CULTURAL ANTHROPOLOGY 2351 Lecture
DIVERSITY AND RACE Chapter 5
I.
Human diversity and Race
A) Race (a discredited concept in Biology).
1. Historically there are 2 main approaches (K107)
a) racial classification, an approach that has been rejected
b) the current explanatory approach, which focuses on understanding specific
differences
2. Kottak (107) claims that a biological race would be a geographically isolated subdivision
of a species. Kornblum (415) sees it similarly when he claims that race is an inbreeding
population that develops distinctive physical characteristics that are hereditary.
a) such a subspecies would be capable of interbreeding with other subspecies of the
same species
b) However, geographic isolation would eventually lead to the development of a new
species
3. Parrillo (23) notes that racial classification is merely a sociopolitical construct, not a
biological absolute
a) Parrillo says that in the past “race” has been used to as a general term to include
both racial and ethnic groups giving it both a biological and social meaning
b) Recently, ethnic group has been used to include the 3 elements of race religion and
national origin
4. Kottak (108) says that gradual shifts in gene frequencies between neighboring
populations (no sharp breaks) are called clines
a) C. Loring Brace (Heider 57) claims that early explorers who traveled on land from
Herodotus (5th century B. C. E.) to Marco Polo (14th century) were aware of human
physical variation but were not tempted to think in terms of racial categories because
they had experienced the variations bit by bit in all of the clines
b) However, with the advent of ship voyages in the 15 th century which ended in the
discovery of the New World the idea of “races” began to emerge (due to a skipping
of the intermediate populations
5. Kottak (108) notes that racial classification has fallen out of favor in biology
a) Scientists had trouble grouping people into distinct racial units
b) A race is supposed to reflect shared genetic material, but early scholars used
phenotype (usually skin color) for classification {transparency}
c) According to Kottak (127) phenotype reflects an organism’s evident traits or its
manifest biology—anatomy and physiology
d) Using phenotype it is difficult to define certain races due to the number of variables
involved (skin color, hair eyes etc.)
6. Problems with racial labels
a) the labels do not accurately describe skin color (white and Hispanic can vary)
b) The three initial groupings (Caucasoid, Negroid and Mongoloid) did not cover all
groups, therefore, additional races had to be added
c) Another problem is that phenotypical characteristics on which races are based
supposedly reflects genetic material that is shared and has stayed the same for long
periods of time, but phenotypes do not have to have a genetic basis
d) An example of a non-genetic issue is the initially short statured population of Japan
e) This lack of height was based on diet and as Japanese begin to eat less traditional
foods the average height has begun to increase
B) Explaining skin color
1. Kottak (112) sees skin color as rooted in the ideas of Charles Darwin and Alfred Russell
Wallace, specifically, natural selection
a) Natural selection refers to the process by which nature selects the forms most fit to
survive and reproduce in a given environment (less fit organisms die out)
b) In Richard Leakey’s discussion on Darwin’s Origin of species notes that since the
1930s and 1940s the operation of natural selection has been widely recognized as the
driving force of evolutionary change and research has tended to confirm this
c) However, Leakey also admits that there are biologists who are unhappy with this
idea and criticize the “everything is adaptive” approach in what he admits is a valid
argument
d) He further notes that if one is looking for an adaptive explanation it is all too easy to
find one
2. Kottak (113) claims that skin color is a complex biological trait and is influenced by
several genes
3. Melanin is the primary determinant of skin color and the melanin cells of darker skinned
people produce more and larger granules of melanin than do those of lighter skinned
people
a) Melanin can be defined as (127) a substance manufactured in specialized cells in the
lower layers of the epidermis (outer skin layer); melanin cells in dark skin produce
more melanin than do those in light skin
b) Kottak (113) notes that by screening out ultraviolet radiation from the sun, melanin
offers protection against a variety of maladies, including sunburn and skin cancer
4. Kottak believes natural selection or resistance levels to ultra violet radiation explains the
geographic distribution of skin color
a) The darkest populations in Africa evolved in the sunny open grasslands
b) Once one leaves the tropics located between the tropics of Cancer and Capricorn
(north or south)skin color gets lighter
c) In the tropics those with the darker skin color are more protected from UV radiation
(sunburn increases potential for disease and impairs the body’s ability to sweat and
UV radiation can cause skin cancer)
d) Another issue relating to geographic distribution of skin color is vitamin D
production by the body
e) In northern Europe where clothing is important for protection from the cold vitamin
D production (from UV radiation) is reduced potentially diminishing the absorption
of Calcium by the intestines and leading to rickets (a softening of the bones)
f) The protection against this is light skin color which maximizes the absorption of UV
radiation
g) In the tropics the dark skin color protects against excessive absorption of UV
radiation since too much radiation can lead to hypervitaminosis where calcium
deposits build up in the body’s soft tissues (potentially fatal)
C) Social race
1. Kottak (116) notes that the races that we hear about every day are culturally constructed
and have little to do with biological differences
2. Wagley (Kottak 116) claims that they are biological races or groups assumed to have a
biological basis but actually defined in a culturally arbitrary rather than scientific manner
3. In the U.S. racial identity is established at birth
a) Kottak (116) gives the example that the child of a “white” parent and a “black”
parent is automatically labeled as black when genetically it would be as logical to
label them white
b) He also says that anyone known to have a black ancestor in some states is considered
to be black
c) This idea of identity established at birth has not always held true
1 Quan (1982) claims the Chinese in early Mississippi were initially considered to
be “black” and intermarried into that population in small numbers
2 However, the arrival of increasing numbers of Chinese women and
establishment of a normal family life led the Chinese to be moved into their own
racial category
3 Quan notes that the movement to this new category in the post 1920s period
brought them a higher status that placed them between black and white
groupings in the Mississippi mindset of the period
4
One of my professors at L.S.U. suggested that historically I would have been
black because my skin is darker than a sheet of paper suggesting that ideas of
ethnicity/race change
d) The notion of automatic “blackness” despite having one white and one black parent
is a rule of descent or an assigning of social identity on the basis of ancestry
e) Kottak and Harris argue that the U.S. notion could be called hypodescent because it
places children of mixed ancestry in the minority category
f) Hypodescent helps divide American society into groups that have been unequal in
their access to wealth power and prestige
D) Race in the Census
1. Kottak (117) claims that the U. S. Census Bureau has gathered data by race since 1790
2. This early census format included the name of the head of the household, the number of
free white males under 16, and 16 and older, the number of free white females of any age,
the name of a slave owner, and number of slaves owned by that person
a) technically the census did not ask for race other than white, but it can be assumed
that those listed as slaves are African American
3. It was not until the 1820 census that nonwhite females (slaves) were enumerated and a
counting of non-naturalized foreigners offered potential for the counting of other ethnic
groups
4. It was not until 1850 that the category listed as color and the listing of birthplaces arose
allowing researchers to discover people of different ethnicities (such as Chinese,
Mexican, etc.)
5. Even with the 1850 census some racial groups would be difficult to discern even knowing
the birthplace
6. Examples of possibly erroneous data related to name or birthplace
a) Antonio Rodriguez one of the “Spanish” founders of Los Angeles was in actuality of
Chinese ethnicity. He was baptized as a Roman Catholic and given a Chinese
Christian name (Steiner 78-80)
b) The second story is of Mexico in 1635 where Spanish barbers became so upset by
the proliferation of Chinese in their profession that they successfully petitioned the
government to have them (the Chinese) expelled from the city
7. Kottak (117) notes that racial categories in the more recent U.S. censuses include white,
black, Indian, Eskimo, Aleut or Pacific Islander and Other
8. Kottak also notes that efforts to create a “multiracial” census category have been opposed
by the NAACP and the National Council for La Raza (a Hispanic group) because
minorities fear that their clout will decrease if their numbers go down
9. The Canadian census handles the race issue differently and asks about “visible
minorities” or people who are non-Caucasian in race or non-white in color.
