An introduction to the discipline of Anthropology

00:05:27
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J5aglbgTEig

Resumo

TLDRAnthropology explores human cultures and societies, originating from tales of exotic travelers and evolving into a structured academic discipline in the late 19th century. Initially focusing on pre-industrial societies, seminal works like Marcel Mauss's "The Gift" highlighted the intricate bonds within cultures. In the 20th century, anthropologists like Franz Boas and Bronislaw Malinowski pioneered ethnography, prioritizing lived experiences over speculative theories. The discipline diversified into areas such as political, medical, and feminist anthropology, each challenging societal norms and global political assumptions. Structuralism, introduced by Claude Lévi-Strauss, viewed cultures as cognitive structures. This perspective shifted with Clifford Geertz's interpretive approach, focusing on cultural meaning and social change. Anthropologists continue to rethink conventional methods and apply their insights to contemporary global issues, broadening the understanding of human societies.

Conclusões

  • 📚 Anthropology studies human cultures and societies.
  • 🌍 Early anthropology focused on pre-industrial societies to understand past human behavior.
  • 🎁 Marcel Mauss's 'The Gift' highlighted the complexity of cultural bonds.
  • 👥 Ethnography became crucial for studying cultures through lived experiences.
  • 🏛 Structural functionalism examines how institutions maintain societal order.
  • 🔍 Claude Lévi-Strauss introduced structuralism, focusing on thought structures.
  • 📖 Clifford Geertz advocated examining cultures for meaning, not just scientific laws.
  • ✊ Feminist anthropology questions cultural symbols and Western perspectives.
  • 🧪 Medical and political anthropology explore diverse human experiences in changing contexts.
  • 📈 Anthropology adapts to address modern global challenges and social transformations.

Linha do tempo

  • 00:00:00 - 00:05:27

    An overview of anthropology, describing its evolution from early studies of cultures imagined by exotic tales to serious scholarly endeavors. Early anthropologists focused on pre-industrial societies to understand the development of institutions like religion and family. Influential works such as Marcel Moss's 'The Gift' explored the complexity of cultural bonds. By the 20th century, emphasis shifted to ethnography, with scholars like Franz Boas and Bronislaw Malinowski insisting on immersive fieldwork to understand cultures more accurately. The structural-functionalist tradition, exemplified by E.E. Evans-Pritchard, explored how cultural beliefs fit into societal structures.

Mapa mental

Mind Map

Perguntas frequentes

  • What is anthropology?

    Anthropology is the study of people and their cultures.

  • Who were early influential anthropologists?

    Franz Boas and Bronislaw Malinowski were early influential anthropologists who advanced the field with their ethnographic work.

  • What are some specializations within anthropology?

    Some specializations include political anthropology, medical anthropology, and feminist anthropology.

  • How did structuralism influence anthropology?

    Claude Lévi-Strauss introduced structuralism, suggesting that cultures are built on hidden structures formed from human thought.

  • What is the significance of Marcel Mauss's 'The Gift'?

    Marcel Mauss's 'The Gift' argued that gifts create complex bonds of obligation that underpin cultures.

  • What was the focus of 20th-century anthropology?

    The focus shifted to ethnography, with anthropologists conducting intensive long-term fieldwork.

  • What is the structural functionalist tradition?

    It examines how institutions fit together to create a functioning society, as exemplified by E.E. Evans-Pritchard's work.

  • How has anthropology addressed social change?

    Clifford Geertz's interpretive approach analyzed cultures for meaning, prompting reexamination of ethnographic methods.

  • How does political anthropology challenge global politics?

    Political anthropology raises questions on global politics, as James Ferguson did with 'The Anti-Politics Machine.'

  • What is the impact of feminist anthropology?

    Feminist anthropology explores societal norms, questioning Western perspectives on symbols like the clothing of Muslim women.

