The Homeyness of Culture

Theories of Cultural Change ANTH 2301 The Homeyness of Culture French academic Pierre Bourdieu (1970) examined a typical Kabyle family home in northern Algeria during the 1960s. The traditional Kabyle homes were rectangular structures with tiled roofs, constructed of clay and stone. A separating wall standing waist height separated one portion of the dwelling within. The stable was an enclosed space with flagstone flooring, positioned lower than the rest of the house, where animals were housed overnight. The Kabyle were an agricultural people that maintained mules, cows, donkeys, and oxen. There was a loft above the stable where women and children frequently slept, however sleeping arrangements and marital sex practices varied. The bigger portion of the home had a higher floor, paved with a mixture of black clay and cow excrement that was polished by women using stones. This area was set aside for usage by humans. One enormous weaving loom sat against the wall across from the entryway in this larger, raised area. This wall, with the loom, got the greatest light in the home because it faced east. This was the prettiest area of the home, so guests and brides sat here. The bigger part included a fire opposite a dividing wall, flanked by lights, jars of edible grain, and cooking utensils. Women's labour was connected to the loom and the hearth as the primary hubs of human activity in the home. males were supposed to be outside the home from dawn until dusk, labouring in the fields and mingling with other males in public areas, according to Bourdieu. It was intended for women to stay at home. The Kabyle home was split into two realms in Bourdieu's analysis: a brighter, higher realm linked to people and cultural activities (weaving, cooking, brides, and visitors) and a darker, lower realm connected to animals and natural activities (sleeping, sex, birthing, and death). Everywhere in the globe, people need a location to congregate, work, socialise, and sleep. While some have complexes, others have residences built in the Western manner. Some dwell in caves dug out of sandstone or volcanic rock, in wooden houses constructed on stilts or in trees to avoid floods and predators, or in tents made of wooden beams covered in animal skins or fabric. Even though all of these many types of homes are intended to serve as places where people live, they are all uniquely formed by the local circumstances and lifestyles. Most often, houses are constructed using materials that are readily accessible in the area and are made to withstand the local climate and predators. People create unique technologies throughout centuries to turn the resources at hand into sturdy, useful houses. The layout of space in these various households varies depending on the types of families, gender roles and relationships, and daily activities. Our homes are shaped by prevailing ideologies about marriage, employment, gender, parenthood, hospitality, and social standing. Thus, a home consists of a variety of objects, innovations, interpersonal connections, customs, core beliefs, and shared ideologies. These characteristics are mixed differently in every culture to create unique interpretations of home. Different combinations of traits result in different kinds of job, food, clothes, and health. These are the kinds of living, eating, working, and so on that people who grow up in a certain social group learn and eventually come to accept as normal. Such integrated sets of social and environmental characteristics are referred to by anthropologists as culture. You are familiar with the customs of your culture; in fact, they are frequently so engrained that they are second nature. The culture itself has a sense of familiarity. The goal of anthropology's four subfields is to comprehend human civilization. When it comes to the development of culture throughout the course of human biological evolution, biological anthropologists are frequently intrigued. Material artefacts are essential for understanding the social structures, technological advancements, and philosophical beliefs of prehistoric peoples. Participant observation is a common tool used by cultural anthropologists to comprehend how different aspects of culture interact in modern civilizations. The study of how language influences and is influenced by other aspects of a culture is of interest to linguists. This chapter examines culture, one of anthropology's main concepts. We look at what sets culture apart from other facets of human existence and behaviour. We split culture into three levels in an attempt to organise the wide range of elements that make up culture. We also examine how those levels fit together holistically and what happens when they don't. In conclusion, we discern a series of inconsistencies inherent in the notion of culture and examine how these inconsistencies shed light on the essence of human social existence.