What is Cultural Anthropology? Branches of Anthropology?

Cultural Anthropology:
Anthropology is the study of all aspects of humans in all times and all places. It
means it studies about anything that belong to a human being like behavior, a
ttitude, perceptions, beliefs and cultures. It also studies about the evolution of
human beings and their cultures. Anthropology examines such topics as how pe ople
live, what they think, what they produce, and how they interact with their
environments. Discipline of Anthropology: Anthropology is traditionally divided
into four sub disciplines. Physical Anthro pology and three branches of Cultural
Anthropology. Physical Anthropology: The systematic study of human as biological
organism. It is also known by the n ame of Biological Anthropology. In this
branch the anthropologists studies abo ut the affects of culture on the physics of
human beings or the evolutions of th e humans organisms. For Example in the Kaya
Village the women have long necks so here the anthropo logists studied about the
reasons of their long necks. They went there and asked from them about it. So they
came to know that in their culture females wear a s teel rings round the neck from
the age of 8 or 9 years. And they think that they would be look ugly if their neck
will not be long.(NAT GEO) Due to their culture their physics change so in Physical
Anthropology it is studied. In other words it can said that the evolution of human
body that is happen due to cultural or societal influence. Cultural Anthropology:
The branch of Anthropology that focuses on human behavior. It further divides into
three branches. Linguistic Anthropology Archaeology Ethnology Linguistic
Anthropology: The branch of Cultural Anthropology that studies human language is
called Lingui stic Anthropology. In this branch the social scientists studies about
the charac teristics, importance, development and their intellectuals. They also
studied ab out the rules of language and the basic components of Language. For
example if we see in English Language we will see the name o f great intellectuals
who made the theories and the rules of grammar like Noam C homsky describe the
Learning Approach Theory and Michael and other persons mad e the rules of
grammar. Archaeology: Archaeology is the branch of Cultural Anthropology that study
of remains materia l usually from the past to describe and explain human behavior.
Archaeology stud ies past human behavior through the examination of material
remains of previous human societies. These remains include the fossils (preserved
bones) of humans, food remains, the ruins of buildings, and human artifactsitems
such as tools, p ottery, and jewelry. From their studies, archaeologists attempt to
reconstruct p ast ways of life. Archaeology is an important field of anthropology,
which is th e broad study of human culture and biology. Archaeologists concentrate
their stu
dies on past societies and changes in those societies over extremely long period s
of time. Ethnology: Ethnology is the knowledge of past peoples incidents,
cultures and their belie fs Ethnology, typically practiced by socio-cultural
anthropologists, is concerned w ith the study of cultures in their traditional
forms and in their adaptations to changing conditions in the modern world.
Ethnography, the observational branch of ethnology, describes each culture,
including its language, the physical chara cteristics of its people, its material
products, and its social customs. In desc ribing a particular tribe, for example,
ethnographers gather information about i ts location and geographical environment.
They also investigate all aspects of i ts culture, including food, shelter, dress,
transportation, and manufacture of t he tribe; its customs regarding government,
property, and division of labor; its patterns of production and exchange; its
customs regarding birth, adulthood ini tiation rites, marriage, and death; its
religious ideas relating to magic, super natural beings, and the universe; and its
artistic, mythological, and ceremonial interpretations of its natural and social
environment. Culture 1. Introduction Word culture is taking from Latin word
cultura which means to cultivate. For e xample, in 1952, Alfred Kroeber and Clyde
Kluckhohn compiled a list of 164 defin itions of "culture" in Culture: a Critical
Review of Concepts and Definitions. H owever, the word "culture" is most commonly
used in three basic senses: Excellence of taste in the fine arts and humanities,
also known as high culture An integrated pattern of human knowledge, belief, and
behavior that depe nds upon the capacity for symbolic thought and social learning
The set of shared attitudes, values, goals, and practices that character izes an
institution, organization or group Culture includes socially acquired knowledge,
beliefs, art, law, morals, customs, and habits. (Edward B Taylor) Culture is a
powerful human tool for survival, but it is a fragile phenomenon. It is constantly
changing and easily lost because it exists only in our minds. Our written
languages, governments, buildings, and other man-made things are mer ely the
products of culture. They are not culture in themselves. For this reas on,
archaeologists can not dig up culture directly in their excavations. The br oken
pots and other artifacts of ancient people that they uncover are only mater ial
remains that reflect cultural patterns--they are things that were made and u sed
through cultural knowledge and skills. In the twentieth century, "culture" emerged
as a concept central to anthropology , encompassing all human phenomena that are
not purely results of human genetics . Specifically, the term "culture" in American
anthropology had two meanings: (1) The evolved human capacity to classify and
represent experiences with symbol s, and to act imaginatively and creatively. (2)
The distinct ways that people living in different parts of the world classif ied
and represented their experiences, and acted creatively. 2. History of the Concept
of Culture People have long been aware of cultural differences among societies.
