What is culture?

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1. Colonialism and Anthropology
1.1. Anthropology developed from the process of colonization殖民化
1.2. Anthropologists were usually the white people, i.e. the colonizers
1.3. The unequal power relation between the colonizers and the colonized.
1.4. Anthropologists relied on the colonial power
1.5. The early anthropologists were “armchair” scholars. They relied on the records written by missionaries and colonial officials.
1.6. Since the late nineteenth century, anthropologists began to go to their “fields”（田野） themselves, but still with the assistance of the colonial administrations.

2. Why did the (white) people need the term “culture”?

“In his disposition he [the Bushman] is lively and cheerful; in his person active. His talents are far above mediocrity; and averse to idleness, they are seldom without employment. Confined generally to their hovels by day, for fear of being surprised by the farmers, they sometimes dance on moonlight nights from setting to the rising of the sun …. The small circular trodden places around their huts indicated their fondness for this amusement. His cheerfulness is the more extraordinary as the morsel he procures to support existence is earned with danger and fatigue. He neither cultivates the ground nor breeds cattle; and his country yields few natural productions that serve for food. The bulbs of the iris, and a few gramineous roots of a bitter and pungent taste, are all that the vegetable kingdom affords him. By the search of these the whole surface of the plains near the horde was scratched.” (John Barrow. 1801. An Account of Travels into the Interior of Southern Africa in the Years 1797 and 1798, London, Cadell and Davies, pp. 283-4; quoted from Mary Louise Pratt. 1992. Imperial Eyes: Travel Writing and Transculturation. London: Routledge, 63)

2.1. Busman in South Africa… …
John Barrow used “he” to refer to Bushmen in general -- homogenized subject.

“In his disposition he [the Bushman] is lively and cheerful; in his person active. His talents are far above mediocrity; and averse to idleness, they are seldom without employment.”

2.2. Bushman’s way of life (culture) was represented in present tense – making a claim to “reality” out there.

“His cheerfulness is the more extraordinary as the morsel he procures to support existence is earned with danger and fatigue.”

2.3. All behavior was viewed as the inherent traits of Bushman’s tradition. Its historical background is invisible.

“Confined generally to their hovels by day, for fear of being surprised by the farmers, they sometimes dance on moonlight nights from setting to the rising of the sun ….”
Who “confines” them?

2.4. “He neither cultivates the ground nor breeds cattle; and his country yields few natural productions that serve for food.”

If they are “averse idleness”. Why don’t they cultivate the ground or breed cattle?

2.5. It covered up the relationship between the colonial self and the others – other-ization and exotic-ization.

It ignored the fact that eighteen century Bushman communities were threatened by the white people’s occupation. Their fear and danger were coded as a custom of hiding all day and dancing at night.

2.6. In the colonial period, the idea of “culture” was a technique of:
-Defining the others
-Stereotyping the others
-Decontextualizing the others
-Hiding the self

3. Socio-cultural Darwinism
3.1. The early idea of culture was a technique of classifying races into different category or stage according to the degree of civilization.

3.2. Lewis Henry Morgan (1818-81)

Savagery

-Bushman (Older)
-Tasmanian (Middle)
-Eskimos (Late)

Barbarian
-Ancient Greek (Middle)
-Mexican natives (Later)

Civilization
-Tibetan
-Anglo-Saxon in the Middle Ages
-Chinese

Cultured man
-Modern westerners

4. Critique of ethnocentrism(種族中心論) and modern-centrism（現代中心論）
4.1. Ethnocentrism: Tendency to define, interpret and evaluate other cultures in one’s own.

4.2. Modern-centrism: Tendency to take the traits of modern society as universal, normal and the most advanced model for defining and evaluating other cultures.

4.3. Naturalization of time and temporalization of space

4.4. Cultural relativism as a critique of ethno-centrism:
All cultures are treated as of equal value.

4.5. Critique of biological or racial determinism

A contemporary question:

"Are African-Americans natural athletes?"

4.5. Example: Marriage

“Heterosexual and nuclear family is the normal and the most civilized marriage system.”

“Traditional marriage (such as arranged marriage, polygamy, polyandry, etc.) is uncivilized and even barbarian practice.”

4.5.1. All marriages practices are meaningful in their cultural system respectively.

4.5.2. Comparing and studying different cultures enable us to understand that marriage systems are different combinations of sexual behavior, love and law.

4.5.3. From the rituals, we learn about the cultural particularities(獨特性) and reflect upon something we see as natural:
-The close connection between sex, love and law (e.g. "Ghost marriage")
-The significance of law

5. What is culture?
5.1. Culture is NOT a biologically (or racially) transmitted and determined complex.

5.2. Culture is NOT a collective and ascribed heredity.

5.3. Edward Tylor: culture is an accumulation of human accomplishment

“Culture, or civilization … … is 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.” (Edward Tylor 1871)

5.4. Franz Boas: culture is a set of glasses.

“Culture embraces all the manifestations of social behaviour of a community, the reactions of the individual as affected by the habits of the group in which he lives, and the product of human activities as determined by these habits.” (Franz Boas 1930)

5.5. The Use of "Culture": Margaret Mead’s Coming of age in Samoa

-Margaret Mead (1901-1978) is a follower and student of Franz Boas.
She spent half year in an island of South Pacific.

-“The age of maximum ease”
She found life in Samoa easy and casual for girls whose “adolescence” and “sex” were hardly noticed, monitored and cared about by adults. Living in extended families, their teenage years were free of stress and conflict.

-The American culture and the culture of Samoa were different in the social arrangements within young people were born and reared.
Example: In modern society, there exists a transitory period of personal growth called “adolescence”. In Samoa, only puberty.

Reading for next week

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Please read:
王銘銘2005: 第二章
Malinowski, Bronislaw. 1964. Crime and Custom in Savage Society, Paterson, New Jersey: Littlefield, Adams & Co.