CULTURAL ANTHROPOLOGY: OBJECT OF STUDY, HISTORY, METHODOLOGY - CULTURE VOCABULARY - 2025

The cultural anthropology is one of the largest areas of anthropology and focuses on the study of culture and its variations. It uses the information collected through anthropology, ethnography, ethnology, languages, folklore and other elements that allow describing and analyzing the different cultures of the peoples of the world.

Within this branch of anthropology, the human being is observed as a member of society and a creator of history and culture over time. It emphasizes the way of life of people and places them within a broad perspective for comparison between the various existing human groups.

Cultural anthropology includes aspects of culture such as traditions, customs and religions in its studies. Image by Sasin Tipchai from Pixabay

For its part, culture is the factor that establishes how a person's way of life unfolds within a society. It is the knowledge that human beings have about how they should live their own life within their social context.

Cultural anthropology starts from the question of what is the meaning of the human being within different societies and cultures, both current and past.

Object of study

Cultural anthropology aims to study the different cultures that may exist in the world. Thanks to the understanding of each one of them, it is possible to differentiate them and understand their origins, the ways in which they work and how social life unfolds within different territories.

Among the cultural elements that are studied, the arts, religion, economics, politics, language, traditions, ecosystems, relations between races, modes of subsistence and historical factors such as wars, colonialism can be mentioned., state structures and more.

History

The beginnings of anthropology are between the 18th century and the middle of the 19th century. The various revolutions from the political and intellectual point of view promoted the questioning of religious laws and other complex issues, something that had previously been prohibited.

This is how during the nineteenth century the interest in studying the origins of humanity, species and more grew. Anthropology grew from different studies such as human races, the history of peoples, the classifications of language, the anatomy of the body, the differences between societies and other areas related to the human being.

Theories related to the development of science

One of the points that marked the impulse of anthropology as a science was the concept of evolution. Due to the various changes or progress of societies, evolution helped define a form of linear study of history within cultural anthropology.

Human groups can develop or go from simple structures to more complex ones, in different spaces and at different rates. But all this succession of events has a linear structure that the theory of evolutionism helped to envision. Evolutionism speaks of the gradual changes that are generated in human beings from their predecessors.

For its part, Marxism was another of the influential aspects for anthropology in the second half of the 19th century. At this point, the main agents of change in societies were included in production models and political, legal and ideological structures.

During the 20th century

With the entry of the 20th century, the different circumstances in which a society develops began to be taken into account, in order to understand the varieties and the elements that differentiated them from others.

History, social context, forms of production, contact with other civilizations, the environment and other elements began to be analyzed in the study of cultural anthropology.

This is how it was observed that each culture has a particular development, however, it can be influenced by the geographical and social environment in which it is found.

Important contributions to the development of science

Franz Boas (1858-1942), anthropologist of German origin and pioneer of modern anthropology, is recognized within the area as founder of the School of Cultural History in the United States, which had an important influence in the field of anthropology. culture throughout the twentieth century in this country.

Boas encouraged many of his students to carry out their studies and search for evidence of human behavior within their daily environment in order to record observable facts. This is how he departed from the trend of those who were based on evolutionism and who only studied already selected facts.

On the other hand, Marcel Mauss (1872-1950) French sociologist, founded the Institute of Ethnology at the University of Paris. He was another great influencer within the academic community, both for anthropologists and sociologists. He opted for the study of society as a system and also tried to link culture and people within his approach.

Methodology of cultural anthropology

Participant observation

One of the most widely used methods for the study of culture within this branch of anthropology is participant observation. It is qualified as the most efficient way of understanding a cultural group. Through this research method, anthropologists take on the task of being part of the community or society they are studying.

Cultural anthropology tries to understand the way in which the life of a group of people develops on a cultural level.

Image by pasja1000 from Pixabay

Researchers live and participate in social and cultural practices directly. In this way they can have a deeper understanding of the cultural system of a human population through experience.

Ethnography

It is another research method implemented to study the cultures of humanity. It includes among its first procedures, conducting a participant observation in which the researcher can put herself in context within the group she is studying.

Subsequently, the analysis of data obtained through instruments such as interviews, recordings, speeches or real interactions is used. It is important that the data have been collected naturally, that is, without having been planned.

The analysis is carried out through interpretation, using as reference a broader sociocultural context or the international context.

References

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5. Handwerker, W. Penn, (2002) "The Construct Validity of Cultures: Cultural Diversity, Culture Theory, and a Method for Ethnography." American Anthropologist 104 (1): 106-122. Recovered from nps.gov
6. What is Cultural Anthropology ?. Trinity College of Arts and Sciences. Recovered from culturalanthropology.duke.edu