Cultural Anthropology

Culture is a well organized unity divided into two fundamental aspects – a body of artifacts and a system of customs – Mammalians. “Humans cannot eat, breathe, defecate, mate, reproduce, sit, move about, sleep or Ill down without following or expressing some aspect of their society culture. Our cultures grow, expand, and evolve. It is their nature. ” – Marvin Harris. The culture of a people is an ensemble of texts, themselves ensembles, which the anthropologist strains to read over the shoulders of those to whom they properly belong. ” Geezer, Balinese Cockfight (p. 2). “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 interpretative one in search of meaning. ” Greet, Interpretation of Cultures (p. 5). “People do not realize how greatly culture Influences their behavior until they come across other ways of doing things. ” “Culture is learned behavior. ” A person is not born with a culture. Culture is universal. Every human being possesses it by virtue of their biological state. Cultural Anthropology) Is Inherently pluralistic, seeking a framework In which the distinctive perspectives of each culture world can be appreciated. ” “[Cultural practices are meaningful actions that occur routinely in everyday life, are widely shared by members of the group, and carry with them normative expectations about how things should be done” (Gooding, Miller and Sessile, 1995). “A collective name for all behavior patterns socially acquired and socially transmitted groups. ” Dictionary of Sociology and Related Sciences. Culture is a civilization… s that complex whole which includes knowledge, belief, art, morals, custom, and any other capabilities and habits acquired by man (sic. ) as a member of society. ” – Edward Taylor “Culture embraces all the manifestations of social habits of a community, the reactions of the individual as affected by the habits of the group in which he lives, and the product of human activities as determined by these habits. ” -Franz Boas. Coloratura Anthropology focuses on how language, customs, and culture in general develop.
Cultural Anthropologists compare and contrast the vast range of cultures with the popes of better understanding “the diversity of human behavior, and ultimately to develop a science of human behavior. ” – Fried,J. Cultural Anthropology. What is traditional (or folk) culture? “Traditional culture is the habitual behaviors or thoughts of any given social group, and there is not only the chance of customary behaviors occurring; customary behaviors are expected and generally required by members of the society (Smith- Seymour, 1986).
Folk culture is a model of the peasant community characterized by economic self- efficiency, intimate social ties, the strong role of ritual and tradition, and the relative isolation from urban centers. The concept of folk culture is that it represents an attempt to characterize the values and social structure of traditional, rural communities existing within complex societies. What methods do they use to study culture? Fieldwork: visiting and living among a particular people.

Mapping, inventories, census, behavior protocols, questionnaires, projective tests, collecting genealogies, kinship terminologies, oral traditions, recording cases, and racing networks” (Hunter and Whiten, 1976). In order to study these cultures, ethnographers had to become part of them. Live with the people for extended periods of time. To study different groups of people, the scientists had to become immersed in their study. One important qualification that anthropologists should possess is a strong awareness of their won culture.
Although it is necessary for Anthropologists to be as culture tendencies in order to comprehend another’s culture. Therefore, absolute objectivity, which would require that the Anthropologist have biases, and in research exult no culture at all, should be given up in favor of a relative objectivity based on the characteristics of one’s own culture. The Anthropologist is forced to include himself and his own way of life in his subject matter.
In order to study others, and to study culture in general, the Anthropologist uses his own culture. What is material culture? Culture involves much more than behavioral traits; it includes all produced artifacts – tools, art, books and texts, etc. “Probably no other country in the world has such high regard for material culture as the United States. “Cultural materialism is a type of analysis that looks at ecology and economics for explanation of cultural beliefs and practices.
It tries to explain cultural habits in terms of basic needs. ‘A cultural materialist view of history looks for relationships between the use of new technologies, population booms, the material improvement of life, and the collapse of civilization” (fisher, 1986). What is cultural diffusion? “The worldwide tendency of human populations to share and pool creative efforts which are in origin locally known and used. ” -David Hunter.