Symbolic Systems in Culture

Religious systems are along with language, the most obvious symbolic systems in culture. The definition of religion in anthropology must be broad enough to cover all of the varieties of religion that exist across cultures.It is strongly linked to political systems in that it reflects and supports the political system in which it is contained.

LINK TO VIDEO CLIPS

A system of belief which explains the NATURE OF REALITY (worldview) and humanity's place within it. Religious systems also provide a set of guidelines for proper BEHAVIOR (how to be a good human being) consistent with this explanation.

Usually religion DOES involve belief in a SUPERNATURAL, but notice that in this definition it is absent.

Functions of Religion:

• Social Functions
• primary tool for education
• creates social cohesion
• means of social control
• Psychological Functions 
• relieves stress-provides answers
• answers questions about the unknown (philosophical questions answered)
• provides a "path" and thereby eliminates decision making (ethical questions answered)
• provides cathartic experiences

 FORMS OF RELIGION

• Supernatural
• major deities
• coercive power
• all powerful and often retributive
• exist on a hierarchy as "gods" and "goddesses"
• coexistent with centralized political systems, coercive power and state level societies and large chiefdoms 
• hierarchy is reflective of political structure in which they are contained
• found in cultures with nonnaturalistic world views
• ancestral spirits
• unilineal cultures where ancestors are important
• have the same attributes, personality and powers that they had when they were alive
• interact in culture like everyone else
• animistic forces
• individual and unique spirits that enliven everything
• the whole of the universe is believed to be animated in this way
• found in cultures with naturalistic world views
• animitistic forces
• single supernatural "force" which animates everything
• This force can be lost or gathered (moves but is considered eternal)
• found in cultures with naturalistic world views
• These supernatural entities are not mutually exclusive. Larger more centralized political systems may have ALL of these supernatural forces operating. Animism and animitism are usually found to exist together.

• Religious Practitioners
• Priests & priestesses
• full time specialists
• client is "god" (the supernatural will is expressed through them)
• exercise coercive power which is vested in institutions (church)
• formal training through institutions
• part of a religious hierarchy
• Shaman(s)
• part time specialists
• client is "people" in the culture
• no formal training, but rather a "calling"
• often marginal individuals in their culture (physically, psychologically)
• legitimate power is given through consensus of community based on shaman's performance
• use magic in the manipulation of the supernatural

 Kinds of MAGIC

• sympathetic (and parasympathetic)- based on the belief that actions produce "like" effects.
• contagious- based on the belief that things that were once in contact with each other will continue to exert control over each other after they are separated.
• divination- the manipulation of the supernatural to see the future or answer questions about the unknown

MYTHS: religious stories behind beliefs and rituals

• origin myths
• stories explaining various phenomena in the culture

RITUALS : "Religion in action"

• stylized, repetitive behavior performed for a specific PURPOSE
• All rituals mark TRANSITIONS whether they are religious or secular 
  
• RITES OF PASSAGE
• transitions that mark the passage of an INDIVIDUAL from one status (stage of life) to another status
• have three stages of progression
• RITES OF INTENSIFICATION
• transitions that mark the passage of an GROUP or CULTURE from one status (stage of life) to another status
• have three stages of progression
• RITUALS OF REVERSAL
• Reinforce cultures values and beliefs by acting out their opposites in the ritual context. The ritual context is a safe place for this to occur.

• Ritual Progression (Van Gennep)
• Separation
• marks the moment when the individual or group leave their initial status
• may be composed by a number of smaller rituals
• example: engagement in marriage ritual
• Transition (liminal)
• most complex and longest stage in the ritual progression
• inherently LIMINAL (dangerous) since one is BETWEEN states and statuses
• usually composed of a number of smaller rituals which serve to educated and transition one slowly and carefully into the next status.
• Reincorporation (reaggregation, incorporation)
• One is reintegrated into culture in their new status
• may be long or short and composed of smaller rituals

PLAY versus WORK

• Play is "ritual" behavior and work is mundane
• If we see athletes as working, the spectators (fans) are playing. This is why the sporting event is so powerful for the spectators. They are interpreting this event as a ritual rife with meaning. The event will create a catharsis for them if it is performed successfully. For the athletes it is a days work. They leave the field of play unchanged. (Actors and audience as well).
• Can understand the ARTS in light of Huizinga's MAGIC CIRCLE (ritual space)
• different rules apply 
• cultural norms are affirmed
• cultural norms are tested
• the event/experience is cathartic

The testing and affirming of cultural norms (interplay between the two is where much internal change arises in cultures). Ritual provides a safe "space" in which this change can occur and norms can be challenged.
The behaviors which occur in the magic circle may be the same as outside, but the meaning of these behaviors is quite different.

