Teacher Support Meeting
A Level Anthropolopy
Preparing to Teach
Summer 2010
Delivering Unit 2
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Contents
Unit 2: Becoming a Person PowerPoint Slides
p 04
Suggested Approaches and Sources
p 07
Scheme of Work
p 22
Ethnography
p 27
Examples of Personhood
p 26
The Development of Western Individualist
Concepts of Personhood
p 28
Anthropology of Personhood
p 37
Activity: Personhood Storyboard
p 38
Personhood Storyboard: Rituals Surrounding Death
p 39
Unit 2: Rituals PowerPoint Slides
p 40
The Nacirema
p 44
Unit 2: Cyborgs PowerPoint Slides
p 46
Unit 2 Becoming a Person:
Identity & Belonging
• Building on Unit 1. What does it mean to be
human?
• Focus of Unit 2: understanding the
processes involved with becoming a
person and developing an identity
• Different aspects of personhood, identity
and belonging interrelate.
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Unit 2
Personhood
• Understanding what personhood means here in
the UK (not the same for everyone)
• Different processes involved
in ol ed with
ith developing
de eloping
personhood
• Contrasting characteristics of personhood
• How personhood informs culture and social
relations.
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Unit 2
Becoming a person
• Understanding the complexity of rituals;
definitions, functions and characteristics
• Gender and sexuality; as a social construct,
contrasting patterns of gender in different
cultures
• Creating an identity; both given and made by
the individual
• The creation of the ‘self’ in relation to use of
place, history, language, symbols and totems.
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4
1
Unit 2
Drawing boundaries and defining groups
• How and why boundaries are drawn, reification of
cultural notions of personhood and identity
• Ethnic and religious boundaries; a way of
defining a group as different to other groups
• Violence as a result of boundaries, both on the
small scale and large
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Unit 2
Drawing boundaries and defining groups
• Alternative identities, who has access to them ?
• Critical assessment of representation of
alternative identities e
e.g.
g Avatar
• Animal /spirit boundaries and patterns, how do
humans interact with animals? Cross cultural
patterns.
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Unit 2 Outline of Work
1. Introduction & Personhood (2 weeks)
2. Becoming a person
(i) Rites of passage (2 weeks)
(ii) Gender and sexuality (2 weeks)
((iii)) Creating
g an identity
y ((3 weeks))
3. Drawing boundaries and defining groups
(i) How boundaries are drawn (1week)
(ii) Groups and exclusion, discrimination and domination (3
weeks)
(iii) The drawing of boundaries between humans and other
entities (2 weeks)
(Total 15 weeks)
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5
2
Planning lessons
• Encouraging students to question their own
assumptions/experiences
• All cultures should be treated as equal – not for their
‘exotic’ otherness
• Using ethnographic studies imaginatively – old and
new
• Revisit the same ethnography/article drawing out
different concepts/issues/theories
• Link to theory where possible
• Fun! Role play, story boards, learner led research
• Drawing out links to other areas of the specification.
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Example of a lesson plan: boundaries
•
•
•
•
•
Ask students to do regular fieldwork
Visit a public/workspace
Think about how boundaries are drawn
Draw the space/workspace
Apply some anthropology!
• You might want to do the same activity with
fences…
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6
3
ANTHROPOLOGY AS UNIT 2
SUGGESTED APPROACH & SOURCES
3.2.1 Personhood
•
Alternative concepts of personhood, seen historically and cross-culturally.
Key concepts:
personhood, social construct, identity, name, norms, cultural representation, ascribed
status, self realization, stratification, reincarnation, Hinduism, sociocentric, spiritual
mediums, dualism, kin, kinship, endogamy/exogamy, anthropomorphism, identity,
classification, animism, relational, Buddhism, ‘dividuals’, embodiment, habitus
This part of the specimen requires candidates to become aware of the socially constructed
nature of personhood. It requires the realisation that our own individual sense of who we are
is very much particular to our geographical location as well as the time that we live in. In
order to be able to draw out the characteristics of our Western Notion of personhood, it is
important to compare local forms of personhood with examples of personhood from other
places and times. As well as this, it is important for candidates to realise that there are
different processes involved with developing personhood; these can take different amounts of
time and vary from place to place and in different times.
A good beginning point is to ask the students to think about the following questions:
1. When do we become a ‘person’? (In many societies for example, children, those
without children of their own or outsiders, slaves etc. are not considered fully to be
persons.)
2. What is a person? (What is a person made of? In many societies children are thought
to inherit from both father and mother but what they inherit varies. For example, in
some places children are thought to inherit bone from their fathers and flesh from their
mothers. These conceptions of what, literally constitutes a person often reflect social
structures, relate to marriage systems and are symbolized in ritual.)
3. When do we cease to be a ‘person’? (Death is in many societies not the end of life but
the start of a different form of generally social existence.)
4. What does being a person mean to the individuals and to others around them?
5. Are there stages to becoming a person and if so how do we reach/pass these stages?
6. Is the experience of being a person the same everywhere?
7. Has being a person meant the same thing in the past as it does today?
Next students need to become aware of different conceptions of personhood, either through
their own research or through guided readings. The following examples are a good starting
point:
7
1. The Hindu conception of the self
2. African conceptions of the self
3. Melanesian conceptions of the self
Suggested resources
On African/Melanesian concepts see, for example,
Lambek, M. & A. Strathern eds. 1998. Bodies and Persons: comparative perspectives from
Africa and Melanesia, Cambridge: CUP.
Bourdieu, Pierre. 1994. “Structures, Habitus, Power: Basis for a Theory of Symbolic Power”.
In Culture/Power/History. Nicholas B. Dirks, et al., eds. Pp. 155-199. Princeton NJ: Princeton
University Press.
Eriksen, T.H. 1998. Small Places, Large Issues: an introduction to social and cultural
anthropology, London: Pluto Press. Useful chapter 3 ‘The Social Human’.
Jackson, M. 2006. ‘Knowledge of the body’ in Moore, H. & T. Sanders eds. Anthropology in
Theory: Issues in Epistemology, Oxford: Blackwell Publishing 322-335. (from a more
phenomenological perspective covering among other things initiation rites in Sierra Leone.
Martin, E. 2006. ‘The end of the body?’ in Moore, H. & T. Sanders eds. Anthropology in
Theory: Issues in Epistemology, Oxford: Blackwell Publishing 336-351.
Carsten, J. 1995. ‘The Substance of Kinship and the Heat of the Hearth: Feeding,
Personhood, and Relatedness among Malays in Pulau Langkawi’ American Ethnologist, Vol.
22, No. 2 pp. 223-241.
This article describes how, for some Malays, feeding (in the sense of receiving as well as
giving nourishment) is a vital component in the long process of becoming a person and
participating fully in social relations. The process begins with conception and birth; it
continues through feeding and through growing and living together in the house; it involves
marriage and the birth of new children; and it is only in a limited sense completed when adult
men and women become grandparents. For these Malays kinship itself is a process of
becoming.
Students should be able to:
•
•
Start to consider the ways in which the above cross cultural concepts of personhood
differ from each other.
Differentiate between the types of personhood above. Consider differences and
similarities.
8
3.2.1 Personhood
•
The relational concept of personhood contrasted with the philosophical and
psychological concepts common to western society.
