Anthropology

Culture as a Central Concept

What is Anthropology?

The word is from two Greek terms:

Anthropos: man or by extension
human
Logos: study of or science of
But any field from medicine to law is
about humans

Anthropology: Study of
Culture

We might define anthropology as

The holistic and comparative study
Of humankind and its culture
As observed in the field
As reconstructed in the past
As reflected in language that carries it
And as shown in the biological capacity
for it
But what is culture?

Culture: Anthropologys
Main Concept

E.B. Tylor, anthropologys

founder, gave a definition to
start with:
That complex whole which
includes
Knowledge, beliefs, arts,
morals, law, custom
And any other capabilities and
habits
Acquired by man [both
genders]
As a member of society

Concept of Culture

All cultures have at least five

characteristics in common:
Culture is learned
Culture is based on symbols
Culture is shared
Culture is patterned or integrated
Culture is usually adaptive

Culture is Learned

All we do, say, or believe is

learned, as these photos
show.
Yanomamo mother is about
to teach her daughter
gardening
Yanomamo boys learning to
hunt by shooting a lizard
Enculturation: learning
the ways of a culture

Culture is not Genetically

Acquired

We inherit our capacity

for culture
But unlike bees, we do
not inherit our abilities
This scout is dancing
figure-eights to
Tell the other bees where
the pollen source is
But this ability is genetic
Our behavior is learned

Culture is Not Acquired by

Conditioning

This dog learned to carry the

remote to its owner
After being rewarded with
something elsea bone or biscuit
These parrots learned to talk
Owing to food reward for doing
so
Both dog and birds were
conditioned
We do not learn culture only from
rewards for desired behavior

Culture is Acquired
Through Symbols

Culture is learned through

language
Babies learn language from
birth:
Through language they
acquire culture
Language is based on
symbols
Their capacity for language is
inherited
But not their own language.

What is a Symbol?

Definition: Object or event that is

Intrinsically unrelated to another
Thing or event to which it refers
Example: This U.S. Flag
What do the stars represent?
What do the stripes represent?
Do we confuse the stars with the U.S.
States?
Do we confuse the stripes with the 13
Colonies?
So both the stars and stripes are
symbols

There Are Other Symbols

What does the octagon represent?

How about the inverted triangle?
Again, would you confuse the two with
stop or yield?
But the arrow does have an intrinsic
meaning:
It tell you where to go
The Mayan figures are using a
language
This is the most symbolic event of all
Even what they wear is symbolicof
nobility and their Maya-ness

Cultures are Based on

Symbolism Called
Language
Expression cat comprises 3 sounds:
C-a-t or in International Phonetic Alphabet
[k t]: IPA is designed for one letter, one sound
[k] means nothing, nor do [] or [t]
Put together, they mean a feline animal
But you wouldnt confuse cat with the symbol
Switch them around and you have [ k t] act
Bottom line: none of the three sounds has any
meaning, in and of itself
But they can be combined to mean many things
Culture is just as adaptive as language

Symbolism and Culture

Symbols are the root of all culture

Bees cannot change their behavior
Dogs cannot be trained except by
imitation and reward
But humans can change behavior at
will
Evidence: Cultures are diverse
Evidence: Cultures can and do change

Culture is Shared

A group with common

language and custom
shares a culture
Groups may be as
small as 50 (!Kung
band seen here)
They may comprise
nation of millions (e.g.
Japan, shown by these
schoolgirls here)

Shared Behavior and

Subcultures

Definition: subcultures
share some features with
dominant culture
But have distinctive
attributes of their own
Counterculture is regarded
by some as a subculture
(Frank Zappa,
counterculture icon, had a
Berlin street named after
him)
But the counterculture did
not survive into the next
generation

Shared Behavior and

Subcultures:

The Amish are a true subculture

Amish seem similar to dominant
culture (farm in Indiana)
Until you notice all farming
Is by horsepower (literally)
There are no machines, no cars
Other features: have own
(German) schools, communes,
Anabaptist religion
The Amish have persisted
through the generations since
the 17th cent.

Culture is
Patterned/Integrated

One aspect of culture reflects

other aspects
They all fit into a pattern as a
whole
Examples of integration
Extreme example:
Teotihuacans pyramid (upper)
probably werent built by
tribesmen like these Kawelka
But pig feasts did fit in with
Kawelka tribal culture. How?

Example of Cultural
Integration: Pyramid
Construction

To construct a pyramid like

the Pyramid of the Sun at
Teotihuacan
You need a large crew
Organized by a state-level
society
Similar to this depiction at
an Assyrian site
And a large population base
Estimated at 75,000-200,000

Example of Cultural
Integration: Kawelka

The Kawelka of New Guinea

Organize their culture around pig
feasts held every decade
There is no state; war was
prevalent
Big men like Ongka (left) directed
both war and feasts
Unlike emperors, he could not
boss his tribesmen around
Population was about 1,000
Pig feasts replaced warfare

Culture is Generally
Adaptive

Technology generally reflects

features of environment
Settled communities: usually
indicate stable food supply,
Such as the Aztec chinampas
(raised platforms)
Grasslands are best for
pastoralism,
Such as this Mongolian camp
Cultures can become poorly
adapted during rapid change

So How Do We Define
Anthropology?

