Sahlins: Culture and History

Sahlins in his scholarship “Historical Metaphors and Mythical Realities” attempted to explain culture using past events and that historians should do the same. He also attempted to show that culture is not static but always changing and developing. Sahlins used the culture of Hawaii and shows how interaction with Europe (specifically Britain) changed and helped develop their culture. Shalin’s argued that Hawaiian’s response to Captain Cook’s arrival on their territory, such as treating him as a God and offering their women as sexual objects and other factors leading up to Cook’s murder was part of Hawaiian culture.

Sahlins understanding of culture ties into anthropology. Sahlins in his work explained that culture encompass language, traditions and ideals learned through a structure. Shalins wants historians to understand culture through examining the past and he used the Hawaiian culture to do so. Sahlins use the Hawaiian culture as a means to explain that past actions develop culture. For example, in the Hawaiian they worshipped a lot of mythical Gods and the Hawaiian’s believed that their culture developed through these Gods. Shalins believe that the past experiences of the Hawaiian people is essentially their culture. Shalins explained in his work that the past of the Hawaiian culture is always with them (Shalins 8). According to Shalins culture is important in explaining the past because those events are ordered by culture.

In explaining the past, historians must pay attention to culture because understanding the culture is what leads to the formation of new classes, economic and social changes. Referring to back to an earlier stage in Hawaiian history helped them to preserve their values (Sahlins 65). For example, Sahlins ...

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...s arguments are possibly even more convincing to an anthropologist. His argument about the constant changes in culture is once again convincing because of his use of the Hawaiian culture to explain this phenomenon. Hawaiian culture went through some dynamic changes after God Lono was sacrificed. There were social, economic and other changes as explained above. His arguments are compelling and opens the door to structural analyses of history and the historical development of cultures.

Sahlins work provides in a depth-analysis of the Hawaiian culture and how it developed through past events. Sahlins was able to show how paying close attention to culture can be helpful when studying the past. With a detailed tale of Captain Cook’s importance in the Hawaiian culture, the cultural interactions with the British and how it led to dynamic changes in the Hawaiian culture.