Anthropology For Dummies
For Dummies (Verlag)
978-0-470-27966-3 (ISBN)
- Titel erscheint in neuer Auflage
- Artikel merken
Covers the latest competing theories in the field Get a handle on the fundamentals of biological and cultural anthropology
When did the first civilizations arise? How many human languages exist? The answers are found in anthropology - and this friendly guide explains its concepts in clear detail. You'll see how anthropology developed as a science, what it tells us about our ancestors, and how it can help with some of the hot-button issues our world is facing today.
Discover:
How anthropologists learn about the past
Humanity's earliest activities, from migration to civilization
Why our language differs from other animal communication
How to find a career in anthropology
Cameron M. Smith, PhD, teaches anthropology courses at Portland State University and has written articles for Scientific American MIND, Archaeology, and Skeptical Inquirer. Evan T. Davies, PhD, has conducted fieldwork in Africa.
Introduction 1
About This Book 2
Conventions Used in This Book 2
What You’re Not to Read 4
Foolish Assumptions 4
How This Book is Organized 5
Part I: What is Anthropology? 5
Part II: Physical Anthropology and Archaeology 5
Part III: Cultural Anthropology and Linguistics 5
Part IV: So What? Anthropology, the Modern World, and You 6
Part V: The Part of Tens 6
Icons Used in This Book 6
Where to Go from Here 7
Part I: What is Anthropology? 9
Chapter 1: Human Beings and Being Human: An Overview of Anthropology 11
Digging Into Anthropology’s History 12
Getting Acquainted with Anthropology’s Subfields 12
Physical anthropology 13
Archaeology 14
Cultural Anthropology 14
Linguistics 15
Making Sense of Anthropology’s Methods 16
Applied Anthropology: Using the Science in Everyday Life 16
Chapter 2: Looking Into Humanity’s Mirror: Anthropology’s History 19
Getting to the Heart of Anthropology 20
Dazed and Confused: What It is to Be Human 21
Two types of culture22
Two types of modernity 23
-Isms and the Making of Anthropology 24
Colonialism 25
Antiquarianism 26
Scientism 27
Holism 29
Anthropology Today 29
Chapter 3: Actually, Four Mirrors: How Anthropology is Studied 31
Physical Anthropology and the Evolutionary Basis of Biology 32
You say you want an evolution 33
More facets of physical anthropology 35
The biocultural animal 38
Archaeology: The Study of Ancient Societies 40
Archaeology and evolution 41
More facets of archaeology 42
Linguistic Anthropology 45
Nonhuman animal communication 46
Spoken language 46
Gesture and body language 47
Cultural Anthropology: The Study of Living Societies 48
Putting the culture in cultural anthropology 49
Attempting to explain why humans do what they do 50
Participant observation 51
Applied anthropology and global culture 53
Part II: Physical Anthropology and Archaeology 55
Chapter 4: The Wildest Family Reunion: Meet the Primates 57
Monkey Business: Primate Origins 57
You Look Like an Ape: Primate Species 59
What’s in a name? General primate characteristics 60
Going ape (and prosimian): Primate subgroups 61
Yes, We Have No Bananas: Primate Subsistence 67
The indiscriminate-eaters: Omnivores 68
The bug-eaters: Insectivores 69
The leaf-eaters: Folivores 69
The fruit-eaters: Frugivores 70
Monkeying Around: Primate Locomotion 71
Stand back, Tarzan: The brachiators 71
Bug-bashers: The vertical-clingers-and-leapers 72
In the trees: Arboreal quadrupeds 72
Soldiers beware: Terrestrial quadrupeds 73
A group of one: Bipeds 74
Monkey See, Monkey Do: Primate Social Groups and Behavior 75
Primates Today (But For How Long?) 77
Chapter 5: My Career is in Ruins: How Anthropologists Learn about the Past 81
What, How Old, and Where: It’s All You Need to Know 82
The significance of where 82
