What is Anthropology:
Anthropology is a social science that is dedicated to the study of all aspects of human nature . It is a term of Greek origin composed of the words anthropos , which means 'man' or 'human', and logos , which means 'knowledge' or 'science'.
Anthropology studies human phenomena, so it takes into account both the original and ancient societies as well as the present ones. This science takes into account the evolution of the human species, ethnic diversity, cultural diversity, social customs, beliefs, transformation processes, etc.
Anthropological studies show the cultural diversity that exists and has existed throughout history, which has contributed to fostering respect and tolerance for divergent beliefs and cultures.
As a social science, anthropology is open to the integration of various disciplines that try to reflect on the biological, social and cultural dimensions. Its main areas are:
Physical or biological anthropology : studies the genetic and biological aspects of man, taking into account the evolutionary perspective and the adaptation of the species to the environment. Within this discipline, specialties such as genetic anthropology, forensic anthropology, paleoanthropology, among others, can be distinguished.
Social anthropology, cultural anthropology or ethnology : analyzes the behavior of man in society, social and political organization, social relations and social institutions. It also investigates cultures in time and space, customs, myths, values, beliefs, rituals, religion and language. From this emerge areas such as urban, kinship, philosophical or religious anthropology. Also, some authors include archeology in this category.
Linguistic anthropology: it focuses on the study and understanding of human languages as systems of symbolic representation.
Origin of anthropology
The reflection on society, man and his behavior has its antecedents from Classical Antiquity through the thought of the great philosophers, especially the Greek Herodotus, considered the father of history and anthropology.
The stories of travelers, missionaries and merchants about the habits of the natives of the lands discovered after the voyages of Columbus and other navigators around the globe can also be pointed out as background.
From the 18th century, thanks to the concerns of the Enlightenment movement, the study of both the sciences and the humanities was promoted, and in them, research in the social and cultural sphere began to gain space. In this context, the debates on the human condition were very important for the development of anthropological studies.
However, anthropology as a specific field of study has its origin in the second half of the 19th century, just like sociology. It differed from this and other areas of humanistic study in the fact that, by then, anthropology was focused on the investigation of remote societies, culturally alien to Western society, which were considered "simple" or "primitive."
Throughout its first stage, anthropology was strongly influenced by social evolutionism, related to Darwin's theories about the evolution of the human species. This idea also tried to apply as a general law to study sociocultural phenomena. Furthermore, the 19th century was marked by the development of colonialism and imperialism. It is not surprising, therefore, that in its early years anthropology had an "ethnocentric" perspective.
However, from the second half of the 20th century, when modernization processes also reached distant societies, anthropology began to study all kinds of cultures, including modern ones.
Indeed, from the 20th century on, anthropology began a process of change in which its approaches, methods and purposes were transformed until it consolidated a "modern" anthropology. In this sense, it is considered that Claude Lévi-Strauss was, par excellence, one of the main drivers of this change.
Lévi-Strauss was the father of structuralism in the social sciences. In addition, he exerted a notable influence thanks to the development of his theory of the alliance, the study of the mental processes of knowledge of the human being and the structural analysis of myths.
