Anthropology Study Questions

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Anthropology Study Questions Week 2 (Part 1): What is Anthropology? What is anthropology?  Anthropologists explore human societies, culture and physical diversity across time and space. It is also the scientific study of human beings as biocultural organisms. What is the concept of cultures?  The concept of cultures is that culture consists of beliefs, traditions, customs, and ideas that humans learn as members of society. Culture allows humans to adapt and transform the world around them. What makes anthropology a cross-disciplinary discipline?  Anthropology spans social science, natural science, and humanities.  Anthropology in North America Is traditionally divided into four subfields including: o Biological (or physical) anthropology o Cultural anthropology o Linguistic anthropology o Archaeology Anthropology’s subfields (biological, cultural and linguistic, archaeology)  Biological anthropology = focuses on biological variation and diversity among modern humans and non-human primates and their extinct ancestors. It examines human biological variations and patterns of adaptation across time and space.  Cultural Anthropology = cultural anthropologists explore cultural diversity among all living societies, including our own. o Contemporary issues such as gender and sexuality, urbanization, globalization, transnational migration, and human rights. o How patterns of cultural expression or material life and technology vary across cultures and over time.  Linguistic Anthropology = linguistic anthropology studies human language in its cultural and historical contexts to examine diversity. Language is a system of arbitrary symbols that enables communication ad transmission of cultural knowledge.  Archaeology = archaeology studies human culture by analyzing the material remains people leave behind. Material remains allow past cultural activities to be described, reconstructed, and interpreted. Applied and medical anthropology  Applied anthropology uses information gathered in the other anthropological subfields to address and find practical solutions for contemporary cross-cultural problems and issues.  Medical anthropology is the focuses on health in its cultural context. It examines the factors that contribute to disease or illness. Explores the ways that human populations react and handle disease or illness.

Week 2 (Part 2): Why is the study of culture important to anthropologists? How do anthropologists define culture?  Culture is sets of learned behaviour and ideas that humans acquire as members of society, together with the artifacts and structures humans create and use. Basic features/characteristics of culture:  Culture as learned and shared through the processes of socialization and enculturation.  Culture as shared = people share certain ideas, believes, experiences, and practices with most people in our society.  Culture is integrated or patterned. = culture is patterned in the related cultural beliefs and practices repeatedly appear in different areas of social life.  Culture as symbolic= in that we use symbols to communicate cultural meaning.  Culture is transformative and adaptive. = cultural traditions are reconstructed and enriched, generation after generation, primarily because humans’ biological survival depends on culture. What are the three parts of culture?  What we think (cognition) = the values we learn from our parents and the symbols we understand in our environments are cognitive.  What we do (Behaviours, actions) = actions and interactions with others are behavioral.  What we have (artifacts) = the material products of our society are artifacts. Interrelationship of biology, environment, and culture  The facts of human biology as facts of human culture: o Human evolutionary heritage has coevolved with technology for millions of years and cultural capacity has enabled humans to adapt to changing physical environment. o Humans manipulate environments and develop within environments are cultural. o Contemporary social, political, and economic ideas, aspirations, or expectations are outcomes of both biological and cultural transformation occurring over time. Culture, history, and human agency  Culture is historical because it is shaped by events and reconstructed every generation.  Culture allows us to overcome biological and individual limitations.  Individuals are limited by the historical and cultural contexts in which they act. Why do cultural difference matter?  The same objects, actions, or events frequently mean different things to people with different cultures.  Human experience is inherently ambiguous.  To resolve such, the experience must be interpreted. Week 3: Why do anthropologists study language? What do linguistic anthropologists do?  They study the origin, development, and diversity of human languages.  Study language both as a form of symbolic communication and as an important carrier of cultural information  Explore the interrelationship between language and culture. What is language?

 Language is the system of arbitrary symbols human beings use to encode and communicate about their experience of the world and one of another.  A system of communication using sounds or gestures put together in meaningful ways according to a set of rules. How do we communicate without language?  Primates communicate with one another through a vocal call system.  Human language is a second learned system that functions alongside the call system inherited.  Humans also send messages without using language, through non-verbal communication. o Gestures, postures, facial expressions, and use of space Type of language?  Verbal language = speech or spoken language  Non-verbal language = hand-signed, written language, feelings and information can be communicated through smells, tastes, and verbal vocalizations. How is human language different from non-human primate?  What makes language distinctively human?  Duality of patterning means = sounds of a language are organized into the smallest meaningful units.  Patterning also includes semantics (meaning) and pragmatics (how language is used) How does context affect language?  Context influences how people use language: o One would communicate differently, for example, on social media than at work or while giving a presentation. How does language affect how we see the world?  The linguistic relatively principle or the “Sapir Whorf hypothesis” suggests that language has the power to shape the way people see the world How are language and culture related? What happens when language come into contact? What is linguistic inequality? What is lost if a language dies? Week 4 (Part 1): Why is evolution important to anthropologists? What is evolutionary theory?  Evolutionary theory is testable, unified, and fruitful.  The theory of evolution allows us to explain the patterns of similarity and diversity common to life forms.  Evolutionary theory claims the following: o Living species change over time and give rise to new species. o All organisms ultimately share a common ancestry. What material evidence is there for evolution?  Material evidence for evolution relates to change over time and across space.

