Reading...
Play button
Play button
Use LEFT and RIGHT arrow keys to navigate between flashcards;
Use UP and DOWN arrow keys to flip the card;
H to show hint;
A reads text to speech;
72 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
|
What is “culture”?
|
Culture is essential to being human
- taken for granted - abstract (not a ‘thing’) - lived - shared - pan human - not biological Culture is of central interest for anthropologists! |
|
|
Discuss the culture concept, focusing on key aspects of culture as defined in lecture and the textbook.
|
Shared socially learned knowledge, patterns of behavior.
|
|
|
What is “cultural relativism”? Describe the work of one anthropologist that exemplifies a culturally relativistic approach.
|
cultural relativism - understanding the ways of other cultures and not judging these practices according to one's own cultural ways.
Cultural relativism is a principle that was established as axiomatic in anthropological research by Franz Boas in the first few decades of the 20th century and later popularized by his students. Boas first articulated the idea in 1887: "...civilization is not something absolute, but ... is relative, and ... our ideas and conceptions are true only so far as our civilization goes."[1] However, Boas did not coin the term. Human plasticity, cultural lense, avoid ethnocentrism. |
|
|
Describe both scientific and humanistic approaches in cultural anthropology
|
Unk
|
|
|
Compare and contrast the perspective of one of the 19th-century unilineal evolutionists and the perspective of Franz Boas. How do they understand and study cultures? How do they perceive cultural change? Then, discuss how each one would explain “progress.”
|
Unk
|
|
|
What is Anthropology
|
–Anthropology = study of humanity
|
|
|
Anth subfields
|
•Archaeology
Physical/Biological Linguistics •Cultural Applied |
|
|
Culture concept
|
•CULTURE concept
–Learned/shared values, beliefs, rules, practices, etc. |
|
|
Key aspects of anth approach
|
•Holistic •Comparative •Relativistic •Fieldwork: Participant-observation
|
|
|
Emergence of anth
|
Cultural anthropology: then…
•Colonialism, missionaries,•Study of the “other” in faraway places–“other,” “natives” = problematic terms Formation of academic discipline Enlightenment, age of reason shifting from religion to science. Rise of science 1800s...archeology, geology.... |
|
|
Issues/ dilemmas in fieldwork
|
•Bias/stereotyping
•Role in community? •Identifying informants •Misinformation •Self-reflexivity |
|
|
Human diversity
|
Unk
|
|
|
Human universals
|
Human culture is unique, diverse, reject biological idea, cultural relativism.
•Cross-cultural universals •Universal survival techniques –Tools, shelter, communication, cooperation •Other universal (non-bio) phenomena –Division of labor, recreation, supernatural, myths BUT, how people deal with cultural universals varies. - Cannot be reduced to biology |
|
|
Why culture matters
|
•Critical thinking, relativistic perspectives, cultural diversity, change•Anthropology contributes!
•Understanding and appreciating humankind •Overcome ethnocentricism, racism •Respect for difference (*globalized world) •Alleviate intolerance, conflict •Understand self & others |
|
|
How modern humans differ ancestors
|
•*Bipedalism
Taller, similar features to us today. •Later: big brains, complex tools, language, culture •Cultural differences |
|
|
What sets us apart from nonhuman primates
|
•*Bipedalism****
•Later: big brains, complex tools, language, culture •Cultural differences |
|
|
Who was Lucy
|
Lucy: Australopithecus afarensis. 3.2 million yrs ago
Human ancestor |
|
|
Evolution of Homo Sapiens
|
2.5 million years ago, Two evolutionary lines of hominins:
–Lake margin grasslands, omnivores, stone tools –Mixed grassland/woodland, vegetarian |
|
|
Nonhuman primate tool use
|
Sticks, shells, leaves.
|
|
|
Tool use in the Upper Paleolithic
|
•Stone tools, weapons•Blade flake•Tools to make tools•Compound tools•Advantages
–Spear thrower (15K yrs ago)–Bow & arrow (12K yrs ago)rise of culture, 90/70,000yra |
|
|
Archaic human culture”
|
“Archaic human culture”
•Spear points•Protective clothing•Subsistence patterns•Fire use•Shelter•Burial of dead•Language•Social support networks |
|
|
Key physical/cultural features of: australopithecus, homo habilis, homo erectus, Neanderthals, Cro- Magnon
|
Australopithecus;•Ancestor of modern humans and apes
–Hominins•4-5 millions yrs ago–E. Africa -> S.Africa•Adapted to environments•*Bipedal•Upright•Small Homo habilis (“handy/skilled human”)•“Early transitional humans”–Leakey, Tanzania•Larger brains than great apes•Changes in face, teeth•Body size Homo erectus: “upright human”•1.9 million yrs ago•Cultural technologies•Migration•Successful species•Transition to modern humans Neanderthals;•Europe, Sw Asia•130,000-28,000 yrs ago•Ice age adaptations. Cro-magnon; Homo sapiens (modern humans) •Began to evolve 200,000 yrs ago•Skeletal differences |
|
|
Ethnocentrism
|
•Ethnocentrism
–Own beliefs, values, etc. are “better” than others –Challenge! –Mild vs extreme |
|
|
Cultural determinism
|
•Culture determines behavior •Culture and individuals •Cultural determinism-lite?