Some of the earliest accounts of culture come from the Greek historian Herodotus,
who lived in the 400s BC. Herodotus traveled through the Persian Empire, which
included m uch of the Middle East and surrounding parts of Asia and Africa. He
wrote at len gth about the cultural and racial diversity of these places, much of
which he li nked to differences in peoples environments. For almost 2000 years
following the time of Herodotus, many people attributed cu ltural differences to
racial inheritance. The biblical account of the Tower of B
abel, in which God caused people to speak new languages, also provided an explan
ation for cultural diversity. At the end of the Middle Ages (5th to 15th century
ad), many countries of Wester n Europe began sending explorers around the world to
find new sources of materia l goods and wealth. Prolonged contacts with new
cultures during these travels sp arked Europeans interest in the sources and
meaning of cultural diversity. The English term culture actually came into use
during the Middle Ages. It deriv ed from the Latin word for cultivation, as in the
practice of nurturing domestic ated plants in gardens. Thus, the word originally
referred to peoples role in c ontrolling nature. 3. Characteristics of Culture
Everything has its characteristics likewise culture has also its own characteris
tics that make it different from others and made it easy to understand. Followin g
are the characteristics of the culture. i. Culture is Symbolic Symbols allow people
to develop complex thoughts and exchange those thoughts wit h others. People have
culture primarily because they can communicate with and understand s ymbols. A
symbol has either an indirect connection or no connection at all with the object,
idea, feeling, or behavior to which it refers. For instance, most pe ople in the
United States find some meaning in the combination of the colors red , white, and
blue. But those colors themselves have nothing to do with, for inst ance, the land
that people call the United States, the concept of patriotism, or the U.S. national
anthem, The Star Spangled Banner. To convey new ideas, people constantly invent new
symbols, such as for mathemati cal formulas. In addition, people may use one
symbol, such as a single word, to represent many different ideas, feelings, or
values. Thus, symbols provide a fle xible way for people to communicate even very
complex thoughts with each other. For example, only through symbols can architects,
engineers, and construction wo rkers communicate the information necessary to
construct a skyscraper or bridge. ii. Culture is Learned People are not born with
culture; they have to learn it. For instance, people mu st learn to speak and
understand a language and to abide by the rules of a socie ty. In many societies,
all people must learn to produce and prepare food and to construct shelters. In
other societies, people must learn a skill to earn money, which they then use to
provide for themselves. In all human societies, children learn culture from adults.
Anthropologists call this process enculturation, or cultural transmission.
Enculturation is a long process. Just learning the intricacies of a human langua
ge, a major part of enculturation, takes many years. Families commonly protect a nd
enculturate children in the households of their birth for 15 years or more. O nly
at this point can children leave and establish their own households. People also
continue to learn throughout their lifetimes. Thus, most societies respect their
elders, who have learned for an entire lifetime. iii. Culture is Shared People
living together in a society share culture. For example, almost all peopl e living
in the United States share the English language, dress in similar style s, eat many
of the same foods, and celebrate many of the same holidays. All the people of a
society collectively create and maintain culture. Societies preserve culture for
much longer than the life of any one person. They preserve it in the form of
knowledge, such as scientific discoveries; objects, such as wo rks of art; and
traditions, such as the observance of holidays. iv. Culture is Adaptive Cultural
adaptation has made humans one of the most successful species on the pl anet.
Through history, major developments in technology, medicine, and nutrition have
allowed people to reproduce and survive in ever-increasing numbers. Howeve r, the
successes of culture can also create problems in the long run. Over the l ast 200
years, people have begun to use large quantities of natural resources an
d energy and to produce a great amount of material and chemical wastes. The glob al
population now consumes some crucial natural resourcessuch as petroleum, tim ber,
and mineral oresfaster than nature can produce them. Many scientists belie ve that
in the process of burning fuels and producing wastes, people may be alte ring the
global climate in unpredictable and possibly harmful ways (see Global W arming).
Thus, the adaptive success of the present-day global culture of product ion and
commerce may be temporary. Culture must benefit people, at least in the short term,
in order for it to be p assed on to new generations. But it can clearly also harm
some people. The numbe r of people living in severe poverty near the end of the
20th century was larger than the entire population of the world in ad 1500. 4.
Categories of Culture Anthropologists have described a number of different
categories of culture. For example, a simple distinction can be made between
cultural objects, such as type s of clothing, and cultural beliefs, such as forms
of religion. Many early anthr opological definitions of culture are essentially
descriptions of categories of culture or cultural items. i. Material Culture All
societies produce and exchange material goods so that people can feed, cloth e,
shelter, and otherwise provide for themselves. This system is commonly known as an
economy. Anthropologists look at several aspects of peoples material cult ure.
