WELCOME to Anthropology
1AB3/SCAR 1R03!
Introduction to Anthropology RELIGION, RACE and CONFLICT
Professor - Dr. Karen McGarry
What’s going on this
winter term???
Latest incarnation: In-class begins
Jan. 31 but check A2L for updates
daily, or turn on A2L notifications
Until Jan. 30 – lectures recorded and
posted asynchronously; after Jan. 30
– in person, but all lectures recorded
What I do:
• Dr. Karen McGarry – Undergraduate Chair,
Associate Professor of Anthropology
• B.A. and M.A. in archaeology
• PhD in cultural anthropology – anthropology
of sport and pop culture spectacle; how
sport intersects with identities like race,
class, gender and/or sexuality
• My email and office hours are on the
syllabus
What I Teach:
— 1AA3 (Sex, Food Death) and 1AB3 (Religion,
Race and Conflict)
— ANTHRO 4BB3: Issues in Cultural
Anthropology: Anthropology of Zombies and the
Undead/ Anthro of Sport
— ANTHRO 3PD3: Perspectives and Debates
— ANTHRO 3TR3: Tourism
Your Teaching
Assistants (TA’s)
There are no tutorials in this course, but you will
each be assigned a TA.
Your TA grades all of your work and holds weekly
office hours. Please see your TA if you have
questions/problems about the assignment.
TA’s will be assigned during Week 2
Policy on emails
• All e-mail must come from your McMaster email
• Put 1AB3/1R03 in the subject line
• Provide your name and student ID in the email
• E-mails will be answered within 48 hours (not inc.
weekends)
• We also cannot respond to emails re: grades. Please see us
during office hours re: grades
• Please do not email us asking about info that is already
posted on the syllabus
Required Text –
Custom text for 1AB3
See the syllabus and use the link for either Red Shelf or
Vital Source to purchase an electronic version of the
custom text for this course
Additional readings posted to A2L
Course Evaluation
Due dates on syllabus – assignment 1 will
be discussed and distributed during week
2
Assignment 1: 25%
Assignment 2: 25%
Test 1: 25%
Test 2: 25%
Note: no exam during the April
Registrar’s office exam period
Student Accessibility
Services
Your documentation is sent to me
electronically. You are also welcome to set
up an appointment with me to discuss
Any extensions are not automatic and
must be negotiated with me a minimum
of 2 business days prior to due dates.
AVENUE TO
LEARN
• http://avenue.mcmaster.ca
• Log on using McMaster ID (e.g.
mcgarry) and password
• Access to grades
• Discussion/notice forum
• Interesting internet links related to
Anthropology
• Access to powerpoint slides
• Additional readings
So….you’re an Anthropologist….
Anthropology?
•Anthropos = ‘humankind’
•Logia = study of
•The systematic study of humankind in all
times and places
So what is
anthropology?
• Study of human cultures, past and
present. They explore similarities and
differences in cultures and why these
similarities/differences exist
• There are different types of anthropology,
depending upon what you are interested
in (eg. archaeology for past cultures or
cultural anthropology for present
societies)
• Anthropologists study all aspects of
humanity – religion or worldview,
technology, politics, economics, arts,
family structures, etc. But, we can’t focus
on everything in 3 months!
Course Goals
• Understand how qnthropologists investigate
issues relating to religion/worldview, race,
and conflict
• Reflect on how our identities are shaped by
culture
• Think critically about issues & develop your
writing skills
Crack Dealers in East
Harlem, NYC
• Why study them? -- to
understand how poverty and
racism shape their choice to sell
crack and join gangs
• Anthropologist Philippe
Bourgois
Extracting Ancient
DNA
• Hendrick Poinar (McMaster
Anthropology) – ancient DNA;
disease in the past; evolution of
disease; sequencing genome of
the Black Death
Mummies!
Dr. Andrew Wade (McMaster)
The Mummipedia Project:
https://www.facebook.com/Mumm
ipedia
Margaret Lock – organ transplants
vWrote “Twice Dead: Organ Transplants and
Reinvention of Death”
vNorth American – organ
transplants are legal; mind/
body split
Japan – transplants are rarely
performed
My work:
Sports celebrities
(swimming and figure
skating), nationalism
and identity
Social Sciences:
vAnthropology, Geography, Sociology,
Psychology – all study people. So what
makes anthropology unique or different
from these disciplines?
1) Methods – Long term fieldwork –
excavation (archaeologists and physical
anthropologists) or living/interacting with
people for a year or more (cultural or
linguistics)
2) Interest in prehistory – anthropologists have
the ability to not only study present-day
cultures but prehistoric peoples as well
3) Commitment to holism –1) interdisciplinary
perspective (working together with other
specialists) to get a more “complete” picture of
a culture; 2) exploring all integrated aspects of a
society
Other important features of
anthropology:
Anthropology is Historical
• How did we come to be the way we are?
