Anthropologists specialize in many fields, including cultural anthropology, physical anthropology, linguistic anthropology, social anthropology, and even archaeology. These disciplines share similarities with other social sciences such as sociology and history.
If you want to know what an anthropologist is, what he does and the types of anthropologist there are, then we will tell you more.
What is anthropology?
Anthropology is one of the social sciences, which focuses on understand and explain human cultures and societies through time and history. As part of its efforts to understand history, anthropology studies different cultural systems and languages. It also examines how these cultural systems are similar and different through a social, biological, and evolutionary perspective.
Anthropologists specialize in many fields, including cultural anthropology, physical anthropology, linguistic anthropology, social anthropology, and even archaeology. These disciplines share similarities with other social sciences such as sociology and history. In fact, they work in educational schools, government agencies, research centers, and non-profit organizations. His work focuses on academic research to advance his field with the goal of solving human problems.
The main functions of an anthropologist
Anthropologists often do common functions next. Below we group them and briefly explain about them:
They investigate the economic, demographic, social, political, linguistic, and cultural traits of different social groups to better understand how they differThey do it in the following ways:
Through interviews, documents, and observations, reach conclusions by gathering information.
Identify cultural beliefs and practices that primarily affect health and access to primary services
They examine and collect artifacts and remains of ancient cultures, in order to have a better understanding of the ancestor cultures. They also apply systemic techniques so that the information collected is accurate.
Explain the cultural development, language, practices, beliefs, physical characteristics, and origins of different human societies.
They are responsible for presenting the findings in reports to a general and specialized audience, so that:
The rules of anthropology must be able to describe and predict human behavior and development.
Records contain information that describes and analyzes social patterns and processes.
Government entities, private organizations and other institutions request the advice of anthropologists to create programs, plan social policies and more.
Promote research results by presenting papers at conferences or publishing them.
Social development groups require intervention procedures to develop. This is where anthropologists step in:
As experts in planning and economic development, they collaborate to achieve their goals.
They apply their knowledge and beliefs about the environment to different cultures in resource management projects.
Food safety problems can be identified by looking at the production, distribution and consumption of food.
Anthropology Specialties
Anthropology is subdivided into categories, and in turn, each one is responsible for a specific function. Here we will mention the most common:
Forensic anthropology. This branch, thanks to the television series, is surely the best known. They are in charge of collaborating with the police forces in order to help identify deceased or missing persons.
Physical or biological anthropology. Its mission is to study the interactions of the human being with nature and biological processes. And in turn, how do these affect human populations.
cultural anthropology. It studies cultures, and focuses, above all, on the preservation of minority or indigenous cultures in the face of the pressure of globalization.
linguistic anthropology. It studies and interprets the evolution of the different languages, in the context of human development and the genetics of each individual.
medical anthropology. It studies how it is interpreted in each culture, health in general, diseases and how to act in these cases and what assistance exists.
urban anthropology. It is based on urban planning and reorganization in order to improve social coexistence. For example, it is in charge of planning for the creation of parks in neighborhoods, among other urban cases.
gender anthropology. It is based on the creation and support of policies to prevent gender violence.
What skills are desirable for an anthropologist to have?
Not only is it enough to study and get a degree, to become a good anthropologist it is almost more important to highlight the following skills:
critical capacity
Support and respect cultural diversity
Have knowledge of ethnographic and research tools.
Good communication skills both written and spoken.
Proactive attitude when working with multidisciplinary groups.
Ability to manage the pressure caused by stress.
Career Opportunities
An anthropology graduate can be hired by both public and private institutions. Though Most of the job opportunities that are known for an anthropologist are those related to scientific dissemination, research and teaching, there are also other work areas such as:
Advice, both from government and private organizations.
Conservation of cultural and historical heritage.
Museum management.
Mediation between indigenous communities and governments.
Analysis of current politics.
Manager and developer of migration policies.
I hope that with this information you know what an anthropologist is, and if you are thinking of studying anthropology, it will serve as a small guide.
