(Anthropology Paper I)

Syllabus section: 6. Anthropological Theories

 

Introduction

A symbol is something that stands for something else. Analysis of symbols helps us decipher the hidden significance and meaning of human behavior within and among cultures. Symbolic or Interpretive Anthropology devotes itself to an analysis of the symbols used by members of a society. Language, art, games, rituals, colors and fables are all subjects for symbolic analysis.

• • Symbolic and Interpretive Anthropology states that symbols are learned and shared. This means that most symbols can be recognized by the people in that culture and often by people in other cultures.
  • It also states that symbols are vehicles of culture, meaning they hold cultural meaning and significance.
  • Symbols also transmit meaning and communicate ways that people should view the world and feel about the world.
  • Leading proponents – Clifford Geertz, Victor Turner and David Schneider
  • Symbolic anthropology – a reaction to structuralism as it is grounded more in linguistics and this dissatisfaction is seen in Geertz article “Cerebral Savage: On the work of Claude Levi Strauss”
    • Structuralists focused more on the meanings as they are derived from aspects of culture rather than derived from symbols
    • Structuralism focused on actions, not on actors while symbolic anthropologists believed in actor–centric actions
  • This split dominated between 1960s and 1970s
  • Symbolic anthropology – also a reaction against materialism where culture is strictly defined in terms of overt, observable behavior patterns and while symbolic anthropology views culture in terms of symbols and mental terms
  • SA views culture as an independent system of meaning deciphered by interpreting key symbols and rituals
  • Traditionally, SA focused on religion, cosmology, ritual activity and expressive customs such as mythology and performing arts, as also on political and kinship systems
  • Symbolic anthropology can be divided into two major approaches
    • Interpretive Approach – Clifford Geertz
    • Symbolic Approach – Victor Turner

Interpretive Approach

• According to Clifford Geertz, analysis of culture should not be an experimental science in search of law but an interpretive one in search of meaning
• Culture is expressed by the external symbols that a society uses rather than being locked inside people’s minds
• Culture “ is 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 knowledge about and their attitudes towards life”
• Societies use symbols to express their worldview, value orientation, ethos and other aspects of life
• Symbols are vehicles of culture, meaning that symbols should not be studied in and of themselves, but should be studied for what they can reveal to us about culture
• Geertz’s main interest is in how symbols shape the ways that social actors see, feel and think about the world
• Thick Description is a term Geertz used to describe and define the aim of interpretive anthropology. He argues that social Anthropology is based on ethnography or the study of culture. 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. By analyzing the whole of culture as well as its constituent parts, one develops a "thick description" which details the mental processes and reasoning of the natives. Ex. The difference between a blink and a wink

Symbolic Approach

• Victor Turner was not interested in symbols as vehicles of culture but was instead interested in symbols as “operators in social process”
• According to Turner, symbolic expressions of shared meanings lie at the center of human relationships
• Symbols instigate social action and exert determinable influence on persons and groups to action
• Symbols i.e., operators by their arrangement and context, produce social transformation
• Social transformations tie the people in a society to the society’s norms, resolve conflict and aid in changing the status of actors
• Turner believed "Ritual symbols were the primary tools through which social order was renewed"
• Based on his study of Ndembu in Africa, Turner shows how symbols of objects, actions and institutions are coherently combined into a meaningful system in their culture.

Taxonomical Approach

• • David Schneider said that culture is a system of several classes of symbols centering around the domain of symbolism
  • He identified several classes of symbolism like food symbolism, political symbolism, social symbolism, dress symbolism and economic symbolism
  • All these types of symbolism are interrelated and their totality represents the total cultural system
  • He highlights the importance of holistic study in order to have a complete understanding of hidden meanings in a cultural setting

Methodology used

• Symbolic anthropology is based on cross-cultural comparison
• One of the major changes made by S/A was a movement towards a literary-based rather than science-based approach and shared literature from outside the bounds of anthropology
• Focuses largely on culture as a whole rather than on specific aspects of culture that are isolated from one another

Major Contributions/ Accomplishments

• Major accomplishment has been to turn anthropology towards issues of culture and interpretation rather than grand theory
• It helped anthropology turn to sources outside the bounds of traditional anthropology like philosophy etc.
• Geertz’s main contribution is in changing the ways in which American anthropologists viewed culture – from being concerned with the operations of culture to the way in which symbols act as vehicle of culture
• Another contribution can be seen in the emphasis of studying culture from perspectives of actors that exist within culture
• Turner’s major contribution was the investigation of how symbols actually operate in a society

Criticism

Marxists criticized S/A for neglecting historical conditions crucial to the development of many cultural practices. Cultural ecology school criticized S/A stating that they did not attempt to carry out their research in a manner so that other researchers could reproduce their results and since different anthropologists can view the same symbol in different ways, it was branded as too subjective.