ANTHROPOLOGY

What is Anthropology?
Anthropos = man
+
Logos = study of holistic approach to the study of all people from all times and spaces

- A comparative science that examines all societies, ancient and modern, simple and
complex and offers a unique cross-cultural perspective
- Holistic
o Study of human condition past, present, future
o Study of humans biology, society, language and culture
- Concerned with identifying and explaining typical characteristics of particular human
populations

- Anthropology studies:
o Not only All varieties of people but all aspects of those peoples experiences and
how different aspects of life relate to each other
o BOTH nonindustrial and industrial societies
o Human beings wherever or whenever they are found
o Human Diversity = result of human adaptation
How people are different across time and space
How basic human attributes (Creativity, adaptability, flexibility) results
in human diversity

- Archeologists reconstruction of daily life and customs of prehistoric people, tracing

cultural changes and offering possible explanations for those changes. Object of study:
material remains of human cultures

- Anthropological linguists emergence of language and divergence of languages over

time

- Ethnologists how and why people of today and recent past differ or similar in ways of
thinking and acting

- Ethnographer one type of ethnologists; carries out participant observation in a particular

population to observe customs

- Ethnography detailed description of many aspects of culture and social life that results
from conducting participant observation

4 SUBFIELDS OF ANTHROPOLOGY
1. Archaeology reconstruction of daily life and customs of prehistoric people, tracing
cultural changes using material remains
2. Cultural Analyzes, interprets and explains social and cultural similarities and
differences
o Ethnography
- Provides an account for a community, society or culture
- Gathers data that he/she organizes analyzes and interprets to develop
an account (book, article or film)
 - Method: Participant Observation - fieldwork spends a year or more
in a diff society, living with local people and learning about their
ways of life.
- Benefits:
1. Respect for other customs and beliefs
2. Reminds us that there is a wider world and normal ways of
thinking and acting other than our own
3. Remedy for ethnocentrism

o Ethnology
- Examines, compares, analyzes and interprets the results of
ethnography
3. Biological studies human biological diversity in time and space
o Focus: human evolution in fossil record, human genetics, biological
plasticity, biology, evolution, behavior and social life of monkeys apes and
other nonhuman primates
4. Linguistic studies language in its social & cultural context, across space and time

Relevance in studying Anthropology

a. Tolerance
o by demonstrating why other people are the way they are and customs that
appear improper to us may be ways of adapting to environment/social
conditions by others
b. Sense of humility and a sense of accomplishment
o uncertainty about the future
o knowledge of past achievements may give us confidence to solve problems

HISTORY OF ANTHROPOLOGY
Early Accounts
- Travel accounts and journals of travelers from distant lands
- Chronicle accounts described strange humans
- Herodotus (father of history & anthropology) pioneer observer of customs
Herodotus
- Sought out lands under King Darius empire 5th century
- Herodotus referred to them as barbarians & highlighted cultural variations
- His accounts inspired philosophers to ask who/what are we and how did we get
there?
- During his time, impact of his writings were NOTHING

ITALIAN RENAISSANCE (15-16th century)

- Classical Greek and Roman literature revisited
- Found to hold answers to basic questions relevant to humanists of the time
- Study of classical antiquity offered models of thinking about people and the
differences present among them
- Essential anthropological viewpoint took shape
 In order to understand ourselves, we need to understand others

Pre-Anthropology accounts
- Megasthenes faulted with not verifying reports on locations he did not
physically observe
- Cornelius Tacitus Germania served as propaganda to encourage emperor
Trajan to invade the land
- Travels of Marco Polo not taken seriously by public. His nickname was
Marco Millione million lies the book was believed to be

Common conclusions on early accounts:

1. human societies are not flat
2. not the same across diff geographical or chronological boundaries
3. not uniform

Achievement of Renaissance thinkers

- observed peculiarity of humans, customs and traditions across t and s with
sensitivity
- provided groundwork for anthropology
- until then, people were seen as Curiosities

