CULTURAL ANTHROPOLOGY
principle ethnographic methods
-Participant observation -Along with: --Interviews (both unstructured and structured) --Genealogical method --Life histories --Longitudinal studies (long term studies)
social and scientific approach to ethnography
-Start with a hypothesis that explains diversity in human cultural behavior -Set up tests to confirm or disprove the hypothesis -Develop explanations to explain variations -Anthropologist what Spradley and McCourty call "a detached observer" Ethnographer must become a student of another culture; discover "insider's view"
Culture
-The system of meanings about the nature of experience that is created, negotiated, and shared within a community and passed on from one member to another -Spradley and McCourtey: Culture is the learned and shared knowledge that people use to generate behavior and interpret experience
what does ethnographic work entail
A form of research A form of writing Ethnographic research frequently entails long term residence with the group or community being studied Written description and interpretation of a culture Social and Scientific approach
Ethnography
A written (scientific) description and interpretation of a culture in a set of cultural practices • A form of research, a form of writing, that frequently entails a long period of study • The process of fieldwork and the comprehensive account of a culture ○ Ex: The description in Robbins' book about the Ju/Wasi and their kinship systems
Effects of Metaphors
Adopt a metaphor that relegates the enemy to a category that does not require normal social/human interaction Explain extraordinary actions and reactions Change the moral tests we apply to the situation
Greatest challenges of understanding a culture?
Are we going to the field hoping to prove a thesis or argument? Are we hoping to better understand human behavior? In the field we must have the humility to learn fro those we study
ethnocentrism
Assumption that there is only one proper way to do things- one's own culture's way of doing things Judging all other people by one's own standards of morality, value, and superiority
gender assignment
Begins at birth, or in some cases before birth, usually based on appearance of genitalia. • Involves the social reinforcement (or the daily reiteration) of particular gendered behaviors and attributes for males and females - Continues for our entire lifespan • Can work to discipline gendered behavior. E.g. "Be a man"or "Act like a lady." • Influences things as diverse as an individual's sexual preferences, clothing, hairstyle, consumerist patterns, body image, work expectations, family roles, emotional relationships, pastimes, interests, and so on. • Examples in Robbins textbook
What does culture is learned mean?
Behaviors and beliefs are not genetically encoded but are learned-- (taught, imitated, corrected, praised, insulted, responded to, ostracized, criticized, ignored, laughed at, etc...)
heteronormativity
Bio-reductivism reinforces hetero-normativity by suggesting that heterosexual relationships are a natural and inevitable outcome of our biology, while gay, lesbian, or transgendered identity represent deviations from normal or natural behavior. • idea that heterosexual is the only way to be, no room for homosexuality • stems from the ideas in the Bible, Quran, religious texts reinforce • Religion is a cultural construct
challenges of fieldwork
Boundaries are sometimes unclear What is "research" vs "life" How do we remain "objective" Is it unethical to simply observe, or to intervene Are we exploiting people we interact with simply by turning their lives into data Ethical questions are never fully resolved
Rite of Passage
Ceremonies that mark important transitional periods in a person's life, such as birth, puberty, marriage, having children, and death. Rites of passage usually involve ritual activities and teachings designed to strip individuals of their original roles and prepare them for new roles. (Goes through Separation to Liminality to Reintegration)
Thick description
Clifford Geertz in "Interpretation of cultures" Thick Description is a form of representation that illustrates the cultural meanings behind particular cultural acts or practices or things Ex. Twitch vs wink
Ideology
Comprehensive vision or a way of looking at things Public opinion or "common sense" about how a society should work Ex. Our classroom: Ideological assumptions about the hierarchical relationship between student and teacher A system of representation about social relations of power that appear to be "Natural and commonsensical" This system of representation is structured into the vary appearances and practices of everyday life
Metaphor: Extending meaning from one domain to another
Conceptions of illness embedded in the language we use to describe it Language from the domain of war used to talk about health
7 characteristics of ethnographic research
Conducted in "natural" setting Done in field site, not a lab Provides holistic and systematic overview of context Documents "native" perspectives Is descriptive and interpretive Is guided by research questions, not hypotheses Focuses on meanings of words and images rather than numbers
What is Cultural Anthropology?