• What forces in the past have shaped us?
Anthropology is Comparative
•What do all humans have in common?
•How do we differ?
•What are the reasons for this difference?
Anthropology and
Culture
All anthropologists study
CULTURE
“System of meanings about the
nature of experience that are
shared by a people and passed on
from one generation to another,
including the meanings that
people give to things, events,
activities and people.”
We all have similar experiences
(life, death, etc.) but we
experience them differently and
attribute different meanings to
them.
So culture…
Is shared/universal
Is learned and NOT
biological/innate
Can make particular groups
of people distinctive
Provides a common code of
conduct
Can promote inclusivity
Example:
Chairs, within the cultural
context of educational settings,
have particular cultural
meanings. In traditional
Western settings, chairs in
schools:
-are utilitarian – often not
stylish or “pretty”; cheap
fabric/material
-often have desks attached
-are an “instrument of control”
Chairs…
•
Try to create an “orderly”
student population
•
Are often in rows or aligned
looking straight ahead so
that the students are easily
observed in space
•
Chair arrangements become
more orderly and
“disciplined” the further
along a student
progresses….eg.
Kindergarten classroom:
Versus high school:
So what do we learn about our
culture from studying how we
use chairs?
We live in a culture that values attentive bodies
and we manipulate objects and space to
enforce this.
Is EVERYTHING cultural?
• No! Anthropologists also recognize that BOTH
biology and culture shape our bodies and some
behaviours. As such, many anthropologists adopt a
BIOCULTURAL approach to the study of
humanity
• Eg. Diseases like certain forms of cancer – combined
result of both genetics and cultural trends/choices
(food, exercise habits, having children, etc.)
Four main sub-fields of
anthropology
• Archaeology
• Biological (or physical) anthropology
• Linguistics
• Cultural (also called sociocultural or social
anthropology)
ALL: involve long term fieldwork, are comparative,
historical
The Four Subfields of Anthropology
vBiological (or physical) anthropology
vArchaeology
vCultural (sociocultural/social) anthropology
vLinguistics
Plus: Applied anthropology
Note: Divisions among fields are “NOT SHARP”
This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-NC
Cultural Anthropology
• The study of contemporary cultures and societies
• Culture is defined as transmitted, learned behavior
• Methodology – participant observation, interviews
• Ethnography – a description of an aspect of culture within
a society
Archaeology
• The study of past societies and their
cultures using material remains (e.g.,
tools, ceramics, sites)
• Examples of material remains include
artifacts (portable, hand-held objects
left behind), architecture found on
archaeological sites (areas of past
human occupation)
Pop culture images of archaeology:
Archaeologists
• Do not get to keep artifacts
• Are not interested in perceived “value” of an object, but in
what we can learn about past societies from the object
• Eg. ancient Egyptian pot – remains inside the pot can help
reconstruct diet, decorations on pot can tell us about
lifestyle, identity and status of person associated with it, or
even the date/time when it was made
This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-SA
Linguistic Anthropology
• Studies the construction and use of language by
human societies
Two of the most common types of linguistics:
• Structural linguistics – language mechanics and
meaning…eg. Christine Shreyer’s work on Superman:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RDnmNHKli_A&t=11
3s
• Sociolinguistics – the relationship between language
and social behaviour
Doggo Lingo Memes or
“Doggo-speak”
Features of Doggo-speak:
-stresses innocence (no swearing ’– heckin’)
-mis-spelled words (eg. “halp”)
-super-friendly
-diminutive suffixes – eg. ”o” as in “doggo”
Christine Shreyer conlangs
Biological (physical) anthropology
•Studies all aspects of the biology
and behavior of the human species
(and our closest relatives), past and
present
Primatology:
òJane Goodall is a physical anthropologist (primatologist)
òStudied chimp behavior in Gombe Park, Tanzania
Forensic Anthropology (a type of
Biological anthro)
• Anthropology & the law
• Accidental death, crime scene investigation,
human rights investigations
arm
legs
skull
Paleoanthropology
òStudy of the human
fossil record
òWhen and where do
we see the first
evidence for humans?
*Paleontology – fossil
animals and plants
Refers to the use of anthropological methods and
concepts to solve “real world” problems
Applied
anthropology/Anthropology
of practice
Some examples:
1) Medical anthropology; eg. Anthropologists working
with WHO during the Ebola crisis in East Africa, Mark
Nuttall – Indigenous peoples and climate change
2) Design anthropology – user experiences of products
or experiences
IDEA COUTURE – corporate Anthro
Key concepts in
anthropology:
Ethnocentrism
and cultural
relativism
• The idea that your beliefs or way of life are superior to
someone else’s. Ethnocentric attitudes are often used to
justify things like colonialism, slavery, warfare and
imperialism, among other things
• Can lead to pervasive inequalities
Ethnocentrism
• Not just a phenomenon of industrialized or “western”
countries – see p. 32
• The Paradox of ethnocentrism – the idea that
anthropologisy can compbat ethnocentrism through
showing, in a nuanced way, how cultural practciex are
rationalized and “make sense” within particular cultural
contexts; all cultural behaviours have to be contextualized
The Nacirema – Backwards for “American”
Miner
article: Body
Ritual
among the
Nacirema
Founding hero, “Notgnihsaw” = Washington
Fundamental belief that “human body is ugly and
that its natural tendency is to debility and disease”
Use body rituals to avert this
Shrines/ritual centres for the body = bathrooms
Who are the Nacirema?
