Download Thick Description

Presented by: Miqdad Sibtain
BS Social Sciences Section B
Instructor: Sohail Muhammad Ali
Types of Anthropologies
•Symbolic anthropology
•Cultural anthropology
•Biological anthropology
•Masculine anthropology
•Feminine anthropology
•Interpretative anthropology
•Physical anthropology
•Psychological anthropology
•Forensic anthropology
•Social anthropology
Basic Premises
 Symbolic Anthropology
 An area of Cultural anthropology
 symbolic system that arises primarily from
human interpretations of the world
Continuation….
 Furthermore there are two major premises
governing symbolic Anthropology:
 Basic Premises: The ways in which people
understand and interpret their
surroundings as well as the actions and
utterances of the other members of their
society
 The second major premise is that actions are
guided by interpretation.
Culture
 Geertz believes that an analysis of culture
should "not (be) an experimental science in
search of law but an interpretive one in
search of meaning".
Principal Concepts of Culture
 Thick Description was a term which was
originally borrowed by Clifford Geertz from
a renowned anthropologist Gilbert Ryle to
describe and define the aim of interpretative
anthropology.
 Social Anthropology is based on ethnography or the
study of culture.
 In order to understand culture, it is very important to
understand symbols that guide social behavior.
 By analyzing culture, one develops a thick
description of culture.
What is Thick Description?
3 characteristics of thick
description
 Interpretative
 Interpretative consists of taking the said and changing
it into things that can be studied.
 Microscopic
How does thick description
work?
Winking & Twitching
(A twitch and a wink can look exactly
the same, but have completely different
intents)
Object of Thick Description
 “Stratified hierarchy of meaningful structures”
 thin description – what you can observe
 thick description – the meaning behind the action.
Examples of Thick Description
 Why do Muslims condemn the eating of pork, ham or
any other foods related to pigs swine?
 Why do Muslims condemn drinking when a hardcore
drinker can stand upright or behave
normally(according to the social circle) even if he is 5
pegs down?
 Why do male teachers usually act cheeky with female
students?
Sources and References:
 en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_sciences
 www.ssrc.org
 vlib.org/SocialSciences
 www.doaj.org/doaj?func=subject&cpid=88
 www.doaj.org/doaj?func=subject&cpid=87
 Ssrn.com
 Notes and Handouts
 Class Lectures
SAY
To Social Sciences…
Warning: It causes mental disorder
Thank You
