What would you do if you woke up and found that you had been transported to a completely different place in the world, with new customs, languages, foods, clothing, living conditions, and people? How does this new environment shape the people in this place? If you had to, how would you describe this new place?

Simply put, anthropologists do just that! They are social scientists who study all aspects of life among all people in the world. They study what makes people similar and what makes them unique?

There are many different specialties in anthropology. For instance, some anthropologists focus their studies on societies of people that lived long ago, such as how modern humans evolved. Others conduct reports, called field studies, while living among today’s modern societies.

Some famous anthropologists include: Margaret Mead, Zora Neale Hurston, Franz Boas, and Bronislaw Malinowski.

Copyright © ProjectExplorer 2008
Text: Ilana Fayerman
Image: Michaela Potter