José Santiago Pinto

ACTIVITY WORKSHOP IN ENGLISH

1. Read, analyze and understand the text: CIVIL
ENGINEERING, BETWEEN THE ROYAL CITY AND THE
IMAGINED CITY
2. Make the English translation of the text
ANTROPOLOGÍA en la CULTURA

Por Oscar Eduardo Rueda Pimiento, 3 de julio de 2012

 CIVIL ENGINEERING, BETWEEN THE REAL CITY AND THE IMAGINATED

CITY

“La ciudad es a la vez un lugar para vivir y un lugar para pensar“

                                          Métraux

Civil engineering deals of the organization, transformation, in short, the approach

between the real city and the imagined one. The city is, for their part, is the habitat
where a large part of the world's population lives. In conclusion, we said that civil
engineers are interested in the human habitat. Of course, civil engineering has an
specific responsibility (and that it cannot evade), this is the design and construction
of housing, road networks, railroads, bridges and tunnels, etc., scenarios where
vital human activities will be developed and where human establish relationships
with each other.  However, you can’t forget that these scenarios are part of a
cultural construction and a way of representing our identity; which is why it is vital
to work hand in hand with those disciplines that study man and his relationships
with space.

Anthropology, for its part, focuses on the study of human behavior and its work
throughout the development process of humanity. This is how this profession is
strictly linked to the relationship with people and essentially with the lifestyles that
adopted in different cultures. For anthropology, human beings construct space
using functional criteria, as well as symbolic ones, resulting in an expression of
their territoriality. For anthropology, then, space is considered as the result and the
projection of a set of social, cultural, economic, material, perceptive, cognitive,
conductive, symbolic, ideological factors, etc.

Human habitat can be considered as the meeting point between civil engineering
and anthropology. Both disciplines share a concern for space. For the civil
engineer, for example, space is a place to accommodate his designs and adapt
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them to a certain set of needs in order to make people feel comfortable and
aesthetically seduced; however, in order to achieve this it is important to consider
the diversity of cultures that sometimes exist in a society and, accordingly, to
design and characterize the projects. Currently, unfortunately, the houses are
designed and built in terms of costs and square meters and often without regard to
the people who will live there. It’s for this reason that it is of great importance to
understand that a good civil engineering work cannot be achieved without first
studying culture, because culture is the key to achieving designs that meet the real
needs of the inhabitants. Amos Rapoport (2003) comments on the subject of
architecture as follows:

“The architecture is not a free activity, but a profession based on science and
aimed at solving problems. These problems, moreover, have to be discovered and
identified. This means that the products of such a design must be based in the
comprehension of the human qualities, adjusting to them and bring them help…
Therefore, the design must be based on the Knowledge of the forms of interaction
of people and environments, in the study of the relationships between the
environment and human behavior” (Rapoport, 2003: 7) 

Each work represents the typical culture of the place where it is built. Condition that
establishes a relationship between civil engineering and anthropology, a
relationship that is even necessary and inescapable; so, it is important for
engineers to have tools that allow them to study human behavior in relation to
culture and the environment. Only in this way we can think of architectural design
as a work for a particular culture and immersed in the worlds of meaning that social
anthropology studies; and this is so transcendent that if a work is meaningless to
society it may not really meet the needs of the people, which is the primary reason
for architectural and civil work

There are many examples in this regard that show the close relationship between
culture and urban habitat. The skyscrapers of New York are imposing and are
conceived for the culture that the inhabitants of that city have; Japanese trains and
high technology are also designed to show what they are technologically and
culturally in this country. It is also totally different to conceive an entertainment
space for an American than for an indigenous person, where they have completely
different amusements. The civil engineer must inquire, then, about the culture for
which he works and be able to obtain an ethnocentrism-free vision of the socio-
cultural environment in which he finds himself, and thereby create a comfortable
design for the client he is working for; He must put aside what he think is right and
have a vision of what is important to the culture from the understanding of its
needs.

 The relationship between civil engineering and anthropology is based, then, on the
fact that the two disciplines seek to understand the relationships that exist between
human beings and the habitat and to understand, explore, analyze and satisfy their
José Santiago Pinto

needs. Anthropology seeks and studies cultures and civil engineering seeks to
develop alternative and innovative methods, in engineering projects that influence
the cultures that benefit from their projects. Furthermore, as in anthropology, civil
engineering needs to recognize cultural diversity and accommodate its work to all
cultural parameters, to develop something attractive, innovative and of excellent
quality; This requires, like an anthropologist, to know the culture through
investigation and sampling of the terrain and coexistence with the population.