E) Other Cultures perspectives on race (see Kottak119-123)
F) Stratification and Intelligence
1. Cognition (Heider 158) often refers to how people think which undoubtedly has an effect
on their learning styles
2. Anthropologists are most interested in how different cultures organize knowledge and
what meanings they give to it
3. Heath (Heider 158) studied two different communities in the U.S. Southeast and made 2
different findings about cognitive styles
a) She saw that in the white community children were constantly being quizzed with
questions demanding answers of knowledge (the answers to which the adult
questioner already knew)
b) In the black community children were posed questions that had no particular right
answer, questions that evoked creative responses
c) Do you think that this creates differences in the fundamental way these children
think? Or is it reflective of parental cultural values? Or something else?
4. Kottak (123) notes that over the centuries racial ideology has been used to show that
minorities are innately inferior in intelligence, ability, character or attractiveness
This ideology defends stratification as inevitable, enduring and “natural—based on
biology not society
a) stratification refers to marked differences in wealth, prestige and power between
social classes {Po White transparency}
6. However, most anthropologists believe that behavioral variation among human groups
rests on culture rather than biology
7. There is good evidence that within any stratified society that differences in performance
between economic, social and ethnic groups reflect their different experiences and
opportunities
8. Kottak notes (124) that even scientists bring up doctrines of innate superiority
a) One of the best known examples is Jensonism (named for educational psychologist
Arthur Jenson) which claims that African Americans on average, perform less well
on tests than Euro-Americans and Asian Americans
b) Jensonism claims that blacks are hereditarily incapable of performing as well as
whites do.
9. Herrnstein and Murray came out with The Bell Curve: Intelligence and Class Structure in
American Life (a New York Times Best Seller)
a) Kornblum (122) argues that The Bell Curve claims that inequality in the U.S. is
increasing because of biological differences among various population groups in
these societies
b) Kornblum further claims that The Bell curve says that growth in occupations
requiring advanced education etc. is creating an environment where certain people
are doomed to fail
c) Again Kornblum notes that their findings are that SOME black and Hispanic
population groups fall below those of whites and Asians
d) Kornblum states that Herrnstein and Murray demonstrate a correlation between what
they term cognitive classes (based on IQ scores) and poverty resulting from inability
to succeed in a demanding economic environment
e) Opposition from social scientists (Kornblum) comes from 3 reasons
1 criticism of IQ as a single measure of intelligence (intelligence is too complex)
2 there is evidence of cultural and middle class biases in the questions used to test
IQ
3 Criticism from scientists that Herrnstein and Murray are treating a correlation
like a causality (because poverty and IQ are correlated does not mean that that
IQ causes poverty)
10. Herrnstein and Murray—their view
a) Murray (554) notes that “when we began work on the book, both of us assumed that
it would provide evidence that would be more welcome to the political left than to
the political right, via this logic: If intelligence plays an important role in
determining how well one does in life, and intelligence is conferered on a person
through a combination of genetic and environmental factors over which that person
has no control, the most obvious political implication is that an egalitarian state is
needed to compensate the less advantaged for the unfair allocation of intellectual
gifts”
b) Murray notes that the book has been attacked as advancing some right wing political
agenda (Murray sees himself as a libertarian and Herrnstein as a liberal who had
become moderately conservative later in life)
c) Murray claims that there are three important conclusions in the Bell Curve
1 All races are represented across the range of intelligence, from lowest to highest
2 American blacks and whites continue to have different mean scores on mental
tests, varying from test to test, but usually about 15 IQ points different
3 Mental test scores are generally as predictive of academic and job performance
for blacks as for other ethnic groups (and that the test over predicts black
performance)
5.
11
12
13
14.
15.
d) They (562) claim that the main implication concerning public policy is to “return as
quickly as possible to the cornerstone of the American ideal—that people are to be
treated as individuals, not as members of groups”
Another issue concerning Hispanic and Black ratings suggested by Kottak (124)
a) Kottak suggests that bilinguals (at least some of the Hispanic population and if
Ebonics is counted possibly part of the black community) do less well on IQ tests
b) This seems to point to the idea that while bilinguals are less focused on the English
realm that they have knowledge of another language and culture that is not being
measured against those who know English only
c) Kottak also suggests that class differences are reflected in tests since the writers are
educators from North America and Europe it should not be surprising that middle
and upper class children do the best
Intelligences examined by others
a) Heider (158) notes that intelligence is difficult enough to describe in a singular
culture and that it is much more difficult to describe cross-culturally
b) This brings to the foreground the idea that because of the problems posed by culturespecific cognitive styles and culture specific knowledge questions that it cannot be
assumed that IQ tests have pan-cultural validity
Gardner, in dealing with intelligence proposed the theory of “multiple intelligences,”
which suggests that intelligence is not a single unitary skill
Gardner’s theory lists at least 7 “intelligences”
a) Musical intelligence or the ability to access the sensed world most effectively by
translating events, thoughts, and feelings into rhythm and sounds producing music by
composing, singing, and/or playing on an instrument
b) Bodily-kinesthetic intelligence or the ability to imagine and perform movement
with the body through dance, sports, and/or other acts that require the smooth
integration of the body’s part in an activity (examples sewing, painting, hunting,
fishing, wood work, pottery making)
c) Logical-Mathematical intelligence or the ability to internally visualize and
manipulate symbolic qualities, quantities, and distances, thereby using the mind as a
tool to interpret realities and solve puzzles/problems in the material world. It should
be noted that this ability is not limited to paper and pencil application of these skills,
for individuals can be very good at everyday quantitative estimations of such basic
things as comparative grocery store prices
d) Linguistic Intelligence or the ability to accurately hear and decode spoken sounds
and words; the ability to carefully read, comprehend language, and write effectively
(the oral version of this intelligence is demonstrated in public speaking, storytelling
and elaborate joking)
e) Spatial Intelligence or the ability to look at physical objects, mentally visualize
them in their three dimensional component parts and understand how they function
(example: a mechanic who can take an engine completely apart and put it back
together again so that it works)
f) Interpersomnal intelligence or the ability to interact with other people, understand
them, and intuit correctly what is required to communicate effectively (example: a
friend who seems to “really understand” you, some politicians etc.) {do family
business}
g) Intrapersonal Intelligence or the ability to think introspectively about oneself,
extrapolate about others, and identify uniquely insightful ideas about human realities
(examples: poets, philosophers, counselors)
My theory on intelligence: is that if something is done well it is intelligent whether a
profession or a building of plastic models.
a) However, some intelligences are broader (a profession versus a fairly specific skill of
building a model).
b) Also some intelligences may be more useful than others (a profession provides
income and model building usually does not)
c)
The idea of usefulness is couched in terms of what is generally thought {class
survey} and not in terms of subjectivities of individual valuation
1 Earning money for an artist or a non-capitalist may be less important than doing
an excellent job building a model (providing there is a choice between the two
intelligences)
d) people have multiple intelligences and some may be unrelated to others
1 As an example, I can do very fine work building a miniscule model, but
generally I have the coordination of a houseplant
2 In Gardner’s intelligences this would be Bodily-kinesthetic intelligence, but it is
limited to finger coordination as opposed to larger muscle coordination
e) One of my professors noted that intelligence in a Japanese sense tends to relate to the
idea that a woman knows how to “catch a man”
1 She argued that this is not “traditional” intelligence, but I disagree and see it as a
sort of intelligence (as opposed to women who do not know how to catch a man)
2 This intelligence is merely a small part of a multitude of intelligences
f) Of course most of these intelligences are subjective where either the individual sees
themselves as intelligent in an area or others tell them that they are good at “x”
g) Even when someone is told they are doing something well (or poorly) it is difficult to
discern whether the statement is from a certain perspective (political etc.) or is a
supportive statement or if the evaluator actiually knows what they are talking about
h) Cross cultural misunderstandings can add to this mix of doing something well/not
doing something well
i) These intelligences can be measured “scientifically” in some cases, but even then the
subjectivities of the tester or the test writer are being examined
CULTURAL ANTHROPOLOGY 2351 Lecture
ETHNICITY Chapter 6
I.
