Complete 15 page APA formatted essay: Multiple questions.Download file to see previous pages... Anthropology has high merit with regard to the description of mankind and his experiences. Fields of ant

Complete 15 page APA formatted essay: Multiple questions.

Anthropology has high merit with regard to the description of mankind and his experiences. Fields of anthropology There are four distinct sub-fields in anthropology, each with additional sub-branches. These are social, cultural, biological or physical, and linguistic anthropology. While the four sub-fields overlap frequently, they all use different techniques and methodologies. Cultural anthropology or socio-cultural anthropology is the study of culture (Delaney, 2004). Cultural anthropology centers on ethnography, which refers to either the methodology or the product of research i.e. a book or monograph. Ethnography is largely inductive, relying on participant observation. Under cultural anthropology lies the ethnology technique that focuses on the systematic comparison of various cultures. Ethnography utilizes the process of participant-observation. Cultural anthropology focuses on the study of kinship and covers other areas such as political and economic organization, conflict resolution and law, consumption patterns, technology, material culture, infrastructure, ethnicity, gender relations, religion, myth, socialization, values, etiquette, language, festivals, recreation, and sports among others. Biological or physical anthropology, on the other hand, refers to anthropological research centered on the examination of human and non-human primates within their evolutionary, demographic, and biological dimensions. In essence, biological anthropology examines the social and biological influencers of evolution of mankind and primates which create, sustain, or alter physiological and genetic variations. Biological anthropology involves the study of primatology, which involves the examination of non-humans within their geographical environments to learn about the abilities and behavioral patterns of primates (Delaney, 2004). Biological anthropology also involves the study of human biology, which involves examining human diversity, non-cultural adaptations with regard to environmental elements, and genetic inheritance patterns. Archaeological anthropology refers to the examination of human records by examining its artifacts. This study involves the examination of material remains of human beings to discover how people lived. For instance, pieces of artifacts like tools and pottery provide evidence of cultural and social lives of past societies. Archaeological anthropologists are typically detectives who uncover evidence through excavating, dating, and analyzing material remains of past societies. This means archaeologists have a deep comprehension of the expansion of human civilizations and societies by analyzing human ancestors. Linguistic anthropology or anthropological linguistics aims at understanding the development of human communication, language variations through space and time, verbal and non-verbal communication, social functions of language, and the link between culture and language. Linguistic anthropology links linguistic analysis and methods to the interpretation of socio-cultural processes. In order to do this, linguistic anthropologists draw on fields such as cognitive linguistics, discourse analysis, sociolinguistics, semiotics, narrative analysis, and pragmatics.