Anthropology (Test Code: AN02TS03-18) : An Institute For IAS Exam Web: Email: Mob: 9821805141, 9868560857

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Anthropology (Test code: AN02TS03-18)
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1a. Field anthropology, or ethnography (e.g, Lewis Henry Morgan and Bronislaw Malinowski)
based on primary experiences with participation and observation in the cultural field of study.
 Participant-Observation and Modern Field Research Methods.Emphasize the importance of
living for an extended period of time with the people being studied and learning the local
language.
 The origin and use of these techniques can be seen clearly while going through the
contribution of different anthropologists.
 For instance, questionnaire and interview technique of data collection was introduced by the
evolutionist, Morgan and Tylor. Tylor introduced use of statistical method in anthropology.
• Geneological test method was introduced by Morgan and elaborated by W.H.R. Rivers.
Malinowski introduced the use of Participant observation method of data collection. The very
first anthropological fieldwork was undertaken to the Torres Straits in the Pacific by
W.H.R.Rivers and A.C. Haddon between 1898-1899
 Fieldwork is the soul of anthropology
• Fieldwork: Doing research in ‘the field,’ which includes any place where people and culture are
found.
• In fieldwork, an anthropologist goes to the field and stays with the people whom he wants to
study.
• He observes the phenomena under the study and records them systematically.
It is true that all events taking place in society cannot be studied at the same time
• It is also true that all phenomena are not visible to sense organs.
• In this circumstances, an anthropologist takes help of other techniques of data collection such as
observation, interview, case study, schedule, questionnaire, life history, sampling etc.
• All techniques of data collection have some advantages and disadvantages.
• Therefore, an anthropologist takes help of more than one technique, when he/she goes to collect
data from the field.
Thus, fieldwork is an important means for the anthropologists to explore and analyse the data
and develop a theory on that basis.
1b Rites of Passage 10
Ans: Rites of passage, rituals associated with the life cycle and the movement of people between
different age-status levels.
• Almost all cultures have rites of passage to demarcate these different stages of the life
cycle.
• Arnold Van Gennep (1960), a Belgian anthropologist, wrote a classic study of
different rites of passage throughout the world.
• He noted similarities among various rites connected with birth, puberty, marriage, and
funerals.
• According to Van Gennep, these rites of passage are characterized by three
interconnected stages: separation, marginality, and aggregration.
The first phase, separation, transforms people from one age status to another. In this phase,
people leave behind the symbols, roles, and norms associated with their former position.

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The second phase, referred to as marginality, places people in a state of transition or a temporary
period of ambiguity. This stage often involves separating individuals from the larger society to
undergo traditional ordeals or indoctrination.
The final phase is aggregation, or incorporation, when individuals assume their new status.
Later on anthropologist Victor Turner refined the model of Van Gennep and referred to
the three stages as structure, anti-structure or liminality, and communitas (1969).
• Structure is the initial status of the individual.
• The period of liminality is the temporary period of ambiguity, arginality, and anti-
structure.
• Turner defined communitas, the final phase, as a return to and reunion with society
with a wholly new status.
The best-known examples of these rites of passage are various religious rituals associated with
adolescence, such as varnashram systems in Hinduism, the confirmation rituals associated with
Catholicism and the bar mitzvah and bat mitzvah rituals in Judaism. There is an importance of
these rites as an aspect of aging, status, and enculturation.
1.c. Historical Particularism

• While cultural evolution offered an explanation of what happened and where, it was
unable to describe the particular influences on and processes of cultural change and
development.
• To accomplish this, an historical approach was needed for the study of culture change
and development to explain not only what happened and where but also why and how.
• Main forces of cultural change:
• Diffusionism (psychic unity of mankind)
• Culture circles (Venn diagrams)
• Leading proponent: Franz Boas Believed that one had to carry out detailed
regional studies of individual cultures to discover the distribution of culture traits
and to understand the individual processes of culture change at work. In short,
Boas sought to reconstruct their histories.
• Boas stressed the meticulous collection and organization of ethnographic data on
all aspects of many different human societies. Only after information on the
particulars of many different cultures had been gathered could generalizations
about cultural development be made with any expectation of accuracy.

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1(e) Emic (perspective): Examining society using concepts, categories, and distinctions that are
meaningful to members of that culture
Etic (perspective): Examining society using concepts, categories, and rules derived from
science; an outsider’s perspective, which produces analyses that members of the society
being studied may not find meaningful.

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2 POSTMODERNISM IN ATHROPOLOGY
•
•
Melford Spiro's excellent synopsis of the basic tenets of postmodernism: “The
postmodernist critique of science consists of two interrelated arguments, epistemological
and ideological. Both are based on subjectivity. First, because of the subjectivity of the
human object, anthropology, according to the epistemological argument cannot be a
science; and in any event the subjectivity of the human subject precludes the possibility
of science discovering objective truth. Second, since objectivity is an illusion, science
according to the ideological argument, subverts oppressed groups, females, ethnics, third-
world peoples (Spiro 1996).
•
dissolution of those social forms associated with modernity"
• Encyclopedia of Cultural Anthropology (1996),
defines post-modernism as an eclectic movement, originating in aesthetics, architecture
and philosophy. Postmodernism espouses a systematic skepticism of grounded theoretical
perspectives. Applied to anthropology, this skepticism has shifted focus from the
observation of a particular society to the observation of the (anthropological) observer
Postmodernity concentrates on the tensions of difference and similarity erupting from
processes of globalization: the the accelerating circulation of people, the increasingly
dense and frequent cross-cultural interactions, and the unavoidable intersections of local
and global knowledge.
•
any trajectory of events.” (Bishop 1996: 993). Post-modern attacks on ethnography are
based on the belief that there is no true objectivity. The authentic implementation of the
scientific method is impossible.
•
Skeptics and Affirmatives.
1. Skeptical Postmodernists- They are extremely critical of the modern subject. They
consider the subject to be a “linguistic convention” (Rosenau 1992:43). They also reject any
understanding of time because for them the modern understanding of time is oppressive in
that it controls and measures individuals. They reject Theory because theories are abundant,
and no theory is considered more correct that any other. They feel that “theory conceals,
distorts, and obfuscates, it is alienated, disparated, dissonant, it means to exclude, order, and
control rival powers” (Rosenau 1992: 81).
2. Affirmative Postmodernists- Affirmatives also reject Theory by denying claims of truth.
They do not, however, feel that Theory needs to be abolished but merely transformed.
Affirmatives are less rigid than Skeptics. They support movements organized around peace,
environment, and feminism (Rosenau 1993).
3. Typical criticism on postmodernism comes from the fear of extremely relativistic view.
Such critics argue that postmodernism will lead to nihilism (a belief that all political and
religious organisation are bad or a system of thought which says that there are no principles