Your syllabus: The Comparative and

Holistic Study of Humankind
Comparative: Tries to answer the
questions of why cultures are the way they
are
Holistic: Asks two questions:
Ethnographic Holism: Asks whether, and
if so how, all parts of a culture fit together
Disciplinary Holism: Ask how all the four
subfields of anthropology fit together

Four Fields of
Anthropology

Cultural Anthropology: The comparative

study of cultures around the world
Archaeology: The comparative study of past
cultures through its material cultural remains
Physical Anthropology: The comparative
study of human attributes, past and present
Linguistics: The study of spoken language, a
distinctly human trait
How they fit: all involve a question about
culture: where it came from, what it entails

Defining Cultural
Anthropology

It involves the study of mostly

non-Western cultures
Central concern is kinship,
because marriage and family are
our first institutions
Also includes technology, from
hunting to housebuilding
Economic Anthropology: how
goods and services are produced
and distributed
Political Anthropology: The
study of power and social
control
Other areas: the supernatural,
psychology, culture change,
arts and oral tradition

Defining Archaeology

Reconstruction of past
cultures: focus is on
techniques
Looks at artifacts:
portable objects from
tools to Venus sculptures
Looks at structures:
Huts to pyramids
Excavations destroy
everything: Objects
have to be measured
exactly where found
before removal

Defining Physical
Anthropology

The studies of past and present human

forms
Comparative Primate Anatomy:
How similar or different we are from
the monkeys and apes
Fossil Hominins: How we evolved
from Australopithecus (Lucy) to
Homo
Cultural Capacity: Defines how we
acquired ability to speak, make tools,
walk on two feet
Human Variation: Study of so-called
racesa present concern
Forensic Science: Tracing evidence
of criminal activity

Defining Linguistics

The study of spoken

language around the
world
Focuses on phones
(speech sounds) and
phonemes (sound units
that carry language)
Looks at word and
sentence formation
Relates language to
culture

The Rationale for

Comparison: Science

Heres a cross-cultural question in

economics:
When do cultures need money and markets?
Partial Answer: When everyone cannot
produce everything for themselves
We can test this proposition against a wide
range of cultures
Examples: Aztecs, West Africa, Haiti
Exceptions: The Inca, with limited markets
but an administrative economy. Why?

The Point of Comparison:

Anthropology Vs. Other
Disciplines

Economics: Focus is on industrial

societies
Sociology: Social relations in
industrial societies
Psychology: Study of hang-ups in
industrial societies
Anthropology provides data on all
these aspects
Across all cultures around the world.

Anthropology is Holistic

Ethnographic Holism: The fit between

different parts of a culture
Example: The pig feasts among the Kawelka
Example: The political prerequisites of
pyramid building
Disciplinary Holism: Ask why we include
the following under anthropology
Physical Anthropology
Linguistics
Cultural Anthropology
Archaeology

Blind Men as Metaphor of

the Social Sciences

Economics focuses on economic

man (and woman)
Political science is about humans
hungry for power
Psychology is about human with
various drives: sexual, hunger,
prestige
Sociology is about social humans

Anthropology as Holistic

Culture is intangible, so in a sense

Anthropologists (and everyone else)
Has a blindness of sorts
And so all disagree what culture is.
Cultures cannot be described
Without understanding how their parts
fit
Both elephants and cultures are more
than the sum of their parts

Tying The Subfields to

Culture: Physical
Anthropology
Our brain:

Source of our language

Source of our tool-making
ability
Our Lungs and Mouth:
Our ability to speak
Our Arms and Hands:
Our ability to make and
use tools
Our Bipedal Skeleton:
Our ability to stand, walk,
and ability to do all of the
above

Tying the Subfields to

Culture: Linguistics

We learn everything through

language:
Even the blind and deaf
(Helen Keller and Ann
Sullivan)
We can think of things not
tangible: math equations,
things not present, things
nonexistent
We can produce new words
where necessary, from blip to
iPod

Tying the Subfields to

Culture: Archaeology

Comparative study primarily of

cultural remains of human
societies
(Even stone tools are hard to
identify)
Human and prehuman physical
remains are also important
(Did Neanderthals mate with
human?
Both archaeologists and physical
anthros would like to know)
Comparison of past cultures is
also essential

Explaining Cultures

Popular Approaches
Religious Beliefs
Ethnocentrism
Culture Bound Approaches
Scientific Approaches
Humanistic Approaches

Field Techniques

Observation
Participant Observation
Open or Unstructured Interviews
Closed or Structured Interviews
Technological Enhancements
Audiotape and Videotape Recordings
Aerial Photographs

Why Cultural
Anthropology? Tylors
Answer

E.B. Tylor (1871):

Knowledge from remote past
Helps us to forecast the future and
Fulfill our duty to leave the world better than
we found it.
Today we know more than Tylor and his
colleagues did
We can ask more specific research questions
than they could
We can provide some insight about the
trajectory of our own societywhere its going

Why Cultural
Anthropology? To Beat
Ethnocentrism

To question
Western
assumptions about
Individual behavior
(psychology)
Economic behavior
(economics)
Political behavior
(political science)
The Supernatural
(theology)

Why Cultural Anthropology?

To Apply the Ethnographic
Record
To see what has been
To see what has been
done about problems
besetting all culture
To see if addressing
problems in the past can
be applied to todays
cultures or cultures
To see what will happen
if we continue what we
are doing now (global
warming; extremes in
wealth and poverty
[diagram]; wars)
To see what could be
done to improve society

Scope of This Course

Foundations of Culture
Elements of Culture
Research Techniques and Methods
Biological Factors of Culture
Linguistics and Culture

Components of Culture

Marriage, Family, and

Kinship
Economic Anthropology
Political and Legal
Anthropology
Psychological
Anthropology
Anthropology of the
Supernatural
Globalization and
Culture Change

Conclusion

Anthropology is the study of humankind

It involves four aspects
Study of Humans as Biological Creatures
Study of Humans as Creatures of Language
Study of Humans as Culture-Bearers in the past
Study of Humans as Cultures-Bearers of the
Present
These all concern cultural anthropology
But the immediate concern is the present and
the future