Transcript Cultural Anthropology

Cultural Anthropology
What is it?
Anthropology
Comparative study
of human societies
and cultures
Anthropology – comparative study
of human societies and cultures
 What do we eat
 What do we wear
 What shelter do we use
 How do we determine rights and
responsibilities?
 How do we live together?
 What is meaningful to us?
Anthropology – comparative study
of human societies and cultures
 In an effort to understand who we are,
anthropologists strive to understand the
variety in humanity by comparing
similarities and differences.
Anthropology – comparative study
of human societies and cultures
 Anthropology is holistic –
seeks to understand human beings as
whole organisms
who adapt to their environment
through a complex interaction of biology
and culture
How?
 What do anthropologists study?
Subfields of Anthropology
Cultural
Linguistic
Archaeology
Physical
Cultural Anthropology
Study of human thought,
meaning and behavior that is
learned and typical of groups
Cultural Anthropology
 What are the origins of shared behavior
in a group?
 How does behavior differ from group to
group?
 Does behavior or belief system change
over time?
 Are there general principles of similarity?
 Have power and coercion in interactions
with others played a role in change?
Cultural Anthropology
 How do we look for answers to these
questions?
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Ethnohistory- description of cultural past
based on written records, interviews, and
excavation
Subfields of Anthropology
Cultural
Linguistic
Archaeology
Physical
Linguistic Anthropology
The study of language and
how it is related to culture
Linguistic Anthropology
 Language is the tool we use to
communicate

To pass on learned behavior
Linguistic Anthropology
 Human speech is more complex and
more extensively used than in other
animals
Linguistic Anthropology
 Vocabulary indicates what is important to
a culture
Linguistic Anthropology
 Historical linguists study how languages
are related to each other

Indication of the history of the people
Subfields of Anthropology
Cultural
Linguistic
Archaeology
Physical
Archaeology
Study of past cultures
through material remains
Archaeology
 Often studies prehistoric societies—
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Societies that have no written records
Archaeology
 Reconstructs behavior from artifacts

Artifact – any object made, used, or altered
by humans
Subfields of Anthropology
Cultural
Linguistic
Archaeology
Physical
Physical Anthropology
Study of humankind from a
biological perspective
Physical Anthropology
 Cultural and physical adaptations allow
us to survive in many habitats
Physical Anthropology
 Studies processes involved in adaptation
and evolution
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Origins of humanity in the fossil record
Human variation – physiological
differences in modern human groups
Primatology – the biology and behavior of
other primates may give us ideas about
how early humans lived
Subfields of Anthropology
Cultural
Linguistic
Applied
Archaeology
Anthro
Physical
How do our perceptions affect
the study of other cultures?
Ethnocentrism
 The notion that one’s own culture is
superior to any other
 Judging other cultures by our
culture’s standards
Ethnocentrism
 This is the glue that holds a society
together


Sticking with people who agree with your
beliefs reinforces your world view
This is why it is hard to blend into a new
place: which aspects of old culture to keep
and which aspect of new to adopt
Ethnocentrism
 Ethnocentrism gets dangerous when
political, economic, technological
differences between groups give one
group power to exclude another group
from basic rights and freedoms.
Ethnocentrism
 This is when we look for physical
differences that make a person’s group
affiliation seem easy to identify
Ethnocentrism
 This is when we look for physical
differences that make a person’s group
affiliation seem easy to identify
 But each trait varies in ways that make it
impossible to draw a clear line
Ethnocentrism
 Therefore race is a cultural construct
 No group of humans has been isolated
from others long enough to make it
different
Ethnocentrism
 Since each anthropologist comes from
the perspective of his/her own culture
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We must be careful not to engage in
ethnocentrism
We must recognize our own culture as one
way of living among many
We must strive to understand other
cultures on their own terms
Cultural Relativism
 People’s values and customs must be
understood in terms of their own culture.
Emic vs. Etic
 Emic approach –
seeks to understand
culture from the
inside
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Learn to think and
act as a native
Use concepts and
structures
meaningful to the
culture under study
Emic vs. Etic
 Etic approach – seeks
to explain behavior
using rules and
structures that can be
used to compare to
other cultures but may
not be meaningful to
the culture under
study
Cultural Anthropology
 How is this meaningful to you?