Ethnicity
A) Definitions
1. Kottak 151 defines ethnicity as identification with, and feeling part of, an ethnic group
and exclusion from certain other groups because of this affiliation
2. Kottak 131) defines an ethnic group as a specific culturally defined group in a nation or
region that contains others
3. Parrillo 549 sees ethnicity as a cultural concept in which a large number of people who
share learned or acquired traits and close social interaction regard themselves and are
regarded by others as a single group on that basis
4. This contrasts with his (Parrillo’s) definition of race or a categorization in which a large
number of people sharing visible physical characteristics regard themselves or are
regarded by others as a single group on that basis
5. Webster’s dictionary defines the term ethnic as of or relating to a people whose unity
rests on racial linguistic religious or cultural ties
6. My definition would differ a bit from these definitions to include the idea of a mixed
ethnicity i.e. those of more than one ethnic group
a) Compared to Kottak’s definition I would not argue about exclusion from other
groups due to their perception of ethnicity, but the individual might not feel any real
kinship with their ethnic groups (or be willing to pick a single one)and may take
cultural items from each one in a “multi-ethnic identity” (It is simplistic to assume
that multiethnics assume a singular ethnic identity)
b) In Parrillo the issue of close social interaction may not be the case for what I call
“Outsider” minorities who may even have a singular ethnic group, but circumstance
makes them the only one of their kind during social interactions (growing up with
only parents of the same ethnic group)
B) Ethnic groups and ethnicity
1. ethnicity is based on similarities between members of the same ethnic group and
differences between that group and others
2. Kottak (134) notes that members of an ethnic group have shared beliefs, values customs
and norms—which are actual and perceived
3. He also says that members of an ethnic group (not ethnicity) define themselves as special
and different from other such groups because of cultural features
4. Issues surrounding an ethnic group may be a collective name, belief in common ancestry,
a sense of solidarity, and an association with a specific geographical territory
5. Feelings about one’s ethnicity can vary within a country and over time
6. Kottak 134 notes that the importance of ethnic identity may also change during a life
cycle (young people may relinquish and old people may reclaim ethnic identity—or vice
versa)
a) this reestablishment of culture can lead to non-traditional cultural items being
accepted as part of their heritage such as fortune cookies for ethnic Chinese (these
cookies although invented can actually be seen as a part of Chinese-Americaness)
7. Different members of a family may feel differently about ethnicity than their parents or
brothers or sisters
8. Members of an ethnic group may have both shared and differing experiences
9. Individuals also construct their own social identities
10. In the scientific sense status encompasses the various positions that people occupy in
society (there are always multiple statuses such as Hispanic, Catholic etc.
11. In my thesis I tried to get at a primary status for individuals by asking them how they
thought of themselves primarily (offering examples)
a) my findings among women in the Chinese community in Houston suggested a
diversity of perceptions including their former profession, Christian, housewife,
Chinese American , woman, American Born Chinese, Taiwanese American,
12.
13.
14.
15.
16.
17.
18.
corporate worker, by profession, U.S. citizen and Asian American with many
choosing multiple categories suggesting that they had no clear cut primary identity
Kottak (135) notes that some statuses are ascribed where people have little or no choice
about occupying them (age, race, gender etc.)
Achieved status (135) is not automatic and comes through choices, actions, efforts,
talents and accomplishments (physician, senator)
a) Achieved status is in line with the idea of a meritocracy or educational and/or social
status advancement of the most intelligent or talented members of a society
Kottak (135) believes that often, ethnic groups, which are based on a combination of
ascribed and achieved statuses, are minorities
Kottak 135 claims that in terms of status that minority groups are subordinate and have
less power and less secure access to resources than do majority groups
a) This idea is not always true and Kottak notes this
1 Stalin in the former Soviet Union was a Georgian was effectively a dictator over
the majority Russians
2 The Manchus (Yin-Nationalities), a “nationality” in the current People’s
Republic of China united China under their rule in 1644
3 In South Africa, a minority “white” government ruled until recently (Kottak’s
example)
b) Kottak notes that minorities need not have fewer members than the majority
1 He is clearly arguing that a minority (Webster’s claims that this is less than halt
of a total) can be a majority and vice versa
2 Again the postmodern question arises about a word being defined to the point
that it loses most of its meaning
3 I realize that Kottak and others are referring to a sort of subjective minority (if
one has less power then one is a minority in terms of power)
4 However, the word minority should be changed to something else to avoid the
connotation of a smaller number than the dominant group being involved
Kottak (135) notes that statuses such as male and female can be mutually exclusive
(except in a few cases).
However, in a few cases assuming a status demands a conversion experience especially in
religion.
In Kottak, (136) Situational negotiation of social identity is defined as the idea that
claimed or perceived identity varies depending on the audience
a) The text offers Sammy Sosa and the idea that he is perceived as black by Blacks and
Hispanic by Hispanics based on their perceptions
1 Do you think these groups would accept Sosa as readily into their group if he
was not famous or a possible role model for their children?
2 Do you think that they would want to declare him to be of another race if he
were infamous?
b) As an example, an individual who is Catholic and mixed ethnicity (Hispanic, white
and black) and appears white in physical appearance
c) If this individual is relating to Catholics he/she can claim to be a member of the
catholic faith, but if speaking to those hostile to Catholicism could remain silent or
possibly lie about being Catholic
d) In terms of the mixed ethnicity there are quite a few possibilities
1 If speaking to a Hispanic (Hispanics can be white, black or racially mixed)
audience the individual can claim to be Hispanic or if speaking to an ancestral
group such as Cubans could claim to be Cuban
2 If speaking to a white audience the individual could claim to be “white”
3 If speaking to a black audience, although white in appearance many African
Americans who practice Afrocentrism will accept the individual as black
especially if they have done something to bring positive fame (not infamous)
4 However, despite these momentary movements to ethnicity the individual may
actually see themselves as containing all of these ethnicities when alone
5
Another example of this is when I spoke to individuals in the Chinese
community and found myself constantly referring to Americans as “them” even
though I was born in the U.S. In my case it was a simplification to express the
idea that my mode of thinking is vastly different than those from “mainstream”
America
C) Ethnic Groups, Nations and nationalities
1. Kottak (137) notes that the term nation was once synonymous with “tribe” or “ethnic
group” or a cultural community
2. However, today in common usage a nation has come to mean a state or an independent
centrally organized political unit—a government
3. Nation and state are seen as synonymous and when combined in nation-state they refer to
an autonomous political entity or a country (most nations have heterogeneous
populations)
a) This idea goes back to Heider’s idea of a society versus a culture where a society is
denoted by geographic boundaries and a culture is not measured by geography
4. Groups that now have or wish to have or regain autonomous political status are called
nationalities
5. Andersen sees nationalities as imagined communities (discuss?) where not all relations
are face to face yet there is a conceptualization of group
6. The media can be seen as playing a role in the development of national consciousness
7. In Indonesia the media has been harnessed to help establish the idea of Indonesianess
because it is an artificial category due to the large number of ethnic groups living there
8. Dispersed populations who have left their homelands (voluntarily or not) are referred to
as diasporas
a) An example of a diaspora is the Overseas Chinese population
1 The overseas Chinese reside all over the world and there are several reasons for
their movement out of China
2 In the 1800s much of the Chinese arrivals in the U.S. were due to poor living
conditions in Canton province in China and the opportunity to make a living in
the U.S.
