Cultural Studies PDF

CULTURAL STUDIES – W EEK 1 Cultural Studies: discipline focusing on themes of diversity in contemporary culture Among others: power, ethnicity, gender, sexuality, race, the human body, etc. Developed by British scholars in the 1960s o Leading figures associated with the Centre for Co...

CULTURAL STUDIES – W EEK 1 Cultural Studies: discipline focusing on themes of diversity in contemporary culture Among others: power, ethnicity, gender, sexuality, race, the human body, etc. Developed by British scholars in the 1960s o Leading figures associated with the Centre for Contemporary Cultural Studies (Birmingham) Traditionally, CS drewn on semiotics, Marxism, poststructuralism, ethnography, cultural anthropology Course broadly anthropologically informed combining standard 101 anthropological topics with understanding of selected topics in the contemporary world ANTHROPOLOGY: A SHORT INTRODUCTION Anthropology: scientific study of humankind‘s present and past It gradually took shape in the 19th century „fathers“ of anthropology: Tylor, Boas o was scientific field shaped mostly by male scientists o Exceptions, especially in US: Columbia's department open space to female a’s ▪ Benedict, Mead, Bunzel etc Anthropology under the shadow of colonialism o anthropologists participated on colonial power o findings were many times created in colonial situations STRUCTURE OF ANTHROPOLOGY: A SHORT INTRODUCTION So called four-field approach was created by Franz Boas and his students Biological anthropology o Human evolution, variability, and adaptations to environmental conditions Linguistic anthropology o nature of human language in the context of particular culture All four fields draw upon field research BETWEEN UNIVERSALS AND CULTURAL SPECIFICS People are the same in some way regardless their particular culture All people solve similar types of problems, but arrive at different solutions Family, religion, magic, delivering babies, death, body modification, marriage, … George P. Murdock o listed 73 culture universals based on inter-culture comparison o universals are cultural similarities in a form but vary in content The biggest database of different cultures is hosted by Yale University o HRAF - Human Relations Area Files ANTHROPOLOGICAL STUDY OF CULTURE World changes rapidly: AT tries to respond to changes and reflect them through research No longer focuses on exotic cultures Understanding of humans as determined by their particular cultural backgrounds To do at research is just matter of scholar imagination o There is not true out, we live in socially constructed worlds  FIELD RESEARCH AT draws upon fieldwork requires long-term stay among research subjects Imperative is to come without biases Field research is complicated psycho-social-scientific process needing open-minded reflexivity → supervising yourself THE RELATED CONCEPT : ETHNOCENTRISM Ethnocentrism: tendency to rank and judge cultures by standards of one’s own background Belief in natural superiority of own culture → insensitivity to other cultures Part of universal human tendency to distinguish “us vs them” „Us vs them“ o Universal tendency to categorise ppl: „We” the good guys, „they“ the bad o In different languages o Autoethonym often means human or human beings o Exoethnonym often means animal, beast, something strange and dangerous The terms autoethnonym and exoethnonym are used in anthropology, sociology, and linguistics to describe how groups name themselves versus how others name them: Autoethnonym: This is the name a group uses to refer to themselves. It often has a positive connotation and reflects how they see themselves. For example, many cultures' names for themselves translate to "human" or "the people," emphasizing their identity as the norm or ideal Exoethnonym: This is the name given to a group by outsiders. These names can sometimes carry negative connotations, reflecting fear, misunderstanding, or dehumanization. For example, outsiders might use terms that translate to "animal," "beast," or "stranger" to label other groups, implying that they are dangerous, uncivilized, or "the other." This dynamic reflects broader themes of identity, power, and perception, often rooted in ethnocentrism—the tendency to see one's own group as central or superior o It‘s not easy to be stranger Simmel: stranger as one which unites distance and closeness Schutz: strangers do not recognize the idols of our tribe De Montaigne: critiquing his own culture. „Each person calls barbarism whatever is not his own practice“ → proponent of cultural relativism o Definition: Cultural relativism is the principle of understanding and evaluating a culture based on its own values, norms, and beliefs rather than judging it by the standards of another culture o Considering: context, opposing to ethnocentrism, tolereance, not accepting harmful practices Hobbes: anticipated cultural relativism: „good and evil literally have no reference beyond what people agree are good things and evil things “ THE RELATED CONCEPT II: CULTURAL RELATIVISM View that that there are no absolute and universal moral standards  o → Right and wrong are culture-specific based concepts Consequence: between cultures (or within history of one culture) exist a variety of moral codes, and standards of behaviour SHAKESPEARE IN THE BUSH Essay by Laura Bohannan: conducted field resarch among and with Tiv ppl (ethnic group primarily located in Nigeria) Convinced that Shakespeare is universally understandible: catch-all human topics Took Hamlet with her to African tropics and was asked to re-tell the story Tivs disagreed with her explanation and story: o What are ghost? Why is wrong to marry your deceased husband's brother? lesson in cultural relativism for her CULTURAL STUDIES – W EEK 2 Concept of culture is one the most complicated in social sciences and humanities and there are hundreds / thousands of definitions of culture Used in wide range of disciplines: anthropology, sociology, philosophy, media studies, psychology, literature, musicology etc Long journey through the history of the Euro-American thought tradition Huge diversity of approaches to culture 4 main are: Culture as … an activity (axiology) an entity (anthropology) a construct (postmodernism) and as an ontology (ontological turn) Culture as an Activity: Axiology o Study of values, ethics, aesthetics: what is good, valuable, and meaningful → focus on what ppl do: pratcices, rituals, art, music, religious pratcices… Culture as … an Entitiy (axiology) an entity (anthropology) a construct (postmodernism) and as an ontology (ontological turn) o Anthropology: The study of humans, societies, and their development. o Sees culture as a tangible "thing" that people belong to or share—something that can be described, studied, and compared o Example: Referring to "Tiv culture" or "Japanese culture" as distinct entities with specific traits Culture as a Construct (Postmodernism) o Postmodernism: A philosophical approach that critiques fixed truths and emphasizes the subjective, constructed nature of reality o Culture as a Construct: Views culture as a concept created by humans, shaped by power dynamics, historical contexts, and social narratives o Example: Questioning whether "Western culture" is a meaningful or artificially imposed category Culture as an Ontology (Ontological Turn) o Ontology: The study of being, existence, and reality o Ontological Turn: A shift in anthropology that emphasizes understanding different ways of being and relating to the world, not just cultural differences. o Culture as Ontology: Sees culture as fundamental to how people experience reality itself, rather than just a set of behaviors or beliefs.  