What is Anthropology???

Anthropology is the study of humankind. The distinguishing feature of humankind is that we are animals that create culture. Therefore, CULTURE is central to the study of human beings in all the sub-disciplines of anthropology.

What is Going on Here?

The four sub-disciplines are:

•       physical anthropology

•       cultural anthropology

•       archaeology 

•       linguistic anthropology

although anthropology began as an academic discipline, it is now frequently applied in order to assist communities in their desire to change their own culture. This is called APPLIED or ACTION ANTHROPOLOGY. We will be focusing on Cultural Anthropology and its applications in social action in the modern world.

The ANTHROPOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE is a way of seeing and has evolved from (1) observation of "the others"-people who Europeans came in contact with during the Age of Exploration and Colonialism to both (2) collaboration with and (3) advocacy for these "others" with respect to human and environmental rights.

3 European Encounter (byproducts of other economic and political efforts) which highlight how a THEORY/perspective can shape PERCEPTION:

• 1492---Christopher Columbus (the "new" world)
• BIBLICAL EXPLANATION: (xviii)

Monstrous Races



AND MORE...!

• thought he was on a mission from God (crusade) as part of a grand plan to unify Spain and expel the Muslims and Jews
• 9th chapter of Genesis: The sons of Noah dispersed and populated the earth after the great flood-they were the sons of Japheth!
• Las Casas critique: (xxii)

• belief in "naturalist" curiosity led him to take specimens (including indigenous people) back to Spain for exhibition (he did not think to ask!)
• NOBLE SAVAGE or MONSTROUS MEN: "Monsters" and other strange creatures were said to inhabit the extreme parts of the globe according to Greek & Roman geographical thought of the day-influenced evaluation.
• 1778---Captain James Cook (Royal Navy in Hawaii) 
• Meaning & Interpretation: "taboo"---what are the meaning of these rituals and how can one know if they do not know the "culture" in which they are contained????-What anthropologists do!
• Assumed natives were amazed by the prowess of his ships and his dignity.

• 1808---Simon Fraser (Canadian fur trader) 
• "Social Memory"-memories of events being told and retold change their shape over time. Events get their meaning through the STORIES they are combined into. This is how we understand history.
• opposing stories (xxxi), Fraser Versus Indigenous Memory

The Nootka...after meeting Fraser

Anthropology is interdisciplinary and frequently borrows research data from fields in the humanities, social and physical sciences. It is also reflexive, in that anthropologists always consider the bias inherent in their research (theories/hypotheses), as well as their interpretations.At the root of anthropological understanding are the opposing perspectives of cultural relativity and ethnocentrism.

•       ETHNOCENTRISM: the belief that the way you think and behave (your cultural perspective) is natural and correct.

•       CULTURAL RELATIVITY: the belief that one can only understand the worldview and practices of a people from the perspective of that culture in which it is contained.

anthropologists always suspend judgment and take a culturally relative view when doing research and analysis. Since all of us are cultural beings, we are all by nature ethnocentric. Therefore this perspective is a conscious effort to be reflective.

Why Study anthropology?

•       We try to understand the lives of OTHERS so that we can understand OURSELVES. 

◦       in the course of our normal everyday lives we fail to critically observe our own lives. We rarely even notice what we do or believe

◦       Studying other ways of thinking (habits of mind) and other ways of behaving (traditions and practices) reveals the ASSUMPTIONS underlying our Behaviors. These assumptions can be described as culture.

•       We study human cultures so that we can understand current events in the world today.

◦       Much of the conflict and turmoil that we see in the world is based on cultural conflict

◦       resolving these issues requires that we understand the values, beliefs and practices of those in conflict

•       We live in a global community. Because of globalization, our social and economic activities and deeply intertwined. Trade and migration make our ability to interact with and within other cultures essential

◦       Understanding the forces of globalization and culture change in essential to successful interaction

◦       Understanding other cultures is essential to successful interaction

•       WE live ina diverse and complex socity as a result of the forces of migration, globalizations and economic development. 

◦      Understanding the nature of inequality and the forces which create and maintain it is essential if we are concerned (as anthropologists are) about social justice.

◦       These forces and processes are dependent on the values and beliefs in culture.

CULTURE is the sum total of the practices, values, beliefs, ideals, and products shared by a group of people. Culture is:

•       learned

•       shared

•       symbolic

•       interconnected (its parts)

People is a culture do not have to live together in a society. culture is a more basic worldview of which society is one "functioning" part.

Culture is often view as being both ADAPTIVE and IDEOLOGICAL.

•       the adaptive view of culture sees it as a mechanism through which a group of people adapt to their environment. We will see how the British School of Social Anthropology and materialist theories rely heavily on this definition of culture

•       the ideological view of culture sees culture as a way of thinking (worldview). We will see how the Structuralists and American Structuralists view "culture" in this way.

Most anthropologists see culture as being characterized by both of these aspects. This is most clearly seen in the American School of Anthropology founded by Franz Boaz

CULTURE is the LEARNED, SUM TOTAL of SHARED BELIEFS, PRACTICES, BEHAVIORS and PRODUCTS of a group of people. It is INTERCONNECTED and composed of SYMBOLS.

ANTHROPOLOGY VERSUS SOCIOLOGY

1. CULTURE versus SOCIETY
2. "marginality" (marginal) versus "deviance" (deviant)
3. qualitative versus quantitative data
4. cross-cultural versus Western (traditionally)
5. rural/urban versus urban (traditionally)
6. fieldwork versus survey research

FUNCTIONS OF CULTURE

1. Adapt to the environment
2. Create and perpetuate social cohesion
3. Answer Questions about the unknown
4. Educate Children

PERSPECTIVES ON CULTURE

1. Cultural Relativity versus Ethnocentrism
2. Emic versus Etic
1. Emic: perspective from someone insider the culture (a member)
2. Etic: perspective from someone outside the culture
3. Real versus Ideal
1. describes the complexity of culture which is made of of individuals who vary around the shared values, beliefs, and practices. 
2. This dynamic of heterogeneity (internal variation)  does not negate the shared whole we call culture.

FEATURES OF CULTURE (holistic)

1. facial expressions
2. religious beliefs
3. religious rituals
4. importance of time
5. art
6. values
7. literature
8. child-raising practices
9. ideas about fairness
10. ideas about friendship
11. ideas about modesty
12. foods
13. eating habits
14. understanding of the natural world 
15. concept of self
16. importance of work
17. concept of beauty
18. music
19. styles of dress
20. worldview
21. housing
22. rules of social etiquette
23. concepts of space
24. definition of family
25. ways of learning
26. value of education
27. importance of family
28. who deserves respect
29. ways of adapting to the environment'
30. language
31. what is community
32. success
33. friendship
34. what is a child
35. what is gender
36. how many sexes are there
37. what does one live in and with who
38. how are things given value
39. what do we consume
40. more....