1.
anthropologist
A researcher who studies human beings — their cultures, societies, languages, biological evolution, or material remains. Covers both cultural anthropologists working with living communities and physical or archaeological anthropologists studying human origins and artifacts.
彼は人類学者だ。
He is an anthropologist.
人類学者として世界各地を訪れている。
As an anthropologist, she travels to many places around the world.
人類学者たちは何年もかけて現地の人々と一緒に生活しながら文化を研究する。
Anthropologists spend years living alongside local people while studying their culture.
Compound of 人類学 ('anthropology') and 者 ('person; practitioner'). The general term for someone who does anthropological research at a university or institute. Frequently modified to specify the subfield.
USAGE:
- Often appears in news stories about archaeological discoveries, studies of indigenous peoples, or books on human evolution.
- Can be qualified with 文化- ('cultural'), 社会- ('social'), 形質- ('physical'), or 言語- ('linguistic') to narrow the subfield.
- In academic writing, paired with verbs like 指摘する ('to point out'), 報告する ('to report'), or 主張する ('to argue').
COMMON COLLOCATIONS:
- 文化人類学者: cultural anthropologist
- 社会人類学者: social anthropologist
- 形質人類学者: physical / biological anthropologist
- 著名な人類学者: a well-known anthropologist
- 人類学者によると: according to anthropologists
SIMILAR WORDS:
- 考古学者: archaeologist — focuses on material remains of past societies rather than living cultures.
- 民族学者: ethnologist — traditionally focused on comparative study of ethnic groups; heavily overlaps with cultural anthropology.
- 社会学者: sociologist — studies modern societies and institutions, with less emphasis on fieldwork in small communities.
- 民俗学者: folklorist — studies folk customs, legends, and traditional culture, often within a single country.
- 霊長類学者: primatologist — studies non-human primates; related to physical anthropology.