Effect of Renaissance
- Answers to questions no longer sought from religion/kings (authority)
- Explanations about the world origins no longer are from Bible
- Distancing from religious narratives of the origins of man cause by disruptions in
status quo

Renaissance After-effects
- Disruptions in status quo threw present social order into confusion
- Religious and monarchial authorities were questioned and no longer held to be the
keeper of truth and knowledge
- Thinkers looked closely at society and inquired about mans place within it

New theories
o Thomas hobbes, Adam smith, Jean-jacques Rosseau
o Starting point of inquiry: the nature of man, and his relations with other men
concerns that anthropology soon takes up

PARADIGM SHIFTS IN ANTHROPOLOGY

1. Unique object of study: the primitive
2. Interpretive paradigm: culture
3. Method: fieldwork
4. Telos (purpose of study): humans

a. Paradigm shift of object of study from exotic and primitive to

 - study of primitive cultures formed part of machinery of colonialism
- people under study were inhabitants of colonizers territory and had to be
accounted for and also furthered anthropological knowledge
- anthropology served as a hand maiden of the colonial admin
- decline of colonial govts changed power relations
- instead of indigenous groups, focus of study now is citizens of modern societies,
urban areas, art world, women, laborers

b. Paradigm shift: from culture to..

- culture concept no longer purview of anthropology (Kucklick)
- Emile Durkheim
how society holds itself together: key point of investigation
developed by EMILE DURKHEIM
He influenced anthropology in Europe where culture was studied as
linked to social relations
- Radcliffe-Brown
Investigated on the Function of Societal structure
Goal: to understand how social institutions maintain the status quo
- Bronislaw Malinowski
The imponderabilia of everyday life

- From culture to.

Conflict : stable feature of study
Dialogue with Marxism led to an examination of change and modes of
production
Ideology and how it works to facilitate the reproduction of institutions for
exploitation
Political economy
Gender equality
New forms of Empowerment (NGOs, The state, Entrep = Development
Anthropology)
Interpretative anthropology with focus on Ritual and Symbolism
culture as text to be decoded that yield thick
descriptions (Geertz)
Practice theory (Bourdieu)
Commonality of rituals and symbolic behavior in
primitive and modern societies (Douglas)

c. Paradigm shift in Method fieldwork to new ethnography

Bronislaw Malinowski father of ethnographic fieldwork
Mise-en-scene: anthropologist goes into exotic world where he attempts to
learn about culture of the people under observation with a staff of
interpreters and informants at his beck and call
Critical Anthropology = new ethnography
o Covers other forms of life, not only primitive
 o Diverts from formulaic sequence of studying culture as geography,
economics, religion
o Not written in 3rd person to invoke objectivity
o Does not focus on ideal/stereotypes
o Ethnographer visible in the narrative and part of story
o Field is unbounded by time and space = multi-sited
o Natives worldview not focus on attention
o No scientific jargon
o Not meant to display foreign language
o True Fiction there is a process
o ethnographer situates himself in study and encounters others in
relation to self, seeing oneself as the other
o open to others perspectives other than males (minority, working
class, women)

d. Paradigm shift in Telos from the Why to the How

Not just why but how

CULTURE
Traditions and customs transmitted through learning that form and guide the beliefs and
behavior of the people exposed to them
Learned through a process of enculturation
Produces a degree of consistency in behavior and though among people living in
particular society
*** Culture is about the human need for meaning
***learned sets of ideas which are not only in our heads but also in material
environments that those who came before us had shaped

Cultural traditions
Customs and opinions, developed over generations about proper and improper behavior
Answers: how should we do things? (practices), how do we make sense of the
world> (worldview), what is right and wrong?
Most critical element = TRANSMISSION through learning rather than
through biological inheritance

Culture and Biology

o Culture is not biological in itself but depends on certain features of human
biology
o Cultural forces shape human biology
o Biocultural inclusion & combination of both biological and cultural
perspectives and approaches to comment or solve a problem
o Culture determines how bodies grow and develop
o Cultural traditions promote activities and abilities, set standards of physical
attractiveness

