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Chapter 1 Understanding Anthropology 1 © David Eller 2009 Humanity is a remarkably and inherently diverse species. Everywhere that humans live, they live in groups with unique ways of life. There is no single or correct way for humans to live. 2 © David Eller 2009 Humans groups also no longer live in isolation. Trade, travel, and technology circulate cultural items nationally, regionally, continentally, and even globally. Even the smallest and most remote societies are affected. 3 © David Eller 2009 Glocalization = the unique ways that global forces are absorbed, transformed, and practiced in local contexts. Humans are part of a global and unifying system and yet still live local and diverse lives. 4 © David Eller 2009 Anthropology is the study of human diversity, of the diverse local ways of humans despite, or sometimes because of, broader and even global relations, processes, and forces. 5 © David Eller 2009 Anthropology is a social science, studying human behavior. Unlike other social sciences, anthropology investigates the full variation of behavior—all of the kinds of human groups and all of the things that human groups do. 6 © David Eller 2009 Anthropology is unique among social sciences in terms of The questions that it asks The perspective that it adopts The methods that it uses 7 © David Eller 2009 Anthropology’s questions include: How many different ways are there to be human? That is, what is the “range” of human diversity? What are the commonalities across all of these different kinds of humans and human lifeways? Why are humans so diverse? What is the source or explanation of human diversity? How do the elements of a particular human lifeway fit together and influence each other? How does one way of being human develop into another way over time? 8 © David Eller 2009 Human diversity falls along two axes: 9 1. Body versus behavior 2. Past versus present © David Eller 2009 The Four Fields of Anthropology Past Archaeology Behavior Body 10 Present Cultural Anthropology Linguistic Anthropology Physical/Biological Anthropology © David Eller 2009 Physical or biological anthropology is the area that specializes in the diversity of human bodies in the past and present. Questions: Change in body over time (evolution) Adaptation to environment Migrations and intermarriages of groups Relations to other species (especially primates) 11 © David Eller 2009 Archaeology is the study of the diversity of human behavior in the past. Questions: Lifeways of past societies Technical knowledge and skills Changes in society over time Natural and social processes that cause change, including collapse 12 © David Eller 2009 Linguistic anthropology focuses on the diversity of human language in the past and present. Questions: Similarities and differences between languages Origin of and change in language Migration and mixing of languages, and emergence of new languages Social uses and effects of language 13 © David Eller 2009 Cultural anthropology, also sometimes called social anthropology, is the study of the diversity of human behavior in the present. Questions: The range of contemporary diversity Causes of local cultural behavior Processes within culture Relations between cultures 14 © David Eller 2009 Specialties in twenty-first century anthropology include: Urban anthropology Medical anthropology Forensic anthropology Visual anthropology Ethnomusicology Ethnobotany Development anthropology Feminist anthropology 15 © David Eller 2009 Applied Anthropology Anthropology is not and never has been a purely “academic” pursuit, disconnected from the real world. Anthropologists can study modern industrial societies and the groups within them. Anthropologists can help solve contemporary social problems. Many anthropologists work outside of academics. 16 © David Eller 2009 The National Association for the Practice of Anthropology (www.practicinganthropology.org) promotes the use of anthropology “to address social issues related to public health, organizational and community development, information technology systems, housing, social justice, law, the media, marketing, environmental management, and the arts.” The Society for Applied Anthropology (www.sfaa.net) urges that the “occupation of ‘Anthropologist’ should be promoted as a satisfying and important professional role whether as an independent consultant, an employee of public agencies, corporations, or private organizations, or as a university faculty member or administrator.” 