3 Many of these workers came only temporarily and were called “sojourners”
4 More recent immigrants or “flexible citizens” who may only have a different
passport are pursuing greater profits or fled the “takeover” by the P. R. C. of
Hong Kong (political issues)
5 There are also immigrants from the Mainland who are poor and seeking a better
life
6 Lastly, there are students who are here to obtain an education and could be seen
as sojourners rather than permanent residents (although some may stay)
9. Colonialism (140) refers to the political, social, economic, and cultural domination of a
territory and its people by a foreign power for an extended time
a) In Africa colonial powers often erected boundaries that corresponded poorly to
preexisting cultural divisions
b) The colonials often followed a “divide and rule policy” that split up ethnic groups
between colonies to dilute the strength based on population potentially arrayed
against them
c) However, interethnic contacts brought about by colonial institutions helped create
“imagined” communities beyond nations
1 Kottak 140) claims that an example is negritude or black association and
identity
d) Khapoya (145) offers a more in depth examination of whether colonialism hurt or
helped the African people (strong feelings over this issue exist on both the African
and European sides of the issue)
e) Khapoya’s negative issues concerning colonialism
1 It hindered economic development (resource depletion, labor exploitation, unfair
taxation, lack of industrialization, the prohibition on inter-African trade and the
introduction of fragile one crop economies or monocropping)
The increasing of interethnic rivalries by the British through “indirect rule”
causing conflicts that continue today
A Indirect rule refers to identifying the local power structure and then
manipulating the leaders to become a part of the colonial administration
(Khapoya 128)
B Where chiefs did not exist the British created them
C The result from this sort of government was the reinforcement of separate
Ethnic identities for the Africans
3 French rule was based on direct rule where the empire was governed directly
from Paris through the governor
A Khapoya (130) notes that African “chiefs” were appointed under French
rule, but the loss of local political structures prevented the “Balkanization” of
the region by avoiding the British policy emphasizing tribal chiefdoms
4 Under both the British and the French problems were created with traditional
authority patterns in Africa
5 The creation of artificial boundaries caused problems in the political arena
6 Khapoya argues that the imposition of Christianity led to several problems
A the destruction of African culture and values leading to a mentality of
dependence and boredom/discontent (ennui)
B ultimately it led to the loss of confidence Africans had in themselves, their
institutions and their heritage
f) Khapoya’s 5 positive aspects of colonization that scholars generally agree on (146)
1 introduction of Western medicine has increased survival rates in African
populations
2 introduction of education helped to broaden the African outlook and provided
many of the leaders of independence movements
3 the limited infrastructure built by colonials is the foundation on which African
leaders built their new national institutions and Africans gained important skills
working in colonial bureaucracies
4 the introduction of Islam and Christianity simplified spirituality and created a
potential grounds for greater unity
5 Lastly, by imposing arbitrary boundaries on the Africans, the Colonial powers
may have shortened the process of state formation (the usual process involves
the waging of wars and annexing weaker neighbors causing great suffering)
D) Peaceful co-existence (Kottak 141 claims 3 ways—assimilation, pluralism and
multiculturalism)
1. Assimilation 141 (discussed earlier) describes the process of change that a minority group
may experience when it moves to a country where another culture dominates.
a) By assimilating, the minority culture adopts the patterns and norms of the host
culture
b) It is incorporated into the dominant culture to the point that it no longer exists
(Integration)
2. This view of assimilation is what Parrillo (54) calls the assimilation (majority
conformity) theory and can simply be put as A+B+C=A
a) Stewart calls this the “transmuting pot” theory—all minority groups should divest
themselves of their distinctive ethnic characteristics
3. Gordon claims that assimilation has several phases (Parrillo 55)
a) Cultural assimilation (acculturation) is an early phase that involves the change of
cultural patterns to those of the host society
b) Marital assimilation—the large scale intermarriage with members of the majority
society
c) Structural assimilation—large scale entrance into clubs, cliques and institutions of
the host society
d) Identificational assimilation—the development of a sense of peoplehood or ethnicity
based exclusively on the host society not one’s homeland
2
e)
Attitude-Receptional assimilation—reaching the point of encountering no prejudiced
attitudes
f) Behavior-Receptional assimilation—reaching the point of encountering no
discriminatory behavior
g) Civic Assimilation—the absence of value and power conflict with the native born
population
4. The amalgamation or “melting pot theory” states that all diverse peoples blend their
biological and cultural differences into an altogether new breed (American) expressed as
A+B+C=D
5. Kottak 142 uses Barth’s definition of a plural society as a society combining ethnic
contrasts, ecological specialization (different environmental responses from different
ethnic groups and the economic interdependence of those groups (ethnic boundaries are
stable and enduring
6. Parrillo 59 suggests that this theory recognizes the persistence of ethnic and racial
diversity and is also known as the accommodation theory represented by
A+B+C=A+B+C
7. Parrillo recognizes 2 types of pluralism
a) Cultural Pluralism—2 or more culturally distinct groups living in the same society in
relative harmony
b) Structural Pluralism—the coexistence of racial and ethnic groups in subsocieties
within social-class and regional boundaries (note social class working etc., regional
chinatowns)
8. Multiculturalism 143 views cultural diversity as something desirable and to be
encouraged.
9. A multicultural society socializes individuals not only into the dominant culture, but also
into an ethnic culture
10. Kottak 144 notes that several forces have propelled North America away from
Assimilation and towards multiculturalism
a) Multiculturalism reflects the idea that migration from less developed countries to
developed countries introduces a higher level of ethnic variety in the host nations
possibly creating an environment for multiculturalism
b) People from less developed countries with better educations migrate and can become
political organizers and effective advocates of multiculturalism
c) People are interested in expressing ethnic identities for political and economic
reasons (even some “whites” such as Italians)
d) The world is going through an ethnic revival as a probable response to globalization
E) Roots of Ethnic conflict
1. Prejudice and Discrimination
a) Prejudice (145) is defined as devaluing (looking down on) a group because of its
assumed behavior, values abilities or attributes
b) Prejudiced people often believe stereotypes or fixed ideas often unfavorable about
what the members of a group are like
c) Discrimination (145) refers to policies and practices that harm a group and its
members
d) Discrimination 2 types concerning the law
1 de facto—practiced, but not legally sanctioned (harsher treatment for minorities
from police)
2 de jure—part of the law (segregation in the Southern U.S.)
