ANTHR 2

INTRODUCTION TO ANTHROPOLOGY: CULTURAL

Section 64991: MW 09:30-10:50am, Room 432

CORE CONCEPTS

Cabrillo College

Spring Semester 2010

Chuck Smith, Instructor

WHAT IS ANTHROPOLOGY?

"Anthropology" is both the scientific and humanistic study of all humans in all places and in all times.. This is a broad area, and many other disciplines such as psychology, sociology, biology, and medicine also have an interest in humans. So what is unique about Anthropology? American Anthropology has had a unique perspective on the human experience for over a century. This includes three predominant views:

BREADTH: Anthropologists look at people across a broad spectrum of space and time. Bioanthropologists examine our human biological and behavioral heritage over millions of years, and consider human physical variations across the world's populations. Archaeologists study the development and distribution of cultural patterns in past groups and civilizations, and seek to understand the ecological and social forces affecting these patterns over thousands of years. Cultural anthropologists examine human behaviors in contemporary groups in every setting across the world, and seek to understand the ecological and social forces that shape these behaviors. Anthropologists in every field are also concerned with change, biological and sociocultural, and how change impacts upon the human experience of us all.

HOLISTIC SYSTEMS: Anthropologists also look at the human experience in terms of holistic integrated systems. Human behavior is seen in the context of how biological, ecological, and cultural systems interact with each other. Some are interested in how our biological heritage provides us with the potentials for learned behavior, how our cultures shape these potentials into the wide variety of ways humans can be human around the world and across time, how our cultures optimize (and sometimes jeopardize) our ecological conditions for our long-term adaptation (or mal-adaptation), and how people from different cultures can understand and interact with each other. They are also concerned with how these lessons can be applied in our own society today.

CROSS-CULTURAL COMPARISON OF GROUPS: Anthropology generally focuses on human groups. While individuals are important, they are usually considered in the aggregate, because the comparisons made in Anthropology are so broad. For example, some anthropologists may be interested in how early anatomically modern humans, called Homo sapiens (and who first appeared in the evolutionary record some 150,000 to 200,000 years ago) developed in their capacity for learning, subsistence, susceptibility to diseases, and biological adaptations compared to their immediate evolutionary ancestors, known as Homo erectus. Others may be interested in how the Inuit (once called, derogatorily, Eskimos) adapted biologically and culturally to the Arctic environment compared to the !Kung in the Kalahari desert in southwest Africa. And others may be interested in how matrilineal societies compare in their religious beliefs and practices compared to patrilineal societies. By comparing groups, we can gain broad perspectives on the human experience.

SUBFIELDS OF ANTHROPOLOGY

American Anthropology emphasizes four subfields:

ARCHAEOLOGY: Archaeology is the study of past (and sometimes present) cultures through their material artifacts. This includes examination of patterns in the shape, use, and distribution of material culture to reconstruct social and behavioral systems of people across time and space, from the pre-European civilizations of the Americas, such as the Maya, Inca, Ancestral Puebloan and other Indian societies to 19th century African Americans of New York City, Oakland, California to early 20th century Chinese of the Monterey Bay region. Archaeologists seek to explain how these patterns became established and how they changed over time. They are also concerned with how the study of pre-twentieth century cultures can benefit local groups who now live in the same areas as those past societies.

BIOANTHROPOLOGY: Bioanthropology, or Biological Anthropology, is the study of human biology. This includes human anatomy, hominid (i.e., human) evolution, genetic and physical variations of human populations across time and space, and comparative primate studies. Bioanthropologists also have been involved in medical genetics research, forensics, developing standardized clothing sizes, protection of primate species, and other activities related to contemporary issues.

CULTURAL ANTHROPOLOGY: Cultural Anthropology, or Ethnology, is the study of contemporary human cultures. This involves description of the many ways of being human in today's world. This approach emphasizes first-hand field experience and understanding other groups from their own meanings, perspectives, and conditions. Ethnologists also seek to understand how different aspects of culture are interrelated, such as how religious beliefs are integrated with economic productiveness and the maintenance of public health. Cultural anthropologists have also been involved in community development, international health, multicultural relations, and the design and delivery of social programs, as well as working with community groups seeking constructive social changes.

LINGUISTICS: Linguistics is the study of human languages and communication. Linguists have studied thousands of unwritten languages around the world, and have investigated such issues as how language reflects cultural realities, ethnic and social behavior, and cognitive development. Linguists have also been involved in assisting immigrant and refugee groups in learning to communicate in their new homelands.

Many issues of concern to anthropologists cut across different subfields. For example, in investigating the effective delivery of health care across ethnic lines, cultural anthropologists may investigate the influences of group beliefs and social roles in the acceptance of new medical practices, bioanthropologists may examine genetically-fixed resistance to pathogens in the ecological setting, and linguists may study cognitive structures in concepts of illnesses and communication patterns between medical providers and patients. Archaeologists and bioanthropologists may collaborate in investigating the health patterns of prehistoric cultures and how these are related to the development of agriculture, and they in turn may work with cultural anthropologists in comparing prehistoric subsistence with historical foraging (also called gathering-hunting) and agricultural groups.

