Imagining Cultures Applying Basics of Cultural Anthropology to

Imagining Cultures Applying Basics of Cultural Anthropology to Worldbuilding

Anthropology the Study of Humanity ▪ Why isn’t everyone the same? ▪ Why doesn’t everyone speak the same language? ▪ What are the origins of people’s differences? ▪ Are there patterns to these differences? ▪ How can we answer these questions without running afoul of our assumptions and our biases?

Subfields ▪ Physical Anthropology ▪ Archaeology ▪ Cultural Anthropology ▪ Linguistics ▪ Xenology

Ethnocentric People typically believe that their own way of doing things— from how to eat to how they dress—is proper, right, and superior to any other way of doing things. This feeling of superiority can lead (and has led) to everything from poor intercultural relations to ethnic cleansing. Cameron M. Smith, Ph. D.

Anthropocentric Logically we can extend this to the way humans are very “human centric” in their ideological modeling, that is in the way they think about the big picture of how all the elements in the world fit together. Humans tend to think hierarchically with themselves at the top of the pyramid of life.

Anthropocentrism, philosophical viewpoint arguing that human beings are the central or most significant entities in the world. This is a basic belief embedded in many Western religions and philosophies. Anthropocentrism regards humans as separate from and superior to nature and holds that human life has intrinsic value while other entities (including animals, plants, mineral resources, and so on) are resources that may justifiably be exploited for the benefit of humankind. Encyclopedia Britannica online

Cornucopianism Some anthropocentric philosophers support a socalled cornucopian point of view, which rejects claims that Earth’s resources are limited or that unchecked human population growth will exceed the carrying capacity of Earth and result in wars and famines as resources become scarce. Cornucopian philosophers argue that either the projections of resource limitations and population growth are exaggerated or that technology will be developed as necessary to solve future problems of scarcity. In either case, they see no moral or practical need for legal controls to protect the natural environment or limit its exploitation. ibid

Ecological Model In the 1970 s, scholars working in the emerging academic field of environmental ethics issued two fundamental challenges to anthropocentrism: they questioned whether humans should be considered superior to other living creatures, and they also suggested that the natural environment might possess intrinsic value independent of its usefulness to humankind. The resulting philosophy of biocentrism regards humans as one species among many in a given ecosystem and holds that the natural environment is intrinsically valuable independent of its ability to be exploited by humans. ibid

Ecofeminism Although the anthro in anthropocentrism refers to all humans rather than exclusively to men, some feminist philosophers argue that the anthropocentric worldview is in fact a male, or patriarchal, point of view. They claim that to view nature as inferior to humanity is analogous to viewing other people (women, colonial subjects, nonwhite populations) as inferior to white Western men and, as with nature, provides moral justification for their exploitation. The term ecofeminism (coined in 1974 by the French feminist Françoise d’Eaubonne) refers to a philosophy that looks not only at the relationship between environmental degradation and human oppression but may also posit that women have a particularly close relationship with the natural world because of their history of oppression. ibid

Worldbuilders have a World View ▪ Ideology is imbedded in the artifacts of any human and their culture. ▪ Imaginary Worlds are mirrors of our current cultures and societies. ▪ Cultures are made up of both artifacts and ideas. ▪ Cultures are whole structures frequently networked and interdependent. ▪ All cultures appear to have some disunity or friction.

Culture resides within Ecology ▪ What are the ecological factors that shape the imaginative culture you are creating? ▪ Geography? Mobility? ▪ Weather? How is temperature regulated? (50 -70 degrees) ▪ Population? ▪ Food Sources? Water? Nutrients? Food Storage? Dietary choices depend on resources.

Foraging Cultures ▪ High Residential Mobility ▪ Limited Food Storage ▪ Lack of emphasis on Material Culture. Oral tradition. ▪ Lack of emphasis on Social Ranking (egalitarian) ▪ Lack of emphasis on possession. Frequent communal ownership. ▪ Symbolic units of value (money) are absent. ▪ Family relations promoted. Labor divided equally.

Pastoral Societies ▪ Defined by practice of herding animals to provide subsistence, moving them and the accompanying society across a landscape suitable for feeding and providing water for the herds. ▪ Moderate food storage. Living animals are stored food. ▪ Moderate emphasis on symbolic material culture. Symbolic decoration. Animal transportation. ▪ Moderate emphasis on possession.

Horticulture ▪ Low intensive farming. Domestication of plants and animals. ▪ Reliance on food storage. ▪ Strong emphasis on symbolic material culture. Artifacts tend to be richly embellished. Groups don’t move that much. ▪ Strong emphasis on social ranking. Some people have greater to resources than others. ▪ Strong emphasis on possession. Value placed on goods and property. ▪ Often “slash and burn” management of land resources.

Agriculture ▪ Total reliance on food storage. Extensive processing of foods so they are edible for years after harvest. ▪ Very strong emphasis on symbolic material culture and embellishment of artifacts. ▪ Strong emphasis on social ranking. Some people have much greater access to resources than others. ▪ Strong emphasis on possession. Place great value on goods and personal property because so much time is invested on that property.

