History of Anthropological Theory So Far

• 19th -Century Cultural Evolution– Morgan and Tylor - – unilineal cultural evolution, savagery-barbarism-civilization

• American Cultural Historicism– Boas and his students – anti-evolutionist, anti-racist, cultural relativism, inductive

method, historical particularism, fieldwork• British Social Anthropology - Functionalism

– Malinowski – parts of society function to benefit individual – Radcliffe-Brown – structural-functionalism: parts of society function for benefit

of society as a whole – Merton – dysfunction

• American Psychological Anthropology – Culture and personality (Boasian school)– Mead – life stages and gender culturally constructed, not biologically determined

• Neoevolutionism & Cultural Ecology– White – universal evolution, materialist, E x T = C – Steward - multilinear evolution = adaptation to specific environments

• Cultural Materialism– Harris – scientific, etic, infrastructure determines superstructure, India’s cattle

Claude Lévi-Strauss (1908-2009) French Structuralism

• Universal structures of human mind• Linguistics – binary opposition

– Words get their meanings by contrasts• E.g., up/down, male/female, raw/cooked, sacred/profane

• Human brain – Programmed to think in pairs of opposites – These dichotomies give shape to culture

• Psychic unity of humankind

Ethnoscience1950s-60s

• Influenced by linguistics• Emic• How language classifies things• Classificatory logic that creates meaning• Different cultures have different meaning systems,

world view

Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis

• Influence of language on culture• English vs. Hopi concepts of time & space

– English time• Objectified, quantified, linear, past, present, future• Separate from space

– Hopi Time• Manifested – past and most of present• Manifesting – coming-to-be, future, hoped for, intended, expected,

in the heart• Same as space

• Language shapes perceptions, world view

Symbolic Anthropology

• Cultural meanings• Culture as mental phenomenon• Ways people interpret and give meaning to their world • How this world is expressed in cultural symbols• Interpretation of symbols cultural meaning • Agency = potential to act creatively• Victor Turner, Clifford Geertz

Victor Turner (1920-1983)

• British social anthropology– Structural-functionalism– Maintenance of social order

• Marx: normal state of society is conflict and contradiction• Turner: social unity is problematic

– Not primordial need for togetherness– Must be continually maintained through effort

• Centrality of ritual symbols– Symbols create social solidarity out of conflict– E.g. national flag, singing national anthem, statue of liberty– Function to reproduce of social order

Victor Turner – Anti-structure

• ‘Anti-structure’ & ‘communitas’– Van Gennep

• Rituals of rebellion– E.g. Mardi Gras, Carnival, Holi

– Expressions outside of structure– Communitas = emotional connection and equality– Safety valve that enables maintenance of social solidarity

Clifford Geertz (1926-2006)

• American cultural anthropology• Emphasis on culture and meaning• Symbols

– Carriers of cutural meanings– Communicate worldview, values, ethos– Shape and reflect how people see, feel,

and think about the world• Culture embodied in public symbols

– e.g. flag, 4th of July • Turner: function to reinforce social solidarity• Geertz: represent cultural values

– History, independence, patriotism, democracy, freedom, etc.

• “Actor-centered” – What does it mean to the individual

• Emic

Interpretive Anthropology

• How people themselves explain and interpret their own values and behaviors

• Ideas, meanings• Reflexivity

– Ethnographer’s position vis-à-vis informants included in description– Combines self-knowledge with knowledge of the people studied

• Emic, relativistic, reflexive• Interpretivism vs. Cultural Materialism

– Meaning, beliefs, emic vs. material environment, economic system, etic

Feminist Anthropology• ‘Radical’ movements of 1960s and 1970s • Internal critiques in anthropology • Androcentric bias

– Most anthropologists were male– Limited access to women in cultures studied– Emphasis on men, war, politics, economics, religion– Women only described in passive terms & relationships with

men

• 1970s focus on women & subordination• Gender socialization, cultural construction• Differences (race, class, ethnicity, etc.)• Gender and power

Contributions of Feminist Anthropology

• Importance of gender in all aspects of social life• Power relations

– Critique of all inequalities• Overlap with postmodernism• Rejection of positivism (objective, scientific)• Subjective, reflexive ethnography

– Mitigate power relations, – Collaborative, qualitative, emic

• Promote interests of women, oppressed• Multivocality (variety of viewpoints)

– E.g. Weiner’s vs. Malinowski’s Trobriand fieldwork

Postmodernism• Modernism

– 1920s-70s– Detachment, objectivity– Scientific neutrality– Rationalism

• Postmodernist critique/rejection of: – Grand theories (e.g., evolutionism, cultural materialism) – Positivism: Idea that human progress is based on scientific knowledge– Idea that objectivity is possible

• Extreme relativism – We can never be value-free

• Ethnography – Always subjective– Cannot discover ‘truth’– Reflexive approach

• Dialog, collaboration

• Take account of power relations, class, gender, etc.

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