What Is Anthropology - Cultural Anthropology

What Is Anthropology? ANTH 2301 Cultural Anthropology The goal of cultural anthropology is to describe and comprehend the vast array of civilizations that are included in the main narrative of anthropological. Cultural anthropologists study the everyday attitudes, behaviours, and ideas of individuals from other cultures as well as the significant historical and cultural moments in those civilizations. Cultural anthropologists study social discourse and behaviour in order to comprehend bigger influences like political dominance and economic development, as well as implicit standards and values. Cultural anthropologists also examine the structures and roles that structure social life in various communities. Cultural anthropologists sometimes spend many months or years immersed in the civilizations they research, making every effort to correctly imitate local customs about speaking, eating, clothing, and living. We refer to this procedure as fieldwork. When conducting fieldwork, anthropologists may produce an ethnography, which is a comprehensive analysis of the culture they have been researching. Early 20th-century classic ethnographies frequently presented non-Western societies as peaceful and stable across time. Pioneering the long-term fieldwork approach, Bronislaw Malinowski studied magic and commerce among the Trobriand peoples of what is now the Kiriwina island group northeast of New Guinea for over two years. In his ethnography Argonauts of the Western Pacific (1922), he explains how Trobrianders travelled by canoe from island to island in order to participate in the traditional kula ring trade, which involved the trading of red and white shell necklaces and bracelets between various island communities. Surprisingly, since no one ever wore these highly prized items, they were completely useless. Instead, the trade of necklaces and bracelets served to strengthen trade connections and elevate social standing (for the donors). Malinowski contends that combat was replaced by this type of communication. Malinowski discovered a great deal about Trobriand society by closely examining the kula ring. These features included the production of tools and boats, agricultural methods, gender roles, sexuality, and magical beliefs and rituals. Cultural anthropologists these days prefer to concentrate more on conflict and change-related topics, as the Afghan suicide bombings (Edwards 2017), the creationist theme park in Kentucky (Bielo 2018), the Danish sperm donation scandal (Mohr 2018), and the Rio de Janeiro garbage pickers (Millar 2018). Anthropologists frequently investigate underappreciated and marginalised viewpoints on contentious subjects, illuminating the intricate power structures and cultural nuances at play. Anthropologist Tracey Heatherington (2010) was curious as to why certain Sardinian residents were opposing the establishment of a conservation park. In addition to old growth woods and several endangered species, Sardinia's central highlands are home to the native herding peoples, who vehemently opposed having their territory appropriated. Three opposing viewpoints were found by Heatherington's research: those of international environmentalists, the Italian government, and the Sardinian people. The Sardinian highlands are seen by international environmentalists as a fragile ecosystem that has to be managed and preserved by professionals in the field. The Italian government sees a chance to promote ecotourism and showcase Italy's environmental commitment on the same territory. Sardinian natives respect their country, a personal environment rich in cultural significance and rich in history, as the cornerstone of their way of life. As the debate brought these three points of view together, national government and Westernised global environmentalism worked together to erode the credibility of indigenous wisdom and authority. By describing how misconceptions about Sardinians as illiterate and culturally retrograde were employed to undermine their opposition to the conservation park, Heatherington highlights the existence of ecological racism within the international environmental movement.