• Read the word backwards:
NACIREMA
AMERICAN
Who are the Nacirema?
“They are a North American
group living in the territory
between the Canadian Creel
the Yaqui and Tarahumare of
Mexico, and the Carib and
Arawak of the Antilles.”
Characteristics of the Nacirema
• Highly developed market economy
• “Much of the people’s time is devoted to economic pursuits, a large part of
the fruits of these labors…are spent in ritual activity”
• “The focus of this activity is the human body, the appearance and health of
which loom as a dominant concern…”
Nacirema Shrines
• Every household has one
or more shrines devoted
to this purpose.”
Shrines= Bathrooms
How they see the body
• “..The human body is ugly and that its
natural tendency is to debility and
disease.”
• “man’s only hope is to avert these
characteristics through the use of
the powerful influences of ritual
and ceremony…”
• HOW?
• “The more powerful
individuals in society
have several shrines in
their houses… the
opulence [wealth] of a
house is often referred
to in terms of the
number of such ritual
centers it possesses.”
• “Most houses are of wattle
and daub construction, but
the shrine rooms of the
more wealthy are walled
with stone…”
Shrine Box and Shrine Chest
• “The focal point of the shrine is a
box or chest which is built into the
wall...are kept the many charms
and magical potions…”
Box/Chest= Medicine
Cabinet
Medicine Men and their ancient secret language
• “These preparations are
secured from a variety of
specialized practitioners…
medicine men…they decide
what the ingredients should
be and then write them
down in an ancient and
secret language…”
•Medicine men= Doctors
•Ancient/secret language=
Prescription with handwriting
So bad no one can read it…almost
like a whole new language
Latipsoh
• “medicine men have a
latipsoh in every
community of any size…
[where] the more
elaborate ceremonies
required to treat very
sick patients [are]
performed”
Latipsoh: hospital
[backwards]
Holy-Mouth-Men
• “…below the medicine
men…are specialists…holymouth men”
Holy-mouth men=
Dentists
• “Were it not for the rituals of the mouth, they believe that
•
•
•
•
•
Their teeth would fall out
Their gums bleed
Their jaws shrink
Their friends desert them
Their lovers reject them
Community
Water Temple
• “The holy waters are secured
from the Water Temple of the
community, where the priests
conduct elaborate ceremonies to
make the liquid ritually pure.”
Water
purification
ritual
Main points:
• There is no such thing as a PRIMITIVE culture, or an
EXOTIC people. These terms are ethnocentric and
racist.
• Such practices are not “barbaric” or “primitive.”
• Anthropologists are attuned to how we talk about and
visually represent different groups of people
The opposite of ethnocentrism
Cultural
relativism
Refers to the belief that all cultures are
unique and that behaviours can only be
understood within the framework of
the history and experiences of a
particular people
Female Genital Cutting (FGC)
A human rights violation? Western feminists often refer
to FGC as “female genital mutilation.”
What would an anthropological approach advocate?
Janice Boddy – Hofriyat in southern Sudan; virginity is a
symbol of family honour and not necessarily a lack of
sexual experience, despite the fact that it can cause
female suffering. So why practice reinfiburlation?
In Hofriyat, virginity equated with fertility more than
sexual practice (or lack thereof); virginity can be renewed
Infibrulated women – as “mothers of men” which is a
high status role
Thinking about Identities
Race and religion are forms of identity
This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-SA
A sense of personal or shared affiliation
that can provide a sense of belonging;
can also be exclusionary. Our identities
are CULTURALLY CONSTRUCTED.
What is
identity?
Examples: race, religion, sexuality,
gender, age
Identities are intersectional: eg. someone
may identify as African-American, middle
age and upper-class woman
Example of a NATURALIZING
DISCOURSE:
We naturalize our familial
identities – we assume that
shared genes/’blood’
automatically means that this
leads to shared social bonds
National
identities
are also
naturalized
on
occasion:
• Eg. “Red-blooded American” –
presupposes the idea that you
must be BORN in America to
claim American
citizenship/identity
Nature versus Nurture?
(or biology versus culture)
Are our identities biological (ie. Are we
born with them) or are they the result of
cultural forces?
