Culture Counts A Concise Introduction to Cultural Anthropology

Culture Counts A Concise Introduction to Cultural Anthropology
Serena Nanda Richard L. Warms © Cengage Learning. All rights reserved.

Chapter Outline Culture Is Made Up Of Learned Behaviors Culture Is The Way Humans Use Symbols To Organize And Give Meaning To The World Culture Is An Integrated System — Or Is It? © Cengage Learning. All rights reserved.

Chapter Outline Culture Is A Shared System Of Norms And Values — Or Is It? Culture Is The Way Human Beings Adapt To The World Culture Is Constantly Changing Culture Counts Bringing It Back Home: Is There an American Culture? © Cengage Learning. All rights reserved.

Autism and Culture Developmental discorder Difficulties in both verbal and non-verbal communication, social interaction, and many other symptoms Asperger’s syndrome Can master language and participate in society Dr. Temple Grandin © Cengage Learning. All rights reserved.

Asperger’s Syndrome Knows rules of social conventions of “normal” so act normal and learn rules and obey them…but they don’t understand what is behind the conventions. You imitate Extremely difficult for them to be functioning members of society © Cengage Learning. All rights reserved.

Characteristics of Culture
Cultures are made up of learned behaviors. All cultures involve the use of language and symbols. Cultures are patterned and integrated. Cultures are shared by members of a group. Cultures are in some way adaptive. Cultures are subject to change. © Cengage Learning. All rights reserved.

Culture is Made Up of Learned Behaviors
All animals learn behavior; humans have more learned behavior than any other animal Almost every aspect of our lives is layered with learning (e.g., eating) We learn continuously and throughout life, but it is concentrated in our childhoods to our teens and early 20s (lengthy period of human immaturity) It allows time for an enormous amount of learning; leaves few specific human behaviors directly under genetic control It demands that human cultures provide stable environments to protect its young. Enculturation – process of learning to be a member of cultural group © Cengage Learning. All rights reserved.

Enculturation We learn through enculturation the process of learning to be a member of a specific cultural group. Patterns attitudes, motivations, values, perceptions, and beliefs. Provides direct and indirect instruction and experiential learning. © Cengage Learning. All rights reserved.

Child Rearing and the Inuit
The shaded area on the map to the right shows the location of the Inuit. The Inuit, a hunting people of the Arctic, teach their children to deal with a dangerous world in which making wrong decisions might mean death. Must maintain constant state of alertness and experimental way of living © Cengage Learning. All rights reserved.

Inuit Central is being taught to solve problems quickly and spontaneously Taught to constantly test and extend their physical skills Learn through observing elders Learn through play and experience (games prepare kids for harsh environment both physically and mentally) Discouraged from asking questions When confronted with problem, they are expected to observe closely, to reason, and to find solutions independently Must learn to be cooperative and emotionally restrained; closely knit and often isolated camp life; they prize reason, judgment, and emotional control (thought to grow naturally as children grow) Scolding is seen as futile (produces hostility and rebellion); children will learn when they are ready © Cengage Learning. All rights reserved.

Culture and Personality Theory
A theoretical approach that holds that cultures could best be understood by examining the patterns of child rearing and considering their effect on adult lives and social institutions (popular from 1920s to 1950s) Focuses on child rearing as the way to best study enculturation; still an important topic in anthropology Margaret Mead: Coming of Age in Samoa (1928) Argued that it was cultural factors rather than biological forces that caused adolescents to experience emotional and psychological stress. © Cengage Learning. All rights reserved.

Culture is the way humans use symbols to organize and give meaning to their world Culture uses methods of organizing and classifying Culture is the creation of shared mental models applied to perceptions and experiences in order to: Organize Classify understand Primarily expressed through language, a symbolic system Different cultures have different models for understanding and speaking about the world © Cengage Learning. All rights reserved.

Cognitive Anthropology and Ethnoscience
Cognitive Anthropology focuses on the relationship between mind and science Ethnoscience: A theoretical approach within cognitive anthropology that focuses on the ways in which members of a culture use language to classify their world holds that anthropology should be the study of cultural systems of classification © Cengage Learning. All rights reserved.

Using Anthropology: Culturally Specific Diseases
Although all humans are subject to same biologically based diseases, however the ways people classify, experience, and understand health and illness greatly differ among cultures Anthropologists have identified many culturally bound syndromes, illnesses that are identified in only one or a small number of communities Fan Death – Korean belief Bangungot –; Philippines and Southeast Asia; United States – anorexia © Cengage Learning. All rights reserved.

Different ways of classifying, understanding, and treating illness can be very difficult in this multicultural world The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down Lia Lee was 14th child to Hmong refugees from Laos; now living in California 3 months old began to have seizures Parents couldn’t explain it to doctors; no Hmong interpreters Parents believed that her soul was being touched or taken by something out of this realm, probably had spiritual powers and might become shaman Health care workers could not understand this; took a long time to diagnose © Cengage Learning. All rights reserved.