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or beliefs which have any meaning or can be true) because it does not assume a common
ground of understanding
(b) Compare and contrast the works of Radcliffe Brown and Malinowski in relation to
the functional theory.
• Ans: The functionalists set out to accomplish what Durkheim claimed, a positivist
science of society was possible by finding social facts and discover the laws that
determine how they operate.
• Functionalism in anthropology is generally divided into two schools of thought,
each associated with a key personality.
• 1. Psychological functionalism is linked to Bronislaw Malinowski (1884-1942). For
the psychological functionalists, cultural institutions function to meet the basic
physical and psychological needs of people in a society. Like Boas, Malinowski's
method was based on extensive in-depth fieldwork during which he gathered
evidence to support his theoretical position.
• 2. The second school, structural functionalism, is associated with A. R. Radcliffe-
Brown (1881-1955). Structural functionalists, who drew heavily on Durkheim's
work, sought to understand how cultural institutions maintained the equilibrium
and cohesion of a society.
• At the time functionalism emerged, anthropology did not have a particularly good
reputation. Traveling to distant locations to study natives was exciting and exotic, but
also uncouth
• Malinowski was concerned with how individuals pursued their own ends within
the constraints of their culture. He believed that culture existed to satisfy seven basic
human needs: nutrition, reproduction, bodily comforts, safety, relaxation,
movement, and growth.
• He wished to demonstrate how various cultural beliefs and practices contributed
to the smooth functioning of society while providing individual biological or
psychological benefits. For example, in his 1925 essay, "Magic, Science, and
Religion," Malinowski discussed the nature of thought in primitive societies and
demonstrated the psychological functions served by supernatural beliefs such as
magic.By basing his theory on physiological and biopsychological needs, Malinowski
gave his theory of culture a universal character. Because these needs were satisfied
through cultural institutions, he was able to identify particular cultural and societal
formations set up to fulfill them.
• R. Brown, did filed work in Andam Islanders, was more interested in deriving social laws
governing behavior from the comparative study of different cultures than in cultural
description based on intensive fieldwork in one culture. Durkheim's influence is evident
in
• Radcliffe-Brown's attempts to illustrate how cultural systems function to maintain a
society's equilibrium.
• Radcliffe-Brown preferred to limit his research to social structures - to the
principles that organize persons in a society (such as kinship) and to the actual roles and

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relationships that can be observed firsthand. To illustrate this perspective, Radcliffe-
Brown used Spencer's organic analogy.
• Applying this analogy to anthropological data, Radcliffe-Brown argued that it is more
useful to study kinship systems than to study the individuals in a society because,
although people die, the kin structure remains the s a n e from generation to generation.
• In Radcliffe-Brown's view, Malinowski's focus on individuals led nowhere. To use a
cliche, Radcliffe-Brown thought that Malinowski did not see the forest for the trees.
• Max Gluckman’s works too represent the culmination of British functionalist
thought.
• Functionalism in anthropology helped to discover interrelations between differing
aspects of religion as it connects various institutions.
• Numerous functional aspects of religion include providing explanation or comfort;
sanctions on social, economic and political norms and institutions; and aiding
ecological adaptation and unifying the social group.
• Anthropologists like Malinowski, Evans-Pritchard, Radcliffe-Brown, etc., who
approached religion from functionalist perspective provide explanation that satisfies
human needs and solidarity of the group.
• Malinowski, A mortuary ritual, for instance, is intended to release the soul and
prevent it from returning to haunt the living.
• R Brown provides account of weeping ceremonies among Andaman Islanders
(c) Write a note on verbal and non-verbal communication

Non-verbal communication
- Non-verbal communication is also known as paralanguage

- As with language, nonverbal communication varies in human populations, in contrast to
the nonverbal communication of nonhuman animals
- Dogs, cats, and other animals have no difficulty communicating with one another in
nonverbal ways. Human nonverbal communication, however, is extremely varied. It is
often said that humans are the only creatures who can misunderstand one another.
- Kinesics- body motion and gestures used in nonverbal
- Many types of nonverbal communication differ from society to society.
- Americans point to things with their fingers, whereas other peoples point with only their
eyes, their chin, or their head.
- Shaking our head up nd down means “yes” and from side to side means “no,” but in
parts of India, Greece, and Turkey, the opposite is true.
- An “A–OK” sign in the United States or England means “you are all right,” but it means
“you are worth zero” in France or Belgium, and it is a very vulgar sign in Greece and
Turkey (Ekman, Friesen, and Bear 1984).
- Pointing to your head means “he or she is smart” in the United States, whereas it means
“stupid” in Europe.
- The “V” sign of the 1960s meant “peace”; in contrast, in World War II England, it meant
“victory”; in Greece, it is an insult.

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- Obviously, humans can easily misunderstand each other because of the specific cultural
meanings of nonverbal gestures.
- Despite all these differences, however, research has revealed certain universal features
associated
- Paul Ekman and his colleagues suggests that there are some basic uniformities
regarding certain facial expressions. Peoples from various societies recognize facial
expressions indicating emotional states such as happiness, grief, disgust, fear,
surprise, and anger.
- Ekman has concluded that some universal emotional expressions are evident in certain
facial displays of humans throughout the world
3.a. Mead to Personality
• Mead, on the basis of her study, attempted to show the impact of culture on personality
formation.
• She is of opinion that it is culture, according to which the personality of cultural group is
shaped.
• The three tribes of Newguinea, namely Mundugumor, Tschambuli and Arapes, though
living in same geographical region, represented different personality types, because their
cultures are different
• In different cultures, their socialization process differ, and that’s why differences in their
ways of interacting and behaving come into existence.
• This approach answers the fundamental question in cultural anthropology of, “why are
we the way we are?” by explaining the relationship between childrearing customs and
human behaviors.
• She saw an individual as a product of culture that shape the person in unique manners.
• These cultural traits are learned by the individual as an infant, and they are reinterpreted
and reinforced as the individual goes through its stages of life.
• In short, the differences between people in different societies are usually cultural
differences imparted (pass on) in childhood.
• This interaction between individual and culture is dynamic and a complex process by
which humans learn to be humans.
• They were aimed at a popular audience as well as anthropologists and they were directly
related to social problems in the United States.
• By using cross cultural data, Mead critiqued specific aspects of American life.
• One of her famous works was Coming of Age in Samoa, which argued that the turmoil
(confusion) associated with adolescence in the United States was not found in Samoa,
and that therefore this adolescent confusion was a product of culture, not biology.
• In Samoa, adolescence was not a stressful period because in general Samoan society
lacked stress.

