Anthropology

Anthropology is a science which studies human culture and society. Anthropologists tend to divide their subject into four sub-disciplines:


 * biological or physical anthropology, a subset that focuses on genetics and evolution, the fossil record, biodiversity and primatology


 * cultural or sociocultural anthropology, which explores variation in customs across cultures


 * linguistic anthropology, the study of the evolution of language, descriptive linguistics and ethnosemantics


 * archaeology (usually considered part of anthropology)

Some (academic) sources also identify the sub-disciplines of nautical anthropology and medical anthropology.

Anthropology is utilized in biblical criticism. It is one of the branches of science you have to ignore to believe in young Earth creationism.

Career opportunities
Anthropologists work in universities, museums, government agencies, social services, private businesses and corporations, community and service and world organizations, independent research institutes, nonprofit associations, and the media.

Anthropologists work to build research partnerships, assess product markets, evaluate programs and services, develop new educational programs, and improve community health. They are health practitioners, forensic investigators, public policy experts, international business executives, and community, economic, and organizational development specialists. They address issues of information technology systems, housing, social justice, law, environmental and cultural resource management, and the arts. They investigate social networks, migration, architecture, and civil institutions.

Anthropologists' awareness of human-environment interaction helps us understand the effects of climate change, sustainability, conservation, preservation, human origin, the past and current spread and treatment of infectious disease, and globalization.

Noted anthropologists

 * Franz Boas--Father of American Anthropology, The four field approach dates from him, Philosophy of learning all aspects of being human, Human societies are best understood from many angles; combine with scientific methods, Professor at Columbia U. and trained the first generation of well-known anthropologist.
 * Ales Hrdlicka--Worked for the museum of natural history, was interested on the shape of the skull, first to come up that people came from Asia and crossed the Bering straight,started the American journal of physical anthropology (1918), Founded the American association of physical anthropologists (1929)
 * Greg Graffin--life sciences professor and punk singer
 * C. Loring Brace, John Cole, Laurie Godfrey, and Alice Kehoe—contributors to Scientists Confront Creationism
 * Eugenie Scott--author, lecturer, and executive director of National Center for Science Education
 * Thomas Hobbes--philosophical anthropologist during the scientific revolution
 * Richard Leakey--studied early hominids
 * Donald Johanson--discovered Lucy skeleton
 * Loren Eiseley--misquoted by creationists
 * David Begun--paleoanthropologist, does not believe Darwinius masillae was a direct human ancestor
 * David Daegling--does not believe in Bigfoot
 * Marcel Griaule and Germaine Dieterlen--studied Dogon people of Africa
 * Neil Huber--physical anthropologist and creationist
 * Henry Fairfield Osborne--Kent Hovind is not a fan
 * Kathy Reichs--created the "Bones" television and novel series; one out of 82 certified anthropologists by ABFA.

Anthropological organizations

 * American Anthropological Association--publishes quarterly journal American Anthropologist
 * Society for Linguistic Anthropology--publishes the Journal of Linguistic Anthropology
 * National Association for the Practice of Anthropology
 * Lambda Alpha, the national collegiate honors society for anthropology

For more see "Section & Interest Groups" at American Anthropological Association

Related fields
Anthropology draws on knowledge from the social and biological sciences, humanities, and physical sciences, including the following:
 * Archeology
 * Linguistics
 * Palaeontology
 * Primatology
 * Bioarcheology
 * Molecular, population, and evolutionary biology
 * Genetics
 * Social science
 * Sociology
 * Psychology
 * Anatomy
 * Osteology
 * Medicine
 * Nutrition
 * Pathology
 * Forensics
 * Ecology
 * Demography
 * Geology
 * Materials science
 * Surveying
 * Agriculture
 * Computer science
 * Economics