History of Ethnography and Anthropology

Ethnography

• A type of writing based on anthropological fieldwork.
• Aims to observe and understand a culture from the viewpoint of native people.
• Thick description emphasizes the importance of context when interpreting a cultural practice.

Victorian Anthropology

• Key figures include Tylor and Frazer.
• Relied on second-hand accounts for comparing and ranking societies.
• Applied Darwinism to explain societal evolution.
• Practitioners did not conduct fieldwork.

Armchair Anthropology

• Does not involve fieldwork.

Anthropologists

Bronisław Malinowski

• Considered the father of British anthropology.
• Conducted fieldwork on the Trobriand Islands during World War I.
• Advocated participant observation by engaging in everyday tasks and observing daily interactions.
• Studied the Kula ring ceremonial exchange of shell necklaces and armbands.

Franz Boas

• Considered the father of American cultural anthropology.
• Studied indigenous people in Canada.
• Promoted historical particularism, which is the idea that each society has its own unique historical development.
• Defined cultural relativism as the idea that cultures should be understood by their own standards.
• Ethnocentrism is the opposite of cultural relativism, where other cultures are judged by one's own culture.
• Practiced salvage ethnography to preserve cultural documents.
• Authored a book about race and democracy, similar to Antenor Firmin.

Shift to Fieldwork

• Shaped the discipline by emphasizing first-hand experience using participant observation.
• Promoted a holistic perspective, viewing elements as interconnected.
• Favored comparative analysis without establishing hierarchies.
• Usually conducted by a single researcher increasing the power imbalance between the anthropologist and the studied population.

Collaborative Fieldwork

• Involved researchers like W.H.R. Rivers and A.C. Haddon on the Torres Straits Expedition.

Culture

• Shared collections of learned behaviors among a group of people.
• A tool or concept for understanding human beliefs, values, tastes, sensibilities, desires, logics, worldviews, and behaviors.
• Includes meanings people give to things, both symbolic and material.
• Penetration of global culture doesn't necessarily lead to extinction of local traditions.
• Franz Boas conceptualized culture as a lens of experience.
• Clifford Geertz described culture as common sense.

Balinese Cockfight Case Study

• Illegal in Indonesia due to Dutch colonial rule.
• Cocks symbolize powerful men in villages, narrating stories about status.
• Cockfights don't alter social status but symbolically represent masculinity and creativity.
• Balinese men have intimate bonds with their cocks.
• Commentary on Balinese life, embodying social relationships of kin and village.

Canadian Hockey

• A ritual
• Provides players an opportunity to gain status, achievement, and self-esteem.

Worldview

• An encompassing picture of reality based on shared assumptions about how the world operates.
• Multiple worldviews can coexist in a single society.

Language

• A unique human capability to communicate symbolically.
• Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis: A systematic relationship exists between a person's language and their understanding and behavior in the world.
• Different languages lead to different thought patterns.
• Bamboo symbolizes grace, youth, and success in Chinese.

Kwakwaka'wakw Metaphors of Hunger

• Key metaphor is the dominant meanings people attribute to experiences.
• Worldview centers on the idea that some beings must die for others to live.
• Hunger is linked to greed and immortality.
• Eating provides nutrition and frees the soul.
• The Kwakwaka'wakw believe the soul enters a salmon after death.

Symbolic Actions

Religion

• Anthropologists suggest religion enhances group cohesion or provides supernatural sanctions for group norms.

Ritual

• A dramatic rendering or social portrayal of shared meanings.
• Rites of passage mark transitions between life stages.
• The Kwakwaka'wakw Hamatsa Dance represents taming greed and conflict.

The Liminal Stage

• A state of transition, such as between being unmarried and married.
• Can be dangerous, unstructured state.

Kinship

• Encompasses blood relations but holds metaphorical meanings beyond biology.
• Nuclear family consists of parents and siblings.

Types of Kinship

• Consanguinal kinship is based on genetics.
• Affinal kinship is established by marriage.
• Fictive kinship includes social ties not based on marriage or biology.
• Examples - neighborhood aunt

Kinship Classification System

• Bilateral Kinship Classification traces kinship through both parents..
• Bifurcate Merging Kinship Classification System uses different terms for relatives on maternal and paternal sides.
• Parallel cousins are cousins from a parent's same-sex sibling.
• Patrilineal descent traces kinship through the father's side, as adopted by rural Chinese families.
• Matrilineal descent traces kinship through the mother’s side, as adopted by Trobriand Islanders.
• Individuals marry outside their matrilineage (dala).
• A man’s wife and children cannot belong to his dala.
• Trobriand procreation theories grant women central role, reinforcing matrilineal ties.

Etic vs Emic Perspectives

• Etic perspective analyzes culture using external categories and interpretations.
• Emic perspective analyzes culture from an insider's viewpoint.
• These perspectives are complementary.

Kinship Diagram

• Square represents ego or gender-unspecified.
• Z represents sister.

Legacies of Violence

Orgosolo Fieldwork

• Located on Sardinia island, Italy, in the Barbagia region.
• Economy relies on the surrounding countryside for tourism.
• Lifestyle is based on sheep and goat pastoralism.
• Settlement consists of nucleated villages with tightly packed houses.
• Marked by hardships caused by government actions.

Conversation with Angelo

• Downplays theft while hinting at its persistence.
• Livestock rustling is a forbidden topic.
• Highlights Sardinian shepherds’ dependence on law-abiding practices vs the occasional need for illegal actions due to pastoral life demands.
• Sardinia highlands reject state legal system in favor of settling conflicts through blood feuds.

Landscape and History

• Settlement patterns reflect a preference for life away from the coast.
• Northern Sardinia has taller hills and mountains, while the south has rolling hills and plains.
• Highlands fostered a pastoral society shaped by isolation and resistance to external governance.
• The mountains provided a refuge against state control, fostering indigenous legal and social mechanisms.

Balentìa

• Shepherds’ code of honor.
• Habitus of shepherds involves particular ways of moving, dressing, and acting.
• Pastoralism isn't what it once was.
• Young shepherds frequent bars and taverns more often than their ancestors.
• Corso Repubblica has numerous bars patronized by shepherds.

The Household

• Uncommon to include the extended family in the household.
• Household is mother-centered.
• Mothers provides moral education, managing finances, and representing the family.
• Sardinia women are subordinate to men, but are central in the community and nuclear family.
• Younger women aspire to self-actualization, seeking wealth and status.

Study the history of ethnography and anthropology, covering topics such as methodologies, key figures like Malinowski and Boas, and the transition from armchair anthropology to fieldwork-based research. Explore thick description and cultural context.