Understanding the Self

Anthropology
MS. ANGELICA BALATONG
 What is
Anthropology?
 Anthropology Facts for Kids (kiddle.co)

Anthropology
It is the study of people and cultures in the past and today. How did
people live a few decades ago, or thousands of years ago? How have
societies and cultures changed over time? How have humans
evolved? These are some of the questions that anthropologists ask.
Anthropologists try to understand the “big picture” of what it means
to be human.
Four branches of Anthropology
PHYSICAL
ARCHEOLOGY ANTHROPOLOGY

The study of human

The study of how people biology, including how
lived in the past. people adapt to where
Archaeologists learn from they live and how bodies
things people leave behind changed over time (human
or artifacts like pottery, evolution). Physical
tools, relics, ceramics, anthropologists also study
weapons, or anything non-human primates.
made or used by humans.
Four branches of Anthropology
LINGUISTIC
ANTHROPOLOGY
The study of how people
speak and the words they use
and how their language
developed and evolved.
Linguistic anthropology also
studies the evolution of
language and how it changed
what people think and how
people change their language.
CULTURAL
ANTHROPOLOGY
The study of how people
live their lives in the
present and how they may
have lived in the past,
including the tools they
used and the food they
produced and consumed. It
is also related to sociology
and social psychology.
 The self and person in Contemporary
Anthropology

The very foundation of the self in anthropology is understanding man

in light of its cultural context. In anthropology, the self refers to a set
of implicit cultural values that we try to adhere to and use them to
guide our lives. We adopt these values and become reflections of
specific sociocultural practices in the place where we exist and that
we learn them in our everyday interactions starting from our earliest
age
Self as embedded
in culture
Culture, as defined by Sir Edward
B. Taylor, founder of cultural
anthropology, is the complex
whole which includes knowledge,
beliefs, morals, law, customs, arts,
and any other capabilities and
habits acquired by a human as a
member of society.
 Two components of Culture:
MATERIAL CULTURE

Material culture consists of human technology - all the things that people make
and use. These are the physical manifestations of culture. The goods and products
we buy and the products we use are also included here. Culture is very much
dynamic. It changes from time to time. The fluidity of culture can be ascribed to
man’s distinct ability to create, transform, and re-create culture itself. The
evolution of material culture can be attributed to the technological advances that
humanity was able to make. As such, material culture has drastically changed.
Cultural exchanges also paved the way for the alteration of material culture.
 Two components of Culture:
NON-MATERIAL CULTURE

Non-material culture includes intangible human creations like beliefs, values,

norms, morals, rules, language, and organizations. This non-material culture also
helps shape our perspective of the society, of ourselves, and even of the material
world. For example, the non‐material cultural concept of religion consists of a set of
ideas and beliefs about God, worship, ethics, and morals. These beliefs, then,
determine how the culture responds to its religious issues, topics, and events.
 According to Catherine Raeff (2010), a developmental psychologist,
culture can influence how you, your peers, and families view:

Relationships: Culture is an influential Personality traits: Culture influences

factor in how you enter into and maintain
relationships. This influences how adults
encourage children to form relationships:
For instance, do they choose whom to play
with, or are children encouraged to play in
certain ways to promote group welfare?
whether you value and how you value
traits like humility, politeness,
assertiveness, sympathy, and self-
esteem. Culture also influences how you
perceive hardship and how you feel
about relying on others.

Achievement: Culture influences how Expressing emotions: Culture influences

you define success and whether you how feelings are expressed, whether you
value individual and group achievements consider feelings public or private, openly
or discreetly.