Anthropology Resource Guide

The study of humankind. It investigates the cultural, social, and physical diversity of the human species, both past and present.

Study of how human beings allocate scarce resources to produce various commodities and how those commodities are distributed for consumption among the people in society.

Science or study of the thought processes and behavior of humans and other animals in their interaction with the environment. Psychologists study processes of sense perception, thinking, learning, cognition, emotions and motivations, personality, abnormal behavior, interactions between individuals, and interactions with the environment.

Scientific study of human social behavior. As the study of humans in their collective aspect, sociology is concerned with all group activities—economic, social, political, and religious.

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The practice of farming, including the cultivation of the soil (for raising crops) and the raising of domesticated animals.

Transfer of information, such as thoughts and messages. The basic forms of communication are by signs (sight) and by sounds.

In anthropology, the integrated system of socially acquired values, beliefs, and rules of conduct which delimit the range of accepted behaviors in any given society. Cultural differences distinguish societies from one another.

Cessation of all life (metabolic) processes. Death may involve the organism as a whole (somatic death) or may be confined to cells and tissues within the organism.

Process, beginning at birth, of developing intellectual capacity, skills, and social awareness, especially by instruction. In its more restricted sense, the term refers to the process of imparting literacy, numeracy, and a generally accepted body of knowledge.

The body of customs, legends, beliefs, and superstitions passed on by oral tradition. It includes folk dances, folk songs, folk medicine (the use of magical charms and herbs), and folktales (myths, rhymes, and proverbs).

The notion of gender can be understood to be referring to the cultural assumptions and practices that govern the social construction of men, women and their social relations.

In general, living accommodations available for the inhabitants of a community.

Socially sanctioned union that reproduces the family. In all societies the choice of partners is generally guided by rules of exogamy (the obligation to marry outside a group); some societies also have rules of endogamy (the obligation to marry within a group).

The science and art of treating and preventing disease.

Migrations have occurred throughout history and have played an important part in the peopling of all the areas of the earth.

Art of combining sounds into a structured form, usually according to conventional patterns and for an aesthetic (artistic) purpose.

The entire body of myths in a given tradition, and the study of myths. Students of anthropology, folklore, and religion study myths in different ways, distinguishing them from various other forms of popular, often orally transmitted, literature.

A system of thought, feeling, and action that is shared by a group and that gives the members an object of devotion; a code of behavior by which individuals may judge the personal and social consequences of their actions; and a frame of reference by which individuals may relate to their group and their universe.

In religious devotion or service, the practice of certain set formulas that either mark a particular important event in a person's life - such as birth rituals or death rituals - or form a patterned daily, weekly, or annual cycle.

Sign representing something that has an independent existence.

The use of tools, power, and materials, generally for the purposes of production. Almost every human process for getting food and shelter depends on complex technological systems, which have been developed over a 3-million-year period.