Download CULTURES - San Jose State University

All old-established national industries have been
destroyed or are daily being destroyed. They are
dislodged by new industries, whose introduction
becomes a life and death question for all civilized
nations, by industries that no longer work up indigenous
raw material but raw material drawn from the remotest
zones; industries whose products are consumed, not
only at home, but in every quarter of the globe. In place
of the old wants, satisfied by the production of the
country, we find new wants, requiring for their
satisfaction the products of distant lands and climes. In
place of the old local and national seclusion and selfsufficiency, we have intercourse in every direction,
universal interdependence of nations.
Introductions
Home Town:
Lawrence, Kansas.
Grew up in Sonoma County
California
(Cazadero, Occidental)
Education:
Sonoma State University
University of Kansas
San Jose State University
Research Interests:
Urban Poverty
Discourse Analysis
Homelessness
Identity and the self
Technology and learning
Cultural consequences of
information automation
KU and Lawrence, Kansas
The Syllabus and Textbooks
Textbook
English-Lueck et al Emerging Global Cultures
The syllabus
Large university courses VS. small liberal arts courses
Discussion, exchange, collaboration
Anthropology, Globalization, Consumer Capitalism, Elite-driven capitalism
– Introductions, syllabus, Anthropology overview, theory
– Anthropology overview, theory, weekly readings
Anthropology
Anthropology:
“The science of humankind”
 the most humanistic of the sciences and the most
scientific of the humanities (Wolf 1964).


From Greek
- Anthropos: Human
- Logos: Discourse, science
First used to define a scientific discipline
probably around the 16th century.
Formally developed into an academic
discipline in the 18th century.
Columbia University offered the first Ph.D. program
In anthropology in America.

4 Fields of Anthropology
• Cultural
Socio-cultural
Ethnography
• Archaeology
Material Culture
• Physical/Biological
Evolution
• Linguistic
Language and
Meaning
Subfields and Specialization
Some subfields…
• Applied anthropology,
• Economic anthropology,
• Political anthropology,
Geographic and Regional
Specialization
Paradigm shifts
• Business anthropology,
Ideological change
• Medical anthropology,
Culture
• Forensic anthropology,
• Development anthropology.
Identity
What does Anthropology do?
• Seeks to understand
•
•
humanity in time and
space.
All subfields united at
one time under
Evolution/Diffusion.
19th Century.
Anthropology’s Contributions
We cannot
understand human
behavior without
taking different
cultures into account.
 Culture molds
biology: eating,
sleeping, sex,
bathroom, talking.

Culture
 CULTURE
is
Anthropology’s
concept, but it
is used in a
variety of ways
both inside and
outside of
Anthropology.
Culture: Defined



Difficult to define…
EDWARD BENNIT
TYLOR offered the
“kitchen sink” definition
"that complex whole
which includes
knowledge, belief, art,
law, morals, custom, and
any other capabilities
and habits acquired by
man as a member of
society“ (Tylor 1872).
THEORY OF SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT IN
ANTHROPOLOGY
Uniliear Theory and Cultural Evolution
(pre 1900)
Idea: Culture evolves in progressive and linear
stages, each stage corresponding to certain
types of “technology”
PRIMATIVE
stone tools, spear thrower, scavaging
(prehistoric)
SAVAGERY
fishing, bow & arrow (Aboriginals)
BARBARISM
pots, domestication of plants/animals, iron
(Native Americans)
CIVILIZATION
writing, phonetic alphabet (Greeks)
Notable anthropologists of this period:
Edward B. Tylor
Frank Hamilton Cushing
Lewis Henry Morgan
James G. Frazer
Problems?





What are some problems
with these theories?
Implied racialized
worldview
Indigenous peoples have
just as much history, and
are just as “evolved,” as
so-called “civilized”
societies.
The Indigenous Mind
The Dream Time
CULTURAL RELATIVISM (early 1900s-1930s)

CULTURAL RELATIVISM:
Behavior in one culture should
not be judged by the standards
of another culture
ETHNOCENTRICISM: (opposite
of relativism) Tendency to view
one’s culture as superior and to
apply one’s own cultural values
in judging the behavior and
beliefs of people raised in other
cultures
Notable anthropologist
Franz Boas
Alfred Kroeber
Robert Lowie
Edward Sapir
Ruth Benedict
Margret Mead

CULTURAL RELATIVISM (cont.)
CULTURES: Particular to
geographic areas, local
histories, and traditions
RACE: Problematic category
because still popularly taken
as biological, weighted with
the assumptions of
inferiority and superiority
Native Americans, African
Americans, and other ethnic
groups of differing
melatonin: NOT RACIALLY
INFERIOR, POSSESSED
UNIQUE & HISTORICALLY
SPECIFIC CULTURES
HOW TO STUDY CULTURE…
FIELDWORK METHODS

Bronisław Malinowski

Defining feature of Anthropology since 1920s
A “scientific anthropology?”

