Amon History Adam 1 Aco San Ant 2 Yost 3 Cal Cos Dar Psy ous My 7 in 0M At n ourselves. They may help ws to understand our Collective projec, and even to further it We itmeans. But in the end we have to face up to two further ‘questions. Does this make sense? Does it work? Len that t theory, rather perhaps a sratey. these Fs dam Kuper don uty 1998 1 conversation with Charles Stafford - ‘About Culture and Anthropology ok place in London in provided the hase for an interview published in the Nemlater of the Enropean Asociaton of Socal Anthropologists Charles Safford came trom the USA Britain tostudy anthropology, and he teaches atthe Lov School of Economks, He specialises inthe ethnography ol China and is the author of The Rowds of Chinese Chi (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1995). The con eration focused on the value of a historical xpproach to anthropology, and_on the book T was writing at the ne CCaltre Phe Adbrite Account, Cambriige, MA Harvard University Press, a the history of anthropology nd oa pe. Why do you think i i immporant pologis to be aware of thee elle hi AKIS a kind of personal deformation. When 1 ty Understand. theoretical problem; {can really Tat it when Tunderstind its development. Some People think in this way and others don't. When Tas ASuident tying to get some sort of grip on economics, hook thar stick n my min was Joseph Schumpeters Hist of Economie Anabds (London: Allen and Unwin, Iisa), Once I could locate anguments historically, Valse hbegan to understand ~ or thought 1 could understand Psy academies become captivated by some very ad ‘When i came into Brith auth pology, the central incage they. I onlyAmong te Anthro made sense when I Jeamit- enough about the history of the subject to sealise that there tas. long tration. of ‘houghe according to which primitive societies ll over thse the same-Aiad- ob social system-based {@ blood he The implication wae that human beings "allPayGffanise on the basis of common descent Kinship theory, lineage theory, alliance theory, they were la botiom theortes about the origin of hutan society bout what LéviStruse called "the clementary eters {amnbiguous,eince this could be read to mean that these system were the logical bass for all others, a sort of Cartesian starting point or that they were the historical point of origin): And 0 you could see debates about Tineage theory as the fag end of @ very old argument about the natre of human groupe, Beceuve thee were theories about human natute, they conveyed. pola messages. Talo began to sce lineage theory a8 sort ‘of metaphor of dhe Apartheid ideology in South Ate with which Thad grown sip. That may seem far-fetched That the theory tells ws that prehistoric ~ or primitive societies were rooted in blood relationships, that thes ae the fundamental socal ies Pethape what I uy to do could be glosed as an ethnographic approach to theory. as much aa historical approach. But in any case recognising where the ideas ‘come from, grasping the context that shaped them, com Sidering what ideological work they migit be doing, all ‘hat is only a sare We stil ned theories to work with a3 anthropologists, We have to find ut which theories work for us. You have to ask whether the orginal question that the theory addres sll matters. And then, wherever the theory comes from, you have to come to a view about how tuchit helps us to make sense of what people are up to. But can't get into those questions until Ihave some idea what the theory means, and for-me that involves setting a grip on it Ristorically~ or ethnographicaly i Speaking of context and use, I was once paid by a management consultant to compiles is of debniions at A Gmoersation with Chars Saf 3 culture’ 50 that he could then sll them to corporations oral, is why calace as today clare explins what fight eth America and what is wrong with Amerie. Why i there ere in the prejudice, or por and unemployment tisall down to Relations at Harvard) recendy came owt wih Uheory about global conflict that created a huge fas in Amer You have to aks what happened to the United States in'tne late 1980s, the early 1900s, which made people blew that culture is the big question? (And I do not believe that «cultural snalas wil provide the anvwer the Gold War, the gre secular chages in education (65 I suppose that your own interest in hi AK Most people. coming into anthropology s young people contd th she study cuore see ieas iberatng faa, And can be a lbcrating idea becatze its, look ihe differences between people are not caused By race liberal American ialvoa liberating ea you've go politcal ambiions to change things, Culture seared, fOyou ean change things, things tented the way they Twa presented wih the ides of clsre incompletely ind as a Southcourse weve en up he old tere en tec Sout idea. tn fact, they are divided by