e) Discrimination 2 types
1 attitudinal discrimination—people discriminate against members of a group
because they are prejudiced against that group (KKK) with its most extreme
form being genocide (designed to destroy a whole or a part of an ethnic, racial,
religious etc. group)
2 Institutional Discrimination—refers to laws, policies and arrangements that deny
equal rights to or differentially harm members of particular groups (segregation)
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
A Another form of institutional discrimination is environmental racism (146)
or the systematic use of institutionally based power to formulate policy
decisions that will lead to the disproportionate burden of environmental hazards
in minority communities (not always intentional)
Aftermaths of oppression 147-149
a) A dominant group may try to destroy the cultures of certain ethnic groups which is
called ethnocide
b) The dominant group may also use forced assimilation where the ethnic group is
forced to adopt the dominant culture
c) Another force of oppression is Colonialism that involves the domination of a
territory and its people by a foreign power for an extended time
d) A modern version of colonialism is neo-Colonialism defined by Thompson and
Hickey (235) as when advanced industrial nations use economic clout rather than
direct political or military intervention to maintain their privileged position in the
world economy
e) Cultural colonialism refers to internal domination by one group and its
culture/ideology over others (Soviet Union)
The “Worlds” as labels
a) The first World is that of the capitalist nation-states traditionally in opposition to the
2nd world
b) The second world includes the former communist nations in the Warsaw Pact and the
Soviet Union
c) The Third World includes developing nations that are not aligned with either the 1 st
or 2nd worlds
d) Kornblum (286) adds a 4th world composed of illegal immigrants or stigmatized
minorities working under similar conditions to the third world
Kornblum notes that the development of the more modern advanced nations actually
impedes development in the newer nations, or at least channels it in directions that are not
always beneficial
Frank proposes that when peasants give up subsistence agriculture and trading in local
markets because their land has been absorbed into plantations then peasants are
transformed into landless rural laborers (This is one of ideas that the neo-Zapatistas are
fighting for—land for indigenous peoples)
Wallerstein’s world systems theory divides the world into core states, semiperipheral
areas and peripheral areas
a) core states are the most technologically advanced that dominate in the banking and
financial realms of the World Market (ex. Japan, U.S,)
b) Semiperipheral areas are areas where industry and financial institutions are
developed to an extent, but are reliant upon capital and technology from core states
(ex. Spain, Middle east oil producers)
c) Peripheral areas supply basic resources and labor power to the core states and
semiperipheral areas
d) Wallerstein claims that the system is based on various forms of domination and does
not require political repression
e) Kornblum notes that there are drawbacks to this system since nations are not
uniformly developed (coast and interior of P.R.C.)
CULTURAL ANTHROPOLOGY 2351 Lecture
LANGUAGE AND COMMUNICATION Chapter 7
I
Language and Communication
A) History of Language
1. Nobody knows exactly when language started, but it is suggested that writing has existed
about 6000 years
2. However, depending on Senner’s meaning of “writing precursors” and if these precursors
are “writing” then cave drawings of the Upper Paleolithic (35,000-15,000 B. C.) would
signify the beginning of writing
3. Tokens (clay with different icons on them) are also considered a precursor to writing
(before cuneiform) developed near 8000-7500 B. C.
4. Senner notes that spoken languages evolved over tens of thousands of years
5. He also claims that at one time (19th century) cuneiform writing “the earliest script known
to man” was considered the ancestor of all writing (a monogenetic theory)
6. However, later evidence suggests multiple origins for writing
a) Cuneiform developed in Sumer about 3200 B.C.
b) Egyptian phonetic writing developed about 3000 B.C.
c) Chinese developed writing about 1500 B.C.
d) Mayans developed writing in 292 A. D., but there is evidence of earlier
developments leading up to them
e) And other languages
7. Some of the earliest writing was not alphabetic, but was in the form of Pictograms (ex.
Silhouettes on restroom doors or a circle representing the sun)
B) Kottak (179) claims that Language is a human beings’ primary means of communication; and
may be spoken (speech) or written; features productivity and displacement and is culturally
transmitted
1. Kottak (160) claims that only humans speak and that other primates use calls that are
automatic and can'’t be combined (i.e. food and danger)
2. This notion could be called anthropocentric since some deep sea species have not been
fully examined (because they cannot be kept in captivity or because they have not been
identified yet) and it also rules out the possibility that somewhere in the vast universe that
there is another intelligent species that uses “language”
3. Kottak’s idea of cultural transmission of language is discussed later
4. Productivity in the Kottak definition refers to speakers of a language using the rules of a
language to produce entirely new expressions that are comprehensible to other native
speakers (he refers to “baboonlet for a small baboon)
5. Displacement in Kottak’s definition means humans can talk of things not present
6. Wardhaugh (3) claims that language is a system of arbitrary vocal symbols used for
human communication
a) Language is a system or else it could not be learned or used consistently with the
most basic observation about language being that it is composed of 2 systems (1 of
sounds and 1 of meanings)
b) All languages have this duality of sounds and meanings
7. Language is arbitrary, essentially we cannot predict exactly which specific features we
will find in a particular language if we are unfamiliar with that language or a related
language
8. However, things that are predictable about all languages are called linguistic universals
(5)
a) some examples of linguistic universals
1 all have nouns and verbs
2 all have devices that allow speakers to make statements, ask questions, and give
commands or make requests
3 all have consonants and vowels (except ancient Hebrew which had only
consonants in the written language)
4 all have the means to refer to real world objects and relationships
5
6
all allow their speakers the freedom to create original sentences
Deletion or the permissible omission of a part of a sentence is found in all
languages (ex. I could have gone and Peter could have too and I could have gone
and Peter too)
7 All languages have devices for negation
9. Language is seen by some as largely vocal since the primary medium of language is
sound no matter how well developed the writing systems
10. Wardhaugh claims that the best evidence shows that language originated in its oral form
and that writing systems are attempts to capture sounds and meanings on paper
a) the primary purpose of writing is to lend some kind of permanence to the spoken
language and not to limit that spoken language in any way
11. Language as a symbol. Essentially there is no common (or only a minimal) connection
between the sounds that people make and the objects to which these sounds refer
a) Language is a symbolic system in which words are associated with objects
12. Language is human in the sense that language is possessed only by humans
13. Language is communication and it allows people to say things to each other and express
their communicative needs
a) Bronislaw Malinowski notes that “language is a phatic (no definition found)
communion (among speakers)…a type of speech in which ties of union are created
by a mere exchange of words”
14. Sapir claims that almost any word or phrase can be made to take on an infinite variety of
meanings. However, despite complex patterns 2 are readily isolable.
a) reference—actual words and meanings
b) expression--emotion, tone sarcasm etc.
15. Charles F. Hockett explains what is meant by language through his 16 design features of
language
a) Vocal-Auditory Channel—messages originate from the vocal apparatus and are
received by the auditory apparatus (only deals with spoken and heard language and
ignores several areas including written messages
b) Broadcast Transmission and Directional Reception—Speech goes out in all
directions, and the receiver can identify the direction of the source of the sounds
c) Rapid fading—Speech messages do not last
d) Interchangeability—Any speaker can utter any message (flexibility in language)
e) Complete Feedback—speakers can monitor their own speech, although we often are
not fully aware of what we are communicating
f) Specialization—speech is solely for communication
g) Semanticity--words have meanings
h) Arbitrariness--The sounds of words do not have any necessary relationship to what
they mean
i) Discreteness—messages are composed of separate and separatable units (changing a
sound converts one word to another)
j) Displacement—messages may describe things and events distant in time and space
k) Openness--new, unique utterances are easily made
l) Duality—significant sounds (phonemes) combine into meaningful units
(morphemes)
m) Cultural transmission—specific languages are learned
n) Prevarication—speakers can make false statements (lie)
o) Reflexiveness—speakers can talk about talking
p) Learnability—speakers of one language can learn another language
C) Nonverbal Communication—hand movements, facial expressions and the use of personal
space are a few of the more obvious examples
1. Gestures—these seem to be learned and not biological, they can vary by culture and are
of 3 types
a) emblems—discrete gestures with specific meanings that could be used without
speech (thumbs-up for o.k. or “v” sign or cornuto)
b) illustrators—hand and arm motions that accompanied speech but have no direct
translatability and are meaningless apart from speech (for emphasis)
c) Butterworths—gestures that occur specifically as a part of an effort to recall a word
and/or find an appropriate sentence structure
2. Proxemics—the cultural use of space. Edward T. Hall offers 5 features
a) the distance between people (the dance of differing distance and comfort many
Arabs stand so close to each other that they smell the breath of the other—to do
otherwise would be rude)
1 as an example of the complex nature of distance E.T. Hall (Beyond Culture 98)
speaks of “intrusion distance” or the distance one has to maintain from the two
people who are already talking in order to get attention, but not intrude.