Culturally Specific Diseases
© Cengage Learning. All rights reserved.

For doctors, epilepsy was a disease to be treated with medicine; they demanded that the Lee’s complied with their prescriptions (some were difficult and unpleasant to administer) quag dad peg Conflict between Lee’s and doctors 4 years old, suffered seizure that put her in coma; lived 26 years; cared for by her family and central to their lives WESTERN MEDICINE MUST TRY TO UNDERSTAND ILLNESS FROM THE PERSPECTIVE OF THEIR PATIENTS, ESPECIALLY WHEN THEY HAVE PATIENTS FROM OTHER CULTURES THAT UNDERSTAND HEALTH AND ILLNESS DIFFERENTLY; NEED COOLABORATION BETWEEN PARENTS AND HEALTH CARE PROFESSIONALS. © Cengage Learning. All rights reserved.

Symbols and Meanings Something that stands for something else; words, gestures, objects and ideas that… Enables us to store information and condense meaning Single symbol can stand for many ideas and emotions (religious symbols, flags) © Cengage Learning. All rights reserved.

Symbolic Anthropology
Symbolic anthropologists try to understand a culture by discovering and analyzing the symbols that are most important to its members. These often reflect the deep concerns of the culture’s members in ways that may be difficult to articulate. Victor Turner’s study of the Ndembu of East Africa (mudyi tree) © Cengage Learning. All rights reserved.

Interpretive Anthropology
Focuses on using humanistic methods, such as those found in the analysis of literature, to analyze culture and discover the meaning of culture to its participants Reflects the stories people tell themselves about themselves Culture is an “ensemble of texts ... which the anthropologist strains to read over the shoulders of those to whom they properly belong.” (Clifford Geertz) Find cultural texts in public events, celebrations, and rituals (e.g., American football versus checkers) for variety of reasons Both symbolic and interpretive anthropology seek to uncover and interpret deep emotional and psychological structure of societies. © Cengage Learning. All rights reserved.

Culture is an integrated system
Organic analogy – culture and societies can be compared to living organisms Strengths Allows us to understand society as composed of different elements (like kinship, religion, and subsistence). Implies that anthropologists should describe these elements/roles and the ways that changes in one affects the others . © Cengage Learning. All rights reserved.

Strengths Ways that changes in one affects the others: a. Subsistence and Social Structure are related to each other b. Foragers (egalitarian - belief in the equality of all people, especially in political, economic, or social life) live in small groups and requires little direction or coordination; loosely defined social groups with changing membership c. Farming/subsistence based economy requires more coordination than foraging; likely have a society with more rigid structure and more stable membership d. If foragers moved to farming, we would expect it to develop more defined social structures. © Cengage Learning. All rights reserved.

Weaknesses Implies that properly functioning societies should be stable and conflict-free. In socially stratified societies, different groups have different interests, which create conflict. Capitalist society – workers versus owners In non-industrial societies have conflicting commitments to their families, other social groups, their religion….Even in societies that lack social groups beyond the family, the interests of men, women, young, and old may differ. © Cengage Learning. All rights reserved.

Functionalism Theoretical position that focuses on finding general laws that identify different elements of society, show how they relate to each other, and demonstrate their role in maintaining social order © Cengage Learning. All rights reserved.

Ecological Functionalism
Theoretical approach that focuses on relationship between environment and society Holds that the ways in which cultural institutions work can best be understood by examining their effects on the environment Marvin Harris and his study of sacred cow in India © Cengage Learning. All rights reserved.

Culture is a shared system of norms and values
Norm - An ideal cultural pattern that influences behavior in a particular society shared rules of behavior that reflect and enforce culture; the way things ought to be done (shaking hands versus bowing) May be contradictory People don’t necessarily do what they say they should do May be manipulated For personal or group ends © Cengage Learning. All rights reserved.

Culture is a shared system of norms and values
Value - A culturally defined idea of what is true, right, and beautiful Values may be contradictory and are not universal. Advances in technology seen as good is an American value Values may be manipulated. Individuals differ in their knowledge, understandings, and beliefs Even in small societies, norms are not always followed and values are not universal (e.g., Pukapuka fishermen often do not agree on the kind of fish) © Cengage Learning. All rights reserved.

Dominant Culture Dominant cultures retain power because of the control of formal institutions (e.g., legal system, public school system, media); not referring to superior and inferior; referring to idea that dominant cultures have: Greater wealth and power More able to impose its understanding of the world on subcultures than the reverse Contains many subcultures © Cengage Learning. All rights reserved.

Subculture A group within a society that shares norms and values that are significantly different from those of a larger, dominant culture within the same society share through various mechanisms: religion, cultural tales, rules, norms, values…etc. © Cengage Learning. All rights reserved.

