ANTHRCUL 101 1st Edition Lecture 2Outline of Last Lecture I. Characteristics of Language II. What do we do with words?III. American Tongues VideoIV. Linguistic AnthropologyV. Iliana Gershon: Breakup 2.0Outline of Current Lecture I. The Big Questions of CultureII. Characteristics of Culture III. The Work of CultureIV. Culture is Always ChangingCurrent LectureI. The Big Questions of Culturea. What is it?b. What does it do?c. How does it do it?II. Characteristics of Culturea. Learned: the process of enculturation starts at birth and never ends – you are not born with the culture, but must be taught to you throughout your lifeb. Symbolic: culture is based on the idea that everything stands for something else – suggests an arbitrary element to culture (symbols can be interpreted differentlyby different people)c. Shared: suggests an identity – something has to be known by more than one person to be given meritd. All-Encompassing: anthropological definitions of culture are not based on “high” and “low” culturei. Ex: ballet is considered just as “cultural” as professional wrestlinge. Integrated (often around core values): parts of cultural life are interconnected (religious beliefs, family structure, concepts of work and success all affect each other – a change in one aspect of culture produces a change in others)III. The Work of Culturea. Always in Action (replicated and altered)i. Often works in tacit levels that are unspoken, we don’t even think about itwhile it is happeningThese notes represent a detailed interpretation of the professor’s lecture. GradeBuddy is best used as a supplement to your own notes, not as a substitute.b. Dynamic and changing: symbols and articulation of their meaning c. Created and Contested: agency (the ability to act within a structure) is crucial for culture to workd. Law-like but not “the law”: culture can become fixed as a policy – ex: Michigan Marriage Law (but even these laws can change)e. Culture Organizes Nature: sets up oppositions in nature, naturalizes social worlds (society creates definitions of what is “natural,” i.e. what kind of marriage is “natural”)f. We take culture for granted: it “goes without saying,” appears almost invisibleIV. Culture is Always Changinga. Diffusion: how one cultural form gets passed to another placeb. Independent invention: something new is thought of and then passed on to others to be integrated into the culturec. Acculturation: result of 2 cultures combining d. Domination: when someone’s culture is forced upon another e. Contestation: disagreement is very telling of a cultureV. Ex: Standing in Line (Poland vs. United States)a. In Poland you must be standing closely behind the next person in order to be considered “in line” – otherwise people will push in front of youb. In the US this is considered rude, people don’t stand this close because it is a violation of personal space to usVI. Ex: Ann Arbor-ish crossingsa. Pedestrian right-of-way rules, both written and unspoken, have been a cause for tension – tells us about the culture of Ann
View Full Document
Unlocking...