Anthropology Scotland 2017
"Anthropology is the science which tells us that people are the same the whole world over - except when they are different" -Nancy Banks Smith
During the S6 introduction assembly in June, we were offered to go to an Anthropology event at the National Museum of Scotland. This Anthropology event is done for S4-6 Pupils, where students learn what anthropologists do in hands-on workshops, led by staff from the National Museum and anthropologists form The University of Edinburgh, University of Aberdeen, University of St Andrews and University of Glasgow. This year the theme was “Human Difference”.
Some of the workshops offered were: " The Refugee Experience", " The Life of a National Geographic Explorer: Studying Material Culture in the Peruvian Andes", " Anthropology in the Museum", "What Remains?", " The Social Life of Bees", " What makes humans tick?", and more.
In these we learnt different aspects of Anthropology, for example in " What Remains?" we learnt about the Archaeological aspect, with 3D Bone structures trying to find out the background of certain individual looking at its 'tomb', decorated with different objects, and its bone features.
It was definitely an interesting experience, and many had a good time during the duration of the workshops. It gave a good insight on what Anthropologists really do, as many people don’t know what Anthropology is really about. Also, it gave the opportunity to ask questions and to hear experiences of University students from some of the Universities, who had gone through most of the experience of an Anthropology related degree; the National Museum staff, who have experienced having an Anthropology related job; and University Professors who have taught and are specialised in the subject. And even though many don’t think on pursuing the subject to university they thought it was an interesting subject to study, and they felt that they learnt things that they wouldn’t have learnt elsewhere, or things that might be useful for the subject they want to do at University.
One Student said: “It looks like an interesting course to study at University, especially Biological Anthropology. The workshops were very educational and interesting. “
Another Student said: “The workshops I attended were all fascinating, especially the “refugee experience”, as I am interested in politics.”
Hopefully this kind of event repeats in following years so that more students can broaden their horizons and also learn about the fascinating subject that anthropology is.
