Cultural Anthropology Culture is a LEARNED and SOCIALIZED Transmitted and Accepted through Generations

Characteristics of Culture  NON-MATERIAL CULTURE – consists of thoughts and behaviours we learn and share with others. ValuesCustoms BeliefsSkills IdeasMyths LanguageFamily Patterns RulesPolitical Systems

Characteristics of Culture  MATERIAL CULTURE – consists of all the physical objects that humans create and give meaning to. ClothingSchools CarsBooks WheelsT.V’s

Example of a Culture – different from ours  What are the cultural elements of the !Kung from the Kalahari Desert in South Africa?  3/kung.html 3/kung.html  eIuC77NVM eIuC77NVM

5 Universal Common Elements of Culture:  Culture is learned – you are not born knowing the behaviour, customs and language etc. of your particular culture, you must be taught  Culture is shared – rules, customs and behaviours of a particular culture or society must be passed on from generation to generation  Culture defines nature – i.e.) We need to eat to survive, but what we choose to eat is defined by culture  Culture shapes how we perceive and understand the world around us – i.e.) computer commands, UV ratings, the Inuit descriptions for snow  Culture has patterns – underlying any culture are certain views or core values that are taken for granted i.e.) education, democracy, technology, equality etc. These specific values may differ from culture to culture but values still exist across cultures

Definition of Culture – Edward B. Tylor E.B. Tylor defines "Culture is that complex whole which includes knowledge, belief, art, morals, Jaw, customs and any other capabilities and habits acquired by man as a member of society". Tylor is representative of cultural evolutionism. In his works Primitive Culture and Anthropology, he defined the context of the scientific study of anthropology, based on the evolutionary theories of Charles Lyell. He believed that there was a functional basis for the development of society and religion, which he determined was universal. E. B. Tylor is considered by many to be a founding figure of the science of social anthropology

Set up a chart like this in your notebook – Definition of Culture: “That Complex Whole” “Knowledge” “Beliefs” “Arts” “Morals” “Law” “Custom” “Capabilities and Habits Acquired by Man” “As a Member of Society”

Tylor’s Definition: Knowledge, Beliefs  “ That Complex Whole” We study all aspects of a culture, from making a living to organization of families and larger groups to its supernatural beliefs  “Knowledge” People of all cultures rely on knowledge, whether of the sources of food and how to get and prepare it, of shelter construction, or of their surrounding environment.  “Beliefs” All cultures have a world view of the unseen, including the creator(s) of the world, the gods, spirits, and forces of the supernatural, myths, and much else. That includes us Westerners, who have one religion or another—even no religion is a confession of faith in no god or gods.

Tylor’s Definition: Skills to Values to Social Control  “Arts” Everyone in a culture has skills, whether hunting, gathering plants, cultivating crops, constructing shelter, and much else  “Morals” Every culture has its morality. Sources of morality can come from family values, beliefs, religion, scripture passed down and accepted by generations.  “Law” Every culture has its own means of social control – legal expectations  “Custom” Every culture has its own way of doing things, from family values to norms of behavior

Tylor’s Definition: Shared Behavior  “Capabilities and Habits Acquired by Man”: Culture is a human feature, although certain apes may also have something resembling culture – i.e. Jane Goodall’s Wild Chimpanzees  “As a Member of Society”: We all belong to a network or structure of social relations, from family to band to tribe to nation-state.

Culture is Symbolic  Culture is based on symbols, including  Language  Objects with meaning  Events with Significance  A symbol can be a sign, a place, a gesture, or even a person.  A symbol can be local, regional, national, or international.  Each culture has its own unique symbols.

What is a Symbol? Example – National Symbol  Definition : Object or event that is Intrinsically unrelated to another object or event to which it refers  Example: Ask yourself some questions about this U.S. flag:  The stars the U.S. states  The stripes represent the 13 original colonies  Both the stars and stripes are symbols; there is meaning associated with these symbols that the people in the nation accept

Why are these Symbols Controversial? ARtYX9ZO4

Culture is Acquired Through Language, Culture is Shared  Culture is learned through language  Babies learn language from birth:  Through language they acquire culture  A group with common language and custom shares a culture

Cultural Anthropology Ethnocentrism and Cultural Relativism

Cultural Anthropology  The goal of cultural anthropology is to prevent ethnocentrism and instead to promote cultural relativism.

Ethnocentrism  Ethnocentrism is the belief that one's cultural group is centrally important and superior to others  We are ethnocentric when we use our cultural norms to make generalizations about other peoples' cultures and customs.  Ethnocentrism leads to cultural misinterpretation and it often distorts communication between human beings.

 Some very simple examples of ethnocentric thinking.....  We often talk about British drivers driving "on the wrong side" of the road. Why not just say "opposite side" or even "left hand side"?  We talk about written Hebrew or Arabic as reading "backward." Why not just say "from right to left" or "in the opposite direction from English."  We consider certain types of art “naive” or “primitive”

While ethnocentric views are not necessarily intended, they have led to major human disasters throughout history causing - Bullying, Discrimination, Intolerance, War, Genocide….

Cultural Relativism  Anthropologists promote cultural relativism as an approach to understanding diversity.  Cultural relativism is the principle that an individual human's beliefs and activities make sense in terms of his or her own culture.  Cultural Relativist perspective explains human diversity as a logical outcome of the diverse environments in which humans live.  Therefore, when it comes to matters of right or wrong, there is no fixed truth but rather all is relative.

FEMALE BEAUTY: is it a cultural universal? Why or Why not? FE

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Aims of Cultural Anthropology o To provide objective insight into other cultures o To help preserve valuable knowledge, cultural practices and languages around the world o To foster cross-cultural empathy, understanding and collaboration o To emphasize similarities among human cultures and help bridge their differences and misunderstandings