Anthropology
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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Anthropology (from Greek: ἀνθρωπος, anthropos, "human being"; and λόγος, logos, "knowledge") is the study of humanity. Anthropology has origins in the natural sciences, the humanities, and the social sciences.<ref name="Lewis" /><ref>Wolf, Eric (1994) Perilous Ideas: Race, Culture, People. Current Anthropology 35: 1-7. p.227</ref> Ethnography is both one its primary methods, and the text that is written as a result of the practice of anthropology.
Since the work of Franz Boas and Bronisław Malinowski in the late 19th- and early 20th-centuries, cultural and social anthropology has been distinguished from other social science disciplines by its emphasis on in-depth examination of context, cross-cultural comparisons (socio-cultural anthropology is by nature a comparative discipline), and the importance it places on long-term, experiential immersion in the area of research, often known as participant-observation. Cultural-Social anthropology in particular has emphasized cultural relativity and the use of their findings to frame cultural critiques. This has been particularly prominent in America, from Boas's arguments against 19th-century racial ideology, through Margaret Mead's advocacy for gender equality and sexual liberation, to current criticisms of post-colonial oppression and promotion of multiculturalism.
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