2 This idea depends on several aspects
A the activity
B Your status
C Your relationship in a social system (husband and wife, boss and
subordinate)
D the emotional state of the parties
E the urgency of the needs of the individual who must intrude (and other
issues)
b) the degree of eye contact (ogling/threatening stare versus culture, and not meeting
one’s eyes as shifty—southern Europe and Hispanics tend to have high eye contact
while Northern Europeans and East Asians have low eye contact)
c) the shoulder axis angle between 2 people (open or closed—Buffalo stance?)
d) the degree of touching (or nontouching) the concept in the U.S. vs. European views
e) Vocal volume (deafness, rudeness)
3. Kinesics—the study of communication through body movements, stances, gestures and
facial expressions
a) Birdwhistle (Heider 113) suggests that tertiary sexual attributes (after primary—ex.
Ovaries and secondary—ex. Breast development) are learned behaviors that
communicate masculinity and femininity
1 an example is intrafemoral angle or the notion that males sit with knees apart
and females with knees together
2 However, today this cultural attribute is changing due to women wearing pants
suggesting that instead of communication it may merely be reflective of
modesty
4. Choreometrics—or dance and work movements
a) 2 main torso movements
1 the trunk is held rigid and moves as a single unit (Europeans)
2 the trunk moves as 2 units with the hips and shoulders moving separately
(African/Polynesian/Elvis Presley)
b) Lomax, the author of this idea suggests that movement is communication and that
through it cultures communicate their sense of self and pride in their own traditions
D) The structure of language
1. The scientific study of a spoken language or descriptive linguistics involves several
interrelated areas (phonology, morphology, lexicon and syntax)
a) Phonology (164) is the study of speech sounds and considers which sounds are
present and significant in a given language
b) Morphology 164 studies the forms in which sounds combine to form morphemes or
words and their meaningful parts (Cats contains 2 1 the name of an animal and 2 the
plural)
c) A language Lexicon 164 is a dictionary containing all its morphemes and their
meanings
d) Syntax 164 refers to the arrangement and order of words in phrases and sentences
2. Speech sounds
a)
Phoneme is a sound contrast that makes a difference, that differentiates meaning
(claw and craw are 2 different words—different languages can have slightly different
phonemes i.e. r and l are not phonemes in Japanese)
b) Phonetics—165 is the study of speech sounds in general (scientific) {transparency}
c) Phonemics—165 studies only the significant sound contrasts (phonemes) of a given
language
E) Language, Thought and Culture
1. The Cognitive Revolution which started in the 1950s unseated behaviorism by suggesting
that there were innate components to human behavior
2. Noam Chomsky led the Revolution and pointed out the shortcomings of behaviorism and
proposed a basic innate species wide Universal Grammar
3. He believed Universal Grammar would account for the ease with which young humans
become fluent productive speakers of one language
4. He claimed that Universal grammar consists of very basic principles of grammar that are
a part of the genetic makeup of human beings
5. Pinker claims Universal grammar involves the ability to deal with subjects, verbs, and
objects and to learn the order that any particular language uses
6. Anthropologists as a group are divided over this issue
F) Linguistic Determinism versus Linguistic relativity
1. Linguistic determinism implies that language shapes thought
2. Linguistic relativism involves the idea that significant differences between languages
cause or at least are related to significant differences in cognition (not linguistic
relativity)
3. The Sapir-Whorf hypothesis (Kottak 180) is the theory that different languages produce
different ways of thinking (Anthropology language)
4. Sapir and Whorf (in Kornblum) assert that “a person’s thoughts are controlled by
inexorable laws or patterns of which he is unconscious”
5. Kottak (168) notes that lexicon (vocabulary) influences perception
6. A Focal Vocabulary is a set of words and distinctions that are particularly important to
certain groups (such as types of snow for Eskimos—dictated by the local environment)
7. Semantics are also important and refers to a language’s meaning system
8. Ethnosemantics studies 179 lexical (vocabulary) contrasts and classifications in various
languages and includes ideas such as kinship and color terminology
G) Sociolinguistics
1. Kottak (169) notes that no language is a uniform system in which everyone talks just like
everyone else
2. Sociolinguistics (180) is the study of relationships between social and linguistic variation
and the study of language (performance in its social context)
3. Heider claims sociolinguistics focuses on not just how women, or gays or Cambodian
peasants use their particular ways of speaking to indicate who they are (identity), but also
how talk and social context influence each other
4. Kottak (170) notes that variation within a language at a given time is historic change in
progress
5. Heider (121) states that language is the single most important feature of cultural identity
and that the language an individual speaks identifies the individual and his/her group
more definitively than any other cultural trait (including food, music and religion)
6. Kottak (170) proclaims that ethnic diversity in the U.S. is expressed by the fact that
millions of Americans learn first languages other than English
7. Whether individuals are bilingual or not their speech may vary in different contexts with
these changes being called style shifts (speech to a boss or a classroom may reflect less
slang)
8. In Europe some people regularly switch dialects known as diglossia (“high”—
universities and low variants—ordinary conversations—found in languages such as
German
9. Linguistic Relativity refers to the idea that all dialects are equally effective as systems of
communication, which is language’s main job
10. In terms of “gendered” speech men and women
a) pronounce vowels differently (men tend to pronounce them more “centrally” like
“runt” instead of rent and women tend to pronounce them more peripherally like
“rant” or “rint”)
b) women tend to use uneducated speech less than men
c) women usually swear less
d) Women (172) tend to build rapport or social connections with others while men tend
to make reports reciting information that serves to establish a place for themselves in
a hierarchy
11. Kottak (172) notes that we use and evaluate speech in the context of extralinguistic forces
(social, political and economic) with low status groups being seen as uneducated
12. Bourdieu views linguistic practices as symbolic capital that properly trained people may
convert into economic and social capital.
a) Social capital refers to the idea of the establishment of class or prestige (the nouveau
riche have the same money and often more than the “old money” individuals, but
their cultural capital is much lower)
b) Many Chinese immigrant families focus on the accumulation of social capital and
may enter the upper or middle classes
c) However, the system of acquiring social capital creates a “glass ceiling” for nonEuroamericans
d) Ong notes that a Euroamerican cultural hegemony determines and judges the signs
and forms of metropolitan status and glamour
e) She notes that as an ideological system of taste and prestige, symbolic capital
reproduces the established social order and conceals relations of domination
H) Historical linguistics
1. Historical linguistics (179) is a subdivision of linguistics that studies languages over time
2. This field tries to reconstruct features of past languages by studying contemporary
daughter languages (descendents of the same parent language that have changed
separately for hundreds or even thousands of years)
3. The original language from which the daughter languages diverge is the protolanguage
(French and Spanish came from Latin)
4. {transparency of Indo-European languages} This method of presenting languages as
an inverted family tree is called the Stammbaum or family tree of genetic relationships
between languages.
5. However, the Stammbaum model creates certain difficulties
a) Latin is seen as the dead parent of a living modern French, however, it is more
accurate to say that Latin is the French spoken in modern France or Latin has
become French
b) The tree diagram also suggests sharp separations among languages, yet languages
influence each other
6. An alternative model is Wellentheorie or “wave theory” that shows a language existing
in different dialects that overlap each other {transparency}
a) As the dialects become separate languages, they continue to have contact with each
other and to influence each other
b) The same kind of linguistic changes can occur over dialect boundaries and even over
language boundaries once dialects have become separate languages
c) A major drawback to Wellentheorie is that most researchers find it more difficult to
work with the wave model than the family tree model due to the variables being
more difficult to control
7. Languages change over time and can evolve into subgroups 176 (languages within a
taxonomy of related languages that are most closely related)
8. Dialects of a single parent language can become distinct daughter languages if they are
isolated from each other
9. Kottak does note that a similarity of language does not necessarily mean that speakers are
related biologically or culturally because people can learn new languages
I) Linguistic Geography in Texas {transparencies}
1.