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• Since the transition from childhood to adulthood was easy and smooth in that society, the
young did not suffer from tribulations (troubles, problems).
• In 1983 Derek Freeman published Margaret Mead and Samoa: The making and
unmasking of an anthropological myth, in which he argued that Mead systematically
distorted Samoan society.Based on his own research, Freeman depicted Samoan society
as full of stress and competition
• Even though Mead had passed away by then, Freeman’s view raised a serious debate that
split anthropologists between Mead’s side and Freeman’s.
3. (b) How to anthropologists define religion? Describe various forms of religion with
suitable example
Early cultural anthropologists and sociologist defined religion in contrast to magic and suggested
that religion was a more evolved form of thinking about the supernatural realm.
 They collected information on religions of non-Western cultures and constructed theories about
the origin and functions of religion.
 John Lubbock, an English Anthropologist, made an early attempt to combine archaeological

evidence of prehistoric people, on the one hand, and anthropological evidence of primitive
people, on the other, to trace the origin and evolution of religion.
 His scheme – fetishism- followed by nature worship and totemism, -shamanism-

anthropomorphism- monotheism – and finally ethical monotheism.
 In the late 19th century with the influential work of Max Muller, W. Robertson Smith, EB Tylor,
Marrett, James Frazer, anthropological study on religion grew at a fast pace.
 Anthropology of religion owes a great debt to Emile Durkhiem, -sacred, profane,etc.,
 A strong impetus to application of E.Durkheim is found among the British, structural

functionalist R. Brown, E.Pitchard, Meyer Fortes, and Melford Sapiro. Mainly on tribal religion
 Clifford Geertz, Victor Turner, Sherry Ortner, etc., focused on major world religions, Hinduism,
Islam, Chrtianity, etc.
1. Evolutionary perspective – EB Tylor, R.R. Marret, Frazer, Durkhiem
 Critic- Franz boas, Ruth Bendict, Margaret Mead, and Alfred Kroeber
2. Psychological Approach. – S.Freud, Eriksen.

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3. Functional Approach- R Brown, Malinowski, E. Pritchard – M.N. Srinivas in India or coorgs.
4. Structual Approach- Levi-straus,
5. Marxist Approach-
6. Symbolic Approach- E.Pritchard, 1st one in symbolic approach, Victor Turner, Clifford Geertz,
Mary Douglas,
EDWARD TYLOR (1871) and Animism:
 Edward Bernet Tylor in 1871 in his book “Primitive Culture.” theorized on the origin of religion
saying that “primitive” preindustrial/prehistoric people developed the concept of “soul” to explain
where a person went after death.
 This “soul” was thought to live in all living things. He called this primitive belief in the afterlife
ANIMISM.
 Primitive people were said to “evolve” scientifically as they outgrew Animism, developing
Polytheism (belief in many deities) and eventually/finally , Monotheism (belief in supreme deity).
JAMES FRAZER (1890) Magic Laws and Golden Bough:
a. James Frazer popularized Tylor’s idea of Animism, naming

“primitive” religion as Magic, or the belief and control of
supernatural spirits.
b. Magic is based on 2 Laws: Law of Similarity [Like produces

Like] and Law of Contagion [contact=control].
c. He believed that as primitive people evolved, the failure of

magic led to Religion as we know it.
EMILE DURKHEIM (1912) God is Society Concept:
 In Elementary Forms of Religious Life, sociologist Durkheim

reviewed cross-cultural data on religion around the world and
concluded that during Totem Clan Gatherings, people were
united.
 This led to his theory that Religion creates and maintains social
solidarity.
KARL MARX (1947):
 Religion is the OPIATE/a drug which contains opium, especially

one which causes sleep of the Masses and supports oppressive
political and economic structures relating to Labor and
mobilization, organization and appropriation.
BRONISLAW MALINOWSKI (1935) Anti-Evolutionist:

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 In his study of the Trobriand Islanders, he describes Ritual Practice as Reducing anxiety
and uncertainty. His theory was Functionalist. It examines religion as psychological
release valve.
FREUD
 Examined Religious experience as a Projective System of people’s

unconscious thoughts, wishes and worries.
VICTOR TURNER & CLIFFORD GEERTZ (Interpretive):
 Since then, ethnographers have described the basic features of religious

systems and documented a rich variety of beliefs, many forms of ritual
behaviour, and different types of religious specialists.
 Victor Turner examined Religion and Ritual in relation to Social Dramas and Metaphors for the
creation, maintenance, manipulation and activity of ritualized belief.
 He examined religious beliefs as Rites of Passage whereby participants undergo public

ceremonies involving the stripping of status and identity, the use of ‘symbol-laden’ religious
objects, repetitious songs, accounts and dance that teach them of their new status and identity
within society.
Turner’s theory stressed the ritual process itself in restoring social solidarity
 Clifford Geertz examined religion as a Cultural Pattern, or template for providing meaning to the
world and people, in relation to local interpretations of symbols (objects, entities and events)
through their manipulation in culture.
 He shows how symbols reflect multiple conceptions between the relations of people to the
cosmos.
These deep meanings form the basis upon which other systems of social action and thought are
constructed, such as politics, language, social organization and kinship, etc
3(b Distinguish between method, technique and methodology

