Understanding Anthropology: Branches, Schools, and Concepts
Understanding Anthropology
Anthropology is the study of humanity, encompassing both ancient and modern peoples and their ways of life.
Branches of Anthropology
Physical Anthropology
Studies the physical characteristics of humans through fossils and the distinctive features of contemporary groups. Key areas include:
- Primatology
- Human Paleontology
- Forensic Anthropology
- Population Genetics
Archeology
Devoted to the study of material remains of past cultures. By reconstructing extinct forms of life, it seeks to understand the ecological environment and the causes that led to their demise. Branches include historical and industrial archeology.
Anthropological Linguistics
Studies the diversity of languages spoken by existing human groups, attempts to reconstruct the history of their origin, and examines the relationship between language and the development of the groups that speak it. Branches include:
- Historical Linguistics
- Descriptive Linguistics
- Sociolinguistics
Cultural Anthropology
Also known as social anthropology, it refers to the analysis and description of cultures, both from the past and from contemporary human groups. Subfields include:
- Medical Anthropology
- Urban Anthropology
- Development Anthropology
- Religion Anthropology
- Political Anthropology
- Indigenous Anthropology
Schools of Thought in Anthropology
Evolutionism
Argues that societies pass through stages of development, allowing them to be placed within a hierarchy. Social scientists aim to discover and present the stages that all cultures spanned to reach the highest level of development, associated with European societies of that time (Edward B. Tylor).
Historical Particularism
Posits that every culture or society is the consequence of its own particular process, resulting from the sum of aspects that have built it over time (American Franz Boas).
Diffusionism
Emerged as a reaction to evolutionism, proposing that cultures adopted their elements by imitation. Independent creation is discarded, and the most ancient cultures are considered the centers of origin from which techniques and knowledge have been transmitted or distributed.
Functionalism
This British current emphasizes function. The anthropologist’s duty is to describe the functions of customs and institutions for the society studied, which helps us understand its origins (Bronislaw Malinowski).
Structural Functionalism
Radcliffe-Brown added to the concept of function the place it occupied in the social structure, the way society was organized as a whole. Learning the language and local customs is considered the only method that provides valid and reliable data in anthropology.
Neoevolutionism
Leslie White re-examines the evolutionist paradigm. The works of Morgan are re-examined, and his contributions to the science of culture are redeemed: the existence of a cultural evolution determined by the amount of energy that could be captured and put into execution by a person.
French Structuralism
Claude Lévi-Strauss uses an analogy to explain the origin of the differences and similarities among cultures: the crux lies in the existence of a general structure (symphony), an underlying pattern common to all cultures. The difference among them is the melody, understood as the particular arrangement or interpretation that each society makes of them, where the main interest is to understand said structure.
Key Concepts in Anthropology
Otherness
Perceiving the other puts us in the construction of the identity of the social being; identity is discovered by observing the diversity of others. It is an essential condition for the existence of the other, the identity of the same.
Acculturation
Exchange of cultural features, a result of continuous direct contact between two groups. This contact can alter the cultural patterns of each group or both, without any group losing their differences. Acculturation often occurs asymmetrically.
Enculturation
The learning process of the culture to which all humans are exposed.
Affinity
Set of relationships that link two groups through marriage, and help maintain relationships and social solidarity in groups larger than the nuclear family. A related person is an in-law relative because there are no blood relations. In all systems of kinship, affinity relationships take up a prominent place.
Polygyny
A man lives and has sexual relations with multiple women simultaneously. While uncommon, in some societies, a man can have as many wives as he can support.