Culture and Cultural

Change

Mechanisms of Culture change

Independent
Invention:
process of human
innovation
Globalization:
series of
processes
including
diffusion and
acculturation

Djoser, Egypt

Mechanisms of Culture change

Diffusion:
borrowing through
cultural contact
(direct, forced, or
indirect)
Acculturation:
exchange of
cultural features
after continuous
firsthand contact
Cultural change
can be brutal

http://youtu.be/qDshQTBh5d4

Acculturation
Cultural change
often most
painful for those
with less power
(e.g., minority
groups)
Can be rapid
and difficult to
fight

Interview with Andrew Windyboy

Is there hope for us?

Culture is contested by
individuals & by
groups (ideal vs. real)
Agency: refers to actions
that individuals take both
alone & in groupsforming
and transforming culture

Cultural change can be

slow, especially for those
fighting dominant culture.

http://thedailyshow.cc.com/videos/189afv/the-redskins--name---catching-racism

Ethnographic Method &

Theory

http://youtu.be/wOR-TECGbpc

War Machines

Hoffman (2010)
Brooksfield Hotel
Freetown, Sierra Leone
Ethnography of Kamajor
militia fighters
Grand tour of hotel life
(think ethnography
project)
Participant observation
Complex Characters
Ethics of research
Inside view
Complexities of life
Contrast to other
representations in media

Ethnography as unique research strategy

Various techniques
Participant observation
Interviews
Genealogical method
Working with Key
Informants
Life-history interviews
Insider/Outsider
Perspectives
Problem oriented
research
Longitudinal research
Team research

Observation & Participant Observation

Direct, firsthand
observation of behavior

Wide ranging; can be

minute details uninteresting
to those who you study

Undergraduates do this too

http://youtu.be/2CUD3_tzH7M

Michigan Anthro Honor

Thesis Students

Ethnography is
overwhelming field notes
to capture all types of
observations

Culture shock
Culture shock:
feeling of alienation
from exposure to
new culture and
field site
EX: border
ethnography
Eventually it is
overcome (most of
it)

Rapport
Rapport: friendly
working relationship
with people
Good ethnography
requires rapport
How do you develop
rapport?
Time, sensitivity, selfawareness
Long-term investment
Get close

Interviews & Conversations

Learning language (could be
foreign or different version
of your native tongue)
Language competency is
crucial
https://youtu.be/8XYBa2_7FnA

hanging out
Questionnaires vs. interview
schedule
What year were you born?
Tell me about your
childhood

Art of the interview

Leading questions, biases,
agendas.

Genealogical method
Established technique to
understand social
relationships &
reconstruct history
Can be very informative
(in different ways)
Types of recognized
kinship, inheritance &
marriage rules, child
rearing

Key Informants (Cultural Consultants)

People who provide key
complete or useful information
about particular aspects of life
EX: Chino & migration,
smuggling, life on the train
tracks
Teach you about their life
They teach you how to be
better ethnographer
Teach you important life lessons

Life Histories
Collection of
personal stories &
experiences,
detailed and
intimate portrait of
one persons life
Usually are
supplemented with
other data

Dream 9 Protest (July 2013)

https://youtu.be/kIa0k82BfOA

Immigration
protest
Undocumented
Youth who
returned to
Mexico
Interview excerpt
(Adriana Diaz)
three days before
protest
Audio (5:15)

Local & Outsider Perspectives

Understanding &
comparing how
Natives think vs.
anthropologist
provides key insight
EMIC: local
perceptions/viewpoint
s
ETIC: perspective of
the outsider
anthropologists
Equally valuable

Etic/Emic
Illness: (cultural perception and
explanation of bad health)
Disease: scientific (etic) perspective
EX: susto
Emic understanding takes time & is
ALWAYS incomplete
Caution! I have lived with the Maya in
the jungles for several months and I now
have an emic perspective on their life
and viewpoints

Longitudinal & Team Research

Longitudinal: Long-term study of
group, culture, phenomenon, based
on multiple site visits
Helps understand cultural change

Longitudinal & Team Research

Longitudinal: Long-term study of group,
culture, phenomenon, based on multiple
site visits
Helps understand cultural change
Cultural change & shrinking world require
more site visits; more nuanced ways of
studying culture
Anthropologists collaborate & train
students

Problem Oriented Ethnography & Ethics

Applied anthropology
Same approach as
academic anthropology
with different final goals
Whos problem are we
solving?
Minerva Project: Pentagon
based project focused on
understanding terrorism
and violence by using
social scientists to study
communities of interest


Survey Research
Sampling from larger
population, impersonal data
collection, statistical analyses,
More focused questions
Common in Sociology
Depending on questions, group
size, etc, surveys can be useful
Not holistic or personal as
ethnography, can be useful
How not to do it (sociology vs.
anthropology)

http://youtu.be/mnww3ZNPymM

Theory
Theoretical perspectives= ideas formulated to
explain existing data.
Anthropology is dynamic in terms of theoretical
perspectives over time, across sub-disciplines,
across departments, and amongst individual
anthropologists.
Theories are constantly evaluated by plugging in
data & seeing if they explain things well
Those that fail to adequately explain a
phenomenon are either modified or discarded (i.e.,
we get smarter)

Evolutionism (bad early theory)

Early 19th century theory
associated w/ EB Tyler &
Lewis Morgan
Posited that human society
evolved through various
discrete stages
Categories flawed, racist
perceptions and language,
unilinear thinking
Not all complex societies had
writing or even food
production, multi-linear
evolution
Many still incorrectly think
this way, assume that
Western culture is most
advanced (see Global

Reactions to Evolutionism
Anthropologists reacted to this bad
theory in many ways
Franz Boas father of four field
anthropology
Historical particularism= histories are
unique & not directly comparable,
diverse paths to culture phenomenon

Functionalism= Malinowski,
Radcliffe-Brown focused on role of
cultural practices in social systems
(functions)
Practices served particular
purposes, were connected to
broader system emphasized
synchronic over diachronic

Dynamic Nature of Theory

Clearly, cultural evolution theory didnt
explain cultural data or hold up to scrutiny
Theories abound today & constantly
evaluated
EX: Structuralism, Cultural Materialism,
Practice Theory, Political Economy, Feminist
Theory, Queer Theory
Reflect attempts to understand data & new
ways of thinking about the world & ourselves
as researchers (i.e., we are smarter today)

Theories abound today

Sensitivity to issues of
representation, power,
gender, identity, class,
are all now crucial
theoretical frameworks
that developed over time
Some have moved away
from four-field and
holism, while others
continue and thrive

Ethnography Project

Eugene Smith
Classic photo
journalism
Images tell
story in a
sequence

Hoffman Corpus: Mining the

Border
Images are
ethnographic
snapshots
Not linear
Not
straightforward

Your Photoethnography

Camera type?

Color or black
& white?

Aesthetics of
images: What
do you want to
convey?