ANTHROPOLOG

Y
THE SELF FROM VARIOUS PERSPECTIVES
“PAST IS IN THE PAST”

“PAST IS ALWAYS RELATED TO

THE FUTRE”
 WHAT IS ANTHROPOLOGY?
- Greek word anthrōpos, meaning “human being” and logia, "study"

- is the study of all aspects of the human condition

- the science of human beings especially : the study of human beings and
their ancestors through time and space and in relation to physical character,
environmental and social relations, and culture.
For example, everyone needs to eat, but people eat
different foods and get food in different ways. So
anthropologists look at how different groups of people
get food, prepare it, and share it.

pi n es
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Phil

Korea

Japan
 is the scientific study of humanity, concerned
with human behavior, human biology, and
societies, in both the present and past, including
past human species.
THE FOUR SUBFIELDS
ARCHEOLOGY
BIOLOGICAL ANTHROPOLOGY
LINGUISTIC ANTHROPOLOGY
CULTURAL ANTHRPOLOGY
ARCHEOLOGY
 is the study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture.
the scientific study of historic
or prehistoric peoples and
their cultures by analysis of
their artifacts, inscriptions,
monuments, and other such
remains, especially those that
ARTIFACTS
have been excavated.
Inscription is words or letters that have
been written or carved into something, or
the act of writing words or letters into
something. 
 Monuments

Colosseum

Greek Parthenon
BIOLOGICAL ANTHROPOLOGY
 also known as physical anthropology, is a scientific discipline concerned with the biological and
behavioral aspects of human beings, their extinct hominin ancestors, and related non-human primates,
particularly from an evolutionary perspective.
LINGUISTIC ANTHROPOLOGY
 study the many ways people communicate across the globe. They are interested in how language
is linked to how we see the world and how we relate to each other

KOREAN JAPANESE CHINESE

 ENGLISH
AMERICAN VS BRITISH
CULTURAL ANTHROPOLOGY
 how people in different places live and understand the world around them. They want to know what
people think is important and the rules they make about how they should interact with one another.
THE SELF AND THE PERSON IN CULTURAL ANTHROPOLOGY

 Anthropology considers human experience

“Who am I?” as an interplay of “nature’ referring to the
genetic inheritance which sets the
individual’s potentials, and “nurture”
referring to the sociocultural environment.
 Therefore it could be understood that both
biological and cultural factors have
significant influence on the development of
self-awareness among individuals within
society.
 THE CULTURAL CONSTRUCTION OF SELF AND IDENTITY
 

 Culture is derived from the Latin

word “cultura” or “cultus” meaning care
or cultivation.
 Culture is similar to caring for
an infant. Because an infant has
a prolonged dependency, he or
she has to be taken care of by
the people around him or her.
The infant has to learn from
them so he or she can better
adjust while growing up in his
or her immediate cultural
environment .
 Throughout one’s life he or she functions according to the cultural
context where he or she is situated. As one grows old, he or she
learns many things about the environment and realizes what makes
him or her different from other people. As an individual interacts
with people and makes sense of how he or she functions in the
context of his or her social and cultural background, he or she
learns that he or she has both personal identity (the way he or she
sees himself/herself as an individual) and collective identity (the
way he/she sees himself/herself as member of a certain group).
 Identity
 Identity refers to “who the person is,” or the qualities and traits of
an individual that make him/her different from others. There are
many ways to distinguish people. An example Is identifying them
in a geographical context or based on where they come from.
People from the West are different from the people of the East
because they are located in opposite sides of the world. Identity
also refers to how a person sees and expresses oneself.
 WESTERN VS
EASTERN CULTURE
TWO WAYS IN WHICH THE CONCEPT OF
SELF IS VIEWED IN THE DIFFERENT
SOCIETIES

 Egocentric View
 Sociocentric View
EGOCENRIC VIEW
 The self is seen as an
autonomous and distant
individual Each person is
defined as replica of all
humanity but capable of
acting independently from
others
SOCIOCENTRIC VIEW
 The self is contingent on a
situation or social setting.
This is a view of the self
that is context-dependent
which emphasizes that there
is no intrinsic self that can
possess enduring qualities.
FORMING OF CULTURAL
IDENTITY
 Cultural identity is the identity of belonging to a group. It is part of a person's self-
conception and self-perception and is related to nationality, ethnicity, religion, social class,
generation, locality or any kind of social group that has its own distinct culture.
Arnold van Gennep believes that changes in one’s status and identity are
marked by three-phased rite of passage: separation, liminality and
incorporation.

 Separation phase. People detach from their former identity to another. Examples is in a
wedding where the bride walking down the aisle to be “given away” by the parents to the groom
implies the separation from one’s family to become part of a new one.
 Liminality phase. A person transitions from one identity to another. Example, the wedding
ceremony itself is the process of transition of the bride and groom from singlehood to married life.
 Incorporation phase. The change in one’s status is officially incorporated. Example, the
wedding reception and parties that celebrate the wedding serve as the marker that officially recognize
the bride and groom’s change towards being husband and wife.
PROPERTIES OF CULTURAL
IDENTITY
Jane Collier and Milt Thomas combined the ethnography
of communication and social construction in order to
frame the properties of cultural identity. These properties
refer to the manner in which members of a group
communicates their identity.
1. Avowal and Ascription.
 Avowal is how one articulates or expresses his/her views about
group identity. It is how one presents oneself to another.

 Ascription is how others perceive an individual. It is how one refers

to others. This may include stereotypes.

 Example: How Asians are viewed by Europeans.

2. Modes of Expression..
 The use of core symbols (expressions of a group’s cultural beliefs
and theories about the world around them), names, labels and
norms (expected standard of behavior) that a cultural community
share and follow in order to show that they belong to a particular
group, demonstrates shared identity.

 Example: Filipino’s are religious because 80% of our population is Roman Catholic
3. Individual, Relational and Communal Identity

 Individual refers to how an individual interprets his cultural identity

based on his experiences.
 Relational refers to how individuals interact with one and another
(what is the appropriate behavior)
 Communal identity is the use of communication in the creation,
affirmation and negotiation of shared identity. The actions and
interactions of the group, their communal practices reflect the identity of
the group
4. ENDURING AND CHANGING
ASPECTS OF IDENTITY.
 The cultural identity changes due to several factors which are social, political, economic and
contextual.

5.AFFECTIVE, COGNITIVE AND

BEHAVIORAL ASPECTS OF IDENTITY
 This refers to emotions fully attached to cultural identity in particular situations.
6. CONTENT AND RELATIONSHIP
LEVELS .
 This refers to the interaction between two or more individuals. The message exchange carries
information/content. The participants of the conversation interpret the choice and meanings of the
words based on their experiences.

7. SALIENCE OR PROMINENCE.
Salience is defined as the state of being important or conspicuous.

 This is the degree to which an identity is demonstrated in a situation and refers to how much a
person’s cultural identity stands out and attracts attention. This is influenced by the extent of
similarity or difference between two individuals.