Window on Humanity Conrad Kottak Third Edition

1. Window on HumanityConrad KottakThird Edition Chapter 2 Ethics and Methods © 2008 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All right reserved.

2. Overview • Anthropological ethics • Research methods in anthropology • Multidisciplinary research in biological and archaeological anthropology • Ethnographic techniques • Survey research © 2008 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All right reserved.

3. CHAPTER 2Ethics and Methods • Ethics and anthropology • Proper relations with host nations, regions, and communities • AAA Code of Ethics • Informed consent • Collaborative relationships • Inclusion of host country colleagues in planning, funding requests, and dissemination of results • “Giving something back” © 2008 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All right reserved.

4. CHAPTER 2Ethics and Methods • Research methods in physical anthropology and archaeology • Multidisciplinary approaches • Collaboration with scientists from diverse fields • Examples: • Palynology – study of ancient plants through pollen samples • Bioarchaeology – study of human skeletons to reconstruct physical traits, health status, diet • Remote sensing (e.g., aerial photos, satellite imagery) © 2008 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All right reserved.

5. CHAPTER 2Ethics and Methods • Research methods in physical anthropology and archaeology • Primatology • Study of primates (apes, monkeys, lemurs) in zoos and natural settings • Data on primate social systems and behavior • Hypotheses about behavior that humans do or do not share with other primates and hominid ancestors © 2008 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All right reserved.

6. CHAPTER 2Ethics and Methods • Research methods in physical anthropology and archaeology • Anthropometry • Measurement of human body parts and dimensions • Body mass and composition indicate nutritional status in living people © 2008 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All right reserved.

7. CHAPTER 2Ethics and Methods • Research methods in physical anthropology and archaeology • Bone (skeletal) biology • Study of bone genetics; cell structure; growth, development, and decay; patterns of movement (biomechanics) • Paleopathology – study of disease and injury in skeletons from archaeological sites • Forensic anthropology – recovery, analysis, and identification of human remains in legal contexts © 2008 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All right reserved.

8. CHAPTER 2Ethics and Methods • Research methods in physical anthropology and archaeology • Molecular anthropology • Genetic analyses to assess evolutionary relationships • Ancient and contemporary populations, species • Reconstruction of migration and settlement © 2008 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All right reserved.

9. CHAPTER 2Ethics and Methods • Research methods in physical anthropology and archaeology • Paleoanthropology • Study of early hominids through fossil remains • Multidisciplinary teams © 2008 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All right reserved.

10. CHAPTER 2Ethics and Methods • Research methods in physical anthropology and archaeology • Systematic survey • Regional perspective • Settlement patterns (distribution of sites) over large areas • Location, size, and approximate age of sites © 2008 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All right reserved.

11. CHAPTER 2Ethics and Methods • Research methods in physical anthropology and archaeology • Excavation • Natural and cultural stratigraphy • Principle of superposition • Artifacts and fossils from lower strata are older than those recovered from higher strata (relative dating) • Sites are excavated because they are endangered, or to answer specific research questions © 2008 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All right reserved.

12. CHAPTER 2Ethics and Methods • Kinds of archaeology • Experimental archaeology – replication of ancient techniques and processes (e.g., tool making) • Historical archaeology – use of written records (when available) as guides and supplements to archaeological research • Classical archaeology – study of the literate civilizations of the Old World (e.g., Greece, Rome, Egypt) • Underwater archaeology – investigation of submerged sites (e.g., shipwrecks) © 2008 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All right reserved.

13. CHAPTER 2Ethics and Methods • Dating the past • Relative dating techniques • Provides a time frame in relation to other strata or materials • Not absolute dates in numbers • Stratigraphy – science that examines the accumulation of sediments in layers (strata) • Principle of superposition © 2008 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All right reserved.