Renegotiation of Values and Norms
Values and norms are constantly being re-negotiated. There is ongoing conflict and subjugation as well as consensus People contest subjugation and protect their subcultures through political, economic, and military means Stereotypes are used for subcultural groups. Which norms and values are promoted and rejected is important because cultural ideas influence and are influenced by: Wealth Power Status Values and norms influence laws and social policies Notions held by those in power is critical © Cengage Learning. All rights reserved.

Historical Particularism
Focused on culture as a shared set of norms and values Interested in presenting objective descriptions of cultures within their historical and environmental context emphasis on norms and values was designed to show that, although other cultures may be different, they were also coherent, rational, and beautiful. © Cengage Learning. All rights reserved.

Postmodernism Culture is a context in which norms and values are contested and negotiated. Focuses on issues of power and voice Sees culture and society as battlegrounds of fights for power and the right to determine norms and values Does NOT assume that there is a cultural core of shared beliefs and values © Cengage Learning. All rights reserved.

Culture is the way human beings adapt to the world
Culture is Adaptive – a biological and cultural process by which an individual or population becomes better suited to survive and reproduce in its environment Humans use culture to adapt to our world (more than biology) (develop knowledge and technology) Our biology compels us to learn culture, but not a certain culture; fills basic needs (food and shelter learned through cultural practices) © Cengage Learning. All rights reserved.

Advantages ADVANTAGES - Cultural adaptation has advantages over biological adaptation. Allows humans to change their approaches quickly in order to solve problems. Human plasticity (ability to change behavior) allows us to thrive under different and changing social and economic conditions (no instinct to hunt or consume particular food, build particular of structure, social structure…) Humans’ main biological adaptation to the world: learning culture © Cengage Learning. All rights reserved.

Disadvantages DISADVANTAGES - Cultural adaptation has disadvantages in regard to biological adaptation. Misinformation can affect human behavior – can lead to cultural practices that hinder rather than aid survival (e.g., unrestrained logging, mining, commercial fishing – encouraging destruction of the environment, may lead to short-term success but long-term disaster) Not all human practices and choices are adaptive over the long term, although humans may still choose to do them. Some practices are clearly not adaptive, even in the short run (e.g., ethnic cleansing and genocide may benefit leaders but these practices are not adaptive) © Cengage Learning. All rights reserved.

Cultural Ecology Focused on the adaptive aspect of culture Focuses on the study of people’s behavior as it relates to their well-being or the relationship of cultural practices to ecosystems. They investigate the ways cultures adapt to specific environments Looks at the ways in which cultures have changed in response to new physical and social conditions. © Cengage Learning. All rights reserved.

Culture is constantly changing
All cultures change over time because of many reasons: a) Conflicts from internal elements b) Contact with outsiders c) Population growth d) Disease e) Climate change f) Natural disaster Cultures change at variable rates of speed (small increments or revolutionary bursts) Historically, culture change has been a slow process; pace has been increasing rapidly for the past century. © Cengage Learning. All rights reserved.

Change results from Innovation and Diffusion Innovation: A new variation on an existing cultural pattern that is subsequently accepted by others members of society Primary innovations: New practices New tools New principles Are often chance discoveries and accidents (penicillin) © Cengage Learning. All rights reserved.

Diffusion: The spread of cultural elements (like practices, objects, or beliefs) from one culture to another through cultural contact (e.g., trade, travel, warfare) (Missions were a primary way to spread Christianity to Indians) Can be direct or indirect © Cengage Learning. All rights reserved.

Change is a very complex process. New ideas must be accepted (e.g., penicillin) People may not understand it People may not like it. Individuals vary in their willingness to accept new things Latin America and Asia Landowners profited It may be promoted or resisted by powerful interests. © Cengage Learning. All rights reserved.

Innovation and diffusion are often accompanied by conflict; people colonized or captured by others are often forced to assume new cultural practices modern technology now penetrates almost every culture, although penetration is uneven; wealthy have far greater access to ability to control technology than the poor; FOR EXAMPLE: radio, television, and video recording have all spread around world Because cultures have been affected from contact with industrial societies, most anthropologists today are interested in change © Cengage Learning. All rights reserved.

1. Cultural characteristics include all of the following except: learned behaviors. smooth integration between parts. symbols and classification systems. maladaptive information. © Cengage Learning. All rights reserved.

2. Anthropologists with training in cultural ecology might carry out which of the following research projects? Investigating social networks of single mothers and child rearing practices Eliciting the categories of foods that make up a ceremonial meal Measuring rice yield in rural Japanese villages Surveying cross-culturally the relationship between marriage and religion © Cengage Learning. All rights reserved.

3. Which of the following anthropological research projects would be considered a good example of an interpretive/symbolic approach? An exploration of cricket as a commentary on British culture The ecological function of Hindu beliefs regarding not eating beef The social structure of middle-class Brazilian households Classification of medicinal plants by Samoan elders © Cengage Learning. All rights reserved.

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