Lectures Anthropology

1. Introduction to
Anthropology
Farooq e Azam (Lecturer)
Department of Sociology
University of Management and Technology

2. Intro to Anthropology
 Word ”Anthropology" is a combination of two Greek words:
 anthropo meaning “human beings” or “humankind”
 logos translated as “knowledge of ” or “the study of”
 Literally means the study of humankind- human evolution,
cultures, language, material etc.
 Anthropology is the study of humans and human societies in all
aspects of what it means to be human, in all times and all places.

3. Intro to Anthropology
 Anthropology as a social science studies human beings and
their culture.
 As a broad subject -Studies wide range of topics, uses variety
of methods and theoretical approaches, to understand the
diversity and similarities of human behavior and human societies.
Anthropology is considered a social science, along with
Psychology, Sociology, Political Science, Economics, Geography,
and History.

4. Intro to Anthropology
 Anthropology is comparative and holistic science.
 Comparative: systematic observation of the similarities or
dissimilarities between the societies.
 Holistic: encompassing past, present, future; biology, society,
language, and culture.
 Examines all societies, ancient and modern, simple and complex,
local and global.

5. Emergence of Anthropology
 Anthropology in its modern form is closely tied to the
colonialism that followed from the expansion of empires in
1500s.
 But, one of the projects of modern anthropology, pursuing the
“science of culture,” can be seen in the work of Ibn
Khaldūn (1332-1406) an administrator and historian based in
what is now north Africa and writing in the late 1300s.
 He is known for his Al Muqaddimah, a theory of human society

6.  Anthropology initially emerged in Western society in an attempt
to understand non-Western peoples.
 Europeans encountered native peoples while colonizing the
world in the fifteenth century. They were curious to know why do
other people appear so different from us?
The roots of Anthropology begin in the 1300s, but the discipline
became formalized in the 1800s by Morgan and Tylor, and
American Anthropology has its beginnings in the 1900s.
Emergence of Anthropology

7. Sub-Fields of Anthropology
• Anthropology has four subfields:
1. Physical Anthropology
2. Cultural Anthropology
3. Linguistic Anthropology
4. Archaeology

8. 1. Physical Anthropology
• Also called biological anthropology.
• Focuses on human evolution as revealed by fossil record
• Analyses fossils and observe living primates to reconstruct the
ancestry of the human species.
• Studies human genetics, growth and development.
• Primarily discusses Darwen’s Theory of Evolution.

9. 2. Cultural Anthropology
 Includes comparative study of contemporary cultures.
 Culture is that complex whole which includes knowledge, belief,
art, morals, law, custom and any other capabilities acquired by
human, as a member of society (Edward Tylors)
 The study of human beings in different cultural settings around
the world
 Also compares human cultures to the cultures of other species
like of chimpanzee

10. 3. Linguistic Anthropology
It studies human languages:
• Description of a language - the
way a sentence is formed.
• History of languages - the way
languages change over time.
• The study of language in its
social setting.

11. 4. Archaeology
• Studies material remains in
order to describe and explain
human behaviour.
• Compares past cultures that
were similar to each other.
• It also compares past cultures
that are similar to present ones.

12. Architecture and Anthropology
 The built environment in which we live is one of the major factors
that shapes our lives. We are shaped by the environments in which
we live and have evolved.
 Architecture is not only a shelter rather it is an area in which
people live, work, worship, socialize and ritualize.
 So, architecture can be considered as primary element of social
bonds, it reflects the ideologies of people in different cultures.

13. Architecture and Anthropology
 If anthropology is the study of human beings, and architecture is
the study of designing and making built forms, then anthropology’s
study of architecture should essentially mean the study of humans
living inside the built forms.
The domain of anthropology deals with human behavior and
studying the variations in that behavior concerning changes in their
surroundings.

14. Architecture and Anthropology
 The most obvious crossover has already been mentioned, human
behavior is crucial to both anthropology as well as architecture.
 Humans designed objects and spaces through their interpretation of
nature and the surroundings they lived in.
 Architecture began to be studied and understood through the
perspective of its users – humans.
Architects began to design spaces that ensure human comfort, rather
than simply making monumental designs.

15. Architecture and Anthropology
 The human body became an example of how load can be
transferred to the ground through joints, and this, in turn, leads to the
understanding of the importance of a strong foundation.
A man was, is, and will always be the basic unit of designing spaces.
This is the reason why anthropometry is the first subject taught in
architectural schools – to emphasize the importance of always
designing spaces concerning human proportions.

16. Architecture and Anthropology
 For instance, an architect would explore the possibilities of human
interaction in his buildings whereas an anthropologist would assess
human behavior in that same built space.
 The architect would design spaces that encourage the social
exchange of ideas whereas an anthropologist would research upon
human responses in different public spaces.

17. Early human settlements and
Architecture
Lecture 3 & 4

18. Society
• Society is a large social group that shares
• same geographical territory
• same political authority and
• dominant culture
• Types of society
1. Hunting and Gathering Societies
2. Pastoral Societies
3. Horticultural Societies
4. Agricultural Societies
5. Industrial Societies
6. Postindustrial Societies

19. Type of societies
1. Hunting and Gathering Societies
• From the origins of human existence
(several million years ago) until about 10,000
years ago
• Food collectors rather than food
producers
• Collect food daily by
• Hunting wild animals
• Fishing
• Collecting wild fruit and vegetables
• No technique to store food
• Food was consumed immediately
• Limited tools and weapons
• tools were made of stone, wood, bone etc.

