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Conceptualize the word "culture
Conceptualize the word "culture
Cultural anthropology quiz
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How do cultures work? This is a question that has baffled anthropologists since the origin of the discipline. Although anthropologists acknowledge that a culture has to be understood in its own right (Carrithers 1992, 3), when analysing certain cultures, anthropologists have found that there are similar social organisations within cultures, but every culture seems to have a different approach to categorising aspects of their culture within these seemingly similar constructions (Eriksen 1995, 5). The question remains, however, of how these organisations allow cultures to persist through time, while sustaining their inhabitants in the process. With the way that specific cultures are presented through ethnographic evidence, cultures can be understood as a system that consists of interactions throughout the culture, and this allows for the sustenance of its participants and allows the culture to prosper. The interconnectedness of a culture can be seen through organisations within the culture. Within a specific culture, there are systemic organisations that work for the benefit of its people. This is drawn from the notion that humans cannot exist individually, and rely on their relationships between people in their culture in order to survive (Carrithers 1992, 1). Prominent anthropologist, Michael Carrithers (1992, 18), through the influence of structural-functionalist, Alfred Radcliffe-Brown’s analogy of seashells, stipulates that cultures are formed through social structure, which are institutions that hold the culture together from the inside. This can be seen through the distinctive, acephalous society of the Nuer, whose inhabitants reside in the African region of Sudan. Although there is no hierarchical leadership system within ... ... middle of paper ... ...eract with other people, or with other forms of social infrastructure, in order to complete these tasks. That is, in in essence, the nature of culture. It is a system of relationships within, between and beneath cultures, which demonstrate the interconnectedness of culture. Without the idea of culture as a series of systems, it is impossible for anthropologists to analyse the beliefs and practices of a culture thoroughly and meaningfully. Works Cited Carrithers, M. 1992. Why humans have culture: Explaining anthropology and social diversity. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press. Eriksen, T. H. 1995. Small places, large issues: An introduction to social and cultural anthropology. London: Pluto Press. Evans-Pritchard, E. E. 1940. The Nuer: A description of the modes of livelihood and political institutions of a Nilotic people. Oxford: The Clarendon Press.
Cultural Anthropology: The Human Challenge, 14th Edition William A. Havilland; Harald E. L. Prins; Bunny McBride; Dana Walrath Published by Wadsworth, Cengage Learning (2014)
William Haviland, Harald Prins, Dana Walrath, Bunny McBride, Anthropology: The Human Challenge (Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Cengage Learning, 2011), 58.
In the book titled Around the World in 30 Years, Barbara Gallatin Anderson’s makes a precise and convincing argument regarding the acts of being a cultural anthropologist. Her humor, attention to detail, and familiar analogies really allow for a wholesome and educating experience for the reader. Her credible sources and uniform writing structure benefits the information. Simply, the book represents an insider’s look into the life of a cultural anthropologist who is getting the insider’s look to the lives of everybody
The Return to Laughter is a fictionalized account by Elenore Smith Bowen about her experiences with the Tiv culture in Africa. It describes her struggles to learn and understand the local culture and beliefs, and juxtaposes her own conflicts, morals and beliefs. Bowen engages in what anthropologists termed participant-observation. The anthropologist made a few mistakes that provided revelations about herself and the Tiv people. Language difficulties provide the greatest barrier: as when the researcher is trying to understand the context of the conversation, while still struggling with the intricacy of a difficult language. Secondly, like most anthropologists Bowen knew that social relationships are a research requirement: informants are needed, yet she quickly realized that identification with one family, status or group in the society could hinder other critical relationships. These lessons are among a few that the anthropologist seeks to overcome. This essay will discuss that culture and language are dependent on each other and how forming social relationships can propel research and reveal insightful knowledge into a culture, while possibly hindering other useful information.
Schultz, Emily A. & Lavenda, Robert H. 2005, Cultural Anthropology, 6th edn, Oxford University Press, New York, Chapter 3: Fieldwork.
Ember, Carol R., Melvin Ember, and Peter N. Peregrine. Anthropology. Thirteenth ed. Boston, MA: Prentice Hall, 2011. Print.
Ruth Benedict’s anthropological book, Patterns of Culture explores the dualism of culture and personality. Benedict studies different cultures such as the Zuni tribe and the Dobu Indians. Each culture she finds is so different and distinctive in relation to the norm of our society. Each difference is what makes it unique. Benedict compares the likenesses of culture and individuality, “A culture, like an individual, is a more or less consistent pattern of thought or action” (46), but note, they are not the same by use of the word, “like.” Benedict is saying that figuratively, cultures are like personalities. Culture and individuality are intertwined and dependent upon each other for survival.
