Etic From linguistics—sounds people really make toppot

What English speakers hear: The “t” of “pot” and “top” are the same The “p” of “pot” and “top” are the same

The real shounds are: T h opP h ot For many langauges, T h is a separate sound from T and has a different letter of the alphabet Same for P h and P

phonetic Means the sounds we actually make—they may be different, but sound the same to us

Phonemic Is the sounds we hear as being the same, whether they really are the same or not

Emic/Etic Etic=the things we can know scientifically, without reference to anyone’s culture— color wheel Emic=the categories people recognize and use in their culture—categories of color

Are there any limits on cultural variation?

Brent Berlin & Paul Kay Do people from different cultures see different colors? Or do we all see the same colors because of our evolutionary history?

People can see and name a lot of colors, but of these, 11 are focal points of the system of naming colors.

11 basic color terms in 3 groups

achromatic black, gray, white primary red, green, blue, yellow secondary brown, orange, purple, pink

Paul Kay (linguistics, University of California at Berkeley) Terry Regier (psychology, University of Chicago) Richard Cook (linguistics, University of California at Berkeley) John O'Leary (computer science, University of Chicago)

Sometimes there’s a lot of variation among cultures—e.g. sounds for language Sometimes there’s not much variation— e.g. focal color terms

Focal colors in 110 languages Black dots represent English categories

Etic=what’s really there Etic=what’s really there E.g. color chart, phonetic sounds Emic=the categories people recognize and use Emic=the categories people recognize and use E.g. in English T h h E.g. in English T h = T P h =P

Back to Cultural Ecology land use, land tenure, kinship, residence are emic, parts of cultural codes— ideologies—that are important for how people produce things For instance, holy cows in India, tithing for Mormons

But cultural ecology also studies the results of peoples’ actions such as obesity, global warming, environmental pollution and demography whether or not the people have the same understanding of these things as we do

Julian Steward, 1955

With a given technology in a given environment, people have to do some things a certain way or not at all. That explains cultural similarities. With a given technology in a given environment, people have to do some things a certain way or not at all. That explains cultural similarities. People face different problems in different environments and with different technologies and that explains cultural differences. People face different problems in different environments and with different technologies and that explains cultural differences.

Different selective forces in our biological evolution worked at cross- purposes. E.g. bipedalism and mature birth of infants.

Marshall Sahlins “Lots of things people do are truly stupid, if understandable….” “Lots of things people do are truly stupid, if understandable….” “To adapt is to do as well as possible under the circumstances—which may not turn out very well at all.” “To adapt is to do as well as possible under the circumstances—which may not turn out very well at all.”

It is not to achieve a perfect fit, but to find reasonable solutions to the problems that face people. It is not to achieve a perfect fit, but to find reasonable solutions to the problems that face people.

Since cultural ecology directs our attention to those aspects of the culture most related to making a living, anthropologists need to understand economic systems. We need a framework that allows us to compare all economic systems without being ethnocentric. Since cultural ecology directs our attention to those aspects of the culture most related to making a living, anthropologists need to understand economic systems. We need a framework that allows us to compare all economic systems without being ethnocentric.

While it is important to understand systems from the inside, to understand their emic meanings, if we want to compare cultures, we have to step outside of them and develop frameworks that do not depend on the ideas of any single culture. While it is important to understand systems from the inside, to understand their emic meanings, if we want to compare cultures, we have to step outside of them and develop frameworks that do not depend on the ideas of any single culture.

We’ll develop an etic system for studying economics whether in the U.S. or New Guinea. We’ll develop an etic system for studying economics whether in the U.S. or New Guinea.

All societies Produce the things they need Exchange things with each other and people of other societies Consume things

3 subsystems of economic system 1. Production 2. Exchange 3. Consumption

3 subsystems of economic system 1. Production 2. Exchange 3. Consumption