Anthropology and Symbols

Anthropology and Symbols

Introduction

Modern Homo sapiens have been around for approximately 200,000 years, while that might seem significant it fails in comparison to the journey our homo ancestors had to take. If it wasn't for their endurance and ability to adapt- not only wouldn't we be alive- but we wouldn't be the creative, intelligent, and caring species that we are today. It is possible that our ancestors faced several obstacles which led to subtle changes in their behavior and anatomy; as time went by those changes mounted and created a kind of domino effect, which in turn could explain our transformation into Homo sapiens.

Anthropology is the study of humanity from the broadest possible scope across time and space. Anthropologists study our species, Homo sapiens, throughout its millions of years of evolution to the present and beyond. Anthropological research investigates the variety of sociocultural forms from a cross-cultural perspective, utilizing data from hundreds of the estimated 4,000-plus societies living either during the present or in the not-so-distant past. Hence the range of perspectives within the discipline encompasses both biological and cultural concerns.

Discussion

Most of the lexigrams used in the history fo the research are arbitrary symbols; however, this issue is more important and critical to methods of ape language investigations of the 1970s and to Hockett's design feature of language than to us. While arbitray symbols offer all linguistic or mathematical systems flexibility, creativity, and generative power - for Nyota's world, there was only one Deer Site, a place where the coffee can was hiding. A tree is not arbitrary nor is a dog or a rock. While humans and non-humans are able to use arbitray symbols, there is nothing fundamentally non-linguistic about iconic symbols, photographs, or the thing or place itself There is a grammar to the way we live which arises from the cultural logic of tangible world we negotiate by the tools of habit and creative novel invention.

There are a number of developments under the heading of current anthropology, depending on where one draws the line. The major areas have been in symbolic anthropology, all the “post-” movements (poststructuralism, postmodernism, etc.), humanistic anthropology, and various areas of biological determinism, such as sociobiology. Each of these areas is far from monolithic, and there are internal arguments within them at times more bitter than between the various schools of thought.

Symbolic anthropology is interested in examining and understanding how people ...