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Legendas
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Rolagem automática:
  • 00:00:00
    [Music]
  • 00:00:02
    welcome to the MCAT multimedia series
  • 00:00:05
    and to MC's introduction to
  • 00:00:09
    anthropology anthropology is the study
  • 00:00:11
    of people and their cultures its roots
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    stretch back more than a thousand years
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    to Exotic Travelers Tales imagining
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    strange societies and peoples whose
  • 00:00:23
    Behavior fascinated early explorers but
  • 00:00:26
    Scholars began this serious study of
  • 00:00:28
    human culture only late in the 19th
  • 00:00:31
    century early anthropologists studied
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    customs and beliefs in pre-industrial
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    Societies in the hope of opening Windows
  • 00:00:39
    onto their own pasts in order to explain
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    how institutions like religion or the
  • 00:00:45
    family had come to
  • 00:00:47
    be some of the texts that emerged during
  • 00:00:50
    this period continue to be influential
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    among them Marcel Moss's book The Gift
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    which argued that gifts far from being
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    free create complex bonds of reciprocal
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    obligation that help to underpin
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    cultures it was not until the early 20th
  • 00:01:07
    century though that anthropology began
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    to focus heavily on ethnography the
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    Intensive long-term fieldwork that has
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    become its best known tool fron boas in
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    the United States and bronislav
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    malanowski in Britain rejected much of
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    their predecessor's work as speculation
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    and insisted on living among the the
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    people they studied and talking to them
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    in their own
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    languages the questions asked by
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    anthropology got more ambitious too
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    rather than trying to understand how
  • 00:01:40
    institutions developed over time
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    Scholars began to ask how they fitted
  • 00:01:45
    together to create a functioning Society
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    this is the structural functionalist
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    tradition perhaps best exemplified by ee
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    Evans Pritchards witchcraft oracles and
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    Magic a book which demonst rated that
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    belief in witchcraft made perfect sense
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    when understood as a way of keeping
  • 00:02:05
    order in
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    society human culture is complex and
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    anthropology quickly developed into a
  • 00:02:13
    number of
  • 00:02:14
    specializations political anthropology
  • 00:02:17
    questioned the assumptions of global
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    politics as when James Ferguson issued
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    his challenge to the International
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    Development industry in the
  • 00:02:26
    anti-politics machine and showed that
  • 00:02:29
    Aid is often directed to meet political
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    goals rather than human
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    needs medical anthropology explores
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    differing experiences of medicine and
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    disease and Victor Turner in the ritual
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    process explored the power of symbols
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    through the performance of religious
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    ceremonies feminist anthropology 2 has
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    asked fundamental questions about the
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    ways in which we understand
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    Society Lila Abal lagad wonders why
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    Western academics see the clothes worn
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    by Muslim women as symbols of
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    subjugation rather than acceptance of a
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    moral system and why they expect Afghans
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    to cast aside their burkas when they
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    themselves would never wear a pair of
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    shorts to an
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    opera the 1960s saw further advances in
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    anthropological Theory beginning with
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    Claude Livy strauss's ambitious attempts
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    to study cultures as structures of human
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    thought his book structural anthropol
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    ology Drew on a Model derived from
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    Linguistics to introduce what became
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    known as
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    structuralism the theory that cultures
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    are built on hidden underpinnings formed
  • 00:03:40
    from Human perceptions and activity and
  • 00:03:43
    the idea that all of these are
  • 00:03:45
    constructs that are packed with
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    meaning a decade later Clifford gerz
  • 00:03:52
    Advanced another idea his the
  • 00:03:55
    interpretation of cultures suggested
  • 00:03:57
    that cultures should not be studied
  • 00:03:59
    scientif ific Al and in search of laws
  • 00:04:02
    but interpretively by scholars in search
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    of
  • 00:04:05
    meaning this fresh thinking forced a
  • 00:04:08
    reexamination of much ethnographic
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    fieldwork but it also liberated
  • 00:04:13
    anthropology from a focus on the
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    reproduction of culture that had made it
  • 00:04:17
    blind to social
  • 00:04:20
    change Johannes fabian's time and the
  • 00:04:23
    other provides an example of
  • 00:04:25
    anthropologists radically rethinking the
  • 00:04:28
    ways in which they approach the people
  • 00:04:29
    people whom they study Fabian pointed
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    out how easy it was to fall into the
  • 00:04:34
    Trap of writing about people as if they
  • 00:04:36
    inhabited not just another place but
  • 00:04:39
    another
  • 00:04:40
    time his work helped to inspire the
  • 00:04:43
    development of historical anthropology
  • 00:04:46
    and texts like Eric Wolf's Europe and
  • 00:04:49
    the people without history which gave
  • 00:04:51
    voice to people whose stories had
  • 00:04:53
    formerly been
  • 00:04:55
    ignored today anthropologists still seek
  • 00:04:58
    new ways to re-evaluate old problems and
  • 00:05:02
    apply ethnographic methods to Modern
  • 00:05:04
    people in a rapidly changing and
  • 00:05:06
    globalizing World we'll introduce you to
  • 00:05:10
    anthropologists past and present and to
  • 00:05:12
    the endlessly fascinating world of human
  • 00:05:15
    culture come inside to find out more
  • 00:05:18
    MCAT learn better think smarter aim
  • 00:05:22
    higher
Etiquetas
  • anthropology
  • ethnography
  • structuralism
  • cultural studies
  • Franz Boas
  • Bronislaw Malinowski
  • Marcel Mauss
  • Claude Lévi-Strauss
  • social change
  • globalization