Key concepts:
personhood, enlightenment, dualism, binary logic, rational thought, autonomous
individuals, empirical knowledge, Cartesian dualism, sociocentric, names, social
contruct, egocentric, materialistic, rationalistic, individual, ‘separable’, detached, class,
non-person, boundaries of personhood, animism, classification, the body,
commodification of body parts
Now that students are familiar with a range of contrasting notions of personhood, they are
able to draw out the differences between individualistic notions of personhood and relational
concepts of personhood. Students need to become aware of the ways in which these
differences inform culture and social relations. By the end of this section, students should be
able to discuss similarities and between types of personhood found cross-culturally (see
handout – overview grid of personhood).
1. Go back to the questions and answers that we started personhood with, discuss how
the examples have challenged the students notion of personhood as universal.
2. Using cross cultural examples of personhood, ask the students (in groups) to come up
with five characteristics of English personhood (indeed – is it agreed/the same for
everyone).
3. Next, ask students to think about if this has always been this way or if personhood has
developed more recently.
4. Tutor to draw out the socially constructed/culturally specific nature of personhood
5. Using the worksheet work through the development of western individualism. Ensure
students are able to write a summary of the characteristics of western individualism
incorporating relevant key concepts.
6. Begin to consider problems with the boundaries of western individualism, for example
is someone a person when they are on life support?
7. Evaluate western views of personhood by using the example of Ojibwa Indians whose
notion of personhood does not fit a normative western classification system. What
problem does this highlight in regard to anthropological attempts to understand other
cultures?
A good consolidation activity for this section on personhood is to get the students to complete
a story board (see associated handout) demonstrating the contrasting types of personhood, to
show that they understand the key differences/similarities.
9
Conklin, B. & L. Morgan, 1996. ‘Babies, Bodies, and the Production of Personhood in North
America and a Native Amazonian Society’ Ethos, Vol. 24, No. 4 pp. 657-694. This is a
comparative study of personhood in the USA and among the Wari of Brazil. Also includes a
brief overview of western concepts of the person, the individual etc. vs. a relational
personhood as found in non-western societies.
10
3.2.2 Becoming a Person
•
Moving through the stages of life:
ageing, death, the afterlife).
rites of passage (childhood, adulthood,
Key Concepts:
rites of passage, ritual, ambiguity, secular, religious, symbols, legitimate, ideological,
theatrical, transformation of conflict, political rituals, reflectivity, multivocal, initiation,
modernity,
This section introduces students to the complex nature of rituals. It is important that students
recognise that there is more than one acceptable definition of ritual (on this generally see, for
example, Bell, C. 1992. Ritual Theory, Ritual Practice, Oxford: OUP and Bell, C. 1997, Ritual:
Perspectives and Dimensions, Oxford: OUP for teacher resources on how to define ritual and
the various social science approaches to ritual). Students should be encouraged to
understand their own rituals, personal and social, as well as a range of cross-cultural
examples. It is important that students recognize the difficulty we have in judging ‘other’
cultures’ rituals. It is worth pointing out that all representations of other cultures involve the
translation of practices from one culture to another and this process involves, inevitably,
partiality and possible mis-representation. ‘Body Ritual among the Nacirema’ (Horace Miner
1956) example to demonstrate this issue.
The functions of rituals are important to consider, looking at a range of competing ideas (see
powerpoint and handout). These should include classic as well as contemporary studies.
Students then need to consider a range of rituals throughout the life cycle. Students can be
put into groups to investigate key rituals/examples, feeding back to the group a cross cultural
example of a contrasting ritual so that students can complete an A3 overview of different
rituals, perhaps.
Possible resources
Bowie, F. 2006. Chapter 2 ‘The body as symbol’ and chapter 6 ‘Ritual Theory, rites of passage, and
ritual violence, in The Anthropology of Religion: an introduction, Oxford: Blackwell publishing.
Eller, J. D. 2007. ‘Religious behaviour’ chapter 5 in Introducing Anthropology of Religion, NY:
Routledge (on ritual, rites of passage, ritual performances)
Eriksen, T.H. 1998. Small Places, Large Issues: an introduction to social and cultural anthropology,
London: Pluto Press. Useful chapter 8 ‘Gender and Age.
Hendry, J. 2008. Chapters 4 & 5 ‘The Ritual Round’ and ‘Society: a set of symbols’ in An Introduction
to Social Anthropology: sharing our worlds, Palgrave.
Turner, V. 1969. The Ritual Process, London: RKP.
Turner, V. 1967 The Forest of Symbols: Aspects of Ndembu Ritual, NY: Cornell University Press.
11
3.2.2 Becoming a person
•
Gender and sexuality: different rituals marking the make and female life courses:
how gender is constructed and what it means to be a gendered person.
Key Concepts:
Gender, Sex, feminism, critical anthropology, ceremony, classification, masculinity,
couvades, identity, liminality, patriarchy, sanctions, socialization, gendered
socialization, sexuality, cultural consciousness, Dimorphism, male gaze, gendered
division of labour, sex roles, hierarchy, gender identity, power, food supply, personal
autonomy,
1. Students could begin by clarifying the difference between gender and sex. The
following questions can then be used as the basis for discussion:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
What does being female and male mean in our culture?
What behaviours/personality traits are perceived as associated with these genders?
What happens when people step outside of these norms?
Are these expectations linked to age?
How have gender expectations changed over time and what are the reasons for this?
Where have these deep rooted cultural expectations about gender come from?
What is the future likely to hold in terms of gender?
To what degree is gender linked to our biological difference?
When this is done it might be interesting to see if the very sex/gender divide which is now so
accepted can be reconsidered as the product of a particular time and place (the West) and
deriving from a particular mode of thought (science). On this see Moore, H. 1999. ‘Whatever
happened to women and men? Gender and other crises in anthropology’, Moore, H. ed.
Anthropological Theory Today, Oxford: Polity Press.
2. The students might then be shown two or three contrasting patterns of gender in different
cultures, with accompanying questions to encourage students to compare and contrast with
their own understanding of gender.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M23Y08cfyhY&feature=related
Other possible resources:
Agta women hunters such as: 1983 article in Woman the Gatherer, Frances Dahlberg ed
1983. The Agta were a hunter-gatherer group in the Philippines where women engaged in the
hunting of large animals.
http://www.ndnu.edu/about-us/mission_diversity/documents/Estioko-GriffinWomantheHuntertheAgta.pdf
also http://www.culturalsurvival.org/ourpublications/csq/article/agta-forager-women-philippines
12
For readings in this area see some of the material on the San (in Botswana, Kalahari desert)
and the gathering work of the women. For material on egalitarian societies see, for example,
Maria Alexandra Lepowsky, 1993. Fruits of the motherland: gender in an egalitarian society,
Columbia University Press.
Lewin, E. 2006. Feminist Anthropology: a reader, Oxford: Blackwell Publishing.
Moore, H. 1988. Feminism and Anthropology, Cambridge: Polity Press.
3. Students are encouraged to understand the ways in which we learn to become gendered
(note later discussions on cyborgs and the potential of cyborgs to transcend gender).
Students should become aware of the ways in which rituals for women are both similar to and
different from male rituals. (see HO).
13
3.2.2. Becoming a person
• Creating an identity: place, history, language, symbols and totems as resources
in establishing and changing identities.
Key concepts:
Structure/agency (defined and self-defining), stereotyping, classification
systems e.g. totemism, bi-lingualism, bi-cultural, code switching, performance,
difference, belonging, adoption, cultural capital, habitus, social memory, body
modification (tattoos, piercings, fashion, etc.), diaspora, transnationalism,
imagined communities, space and place (pilgrimage secular and sacred, material
culture, heritage sites, museums)
In this part of the course students are encouraged to develop earlier work on personhood to
consider how the self is produced in relation to language, place, ideas of history and social
memory.