The significance of when 83
The significance of artifacts 83
Keeping Time: How Archaeologists Date Finds 85
The deeper, the older: Stratigraphy 85
Before or after? Relative dating 87
Absolutely probably 6,344 years old (plus or minus): Radiometric absolute dating 87
Saving Space: How Archaeologists Keep Track of Where Artifacts are Found 90
Be there: Provenience 90
Be square: Site grids 91
Type Casting: How Archaeologists Classify Their Finds 92
Types of types: The theory of classification 92
Unearthing the most common artifact types 93
Chapter 6: Bones of Contention: The Fossil Evidence for Early Human Evolution 97
Great Africa: The Earliest Hominids 98
Stand and Deliver: The Riddles of Bipedalism 99
Walking upright: Pros and cons 99
The complexities of early hominid evolution 100
All the Same from the Neck Down: The Australopithecines 103
The basic differences and similarities 103
The crusher: Robust australopithecines 105
The omnivore: Gracile australopithecines 107
The Cracked Mirror: Early Homo 109
Exploring characteristics of early Homo 109
Dalmatians and cigar smoke: Finds at Olduvai Gorge 110
Out of Africa: Early dispersals of early Homo 111
Tool time: The decoupling of behavior from anatomy 112
The Traveler: The Accomplishments of Homo erectus 112
Characteristics of Homo erectus 113
From confrontational scavenging to ambush hunting 114
The use of fire 114
Symmetry, watercraft, and the “15-minute culture” 114
Chapter 7: It’s Good to Be Home: Homo sapiens sapiens, Our Biological Species 117
Distinguishing Modern Homo sapiens sapiens (That’s You!) 118
Anatomical modernity 118
Behavioral modernity 119
Africa: The Cradle of Humanity 120
Discovering the first AMHss 120
Exploring behavioral modernity 121
Out of Africa: An Epic Migration 122
Taking a closer look at Neanderthals 123
Getting Neanderthals and AMHss together 124
The Origins of Language: The Social Grooming Theory 126
The Origins of the Modern Mind 128
The evolution of consciousness: Two models 128
The roots of myth 130
The roots of ritual 131
The roots of symbolism 131
Chapter 8: Hunting, Fishing, Sailing, and Sledding: The Spread of Humanity Worldwide 133
Migration and Survival: The Decoupling of Behavior from Biology 133
The Colonization of Australasia 136
The mysteries of Australian colonization 136
What anthropologists know for sure 137
Another Grand Exploration: The Colonization of the New World 137
Dueling hypotheses: A couple of migration theories 137
Just the facts, ma’am 139
Igloos, Dogs, and Whalebone Knives: The Colonization of the Arctic 140
First arrivals 141
The Thule expansion 141
The Voyage of Ru and Hina: The Colonization of the Pacific 142
The tools of the explorers 143
The society of the explorers 143
Chapter 9: Old, Old McDonald: The Origins of Farming 145
The Principle of Domestication 145
Cultural selection 146
Effects of farming on society 146
Plant domestication 147
Animal domestication 148
Principles of Horticulture 149
Distinctive characteristics of horticulture 149
Garden horticulture 150
Slashing and burning 150
Limited storage 151
Principles of Farming 152
Distinguishing state farming from horticulture 152
Water control 153
Animal domestication, farming-style 153
Massive storage 155
Farming facilities and tools 155
Secondary products 157
Looking Back on the Origins of Farming 158
Why farm in the first place? 158
In the Near East 161
In Africa 161
In East Asia 162
In the Western Pacific 163
In the Americas 163
Chapter 10: The Development of Civilization 165
Human Subsistence and Social Organization 165
Human subsistence 166
Human social organization 170
The Characteristics of Civilization 173
Urbanization 174
Long-distance trade 174
Social stratification 175
Durable record-keeping/writing 175