• Art
• A bowl holding fruit is a "caft" (mundane)
• A bowl on a stand is a piece of "art" (sacred)- same bowl, different interpretation
• -Modern art is based on this very FACT about the nature of "sacred" and interpretation

Can apply this to all the arts in anthropology:

• music
• dance
• literature

Anthropologists study these arts as cultural artifacts. Analyzing the ways in which the arts

• EXPRESS CULTURAL VALUES
• REFLECT CULTURAL VALUES
• ARE CATHARTIC

Essay#3

Essay#3
Due November 2

Subsistence is the ways that human beings adapt to their environment through culture. This adaptation involves the creation of technologies (human ideas, tools, and practices) that best exploit and maintain human populations and the environment.

After reading the blog, watching the video clips, discussing subsistence and environmental anthropology, and attending the film screening The Anthropologist---
(1) discuss how different human subsistence patterns impact the environment. (consider and analyze all of the following: H/G, plant-focused horticulture, pastoralism, agrarian agriculture and industrialized agriculture).
(2) How can anthropological knowledge and the anthropological perspective help to understand and resolve the issues surrounding climate change?

please see writing rubric for criteria.

Subsistence :Adaptation & The Environment

Adaptation: the process by which organisms achieve beneficial adjustments to their available environment.

Human beings exhibit a very high level of PLASTICITY (adaptability to many environments). They do this not through the process of genetic evolution, but through CULTURE! Culture is a adaptive system.

ECOSYSTEM: a system or functioning whole composed of both physical environment and organisms that live in it.

• each has a CARRYING CAPACITY. This is defined as the number of human beings it can support due to its limiting resource(s).
• Although you do not need to memorize the ecosystems in your text, notice that there are adaptation that are impossible or very difficult in some ecosystems. They may also have low carrying capacities for human beings and may entail major alterations of the environment to support them. these can be a great strain on the environment.
• tundra
• desert
• grassland
• temperate forest
• mountain zones
• icelands

Two basic kinds of subsistence systems.

• Food Gatherers
• hunters and gatherers (H/G)
• Food Producers
• horticulture (extensive)
• pastoral (animal focused)
• horticulture (plant focused)
• agriculture (intensive)
• agrarian (nonindustrial)
• industrial

*we will go over this more when we speak about ECONOMIC SYSTEMS

Hunting & Gathering Subsistence Strategies

• collect wild plants and animals
• bands (political organization)
• 25 people (small)
• egalitarian (social structure)
• sharing (reciprocity based economic system)
• diet: 95% plant food / 5% animal protein
• child spacing- 5 years
• prolonged nursing
• birth control 
• passive infanticide
• few material possessions
• bilateral (kinship patterns)
• dependence/independence training
• nomadic
• highly varied food sources
• very healthy population free from most disease

Hunting & Gathering Culture: Wadani of Rain Forest

Example of Australia
Evolution from Foraging to Pastoralism: film Links

Horticultural Subsistence Strategies (extensive agriculture-land expensive)

• domesticate plants &/or animals (focused on one)
• increased land use
• simple tool kit for production
• egalitarian/ranked (social structure)
• tribal (political organization)
• 100-250 people
• strategies do not alter the carrying capacity of the environment
• fecundity (high levels of childbirth)
• dependence training
• unilineal (kinship)
• communal ownership (economic exchange)

pastoral (animal focused)                                        horticulture (Plant focused)

transhumant                                                                sedentary

animal focused with no plant domesticates           plant focused with animal cash crops

mixed subsistence                                                     slash and burn (swidden)

patrilineal (kinship)                                                    matrilineal & patrilineal

Pastoral Systems (short definition-film link)

Example: pastoral system
Horticultural Systems: (short definintion -film link)

example: plant-based horticulture
Agricultural Stystems: (short definition) Film Link

