Culture and Ethnography Study Notes
Culture and Ethnography
What is "Normal"?
Culture is a universal human characteristic, yet it simultaneously accounts for distinct perspectives, beliefs, and practices across groups.
For humans, variation in cultural expression is the norm, not the exception.
Definitions of "Culture"
Sir Edward Tylor (1870):
"That complex whole which includes knowledge, belief, art, law, morals, custom, and any other capabilities and habits acquired by man as a member of society." - This emphasizes culture as a comprehensive collection of learned behaviors and societal attributes.
Franz Boas (Stocking, 1968):
"Culture is an integrated system of symbols, ideas and values that should be studied as a working system, an organic whole." - Boas highlights the interconnectedness and holistic nature of cultural elements.
Margaret Mead (1937):
"Culture means human culture, the complex whole of traditional behavior which has been developed by the human race and is successively learned by each generation." - Focuses on culture as traditional, cumulative, and intergenerationally transmitted behavior.
Kroeber and Kluckhohn (1952):
"Culture consists of patterns, explicit and implicit, of and for behaviour acquired and transmitted by symbols, constituting the distinctive achievements of human groups, including their embodiment in artifacts;
t * …culture systems may, on the one hand, be considered as products of action, on the other, as conditional elements of future action." - This definition highlights patterns, symbolic transmission, artifacts, and a dual role of culture as both a result and a driver of human action.
Agustín Fuentes (2012) – Contemporary Definition:
"Culture is what people do, think, make, and share.
It is the shared values and ideals, the symbols and languages, and daily patterns that make up our lives; it is the dynamic social context in which our schemata form.
Culture is both a product of human actions and something that influences that action." - A more modern, action-oriented definition emphasizing shared elements and the dynamic, reciprocal relationship between culture and human action.
Summary of Culture's Key Features
Learned
Integrated
Symbolic
Shared
Dynamic
Features of Culture: Culture is Learned
Enculturation: The primary process of learning cultural behaviors, norms, values, and other aspects.
Enskillment: A concept by Tim Ingold, defined as "perceptual skills that emerge, for each and every being, through a process of development in a historically specific environment."
This concept emphasizes the integration of physical, biological, and social factors in an individual's development and their acquisition of culturally relevant skills.
Features of Culture: Culture is Shared
Culture is shared at various levels:
Society: The broadest level where cultural elements are shared by a large group.
Subculture: Smaller groups within a society that share distinct cultural patterns.
Social group: Even smaller, more specific groupings where cultural aspects are common.
Individual: Each person embodies a unique constellation of cultural learning.
This idea is encapsulated by Clyde Kluckhohn's quote: "Every human is like all other humans, some other humans, and no other human."
Features of Culture: Culture is Symbolic
Symbol: A sign that carries meaning in an arbitrary and conventionalized fashion.
Arbitrary: The symbol itself has no inherent or natural relation to what it signifies (e.g., the word "corn" does not physically resemble corn).
Conventionalized: The meaning of the symbol is agreed upon and understood by a specific community of practice.
Language is identified as a crucial symbolic system because it:
Helps structure our perception of the world.
Facilitates the transmission of culture across individuals and generations.
Features of Culture: Culture is Dynamic
Culture is not static; it constantly changes over time.
Factors influencing cultural change include:
Technology
Norms
Behavioral practices
The example of phone innovations highlights how technological advancements can rapidly alter cultural elements, but it's important to consider if such examples might also constrain our view of the broader, more subtle forms of cultural change.
Features of Culture: Culture is Integrated
Culture is understood as an integrated system, where different components are interconnected and influence one another.
This integration can be conceptualized through a hierarchical model:
Superstructure: Comprises worldview, religion, national ideology, and the perception of self, society, and the world.
Social Structure: Involves social organization, kinship, political organization, power structures, and patterned social arrangements of individuals within a society.
Infrastructure: Represents the economic base, mode of subsistence, and the technologies used relating to production and reproduction.
Environment: The natural resources and habitat of a society, which heavily influences the infrastructure and other cultural layers.
Example: Wet Rice Agriculture in Bali: This illustrates the integrated nature of culture:
Environment: Networks of mountains and rivers provide the necessary water.
Infrastructure: Wet rice agriculture as the mode of subsistence.
Social Structure: "Subak" membership (local irrigation societies) organizes the communal farming effort.
Superstructure: Integration of spiritual, social, and material worlds, where religious rituals and a complex social system manage water distribution and rice cultivation.
How to Study Culture? The Ethnographic Method
Ethnographic Method: Involves recording cultures in their natural setting (in situ), contrasting with interpreting accounts from others.
It draws upon multiple research methods, most notably the development of participant observation.
Site Selection and Research Question
The choice of research site and question can be influenced by:
Regional interests: Focusing on a specific geographical area (e.g., Southeast Asia, Chiang Mai).
Topical interests: Concentrating on a particular subject matter (e.g., gender, religion, political economy).
Theoretical interests: Exploring specific anthropological theories (e.g., visual anthropology, practice theory).
Preparatory Research
Library research: Extensive review of existing literature and academic works relevant to the topic.
Pilot study: A small-scale, preliminary study conducted prior to the main research to test methods, refine questions, and anticipate challenges. Synonyms include test, trial, experiment, trial run, dry run, experimental study, experimental investigation.
