Download Cultural Anthropology 7e

Chapter 1
What Is Anthropology
and Why Should I Care?
Chapter Outline
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The Nacirema
Specialization in Anthropology
Anthropology and “Race”
Why Study Anthropology?
Bringing It Back Home: The Anthropology
of Violence
The Nacirema
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The Nacirema are a North American group in
the territory between the Canadian Cree, the
Yaqui and Tarahumare of Mexico, and the
Carib and Arawak of the Antilles.
Their culture is characterized by a market
economy.
They have a fundamental belief that the human
body is ugly and has a tendency to debility and
disease.
The Nacirema
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Each day Naciremans perform a complex
set of rituals devoted to the mouth.
They believe that, were it not for these
rituals, their teeth would fall out, their
gums bleed, their jaws shrink, their friends
desert them, and their lovers reject them.
The Nacirema
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Much of the Nacirema population shows
masochistic tendencies.
A portion of the daily ritual performed by
men involves scraping and lacerating the
face.
Anthropology
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The scientific and humanistic study of
human beings
Encompasses:
• the evolutionary history of humanity
• physical variation among humans
• the study of past societies
• a comparative study of current day
human societies and cultures
Society
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A group of people who depend on one
another for survival or well-being
Culture
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The learned behaviors and symbols that
allow people to live in groups
The primary means by which humans
adapt to their environment
The ways of life characteristic of a
particular human society
Goals of Anthropology
Don’t take notes for this slide
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Describe, analyze, and explain different
cultures to show how groups live in
different physical, economic, and social
environments, and to show how members
give meaning to their lives.
Ethnocentrism
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Belief that one’s culture is superior to all
other cultures
Judges other cultures from the
perspective of one’s own culture
Measures other cultures by the degree to
which they live up to one’s own cultural
standards
The “American Way”
What examples
of ethnocentrism
do you see in
this picture?
Cultural Relativism
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Belief that cultures should be analyzed
with reference to their own histories and
values rather than according to the values
of another culture
Holism
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Anthropologists bring a holistic approach to
understanding and explaining.
Anthropology combines the study of human
culture, history, language, and biology to
understand human societies.
Holism separates anthropology from other
academic disciplines, which generally focus on
one factor as the explanation for human
behavior.
Sub-disciplines of
Anthropology
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Biological (or physical) anthropology
Linguistic anthropology
Archaeology
Cultural anthropology
Biological or Physical
Anthropology
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Biological (or physical) anthropologists
study humans as physical and biological
entities.
All human culture rests on a biological
base. Biological anthropology primarily
focuses on those aspects that are
genetically inherited.
Paleoanthropology and the
Study of Evolution
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Paleoanthropologists
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Search for fossils to discover and reconstruct the evolutionary
history of our species.
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Lucy (Australopithecus Afarensis)
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Extract biological and chemical data from ancient bones or from
living humans to help discover the biological histories of
humanity and the relationships among different human groups.
Apply physical anthropology: Forensic Anthropology
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Forensic Anthropology
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Uses traditional methods and theories from physical
anthropology to identify the remains of crime and
disaster victims.
Primatology
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1950’s- Physical anthropologists developed their own
specialization
The study of our nearest living relatives (apes,
monkeys, prosimians)
Study the anatomy and social behavior of non-human
primates to gain clues about human evolution
For e.g., Baboon troops have division of labor-> sheds
light on role specialization
Chimpanzees make rudimentary tools
Tanzania- Primatologist Richard Wrangham- leaves
with thiarubrine-A
Human Variation
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A specialty of biological anthropology concerned with physiological
differences among humans.
This approach focuses on human physical diversity and attempts to
explain its sources.
Race and anthropology
• For decades humans were divided in to races
• Race- a group of people
• Who share a greater statistical frequency of genes
• And physical traits with one another
• Than they do with people outside the group
Today, emphasis on how human physical variation help people
adapt to their environment. For example: dark skin protects people
from UV light.
Linguistic Anthropology
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The study of language and its relation to
culture
Humans have a huge number of words
and complex patterns that we use to put
them together.
The use of complex language is central to
being a human being and forms part of all
cultures.
Language and Culture
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Historical linguists- study linguistic change and the
relationships between different languages
Ethnolinguistics- relationship between language and
culture
Sociolinguistics- relationship between language and
social relations
Descriptive linguistics- study of sounds and grammar
and meanings attached to words.
Archaeology
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The key focus of archaeology is to look at the material remains
people leave behind to try to infer their cultural patterns from it.
Archaeology is about interpreting patterns to provide insights into
the lives and cultural ways of other people in other times.
I
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Not Archaeology
Terms
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Artifacts- Any object that human beings have made,
used, or altered and which can be moved.
Features- Made and modified by people but they cannot
be readily moved. Example: fireplace, home foundation.
Ecofacts- Objects found in the natural environment that
were not made or altered by humans but were used by
them.
