1.0 What is Anthropology?
Demetrios Brellas and Vanessa Martinez
Authors:
Vanessa Martínez, Holyoke Community College
Demetrios Brellas, Framingham State University
Contributing Authors:
Katie Nelson, Inver Hills Community College
Lara Braff, Grossmont College
Learning Objectives
- Identify the four subfields of anthropology and describe the kinds of research projects associated with each subfield.
- Describe how anthropology developed from early explorations of the world through the professionalization of the discipline in the 19th century.
- Discuss ethnocentrism and the role it played in early attempts to understand other cultures.
- Explain how the perspectives of holism, cultural relativism, comparison, and fieldwork, as well as both scientific and humanistic tendencies make anthropology a unique discipline.
- Examine the ways in which anthropology can be used to address current social, political, and economic issues.
