Cultural Anthropology 1.docx

1、Cultural Anthropology 1Cultural AnthropologyFirst Canadian EditionWilliam A. Haviland University of VermontGary W. Crawford University of TorontoShirley A. Fedora University of Saskatchewan THOMSON NELSONCOPYRIGHT 2002 by Nelson, a division of Thomson Canada Limited. Printed and bound in Canada 1 2

2、3 4 05 04 03 02 For more information contact: Nelson, 1120 Birchmount Road, Scarborough, Ontario, MIK 5G4. Or you can visit our Internet site at: http: ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. No part of this work covered by the copyright hereon may be reproduced, transcribed, or used in any form or by any meansgraphic

3、, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping, Web distribution, or information storage and retrieval systems without the written permission of the publisher. For permission to use material from this text or product, contact us by Tel -800-730-Z214 Fax 1-800-730-2215 Every e

4、ffort has been made to trace ownership of all copyrighted material and t secure permission from copyright holders. In the event of any question arising as to the use of any material, we will be pleased to make the necessary corrections in future printings. National Library of Canada Cataloguing in P

5、ublication Data Haviland, William A. Cultural anthropology 1st Canadian ed. Includes bibliographical references and index ISBN 0-7747-3768-9 1 Ethnology. I. Crawford, Oary W. II. Fedorak, Shirley III. Title. clN316.H382002a 306 C2002-9001 si -x PART1 Anthropology and the Study of CultureChapter1: Th

6、e Nature of Anthropology Chapter Preview1. What is Anthropology? Anthropology, the study of humankind eyerywhere, throughout time, seeks to produce reliable knowledge about people and their behaviour, both about what makes them different and what they all share in common. 2. What Do Anthropologists

7、Do? Physical anthropologists (often called biological anthropologists in Canada) study humans as biological organisms, tracing the evolutionary development of the human animal and looking at biological variations within the species, past and present. They also study the physical and behavioural natu

8、re of our closest biological relatives: nonhuman primates such as monkeys and apes. Archaeologists seek to explain human behaviour by studying material culture of past cultures and in certain cases, of living people. Linguistic anthropologists study the way language is used as a resource for practis

9、ing, developing, and transmitting a culture. They study how people use language and other means of expression to develop relationships with each other and to maintain social distinctiveness. Socio-cultural anthropologists are concerned with recent and contemporary human cultures, as they have been o

10、bserved, experienced, and discussed with people whose culture they seek to understand. 3. How Do Anthropologists Do What They Do? Anthropologists, in common with other scientists, are concerned with explaining observed phenomena. Most anthropological investigation involves fieldwork. Physical anthro

11、pologists and archaeologists, concerned with biological and cultural evolution, most often conduct excavations of sites where evidence of the past is found. Linguistic anthropologists study how people use language to relate to each other, usually living for brief periods with the people whose langua

12、ge they are studying. Socio-cultural anthropologists, on the other hand, are more likely to immerse themselves in a contemporary culture 6y living with the people, participating in their daily activities, and observing, firsthand, how they live. For as long as they have lived on earth, people have n

13、eeded answers to questions about who they are, where they came from, and why they act as they do. Throughout most of their history, though, people relied on myth and folklore for their answers to these questions, rather than the systematic testing of data obtained through careful observation. Anthro

14、pology, over the past 200 years, has emerged as a scientific approach to answering these questions. Simply stated, anthropology is the study of humankind in all places and throughout time. The anthropologist is concerned primarily with a single species Homo sapiensthe human species, its ancestors, a

15、nd its near relatives. Because anthropologists are members of the species they study, it is difficult for them to maintain a scientific detachment toward those they study. This, of course, is part of a larger problem in science. As one leading North American scientist puts it: Nature is objective, a

16、nd nature is knowable, but we can only view her through a glass darklyand many clouds upon our vision are of our own making: social and cultural biases, psychological preferences, and mental limitations (in universal modes of thought, not just human stupidity). The human contribution to this equatio

