Anthropology 104 01 Prof Milena Marchesi Lecture Sept 16th 2015 MODERN ANTHROPOLOGY and THE CULTURE CONCEPT Armchair Anthropology Anthropological research and theorizing based upon secondary sources Typically the product of misconstrued profiling Franz Boas 19th 20th century Anthropologist whose knowledge was based upon firsthand longterm research Boas rejected cultural evolutionism Be lieved that cultures are complex meaning generated from unique histories and adaptations to the environment Culture is based on its own terms never in comparison to others or evolution Cultural Relativism The anthropological idea that all cultures must be stud ied and looked at on their own terms never on the basis of previous knowl edge or other cultures Ethnocentrism Judging another culture solely by the values and standards of another culture Ethnocentric individuals judge other groups relative to their own ethnic group or culture especially with concern for language behavior customs religion and race appearance What is considered an Advancement modern day US due to their untainted view on race or status Attempted Definition of Culture Knowledge belief patterns of behavior arti facts and institution learned and created by a group of people Guest 2014 35 tics and norms of a culture due to exposure Culture Characteristics Learned through enculturation the gradual learning of characteris Primitive societies tend to lack social inequality i e in comparison to Learned traits that are not biologically determined Shared A system of meanings universally used throughout a gout of people Human practices are given significance by being a part of a larger system of meaning which we call culture never homogeneously shared Culture is not synonymous with with nationality culture is elusive but all per vasive Xenophobia strong distain or fear of people from different cultures groups nationalities etc Dominant cultures tend to make their own borders as a sense of grandeur