Margaret Mead, 1928 –
“Coming of Age in Samoa”
Establishing
difference
What are some of the ways in
which we communicate the
distinctiveness of identities to
one another?
Identities as EMBODIED -- we
use our bodies (consciously or
unconsciously) to express
identities
Expressing Identity and
Difference:
òLanguage – what identities are
expressed/negotiated via language?
òClothing – example of Homa Hoodfar’s
work on veiling among young Muslim
women – stresses the importance of
ethnography, cultural relativism and of
obtaining diverse perspectives
in fieldwork.
Expressing Identity:
òBurials and
associated grave goods
Body modification
Developing or
strengthening identities…
• How do we reaffirm or strengthen identities and
maintain ties with others?
Marcel Mauss (18721950)
• Nephew of Emile Durkheim (famous sociologist)
• what is important is not the gift but the social
ties/bonds that are formed through obligation
Christmas gifts:
John Carrier argues that commodities are turned into
gifts in these ways:
1) “thought that counts”
2)
Frivolous or luxurious gifts
3)
Wrapped
4)
Shopping to find “right” gift – ritual to convert a
commodity into a gift
Ultimately strengthens or fosters familial or other
bonds.
How do we
mark
changes of
identity?
Rites of Passage: Term coined in 1908 by Arnold Van
Gennep. Elaborated upon by Victor Turner (1950’s1980’s)
Rites of passage are marked by rituals that
accompany many changes in status/identity. Rituals
= repetitive, often symbolic events or ceremonies
These can be secular or religious.
Three stages: Separation, Liminality and
Reincorporation
Separation
• Often involves physical separation or isolation from a particular group
• Can involve symbols of separation (cutting hair, wearing different clothes)
• Think of
military hair cuts:
A stage of being “betwixt-andbetween” identities
A transitional zone/time
Liminality
Eg. think about how students are
“liminal beings”
Develop a sense of COMMUNITAS.
What is communitas? Examples?
Reincorporation
When you are fully
reintegrated into society
with a new status/identity
Race
• Refers to the presumed hereditary characteristics of a
group of people, which often express themselves in
terms of phenotypical differences; often assumption
that there exist behavioral differences
• BUT, race is not biological; it is a culturally constructed
form of identity
• Many people tend to assume that race is an ASCRIBED
status
• But race is a CULTURAL concept, not a biological one,
and therefore, it is important for us to study as
anthropologists
Next
lecture:
Guest
speaker,
Ravneet
Sidhu
Ravneet Sidhu
Graduate Student under direction of Dr.
Hendrik Poinar with McMaster’s Ancient
DNA Centre
Studies ancient pathogens from
archaeological and other remains
Topic: why is race NOT a biological reality?
RACE & GENETICS
ANTHROP 1AB3 – JAN 24TH
RAVNEET SIDHU (B.SC.), MCMASTER ANCIENT DNA CENTRE
UNDERSTANDING
RACE & HUMAN
VARIATION
¡ Understanding lenses
through which concepts of
race have developed and
how scientists use genetics
to dispel them is imperative
¡ Genetic technologies allow
researchers to understand
the evolution of human
variation
BIOLOGICAL RACE CONCEPT
¡ Belief in the biological reality of multiple distinct
populations descended from a common ancestral
group
¡ There are believed to be distinct traits such as
physical appearance (i.e., skin colour) and
behavioral traits (i.e., intelligence) which are found
within whatever populations/caste/tribe etc. that is
being studied
SOCIO-CULTURAL RACE CONCEPT
¡ Understanding that social/cultural/self/individual/group-defined races/ethnic groups/populations play a role in
defining social relations and identities
¡ Understanding that cultural attitudes towards race/racism are real and have social ramifications
RACE IN PHYSICAL/BIOLOGICAL ANTHROPOLOGY
¡ Historically reifying/validating/looking for the presence of separate human races or subspecies
¡ Resulting in the production of racist ideologies via the misuse falsification and biased production of scientific
information
¡ Today – American Association of Physical Anthropology (AAPA) – seeks to end these practices and prevent their
re-emergence
CARL LINNAEUS (1707-1778)
¡
Swedish naturalist
¡
Founded binomial nomenclature (i.e., Genus species – Homo sapiens)
¡
Misconstrued evolution
¡
Used morphology, geography, and moral judgements to classify
humans
¡
Created subspecies of Homo sapiens: America, European, Asian, African
¡
Also included H. sapiens monstrous: “wild men”, deformed, mystical…
¡
Troglodytes
¡
Satyrs
¡
Cavemen
JOHANN FRIEDRICH BLUMENBACH (1752-1840)
¡ German naturalist, anatomist, anthropologist
¡ Defined 5 geographic races based on morphological differences
¡ Caucasian, Mongolian, Ethiopian, American, Malay
¡ Idealized “Caucasian” type became the “best”
HISTORICALLY DEFINING ‘RACES’
¡ Racial classifications were based on:
¡ Morphology (i.e., skull size & shape)
¡ Hair colour, Eye colour, skin colour
¡ ABO blood groups
¡ Geography
ASCERTAINMENT BIAS
¡ Related to sampling/selection bias
¡ Occurs when data are collected such that some
members of the target population are less likely t be
included in the results than others
¡ Therefore, the sample population is biased because
we have made is systemically different from the target
population
HISTORICAL SIGNIFICANCE
¡ These classifications were/are a form of othering
¡ Establishment and consolidation of biological race and practices of racialization uphold white supremacy
¡ We cannot separate the biological concepts of race from where and when they began as it emphasizes why they
must be challenged
MODELS OF HUMAN
EVOLUTION
¡ Candelabra model
¡ Multiregional evolution
¡ Replacement
¡ Assimilation
CANDELABRA MODEL
¡ Early hominin ancestors in Africa 2 million years ago
¡ They migrated to other continents (Asia, Australasia,
and Europe)
¡ They then independently evolved anatomically
modern features
¡ This hypothesis fell out of favour!
