of human thought, knowledge, and practices—any behavioral trait passed on not through genes but through language, art, and ritual. The most important tool of the cultural anthropologist is the ethnographic study. Researchers directly observe group members as they go about their daily lives. They interview subjects, record oral histories , and create detailed reports of all they see and hear. The goal of these observations is to deepen the understanding of the reasoning behind the cultural practices of a given society. For example, it can be difficult for Western minds to apprehend the facial tattooing rituals in many cultures, including the Maori of New Zealand. Rather than seeing these practices as masochistic or stigmatizing, cultural anthropologists seek to uncover the principles that motivate this tradition. In the case of the Maori, tattooing serves as a status symbol—the more complex one's facial tattoos, the higher one's rank—and as a sign of affiliation between group members (Source: EBSCO, 2024).
A list of some important anthropologists within the United States.