Cultural Anthropology 001
Terms
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- Purpose of the performance
- o Challenge our deeply embedded cultural “norms†and cultural “common sense†(also the goal of the course!) o Make us aware of how symbols give meaning to and order our world o Demonstrate how culture is reproduced in our everyday lives through practices, interactions, values, institutions, and belief systems.
- Ethnocentrism
- belief in the superiority of one's own ethnic group
- Translation
- the interpreting of the meaning of a text and the subsequent production of an equivalent text, likewise called a "translation," that communicates the same message in another language
- Incommensurability
- the impossibility to measure or compare in value or size or excellence
- Four Fields of Anthropology
- o biological or physical o archaeology o linguistics o cultural/social
- Biological/Physical Anthropology
- human evolution, forensics
- Archaeology Anthropology
- reconstructing past lives, past cultures through material artifacts
- Linguistic Anthropology
- interested in the role of language in culture
- Cultural/Social
- study of people's current lives and their cultures
- What is culture?
- o Culture is a shared system of meaning embedded in symbols o Culture is universal: every society, every group of people has culture o Culture: “That complex whole which includes knowledge, belief, art, morals, law, custom... acquired by man as a member of society. EB Tylor 1871
- Connection between a symbol and its meaning
- o is arbitrary o is not natural o is never fixed o is often unspoken o depends on cultural and historical context
- Traits of Culture
- o It is learned o It is shared o It is transmitted o It has a history o It involves debate o It involves struggles over power
- Cultural Relativism
- the principle that an individual human's beliefs and activities should be understood in terms of his or her own culture.