Anthropology, Culture, Archeaolgy
Anthropology and a Few Sub Groups
Anthropology is the study of mankind that will teach us the difference and the similarities and differences between all of us. We are able to study how a man in Africa will experience similar emotions and gain similar skills although both men have very different experiences. The man in Africa will most likely live in a poor environment with a much more devastating surrounding while the man in this country might live in suburban America. Mostly as a whole, the group of anthropologists try to study a specific culture to take human bone whether extinct or not and find pieces that allow us to relate. For example, the Mayan culture is known for their star gazing and their ability to predict future occurrences, we now are able to understand them and try to improve our findings.
In the United States we use anthropology as a way to solve crimes. We have initiated forensic anthropologists into the country to determine and identify missing persons and victims of natural disasters. These workers are able to take human bones and identify where these victims came from and give them a life. These men and woman can show the rest of that these people were real and alive at one point.
Culture is similar and apart of anthropology but in it we find values of different societies and their unique way of life. “Culture are learned rather than inherited biologically, and all the different parts of a culture function as an integrated whole.” (Haviland, Prins and Walrath 25) Humans are programmed strictly through the brain, unlike the animal; we incorporate everything we do on a daily basis such as the food we eat. A woman who lived her whole life in India strictly with the same people, or generally at least, would not crave a double cheeseburger and fries as an American would. The same goes for the style of sleep we have. American’s generally as whole need and desire the most comfortable and pillow-top beds that make us feel like we are sleeping on a cloud while the Japanese on the other hand are used to simple beds that can be wood with a simple mattress that must coordinate with a Zen feeling that must all flow together as one. [1]In the annual editions, an oxford woman is traveling to Africa and on the way she comes across an Englishman, who are known to understand poetry and Shakespeare better than most cultures, and he challenges our oxford woman to read Hamlet while on her trip to Africa in hope to understand its meaning more. Once she arrives she sits herself if her hut for nearly two months reading Hamlet and becoming more sure that it could be understood by anyone. One day as our woman travels outside her hut into the Elder’s hut and finds them drinking beer ready to begin their common day of storytelling, they beg her to enter and take a seat to gale them with a story of her own as they pass her a serving of their deep beer. Nervously the woman tells her country’s story of Hamlet and with each passing scene the men question her every word because the words she speaks are impossible and unknown to them. As she gets deeper into the story the elders show her how her meanings and interpretation are so wrong and twisted and even though she might have this education these men have lived and understand how things really were meant to be told. By the end the woman is shocked and eager to return to tell the Englishmen of the new meaning that these elders have shared with her and how although one story can be told all around the world and although each nation will understand how they respond and how it fits into their life is so different and that is how culture is meant to be.
One fun field to learn about is the field of archaeology, “Archaeology is the study of human cultures through the recovery, documentation, and analysis of material remains and environmental data, including architecture, artifacts, bio-facts, human remains, and landscapes. The goals of archaeology are to document and explain the origins and development of human culture, understand culture history, chronicle cultural evolution, and study human behavior and ecology, for both prehistoric and historic societies.” (Wikipedia) From this statement you the reader and I can both see that archeology has more behind it then just digging up fossil.
The people who work out in the field write about what they have been researching or what they discover so they can tell the rest of the world. The Web is a major tool in the world of today when researching or communicating with others in far reaches in the world or also close to home. Anthropology is such a fun subject because everything in the world is pretty much related or can be in one of the sub divisions or anthropology.
Works Cited
Contemporary Learning Series. "Shakespeare in the Bush." Bohannan, Laura. Annual Editions: Anthropology. New York: McGraw-Hill Companies Inc., 2008. 61-65.
Haviland, William, et al. Cultural Anthropolgy. Austin: Thomas Wadsworth, 2008.
Wikipedia. Wikipedia,, the free encyclopedia. 13 January 2009. 17 Feburary 2009 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_basic_archaeology_topics>.
[1] Annual Edition: Article 10 Pages 61-65 (Contemporary Learning Series)
