Introduction to Anthropology CMW Anthropology The study of human diversity o Humanities o Natural Sciences o Social Sciences Conventional Four Fields 1 Biological or Physical Anthropology o The study of humans as biological organisms Primate relations Human evolution Human physical diversity 2 Archaeology o The study of past cultures Interpretation of material culture Through a variety of methods Ex Making weapons with their modes of production 3 Linguistic Anthropology o Structure of human languages Relation between language and world views Social and cultural uses of language 4 Cultural Anthropology o The study of living human cultures Participant observation in fieldwork the traditional and modern method Ethnology the study of people Ethnography the in depth study of one particular group Franz Boas Founder of modern day anthropology in the U S o Argued against elitist assumptions about others o Studied as a peer and equal amongst his subjects Opposed to Armchair Anthropology o Takes cultural phenomena out of context o Over simplifies the connection among cultures o Misinterprets events Ex Jared Diamond Cyber Ethnology Difference from Sociology Sociology o Historically Western o Quantitative Anthropology o Historically Non Western o Qualitative The History of Cultural Anthropology History of Anthropology The history of anthropology is largely the history of Europe trying to make sense of the world British Social Anthropology o Used by the British to conquer distant lands o Played a large part in the project of colonialism o Opposed Franz Boas use of Archeology Early Cultural Anthropology in the U S late 19th century 20th century Believed Archeology to be it s own separate field Frank Cushing Franz Boas o Lived in a variety of Native American villages o Was a member of the B A E o As the U S government encroached upon native American settlements Cushing set out to gather as much data as possible about these people o Founder of American Anthropology o Practiced salvage ethnography Believed cultures to be on the verge of extinction o Broke racial hierarchies Ellis Island no race is superior o Asked Where do cultural differences come from The environment History Film The Shackles of Tradition baskets or rocking babies Culture includes special ceremonies as well as everyday activities such as making o Helped contemporary members of the cultures he studied learn how to relate to their own traditional cultures Four Fields and his Application o 1 Biological Studied the physical body of various races on Ellis Island to determine there is no dominant race o 2 Archeology Took artifacts from his studies and displayed them in the o 3 Linguistic Learned the language and how it applies to their culture and Natural History Museum world view o 4 Cultural Fieldwork Boas Legacy We are all bound by the shackles of tradition culture Anti racist activism Argued that ALL cultures were equal in value Salvage ethnography and its legacy o Ongoing controversies about returning cultural artifacts which were collected in this period Thought communities were going to die out salvaged the idea of them o The use of anthropology accounts for cultural revivals Cultural Anthropology in Europe The Power entrusted and wielded by anthropologist o Government can use for bad means o Projects to research a community only to learn weaknesses and strengths o Ex Evans Pritchard Nuer 1930 s What is Culture Culture Characteristics of Culture Necessary Culture is that complex which includes knowledge belief art law morals custom and any other capabilities and habits acquired by man as a member of society Edward Tylor 1871 Culture is everything you know by the time you re twelve years old Garrison Keillor circa 2000 Culture Includes o How you dress how you walk how what and when you eat how you think about yourself other people and the whole world the objects you come in contact with how you spend your time how you observe important occasions like life events and holy days and much much more Culture vs culture o There are people who believe Culture to be refinement only for the elite o Little c culture is something everyone has o People need a shared system of meanings values symbols and understandings o To be able to predict and interpret one another s behavior o Culture enables us to live with other people They are the laws the baseline and a shared belief system something that ties a society together Is it possible to have no culture Integrated o Anthropologists recognize the need to study the interrelationship of many aspects of human life elements involved Can t separate can t look at one aspect without looking at the other Everything is interconnected from the political system to the Conservative and Always Changing economic and moral beliefs o Some aspects of culture change rapidly o Other aspects usually aspects fundamentals to the social order like ideas about gender and family tend to be rather conservative Changing either very slowly through time or more rapidly under special circumstances such as a societal revolution o Cultures are always in motion there is no such thing as an unchanging pristine culture Elements of expression always changing fashion body art music Units or organizations try to stay the same but the idea is being challenged Ex Saudi Arabia and women driving Learned o All culture is learned transmitted socially o Rather than biologically inherited like instinctive behaviors o Enculturation is the process whereby culture is transmitted from one generation to the next Normative o As part of our enculturation we learn appropriate behaviors and ideas for our age gender and social context ECT o When we stray from these norms temporarily or habitually we are often subject to social sanctions Negative influences from others which encourage us to behave more Shared normally o Culture makes interpersonal communication mutual understanding and o However individual members of a culture do not all share the exact same coordinated action possible mental map of their culture Different social classes family upbringing schooling religion Multiple o In all societies different categories of people have different experiences of their culture and may have expertise in different areas of cultural knowledge A smaller group within a culture that shares specialized knowledge Race and Gender o Subculture language or identity Universities majors Ideational o Culture is often invisible Taking the form of expectations