last highlighted date: 2023-11-29
Highlights
- Anthropologists aim to study and present their human subjects in a clear and unbiased way. They attempt to achieve this by observing subjects in their local environment. Anthropologists then describe interactions and customs, a process known as ethnography. By participating in the everyday life of their subjects, anthropologists can better understand and explain the purpose of local institutions, culture, and practices. This process is known as participant-observation.
- Anthropologists specialize in cultural or social anthropology, linguistic anthropology, biological or physical anthropology, and archaeology. While subdisciplines can overlap and are not always seen by scholars as distinct, each tends to use different techniques and methods
- One of the most notable of Goodall’s discoveries was that chimpanzees use basic tools, such as sticks. Toolmaking is considered a key juncture in human evolution. Biological anthropologists link the evolution of the human hand, with a longer thumb and stronger gripping muscles, to our ancient ancestors’ focus on toolmaking.
- They followed two main theories in their studies: evolutionism and diffusionism. Evolutionists argued that all societies develop in a predictable, universal sequence. Anthropologists who believed in evolutionism placed cultures within this sequence. They placed non-Eurocentric colonies into the “savagery” stage and only considered European powers to be in the “civilizations” stage. Evolutionists believed that all societies would reach the civilization stage when they adopted the traits of these powers.
- Anthropologists also apply their skills and tools to understand how humans create new social connections and cultural identities. Michael Wesch, a National Geographic Emerging Explorer, is studying how new media platforms and digital technologies, such as Facebook and YouTube, are changing how people communicate and relate to one another. As a “digital ethnographer,” Wesch’s findings about our relationships to new media are often presented as videos or interactive web experiences that incorporate hundreds of participant-observers. Wesch is one of many anthropologists expanding how we understand and navigate our digital environment and our approach to anthropological research.