17、n of difficulty becomes ever greater as the subject under investigation comes closer to the heart of our practical and philosophical concerns. Since nothing comes closer to the heart of our practical and philosophical concerns than ourselves and others of our kind, can we ever hope to gain truly obj

18、ective knowledge about peoples behaviour? Anthropologists worry about this a great deal but have found that by maintaining a critical awareness of their assumptions, and constantly testing their conclusions against new sources of data, they can achieve a useful understanding of human behaviour. By s

19、cientifically approaching how people live, anthropologists have learned a great deal both about human differences and about the many things all humans have in common beneath all these differences. THE DEVELOPMENT OF ANTHROPOLOGY Although works of anthropological significance have a considerable anti

20、quitytwo examples are the accounts of other peoples by Herodotus the Greek and by the Arab Ibn Khaldun, written in the 5th century B.C. and 14th century A.D., respectively anthropology as a distinct field of inquiry is a relatively recent product of Western society. In Canada, for example, under the

21、 guidance of Sir Daniel Wilson, the University of Toronto offered the first anthropology course in North America in 1860. If people have always been concerned about themselves and others and their origins, why then did it take such a long time for a systematic discipline of anthropology to appear? T

22、he answer to this is as complex as human history. In part, it relates to the limits of human technology. Throughout most of history, people have been restricted in their geographical horizons. Without the means to travel to distant parts of the world, observation of cultures and peoples far from hom

23、e was a difficultif not impossible venture. Extensive travel was usually the exclusive prerogative of a few; the study of foreign peoples and cultures was not likely to flourish until adequate modes of transportation and communication could be developed. This is not to say people have always been un

24、aware of the existence of others in the world who look and act differently from themselves. The Old and New Testaments of the Bible, for example, are full of references to diverse peoples, among them Jews, Egyptians, Hittites, Babylonians, Ethiopians, Romans, and so forth. The differences among thes

25、e people pale by comparison with those between any of them and (for example) aboriginal peoples of Australia, the Amazon forest, or the Canadian Arctic. With the means to travel to truly faraway places, people found it possible to meet and observe, for the first time, radically different people. It

26、was the massive encounter with hitherto unknown peoples, which came as Europeans sought to extend their trade and political domination to all parts of the world, that focused attention on human differences in all their glory. Another significant element that contributed to the slow growth of anthrop

27、ology was the fail- tire of Europeans to recognize that beneath all the differences, they might share a basic “humanity” with people everywhere. Societies that did not share the fundamental cultural values of Europeans were labelled as “savage” or “barbarian.” Not until the late 18th century did a s

28、ignificant number of Europeans consider the behaviour of such people at all relevant to an understanding of themselves. This growing interest in human diversity, coming when efforts to explain reality in terms of natural laws were increasing, cast doubts on the traditional biblical mythology, which

29、no longer adequately “explained” human diversity. Although anthropology originated within the context of Western society, it has long since gone global. Today, it is an exciting international discipline whose practitioners are drawn from diverse societies in all parts of the world. Even societies th

30、at have long been studied by European and North American anthropologistsFirst Nations peoples of Canada, for examplehave produced anthropologists who continue to make their mark on the discipline. Their distinctive perspectives help shed new light not only on their own societies but on others (inclu

31、ding Western societies) as well. PersonFather Joseph-Francois Lafitau (1681-1746) In Canada, early anthropological studies began in the 18th and 19th century with the help of dedicated scholars interested in the study of human culture, Two early contributors to Canadian anthropology, neither of whom

32、 were academic anthropologists were Father Joseph-Francols Lafitau and Sir Daniel Wilson. Father Lafitau was a Jesuit missionary who lived with the Iroquois near Montreal from 715 to I 720.Although Father Lafitau is most often credited with discovering wild ginseng in North America his firsthand observations and scholarly writings provided valuable insight into the plants, animals, and people of the region. He noted a possible connection between Asian peoples, who used ginseng over 15 000 year