Cultural Anthropology is the study of people (understanding human beings in their cultures)
Anthropological idea of culture
Culture is a concept; not a set of things or positions or states of being Culture has complex and variable meanings over time The concept of culture is interconnected with larger political, economic, and historical forces Cultural phenomena are conditioned by power relations at particular moments of history
what does it mean when culture is shared and learned?
Culture is not biological, it's an educational/learning process
symbols as a vehicle of meaning
Culture is not locked in people's heads; culture is partially embodied in public symbols
What is the definition of culture? How is this definition related to the way anthropologists do ethnographic work?
Culture is the learned and shared knowledge that people use to generate behavior and interpret experience This is related to the way that anthropologists do ethnographic work because it makes anthropologists immerse themselves into the culture to fully understand it. Anthropologists have to learn "what people do, what people know, and the things people make and use"
18th century enlightenment ideal of progress
Development of Idea of Progress: Diversity of customs explained in terms of progress Rationality seen as primary mover of progress Idea of Psychic Unity of Mankind: Idea that all humans are potentially equal Some humans just not as "evolved" culturally Some humans at a lower stage of development Anthropology develops as a Positive Science: Field Lab: Participant observation
What constitutes a field note?
Diaries Journals Letters to family, colleagues, thesis advisors Transcrptions of interviews
Allegory of salvation: discovery and redemption
Discovery of a "Lost" or "unknown" people whom we have labeled as primitive or tribal or non western or preliterate People depicted as somehow unable to speak for themeselves Describe their culture as on the verge of disappearing with onset of global capitalism In danger of extinction and in need of salvaging or redeeming before it is lost forever Ethnographer is rhetorically positioned as last witness to authenticity Ethnography becomes a tale of redemption
What are some examples of naïve realism in the way Americans think about people in other societies?
Dogs are pets in China just like the United States Beauty is the same everywhere
Hegemony
Dominance of one group over other groups, not by force, but by shaping consent so that the power of the dominant class appears desirable and natural Hegemony is not a stable entity; positions need to be reinforced
What is the relationship among cultural behavior, cultural artifacts, and cultural knowledge?
EX: Riding on a bus people are engaged in a cultural behavior, reading. To read they have to depend on a great many cultural artifacts, books or newspapers or tickets etc. These artifacts are due to other artifacts: the tree that the paper comes from, the steel made into printing presses, dyes of various colors made into ink, etc. Below the surface lies the cultural knowledge. what did the people on the train need in order to read? They needed: grammatical rules, meanings of spaces and lines and pages, and moving eyes from left to right. This is the relationship between each of these things.
attitudes toward progress
Ethnocentric -Our cultures represents the most advanced way of life and should be emulated by all people Nostalgic (Primitivism) -Our culture is overly complex, and a simpler way of life are more satisfying Relativistic -All cultures have progressed in different ways, according to different values
what are the consequences of understanding human diversity?
Ethnocentrism arises when we think our culture is superior and morally correct
Ritual
Event to mark a person's passage from one identity to another (Ex. A pregnant woman to a mother marked by a giving birth or Marriage)
What are the two types of culture?
Explicit Culture -Cultural knowledge that people can talk about -If people have words for cultural categories,athropologists can use interviews or observations of people talking to uncover them Tacit Culture -Cultural knowledge that people lack words for -Because it is unspoken, tacit culture can be discovered through behavioral observation or indirect inquiry -Ex of different speaking distances-intimate, personal, social and public
What do you have to do in fieldwork?
