INTRODUCTORY CONCEPTS

THE HUMANITIES

The study of cultural legacies, including art, history, anthropology (physical, archeology, cultural, linguistics), architecture, philosophy, music etc.

ANTHROPOLOGY

Anthropology is the comparative study of human societies and cultures in order to describe, analyze and explain how groups have adapted to their environment and given meaning to their lives.

CULTURE

Culture is human behavior that is learned, rather than genetically transmitted, and is typical of a particular society. It includes values, beliefs, philosophies, works of art, books, etc.

ETHNOCENTRISM

Ethnocentrism is the notion that one’s own culture is superior to any other, the idea that other cultures should be measured by the degree to which they are similar to ours.

A clear example was the conquerors of the new world. When the Spanish came to America they recorded what they saw and concluded that the natives were in a state of savagery.

CULTURAL RELATIVISM

Is the notion that people’s values and customs must be understood in terms of the culture of which they are a part. Anthropologists must suspend judgment in order to understand the logic and dynamics of other cultures.

Andocentric Bias

In the past, much fieldwork was and continues to be done by men who have limited or no personal access to women’s lives. This is particularly true in cultures where men and women lead very separate lives and are often hostile to each other.

The description of whole cultures based on male activities grew out of a largely unconscious assumption that men dominated the most important cultural activities.

The Cultural Construction of Race

A particular aspect of culture in the U.S. is the salient idea that we are divided biologically into different races.

Over a century of work by ethnographers has not been able to produce a consistent system of racial classification; furthermore, it has been learned that other cultures construct racial categories differently from Americans.

Race, as a biological characteristic of humans does not exist.

CULTURAL STRATIFICATIONS

High Culture – considered to be elitist and tends to reinforce the position of oppressed people. They are thought to appeal to an educated and sophisticated audience that have refined tastes and highly developed aesthetic sensibilities.

Low Culture - are created to appeal to a broad consumer base. Audiences whose tastes and sensibilities they consider not to be sophisticated or refined – soap operas, rock and roll concerts.

Folk Culture - practices of small groups within a larger society. For example, Mexico has numerous indigenous regional cultures.

POPULAR CULTURE

Some scholars often refer to it as mass culture produced by culture industries, advertising for mass consumers with the idea that people will buy more.

Other scholars consider popular culture as a form of what they call the dominant ideology through which the dominant classes control the other social classes.

Cultural populists argue that popular culture is produced by and for subordinated people themselves, and that the masses sometimes develop oppositional meanings to the original intent.

RESEARCH METHODS

Fieldwork – the goal of fieldwork is to gather as much information on a particular cultural group. The data are written to present as authentic and coherent a picture of the culture as possible with the objective of discovering cultural patterns and meanings.

Participant observation – The fieldwork technique that involves gathering cultural data by observing people’s behavior and participating in their lives.

Historical analysis – focuses in understanding the development of cultural forms as a product of conflict inherent in the relationships among groups through time.

RESEARCH METHODS CONT’D

Interviews – To learn about different cultural groups, anthropologists rely on the tool of asking questions. Often include individual life stories.

Cultural Geography. According to Kathryn Davis, “Cultural Geography is the geography of the world’s people, their places, their regions, and how people and societies connect with each other in social, religious, economic, and political systems that both build communities and span the world.” Ex: globalization, westernization, cultural imperialism, colonialism, immigration, eco-tourism.

Archival records – Records from libraries, archives, courthouses, etc.

In Class Discussion

Popular culture is imposed on consumers from above.

Evidence to support this position?

Popular culture arises from the people & may express values oppositional to the social elite.

Evidence to support this position?

Mass Culture Cultural Populism

Discussion Question

Do you agree that there is a legitimate distinction between high and low culture?

The separation between high and low culture suggests that high culture is “purer” ore superior because it is not mass-produced. Do you believe mass production devalues culture?

Do you believe that popular culture might serve different purposes among subordinate minority groups than it does in the dominant society? (resistance)