o Example: Exploring how different societies conceptualize "nature," "personhood," or "time" in ways that shape their entire existence. EPIMELEIA OR CARE OF SOU L Philosophy born in Anatolia: philosophers posted ontological questions Plato developed the concept of care of soul Cicero translated: Tusculan Disputation as „philosophy = cultivation of soul“ („cultura animi“) Colere: cultivation CULTURE IS AN ACTIVITY OF AN INDIVIDUAL Axiological approach: derived from Plato‘s concept of care of soul Culture connotes an improvement of human beings Culture includes a set of positive values (cultivated, educated, paintings, literature etc.) Culture is a personal activity including education, reading, contemplating etc ANTHROPOLOGICAL UNDERSTANDING CULTURE Tylor: new meaning to concept of culture o Opened of Primitive Culture (1871): „that complex whole which includes knowledge, belief, art, morals, law, custom, and any other capabilities and habits acquired by man as a member of society“ (p. 1, vol. 1). Culture is not a set of positive values Culture includes everything made by human beings CULTURE AS AN ENTITY AT understanding: C based on an assumption that every culture is located in time and space o means, culture is an observable entity o allows to construct the boundaries indicating differences between groups of people Ethnocentrism: tendency to rank and judge cultures by standards of one‘s own background HUNDREDS OF DEFINITIONS OF CULTURE Kroeber & Kluckhohn (1952) analysed 165 definitions of culture They collected about 300 definitions Possible definition: system of ideas, norms, artifacts shared, trasmitted by members of society A CULTURE OF THE CULTURE? Attributes of Culture o Shared, learned, historical, based on symbols, patterned Anatomy of Culture o Ideas: shared values o Norms: shared rules of behavior o Artifacts: material products of human behaviour Culture as a construct: o Foucault, Derrida, Lyotard and many others changed anthropological thinking o The “Writing Culture” school (inspired by Writing Culture: The Poetics and Politics of Ethnography in 1986) was a major movement in social sciences addressing the crisis of representation. It critiqued ethnographic writing as biased and shaped by the researcher’s perspective, challenging the idea that anthropologists could objectively  represent other cultures. The movement promoted reflexivity, collaboration, and experimentation with new writing styles to better capture cultural complexity and avoid reproducing power imbalances o Debate and critiques in anthropology were hard Scholars extremely conscious of subjective nature of documents they produce Writing Culture movement: addressing ideas that cultural accounts are constructed texts W RITING ABOUT „THEM“ Problem of objectivity of written description If you observe, you don’t write, if you write, you don’t observe Includes a power domination o Written from the perspective of an observer: They are… /& They used to be… o Crisis of representation POSTMODERN CRITIQUE Core idea: o Subjects construct their world (we call it culture) o Scholars believed that they are able to objectively describe what they observe o Reflexive approaches have challenged the assumption of objectivity in field research and writing o Rabinow: Reflections of Fieldwork in Morocco (1977) o Vincent Crapanzano: Tuhami (1980) W RITING What is the difference between seeing and believing? You can write I swear I saw this as many times as you like What is the process of writing? o Process from notes to the finished text o What is lost during the process? o Cut-up method of writing ONTOLOGICAL TURN Ppl around the world are dealing with similar types of problems, just looking at them from different perspectives, which we call culture Přirovnat to můžeme k jazyku: earth may be called terra in Italian, terre in French, and země in Czech. In other words: the signifier changes, the signified remains Critique anthropology as just translating other cultures into Western ontology Pioneers of the ontological turn argue that Western ontological concepts, such as personality, soul, life, and death, were uncritically used in anthropological interpretations The ontological turn goes beyond cultural relativism CULTURAL STUDIES – W EEK 3: CULTURE AND NATURE CULTURE AS NON-BIOLOGICAL ADAPTATION Some theorists argue that culture is possible to interpret as a way how humans adapt to nature conditions → called cultural ecology, ecological anthropology or cultural materialism Mind leaders: Julian Steward, Roy Rappaport, Marvin Harris, Leslie White Culture as a by-product of biological evolution Humans evolved in East Africa from non-human primates: What about Morroco?  The phrase refers to fossil discoveries in Jebel Irhoud, Morocco, dated to around 300,000 years ago, which challenge the idea that Homo sapiens evolved solely in East Africa. These findings suggest a more widespread, pan-African model of human evolution The oldest known hominin is Sahelanthropus tchadensis (7 Ma), fossils found in Chad Homo sapiens evolved in East Africa o expanded in the whole world arriving in Eurasia about 125,000 years ago BEGINNINGS OF CULTURE Early beginnings of culture are related to manufacturing of stone tools limited knowledge Australopithecines probably made stone stools 3,4 Ma ago o 1. proof of human nonbiological adaptation on nature (cracking nuts, pre-chew of hard food, scratching of meat, getting marrow) The second step is evolution of language (substitution for grooming) A SUCCESSFUL SPECIES Homo sapiens as the successful species because of culture as non-biological way of adaptation Humans colonised every suitable part of the world (tropical forests, deserts, high mountains, small islets) Global population nearly reached 8 billion (7,8 in 2020) Success is a cause of current global problems we’re facing 4 WAYS OF ADAPTATION Humans developed four main way how to survive in various environment conditions 1. Hunting and gathering 2. Pastoralism: is a subsistence strategy based on herding domesticated animals, like cattle, sheep, or goats. Pastoralists often move with their herds to find grazing land and water, and rely on livestock for food, clothing, and trade 3. Cultivation 4. Industrial food production Hunting and Gathering o Living as hunters and gatherers for most of their history o type of subsistence requires mobile way of life o living typically in small mobile communities with simple social structure; egalitarian type of social relations; limited property was typical !Kung San of Kalahari o Famous example of that way of subsistence are !Kung San people o Anthropologists studying their culture since the 60s o Suprising findings: ▪ get enough food from their environment ▪ collect a food app: one day have to have enough for a week ▪ If you are interested watch the movie Gods Must Be Crazy Pastoralism o Form of animal husbandry which probably evolved from hunting and gathering subsistence strategy o Type of subsistence includes husbandry of herds of cattle, pig, goat etc o nomadic type of pastoralism and sedentary type (existing alongside with agriculture) Nuer ppl  o The Nuer were typical herding cattle o Core of culture was related to the herding: ▪ calendar strictly followed activities related to herding ▪ social activities were closely related to the herding ▪ language contains hundreds of words for description a cow o As Evans-Pritchard summarised it: „cherchez la vache“. o