17 © David Eller 2009 Applications of anthropology include: Policy-making in government Advocacy for underprivileged groups, especially indigenous societies Writing and publishing, for example magazines like “Cultural 18 Survival” or organizations like Survival International Corporate work Legal work Film-making Helping local societies market products © David Eller 2009 While anthropologists have conventionally focused on small, remote, and traditional societies, anthropological thinking can be applied to any society or social question: Nationalism, ethnic conflict, religious fundamentalism, corporate capitalism, as well as war and peace, migration and refugees, the homeless, shopping and consumption, casino gambling, natural disasters, environmental issues, the media, online communities, even the meat-packing industry 19 © David Eller 2009 The Anthropological Perspective All social sciences share the same data: humans in action. Anthropology is distinctive in its perspective, its “angle,” its “point of view,” its “focus,” its approach and emphasis 20 © David Eller 2009 Anthropology emphasizes The group over the individual—individuals are members of groups and largely constructed in and by groups The “external” or “public” over the “internal,” “mental,” or “subjective” No anthropologist denies the individual or mental, but we stress other things 21 © David Eller 2009 Key Components of the Anthropological Perspective #1: Cross-cultural/Comparative Study A cross-cultural perspective or emphasis means that anthropologists are curious about human behavior in a wide and inclusive sense, embracing many or potentially all human ways of being, not just cultures similar to their own. 22 © David Eller 2009 #2: Holism A culture can be conceived as consisting of various parts, in complex interconnection. To understand any one part, we must see it in the context of other parts and the whole culture. To change or add or remove any one part is to affect other parts and the whole. 23 © David Eller 2009 #3: Cultural Relativism Different cultures can and often do have different notions of what is good, normal, moral, valuable, legal, etc. We cannot use our own cultural norms or values to understand and judge another culture. 24 © David Eller 2009 Using your own culture to understand and judge another culture is called ethnocentrism. Ethnocentrism is not so much wrong—and it is certainly not impossible—as it is unhelpful. You can judge another culture by your own standards, but you will make irrelevant and often false judgments. 25 © David Eller 2009 Cultural relativism is commonly misunderstood and reviled. But most condemnations of cultural relativism are easily addressed: 1. Cultural relativism does not mean that “anything goes” or judgment is impossible. 2. Cultural relativism does not mean that anything a culture does is good/moral/valuable/normal, etc. 26 © David Eller 2009 3. Cultural relativism does not mean that anything a culture believes is true. 4. Cultural relativism does not mean that cultures are different in every conceivable way; that there are no cultural universals. 5. Cultural relativism does not mean that “everything is relative,” including cultural relativism itself (cultural relativism is not selfcontradictory). 6. Cultural relativism does not mean that cultures cannot be compared. 27 © David Eller 2009 From an anthropological perspective, cultural relativism is A fact: there are many cultures in the world, and each has its own notions of good/normal/moral, etc. A method: to achieve understanding of another culture, we must apply its standards of good/normal/moral, not our own A theory: humans make judgments of good/normal/moral by reference to—relative to—some standard of judgment 28 © David Eller 2009 The only real question is, how many such standards of judgment are there in the human world? Not just one, shared by all societies Not none: humans cannot live without a set of standards There are many: each culture has one (and sometimes more than one). As anthropologists, we must learn and apply the standards of the culture we are studying. 29 © David Eller 2009 Most people, including most students, are not and will not become professional anthropologists. How is anthropology relevant to them? Everyone living in the twenty-first-century, global, multicultural world is and must be an amateur anthropologist all the time, confronting, understanding, and co-existing with cultural difference. 30 © David Eller 2009 1. 2. 3. 4. 31 Anthropology has immediate bearing on our decisions, actions, and policies on the domestic and the international scene. Anthropology shows us what human beings really are—including ourselves. We all live “anthropological” lives, whether we know it or want it or not. Anthropology allows us—and compels us—to think about ourselves differently. Every one of us is “other” to everybody else. © David Eller 2009 Supplementary Slides Who are you in the world? World clock What does the world look like? Maps of the world With whom do you share the world? Indigenous Peoples Why is it important to understand what other people are like? The world is getting smaller/flatter Greater relocation of individuals More interaction even in North Dakota And mostly how we get to be who we are is the same as how they got to be who they are Anthropological Perspectives In addition to the perspectives discussed in the text, Holistic Perspective Seeing the entire culture Comparative Perspective Seeing other cultures Relativistic Perspective Judging culture Ethnocentrism there is one other perspective which is important to understand: Emic & Etic Perspectives