20. • Hunters and gathers had nomadic lifestyle.
• They had relatively simple ritual practices and
religious beliefs.
• The need to move frequently also restricted the
population growth rate.
• It required the contribution of men and women to
succeed.
• Hunting by males
• Gathering by females

21. 2. Pastoral Societies
• Roughly 10,000 to 12,000
years ago
• Relied on domesticated herd
animals for food
• Sheep
• Cattle
• Lamb
• Nomadic
• Fresh grazing lands for herds
• People living in dry regions or
mountainous areas

22. • People lived in portable
tents or temporary
structures
• Pastoral societies were
small and independent
• Wealth and status in
pastoral societies were
typically dependent on the
size of one’s herd.
• They rode horses and
made extensive use of
wheeled transportation.
• Division of labor:
• Men were responsible
for herding larger stock
such as cattle,
• Women engaged in
handicrafts, food
production and
processing, small-stock
herding (goats, sheep)
and the milking of
livestock at camps.

23. 3. Horticultural Societies
• Shift from collecting food to
producing food
• Used hand tools to raise crops
• Permanent settlements
• Food surplus
• Trade- barter system
• New occupations

24. 4. Agricultural Societies
• Around 5,000 years ago
• Large-scale cultivation
• Three key features:
i. greater production per of
unit land,
ii. higher population
densities and sedentary
settlements
iii. increases in material
wealth, including stored
food and luxury items.

25. 5. Industrial Societies
• From about 1750 to the
present
• Production of goods
• Through energy and large
machinery
• Factories
• Occupational specialization
increased dramatically
• Transportation and electricity
• Urbanization
• Raised living standards

26. 6. Postindustrial
Societies
• Emerging in recent
decades
• Place strong emphasis
on science and
technology
• Computers and other
forms of high-technology
• Autonomous
transportation (driverless)

27. Hunting and gathering societies
and architecture
• Hunter and gathers were tended to build
dome-shaped dwellings- also known as
beehive huts and wigwam.
• Huts were structured in compound, circular
or oval, with clear space at the center.
• Nomadic societies had extended family and
polygynous marriages.

28. Digital reconstruction of dome-shaped dwellings in hunter-gatherer campsites

29. Benefits
• Easy to build (a single continuous wall is more easily roofed).
• Domes were self-supporting structures and did not
need inner supportive elements, providing an entirely
free interior space.
• They were more stable and resistant to physical forces.
• Enclosed the largest volume with the smallest
structure.
• Dome-shaped structures used to construct in a short
time and were appropriate for temporary
accommodation.

30. Drawback
• These houses were difficult to subdivide into compartments and
cannot be enlarged without removing structural elements.
• Huts were built to accommodate adults.
• Communally based storage.
• These drawbacks were of little concern for highly mobile people.
Building style
• Building techniques changed according to climate and the
available materials.
• The available ethnographic data reveal:
• Limited information on hut size and proportions
• The houses were wider than they were high
• Ute huts: eight feet high and 15 feet in diameter (243 x 457 cm)
• or as high as they were wide
• Bushmen huts: four to five feet wide and five feet high (122/152 x
152 cm) (García-Diez & Vaquero, 2015).

31. Pastoral societies and architecture
Studies on one of a pastoral communities of Africa, Himba, show
that:
• They built relatively permanent structures on the lands of their
ancestors.
• These houses were made to last several years.
Key Components of Himba compound
• They had wood fencing
• Cattle enclosure
• Goat’s pen
• Chicken enclosure
• Main Hut- leader house
• Storeroom
• Drying building- for clothes and beef
• Different huts for Male and female
• Cooking fire
• Designated place to kill cattle

34. Agricultural societies and architecture
• Rectangular dwelling were common among
sedentary societies living in nuclear family setting.
• Rectangular houses were to accommodate "families"
rather than individual adults
• house size (25-35 m2) were spatially sufficient for three or
four adults
• The construction of these houses was time
consuming:
• Mudbrick construction
• Interlocking walls
• Involved more labour
• These houses had individual storage either inside the
dwelling or adjacent to it

35. • Room 1: produced
more than forty partial
or whole millstones
and grinders, but no
fire installations.
• Room 2: had one
hearth/oven and one
firepit.
• Room 3: was without
material remains
(Steadman, 2004)

36. Industrial societies and
architecture
• Industrial revolution made fundamental changes
in architecture (materials, design and construction methods).
• The idea of science and technology over the cultural
legacy was first embraced in industrial societies.
• Rural to urban migration created high demand for
houses.
• Slums were for poor people
• Use of iron and glazed materials appeared and
replaced wood, brick and stone as primary materials
• Skyscrapers appeared as a new architectural design.
• Tall building, larger windows (more daylight) and thinner
interior walls (more space).

37. Please discuss the architecture in
post-industrial societies

38. References
• García-Diez, M., & Vaquero, M. (2015). Looking at the camp:
Paleolithic depiction of a hunter-gatherer campsite. PloS
one, 10(12), e0143002.
• Steadman, S. R. (2004). Heading home: the architecture of family
and society in early sedentary communities on the Anatolian
Plateau. Journal of anthropological research, 60(4), 515-558.