ONE THOUSAND KINDS OF LIFE
OCTOBER 29 - NOVEMBER 19

Anthropology is the study of humanity. Its main subdivisions are social and cultural anthropology, which describes the workings of societies around the world, linguistic anthropology, which investigates the influence of language in social life, and biological or physical anthropology, which concerns long-term development of the human organism.

As a defining aspect of what it means to be human, culture is a central concept in anthropology, encompassing the range of phenomena that are transmitted through social learning in human societies. The word is used in a general sense to refer to the ability to categorize and represent patterns of meaning with symbols and to act imaginatively and creatively. This capacity is often thought to be unique to humans, although some other species have demonstrated similar, though much less complex abilities for social learning. Culture is also used to denote the complex networks of practices and accumulated knowledge and ideas that are transmitted through social interaction and exist in specific human groups, or cultures, using the plural form.

Some aspects of human behavior such as language, social practices such as kinship, gender, and marriage, forms of expression such as art, music, dance, ritual, and religion, and technologies such as cooking, shelter, and clothing are said to be cultural universals, found in all human societies. The concept “material culture” covers the physical expressions of culture, such as technology, architecture, and art, whereas the immaterial aspects of culture that make up the intangible heritage of a culture include structures of social organization (including political organization and social institutions), mythology, philosophy, literature (both written and oral), and science.