14. CHAPTER 2Ethics and Methods • Dating the past • Absolute dating techniques • More precise dating of artifacts and fossils • Dates in numbers • Radiometric techniques – based on known rates of radioactive decay of elements • Examples: • Carbon-14 (14C) • Potassium-argon (K/A) • Uranium series (238U) • Thermoluminescence (TL) • Electron spin resonance (ESR) © 2008 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All right reserved.

15. CHAPTER 2Ethics and Methods • Research methods in cultural anthropology • Cultural anthropology and sociology • Share interest in social relations, organization, and behavior • Sociology traditionally focused on large, industrialized Western nations • Questionnaires, collection of masses of quantifiable data • Reliance on sampling and statistical techniques • Anthropology traditionally focused on small, nonliterate populations • Ethnographic techniques © 2008 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All right reserved.

16. CHAPTER 2Ethics and Methods • Ethnography • Firsthand, personal study of local cultural settings • Extended period of time in a given society or community • Holistic approach – attempt to understand the totality of a particular culture © 2008 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All right reserved.

17. CHAPTER 2Ethics and Methods • Ethnographic techniques • Observation and participant observation • Awareness and recording of details from daily events • Establishment of rapport with hosts • Participant observation – taking part in the activities being observed © 2008 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All right reserved.

18. CHAPTER 2Ethics and Methods • Ethnographic techniques • Conversation, interviewing, and interview schedules • Various types of ethnographic interviews • Undirected conversation • Open-ended interviews focusing on specific topics • Formal interviews using a predetermined schedule of questions © 2008 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All right reserved.

19. CHAPTER 2Ethics and Methods • Ethnographic techniques • The genealogical method • Procedures used to discover and record connections of kinship, descent, and marriage • Genealogy essential to social organization of nonindustrial societies • Genealogical data help anthropologists understand current social relations and reconstruct history © 2008 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All right reserved.

20. CHAPTER 2Ethics and Methods • Ethnographic techniques • Key cultural consultants (key informants) – people who can provide the most complete or useful information about particular aspects of life © 2008 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All right reserved.

21. CHAPTER 2Ethics and Methods • Ethnographic techniques • Life histories • Reveal how specific people perceive, react to, and contribute to changes that affect their lives • Illustrate diversity within a given community © 2008 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All right reserved.

22. CHAPTER 2Ethics and Methods • Ethnographic techniques • Local beliefs and perceptions versus those of the ethnographer • Emic (native-oriented) approach • How local people perceive and categorize the world – what is meaningful to them • Emic perspective provided by cultural consultants (informants) • Etic (science-oriented) approach • Emphasizes categories, explanations, and interpretations the anthropologist considers important © 2008 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All right reserved.

23. CHAPTER 2Ethics and Methods • Ethnographic techniques • Problem-oriented ethnography • Most ethnographers investigate a specific problem (although they remain interested in the whole context of human behavior) • Collection of data on range of variables (e.g., population density, environmental quality, climate, physical geography, diet, land use) © 2008 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All right reserved.

24. CHAPTER 2Ethics and Methods • Ethnographic techniques • Longitudinal Research • Long-term study of a community, region, society, culture, or other unit, usually based on repeated visits • Increasingly common • Often conducted by research teams • Team research – multiple ethnographers conducting complimentary research in a given community, culture, or region © 2008 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All right reserved.

25. CHAPTER 2Ethics and Methods • Culture, space, and scale • Contemporary ethnographies analyze the ongoing and inescapable flows of people, images, technology, and information that shape social life • Cultures cannot be located in bounded spaces – so-called local events are always influenced by wider information flows and experiences • Anthropologists increasingly study people in motion, traveling with them as they move from village to city, cross borders, or travel internationally © 2008 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All right reserved.

26. CHAPTER 2Ethics and Methods • Survey research • Survey methodologies are increasingly common in anthropological studies of large-scale societies • Complement more traditional ethnographic techniques • Collection and statistical analysis of data from a representative sample of a larger population • Goal is to draw inferences about larger population • Considerably more impersonal than ethnography • Ethnography can be used to supplement, fine-tune survey research © 2008 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All right reserved.