¡ Doesn’t explain the presence of so much shared
genetic material between groups
MULTIREGIONAL MODEL
¡ Early hominin ancestors in Africa 2 million years ago
¡ They migrated to other continents (Asia, Australasia,
and Europe)
¡ They then independently evolved anatomically
modern features
¡ Some amount gene flow occurs between groups as
they interact with one another over time
REPLACEMENT
¡
All modern populations are descendants of an ancestral
group which evolved into anatomically modern humans
in Africa more recently than 2 million years ago
¡
Following this transition there was a dispersal of
anatomically modern humans into the rest of the world
¡
The anatomically modern humans outcompeted other
archaic hominins living in Asia, Australasia, and Europe
¡
In Africa the transition into the anatomically modern
humans had already occurred
¡
This model came about to explain what happened to
archaic hominins outside of Africa
ASSIMILATION
¡
All modern populations are descendants of an ancestral
group which evolved into anatomically modern humans
in Africa more recently than 2 million years ago
¡
Following this transition there was a dispersal of
anatomically modern humans into the rest of the world
¡
When anatomically modern humans reached new areas
of the world, there was assimilation and interbreeding
between all these regions, and between archaic hominins,
such as Neanderthals
¡
Data from Human, Neanderthal, and Denisovan aDNA,
shows us that anatomically modern humans have
interbred in this way
WHAT DO OUR GENETICS SAY?
¡ Human genome = all the genetic material/instructions
humans need to develop
¡ DNA is made up of 4 chemical ‘bases’: Adenine (A),
Cytosine (C), Guanine (G), Thymine (T)
¡ This human genome is 3 billion bases pairs long, it
consists of these 4 letters organized in different
orders, to code for genes which make up the
structures of human life
HOW UNIQUE ARE WE?
WHAT IS GENETIC VARIATION AT THE DNA LEVEL?
HUMAN POPULATIONS ARE VERY GENETICALLY SIMILAR
¡ Human genome is 3 billion base pairs long
¡ 98% is the same as Chimpanzees
¡ 2% is unique to humans
¡ 15% of this 2% consists of informative differences
between populations
¡ 85% of genetic variation can be found in
individuals from any population
THE 15%
¡ Mostly, functional genes which provide some form
of evolutionary advantage
¡ Almost always related to the environment
¡
Since our environment varies globally, different
physical traits which interact with that environment
get favoured in populations because they are more
advantageous
¡ Sometimes just random mutations that don’t have
interactions with the environment, but natural
selection keeps them in a population because they
are close-by/linked to genes which DO interact
with the environment
HUMAN GENETIC VARIATION IS CLINAL
¡ Clinal variation: Variation that
exists between individuals and cannot
be measured using distinct categories.
Instead, differences between
individuals within a population in
relation to one particular trait are
measurable along a smooth,
continuous gradient.
PAIRWISE COMPARISON OF DIVERSITY AGAINST 52 POPULATIONS
SHOWS CLINAL/CONTINUOUS VARIATION
CLINAL VARIATION (EX. SKIN COLOUR)
STUDYING HUMAN DIVERSITY
¡ Diversity can be examined through small changes in
single DNA base pairs
¡
Refereed to as Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms (SNPs)
¡ SNP changes can be tracked geographically to give
insights into human migrations and diversity
¡ Different sources of DNA: mitochondrial DNA
(mtDNA), Y-chromosome, autosomes
MITOCHONDRIAL DNA
Y-CHROMOSOME
ALL DIVERSITY OUTSIDE OF AFRICA IS A SUBSET OF THE DIVERSITY
WITHIN AFRICA
GENETIC DIVERSITY DECREASES WITH DISTANCE FROM AFRICA
AUTOSOMES
DIVERSITY CAPTURED FROM AUTOSOMAL DATA
GENETIC ANCESTRY TESTING
HOW CONFIDENT ARE THEY REALLY?