Agricultural Subsistence Strategies (intensive agriculture)
Agraraian (non-industrial ) rice farming

Advanced agriculture (industrial) Israel 

• domesticate plants AND animals
• alter environment to increase carrying capacity of land
• fertilization
• irrigation
• plow/draft animals
• 500-millions of people
• chiefdoms and states (political structure)
• redistributive/surplus economies
• ranked and stratified political systems
• lineal kin ownership
• sedentary
• complex tool kit
• mono-crop production
• greater output on less land
• poor nutrition & famine prone

industrial agriculture

• individual ownership
• industrial tools & technologies
• increased population density and population
• increased productivity
• bilateral kinship

Readings on marriage

"Same Sex Marriage"

• How is the way we traditionally define marriage in the United States "ethnocentric"?
• what are the assumptions and values which underlie this definition?
• Why is it difficult to define marriage according to anthropologists?
• what functions/characteristics does marriage USUALLY confer?
• legitimizing children
• granting sexual access 
• establishes procreation roles between opposite sexes
• defining familial roles 
• establishes 'families" who form households
• uniting alliances between kin groups*
• how does same sex marriage challenge ideas of marriage in American culture?
• what are examples of marriage forms across culture which also challenge marriage in American culture?
• how have American marriages and family structures changed over time?
• why have these changes occurred?
• How might you as an anthropologist make a case for the adaptive qualities of same sex and other nontraditional marriage forms in American culture?

"Fraternal polyandry, Polygyny and  Monogamy: Tibetan Marriage forms"

• Why are there various forms of marriage in Tibetan culture, and how are each of these understood as logical adaptations to a variety of needs in each family?
• what values and beliefs in American culture does fraternal polyandry question?
• why does fraternal polyandry offer an economic advantage and familial stability that monogamy does not?
• what are potential sources of discord in fraternal polyandry?
• what are the proposed etic explanations for the practice of fraternal polyandry?
• female infanticide
• starvation due to harsh climate/land/herd shortage (inhertitence)
• reduces birth rate creating unmarried reproductive females
• what are the emic explanations for fraternal polyandry? (younger brothers)
• attainment and maintenance of a good life/higher standard of living
• less work pressure and greater security
• more resources/social prestige
• available basic resources, land, house, livestock

"Human population genetics: cultural myth of relationships"

• why is population genetics so powerful as a marker of "identity" in American culture?
• what is the difference between biological relatedness and meaningful relatedness?
• what is KINSHIP?
• What is Mitochondrial DNA, and what meaning does it have in western science and culture?
• why are 75% of your ancestors "invisible" to MtDNA? How MIGHT this impact our understanding of "relatedness"?
• what are the weaknesses of using MtDNA as a test for relatedness?
• Why is the "constructedness" of human kinship "problematic" in understanding ultimate "relatedness"?
• why isnt this your grandmother's genetics???

Marriage, Family & Kinship

Marriage: a transaction  resulting in a contract between two or more parties in which two or more individuals are recognized as having (1) a continuing claim to the rights of sexual access, (2) legitimization of children (3) kin relations are established, and (4) there is a clear statement of the proper roles and responsibilities of each party. 

• Marriages are backed by social, economic and legal forces within a culture
• EXAMPLES:

• Ghost Marriage among the Nuer
• Woman/Woman marriage among the Southern Bantu
• Tali Tying among the Nayar (pre-menstruation)
• Berdache' among the Navaho

Marriage Rules: (will speak about special marriage rules later)

• Exogamous Rules / (Exogamy): states the groups you must marry "out" of
  
•  "Incest Taboo" : prohibits sexual relations between "blood relatives" (This is always a required rule)
• Genetic explanation-deleterious genes & mutation?
• Human nature explanation?
• Familiarity breeds contempt explanation (Israeli Kibbutzim studies)?
• Social Network explanation? (alliance building)
• Familial Roles Confusion explanation?
• Endogamous Rules / (Endogamy): States the groups you must marry within
• race
• class
• education
• religion
• these are all PREFERENTIAL RULES in American culture rather than REQUIRED RULES

*Sex is often allowed outside of marriage. In such cases it is less regulated than in the structure of  a marriage contract.