Long-term research among them, he conducted in a colonial situation → sponsored by colonial government Agriculture o Agriculture is the process of getting food by growing ▪ often combined with livestock o About 10 independent centres of origin (Middle East, China, New Guinea etc. o Simple technologies to cultivate a soil (digging sticks) o Cultivation requires sedentary way of life … and it has its consequences Agriculture and a growing of population o The agriculture alongside with sedentary way of life is the cause of: ▪ population growth & transmission of animal disease to humans o Oldest city of the world is Jericho (9000 BC) established „only“ 3000 years after origin of agriculture o More than 50 % of world population is living in cities nowadays Cultural Ecology o J. Steward (1902–1972) was American scholar opened the question of human cultural adaptation on nature conditions o Developed the concept of cultural ecology o Argued that the core of culture consists of technologies as means of non-biological adaptation o Structure of a particular society is adjusted to the core and corresponds to an environment o Studied Shoshone people living in deserts of California ▪ Used simple technologies for getting food; single families were moving in their territory → Shoshone social structure was perfectly adapted on the local conditions Self-regulation of traditional societies o Rappaport was American Scholars doing research among Tsembaga-Maring o argued that traditional societies were better adapted to environment → One of the means was warfare o Tsembaga people kept herds of pigs: Number of pigs → measurement of social status and prestige → More pigs require more gardens, more gardens mean more work on gardens → Sustained growth was unsustainable o That’s why they organized kaiko – time for war with neighboring groups o Killed their pigs during kaiko o Slaughtering pigs was way how to regulate their population in relation to the limits of environment Cultural Materialism o Developed by Marvin Harris (1927–2001) o Inspired by Marx and Darwin o Main argument: culture is “a tool” for solution of very practical problems of humans: subsistence and reproduction o Universal structure of culture o Every single culture consists of three major components: 1. Infrastructure,  2. Structure, 3. Superstructure o Directly inspired by Marx and Engels o Argument: infrastructure determines structure, structure determines superstructure The Culture Conundrums o trying to explain what he called the „culture conundrums “ o Seemingly unrational culture customs and habits: ▪ Why Aztecs practiced cannibalism? ▪ Why is cow sacred in India? ▪ Why do Muslims and Jews do not eat pork? o Aztecs ▪ Aztecs: a Mesoamerican culture (Yucatan) which ruled the region since 14th to the 16th centuries ▪ Wmpire was defeated by Hernan Cortes in 1521 ▪ Their idols were destroyed, and the missionaries began to missionize the Aztecs ▪ Cannibalism: were sacrificed the captives; they were beheaded, or the priest teared out the heart of the victim → Aztecs butchered and eaten body of the victims ▪ Sacrificed tens of thousands of people in a single year o Explanation: Harris argued that their environment provides an answer → Human flesh was substitution of scarce protein → shortage of wild animals in their environment; number of domesticated turkeys was insufficient for the large population Ecological crisis? o Soil erosion → problem with re-cultivation o Reducing drinking water → hundreds of millions of people have no access o Photosynthetic ceiling → “humans appropriating energy from the sun fixed in photosynthesis, all for our purposes leaving no sun energy over for natural habitats” o Extinction of species (frogs, insects, …) o Methane in the air because of large number of herds of cattle o Population growth: from tens of thousands to 8 billion o Growing of global connections o Global warming o Logging Is five minutes to twelve? o Is there a chance to change these conditions? o Can one single person contribute to the positive change? o Do you think that future technology helps us eliminate the problems? CULTURAL STUDIES – W EEK 4: LANGUAGE Language = tool for communication: consisting of grammar and a vocabulary o Articulated language probably evolved half a million years ago o Speak about 4 hours every day (we use about 16 thousand words) o Text is the written form of a language: visual representation of verbal communication o Oldest writing systém: uncovered in momumnets of ancient Sumer (4th millenium of BC) Origin of Language o Many hypotheses of origin of language competency in human evolutionary ancestors: Maintenance of social relations (substitution of grooming) Protection against infidelity (understanding gossip)  Mother tongues (communication between a mother and her child) o There is probably no single explanation of the evolution Experiments with primates o Primatologists tested primates’ capacity to learn a speak language o Proved that they cannot learn an articulated language o Anatomy does not allow them to learn articulated language o Evidence their capacity to learn language in some ways AMESLAN and Washoe o Gardners and Fouts did a research experiment with chimpanzee Washoe o Nurtured Washoe as a human child o Spoke to her in Ameslan o She learned approximately 350 different signs Washoe (1965–2007) Able to: o combine the signs into new meanings o express emotions o generalize (to use a sign in different situation) o imagine objects beyond her senses o certain level of self-awareness Language as a cultural phenomenon o About 7000 living languages o A language is a tool for communication between members of a society o Language creates linguistic reality o We cannot speak about phenomenons beyond language (extra-linguistic reality) o „What we cannot speak about we must pass over in silence” (Wittgenstein) o A language reflects particular cultural background Language relativity o Different languages are like different worlds o We see, interpret and understand a world through particular language o „to speak a foreign language is to lead artificial life“ (Herder) o Vocabularies of different languages are not different labels for the same reality → language creates a reality Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis (Edward Sapir and Benjamin Whorf) Linguists → formulated the hypothesis of linguistic relativity Argument: any language affects its speaker’s world view: Vocabulary & Grammar Often cited proof: Inuits have dozens of words for snow Examples o Berlin and Kay did research focused on color terms in different language o Argue that there is evolutionary sequency of color terms o The sequency begins with two color terms o It does not mean that the speakers are color-blind  Language: tool for representation of reality o Linguistic relativity language creates specific world view, affects speakers’ cognition o Idea of linguistic determinism o It follows that we live in a linguistic cage Social constructivism o Social theory arguing that our knowledge is constructed, and our ontogeny is socially situated o Theory developed by Berger and Luckman o We habitualise common processes, we learn certain patterns o Habitualization precedes institutionalization ▪ when certain behaviors are considered the norm by most of society ▪ We use language as a tool to share cultural constructs Thomas theorem o Constructivism makes it possible to view many sociocultural phenomena as re-produced o Structured structure and structuring structure (Bourdieu) o We can think about, for example: ▪ Embodiment and