Social And Cultural Anthropology: The Importance Of Culture

What is culture and why is it important? This was one of the first question I was asked when I first began the semester. At the time I was unsure and curious. I had an idea of what culture consisted of but had never dug deeper into what it really meant and understanding why it was so significant. As I explored this concept in CCS through Japan it slow became more and more clear to me what the elements of culture entail. I have really enjoyed studying different aspects of culture and its values so when I was asked to pick one thing that stood out to me in the class it was difficult. I finally concluded that if I had to choose one assignment that helped me evaluate culture the most it would be reading the book "Social & Cultural Anthropology."

This assignment stood out to me for a variety of reasons. It was one of the first assignment we where given as a class and it gave us a lot of insight into how cultures are studied as well as differences in cultures around the world.

Chapter 2 is titled "Bee Larvae and Onion Soup: Culture." The idea behind this title comes from a story about how customs vary in culture. In the chapter a man was invited by some of his Mixtec friends to go on a hunting excursion. He decides to go. While they were hunting his friends got ahead of him and had brought down a bee hive and were eating its comb, honey and Larvae. They then proceeded to offer him some. This presented an issue for him because in his culture eating bee 's and honey comb was not the norm. Not wanting to be offensives though he resistantly scarfed some down and was disgusted. This was a bit unsettling

There is no more significant feature of culture than of their Religion, and or faith for the future. The chapter is entitled "A Drought in Bima: People and Their Gods." Here in chapter 7 there is presenyef a problem. In Bima the region is divided primarily into to groups; the “Dou Donggo” tribe and the “Bimanese” tribe. Now both of these groups depended on rain fall to tend for their crops or they could starve. Unfortunately the time of the season where they get the most rain passes, still no rain. This continues and continues and both groups get worried. The Dou Donggo tribe believed that when things went wrong in life it was due to mischievous spirits and that the only way to please them and stop there problems they needed to make sacrifices to them with items of value to the tribe such as tobacco and rice. The Bimanese believed in Muslim teachings so they thought that the best plan of action was to take the time to fast and pray for better times. What I was able to gain from this event was the ways in which groups confront and deal with some of the most critical of problems they face. The chapter goes on to tell of how a belief in a higher power allows people to combat anxieties and deal with