Standing armies and extended warfare 176
Money 177
Slavery 177
Territorial sovereignty 178
Vassal tribute 178
Non-food production specialists178
Astronomy and/or mathematics 179
Monumental architecture 179
State religion 180
Taxes 181
Charting the Rise and Fall of the First Civilizations 181
Egypt 181
Inca 184
Civilization Today: Will It Fall, Too? 185
Part III: Cultural Anthropology and Linguistics 187
Chapter 11: The Spice of Life: Human Culture 189
Demystifying the Definition of Culture 189
What Culture is and What Culture Isn’t 190
Culture versus cultured 191
Why human behavior differs 191
Cultural Universals 192
Having an Out-of-Body Experience 194
Adaptation and its implications 195
Behaviors 195
Values 196
Objects 197
Language: Passing the baton of culture 198
Opening Your Human Behavior Owner’s Manual 198
Culture = software, brain = hardware199
Problems with the software/hardware analogy 199
Getting Your Cultural Education 200
Life stages 200
Stages of human learning 201
From Mop-Tops to Mötley Crüe: What is Cultural Change? 201
Diffusion versus assimilation 202
Innovation 203
Cultural Evolution 203
How culture evolves 204
What cultural evolution doesn’t mean 204
Chapter 12: From Kalahari to Minneapolis: How Cultural Anthropologists Work 205
Watching Cultural Anthropology Grow Up 206
Battling ethnocentrism 206
Getting scientific 207
Embodying the etic modernist approach: Bronislaw Malinowski 210
A More Personal Approach: Emic Research 212
Recognizing how a researcher’s choices influence the results 212
Realizing that the act of observing affects the results 213
Considering Recent Developments 215
Chewing on postmodernism 215
Keeping pace with cultural change 215
Striving for Accuracy 216
Recognizing potential research pitfalls 216
Watching cultural anthropology in action 218
Going into the Field: Getting Prepared for Less-Than-Ideal Conditions 219
Chapter 13: Can We Talk? Communication, Symbols, and Language 221
Exploring the Complexity of Human Language 222
Screeching and howling: Non-human animal communications 222
Contrasting non-human and human symbolism 224
Identifying characteristics of human spoken language 227
Linking language to the mind: Tapping its true power 229
Ready to Swear: How the Human Mind is Hard-Wired for Language 230
First four months 231
Six to twelve months 232
12 to 18 months 232
18 to 24 months 233
36 months and later 233
Watching Human Language Evolve 233
Admitting our uncertainty 233
Explaining language diversity 235
Making room for new theories 236
Chapter 14: Types of Types: Race and Ethnicity 239
The Kinds of Humanity: Human Physical Variation 239
The race card: Racial types and physical anthropology 240
The lowdown: What anthropologists can say for sure about human races 242
The history of racial typing 245
The grand illusion: Race, turns out, is arbitrary 247
Why is Everyone Different? Human Cultural Variation 248
Distinguishing ethnicity from race 249
A common horror: Ethnic cleansing250
A common delight: Ethnic identity 251
Ethnic group interactions 251
Chapter 15: Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner? Identity, Family, Kinship, and Gender 255
Am I “Cameron” or “a Smith”? The Scales of Human Identity 256
Know thyself: Identity 256
What’s in a name? 257
A Family Affair 257
Families of origin versus families of procreation 259
Incest 259
Marriage 260
Kinship 261
Sex and Gender 264
The differences between sex and gender 264
Common gender roles 265
Kinship and Gender Worldwide and through Time 266
Among foragers 266
Among horticulturalists 267
Among agriculturalists 268
Chapter 16: Not at the Dinner Table! Religion and Politics 269
What is Religion? 270
Functions of religion 270
Why religion is so powerful 271
The Material and Supernatural Worlds 272
