Anthropologist

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Claude Levi-Strauss Levi-strauss 260.jpg
Claude Lévi-Strauss

An anthropologist is a person engaged in the practice of anthropology. Anthropology is the study of aspects of humans within past and present societies. [1] [2] [3] Social anthropology, cultural anthropology and philosophical anthropology study the norms, values, and general behavior of societies. Linguistic anthropology studies how language affects social life, while economic anthropology studies human economic behavior. Biological (physical), forensic and medical anthropology study the biological development of humans, the application of biological anthropology in a legal setting and the study of diseases and their impacts on humans over time, respectively.

Contents

Education

Anthropologists usually cover a breadth of topics within anthropology in their undergraduate education and then proceed to specialize in topics of their own choice at the graduate level. In some universities, a qualifying exam serves to test both the breadth and depth of a student's understanding of anthropology; the students who pass are permitted to work on a doctoral dissertation.

Anthropologists typically hold graduate degrees, either doctorates or master's degrees. Not holding an advanced degree is rare in the field. Some anthropologists hold undergraduate degrees in other fields than anthropology and graduate degrees in anthropology. [4]

Career

Research topics of anthropologists include the discovery of human remains and artifacts as well as the exploration of social and cultural issues such as population growth, structural inequality and globalization by making use of a variety of technologies including statistical software and Geographic Information Systems (GIS). [5] Anthropological field work requires a faithful representation of observations and a strict adherence to social and ethical responsibilities, such as the acquisition of consent, transparency in research and methodologies and the right to anonymity. [6] [7]

Historically, anthropologists primarily worked in academic settings; however, by 2014, U.S. anthropologists and archaeologists were largely employed in research positions (28%), management and consulting (23%) and government positions (27%). [8] [5] U.S. employment of anthropologists and archaeologists is projected to increase from 7,600 to 7,900 between 2016 and 2026, a growth rate just under half the national median. [9] [10]

Anthropologists without doctorates tend to work more in other fields than academia, while the majority of those with doctorates are primarily employed in academia. [11] Many of those without doctorates in academia tend to work exclusively as researchers and do not teach. Those in research-only positions are often not considered faculty. The median salary for anthropologists in 2015 was $62,220. [12] Many anthropologists report an above average level of job satisfaction.

Although closely related and often grouped with archaeology, anthropologists and archaeologists perform differing roles, though archeology is considered a sub-discipline of anthropology. [13] While both professions focus on the study of human culture from past to present, archaeologists focus specifically on analyzing material remains such as artifacts and architectural remains. [13] Anthropology encompasses a wider range of professions including the rising fields of forensic anthropology, digital anthropology and cyber anthropology. The role of an anthropologist differs as well from that of a historian. While anthropologists focus their studies on humans and human behavior, historians look at events from a broader perspective. [14] Historians also tend to focus less on culture than anthropologists in their studies. A far greater percentage of historians are employed in academic settings than anthropologists, who have more diverse places of employment. [15]

Anthropologists are experiencing a shift in the twenty-first century United States with the rise of forensic anthropology. In the United States, as opposed to many other countries forensic anthropology falls under the domain of the anthropologist and not the Forensic pathologist. [16] In this role, forensic anthropologists help in the identification of skeletal remains by deducing biological characteristics such as sex, age, stature and ancestry from the skeleton. [17] However, forensic anthropologists tend to gravitate more toward working in academic and laboratory settings, while forensic pathologists perform more applied field work. [18] Forensic anthropologists typically hold academic doctorates, while forensic pathologists are medical doctors. [18] The field of forensic anthropology is rapidly evolving with increasingly capable technology and more extensive databases. [19] Forensic anthropology is one of the most specialized and competitive job areas within the field of anthropology and currently has more qualified graduates than positions. [20]

The profession of Anthropology has also received an additional sub-field with the rise of Digital anthropology. This new branch of the profession has an increased usage of computers as well as interdisciplinary work with medicine, computer visualization, industrial design, biology and journalism. [21] Anthropologists in this field primarily study the evolution of human reciprocal relations with the computer-generated world. [22] Cyber anthropologists also study digital and cyber ethics along with the global implications of increasing connectivity. [23] With cyber ethical issues such as net neutrality increasingly coming to light, this sub-field is rapidly gaining more recognition. One rapidly emerging branch of interest for cyber anthropologists is artificial intelligence. [24] Cyber anthropologists study the co-evolutionary relationship between humans and artificial intelligence. [25] This includes the examination of computer-generated (CG) environments and how people interact with them through media such as movies, television, and video.

