Holism In Anthropology

1. Define the discipline of anthropology. In your answer, include all the sub-fields and their definitions. What is the concept of holism in anthropology? Provide an example. (10 points)

Anthropology is the study of humans over the millions of years of our existence, from all over the planet. There are four sub-fields of anthropology, which are: biological anthropology, archaeology, linguistic anthropology, and cultural anthropology. The first, biological anthropology, studies the interaction between human culture and biology, as well as the study of human evolution. This sub-field includes the study of human fossils (paleoanthropology) and the study of primates (primatology). The second sub-field is archaeology, which is the study of a past

This method views humankind as “systematic sums” (lecture), which together make up human societies. For instance, a society is not made of only a few parts, but many, including: illness and death, funeral rituals, diet, family/marriage,

By observing a culture while participating in it, ethnographers have the opportunity to build trust and relationships and receive much more detailed and accurate results. Napolean Chagnon also used methods such as interviewing and conversing with the Yanoama people (A Man Called Bee film). Through these techniques, an ethnographer can learn about the narrative and ethical aspects of a culture’s religion (lecture). For example, Chagnon was able to ask about the Yanoama’s myths and customs and record them for study. Similarly, through observation and participation, Chagnon was able to study the society’s religious rituals. Another method used by ethnographers like Chagnon is trading, which allows the material objects from the culture to be studied, which can tell a lot about that culture’s religion (A Man Called Bee