Methods and methodologies

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4(a) Explain how Geertz’s Interpretive Anthropology is distinct from Turner’s Symbolic
Anthropology
 Geertz was influenced largely by the sociologist Max Weber, and was concerned
with the operations of "culture" and not with the ways in which symbols operate in
the social process. Turner was influenced by Emile Durkheim and was concerned
with the operations of "society" and the ways in which symbols operate within it.
 Turner, reflecting his English roots (see below), was much more interested in
investigating whether symbols actually functioned within the social process in the
ways that other symbolic anthropologists thought they did. Geertz focused much
more on the ways in which symbols operate within culture, i.e., how individuals
"see, feel, and think about the world"
 Geertz believes that an analysis of culture should "not (be) an experimental science
in search of law but an interpretive one in search of meaning". Culture is expressed
by the external symbols that a society uses rather than being locked inside people's
heads.
 He defines culture as "an historically transmitted pattern of meanings embodied in
symbols, a system of inherited conceptions expressed in symbolic forms by means of
which men communicate, perpetuate, and develop their knowledge about and their
attitudes toward life"
 Societies use these symbols to express their "worldview, value-orientation, ethos,
[and other aspects of their culture]".
 For Geertz symbols are "vehicles of 'culture'"), meaning that symbols should not be
studied in and of themselves, but should be studied for what they can reveal to us
about culture. Geertz's main interest is in "how symbols shape the ways that social
actors see, feel, and think about the world"
 Throughout his writings, Geertz has "characterized culture as a social phenomenon,
as a shared system of intersubjective symbols and meanings").
Turner was influenced early on by the structional-functionalist approach of British social

anthropology (Turner 1980:143).
 However, upon embarking on a study of the Ndembu in Africa, Turner's focus
shifted from economics and demography to ritual symbolism (McLaren 1985).
 Turner's approach to symbols was very different from that of Geertz. Turner was
not interested in symbols as vehicles of "culture" as Geertz was but instead
investigated symbols as "operators in the social process" (Ortner 1983:131) and
believed that "the symbolic expression of shared meanings, not the attraction of
material interests, lie at the center of human relationships".
 Symbols "instigate social action" and exert "determinable influences inclining
persons and groups to action" (Turner 1967:36).

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 Turner felt that these "operators," by their arrangement and context, produce
"social transformations." These social transformations tie the people in a society to
the society's norms, resolve conflict, and aid in changing the status of the actors
Geertz's main contribution to anthropological knowledge is in changing the ways in which

American anthropologists viewed culture, e.g., from being concerned with the operations of
culture to the way in which symbols act as vehicles of culture. Another contribution can be
seen in the emphasis of studying culture from the perspective of those actors that exist
within that culture. This means that one must view individuals as attempting to interpret
situations in order to act (Geertz 1973b). This actor-centered view is central to Geertz's
work, however it was never developed into an actual theory or model. Schneider developed
the systematic aspects of culture and separated culture from the individual even more than
Geertz (Ortner 1984:129-130).
Turner's major addition to anthropology was the investigation of how symbols actually
operate, i.e., do they actually function in ways in which symbolic anthropologists say they
do. This was an aspect of symbolic anthropology that Geertz and Schneider never
addressed in any great detail. This is an indication of the influence of British social
anthropology (Ortner 1984:130-131).
4b) Discuss the theories regarding origin of spoken languages in human societies from
both biological and cultural points of view
Both laboratory and field studies of animal communication offer fascinating insights into the
question of what distinguishes human communication from animal communication.
 Many Western philosophers such as Plato and René Descartes have identified
speech and language as the major distinction between humans and other animals.
 Modern studies on animal communication, however, suggest that the language gap
separating humans from other animals is not as wide as it once appeared
 How does animal communication differ from human communication? In searching for an
answer to this question, linguistic anthropologists have identified a number of distinctive
characteristics of human languages.
The four most important features are
o productivity,
o displacement,
o arbitrariness, and
o combining sounds
o
The Human Brain and Speech

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 One area of the brain that is located in the left hemisphere and that especially influences
human language abilities is known as Broca’s area; it is associated with the production
of sound or pronunciation and with grammatical abilities.
 Another area related to linguistic abilities is Wernicke’s area, also located in the left
hemisphere of the brain. Wernicke’s area is associated with the ability to understand the
meanings of words and sentences, or the semantics of language. This center of the brain
is important for listening and reading.
 The Broca-Wernicke in the left hemisphere area is also connected with sub-cortical
regions of the brain known as the basal ganglia, which appears to regulate motor
control, syntax, and cognition
And other antatomical features like larynx, the voice box containing the vocal cords.
Another vocal organ is the pharynx,
 Recently, the FOXP2 gene that is connected with human linguistic capacities
regulates and governs the embryonic development of the basil ganglia and these
sub-cortical regions has been discovered.
 The FOXP2 gene is located on human chromosome 7. All normal humans have two
copies of chromosome 7 and two copies of FOXP2. A long-term study of a particular
family known as KE has a mutation that leaves them with only one working copy of
FOXP2. Individuals within the family have problems with motor control and
cognitive deficits.
 The members of this family are unable to control their tongue properly for speaking
and have difficulty repeating two word sequences. Although the FOXP2 is the kind
of gene that turns a tree of other genes on and off, there is no one to one
correspondence between it and a single trait. Thus, it is not a language gene.
However, it is obvious that the mutation that led to the development of the FOXP2
gene was definitely important in the evolution of the human capacity for language
Theories
Throughout the centuries, linguists, philosophers, and physical anthropologists have developed
theories concerning the origins of human language. One early theory, known as the
 “bowwow” theory, maintains that language arose when humans imitated the sounds
of nature by the use of onomatopoeic words, such as cock-a-doodle-do, or sneeze, or
mumble.
 Another theory associated with the Greek philosopher Plato argues that language
evolved as humans detected the natural sounds of objects in nature.
 Known as the “ding-dong” theory, this argument assumed that a relationship exists
between a word and its meaning because nature gives off a harmonic ring. For
example, all of nature, including rocks, streams, plants, and animals, was thought to
emit a ringing sound that could be detected by humans.