Culture & Society

Society = group of people
Culture = learned and shared behavior of those in society
 a. Commonly shared - within a society or a group in society
b. Learned direct/indirect through enculturation. Its like sets of control mechanisms.
c. Symbolic verbal or nonverbal within a culture that comes to stand for something else
d. All encompassing encompasses features that are sometimes regarded as trivial or
unworthy of serious study like pop culture
e. Integrated cultures are integrated patterned systems that if one part of system changes,
other parts change as well.
f. Adapative or Maladaptive humans have both biological and cultural ways of coping
with environmental stresses. Sometimes may offer short-term benefits but may harm
environment and threaten groups long-term survival. Ex: using cars help us but produce
pollution

Culture & Nature

Ethnocentrism tendency to view ones own culture as superior and to apply ones own cultural
values in judging the behavior and beliefs of others
Cultural Relativism opposite. It is the argument that behavior in one culture should not be
judged by another. (problematic: argues that there is no superior/universal morality)
Anthropological relativism is more aligned to Methodological and Theoretical
Relativism. All social action and human social practice makes sense in their own system.
All practices make sense in a particular frame of reference.

CULTURE CHANGE
o Culture is always changing
o Consists of learned patterns which can be unlearned and learned as human needs
change
o Causes of culture change:
1. Discovery and Invention
The source of all culture change
Do not necessarily lead to change
Causes change when society accepts and uses it regularly
o Unconscious invention accidental (ex: corn flakes)
o Intended invention attempts to produce new idea (ex:
comp)
2. Diffusion
Process by which cultural elements are borrowed from another
society and incorporated into culture of recipient group
Selective, cultural traits do not need/automatically diffuse. It can be
rejected
Patterns:
o Direct contact elements may be taken up by neighboring
societies and gradually spread farther and farther
o Intermediate contact through 3rd parties (Ex: traders carry
religion, music, language, clothes)
o Stimulus diffusion knowledge of a trait own by another
culture starts the invention or development of a local
equivalent (Ex: Mcdo and Jollibee)
3. Acculturation
Extensive borrowing in the context of superordinate-subordinate
relations
 Weaker group in society acquires cultural elements from the
dominant group
4. Revolution
Results in the most drastic and rapid culture change the
replacement, usually violent of a countrys rulers
Ex: EDSA Revolutions ouster of Marcos
5. Globalization
Widespread flow of people, info, technology and capital over the
earth has minimized cultural diversity but not eliminate

POLITICAL SYSTEMS AND ORGANIZATION

The Political
o Power ability to exercise ones will over others
o Authority socially approved use of power
o Regulation process that ensures that variables stay within their normal ranges,
corrects deviations from norm. Maintains a systems integrity

Political Organization
- specifically relate to the individuals or groups that manage the affairs of public
policy or seek control the appointment or activities of those individuals (limits to
states)
- Concerns: Decision-making, Social control, Conflict resolution
- Trends:
o Bands small kin-based group. All members related to each other
o Tribes no formal govt or means of enforcing political decisions
Village head = limited authority, leads by example, can influence
The big man = regional figure w supporters, no office, reputation
based on generosity
o Chiefdom intermediate between tribe and state. Differential access to
resources. Permanent political structure.
o State Form of sociopolitical organization based on a formal govt and
socioeconomic stratification. Autonomous political unit encompassing
many communities within its territory, having a centralized government
who can collect taxes, draft men for work/war, and enforce laws.

