While most people are still able to (albeit it probably a bit incorrectly) answer what an archaeologist does, anthropologists are a species less known to the general public and media. Derived from the Greek ‘anthropos’ (human), anthropology means, ‘the social science that studies the origins and social relationships of human beings’ according to the Princeton WordNet, and is most often used to refer to ‘cultural anthropology’. But anthropology student Dai Cooper is doing her bit to make the discipline just that bit more famous… on YouTube. In just a few weeks, the ‘Anthropology Song: A little bit Anthropologist’ has become immensely popular, especially for a song about anthropology, even threatening to beat the usual YouTube hits ‘cat being cute‘ and ‘cat acting like a typical cat‘ in the charts.
With catchy lyrics like “But Im just looking for the story of our people as a whole, wanting to learn about and understand all cultures as our own ” Dai Cooper admits to romanticizing ‘anthropology’ – it’s a personal song after all – but is looking forward to a constructive discussion about the discipline, and added verses to the song.
Personally, I’ll consider this my ‘intro to anthropology’, having learned that:
- President Obama’s mom is an anthropologist.
- Anthropology covers monkeys too.
- Some anthropology students can sing.
Anthropology has been catching our eye recently at Heritage Key, for a number of weird and wonderful stories: Did you know, for example, that early man had sex with Neanderthals? Ever heard about Peter McAllister’s invention of Manthropology? Or that our hatred of undervaluation of Brussels sprouts is actually an evolutionary mystery? Or, even, that we lived alongside prehistoric hobbits (no, really)?
Anyway, if you have something to add to the song – or my knowledge of anthropology! – . “The chords are super simple: Am, C, G, D. Feel free to learn it, play it, reappropriate it, share it, and add your own verses!” says Cooper. “And hey, if anyone wants to put up a video response of any anthros or students singing (or dancing to) any part of the song, (or singing any new verses), or anything else creative that you think might work, I was thinking about putting them together in a future collaborative music video project. That’d be wicked.