Applied anthropology (its discipline of anthropology) has, in particular, several

contributions to the training of civil engineers. Its distinctive attributes are as
follows:

 Relatively free of ethnocentrism and occidental biases; believing its cultural

ideas are superior than others
 Is interested in holistic sociocultural systems 
 Is Interested in the habitual facts of ethical conduct as elemental aspects of
live and mental health of people.
Engineers with the help of anthropology look and interpret the cultural facts that
may have sense for people, for making its work or construction adapt the demand
of the construction companies or market and the collective desires (Important for
the making of it) . This considers that, for knowing more about people for the ones
the engineer is working for, constructing or designing a work is necessary firstly
letting our believing and thinking forms, because, we focus on what is live quality,
wellness y luxury for us. We need to know better a culture from its point of view,
letting our commonly ethnocentrism apart. Marvin Harris (2003) states the
following:
“The anthropologist can be subtle to the sponsoring organizations revealing them
the ethnocentric assumptions, tied to the culture, that may characterize contacts
between cultures and prevent change programs achieve its objectives” (Harris,
2003: 665)
Holistic vision, demands be conscious of effects that our actions have and changes
may occur in live forms in a community, in short and long term, also about distant
and nearly to us, and relations that exists between the different elements and
dimensions that conforms a culture. Without this perspective also the best
intentioned and easy project can finish in disaster. Situation that compromises civil
engineers with the responsibility of observing and establish the social or
environmental impact of the work as it forms part of an integrate mechanism, from
a holistic perspective. All human work represents an impact or environmental or
social risk; impact that much of the times we don't take into account, because we
consider only short-term facts and in systematic forms as the work cost. This may
be illustrated with the next objections that indigenous communities formulate in “El
cerrejon” (during the forum in which it was discussed the deviation of Ranchera
river in the Guajira, a main source for some wayuu villages), for us this situation
evidence how, many times, the holistic perspectives haven't been taken by the big
companies. In a cart written by the wayuu community for President Santos, wayuus
ask for:
José Santiago Pinto

“¿Why would we exchange our only river for royalties? If everything will remain the
same, ¿Why do you want to compensate us?”
Certainly, for all companies, labor and profession is important, also, having the
external and internal vision that defends the applied anthropology for achieving
successfully the customer expectations. The own vision of the company, of what
they want and search. And also, the global vision of world, of those persons who
are offered something. As architects or engineers is important knowing cultures
and their vision of world, the challenges that we are raised and their needs.
Umberto Eco (2011) in “La estructura ausente” outline in a perfect way the figure of
an architect in cultural context and has set a reflection that gives an adequate
finish to these considerations

 “The architect is continually forced to be something different so he can construct.

He has to become a sociologist, politician, psychologist, anthropologist, Semitic...
And the situation does not change if he does it by working as a team, that is, by
working with sociologists, anthropologists, politicians, semiotics (in a more
appropriate way). He is forced to discover forms that constitute systems of
demands over which he has no power; forced to articulate a language,
architecture, which must always say something different from itself (what does not
happen in the verbal language, which on an aesthetic level can speak in its own
ways (...), the architect is condemned, by the same nature of his work, to be surely
the only and last humanistic figure of contemporary society; forced to think the
whole precisely to the extent that he is a specialized sector technician, dedicated to
specific operations and not to make metaphysical statements . ” (Eco, 12011: 334)

Bibliography:

Harris, Marvin. (2003) "What do applied anthropologists have to offer?" In:

Introduction to general anthropology. P. 665 -667

Rapoport, Amos. (2003) Culture, architecture and design. UPC editions.

Barcelona, Spain

Eco, Umberto (2011) The missing structure. Random House Mondadori.

Barcelona, Spain

3. WHO IS THE AUTHOR (CONSULT)

José Santiago Pinto

Oscar Eduardo Rueda Pimiento (nació el 15 de agosto de 1977 en Bucaramanga,

Santander) es antropólogo graduado de la universidad de Antioquia, se
especializo en pedagogía universitaria en la Universidad de Pamplona y posee
una maestría en la Universidad Industrial de Santander en Pedagogía.

4. I WRITE AT LEAST 10 IDEAS FROM THE TEXT

- La ingeniería Civil se encarga de diseñar los escenarios en donde los seres humanos
conviven y establecen relaciones
- La ingeniería civil se acopla a los distintos entornos culturales y adaptan sus proyectos y
diseños a cada uno.
- Es importante entender y estudiar la cultura de cada comunidad para realizar diseños
que satisfagan las necesidades reales de quienes habitan en ella.
- Las obras representan la cultura típica del lugar donde se construye, siendo así una
condición donde se relaciona la antropología y la ingeniería civil.