ETHICAL CONCERNS
WHERE DOES THIS LEAVE US WITH RACE?
¡ Race and racism exist BUT they are social and cultural constructs which have ramifications in life
¡ There is no biological basis to explain/naturalize race or racism
¡ There is a biological basis for variation, humans have variation, but it cannot be used to categorize people because
it is continuous/clinal NOT discrete and bound to specific groups
¡ Race is not a productive way to describe the biological variation which exists
Reminder: test #1 online next week, Feb. 14
• No in-person class next week
• Test #1 in ONLINE on Feb. 14th
open from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. on
Avenue
• All students must finish before 9
p.m.
• SAS students with time extensions
– time will be added but please
remember to finish by 9 p.m. Eg. if
you have 1.5 hours to write, begin
no later than 7:30 p.m.
This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-ND
Assignment #1
• Due after reading
break – March 4 by 11
p.m.
This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-SA
Last class:
-Why race is not biological
-Race as fluid, politicized concept
-Overt versus embedded racism
-White privilege as one example of embedded racism
-Race as intersectional
White privilege and race as
intersectional
Peggy McIntosh article
**** important to know this article well
Other examples of white privilege?
What might be some outdated aspects of her view of white privilege
(first conceptualized in 1988)?
Shalini Shankar
• Language ideology = “widespread assumptions about the degree to
which some languages or dialects are superior or more sophisticated
than others”
• Studied South Asian American (Desi) minorities in a Silicon Valley high
school and how they use language
• Differences in upper class versus middle class use of language; upper
class as conforming to monolingual norms (and upholding stereotype
of the ‘model minority’) while middle class language of mostly Sikh
Punjabi youth is more mixed and “FOB” style
Religion
A Controversial term
A Western concept like
work/economy/politics/technology.
–In western society, religion is mostly seen as a
clearly delineated aspect of society, separate
from the other terms above. Not the case within
all cultures.
• Ex: ancient Egypt
Definition:
Religion: “Ideas and practices
that postulate reality beyond
which is immediately
available to the senses”
What’s the difference
between religion and
spirituality?
Religion is thus…
• A type of world view (a particular way of conceptualizing
and being in the world “based on shred assumptions about
how the world works” (210)) that informs a sense of
morality, ethics, and in some cases, legal, political systems,
etc.
• Other world views include, eg.:Western science
• 16% of world’s population is categorized as “nonreligious”
(higher in industrialized countries like Canada)
• Comprised of both beliefs and behaviors.
Anthropological perceptions of religion….
May be distinct from your personal views or experiences of religion or spirituality
• Anthropologists are interested in exploring religion as a cultural construct – how it
relates to or is informed by culture (eg. people’s political perceptions, how they are
enculturated and raised by families, identities like class, among other things).
• Anthropologists are not interested in exploring questions of TRUTH or FALSITY.
Obviously, most adherents of a particular religion believe that their religion is true.
Instead, we aim for a respectful dialogue with informants - we ask questions about
origins, why people believe what they do, how has religion changed over time, etc.
• Requires an open mind, especially when you have radically different views than those
you study/work with
Most
religions try
to account
for or explain
six things:
1) What supernatural forces or beings
exist;
2) The powers that each has;
3) How humans fit into the supernatural
scheme, and what happens after
death;
4) How to communicate with the
supernatural;
5) Types of religious practitioners (eg.
Priests, shamans, ministers,
sorcerers)
6) Private versus public
Religious Beliefs: Myths
• Myths are narratives with a plot
that tell a story about
supernatural forces/beings
• Myth-tellers/keepers are often
respected individuals
• Must be understood
academically
• Two academic approaches: 1)
Bronislaw Malinowski – myths as
“charters for social action;” 2)
Claude Levi-Strauss – myths as
symbols that help us understand
cultural logic eg. binary
oppositions
This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-SA
Doctrines
• Direct, codified, formalized statements about religious
beliefs
• Associated with large, formalized, hierarchical religions
• Often found in holy texts - eg. Qur’an, Bible
• Often perceived as infallible by some segments of religious
groups
How did religion develop?
• Early anthropologists (late 1800s) influenced by
evolutionary models – social evolutionism
• Believed that religion began as ANIMISM and/or
ANIMATISM in many cultures
Early
th
19
-Edward Tylor
-1832-1917
-British anthro
century anthropologists:
Animism
• Belief in supernatural beings
• Started as an attempt to explain dreaming, trances,
and altered states of consciousness
• The individual and his/her “double” or “soul”
• Idea put forth by Edward Tylor
• Later – idea came to be extended to the notion that a
variety of things (people, animals, natural world) are
animated, or invested with spirits. This is a
widespread belief among many First Nations groups
This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-SA
Tylor, animism and
polytheism
• Tylor believed that religion had
evolved/progressed through
stages, beginning with animism –
polythesism – monotheism =
ethnocentric view
Animatism
• James Frazer
• The idea that there exists impersonal
forces in the world…eg. “the force” in
Star Wars
• These impersonal forces can be good
or evil and can be invested in certain
people, animals, objects, etc.