Ethnographic Equipment
Tools commonly used in fieldwork include laptops (e.g., MacBook Pro), cameras (e.g., FUJIFILM X-T4, Olympus), and essential stationery.
Local Help: Key Informants
Anthropologists often rely on key informants:
These are local individuals who possess deep knowledge of their community and culture.
They help researchers gain access to the community, understand local norms, and navigate social complexities.
Historical Examples:
Colin Turnbull and Kenge (referencing The Forest People).
Alfred Kroeber and Ishi.
Data Collection: Quantitative Methods
Involves collecting numerical data that can be counted or measured.
Examples:
Weighing meat from hunting to quantify subsistence patterns.
Using matrices to record events (e.g., presence/absence of an individual at an event, represented by or ).
Analyzing relationships through matrices, such as a 2-way, 1-mode (e.g., person-to-person interaction) or 2-way, 2-mode (e.g., person-to-event interaction) data.
Data Collection: Qualitative Methods
Focuses on collecting non-numerical data to understand experiences, meanings, and perspectives.
Methods:
Interviews: Can be structured (predefined questions) or unstructured (open-ended conversations).
Benefits of Structured: Consistency, easier comparison, efficient for specific information.
Benefits of Unstructured: Richer detail, allows for emergence of unexpected themes, builds rapport.
Pile sorting: A method where participants sort items (e.g., concepts, photos) into piles based on perceived similarity.
Images: Utilizing photographs or drawings either created by the anthropologist or provided by local people to elicit narratives and understandings.
Journaling: Daily recording of observations, reflections, and personal experiences during fieldwork.
Sampling Methods
Random sample: Each member of the population has an equal chance of being selected.
Pros: Generalizability, reduced bias.
Cons: May be difficult to implement in fieldwork, requires a complete list of the population.
Judgment sample: Participants are selected based on the researcher's expert judgment about their relevance to the research question.
Pros: Efficient for specific information, ideal for niche populations.
Cons: Potential for researcher bias, limited generalizability.
Snowball sample: Initial participants recruit further participants from their social networks.
Pros: Useful for hard-to-reach populations, builds on existing social ties.
Cons: Limited generalizability, potential for homophily bias (participants recruit similar others).
Data Analysis: Quantitative
Multidimensional scaling (MDS): A technique used to visualize the similarities or dissimilarities between data items (e.g., dogs, characters) as distances in a low-dimensional space.
Social network analysis (SNA): A method for studying relationships between social entities (e.g., individuals, groups) through nodes and ties. (Peterson et al. 2021).
Data Analysis: Qualitative
Coding: A systematic process to categorize and organize qualitative data.
The process typically involves:
Starting with raw data (e.g., interview transcripts, field notes).
Grouping related information into overarching themes.
Developing specific codes (labels) from these themes and the data itself to represent patterns and concepts.
Challenges of Fieldwork
Gaining social acceptance: Establishing trust and rapport within the community.
Adjusting to new environments: Dealing with unfamiliar climates, food, customs, and living conditions.
Language barriers: Difficulty communicating effectively without fluency in the local language.
Isolation and loneliness: Being away from familiar social networks and support systems.
Culture shock: The psychological discomfort experienced when encountering a drastically different culture.
Reverse culture shock: The disorientation experienced upon returning to one's home culture after prolonged immersion elsewhere.
Illnesses: Exposure to new pathogens and health risks in unfamiliar environments.
Completing an Ethnographic Project
Upon leaving the field, researchers must consider their impact on the community and the state in which they leave it.
Writing Ethnographic Work
"Thick Description" (Clifford Geertz):
Goes beyond superficial observations to provide a deep, contextualized understanding of human behavior.
It aims to distinguish a simple biological "twitch" from a culturally embedded "wink."
Key aspects of understanding a "wink" through thick description:
What is its primary social role?
What are its secondary or nuanced roles?
How can one identify winks that denote a conspiracy?
How can one identify winks that are parodying winks denoting a conspiracy?
It moves from superficial responses and bare observations to analyzing deep relationships and underlying tensions within a cultural context.
Ethnographic Frames of Reference
Etic: A frame of reference from cultural outsiders.
Objective, analytical, and cross-culturally applicable categories.
Emic: A frame of reference from cultural insiders.
Subjective, culturally specific understandings and meanings.
Etic vs. Emic: Considerations
Which is which?
Example 1: "What game species are preferred by local hunters? Why do they prefer certain species to others?" - This leans Emic, as it seeks local preferences and reasons.
Example 2: "How many net calories do they consume through hunting alone? Is there seasonal variation?" - This is primarily Etic, as it measures quantifiable data from an external, scientific perspective.
How to weigh the pros and cons?
Etic Pros: Comparability across cultures, broader scientific insights, quantifiable data.
Etic Cons: May miss local nuances, can impose external biases, superficial understanding.
Emic Pros: Rich, contextualized understanding, insider perspective, culturally sensitive.
Emic Cons: Difficult to compare across cultures, potential for researcher 'going native,' can be subjective.
Should anthropologists prefer one over the other?
Ideally, anthropologists strive for a balance, integrating both perspectives to achieve a comprehensive and nuanced understanding of culture. An exclusive reliance on either can lead to an incomplete or biased analysis.