Doing Cultural Anthropology: Theory & Ethics

History of Anthropology The first anthropologists worked in the second half of the 19th century. The most famous were Sir Edward Tylor and Louis Henry Morgan. They saw themselves as compilers and analysts of ethnographic accounts (“armchair anthropologists”). Tylor was the first to assert “primitives” were equally intelligent as “civilized” people.

Evolutionary Anthropology (19th C.) Enlightenment scholars like Morgan believed human differences could be explained by differing rates of progress. Assumption that given the right circumstances, all cultures will become “civilized” (using European standards). Early anthropologists sought to reveal ancient lifeways by studying “primitive” cultures.

Evolutionary Anthropology Morgan and Tylor relied on the writings of travelers, explorers, missionaries, and colonial officers for their (heavily biased) data. They used data from archaeological finds and colonial accounts to produce evolutionary histories of human society. They used type of technology and social institutions to place each society on an evolutionary scale of increasing complexity.

Morgan’s Evolutionary scale Technology correlated with evolution. Savagery: bow, fire, pottery Barbarism: domestication, farming, metallurgy Civilization: writing He believed all societies would go through this transition given the right circumstances. This kind of social Darwinism justified the idea that Europeans were morally bound to help less civilized peoples “catch up” (White Man’s Burden). Comparable examples today?

Franz Boas (1858-1942) A critic of evolutionary anthropology as ethnocentric and racist, he insisted that grasping the whole of a culture could be achieved only through fieldwork. Believed that anthropologists must live among the people they studied, learn their language, observe their culture, and participate in it. Boas’ style of fieldwork became known as participant-observation.

Franz Boas and Empiricism Empiricism: Study through direct observation and objective description. Fieldwork and gathering of data from participant-observation made anthropology a scientific endeavor. However, the goal was not building theory but compiling data; he believed theory should be developed once there was enough data.

Historical Particularism (early 20th C.) Introduced by Boas. Focused on culture as a shared set of norms and values. Each society had a unique historical past, which explained cultural variation. Similarities were only explained through diffusion. Interested in presenting “objective” descriptions of cultures within their historical and environmental context. Criticisms: antitheoretical; non-comparative

Ethnocentrism Examples? The belief that one’s own culture is superior to all others and that other cultures are to be judged based on one’s own cultural norms. Ethnocentrism has often been used to justify colonialism, slavery, and domination. Examples?

Boas and Cultural Relativism To counter ethnocentricism, Boas insisted that anthropologists approach each culture on its own terms, in light of its own notions of worth and value. This came to be known as cultural relativism, and is one of the hallmarks of anthropology. He argued all humans have equal capacities for culture, and that although human actions might be considered morally right or wrong, no culture was more evolved or of greater value than another.

Functionalism (‘20s-’40s) Specific cultural institutions function to support the structure of society (Radcliffe-Brown) or serve the needs of individuals in society (Malinowski). Malinowski

Bronisław Malinowski (1884- 1942) and Functionalism Salvage ethnography. Over-emphasized the functional and integrated nature of social, economic, political, and religious structures. Argued that understanding the the native’s (emic) point of view was the primary goal of ethnography.

Emic vs. Etic Emic: investigates how natives think, categorize the world, express thoughts, and interpret stimuli. Etic: emphasizes the categories, interpretations, and features that the anthropologist considers important. Most modern anthropologists combine these perspectives.

Criticisms of Malinowski Ethnographic present: presented a romanticized, “pure” timelessness before Westernization, over-emphasized functional stability, and ignored social change. Ethnographic realism: a style that narrates the author's experiences and observations as if the reader were witnessing events first hand, thus creating a false sense of realism and hiding biases.

Cultural Materialism (‘70s) and Marvin Harris (1927-2001) Focus on the centrality of environmental adaptation, technology, and methods of acquiring or producing food in the development of culture. Assumes all aspects of a culture are derived from its economic foundation. Influenced by Marx and later led to Neo-Marxism. Heavily etic.

Structuralism (‘60s-’70s) and Claude Levi-Strauss (1908-2009) Idea that cultural diversity stems from differences in the forms by which people express universal meanings. These forms define and structure peoples’ lives and experiences.

Structuralism Anthropologists seek to identify and categorize these binary, “deep structures”. Main criticism: no scientific way to evaluate the merit of these (largely etic) categories.

Symbolic/Interpretive Anthropology and Clifford Geertz (1926-2006) Culture is a unique system of symbols with multiple layers of meanings. People act out those meanings and communicate them. Anthropologists aim to “read” and interpret a culture’s (emic) “text”. Main criticism: empirical anthropologists consider this nothing but “story-telling”.

Neo-Marxist Anthropology (’70s-’90s) Based on Karl Marx’s critique of political and economic domination by élites. Culture is seen as an expression of power relations within and between societies. Distributions of power are linked to distributions of wealth and status. These affect gender relations, as well as processes like colonialism. The anthropologist seeks to highlight a social issue and to give voice to oppressed/ marginalized groups. Tends to lean towards emic perspectives.

Feminist Anthropology (’70s-’90s) Tied to Neo-Marxist theory. Questions gender bias in ethnography and cultural theory. Men, who had limited access to women’s lives, performed much of the fieldwork. Ignoring women’s perspectives perpetuates the oppression of women. Andocentric bias - Distortion in theory and ethnography caused by excessive focus on male activities or male perceptions of female activities.

Postmodernism (’80s-’90s) Theory that focuses on issues of power and voice. Postmodernists suggest anthropological accounts are partial truths and reflect the background, training, and social position of their authors.

Postmodernists Hold that culture is a context in which norms and values are contested and negotiated. Rather than assuming a cultural core of shared beliefs and values, they see culture and society as battlegrounds where individuals and groups fight for power and the right to determine what is accepted as true. Tends to lean towards emic perspectives.

Reflexive Anthropology An inward view of Anthropology. Polyphony: many competing voices from different segments and groups. Attention to whose voices are chosen to represent the group, and how one goes about presenting the culture and voices studied.

Cultural Relativism and Ethics We are all bound by our culture and subjectivity. We should mitigate the influence of our biases when devising research and carrying it out. Anthropologists must decide where they draw a moral line, and how they will direct their research so that it does not conflict with their ethical system.

Ethical Fieldwork Anthropologists must: Obtain consent of the people to be studied. Protect them from risk. Respect their privacy and dignity.

AAA Code of Ethics Anthropologists have ethical obligations to their scholarly field, to the wider society and culture, to the human species, other species, and the environment. To work in a host country and community, researchers must obtain the informed consent from all affected parties.

AAA Code of Ethics Before the research begins, people should be told about the purpose, nature, and procedures of the research. People should be told of the potential costs and benefits of the research before the project begins.

AAA Code of Ethics Researchers should reciprocate and work together in appropriate ways. Include host country colleagues in research and publications. It should not be forgotten that the researcher’s primary ethical obligation is to the people being studied.