These aspects include (1) The methods by which people obtain or produce food, known
as a pattern of su bsistence (2) The ways in which people exchange goods and
services (3) The kinds of technologies and other objects people make and use (4)
The effects of peoples economy on the natural environment. ii. Social Culture
People in all types of societies organize themselves in relation to each other f or
work and other duties, and to structure their interactions. People commonly o
rganize themselves according to a) Kinship and marriage In smaller societies people
organize themselves primarily according to ties of k inship (blood relation) and
marriage. Kin generally give each other preferential treatment over non kin. People
who share ties by blood and marriage commonly li ve together in families. All
people in bands generally respect each other as equals, thou gh children must show
increased respect for their elders. The eldest group membe rs often earn special
recognition for their knowledge. Men and women in bands al so commonly regard each
other as equals. Kinship and family relations are both important in agricultural
societies, as well as for many people in industrial and commerce-based societies .
But for many people today living in large societies, kinship and family relati ons
have become less important. Many people live alone or in small families and also
depend on organizations, workplaces, and government institutions to provide support
available in smaller societies from family and kin. b) Work Anthropologists call
the smallest unit of economic production in any society a h ousehold. A household
consists of a group of people, usually a family, who work collectively to support
each other and often to raise children. In small, independent band and tribal
societies, individual hous eholds produce their own food, clothing, and shelter.
Men and women commonly div ide work duties; men hunting and building shelters and
women gardening, cooking, and caring for children. People in small societies often
live in extended famil ies, in which several generations of kin and relatives by
marriage live in the s ame household. Sometimes, however, men and women live in
separate places, especi ally if they also often work and participate in ceremonies
apart from members of the opposite sex. In chiefdoms and civilizations, households
have to produce enoug h to support themselves and their leaders. All households do
not always have equ
al access to needed materials, such as tools or draft animals, or land. Thus, so me
families have higher status than others do. On the whole, men in these societ ies
have higher status than women and perform fewer menial tasks. In industrial
societies, few households are self-sufficient. For instance, most people could not
build their own houses, grow and cook all of th eir own food, and make all of their
clothes. Most people also depend on technolo gies that no one could produce alone
from raw materials, such as cars, refrigera tors, and computers. c) Political
position. Groups of people living in bands have no formal leadership, and all
people have input in making group decisions. Most decision-making in tribes occurs
within ho useholds. Occasionally, most or all members of lineages or clans convene
to make important village decisions, such as about dealing with neighboring tribes.
Within most tribes, all groups commonly have about equal status. Since every person
belongs to a descent group, no one person ranks too far abov e or below another. In
some tribes, however, people known as big men might earn a degree of higher status
and respect than others by demonstrating bravery or br avado. Chiefdoms, larger
than most tribes, consist of at least two very large descent groups organized under
rulers known as chiefs, who are born into their positions of leadership. Chiefs
must prove that they are closest in descen t to the founding ancestor of the
highest ranked clans within chiefdoms. They li ve as full-time rulers who may not
have to work at productive duties. Chiefs hav e the power to collect some of the
goods people produce, such as food, and redis tribute them in times of need or use
them in ceremony. A state may claim ownership of all its territory and resources a
nd may wage wars against other nations. Important families may rule states for s
everal generations, though this happened more commonly in the past. But all stat es
have distinct social and economic classes, and higher classes have greater po
litical influence or power than do lower classes. 5. Ideology of Culture In every
society, culturally unique ways of thinking about the world unite peopl e in their
behavior. In every society, culturally unique ways of thinking about the world
unite peopl e in their behavior. Anthropologists often refer to the body of ideas
that peopl e share as ideology. Ideology can be broken down into at least three
specific ca tegories: beliefs, values, and ideals. i. Religion Religion allows
people to know about and communicate with supernatural beingssu ch as animal
spirits, gods, and spirits of the dead. Religion often serves to he lp people cope
with the death of relatives and friends, and it figures prominent ly in most
funeral ceremonies ii. Secularism Many societies today interpret the natural world
and form beliefs based on scien ce and logic. Societies in which many people do not
practice any religion, such as the United States, may be known as secular
societies. However, no society is entirely secular. iii. Art Art is a distinctly
human production, and many people consider it the ultimate f orm of culture because
it can have the quality of pure expression, entirely sepa rate from basic human
needs. But some anthropologists actually regard artistic e xpression as a basic
human need, as basic as food and water. Some art takes the form of material
production, and many utilitarian items have artistic qualities. Other forms of art,
such as music or acting, reside in the mind and body and ta ke expression as
performance. The material arts include painting, pottery, sculp ture, textiles and
clothing, and cookery. Nonmaterial arts include music, dance, drama and dramatic
arts, storytelling, and written narratives.