the politics of the body ▪ Nurturing styles o Thomas theorem: “if men define situations as real, they are real in their consequences”. CULTURAL STUDIES – W EEK 5: SEX AND GENDER CONSTRUCTING GENDER o Culture constructs differences between males and females. o Differences in sex: the reproductive forms and functions of the body → thought to produce difference in temperaments, attitudes etc between males and females o There are studies supporting that idea Differences between males and females o Difference between females and males is created by both nature and culture o Humans evolved in East Africa living as hunters and gatherers o It demanded different skills for males and females o We are adapted for the paleolithic way of life o In our modern skulls are housed paleolithic brains Biological perspective o Male and female brains function differently. o It may explain following:  ▪ In all societies boys tend to engage in more rough-and-tumble play, girls tend to be more engaged in infant contact and care ▪ Woman‘s left-brained tendencies: superior verbal skills ▪ Man‘s right-brained tendencies: superior visual and spatial skills Cultural determinism o Cultural determinism: an idea that all human actions are product of a particular culture It is therefore necessary to distinguish: o Sex, gender, gender role, gender identity, sexual orientation, sexual activity o Great cultural variation in gender shows plasticity of human nature o Masculinity and feminity are performances o We learn our culture in the process of enculturation including gender roles Cultural imprints on gender o Gender is culturally constructed: children‘s clothes shop o Men and women are unequal because of culture o There is an universal undervaluation of women o Ortner: Is female to man as nature is to culture? Are men and women unequal? o In what ways are men and women unequal? o Nearly in all societies with any degree of social stratification, more men are in leadership roles then women o It applies also on economic and social roles (trade, exchange, kinship relations, ritual participation etc.) o French philosopher Simone de Beauvoir: The Second Sex (1949) o Ortner: female subordination is rooted in universal distinction between nature and culture o Across many cultures women are symbolically related to nature Inequalities are reproduced o There are exceptions: Batek of Malay Peninsula: egalitarian comunity in their gender roles o Gender / sex inequality is not static that people posses o It is something people do in everyday life o That is why gender / sex inequality is reproduced o It is based on stereotypes related to man and woman Biocultural perspective o Hormones are chemicals that our bodies secrete into the bloodstream o Regulate many of bodily functions o Popular misconception about what hormones do and do not do ▪ Is estrogen the female hormone? ▪ Is testosterone related to aggressiveness? Gender o Scholars refer to the cultural expectations of how males and females shoud behave as gender o One of the first cross-cultural study of gender was conducted by Margaret Mead o Did fieldwork on Samoa Islands and New Guinea o Focused on study of cultural determinism in order to understand formation of personality and gender Samoa study o Fieldwork on Samoan island Ta‘u in 1924 o Produced the bestselling book Coming of Age in Samoa (1928) o Compared puberty in USA and Samoa o Argued that Samoan girls grow up in harmony and without conflicts with adults  o Puberty in US is characterized by „storm and stress“ ▪ Biology alone cannot explain the „storm and stress“ → explained it as a result of press on young people Controversy o Freeman attacked her findings in 1983 o argued that she was naive young girl who was under a strong influence of her supervisor ▪ Ignored violence in Samoa life and the cult of virginity ▪ Spent a limited time in the field ▪ He discovered that her informants were lying to her →The issue is still on the table Freeman‘s Arguments and his Professionality o Scholars refer to the cultural expectations of how males and females shoud behave as gender o One of the first cross-cultural study of gender was conducted by Margaret Mead ▪ She did fieldwork on Samoa Islands and New Guinea ▪ Focused on study of cultural determinism in order to understand formation of personality and gender Researching gender and temperament o Conducted research in Sepik societies in the 30s o Focused on gender and personality in Arapesh, Mundugumor and Tchambuli o Published her findings in Sex and Temperament in Three Primitive Societies (1935) o Explored differences in gender in the societies Arapesh: cooperative society, there is no differences between males and females in terms of gender → resemble Western females Mundugumor: cooperative society, there is no differences between males and females in terms of gender → They resemble Western males Tchambuli: difference between males and females in terms of gender: Males resemble Western females, females resemble Western males Gender variance o Reported in over 150 American Indian societies o American gender variance was called „two-spirit“ o Belief: an idividual has both male and female spirit in some cases o Western moral thought categorized them as deviants o In fact, third-gender individuals held high social status Hijras o Hijras are intersex people, assexual people or transgender in India o officially recognized as third gender in India o They hold high spiritual level, but they have low social level o People are afraid of them, but they invite them to participate on wedding celebration → get a blessing by them is highly valued Kumbh Mela o Hijras were present in the Kumbh Mela for the first time in 2009 o Kumbh Mela is the world biggest religious pilgramage event o Millions of people gather by the sacred Ganga river to undergo the ritual Five genders o Nádleeché [nakh-hlay]: „one who changes continuosly“ ▪ refers to intersex individuals whom they considered „third gender“ ▪ Combination of male and female roles, characteristics and behaviour o Fourth and fifith genders are also called nádleeché  o Masculine-female: female-bodied participating in traditional male occupations o Femine-male: male-bodied individual who participated in traditional female occupations Constructucting gender among Sambia o The cultural group of New Guinea o Live in Southern Highlands o Practice specific rituals and customs to grow boys up to adults o Believe that girls grow up naturally; boys have to be ritually supported to reach the adulthood How to become the man? o Boys had to live in Men‘s house for many years o Participation in homosexual rituals aimed to reach the manhood o Boys were separated from their mothers at the age of 9 o Sambian believed that they have to transmit seman to the younger generation o However, heterosexuality was a norm in Sambian culture o Herdt: homosexuality is king‘s path to heterosexuality What we know o Every society makes a distinction between „male“ and „female“ o But not all societies attach the same meanings to the biological differences o Biological differences are not the source of women‘s subordination o Cultural ideology impose on women lower status o Many gender / sex systems allow for gender variance and third gender o Human sexuality is variable and patterned by cultural idealogy CULTURAL STUDIES – W EEK 6: D RAWING AS A RESEARCH TOOL Being there o A traveller’s first contact includes: a perception of bodily otherness o Travels begin their stories with descriptions of how locals look like o Experience of being there has an aspect of