Cultural anthropologist

Culture anthropology is a sub-field of anthropology specializing in the study of different cultures. They study both small-scale, traditional communities, such as isolated villages, and large-scale, modern societies, such as large cities. They look at different behaviors and patterns within a culture. [26] In order to study these cultures, many anthropologists will live among the culture they are studying. [27]

Cultural anthropologists can work as professors, work for corporations, nonprofit organizations, as well government agencies. [28] The field is very large and people can do a lot as a cultural anthropologist.  

Notable anthropologists and publications

Some notable anthropologists include: Molefi Kete Asante, Ruth Benedict, Franz Boas, Ella Deloria, St. Clair Drake, John Hope Franklin, James George Frazer, Clifford Geertz, Edward C. Green, Zora Neale Hurston, Claude Lévi-Strauss, Bronisław Malinowski, Margaret Mead, Elsie Clews Parsons, Pearl Primus, Paul Rabinow, Alfred Radcliffe-Brown, Marshall Sahlins, Nancy Scheper-Hughes (b. 1944), Hortense Spillers, Edward Burnett Tylor (1832–1917) and Frances Cress Welsing.

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anthropology</span> Scientific study of humans, human behavior, and societies

Anthropology is the scientific study of humanity, concerned with human behavior, human biology, cultures, societies, and linguistics, in both the present and past, including archaic humans. Social anthropology studies patterns of behavior, while cultural anthropology studies cultural meaning, including norms and values. The term sociocultural anthropology is commonly used today. Linguistic anthropology studies how language influences social life. Biological or physical anthropology studies the biological development of humans.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cultural anthropology</span> Branch of anthropology focused on the study of cultural variation among humans

Cultural anthropology is a branch of anthropology focused on the study of cultural variation among humans. It is in contrast to social anthropology, which perceives cultural variation as a subset of a posited anthropological constant. The term sociocultural anthropology includes both cultural and social anthropology traditions.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">American Anthropological Association</span> Learned society in Virginia, U.S.

The American Anthropological Association (AAA) is an organization of scholars and practitioners in the field of anthropology. With 10,000 members, the association, based in Arlington, Virginia, includes archaeologists, cultural anthropologists, biological anthropologists, linguistic anthropologists, linguists, medical anthropologists and applied anthropologists in universities and colleges, research institutions, government agencies, museums, corporations and non-profits throughout the world. The AAA publishes more than 20 peer-reviewed scholarly journals, available in print and online through AnthroSource. The AAA was founded in 1902.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Forensic anthropology</span> Application of the science of anthropology in a legal setting

Forensic anthropology is the application of the anatomical science of anthropology and its various subfields, including forensic archaeology and forensic taphonomy, in a legal setting. A forensic anthropologist can assist in the identification of deceased individuals whose remains are decomposed, burned, mutilated or otherwise unrecognizable, as might happen in a plane crash. Forensic anthropologists are also instrumental in the investigation and documentation of genocide and mass graves. Along with forensic pathologists, forensic dentists, and homicide investigators, forensic anthropologists commonly testify in court as expert witnesses. Using physical markers present on a skeleton, a forensic anthropologist can potentially determine a person's age, sex, stature, and race. In addition to identifying physical characteristics of the individual, forensic anthropologists can use skeletal abnormalities to potentially determine cause of death, past trauma such as broken bones or medical procedures, as well as diseases such as bone cancer.

Osteology is the scientific study of bones, practised by osteologists. A subdiscipline of anatomy, anthropology, and paleontology, osteology is the detailed study of the structure of bones, skeletal elements, teeth, microbone morphology, function, disease, pathology, the process of ossification from cartilaginous molds, and the resistance and hardness of bones (biophysics).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Clifford Geertz</span> American anthropologist (1926–2006)

Clifford James Geertz was an American anthropologist who is remembered mostly for his strong support for and influence on the practice of symbolic anthropology and who was considered "for three decades... the single most influential cultural anthropologist in the United States." He served until his death as professor emeritus at the Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton.

Victor Witter Turner was a British cultural anthropologist best known for his work on symbols, rituals, and rites of passage. His work, along with that of Clifford Geertz and others, is often referred to as symbolic and interpretive anthropology.

Sociocultural anthropology is a term used to refer to social anthropology and cultural anthropology together. It is one of the four main branches of anthropology. Sociocultural anthropologists focus on the study of society and culture, while often interested in cultural diversity and universalism.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Material culture</span> Physical aspects of culture

Material culture is the aspect of culture manifested by the physical objects and architecture of a society. The term is primarily used in archaeology and anthropology, but is also of interest to sociology, geography and history. The field considers artifacts in relation to their specific cultural and historic contexts, communities and belief systems. It includes the usage, consumption, creation and trade of objects as well as the behaviors, norms and rituals that the objects create or take part in.

