Overview
This lecture explores the transition from modern to postmodern thought in anthropology, focusing on how scientists and anthropologists understand truth, reality, culture, and social constructs, with a special emphasis on the study of religion and gender.
Philosophy and Colonialism
- Early anthropology aided colonialism by constructing racial hierarchies to justify domination.
- The concept of "The West vs. The Orient" emerged to reinforce white supremacy and global control.
- Changes in philosophical frameworks have shaped anthropology's evolving approaches to studying religion and culture.
The Scientific Method and Modernity
- The Renaissance sparked a shift from religious to scientific explanations of the natural world.
- The scientific method relies on observation, hypothesis, experimentation, and peer review.
- Scientific theories are supported by large bodies of evidence but remain open to revision.
- Modernity viewed science as the path to discovering objective truth and reality.
- Positivism holds that empirical facts can be discovered through scientific methods.
Auguste Comte and Sociology
- Auguste Comte founded positivism and introduced scientific study to human behavior and societies.
- Comte's approach to sociology was data-driven, emphasizing observation over philosophical speculation.
Positivism and Religion
- Comte believed society needed new systems of meaning as religion declined.
- Early sociologists assumed the decline of religion, overlooking evidence of its ongoing influence.
Science and Religion
- Religion is based on faith, which exists without (and sometimes in opposition to) empirical evidence.
- Religious beliefs shape behaviors and community, even if not measurable by scientific methods.
Postmodernism
- Postmodernism challenges the notion of objective truth, emphasizing the subjective nature of reality.
- All knowledge is seen as socially constructed and shaped by cultural perceptions.
- Postmodern anthropology focuses on multiple subjective realities rather than one objective one.
- Popular examples (the dress, laurel/yanny) illustrate subjective perception of reality.
Social Constructs
- Social constructs are beliefs or norms that appear natural but are culturally created (e.g., gendered hair length).
- Widespread conformity can make social constructs seem like natural laws.
Thick Description and Clifford Geertz
- Clifford Geertz argued anthropology should study meaning-making through "thick description"—analyzing the layers of meaning behind actions, not just the actions themselves.
- Anthropologists must recognize their own biases and amplify the voices of those they study.
- Thick description is narrative and interpretive, unlike thin, literal description.
Elements and Layers of Thick Description
- Anthropology is the study of meaning-making (semiotics).
- Cultural study is always "microscopic" and specific.
- Cultures can be decoded through their symbols.
- Only extroverted (public) behaviors can be observed.
- Layers of meaning include the actor's intentions, the recipient's interpretation, and the observer's analysis.
Gender, Culture, and Social Constructs
- Ancient societies (e.g., Teotihuacan deity) challenge binary gender assumptions.
- Gender is diverse and fluid in many cultures (e.g., Hijra in India, Muxe in Mexico).
- Modern anthropologists strive to avoid imposing their own cultural biases on interpretations.
- Strict gender binaries are a Euro-American construct not universally applicable.
Key Terms & Definitions
- The Renaissance — cultural rebirth in Europe (15th–16th c.) leading to scientific advancement.
- The Scientific Method — systematic process of observation, hypothesis, experimentation, and conclusion.
- Scientific Theory — explanation supported by large, diverse evidence, subject to change with new data.
- Modernism — belief in objective truth discoverable by science.
- Positivism — philosophy that empirical facts can be proven through science.
- Empirical Evidence — verifiable, observable data.
- Objective — independent of individual perception.
- Subjective — dependent on personal or cultural perception.
- Discourse — ongoing dialogue around cultural meaning.
- Social Construct — culturally created belief or norm, not rooted in natural law.
- Semiotics — study of signs and meaning-making.
- Thick Description — detailed interpretation of cultural meaning behind actions.
- Thin Description — literal, surface-level description of behavior.
- Microscopic — focusing on specific, small groups within culture.
- Decoding — interpreting cultural symbols to understand meaning.
- Extroverted Behaviors — publicly observable actions.
- Layers of Meaning — actor’s intention, recipient’s interpretation, observer’s analysis.
Action Items / Next Steps
- Listen to the NPR story on medical anthropology and vaccine hesitancy; answer the provided questions.
- Identify a pseudoscientific or culturally constructed belief in your community and analyze it using cultural relativism.
- Define all key terms in your own words and review four elements of thick description and three layers of meaning.
- Briefly summarize the arguments of Clifford Geertz and Auguste Comte.