Anthropology – The comparative study of human sciences and cultures.
Holistic/Holism – In Anthropology an approach that considers culture, history, language, and biology essential to a complete understanding of human society.
Society – A group of people who depend on one another for survival or well-being as well as the relationships among such people, including their status and roles.
Culture - The learned behaviors and symbols that allow people to live in groups. The primary means by which humans adapt to their environments. The way of life characteristic of a particular human society.
Ethnography – A description of a society or culture.
Emic(perspective) – Examining society using concepts, categories, and distinctions that are meaningful to members of that culture.
Etic(perspective) – Examining society using concepts, categories, and rules derived from science; an outsider’s perspective, which produces analyses that members of the society being studied may not find meaningful.
Ethnology – The attempt to find general principles or laws that govern cultural phenomena.
Cultural Anthropology – The study of human thought, meaning, and behavior that is learned rather than genetically transmitted, and that is typical of groups of people.
Ethnohistory – Description of the cultural past based on written records, interviews, and archaeology.
Linguistic anthropology – A branch of linguistics concerned with understanding language and its relation to culture.
Historical linguistics – Study relationships among languages to better understand the histories and migrations of those who speak them.
Archaeology – The subdiscipline of anthropology that focuses on the reconstruction of past ultures based on their material remains.
Prehistoric – Societies for which we have no usable written records.
Artifact – Any object made or modified by human beings. Generally used