Ritual and Religion 273
The Organization of Supernatural Knowledge 275
Shamans 275
Priests 276
The Origins of Religion 277
Types of Religions 280
The Relations of Power: Politics 281
I’ve got the power (and I know how to use it) 282
Power plays: How various societies apply power 283
Part IV: So What? Anthropology,
the Modern World, and You 285
Chapter 17: Kiss or Kill? Diversity, Conflict, and Culture 287
The Anthropology of Conflict and Conflict Resolution 287
Scales and consequences of conflict 289
Cultural conflict among small-scale societies 291
Cultural conflict in larger-scale societies 292
Humanity and justice 294
Globalization and Human Culture 295
Globalization and ecological justice 296
Globalization and cultural assimilation 297
Globalization and nativistic movements 297
Globalization and forced migration 297
Chapter 18: Looming Disasters? From Overpopulation to Space Debris 299
The Only Constant is Change 299
Overpopulation 301
The road to overpopulation 302
Hope on the horizon 303
Climate Change 304
Say What? The Loss of Linguistic Diversity 306
Food and Water Availability/Famine 307
Disease 308
Space Debris 309
Chapter 19: Eve and the Iceman: The Cutting Edge of Physical Anthropology 311
Molecular Anthropology 311
How it works 312
How anthropologists use it 313
Why some say it doesn’t work 315
DNA and the Mitochondrial Eve 316
Out of Africa: African diversity and extra-African similarity 317
The inevitable debates 317
Neanderthals and You: The Neanderthal Genome 318
The Iceman 319
Chapter 20: Stonehenge and You: Why Archaeology Matters 321
History is Written by the Winners: The Importance of Archaeology 322
Historical archaeology and written history 323
Commoners of ancient Egypt 324
The archaeology of American slaves 325
Other important historical archaeology sites 326
Conversation Stoppers? Archaeology and the Unknown 328
Why did humanity take up farming? 329
How did humans go from having leaders to having rulers? 329
Does history repeat itself? 330
Part V: The Part of Tens 331
Chapter 21: Ten Things to Remember about Anthropology, Whatever Else You Forget 333
We’re Not Just Like Apes, We are Apes 333
Nobody Knows Why Hominids First Walked Upright (Yet) 333
Everyone is in the Human Race 334
Tool Use Separated Behavior from Anatomy 334
Civilization is Brand-New 335
There are Many Ways to Be Human 335
Culture Doesn’t Ride on Genes 335
Language and Metaphor are the Keys to Human Success 336
Absolutely, There are No Absolutes 336
There is No Ladder of Progress 336
Chapter 22: Ten Great Careers for Anthropology Majors 339
Academic Anthropology 339
Cultural/Human Resources 340
Medical Examination 340
Crime Scene Investigation 340
Primate Biology 341
Primate Ethology 341
Diplomacy 341
Museum Work 341
Library Science 342
Contract Archaeology 342
Chapter 23: Ten Great Anthropologically Themed Movies and Books 343
Once We Were Warriors (1995) 343
Gorillas in the Mist: The Story of Dian Fossey (1988) 343
Neanderthal (2005) 344
Quest for Fire (1982) 344
Koyaanisqatsi (1982) 344
The Places in Between (2006) 345
Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors (1993) 345
Maps and Dreams (1981; 2nd edition 2002) 345
We, the Navigators: The Ancient Art of Landfinding in the Pacific (1972; 2nd edition 1998) 346
Lord of the Flies (1954) 346
Index 347
| Erscheint lt. Verlag | 8.8.2008 |
|---|---|
| Co-Autor | Evan T. Davies |
| Sprache | englisch |
| Maße | 185 x 231 mm |
| Gewicht | 522 g |
| Themenwelt | Sozialwissenschaften ► Ethnologie |
| Sozialwissenschaften ► Soziologie | |
| ISBN-10 | 0-470-27966-4 / 0470279664 |
| ISBN-13 | 978-0-470-27966-3 / 9780470279663 |
| Zustand | Neuware |
| Informationen gemäß Produktsicherheitsverordnung (GPSR) | |
| Haben Sie eine Frage zum Produkt? |
aus dem Bereich
