Ryan Schram

ANTH 1001: Introduction to anthropology

Wednesday, February 26, 2020 (Week 1)

Available at http://anthro.rschram.org/1001/2020/1.1.2

Required readings

Thomas Hylland Eriksen “Anthropology: Comparison and Context,” in Small Places, Large Issues: An Introduction to Social and Cultural Anthropology (London: Pluto Press, 2015), 1–11.

Thomas Hylland Eriksen “A Brief History of Anthropology,” in Small Places, Large Issues: An Introduction to Social and Cultural Anthropology (London: Pluto Press, 2015), 12–31.

Anthropology is holistic. What does that mean?

Google “define holistic” and you get

holistic /həʊˈlɪstɪk,hɒˈlɪstɪk/ adjective

• (Philosophy) characterized by the belief that the parts of something are intimately interconnected and explicable only by reference to the whole.

The opposite of a holistic explanation is a reductionist explanation, which would describe something in terms of a single, ultimate origin.

People are the same and different

For instance, I argue that everything about human beings can be located somewhere in a space with two dimensions, like a Cartesian plane.

The horizontal dimension is better labeled as “particular” on the right (+) and “universal” on the left (-).

• Universal traits are common to all. Particular traits are those that make something different from others (but not necessarily unique).

The vertical axis is better labeled as “acquired” on the top (+) and “innate” on the bottom (-).

• Acquired traits are learned, unlike innate traits which are automatic, essential or fixed, that is, one is born with them. Hence,

Human life in a two-dimensional space

You can see a version of this table on page 54 of (Eriksen 2015c).

Quiz! (Or, rather, Survey!)

Let’s take a survey in the Canvas section for quizzes.

Go on the class Canvas site now. Go to Quizzes and take the in-lecture survey for today, February 26. (Scroll down for the “Surveys” section on the Quizzes page.)

This question does not have a right answer. We are using the question as a survey to see what you all think.

The key word is “culture”

Many, many things people do are acquired patterns, and are particular to their environment. They are cultural, not natural.

Examples:

• Liget (anger) among the Ilongot of the Philippines (Rosaldo 1984, 1989 [2009])
• Dreams in Auhelawa, Papua New Guinea

Taking back the culture concept

Culture is often an overused word. For anthropologists who are interested in the acquired and the particular, it is often a misused word. This class is about taking back the word culture.

• Culture is not just people’s identity
• Culture is usually implicit and invisible, like a habit, not obvious or deliberate expression
• One’s culture is not just what makes people different from each other. Everyone needs to acquire patterns from a shared culture to be complete.

Eriksen, Thomas Hylland. 2015a. “A Brief History of Anthropology.” In Small Places, Large Issues: An Introduction to Social and Cultural Anthropology, 12–31. London: Pluto Press.

———. 2015b. “Anthropology: Comparison and Context.” In Small Places, Large Issues: An Introduction to Social and Cultural Anthropology, 1–11. London: Pluto Press.

———. 2015c. Small Places, Large Issues: An Introduction to Social and Cultural Anthropology. London: Pluto Press.

Rosaldo, Michelle Z. 1984. “Toward an Anthropology of Self and Feeling.” In Culture Theory: Essays on Mind, Self and Emotion, edited by Richard A. Shweder and Robert A. LeVine, 137–57. Cambridge University Press.

Rosaldo, Renato. (1989) 2009. “Grief and a Headhunter’s Rage.” In Death, Mourning, and Burial: A Cross-Cultural Reader, edited by Antonius C. G. M. Robben, 167–78. Malden, Mass.: John Wiley & Sons.

A guide to the unit