Gain entry: permission to be there Develop an identity Gain rapport
New ethnography
Globalization has spurred new types of ethnographic work Multi-sited ethnography (Not necessarily in isolated rural or far away communities Ethnography of one's own culture or an institution in one's own culture
Victor Turner
He studied the Ndembu society in Zambia. Ndembu believe in ancestral ghosts, witchcraft, and sorcery. If one has poor social relations/reputation, it causes severe illness that can only be cured by a native doctor interrogates patient about broken relationships or loss of job. It is important to treat the sources of social strain which are not addressed by Western cultures. Turner believes it makes more sense to recognize that they focus on real causes of illness-social stress-that their curing techniques can fix. Coined term of Liminality Rites of Passage
metaphors as elaborating symbols: add meaning without adding words
Help to conceptualize the order of the world Take language from one domain of experience and apply it to another domain Ex: the machine: a metaphor for progress Metaphors not only extend language from one domain to the other but also extend meaning and understanding
Enlightened definition of culture
High Culture Standard of aesthetic excellence Culture with a capital "C" the "intellectual side of civilization" Defined by classic European aesthetic forms (Opera, ballet, theatre, etc.) Assumption: only Europeans have Culture and those living in colonized regions do not Culture is an achieved state, not something that everyone has
Cultural Relativism
Idea that all ethical truth is relative to a specified culture. According to cultural relativism, it is never true to say simply that a certain kind of behaviour is right or wrong; rather, it can only ever be true that a certain kind of behaviour is right or wrong relative to a specified society.
"key" symbols
In every culture, certain symbols acquire greater significance These symbols serve as major vehicles for conceptualization of notions such as justice, freedom, peace, success These symbols both articulate and reinforce key ideas or feelings The term "Key Symbol" was coined by anthropologist Sherry Ortner
Lewis Henry Morgan
Interested in historical evolution of cultures; worked with kinship and family organization of Iroquois Indians. 1877 Ancient society
gender identity
Internal, deeply held sense of one's gender. The inward sense of being male, female, both, neither, or any other genders. This identity is not visible. Gender expression is an outward means of expressing a person's gender and can include mannerisms, clothing, hair, and other modes of expression. • social construction of internal identification • not outward
Ethnography of Speaking
Linguistic anthropology, studying speech as it is used in social context (descriptive grammar), how people use language; focuses on the cultural rules by which the social use and non-use of language is organized; study of how we use language, style, in an ethnographic situation • E.g. American Tongues, Dell Hymes
Effects of Ethnocentrism
Mandating own language and culturally-based preferences Selecting own country persons for key positions Unwillingness to learn/experience others cultural phenomena Creates inequality Ex. Us taking native americans from their homes and spreading them out at camps across America because we believed that their ideas were wrong
Why is Culture fluid and malleable?
Meanings, behaviors, beliefs are constantly responding to and changing through situations, time and space and are therefore not static and singular
Does language limit what we think?
Metaphors- kinds of elaborating symbols that combine words to add meaning without adding words Language has the power to shape how we see things
gender fluidity
Our ideas about what men and women can and do change over time. In practice, women and men's biology does not determine their ability to be soldiers, athletes, good cooks, or homemakers. Men and women can do all of these things if they choose to or are given the opportunity to do so in society.
Fieldwork
Participating in activities, asking questions, and recording observations to learn about a culture ○ Ex: Professor Seriff studying the doll makers by making dolls herself
ways to tell if a symbol is a key symbol
People tell you it's important It arouses a lot of emotion It comes up in many different contexts, conversations or forms There is lots of talk about it There are marked rules surrounding it It appears a lot where people can see it
Field notes
Recording and constructing cultural accounts in the field A discrete textual corpus produced by fieldwork and constituting a raw database for later generalization, synthesis, theoretical analysis
Separation
Ritual separation from an existing identity. (Ex. Woman is isolated from Man prior to wedding day. Woman goes on Bachelorette party and Man goes to Bachelor Party)
Whats cultural about a Questionnaire?
Seems to be "natural" Appears to be "objective" Applies "social scientific" measures Categories often appear "official"
What are the three stages that mark the right of passage?
Separation (one social identity) to liminality to reintegration (one social identity) -this transition marks the rite of passage
Symbol
Something that we perceive with our senses that stands for or represents another thing; an object or action or sound used to represent something abstract; an emblem • E.g. Bathroom signs, no-smoking signs
Why isn't culture genetically encoded?