Digital anthropology is the anthropological study of the relationship between humans and digital-era technology. The field is new, and thus has a variety of names with a variety of emphases. These include techno-anthropology, digital ethnography, cyberanthropology, and virtual anthropology.

Feminist anthropology is a four-field approach to anthropology that seeks to transform research findings, anthropological hiring practices, and the scholarly production of knowledge, using insights from feminist theory. Simultaneously, feminist anthropology challenges essentialist feminist theories developed in Europe and America. While feminists practiced cultural anthropology since its inception, it was not until the 1970s that feminist anthropology was formally recognized as a subdiscipline of anthropology. Since then, it has developed its own subsection of the American Anthropological Association – the Association for Feminist Anthropology – and its own publication, Feminist Anthropology. Their former journal Voices is now defunct.

Cognitive anthropology is an approach within cultural anthropology and biological anthropology in which scholars seek to explain patterns of shared knowledge, cultural innovation, and transmission over time and space using the methods and theories of the cognitive sciences often through close collaboration with historians, ethnographers, archaeologists, linguists, musicologists, and other specialists engaged in the description and interpretation of cultural forms. Cognitive anthropology is concerned with what people from different groups know and how that implicit knowledge, in the sense of what they think subconsciously, changes the way people perceive and relate to the world around them.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Skeletonization</span> Remains of an organism after soft tissues have broken down after death

Skeletonization is the state of a dead organism after undergoing decomposition. Skeletonization refers to the final stage of decomposition, during which the last vestiges of the soft tissues of a corpse or carcass have decayed or dried to the point that the skeleton is exposed. By the end of the skeletonization process, all soft tissue will have been eliminated, leaving only disarticulated bones.

The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to anthropology:

Richard Bauman is a folklorist and anthropologist, now retired from Indiana University Bloomington. He is Distinguished Professor emeritus of Folklore, of Anthropology, and of Communication and Culture. Before coming to IU in 1985, he was the Director of the Center for Intercultural Studies in Folklore and Ethnomusicology at the University of Texas and a faculty member in the UT Department of Anthropology. Just before retiring from Indiana, he was chair of the IU Department of Folklore and Ethnomusicology, as well as an important member of the Department of Anthropology and the Department of Communication and Culture.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Educational anthropology</span>

Educational anthropology, or the anthropology of education, is a sub-field of socio-cultural anthropology that focuses on the role that culture has in education, as well as how social processes and cultural relations are shaped by educational settings. To do so, educational anthropologists focus on education and multiculturalism, educational pluralism, culturally relevant pedagogy and native methods of learning and socializing. Educational anthropologists are also interested in the education of marginal and peripheral communities within large nation states. Overall, educational anthropology tends to be considered as an applied field, as the focus of educational anthropology is on improving teaching learning process within classroom settings.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cyborg anthropology</span>

Cyborg anthropology is a discipline that studies the interaction between humanity and technology from an anthropological perspective. The discipline offers novel insights on new technological advances and their effect on culture and society.

Social anthropology is the study of patterns of behaviour in human societies and cultures. It is the dominant constituent of anthropology throughout the United Kingdom and much of Europe, where it is distinguished from cultural anthropology. In the United States, social anthropology is commonly subsumed within cultural anthropology or sociocultural anthropology.

Beatrice Medicine was a scholar, anthropologist, and educator known for her work in the fields of Indigenous languages, cultures, and history. Medicine spent much of her life researching, teaching, and serving Native communities, primarily in the fields of bilingual education, addiction and recovery, mental health, tribal identity, and women's, children's, and LGBT community issues.

Vera Mae Green was an American anthropologist, educator, and scholar, who made major contributions in the fields of Caribbean studies, interethnic studies, black family studies and the study of poverty and the poor. She was one of the first African-American Caribbeanists and the first to focus on Dutch Caribbean culture. She developed a "methodology for the study of African American Anthropology" that acknowledged the diversity among and within black families, communities and cultures. Her other areas of research included mestizos in Mexico and communities in India and Israel. "[C]ommitted to the betterment of the human condition", Green also focused her efforts toward international human rights.