Key points to note are that identity is always in process and relational in so far as identities
are both given by others and made, sometimes in opposition to identities that are not selfchosen. Identities are also relational in so far as individuals and groups may choose which
aspects of identity to foreground in any given social context.
Language here is understood not as linguistic anthropology but as language use to define
identity and belonging. The languages of minority groups just as much as the language of
youth delimit members of groups who share aspects of their social identities.
14
Possible Resources:
Kathleen D. Hall, 2002. Lives in Translation: Sikh Youth as British Citizens, Philadelphia: University of
Pennsylvania Press. Esp chapter 8 ‘There’s a time to act English and an time to act Indian: the politics
of identity among British-Sikh teenagers’.
On language contested and used symbolically and politically see Hall, K. 2002, ‘Asserting "Needs"
and Claiming "Rights": The Cultural Politics of Community Language Education in England’, Journal of
Language, Identity & Education, 1532-7701, Volume 1, Issue 2, Pages 97 – 119. The abstract of the
article is below:
Abstract
Language education policy is a contested terrain on which political conflicts are played out and
relations of inequality are symbolically articulated and challenged. Language policies involve a
paradox: for "language" is invoked as a reified object associated with essentialist constructs of identity
to stand for much more complex and changing patterns of language use. In this article, I consider this
paradox from the perspective of a campaign led by Sikh parents to have Punjabi introduced into
curriculum in secondary school in Leeds, England. The study explores how "rights talk" and "needs
talk" were used as idioms for making political claims about the value of teaching and learning Punjabi
at school. This use of Punjabi as a reified political symbol is contrasted with Sikh teenagers' patterns
of Punjabi language use. The analysis brings into relief 2 processes for asserting and contesting the
value of Punjabi for different purposes and to distinctive ends.
Bourgois, P. 2003, In search of respect: Selling crack in El Barrio, Cambridge: CUP. Also provides
material on language and language use to locate individuals as marginalized and excluded members
of society.
On Tattooing:
Demello, M. 1993. ‘The convict body: tattooing among male American prisoners’, Anthropology Today,
vol 9 no.6, p10ff.
Kuwahara, M. 2005. Tattoo; an anthropology, Oxford: Berg. Tattooing in French Polynesia as a
statement about identity and culture, cultural revival and its relationship to youth culture, ethnicity and
prison life.
Thomas, N., A. Cole & B. Douglas 2005. Tattoo: bodies, art and exchange in the Pacific and the West,
Duke University Press.
On adoption and identity see, for example:
Howell, S. 2003. “Kinning: the creation of life trajectories in transnational adoptive families”, Journal of
the Royal Anthropological Institute, 9/3:465-84. (On how an adopted child becomes ‘kin’ even when
the child looks nothing like her/his adoptive parents.)
Terrell , J. 1994 and J. Modell ‘Anthropology and Adoption’ American Anthropologist, New Series, Vol.
96, No. 1, pp. 155-161.
15
3.2.3 Drawing boundaries and defining groups
How boundaries are drawn: for example through language, religion, ethnicity
Key Concepts:
Interaction, ethnic difference, competition for resources, political anthropology,
resistance, ideology, surveillance, power, migration, sacred space, gendered space,
legitimation, culture freeze
Ethnic differences may be shown through dress, food, forms of worship, kinship practices (i.e.
forms of marriage) etc. In all cases ethnic and religious groups define themselves and are
defined by others in terms of their differences from other ethnic / religious groups.
Models of boundary making and maintaining boundaries are dynamic and open to change.
They do not simply happen people, for a range of reasons, make them happen at particular
moments in particular places.
Some of the materials from earlier sub-sections of Unit 2 will be relevant to this section and
can be re-visited by students. This should serve to deepen knowledge and awareness of how
different aspects of personhood, identity and belonging interrelate but can be distinguished for
analytic and study purposes.
Possible Resources
Ardener, S. 1981. Women and Space: ground rules and social maps, Oxford: Berg.
Barth, F. 1969. Ethnic Groups and Boundaries, London: Athlone Press.
Bourdieu, P. 1970. ‘The Berber House or the world reversed’, Social Science Information. 9: 151-170.
(For a classic structuralist study.) Reproduced in Low, S. & D. Lawrence-Zuniga eds. 2003. The
Anthropology of Space and Place: locating culture, Oxford: Blackwell Publishing.
Cohen, A. 2004. Urban Ethnicity, London: Routledge.
Kathleen D. Hall, 2002. Lives in Translation: Sikh Youth as British Citizens, Philadelphia: University of
Pennsylvania Press. Esp chapter 8 ‘There’s a time to act English and an time to act Indian: the politics
of identity among British-Sikh teenagers.
16
3.2.3 Drawing boundaries and defining groups
• Groups and exclusion, discrimination and domination (such as wars, racism,
ethnic conflicts)
Key Concepts:
war, ethnic conflict, genocide, ethnocide, human rights, culture rights, racism,
nationalism, fundamentalisms, discrimination, exploitation, alienation, hegemony,
feuds, violence, laws, sanctions, cultural values, civil wars, international wars,
honor, freedom, political anthropology, ideology, deterritorialization, displacement,
refugees, indigenous rights, weapons of the weak
Violence is an aspect of social life both in times of peace and war. Often individuals are
subjected to violence, symbolic as well as actual, simply because of a group they belong to or
are thought to belong to. These groups may be defined by ethnicity, religion, gender or in
other ways. As a consequence of how an individual is defined as a member of a group (and
usually as a member of several intersecting groups simultaneously) some opportunities may
be available and others denied in any given society.
In this part of the course students should be given the opportunity to begin to understand how
groups are formed, how boundaries between groups are defined and maintained and the
implications of such boundary formation and maintenance for access to goods and resources,
material and symbolic, that are of value in society.
Violence occurs in small scale societies as well as within and between nation states. Violence
is an aspect of inter-personal relations within the family as well as between larger groups in
conflict within and between societies. Anthropologists work at understanding how groups are
formed and how myths of belonging, ritual practice, invented traditions etc. help to legitimate
these groups. Anthropologists also study how groups are maintained over time through their
interactions with others, their performance of identity and the strategic essentialism that is
sometimes adopted to reinforce and reify notions of identity and belonging.
As well as considering aspects of violence in small scale societies students should be given
the opportunity to develop understandings of violence in modern nation states. The recent
histories of the former Yugoslavia, Rwanda, Sri Lanka and Northern Ireland (and there are
many more) all lend themselves to anthropological study and anthropologists have worked in
all these countries and produced ethnographies that are suitable for or may be adapted for
student use.
17
Other possible resources include:
Alonso, A. M. 1994. ‘The Politics of Space, Time and Substance: State Formation, Nationalism and
Ethnicity’ Annual Review of Anthropology, Vol. 23, pp. 379-405.
Anderson, B (1983) Imagined Communities: Reflections on the Origins and Spread of Nationalism
London: Verso
Eriksen, T. H. 2002. Ethnicity and Nationalism, Pluto Press.
Eriksen, T.H. 1998. Small Places, Large Issues: an introduction to social and cultural anthropology,
London: Pluto Press. Useful chapter 10 ‘Politics and Power’.
Evans-Pritchard’s work on the Nuer – classical ethnography that covers groups (segmentary
structures), feuds, and much more!
Bruce Kapferer’s work on Tamil myths used to legitimize violence in Sri Lanka. Here the links between
language, traditional stories and contemporary violence are made.
Scheper- Hughes, N. & P. Bourgois eds. 2003. Violence in War and Peace: An Anthology WileyBlackwell (for a comprehensive ranges of short texts on violence).