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 Material evidence of change across space = study of patterns of distribution of living organisms points to change across space Pre-Darwinian views of the natural world  Essentialism = the belief in fixed ideas or in “forms” that exist perfect and unchanging in eternity  Great chain of being = principle of linear gradation: the various kinds of organisms can be arranged in a single hierarchy or unilinear gradation, like a ladder or a chain, based on the degrees to which they depart from the divine ideal  Catastrophism = contrast to the idea of principle of linear gradation: species as fixed and unchanging  Uniformitarianism = the first nonreligious theory about human origins, which stressed nature’s overall harmonious integration as evidence for god’s handiwork What is the natural selection?  Darwin’s theory of evolution is based on three principles: o Variation = no two individuals of a species are identical o Heredity = offspring resemble their parents o Natural selection = different variants leave different number of offspring  Natural selection in action: o Natural selection operates on existing variation within a population. o In every generation, variant individuals are generated within a species because of genetic mutation. How did biologists learn about genes?  Mendel’s experiments o Mendelian inheritance views heredity as based on non-blending, single particle inheritance. o Showed that traits passed on to a child can be:  Dominant traits – particles expressed in an organism.  Recessive traits – particles not expressed in an organism. Genotype, phenotype, and the norm of the reaction  The genotype, the molecular structure of genes is distinguished from the phenotype, the observable characteristics of an organism.  Different genotypes may be associated with the same phenotype, such as in the case of recessive genes.  Norm of reaction is plotted on a graph or table to predict the possible phenotypic outcomes of genotypes in different environments. What does evolution mean to anthropologists?  Evolutionary theory has been repeatedly tested since Darwin.  Contemporary biologists understand evolution as a complex phenomenon that requires theoretical pluralism.  Theoretical pluralism recognizes that several processes operate at different levels to create similarities and differences. Week 4 (part 2): Why do anthropologists study living primates? What are primates?

 Modern primates share part of their evolutionary history with humans.  Despite many similarities, researchers must be careful to avoid anthropomorphism, the attribution of human characteristics to non-human animals. How do anthropologists classify primates?  Primatologists utilize modern biological taxonomy to classify primates.  Groups of organisms are arranged in a hierarchy: kingdom, phylum, class, order, family, genus, species. What do we know about the kinds of primates living today?  Non-human primates are mainly found in tropical regions.  Primatologists study primates in laboratories, in captive populations in zoos or research facilities and in the wild.  Strepsirrhines: (including lemurs and lorises) Are there patterns in primate evolution?  Yes, there is patterns in primate evolution. How do paleoanthropologists reconstruct primate evolutionary history? Week 5 (Part 1): What can the fossil record tell us about human origins? What is macroevolution?  Evolutionary changes occur over time a long period of time.  The growth and decay of many different ecological settings are measured in geological time. What is hominin evolution?  At the end of the Miocene epoch (10 mya), grasslands increase at the expense of forests.  Selective pressures favoured bipedalism (walking on two feet).  Early hominins, prior to the genus homo, are informally referred to as australopiths.  Human evolution is a result is a result of mosaic evolution, a process of change over time where different phenotypic traits evolve at different rates. Who were the first hominins (6-3 mya)?  All primates are capable of upright posture to sit, swing from branches, or stand and walk short distances.  The oldest fossil evidence of australopiths is fragmentary.  Significant early finds include: o Sahelanthropous tchadensis , 6-7 million years old, from Chad  Direct evidence for bipedalism includes:  Trak od fossilized footprints in Laetoli, Tanzania, dating to 3.6 mya Who were the later anthralopiths (3-1.5 mya)?  Australopiths are divided into two groups based on their chewing anatomy.  The cranial capacity of both increased to 400-550 cm3.  Both gracile and robust australophiths had dextrous hands and may have used tools of bone and horn. How can anthropologists explain the human transitions?  There are competing hypotheses about the development of tools and culture in early hominins:

