What is anthropology?
Anthropos: human being
-ology: study or science
Focus of anthropology:
human beings establish and live
their social lives in groups
Diversity of the ways
given meaning to their experiences
Subfields of anthropology
Archeology
Linguistics
Physical or Biological anthropology
Cultural/Sociocultural anthropology
What makes us human?
 How do we differentiate ourselves from
animals?
1. Humans use tools (together with some
animals)
2. Humans communicate through complex and
abstract concepts:
We have languages
Humans use symbols
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WHAT ARE SYMBOLS?
Symbols are behaviours, images, words
that express ideas which are too complex
to be stated directly example: flag
3. Humans organize themselves, their
surroundings and the world into conceptual
categories.
organizing the world conceptually
binary oppositions = contrasting
conceptual pairs
(Lévi-Strauss - French anthropologist)
(one way of imposing order on human
experience)
up/down, sun/moon, men/women
Most human groups make a distinction
between themselves and other groups with
whom they come into contact (either those
with whom they compete or those with
whom they co-operate)
such as we and they / us and them
We make classifications, we try to give
order to the world we live in.
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Human groups tend to identify themselves
with their environment (animals or physical
features that provide them with their
livelihood)
 How do we learn to identify ourselves with
these things?
through socialization.
Socialization is the process of learning and
passing the available skills, customs and
knowledge to the next generations.
Enculturation is a process of cultural
transformation to infants and other new
members, also called socialization. (Miller)
NB! Some anthropologists makes a
distinction between the two. We will use
them interchangeably.
What is culture?
Definition:
diversity of ways in which humans establish and
live social lives in groups
Biology and culture interact with each other.
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Historical development of the understanding of
the concept of culture and its definition:
Culture is that complex whole which includes
knowledge, belief, art, morals, custom and any
other capabilities and habits acquired by man as a
member of society. (Tylor 1871)
until 1960s
Culture was seen as the realm of observable
phenomena or customary pattern of behaviour
(things, events etc.)
1970s onwards
culture as systems of ideas, or structures of
symbolic meaning
organized system of knowledge and belief
whereby a people structure their experience and
perceptions
1980s onwards
Culture is not a thing, should not be treated as a
noun
more realistic to say 'people live culturally rather
than they live in cultures' (Tim Ingold 1994).
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Culture is acquired and learned.
knowledge, experience
symbols
direct and indirect
conscious and unconscious
Unity of mankind?
idea of cultures (in the plural)
refers to the diversity of ways in which humans
establish and live social lives in groups
idea of culture (in the singular)
assumed a universal scale of progress
is based on social evolutionary thought
Culture is shared.
Culture is symbolic.
Culture and nature
Culture is integrated.
Humans are creative, they act in culture creatively.
Culture is adaptive and maladaptive.
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 What is the distinguishing feature of modern
anthropology?
approach rather than the subject matter (not
limited to the study of the 'exotic other')
1.CULTURAL RELATIVITY
not making judgements about other
peoples' beliefs, behaviour patterns or
customs
ethnocentrism
viewing the world through our own
cultural
glasses,
assessing
others
according to our own yardsticks and
criteria/belief in the supremacy of our
own ways of doing things
2. CROSS-CULTURAL AND COMPARATIVE
variations of human conditions all over the
world
3. HOLISTIC
focus on the whole social context
insider or local perspective
tries to understand the native point of view
insider perspective = emic
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outsider perspective = etic
etic-emic-etic (ideal)
Features of cultural
representation)
anthropology
(Miller's
a) Ethnography
b) Cultural relativism versus ethnocentrism –
cultural diversity
c)Holism
 How do anthropologists conduct research?
understanding?
what is important or relevant
understanding of a phenomenon in the abstract
and definition of its characteristics
we have to have theory
we operate with questions, assumptions,
methods and evidence
a theory
is a general statement about
relationship between phenomena,
systematic
relationship
between
observed entities.
a paradigm
the
the
the
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is a fundamental model or scheme that
organizes our view of something.
Paradigms are, so to speak, larger theories
which include smaller ones
example: Newtonian physics and Eisteinian
physics.
Anthropological knowledge
 ethnography
ethnography: writing about other peoples
making sense of other peoples' modes of
thought
participant observation
living with them to learn, performing with
them to experience
key informant
traditionally, a knowledgeable person /a
person who shares her/his views and
knowledge of the society and "gossips"
with the anthropologist! :-)
Issues in Cultural anthropology
a) biological
determinism
versus
cultural
constructionism
b) emics and etics: interpretive anthropology
and cultural materialism
c) structurism versus individual agency
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social structure?
the formal organization of group
living, including politics, economics,
kinship, and religion.
power of the larger forces over individual,
structural limitations versus
individual's ability to act, influence, resist and
negotiate with the larger forces/structures.
d) social structure versus function and change
Culture (specialized forms of field and issues of
cultural anthropology
Culture versus nature
integration/adaptation
symbols
Multiple world of culture
Class/race/ethnicity/gender/age/religion/cast
Economic systems
Modes of production
property relations and division of labour
Sustainability of modes of production
foraging, horticulture, pastoralism, agriculture,
industrialism
society
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a group of people occupying a territory and
sharing a language and culture
social structure
the formal organization of group living,
including politics, economics, kinship, and
religion.
relationship between world view and culture
learned yet not homogeneous
experience
(meaning-creating persons - acting agents)
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