The work of Maalki on refugees e.g.
Malkki, L. 1996. ‘Speechless Emissaries: Refugees, Humanitarianism, and Dehistoricization’, Cultural
Anthropology, Vol. 11, No. 3, pp. 377-404
Liisa H. Malkki, 1995, Purity and exile: violence, memory, and national cosmology among Hutu
refugees in Tanzania, University of Chicago Press.
In this study of Hutu refugees from Burundi, driven into exile in Tanzania after their 1972 insurrection
against the dominant Tutsi was brutally quashed, Liisa Malkki shows how experiences of
dispossession and violence are remembered and turned into narratives, and how this process helps to
construct identities such as "Hutu" and "Tutsi." Through extensive fieldwork in two refugee
communities, Malkki finds that the refugees' current circumstances significantly influence these
constructions. Those living in organized camps created an elaborate "mythico-history" of the Hutu
people, which gave significance to exile, and envisioned a collective return to the homeland of
Burundi. Other refugees, who had assimilated in a more urban setting, crafted identities in response to
the practical circumstances of their day to day lives. Malkki reveals how such things as national
identity, historical consciousness, and the social imagination of "enemies" get constructed in the
process of everyday life. The book closes with an epilogue looking at the recent violence between
Hutu and Tutsi in Rwanda and Burundi, and showing how the movement of large refugee populations
across national borders has shaped patterns of violence in the region.
For a general overview see:
Malkki, L. 1995. Refugees and exile: from ‘refugee studies’ to the national order of things, Annual
Review of Anthropology 24/495-523.
On religious fundamentalism, Christian and other, see, for example
Eller, J.D 2007 ‘Religious Fundamentalism’ Chapter 11 in Introducing Anthropology of Religion, NY:
Routledge
18
3.2.3 Drawing boundaries and defining groups
•
The drawing of boundaries between humans and other entities (such as animals,
spirits and cyborgs).
Key Concepts:
avatar, cyborg, cyborg theory, Cynthia, boundaries, medical technologies,
second life, artificial limbs, bio-technology, boundary dissolution, cultural
representation, animal rights, anthropomorphism, classification, synthetic life,
artificial life, ethics, bioethics
Students to be introduced to Cyborg Theory via attached powerpoint. Ask students to think
about the way they use IT to create alternative identities (or not).
A small research project on Second Life could be set up.
Encourage students to watch the film Avatar (or parts of it – it is very long!) with a set of
questions. This film could be critiqued for its naïve representations of ‘the primitive’ and the
stereotypical rather utopian notions of tribal peoples living in harmony with nature and the
spiritual realm. The gender divides, monogamy, hetero-normativity manifested in the film
could also be discussed as products of a conservative western ideal of family life
(heterosexual couple, mating for life where the male chooses his female after proving himself
worthy of adult responsibilities). The division of labour with a male chief and a female shaman
could also be discussed. Contemporary fears of global destruction reworked in the film as the
indigenous tribe save their planet from human rapaciousness. A modern version of the noble
savage.
Encourage the students to think critically about who is most likely to gain access to virtual
alternative identities, here and in other cultures in terms of gender/class access to the
technology. Students may consider the cultural (mis?)representation of cyborgs, patents, the
future of cyborgs.
This part of the unit may provide an opportunity for students to link some of their earlier work
to technologically mediated social environments. E.g. through work that links identity, and
diasporic communities with cyberspace (Bernal, V. 2006. ‘Diaspora, cyberspace and political
imagination: the Eritrean diaspora online’ Global Networks,6/2: 161-79).
It is also possible to consider how indigenous groups have utilized the potential of new
technologies to organize on their own terms (Landzelius, K. ed. 2006. Native on the Net:
indigenous and diasporic peoples in the Virtual Age, London: Routledge).
19
Human – Animal Interactions
Animals – ask students to consider the different ways in which animals are treated in different
social contexts. Ask students to consider the domestic/wild distinction, animal rights, etc.
Different patterns of animal consumption/vegetarianism. Also to consider the way animals are
categorized and used for example in our language (Leach).
Students may think about the distinctions made between pets and animals we eat for
example. How are pets like ‘family’?
Consider the institutionalization of animals in zoos (zoo culture). Social animal-human
interactions in fox hunting or bull-fighting.
See also:
Bernal, V. (2005) ‘Eritrea on-line: Diaspora, Cyberspace, and the Public Sphere’ in American
Ethnologist 32(4):660-75
Carter, Denise M (2005) ‘Living in Virtual Communities: An Ethnography of Human Relationships in
Cyberspace', Journal of Information, Communication and Society, Vol. 8, No 2, pp148-167 (by an
anthropologist who did her fieldwork in a cybercity).
Escobar, A. (1994) ‘Welcome to Cyberia: Notes on the Anthropology of Cyberspace’ in Current
Anthropology, 35 (3) pp211-31
Haraway, D (1991) Simians, Cyborgs, and Women: The Reinvention of Nature London: Free
Association Press
Hine, Christine (2000) Virtual Ethnography, London: Sage.
Miller, D. & D. Slater (2000) The Internet: An Ethnographic Approach Oxford: Berg
Panagakos, A. N. & H. A. Horst (2006) ‘Return to Cyberia: technology and the social worlds of
transnational migrants’ in Global Networks 6(2):109
Wilding, R (2006) ‘'Virtual' intimacies? Families communicating across transnational contexts’ in
Global Networks 6(2):125.
Wilson, S. M. & L. C. Peterson (2002) ‘The Anthropology of Online Communities’ in Annual Review of
Anthropology 31: 449-467.
http://www.media-anthropology.net/eriksen_nationscyberspace.pdf ‘Nations in Cyberspace’ lecture
2006 by Eriksen.
On animal human interactions: Geertz, C. 1973. ‘Deep play: notes on the Balinese Cockfight’ in
Interpretation of Cultures, NY: Basic Books.
Ingold, T (ed) (1994) What is an Animal? London: Routledge
20
Pink, S. 1997. Women and bullfighting: gender, sex and consumption of tradition, Oxford:
Berg.
Book overview
This book investigates the popularity and success of contemporary women performers in
bullfighting culture, which has been framed by a discourse of 'traditionalist' masculinity. This
examination of the changing situation of women in the bullfighting world is used to explore the
ways in which gender is represented, enacted and negotiated in contemporary Spain. The
bullfight in the 1990s is in an ambiguous position: it is a 'traditional' performance in a changing
consumer society. In order to survive, it needs to adapt itself to a wider social context and, in
particular, to international media coverage. It is in this context that the current success of
women performers is located. However, women performers are a contested phenomenon in
the bullfighting world: there is heated debate over their acceptability, much of which focuses
on the body. Moreover, the entry of women into the bullfight questions existing definitions of
the sport's ritual structure and of gender relations in Spain. Thoroughly researched and
compelling to read, Women and Bullfighting addresses these issues and argues that existing
traditionalist approaches to gender, bullfighting and ritual in Spain need to be revised in order
to locate women bullfighters in the context of a richly varied culture which is increasingly
affected by the media and contemporary patterns of consumption. This provocative book will
be of interest to researchers and students of anthropology, gender studies, sociology, cultural
studies, media studies and Spanish studies.
