Cultural Anthropology What is it?. Anthropology Comparative study of human societies and cultures.
-
Upload
polly-simmons -
Category
Documents
-
view
215 -
download
0
Transcript of Cultural Anthropology What is it?. Anthropology Comparative study of human societies and cultures.
Cultural Anthropology
What is it?
Anthropology
Comparative study
of human societies
and cultures
Anthropology – comparative study of human societies and cultures
What do we eat What do we wear What shelter do we use How do we determine rights and
responsibilities? How do we live together? What is meaningful to us?
Anthropology – comparative study of human societies and cultures
In an effort to understand who we are, anthropologists strive to understand the variety in humanity by comparing similarities and differences.
Anthropology – comparative study of human societies and cultures
Anthropology is holistic –
seeks to understand human beings as whole organisms
who adapt to their environment through a complex interaction of biology and culture
How?
What do anthropologists study?
Subfields of Anthropology
CulturalLinguisticArchaeologyPhysical
Cultural Anthropology
Study of human thought, meaning and behavior that is learned and typical of groups
Cultural Anthropology
What are the origins of shared behavior in a group?
How does behavior differ from group to group?
Does behavior or belief system change over time?
Are there general principles of similarity? Have power and coercion in interactions
with others played a role in change?
Cultural Anthropology
How do we look for answers to these questions? Ethnohistory- description of cultural past
based on written records, interviews, and excavation
Subfields of Anthropology
Cultural
LinguisticArchaeologyPhysical
Linguistic Anthropology
The study of language and how it is related to culture
Linguistic Anthropology
Language is the tool we use to communicate To pass on learned behavior
Linguistic Anthropology
Human speech is more complex and more extensively used than in other animals
Linguistic Anthropology
Vocabulary indicates what is important to a culture
Linguistic Anthropology
Historical linguists study how languages are related to each other Indication of the history of the people
Subfields of Anthropology
CulturalLinguistic
ArchaeologyPhysical
Archaeology
Study of past cultures through material remains
Archaeology
Often studies prehistoric societies— Societies that have no written records
Archaeology
Reconstructs behavior from artifacts Artifact – any object made, used, or altered
by humans
Subfields of Anthropology
CulturalLinguisticArchaeology
Physical
Physical Anthropology
Study of humankind from a biological perspective
Physical Anthropology
Cultural and physical adaptations allow us to survive in many habitats
Physical Anthropology
Studies processes involved in adaptation and evolution Origins of humanity in the fossil record Human variation – physiological
differences in modern human groups Primatology – the biology and behavior of
other primates may give us ideas about how early humans lived
Subfields of Anthropology
CulturalLinguisticArchaeologyPhysical
Applied
Anthro
How do our perceptions affect the study of other cultures?
Ethnocentrism
The notion that one’s own culture is superior to any other
Judging other cultures by our culture’s standards
Ethnocentrism
This is the glue that holds a society together Sticking with people who agree with your
beliefs reinforces your world view This is why it is hard to blend into a new
place: which aspects of old culture to keep and which aspect of new to adopt
Ethnocentrism
Ethnocentrism gets dangerous when political, economic, technological differences between groups give one group power to exclude another group from basic rights and freedoms.
Ethnocentrism
This is when we look for physical differences that make a person’s group affiliation seem easy to identify
Ethnocentrism
This is when we look for physical differences that make a person’s group affiliation seem easy to identify
But each trait varies in ways that make it impossible to draw a clear line
Ethnocentrism
Therefore race is a cultural construct No group of humans has been isolated
from others long enough to make it different
Ethnocentrism
Since each anthropologist comes from the perspective of his/her own culture We must be careful not to engage in
ethnocentrism We must recognize our own culture as one
way of living among many We must strive to understand other
cultures on their own terms
Cultural Relativism
People’s values and customs must be understood in terms of their own culture.
Emic vs. Etic
Emic approach – seeks to understand culture from the inside Learn to think and
act as a native Use concepts and
structures meaningful to the culture under study
Emic vs. Etic
Etic approach – seeks to explain behavior using rules and structures that can be used to compare to other cultures but may not be meaningful to the culture under study
Cultural Anthropology
How is this meaningful to you?