MYTHS: The Most Persistent, Resilient, Lasting, Enduring Artifacts of Culture
Karen Abigaile M. Ramoso MYTHS: The Most Persistent, Resilient, Lasting, Enduring Artifacts of Culture Introduction Throughout the history of human civilization, myths have been an integral part of human society. Myths have no cultural boundaries as they can be found in all cultural societies. Myths are stories used to give meaning to a phenomenon or symbolic manner to the natural cycles that surround humankind. Myths are used to explain and understand our existence in our world whether it is something that we can tangibly see or not. The saga of a myth is past down from one generation to the next. For the purpose of this assignment, I will be analyzing two articles (American Popular Culture by Kottak and Art by Ember) that deal with myths. With these articles, I will attempt to manifest the similarities of the points raised by both authors within the context of their articles. Finally, I will be concluding the analysis of the articles with some insights. Myth: is it really FICTITIOUS? The general view or opinion is that a myth is something that is false or not true. Today, humans are more reflective, philosophical and analytical of events placed before them. We started out as mythical thinkers, moving to a mystic, asking questions approach. Then finally moving to an analytical way of thinking. Today, it is harder to believe in myths as we are focused on
The Paleo-anthropologist
The Paleo-anthropologist By: Gloria Hernandez World History: Boothe September 18, 2004 "To give meaning to where we are today, we need to look at where we've have come from." -Richard Leakey, in National Geographic, February 1998 After millions of years of evolution, primate has finally become man. The people responsible for all the discoveries of the past we now know are the scientist we know today to be the paleo-anthropologists of the past and present. Paleo-anthropologist have conceived a world unknown to use only a century ago by using the methods comparable to those of most other scientist. It wasn't even until the 1900's began that scientist were able to grow in paleo anthropology because of the great advancements made in testing the evidence in several different ways. Many of these test included dating techniques. Radiocarbon1 dating is currently the most precise and reliable dating method used today. It was invented in 1949 by J. R. Arnold and W. F. Libby2 and didn't take long before it took to science and studies of early man. Many scientists could use this method on nearly any non-living organism to test for time of death. This method is used to find the radioactivity and the rate of decay of an atom, which can therefore lead to finding the time of death or time it stopped growing. Radiometric dating is almost similar to radiocarbon dating in that it uses
Use your chosen ethnography to examine ways in which the ordering of relatives may reveal information about spiritual, political or economic life among the people you have studied.
Essay title: Use your chosen ethnography to examine ways in which the ordering of relatives may reveal information about spiritual, political or economic life among the people you have studied. Kinship in Korea Traditionally Korean culture is a collectivist and hierarchical society. These structures are reflected everywhere in Korean life which helps to make sense about how Koreans have strong kinship, respect and obedience to their elders. Many anthropologists suggest that among Koreans there is a strong bond between relatives and clan members. Traditionally Koreans have family centred principles and the extended family is the first place to which people turn when they find themselves in trouble. Kin groups are very important to Korean people's daily life in many ways. It is important to know who has got what surname, because it can be defined whether they are from the same clan or not. Haviland, W (2002) defined clan as a non corporate descent group whose member claim descent from a common ancestor without actually knowing the genealogical links to that ancestor. Even if there are a hundred, or a thousand people who have the same surname, they all believe they all come from same ancestor. Quote from Brandt, V.S.R. (1971) 'In its ideal form the Korean kinship system is integrated, coherent, and elaborately documented all the way from single households in the
'What is British Culture?'
Wasim Mohammed: 441588 'What is British Culture?' When Sociologists use the term 'culture' they are referring to a 'whole way of life' within a particular society i.e. Different societies have different cultures. Some societies however may share similar things within their cultures, for example, British society shares the same language (English) with American society. There are a number of different sociological interpretations of culture. Ralph Linton states that 'The culture of a society is the way of life of its members; the collection of ideas and habitats which they learn, share and transmit from generation to generation'. Culture is learned through the process of 'socialization', it is also shared and provides a 'design for living'. There would be a broken and disrupted communication if culture was not shared, cooperation would decay altogether and this would ultimately lead to disorder and the collapse of human society, therefore culture is crucial in civilised human life. Culture is expressed through routine behaviour and symbolic culture of their society by following guidelines and rules, these are known as 'norms' and 'values' and are important in maintaining order in society. Norms are specific rules members of a society must abide by. They guide people in particular situations with appropriate and sensible behaviour. Norms are enforced by positive and
American Exports:Pop Art and Democracy?
American Exports: Pop Art and Democracy? "I am for an art that takes its forms from the lines of life itself, that twists and extends and accumulates and spits and drips and is heavy and coarse and blunt and sweet and stupid as life itself." (Claes Oldenburg, 1961) At first sight this statement by Claes Oldenburg might not sound unusual to contemporary ears. But about a generation ago, it definitely did. This comment one could argue reflected the basic thoughts and 'philosophy' of a completely new form of art which emerged in the 1960s in America and came to be called 'Pop Art'. Just as the statement above implies, the overall idea behind Pop Art was based on a thourough affirmation of life itself, which, one can argue, was a characteristic feature of that period. The 1960s were an era of cultural awakening, economic boom and national self-confidence in America. Strengthened by the triumph over nazism and fascism, the US adopted the role of the white knight of democracy and took over the leading position not only in politics and economy but also increasingly in cultural terms. This cultural hegemony however was conceived of as a threat by parts of the European cultural elite and therefore severely criticized. (Kroes,1996,pp.13-15) Americans, however, responded - and do so even today - to this criticism by underpinning the importance of democracy and its extraordinary
In whatever way we define culture, most anthropologists agree that it has to do with those aspects of human cognition and activity that are emanated from what we learn as people in a society, bearing in mind that one learns a lot.