2.
3.
Kurath mapped a pattern of dialects on the east coast and gave them the names Northern,
Midland (sub divided into Midwestern and Hill Southern) and Plantation Southern
Not all linguistic Geographers agree with Kurath and sub-dialects abound in all areas
In addition to the major English dialects other linguistic minorities exist such as Spanish
(abt. 2.5 million-1970), French (91000-1970) largely in Southeast Texas, German
(25000-1970) DO 1990 or 2000 Census for Texas
CULTURAL ANTHROPOLOGY 2351 Lecture
MAKING A LIVING Chapter 8
I
Adaptive Strategies
A) Cohen uses the phrase adaptive strategy 191 to describe a group’s system of economic
production
1. Cohen notes that the most important reason for similarities between two or more
unrelated societies is their possession of a similar adaptive strategy
a) an example would be similarities between foraging societies
2. Cohen has a typology based on correlations (covariation between 2 or more variables)
between their economies and social features including 5 adaptive strategies
a) foraging
b) horticulture
c) agriculture
d) pastoralism
e) industrialism—discussed in another chapter
3. Some problems with Cohen’s system
a) most people use mixed production strategies if possible (combinations of the
groupings)
b) each of these groupings includes a wide range of cultures
B) Foraging
1. Heider (183) claims foraging involves people hunting, fishing and gathering food that
they played little or no part in raising
2. Wenke notes that millions of years of foraging took place before the Agricultural
Revolution took place
3. Kottak 192 claims that up until 10000 years ago all people were foragers or Hunters and
Gatherers
4. Wenke notes that people all over began growing crops almost simultaneously during the
Agricultural Revolution from 10000-3500 years ago
5. The main difference between foragers and Agriculturalists is whether the food is wild or
domesticated
6. In many cases modern foragers have been exposed to modern food production, but did
not adopt it because they already have an adequate and nutritious diet for a lot less work
7. Kottak (192) notes that all modern foragers live in nation-states, depend to some extent
on government assistance and have contacts with food producing neighbors and outsiders
8. Wenke suggests that Hunters and Gatherers sometimes store foods and that societies of
this type have 3 characteristics that can be seen as normative for agricultural societies.
These are:
a) sedentarism
b) High population density
c) Development of socioeconomic inequalities
9. Kottak (194) suggests that foragers often live in band organized societies or small groups
of less than 100 people related by kinship or marriage (band size can vary by culture and
seasonally)
10. A second typical characteristic of foragers is mobility
11. Bands tend to be exogamous (marry outside the band) so the father and mother are from
different bands
12. Generally, people may join any band where they have kinship or marital links or relate
through fictive kinship (personal relationships like those between godparents and
godchildren)
13. Most foraging societies are egalitarian where contrasts in prestige are minor
14. However, there may be a clear division of labor where men fish and hunt and women
gather and collect (although the specific jobs may vary)
C) Horticulture
1. Horticulture, (216) also known as gardening is a non-industrial system of plant
cultivation in which plots lie fallow for varying periods of time
Horticulturalists’ fields are not permanently cultivated and can lie fallow for varying
lengths of time
3. Vegeculture can be a part of this technique because it deals with tubers and other crops
propagated from cuttings (not seeds) taken from leaves, stems or tubers of plants such as
manioc, yams, potatoes and taro
4. Heider suggests that there are 3 subdivisions of horticulture
a) occasional horticulturalists—often groups in this category live in marginal areas and
fall back on foraging during certain times of the year (or if other problems arise)
b) slash and burn or swidden horticulturalists—carve out fields from the forest (cut
down areas and then burn the cleared area), plant them for a couple of seasons and
then clear other fields
c) intensive horticulturalists who garden in the same plot for long periods of time
5. Slash and burn horticulture allows for the clearing of land, killing of pests and use of the
ash product to enrich the soil
6. The fields in slash and burn are often cultivated for only a year, but variations can occur
based on soil fertility and weeds
7. Horticulture in general is also called shifting or swidden agriculture
8. Despite the appearance of a constant shifting from plot to plot, sedentarism in the form of
large villages can occur
9. It should be remembered that many non industrial societies are on a cultivation
continuum
10. An example of this idea is intensive horticulture (between non intensive horticulture and
agriculture) where plots may be planted for 2 or 3 years allowed to rest for 3 to 5 years
(after several cycles they are fallow for a longer period)
11. This process is called sectorial fallowing and is associated with denser populations than
simple horticulture
12. 8 characteristics of swidden agriculture (in general)--Heider
a) usually tropical (between the tropics)
b) adzes (a tool with the blade set at a right angle used in shaping wood), axes, digging
sticks and hoes are used
c) the land is not altered
d) temporary shifting fields
e) minimal fertilizer use
f) no land ownership
g) movable settlements
h) a gender and age based division of labor
13. 8 characteristics of Horticulture (in general)—Heider
a) usually in tropical and temperate climate areas
b) axes, adzes, digging sticks and hoes are used
c) some field preparation takes place
d) semi-permanent fields are used
e) rare fertilizer use
f) informal land ownership
g) semi-permanent settlements
h) gender, age and some occupational division of labor
D) Agriculture
1. 8 characteristics of intensive agriculture (in general)—Heider
a) usually in tropical or temperate climates
b) animal drawn plows and tractors
c) land is leveled. Irrigation can be used and fields may be terraced
d) permanent fields
e) common fertilizer use
f) formal land ownership
g) permanent settlements
h) extensive occupational division of labor
2.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
An additional characteristic of intensive agriculture is the potential for monoculture or
huge single crop fields (Heider)
A second additional characteristic is the potential for cash cropping where food or other
items such as rubber, flowers or plants used for drugs etc. are grown for sale
Irrigation (one of the 8 characteristics) refers to providing water for fields through use of
canals, rivers, streams, springs and ponds
a) Kottak (198) notes that an irrigated field is a monetary investment that increases in
value
b) A drawback is that it takes time for a field to start yielding
c) A major problem is that in drier climates salts can accumulate in the soil rendering it
unusable after a period of time
d) Irrigation ditches can also be repositories for organic waste, chemicals and disease
microorganisms
Terracing (one of the 8 characteristics) refers to a cutting into hillsides to flatten them and
building retaining walls to keep the soil in (these may be watered from springs or canals)
a) advantages—instead of the soil being washed away it is retained allowing a
permanent cropping area that may offer high yields
b) disadvantages—it is labor intensive (canals must be maintained and terrace walls
must be repaired yearly)
c) Andes and Incan empire (loss of arable land due to disease decimating the native
populations and wartime disruption of terrace maintenance)
d) Tiananmen and the potential disaster in China
Intensive agriculture has several problems that can arise
a) deforestation can occur due to clearing land
b) loss of biodiversity can occur due to loss of habitats
c) desertification can occur due to misuse of marginal lands (due to tree loss etc.)