Sometime the things we do, or the way we see the world, may seem "natural"- i.e., like this is the only way to do or understand something But culture is not biological or genetic, even though it is frequently unconscious
social/scientific approach to ethnography
Start with a hypothesis that explains diversity in human cultural behavior Set up tests to confirm or disprove the hypothesis Develop explanations to explain variations Anthropologist what Spradley and McCourty call "a detached observer" Ethnographer must become a student of another culture; discover "insider's view"
humanistic approach to ethnography
Strive to understand and celebrate diversity of behavior rather than scientifically explain
Key Symbol
Symbols that have acquired greater significance within the context of the culture; serve as major vehicles for conceptualization of notions such as justice, freedom, peace, success; reinforce key ideas or feelings; coined by Sherry Ortner. Should have 5 ways to tell if key symbol E.g. Flag, Eagle
Participant Observation
The active participation of observers in the lives of their subjects ○ Ex: Act of entering the stream of life of the people
Reintegration
The changed are incorporated into a new identity. Other people recognizing your new social identity. (Ex. After marriage ceremonies mark the transfer of a person from one social group to another shown by the transfer of last names and economic partnership to take on society)
Bio-reductivism
The idea that gender norms, sexual orientations, and social relationships are genetically, neurologically, or hormonally "hardwired." That biology determines behavior and social organization.
progress with relation to technological development
The idea that human history is the story of steady advance from a life dependent on the whim of nature to a life of control and domination over natural forces Assumption that cultures that are tech complex are equally complex in other arenas does not apply anymore
Ethnocentric fallacy
The idea that our beliefs and behaviors are right and true, whereas those of other peoples are wrong or misguided
Ethnocentrism
The idea that our beliefs and behaviors are right and true, whole those of others are wrong and Less civilized The belief that one's native country, culture, language, and modes of behavior are superior to all others
gender fixity
The idea that there are certain kinds of capabilities, aptitudes, and professions that only men have and that only women have. (E.g. Men as soldiers, airplane pilots, or football players; women as homemakers, nurturers, or nurses.)
ethnography
The process of discovering and describing a particular culture
Ethnography
The process of discovering and describing a particular culture -A form of research -A form of writing -Ethnographic research frequently entails long term residence with the group or community being studied -Written description and interpretation of a culture
Sociolinguistics
The way we use language in a social context; idea that dialect of dominant strata of society is "standard" and valued more than dialects of lower strata • E.g. Dell Hymes; for concept of standard speech see American Tongues
Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis
Theory that language helps us determine how we see and think about the world; language restricts the thought of people who use it and the limits of one's language become the limits of one's world E.g. Shakespeare in the Bush
cultural construction of the idea of progress: linear time
Time flows in 1 direction Cultures evolve over time from the simple to the complex "Primitive" cultures remain at a stage similar to the earliest humans Progress is seen on both a spatial (simple/low to complex/high) and temporal (early to more recent) plane
metaphors borrowed from the domain of economic exchange
Time is money, valuable commodity Time can be bought and sold, won, and lost Time can be wasted or gained
what is the goal of participant observation?
To understand how and why things are done; to be able to create a scholarly written product; to understand what it does for that culture
What is participant observation?
Trying to understand the complicated nature of cultural interactions between individuals in communities requires that we interact and participate in community life The act of entering the stream of life of the culture the anthropologist wants to understand What is the goal of participant observation?
What are the two types of interviews?
Unstructured- you have some set questions, but you insert them in conversation with people and let the discussion guide you Structured- Set format, ask each participant same questions in same order
What are the consequences of this notion (culture is shared and learned) for understanding human diversity
We may become more ethnocentric, it creates ideas of who has/ can have culture; people may not learn basic "cultural norms" for a specific area, because they haven't been taught it
How is culture shared?
When two or more people share the meanings they give to experience, they share the same culture
Benjamin Lee Whorf
Whorf is widely known as an advocate for the idea that differences between the structures of different languages shape how their speakers perceive and conceptualize the world. Sapir's student
What do we mean when we say that culture is learned and shared?
