Meaning of Anthropology
The anthropology is the science that studies a man and his behavior in society , taking into account each of the characteristics of its evolution. Anthropology describes how important civilization is, how man has developed in history, from prehistoric times when they were nomads and roamed the Pangea in search of security and knowledge until the era of colonization, when they understood that the settlement and use of the earth's own resources were more feasible for the development of human life .
Anthropology as a science is responsible for the study of the fundamental characteristics of man , covering cultural and religious evolution, changes and development from ancient civilizations to current ones.
From the etymological point of view it comes from the Greek, with the union of anthropos that means man and logos that refers to the knowledge that one has about something in particular, therefore, it could be said that the field of study of anthropology is clearly about man and his characteristics, development and evolution .
Origin of anthropology
The beginning of this branch of science dates from ancient Greece, specifically in the times of the philosopher Herodotus , who is considered the father of anthropology and history .
As for the history of anthropology, it was not until the eighteenth century when the studies of man began from the point of view of the humanities, including the social development of the human being. However, from the nineteenth century is when science is considered as an individual and specific field , at the same time as sociology.
In principle, the branch had a close relationship with theories such as Darwin's evolution of the human species, to which they tried to give a more social focus. But from the twentieth century and thanks to the studies of Claude Levi-Strauss , considered the father of structuralism in the social sciences, it obtained a more modernist approach and began the study of the current social characteristics of man .
Some of the important studies and discoveries of this science are those related to the origin as such of the species , together with other sciences such as paleontology, it has managed to establish that although we are currently the only species of humans that inhabits planet earth, in the past there were other species related to the origin and evolutionary process of modern man.
On the other hand, from the specific point of view of cultural anthropology, this has allowed to have a deeper knowledge of the customs and general culture of ancient civilizations and has compared them with current civilizations, allowing to establish a time line in terms of to progress and social development of humanity.
Characteristics of anthropology
Among the main characteristics of anthropological science we find the following:
- It studies the human being as a whole , that is to say in a general way it covers all the aspects and characteristics of man, so it is considered a holistic science.
- It is responsible for relating and comparing the social and cultural phenomena of the past with those of the present, which is why it is known as a cross-cultural and comparative science.
- It is clearly based on science from a sociocultural perspective , but with other branches directly related to it, such as paleontology.
Its main object of study is man in absolutely all his aspects from past times to the present . For its study, use is made of several fields that are considered part of it, such as: cultural and social anthropology, physical, linguistic and archaeological anthropology.
Due to this, to carry out research in this field, it is necessary to make use of knowledge about the past characteristics of civilizations so that the relevant comparisons can be made with the current properties and in this way draw conclusions.
For this, the human being is evaluated from the most basic social details, through cultural diversity and even making use of archaeological knowledge to obtain relevant and representative data on the object under study.
Branches of anthropology
As all science consists of branches that allow you to obtain more accurate and secure data that give the necessary reliability to the investigations in this field, these branches are the following.
Linguistic anthropology
In this specific branch , the characteristics of spoken languages are studied , covering both their grammar and their sound. It allows establishing common characteristics between different languages and in different time lines, with the aim of specifying the universality of the language .
In the same way, it is responsible for the reconstruction of ancient languages , which were no longer used by civilizations thousands of years ago, to determine similarities, as well as possible origins and relationships with modern languages.
Biological anthropology
This is also called physical anthropology on some occasions, it focuses on certain genetic aspects of the human being , for example, in case of the existence of some type of mutation, instead of just seeing it as an error or from a point of view pathological, tries to orient the investigation to the possibility of the existence of some variant of evolutionary type in the gene that undergoes the mutation.
This in turn is subdivided into several branches that allow greater specificity when investigating.
- Forensic anthropology : it is considered as the branch of anthropological science directed or with a legal approach, that is, it relates what medical anthropology is with criminal anthropology, it allows through the study of the human skeleton to find physical evidence that can determine the cause of death , especially in those cases in which there is suspicion of homicide.This, in turn, is subdivided into forensic archeology, forensic cultural archeology, and forensic archeology itself.