- Systems with specialized functions within a state:

o Population control fixing boundaries, census-taking
o Judiciary laws, legal procedure, judge
o Enforcement- permanent militaryand police
o Fiscal taxation
- Social control
Hegemony subordinates comply with domination by internalizing their
rulers values and accepting the naturalness of domination (meant to be)
- Weapons of the weak
Public transcript open public interactions between dominators and
oppressed
 Hidden transcript critique of power by oppressed that goes on offstafe
where power holders cant see (underground)
- shame and sorcery
o Makua society few material possessions and meat-poor diet. Chicken
theft common problem. Sanction : shame, sorcery, imprisonment

KINSHIP AND FAMILY

Kinship
- sense of being related to another person/s
- set by rules/laws
- often taken for granted as being natural rather than cultural
- various cultures define kinship differently

Principles of classifying kin:

1. generation
2. relative age
3. gender
4. side of family

Kin Types basic relationships anthropologists use to describe the contents of kinship categories
1. Kin types are supposedly culture-free (ETIC) elements: how outsiders refer to
members of kin
2. Kin types are based upon biological relationships
3. Used to designate each individual relationship
4. EXAMPLE: Mother =M, Mothers sister=MZ

Kin Terms the labels for categories of kin that contain one or more kin types (EMIC)
1. How insiders refer to one another
2. Specific to particular cultures
3. EXAMPLE: Uncle, cousin, grandfather (peculiar to English terminology)

Family
- group of people considered to be related through blood or marriage
- forms:
1. Family of orientation you were born into and grow up (critical: parents,
siblings)
2. Family of procreation you form when you marry and have children
(Critical: spouse and children)
- Types:
a) Nuclear family parents & children living in same house (not universal)
a. Conjugal nuclear married couples and offspring
b. Non conjugal nuclear unmarried with children
 b) Extended family 2 or more nuclear families of 3 gens or more (no need
to be living same house)
c) Descent groups people claiming common ancestry (basic units in social
organization of nonindustrial food producers)
a. Patrilineage children of groups men join group but not children
of female members
b. Matrilineage people join mothers group automatically at birth
and stay members throughout life
c. Ambilineage does not automatically exclude children of either
sons or daughters
d. Clans related lineages with common ancestor, bounded by
certain social and moral obligations

RELIGION
- any set of attitudes, beliefs and practices pertaining to supernatural power
- such beliefs may vary within a culture as well as among societies and may change
overtime
- Material evidence: artifacts
- Theory: humans create religion in response to universal needs/conditions, like a
need for understanding, reversion to childhood feelings, anxiety and need for
community
Variations:
- Impersonal forces mana = swerte, taboo = malas
- Supernatural beings of nonhuman origin (Gods and spirits)
- Supernatural beings of human origin (ghosts and ancestor spirits)

Typology of gods and spirits

Unpredictable or predictable
Aloof from or interested in human affairs
Helpful or punishing
Equal in rank or part of hierarchy of power

Expressions of religion
1. Animism belief in spiritual beings (earliest form of religion)
o 2 entities inhabit the body. One active on day and one is during sleep
o death is departure of soul
2. Monotheistic religion
o There is one high god, as creator of universe and/or director of events
3. Polytheism
o Belief in multiple gods
Intervention by the gods
o Faced with pain and injustice, people explain events by claiming this
o Also sought out by people who hope this will help achieve their goals
o Communication: prayer, drugs, sacrifices

Magic beliefs and practices people engage in to compel the supernatural to act in a
particular way. Sorcery and witchcraft attempt to work harm against people.

o Uncertainty, Anxiety, Solace religion and magic dont just explain

things, they serve emotional and cognitive needs.
o Religion helps people face death and endure life crises

o Magical techniques can dispel doubts that arise when outcomes are
beyond human control.

o People use magic and ritual in situations of uncertainty (lucky charm)

o Malinowskis study of Trobrinders and magical thinking - use of magic

when sailing (hazardous activity)

Rituals formal, repetitive, stereotyped

o Include liturgical orders (Sequences of words and actions invented prior to current
performance of ritual
o Convey information about participants and traditions
o Repeated every year and generation (graduation, baptism)
o Some attend more often than others
o Acceptance of a common social and moral order