Types of Kin: 

• Affinal Kin (related through the contract of marriage)
• Consanguineal kin (blood relatives-related by "blood")
• the definitions of these vary from culture to culture, and are based in the kind of KINSHIP SYSTEM which is found in each culture.

Forms of Marriage:

• Monogamy: Where only one marriage contract is possible for any individual
• Industrial Agricultural cultures
• Hunting & Gathering cultures
• somewhat common
• Polygamy: Where multiple marriage contracts are possible for an individual
• Polygyny: Marriage of one man to more than one woman
• involves multiple contracts-strict rules for "equality" between contracts
• common marriage system
• not accessible to all men in any culture since marriage are "expensive" for kin groups
• polygyny therefore becomes a marker of status
• polygyny is found in cultures where gaining status is desirable. (ranked, stratified societies)
• Pastoral societies
• Patrilineal horticultural societies
• Agricultural societies
• Polyandry : Marriage of one woman to more than one man. 
• involves multiple contracts
• rare in terms of marriage systems
• all "husband" are considered fathers to the children produced
• fraternal polyandry (Yak Herders of Tibet)-example

•  Serial Monogamy: When one marriage contract can be engaged in at a time
• found where there is an option for ending contracts (divorce)
• Industrial agriculture and Hunting and gathering
  
• Group Marriage: Where a marriage contract may include more than two individuals
• Eskimo & Inuit 

Marriage Exchanges: Marriages are all transactions, and as such involve important exchanges between kin groups.

• Bridewealth: exchange of wealth from kin group of the groom to the kin group of the bride on the occasion of finalizing a marriage contract. 
• These can be substantial expenditures which may take years and even generations to fulfill.
• impediment against men acquiring wives, and in such systems, men marry later in life and some never marry, especially where polygyny is practiced.
• can create a "shortage of women"- tension among men
• can be viewed as "demeaning" to women or a measure of their immense value for the production of children and economic contributions within the houselhold and subsistence.
• Horticultural societies
• Creates strong bonds between women and their brothers since sisters marriages bring wealth into their kin groups to enable their brothers to marry
• Brideprice: exchange of goods
• Brideservice: exchange of services

• Dowry: Often understood as an "early" inheritance by women in a kin group.Dowry is the wealth a bride brings with her into a marriage contract
• Agricultural societies
• dowry often becomes the "property" of the husband's kin group although it is not technically meant to be this
• signals woman's exit from their natal kin group.
• Does not foster continued ties between women and their brothers or family, since women remove wealth from the family on the occasion of their marriage. Daughters are expensive. They can be seen as a burden.
• signals low status for women, way to attract husbands
• Sutti (bride-burning) India- can be seen as a function of dowry & recent dowry inflation

Family: A residential kin group composed of a woman, her dependent children, and at least one male joined through marriage (affinal) or blood (consanguineal) relationship. 

• in opposition to the Household which can be familial or nonfamilial
• Functions:
• legitimize and nurture children
• control of sexual relations
• economic cooperation

Forms of Family: 

• Nuclear: composed of a husband, wife, and their dependent children
• industrial agricultural and hunting and gathering
• gain MOBILITY
• independent from larger kin group
• lose security
• Extended: composed of a nuclear family and relations both generational (grandparents & grandchildren) and within a single generation (brothers and sisters and their spouses)
• horticultural and agrarian agricultural
• gain SECURITY
• dependent on larger kin group
• lose mobility
• Polygamous: Found in polygamous systems where patrilineal polygamy is practiced
• Each wife has their own household within a polygamous compound
• wives ranked by seniority
• work together to accomplish tasks of the family as a whole
• maintain concern for the benefit of their (wives) biological children which are distinguished
• Co-wives cooperate and are often great friends and support systems for one another since women in these systems leave their birth families to reside with their husbands families.
• Consanguine : Related women and their brothers and the women's offspring.
• no coresidence between husband and wife
• spend time in natal households with men "commuting" for sex and the production of offspring
• "Uterine families" of rural taiwan
• can exist in conjunction with other family systems and serve a special function within culture and society

Kinship systems are important to study and understand because they lie at the base of social organization in every culture. In many cultures, kinship is the ONLY organizing principle in that society.

