What is Anthropology?

AnthropologyThe study of humans past and present. - American Anthropological

Association

Areas of study in anthropology

Sociocultural AnthropologySociocultural anthropologists examine social patterns and practices across cultures, with a special interest in how people live in particular places and how they organize, govern, and create meaning.

Medical Anthropology: Culture Bound Syndromes

hwa-byung or wool-hwa-bung: (Korea) "anger syndrome".

shin-byung: (Korea) syndrome characterized by anxiety and somatic complaints (general weakness, dizziness, fear, loss of appetite, insomnia, and gastrointestinal problems), followed by dissociation and possession by ancestral spirits.

pa-feng and pa-leng: (China) phobic fear of wind and cold, respectively. Patients fear an excess of yin (negative/female energy) from exposure to wind and cold. Afflicted individuals bundle up in warm clothing, eat symbolically "hot" food, and avoid wind or drafts. Symptoms of both often co-occur.

anorexia nervosa (North America, Western Europe): severe restriction of food intake, associated with morbid fear of obesity. Other methods may also be used to lose weight, including excessive exercise. May overlap with symptoms of bulimia nervosa.

brain fag or brain fog: (West Africa) a condition experience by high school or university students. Symtoms include difficulties in concentrating, remembering, and thinking. Additional symptoms center around the head and neck and include pain, pressure, tightness, blurring of vision, heat, or burning

ArcheologyArchaeologists study past peoples and cultures, from the deepest prehistory to the recent past, through the analysis of material remains, ranging from artifacts and evidence of past environments to architecture and landscapes.

Biological AnthropologyBiological anthropologists seek to understand how humans adapt to diverse environments, how biological and cultural processes work together to shape growth, development and behavior, and

what causes disease and early death.

Linguistic AnthropologyLinguistic anthropology is the comparative study of ways in which language reflects and influences social life.

Sapir-Whorf hypothesis

The idea that the structure of our language shapes how we think and perceive the world

around us

Age-tori (Japanese)To look worse after a haircut

Backpfeifengesicht (German)A face in need of a slap

Neidbau (German)A building constructed with the sole purpose of

inconveniencing your neighbor in some way

Anthropology and WOKs

The degree in which different WOK are used depend on the area of research, research questions, and methodologies.

Example: An archaeologist studying an ancient piece of pottery might rely more on sense perception, reason and imagination as WOK. However, they might still use language and emotion.

A linguistic anthropologist would focus on language as the primary WOK, though might also use emotion, sense perception and reason.

Ethical Issues in Cultural Anthropology

1. Cultural Relativism2. Intervention

Cultural Relativism

Cultures and cultural practices cannot be judged against each other.

What members of one culture might view as strange and bizarre in another culture (for example, polygamy, body tattooing, or strict dietary laws) can be understood best within that culture's context.

Are there limits to cultural relativism?

Cultural Relativism vs. Universal Human

RightsCultural Relativism

Who is determining universal values?

Universal Human Rights

There is a set of universal values no culture should be exempt from.

Intervention

The role of “the observer”

ObservationHow does the observer impact those being

observed?

• Real life situation:

Margaret Mead- Derek Freeman controversy

Memory

Is eyewitness testimony a reliable source of evidence? Can our beliefs contaminate our

memory?

Is intervention ever appropriate?

What is the anthropologist’s responsibility to those he or she is researching?

What information should they share and how?

Should they share information if it might hurt the people they study?

Should the anthropologist help the people they study? If so, how?

Case Study: Terry Kelly (pseudonym) received a grant for research in the Western Tropics. As part of her personal gear, she took along a considerable amount of medication which her doctor had prescribed for use, should Kelly find herself in an active malaria region. Later, after settling into a village, Kelly became aware that many of the local people were quite sick with malaria. Since she had such a large supply of medication, much more than she needed for her personal use, should she distribute the surplus to her hosts?

1. What issues and problems does the case raise and why?

2. What are courses of action the anthropologist could follow and what would be the negative and positive consequences of each?

3. How would "you" have acted in the same situation?

Laura Bohannon, in her book Return to Laughter (Bowen, Elenore, 1964, Doubleday), describes a dilemma when smallpox begins to rage through an African country. She has been vaccinated but cannot get the people to go to the hospital to get vaccinated by Western doctors. Their way of coping with it, is to banish a person from the tribe as soon as a person contracts smallpox. If Bohannon goes after the banished man to give him food and returns without having smallpox she will be considered a witch. This will mean she can no longer study these people effectively. Would you stay in the tribe or go help the man?

Bibliography American Anthropological Association. Anthropology Newsletter. American Anthropological

Association, 4350 N. Fairfax Drive, Suite 640, Arlington, VA 22203-1621; 703/528-1902.

1981 issues contain a series on ethical dilemmas prepared under the auspices of the Committee on Ethics. (cases 3, 4 & 5)

February 1994 issue contains the article, " Anthropological Ethics, the PPR and the COE: Thoughts from the Front Line."

October 1995 issue has an article by Bernard Gert, "Universal Values and Professional Codes of Ethics."

Appell, George N. Ethical Dilemmas in Anthropological Inquiry: A Case Book. Waltham, MA: Crossroads Press, 1978.

An excellent resource of over 80 cases designed to help sensitize students and anthropologists to the moral consequences of social inquiry. Cases cover such areas as dealing with threats of aggression; intervening in infanticide; perceiving of illegal activities; dealing with theft, medical emergencies, and missionaries; and handling problems in urban ethnic research. (cases 1 & 3)

Cassell, Joan and Sue-Ellen Jacobs (eds.). 1987. Handbook on Ethical Issues in Anthropology. American Anthropological Association Special Publication #23.

Fluehr-Lobban, Carolyn (ed.). 1991. Ethics and the Profession of Anthropology: Dialogue for a New Era. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press.

Carolyn Fluehr-Lobba, AnthroNotes:  http://anthropology.si.edu/outreach/anthnote/Winter98/anthnote.html

What is a Gift?1. Brainstorm examples on your own

2. With a classmate, come up with a definition

Marcel Mauss The Gift (1923)

There is no such thing as a “true” gift

The obligation to give and receive gifts is the basis of society. Gift giving always serves some purpose and is never

a truly “selfless” act.