bodily apprearance Thomas Harriot (1560-1621) o English naturalist & tarveler: member of an expedition promoted by Raleigh o Learned basics of Language Algonquian A brief and true report of the new found land of Virginia o 1st edition does not include images o 2nd edition include copperplate engarvings ▪ Engravings based on watercolours by White ▪ First o About first-hand experience gained in the New World o Artwork reflected a way of life of Native Americans  Jacques le Moyne de Morgues (1533–1588) o French artist, he was a member of an expedition to the New World led by Jean Ribault o Made watercolours depiciting natives of Florida Jean de Léry (1536–1613) o French traveler spending many months among Tupinamba people o Described his experiences and findings in Historie d’un voyage fair en la terre du Bresil Cannibalism o Described his pbservation of cannibalism practiced by Tupinambas o Important topic of many travel books in modern times → non-Europeans = naked cannibal Hans Staden (cca 1525–1576) o German soldier and sailor, he traveled two-times in Brasilia (1549 a 1550) o He was a prisoner among Tupinamba people o Work: True Story and Description of a Country of Wild, Naked, Grim, Man-eating People in the New World, America (1557) o Had woodcuts in his book Diego de Prado y Tovar o A sailor, meber of Torres‘s crew o Made drawings depicting natives of Melanesia o There it is possible to see that his drawings are not exact in details James Cook and his voyages o Cook on the boards of Endeavour, Adventure a Resolution crisscrossed Pacific o Joseph Banks (1743–1820) organized a team of naturalists which accompanied Cook during his travel around the globe o On the boards of the ships were Johann Reinhold Forster (1729–1798), Georg Forster (1754–1794), Sydney Parkinson (1745–1771) and Daniel Carl Solander (1733–1782) John Webber (1751–1793) o Member of the third voyage (1776–1780) o He is recognized for his paintings depicting natives of Alaska and Hawaii islands Tupaia (ca. 1725–1770) o Polynesian sailor from Raiatea island (Society islands) o He joined the first Cook‘s voyage as geographer o He died of dysentery during the voyage o His assistance to Cook was crucial in terms of success of the voyage o He escaped from Raiatea island after after the warriors of Bora-Bora attacked the island o He settled on Tahiti and was interpreter there → interpreted for British sailors Sydney Parkinson (1745–1771) o Member of Cook‘s first voyage (1768–1771) o He didn‘t come back, he died of dysentery o He created several thousand of drawings depicting flowers, animals and humans o His diaries are accessible online Bohumír Lindauer (1839–1926) o A painter o Born in Czechia, he spent his life in New Zealand  o He painted Maoris o He is credited for his paintings depicting traditional Maori tattoo called moko Mokomokai o Preserved and mummified Maori heads o The mokomokai are praised by collectors of tribal art o There is strong wave of request for repatriation of stuffed heads Robley‘s collection of mokomokai George Catlin (1796–1872) o He traveled among Native Americans in 1830‘s o He created more then 350 paintings of native American men and women o He published Manners, Customs, and Condition of the North American Indians (1841) CULTURAL STUDIES – W EEK 7: LANGUAGE Photography and Painting o Anthropology benefited from photography and photography benefited from painting o Spectators could „read“ images: ▪ Frame, Visual perspective, Composition o Painting also benefited from photography o Art was freed from its descriptivness Visual perspective A visual perspective in fine arts o Giotto (Ambrogio di Bondone, 1266/7–1337) is recognized for first using of a visual perspective in Europe o There is no single perspective in his paintings: worked with multiple perspectives  o A central visual perspective is used in Europe since 15th Century o Leon Batista Alberti provided the first definition of perspective in 1435: a line connecting an eye with an object o A central visual perspective is also expression of power o Possible to see in architecture of Versailles after a reconstruction in 17th Century ▪ reconstruction based on geometry and perspective: ruler sits in center with perfect view Nicéphore Niépce (1765–1833) o Trying to improve lithography o Developed a technique of heliography o His technology produced the first photograph (1825) o He did not receive recognition for the invention Louis Daguerre (1787–1851) o Co-worked with Niépce o Continued the experimentation after his friend passed away o France bought Daguerre‘s method o Daguerreotype: it is incunable of photography o It was not possible to do copies William Henry Fox Talbot (1800–1877) o He developer a calotype: 1841 o It was possible to make copies using a negative o Calotypes were reproduced in book as first types of photographs o It was cheap and easy technology The Pencil of Nature o The first commercially distributed book including photographs (1844) o 2500 copies, each included 24 calotypes o The book contains description of making calotypes Photography and Anthropology o Photography: ▪ Daguerreotype pioneered in 1837 ▪ Talbot‘s calotype pioneered in 1839 o Anthropology: ▪ Aborigines' Protection Society established in 1837 ▪ Ethnological Society of London established in 1843  Anthropology + photography = science (?) o Photography made it possible to build anthropology on scientific grounds o It helped to overcome a distrust toward natives o Anthropologists had not only verbal testimony provided by natives; they had „objective“ evidence from the field o Photography is reliable source of evidence Armchair Anthropologists o Photography worked as intermediary between anthropologist and natives o Anthropologists studied their subjects in the comfort of workroom Sir Edward im Thurn (1852–1932) o Sir Edward im Thurn demanded that photographs have to present natives as „living beings“ o It required sophisticated composition of photography o Photographer arranged photographed subjects for this purpose o His photographs are impressive A photography studio o Many photo studios were offering ethnographic photographs in the middle of 19th Century o The photographs were part of anthropological collections o Lint's studio: „Aborigines“ (seventies) Edward Curtis and his photographs o He was a purist as his photograph reveal o As Trobriand islanders do not play cricket native Americans are timeless o Savages have to be savage Fenton: a first war photojournalist o Roger Fenton (1819–1869) one of the early photojournalists o He was documenting Crimean War (1855) o More than 350 photographs o Sontag argues that he manipulated photographs o Photographs from The Valley of the Shadow of Death Maurice Vidal Portman (1860–1935) o Gained experience on Andaman Islands o Photographed manufacturing artefacts step by step o So every European can repeat the process o He expected austere photographs without esthetics o Developed a method of anthropometry at the distance o Photographer had to take images of naked subjects of various age o A chessboard-like blanket had to be placed behind a subject John Lamprey o Also Lamprey developed a method for doing anthropometry at the distance o Aim of the method was provide a photographs which allow comparison of Non-European races  o Colonial authorities were interested in that method; it helps to generalize the image of colonized people o There is also colonial power included It is not possible to compare o There were a number of competing methods for anthropometry at the distance o For example: Huxley