•Cultural (or methodological) relativism –NO culture is superior or inferior to others –Avoid bias, judgment–Vs. moral relativism |
|
|
Ethnographic fieldwork
|
•Immersion•Interaction•Language•Learn “native” ways•Observe•Participate•Daily field notes
•Move beyond appearances•Elucidate/translate meanings•Beyond spoken word•“Native’s point of view”•Comparison•Voice for voiceless |
|
|
Moral relativism
|
Moral relativism may be any of several philosophical positions concerned with the differences in moral judgments across different people and cultures. Descriptive moral relativism holds only that some people do in fact disagree about what is moral; meta-ethical moral relativism holds that in such disagreements, nobody is objectively right or wrong; and normative moral relativism holds that because nobody is right or wrong, we ought to tolerate the behavior of others even when we disagree about the morality of it.
|
|
|
Holistic approach
|
•Interconnections among aspects of culture
–NO single aspect –Integration: multiple, connected factors –Relationships –CONTEXT |
|
|
‘Sacred cow’
|
Sacred cow
•Ahimsa: Hindu belief in spiritual unity; do no harm –taboo on killing cows/eating beef •Lots of cows and lots of famine/malnutrition –1866: Orissa famine –1943: Bengal famine –43% of children=undernourished•Western view: irrational? |
|
|
Biological determinism
|
Biological determination (also biologism) is the interpretation of humans and human life from a strictly biological point of view, and it is closely related to genetic determinism. Another definition is that biological determinism is the hypothesis that biological factors such as an organism's individual genes (as opposed to social or environmental factors) completely determine how a system behaves or changes over time.
|
|
|
Emic
|
–Insider’s point of view
|
|
|
Etic
|
Outsider’s point of view
|
|
|
Cultural knowledge
|
•Ideas, beliefs, values that are learned and meaningful to a group of people
•Explicit & implicit •Cultural understanding Cultural knowledge: 5 elements •Norms •Values •Symbols •Constructions •Worldviews |
|
|
Patterns of behavior
|
•Typical behavior in culturally defined situations
•“This is how we do things” •Culturally understood, implicit, agreed-upon •Range of possibilities |
|
|
Worldview (ethos)
|
•Interpret reality and events•See self and others•Fundamental beliefs
|
|
|
Superorganic
|
•Culture > individual, little influence over culture, subordinate to culture, determines how people will act
–De-emphasize individual•Critique– Configurations of Culture Growth (1944) •Superorganic•Individual geniuses?•High/low points of civilization |
|
|
Symbol
|
•Objects, actions, etc. that stand for something else
•Culturally defined meaning. •Affect behavior, action. •Language |
|
|
Norms
|
•Shared ideals, rules
•Agreed-upon •Violations |
|
|
Constructions of reality
|
•Divide up natural and social world
•Categorize people, actions, and things •Consensus |
|
|
Armchair anthropology
|
•Armchair anthropology
–19th century, unilineal evolutionists |
|
|
Thick description
|
•“Thick description”
–Blink vs wink |
|
|
Recall ethnography
|
•“Salvage ethnography”•Record lifeways, beliefs, etc. before they disappear
•Focus:–Native American groups–Elders |
|
|
Values
|
•Shared ideas, standards •Beliefs about desirable way of life •Motivation •Conflict
|
|
|
Ethnical periods
|
Lewis Henry Morgan piece called Ethnical periods showed social context of what people thought of other races and cultural that differ from westernized understanding of human civilized development.
|
|
|
Genealogical method
|
The genealogical method is a well-established procedure in ethnography. It was initiated by early ethnographers to identify all-important links of kinship determined by marriage and descent. Genealogy or kinship commonly plays a crucial role in the structure of non-industrial societies, determining both social relations and group relationship to the past. Marriage, for example, is frequently pivotal in determining military alliances between villages, clans or ethnic groups.