Robins, D et al (1991) “Dogs and Their People: Pet-Facilitated Interaction in a Public Setting’
in Journal of Contemporary Ethnography Vol 20 No1 April 1991 pp3-25
21
ANTHROPOLOGY UNIT 2 SCHEME OF WORK – 2010-2011
TOPIC
INTRODUCTION TO THE UNIT
Duration
Key terms and
ideas
1 lesson
Approaches
Tutor to provide an overview of the unit (HO) and run through how the
unit will be taught. A reminder of the need to be aware of the key
themes*. Tutor to discuss the differences in the paper (discuss
specimen paper) and explain the links between Unit 1 and Unit 2. An
emphasis on building upon knowledge rather than finishing and moving
on.
Personhood, identity, rite of passage, boundaries, classification, social
construction, gender, totems, symbols, rituals, language, identity,
boundaries.
Activity to get students to identify how that we are asking different
questions of the same studies/concepts (use a documentary that they
have watched/remember) with a set of questions to guide them. This
should draw their attention to the way in which unit 1 is about what
makes us human and unit 2 is about the process of becoming human.
*Introduce key themes and issues of the unit via a powerpoint
presentation
Resources
Extension
Assessments
Intro PP
Overview handout - In workbook/specimen paper
Resources Handout – In workbook
Media Server
Moodle
Group activity sheet – different questions of the same material.
Suggested reading for the unit – tutor to direct students towards key
texts and extracts which relate specifically well to complement their
understanding of the Unit.
Resources list - including radio and documentaries as well as written
text
Direct students to the media server
Formative – Q&A session
22
ANTHROPOLOGY UNIT 2 SCHEME OF WORK – 2010-2011
TOPIC
PERSONHOOD
- ALTERNATIVE CONCEPTS OF PERSONHOOD, SEEN HISTORICALLY
AND CROSS CULTURALLY
Duration
Key terms and
ideas
4 Lessons
Approaches
personhood, social construct, identity, name, norms, cultural
representation, ascribed status, self realization, stratification,
reincarnation, Hinduism, sociocentric, spiritual mediums, dualism,
kin, kinship, endogamy/exogamy, anthropomorphism, identity,
classification, animism, relational, Buddhism, ‘dividuals’,
embodiment, habitus
A good beginning point is to ask the students to think about the
following questions:
1. When do we become a ‘person’?
2. What is a person?
3. When do we cease to be a ‘person’?
4. What does being a person mean to the individuals and to
others around them?
5. Are there stages to becoming a person and if so how do we
reach/pass these stages?
6. Is the experience of being a person the same everywhere?
7. Has being a person meant the same thing in the past as it does
today?
Next students need to become aware of different conceptions of
personhood, either through their own research or through guided
readings. The following examples are a good starting point:
1.
2.
3.
•
•
The Hindu conception of the self
African conceptions of the self
Melanesian conceptions of the self
Start to consider the ways in which the above cross cultural
examples differ from our own concept of personhood
Differentiate between the types of personhood above and find
similarities.
23
Resources
Extension
Handout 1: cross cultural examples of personhood
Research – Ask students, in small groups to research each of the types
of cross-cultural examples and feedback to the group. Discuss the
similarities and differences.
Mini whiteboard test on the various characteristics of the different
types of personhood/similarities and differences.
Assessments
Explain what is meant by the ‘relational’ concept of personhood and
illustrate your answer with an example (4 Marks)
Explain what is meant by the ‘sociocentric’ concept of personhood and
illustration your answer your answer with an example (4 marks)
24
ANTHROPOLOGY UNIT 2 SCHEME OF WORK – 2010-2011
TOPIC
PERSONHOOD
- THE RELATIONAL CONCEPT OF PERSONHOOD CONTRASTED WITH THE
PHILOSOPHICAL AND PSYCHOLOGICAL CONCEPTS COMMON TO
WESTERN SOCIETY
Duration
Key
terms
and ideas
4 lessons
Approaches
Personhood, enlightenment, dualism, binary logic, rational thought,
autonomous individuals, empirical knowledge, Cartesian dualism,
sociocentric, names, social construct, egocentric, materialistic, rationalistic,
individual, ‘separable’, detached, class, non-person, boundaries of
personhood, animism, classification, the body, commodification of body
parts
Now that students are familiar with a range of contrasting notions of
personhood, they are able to draw out the differences between our
individualistic notions of personhood and relational concepts of personhood
found elsewhere. Students need to become aware of the ways in which
these differences affect culture, expectations and rituals. By the end of this
section, students should be able to construct similarities and difference
overview of these types of personhood (see handout – overview grid of
personhood).
1. Go back to the questions and answers that we started personhood
with, discuss how the examples have challenged the students notion
of personhood being universal
2. Using cross cultural examples of personhood, ask the students (in
groups) to come up with five characteristics of English personhood
(indeed – is it agreed/the same for everyone)
3. Next, ask students to think about if this has always been this way or if
personhood has developed more recently.
4. Tutor to draw out the socially constructed/culturally specific nature of
personhood (varies over time and in different places)
5. Using the worksheet or similar, work through the development of
western individualism. Ensure students are able to write a summary
of the characteristics of western individualism incorporating all the
relevant key concepts
6. Begin to consider problems with the boundaries of western
individualism, for example is someone a person when they are on life
support?
25
7. Evaluate western views of personhood by using the example of
Ojibwa Indians whose notion of personhood doesn’t fit out
classification system. What problem does this highlight in regard to
anthropologists trying to understand other cultures? The problem of
interpretation.
A good consolidation activity for this section on personhood is to get the
students to complete a story board (see associated handout) demonstrating
the contrasting types of personhood, to show that they understand the key
differences/similarities.
A timed essay or planning a timed essay together.
Resources
Handout 2: The development of Western notions of personhood
Grid on personhood A3
Storyboard on Personhood
Dominoes on the main concepts and studies within personhood
Extension
Fieldwork – Students to do some observation in other lessons, on
personhood, thinking about how individual effort is perceived and valued in
relation to group endeavour. Write up in 15 lines.
Role play – ask students to get into small groups representing the types of
personhood and give them in various scenarios; a funeral, a ritual celebrating
birth, being at a school sports day. Ask them to act out the response their
given scenario, then after, draw out, through discussion the differences in
responses/types of personhood.
Mini whiteboard test on the various characteristics of the different types of
personhood/similarities and differences.
Assessments
Identify and explain two characteristics of the western concept of an
individual (6 Marks)
Examine the view that the English tend to see persons as isolated entities or
individuals (10 Marks)
Examine the concept of the self or person from the perspective of different
societies you have studied (20 marks)
26
Ethnography
What defines anthropology from other social sciences is ethnography. In order to understand people it is best
to observe them by interacting with them intimately and over an extended period, sometimes years – living in
the communities they study, sharing the lives of the people as much as they can.
This experience is sometimes romanticised (seen as exciting/wondrous!) however, in reality, most
anthropologists work alone and experience loneliness, especially in the early stages of fieldwork. However,
almost all anthropologists find themselves assimilating to the culture of their host communities to a greater or
lesser degree, even to the point of ‘going native’ - completely adopting the lifestyle of their hosts and never
returning home. So, fieldwork can be a challenging and unique experience.
Problems
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
The problem of interpretation – are we able to understand things the way the people involved see
them?
Do we use language/understand the way language is used? Do interpreters have a bias?
Body language – do we interpret it correctly?
Ethical dilemmas – Witnessing events that are morally wrong to you, for example, witnessing a child
sacrifice or watching someone being treated in a ‘cruel’ or ‘unfair’ way
Anthropologists may get carried away with the romance of their own research and lose objectivity.
Temping to see ‘others’ in an overly positive light.
Not representative, such small scale research cannot be used to make generalisations.
Observer bias, interpretation. We all bring our own values, feelings and experiences to our
perceptions.