• An example is the concept of MANA
in some Melanesian cultures
Haleakala, Maui
STAR WARS - ANIMATISM
MANA AND TABOO
• Mana = a type of animatism in many
Polynesian and Melanesian societies
• Unseen force attached to some places,
people or things
• In some places (eg. Melanesia) MANA
was attached to political offices
• In some populations, the MANA of a
given official was so powerful that their
bodies were TABOO (set apart as
sacred and off-limits to ordinary
people)
Oldest form of spirituality?
• Shamanism – predicated upon belief in animism
• Shamanism is both widespread and highly variable!
What is a Shaman?
• Other synonyms (but problematic
terms) – witch doctor, medicine man
• Spiritual leader who goes into a trance
(via the process of transformation) in
order to communicate with spirit world
and ask for guidance/help on behalf of
a person, or to search for, and return, a
lost soul.
• This allows shaman to heal
This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND
Today, where are shamans found?
Tibetan shaman
Film (testable):
• Shamans of Siberia (26 mins)
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j4zdIQqxzIU
Upper Paleolithic
• Earliest shamanic art dates
to this period
• 40,000-10,000 years ago
• Only modern humans on
earth
• Population growth, human
expansion to new
geographical areas (eg. N
and S. America), new tool
kits, and “explosion of art”
This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-SA
Trois Freres, France
248
Cave paintings/pictographs – evidence for
shamanic beliefs?
Eg.
--Human/animal representations – transformative
powers of shamans?
--Horns (typically symbolizing power)
-Caves have symbolic meaning in many shamanic
cultures
Lascaux, France
Pictographs
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OHDydxj6kJE
Larger-scale religion associated with:
• Sacred, MONUMENTAL
ARCHITECTURE and/or
ICONOGRAPHY (images)
• Denote places of
worship or sacred
spaces
Welcome back!
Masks
• Masks must be worn at all times. No
mask = no lecture
• No food; if you must have a
beverage, then you may not keep a
mask off until you are finished
drinking; masks can only be lowered
briefly to take a sip of water. But
please try to refrain from drinking
anything.
Test #1 on Feb. 14th
in ONLINE and no
in-person or online
classes that week.
You can write
anytime between 9
a.m. and 9 p.m.
Key points
on “race”
and biology
Genetics does not support the
classification of humans into discrete
races
• Many genes = variations of a trait
• Continuous variation, no “racial
clusters” • No set traits define a “race”
• No biological basis (arbitrary, not fact)
Nevertheless,
how does
science often
(erroneously)
reinforce race
as natural?
Text example – drugs that
target racialized groups...eg.
BiDil for congestive heart
failure
Since 18th century – scientists
have contributed to the
naturalization of race...this is
called scientific racism
Scientific
racism
The use of supposedly
“scientific” theories, tests and
procedures to support racist
cultural agendas
Carl/Karl Linnaeus
(1701-1778)
• Father of taxonomy and scientific
racism
• Suggested five racial categories:
Africanus, Americanus, Asiaticus,
Europeanus and Monstrosus
• Further suggested that there were
BEHAVIOURAL TRAITS associated
with each category, and positioned
Europeanus as the pinnacle of
civilization and human evolution
This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND
Samuel George
Morton (17991851)
• Craniometry – compared cranial
capacities of skulls representing
different ”racial groups”
• Problems?
• Critiqued by Stephen Jay Gould in
“The Mismeasure of Man”
This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-SA
Dr. J. Philippe Ruston – U of
W. Ontario, Psychology
• Wrote “Race, Evolution
and Behaviour: A Life
History Perspective”
This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-SA-NC
What is a species?
Groups of organisms that are reproductively isolated from
others (eg. Dogs and cats)
But what is a sub-species?? – sub-division of species;
sufficiently geographically isolated to create difference (eg.
different breeds of cats or dogs)
So…
• All humans belong to the species Homo sapiens
• Those who advocate the idea of race as a BIOLOGICAL
category argue that different races are akin to sub-species
• But that’s impossible for humans because….