PARTICIPANT OBSERVATION
Take part in community life as we study it; Use the senses:
sound, sight, smell, touch, taste; talk to people, ask
questions, learn new language

FIELD NOTES
Keep separate notebook in which you record observations &
experiences

GENEALOGY
Take note of kinship, descent, marriage relationships

INFORMANTS/COLLABORATORS/FRIENDS
People with interest, talent, or training to provide useful
information about particular aspects of life
FIELDWORK METHODS (cont.)

LIFE HISTORY
Recollection of a lifetime of experiences; intimate and
personal cultural portrait; how specific people
perceive, react to, contribute to changes that affect
their lives

RESEARCH QUESTIONS
Questions that guide your research

SUBJECT/OBJECT
 Position of the researcher in relation to her informants &
subject/s being studied
 Position will affect the kind of knowledge gathered &
analysis
THEORIES OF SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT
PATTERNS OF CULTURE
Earlier theories:
 Cultures are homogenous,
harmonious, static forms of
patterned behaviors

Undiscovered societies were
frozen scientific objects to be
discovered & recorded
The post-Boas Era
 Cultural Relativism: all
cultures are different but
equal

Cross-cultural Comparison:
Can help anthropologists
understand their own
cultures. Mead ex.: Samoan
girls experience puberty as
exciting and their changing
bodies as beautiful
SYSTEM OF SYMBOLS & MEANINGS

Clifford Geertz

Blurring boundaries between
social sciences & humanities

Cultures: texts to be read
and interpreted

Interpretation: way people
make sense of differences

“Native’s Point of View”:
Perspective of people you
are working with
SYSTEM OF SYMBOLS & MEANINGS (cont.)

Meanings are not private or in people’s
heads but talked about everyday

People are sophisticated interpreters of
their own culture

Anthropologists want access to stories
people tell themselves about themselves

“thick description”: layers of meaning
stacked on top of each other
New Perspectives







Marvin Harris
Emic (internal): seeing things from their
perspective or logic.
Etic (external): refers to a comparative
perspective.
Relationship between Power and Culture:
how can we analyze social inequality, to
move towards Equality
Shift from looking at cultures as consistent
wholes to looking at differences within
cultures—difference is more typical than
sameness
Culture is emergent (always being created)
and contested (always being debated)
Many, many changes occurred over the last
twenty years in the field of anthropology…
MODERN ANTHROPOLOGICAL THEORY…
Humanism: Engaged Anthropology

Do anthropologists bear the
responsibility of putting
their ideas into practice to
“help” human beings?

If so, does this humanism
influence their course of
study too much?

Should anthropologists
judge which “story”
(practice, policy, etc.) is
better?

Perhaps the “sameness” of
the shared human condition
is as important as
understanding & respecting
“differences”
Paul Farmer-structural violence
It’s a Flat World After All

Thomas Friedman
 NY Times columnist
 Generally a positivist,
utopian writer

Individual countries
must sacrifice some
degree of economic
independence to
global institutions.
United Nations Development Programme



Mumbai - about 54% of the
population comprises slum
dwellers.
Mumbai -1.2 million
people, or little under 10%
of its population, earn less
than Rs (rupee) 20 a day
(average price for a
apartment: 20 Rs)
Half of Mumbai's
population lives in subhuman conditions in
shanties, but the land that
slums are situated on
comprise just 6% of the
city's total land area
Flat…

Plays off the notion of
“exploration”

Begins in India, Banglador

Suggests the world is "flat"

Globalization has leveled the
competitive playing fields
between industrial and
emerging market countries.

Why? The PC, fiber-optic
micro cable, software
development, and
outsourcing.
Flat…

Globalization 3.0,
individuals interconnected
in the global market

Globalization 2.0
multinational companies
acting to pull the world
together

Globalization 1.0 counties
and governments
motivating global
expansion and
interconnection
Flat…



Friedman is excited
about the Chinese
and Indian
populations "joining
the global supply
chain“
This can translate
into low cost labor…
Problems?
Falling Flat

Robert J Gonzalez
 SJSU Faculty
 Response to
Friedman’s writings,
in particular The
World is Flat
 Culturally
misinformed
 Historically
inadequate
 Intellectually
Impoverished.
Falling Flat…

Key points:
 Gap between rich and





poor
Global poverty
Outsourcing
Environmental damage
Friedman calls for
liberalization of
developing economies,
ie: he wants
privatization and a free
market.
Some Websites

http://en.wikipedia.or
g/wiki/History_of_ant
hropology

http://en.wikipedia.or
g/wiki/Edward_Burn
ett_Tylor