Exploring the Four Subfields of Anthropology: A Summary

Final Project Part A ATH 101 SNHU

I. Defining Anthropology Anthropology is defined as “the study of human beings, their biology, their prehistory and histories, and their changing languages, cultures, and social institutions.” (Welsch et al., 2019, p. 4). Anthropology has four main subfields including archaeology, biological anthropology, cultural anthropology, and linguistics anthropology. All of these subfields work together for optimum research. Archaeology is the study of past material remains. These materials can be bones, or man made objects and artifacts from anywhere in the world (Boudreau et al., 2022). Archaeologists use the remains to tell the history of the artifacts. When doing enough research, they can tell us where the item came from, and during what time. Archaeologists can also see what the purpose of the item is, for example, they might find a tool that was once used in ancient Egypt that helped make jewelry. Biological anthropology, or physical anthropology, studies the biology of our past and present including primates. Biological anthropologists study the genetics of human, but also human evolution and diseases (Welsch et al., 2019, p. 8). An example of what a biological anthropologist might research is how our bodies adapted to our environment, or how closely related to primates the human race is. Cultural anthropology is the study of our social lives (Welsch et al., 2019, p. 8). They might focus on religion, politics, and economics. These anthropologists will observe a community for years, and record their everyday lives and how they survive. They record the behaviors of different cultures, but also compare them together to see how similar cultures are. And the final major subfield of anthropology is linguistics anthropology. This is the study of communications and languages. Linguistic anthropologists try to understand humans

through language (Rutherford, 2022). An example of what a linguistic anthropologist might research is how different communities can communicate with each other using different languages. When these subfields work together, they bring their best aspects to find the answers together. Let’s say an archaeologist finds an artifact with inscriptions of a foreign language that isn’t recognizable. A cultural anthropologist and a linguistics anthropologist could help identify the foreign language. The archaeologist can narrow down the time period, and the cultural anthropologist and linguistic anthropologist can work together finding similar inscriptions. They can all work together to identify who inscribed on the artifact, and what it says. II. Anthropological Perspective An anthropological perspective is important during crises because anthropologists can use their knowledge and research to help tame the situation and better prepare others. A. Global Cultural Crisis A global cultural crisis today could be how the COVID-19 pandemic has transformed how we live our everyday lives. Anthropologists have found from past pandemics what this can do to our culture. The way we learn and work starts to change. It changes how we interact with others because now shaking someone's hand to say hello might not be the best idea, when it was once a respectful thing to do. B. Biological Crisis A biological crisis is important to know from an anthropological perspective because something like obesity is becoming more and more common. Biological anthropologists can find if this is changing the way we adapt, and can affect our future. Diabetes plays a big role on weight gain

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and cardiovascular disorders (Welsch et al., 2019, p 72). These health risks will affect our future. C. Environmental Crisis An environmental crisis that we are facing today would be global warming. Anthropologists have discovered that overpopulating too fast has caused us to use many resources causing pollution to our planet (Welsch et al., 2019, p 398). This pollution has contaminated everything from our air to our water. III. Historical Perspective A. Anthropological contribution during the HIV/AIDS epidemic helped handle the COVID- 19 pandemic (Ennis-McMillan & Hedges, 2020). Anthropologists and scientists used the past epidemic as a crutch to help figure out how to handle the COVID-19 pandemic. For example, anthropologists have studied human behavior during past outbreaks of diseases, and were able to learn from past mistakes on how to stop the disease from spreading as quickly. Unfortunately in the beginning it’s always worse because no one understands the disease yet. Schoepf (2001) states that disease epidemics are social processes controlled by political economy, social relations, and culture. This means that we all control how the disease will spread, and knowing the past can help stop the spread. B. I would say that African Americans remind themselves everyday of the struggles their ancestors had, and the struggles that still happen today. They are products of their past because they still deal with racism and hate mostly for their melanin. Most African Americans feel like they need to work twice as hard to earn respect and just to survive. It’s a very sad reality that we live in where society and the media put white people on this pedestal that black people can’t reach. They are living through their ancestors trying to be accepted in this modern world.

C. A personal example of how people are products of their familial past would be how my family grew up in Greece with Greek traditions. We are Greek Orthodox and follow the Orthodox faith which was founded almost 2000 years ago. Most Greek people are Orthodox, and identify with this in their everyday lives. We continue to practice traditions that have been known for centuries like being named after a saint so that we can celebrate our name day. In Greece a name day is more celebrated than a birthday. D. Our every movement has changed throughout history, so we are products of our past because of how our past shaped us figuratively and literally. Our past diets, body modifications, daily activities, and migration patterns can all affect our present and future (Welsch et al., 2019, p. 70). This has become a part of our culture. Maybe our ancestors lived near open water and were fishermen, their diets and daily routine could shape how we are today. References Welsch, R. L., Vivanco, L. A., & Fuentes, A. (2019). Anthropology (2nd ed.). Oxford University Press Academic US. https://mbsdirect.vitalsource.com/books/9780190057381 Rutherford, D. (March 23, 2022). What is Anthropology? Sapiens. https://www.sapiens.org/language/what-is-anthropology/ Boudreau, D., McDaniel, M., Sprout, E., & Turgeon, A. (August 19, 2022). Archaeology . National Geographic. https://education.nationalgeographic.org/resource/archaeology Ennis-McMillan, M. C., & Hedges, K. (2020). Open Anthropology . American Anthropological Association. https://www.americananthro.org/StayInformed/OAArticleDetail.aspx? ItemNumber=25631 Schoepf, B. G. (2001). International AIDS Research in Anthropology: Taking a Critical

Perspective on the Crisis. Annual Review of Anthropology , 30 , 335–361.

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Final projectpartA (1)

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