Intro to Anthropology 2023

  FILM: Strangers Abroad, Margaret Mead Enculturation is the process by which culture is passed down from generation to generation. Understanding enculturation is one way to help us understand why we have different worldviews which underlie our different ways of viewing the world. These different views are often the source of CONFLICT in our globalizing world. Enculturation also helps us understand the core values in a culture (basis for ideological definition) as well as strategies for adaptation. There are two basic strategies for enculturation that aim to produce different kinds of MODAL PERSONALITIES (the kinds of adults that will be successful in their culture). Dependence Training --focuses on creating adults who are committed to the group, who see their individual needs as second to the groups concerns. ·          cooperation encouraged ·          group membership and interdependence stressed · ...

Culture is made up of a number of symbolic systems, which allow us to find meaning in our experiences.   Language,   Race and gender of three of these systems which seem particularly important to understand right now. Language and Culture are intimately connected, but what is the nature of this relationship? no relationship language determines culture (Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis) Culture determines language Lang uage  and culture are part of a larger cognitive system (influence each other) The Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis  states that language determines the way we think by setting up cognitive structures through which we interpret the world around us. This in turn patterns our thoughts and behaviors. Anthropologists analyze human language across time and space and always with a mind to its relationship to culture. They may also study primate communication for a window into early human language as well as a way to identify the unique features of human language.  The parts...

  Field Experiences: 1. Guatemala & Yucatan 2. Belize 3. Beach Channel (LI) & New Orleans 4. USA Communities 5.LGBTQ+  -Working in familiar and unfamiliar environments -Working as an outsider/insider -establishing rapport -sticky situations ·       Ethics     -informants -academic community -funders ·       The problem with power and the researcher’s “gaze” ·       Protecting your informants: remembering who you work for ·       Jealousies and disturbances -Combatting “Observer’s Bias” (GUMPERZ) ·       Group interviewing ·       The “aside” ·       Creating relationships of trust -Recording and writing up Experiences in the field— ·       Keeping the peace ·       Catch 22s ·       The epiphany of the “other” · ...

  It is the conundrum of culture that it strives for EQUILIBRIUM, and yet as a living system of individuals joined together through core values, beliefs, ideas, practices and products it is ALWAYS CHANGING. So, how do cultures change? Two Ways: Diffusion  (borrowing or transmission of a trait from one culture to another).  can be through direct or indirect interaction Factors upon which diffusion is contingent (in this order) Need for change (desire or necessity for a product or practice in that culture) Availability for change (raw materials and know-how or the ability to acquire the product or practice through trade) Does not violate the WORLDVIEW of that culture Independent Invention primary innovation (chance discovery) secondary innovation (build on chance discovery) Acculturation  (Forcible change-secondary learning of culture) Change which is "forced" upon an individual or culture. Takes place in the life time of an individual. Results in the following if it p...