A way of looking at a topic from a particular perspective What do we mean by School of Thought A theory that states that an anthropologist cannot compare two cultures because each has its own internal rules that must be accepted ID: 563371
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Schools of Thought in Cultural AnthropologySlide2
A way of looking at a topic from a particular perspective
What do we mean by School of Thought?Slide3
A theory that states that an anthropologist cannot compare two cultures because each has its own internal rules that must be accepted.
This was a response to cultural evolutionism (culture evolves from savage to barbarian to civilized)
Trying to change the ethnocentric views (believing that one’s own culture is superior to all others)
Cultural RelativismSlide4
Every action, belief or relationship in a culture functions to meet the needs of individuals
Stresses the interdependence among all things within a social system for long term survival
Meeting individual needs makes the culture whole
Also rejects cultural evolution
Malinowski illustrates this theory with his study of a necklace and an arm band in the Trobriand Islands
Something that seemed ceremonial had real economic, social and political functions
Functional TheorySlide5
Theory states that materials or conditions within the environment (climate, food supply, geography) influence how a culture develops
Society develops on a trial and error basis
If something is not of value to a society, it will disappear from society altogether
Law, government, religion must benefit society or will no longer exist
Cultural Materialism Slide6
Infrastructure: material resources
Structure: a society’s family, political, economic and social systems
The Superstructure: a society’s ideas, values, symbols and religion
Path of MaterialismSlide7
Feminist anthropologists wanted to make sure that females were heard and included in research
Compared to see how many cultures were dominated by men, how many by women and how many were egalitarian
They concluded that the amount of freedom women had was tied to their contribution to the food supply
Today feminist anthropologists continue to look at how cultures determine gender roles, debunk gender myths and show how gender is constructed
Look at how gender, race, class, ethnicity and sexual orientation are constructed
Feminist Anthropology Slide8
A theory that states: it is impossible to have any “true” knowledge about the world
They reject the idea of objective (
non-judgemental
) truth
They deconstruct what a society believes to be true
They use reflexivity (reflecting on their own world view, biases and impact on the culture they study)
Understanding immigrant experience in TorontoUnderstanding subcultures (their own frequently)
PostmodernismSlide9
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