What Makes Us Human
Traits defining human species/nature
Territorial
Affectionate
Social Creatures
Humans only exist within social groups
Culture
Ambitious
Interesting
Language
Stand up right- walks bipedal- it’s rare
Curiosity
Human or culture
No Fur
Wear clothes
Social Norms between groups because as a species can’t survive without a group
Awareness
Of others
About death
We can deceive
Leads to war
Leads to teaching
Teaching
Some call us teaching creature
Pass along knowledge of making tools and other things
Allows for things to pass things along
Language
Come up with new ways to say things
Other animal language is bounded
Diet
We control food production
Recent Event
Domestication of plants and ability to control production has allowed out population to grow
Cultivation of agriculture made our world what it is today
Neolithic revolution
Anthropology
The scientific study of human biological and cultural evolution
The systematic study of living human populations, both biologically and culturally
Subfields
Biological Anthropology
Cultural Anthropology
Archaeology
Linguistic anthropology
All look at science of human evolution and variation- physically and culturally
Language reflects culture and says something about the way a particular society sees the world
Humans have duel inheritance- not just genetic inheritance but a cultural inheritance- we have to think of biocultural reasons
Anthropology: Study of human species and its immediate ancestors
Comparative and holistic- whole human condition
Want to understand human nature
Biology: The scientific study of human evolution and variation- in space and time
Culture: traditions and customs, transmitted through learning, that form and guide beliefs and behavior of people exposed to them
Genetics are susceptible to cultural learning
Genome is underlying culture
Biological Anthropology
Paleontology
Human genetics
Mapping genomes and linking them
Human growth and development
We’re continuing to learn
Teaching and learning is selected for because it has benefits
Solve problems
Make decisions better extended adolescence
Reproduction is later in life
Opportunity to gain more knowledge
Primatology
We study them because they are the closest living relatives
Only about 6 million years apart
Cultural Anthropology
Describes, analyzes, interprets, and explains social and cultural similarities and differences
Ethnography
Anthropologist living in the middle of a society and observes what people do in certain circumstances
Requires field work to collect data
Descriptive
Group/community specific
Ethnology
Data collected by a series of researchers
Synthetic
Comparative/cross-cultural
To come up with a framework for how people across societies engage
Ritualistic
Relationships
Power
Gender
All fit framework
Both try to figure out how people move theorugh te modern world system
Archaeology
Study of Study of human behavior and cultural patterns through material remains
Stands between biological and cultural work as a team
Reconstruct and interpret evidence for the past
If we find bones what do we look for
Burial rituals
Conditions under which people live
Evidence for malnutrition
Pieces of genome
Occupational markings
Age
Diet
Teeth- can tell us if there is high is particular isotopes of carbon that can tell us what they ate
Cultural pieces- like pottery and tools
Linguistic Anthropology- study of language in its social and cultural context across space and time reconstruct ancient languages
Applying Anthropology
Application of Anthropological Perspectives, theories and methods to solve contemporary social problems:
Medical anthropology
How societies understand the working of medicine combine modern medicine
International Aid and Development
Poverty and Hunger
Climate Change and Sustainability
Adaption: Process by which organisms cope with environmental forces and stresses
“Duel