The Four Subfields

“Anthropology is the study of humans — past and present — as diverse social, cultural, and biological beings in a varied and changing world. Using a multicultural approach, it emphasizes skills for understanding and interacting with all kinds of people.

Anthropologists study humans all around the world from four major perspectives:

Cultural anthropologists examine beliefs and practices of living human groups.
Archaeologists examine beliefs and practices of past human groups through the materials they left behind.
Biological/physical anthropologists examine human origins and why some groups of people look different from other groups of people.
Linguistic anthropologists examine human language and communication.””Anthropology is the study of humans — past and present — as diverse social, cultural, and biological beings in a varied and changing world. Using a multicultural approach, it emphasizes skills for understanding and interacting with all kinds of people.

STEP ONE:
Read the following pages from the American Anthropological Association website:

What is Anthropology?https://www.americananthro.org/AdvanceYourCareer/Content.aspx?ItemNumber=2150&navItemNumber=740
What do Anthropologists do?Links to an external site. https://www.americananthro.org/AdvanceYourCareer/Content.aspx?ItemNumber=2148
Anthropology CareersLinks to an external site. https://www.americananthro.org/AdvanceYourCareer/Content.aspx?ItemNumber=178
– watch the two short videos at the top of the page, then read the rest of the page. Follow any links that interest you.STEP ONE:
Read the following pages from the American Anthropological Association website:

STEP TWO:
Watch each of the short videos below. Three of them have YouTube links. If you want to use the captions with the video, access it through YouTube and click the CC icon.

CULTURAL ANTHROPOLOGY
“Cultural Anthropology is a social science that explores how people understand – and act in – the world. But what, exactly, is it that Cultural Anthropologists do? How do they approach their research? In this short film, three members of MIT’s Anthropology Department, Stefan Helmreich, Erica James, and Heather Paxson, talk about their current work and the process of doing fieldwork.” (youtu.be/BhCruPBvSjQ) (For captions: copy and paste the URL to a new page and select the CC icon at the lower right.)
ARCHAEOLOGY
Archaeologists study material remains (the stuff people left behind) to understand their way of life. We also look at how and why human societies have changed over time. (Access the link at youtu.be/nvc1xIyntC0 and click the CC icon to watch with captions.)ARCHAEOLOGY
BIOLOGICAL ANTHROPOLOGY
Biological anthropologists want to understand how and why humans vary physically – as individuals and groups. They look at the history of our species (and how we are similar and different from other primates), at patterns of biological variation, and at the ways that genetics, environment, and culture all interact to shape us. (youtu.be/6BQ50bnBKI0) (For captions: copy and paste the URL to a new page and select the CC icon at the lower right.)

LINGUISTIC ANTHROPOLOGY
Linguistic anthropologists are interested in the complex relationships among language, culture, and how we think. Some specialize in sociolinguistics, which looks at how people use language differently in different contexts. Others specialize in language structures or in language change. This short video is actually a student project about linguistic anthropology by Courtney Howard in which she asks fellow students some of the questions linguistic anthropologists are interested in. (0:51) (youtu.be/FSDh4oFlX08) [transcript] (There is no CC option for this video on YouTu

STEP THREE:
Prepare your answers to the questions below, then take the quiz.

QUESTIONS:
As you read the webpages and watch the videos, jot down your answers to the following questions. When you are ready, click the blue button below to Take the Quiz. There is no time limit for this quiz, but you can access it only once. All but one of the questions below will be in multiple choice format.

You will have the following questions about the three pages on the American Anthropological Association website (under Step One):

What are the key characteristics of each subfield? (You’ll have a questions about two of the subfields described on the page.)
What do applied anthropologists focus on in their research?
In what subfields to applied anthropologists work?
What three questions can help you determine if a career in anthropology might be for you?
What are some of the different areas of study in anthropology (listed on the second page)?
What are the four main career paths for anthropology graduates?
What is the main focus of Diego Vigil’s and of Tricia Wang’s research?
You will also have one of these sets of questions in short-answer format:

Explain one thing you learned about Diego Vigil’s research (how he did it, what he learned, or how it was used).
Explain one thing you learned about Tricia Wang’s research (how she did it, what she learned, or how it was used).
You’ll have 3 questions about the Cultural Anthropology video:
What research sites are discussed in the film?
What fieldwork techniques are mentioned?
What are some of the benefits of doing fieldwork?
You’ll have 3 of the following questions about the Archaeology video:
What is the law of superposition?
At minute 1:25, how is the archaeologist using the X-ray fluorescence spectrometer?
In the video, they compare doing archaeology to two common activities. What are they?
Why is looting a problem for our understanding of the past?
You’ll have 3 questions about the Biological Anthropology video:
What major areas of specialization are mentioned in the video?
Where does the biological anthropologist who studies chimpanzees do his fieldwork?
What is the major goal of biological anthropology?
You’ll have 2 questions about the Linguistic Anthropology video:
What three things does she ask the students about?
Where are her interview subjects from?

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