04 II.qxd - International Society for the History of Islamic Medicine

Licensed to:4 Chapter One/The Essence of AnthropologyFor as long as they have been on earth, people havesought answers to questions about who they are,where they come from, and why they act as they do.Throughout most of human history, though, people reliedon myth and folklore for answers, rather than onthe systematic testing of data obtained through carefulobservation. Anthropology, over the last 150 years, hasemerged as a tradition of scientific inquiry with its ownapproaches to answering these questions. Simply stated,anthropology is the study of humankind in all times andplaces. While focusing primarily on Homo sapiens—thehuman species—anthropologists also study our ancestorsand close animal relatives for clues about what itmeans to be human.This is not to say that people have been unaware ofthe existence of others in the world who look and actdifferently from themselves. The Bible’s Old and NewTestaments, for example, are full of references to diverseancient peoples, among them Babylonians, Egyptians,Greeks, Jews, and Syrians. However, the differencesamong these people pale by comparison to those amongany of the more recent European nations and (for example)traditional indigenous peoples of the Pacific islands,the Amazon rainforest, or Siberia.THE DEVELOPMENTOF ANTHROPOLOGYAlthough works of anthropological significance havea considerable antiquity—two examples being crossculturalaccounts of people written by the Greek historianHerodotus about 2,500 years ago and the NorthTHOMSON AUDIOSTUDY PRODUCTSTake advantage ofthe MP3-ready Audio LectureOverviews and comprehensiveaudio glossary of key termsfor each chapter. See thepreface for information onhow to access this on-the-gostudy and review tool.African Arab scholar IbnKhaldun nearly 700 yearsago—anthropology as adistinct field of inquiry isa relatively recent productof Western civilization. Inthe United States, for example,the first course in generalanthropology to carrycredit in a college or university(at the Universityof Rochester in New York)was not offered until 1879. If people have always beenconcerned about themselves and their origins, and thoseof other people, then why did it take such a long time fora systematic discipline of anthropology to appear?The answer to this is as complex as human history.In part, it relates to the limits of human technology.Throughout most of history, people have been restrictedin their geographic horizons. Without the means of travelingto distant parts of the world, observation of culturesand peoples far from one’s own was a difficult—ifnot impossible—undertaking. Extensive travel was usuallythe exclusive privilege of a few; the study of foreignpeoples and cultures was not likely to flourish until improvedmodes of transportation and communicationcould be developed.anthropology The study of humankind in all times and places.© Documentary Educational ResourcesAnthropologists come from many corners of the world and carry outresearch in a huge variety of cultures all around the globe. Dr. JayasinhjiJhala, pictured here, hails from the old city of Dhrangadhra inGujarat, northwest India. A member of the Jhala clan of Rajputs, anaristocratic caste of warriors, he grew up in the royal palace of hisfather, the maharaja. After earning a bachelor of arts degree in India,he came to the United States and earned a master’s in visual studiesfrom MIT, followed by a doctorate in anthropology from Harvard. Currentlya professor and director of the programs of Visual Anthropologyand the Visual Anthropology Media Laboratory at Temple University, hereturns regularly to India with students to film cultural traditions in hisown caste-stratified society.Copyright 2008 Thomson Learning, Inc. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part.