Transcript Important Anthropologists

Important Anthropologists
(Review)
Margaret Mead
• American (1901-78)
• Studied Samoan culture vs American culture
American Teen Culture
Samoan Teen Culture
Not treated as adults (until 20s)
Experience Identity conflicts
Raised to compete
More aggressive
Seen as adults when physically mature
No conflicts
Raised to co-operate
Willing resources and work
• Concluded that individuals personality largely
related to culture
• Studied gender roles in different cultures and
believed they are not universal
Ruth Benedict
• American cultural anthropologist. Studied
natives
• Studied cultural influences (ex religion) in
shaping human behaviour
• Concluded that cultural was the sum of all the
personality types within it
Franz Boas
• German-American (1858-1942)
• Focused on the language and culture of
American Natives
• Supported keeping notes or records of
findings (so others could see where your
conclusions are drawn from) and stressed
scientific research methods
• Ethnology- the study of origins, similarities
and differences between races and cultures
Bronislaw Malinowski
• Polish-English (1884–1942) social anthropologist
and worked with people in New Guinea
• Functionalist
• Studied social organization in different societies
• He rejected hierarchal beliefs (one culture
superior to another)… which was common at the
time
• Role of anthropologist to explain, not judge
Raymond Dart
• Australian Physical anthropologist (1893-1988)
• Examined fossils and other remains to learn
about early human evolutionary development
• 1924 found skull which he believed to be the
transitional stage between apes and humans
(australopithecus= meaning southern ape)
Claude Levi-Strauss
• Belgium-French cultural anthropologist (19082009)
• Studied myths in different cultures and
“supernatural powers” beyond human control
• Believed that what people believe in important to
understanding how they act
• Studied how tribal behaviour and law codes
reflected universal thought patterns
• Did demonstrate that each culture also had taboo
behaviours (ex incest)
Konrad Lorenz
• Austrian (1903-1989)
• Founder of ethology (comparing biology and behaviour
of animals)
• Imprinting- ducks would adopt the first moving thing
they saw as a parent… studied the affects of different
types of parental figures
• Also studies human aggression and violence- believed
it to be partially instinctive… left over from primal need
when hunting for food was needed
• Believed that our aggression could be focused
constructively
The Leakeys
• Louis, Mary and their son Richard (1944)- are
British physical anthropologists
• Reconstructed a series of ancient human
civilizations dating from 100 000 to over 2 million
years ago
• Discovered australopithecus and homo habilis
• Experimented with stone-age tools to find out
how ancient peoples used them
• Recruited others (Fossey, Goodall) to study
primates in an attempt to understand beginnings
of human civilization
Dian Fossey
• American anthropologist (1938-1985)
• Studied the mountain gorilla tribe of Rwanda
(spent 19 years living with animals)
• She imitated their habits and sounds with
made primates accept her into their society
• Gorillas are a highly structures social system
• They are affectionate towards family members
and aggressive towards outsiders
Jane Goodal
• English primotologist (1934)
• Funded by National Geographic
• Since the mid 1960s spends most of her time observing and
recording the behaviour of chimpanzees
• Eventually won over their trust and accepted into their society,
living amongst them
• Chimps have tools (sticks for ants), not strictly vegetarian
(sometimes they kill a member and eat them)
• Have a highly structured society- an alpha male with supremacy
which gave him the right to mate with all the females. The
remaining where not allowed to mate until another took alpha
position… then that other ape was treated with respect (like a
grandparent)
• Concludes that early human structure must have been very similar
based on aggression and intimidation. Originally vegetarian, we
became meat eaters once we learned to cooperate with hunting
• Jane Goodall
http://video.nationalgeographic.com/video/sp
ecials/in-the-field-specials/jane-goodallretrospective/