explain anthropology with a related film
beyzagu
EthnographytheClassics.pptxEthnography: The Classics: Bronislaw Malinowski, The Argonauts of the Western Pacific. Seligman’s student. Founder of Social Anthro. First real ethnographer. Polish, England, US (1884-1942). Lived when Europe was in turmoil, world wars. Intellectual family. Field diaries. Law, economy, customs and traditions, magic and rituals, social norms, all parts of the cultural life. Meanings behind actions. Like Emile Durkheim, functionalist, each action and institutions function for the society as a whole. Macro and micro levels.
He lived with them, learned their language, observed and interviewed them. “A native among natives” Full account of the complexity of human nature. Magical ceremonies and spells necessary for gardening and commerce (Kula Ring). Magic is significant for economic activities and welfare, to control the nature. Malinowski: Different aspects of life are so interwoven they cannot be separated.
Trobrianders’ social and economic life depends on Kula, a particular trading system. Ideas, ambitions, desires and vanities of “Tribesmen” (vs “savages”)
“Imagine yourself suddenly set down surrounded by all your gear, alone on a tropical beach, close to a native village, while the launch or dinghy which has brought you sails away out of sight”. Poetic, “white man’s burden”. Unpredictable, unknown. Depression, boredom, problems in communication. Claims to be scientific (objective). Intimate details of family life, toilet, cooking etc. Differentiation of public and private lives, ordinary vs. ritual, complexity of social life, institutions and mentality. Appreciation. Description of the Kula Islands, topography. Seasonal voyage, an exchange system: Shell-disk necklaces circling the ring clockwise through North), shell arm-bands, south and counter- clockwise. The items do not have fixed values, values com from their particular history. New items like tobacco and clay pots become part of the ring. Given as a “gift” for social bonding, prestige. Cooking, eating and chatting together by the fire. Later on, singing and dancing. “Cannibalism before White men”. Totemism, matrilineal society. Man belongs to his mother’s totemic division. Women enjoy freedom. Critical of too much freedom of sexuality, promiscuity, free love, leading eventually to marriage.
Malinowski and Trobrianders
Evans-Pritchard (1902-1973), British, sir. Structural functionalism, cultural translation. Nuer in Eastern Africa, Sudan, Nilotic tribes. Less studied before him, on a mission. Objectivity claims. Read literature, find what is missing, learn the language. “The Nuer who call themselves Nath”. Origins and interactions between the tribes. Political institutions and economic livelihood interlinked. Ecology also informs them. Territorial system of spatially well-defined groups (hamlets and huts) . Smaller groups more interaction. Kinship order. Political: Tribe=> Territorial segments. Feuds and leopard-skin chief, sacred person with no direct political authority. No government, no law, “ordered anarchy”. Prophets. Social Groups: Clans => Lineages (dead or alive).
Social differentiation in terms of sex and status (members of dominant clans). Difficulties in fieldwork. Fishing and chatting with them. He came as an enemy, disgust, a more nuanced account than Malinowski. Dialogue on page 12. Sabotages. Later on friendships. Male world. Unmarried girls were more free than the marrieds, visiting his tent.
Marjorie Shostak, Nisa: The Life and Words of a !Kung Woman: 1981. Nisas childbirth in her own words in her in-laws’ village. Her surprise and shock. Division of labor, her husband hunts for her to eat after the birth, he is not interested in baby, “the one which I heard the cries of”. Boy/Girl?. !Kung, gatherers and hunters, bushmen near Kalahari Desert. Nearly extinct. Before agriculture and settling down. What was it like to be a woman in a culture so different than the researcher’s? No claims of superiority, just difference. Appreciate their broad knowledge of environment, and how they share their food and other goods. Decipher animals from its tracks. No one has much more than the others. Long disputes, accounts of successful hunts, musicians and story tellers, oral culture. Medicine ceremonies, rituals. Modesty, no bragging. Nisa as the main story teller, her experiences and emotions.
Immense sky, 6-7 circular grass huts. Children play at the center. Semi-arid, too hot and cold. Masters of survival, adapting to ever-changing, dramatic demands. Flexibility in settlements. Everything has to be carried. Simple technology. Fluid residences in camps. Reciprocal generosity, especially in sickness or need. Travel and forage different areas during the day. Everybody, even children and elderly, look for food, full collaboration. Settle down at night. Women high status, do most of the gathering of food. %20-40 of diet depend of hunted meet by men. Food rarely stored. Excellent diet, variety.
Shostak’s difficulties in adjusting to the life and learning the language. Pregnancy and childbirth. Marriage patterns in detail. Polygamy, sharing a husband. Sexual play. Traditional methods of abortion. Her difficulties in moving with them. Physically exhausting. More honest and open account. Her successes and failures as well. She tries not to romanticize them, reflect them as they are. Implicit comparisons. Reluctance to generalize. Nisa’s story.
