-Symbolic Anthropology.pptx/social anthropology

Anthropological Theory

1. Symbolic Anthropology Its Emergence and Background Symbolic Anthropology takes as its basic tenets the ideas that indigenous meanings are the goal of research and that the these meanings, though not explicit, may be discovered in the symbolism of such things as Myth and Ritual. Symbolic Anthropology is a term that marks both intellectual movement of the 1970s and 1980s and as an anthropological method. Symbolic anthropology studies symbols and the processes , such as myth and ritual, by which humans assign meanings to these symbols to address fundamental questions about human social life Symbolic anthropology can be considered as a reaction to structuralism that was grounded in linguistics and semiotics Structuralists also saw actions as being separate from the actors, whereas symbolic anthropologists believed in "actor-centric" actions. Symbolic anthropology was also a reaction against materialism and Marxism. Materialists define culture in terms of observable behavior patterns where technoenvironmental factors are primary and causal. Symbolic anthropologists, instead, view culture in terms of symbols and mental terms. 1

2. Symbolic Anthropology : Its Emergence and Background cont … In Anthropology, the terms ‘symbol’ and ‘symbolism’ have been subject to widely varying uses and interpretations. The anthropologists who are linked together by a common concern for: Semiotics, Symbols, Symbology By no means share a common theoretical orientation or even a common vocabulary. In other words all the scholars associated with symbolism stand for different perspectives or of advancement in understanding symbols and symbolism in either a particular context of a culture or in general context of cultures. There are different trends within the anthropological study of symbolism. The Structuralist approach pioneered by Levi-Strauss Symbolic approach of D.Schneider (1970) which was developed out of cognitive anthropology Interpretative anthropology practiced by Clifford Geertz (1971) Victor Turner’s focus on symbols as part of the social process (1967) The modern study of symbolism in anthropology also draws from diverse interdisciplinary sources such as: Linguistics and socio-linguistics Micro-sociology The study of folklore Literary criticism Semiotics or semiology 2

3. Symbolic Anthropology: Salient Features Symbolic anthropology views culture as an independent system of meaning deciphered by interpreting key symbols and rituals Anthropologists interest on symbols and symbolic elements has been started with their observations in connection between myth and rituals Culture is based on the symbols that guide community behavior. Symbols obtain meaning from the role which they play in the patterned behavior of social life. Culture and behavior cannot be studied separately because they are intertwined. Symbols are any objects, words or signs which represents meanings and serve as ways of communication by members of a particular community. Public events such as holidays and festivals reflect symbolic meanings Thick description is a concept developed by C. Geertz which implies layers of interpretation of meanings. Thick description is also an interpretation of what the natives are thinking made by an outsider who cannot think like a native but is made possible by anthropological theory 3

4. Symbolic Anthropology: Salient Features Cont … culture as an organized collection of symbolic systems and said that ‘symbols were means of transmitting meanings Social Drama is a concept devised by Victor Turner to study the dialectic of social transformation and continuity. A social drama is "a spontaneous unit of social process and a fact of everyone's experience in every human society" (Turner 1980:149) Hermeneutics is a term first applied to the critical interpretation of religious texts. The modern use of the term is a combination of empirical investigation and subsequent subjective understanding of human phenomena. Methodologically, symbolic anthropology is based on cross-cultural comparison. S ymbolic anthropology examines symbols from different aspects of social life, rather than from one aspect at a time isolated from the rest 4

5. Contribution of Symbolic A nthropology The major accomplishment of symbolic anthropology has been to turn anthropology towards issues of culture and interpretation rather than the development of grand theories. Contributions of Clifford Geertz Geertz's main contribution to anthropological knowledge, however, was in changing the ways in which American anthropologists viewed culture, shifting the concern from the operations of culture to the way in which symbols act as vehicles of culture. Another contribution was the emphasis on studying culture from the perspective the actors within that culture. This emic perspective means that one must view individuals as attempting to interpret situations in order to act This actor-centered view is central to Geertz's work, however, it was never developed into an actual theory or model. Schneider developed the systematic aspects of culture and separated culture from the individual even more than Geertz ( Ortner 1984:129-130 ). He believed that an analysis of culture should "not [be] an experimental science in search of law but an interpretive one in search of meaning" (Geertz 1973d:5). Culture is expressed by the external symbols that a society uses rather than being locked inside people's heads. He defined culture as "an historically transmitted pattern of meanings embodied in symbols, a system of inherited conceptions expressed in symbolic forms by means of which men communicate, perpetuate, and develop their knowledge about and their attitudes toward life" (Geertz 1973e:89). For Geertz symbols are "vehicles of 'culture'" ( Ortner 1983:129), meaning that symbols should not be studied in and of themselves, but for what they can reveal about culture. Geertz's main interest was the way in which symbols shape the ways that social actors see, feel, and think about the world . 5

6. Contribution of Victor Turner Turner's major addition to anthropology was the investigation of how symbols actually operate, whether they function the ways in which symbolic anthropologists say they do. This was an aspect of symbolic anthropology that Geertz and Schneider never addressed in any great detail. This appears indicative of the influence of British social anthropology ( Ortner 1984:130-131). Victor Turner has described a rich system of ritual symbolism among the Ndembu (1967) and also has contributed important theoretical orientation in the field (1969;1975). Ritual symbolism among the Ndembu of Zambia is dominated by the existence of a set key symbolic objects and qualities (for example colors) These colors consistently recur in ritual acts and settings. Each symbolic object or quality posses a broad fan of meanings ranging from physiological and psychological referents to social and abstract ones. As a whole, Turner ( and also Mary Douglas (1966)- advocate the study of symbols ‘in action’ centre on questions of the motivation of symbols and signs. This approach focuses on: Natural relations between signs, symbol, the world and experience Turner used the ‘Index ‘and ‘Icon’ as equivalent to that between ‘Metonym’ and ‘Metaphor’ While the index and Metonym is a simple substitution; the icon and metaphor is a complex representation. 6

7. C o ntribution of Merry Douglas Douglas played a role in developing the Cultural Theory of Risk which has spawned diverse, interdisciplinary research programs. This theory asserts that the structures of social organizations offer perceptions to individuals that reinforce those structures rather than alternatives. Two features of Douglas' work were imported and synthesized. The first was her account of the social functions of individual perceptions of danger and risk, where harm was associated with disobeying the norms of society (Douglas 1966, 1992 ). The second feature was her characterization of cultural practices along the group and grid which can vary from society to society (Douglas 1970 ). 7

8. Criticisms of Symbolic Anthropology Marxists charge that symbolic anthropology, while describing social conduct and symbolic systems, does not attempt to explain these systems, instead focusing too much on the individual symbols themselves Another attack on symbolic anthropology came from cultural ecology. Cultural ecologists considered symbolic anthropologists to be "fuzzy headed mentalists, involved in unscientific and unverifiable flights of subjective interpretation" Mental phenomenon and symbolic interpretation, they argued, was scientifically untestable. 8