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 The harmonic ring of a rock supposedly sounded like the word rock. Both theories
have been discredited, replaced by other scientific and linguistic anthropological
hypotheses concerning the evolution of language.
When anthropologists study the evolution of language, they draw on evidence from all four
fields of anthropology: physical anthropology, archaeology, linguistic anthropology, and
cultural anthropology in combination with studies in genetics, psycholinguistics, and
experiments in communication with animals and humans.
5(a) Sacred and Profane

Durkheim and his followers divided the cultural world into the sacred and profane. Here, Mauss
demonstrates the sacred nature of gift-giving. Twenty years later, Levi- Strauss and his followers
emphasized the binary division of sacred and profane employed by L'Annee Sociologique
thinkers, along with the use of binary opposition by structural linguists
• According to Durkheim, these are central concepts of religion.
• The sacred refers to the things or spaces which are set apart for religious purposes, and
againstthese the profane refers to those considered secular in nature.
• However, in several religions there are no equivalent terms and often they overlap also.
5.b. Symbol and symbolism

Anthropologists of very different theoretical stripes agree that symbols mark the threshold of
culture For example, an arch-materialist like Leslie White writes,
 “The symbol is the universe of humanity” Yet relatively few anthropologists were
concerned with how symbols mean.
 Sapir, for example, distinguished between primary symbols, which directly mimic an
object—the picture of a dog that means “dog”— and secondary symbols, in which “a
connection is no longer directly traceable between words, or combinations of words, and
what they refer to,” as in the sentence, “The red, white, and blue stands for freedom
Turner considers cultural symbols, including ritual symbols, “as originating in and sustaining
processes involving temporal changes in social relations, and not as timeless entities” Symbols
have some basic properties in common.
 They are powerful condensations of meaning symbols are “‘multivocal,’ susceptible of

many meanings” (Turner 1974:55), though their meanings tend to cluster around two
extremes of a continuum; at one end, there is often a cluster of meanings around
physiological and natural phenomena, and at the other, another cluster of meanings about
social relationships.
 symbols, condensed and multivocal, may speak to different people in different ways; the
construction and reconstruction of meaning occurs with specific, dynamic contexts of
social process. This has profound theoretical implications. If, as so many anthropologists
have argued,

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 symbols are the key to cultural life, and if, as Turner suggests, symbols are dynamic
social creations—with the potential for contradictory, but coexisting, interpretations
Symbolism is seen more in the ritual behaviour of religion, an essential characteristic of

generalized symbolic medium is that it commands a battery of intrinsic values of real utilities,
matrixes in diffuse social contexts, which it symbolically manipulates in transactions freed from
the spatio-temporal terminants of these contexts. The medium is thus generalized in its capacity
to convert any utility within a relevant domain or category of value into a currency that circulates
between actors at a new symbolic level of social interaction.
(According to Clifford Geertz (1973), sacred symbols instil deep emotional moods in people that
in turn may lead to strong motivations for action. Even in the present day world when humans
have made great advances in the 22 field of science, the most extreme forms of action and even
wars are undertaken for the sake of religion. Geertz (1973) has given his theory of thresholds to
explain this deeply motivating power of religious symbols. Humans look towards religion to
overcome three critical thresholds of every human’s life experience, the threshold of reason or
the limits of analytical ability, where on so many occasions we are left only with the question,
“Why?”. It may be when a loved one dies an untimely death or some event not foreseen takes
place. The second is the threshold of suffering; religion does not give us relief from suffering but
only a support to enable us to bear it. Thus, every religion in its own way tries to explain the
reason for suffering thereby
giving the sufferer a psychological strength to bear it, it may be one’s karma or it may be a
promise to inherit the kingdom of heaven. The third threshold is that of evil or the lack of
explanation of not only why evil exists but that it also gives good dividend. The explanation of
why the evil and corrupt prosper in this world can only be given by religion and nothing else. It
is only when we are told about the separation of Satan from God or about bad karma leading
ultimately to a bad return even if it is in another world that most people feel committed to
leading as moral life)
5 (d) Genealogy is a prominent building block in the social organization of nonindustrial

societies, where people live and work each day with their close kin
 The genealogical method is a well established ethnographic technique. Early

ethnographers developed notation and symbols to deal with kinship, descent, and
marriage.. Anthropologists need to collect genealogical data to understand current social
relations and to reconstruct history. In many nonindustrial societies, kin links are basic to
social life. Anthropologists even call such cultures “kin-based societies.”
 Everyone is related and spends most of his or her time with relatives. Rules of behavior
attached to particular kin relations are basic to everyday life Marriage also is crucial in
organizing nonindustrial societies because strategic marriages between villages, tribes,
and clans create political alliances.

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 Typical criticism on postmodernism comes from the fear of extremely relativistic view.
Such critics argue that postmodernism will lead to nihilism (a belief that all political and
religious organisation are bad or a system of thought which says that there are no
principles or beliefs which have any meaning or can be true) because it does not assume a
common ground of understanding
7(a) Examine how Julian Steward’s cultural ecology is helpful in understating multilineal
evolution
The materialist approaches of Julian Steward have been extremely influential in American
anthropology, particularly in the 1950s and 1960s. His ideas were a bridge between the historical
particularism of Boas and Kroeber and the cultural evolution of Leslie White. On the one hand,
Steward criticized the particularist approaches as nonexplanatory, arguing that clear similarities
between different cultures could be explained as parallel adaptations to structurally similar
natural environments. On the other hand, he contended that not all societies passed through
similar stages of cultural development and that unilineal models of evolution were, therefore, too
sweeping to be interesting. And he had formulated a Cultural Ecology approach to put forward
his multilineal evolution
• “Cultural ecology,” Steward wrote, “is the study of the processes by which a society
adapts to its environment. Its principal problem is to determine whether these
adaptations initiate internal social transformations of evolutionary change.
• Cultural ecology is a view of “man in the web of life”. That web consisted of both
natural and cultural realities:
• Steward argued that the links between environment and culture were particularly clear in
societies like the Shoshone where the margins of survival were slim. In contrast, in
societies that “have adequately solved subsistence problems, the effect of ecology becomes
more difficult to ascertain. In complex societies certain components of the social
superstructure rather than ecology seem increasingly to be determinants of further
developments. With greater cultural complexity analysis becomes increasingly difficult”
• Steward viewed cultural ecology as a research agenda rather than a religious dogma;
And cultural ecology provided a key advantage: cross-cultural parallels in social
patterns could be explained as adaptations to similar environments.
Steward outlined three basic steps for a cultural-ecological investigation.

