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What is Anthropology?
Anthropology
is the study of humans in all our social, cultural, linguistic and biological diversity and complexity.
Anthropology, which views human behavior, biology and society (both past and present) in a cross-cultural perspective, combines scientific and humanistic interests in a social science framework. Anthropology involves the study of humans located around the globe, over a span of four to five million years, using perspectives from the social sciences, natural sciences, and humanities (arts), which makes it one of the broadest ranging of all academic disciplines.
What Do Anthropologists Do?
Below is an article from Sapiens.org providing a comprehensive account of what Anthropology is
The traditional four subfields in Anthropology
Archaeology
Archaeology is the study of cultures of the past by means of the recovery and analysis of material remains. Faculty research in this area includes: the peopling of the New World, the prehistoric and historic archaeology of Ontario, hunter gatherer ecology, early sedentism and early urbanism, complex civilizations in Peru, the integration of GIS with archaeology, remote sensing, 3-D imaging, textile analysis, lithic analysis, faunal archaeology, commercial archaeology, and community-based research.
Biological Anthropology
Biological Anthropology focuses on the genetically controlled aspects of human variability, but is also concerned with how biology and culture are interrelated. Western has research and teaching strengths in bioarchaeology, which encompasses all biological components of the archaeological record. Biological anthropologists at Western are currently involved in the following research areas: the study of the relationship between body and brain size over the course of human evolution, the study of the burial practices of middle and upper classes in the ancient Moche civilization of coastal Peru, the analysis of human mummies, and the primatological study of nonhuman primates.
Linguistic Anthropology
Linguistic Anthropology examines the intersections of language, culture, and society. Studies in linguistic anthropology range from micro-level analyses of interpersonal discourse (looking at language in everyday and ritual contexts, at different linguistic aspects of artistic and expressive language, or at social meaning and social variation in speech) to the macro-level analysis of speech communities where language is used to form social identities or for playing out power relations between people, institutions and even countries. Faculty members have worked with linguistic and cultural groups in: South America (Brazil and Venezuela) and North America (urban populations in Ontario and Quebec, First Nations in Southwestern Ontario and Alberta, the Canadian Arctic, and Arizona).
Sociocultural Anthropology
Sociocultural Anthropology seeks to understand how human experience is shaped by the social, cultural, political, economic, and religious realities with which all people live. We approach this ambitious goal by analyzing, comparing and reflecting on research conducted with and about people around the world, including many locations in the Americas (from Canada in the north to Argentina in the south), as well as the South Pacific, the Middle East, and Africa including Madagascar. Current research projects include: studies of culture and the environment, refugee and migration studies, the history of anthropology, artisanal mining, mobile phones, the history of public health, and First Nations identity and politics in Canada.
Anthropological Perspectives
The four subfields of Anthropology are united by the following shared perspectives on how we study the full breadth of humanity.
Holistic Approach
Anthropology recognizes that human culture and society, in the past and in the present, need to be studied as consisting of more than individual traits, traditions and beliefs.
Comparison
Anthropologists examine experiences, cultural expressions, and the effects of historical trends comparatively and cross-culturally, to understand and value the full diversity of humanity around the world and through time.
Deep temporal point of view
Anthropologists recognize that our species has evolved from non-human primate relatives over millions of years, that our societies have deep temporal roots and that experiences of daily life are influenced over the long-term by the varying effects of global forces and trends.
Interest in the lived experience
Anthropologists situate the lived human experience, knowledge, communication and the material record as culturally relative; meaningful internally to the individuals and societies who make those manifestations understandable for themselves, their ancestors and their descendants.
Anthropology at Western
Anthropologists at Western apply these perspectives in many different ways, but here are four broad areas that characterize our Department's teaching and scholarship:
We study the complex long and short-term interactions between the environment and society, how the environment shapes and is shaped by material culture, subsistence practices and impacts, social complexity and language use.
We explore the interconnections between culture and biology, considering both long-term and comparative perspectives on health, how it is experienced, described and embodied.
We study the material and embodied expression of social structure and power relations, and how they are shaped by social complexity, language use and the environment.
We study the many different ways in which identities are defined, constructed, embodied and experienced in ancient and modern times, in cultures around the world.