Hi, I'm Catharina and today I'm going to talk to 
you about anthropology.  
 
I realize that many of you have no clue what 
anthropology is… 
and maybe you have never taken an 
anthropology course before.
 
So.. What is anthropology? And why would an 
anthropologist be teaching a required 
engineering class?
Anthropology comes from the Greek: Anthro~ 
means human being and ~ology means the 
study of, or science of.  
So literally, anthropology means the study of 
human beings or the study of humanity
 
Anthropology is a meta-discipline.  
 
It is the study of humans’ past, present and 
future and draws upon knowledge from the 
social sciences, 
biological Sciences,  
humanities and even the physical sciences. 
At Texas A&M in addition to having 
anthropologists in the Department of 
Anthropology, 
we also have anthropologists embedded in 
multiple other disciplines 
like fisheries and wildlife, tourism studies, 
international studies, architecture and biology.
 
Anthropologists try to answer all sorts of 
questions from how humans evolved, 
how they interact with one another, how they 
communicate, and what institutions they use to 
organize themselves.  
In society or even a workplace, you might find 
an anthropologist 
studying humans, their culture or their remains, 
to learning more about our species.  
 
Or you might find them immersing themselves 
in another culture to learn about 
how and why people do the things they do --- 
you know, people are really interesting!  
Anthropologists today focus on health, 
education agriculture and development, and 
even social change.  
It is a diverse field with so many areas and it's 
pretty hard to summarize in just one video
 
Anthropology it has a long and complicated 
history that it's very much connected to the 
discipline of archaeology.  
Archeology is one of four subfields of 
anthropology the other three are 
biological anthropology, linguistics  and cultural 
anthropology (which is what I do).  
 
At Texas A&M we are kind of unique because 
we have a fifth field – our Nautical Archeology 
department is world famous for its work on 
shipwrecks and the history of seafaring.
 
When you think of archeology, you probably 
think if Indiana Jones…. 
 
But archaeology is more than that!  Archeology 
is the study of our human past and focuses on 
human material culture.  
Material culture is stuff left behind by previous 
generations.  
 
In Europe, archaeology is actually considered 
an entirely separate discipline.  
 
At Texas A&M Archeologists excavate all over 
the world, and are often in the news.  
 
We have a world-class center for the study of 
First American who do amazing research 
In Alaska, in area that was considered to be the 
routing for the migration of early humans 
across the Bering Sea land bridge.  
Recently one of our grad students, Morgan 
Smith, lead a team who made amazing 
discoveries 
highlighting the coexistence of humanity and 
Ice Age animals in ancient Florida.
 
In our department, we also have a CIA spy!  Dr 
Vaughn Bryant is a world famous palynologist.
I’m not pronouncing that wrong --- he is a 
pollen- ologist (he studies pollen).  
 
Dr Bryant can sample things from all over the 
world  --- mud from the bottom of shoes, 
clothing remains, honey… 
anything.... and study the modern or ancient 
pollen on that sample. 
Pollen sticks to everything and lasts for eons!  
Over many  years, 
 
Dr Bryant has compiled an amazing database 
and can tell exactly where in the 
world that thing has been.  
As a CIA spy he can inform authorities where 
things have been or travelled --- 
which could be useful information in counter-
terrorism efforts.
 
Closely related to archeology is biological 
anthropology.  The subfield is responsible for 
analysis of human remains both ancient and 
chances are you have seen the TV show 
Bones  --- which is a fictionalized portrayal of a 
forensic anthropologist.
In our department we a forensic class, but also 
have world famous biological anthropologists.
 
One of our professors, Dr Darryl De Ruiter, 
served as the principal investigator in charge of 
craniodental remains at the new hominin fossil 
sites of Malapa and Rising Star in South Africa.  
The result was two new named species: 
Australopithecus sediba and Homo naledi, 
making the cover of prominent magazines.
As well as studying the bones of our ancient 
ancestors, anthropology also studies our living 
relatives – the primates.  
At Texas A&M we have several noted scholars 
in this field.  
Recently Dr Sharon Gursky had a species of 
spectral tarsier named after her in honor of her 
research and conservation work.  
Dr Gursky discovered that these tarsiers 
communicate using ultra sonic vocalizations. 
 
One of her students, and one of my good 
friends, Dr Nanda Grow rediscovered a species 
of Pigmy Tarsier 
previously thought to be extinct.
The third major field in Anthropology is 
linguistics.  
 
We do not have representation of this sub-field 
at Texas A&M (which is a shame).  
Linguists not only studies the evolution and 
development of language, but the role 
language plays in society.  
Look at the recent study which analyzed words 
used in a Twitter feed between the US and 
Canada… 
Can you tell which is which?  Which is Canada 
and which is the US? Interesting eh?
The final field of anthropology is cultural 
anthropology.  That is what I am – a cultural 
anthropologist.  
In our department at Texas A&M we have 
cultural anthropologists interested in lots of 
different things.  
Dr Cynthia Werner studies the impacts and 
perceptions of risk of the Russian nuclear 
program at Chernobyl Kazakhstan.  
Dr Micheal Alvard studies cooperative fishing 
--- including whale hunting in Indonesia.  
 
As well as being passionate about education, I 
am interested in how culture impacts 
technology, and visa versa.
As you can see, Anthropology is a very diverse 
and exciting field --- and has its fingers in a 
load of pies!    
I hope this video helped to explain why the 
Department of Engineering and Liberal Arts 
have 
joined together to offer this exciting course.  
 
In this class we explore how your /our 
intellectual creations impact and are influenced 
by culture.  
Further, we reflect on how we should ethically 
implement and revise those creations 
with the 
understanding that they will affect, and be 
affected by, the human experience.
I hope you enjoy the class!
