‘Anthropology’ is “the study of human races, origins, societies, and cultures,” according to Merriam-Webster.
The anthropology team at KapCC offers several courses meant to hold a mirror to humanity and help students understand human development and culture. Since anthropology is the study of people, it can encapsulate several broad disciplines, including psychology, political science, economics, archaeology and evolutionary biology, or really any kind of science that can, in some way, shed light on some aspect or problem of society. Currently, there are three classes available to students here at KapCC: Anth 151, Anth 152, Anth 200.
Anthropology 151 spans humanity’s evolution from 5 million years ago up to the 1500s, covering the development of technology, language, and sociopolitical institutions.
Anthropology 152, covers the modern era, or the time span after 1500 and leading up to present day. It serves as an introduction to cultural anthropology (the study of human culture). Students study the rise of European colonialism and subsequent globalization.
Finally, there is Anthropology 200, which is cultural anthropology proper. The concept of culture as an adaptation developed by a group of people to their environment. This class includes some involved research in the form of ethnographic fieldwork, which is an anthropological study conducted in a field chosen by the student; a student chooses a place and a culture, prepares a hypothesis pertaining to some aspect of that culture, and then writes a 10 to 15 page paper detailing their findings.
After Anth 200, UH Mānoa offers higher-level anthropology courses and also has a variety of field schools, where participants go on extended studies conducted in some place of interest. According to Dr. Carl Hefner, head of the social sciences department at KapCC, many members of the school’s own anthropological team have gone through UH Mānoa’s field schools, conducting research related such topics as archaeology and medical anthropology.
Medical anthropology, according to Dr. Hefner, deals with “for the most part, with perceptions of illness.” An example given, a western medical practitioner says that the patient has a cold, while the patient’s kin might say that the cold was caused by some external malicious force.
Since KapCC also plays host to a nursing program, the anthropology department is in a unique position to aid the nursing school. Because Hawaiʻi has an extremely multicultural environment, prospective nurses often need to understand cultural practices and perceptions pertaining to illnesses in order to deal with certain situations. Dr. Hefner provides this example:
“A nurse who is operating in Honolulu finds out that one of the pacific island methodologies for helping a family member get well is to sing songs to them,” he said. “Their room is packed with family members, such that the nurses can’t even get through the door, and [they’re] thinking ‘well, I need them to leave,’ but this is part of the healing process for a Pacific Islander.”
In addition to the courses mentioned above, Dr. Hefner hopes to bring back Anthropology 210, archaeology, by fall 2014.
The revival is due in part to the emergence of new cutting edge tools like satellite imagery, also due to archaeology’s importance in Hawaiʻi.
“Any time they build a building… they have to do contract archaeology, which is essentially opening up the earth and making sure that there’s no bones or artifacts in there from previous habitations,” He said.