Intensive agriculture is usually associated with draft animals, which are domesticated
animals large enough to pull plows
Heider notes that very few of the large mammals of the world were capable of being
domesticated and that by 2500 B.C. all of these animals had been domesticated
Some areas of the world did not have animals capable of pulling plows or wheeled
vehicles such as sub-Saharan Africa, the Pacific and the Americas
In the Americas this lack of draft animals led to intensive agriculture not being
introduced until Europeans brought cattle and horses to the Americas
Agriculture is cultivation that requires more labor than horticulture does, because it uses
land intensively and continuously
Flannery notes that domesticates were derived from “third choice” foods, specifically,
foods that are more difficult to gather and process, but are easily storable, plentiful and
easy to grow
The importance of agriculture in relationship to civilization is noted by Wenke when he
claims that all of the major civilizations throughout history have been based on the
cultivation of 6 plant species
a) wheat
b) barley
c) millet
d) rice
e) maize
f) potatoes
Animals are also important, but the 6 species provide most of the energy to “run
humanity”
A problem of domestication is that plants and animals can become less “fit” for survival
a) Domesticated maize no longer has a way to disperse its seeds
b) A variety of sheep in Southeast Asia has a 5-8 lb. tail (from selective breeding)
making it necessary for humans to help the animals mate
16. Possibly the most important thing about agriculture is that the production of food is both
reliable and predictable allowing population densities to rise and the development of
sedentary communities
17. Agriculture is usually associated with state level society or complex sociopolitical
systems that administer a territory and populace with substantial contrasts in occupation,
wealth, prestige and power
E) Pastoralism
1. Pastoralists are herders whose activities focus on such domesticated animals as cattle,
sheep, goats, camels and yaks in a symbiotic relationship (herders protect flocks and
flocks provide food, money etc. for herders)
2. 2 patterns of movement in pastoralism
a) Pastoral nomadism 202 where the entire group moves with the animals throughout
the year(the Basseri of Iran followed a route of 300 miles to get their animals to high
pasture)
b) Transhumance 202 involves part of the group moving with herds, but most of the
people stay home in the village (in the Alps animals are moved up and down the
mountains to take advantage of highland meadows in the summertime)
F) Modes of Production
1. Kottak (202) notes that an economy is a system of production, distribution and
consumption of resources and that economics is the study of these systems with a focus
on modern nations and capitalist systems
2. A mode of production is a way of organizing production.
a) Wolf defines it as “a set of social relations through which labor is deployed to wrest
energy from nature by means of tools, skills, organization and knowledge”
b) In non-industrial societies labor is not generally bought but given as a social
obligation
c) In the capitalist mode money buys labor power and there is a division of labor
(bosses and workers) involved in the production process
3. Kottak (203) notes that although some kind of division of economic labor related to age
and gender is a cultural universal, the specific tasks assigned to each sex and people of
different ages vary
4. Many horticultural societies assign a major productive role to women, but some make
men’s work primary
5. The division of labor in simpler and more complex societies can be seen in terms of
Emile Durkheim’s ideas of mechanical and organic solidarity
a) Mechanical solidarity is based on strongly held and shared values and involves
everyone performing the same tasks and holding the same world view. Society is
held together by the commonalty
1 Some specialization does occur through the agency of spare time specialists or
those who are especially good at performance of a certain job such as making
arrowheads
2 However, there are few specialists and the family is a self sufficient unit
b) Organic solidarity is where each member has specialized knowledge and skills and
each contributes differently to the whole—modern industrial societies (Heider 181)
G) Means of Production
1. Kottak (204) notes that in non-industrial societies there is a more intimate relationship
between the worker and the means of production
2. The means or factors of production include land (territory), labor and technology
a) Land
1 Bands may have territories, but boundaries are usually not marked (rights are
acquired by birth into the band
2 Among food producers rights to the means of production (land) can come
through kinship or marriage
3 In modern societies land is often purchased for farming purposes
4 However, some land in Mexico and other areas has been redistributed to the
poor and in other nations the government has owned the land
b) Labor
1 In non-industrial societies both land and labor come through kinship networks
2 In industrial economies sometimes the workers own the means of production,
whereas in most countries individuals (owners and bosses) control the means of
production and workers have little input without organization (except under
certain market conditions)
3 Kottak notes (204) that craft specialization reflects the social and political
environment rather than the natural environment and this specialization
promotes trade creating a potential for peace (although it has not prevented
intervillage warfare)
c) Technology
1 In bands and tribes manufacturing is often linked to age and gender and most
people of a certain age and gender share common technical knowledge with
others of their age and gender
2 In states technology is specialized although some tribes do promote
specialization
3. Alienation—described by Kornblum as the feeling of being powerless to control one’s
own destiny; a worker’s feeling of powerlessness caused by inability to control the work
process
a) In non-industrial societies people usually see their work through from start to finish
and have a sense of accomplishment in the product (the fruits of their labor are their
own)
1 in this type of society the economy is not a separate entity from society
b) In industrial societies factory workers are producing an item for sale and for their
employer’s profit rather than for their own use and are, therefore alienated from the
item they have made (the product belongs to someone else
c) Do you think that all individuals feel alienated because of inability to control the
means of production?
d) Do you think that all people want to see a finished product that they feel belongs to
them?
H) Economizing and Maximization
1. Kottak 205 claims that economic anthropology is concerned with 2 main questions
a) How are production, distribution and consumption organized in societies (systems of
human behavior)?
b) What makes people produce, distribute or exchange and consume (focus on the
motives of individuals)?
2. Economists assume that producers and distributors make rational decisions arising from
profit motive (as do consumers)
3. Kottak (206) claims that the subject matter of economics is often defined in terms of
economizing
a) Economizing is the rational allocation of scarce means (or resources) to alternative
ends (or uses) [wants are infinite and means are limited, therefore, choices must be
made about resources i.e. labor, time, money capital]
4. This notion of maximizing profit does not always hold true and individuals may be
motivated by other goals
I) Resource allocation (Kottak 207 uses several terms for this)
1. People build up subsistence funds where they work in order to meet their caloric needs
2. People work toward a replacement fund in order to maintain their technology and other
items essential to production
3. People develop a social fund that they have to help their friends, relatives, in-laws and
neighbors
4. A ceremonial fund can also be established for ceremonies or rituals (ex. A festival to
honor one’s ancestors)
5. Kottak notes that people in non-industrial states must establish a rent fund to pay an
individual or agency that is superior economically (taxes, rent paid to landlords)
J) Distribution, Exchange
1.
Polanyi defines three principles to study exchange cross-culturally. These are the market
principle, redistribution and reciprocity
2. The principles can all be present in the same society although one usually predominates
3. The market principle is associated with a capitalist economy and governs the distribution
of the means of production: land, labor, natural resources, technology and capital
(purchasing and selling)
a) The law of supply and demand is a key principle for a market where things cost more
the scarcer they are and the more people want them
b) Bargaining (also a form of reciprocity) is also a part of these type of exchanges
4. Redistribution operates when goods, services or their equivalent move from the local
level to a center
a) Officials may consume some goods, but the flow usually reverses and moves out
from the center into the general populace
5. Reciprocity (209) is defined as the exchange between social equals who are normally
related by kinship, marriage or by another close personal tie
6. There are 3 degrees of reciprocity: generalized, balanced and negative
a) generalized reciprocity 211 is characteristic of exchanges between closely related
people
1 the people who engage in this type of reciprocity expect nothing concrete or
immediate in return
2 Generalized reciprocity can be divided into 2 types
A A pure gift is never returned and is given between social intimates (kin—or
others depending on belief systems)
B A gift has delayed reciprocity and has a close social distance (kin, neighbor)
b) balanced reciprocity 211 applies to exchanges between people who are more
distantly related than are members of the same band or household
1 balanced reciprocity can be divided into two types
A Barter has short term reciprocity and is based on a medium level of social
distance (friend or civil other)—Heider
B Bargaining has immediate reciprocity and is based on medium level social
distance (friend or a civil other)
c) negative reciprocity mainly deals with people outside or on the fringes of their social
systems
1 The time lag for return is never and the social distance is extreme (enemy or
Other)
K) In North America all 3 types of exchange principles exist although the market principle
governs most exchanges
L) Kottak 216 offers the notion of a potlatch or a competitive feast among Indians on the North
Pacific coast of North America
1. He notes that potlatching is based on the economically irrational drive for prestige
through giving away or destroying certain goods
2. While not an economic system it is in line with the notion of social capital
3. It is also in line with the idea of a “social refrigerator” where those who give away items
and food can gain them in times of scarcity through the establishment of social
“obligations” from others