Sabrina Sharawy Anthropology October 5, 2004 Paper 1 In whatever way we define culture, most anthropologists agree that it has to do with those aspects of human cognition and activity that are emanated from what we learn as people in a society, bearing in mind that one learns a lot. What has allowed the human race accomplish a kind of inheritance of characteristics is the genetically inherited inclination for language as well as symbolic communication. Due to the fact that almost every anthropologist has his or her own individual definition of 'culture', there probably are more definitions than anthropologists. Edward B. Tyler gave his definition back in the Victorian era, which was that "culture or civilization, taken in its wide ethnographic sense, 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". His definition is primarily focused on knowledge and belief, which were obtained by members of a social group. That focus also continues to inform our sense of what culture really is. However, at the same time, the Victorians considered culture as something a society or a nation could hold to a greater or smaller extent. Another anthropologist who had is own definition is Raymond Williams. He had formerly heard the term 'culture' used to allude to "a kind of social
'Is Fashion clothing a form of social control?'
Alex Taylor 'Is Fashion clothing a form of social control?' Fashion, defined as being the style popular at a given time, can be seen in every corner of the world in one form or another. Fashion is not only a very dynamic concept but is also seen to be specific to the location and context that it is in. Each culture has its own form of traditional fashion that can be seen in the more modern forms of fashion. As a result of increasing globalization many of these cultural barriers have been breached and the fashion within spills over into worldwide fashion. For example we might now see international footballers wearing a sarong in an attempted fashion statement. Role models are a key issue within the concept of fashion, and will be looked at further on in the argument. Clothes are a clear form of division within society, whether it is between class, gender or even sexual orientation. Anyone living in society can read into these signifiers and mostly have an understanding of what they represent. The clothes that we wear can often act a barrier between groups of people. The aim of wearing a certain type of clothing could be said to achieve a sense of belonging to a social group. As fashion changes, groups may wish to make a statement about their beliefs through their clothes, or lack thereof. Examples of such groups have in the past included those such as the 'punks' or the
Why has the concept of exchange proven such a useful tool in anthropology?
Why has the Concept of Exchange Proved Such a Useful Tool of Analysis in Anthropology? Seeking to uncover what material things, cultural practices and social relations signify to people through extensive research of exchange practices in 'archaic societies', Marcel Mauss stood in the centre of the great ethnographic wave that took off in the early thirties of the 20th century. Although his work was in many ways a calculated attack on the then contemporary political theory of utilitarianism his ethnographic work on the North-American potlatch opened a space for comparative analysis of not only the pre-capitalist economics, but gave birth to the idea that the classification of phenomena in every society is a rational expression of the collective consciousness and that grand institutions of reciprocal gift exchange have significant explanatory value in revealing this. Malinowski's classic study of the kula will be assessed along with the potlatch in order to reveal how exchange has proven to be a useful analytical tool of holistic and comparative anthropological research. One of the first novelties that Marcel Mauss introduces is the break-off from radical evolutionist interpretations of society, all the while not dismissing arguments that are in favour of the theory of development of modern societies from those that are primitive. As Mauss stated in the famous text,
Celebrity(ce-leb-ri-ty): 1.A famous person. 2.Renown;fame.
Introduction Celebrity(ce-leb-ri-ty): 1.A famous person. 2.Renown;fame To be honest, the best way to research this type of topic in motion is to ride the London Underground subway for a full day. That is when you see everyday people in their natural state. Patient, board, either excited or let down by where their journey is taking them. Still, they bring along an outlet to ease their mood and their anxiousness brought by travel. This is the same outlet we use in all our travel, our time spent waiting, and our obsession that brings us out of the dark and into the lives of the people in the light that we worship just by paying attention. This outlet is Celebrity. Coming from America to England I am totally out of my natural being. Still, my misplacement grants me the gift that allows me to notice things about this culture as well as my own that normal citizens of the United Kingdom don't notice out of pure repetition and habit. How they live, what they do, who they choose as their celebrities, and why. Today, the western obsession with celebrity is not purely by human nature but it is a situation created by the entertainment industry for profit. This industry have essentially turned the lives of people all around the industry from pop singers to Cricket players into a spin-off entertainment product through manipulation techniques, history, and psychology. What movies are to
Critically examine the ways in which sub-cultural style has been appropriated as an object of investigation by cultural historians.
5. Critically examine the ways in which sub-cultural style has been appropriated as an object of investigation by cultural historians. The aim of this essay is to look at definitions of sub-culture and in particular, the ways in which sub-cultural style has formed the basis of investigation by cultural historians. The role and significance of the Birmingham Centre for Contemporary Cultural Studies will be examined, along with the Frankfurt and Chicago Schools. Examples of sub-cultural groups that have formed the basis of investigation, such as 'Teddy boys' and 'Mods', will be identified and discussed . The ways in which they appropriated certain aspects of design to signify their sub-cultural style will also be looked at in detail. This essay will begin by looking at early theories of sub-culture and then move on to discuss contemporary issues surrounding the subject looking, in detail, at the ways in which ideas about sub-culture have changed and developed. The study of sub-culture has been appropriated as an object of investigation by cultural historians since the late 19th Century. The Chicago School was founded in 1892 and was the earliest department of sociology in the United States1, which conducted investigations into crime and deviance within urban groups. This was followed by The Frankfurt School in 1923 who also conducted studies into the behaviour of urban groups