For a long time, the popular belief about anthropology was that it was the study of “far away” or “exotic” cultures. After my 10 weeks in Professor Michael Perez’s Anthropology 101 class, I now know this to be anything but the truth. My immediate thought’s for a cultural event to observe were reflective of these misconceptions – I considered an Indian wedding, a winter festival, a family friend’s Quinceanera. Nothing stood out to me.
Clifford Geertz once said: “Cultural analysis is intrinsically incomplete. And, worse than that, the more deeply it goes the less complete it is.” I recently spent a short amount of time at a busy 5-way traffic circle near my residence. While sitting in one spot for about 25 minutes, I observed many people doing many different things (mainly driving). Observing the various people made me think of what their particular cultures may have been, and from there, I began thinking of culture in and of itself. What is culture? Culture is defined as: Ideas and behaviors that are learned and transmitted. Nongenetic means of adaptation (Park, 2008). Culture plays a vital role in anthropology. After all, anthropology is the holistic, scientific study of humankind (Park, 2008). One cannot study humans as a whole without studying and understanding their cultures as well.
Anthropologists define the term culture in a variety of ways, but there are certain shared features of the definition that virtually all anthropologists agree on. Culture is a shared, socially transmitted knowledge and behavior. The key features of this definition of culture are as follows. 1) Culture is shared among the members of that particular society or group. Thus, people share a common cultural identity, meaning that they recognize themselves and their culture's traditions as distinct from other people and other traditions. 2) Culture is socially transmitted from others while growing up in a certain environment, group, or society. The transmission of cultural knowledge to the next generation by means of social learning is referred to as enculturation or socialization. 3) Culture profoundly affects the knowledge, actions, and feelings of the people in that particular society or group. This concept is often referred to as cultural knowledge that leads to behavior that is meaningful to others and adaptive to the natural and social environment of that particular culture.
Therefore, society evolves as an organism with various structures, which perform different distinct functions. Scholar Jennie McIntyre, who believes in this approach, addresses the society in the realms of important functions played by the distinct elements of the societal structures. The structures here include customs of a particular society, its traditions, the norms applicable in the society, and the institutions that surround a particular society (Kingsbury & Scanzoni,
Boas, F. (1930). Anthropology. In, Seligman, E. R. A. ed., Encyclopaedia of Social Sciences. Macmillan: New York.
The American Anthropological Association 's (AAA) aim is to offer guidelines and promote education and discussion. American anthropologists do this often by speaking and interacting with individuals living and experiencing the culture. Truly understanding, learning, and becoming accustomed to a new cultural environment takes a significantly long period of time, perhaps even years of exposure to the culture in order to truly understand traditions, morals, and customs. For instance in the Shostak`s study on the !Kung people, it was important for the researchers to say words correctly, at appropriate times, and in a culturally accepted manner, in addition, in order to interview individuals, specifically women, the anthropologist would ask one to “enter work” with her and they would talk for an hour or a day, or over a long period of time, perhaps two weeks. When studying another culture, American anthropologists include host country colleagues in their research planning and when requesting funding, establish true collaborative relationships, include host country colleagues in dissemination, including publication, and they also ensure that something is given back to the host. When studying other countries, the process is done carefully and thoughtfully, in order to end the study with new information on a culture and to establish new connections
The term “culture” refers to the complex accumulation of knowledge, folklore, language, rules, rituals, habits, lifestyles, attitudes, beliefs, and customs that link and provide a general identity to a group of people. Cultures take a long time to develop. There are many things that establish identity give meaning to life, define what one becomes, and how one should behave.
Julian H. Steward was a neoevolutionist in the mid-20th century that rejected the then-popular theory that a people’s culture could only be traced by historical links to past cultures. “Together with Leslie White, [Steward] contributed to the formation of the theory of multilinear evolution, which examined the way in which societies adapted to their environment” (New World Encyclopedia, 2008). Steward argued that, as opposed to the theory of unilinear evolution that suggests that cultures develop in a regular linear sequence, changes are not universal and though some aspects of culture can develop in similar ways, few cultural traits can be found in all groups and these different factors (ideology, political systems, kinship, etc.) push culture