US Cultural Anthropology Flashcards
Lewis Henry Morgan (1818 - 1881)
‘Ancient Society’ Iroquois (1877), Kinship Systems, Cultural Evolution Savagery-Barbarism-Civilisation,
Franz Boas (1858 - 1942)
Kwakiutl of Pacific North-West Potlatch, Cultural Relativism, Historical Particularism
Max Weber (1864 - 1920)
‘The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism’ (1904), Interpretive/ ‘verstehen’ sociology where social phenomena best understood through subjective meanings that individuals attach to their actions - arguing sociologists should aim to understand the subjective motives, beliefs, and values that shape human behaviour, rather than simply observing and quantifying social facts = Qualititative; Typology of Authority: traditional, charismatic, rational-legal;
Ruth Benedict (1887 - 1948)
‘Patterns of Culture’ (1934) = “culture/ personality” argument that each culture moulds its members’ personalities uniquely- behaviours, beliefs, and values- expanding to include psychological and social aspects of human societies, ‘Chrysanthemum and the Sword’ (1946) = “shame” (social) and “guilt” (internalised) cultures, Boas’ student
Margaret Mead (1901 - 1978)
‘Coming of Age in Samoa’ (1928) = supportive social networks, relaxed attitudes to sexuality, and lack of strict parental control provided smooth transition of adolescence + social permissiveness, division of labour, and relaxed cultural attitudes to sex provided flexible gender roles, Boas’ student
Edward Sapir (1884 - 1939)
‘Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis’ (1929) - language shapes thought and perception, influencing the way individuals conceptualise the world, Boas’ student
Melville Herskovits (1895 - 1963)
‘The Myth of the Negro Past’ (1941), “after a history of unequal exchange, it was a very tall order indeed to expect ‘the Indonesian, the African, the Indian, the Chinese’ to become signatories to a document upholding the standards developed in the recently dominant part of the world” (AAA challenge to UDHR), pioneered African studies - challenging “primitiveness” with dynamic, sophisticated, rich history + interconnected via diffusion, cultural borrowing, and cultural syncretism
Robert Redfield (1897 - 1958)
‘Great and Little Traditions’ in Tepoztlán, Mexico, Folk-Urban continuum = instead of viewing rural and urban societies as distinct, binary entities, more useful to see them as interconnected and existing along a continuum, highlighting their adaptation
David M. Schneider (1918 - 1995)
“American Kinship: A Cultural Account” (1968)
Critiqued the structural-functional approach for its emphasis on social stability and equilibrium, arguing that it overlooked the dynamic and contested nature of social life.
He challenged structural-functionalist theories of biological kinship by emphasising the symbolic and cultural dimensions of kinship systems - “kinship as process”.
How myths, rituals, sacred texts, images, and ceremonies imbued with cultural significance and are used to express and reinforce shared beliefs, norms, integral to the construction of social identities and the maintenance of social cohesion
Critiqued reductionist approaches to religion solely in terms of psychological or biological factors
Sidney Mintz (1922 - 2015)
“Sweetness and Power: The Place of Sugar in Modern History” (1985) => Spain, Portugal, England, France, and the Netherlands, established colonies in the Caribbean and the Americas to cultivate sugar cane on large plantations; Plantations were sites of intense exploitation and brutality; Wealth derived from sugar production fueled the growth of colonial empires and contributed to the expansion of capitalism; Indigenous peoples were often displaced from their lands or forced into labor on sugar estates; Global Trade Networks became dependent on sugar
Clifford Geertz (1926 - 2006)
“The Interpretation of Cultures” (1973) = Shifted the focus of anthropology from materialist explanations of culture to the study of symbols, rituals, and cultural practices as meaningful expressions of human experience, “Religion as a Cultural System” (1966) = Examined how religious symbols, rituals, and beliefs provide frameworks for understanding and organizing social life, highlighting the ways religious practices and beliefs reflect broader cultural values and world-views
George W. Stocking Jr. (1928 - 2013)
Boas Critique of Particularism/ Relativism:
Focus on empirical rigour sometimes led to a lack of theoretical generalisation which limited the discipline’s ability to formulate overarching principles or laws of culture
Fragmentation hindered development of frameworks that could unite the diverse strands of anthropological research = cultural specificity obscured broader structural and historical forces shaping human societies
Particularistic approach may have been overly reactive to the excesses of evolutionary theory, leading to a reluctance to engage with broader theoretical questions that could account for the similar complex dynamics of cultural change and variation
Nancy Scheper-Hughes (1944 -)
“Death Without Weeping: The Violence of Everyday Life in Brazil” (1992) Bom Jesus da Mata in Northeast Brazil => ((focusing on the high rates of infant mortality and maternal grief in the community where lack of formal mourning rituals for infants reflects the community’s resigned acceptance of high child mortality rates))
In poverty, violence, and social inequality, boundaries between individual bodies and the larger social body become blurred
Critical Medical Anthropology = Taking into account lived experiences and moral frameworks to examine how e.g. maternal health, mental illness, and violence sheds light on the social determinants of health, the ways in which structural inequalities affect health outcomes
Passionate advocate for social justice and human rights against poverty, inequality, violence, and structural violence, raising awareness about human rights abuses and advocating for policy changes that address the root causes of social suffering
Michel-Rolph Trouillot (1949 - 2012)
Critique of Boas’ Essentialism
“Savage Slot”
Emphasised the interconnectedness of cultures, particularly in the Caribbean, which has been shaped by centuries of colonialism, migration, and exchange = not isolated
Voodoo in Haiti emerged from various African ethnic groups brought together through the transatlantic slave trade, blending their religious traditions with elements of Catholicism imposed by French colonisers = it cannot be understood as a static “traditional” culture but must be seen as a dynamic response to historical conditions => a means of spiritual and communal solidarity, resistance against colonial authority, and a way to maintain a connection to their African heritage.
Focusing too narrowly on the specificities of individual cultures can obscure the broader structural forces at play
Political implications of anthropological knowledge production which contributed to broader systems of domination and inequality
European historians portrayed Haitian Revolution as a series of violent and chaotic uprisings rather than a coherent and successful struggle for freedom and self-determination, obscuring the full story of the struggle for human rights
David Graeber (1961 - 2020)
‘Bullshit Jobs’ (2018), ‘Dawn of Everything’ (2021) = Writings on topics such as inequality, capitalism, bureaucracy, and the nature of work have reached broad audiences and influenced public discourse on these issues, bridging the gap between academia and activism
Viewed activism not just as a means to achieve specific political goals, but as a form of social and cultural practice that shapes and is shaped by broader power dynamics
1) Anthropological perspective - studying activists
2) Direct anarchist action - grassroots organising, direct democracy, nonhierarchical decision-making; Occupy Wall Street research insight of strategies
3) Critique of bureaucracy/ hierarchy ; for decentralised, horizontal forms that prioritise autonomy, solidarity, and direct action
4) Politics of everyday life - refusing to comply with unjust laws or challenging oppressive social norms
5) Theory grounded in lived experience a more engaged and politically relevant anthropology
