Become an Anthropologist, Essay Example

Evolution is change over a given period of time. Considering physical anthropology, evolution is the gradual physiological and biological changes in living organisms. This involves the generational transfer of genetic material creating subtle changes that are influenced by the physical environment. This genetic transfer over generations can be used to trace the origins of the current living species.

Evolution is the scientific theory created and proposed by Charles Darwin. Charles Darwin held that all species are genetically engineered to adapt to the prevailing environmental conditions. As such, it will evolve genetically over time through the mutation of genes. These gene carry the genetic material with all the characteristics and traits that are passed on from one generation to another.

A physical anthropologist has to study the field of Palaeoanthropology, a branch of palaeontology which is under the umbrella of anthropology. This study focusses of collecting and investigating fossils of extinct life forms (Browman & Williams, 2002). The palaeontologists achieves this through the creation of a hypothesis or a set of hypotheses on the cause of a given identified difference in a given fossil and search for evidence that may suggest the hypothesis best explains the difference.

“Perspectives in palaeoanthropology” by Professor D. Sen and Asok K Ghosh shows the different perspectives in palaeoanthropology, giving the different approaches and processes in the study. This publication highlights the different areas of study that a palaeontologists has to engage in so as to study certain historical evolutionary highlights. This publication contains three articles that highlight the different fundamental principles and perspectives that guide the methods employed in the field and laboratory. It shows the fundamental ideologies employed in the formulation of plausible hypotheses for a given fossil (Sen & Ghosh, 1974). These fundamental ideologies for the conceptual framework on which the science of palaeoanthropology is built.

Cultural Anthropology deals with studying the diversity that is found in the different ways humans live, work, adapt to change and their interrelations in the modern world. This subfield of anthropology views cultural variation among humans as an independent variable rather than a dependent one. This is because culture is perceived as “human nature” (Kottak, 2012). Cultural anthropology has become essential in the identification of variations of culture over a given period of time so as to explain the social aspects of the factors affecting society.

Mary Louise Pratt’s concept of “the contact zone” is interesting. She defines the contact zone as the social spaces where different cultures meet. A cultural anthropologist studies how different cultures interact, merge and collide to influence each other. The contact zone, the spaces in society in which different cultures clash or meet, have both built and eroded different cultures. The pockets within society where cultures meet have especially influenced the manner in which different societies perceive certain issues.

There exists 11 theoretical approaches the influence and/or determine cultural anthropologist view on a cultural variation. They include;

• Practice Theory
• Systems Theory
• Actor-Network Theory
• Culture Theory
• Cultural Materialism
• Functionalism
• Structuralism
• Post-Structuralism
• Feminism
• Political Economy
• Interpretive(Browman & Williams, 2002)

A cultural anthropologist would study the recorded changes in different facets of a given culture. These changes can be explained through collection of historical information that details the interaction a given society or culture had. The cultural anthropologist employs three methods in collecting information on underlying cultural variations.

Participant observation enables the cultural anthropologist get close and gain familiarity with a given sample. the cultural anthropologist spend time studying the ways of the given people, participating in these activities so as to gain a first-hand feeling of the beliefs and activities of the given people.

Ethnographies are essential in documenting observations by a cultural anthropologist about a give people at a given period of time. Ethnographic papers ay at times be biased as they are written from the viewpoint of the given cultural anthropologist.

Cross-cultural comparisons are essential in ensuring that one studies variations in culture while mitigating or eliminating ethnocentrism. This requires the use of ethnographic paper to test these “human universals”.

“Cultural Anthropology” by Conrad Phillip Kottak details the fundamentals of cultural anthropology, the roles and duties of a cultural anthropologist. This publication is essential to the study of cultural anthropology as the different methods of conducting research are detailed, showing the king of conditions that best suit each of the three techniques of conducting a cultural anthropology study.

“Cultural Anthropology” by Conrad Phillip Kottak is essential in understanding the fundamental and theoretical frameworks upon which cultural anthropology is founded on. The different schools of thought in cultural anthropology are well explained while showing the most ideal methods and techniques of cultural anthropology proposed by each school of thought.

Discuss how the study of evolution between physical anthropology and your chosen subfield compare and contrast

Physical anthropology and cultural anthropology all study the different facets of evolution. This is because evolution is a complex mix of different forms and types of changes in a species, from the conspicuous physical changes to the sublime cultural and social changes.

Physical anthropology studies the physiological changes in a given species, trying to develop hypotheses as to the causes and effects of these physiological variances over time. While physical anthropology focuses on the physiological changes as a result of adaptation, cultural anthropology focuses on the human aspect of evolution. It focuses on identifying the cultural variation of a given people over time and determining the causes of these variations.

Physical anthropology also uses methods that are purely physical as it requires studying fossils and remains of a given species. Cultural studies are mainly observatory as they entail recording social aspects of a sample.

The only similarity between physical anthropology and cultural anthropology is that they both identify the underlying differences in either the physiological or cultural aspects of the given sample and attempt to define a cause to the differences identified.

Evolution is not limited to the physiological changes within a given species. Evolution encompasses all aspects of life. The growth and development of a given species can be seen to be evolution as the given species is changing, adapting to the changes within its environment. These physical changes in the environment cause the given species to change so as to ensure its survival. It is therefore interesting to realize that even the subtle changes in the manner in which people execute certain functions in society can be perceived as evolution. Evolution is a phenomena that can be studied on all levels.

References

Bonvillain, N. (2012). Cultural Anthropology. New York: Pearson.

Browman, D. L., & Williams, S. (2002). New perspectives on the origins of Americanist archaeology. Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press.

Kottak, C. P. (2012). Cultural Anthropology. New York: McGraw-Hill Higher Education.

Sen, D., & Ghosh, A. K. (1974). Perspectives in palaeoanthropology. Calcutta: Firma K. L. Mukhopadhyay.