- Genetic anthropology : it is in charge of the study at the genetic and molecular level of human beings , with two main objectives, firstly, to know unique and proper characteristics at the genetic level of the spice and, secondly, to determine relationships between populations of civilizations past with the current ones, in this case not only between human beings, but also in relation to other species, such as monkeys.
- Paleoanthropology : it is a very specific branch, since it studies the evolutionary characteristics of the human being through fossil records and comparing them with current human characteristics.However, more than with a comparative purpose between ancient and modern civilizations, the main objective is the in-depth knowledge of the biological properties of ancient hominids.
Social anthropology
Its main objective as a science is the study of the culture and social relations of man from past centuries to the present . This allows obtaining a sociocultural perspective from the evolutionary point of view.
- Studies of kinship : this was one of the branches that gave rise to what is known as modern anthropological science around the 19th century, it establishes that kinship between people is of the utmost importance for everything related to inheritance both from the social point of view, as from the biological point of view.
- Religious anthropology : is responsible for the study of the development of different religions in relation to the various cultures and stages of civilizations from past times to the present.
- Philosophical anthropology : it is a specialty belonging to philosophy, which is in charge of the philosophical study of man , specifically of his origin or nature; in order to determine the purpose of its existence, as well as the relationship with other beings. In philosophical anthropology, man is subject and object at the same time.
- Anthropology of education : education can be observed as a process of social interaction that occurs between two cultures as part of the same society, these are the culture of adults and the culture of behavior patterns in the development of children . The anthropological knowledge, of the ideas and concepts handled that totally depend on the children, is to invent and define, this is fundamental for the processes related to the production and progressive social reproduction.
- Urban anthropology : it is considered one of the most recent branches of this science, it studies all those phenomena and characteristics related to urban areas . His study is based mainly on the evolution of man in society in relation to global urban and business growth.
Archeology
Like the rest of the branches, it focuses on the study of the evolution of man through time, but in this particular one it is carried out through the investigation of materials, artifacts and structures located in different geographical areas since times past .
Examples of anthropology
Currently thanks to technology, through the internet you can find a great variety of images of anthropology , among the best known examples worldwide and culturally related to anthropological science are the following:
In Peru is El Machu Pichu , which is nothing more than a set of ruins whose construction dates from the 15th century and which was an archaeological discovery in the 20th century.
In France, the Lascaux cave , discovered in 1940, is a cave system that has a large number of cave paintings inside.
Regarding Mexican anthropology, in 2013 a group of researchers discovered the ruins of an ancient city in Campeche, whose origin dates back to 600 BC, they named it Chactún , whose meaning is red stone.
Importance of anthropology
The development of anthropology in large countries has helped to reinforce identity as nations, since events such as world wars, for example, leave traces on those who suffer losses and deaths, tearing in some cases, the existing cultural ties in the country. However, anthropology as a science in search of collective benefit delves into the search for methods to improve the good living of man .
In the same way, from a more practical point of view, the anthropological study allows knowing and relating different cultures worldwide with the researcher's own culture, this can be done both in comparisons of ancient cultures with modern cultures or simply between current cultures with differences features.
Anthropology Museum
To begin with, a museum is an institution, usually non-profit, in which a diversity of objects, structures, works with high educational and cultural content are exhibited , in the case of an anthropological museum, these exhibited works are related to the biological, social and cultural characteristics of man through the years.
In the case of Mexican anthropology, there is a government institution called the National Institute of Anthropology and History in the country, which is in charge of watching over and representing a large number of structures located in various parts of the country, as well as caring for more than 100 museums of this type located in the Nation.
Some world famous museums are:
- National Museum of Anthropology (Mexico).
- The Museum of Anthropology of Madrid.
- Juan B. Ambrosetti Ethnographic Museum (Argentina).