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LIST OF ILLUSTRATIVE BOXES TABLES ANDFIGURESIllustrative boxesPageBox 1.1.Definition of anthropology . 2Box 1.2 Misconceptions about socioculturalanthropology . 7Box 1.3. Differences between ethnography andethnology . 11Box 1.4. Distinguishing features of anthropology. 17Box 1.5. Major branches and specializations inanthropology . 29Box 2.1. Inductive and deductive approaches . 61Box 2.2.Emic and etic approaches . 68Box 2.3. Major qualitative research methods . 72Box 2.4. Qualitative vs. quantitative data . 74Box 3.1. An often-cited definition of culture given by E.B. Tylor. 85Box 3.2. Ten important features of culture . 92Box 4.1. Forms of marriage . 121Box 5.1. Ethnicity, race and racism. 140Box 6.1. The four roles of religion . 156Box 6.2. Issues in religion and medicine. 161Box 7.1. Theories of disease causation . 179xiv

TablesTable 2.1. Summary of theories in socioculturalanthropology . 52Table 3.1. A list of some cultural universals. 104Table 7.1. Strengths and weaknesses of traditional andscientific medicine. 190FiguresFigure 4.1. An example of nuclear family form . 124xv

Introduction to Sociocultural AnthropologyCHAPTER ONEINTRODUCTIONLearning ObjectivesAfter completing this Chapter, the students are expectedto: Define anthropology and describe its basicconcerns and subject matter; Describe the different sub-fields of anthropology; Explain how and why sociocultural anthropologyas a science emerged; Appreciate the contributions and applications ofanthropology in personal and professional lives;and Compare and contrast anthropology with otherrelated behavioral or social sciences.1.1. What is Anthropology?The term anthropology is a combination of two wordsderived from Greek language: anthropos and logos.The term anthropos is equivalent to the word mankind orhuman being, while logos means study or science. So1

Introduction to Sociocultural Anthropologyputting the two words together, anthropology is thestudy or science of mankind or humanity. The followingare two important, simple, definitions of anthropology:Box 1.1. A simple definition of anthropologyAnthropology is the study or science of mankindor humanity Anthropology is the study of humanity. Anthropology is a broad scientific disciplinededicated to the comparative study of humans asa group, from its first appearance on earth to itspresent stage of development.In a more specific term, anthropology is science which: Investigates the strategies for living that arelearned and shared by people as members ofhuman social groups; Examines the characteristics that human beingsshare as members of one species (homosapiens) and the diverse ways that people livein different environments; and2

Introduction to Sociocultural Anthropology Analyzes the products of social groups: materialobjects (tools, cloths, houses, etc) and nonmaterial creations (beliefs, values, practices,institutions, etc). (World Book Encyclopedia.Vol.1 PP. 545-548)It should further be stressed that anthropology focuseson (1) the origin of humans, (2) the evolutionarydevelopment of humans, (3) human physical, biochemical and cultural variations, and (4) the materialpossessions and cultural heritages of humans.Anthropology seeks to explain how and why people areboth similar and different through examination of ourbiological and cultural past and comparative study ofcontemporary human societies (Howard and DunaifHattis, 1992:3). Howard and Dunaif-Hattis (1992) furthernote that:Anthropology’s ultimate goal is to develop anintegrated picture of humankind—a goal thatencompasses an almost infinite number ofquestions about all aspects of our existence. Weask, for example, what makes us human? Whydo some groups of people tend to be tall and3

Introduction to Sociocultural Anthropologylanky, while others tend to be short and stocky?Why do some groups of people practiceagriculture, while others hunt for a living?Anthropologists are interested in all thingshuman. (P.3)Anthropology has a strong affinity with natural sciencesas well. In fact, anthropology is well known by thataspect of it which is mainly concerned with thebiological/ physical dimensions of mankind as abiological being in group context. Hence, it may beinappropriate to say that anthropology is only a socialscience. It is also a natural science, not in the sense thatit deals with the natural phenomenon or man as anindividual entity per se, but in the sense that one of itsmain interests is to study man and man's behavior as aproduct of the natural processes, and in the context ofthe animal kingdom (Scupin and DeCorse, 1995).1.1.1. Misconceptions about AnthropologyThere are a number of misconceptions associated withanthropology due to lack of appropriate awareness of itsnature. The following are some of the misconceptions4

Introduction to Sociocultural nthropology instructor): One misconception about anthropology is related tothe area of its study. It is said that anthropology islimited to the study of "primitive" societies. Indeed,most of the works done by anthropologists duringearly periods focused on isolated, "primitive", smallscale societies. However, anthropologists nowadaysstudy the advanced, complex societies as well. Another misconception is that anthropologists onlystudy the rural people and rural areas. True, most ofthe works conducted focused on rural areas. Butnow, anthropologists are also interested in the studyof urban people and urban areas. There is a distinctsub-discipline devoted to the study of urbansocieties -urban anthropology-which focuses onsmall-scale society in a complex city. It is claimed that anthropologists are only interestedin the study of far away, remote exotic communitiesliving isolated from the influences of modernization.True, most anthropologists go to fieldwork to an5