suggested to photograph a scale together with a subject o The photographers interpreted instructions in a different way o So it was not possible to use photographs for reliable comparison Torres Strait expedition (1898) o Expedition is a milestone of social anthropology o Visual anthropology has its roots here o Many photographs and five movies were shot during the expedition o Alfred Cort Haddon led the expedition How to do it? o Haddon prepared instructions how to take a picture in a Non-European location o A background has to be neutral; the best is to put a light-color blanket behind a subject → subject with strong posture o Anthropologist should take a picture from front, side and back. Malinowski‘s photographs o The famous polish anthropologist o His fieldwork is recognized as a milestone of modern anthropology o His presentation of Trobriand islanders is in focus of current anthropologists o There are questions of authenticity and style of his ethnographies C ULTURAL STUDIES – W EEK 8: GLOBALIZATION AND CULTURE Walpiri and media o Walpiri is a group of Australian aborigines, former hunters and gatherers o They maintained their specific way of life for a centuries of contact with Europeans o They started watching TVs in the early 80s o They accepted this technology, but they turned it toward familiar ends Rambo and Walpiri o They incorporated filmmaking in their traditions of storytelling o The most popular movie is Rambo o The movie does not tell who is zhe main character`s grandmother, topic of a discussion o They also produce their own movies Culture and Cultural Change o No culture is stable in time o Every culture is constantly changing in the course of time o There is a common assumption that non-literate societies are timeless o Even scholars developed theories based on that idea Tasadays of Philippine o Indigenous people of Philippine o Discovered in 1971  o People of stone age o Simple stone technology o Lived in a cave and in isolation for thousands years o The government limited access to Tasadays' homeland in order to protect them Tasaday hoax o It was elaborated hoax; Manuel Elizalde probably prepared it o Swiss anthropologist Oswald Iten paid a visit to Tasaday in the early of 80s o Tasadays, in fact, didn‘t live like stone age people o There is no culture frozen in time Cold and hot societies o Theory developed by Claude Lévi-Strauss o Cold societies: non-European primitive socities are frozen in time and stable o Hot societies: Western complex societies are unstable because of progress Culture Change o Definition: The difference between the current and antecedent condition of any selected aspect of the culture o There is no culture without history o Every culture is a unique and integrated mix of new and old o Ralph Linton: A One Hundred Percent American Cultural Change o Endogenous: Invetion, reinterpretation, revitalization o Exogenous: Diffusion, migration, assimilation, acculturation Cultural change by Rogers o CC is a diffusion of an inovation o Theory developed by Rogers o His theory explains rate of spreading innovations o Culture change is a process by which is communicated innovation among members of a particular society Theory of world systém o Theorists: Frank, Wallerstein o Theory explains global inequality and the raise of capitalism o Capitalist order has its beginning in 15th century o European powers created world market based on unequal Exchange between “core“ and “periphery“  Core and periphery o Core developed its economy based on exploition of the periphery o Perihphery provided labor and raw materials o Resulted in the periphery‘s underdevelopment and poverty and dependency on the core o Global inequality is the result of colonialism and imperialism Theory of convergence o Theory developed by media scholar Marshall McLuhan o He argued that the world is coming to be a “global village” o It says that the cultura differences are disappearing o The same technology applied in different locations lead to canalize people into the same type of activity and the same type of hieararchy o Image of “McDonaldization” of the world o Western ideas and products will replece all non-Western A clash of civilization o The theory developed by Samuel Huntington o Inspired by Arnold Toynbee o The theory says that cultural differences are present in the world o Essentialistic and etnocentric approach  o Democratic and enlightened Western versus closed and autocratic Islam Undeveloped, developed, developing o Concept of development o A power is hidden in the concept of development o Distinguishes between developed and undeveloped and is understood that the former is better o A power is related to the concept of development assistance Definition of globalization o Widening scale of cross-cultural interactions caused by movement of ▪ Money, People, Ideas, Images, and Goods Traveling T-shirts o Most objects have their own history, global connections and trajectories o T-shirts are common examples of globalization ▪ Made in… ▪ Cotton probably has origin in Texas ▪ Cotton is probably shiped to Chine to manufactured ▪ T-shirts are shiped to other country to be branded. ▪ The things have their own social life Studying global connections o How to study global phenomenons locally? o Scholars developed specific methods o follow the things (Appadurai) o Multi-sited ethnography (Marcus) o Friction (Tsing) o There is normally no isolated society in the world  o A lost of neigboring culture leads to a devolution (Tasmanians) Multi-sited approach o A single phenomenon is possible to study on different scenes o So it is necessary to follow the researched phenomenon o Tsing - inspired by Marcus - had demonstrated that logging on Borneo is related to scientists, environmentalists, rubber industry in South America… Studying Nungons in Uruwa valley o Nungons live in remoted area of Papua New Guinea o To study them includes: ▪ Travelling as a researcher to Uruwa valley ▪ Havinf Nungons travel to Czechia o Traveling a researcher to Seattle to take a cup of coffee o Traveling to San Diego to study archive documents o Corresponding with relatives of former patrol officer C ULTURAL STUDIES – W EEK 9: GLOBALIZATION AND CULTURE Postcolonial Studies o With the collapse of the Western colonial system, there is also a reflection on colonialism (Gellner, Asad, etc.) o Emerging postcolonial studies (theories) deal with postcolonial situations: ▪ Dominance - subordination ▪ Hybridity - creolization o Examines, among other things, issues of degradation and subordination of local cultures The origins of postcolonial theory o Postcolonial theory developed in the early 1950s o One of the earliest exponents was Fanon (1925-1961), who focused on the effects of the colonial situation on the colonised people o Among his best-known works are Black Skin, White Masks (1952) and The Wretched of the Earth (1961) Orientalism o The work of the Palestinian author Edward Said (1935 - 2003) is essential o The book Orientalism (1978) represents a major breakthrough in thinking about the understanding of culture as a construction in relation to colonial power o It shows the Western idea of the East as a tool for shaping its own cultural sovereignty o Orientalism as a discourse (fiction, linguistics, philosophy, etc.) creates an image of the Orient that is: ▪ Irrational, backward, mystical ▪ Above all, this concept is based on essentialism and othering The Veiling is a sign o Many people associate veiling with the oppressed Muslim women o It evokes honor crime and terrorism o It also evokes