1. “First, the interrelationship of exploitative or productive technology and
environment must be analyzed,” that is, the relationship between material
culture and natural resources.
2. “Second, the behavior patterns involved in the exploitation of a particular area
by means of a particular technology must be analyzed”. For example, certain
animals are best stalked by individual hunters while other game can be captured
in communal hunts; different social behaviors are involved in the exploitation of
different resources.
3. The third step in the analysis is to determine how “behavior patterns entailed in
exploiting the environment affect other aspects of culture”.

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This three-step empirical analysis identifies the cultural core, “the constellation of features
which are most closely related to subsistence activities and economic arrangements”
 Cultural ecology was not a form of unilineal evolution, but an attempt “to explain
the origin of particular cultural features and patterns which characterize different
areas rather than to derive general principles applicable to any cultural-
environmental area
By emphasizing human adaptation and the varying relationships between human societies
and natural resources, cultural ecology provided both the analytical focus and the
empirical bases for Steward’s theory of culture change—multilinear evolution.
Multilinear Evolution
Steward’s concept of cultural evolution rested on two key concepts:
1. “First, it postulates that genuine parallels of form and function develop in
historically independent sequences or cultural traditions.
2. Second, it explains these parallels by the independent operation of identical
causality in each case”.
Thus, understanding cultural evolution involved discovering “parallels and similarities
which recur cross-culturally” and proposing “lawlike” statements about the causes of such
parallels
 Steward’s approach was to find and explain similarities between societies without
assuming that all societies passed through identical stages of development.
 Multilinear evolution, he wrote, “deals only with those limitedparallels of form,
function, and sequence which have empirical validity.
• What is lost in universality will be gained in concreteness and specificity
• For example, Steward compared the prehistoric patterns of developments in five
independent centers of ancient civilization—Mesopotamia, Egypt, China, Mesoamerica,
and the Andes.
• These centers shared “parallels of form, function, and sequence” based on having developed
in arid and semiarid environments in which the economic basis was irrigation and floodwater
agriculture.
• Agriculture created food surpluses that allowed for nonsubsistence activities and population
growth. When population growth reached the limits of agricultural productivity, competition
over natural resources intensified, warfare ensued, and political leadership shifted from
temple priest to warrior king.
• As some communities prospered and others suffered, empires were forged that instituted
strong political controls over vast regions
• Steward traced the evolutionary similarities in the five ancient civilizations.
• Although the chronology of events differed, Steward argued that there were striking
parallels in the pattern of cultural evolution, not because there were universal stages of
cultural development or due to the diffusion of civilization between regions, but because
these five cultural traditions emerged in similar arid and semiarid environments where
agriculture had been able to flourish.

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This development of agrarian civilizations in arid and semiarid environments was one
“line” of the multilinear evolution that Steward proposed. Thus, Steward’s multilinear
evolution intentionally avoided sweeping statements about culture in general, applying
more limited models to specific sets of cultures
• Julian Steward’s theory of multilinear evolution has fallen out of favor among many
anthropologists, but some of his insights are the anthropological equivalent of gospel.
Steward’s basic insights about the organization of band societies, the importance of
cultural ecology, and the search for cross-cultural similarities are all firmly embedded in
anthropological thought and practice. Steward’s form of materialism emphasized
1. The central relationship between environment and culture and its implications
for other aspects of social life,
2. The search for patterned regularities and similarities between societies, and
3. The importance of causal explanations of parallel developments over historical
reconstructions.
These central tenets of Steward’s thought are recurrent themes in a body of work that was
written over thirty years and originated in the arid landscape of the American West.
7(c) Structural analysis of Myth.

Ans: Levi-Strauss’ search for the nature of the unconscious mind led him to the study of myth.
Of all activities of the human mind, myth-making is nearest to the unconscious. The myth-
making mind is constrained mainly by its own inherent principles and not by social utility.
 His monumental studies of the nature of myth, which resulted in the publication of four
volumes in his Mythologiques series:
 The Raw and the Cooked (1969
 From Honey to Ashes (1973),
 The Origin of Table Manners (1978), and
 The Naked Man (1981).
In his article, “The Structural Study of Myth”, Levi-Strauss analyzed various versions of
the Oedipus Myth.
 According to him, the myth is not to be read as a story, but must be broken down
into its basic constituent elements which he called “mythemes” analogous to the
linguistic phonemes.
 Now the relationships between these mythemes must be examined. They represent
the nature-culture dichotomy, hinging on the incest taboo.
In his four volume book Mythologigues, Levi-Strauss elaborated his method. In The Raw
and Cooked, he explored 187 South American myths, and in the subsequent volumes he
examined and analysed a further six hundred Indian myths, and in the subsequent volumes
he examined and analysed a further six hundred Indian myths.
 While they are often very different in content, Levi-Strauss endeavours to
demonstrate that their underlying structures display significant similarities.
o If basic unconscious structures were found in myth, then that might reflect the
existence of fundamental mental structures that provide the organizing
categories of cultural phenomena

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 The differences between the myths are brought into harmony by analyzing them in
terms of relatively simple oppositions, among which, that between nature and
culture figures quite prominently. This implies that it must be shown that unlike
mythical elements possess the same structural significance. Mythemes are therefore
translated, transposed, and transformed to indicate their common grounds. Let us
now see some examples. Since hone is always consumed “raw”, it represents nature.
But honey is also enticing and seductive, and hence all myths dealing with seduction
stand in the same structural position as honey. Ashes, however, are produced by
fire. Fire is one of man’s earliest inventions, and both ashes and fire signify culture.
Tobacco needs fire for its consumption, and wild pig meat is never eaten uncooked.
Myths dealing with tobacco or with the origin of the wild pig are thus related to those
dealing with fire, ashes cooking, smoke, and burning.
Levi-Strauss sums up his discussion on the structural analysis of myth by making the
following claims:
1) If there is a meaning to be found in mythology, it cannot reside in the isolated

elements which enter into the composition of a myth, but only in the way those
elements are combined.
2) Although myth belongs to the same category as language, being, as a matter of
fact, only part of it, language in myth exhibits specific properties.
3) Those properties are only to be found those which are to be found in any other
kind of linguistic expressions.
Levi-Strauss then goes on to say that if the above three points are granted at least as a
working hypothesis, two consequences will follow:
1) Myth, like the rest of language, is made up of constituent units.