|
|
|
Potlatch
|
•Kwakiutl (Pacific northwest)•Gift-giving festival•Own logics
|
|
|
Participant- observation
|
Participant observation is one type of data collection method typically done in the qualitative research paradigm. It is a widely used methodology in many disciplines, particularly cultural anthropology. Its aim is to gain a close and intimate familiarity with a given group of individuals and their practices through an intensive involvement with people in their cultural environment, usually over an extended period of time. The method originated in the field research of social anthropologists, especially Bronislaw Malinowski in Britain, the students of Franz Boas.
|
|
|
Ethnography
|
•Produce ethnography
–“ethnos”=people –“ography”=descriptive writing –description & theory •Ethnography (anthropological writing) –Reveals meanings of what people say and do |
|
|
Tenets of Enlightenment
|
Tenet #1:•All accounts are partial and relative
•No objectivity•Multiple truths no Truth•Anti-grand theories•Limits to understanding others •Perspective determines analysis.Tenet #2: Bias•An observer’s personal history and experiences condition his account of culture.•Each anthropologist analyzes a culture differently and makes different interpretations•Perspective determines analysis. Tenet 3:•Power relationships determine who is right and who is wrong, who can speak for whom, etc-Power/knowledge•Relations in the field –Self-reflexivity |
|
|
Unilineal evolutionism
|
19th cent. •Notions of (social) progress
•Primitive ->civilized;•Inferior->superior •“Other” ->European–Primitives = “our past” •ONE trajectory, not Darwinian. |
|
|
Neoevolutionism
|
(early 20th cent)•Reassessed cultural evolutionism–Less ethnocentric•Focus on technology and environment•Versus 19th cent evolutionism
|
|
|
Historical particularism
|
Boas: Historical Particularism
•Study of specific cultures in their particular historical context•Complete, holistic descriptions•Emphasis on particularity not generalizations•Relativism, multiple trajectories. |
|
|
Bio-psychological functionalism
|
A theoretical orientation in anthropology, developed by Bronislaw Malinowski. Functionalism is similar to Radcliffe-Brown's structural functionalism, in that it is holistic and posits that all cultural "traits" are functionally interrelated and form an integrated social whole. But while structural functionalism stated (in Durkheim's spirit) that the function of the part was to maintain the whole, functionalism posited that all parts of society functioned to satisfy the individual's biological needs. Functionalism was thus a less system-oriented theory than structural functionalism and more oriented towards the individual. It was also more open toward social change. Thus, although functionalism was largely eclipsed by structural functionalism in British anthropology after 1930, it experienced a resurgence when structural functionalism was attacked (largely for lacking any means of conceptualizing social change) by the methodological individualists of the 1950's. Aside from Malinowski, his students Raymond Firth and Audrey Richards were the most prominent practitioners of functionalism. Edmund Leach was also originally a functionalist.
|
|
|
Evolution (Darwin)
|
Darwin: theory of evolution
•Common ancestor •“Descent with modification” •“Natural section” –NEW beings |
|
|
Cultural ecology
|
How do these behavior patterns effect other aspects of culture (ideology, myth, religion, ritual, etc.)?
What kind of group organization and population distribution are allowed given the technology and environment? |
|
|
Materialism
|
•“Scientific approach”
•Material needs/desires influence social organization, beliefs, behaviors •Useful knowledge, technical skills –Get food, make shelter–Influences social/cultural life –Too deterministic??–Differences?? |
|
|
Structural functionalism
|
British Functionalism (1920-60)
•Culture helps meet “needs” of individuals and maintain society •Analyses of “functions” of cultural elements •Two types –Bio-psychological functionalism (Malinowski)how an individual functions and needs filled in a culture. –Structural-functionalism (Radcliffe-Brown)aspects of a culture to function as a system. |
|
|
Interpretivism
|
–Geertz•Symbolic anthropology•“Native point of view”
•Humanistic approach •Focus on: –Meaning –Relativism –Symbolic aspects –Holistic –Emic perspectives |
|
|
Postmodernism
|
Industrialization, capitalism, division of labor, rapid urbanization, colonialism,Multiculturalism, feminism, media culture, WWII, decline of manufacturing
Enlightenment, science, reason, individualism Rejection of “Truth” Search for Truth Multiple truths; skeptical of grand theory High versus low culture, High vs low culture=disputed, Valuing aesthetics,Aesthetics of everyday, Self-parody,Pastiche |
|
|
Cultural Materialism
|
Cultural Materialism is a scientific research strategy that prioritizes material, behavioral and etic processes in the explanation of the evolution of human socio-cultural systems. It was first introduced by Marvin Harris in The Rise of Anthropological Theory (1968). Harris is the originator of, and has remained the main figure in, cultural materialism. He insists that the primary task of anthropology is to give causal explanations for the differences and similarities in the thoughts and behaviors of human groups.
