What is anthropology?
Anthropology concerns itself with humans as complex social beings with a capacity for language, thought and culture. The study of anthropology is about understanding biological and cultural aspects of life among peoples throughout the world.
All humans are born with the same basic physical characteristics but, depending on where they grow up, each individual is exposed to different climates, food, languages, religious beliefs, and so on. However human beings are not simply shaped by their environment, they also actively shape the world in which they love. A key aim of anthology is to understand the common constraints within which human beings operate as well as the differences which are evident between particular societies and cultures.
Given such concerns, the potential subject matter of anthropology is truly vast. Researchers nowadays tend to specialise on in or another branch of the discipline. Some, called physical or biological anthropologists, investigate such topics as how humans or human-like creatures evolved over thousands or millions or years, as well as our genetic and behavioural relationships with non-human primates. Others, called social or cultural anthropologists, study such things as the very varied ways in which different peoples organise themselves to ensure stable agricultural production or community life. They might study different assumptions people hold about how the world works as revealed in their religious beliefs and practices. They might study the many material forms that people produce such as their houses, dress, crafts and art. In this Guide we discuss both of these kinds of anthology, although we say more about the social and cultural side of the discipline.
Where can I study anthropology?
Social anthropology is currently taught to degree level in about 27 UK universities or their constituent colleges. It may be studies as part of a wider degree in so other universities; it may also be studied part-time at some institutions. Further information on undergraduate courses is obtainable from the UCAS Handbook.
What do anthropologists do?
To understand what a social anthropologist does you will need to imagine for a moment what would happen if they were suddenly transported to a very different culture in a different part of the world, and told you had to stay there for a year or more. To begin with, you would probably feel somewhat bewildered, unable to understand the language spoken, eat the food without longing for home cooking, or enter someone's home without unwittingly doing something that appeared rude to your hosts. After a few months you would begin to understand how to avoid social pitfalls, and after a year you might even be able to speak the language with a certain degree of fluency. Gradually, mutual understanding and trust would develop and you would begin to experience the world through the medium of another culture
This process of familiarisation is similar to the experience of many anthropologists who go abroad to study another culture. The anthropologist's approach to enquiry is thus very different to working in a laboratory: the researcher should not seek to control the behaviour of the people being studied, but rather immerse him or herself in their lives as much as possible.
The job of the anthropologist is frequently to make the apparently strange and exotic seem comprehensible once put into the context of another culture. Conversely, anthologists may wish to make 'natural' or 'commonsensical' behaviours seem in need of just as much explanation as any custom carried out by people in a foreign culture. Imagine trying to explain the point of playing a football or cricket match to someone who didn't know what sport was, for instance!
A biological or physical anthropologist might well work in a laboratory, for example, on blood or bones samples. However, they could equally well work in different cultural contexts which require knowledge and sensitivity to local cultural norms and values. Thus, in understanding the cause of illness within a given population it is necessary to develop a detailed understanding of how physical contract and well0-being are shaped by social and cultural factors. For example, it is not enough for a biological anthropologist to discover that a local diet results in deficiencies of vitamin A and therefore increases the possibility of blindness. They would also need to take into account the symbolic and ritual significance of certain foodstuffs before assuming that changes in diet could easily be effected.
What does a degree in anthropology involve?
A degree in social anthropology provides a broad intellectual foundation for many careers, which involve social research and communication skills and an ability to analyse and problem-solve. Its comparative perspective not only enables us to 'understand the familiar better' but leads to a cross-cultural awareness at home and abroad. A graduate training involving fieldwork will, additionally, provide experience in doing research, which involves people and their social relationships and will aid the development of organisational, communicative and logistical expertise.
