W01 Understanding Anthropology

What is Anthropology?

• The scientific study of small-scale interactions to broadest social changes.

• The scientific study of the origin, behaviour, physical, social and, cultural development of humans.

• The study of humanity in a broad sense, across geography and history.

• The scientific study social behavior and human groups.

Anthropologists are interested in discovering ...

• when, where and, why human appeared on earth

• how and why they have changed

• how and why modern human populations vary physically

• how their bodies work biologically in order to formulate medications

What are the two major goals of anthropology?

• to understand the uniqueness and diversity of human societies around the world

• to understand the uniqueness and diversity of bodily funtions within oneself

• to discover the fundamental similarities that connect human beings

• to discover the fundamental principles of darwinist human evolution

(A) Parents all over the world practice co-sleeping with their babies. (B) However in some places, they sleep together on the same bed, while other places, sleep in seperate beds but still in the same room. Which of the following identifies correctly the goals of anthropology?

• (A) is the uniqueness of human tendencies between cultures while (B) is a common human tendency.

• (A) is a common human tendency while (B) is the uniqueness of human tendencies between cultures .

• (A) is the study of anthropology while (B) is the study of sociology.

• (A) and (B) are both referring to one goal of anthropology which focuses on a common human tendency.

The scope of Anthropology covers all kinds of people ...

• from all places around the world

• from all times of human history

• from all species of God's creation

• from all planets

When describing a group of people, anthropologists consider their history of physical environment, organisation of family life, biology, language, politics, culture, economics, religion and their connections with each other. This refers to the (a)   approach to Anthropology.

Who is regarded as the Father of American anthropology?

• Franz Boas
• Margaret Mead
• Claude Levi-Strauss
• Edward Sapir

What are Boas' contributions in Anthropology?

• Founded the Boasian school of anthropology.

• Trained students such as Margaret Mead, Edward Sapir and, Ruth Benedict.

• Founded organisations, journals and writted many publications in the field.

• Promoted the idea of cultural relativism and fought racism and prejudice.

• Promoted the idea of the abilities of people are determined by their race.

Margaret Mead is known to contribute to cultural anthropology with her works on ...

• Human societies

• Gender roles

• Child-rearing practices

• Technological advancements

One of her early work, "Coming of age in Samoa" concluded that ...

• Samoan culture was superior to Western culture
• Adolescence in Samoa was a smooth transition, unlike in Western societies
• Samoan culture was inferior to Western culture
• Samoan people had a higher IQ than Western people