2) These constituent units presuppose the constituent units present in language when
analyzed on other levels – namely, phonemes, morphemes – but they, nevertheless,
differ from the latter in the same way as the latter differ among themselves; they
belong to a higher and more complex order. For this reason, Levi-Strauss calls them
gross constituent units. Each gross constituent unit will consist of a relation. The
true constituent units of a myth are not the isolated relations, but bundles of such
relations, and it is only as bundles that these relations can be put to use and
combined so as to produce a meaning. Relations pertaining to the same bundle may
appear diachronically at remote intervals, but when we have succeeded in grouping
them together, we have reorganized our myth, according to a time referent of a new
nature, namely a two-dimensional time referent which is simultaneously diachronic
and synchronic.
Levi-Strauss suggests the following procedure for carrying out the above explained type of
structural analysis of a myth. He contends that in order to identify and isolate and

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mythemes, we must look for them at the sentence level because they cannot be found
among phonemes or morphemes. He suggests that we proceed tentatively, by trial and
error, using as a check the principles which serve as a basis for any kind of structural
analysis: economy of explanation; unit of solution; and ability to reconstruct the whole
from a fragment, as well as later stages from previous ones.
The technique which has been applied by Levi-Strauss consists in analyzing each myth
individually, breaking down its story into the shortest possible sentences, and writing each
sentence on a index card bearing a number corresponding to the unfolding of the story.
Practically, each card will thus show that a certain function is, at a given time, linked to a
given subject. All those belonging to the same subject will be indexed by a common
number. For example, sentences pertaining to the subject, 1. Demons killing human’s will
be grouped together; sentences pertaining to the subject, 2. Humans fighting demon’s will
be grouped together; sentences pertaining to the subject, 3. Angels helping human’s will be
grouped together; sentences pertaining to the subject, 4. Humans killing demons’ will be
grouped together and so on. Our task now would be to establish the correct arrangement.
Say, for instance, if we are confronted with a sequence of the type: 1,2,1,3,2,3,4, the
assignment now will be to put all the 1s together, all the 2s together, the 3s together an so
on. The resultant chart would look like this:
1
2
3
2
3
The mythemes are thus arranged in a manner which is in harmony with the principles
enumerated above. Let us suppose, for the sake of argument, that the best arrangement is
as drawn above. We then find ourselves confronted with four vertical columns, each of
which includes several relations belonging to the same bundle. Were we to tell the myth, we
would disregard to columns and read the rows from left to right and from top to bottom.
But if we want to understand the myth, then we will have to disregard one half of the
diachronic dimension (top to bottom) and read from left to right, column after column,
each one being considered as a unit. Levi-Strauss contends that by systematically using this
kind of structural analysis, it becomes possible to organize all the known variants of a myth
into a set forming a kind of permutation group, the two variants placed at the far ends
being in a symmetrical, though inverted, relationship to each other.

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By employing the structural method of analysis, Levi-Strauss has explained the Oedipus
myth and a series of North Americal myths. Levi-Strauss states that the structural method
not only has the advantage of bring some kind of order to what was previously chaos; it
also enables us to perceive some basic logical processes which are at the root of mythical
thought.
Levi-Strauss has thus shed new light on the logical development and structure of myth. He
has shown that he intellectual process involved in mythical thought is as rigorous as that of
scientific thinking – an important theme which he develops at great length in his book, The
Savage Mind.
Q8. (a) Other people’s religious practices and beliefs may often appear to be wasteful and
‘Religious value is ecologically irrational’. Challenge this view
By Western standards, spiritual values seem more important to Indians than life itself.
Specialists in food habits around the world like Fred Simoons at the University of
California at Davis consider Hinduism an irrational ideology that compels people to
overlook abundant, nutritious foods for Scarcer, less healthy foods.
 Many Indians agree with Western assessments of the Hindu reverence for their cattle, the
zebu, or Bos indicus, a large-humped species prevalent in Asia and Africa.
 M. N. Srinivas, an Indian anthropologist states: "Orthodox Hindu opinion regards
the killing of cattle with abhorrence, even though the refusal to kill the vast number
of useless cattle which exists in India today is detrimental to the nation."
 Even the Indian Ministry of Information formerly maintained that "the large
animal population is more a liability than an asset in view of our land resources."
Accounts from many different sources point to the same conclusion: India, one of
the world's great civilizations, is being strangled by its love for the cow.
 The sacredness of the cow is not just an ignorant belief that stands in the way of
progress. Like all concepts of the sacred and the profane, this one affects the
physical world; it defines the relationships that are important for the maintenance
of Indian society
 Human society is neither random nor capricious. The regularities of thought and
behavior called culture are the principal mechanisms by which we human beings
adapt to the world around us. Practices and beliefs can be rational or irrational, but
a society that fails to adapt to its environment is doomed to extinction. Only those
societies that draw the necessities of life from their surroundings without destroying
those surroundings, inherit'the earth. The West has much to learn from the great
antiquity of Indian civilization, and the sacred cow is an important part of that
lesson.
 (need to explain with cultural materialism)

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(c). Bring out the contribution of Tyler and Conklin in cognitive theories in Anthropology
in the mid-1950s, ethnographers constructed a new methodological program for conducting

fieldwork: ethnoscience, or the new ethnography. Ethnoscience was based on a critique of
traditional fieldwork. Ethnoscientists claimed that for several reasons, ethnography had been
unscientific. They complained that there was no single way of doing ethnography
To make anthropology more scientific and ethnographic descriptions more accurate,

