What is Anthropology?
                     What is 
Anthropology?
What is Anthropology?
Anthropology is the study of what makes us 
human. Anthropologists take a broad 
approach to understanding the many 
different aspects of the human experience, 
which we call holism. 
Source: www.americananthro.org
Archaeology
Archaeologists study human culture by 
analyzing the objects people have made. 
They carefully remove from the ground 
such things as pottery and tools, and they 
map the locations of houses, trash pits, and 
burials in order to learn about the daily 
lives of a people. 
Source: www.americananthro.org
Biological Anthropology
Biological anthropologists seek to 
understand how humans adapt to different 
environments, what causes disease and 
early death, and how humans evolved from 
other animals.
Source: www.americananthro.org
Cultural Anthropology
Sociocultural anthropologists explore how 
people in different places live and 
understand the world around them. They 
want to know what people think is 
important and the rules they make about 
how they should interact with one another.
Source: www.americananthro.org
Linguistic Anthropology
Linguistic anthropologists study the many 
ways people communicate across the globe. 
They are interested in how language is 
linked to how we see the world and how we 
relate to each other.
Source: www.americananthro.org
Applied and Practicing 
Anthropology
Applied or practicing anthropologists are 
an important part of anthropology. Each of 
the four subfields of anthropology can be 
applied. Applied anthropologists work to 
solve real world problems by using 
anthropological methods and ideas.
Source: www.americananthro.org
Anthropology Around the World
While anthropologists devote much of their 
attention to what human groups share 
across time and space, they also study how 
these groups are different. 
Source: www.americananthro.org
Employment
Anthropologists are employed in a number 
of different sectors, from colleges and 
universities to government agencies, 
NGOs, businesses, and health and human 
services. 
Source: www.americananthro.org
What do anthropologists do?
While a few anthropology postgraduates go 
on to work as lecturers or researchers 
within academia, a significant number are 
increasingly finding employment in a 
variety of sectors, ranging from education, 
charity and international development, to 
medicine and health-related professions, 
film and business.
Source: www.americananthro.org
Common misconceptions about 
anthropology
Anthropology as subject is not well known 
amongst the general population in Britain. 
As anthropology has not until now been 
taught at secondary school level the British 
general public’s exposure to anthropology 
tends to be limited to museums, occasional 
newspaper articles, or TV programmes 
whose primary aim is entertainment. 
Source: www.americananthro.org