What is Anthropology? The Problem with the Big Four | Off the Shelf 1

In this episode of Off the Shelf, we'll talk about anthropology in general terms, touching on a number of problems that stem from common textbook definitions of the field.
The host, Alexander K. Smith, holds an MA from Oxford University and a PhD in the anthropology of Tibet and the Himalayas from the University of Paris (EPHE - PSL).

Пікірлер: 22

  • @akmalkhan1603
    @akmalkhan16033 жыл бұрын

    well articulated and appreciated your effort in making it simple

  • @sputnik00
    @sputnik002 жыл бұрын

    Thanks for making these. My research seems to be leading me down the path of legal anthropology, please do a video on this, and in particular to comment on how general anthropology has regarded the thing called law.

  • @ArmchairAcademics

    @ArmchairAcademics

    2 жыл бұрын

    Thanks for posting, Sputnik00. Glad to hear that you're considering legal anthropology -- it's a rich and, I think, very rewarding field. Speaking of which, it's also a great topic for a video in the future. Thanks for the suggestion. I'll put it on the list for the coming quarter :)

  • @sputnik00

    @sputnik00

    2 жыл бұрын

    @@ArmchairAcademics Your succinct insight on how to think of disciplinary boundaries and their melding at the borders was super helpful. I had to read 8 chapters of Candea 2018 to understand the point that anthropology is ironically deeply connected to its developmental history as a cultural discipline. Candea identifies two major hereditary strands - the North American and European. The latter they say was born from the intellectual entanglements with Marxism, thus the institutional emphasis.

  • @lordwolfgangjosephuskaiser6778
    @lordwolfgangjosephuskaiser6778 Жыл бұрын

    The Fields of Anthropology are: The biological Anthropology The archeological Anthropology The linguistic Anthropology The cultural and social Anthropology And every single one of these big four fields studies material and non material Anthropology. Can we say that the culture Professor and mythologist Joseph Campbell one of the greatest Thinkers is also an anthropologist? And what about the philosophical Anthropology you didn't mention it because what I know is that Anthropologists like Max Scheler, Plessner and so on are described as philosophical Anthropologists? Can you please make a Video about Joseph Campbell? Thank you very much for your great video🌹🌹🌹

  • @andalibahtalo6176
    @andalibahtalo61763 жыл бұрын

    Love your vidéos. Very nicely explained :)!! Thank you

  • @ArmchairAcademics

    @ArmchairAcademics

    3 жыл бұрын

    Glad you like them!

  • @aakeshmurala6533
    @aakeshmurala65333 жыл бұрын

    Awesome Just had no idea on anthropology After vedio I feel yes ik what's is the study of anthropology Keep doing vedios It's fantastic

  • @snehamundari1596
    @snehamundari15963 жыл бұрын

    Your videos and their contents are so amaaazing!!! Thank you so much for all the labour that you put in. :)

  • @ArmchairAcademics

    @ArmchairAcademics

    3 жыл бұрын

    You are very welcome, Sneha. Thanks so much for the kind words! We're planning to keep them coming at a regular pace, so we should have plenty more content in the coming months.

  • @_ir72
    @_ir72 Жыл бұрын

    Thank you for this video. One question remains: what about philosophical anthropology?

  • @virgi3822
    @virgi38222 жыл бұрын

    What a great video! Love how you explain it. I'm an Anthropologist and sometimes find it hard to explain what Anthropology is in a simple way. Will keep on watching your videos.

  • @ArmchairAcademics

    @ArmchairAcademics

    2 жыл бұрын

    Thanks very much, Virgi! The production quality of the videos has come a long way since we made this one. I hope that you find the rest of the videos useful!

  • @virgi3822

    @virgi3822

    2 жыл бұрын

    @@ArmchairAcademics Congrats on that! I'll be glad to continue watching your videos.

  • @autumn-rosebarnes5173
    @autumn-rosebarnes51732 жыл бұрын

    Throughout my undergrad career I have only studied sociology, and I still have a passion for it however, I want to do something that has to do with a lot of the same concepts of sociology but more of talking to people interacting, learning people's history, and how their history affects now and will affect us in the future. Is that more of Anthropology, Psychology,or Sociology

  • @ArmchairAcademics

    @ArmchairAcademics

    2 жыл бұрын

    Hey Autumn-Rose, thanks for posting. If I were proposing research along those lines, I would introduce it as a qualitative, historical material research method. That's generally more associated with anthropology -- with it's ethnographic and environmental focus; but it's also common in forms of micro-sociology. I'll be mentioning this in my next video, but if you're interested in qualitative sociological approaches, have a look at symbolic interactionism, which is the theoretical basis upon which a lot of mico-sociology is built. Hope that helps! We should have the next video up by this time next week and our discussion there of micro-sociology might prove helpful.

  • @sandrameza1644
    @sandrameza16443 жыл бұрын

    I just click on to hear the child in the beginning!!

  • @eldon4905
    @eldon4905 Жыл бұрын

    If I want to study and read about the races and the old humans which sub field? Is it paleoanthropology? But this concerns in fossils. I want the history of all man kind, approximately, and all kinds of old human. From the beginning until we reach the Indoeuropean, Semites, and others history. Thank you very much

  • @ArmchairAcademics

    @ArmchairAcademics

    Жыл бұрын

    Hey there, El Don. It sounds like paleoanthropology is going to be a bit too early for your interests. That would have you focusing more on the development of the early hominid. If you're more interested in the early (e.g. pre- or proto-literary) history of human cultures, then you'd probably want to lean into a combination of archaeology and linguist anthropology (or historical linguistics). A lot of the best work done, for example, in Indo-European Studies is actually in linguistics -- piecing together the movement of pre-literary population groups based on the evolution and development of language families across pre-historical Europe and Asia. That's probably where I would start. Dig into credible, historical linguistic literature on Neolithic populations groups in Europe, the Middle East, and Central Asia, and then look for some good survey work in archaeology reconstructing the same period. That should be a good spring board for your area of interest. Best of luck!!

  • @jackloke493
    @jackloke4932 жыл бұрын

    Initially, I thought Anthropology is the study of ants.

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