Evolution
Evolution refers to the gradual process of heritable change within a given period among humans. During the evolutionary process, living organisms, cultures and languages respond to the changing circumstances, and they become more sophisticated and adaptable over time. As a theory, evolution is lauded as the best concept that explains the transitions that life has gone through over the years (Lavenda & Schultz, 2013). In biological terms, evolution is a process that is triggered by natural selection where organisms develop complex characteristics in their effort to adapt to the current environments in which they live. Essentially, living organisms compete for the available resources and they have to keep adapting for them to continue surviving. This paper examines the key arguments of physical and cultural anthropology while highlighting the main differences between the two disciplines of anthropology. The paper underscores the most essential aspects of evolutions and why it is critical in human society.
Physical Anthropology
Overall, anthropology studies the biological or physical, cultural and other evolutionary aspects of humanity including societal characteristics and cultural patterns. As a branch of anthropology, physical anthropology studies the evolution, origins and the diversity of human beings. It mainly examines both human and non-human evolutionary aspects, human variation and its significance as well as the biological foundations of human behavior. According to physical anthropology, every individual resulted from evolutionary or life history. While investigating human evolution, physical anthropologists use scientific methods and fieldworks that include examining past human geographic populations, fossil remains, and nonhuman primates to determine any connections (ibid).
Jorde & Wooding (2004) Study
Jorde & Wooding (2004) used genetic data in re-examining the linkages between racial characteristics and human genetic variation. The researchers conducted a review of the existing findings demonstrating that human genetic variation is structured in terms of geographical features. The researchers correlated groups of individuals with ancestry, geographic origins as well as other traditional dimensions of race. The study determined that there a tendency for genetic variation to be shared among various human populations. In essence, genetic variation is an aspect with geographical structuring. The researchers concluded that traditional dimensions of race have a relationship with geography and thus, there is some biological significance in the race (Jorde & Wooding, 2004). This study is helpful in the understanding of evolution because it demonstrated that there is a genetic homogeneity among human beings. It follows that in the study of evolution, there are some cases when ethnicity or race, just like age or gender, can provide significant information in biomedical situations. Human populations from different generations have common genetic variations and science does not support the assumption human populations are disconnected.
Cultural Anthropology
Cultural anthropologists maintain that cultural patterns, beliefs, norms, and customs evolve in a similar way as the human body. The focus of cultural anthropology is on the cultural variation of human beings as its referent objects. They investigate cultural practices, art, morality, knowledge, law and order, ideologies, crime and punishment, social arrangements as well as habits as the most important dimensions of culture in a given social group or human society (Lavenda & Schultz, 2013). Culture is acquired through the learning processes and cultural anthropologists focus on examining how these learning occurs over time and understand the circumstances under which culture evolves. While investigating evolution, cultural anthropologists majorly rely on the use of participant observation where they carry out fieldwork studies focusing on a specific location within a defined period. This refers to the practice of living as a participant within a target community to gain a deep comprehension of the cultural systems and patterns. Also, cultural anthropologists use interviews and surveys ways of understanding the evolutionary aspects of human. Interviews and surveys are used in supplementing participant observation as anthropologists use one-on-one discussions with cultural experts and other focus groups by use of questionnaires and surveys (ibid).
Laland, Odling-Smee & Myles (2010) Study
Laland, Odling-Smee & Myles (2010) conducted a study to examine the role of culture in shaping the human genome. The researchers used theoretical population genetics models in exploring the interactions between genes and culture over the evolutionary period. The researchers carried out an ethnographic study of the Kwa-speaking yam farmers in West Africa and found that their agricultural practices favored the 'sickle-cell' allele that made them susceptible to type 2 diabetes. The researchers examined the cultural activities and dietary practices of the study participants and how they affected their genetic composition. According to the study, human evolution is the product of gene-culture interactions. The study is significant in promoting the understanding of evolution because it underscores that cultural processes have the potential of affecting human evolution. Importantly, culture affects evolutionary rates since there exists gene-culture co-evolution. Cultural ethnography can be applied in understanding some of the genetic characteristics of a given population.
Comparing and Contrasting Physical and Cultural Anthropology
The study of evolution through cultural and physical anthropology has some areas of similarity. Both disciplines attempt to develop an understanding of human beings and society at large. The two disciplines also attempt to examine how culture and biology interrelate in shaping shape human evolution. However, the two disciplines emphasize distinct dimensions of human evolution. Cultural anthropology studies the human society by examining cultures of varied societies and groups, including the structure of the family political and economic arrangements. On the contrary, physical anthropology focus on studying evolution through examining the periodic biological development of human beings. The main focus of physical anthropologists, as opposed to cultural anthropologists, is to investigate how humans adapt to their physical circumstances.
Also, the two approaches to the study of evolution differ in terms of the research methods utilized. The main method that cultural anthropology uses in its studies is participant observation where the anthropologists immerse themselves for a given timeframe in the society or group odd interest. However, physical anthropology uses biological techniques in the study of evolution. It studies prehistoric evidence, genetic features of living human beings, fossil records, as well as other primates in an attempt to understand physical evolution. While it is possible for physical anthropologists to apply field research in their work, they mostly carry their studies in laboratory settings (Lavenda & Schultz, 2013).
Furthermore, the focus of cultural anthropologist in their study of evolution is on collecting valuable insights that help in the understanding of behavioral patterns in different human societies. Their efforts are geared toward helping in the comprehension of how different human groups perceive issues such as health, justice, leadership, and education. On the other hand, physical anthropologists seek to provide an understanding of how humans have human evolved physically and biologically over time. Their efforts are intended to provide insights into human responses to illnesses and other physical impairments (ibid).
Conclusion
In a nutshell, evolution is a significant process in human society. Human beings have to adapt continuously as they strive to survive in their environments. Human beings and other living organisms, languages, cultural norms and customs change from one state to another and they become more complex and suited to their environments. While physical evolution involves investigating the courses taken by human evolution and the main processes that have triggered human development over time, cultural evolution looks into the daily life of people and how behavior and social practices have been shaped from one generation to another. Fundamentally, it is important to investigate evolution by studying living individuals, past people, historical societies, and other primates. Human societies have different cultures depending on their environments.
References
Jorde, L. B., & Wooding, S. P. (2004). Genetic variation, classification and'race'. Nature Genetics, 36(11s), S28.
Laland, K. N., Odling-Smee, J., & Myles, S. (2010). How culture shaped the human genome: bringing genetics and the human sciences together. Nature Reviews Genetics, 11(2), 137.
Lavenda, R. H., & Schultz, E. A. (2013). Anthropology: What does it mean to be human?. Oxford University Press.