|
|
|
Organic analogy
|
Functionalists use an organic analogy to compare society to the human body. They argue that all parts of society need to work together in order for society to maintain consensus. e.g. if one body part stops functioning correctly then the rest of the human body will be affected.
|
|
|
Franz Boas
|
(1858-1942)•Major influence in American anthro•German-born•PhD, physics, 1881•Columbia University, 1895-1942•Anth as science vs humanity•Very influential
Boas: Historical Particularism •Study of specific cultures in their particular historical context•Complete, holistic descriptions•Emphasis on particularity not generalizations•Relativism Boas contributions•Humanistic approach•Critique of unilineal evolutionism•Historical particularism•Fieldwork•“Salvage” ethnography |
|
|
Clifford Geertz
|
(1926-2006)•Symbolic anth•Interpretive anth•Java, Bali, Morocco•Cultural relativism•“Interpretations of interpretations”
•Culture = symbolic system, language, text •Symbols = “vehicles of culture” •“Man is an animal suspended in webs of significance he himself has spun. I take culture to be those webs” |
|
|
Bronislaw Malinowksi
|
(1884-1942•Poland, Britain, US•Trobriand Islands
•Theory: culture functions to meet biological,psychological needs of individuals•Shift: evolution social/psych issues –Biopsychological functionalism –Cognitive reasoning –Cultural relativism •*Methods–Participant-observation, Malinowski: Trobriand Islands•1914, Australia•Prisoner of war•Stranded on Trobriand Islands, 1914-1918 •Developed “participant observation” methodology |
|
|
L.H. Morgan
|
Lewis Henry Morgan
(1818-1889) Unilineal evolutionism ETHNICAL PERIODS & KINSHIP •Savagery–Matrilineal•Barbarism–Shift towards Patrilineal •Civilization–Patrilineal AND patriarchal •Changes in subsistence and technology - SAVAGERY - fruit & nut subsistence; some fire technology; (later) bow & arrow technology - BARBARISM – pottery; domesticated animals; plant cultivation; iron technology - CIVILIZATION- agriculture, phonetic alphabet and writing, science, art, inventions, cities, nation-states, social classes, etc.•Notion of progress |
|
|
Ruth Benedict
|
(1887-1948)•Boas student•Study cultures in their entirety•“Configurationalism”(culture as a pattern) •Relativism
Patterns of cultures, wrote this book...•Three cultures –Zuni–Kwakiutl–Dobu •Two types –Apollonian –Dionysian |
|
|
Alfred Kroeber
|
(1876-1960)•Boas student•Anthropology as humanity•Anti-evolutionism•“Cultural patterns”, superorganic(culture dictates people's behavior)
|
|
|
Leslie White
|
Neoevolutionist, •Anth as science
•CULTURE =LAYER CAKE White’s theory Four major stages of cultural evolution •1. tools •2. “neolithic” •3. fossil fuels (18th century) •4. atomic energy (20th century) |
|
|
E.B. Tylor
|
•E.B. TYLOR (1832-1917)•Father of social anthro (Britain)
Unilineal evolutionism perspective •Primitive Culture (1971) –Where did religion come from? –Psychological–Spiritual beliefs = in all societies •Stages: animism polytheism monotheism Culture is “that complex whole which includes knowledge, beliefs, art, morals, law, customs, and any other capabilities and habits acquired by man as a member of society.” |
|
|
A. Radcliffe-Brown
|
1881-1955•British•Andaman Islands, Australia, Africa
•Theory: society functions (like body) to sustain itself Example: Religion•Malinowski–Psych needs•Radcliffe-Brown–Unites group |
|
|
Marvin Harris
|
Cultural Materialism: 1927-2001)
•Anthro=science •Examples: –Cannibalism (Aztec) –Sacred Cow (India) “The cultural practices of other people often seem strange, irrational, and even inexplicable to outsiders. In fact, the members of the culture in question may be unable to give a rationally satisfying explanation of why they behave as they do: they may say that "the gods wish it so," or that "it is always done that way." Yet a fundamental assumption of social science is that no matter how peculiar or even bizarre human cultures may appear, they can be understood at least in part.” |
|
|
Julian Steward
|
(1902-1972)Modern cultural ecology - nature--culture
Native American groups,*Adaptation, Multi-lineal evolution CULTURAL ECOLOGY How do these behavior patterns effect other aspects of culture (ideology, myth, religion, ritual, etc.)? What kind of group organization and population distribution are allowed given the technology and environment? |
|
|
W.H.R. Rivers
|
“Genealogical Method”•Survey method
•Simple kinship terms construct genealogies •Kinship system information about society |
