Culture and Race
Anthropologists have always had their discrepancies with the word culture and its background significance. There have been numerous definitions that have filtered through the field, yet not one that everyone can accept or agree with. Franz Boas, an anthropologist in the early 20th Century, and his students, had a difficult time figuring out the objective of what culture is. Culture is about learning and shared ideas about behaviour. Although Boas and his students had a slightly different idea in mind. They ultimately reached a conclusion, a definition of culture in their view that is a contradiction in terms. Boas sates that, “ culture was expressed through the medium of language but was not reducible to it; more importantly, it was not race.
Culture became everything race was not, and race was seen to be what culture was not; given, unchangeable biology,” (Visweswaran, p. 72).
Not only focusing on culture, but anthropology has a substantial connection as well.
Anthropology is the field in which the study of cultural and biological variations among human groups is studied. The difficulty that some people have with characterizing culture is that they associate it with race, whereas that is not the case. The two are remarkably distinct. Race is something biological, a genetic trait that is innate, while culture is something that is educated and experienced.
Kamala Visweswaran and Lila Abu-Lughod are two well distinguished anthropologists that are currently teaching at Universities in the United States. In their own articles, they speak about culture through an anthropologists view and detail their own opinions within. They may have some different opinions but each has their own strong arguments that prove their points.
Lila Abu-Lughod’s article “Writing Against Culture,” was written in 1991, and was published inside the book, Recapturing Anthropology. Within the article, she discusses culture and many problems with it. The title of her article speaks for itself, writing against culture. There are many issues that she brings up about culture, and various influential strategies for shifting over from the culture concept. She reflects on culture and its need to be redefined. In her discussion of culture and difference she opens with, “ most American anthropologists believe or act as if ”culture,” notoriously r...
... middle of paper ...
...s. With this new connection to anthropology, the American Anthropological Association, “ passed a resolution denouncing Nazi racism: “ Anthropology provides no scientific basis for discrimination against any people on the ground of racial inferiority, religious affiliation or linguistic heritage, “ (Visweswaran, p. 71).
“The solution is not to replace culture with race but to keep the two terms in contructivist tension with one another,” (Visweswaran, p. 79). Anthropology cannot strive without culture, yet there must be a distinction with race. Culture is something that society is taught and learned, while race is something biological, and something to be proud of. Boas and his ideas were not yet educated as to what culture means. He was overlooking and only saw his own perspective. Culture creates this diverse world and in turn race creates life with culture.
Works Cited:
Abu-Lughod, Lila. (1991) Writing Against Culture. Recapturing Anthropology. Richard Fox, ed. P, 137-162. Santa Fe, NM: School of American Research Press.
Visweswaran, Kamala. (March, 1998) Race and the Culture of Anthropology. American Anthropologist. p. 70-83. American Anthropological
Robbins, R. H. (2014). Cultural anthropology: a problem-based approach (Second Canadian ed.). Itasca: F.E. Peacock.
To begin with, culture is something that may change evolve within time but culture is something that come with your heritage or your ethnicity the traditions and things that happen that make up your culture like how your parents raised you are culture. In the informational text “ What is cultural identity” by Elise Trumbull and Maria Pacheco, and in the personal essay “Ethnic Hash” by Patricia Williams, there are similarities and differences in how each writer conveys their message about cultural identity. Based upon their research, Trumbull and Pacheco present the idea that culture changes and that it will never stay the same, while Williams uses her personal experience to develop the idea that many things influence cultural inheritage but
Today we owe one of the largest global social gatherings to the Greeks, the Olympic games. The Olympic games were held every four years in Olympia, Greece. Today “the Olympic games are held every four years, with the summer and the Winter Games alternating by occurring every four years but two years apart.” Just like the Ancient Olympic games, today’s Olympics are designed to be a time of peace in which all nations can come together to compete in different sports.
...the anthropological and other social sciences the basis for forming non-biased studies results that can be respectfully referenced and relied upon for their integrity.
Cultural Anthropology: The Human Challenge, 14th Edition William A. Havilland; Harald E. L. Prins; Bunny McBride; Dana Walrath Published by Wadsworth, Cengage Learning (2014)
Nanda, S and Warms, R.L. (2011). Cultural Anthropology, Tenth Edition. Belmont, California: Wadsworth, Cengage Learning. ISBN – 13:978-0-495-81083-4.
Culture is what makes an individual distinct from others. It is believed that culture is a powerful force that affects and shapes the way we perceive the world and on how we interact with other people. It is synonymous to a country or nation which sets and bears its own desired qualities or attributes. For instance, a group of people conversing in language other than English notices a woman passing by wearing veil over her face and a ruby on her nose would likely be described as one from different culture and which can likewise be alluded as one from somewhere else.
Race and Ethnicity According to Anthropologists Examining the ideas and beliefs within ones own cultural context is central to the study of Anthropology. Issues of Race and Ethnicity dominate the academic discourses of various disciplines including the field of Anthropology. Race and Ethnicity are controversial terms that are defined and used by people in many different ways. This essay shall explore the ways in which Anthropologists make a distinction between race and ethnicity and how these distinctions serve as frames for cross-cultural comparison and analysis. It is important to accurately define these coined terms before one is able to make accurate comparisons and distinctions between them, and their relation to the concept of culture.
Ruth Benedict’s anthropological book, Patterns of Culture explores the dualism of culture and personality. Benedict studies different cultures such as the Zuni tribe and the Dobu Indians. Each culture she finds is so different and distinctive in relation to the norm of our society. Each difference is what makes it unique. Benedict compares the likenesses of culture and individuality, “A culture, like an individual, is a more or less consistent pattern of thought or action” (46), but note, they are not the same by use of the word, “like.” Benedict is saying that figuratively, cultures are like personalities. Culture and individuality are intertwined and dependent upon each other for survival.
Sauer, Norman J. "Applied Anthropology and the Concept of Race: A Legacy of Linnaeus" Race, Ethnicity, and Applied Bioanthropology. Ed. Claire C. Gordon. Arlington, VA: National Association for the Practice of Anthropology 1993.
Culture is the unique way to act and think within a people from a certain place. It’s the way the people hold their beliefs, what they hold valuable, how they speak and even how they write. Culture is how people relate and act with one another within a certain space. Culture can vary from place to place such as city, state, country or continent.
What is a culture? Culture is anything consisting of a group and system. For example, culture consists of art, literature, humans, history, religion, and so on. There are many various cultures placed worldwide here on Earth. Not every culture is the same. Some cultures today still hunt and gather food like their ancestors before them. Some cultures today are more industrial and focus on progress through the world. Culture has shaped individual groups into what they are and become in the world. Although there are different ways in which culture can shape certain groups, there are a few factors that remain the same.
Core Concepts in Cultural Anthropology, Robert 2. K. Lavenda and Emily A. Schultz, (United States of America: McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc., 2003)
Smedley, Audrey. Race in North America: Origin and Evolution of a Worldview. Boulder: Westview Press, 1999.
Anthropology is known as the study of human beings, over time and space. We often look at anthropology as just the evolution of mankind and their basic development. After taking a class in Cultural Anthropology, I’ve come to realize how much more in depth it is. There are many different aspects that we do not look at. We do not need to be anthropologists to see how these concepts can apply to our daily lives. Anthropology makes you to look at the world differently than you were taught too. Cultural anthropology, has a holistic approach that helps us to see how one society relates to itself and how that society can be taken on its own terms without bias. It helps to identify our own way of viewing various different cultures around the world and realize that the way we do things and see things may not be the only right way there is. There are other people around the world that are different from us and do things differently that we are used to or that we find to be “the right way”.