Main Branches of Anthropology

Anthropology is a scientific study of humanity. It includes human behaviour, culture, society, linguistics, human biology, evaluation, and many more. Social anthropology and cultural anthropology are the main branches of anthropology. Social anthropology studies behaviour, and cultural anthropology studies cultural meaning, norms, and values. In addition, anthropology includes the study of the past and the present of the humanities. 

The chapter and notes were developed based on anthropology and its main branches. This chapter will include the concept of anthropology, its history, and its significant types or branches to make it clear to understand the details of anthropology. 

The Concept of Anthropology

Suppose you ever thought about how this modern civilization works and how society has been established in the present, from the evaluation of a thousand years. In that case, anthropology is the answer to this. Anthropology is the field that combines diverse subjects to study humanity as a holistic concept. It involves different spheres, concepts, scopes of the world on the evaluation and human life.

There are different branches of anthropology, and each of them includes different aspects of human study. Individuals gather a different and significant amount of knowledge to provide great aspects to research work in a field. Different avenues can be explored by studying anthropology, and this can create a structural foundation from different studies filed on human life and culture. 

History of Anthropology

Greek and Arab historians introduced anthropology in a vague form. It was scientifically established in the 18th century. Anthropology was a cultural movement in Europe, and it was a study for human advancement. The religious foundation was also around the topic. People think about the culture, origin, and existence of civilization worldwide. 

As the world witnessed more political rise and imperialism, the gap emerged between classes and societies. 

This led to the discovery of unknown territories of civilization globally, and people started studying the changes in social culture and evaluation. These all led this topic to be researched scientifically, and thus main branches of anthropology rose. 

Main Branches of Anthropology

According to the subject of study, there are four divisions among the main branches of anthropology.

• Socio culture anthropology
• Physical anthropology
• Archaeological anthropology 
• Linguistic anthropology

Psychological and applied anthropology is also part of the main branches of anthropology that used to be studied in modern anthropology sections. 

Socio Culture Anthropology

This is one of the most prominent branches of anthropology. Sociocultural anthropology is an aspect where social culture,  communities, observation, and daily activities have been studied and researched to develop an idea on interaction with community members. 

This collaborative approach is rooted in the concentration of people rather than providing analysis from a distance. It has sources of internal resources to gather information rather than external sources. Sociocultural anthropologists focused on employing a different field of research by implicating different methods in the humanities and other branches of social science and humanities. 

Physical Anthropology

Physical anthropology is also known as biological anthropology. It is an amalgamation of different academic factors like biological or social studies. There are two main concepts of this study. First, biosocial variation of human and human evolution is the two paths of physical anthropology. This is a vast area of study and one of the most exciting branches of anthropology that have been chiefly researched. It helps gather information on a tremendous amount of knowledge about past generations in the world. 

Though, relatively it is one of the recently developed branches that have created a focus factor on anthropological studies and branches. 

Archaeological Anthropology 

Archaeological anthropology is a branch that focuses on racing the evolution of culture and development over centuries. This branch has reconstructed the events from the past by employing different technologies and historical details back from many tears. In addition, it has tried to render the concept of geological process that is imprinted as the evaluation of human civilization. 

Archaeological evidence has been collected through abundant deposition, mainly in excavation sites. Therefore, the primary method of gathering information in this study is by excavating to discover artefacts on the cultural history of our past.  

Linguistic Anthropology

It is an essential branch of anthropology, and it is a study of the evaluation of language. For several years it has grown in scope and incorporated different aspects of language. This is a study about how language primarily influenced communication exchange affects cultural beliefs, social identity, and ideologies. It also represents the building of a shared cultural representation of natural and social worlds and how it becomes essential in growing interconnectedness. 

Conclusion

Along with these main branches of anthropology, applied and psychological anthropology also plays a vital role in anthropological studies. Applied anthropology is different from academic anthropology, and it is a method of data collection and study that is applied in the practical field. It has various practical applications in society to study a topic further. On the other side, psychological anthropology is the field where we study the impact of culture on our cognitive and behavioural patterns.