Anthropology

Anthropology

Anthropology is a humanistic science that studies humanity and our ancestors. It studies origins, beliefs, cultures, and so much more. This field gives us a disciplined, empirical outlet for our natural curiosity of the world around us. Anthropologists make every effort to study the entirety of a culture, rather than facets. Ethnocentrism is also avoided wherever possible, meaning that every culture is studied in relation to itself, not held in juxtaposition with any other culture. There are no “norms” here. We can see human trends, understand ourselves and the world around us to a much higher degree, all thanks to anthropology.
There are five sub-fields of Anthropology:
*Archeology- This field studies our past. They examine artifacts that are ancient and modern to glean a new perspective of our collective history.
Archeologists examine paleoecology. Ecology is the study of the interrelations among living things in the environment, and paleo which means past. The organisms and environment together constitute an ecosystem, a patterned form of energy flows and exchanges. They also reconstruct behavior patterns and lifestyle of the past by evacating, or digging from a particular site. Not only do they study prehistory but also of living peoples. Garbology is practiced to learn about contemporary life, by finding thrown away goods archaeologists can get into the mindset and culture of those living.
*Biological/Physical Anthropology- This field studies why we have evolved and changed over the years. This discipline also studies our differences and the reasons for them. Modern and historical applications abound, from ancient evolution to modern forensics.
-Promotes five special interests: human evolution, human genetics, human growth an ddevelopment, huma biological plasticity, and the life of non human primates
*Cultural Anthropology- This a modern field of anthropology. Rather than speculate based on past findings, practitioners here spend time engaging in...

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