Anthropology - from knowing people to serving people

Anthropology is one of the most popular optional subjects in the UPSC Civil Services Exam. It is a comprehensive science, touching on several aspects of biology and primatology, including the evolution of humans, sociology, and archaeology.

What makes Anthropology popular

The success rate for Anthropology Optional in the UPSC exam is around 10%. This rate reflects its popularity among aspirants and its potential for delivering high scores, making it a favoured choice for many serious candidates.

Anthropology has a clear and manageable syllabus, direct questions, easy to understand non-technical subject matter making it easier for students to cover comprehensively. It is scientific and time saving in nature, so the answers can be made more appealing by diagrams and flowcharts.

Apart from this, good coaching availability, quality notes and other resources’ availability, are other reasons why you should choose this optional. Besides, topics related to Indian society, culture, and tribal issues in Anthropology overlap with General Studies syllabus, providing dual benefits.

The history of civilisation, tribes, kinship, marriages etc. and all that makes a society is a crucial knowledge when you get into the services and work among the people. I won't be surprised if UPSC introduces some of the topics from anthro to GS if optionals are ever taken away.

Topics and popular books

 Paper I consists of Social Cultural Anthropology and Biological Anthropology. Paper II consists of Indian Society and Tribal India.

Begin with books like “Guns, Germs, and Steel” by Jared Diamond, examining the impact of geography on human history, or “Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind” by Yuval Noah Harari, that explores the evolution of humans and societies. Also handpick articles from National Geographic and Smithsonian websites and short summaries from Wikipedia or educational blogs.

Strategy for preparation

 Prepare notes and mind maps: Note making is important for this subject. Incorporate relevant diagrams and flowcharts wherever possible in your notes. They help revision easier and are also a must-have for scoring good marks in anthropology.

Practice writing answers: Answer writing practice is a must if you want to score good marks. Try to answer like a specialist. Your answers must be divided into: definitions, introduction, explanation, criticisms, etc. When citing something, try to mention the name of the researcher/anthropologist whose work you are referring to and also its criticisms by other scientists. For example, Franz Boas in his article “The Limitation of the Comparative Method of Anthropology (1896)” criticized the evolutionary approach and laid the foundations of Historical Particularism.

When you write about one concept, you talk about a main thinker and explain it. But you can get additional points if you also quote other thinkers on the subject. For instance, in Paper II, in the topic ‘Tribe-based Continuum’, almost every answer will talk about the work of Bailey, but your answer can stand out from the crowd if you write about Madia Gonds as described by Surajit Sinha.

Include lots of relevant diagrams and flowcharts in your answers. They save time and also drive home the point better. A good diagram fetches marks. For this, you must practice diagrams every day.

Incorporate examples and case studies: Case studies are very important in anthropology. Include as many case studies as possible in your answers. For example, you can write about the Criminal Tribes Act while answering questions about Cultural Relativism. Here, you can talk about how the Act equated a sedentary life with civilised life and grouped many nomadic tribes as criminals by birth, which stigmatised a whole section of society and future generations as well. Some other examples of case studies are problems of the tribal Communities – land alienation, poverty, indebtedness, low literacy, poor educational facilities, unemployment, underemployment, health and nutrition.

Keep yourself abreast with current affairs:  Linking current affairs to the syllabus is important in anthropology also like in any other subject. Scan the newspapers for important news like the discovery of a new fossil, a new finding in genetics, or a new scheme launched by the government for tribes in the country. Have a separate file for anthropology-related current affairs.