Requires a very skilled and well researched anthropologist. Most anthropologists will be experts in
their area of interest e.g. sexuality, law, culture, and spend years sometimes learning the language,
customs, a history of a group, before joining them. Takes time!
Hard to record data whilst working ‘in the field’.
Too small scale? Researchers may tend to see the community in isolation without understanding
outside influences, e.g. Firth – in the Tikopia, describes the social organization and traditional religion
without reference to the fact that half the population had recently converted to Christianity.
Activity & Questions
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Define ethnography
What is assimilation?
What role do you think the anthropologist should play when researching, and why?
Read the list of problems above. Can you think of any others?
Put the problems in order of importance, be ready to justify!
In groups assess the view that ‘it is impossible to understand a ritual unless you yourself are
participating in it’
7. Do you think any of the problems above would be an issue if you were studying your own culture? If so
why?
8. What are the strengths of ethnographic research?
27
Examples of cross-cultural conceptions of personhood
1. Hindu Sociocentric personhood
Dumont (1980) argues that within this culture, the individual is entirely subordinated to the
group as an organic whole. Most Indian Hindus believe in reincarnation, which means that
every newborn is a re-born person and not entirely new. One is born a member of a
particular caste, already attached to their social group (strata). Furthermore, life is very
much dictated by one’s karma (fate) and dharma (destiny) as one begins to make decisions.
Life is regarded as a journey; the destination a person is aiming to reach is self realisation,
which means a very important spiritual awakening, where the individual feels complete and
content.
When someone dies, the cycle of birth, death and rebirth begins anew. The caste you are
born into depends upon your acts (good and bad!) in a previous life. This concept of a
person is sociocentric which means that it is the society or the wider community, not the
individual that is at the centre of the universe.
Caste Society: a system dividing all Hindu society into endogamous groups with hereditary
membership, which are separated and connected to each other via:
Marriage and contact:
Division of labour:
Hierarchy:
This is a system based on ascribed status:
Q. How does this notion of personhood differ from the concept of personhood found where you
live?
Q. What influence might the Hindu conception of personhood have on the way that individuals treat
others?
28
2. Examples of African conceptions of Personhood
Traditional religion is often very strong in African villages. Persons are typically given
individual freedom and accountability, but at the same time, ancestral spirits are present.
One may ask them for advice and one risks punishment by them. Persons who die become
ancestral spirits themselves, and in many cases, spiritual mediums, (these are living people
who are able to communicate with the ancestral spirits) who can have a lot of power.
This type of personhood avoids dualism (having to create opposite types) between the material and
the spiritual.
Morris: Malawi
The people Morris studies are made up of a number of different ethnic communities, but include
communities which share a common cultural heritage.
Malawians recognise that humans are a distinct form of living entity, but being human does not
mean that one is a person in the cultural sense. Humans are distinct from animals as they each have
their own species characteristics. But they ‘do not make a radical distinction between animals and
humans and animals, but rather conceive of humans and animals as sharing many attributes’.
Humans, like animals are physical, social and moral, embedded in a world. Humans differ from
animals, not so much because they have free will, consciousness, social abilities, but because
humans have these characteristics to a greater degree. They see animals and humans as kin.
In their day to day lives, Malawians refer to animals in an anthropomorphic way, as happens in a
number of cultures, including our own.
Anthropomorphism: giving animals human attributes or characteristics
So Malawians, like other cultures, have a distinction between humans and animals. However, the
distinction is not a clear cut boundary, with humans having conscious minds and animals not having
conscious minds.
Instead, the distinction between animals and people may be based on other attributes. For example
Morris tells a story to illustrate his understanding of the Malawian view of animals. He wanted to
know what the difference was between baboons and humans since they kept referring to baboons
as if they were human. When asked the question he was told, ‘father you have a grey beard and
know a lot about our culture, but sometimes you speak as a child, baboons have tails’.
Another interesting feature of Malawian culture is the way that humans themselves are classified as
persons and included in the community, or not. A very important part of personhood for Malawians
is that they are part of a social community. The individual has no soul but is usually the embodiment
of the ancestral spirit, usually a grandparent of the same sex. There are certain individuals who are
excluded from personhood because of their moral characteristics and get labelled as witches.
‘for in a sense, a human being who is isolated from others, who is ungenerous, unhelpful,
melancholy and individualistic and with a ‘bad heart’ is not a real person.
29
Children who die do not turn into proper ancestral spirits, and therefore their personhood is still
only partial.
Questions
Q. How does the Malawian understanding of being a person vary from your own concept of being a
person?
Q. In what ways does your culture have similar have similar and different ways of distinguishing
between humans and animals?
Q. If there is no fixed definition of a person, what implications does this have for the questions of
whether animals or machines could be persons?
Q. Imagine how our view of our self might change if we thought that we didn’t have a soul, but were
an embodied spirit of an ancestor. How might this affect our life? Would we change anything about
society?
3. Melanesian Relational concepts of Personhood
‘Human thought is consummately social: social in its origins, social in its functions, social in
its forms, social in its applications. At base, thinking is a public activity – its natural habitat is
the house-yard, the marketplace, and the town square’ Geertz (1975)
According to Strathern (1992) the Melenisian concept of the self is the more correct than
the western conept of personhood. In the highland societies of New Guinea, a human being
is not perceived as a complete until they have acquired the basic categories of local culture.
Personhood therefore is gradually gained from birth as the child becomes more familiar
with the shared customs and values of the culture he or she lives in.
Also, a person is no considered to be dead until all debts are repaid and the inheritance has
been distributed. Only when all the social relationships the dead person have been formally
ended, can that person be considered properly dead. Strathern argues that Melanesians
see people similarly to the way social scientists see people, in terms of their relationships
with others, unlike the English, who tend to see persons as isolated individuals.
Q. The quote above by Geertz suggests that humans are basically social beings, how does
this mean that the sociocentric view of personhood is the ‘correct’ way of seeing people?
Q. How does this relational view of personhood vary from your own?
30
4. Buddhist conceptualisations of personhood
Buddha means 'enlightened'.
‘We are shaped by our thoughts; we become what we think. When the mind is pure, joy
follows like a shadow that never leaves’
Buddism is a tradition that focuses on personal, spiritual development. Buddhists strive for
a deep insight into the true nature of life and do not worship gods. Buddhism has around
376 followers around the world and the number is increasing all the time in the UK.
Buddhism started over 2,500 years ago. The essence of Buddhism is to reach the stage
where you are enlightened. The way this occurs is through a life which avoids self
indulgence and self-denial.
Buddhism rejects the idea of self. The historical Buddha lived in India 2500 years ago,
became enlightened after long meditation under a tree. He taught that people suffer
because of ignorance and especially by clinging on to a false notion of self. The way out of
suffering is to drop all of the desires and attachments that keep recreating the self.
Therefore, central to his teaching is the idea of no self. The idea of self does not exist, the
self is just a conventional name given to a set of elements. Buddhists believe in
reincarnation; however their goal is to educate themselves to break the cycle of rebirth and
enter ‘Nirvana’.
Q. How does Buddhism challenge the other examples of personhood?
Q. How might this understanding of selfhood conflict with English interpretations of
personhood – give examples.
31
The Development of Western Individualist Concepts of
Personhood
The way we see ourselves here in the UK, is very different to how others see
personhood, as we have seen from the previous section. You will be expected to
understand how this view of personhood developed and its main characteristics.
When did the idea of the individual person begin?
