PART Introduction to Cultural Anthropology - Pearson Canada

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FIGURE 1.3 Canadian Museum Timeline Canadian anthropology developed in close relationship to its national and regional museums. 1841 1877 1910 1927 1968 1986 Queen Victoria The Geological The Geological The National The National The National granted £1500 Survey was Survey began a Museum of Museum of Man Museum of Man for a geological mandated to linguistic and Canada was was established as became the survey of the make botanical, ethnological survey established. an amalgamation Canadian Museum provinces of zoological, and of First Nations of other museums of Civilization, Canada. ethnological communities in of natural sciences and opened to the collections. Canada. and technology. public in 1989. and US cultural anthropology. Canadian anthropology was shaped by ethnohistorical and advocacy work with First Nations peoples and strong relations with museums (see Figure 1.3). Many people contributed to the institutional development of a distinguished independent anthropological tradition in Canada. One very interesting figure was Sir Daniel Wilson, a Scottish archaeologist appointed professor of English literature and history at University College, Toronto, in 1853. He introduced the term prehistory into the English language, and offered courses in comparative societies (what we discuss later as ethnology) as early as 1855. Following World War II, cultural anthropology expanded substantially in terms of the number of trained anthropologists and departments of anthropology in colleges and universities. Along with this growth came increased theoretical diversity. Several anthropologists developed theories of culture based on environmental factors. They suggested that similar environments (for example, deserts, tropical rainforests, or mountains) would predictably lead to the emergence of similar cultures. This approach pursued cross-cultural generalizations, and so it came into direct conflict with Boasian historical particularism (which we defined earlier). At the same time, French anthropologist Claude Lévi- Strauss was developing a quite different theoretical perspective, which became known as French structuralism. He maintained that the best way to understand a culture is to collect its myths and stories and analyze the underlying themes in them. (Later chapters in this book provide more details about the work of Lévi-Strauss.) French structuralism inspired the development of symbolic anthropology, or the study of culture as a system of meanings, which was especially prominent in the later part of the twentieth century. In the 1960s, Marxist theory emerged in anthropology, stating the importance of people’s access to the means of production. It inspired the emergence of a new theoretical school called cultural materialism. Cultural materialism is an approach to studying culture by emphasizing the Sir Daniel Wilson of the University of Toronto, the first lecturer on ethnology in Canada. material aspects of life, especially the natural environment and how people make a living. Also arising in the 1960s was the theoretical position referred to as interpretive anthropology, or intepretivism. This perspective developed from both symbolic anthropology and French structural anthropology. It says that understanding culture should focus on what people think about, their ideas, and the symbols and meanings that are important to them. These two positions will be discussed further later in this section. Since the 1990s, two other theoretical directions have gained prominence. Both are influenced by postmodernism, CHAPTER 1 ■ Anthropology and the Study of Culture 13
an intellectual pursuit that asks whether modernity is truly progress and that questions such aspects of modernism as the scientific method, urbanization, technological change, and mass communication. For the purposes of discussion in this book, the first theory is termed structurism, the view that powerful structures such as economics, politics, and media shape cultures and create entrenched systems of inequality and oppression. The second theory emphasizes human agency, or free will, and the power of individuals to create and change culture by acting against structures. These two contrasting positions also will be discussed later in this section. Cultural anthropology continues to be rethought and refashioned. Over the past few decades, several new theoretical perspectives have transformed and enriched the field. Feminist anthropology is a perspective that emphasizes the need to study female roles and genderbased inequality. Starting in the 1970s, early feminist anthropologists realized that anthropology had largely bypassed women since its beginning. To address this gap, feminist anthropologists undertook research that explicitly focused on women and girls. A related area is gay and lesbian anthropology, or queer anthropology, a perspective that emphasizes the need to study gay people’s cultures and discrimination based on sexual identity and preferences. The Concept of Culture Although cultural anthropologists are united in the study of culture, the question of how to define it has been debated for decades. This section discusses definitions of culture today, characteristics of culture, and bases for cultural identity. Definitions of Culture Culture is the core concept in cultural anthropology, so it might seem likely that cultural anthropologists would agree about what it is. In the 1950s, an effort to collect definitions of culture produced 164 different ones (Kroeber and Kluckhohn 1952). Since then, no one has tried to count the number of definitions of culture used by anthropologists. British anthropologist Sir Edward Tylor proposed the first definition in 1871. He stated, “Culture, or civilization . . . is that complex whole which includes knowledge, belief, art, law, morals, custom, and any other capabilities and habits acquired by man as a member of society” (Kroeber and Kluckhohn 1952:81). The phrase “that complex whole” has been the most durable feature of his definition. Two other features of Tylor’s definition have not stood the test of time. First, most anthropologists now avoid using the word man to refer to all humans; instead, they use generic words such as people and humans. One THIS BRIEF HISTORY of cultural anthropology describes OUTSIDE early leaders who were mainly white, European or Euro- American, and male. Compare this pattern with the history of some other discipline you have studied. What are the similarities and differences? THINKING THE BOX may argue that the word man can be used generically according to its linguistic roots, but this usage can be ambiguous. Second, most anthropologists no longer equate culture with civilization. The word civilization implies a sense of “highness” versus noncivilized “lowness” and sets up a distinction placing “us” (people of the so-called civilized regions) in a superior position to “them.” In contemporary cultural anthropology, the theoretical positions of interpretive anthropologists and cultural materialists correspond to two different definitions of culture. Interpretive anthropologists argue that culture includes symbols, motivations, moods, and thoughts. This definition focuses on people’s perceptions, thoughts, and ideas, and does not focus on behaviour as a part of culture but, rather, seeks to explain behaviour. Interpretive anthropologists stress the idea that culture is contested and negotiated, and not always shared or imposed. Cultural materialist Marvin Harris states that “A culture is the total socially acquired life-way or lifestyle of a group of people. It consists of the patterned repetitive ways of thinking, feeling, and acting that are characteristic of the members of a particular society or segment of society” (1975:144). Like Tylor’s definition of over 100 years ago, Harris’s definition pays attention to both behaviour and ideas (beliefs). The definition of culture used in this book follows this more comprehensive approach. Culture exists among all human beings. It is something that all humans have. Some anthropologists refer to this universal concept of culture as Culture with a capital C. Culture also exists in a more specific way. Local culture, refers to distinct patterns of learned and shared behaviour and ideas found in local regions and among particular groups and are based on ethnicity, gender, age, and more. structurism: a theoretical position concerning human behaviour and ideas that says “free choice” is an illusion since the choices themselves are determined by larger forces such as the economy, social and political organization, and ideological systems. agency: the ability of humans to make choices and exercise free will. local culture: a distinct pattern of learned and shared behaviour and thinking found within larger cultures. 14 PART I ■ Introduction to Cultural Anthropology
Page 1 and 2: PART I Introduction to Cultural Ant
Page 4 and 5: 1 Anthropology and the Study of Cul
Page 6 and 7: subfields within one department. Li
Page 8 and 9: Stephen Lubkemann is trained as bot
Page 10 and 11: Sumatra 0 200 400 Miles 0 200 400 K
Page 12 and 13: Late Nineteenth Century Sir Edward
Page 16 and 17: Characteristics of Culture Understa
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Page 22 and 23: Race, Ethnicity, and Indigenous Peo
Page 24 and 25: men’s work. The task, in other wo
Page 26 and 27: In contrast to ethnography, ethnolo
Page 28 and 29: would provide evidence that such sk
Page 30 and 31: your way of thinking about the worl
Page 32: KEY CONCEPTS agency, p. 14 anthropo

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