-  La antropología busca y estudia a las culturas y la ingeniería civil busca desarrollar
métodos alternativos e innovadores.
- El arquitecto debe adaptarse para construir, llegando a ser sociólogo, político, psicólogo,
antropólogo semítico, etc. Maneras en que pueda entender a la cultura por la que está
trabajando.
- Con la ayuda de la antropología la ingeniería civil observa e interpreta las pauta
culturales que son significativas para la gente haciendo que esta no solo sea aprobada
por las constructoras sino también por el deseo individual o colectivo.
- La visión holística exige como tal ser consciente de los efectos que nuestras acciones
tienen y de los cambios que van a ocasionar en las formas de vida de una comunidad

- Para toda labor y profesión es importante tener una doble visión emic y etic (interna y
externa) que defiende la antropología aplicada
- El arquitecto se ve obligado continuamente a ser algo diferente para poder construir.
Tiene que convertirse en sociólogo, político, psicólogo, antropólogo, semítico.

5. I PASTE IMAGES THAT ARE CONSISTENT WITH THE TEXT

 
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6. WHAT DOES CIVIL ENGINEERING DO IN THE WORLD.

La ingeniería civil diseña y supervisa la construcción de grandes proyectos de obras
públicas, como edificios, carreteras, aeropuertos, puentes y presas. Desarrolla su actividad
ya sea para una organización gubernamental o una industria privada. Esta se especializa
en un proyecto o rama de su profesión según el proyecto lo necesite, como ingeniería
estructural, ingeniería de transporte o ingeniería geotécnica.

7. THE GOOD AND THE BAD OF CIVIL ENGINEERING.

Bueno Malo
Se conocen nuevas culturas e Tu trabajo afecta la vida de las
identidades demás personas
Incluye conocimientos varios en Alto nivel de estrés en la
muchas disciplinas profesión
Cumplir con los mas altos Condicionada por el entorno
José Santiago Pinto

niveles éticos
Favorece el desarrollo social Administración de recursos con
alto valor
Mas altos estándares de Gran cantidad de tiempo
productividad requerido para la realización de
proyectos

8. I MAKE AN ANALYSIS EXPLAINING HOW NATURE IMPOVERISHES

CIVIL WORKS?
Hay dos lados que la ingeniería puede tomar con respecto a la naturaleza, por uno
puede aprovecharla y utilizarla para evitar el agotamiento de los recursos que esta
provee o afectándola de manera que los agote sin devolverle nada. En los
diferentes proyectos en los que un ingeniero puede participar se utilizan diferentes
materiales que pueden dañar a las diferentes fuentes de aprovechamiento como lo
son: el suelo, el aire, el agua, la vegetación, etc.
El impacto ambiental de cualquier proyecto genera debe ser considerado por las
profesiones como la ingeniería civil tomando en cuento los alarmantes índices de
contaminación polución y en general afectación al medio ambiente. En este
proceso la ayuda de nuevas teconlogias que apoyen la preservación y cuidado de
cualquier recurso que sea explotado podría favorecer en gran medida la difícil
situación que esta pasando nuestro medio ambiente.

9. WHAT RELATIONSHIP EXISTS BETWEEN CIVIL ENGINEERING AND

ANTHROPOLOGY?
Existe una estrecha relación entre la ingeniería civil y la antropología ya que
ambas basan su centro en el entender esas relaciones que existen entre el
hombre y el lugar donde este habita, con el fin de comprenderlas analizarlas y
explorarlas para poder satisfacer sus necesidades de la mejor manera

10. WHY IS IT IMPORTANT TO STUDY THE ENVIRONMENTS BEFORE

BUILDING?
El hecho de estudiar el espacio donde se realizara la construcción antes de llevarla a cabo es muy
importante ya que conocer la cultura del espacio y sus habitantes los llevara a comprender sus
necesidades para poder satisfacerlos. Diferentes concepciones de lo que es lujoso, hermoso,
calidad de vida, etc. Que nos ayuden a entender lo que en realidad quieren. Además la relación
entre la persona y su hábitat es muy importante.
José Santiago Pinto

11. WHAT DOES MARVIN HARRIS SAY ABOUT THE ATTITUDE OF

MODERN MAN?
Marvin Harris menciona que el hombre debe suprimir su etnocentrismo al
momento de la creación, ideación y puesta en marcha de un proyecto, ya que
debe conocer la cultura de los que residen allí y los ideales del cliente al cual esta
satisfaciendo para lograr con éxito los objetivos. Además, debe tener conciencia
de los posibles riesgos o impactos en cualquier ámbito que podría a llegar a tener
el proyecto que está realizando, en especial el como cambiaria la forma de vida de
la comunidad que allí reside.