Cultural Anthro Unit 3

Symbolic Anthropology

a theoretical approach in cultural anthropology that studies how people use symbols to create meaning, communicate, and make sense of their world

Symbols

Could be a sound, gesture, or other arbitrary sign linked to something in a meaningful way

Symbols are

Relational

Polyvalent

Symbols that carry many meanings

Ontology

Is the cultural understandings of existence the nature of being and existential relationships. What it means to be.

Defamilarization

Of humans and non-human others

Semiotics

Study of symbols and signs

Saussure

Sign = signifier + signified

Icon

A type of sign that intuitively represent their object meaning. An example is an onomatopoeia.

Index

A type of sign that focuses attention on possible futures. An example is a siren.

Symbol

A type of sign that is made meaningful only if a system of relationships is known. An example is grammar

Ecology of Selves

Is a connection of selves and how we relate relationality.

Collective Memory

Is a type of conversation about the past found in discourse, cultural narratives, images, etc.

Autobiographical memory

Is recollection of personal experience that defines the self

Distributive criteria

Are power structures that regulate memory distribution

Postcolonial legacy

Is present as traumatic memory

Anonymous care

Is attending to people in need, no matter who they are. However, this limits the ability to see individuals and humans instead of removing the intended bias

Selfhood

is all aspects of personhood and subjectivity. This is inner, unshared experience but also social experience and relationships. These result in a range of cultural behaviors.

Sociocentrum

Emphasizes the interconnected and dependent roles played by societal members

Egocentrism

Emphasizes the individual uniqueness and values independence.

Alma

Is soul in Avila

Soul-blindness

is when awareness of self is lost, and therefore the soul

Modalition of Disenchantment

The ways a self dissolves or breaks down

Aya

An Avila belief. An object, which thinks it’s alive but is dead. No soul, but spirit. It is no longer capable of love. Searches for that which it lost

Flourishing

Living well with others

Morality

Are principles concerning distinction between good and evil

Epistemology

How we know and understand the world. A theory

Epistemological Crisis

Expectation doesn’t match experience

Soul Travel Theory

Believed by many cultures. The soul leaves the body while dreaming and interacts with others and the world

Ethnonym

Actual group name applied to a particular ethnic group