William Rathje- Garbology
Cultural Resource Management (CRM)
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Concerned with the protection and
management of archaeological, archival, and
architectural resources.
Cultural Anthropology
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The study of human thought, behavior, and lifeways that are
learned and typical of a group of people.
Cultural anthropologists attempt to understand culture through the
study of its origins, development, and diversity.
Contains two elements• Ethnography
• Ethnology
Ethnography
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Ethnography is the description of society or culture.
• An emic ethnography attempts to capture what ideas
and practices mean to members of a culture.
• An etic ethnography describes and analyzes culture
according to principles and theories drawn from the
Western scientific tradition such as ecology,
economy, or psychology.
• Noun and a verb.
Ethnology
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The attempt to find general principles or laws
that govern cultural phenomena through the
comparison of cultures.
Applied Anthropology
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The application of anthropology to the solution
of human problems
Forensic anthropology uses the tools of
physical anthropology to aid in the identification
of skeletal or badly decomposed human
remains
• Forensic anthropologists identify the victims
of crimes, warfare, and genocide.
Anthropology and “Race”
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In the United States, most people see
humanity as composed of biological
“races.”
Most anthropologists believe that “race” is
not a scientifically-valid system of
classification.
Problems in Scientific Racial
Classification
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Almost all traits we use to assign people to a
race are facial traits.
It is hard to imagine a biological reason why the
shape of one’s eyes should be more important
than the characteristics of one’s liver.
It is easy to find a social reason: Traits easily
visible on the face enable us to rapidly assign
individuals to a racial group.
Problems with Racial
Classifications
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Although the characteristics of our species were
fully present 35,000 to 40,000 years ago, a
recent study argues that all current-day humans
have common ancestors who lived only 2,000
to 5,000 years ago.
At a time depth of more than 5,000 years, all
people alive today have exactly the same
ancestors.
Why Study Anthropology?
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Anthropology focuses on understanding other
groups of people.
Anthropology presents many useful ways of
thinking about what it means to be human.
In our world today we face extraordinary
problems: Anthropology gives us new and
useful ways to think about culture.
Bringing It Back Home: The
Anthropology of Violence
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An anthropological approach can help us
understand the role of violence in cross
cultural and historical context.
While violence has been found to be part
of most human societies, the degrees of
violence that are tolerated vary crossculturally.
Bringing It Back Home: The
Anthropology of Violence
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The Semai, a gardening society on the
central Malaysian Peninsula, is one of the
best documented peaceful societies
known.
The Chewong of the Malaysian Peninsula
and the G/wi of central Botswana are
other very peaceful societies.
Bringing It Back Home: The
Anthropology of Violence
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More recently, Steven Pinker has argued
that humanity as a whole is becoming
less violent.
Anthropologists would likely disagree with
Pinker, as the 20th century, in terms of the
numbers of people killed, has been the
most violent period of human occupation.
Bringing It Back Home: The
Anthropology of Violence
You decide:
• Anthropology shows that violence and
reconciliation are both aspects of human and
nonhuman primate behavior.
• Do you believe humankind is becoming more
or less violent? What evidence can you cite?
• Do you believe there is a possibility of
existing as a world without violence? Why?
Quick Quiz
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Imagine a museum exhibit of an early oneroom school in the Midwestern U.S. is being
planned. Which subfield(s) of anthropology
would be likely to carry out the research of
surveyor's maps, diaries, textbooks, journals,
and other historic artifacts, as well as
excavation of the original site?
a) Paleoanthropology and archaeology
b) Archaeology
c) Cultural anthropology
d) Biological anthropology
Answer: b
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Imagine a museum exhibit of an early
one-room school in the Midwestern U.S.
is being planned. An archaeologist
would be likely to carry out the research
of surveyor's maps, diaries, textbooks,
journals, and other historic artifacts, as
well as excavation of the original site.
2.
Which of the following statements would be
considered ethnocentric?
a) People in France have a long historical
tradition of political autonomy.
b) In many cultures marriage is the most
important social institution.
c) When a child dies, he should be buried in
a religious ceremony.
d) Gauchos in Argentina have a very
complex herding strategy.
Answer: c
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The statement, “When a child dies, he
should be buried in a religious ceremony,”
is ethnocentric because it is judgmental.
3.
Which of the following is not a specialization in
anthropology?
a) Linguistic anthropology
b) Archaeology
c) Paleontology
d) Cultural anthropology
Answer: c
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Paleontology is not a specialization of
anthropology. The proper term is
paleoanthropology and it is part of
biological anthropology.
4.
All people alive today would have begun to
have the exact same ancestors at
approximately what time depth?
a) 500 years ago
b) 1,000 years ago
c) 2,000 years ago
d) 5,000 years ago
Answer: d
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At a time depth of more than 5,000
years, all people alive today would have
had the exact same ancestors.