cultural anthropology 1 - social - cultural anthropology

readings/lectures/textbook/all material in course is testable. go see him after you do the readings for extra clarification (helpful for exams!) midterm 1 MC, 2nd and final are MC and short answer. listen to what he says over the lecture slides. all exams will have qs based on textbook! get the latest edition online, study it take notes on reading/films/lectures. midterm 1 feb 3, midterm 2 march 5, final exam all worth 33.3%. 3% bonus from class participation

anthropology is a term

drived from ancient greek word anthropos (meaning humans) and lugea (meaning study)

• is the study of humans

four sub disciplines of antropology

• physical/biological anthropology

• linguistic anthropology

• social and cultural anthropology

• archaeology (most popular due to media - indiana jones)

physical anthropology: palaeoanthropology is

old and ancient anthropology

• lots in common with biology

• study of hominid evolution (hominid diet/nutrition), palaeoenvironments, hominid landscapes created by ancient humans

physical anthropology: primatology

studies primate behaviour (sex roles, mating, group composition), primate physiology

• physical and linguistic anthropology overlap as physical anthropology is used for language experiments with hominids

physical anthropology: forensic anthropology

• ID of skeletal remains (probable age, sex); facial reconstruction

• nutrition, diet, pathologies

• prehistoric vs modern populations

• history and prehistory of disease - how it changes and evolves over time

• population movements, colonization

• CSI is a show that exemplifies this

scholars in this area would have a lot to say about the following ^

linguistic anthropology

• language acquisition (linguistic and physical anthropologies overlap, as all scholars focus on apes and language)

• apes and language

• language and culture - language and worldview (how we interpret/understand the world we live in)

social and cultural anthropology: started out as the subfield of

economic anthropology

• cross cultural comparisons of:

  • gendered division of labour

  • household composition, production, consumption

  • meaning of social, political exchange dimensions

  • market behaviour

social and cultural anthropology: political anthropology

• cross cultural comparisons of:

  • distribution of power/authority in dif places

  • decision making strategies

  • conflict resolution, law and order, anthropology of the state

social and cultural anthropology: ecological anthropology / ethnoecology

is the study of traditional/local knowledge (ie indigenous focus/knowledge of local nature)

• anthropogenic landscapes (landscapes created by humans) (wolfville is an anthropogenic landscape as it is modelled by humans)

social and cultural anthropology: medical anthropology

dont have to be a doctor to do medical anthro

• includes cross cultural study/comparisons of illness in dif societies (meaning/definitions of illness and treatment)

• ethno-pharmacology

• medical anthropologists study the spiritual/ritual dimensions of illness in dif societies - knowledge of disease is not just science, it is also cultural

social and cultural anthropology: miscellaneous includes anthropology of

• gender studies

• anthropology of film (visual anthropology - how we present society of film)

• religion, ritual, and performance

• art/representation

• music (anthromusicology)

• tourism

• aging (due to aging population in western society)

• list is still building

what unifies anthropology?

these branches all follow the heart of the endeavor: understanding humanity

• understanding what is natural/what is cultural

• understanding human diversity

• role of comparison is important, ie info of exchange and political systems in multiple societies - you can only form a theory by comparing the various information from different places

central themes in social and cultural anthropology include

• relationship between humans and nature

• relationship between nature and culture

• notions of the primitive is central

• political economy, colonialism, development

• identity (1990’s this is a more recent addition - who we are)

the anthropological perspective: what distinuishes socio-cultiral anthropologists?

the anthropological perspective, which includes:

a) cultural relativism, which means all cultures are relative in the sense they cannot be ranked. you cannot say one culture is better than or superior to another - that is colonial reasoning

b) participant observation, which means anthropologists ideally participate in the lives of the people they study (ie field work, going somewhere for a year - he spent a year in poland and participated by attending events, in urban environments, participant observation is not as easy as it is in a rural environment where you see regular people on a regular basis)

c) looking at societies holistically, which means when studying a particilar aspect, ie religion/ritual, we acknowledge that is the tip of the iceberg and to understand that we must also understand history, political situation, language.. (intersectionality/everything matters)

d) comparative studies, meaning to form a theory you must compare information across scholars and colleogues

ethnocentrism is the opposite of cultural relativism, and is the idea that

“my” culture is better than/superior to others

• this is coming back, part of our present society

the sociological perspective differs from anthropology, despite the overlap (lots of anthropological theory is also socioloical theory) but the main difference lies in

the data collection methods

• psyc relies on experiments

• sociology does not engage in experiments and relies on surveys (eliciting info from respondants through questions)

  • going to a place and conducting interviews, questionnaires, also done online via computers (online surveys)

• anthropologists spend a lot of time in the field doing field research: observing and studying social behaviour in settings in which it occurs regularily

  • not recreating anything, if you want to study something, you go spend time in the place

  • field work is usually 1 year minimum

the sociological perspective overlaps with anthropology as both involve

the researcher taking part in the phenomenon being studied

field research provides details about

1) values of a particular society

2) rituals

3) norms of the people studied

both sociologists and anthropologists study

secondary data: analysis of data already collected by other researchers or government agencies

• includes statistics, archival documents (both engage in archival research)

what is culture? cannot be defined 100% because dif scholars in dif times make their own definitions, for purposes of this class, culture has 2 definitions: edward b tylor (1832-1917)

said “culture is that complex whole which includes knowledge, belief, art, law, morals, customs, and any other capabilities aquired by man (humans) as a member of society”

• formulated in his book primitive culture in 1871

• was the first official definiton of culture!

what is culture? cannot be defined 100% because dif scholars in dif times make their own definitions, for purposes of this class, culture has 2 definitions: clifford geertz (1926-2006)

said “culture is .. an historically transmitted pattern of meanings embodied in symbols by means of which men (humans) communicate, perpetuate, and develop their knowledge about and attitudes toward life”

• from his book interpretation of cultures in 1973

what do edward b tylor (1832-1917) and clifford geertz (1926-2006) definitions have in common and how do they differ?

• clifford geertz takes into account history, edward b tylor does not

• edward b tylor’s definition of culture takes form in materials, clifford geertz’s definition says culture is a mental thing

• keep in mind no universal definition of culture

in general, culture is

knowledge to interpret experience and generate behaviour

• culture is learned (process of enculturation - learning/aquiring culture)

• culture is shared by a group

• culture is patterned

• culture is shared behaviours, understandings, and ideas and it is transmitted from generation from generation (this is the most important)

ethnography is

the study of individual societies (small scale societies whose members we meet on a regular basis)

• selected groups of individuals within large scale societies

• by definition, ethnography involves fieldwork

ethnology is

the comparison of societies