Rites of Passage
1. Individual/collective boyhood to manhood, trainee to employee
2. Contemporary forms baptisms, marriage (involve change in social status)
3. Three phases: Separation, Liminality, Incorporation
a) Phase 1 people withdraw from ordinary society
b) Phase 2 limbo or time out when people have left one status but havent
entered the next
c) Phase 3 reentrance to society (having completed a rite that changes their
status)

Liminality vs Normal Social Life

Transition, homogeneity, communitas, equality, absence of rank, simplicity, accept pain
State, heterogeneity, structure, inequality, rank, complexity, avoid pain

Passage rites: often collective (sorority initiates), liminality basic to all passage rights

Totemism key ingredient in religions (animals, plants, geographical features)

o Nature as a model for society (native Australians, groups like politics/schools)
Religious change revitalization and fundamentalist movements

Supernatural realm beyond the observable world, cant be verified/falsified and

unexplainable but accepted on faith.
- People believe they can benefit from or manipulate this

EMILY DURKHEIM
The sacred and the profane
o Sacred what is set off from the ordinary or profane
o Every society had its scared which was socially constructed
o Sacred varied
o Native Australians societies most sacred = plants (not supernatural but
real entities that acquired special meaning for social groups that made
them worship it as sacred)

Adherents or congregants of religion

o Gather regularly
o Internalize common beliefs
o Accept set of doctrines involving relationship between individual and the
divinity

Nature of Religion
o Durkheim
o Collective, social, shared, enacted nature
o Generates emotions and meanings it embodies
o Lambeck
o Real, vivid, and significant to those who make and inhabit them

Effervescence
o The bubbling up of collective emotional intensity generated by worship

Communitas
o Intense community spirit
o A feeling of great social solidarity, equality and togetherness

Studying cross-culturally
o Religion as a social phenomenon
o Meaning of religious doctrines, settings, acts, and events
o Verbal manifestations of religious beliefs
o Notions about purity and pollution

Studying religion
o Religion associated with social divisions between societies and nations
o Religion both units and divides
o Participation in common rites may affirm, and maintain, solidarity of a group
of adherents
 o A religion vs. religion
o A religion = formally organized religion (Christianity, Islam)
o Religion = universal, religious beliefs and behaviors existing in all
societies

Religion and Societies

- Modern societies religion a specific domain separate from politics and economy
- Nonindustrial societies religion more embedded in society (superstition
determines when and what to plant)
- Anthropology of religion = religion exists in all societies.
- Religion is a cultural universal
- Not always easy to distinguish the sacred from profane (betting on lottery)
- Different societies conceptualize divinity, the sacred, the supernatural and
ultimate realities very differently

Material evidence religious beliefs are evident in all known cultures and are inferred
from artifacts associated with Homosapiens.

ETHNOGRAPHY
o A research process anthropologists use to closely observe the daily life of another
culture
o Key method: participant observation taking part in events one is observing
and analyzing
o Used in societies with ess social differentiation
o Adopt a free-ranging strategy for getting information
o Provides a foundation for generalizations about human behavior and society

Techniques:
1. Direct, first hand observation, including participant observation
2. Conversation with varying degrees of formality from chitchat to interviews
3. The genealogical method
4. Detailed work with key consultants, informants and particular areas of community
life
5. In-depth interviewing, often leading to the collection of life histories of particular
people
6. Discovery of local beliefs which may be compared w one observation
7. Problem-oriented research
8. Longitudinal research longterm, continuous
9. Team research coordinated research by multiple ethnographers
10. Multisited research

EMIC how local people think

o Relies on local people to explain things and to say if something is
significant or not
o Asks how do they see the world?
 o what are their rules of behavior?
o what has meaning for them?

ETIC
o focus on the ethnographers, he emphasizes what he/she notices and considers
important
o members of a culture are involved in what they are doing to interpret their
cultures impartially

Cant study things just cos they are interesting, ethical issues must be considered.
Anthropologists must be sensitive to cultural differences and aware of procedures and
standards in host country.