Discovering AnthropologyRevision

Sex, Death, and MonkeysDr. Nick Pearce

n.a.pearce@durham.ac.uk

other resources

reading pack (available in duo)

YouTube playlist

Pinterest pinboards for each week

What is anthropology?

• The study of mankind– Evolution– History– Cross-Cultural– Observation & Participation

Four major sub-fields

• Biological• Linguistic• Cultural• Archaeological

• In pairs, how are evolution and observation important in each?

Evolution

• Evolution is fact• How evolution works is theory

• What do we mean by theory?– Tentative, subject of argument– Based on evidence– Falsifiable

Darwin’s 3 postulates

– The struggle for existence

– Variation in fitness– Inheritance of

variation

Natural Selection is result of adaptation to changing environment

Artificial selection is by controlled by humans and can be unadaptive

Not all artificial selection is bad

The ‘green’ revolution

Primate Mating Strategies

• We are mammals• Takes a lot of resources to reproduce next

generation• Variety of strategies in primates– Monogamy/ Non-monogamy– Infanticide

intersexual selection

intrasexual selection

http://www.pinterest.com/discanthro/biological-anthropology/

5-6,000 languages spoken today

Many disappearing

Global language

Properties of language

Multimedia potentialDiscretenessArbitrarinessProductivityDisplacement

language has shaped us physically

Language reflects our view of the world

Cattle Horses Swine

Cow Mare Sow Female

Bull Stallion Boar Male

Steer Gelding Barrow Male - Mature - Neutered

Calf Foal Piglet Newborn – Regardless of sex

Heifer calf Filly Gilt Female - Immature

Bull calf Colt shoat Male - Immature

how we speak can reflect our position in society

accent - how

dialect - what

http://www.pinterest.com/discanthro/linguistic-anthropology/

Culture

LearnedSharedSymbolic

different but related to naturedifferent for different groups

ethnocentrismor

cultural relativism?

Ethnography

Originated with anthropology

originally used to study ‘simple’ societies

now a method to study any cultural setting

emic – within the cultureetic – culturally neutral

http://www.pinterest.com/discanthro/cultural-anthropology/

lots we can learn from bones

sex – hips, skullage – skull, teethdiet – teethstatus – grave goods, treatment of body

http://www.pinterest.com/discanthro/archaeological-anthropology/

Birth, Coming of Age, Death

look at your reading pack

draw on wider knowledge (Pinterest/ Youtube)

draw on your personal experience

http://www.pinterest.com/discanthro/birth/

http://www.pinterest.com/discanthro/coming-of-age/

http://www.pinterest.com/discanthro/death/

test

worth 60%

3 sections

– multiple choice (20 marks)– short definitions (40)– essay (40)