Notes: History and Theory of Anthropology

Notes: History and Theory of Anthropology

-Week 1: proto-anthropology

Anthropology before anthropology Historically, anthropology is a Western project Is this sY6ll the case? And does it maYYer?

Encounters with the other: expansion

- Herodotus:

Travel writer, historian (5th century BCE) -Marco Polo 1295-1324 Travel writer Traveled on the Silk Road and lived in China -Ibn Khaldun 1331-1405 Historian and forerunner of the social sciences Study of North African socieY6es Materialist argument Theory of solidarity Expansion of knowledge, territory, power > diverging interests *Las Casas and the “Indian quesY6on” (and the start of the TransatlanY6c slave trade) Montaigne > savage (sauvage) is seen as ‘natural’ human RomanY6c period: fascinaY6on with nature as a cultural criY6que > culture seen as decadent

Jean-Jacques Rousseau:

The ‘noble savage’ as the opposite of degenerate civilized humans The term ‘savage’ has been current in anthropology > posiY6ve connotaY6on (e.g. Levi-Strauss: La pensée sauvage) > legacy of RomanY6cism Enlightment social theories “Universal histories” or evoluY6onary schemes (18th century)

NB: social theories of evoluY6onism preceded biological theories (Darwin)!

Cultural evoluY6on: universal stages of development

e.g. savagery > barbarism > civilizaY6on (Ferguson) -RaY6onal thinking as the motor of change

Auguste Comte’s theory of stages:

Idealism: society’s essence is its belief system > change occurs through advances in reasoning Popular among the bourgeoisie > bourgeoisie worldview and agenda for progress The end of porto-anthropology, leading to the F6rst proper anthropological theory: evoluY6onism -EvoluY6onism EvoluY6o = unfolding of a scroll

-Charles Darwin, 1859: on the origin of species

-> Natural selecY6on, environmental adapY6on -> Humans as integral part of the natural world -> Biology as metaphor to think of society -Herbert Spencer (1860-1900, social Darwinism) 1 / 4

Tylor 1871: Primit,ve Culture

First defl,nit,on of culture:

“Culture or civilizat,on, taken in its wide ethnographic sense, that complex whole which includes knowledge, belief, art, morals, law, custom, and any other capabilit,es and habits acquired by (hu)man as a member of society”

Evolut,onist reasoning:

-History can be known if limited to (one) culture -Looking for uniformity, rather than diversity -Transit,on between stages Course of evolut,on > uniform developments in society (‘laws’) -Traceable through ‘cultural survivals’ -Cultural diflflerences indicate diflflerent stages in human evolut,on -From lower to higher stages of culture

E.g. religion:

Animism > polytheism > monotheism > deism

Morgan 1877: Ancient Society

Explanat,on of ‘ethical periods’ Savagery > barbarism > civilizat,on

Areas (Primary inst,tut,ons):

Subsistence Government Language Family Religion Domest,c life Property Savagery

-Lower: speech

-Middle: fl,re, fl,shery

-Upper: bow and arrow

Barbarism

-Lower: pottery

-Middle: domest,cat,on of animals, cult,vat,on of plants

-Upper: iron

Civilizat,on > script and written records -Ant,quity -Modernity The heritage of evolut,onism > anthropology as a humanist,c science > ‘the science of culture is a reformer’s science’ (Taylor) > inflIuence on Marxism and other materialist theories > common sense understanding of human development -Week 2: meet,ng 1: Modern Anthropology

08-11-22

‘Society is a system’ = the society is an integrated part?

Throughout 19th century:

-Evolut,onism -Studies done on basis of stories and travel books 2 / 4

-Armchair scienY6sts (Frazer - the Golden bough) -Society followed a singular trajectory; diFFerences most oFYen based on biological traits (European society as the more superieur one)

3 great thinkers who laid the foundaY6on of sociology:

-Karl Marx -Max Weber -Emile Durkheim (developed theory basis 4 founding fathers of anthropology)

But:

-Focused on industrialized socieY6es -Explaining industrializaY6on

Break late 19th century:

Inspired by:

-scienY6F6c developments -Especially psychoanalysis -And natural sciences (Einstein) Created a greater need to embed anthropology scienY6F6cally

Four founding fathers:

-Boas -RadcliFFe-brown -Malinowski -Mauss Emile Durkheim Structural funcY6onalism ‘How can society live together harmonically’

Pre-modern/ ‘primiY6ve socieY6es’:

-Mechanical society -Based on kinship -Ritualized -Sacralized

Modern socieY6es:

-Organic (each of these insY6tuY6ons were like an organ) -Industrialized -Diverse -Social insY6tuY6ons / pracY6ces have a funcY6on for the whole Individuals have funcY6ons to perpetuate society

• Franz Boas

-Trained in physics, geography, philosophy -Worked with BasY6an (kulturkreise/ diFFusionism)

1881: Study of Inuit on BaFF6n island

1886: 3 months trip to Vancouver island > study of Kwakiutl

•One of the founders of the AAA; American Anthropological AssociaY6on (1902) •Curator at American Museum of Natural History •Prof at Columbia university, NY

Major inFfluences: 3 / 4

1.Empirically based on anthropology 2.DiFFusionism 3.Cultural diFFerences came forth from diFFusionism and not biological traits 4.Diachronic (explain a phenomenon throughout Y6me) / synchronic (explain a phenomenon in the context) Historical parY6cularism (aka cultural history) Discourses on “primiY6ve” humans What is complexity?“While some pracY6ces in speciF6c cultures may be organizaY6onally simple, other traits in the same culture may be quite complex” DiversiF6caY6on of pracY6ces and roles

CriY6que on evoluY6onism:

• Similar objets and customs fulF6ll diFFerent roles in diFFerent socieY6es and can therefore not be linked to an

unilinear evoluY6on -DiFF6cult to test assumpY6ons CriY6que on diFFusionism -Cultural contexts are unique -But, then, how can we explain change?-AcculturaY6on - a processing of foreign elements following the paYYern in a the new cultural environment (Boas added this to diFFusionism) He had criY6ques about diFFusionism but he added an element (acculturaY6on) to it.

Historical parY6cularism: empirically based anthropology

Rigorous approach to ethnographic F6eldwork:

-Anthropologist must live with the people for a longer period of Y6me -Learn local language -ObservaY6on, parY6cipaY6on, listening -Local knowledge!Historical parY6cularism and theory

•No aYYempt to construct a grand theory of cultural development:

• “UnY6l we have been able to unravel the processes that have been going under our eyes”

• “Unique history” of each cultural group •HolisY6c research > F6nding relaY6ons and paYYerns ReFflexivity of perspecY6ve Categories of language make us see the world in parY6cular ways

Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis: our language inFfluences how we look at the world

The ‘urgent’ anthropology of Boas:

-Disappearing indigenous north American cultures > salvage ethnography > ethnological museums -AcculturaY6on processes conY6nue -Cultural diversity is decreasing (because the indigenous people were slowly killed oFF) The idea ‘we are diFFerent than them’ > present among all the founding fathers (at that Y6me it was embedded in their thinking)

Boas’ legacy :

-focus on descripY6ve studies rather than a grand theory of culture > drawback: no systemaY6c approach -Public anthropology > raising awareness - entering the public debate

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