ANTHROPOLOGY

AND THE STUDY

OF CULTURE
 INTRODUCTION
TO

ANTHROPOLOGY
  Derived from the two Greek words
"Anthropos" (human) and "logos" (study).
 Humans studying humans.
 Promotes a holistic study of Humans.
 Studies human as both biological and social
creatures.
 Can be defined as "the study of people -
their origin, development, and
contemporary variations wherever they
have been found on the face of the earth“.
Five Subdisciplines Of
Anthropology :
 Archeology

Examines the remains of ancient and

historical human populations to
promote and understanding of how
humans have adapted to their
environment and developed.
 Cultural anthropology

Promotes the study of a society

culture through their belief, system
practices and possessions.
 Linguistic anthropology

 Examines the language of a

group of people and its relation
to their culture.
Physical anthropology

 Looks into the biological

development of humans and their
contemporary.
 Applied Anthropology

 Attempts to solve contemporary

problems through the application
of theories and approaches of
discipline.
 During 19th
 Anthropologist, who were often century
from Western societies, would
investigate on the system of
beliefs, behaviors, ad material
possessions of non-Western,
preliterate, and technologically
simple societies. One of the
classic studies in anthropology,
Tristes Tropiques, was made by
Claude Levi- Strauss, a French
anthropologist. His work
presented the lives of non-modern
society of Brazil.
 Human experiences diversified, and During
as globalizations effect were felt in 21ST
almost all societies, anthropology CENTUR
extended its study to cultural and Y
subcultural groups in industrialized
societies. Issues that were once the
turf of other disciplines, such as
deviance and social organization,
were studied by anthropologist.
Philippe Bourgois, a professor of
anthropology at the University of
Pennsylvania studied the lives of
street-level drug dealers.
Picture of Levi-Strauss while in the Field:
 In both studies, the methodology used in
gathering was crucial. Anthropologist need to
establish rapport with their host societies
before they can extract the life stories of
people. This is important as people would not
usually discuss personal matters to a stranger.
After a significant amount of time, when the
key informant is ready accustomed to the
presence of the anthropologist, questions
could now be asked.
 Apart from interviews, anthropologists also use
participant-observation methods, which entail
the participation of the researcher on the daily
practices and rituals of the group being studied.
In the cases of Levi-Strauss and Bourgois, both
anthropologist stayed in the field for more than
two years and lived in the communities that they
were documenting.
Picture of Philippe Bourgois:
 You have always heard the word
"culture" being use in
conversations. At times, it refers
to something ethnic; some
people think of it as an all-
encompassing terms that
separates humans from the rest
of the animal kingdom.
CULTURE IS EVERYTHING:

 It is what a person has, does thinks as part of

society. this implies all of a person’s belief
system, set of behaviors and material
possessions culture is also a powerfull agent
in shaping the decisions and actions of
humans it also consist material and non
moterial cultures.
Material Culture:

 Includes all the tangible and visible

parts of culture, resources, and
spaces that people use to define their
culture and these includes clothes
food plants, tools, And even
buildings All of these physical
aspects of a culture help to define its
members' behaviors and perceptions.
NON-MATERIAL CULTURE:

 Refers to the nonphysical ideas that people

have about their culture, including beliefs,
values, rules, norms, morals, language,
organizations, and institutions. For instance,
the non‐material cultural concept of religion
consists of a set of ideas and beliefs about
God, worship, morals, and ethics.
CULTURE IS LEARNED:

 Culture is a set of beliefs, attitudes, and

practices that an individual learns
through his family, school, church, and
other social institutions.
 Process of learning your own culture is
called enculturation.
 Music is one of the most transferred
forms of culture from one society to
another.
CULTURE IS SHARED:

 Set of behavior, attitudes, and beliefs that

a person posseses is part of a greater
collection of values and ideas that is
commonly owned and practiced by
members of society.This implies that a
particular behavior cannot be considered
as a culture if there is only one person
practicing it.
Culture Affects Biology:

 Humans are born into cultures that have values on

beauty and body. As such, they alter bodies of fit into
physiological norms thatbare dictated by culture.
Among the Mursi tribe of Ethiopia in Africa, wearing
lip plates is a sign beauty. Women are the ones who
are expected to wear them to apper desirable to men.
 Mursi women are
famous for their wooden
lip plates – a symbol of
beauty and identity. A
girl's lower lip is cut
(sometimes by her
mother) when she reaches
15 or 16, and held open
by a sodden plug until it Lip plates as worn by a
heals. Unmarried girls, Mursi woman
especially those with
large labrets, might wear
them whenever they are
in public.
 One of the most popular
traditions in China is that of foot
binding among women that
ensures their potential for good
marriage. These women are
subjected to decades of physical
alteration that involves the
restricting of their feet achieve Lotus feet in China
“lotus feet” which has the ideal
lenght of about 7.5 centimeters 3
inches. The process begins at
childhood when young females
feet are bound and broken so as
hamper further growth.
 The interaction between human human
physiology and culture is not unliteral. As culture
affects physical traits of a person, culture can also
be defined by the normative physical
characteristics of humans. This can easily be seen
in the material culture of a society. The designs of
material culture are based on the physical traits a
given population.
Culture is adaptive:

 Culture is a tool for survival that

humans use in response to the
pressures of their environment. Both
the material and the nonmaterial parts
of culture are influenced by the goal of
human to address their needs ass
dictated by their environment and their
biology.
 An igloo (Inuit languages:
iglu), also known as a snow
house or snow hut, is a type
of shelter built of snow,
typically built when the snow
is suitable. Although igloos
are often associated with all
Inuit and Eskimo peoples, Inuit man beside an
they were traditionally used igloo
only by the people of
Canada's Central Arctic and
Greenland's Thule area.
 The Tupiq is a traditional
Inuit tent made from seal
skin. Inuit must kill 5 to 10
ugjuk (bearded seals) to make
a sealskin tent.
A Tupiq man
 Another adaptive mechanism that is
practical in most cultures is the creations of
food taboos. There are the socially
contracted and accepted prohibitions on the
consumption of several food items. Among
the Muslim, the consumption of pork is
allowed, so cattle is one of their primarily
sources of meat. In India, on the other
hand, cows are venerated, so consuming
beef is considered taboo. According to
Marvin Harris, these taboos are responses
to the environmental pressures on food
supply in these areas.
CULTURE IS MALADAPTIVE:

 Culture can also caouse problems for the

people' who subscribe to it.
 These problems arise when the environment has
changed and culture has remind the same (e.g.
car culture) present in the most societies is
getting in most societies is getting maladaptive
as the environmentgets polluted
 The car industry remains
active despite the economic
turmoil it faces as a
developing country. This
culture is highly
maladaptive given the
roads that cater to vihicle
are not wide enough,and
the world getiing more
poluted.
CULTURAL CHANGES:

 The final characteristics Of culture is

that never static. This dynamism of
culture is due to that changing needs
of human as this enterpret and
survive in their enveronment.
 PERSPECTIVE ON
THEORY CULTURE

 All cultures undergo the

 Cultural Evolutionism same development stages
and the same in order.
Main classifications
includes: savagery,
barbarism, and
civilization.

 Diffusionism  All societies is unique and

must be studied in its own
context
  Historicism  Each culture is unique and
must be studied in its own
context.

 Phsychological  Personality is largely seen

Anthropology to be studied in its own
context.
 Society is through to be like a
 Functionalism biological organism with all of
the parts interconnected.
Existing institutional structures
of any society are thought to
perform indispensable functions,
without which the society could
not continue.
 Neo evolutionsm  Culture is said to be shaped
by enironmental
technology xondition .
Culture evolve when
people are able to increse
the amount of energy under
their control.

 Materialism culture is the

 Materialism product of the material
conditions in which a given
community of people finds
itself.
 Anthropology in the 21st century key words :
Anthropology is holistic in the sense that it studies:

• Human both as biolohical and social creatures.

• Human behavior from the time the species

existed to the time that it will desist.

• Human behavior from all regions of the world.

• All forms of human actions and beliefs.

Thank you for
listening !!!