You are not born with your culture, you are taught it and you observe it ○ You can't have a culture of one ○ Culture is not biological
Ideology
a comprehensive vision or way of looking at things • Public opinion or common sense about how a community should work Eg classrooms -layout of classroom - discussion vs lecture
Metaphor
a figure of speech in which linguistic expressions are taken from one area of experience and applied to another E.g. Disease recovery in terms of war, romantic conquest in terms of sports
Cultural Shock
a state of anxiety that results from cross-cultural misunderstanding
respondent
answer's investigators questions
Naïve Realism
belief that people everywhere see the world in the same way
"Primitive"
belonging to a preliterate, nonindustrial society or culture. A state similar to those of early humans. • How technology is used as a gauge (19th century. Lewis Henry) technology has value and we give it authority. But not all societies prize technology so high. • Assumption: Close to nature, uncivilised, don't have money, are just hunter gatherers (eg in movie Cannibal Tours) • Reality: they are shown to eat well and live a fully functional life.
Dell Hymes
concept of standard speech see American Tongues... focuses on language use Linguistics anthropologist • Tried to put language back in the context of the community (not grammar) • Founder of ethnography of speaking (culture and language together-they are dependent on each other) • Language and community are tied together and not based off dictionary definitions • Based off Boasian traditio
Explicit Culture
cultural knowledge that people can talk about EX: you learn that there are words for things you encounter such as clothes or mother or sadness or happiness
Tacit culture
cultural knowledge that people lack words for EX: as we grow up we learn to recognize and use a limited number of sound categories such as /d/ e and /f/
identity
how people feel about themselves, present themselves; they are socially constructed and can change
relativistic fallacy
idea that it's impossible to make moral judgement about the actions or beliefs of others
Ethnocentrism
idea that our beliefs and behaviours are right and true while those of others are wrong or misguided. • How to properly carry a baby • Forced culture on native Americans - they thought that their culture was superior to that of the NA, had impression that they were barbaric/uncivilised/primitive/underdeveloped
Liminality
is the quality of ambiguity or disorientation that occurs in the middle stage of rituals, when participants no longer hold their pre-ritual status but have not yet begun the transition to the status they will hold when the ritual is complete. (Ex. Time walking down the isle and doing the parts of the ceremony such as reading vows before the words are actually spoken to officiate the marriage)
positive identity
members of a society attribute desirable characteristics to themselves (e.g. traditional man as strong, competitive, aggressive; traditional woman as nurturing, sensitive, relationship-oriented)
relativism
no cultural belief is wrong... culture can only be understood by the people that embrace that certain culture
Linnaeus
scientist of 1700's who develop a taxonomy of the great chain of beings that moves from the simple to the complex
Geertz
symbolic anthropologist, you have to study the culture very closely, participant observation is key, thick description is key method. He suggests that human beings are compelled to impose meaning on their experiences bc without these meanings to help them comprehend experience and impose order on universe. different people groups have different cultures. Thick description: is set apart from thin description by the former's attention to the meaning of actions. In the classic example, one boy's eye involuntarily twitches, while another boy winks. The physical phenomena are the same, but a wink is the stuff of culture, whereas a twitch is not. In researching a culture, the ethnographer must record the winks, not the twitches
Micro cultures
systems of cultural knowledge characteristics of subgroups within larger societies Usually share knowledge with larger society but possess a cultural knowledge that is unique to the subgroup
What's the difference between tacit and explicit culture?
tacit culture is cultural knowledge that people lack words for explicit culture is cultural knowledge that people have words for
informant
teaches anthropologists about the culture
Hegemony
the dominance of one group over another, not by force. The dominated group to think the change is better/natural. • Native Americans under the power of settlers, forced off their lands • Forced Christianity on Native Americans (Forced Religion) • Speak English etc
Progress
the idea that human history is the story of a steady advance from a life that depends on the whims of nature to a life of control and domination over natural forces. • has been gaged by technological advancements and which stage the group/cultur
gender binary
the idea that there are only two genders, and that they embody distinct, complementary roles in society.