sexuality, exotic beauty and women imprisoned in a harem o There are various sources of the that two particular types of imagery  o Its common denominator is „the duty to save „a woman of the Orient“ Beginnings of veiling? o There is a long history of veiling o Veiling is a custom associated with both men and women o The oldest record are connected with the civilization of Assyrians o It was a part of Assyrian law – only slaves and prostitutes (except sacred prostitutes) were prohibited from veiling. o So it was associated with social status and morality Arabian Nights o The translation of Arabian Nights by French diplomat Antoine Galland (18th Century) stimulated Euro-American imagery o Erotic and sexual dimensions of the veiling custom o There is an image: Veiled Muslim women are locked up in harems, they passed their time with forbidden pleasures, awaiting liberation from brown man by white man Eugene Delacroix and the Orient o French painter E. Delacroix influenced Euro-American views of veiled Muslim women o He promoted certain motifs and themes that became canonical o He is the author of Femmes d‘Alger dans leur appartement (Algerian women in their Apartment) o The harem was understood as a private space where women were available for one man o There are three women in the painting and they are unveiled inside the harem o They are not naked from our point of view o It is necessary to read the paint through 19th century eyes o Nakedness is cultural construct o A neck, an ankle and a forearm are exposed to view o It was exciting in that time Orientalism and the image of veiled women o Harems stimulated European imagination o What are the Orientals hiding before the Europeans? o They could secretly glimpse through keyhole (see the Ingres‘s painting). o It is a duty of a white man to save imprisoned women Hybridity o The theme was developed by Homi Bhabha o Hybridity means the combination of two or more identities in one person without assuming any hierarchy of these identities o The theme was developed in Locations of Culture (1994) o He drew on on French intellectual sources (Foucault, Derrida, Lacan) but also, for example, on Bakhtin Origins of European Colonialism o The origins of colonialism are linked to European overseas expansion that began in the 15th century o Much attention is paid to the voyage of discovery of Christopher Columbus, which culminated in the "discovery" of America  o He seized territory for Spain and acted according to European law. o Greenblatt (Marvelous Possessions) discusses the situation and lists the differences from the travelogue of the so-called Mandeville Opening of the sea route o A sea voyage to Southeast Asia was opened by two sailors ▪ Vasco da Gama (1469-1524) sailed eastward ▪ Fernão de Magalhães (1480-1521) sailed westwards o Before the arrival of Europeans (at first mainly Portuguese and Spanish), the macro- region was mainly under the influence of China, India and later the Arabs o The Europeans were mainly interested in the spice markets, which were expensive in Europe as the trade routes were controlled by the Arabs Anthropology in the service of colonialism o In various British colonies were established positions of government anthropologists (China, India, etc.) o An example is the Territory of Papua under the control of the United Kingdom. o Here, in the 1920s, the post of government anthropologist was created, which was held since 1928 by Francis Edgar Williams o He had a dual role, conducting research while making recommendations to the administration o Founded the educational periodical The Papuan Villager (first volume in 1929) o He referred to himself as the Jekyll and Hyde of anthropology o He worked steadily in the field, giving him the most extensive field experience of his time The Travels of Admiral Zheng He o When the Portuguese reached the Indian Ocean, they found themselves in a place already well documented by Egyptians, Indians, Arabs, Malays o The Indian Ocean was an important sphere of influence for China o Chinese influence peaked here in the mid-15th century, when Admiral Zheng He made expeditions here between 1405 and 1433, pursuing the economic and scientific goals of China Vasco da Gama and his travel to India o They set sail on 8 July 1497 from Lisbon and eventually managed to reach Calicut o But their voyage and their efforts and commercial success were accompanied by a series of misunderstandings, culminating in the seizing of part of the crew by the local ruler o He stressed that his effort was to find the Christian kings and establish friendly relations with them o The gifts he presented to the local ruler were refused by the latter: 'even the poorest merchant from Mecca or any other part of India would give more than that' o Yet in the end it was a success, for a sea route was opened to India, and thus away from South-East Asia Fernão de Magalhães and his travel around the world o It is generally known that Magalhães was the first European to circumnavigate the world o In fact, it was he who failed to do so, as he died in a clash with the inhabitants of the Philippines  o The opening of the sea route to India and the discovery of the America brought further new opportunities for exploratory voyages o One of them was through the Strait of Magalhães o For when Vasco Núnez de Balboa sighted the Pacific Ocean (South Sea) in September 1513, it was clear that there was much to discover in the West Fernão de Magalhães o Fernão de Magalhães was undoubtedly an experienced seafarer when he gained the support of King Charles I of Spain o The king was to send out a fleet of five ships with a crew of more than 200 men o They set sail from Seville on August 10, 1519. The captain had to face a number of adverse circumstances - bad weather, riot (he had the mutineer Quesada executed), running down supplies. o Eventually, they sailed around South America, calling the ocean the Pacific because a favourable wind was blowing Antonio Pigefetta o The source of information about this expedition is a work written by Antonio Pigefetta (published 1524-1525) o He proves to be a very astute and accurate observer. He produced small dictionaries of local languages o "Of many things I have written down what they are saying. When the king and others saw me write, and I repeated their words to them, they were left as stunned" o He provided valuable ethnographic and geographical information Accounts about Southeast Asia o Ethnographic, geographical and political information about these countries has gradually increased o Some texts are considered classical sources of information, such as the work Itinerario by the Dutch traveller Jan Huyghen va Linschoten o Another valuable source of information is the publication by Pavel Zavadil: Czech Jesuits Discovering the New World. CULTURAL STUDIES – W EEK 10 Who owns culture? Culture o In anthropological perspective: culture is shared, historical, patterned, learned, based on symbols o Culture is a system of ideas, norms and artifacts shared and trasmitted by members of a society. o There is in an implicit idea that culture is isolated in space and time  Social life of things o Anthropologist Arjun Appadurai developer the idea in the mid 80‘s o „We have to follow the things themselves, for their meanings are inscribed in their“: ▪ forms ▪ Uses ▪ Trajectories Museums and their roles now o Museum as institutions are struggling to find their place in the new millennium o Rising agitation for reptriation of artifacts o This is not a battle between curators and outsiders claiming an