My path to picking my major has never been a clearcut one.
I was not born with a passion for something that I have been able to run with and work toward since a young age.
I stumbled upon the major anthropology one day by chance when scrolling through an online list of majors.
When I read it, my ears perked up— I wondered what is that about?
Curious, as I am, I typed it into my search engine and did some research.
I found out that anthropology is the study of human behavior, but much different than psychology and sociology.
Anthropology— which I think most people think is synonymous with archaeology, is much more than that.
Anthropology breaks down into four categories:
- Archaeology— the study of ancient human remains.
- Linguistics— the study of language.
- Cultural Anthropology— the study of different cultural groups.
- Medical Anthropology— the study of the medical phenomenon unique to the realms of different cultures. To break that down further, it is the study in which environmental/cultural factors affect biology and overall wellness in different cultures. A subfield of this is forensic anthropology, studying bones, but medical anthropology is opening up more.
I have been asked an endless amount of times why I am choosing this major, instead of choosing a high paying job in an easy to break into the industry.
The answer for me is simple.
My fulfillment in life surpasses just making money.
Will making money and living a comfortable life make me happy, will it give my life meaning?
No.
For some people, maybe the answer is yes.
I realize that.
But, for me, if I was doing a job just for the money— I'd feel like a robot, I'd want to die.
My life would feel meaningless, and I already have depression so that would just be adding lighter fluid to the inconsolable flame that already lives inside of me (more on that later).
No matter how hard it is for me to break into my career after all the years of college, no matter how discouraging, it adds meaning to a life I was thrown into with no map— I mean none of us were given one, so why would I waste mine living someone else's version of why I was placed here? I refuse to give in to what other people want from me, what other people deem important.
I was born and probably raised to want to make a change and do something in my life that means something to me— that can give my life purpose, or at least trick me into believing so.
Any amount of time that it takes me to break into my career or the fact that I could be making more money in a different field means nothing to me because where my passion lays is anthropology. I know that I have the potential to do great things in this field.
Anthropology had a rough start, during colonial times, it was used to create biased works of literature that were distributed to Western groups to instill the white man's superiority and reinforce racism that now remains deeply ingrained into our society (yes, I've done my research).
But now, anthropology has remade itself.
Modern anthropology now aspired to be the most unbiased in its representation of research, emphasis on cultural research.
Anthropology is all about embracing change and accepting and further understanding things that appear strange or even inhumane to us (for example, ancient rituals, infanticide, headhunting)— things that seem corrupt to us seem corrupt because every society is spoon-fed ways of thinking— and so have other cultures.
I hope to educate people and reiterate the fact that people come in all shapes, sizes, colors, from all different backgrounds— and where we are born, we are also shaped after birth by our environments.
Instead of enforcing change and brainwash other countries different than us, we must take a step back and realize that we too are brainwashed— whitewashed, at that.
We must learn to be patient, educate ourselves, embrace and accept change.
In a strange, cruel world— we must all find what makes sense to us, something that keeps us sane— for me, career-wise, that is anthropology.