The idea of being an individual is linked to a period called the enlightenment, around
the 18th century. During this period, in Europe there were many scientific discoveries
which contradicted many of the accepted teachings of those in authority, notably
the Church. This made philosophers question the knowledge that had previously
been accepted as ‘true’. Many philosophers challenged the view that empirical
knowledge (knowledge gained through experience) was reliable. The enlightenment
resulted in a group of writers, philosophers and scientists discussing ideas and
thoughts on what being a person actually means.
In philosophy, having a mind or consciousness is the criteria for being a person.
There is a debate about what characteristics the mind has, but many philosophers
consider rational thought and the ability to reason as key aspects of the mind.
Others would argue it is a sense of morality and language important.
Anthropology develops our understanding of what it is to be a person by showing
how culture-dependant personhood is.
Enlightenment: A period of time ranging from part of the 17th century through
much of the 18th century, characterised particularly by the importance of logic and
reason
During this period, and as a result of these changes, philosophers and others began
to regard the person as ‘individual’ beings. Probably the most well known person in
this process was 17th Century Philosopher René Descartes (1596 – 1650) who
proposed the well known Cartesian dualist theory.
Cartesian dualism: this is the idea that the mind and the brain are ‘separable’
So why did logic and rational thought change the way we understand personhood?
By replacing religious and spiritual explanations of personhood with rational,
scientific explanations of the ways that our mind works, it was possible to regard
each person as a separate entity. This meant that individuals are autonomous
individuals. People make decisions about their lives and have to live with the
consequences. This development also meant that the mystery of birth, death and
the afterlife was removed.
32
Before the enlightenment...
Mauss (1872-1950) was an eminent anthropologist, the nephew and student of
Durkheim, the leading French sociologist. He developed thinking on the concept of
the self, in his renowned essay Selfhood, which incorporates data from ethnographic
studies to support his ideas.
Mauss claims that personhood as we know it today is a relatively recent
development. In earlier societies, Mauss suggests, people had an essentially
sociocentric conception of the person; this is where individualism is not developed;
identity is linked to the group. This means that you see yourself as part of the group
rather than acting individually.
For example, in Zuni, Pueblo Indians, Mauss noted that only a limited number of
first names exist, as individuals are expected to adopt the clan mentality. Therefore
naming can give real insight into the way in which a culture understands
personhood.
Q. How would you feel if you were given the same name as your brother/sisters or
friends?
Q. Why would you react in that way?
Q what does this tell us about our ‘world view’ (how we see the world) in relation to
personhood?
Sociocentric conception of personhood: A society based on the notion that society
has its own power and goes over and above the individual, for example India where
reincarnation reinforces the idea that you are simply a small part in a bigger picture
33
Key characteristics of Western Individualism
‘the person is a rational substance, indivisible and individual’ Mauss
Mauss also points to the development of individual awareness of self in Roman
culture; the word moi, meaning me, and the word personne which meant mask.
However Mauss argues that it was the development of Christianity that led to the
true idea of the self created, autonomous person. Philosophers Kante and Fichte
argue that this is when a ‘person’ became a psychological category. Therefore the
individual self is not innate/biologically inevitable but socially constructed. This also
explains why personhood varies in different places and over time. So the way you
see personhood is very much linked with your culture. Culture and person cannot be
separated; who you are is a product of your context (the place and time you are in).
In Western society, the person is usually perceived as a unique individual, whole and
indivisible. During the life course, the single individual makes a number of individual
decisions or choices and has to take responsibility for their consequences. When
someone dies, they cease to exist as individuals. However, in Western societies
there is no general agreement as to what happens after death. Some argue that
death is the end of you as an individual, whereas others argue that dead persons
somehow continue to exist in a spiritual being in an invisible world. The western
notion of personhood is known as egocentric; meaning that the person is central,
undivided.
So how could we describe western individualism? Use the following characteristics
to write a summary of this particular type of personhood:
• Egocentric
• Materialistic (being a person means you need a body!)
• Rationalistic (being a person means you are logical and can think in a
rational way)
• Reflects western culture which has lost its sense of the mystical (being a
person doesn’t have to be linked to spiritual/religious ideas)
• Individual
• Detached, separate
• Self sufficient/ narcissistic (being interested in yourself!)
• Dualistic – mind and body are separate
• Being a person linked with being alive
34
Problems with boundaries of personhood in western society
As we have discovered, ‘personhood’ is a socially constructed category. There are
usually a set of values that are associated with being a person. For example slaves,
in the past have been considered as property not persons with full rights and
individual identity. This shows how personhood is a way or classifying humans and is
therefore laden with values.
Q. Can you think of an example of a group or individuals who might not be
considered a ‘person’ in today’s society in the UK?
Why do they have this status?
Does everyone share the same concept of personhood in the UK?
Bernstein (1964) and Douglas (1970) draw attention to class differences in the
concept of personhood. They argue that in working class families there is little sense
of the self. They claim that the middle class have a desire to have power over or
control ‘the self’.
What do you think?
Death, illness and the person
Where the people become older or ill, and there are problems e.g. loss of urinary function, a
society or group may not tolerate the individual and society may separates such individuals
in institutions which are sanitized and impersonal, such as hospitals/old people’s homes.
There is a danger that as a result of this, an individual may potentially become a non-person.
Q. Can you think of how we lose our sense of individualism in hospital? Give examples
In contrast, in non-western societies (where the self is not restricted to the individual body)
disintegration within the body may not be seen as problematic.
Our individualistic ideas about personhood also have boundaries concerning death. Death,
when it occurs is based on a binary (two part) division between life and death which can be
a problem. So, typically we feel someone is a person when they are physically alive and not
a person when they are dead.
However, due to medical technological developments, there are times where it can be very
difficult to define someone as dead or not. For example, where relatives are asked to
consider donating organs of kin who have died typically experience confusion when
confronted with a body that’s looks as though it is living.
Therefore technological advances in medicine have presented challenges to our boundaries
of personhood. This shows how concepts of personhood are changing and being challenged
all the time.
35
Ojibwa Indians
Ojibwa Indians are interesting because their understanding of personhood challenges
Western classification of personhood. Classification refers to the way we organise and apply
categories to something. As nomadic hunters and fishers living east of Lake Winnipeg, they
communicate with ancestors through dreams. Sprits are very important as they guide
Ojibwa Indians through life. Winds are categorised as persons, sun and moon also. This is
called an animistic conception of the world. Personhood can be extended to non humans
and objects. This spiritual knowledge is passed down through oral histories.
Animism: giving souls or a spiritual existence to animals, plants and other natural objects,
such as mountains and rocks, meaning that non-humans are given the identity of a
‘person’ in some form.
Hallowell points out that western categorisation of personhood does not and can not
include the Ojibwa Indian classification system. This is because myth and reality are not
separate for Ojibwa Indians.
This example shows how (western) anthropologists have to be careful not to try to impose
their own world view on other cultures. If they do, there is a danger that understanding of
another culture is made impossible.
36
ANTHROPOLOGY of PERSONHOOD
CHARACTERISTICS OF WESTERN CONCEPTS
CHARACTERISITICS OF
OF PERSONHOOD
SOCIOCENTRIC CONCEPTS OF
PERSONHOOD
CHARACTERISITICS OF
RELATIONAL CONCEPTS OF
PERSONHOOD
37
Example:
Example:
Example:
Are you able to discuss the similarities and differences between these types of personhood?
Activity: Personhood Storyboard
Resources: A3 grids, colouring pens, pencils
Using the A3 grid provided use the top row to draw stick people carrying out typical death rituals, in
England.
