Week 1 - Delaney and Herzfeld on Anthro and method

Herzfeld and common sense, Orientation and disorientation, Enculturation, demystification. Key defs and explanations

List the Key concepts from Delaney and Herzfeld

Herzfeld - anthropology as comparative study of common sense
Orientation and Disorientation
Enculturation
Demystification

What does Herzfeld mean by common sense (definition)

The everyday knowledge we use to understand the world, which seems clear and natural to us (within the culture we are in)

What is Herzfelds definition of Social and Cultural Anthropology (quote)

Social and cultural anthropology may be defined as the comparative study of common sense, both in its cultural forms and in its social effects

What are the 4 descriptors of common sense that Herzfeld gives - Common Sense is:

Culturally Specific

Socially accepted rendition of culture

Inconsistent and resistant to doubt

Formed by everyday experience and power

What is the aim of anthropology

Critical engagement with the world

Knowledge gained through sustained encounters with people, practices and situations, which often leads to changes in the questions and assumptions posed by the researcher.

What are the 2 terms that Delaney gives

Orientation and Disorientation

Definition of Orientation

experience of familiar cultural cues which allow people to interpret situations and act without constant deliberation

Definition of Disorientation

uncertainty and anxiety emerging when established cues no longer guide interpretation or behaviour

What does Delaney suggest anthropologists must do

Experience disorientation - be removed from their typical cultural cues and into an unfamiliar one

Why does Delaney believe disorientation is important

Disorientation reveals the cultural knowledge that familiarity has made invisible

What is culture

both visible practices and the unspoken rules and assumptions of a group

provides implicit cues not noticed by those within them

Define enculturation

process through which people acquire the meanings, expectations and practices necessary to participate competently in a cultural world