Thinking Anthropologically is an important guidebook to anthropological writings. The book focuses on the key themes utilized across sectors of anthropology. In the book, the authors urge learners to acknowledge the anthropological approach of perceiving their environment. The chapters are meant for learners and instructors. The authors assert that through the book the learners will be able to know what to expect before studying for an anthropology course (Salzman & Rice 3). Similarly, the book highlights what the instructors should do to ensure that their students benefit the most from their lessons.
Introduction to Thinking Anthropologically is the first chapter. In the chapter, the authors address the learners and the instructors in different sections (Salzman & Rice 4). Chapter 1 introduces the topics that would be covered in the subsequent chapters. Salzman notes that before any subject is taught to students, an introduction about the subject is essential. He points out to the instructors that the field of anthropology is very wide and complex. Due to this, he suggests that the instructors should find a simple approach of disseminating their information to students. Through this, he argues instructors to begin their lessons on a specific topic before proceeding to the great circle of anthropology.
What Anthropologists look for is the second chapter. The chapter focuses on what anthropologists seek to identify when they study populations, past cultures, and ritual activities. The authors note that through these studies anthropologist aim at identifying the patterns of interactions between humans and the environment (Salzman & Rice 8). In the middle of the chapter, two types of patterns are highlighted. The patterns are descriptive and associational patterns. According to the chapter, descriptive patterns try to answer the existence of patterns. On the other hand, associational patterns indicate how attributes are interrelated. Similarly, the chapter focuses on the patterns that exist in social control and politics (Salzman & Rice 12). In this chapter, the authors point out that the field of anthropology can be subdivided into four sections. The fields are cultural, biological, archeology, and linguistics anthropologies.
The third chapter is Thinking Holistically. The chapter begins by defining holism. According to the Salzman and Patricia, holism refers to all aspects of human life studied in anthropology (Salzman & Rice 17). The chapter asserts that there is a connection between holism and connections within cultures. He indicates that culture illustrates how various features of human life such as governments, religions, marriages, and social economic issues are interdependent.
The fourth chapter is Thinking Theoretically. In the chapter, the authors note that theories guide the inquiries of anthropologists. The chapter introduces heuristic theories (Salzman & Patricia 30). Heuristic theories are nonconcrete and tend to cover myriad facts from different spaces and times. According to the authors, these theories are helpful to the anthropologist because they aid in the visualization of social and cultural reality (Salzman & Rice 30). The theories highlight means of perceiving occurrence in the world, ways of conducting research, and analyzing research findings. At the end of the chapter, Salzman and Patricia focus on substantive theories. According to the chapter, these theories specify certain affiliation between sets of groups and social phenomena (Salzman & Patricia Rice 31). At the end of the chapter, the authors center on theories in paleoanthropology. In this section, they claim that these theories aid in the understanding of past cultures.
Works Cited
Salzman, Philip Carl, and Patricia Rice. Thinking anthropologically: a practical guide for students. Upper Saddle River, N.J.: Pearson/Prentice Hall, 2004. Print.