culture! Culture i fix goto lave Hn wave is Tha he wey thse poop neon Sih ak ecutive. The auhente peupe ent Sos-SuuhAle-w dima cde sen ah cent piltr othe hee of 2tnle naa Satem tn the Wberal-universtics ih South Alien th oy teachers imbued me mth a deep sicon Of a (6 Maslin dines he contrast beeen the Gr man notion of Kuur and the French Coane ie olds up a nery pose ting tat people wes ‘of culture concept may be put. = Micep suspicion of the pel wer or the Mes ary. the ila of eulture was liberating and’ good ple, tat couldn weet ih srs dona a-ha deel st digent contented ik urea ae oe ‘tence nicht ota ‘canuopapte do hie ibe anetea eg ‘sg oltheleconcepsin oust asatandcnne of ‘About cules and-noomiy-eahineantapalagy. Aer i iallyexentody new ei tne ge fare Tos wherever snhoplag go ithe wor ws iFiey understand something about the History of it ni athe Kid of ques. ive lake one other ihe more refined Wess about eure si we pot Having traced the history of these ikea take the notion in Americas the ea of culture asa sate sem or tpealingabour values ponmsand ese The asta cer Ameria anh that culture (in the sense of bole forms, particulary Language) i actualy the system ‘hat controls behaviour, Ie determines perceptions sn letermines the choices that people make, and even $ personality an th Let's look in detail a the work this concept does in their sodies In the end, an anthropological judgment has be bane on that What ave the analy he gin and lowes analytically Looking atthe best work of mo pologist, Tcame to the conc hey cannot deal with Ome-tahaeit becomes no smote dificult ace han: yonft hack this dealt aspect fbsocia-ie-whieh sue isolated and called “cule bow: yout ahi iniate_process of socal andl fern American anthro poligeaL history. Unless you ake cafe YO ME TEI-Very tilt sy that culture everything thats happening Symbolic communication. Even power is really a matter St ideas. Economics And soon and 3 forth, ObviouslyAmong the Anthpulogi phisticated than others, and the best are very much aware ofthe difficulties and ty to cope with then, But iture the driving force The second danger s tha his kind of cultural deter Zuggess that the world is very diferent when seen fn diesen-culstal perspectives This eas to the bch hat there ae i effect diferent types of human beings, who are programed think ad feel and act in very Person plucked fom cultre B would have the pretest Aiticaly in understanding one another. One ited an idea of a world which i really divided into these Bos thisseems to me to be based en a totaly foe pereepion ofso-ealed different cultares in a particular soll ed, beoveen people who lve in eiferent part of the word Even on the furthest periphery, people are brought into Contact with others through ade or migration, snp ty fis and TV and music and spor and fashions it Sense’ of other cultures in a very practical way. The proof ls that people quickly lear wo operate iy other on. Incidentally, my image of the ethnographer i as «kind of mmigeane Why should he not bes succesful iow things operate : 5 Caltre can be a categorical as race AK The terms easly become mutually interchangeable There's a very nice ethnography ffom = man called Michael Moffat about a students hostel at Rutger’ Universgy in New Jersey. Black a theyre not allowed to use the wo stufents whispered the word race tothe ethnographer But they would talkin exaay the same way bout culare different; their eulture makes them eat food we don't ike, that smells; we can't dance to the musie of ther caltre.-. These are precisely the same arguments that pet parents would have made, but in terms of race. In he USA, as in South Alia, race and culture beco siutually interchangeable in the poplar discourse, And Think the sume i true for many Etropeans. 65 Can you imagine time when anthropologists could do without the eulture concept? AK Agencration ago, moat ish anthropal font this concept, or marginalised i. Edmond Leach has a pasage where he sane clture isthe way in which wwe symbolise social relations In one society, when people fet married dey wear white, when they go toa funcra hey wear black In another society its black for wel dings white for funerals I take that for granted, Leach ‘sys ‘The important issue i, what consttites marriage Its the rights and dues, te social and eeomomic Hie, hat realy shape peoples lives That is what we should be comparing arom wcities Today that seems a rather School of British social anthropology that did without an (65 In your book you talk shout the very different ways of thinking shout eulure and cfisation AK Misconventionalto distinguish hee main ideas. The one isthe progresne version, the French idea of clsation, which comesinto anthropology through Tylor. ll man Beings have essentially the same culture, but just more Tess of And they're al advancing along the same i ith