ownership Origin of European museums o Interest in collecting of various items emerged during the Enlightenment (18th Century). o It is linked to scientific expedition organised in 18th century (Cook, Bougainville and others). o Traveler and scientists collected examples of plants, animals and exotic artifacts. o These originally private collections were basis for public museums From cabinet of curiosities to museums o Scholar had private collection until the end of 17th century – cabinet of curiosities. o John Tradescent the Elder created large collection of natural history specimens and ethnographic items. o His son expanded and catalogued father‘s collection o He bequeathed the collection to the antiquarian Elias Ashmole o The first European museum with public status was opened in 1683. o It was Ashmole museum in Oxford What is best for artifacts? o Museum arguments ▪ Preservation, truth, access ▪ Museum collections protect cultural heritage of mankind ▪ Professional care for collections ▪ Museum collections are basic for scientific research ▪ Public exhibition is important for education o A critique of museums ▪ Ethic issue regarding public presentation of artifacts ▪ Power issue regarding ownership of artifacts ▪ It represents colonial power ▪ The artifacts were stolen by Europeans ▪ Repatriation is a matter of cultural morality Parthenon Marbles o Large collection of marble sculptures taken from ruins of Parthenon o It stood on the Acropolis in Athens o Parthenon was constructed in 5th century BC o 65 % of sculptures survived; app. half of marbles are located in European museums (mostly in London)  Thomas Bruce, the seventh Earl of Elgin o Thomas Bruce (1766–1841) was British ambassador to the Ottoman government in 1798. o His architect Thomas Harrison suggested that the casts from Athenian sculptures contribute to the knowledge of Ancient Greece The permission to dig o Elgin‘s men received a permission to access Acropolis o It was for the purpose of drawing and making copies of the decorations o They also did cast the marbles o The progress was too slow, so the Elgin‘s men changed their minds Taking parts of Acropolis o Elgin changed his mind: he was convinced that the building was in danger o They erected scaffolding in order to remove parts of walls o His men took away the sculptures, they also excavated the sculptures o He claimed that he had s permission to do it o He argued that he has „been obliged to be a little barbarous“ Refutation of Elgin‘s marbles o Elgin began to transport marbles in 1802; it took a decade o A first public show in 1807. o They attracted considerable attention o Sculptor John Flaxman: very far superior to all the treasures in Italy o Richard Payne: „You have lost your labor, my Lord Elgin… The marbles are overrated“. o Humphrey Ozias: it is „a mass of ruins“. o Lord Byron: the sculptures are „misshapen monuments“ and „mutilated blocks of art“ o There was a hostility toward Elgin, Byron argued that Elgin „ruined Athens“ Repatriation of the marbles o Greek government demands repatriation of marbles to home country o The government argues that the marbles are integral part of Greek culture o The governments complaints that the marbles were taken illegally Greeks ask for repatriation o Approximately 200 tons of marbles were shipped o Ottomans granted permittion for the transport o The terms of the agreement were vague o The Ottomans ruled Greece for 350 years o Independence of Greece in 1829 Who is owner of the Elgin marbles? o No court of law can state that the marbles were taken illegally (the agreement). o There is a hidden idea that the culture (Greek) is tied with the territory once for all o The Aegean region was ruled by Greeks, Romans and Turks in the history of regions o The human populations also migrated in and out the region o The marbles are stored in England for 200 years Tai moko o Many European museums returned preserved human heads (tai moko) to Maoris o The claimed tai moko because their human remains are their ancestors  o In fact, Maoris freely traded tai moko o Maoris also faked tai moko o It was repatriated about 240 heads Other types of human remains o Tsantsa (shrunken heads) from Jívaro culture (killed enemy) o Repatriation of the tsantsas o Faked for tourists since 19th century – Jívaros produced tsantas for European travelers o Ndambirkus from Asmat (ancestor‘s skull) o They are not claimed by New Guineans today o They also fake ndambirkus, the ndambirkus are fabricated in Bali o Highly prized by collectors (about € 15,000 or more) What is fake? o A deliberately manufactured object that is intended to look authentic and is made primarily for the purpose of selling it o The fake must be distinguished from modern production in style and material creatively following the original traditions: context of the fake and contemporary production, there is also talk of fantasy o Fake and fantasy are two completely different things, if not opposites o Fantasy is individual, does not follow the traditional context and does not want to deceive → An object is never created to look old and authentic o A fake, however, wants to pretend to be an authentic, old and culturally used object o However, there are also works that can be described as fantasy, but they are fakes ▪ These objects can be very individual and stand out from the traditional context, but only to a certain extent: always made to look old and authentic for the purpose of sale and profit Repatriation of human remains o There are tens thousands of human remains (HR) in museum collections o In English museum: 61000 (HR), 15 000 of these HR are from overseas o 60 museums held HR from overseas dating 1500–1947 o 61 museums held overseas HR pre-1500 o There are also private collections including pieces out of law o Many old HR in museum collections were acquired and exhibited in 18th and 19th Century o Colonial officers, missionaries, travelers collected HR because of curiosity o Motivation was preservation of vanishing cultures and customs Repatriation of HR in USA o Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (1990) o To conduct an inventory and identify the geographical or cultural affiliation of HR and artifacts o To provide an opportunity for federally recognized tribes of native Americans to receive the HR and artifacts back Who they are? o Over half of million sets of HR and artifacts returned or in process of repatriation  o HR are mostly buried again o In many cases returned HR are hundreds or even thousands years old o Only few are named HR o What about unaffiliated HR? o Some of these HR were from people who lived before pyramids were built and before written history o The HR are repatriated to the communities today are the relatives of other people from long ago o Repatriation is based on an idea of biological and cultural descent Buhl woman of Idaho o Name for a skeleton of young female discovered in 1989 o Dating: 10.675 BP o Repatriated to Shoshone-Bannock tribe in 1992 o The members of the tribe reburied the skeleton in 1993 o There is a lack of evidence that the skeleton is linked to the tribe Minnesota Woman o A skeleton found near Pelican Rapids o Dating: 7.800 BP o The skeletal remains were repatriated to Siux tribe o The members reburied the skeleton in 1999 o There is also lack of evidence Why are HR a problem? o Are there benefits to repatriating HR, despite of loss of knowledge? o Why are HR problem? o They are open to many different reagings o They do not talk on their own o They suggest an authenticity o What about exhibition of HR?