Human Social Organization Tracks Subsistence ▪ Bands: small groups of foragers who travel long distances. Essentially egalitarian, respect for best hunters and gatherers but tough on selfaggrandizers. ▪ Tribes: somewhat larger than bands, travel less. Tend to be pastoralists or specialized hunters. Tribes have chiefs who have more influence than actual organizational power. ▪ Chiefdoms: often rely on some horticulture for existence. Hereditary elites (royalty) born into power. Historically, chiefs often own slaves. ▪ States/Civilizations: Strict division of the population into classes. Largely sedentary, relying on intensive agriculture, large populations.

Traits of Civilization as a Social Organization ▪ Urbanization: concentration of population into an area that can’t support that population ecologically. ▪ Long distance Trade: trade networks are extensive. Non-food production specialists more common. ▪ Social stratification: Often royal families and other aristocracies. ▪ Durable record keeping/writing. Creation and maintenance of written or information age cultures. ▪ Standing armies and extended warfare. ▪ Money and Slavery.

▪ Territorial Sovereignty ▪ Vassal Tribute ▪ Non-food Production specialization: cobblers, jewelers, potters, priests, tax-collectors, military personnel, sea crews, smiths, masons ▪ Astronomy and/or Mathematics: Predictive cosmologies. ▪ Monumental Architecture: Roads, temples, civil institutions, mortuary monuments. ▪ State religion ▪ Taxes

Cultural Dynamics ▪ Ecological determinism: Cultures directly reflect their physical environment. ▪ Encounters with other cultures: People move around and exchange ideas so culture becomes slightly, sometimes significantly, altered. ▪ Internal Change: Cultures can change internally over time. Cultures innovate often in reaction to changes in technology.

Cultural Commonalities ▪ Communication: specific ways of speaking, gestures, body language, languages in general or dialects. ▪ Ethical/Justice system: rules about truth-telling, killing, stealing, personal property, ways of administering justice ▪ Rights and responsibilities assigned by age, gender and other cultural divisions. ▪ Mythos/ideology: distinctive concepts of the supernatural, often ritualized. Ideology in political and economic positions, often the source of cultural friction.

Follow the Prime Directive

Write a Xenology Report We are Reporting Only on the Human Population of Your Planet

The Xenologist Arrives ▪ Look around and start to observe and record the following information about the humans you are investigating on this planet ▪ Record information about the culture you are observing in terms of the following questions:

▪ Family Structure: what’s a family? , who are kin? What is marriage and its arrangement? ▪ Sexual Regulations: Who can consent? What is incest? ▪ Food Preferences? What do people eat? What do they prefer to eat? Why? ▪ Body decoration and clothing. Describe? Have you made conclusions about the manners of dress and decoration? Based on what? ▪ Consider the following specifics of material culture: manners, holidays and celebrations, objects of worship, objects of status, objects of utility or function. Describe as many of these as you can.

Get a Local Informant ▪ You have developed a relationship with a local informant. ▪ Describe this informant in your report. What are the duties, status, everyday life of your informant? What is the informant’s reaction to your questions? Is the informant well-positioned to know the answers to the questions you ask? Are there members of the informant’s family, kin groups, clans or societies that are also willing to provide insight and information? ▪ What do we need to know about the world views, assumptions, values, attitudes, etc. of your informants to evaluate their information and insights?

Ask the Informant ▪ What are the appropriate behaviors for each life stage? ▪ Infancy ▪ Childhood ▪ Sexual Maturity ▪ Adulthood ▪ Old Age

Cultural Mapping ▪ Describe the cultural map of your community. Draw it if you like. Where are the important cultural sites? Where do groups gather and for what purpose? ▪ Are there Sacred or Taboo areas? What is supposed to be there? What is there? ▪ What are some of the most important local holidays, rites, celebrations, ceremonies? ▪ Describe a rite/celebration/ceremony that you attend.

Your Interest Rewarded ▪ Your informant was impressed with the interest you showed in certain objects used during the event you recently witnessed. They offer to discuss certain aspects of the event you might not have understood. You gratefully accept the invitation. ▪ The informant takes you to a place where some of the objects used or displayed at the event are stored/displayed. Someone is with them who is responsible for overseeing the objects. Describe the objects, the place they reside and the overseer. ▪ The overseer says something to you that you don’t understand. What is it that this person said?

Initiation ▪ Some time passes and one day, your informant comes to you and invites you to a social event. ▪ You are glad to attend at the event you notice that the group is not made up of the usual kin, clan, or family members with whom you frequently socialize. ▪ Stories are told and one of the stories features one of the objects you saw recently displayed. ▪ Write down the story you heard.

Song and Dance ▪ There was also a song that was about another of the objects, write the song as you remember it or recorded it (if you were allowed to record it). ▪ There was also a dance, describe as much of it as you can remember. ▪ At the end of this social occasion there is a special food and you are given something. What was the food and what were you given.

Revisiting the Ceremonial ▪ The next day your informant ask if you want to revisit the place the objects are kept. You say yes. When you go back to this place everything seems to be different. You know more about the objects and when the overseer of the objects, the same person as before, repeats what they said the last time, but you seem to understand it now. What new meaning do you see in the objects? What new understanding do you have of what the overseer said? Record this in twine 2 using the if/then coding of information on the appropriate pages.