CORE CONCEPTS IN UNDERSTANDING THE HUMAN EXPERIENCE

There are several key concepts involved in Science and Anthropology that we will use throughout the course to help us better understand the human experience. Students should bring this summary of Core Concepts to every class, and are expected to regularly review and be able to use these concepts in class discussions.

SCIENCE andPrinciples for Understanding Natural Phenomena

Science often seems abstract and beyond the reach of most people in their daily lives, but we have all have to develop our understandings of Life and the Universe as we grow every day of every year. Following the basic principles of science can help us develop more valid, reliable, balanced, and predictive understandings of life around us. Some of the basic ideas about science that we can all use include:

  • Science is the study of natural phenomena (including the human experience)
  • The purpose of science is to develop and validate more balanced and predictive understandings of life events and issues.
  • The principles of science can help us all be more valid and balanced learners.

The basic scientific method is controlled comparison. As we compare similarities and differences across phenomena, we can determine what relationships and influences exist in life events, and also which suspected or perceived ones are not valid. The basic anthropological method (called ethnological) is cross-cultural comparison, as we compare different cultural patterns in order to determine what factors influence the human experience.
Valid and balanced understandings are based on recognition and control of biases (rather than the absence of biases) as we ask questions, gather relevant information, identify relationships and influences, and make and support predictive interpretations about life events and issues. /

The types of biases that influence how valid, reliable, and balanced our understandings are include:

  • Conceptual biases: the way we as a group collectively organize our mental views, beliefs and perceptions about life and the universe, which influences what we notice, what we seek to learn, and how we interpret phenomena.
  • Methodological biases: the way in which we select, gather, and analyze information, which structures the basic materials we use for developing our understandings.
  • Situational biases: the structured local settings and circumstances around us, which influence what information and events are and are not available to us in understanding life and issues.
  • Personal biases: the individual experiences and personality that form our personal interests, likes and dislikes, characteristics, etc., which influence what and how each of us seeks to learn and understand.
  • Chance biases: the random circumstances and events that cannot be anticipated and controlled beforehand, but which provide and deny information for understanding life and the universe.

Biases enter into all of our understandings, from our perspectives on what we are seeking to learn and in the questions we ask, the information with which we have to work, the interpretations we make, and the judgments we make throughout the learning process.

  • Can we recognize our biases (rather than assuming we are being "objective")?
  • Why do we have these biases?
  • What can we do to ensure that our understandings of other ethnic behaviors are accurate and balanced?

The principles of science that all of us can use to develop more valid and balanced understandings of life events and issues include:

  • Recognize and control for biases throughout the learning process.
  • Keep the facts separate from the interpretations of those facts.
  • Interpret what we do know in the context of what we do not know.

Grounded scientific understandings are based on knowing what we do not know,

And keeping what we do know in the context of what we do not know.

  • In gathering relevant, valid, and balanced information.
  • In analyzing relationships and influences.
  • In making interpretations and supporting conclusions.

With this awareness, we can maximize our chances for obtaining more valid and reliable information, for making grounded interpretations, and, perhaps most important, qualifying our interpretations to acknowledge where they are and are not relevant.

Human's Place In Nature and Principles for Understanding Evolution of Life Forms

Humans are only one of the millions of life forms on earth. Where do we stand in the natural order of things? Have we evolved beyond other life forms? Do other life forms and natural resources exist for our sole use? Are we separate from Nature and able to control our destiny? Or are we a part of Nature, and subject to the natural laws of the Universal systems around us?

Some concepts in Evolution can help us to better understand our place in Nature, including:

  • Biological evolution is a change in the frequency of genes in a population over time.
  • The basic mechanism of biological evolution is natural selection, where the carriers of genes that are more adaptive to environmental conditions survive and pass on those genes in greater frequency over generations.
  • Diversity is adaptive, because the more different types of traits in a group the more likely the group will have the necessary potentials to meet environmental challenges, particularly new and unforeseen ones.
  • The two aspects of the phenotype are morphology (biophysical traits and processes) and behavior (active/reactive functions of organisms).
  • Two important concepts which should be kept distinct are: race, which refers to the genetic frequencies in a population at a particular point in time, and ethnicity, which refers to the behavioral patterns of a group. (Therefore, different races may share a similar ethnic heritage, and groups of the same race may have different ethnic heritages.)
  • As we compare ourselves with other species on Earth, we can see that humans share many morphological and behavioral traits with other life forms, from single cell organisms, to vertebrates, to mammals, to primates and great apes.
  • We can also see that humans have some morphological and behavioral traits that are relatively unique, including brain structures, reproductive behavior, verbal communication, and abstract and integrative thinking.
  • As we trace the course of hominid evolution over the last million or so years, we can identify those characteristics that distinguish us as a species:
  • Humans are primarily adapted for learning.
  • Humans primary means of adaptation is by culture.
ADAPTATION
and
Principles for Understanding the Reorganization of Interacting Systems

The concept of adaptation provides many insights into understanding the driving forces that initiate and direct morphological and behavioral changes on Earth, including changes among humans around the world today.