Introduction to Sociocultural Anthropologyisolated people in a distant corner. But nowanthropologists are interested in home anthropology,studying anthropology at home, i.e., in one's ownsociety. It is also said that the purpose of anthropology is tostudy in order to keep and preserve ropologists are advocates of defunct, obsoleteculture. True, when anthropologists study "primitive"society, they study the culture of the people, toreconstruct it, to give meaning to the peculiarbehaviors of people. However, anthropologists donot defend "primitiveness"; they play a great role inbringing about positive change and development inthe lives of people.6

Introduction to Sociocultural logy1. Anthropology is limited to the study of"primitive" societies.2. Anthropologists only study the rural peopleand rural areas.3. Anthropologists are only interested in thestudy of far away, remote exotic ization.4. Anthropology wants to keep and s and anthropologists are advocatesof defunct, obsolete culture.1.2 Brief Historical Overview of AnthropologyThe facts of the incredibly diverse and at the same timeessentially similar nature of humans over time andspace have intrigued curious-minded people over thecentury. The history of anthropological thought is repletewith many and varied ideas, some of which often werewild extremes resulting from ethnocentric attitudes.Before anthropology attained the status of scientific7

Introduction to Sociocultural Anthropologydiscipline curious-minded persons from ancient tomedieval times have speculated a lot about the issuesand problems that concern anthropologists today(Hodgen, 1964).That is, the present academicanthropology has its roots in the works and ideas of thegreat ancient and Medieval Greek, Roman, and Hebrewphilosophers and social thinkers. These people wereinterested in the nature, origin and destiny of man, andthe morality and ethics of human relationshipsWhile the roots of (socio-cultural) anthropology can begenerally traced through the history of western cultureas far back as ancient Greek social philosophicalthinking, the discipline did not emerge as distinct field ofstudy until the mid-nineteenth century. Anthropology asan academic discipline was born during the 19th century(see The New Encyclopedia Britannica (Macropedia).Vol. 27 PP.326-331).Anthropology as academic discipline was born out of nment, which is the eighteenth century ress and the poser of reason, and based on8

Introduction to Sociocultural AnthropologyDarwinian Theory of Evolution (Scupin and DeCorse,1995).According to Howard and Dunaif-Hattis (1992:362):By the late 1870s, anthropology was beginningto emerge as a profession. A major impetus forits growth was the expansion of western colonialpowers and their consequent desire to betterunderstand the peoples living under colonialdomination. In the United States, for example,the government sought information on NativeAmerican peoples who were being subdued andplaced on reservations. As the tribes weresubdued, anthropologists were employed to helpdevise means to administer these people. [H]owever, many anthropologists were motivatedby the desire to record local customs before theydisappeared and were forgotten . Anthropologybecame a profession primarily in museums,During the 1870s and 1880s many museumsdevoted to the study of humankind were foundedin Europe, North America and South America .Anthropology’s link with museums influenced itsdevelopment throughout the late nineteenth and9

Introduction to Sociocultural Anthropologyearly twentieth centuries Professionalizationduring the latter part of nineteenth and earlytwentieth centuries made great breakthroughs inthequalityandquantityofethnographicresearch .Early anthropologists mainly studied small communitiesin technologically simple societies. Such societies areoften called by various names, such as, traditional, nonindustrialized or simple societies. Anthropologists of theearly 1900s emphasized the study of social and culturaldifferences among human groups. Here, many of theindigenous peoples of the non-western world and theirsocial and cultural features were studied in detail anddocumented. This approach is called ethnography. Bythe mid-1900, however, anthropologists attempted todiscover universal human patterns and the common biopsychological traits that bind all human beings. Thisapproach is called ethnology. Ethnology aims at thecomparative understanding and analysis of differentethnic groups across time and space (Kottak, 2002;Scupin and DeCorse, 1995).10

Introduction to Sociocultural AnthropologyBox 1.3. Difference between ethnography andethnologyEthnography: description of the culture of a certaingroup of people.Ethnology: Anthropological attempt to discoveruniversal human patterns and the common biopsychological traits that bind all human beings.1.3. Subject Matter and Scope of AnthropologyThe subject matter of anthropology is very vast. Thesubject covers all aspects of human ways of life andculture, as humans live in a social group relationship.Discovering the meaning, nature, origin, and destiny ofhumanity is one of the key concerns of anthropology.According to the present stage of scientific knowledgeattained in anthropology, the term humanity or mankindis a very difficult term to define. Anthropologists seem tobe unsure whether humanity is absolutely dichotomouswith other lower forms of animals. Some may even tendto regard humanity and non-humanity as something thatis best understood in the form of continuum. This senseof continuum may be particularly in terms of time scale.Thus, the farther we go in time backwards, the narrower11

Introduction to Sociocultural Anthropologybecomes the difference between humanity and nonhumanity.It has now become a generally accepted fact ullisaevidencesareproducttheofevolutionary processes, and that humans have evolvedfrom their closest living primates (Bryan, 1997; Behe,1996).Anthropology is interested in some of the followingquestions and issues about humans: Where did human species come from (i.e. whatare the origins of mankind)? Were human beings created in the image andlikeness of God, or were they just the products ofmillions of years of the natural, evolutionaryprocess? In what ways does man differ from other animalspecies? How did mankind arrive at the present

Important other concepts in sociocultural anthropology such as cross-cultural issues of gender, ethnicity and race, and their implications for health are raised and discussed in Chapter Six. The last Chapter deals w