Anthropological Concepts

Fundamental Concepts & Principles Holism Function Relativism Comparison Structure Adaptation Culture

Holism the whole picture, all facets of human life interrelated small scale vs. large scale societies holism & its boundedness

Function Important proposition for holistic perspective Social institutions, behavior, cultural logic operate to satisfy human needs – have a function Primary & secondary needs Function within a total system Integrated system & equilibrium

Ethnographic Example: Holism and Function The Tsembaga of PNG & their Pigs Pigs seldom eaten, serve other functions, keep residence clean, prepare soil for planting Pigs require minimum maintenance Pig herds grow large, not enough tubers, feed human food, intrude on garden crops, invade neighbors gardens – feuds people move & distance themselves (carrying capacity of the land) Elaborate ritual system - pig meat redistributed, pig herds decreased, lessen conflict, needed protein into diet, lubricate social relations

The Tsembaga Model

Relativism philosophical relativism response to ethnocentrism methodological relativism linked to holism dilemmas of relativism relativism & comparison examples Universal human rights Female circumcision

Comparison Cross-cultural comparison & the comparative approach Self-Other (us and them)

STRUCTURE(S)/STRUCTURAL TYPES systems of relationships, organization, forms of associations standardized modes of behavior structure & agency

Adaptation core concept of evolutionary perspective any physical & behavioral characteristic that enhances the ability to pass on one’s genes or the genes of one’s kin to the next generation (adaptive strategies) process organisms undergo to achieve a beneficial adjustment to an available environment and the results of the process in cultural systems people make decisions about change genetic evolution not subject to conscious choice Malaria in Africa

Culture and Adaptation Humans have adapted by manipulating environments through cultural means All cultures change and adapt over time. Cultural adaptation serves to meets the basic needs of a cultural group for food and shelter, procreation, and social order. Humans have come to depend more and more on cultural adaptation What is adaptive in one context may be seriously maladaptive in another

Culture Humans are animals with a difference - make culture humans organize life into groups - society animals organize life into groups - society habitual activities, imprinted relationships distinction between culture & society Society is distinguished from culture in that society generally refers to the community while culture generally refers to the systems of meaning

Humans, Other Primates, Adaptation, and Culture primates & genetics, sex partners, natural selection & behaviour food getting, adaptation, environment, technology Competition vs. co-operation

Enculturation enculturation is the difference -- common cultural perspective transmitted through learning "a partly conscious and partly unconscious learning experience whereby the older generation invites, induces, and compels the younger generation to adopt traditional ways of thinking and behaving" (Marvin Harris)

The Culture Concept: A Short History Latin cultura -- cultivation or tending (agricultural) civility & civilization (17th century) 18th century beginning of the universal histories & descriptions of "secular" processes of the human condition folk cultures

Diverse Definitions of Culture Topical: Culture consists of everything on a list of topics, or categories, such as social organization, religion, or economy Historical: Culture is social heritage, or tradition, or custom that is passed on to future generations Behavioural: Culture is shared, learned human behaviour, a way of life Normative: Culture is ideals, values, or rules for living Functional: Culture is the way humans solve problems of adapting to the environment or living together Mental: Culture is a complex of ideas, or learned habits, that inhibit impulses and distinguish people from animals Structural: Culture consists of patterned and interrelated ideas, symbols, or behaviours Symbolic: Culture is based on arbitrarily assigned meanings that are shared by a society

ANTHROPOLOGY & THE CULTURE CONCEPT (19 th cent.) E.B. Tylor - "culture... is that complex whole which includes knowledge, belief, arts, morals, law, custom, and any other capabilities and habits acquired by man as a member of society.“

Clifford Geertz on Culture (20 th cent.) Geertz - "culture as... the fabric of meaning in terms of which humans interpret their experience and guide their actions... "man is an animal suspended in webs of significance he himself has spun, I take culture to be those webs, and the analysis of it to be therefore not an experimental science in search of law but an interpretive one in search of meaning."

Culture in the Making Richard Fox (20 th cent.) culture is in a constant state of becoming/in- the-making unitary set of rules & meanings continually are in-the-making through oppositions & struggles among groups, where groups themselves & the rules that regulate their interactions only develop in the process of ongoing social relations culture always is, but it has always just become so

Features of Culture Learned Shared Habitualized Patterned, structured Adaptive Historically Charged Big “C” or little “c” Culture is open, receptive

Metaphors of Culture (and Society) Culture/society as an organism Culture/society as an economy Culture/society as a system Culture/society as a symbol Culture/society as fractal Other metaphors As pattern, as fabric, shreds & patches Vast instrumentality As text