References

  1. ↑ "anthropology". Oxford Dictionaries. Oxford University Press. Archived from the original on October 2, 2013. Retrieved 10 August 2013.
  2. ↑ "anthropology". Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved 23 March 2015.
  3. ↑ "What is Anthropology?". American Anthropological Association . Retrieved 10 August 2013.
  4. ↑ "Career Paths and Education – Advance Your Career". www.americananthro.org. Retrieved 2017-11-29.
  5. 1 2 "Anthropologists and Archeologists : Occupational Outlook Handbook: : U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics". www.bls.gov. Retrieved 2023-12-19.
  6. ↑ 2009 AAA Code of Ethics (PDF), American Anthropological Association, 2009
  7. ↑ Mead, M. (1962). "The Social Responsibility of the Anthropologist: The Second Article in a Series on the Social Responsibility of Scholarship". The Journal of Higher Education, 33(1), 1–12. doi : 10.2307/1980194.
  8. ↑ Baba, Marietta L. (1994). "The Fifth Subdiscipline: Anthropological Practice and the Future of Anthropology". Human Organization. 53 (2): 174–186. doi : 10.2307/44126881.
  9. ↑ U.S. Department of Labor, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Employment Projections program. (2016). Employment by industry, occupation, and percent distribution, 2016 and projected 2026; 19-3091 Anthropologists and archeologists [Data set]. Retrieved from https://www.bls.gov/emp/ind-occ-matrix/occ_xlsx/occ_19-3091.xlsx Archived 2017-11-14 at the Wayback Machine .
  10. ↑ T. Lacey, Mitra Toossi, Kevin Dubina, and Andrea Gensler (October 2017). Projections overview and highlights, 2016–26. Monthly Labor Review, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. doi : 10.21916/mlr.2017.29.
  11. ↑ "Anthropology Without Doctorates". Archived from the original on 2019-02-09. Retrieved 2017-11-28.
  12. ↑ "Anthropologist Ranks Among Best Jobs of 2017". money.usnews.com. Retrieved 2017-11-29.
  13. 1 2 "Paleontology vs. Archaeology vs. Anthropology | PAESTA". www.paesta.psu.edu. Retrieved 2017-11-29.
  14. ↑ "What Is The Difference Between A Historian And An Anthropologist? – Career Igniter". www.careerigniter.com. 12 June 2014. Retrieved 2017-11-29.
  15. ↑ "Where Historians Work: An Interactive Database of History PhD Career Outcomes | AHA". www.historians.org. Retrieved 2017-11-29.
  16. ↑ Traithepchanapai, Pongpon; Mahakkanukrauh, Pasuk; Kranioti, Elena F. (2016-04-01). "History, research and practice of forensic anthropology in Thailand" (PDF). Forensic Science International. 261 (Supplement C): 167.e1–167.e6. doi:10.1016/j.forsciint.2016.02.025. hdl: 20.500.11820/87d07a95-9a7a-445f-aaac-1272ac3de52c . PMID   26949023. S2CID   32398225.
  17. ↑ Stewart, T.D. (1979). Essentials of forensic anthropology: especially as developed in the United States. Springfield, Illinois: Charles C. Thomas. ISBN   978-0398038113.
  18. 1 2 "UNCW Forensic Anthropology". people.uncw.edu. Retrieved 2017-11-28.
  19. ↑ "Advances in Forensic Anthropology • Technology Transition Workshop at NFSTC". projects.nfstc.org. Retrieved 2017-11-07.
  20. ↑ "Forensic Anthropologist: Job Description, Outlook and Salary". Study.com. Retrieved 2017-11-29.
  21. ↑ Weber, Gerhard W. (2011). Virtual anthropology : a guide to a new interdisciplinary field. Bookstein, Fred L., 1947–. Wien: Springer. ISBN   9783211486474. OCLC   174131450.
  22. ↑ Libin, Alexander; Libin, Elena (2005). "Cyber-anthropology: a new study on human and technological co-evolution". Studies in Health Technology and Informatics. 118: 146–155. ISSN   0926-9630. PMID   16301776.
  23. ↑ Fluehr-Lobban, Carolyn, ed. (2002). Ethics and the Profession of Anthropology: Dialogue for Ethically Conscious Practice (2nd ed.). Walnut Creek: AltaMira Press. ISBN   9780759103375. OCLC   50279971.
  24. ↑ Ferrando, Francesca (2014-12-01). "Is the post-human a post-woman? Cyborgs, robots, artificial intelligence and the futures of gender: a case study". European Journal of Futures Research. 2 (1): 43. doi: 10.1007/s40309-014-0043-8 . ISSN   2195-4194.
  25. ↑ Future of intelligent and extelligent health environment. Bushko, Renata Glowacka. Amsterdam: IOS Press. 2005. ISBN   9781586035716. OCLC   236341831.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: others (link)
  26. ↑ "Cultural anthropology". Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved 2020-02-24.
  27. ↑ "What Is Cultural Anthropology? – Cultural Anthropology Program (U.S. National Park Service)". www.nps.gov. Retrieved 2020-02-24.
  28. ↑ "Career Paths and Education – Advance Your Career". www.americananthro.org. Retrieved 2020-02-24.
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