The Self from an

ANTHROPOLOGICAL
Perspective
ANTHROPOLOGY
• the study of the origin and development of human societies
and cultures (natgeo/educ).

• the study of human societies and cultures and their

development (oxford).

• the study of people everywhere — today, yesterday, and long ago.

 THE SELF IN ANTHROPOLOGY
• is an individual human's own person.

• Some anthropologists think that people develop their

sense of self, or even their actual self, through
interactions with other humans (the social
construction of the self).

• At any rate, the self interacts with the surrounding

culture in a human's society.
CULTURE
• encompasses religion, food, what we wear, how we wear it,
our language, marriage, music and is different all over the
world (livescience).

• a way of life of a group of people--the behaviors, beliefs, values, and symbols

that they accept, generally without thinking about them, and
that are passed along by communication and imitation from
one generation to the next (tamu).
What makes you proud to be Filipino?
• From the time we are born, we are taught that
are way of life is good, moral or natural

• We feel in our bones that the way we live is

right and that other people’s way of life are
wrong, uncivilized or unnatural

• This is known as Ethnocentrism

E T H N O C E N T R I S M
The attitude that our own
culture is superior to other
people’s
The Pagan Ibalois of Benguet

• Bury their dead inside a cave after a

mourning ritual where the dead corpse is
seated on a wooden chair for 4 days inside
the sala or living room

• They also have to dig again the buried corpse

if a mambonong advice the immediate members
that something is wrong in his or her
position
 The Bontoc Igorot
Bury there dead up to the
mountains(cliff) and leave or hang the
coffin there on the belief that the
soul will immediately reach heaven
The Trukese people of the Caroline Islands

• Boys and girls are encouraged to

have sex once they reach the age
of ten
 Keraki of New Guinea

Every male:
• engages in homosexual activities
during adolescence
• Engages in bisexual behavior after
marriage
Yanamamo Indian women in Brazil

• Often kill their baby girls by banging their

heads against trees
In Somalia

• It is customary for a young woman to cut

her clitoris
Siriono Indians of Bolivia

• Find our customs of kissing very

disgusting
 Many societies

• Find it odd that in our preferred position for

sexual intercourse is the missionary
• Ethnocentrism is so deeply installed in our minds that
we tend to condemn cultural practice different from
our own

• We become physically ill if we eat something our

culture defines as sickening
Dare yourself to eat!
Ginataang palaka
Adobong bayawak
Adobong azucena
Toasted grasshoppers
Toasted ants
Toasted rat
•Just the thought of eating any of these
might turn your stomach
Cultural Relativism
 Cultural Relativism
the view that no culture is superior to any other
culture when comparing systems of morality,
law, politics, etc.
It's the philosophical notion that all
cultural beliefs are equally valid
and that truth itself is relative,
depending on the cultural
environment.
Those who hold to cultural relativism hold
that all religious, ethical, aesthetic, and
political beliefs are completely relative to
the individual within a cultural identity.
• In a relativistic society, we have no right
to judge or punish anyone. Right and
wrong are now defined by socialization.
Society changes and morality becomes a
moving target.