Kinship systems determine who your relatives are

• affinal
• consanguineal

and how the following will be regulated in a culture:

• marriage
• familial roles
• residence rules
• descent
• succession
• inheritance

TYPES OF KINSHIP SYSTEMS:

• UNILINEAL
• Patrilineal- trace descent through men. From father to children
• Matrilineal-trace descent through women from mother through children
• Bilineal-trace descent through both women and men, but differently. Women pass down some things and men pass down others

• BILATERAL
• descent passed down through both men and women equally to their children

UNILINEAL SYSTEMS:

• LINEAGE-basic unit
• related lineages are organized into clans and two related clans make up a phratry
• lineages are CORPORATE, phratrys and clans are not
• made up of only consanguineal kin
• trace relationships to a known common ancestor (patriarch or matriarch)
• a member of only one lineage.
• immutable, non-negtiable membership. You are born into a lineage and remain in it even after death as an ancestor
• Consistent with extended and polygamous family structure
• TYPES:
• PATRILINEAL DESCENT
• men pass down descent and inheritance goes through men to their offspring
• found in horticultural (larger and pastoral) and nonindustrial agricultural societies
• women do most of the agricultural labor in plant based horticulture and men do most of the labor in agricultural and pastoral societies
• marriages are strong and divorce is difficult to attain. 
• relationships between siblings (brothers and sisters are weakened)
• women and their sexuality and sexual behavior are controlled
• MATRILINEAL DESCENT
• women pass down descent and inheritance goes through men to their offspring
• found in horticultural (smaller plant based) societies
• men do most of the agricultural labor in plant based horticulture 
• marriages are weak and divorce is easy to attain. 
• relationships between siblings (brothers and sisters) are strong and remain so throughout their lives
• brothers are responsible for the care and socialization of their sister's children
• women and their sexuality and sexual behavior are not controlled

BILATERAL SYSTEMS:

• KINDRED is the basic unit
• non-corporate
• mutable and ever changing
• you are a member of a number of overlapping kindreds at the same time
• made up of affinal, consanguineal and fictive kin
• drawn and maintained through the perspective of "EGO"
• consistent with NUCLEAR FAMILY STRUCTURE
• Descent and inheritance passed from father and mother equally to their children

FICTIVE KIN: Those considered kin and treated like kin that are not related either by marriage contract or by decent. 

RESIDENCE PATTERNS

• patrilocal- reside with groom's family
• matrilocal - reside with bride's family
• avunculocal- reside with groom's mothers brother
  
• ambilocal- reside in more than one location (move between them)
• neolocal- reside in a separate residence

 Kinship Terminology (6 major patterns):

indicate the relationships between people in the designation of kin terms.

MARRIAGE STRATEGIES & KIN GROUPINGS

• Alliance Intensifying
• Alliance Diversifying

Special Marriage Forms:

• Cross Cousin Marriage (preferred marriage form)-alliance intensifying
• Parallel Cousin Marriage (preferred marriage form)-alliance intensifying
• Leverite (required practice)-maintains contract
• Sororate (required practice)-maintains contract

Essay#2 The Future of Marriage

DUE 10/12

Marriage and Family are recognized as a basic institution in both kinship and social structure; but the nature of marriage has recently been contested in the United States. For this expository essay...

(1) DEFINE marriage from the perspective of anthropology. Note that this definition has the difficult task of considering the range of marriage forms across cultures. (min. 1 paragraph)
(2) Describe the various forms which marriage takes, considering the marriage "contract". Illustrate your description with examples of 2 differing marriage forms from different cultures. (min. 2 paragraphs)
(3) What do you think is the future of marriage, and how might the anthropological perspective inform our discussion of marriage equality? (min. 1 paragraph)

This essay has a minimum of 6 paragraphs including an introduction and conclusion. Please refer to the writing rubric for guidance, or submit your paper early for draft feedback. Assistance with writing is always available in the Writing Lab in J-Wing. :)


WRITING RUBRIC

Enculturation: Learning Culture

FILM: Strangers Abroad, Margaret Mead

Enculturation is the process by which culture is passed down from generation to generation. Understanding enculturation is one way to help us understand why we have different worldviews which underlie our different ways of viewing the world. These different views are often the source of CONFLICT in our globalizing world. Enculturation also helps us understand the core values in a culture (basis for ideological definition) as well as strategies for adaptation.