Principles for understanding the process of adaptation include:

  • Adaptation is the systemsprocess in how a group's biological AND behavioral potentials interact with its environmental challenges, which enhances its survival and continuation. This process involves the biological, ecological, and cultural systems of a group.

The principle of systems is important in the anthropological perspective, and includes:

  • Components: Asking what are the different parts that are included in the system
  • Interactions: Asking how these different components are interrelated and mutually influence each other
  • Outcomes: Asking what are the results from how all the interacting components in the system function together

Changes in one part of the system affect other parts and the balance of the functioning whole.

Culturaladaptation is the systems process in how a group's behavioral potentials interact with its environmental challenges, which enhances its survival and continuation.

A bio-cultural model of adaptation involves a SYSTEMS process of two sets of interacting forces, including:

  1. The internal potentials that a group brings to a setting, including its needs (conditions necessary for its existence) and resources (abilities which can be used to enhance the group's adaptation).
  2. Potentials can range from fixed/innate to highly plastic/developed; and the ultimate criterion for assessing the plasticity of a trait is how much it can be changed in interaction with the environment. (The degree of observed variations can provide an intermediate estimate).
  3. A group's potentials are ultimately based in its genetic heritage (such as the structure of the brain).
  4. Diversity is adaptive, because the more different types of traits in a group the more likely the group will have the necessary potentials to meet environmental challenges, particularly new and unforeseen ones.
  5. A major resource for humans is culture. Humans have extensive potentials for developed behaviors (rather than being limited to specific fixed behaviors. Plastic behavioral potentials which can be readily changed in meeting environmental conditions, and therefore provide a rapid and flexible means of adaptation (compared to evolving physiological traits over millions of years).
  6. The environmental challenges in the group's setting, including constraints (conditions imposed by the environment which are necessary for existence) and opportunities (conditions which can be used to enhance the group's existence).
  7. Environmental challenges select from among all of a group's potentials those traits that contribute to the best adaptive balance.

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  • The basic process of adaptation is reorganization of the system, as a group's potentials interact with its environmental challenges. It is the system that changes, not just traits. Adaptation is a continuous evolutionary process, where populations evolve (rather than individuals).
  • The ultimate measure of the adaptiveness of a trait is how much it contributes to the continuation of the group. (Intermediate measures of the well-being of a group which promotes continuation are also often used, such as health.) Adaptation is a relative process, in terms of the more or less optimal internal functioning of a group and its greater or lesser balance with environmental conditions.
  • In assessing adaptation, time frames must be kept in mind, since what is adaptive at one point may be maladaptive under altered conditions, and what is not adaptive at one time may be more adaptive under altered conditions.
  • Understanding the PROCESS of adaptation can help us better understand contemporary issues. Asking poor questions can lead to misunderstandings (like "nature or nurturance?"... The more valid issue is "nature and nurturance; how much of each?").
CULTURE
and Principles for Understanding Ethnic Behavior

The concept of culture is a major perspective in Anthropology for understanding human behavior, and provides many insights into understanding the wide range of ethnic behavior we can observe around the world.

Principles for understanding the integrated natural of cultural behavior include:

  • Culture is the whole, learned, and shared behavioral system of a group of people.
  • The behaviors involved in human culture are largely highly plastic, and therefore can be readily developed in adapting to environmental conditions.
  • Culture is anintegrated system, where every trait mutually interacts with every other trait directly or indirectly.
  • The systems perspective is important in the questions to ask about a culture:
  • What are the components or traits of the cultural system?
  • How do these different traits interact and mutually influence each other?
  • What are the outcomes or adaptive functions that result from these interacting traits?
  • Also, how do changes in one part of the system affect other parts & the balance of the functioning whole?
  • Cultures arerelative, so that each culture has to be considered in the context of its own behavioral system.
  • It can be misleading to look at others' ways as "similar" or "different" than our own, because we are limiting our understandings by our own experience rather than theirs.
  • To gain more valid understandings, we need to consider a particular culture as distinct in terms of how their behavioral system is organized.
  • The levels of cultural experience include:
  • The meanings (what people believe and how they feel about their life and ways), and
  • The adaptivefunctions (how behavioral traits contributes to the group's continuation).
  • The adaptivefunctions of cultural traits which contribute to the group's continuation include:
  • Biological functions: those behaviors that promote the physical well-being and reproductive success of the group.
  • Subsistence/Economic functions: those behaviors that contribute to meeting a group's basic material needs which support its way of life.
  • Social functions: those behaviors that foster cohesion within a group and that minimize conflicts and disruptions among its members.
  • Psychological functions: those behaviors that support a meaningful identity, a constructive sense of purpose, and productive orientation towards life among members of the group.
  • Ecological functions: those behaviors that facilitate a productive balance with the group's external conditions

ETHNOCENTRISM