ethnographic method
the immersion of investigators in the lives of the people they are trying to understand, and through that experience, the attainment of some level of understanding of the meanings that those people ascribe to their existence
negative identity
undesirable characteristics, usually those that fall outside cultural norms (e.g. man as "feminine," embodying traditionally feminine characteristics; female as "masculine," embodying traditionally masculine characteristics; individual who is neither expressly male or female, presents as neither or both)
detached observers
used mostly by people attempting to view in their social context categorizing what they see
Thick Description
• A form of representation that illustrates the cultural meanings behind particular cultural acts or practices or things • Clifford Geertz ○ Ex: A twitch vs. a wink
Ed Sapir
• Challenged the view of language that language is not only a tool of communication but something that helps us guide our perceptions of the world • Sapir was born first, Whorf was his student • Boasian student
gender vs sex
• Gender: socially constructed roles, behaviors and activities that a given society considers appropriate for males or females. • Sex: Classification as male or female usually assigned based on external anatomy but determined by characteristics like reproductive organs, chromosomes, hormones, etc. • sex has to do with biology - 2 sexes • gender is a social construction
Wekker
• Mati — creole society • Themes - gender fluidity - behavior • Terms - hel • Arguments - sexual fluidity — many women engaged in sexual relationships with other women, anyone can have a relationship to anyone. • Gender is not considered when sexual acts are performed Davis 2 • binary gender and male and female exists., but what matters is behavior • male and female get married in order to reproduce • Women are expected to be mothers - gold coin • not an emotional relationship, sleep with a man to have financial security (need the man's money) • "i am a gold coin, i pass through many hands, and i never lose value" establishes that sexual behavior doesn't detract from reputation (doing Mati, not being Mati) - desire over gender • not ok to cheat on a woman (jealousy, hatred), ok to cheat on a man • Women sleep with women because it is what they desire - prejudice
Culture shock
• The state of anxiety that results from cross cultural misunderstandings • Ex: When someone is struggling to adapt to dining customs in a culture, such as spending hours dining with family members, when one is used to a fast paced lifestyle
Cultural Relativism
• The view that all ethical truth is relative to a specified culture • It is never true to say simply that a certain kind of behavior is right or wrong, it can only ever be true that a certain kind of behavior is right or wrong relative to a specified society ○ Ex: The way that some words are used as slang, having different meanings in different cultures
Abu Lughod
• Themes - Ethnocentrism - cultural relativism ARGUMENT -instead of working to "save" others, should work with to address global injustice • to understand others, have a culturally relative understanding • undercurrent of political values - USA uses women to justify intervention - points of comparison — western misconception TERMS -Gender Binary From Western Perspective
Fausto-Sterling
• Themes — no binary — fluidity - heteronormativity • surgical procedures - bio-reductivism • Terms - male - female - pseudohermaphrodite - male pseudohermaphrodite - female pseudohermaphrodite - intersexuality (doesn't fit in to the male/female categories) • Arguments - western culture dictates the way women and men should be • to be a "normal female", must have breasts, etc. - not really a justification for medical procedures on babies - doesn't matter what anything is called, must take a culturally relative position - may get the surgeries to feel "normal," to fit in with what we deem as a culture gender is - someone can be a girl and still have an abnormality (can have a procedure to increase "normality")
How do symbols help us understand culture?
○ Example: metaphors ○ Different domains to help explain culture ○ Symbols orient us ○ You learn symbols like you learn language • Examples: Bathroom signs and Non-smoking signs • They are un-ambiguous
who is progressed and who isn't and why?
○ Literacy and education are determining factors of knowledge and the progress of a society ○ Value is culturally assigned (in our culture technology has value because we give it value) ○ Example: why would you be educated in Guatemala if you're going to be a farmer anyways? ○ Westerners give value to education and technology while others do not ○ Americans put a lot of emphasis on time