There are two basic strategies for enculturation that aim to produce different kinds of MODAL PERSONALITIES (the kinds of adults that will be successful in their culture).

• Dependence Training--focuses on creating adults who are committed to the group, who see their individual needs as second to the groups concerns.
• cooperation encouraged
• group membership and interdependence stressed
• tasks assigned progressively to children at a young age
• prolonged breast feeding/lactation
• expression of sexuality discouraged (although sexual experimentation may be free)
• Independence Training---focuses on creating adults who are independent and self-sufficient and focused on individual achievement. 
• competition encouraged
• individuality encouraged
• prolonged childhood with little responsibility if any to group
• curtailed breast feeding and lactation
• encourage expression of sexuality

Things that are enculturated that we can see in our readings:

• gender norms/identity/roles

cultures are logical systems and will apply training method that makes sense for them. The actual training techniques and where the culture falls on the spectrum of IT or DT varies. All cultures have some degree of individual and cooperative ideals.

ILLNESS AND MODAL PERSONALITY

Illness: any significant deviation from the NORM (modal personality) whether it be physical or psychological (mental illness). A lack of proper physical characteristics may also indicate that you are "ill". Or the lack of ability to meet social norms (homosexual/antisocial/etc)

Culture-bound

• anorexia/bulimia
• kuru
• amok
• PMS
• ADD/ADHD

READ ABOUT MAURITANIA!

READ ABOUT CRYING TO SLEEP IN AMERICAN CULTURE

Gender Norms Boxes

Two contrasting cases (genes and gender)

Case#1: In 1999, an appellate court in Texas invalidated a seven-year marriage between Christine Littleton, a transgender woman, and her deceased husband. The case arose when Ms. Littleton brought a wrongful death suit seeking damages for her husband's death as a result of alleged medical malpractice. Rather than ruling on the merits of Ms. Littleton's suit, the court held that a person's legal sex is genetically fixed at birth and that Ms. Littleton should be deemed to be legally male, despite her female anatomy and appearance, and despite the fact that she had lived as a woman for most of her adult life. As a result of that decision, Ms. Littleton was denied all of the rights afforded to a legal spouse -- not only the right to bring a wrongful death suit, but the right to intestate inheritance (or inheritance without a will), to obtain her deceased husband's Social Security and retirement benefits, and many others as well.

Case #2: in 1997, a trial court in Orange County, Calif., affirmed the validity of a marriage involving a transgender man. The case arose when the wife sought to invalidate the marriage in order to deprive her husband of his parental rights vis-a-vis the couple's child, who was born through alternative insemination. The trial court rejected the wife's argument that the transgender husband should be considered legally female and refused to nullify the marriage. The court held that California law recognizes the post-operative sex of a transsexual person for all legal purposes, including marriage. Notably, however, if the court had ruled differently, or if the transgender spouse had not undergone extensive and expensive sex reassignments surgeries prior to the marriage, it is likely that he would have lost any right to maintain a relationship with his child.

Assignment: imagine that they are the judges deciding the two cases in question. They must summarize their judgment and their reasons for deciding as they did. These decisions are incorporated into a broader discussion on what it is that makes people male or female.

Talk to your students about the behaviors that are and are not acceptable for them to do in a public restroom. I've done this a couple of times with different classes, and the behaviors that seem to evoke the greatest differences are what they do when they realize the stall they are in has no toilet paper (mostly the women in the class say they would politely ask the person next to them, which is followed by disgusted and shocked looks by the men in the class who usually say they wouldn't dream of doing something like that). I've also seen some funny differences when I've asked them about whether they talk to other people at all, or whether they'd compliment a stranger on their outfit. I usually follow this up with a short discussion about how this demonstration illustrates gender differences in scripts in our culture. It's a fun one to do because it requires no materials, and it usually gets even the quietest, most shy students to talk, or at least laugh along with the rest of the class. 

Films on History & Methods

Nice film about range of fieldwork

History of Fieldwork film

part 1 & 2 are useful reference

Ellen Isaacs: Ethnography

Universalism, Cultural Relativity & Human Rights

Extra Credit OCTOBER 17:Honky