ethnoscientists argued, anthropologists should attempt to reproduce cultural reality as it was
perceived and lived by members of society.
The underlying theoretical assumption of ethnoscience was that a culture was a set of mental
models. It was the job of ethnographers to duplicate the features of those cognitive models so
that they could "think like a native."
Thus, the new ethnography drew heavily on the techniques of linguistic analysis. In particular,
they adopted the methodologydeveloped in the 1920s by members of the Prague School of
linguistics. Members of the Prague School such as Jakobson and Troubetzkoy were interested in
the structure of languages, in particular, phonology.
Another set of linguistic principles upon which ethnoscience is based: can be traced to the 1930s
and the work of Edward Sapir and Benjamin L. Whorf. As we have seen (essay 12) Sapir and
Whorf were interested in the relationship between language and thought. Together they
formulated the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis, proposing that language was not just a means of
communication but also shaped people's perceptions of the Ethnoscience, like Boasian
anthropology, implied an extreme cultural relativism-an approach that presented problems.
Critics maintained that this approach made cross-cultural comparison impossible.
In the late 1960s and early 1970s the focus of ethnoscientific work shifted. Instead of simply
outlining native categories of thought, anthropologists proposed that by analyzing these, one
could learn how the human mind functioned.
They called this approach cognitive anthropology. Like structuralists and most linguists,
cognitive anthropologists of the 1970s believed that there were universal cognitive processes that
reflect an innate structure of the human brain. Taking their cue from the ethnoscientists, they
proposed that linguistic analysis was the best way to understand these structures and gain insight
into human thought and culture. Cognitive anthropologists attempted to understand the abstract
thinking patterns of people in various cultures, studying not only the content of cognition but
also the
• Harold C. Conklin is a Cognitive Anthropologist who examined how people perceive the
world around them.

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• In his field research Hanunoo color Categories, Conklin revealed that people in different
cultures recognize colors differently because of their unique linguistic classification
systems.
• Conklin conducted his research among the Hanunoo in the Philippines.
• He analyzed the Hanunoo color criteria and compared their classification system with the
American one.
• Conklin used linguistic methods because a vocabulary strongly influences the

classification of colors.
• In addition to recording how the Hanunoo described colors of their natural and artificial
surroundings, Conklin showed them painted cards, dyed fabrics, and many other colored
materials.
• As a result, he found that the Hanunoo group colors at the following two levels.
• The first level is general, where there are four terms of colors: darkness, lightness,
redness, and greenness.
• These colors are distinct from each other and people always used the same color name to
describe a certain color sample.
• The second level is specific, with hundreds of color names.
• Since many color names overlap, people did not necessarily agree with each other when
they classified colors in this level.
• In addition to actual colors, Conklin found that the Hanunoo pay attention to moisture,
texture and shine of objects and give different color names according to these criteria.
• Conklin concluded that the Hanunoo color classification system is based on lightness,
darkness, wetness, and dryness.
• These color criteria are different from the American color classification system, where
moisture, texture and shine of objects are not considered.
• Prior to Conklin’s findings, researchers assumed that the Hanunoo confused colors
because the people seemed to call the same color by different terms.
• However, Conklin showed that seeming contradictions stemmed from the researchers’
lack of understanding of the Hanunoo’s color criteria.
• The researchers could not understand Hanunoo’s color categories because the researchers
imposed their own color criteria from their culture.

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• Conklin’s analysis helped anthropologists see how people in different cultures
conceptualize their world in their own ways.
Stephen Tyler in his book “ Cognitive Anthropology” 1969, he says

• Anthropology put forward new approaches and focuses on how different people
organise and use their culture, hence the essence of this is to answer what material
phenomenon are significant for people of some culture and how do they organise this
phenomenon,hence he says they are mental construct he says different culture differ
among one another is organising mutual phenomenon and also differ in kinds of
material phenomenon.
• For example, we distinguish between derv, fog, ice, and snow, but the Koyas of South
India do not. They call all of these mancu. Even though they can perceive the differences
among these if asked to do so, these differences are not significant to them. On the other
hand, they recognize and name at least seven different kinds of bamboo, six more than I
am accustomed to distinguish. Similarly, even though I know that my cousin George is
the son of my mother's sister, while my cousin Paul is the son of my mother's brother, this
objective difference is irrelevant to my
system of classification. They are both "cousins." If I were a Koya, however, this difference
would be highly important. I would call my mother's brother's son baaTo and my
mother's sister's son animal

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An Institute for IAS Exam

Anthropology (Test code: AN02TS03-18)

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1.c. Historical Particularism

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(c) Write a note on verbal and non-verbal communication

- Non-verbal communication is also known as paralanguage

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3.a. Mead to Personality

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 John Lubbock, an English Anthropologist, made an early attempt to combine archaeological

 His scheme – fetishism- followed by nature worship and totemism, -shamanism-

 Anthropology of religion owes a great debt to Emile Durkhiem, -sacred, profane,etc.,

 A strong impetus to application of E.Durkheim is found among the British, structural

1. Evolutionary perspective – EB Tylor, R.R. Marret, Frazer, Durkhiem

2. Psychological Approach. – S.Freud, Eriksen.

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4. Structual Approach- Levi-straus,

EDWARD TYLOR (1871) and Animism:

JAMES FRAZER (1890) Magic Laws and Golden Bough:

a. James Frazer popularized Tylor’s idea of Animism, naming

b. Magic is based on 2 Laws: Law of Similarity [Like produces

c. He believed that as primitive people evolved, the failure of

EMILE DURKHEIM (1912) God is Society Concept:

 In Elementary Forms of Religious Life, sociologist Durkheim

KARL MARX (1947):

 Religion is the OPIATE/a drug which contains opium, especially

BRONISLAW MALINOWSKI (1935) Anti-Evolutionist:

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 Examined Religious experience as a Projective System of people’s

VICTOR TURNER & CLIFFORD GEERTZ (Interpretive):

 Since then, ethnographers have described the basic features of religious

 He examined religious beliefs as Rites of Passage whereby participants undergo public

3(b Distinguish between method, technique and methodology

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Turner was influenced early on by the structional-functionalist approach of British social

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Geertz's main contribution to anthropological knowledge is in changing the ways in which

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5(a) Sacred and Profane

5.b. Symbol and symbolism

 They are powerful condensations of meaning symbols are “‘multivocal,’ susceptible of

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Symbolism is seen more in the ritual behaviour of religion, an essential characteristic of

5 (d) Genealogy is a prominent building block in the social organization of nonindustrial

 The genealogical method is a well established ethnographic technique. Early

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Steward outlined three basic steps for a cultural-ecological investigation.

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7(c) Structural analysis of Myth.

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1) If there is a meaning to be found in mythology, it cannot reside in the isolated

1) Myth, like the rest of language, is made up of constituent units.

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