Perspectives: An Open Invitation to Cultural Anthropology (remixed by Debbie Klein)
- Page ID
- 263249
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- 1: The Culture Concept
- This chapter traces how anthropologists have defined culture—from early “armchair” theories like Edward B. Tylor’s, to participant-observer fieldwork by Boas, Malinowski, Mead, and others. It contrasts ethnocentrism with cultural relativism, shows culture as beliefs, practices, symbols shared and learned, and highlights ethical issues in studying others.
- 2: Doing Fieldwork - Methods in Cultural Anthropology
- This chapter explores ethnographic fieldwork as the core method in cultural anthropology. It emphasizes participant observation, interviews, and reflexivity to understand cultures from an insider's perspective. Ethical considerations, such as informed consent and confidentiality, are also highlighted to ensure responsible research practices.
- 3: Race and Ethnicity
- This chapter examines the social construction of race and ethnicity, emphasizing their variability across cultures. It discusses how these constructs influence identity, power dynamics, and social interactions, highlighting their significance in understanding human diversity.
- 4: Public Anthropology
- This chapter on public anthropology urges anthropologists to engage broader audiences and apply their insights to real-world issues. Distinct from applied anthropology, it emphasizes visibility, accountability, collaboration, and helpfulness. Borofsky calls for reorienting the discipline toward public dialogue and social impact rather than solely academic recognition.
- 5: Health and Medicine
- This chapter explores how medical anthropology examines health, illness, and healing through a biocultural lens. It emphasizes the importance of ethnomedicine, mental health, and the experience of illness in specific cultural contexts.
- 6: Gender and Sexuality
- This chapter examines how gender and sexuality are socially constructed rather than biologically determined. It explores how cultural norms shape our understanding of these concepts, emphasizing that they are learned behaviors influenced by societal expectations. Anthropologists challenge the notion of universal gender and sexual norms, highlighting cultural variability.
- 7: Family and Marriage
- This chapter explores the diverse cultural constructions of family and marriage across societies. It examines how various cultures define kinship, parental roles, and marital arrangements, highlighting the social functions these institutions serve, such as regulating sexuality, inheritance, and caregiving, while also adapting to cultural changes.
- 8: Economics
- This chapter examines how societies organize the production, exchange, and consumption of goods and services to meet material needs like food, clothing, and shelter. Unlike traditional economics, it considers both tangible and intangible resources, including labor, services, and knowledge, and emphasizes cultural context in economic practices.
- 9: Culture and Sustainability- Environmental Anthropology in the Anthropocene
- This chapter examines how anthropologists analyze human-environment interactions, focusing on the Anthropocene—the current geological epoch marked by significant human impact on Earth's systems. It explores theoretical frameworks like political ecology, ethnobotany, and traditional ecological knowledge to understand sustainability and inform environmental policy.