• Sub-species/race would require humans to be 1)
morphologically distinct; 2) geographically distinct
Consequences of scientific racism - some
examples:
• Eugenics – founder Sir Francis Galton
• Refers to the “improvement” of the human gene pool
• Eg. Hitler and the Nazi party; Canada – some
provinces up until 1970’s supported sterilization of
certain groups
This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BYNC-ND
We think of race as an
ASCRIBED status
Race
But race is culturally
constructed, not biological and
therefore, it is important for us
to study as anthropologists
Race as a cultural
construction…
Textbook example re: ”white”
Irish people and how the Irish
“became white”
Penal laws in Ireland in 18th
century – could not vote,
attend university, inherit
property from Protestants
Concept of race is fluid,
dynamic and POLITICIZED
INTERSECTIONAL
This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-SA
Race as an INTERSECTIONAL form of identity
• As the Irish example highlights, race
intersects with other identities, like
class, religion or ethnicity
• CLASS – “hierarchical distinctions
between social groups in a society,
usually based on wealth, occupation
and social standing” (see p. 84)
• Class viewed in North America as
ASCRIBED or ACHIEVED
• Eg. of achieved status – the myth of
the “American Dream” and the
myth of meritocracy
This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY
Intersectionality
– would Barack
Obama have
been elected
President if he
came from a
lower-class
background?
This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-NC
Race is also…
• A form of social
stratification (ie.
inequality) and legal
classification (think
birth certificates or
other legal
documentation)
• The belief that race
exists as an objective
reality has consequences
This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND
Example – race as a
cultural construction
• The “one drop” rule = if you have one
ancestor who is of African descent,
then you are automatically labelled
black
• Example of hypodescent –
automatically assigned people of
mixed ancestry to whatever racial
category is of lower status
This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND
In some societies…
• Race is viewed along a continuum, and is not a fixed category
• Eg. Anthropologist Conrad Kottak
This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY
Race is not
the same as
ETHNICITY
Ethnicity = a group of people who
feel that they are united on the
basis of shared territory, national
origin, religion, shared mythologies,
or other factors
Eg. Someone who is from France
and whose ancestors are from
France, might self-identify as
“white” in terms of race, and
”French” in terms of ethnicity or
ethnic identity
How does racism operate within various
societies?
Racism can be:
Overt – eg. name calling or racial slurs
OR
Embedded – more subtle forms of racism that often go unnoticed as
“racist.” Examples?
White Privilege – Peggy McIntosh
• White privilege – a form of embedded racism wherein “white”
people are granted greater power, prestige, and/or access to
resources.
• In some societies, it is an outgrowth of colonialism – eg. skin
whitening creams in India, Brazil
White privilege views whiteness….
As both NORMATIVE and
unmarked. It affords many white
people with unearned advantages
Eva Mackey – hierarchies of
Canadianness
• Canadian law and dominant culture is
predicated upon “white” Euro-Canadian
values and aesthetics
• This is called “Canadian-Canadian”
culture
• Stephen Harper, “old-stock Canadians”
• Rise of alt-right populism, often
predicated upon whiteness as
normative and excluding POC
2006 – Filipino-Canadian “cutlery
controversy”
• Montreal-area school principal:
• “[In my conversation with (the mother)] I said, "Here, this is not the
manner in which we eat." ... I don't necessarily want students to eat
with one hand or with only one instrument, I want them to eat
intelligently at the table ... I want them to eat correctly with respect
for others who are eating with them. That's all I ask. Personally, I
don’t have any problems with it, but it is not the way you see people
eat every day. I have never seen somebody eat with a spoon and a
fork at the same time.”
Myth of Meritocracy
• White privilege operates via the myth of meritocracy
• A concept that governs North American society, and is
predicated upon the American dream
• At the heart of meritocracy is the notion that equal opportunity exists
• Leads to “blame the victim” mentality and racism
• But the American Dream/meritocracy is a MYTH
Embedded racism can be structural - examples of
class/race privilege that reinforce inequality
•Workplace discrimination
•Educational system
•Police
Setha Low article
• Focuses upon race (whiteness, in this case)as intersectional
• Whiteness as achieved and intersects with middle-class
values; must have proper “cultural capital”
• Studies gated communities in NY and Texas and how
whiteness is maintained via: 1) fear of Others, and 2)
niceness
• Gated communities rose in popularity in 1980’s and were a
response to perceived ineffectiveness of police and gating
became a ”new form of social ordering” to create a “safe
space”
• This involved excluding many minorities, like POC, especially
Black and LatinX communities
This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-SA
How are gated communities exclusionary?
• Laws re: maximum numbers of people in household
• Discourse re: niceness – houses, lawns, properties are “nice,” which is
often equated with a ‘white’ middle class assumption re: what
constitutes order and proper aesthetics, and “racist assumptions
about urban landscapes
Shalini Shankar
• Language ideology = “widespread assumptions about the degree to
which some languages or dialects are superior or more sophisticated
than others”
• Studied South Asian American (Desi) minorities in a Silicon Valley high
school and how they use language
• Differences in upper class versus middle class use of language; upper
class as conforming to monolingual norms (and upholding stereotype
of the ‘model minority’) while middle class language of mostly Sikh
Punjabi youth is more mixed and “FOB” style