In the second row, underneath each picture in the smaller boxes, explain what is going on in each
picture, using anthropological concepts/ideas where possible.
In the 3rd and 4th rows, repeat the exercise but using a sociocentric or relational example, again
depicting a death ritual. For example, you may want to use the example of the Melanesians who do
not consider someone to dead unless they have paid off their debts.
38
STORYBOARD PERSONHOOD – RITUALS SURROUNDING DEATH
39
The Function of Rituals
Version 1.0
Copyright © 2009 AQA and its licensors. All rights reserved.
Definitions of rituals
• ‘The
social aspect of religion’.
• ‘rule bound public events which give shape to
relationship between physical life and spiritual
lif ’
life’.
• Behaviour prescribed by society in which
individuals have little choice about their actions,
sometimes having reference to beliefs in mystical
beings or powers’.
Version 1.0
Copyright © 2009 AQA and its licensors. All rights reserved.
Rituals are…
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Hard to define
Complex
Have no consistent/universal patterns
Difficult to interpret/understand
S
Secular
l or religious/spiritual
li i
/ i it l
Carried out by a few ‘chosen’ or by many
Based on objects or symbols
Potentially political
Powerful and important!
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The Nacirema
See worksheet
y we see
• What does this studyy tell us about the way
‘other’ cultures?
• What can we learn from this?
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Leach (1910 – 89)
• The spiritual world is a reflection of reality.
• Rituals tend to involve sacrifice, which provide a
way of talking about society.
• Rituals emphasise the spiritual.
• In his study of Kachin Society,
Society the rituals
promote instability and this reflects the social
structure.
• However whatever the type of rituals, they always
seek to legitimate those who have power in a
culture.
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Kapferer
• Demon exorcism in the Sinhalese in Sri Lanka
(1984).
• Large, well attended, very dramatic events that
take place in front of the ‘possesed’ person’s front
yard.
• This ritual according to Kapferer allows people to
see the world more clearly than usual, and think
about their own position within it.
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Turner - Symbols
• The use of symbols is central to rituals.
• Christianity white symbolizes purity whilst
black symbolizes evil and darkness
darkness.
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Turner continued
• HOWEVER some symbols are ambiguous;
Turner suggests that such symbols are
multivocal, meaning that they are saying
several different things at the same time
time.
• For example, the wafer that is consumed at
holy communion, is ordinary yet also a part
of Christ’s body.
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Turner continued
• Turner regards the Milk Tree as central symbol at initiation
rituals for the Ndembu. The tree secretes a think, white
milkish fluid when the bark is cut.
• The milk represents breast milk, the tree is said to belong
to the mother and the child
child, as it represents the bond
between the two. Therefore it has a biological meaning
and a social meaning.
• However it also represents women’s solidarity against
men's oppression over them, as women sing and dance
round the tree.
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Turner - Symbols
• All symbols are based on the familiar.
• They have to be multivocal or ambiguous, to
create solidarity. Since people are different, the
symbols must be capable of meaning different
things to different people.
• For example flags (these are a good example of
political rituals).
• Can you think of more examples?
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Rituals of Modernity: Sports
• There are many examples of secular
rituals, rock concerts for example
(Glastonbury/V).
• Sports however represent the most
significant rituals in a modern society.
• Between a quarter and a third of the world’s
population watched the 1998 World
Football cup on T.V.
• Is football worship secular?
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Football as a ritual
• Archetti (1999) regards football as a celebration of
masculinity, the star players are like religious icons.
• Associated with the working class.
• Football has an important role in expressing national
identity
identity.
• Bridges generation gaps – sons support the same teams
as their dads.
• Football can also be used to express political views.
• A global phenomena, for example Manchester United are
virtually the home team of Singapore.
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THE NACIREMA
Every culture contains its own unique patterns of behaviour, which seem alien
to people from other cultural backgrounds. As an example, we can take the
Nacirema, a group described in a celebrated research investigation by Horace
Miner (1956). Miner concentrated his attention on the elaborate body rituals in
which the Nacirema engage, rituals which have strange and exotic
characteristics.
The fundamental belief underlying the whole system appears to be that the
human body is ugly and that its natural tendency is to weakness and disease.
Encased in such a body, people’s only hope is to avoid these characteristics
through the use of the powerful influences of ritual and ceremony. Every
household has one or more shrines devoted to this purpose… The focal point
of the shrine is a box or chest which is built into the wall. In this chest are
kept the many charms and magical potions without which no native believes
he could live. These preparations are secured from a variety of specialised
practitioners. The most powerful of these are the medicine men, whose
assistance must be rewarded with substantial gifts. However, the medicine
men do not provide the curative potions for their clients, but decide what the
ingredients should be and then write them down in an ancient and secret
language. This writing is understood only by the medicine men and by the
herbalists who, for another gift, provide the required potions.
The Nacirema have an almost pathological horror of and fascination with the
mouth, the condition of which is believed to have a supernatural influence on all
social relationships. Were it not for the rituals of the mouth, they believe that
their teeth would fall out, their gums bleed, their jaws shrink, their friends
desert them, and their lovers reject them. They also believe that a strong
relationship exists between oral and moral characteristics. For example, there
is a ritual ablution of the mouth for children, which is supposed to improve their
moral fibre.
The daily body ritual performed by everyone includes a mouth ritual. Despite
the fact that these people are so careful about care of the mouth, this rite
involves a practice which strikes the uninitiated stranger as revolting. It was
reported to me that the ritual consists of inserting a small bundle of hog hairs
into the mouth, along with certain magical powders, and then moving the
bundle in a highly formalised series of gestures.
44
Questions:
1 Identify the main characteristics of the Nacirema
2 What is your initial reaction to their culture (way of life)? Be ready to explain
your reaction
3 Is there anything similar between the Nacirema and your own culture?
45
TRANSHUMANISM
&
CYBORG CULTURE
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What is transhumanism?
Transhumanism is an international intellectual and cultural
movement supporting the use of science and
technology to improve
h
human
i t ll t l and
intellectual
d physical
h i l characteristics
h
t i ti
and capacities.
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What is a cyborg?
An organism that is part human and part technology
Can you think of some examples of cyborgs?
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The American theorist
Donna Haraway claims that we live in a ‘Cyborg
Culture’
Are we are all cyborgs now?
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Medical technologies and devices can take the place of
limbs/body parts/processes e.g. replacements, grafts,
organs
Artificial Artificial
Skin
Heart
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Artificial
Leg
Artificial
Arm
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The use of Technology
Going to the gym would not exist without the idea of the
body as a high performance machine e.g. sports shows –
highly specialised for different activities
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Activities like running are no longer just about running.
Rather, such an activity is characterised by a combination
of diet, clothing, medicine, training, visualisation and time
keeping.
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The technical definition of cyborg highlights the fusion
between human and machine, but it has taken on a
wider cultural significance
e.g. the X Files, Avatar
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The Bionic Man (1970’s)
www.youtube.com/watch?v=HofoK_QQxGc
y
_
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Haraway is making the point that there may no longer be
a boundary between what is artificial and what is real.
What do you think?
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The cyborg encourages us to think about how we define
‘the human body’, how it differs from technology.
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This type of question can lead to an anxiety about the
stability of the boundaries we are so keen to build and
maintain.
It can lead to boundary paranoia – What is the body and
what might it turn into?
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But, on a positive note, cyborgs can overcome/transend
traditional boundaries such as male/female abled/disabled
queer/straight.
Creative possibilities and boundary dissolution may lead
to potential political and social change.
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Who is Cynthia?
See the related handout news article and activates.
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