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Licensed to: Licensed to: Cultural Anthropology: The Human Challenge, Twelfth Edition William A. Haviland, Harald E. L. Prins, Dana Walrath, Bunny McBride Senior Acquisitions Editor: Lin Marshall Text Designer: Lisa Buckley Editorial Assistant: Jessica Jang Photo Researcher: Billie L. 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Thomson, the Star logo, and Wadsworth are trademarks used 10 Davis Drive herein under license. Belmont, CA 94002-3098 USA ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. No part of this work covered by the copyright hereon may be reproduced or used in any form or by any means— For more information about our products, contact us at: graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, Thomson Learning Academic Resource Center taping, Web distribution, information storage and retrieval systems, or 1-800-423-0563 in any other manner—without the written permission of the publisher. For permission to use material from this text or product, submit a Printed in the United States of America request online at http://www.thomsonrights.com. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 11 10 09 08 07 Any additional questions about permissions can be submitted by e-mail to [email protected]. ExamView® and ExamView Pro® are registered trademarks of FS- Creations, Inc. Windows is a registered trademark of the Microsoft Corporation used herein under license. Macintosh and Power Macin- tosh are registered trademarks of Apple Computer, Inc. Used herein under license. Library of Congress Control Number: 2006938004 Student Edition: ISBN-13: 978-0-495-09561-3 ISBN-10: 0-495-09561-3 Copyright 2008 Thomson Learning, Inc. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. 000-W4136-FM.indd0-W4136-FM.indd iiii 33/9/07/9/07 66:49:28:49:28 AAMM Licensed to: The Essence 1 of Anthropology CHALLENGE ISSUE It is a challenge to make sense of who we are. Where did we come from? Why are we so radically dif- ferent from other animals and so surprisingly similar to others? Why do our bodies look the way they do? How do we explain so many different beliefs, languages, and customs? What makes us tick? As just one of 10 million species, including 4,000 fellow mammals, we humans are the only creatures on earth with the mental capac- ity to ask such questions about ourselves and the world around us. We do this not only because we are curious but also because knowledge has enabled us to adapt to radically contrasting en- vironments all across the earth and helps us create and improve our material and social living conditions. Adaptations based on knowledge are essential in every culture, and culture is our species’ ticket to survival. Understanding humanity in all its biological and cultural variety, past and present, is the fundamental contribution of anthropology. This contribu- tion has become all the more im- portant in the era of globalization, when appreciating our common humanity and respecting cultural differences are essential to human survival. Copyright 2008 Thomson Learning, Inc. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. WW4136.indb4136.indb 2 33/8/07/8/07 112:35:002:35:00 PPMM Licensed to: CHAPTER PREVIEW What Is Anthropology? How Do Anthropologists How Does Anthropology Anthropology, the study of human- Do What They Do? Compare to Other kind everywhere, throughout time, Anthropologists, like other scholars, Disciplines? produces knowledge about what are concerned with the descrip- In studying humankind, early makes people diff erent from one tion and explanation of reality. anthropologists came to the conclu- another and what they all share in They formulate and test hypoth- sion that to fully understand the common. Anthropologists work eses—tentative explanations of complexities of human thought, within four fi elds of the discipline. observed phenomena—concerning feelings, behavior, and biology, it While physical anthropologists humankind. Their aim is to develop was necessary to study and compare focus on humans as biological reliable theories— interpretations or all humans, wherever and when- organisms (tracing evolutionary explanations supported by bodies of ever. More than any other feature, development and looking at bio- data—about our species. These data this unique cross-cultural, long-term logical variations), cultural anthro- are usually collected through fi eld- perspective distinguishes anthro- pologists investigate the contrasting work—a particular kind of hands-on pology from other social sciences. ways groups of humans think, feel, research that makes anthropologists Anthropologists are not the only and behave. Archaeologists try to so familiar with a situation that they scholars who study people, but they recover information about human can begin to recognize patterns, are uniquely holistic in their ap- cultures—usually from the past—by regularities, and exceptions. It is proach, focusing on the interconnec- studying material objects, skeletal also through careful observation tions and interdependence of all as- remains, and settlements. Mean- (combined with comparison) that pects of the human experience, past while, linguists study languages— anthropologists test their theories. and present. It is this holistic and communication systems by which integrative perspective that equips cultures are maintained and passed anthropologists to grapple with an on to succeeding generations. Practi- issue of overriding importance for tioners in all four fi elds are informed all of us today: globalization. by one another’s fi ndings and united by a common anthropological per- spective on the human condition. 3 Copyright 2008 Thomson Learning, Inc. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. WW4136.indb4136.indb 3 33/8/07/8/07 112:35:042:35:04 PPMM Licensed to: 4 Chapter One/The Essence of Anthropology This is not to say that people have been unaware of or as long as they have been on earth, people have the existence of others in the world who look and act Fsought answers to questions about who they are, diff erently from themselves. The Bible’s Old and New where they come from, and why they act as they do. Testaments, for example, are full of references to diverse Throughout most of human history, though, people re- ancient peoples, among them Babylonians, Egyptians, lied on myth and folklore for answers, rather than on Greeks, Jews, and Syrians. However, the diff erences the systematic testing of data obtained through careful among these people pale by comparison to those among observation. Anthropology, over the last 150 years, has any of the more recent European nations and (for exam- emerged as a tradition of scientifi c inquiry with its own ple) traditional indigenous peoples of the Pacifi c islands, approaches to answering these questions. Simply stated, the Amazon rainforest, or Siberia. anthropology is the study of humankind in all times and places. While focusing primarily on Homo sapiens—the human species—anthropologists also study our ances- tors and close animal relatives for clues about what it means to be human. THE DEVELOPMENT OF ANTHROPOLOGY Although works of anthropological signifi cance have a considerable antiquity—two examples being cross- cultural accounts of people written by the Greek his- torian Herodotus about 2,500 years ago and the North African Arab scholar Ibn THOMSON AUDIO Khaldun nearly 700 years STUDY PRODUCTS ago—anthropology as a Take advantage of distinct fi eld of inquiry is the MP3-ready Audio Lecture a relatively recent product Overviews and comprehensive of Western civilization. In audio glossary of key terms the United States, for exam- for each chapter. See the ple, the fi rst course in gen- preface for information on eral anthropology to carry how to access this on-the-go credit in a college or uni- study and review tool. versity (at the University of Rochester in New York) was not off ered until 1879. If people have always been concerned about themselves and their origins, and those of other people, then why did it take such a long time for a systematic discipline of anthropology to appear? The answer to this is as complex as human history. In part, it relates to the limits of human technology. Throughout most of history, people have been restricted © Documentary Educational Resources in their geographic horizons. Without the means of trav- Anthropologists come from many corners of the world and carry out eling to distant parts of the world, observation of cul- research in a huge variety of cultures all around the globe. Dr. Jaya- tures and peoples far from one’s own was a diffi cult—if sinhji Jhala, pictured here, hails from the old city of Dhrangadhra in not impossible—undertaking. Extensive travel was usu- Gujarat, northwest India. A member of the Jhala clan of Rajputs, an ally the exclusive privilege of a few; the study of foreign aristocratic caste of warriors, he grew up in the royal palace of his peoples and cultures was not likely to fl ourish until im- father, the maharaja. After earning a bachelor of arts degree in India, proved modes of transportation and communication he came to the United States and earned a master’s in visual studies from MIT, followed by a doctorate in anthropology from Harvard.