1.2Describe how the field of anthropology is holistic, interdisciplinary, and global.
Anthropology is an interdisciplinary, holistic field. Most anthropologists receive some training in each of four subfields of anthropology. However, because of the huge amount of research undertaken in these different subfields—more than 300 journals and hundreds of books are published every year—no one individual can keep abreast of all the developments across the discipline. Consequently, anthropologists usually specialize in one of the four subfields. Nevertheless, most anthropologists are firmly committed to a holistic approach to understanding humankind—a broad, comprehensive account that draws on all four subfields under the umbrella of anthropology. This holistic approach integrates the analyses of biological, environmental, psychological, economic, historical, social, and cultural conditions of humanity. In other words, anthropologists study the physical characteristics of humans, including their genetic endowment, as well as their prehistoric, historic, and social and cultural environments. Through collaborative studies among the various specialists in the four subfields, anthropologists can ask broadly framed questions about humanity.
Anthropology does not limit itself to its own four subfields to realize its research agenda. Although it stands as a distinct discipline, anthropology has strong links to other social sciences. Cultural anthropology, for instance, is closely related to sociology. In the past, cultural anthropologists examined the traditional societies of the world, whereas sociologists focused on modern societies. Today, cultural anthropologists and sociologists explore many of the same societies using similar research approaches. For example, both rely on statistical and nonstatistical data whenever appropriate in their studies of different types of societies.
As we shall discover in later chapters, cultural anthropology also overlaps the fields of psychology, economics, and political science. Cultural anthropologists draw on psychology when they assess the behavior of people in other societies. Psychological questions bearing on perception, learning, and motivation all figure in ethnographic fieldwork. Additionally, cultural anthropologists or ethnologists probe the economic and political behavior and thoughts of people in various societies, using these data for comparative purposes.
Finally, anthropology dovetails considerably with the field of history, which, like anthropology, investigates the human past. Every human event that has ever taken place in the world is a potential topic for both historians and anthropologists. Historians describe and explain human events that have occurred throughout the world; anthropologists place their biological, archaeological, linguistic, and ethnographic data in the context of these historical developments. An important area of anthropological research that overlaps with history is the field of ethnohistory. Ethnohistory is the study of the history of a particular ethnic group. Ethnohistory may be based on written historical documents, or more often oral narratives that are recorded by ethnographers working in various regions of the world.
Through the four subfields and the interdisciplinary approach, anthropologists have emphasized a global perspective. The global perspective enables anthropologists to consider the biological, environmental, psychological, economic, historical, social, and cultural conditions of humans at all times and in all places. Anthropologists do not limit themselves to understanding a particular society or set of societies, but attempt to go beyond specific or local conditions and demonstrate the interconnections among societies throughout the world. This global perspective is used throughout this text to show how anthropologists situate their findings in the interconnecting worldwide context.