1.2 The Four-Field Approach: Four Approaches within the Guiding Narrative

By the end of this section, you will be able to:

• Identify and define the four fields of anthropology.
• Describe the work of professional anthropologists in each field.
• Provide an example of how the four fields work together to explore common issues.

Let’s recall the central narrative of anthropology:

Human beings have developed flexible biological and social features that have worked together in a wide variety of environmental and historical conditions to produce a diversity of cultures.

Researching this argument is a vast endeavor requiring many complementary approaches and techniques. Anthropology comprises four main approaches, the four subfields of our discipline. Each subfield specializes in exploring a different aspect of the common narrative. Combining insights from the four fields gives us a rich and complex understanding of specific issues such as gender, inequality, race, and the environment. Let’s take a look at each subfield and then examine how the subfields combine in the study of racial categories and relations.