o “Man, the hunter” hypothesis = emphasis on our ancestors’ devotion to hunting o “Woman the gatherer” hypothesis = emphasis on foods gathered and the invention of digging sticks and slings to carry children What do we know about early homo (2.4-1.5 mya)?  First members appeared during a dry period.  Early homo had larger brains than the 350-550cm3 of australopiths  Key criterion for including a fossil in the genus homo is cranial capacity.  Taphonomy is the study of the processes that occur as objects become part of the fossil and archaeological record. Who was homo erectus (1.8-0.3 mya)?  Early homo either evolved into or was replaced by homo erectus which had a larger brain than earlier species. Week 5 (Part 2): How did Homo sapiens evolve? What did homo sapiens evolve?  Archaic homo sapiens fossils have been found on sites dating from 500,000 to 200,000 years ago.  These fossils have features found in both homo erectus and homo sapiens.  Some categorize African and European archaic homo sapiens as homo heidelbergensis.  H. heidelbergensis is viewed as a shared ancestor of Neanderthals and modern humans. Who were the Neanderthals (230,000 – 27,000 ya)?  Neanderthals appeared around 230,000 years ago during a period of global cooling. What do we know about anatomically modern humans (300,000 years ago to present)?  Anatomically modern humans resemble living populations:  Recent evidence suggests that anatomically modern humans appeared approximately 300,000 years ago.  Neanderthals lived side-by-side with anatomically modern humans in southwest asia for 45,000 years.  Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) is only passed from females to their children.  What do we know about the upper paleolithic/Late stone age (40,000? – 10,000 years age)?  Upper palaeolithic/Late stone age tools include a high proportion of blades and composite tools.  This period saw a rapid change and diversification in tool technology, indicating a new capacity for cultural innovation. Where did modern homo sapiens migrate in late Pleistocene times?  Eastern Asia and Siberia o Humans first occupied Siberia between 35,000 and 20,000 ya o A land bridge connected Siberia to Alaska during this glacial period. o Animals and people crossed this bridge into Alaska and Canada perhaps as early as 20,000 ya  The Americas

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o Oldest skeletal remains dated to 12,000 ya are those of a young girl “naia”, found in Mexico. o Early inhabitants of the Americas were successful hunters. Week 6: What can evolutionary theory tells us about human variation? What is microevolution?  The modern evolutionary synthesis and its legacy. (neo-darwinism) o Helped undermine the 19 th century concept of biological race. o Recognizes that all human beings are a part of a single species. o Examines human biological variation from a population perspective.  The molecularization of race? o Older concepts of “race” emphasized phenotypic (appearance) variation. o Newer concepts of “race” examine genotypic variation.  Human variation and the four evolutionary processes. o Patterns and shifts in gene frequency in a given population are due to four processes:  Natural selection, mutation, gene flow, and genetic drift.  Adaptation and human variation o Modern geneticists have discovered the importance of gene interaction. o Pleiotropy occurs when one gene contributes to multipole phenotypic features. How do biology, environment and culture intersect?  Can we predict the future of human evolution?  As with all living beings, humans are concerned with survival and reproduction in a changing world.  The development of culture means that humans are also concerned with leading meaningful lives.  Humans are subject to evolutionary processes, but culture allows a range of adaptive responses. Suggested Short – Answer Questions Definition and subfields of anthropology - Anthropologists explore human societies, culture and physical diversity across time and space. It is also the scientific study of human beings as biocultural organisms. - Archaeology, bioanthropology, linguistic anthropology, and social – cultural anthropology Anthropology as cross-cultural discipline and/or distinctiveness of the discipline - Definition of culture and the significance of the study of culture - Culture is sets of learned behaviour and ideas that humans acquire as members of society, together with the artifacts and structures humans create and use.

- Helps you understand the complexity of everyday life and the way habits, texts, objects, and beliefs are social patterned and laden with values and meaning. Evolutionary theory and the significance of the studying evolution in anthropology  Evolutionary theory is testable, unified, and fruitful.  The theory of evolution allows us to explain the patterns of similarity and diversity common to life forms.  Evolutionary theory claims the following: o Living species change over time and give rise to new species. o All organisms ultimately share a common ancestry. - The significance of the studying of evolution is to know where animals have come from and the certain areas that their ancestors came from. It is also helpful to peace together the history of our world and existence. Definition of the concept of race/race as a social construct/major variations found in human populations/causes of human variations/prevalent of racism in Canada and USA.

Anthropology Study Questions

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