Cultural anthropology and ethnology

Checklists, Skills, Study Assistance, Summaries & Tips

Organizations, Projects & Vacancies

Image

Table of content of this page

Image

Intro

What is Anthropology?

  • In a basic sense, Anthropology is the study of humanity itself, of what makes us human. It further focuses on a wide variety of aspects like human behavior, culture, society and biology, in the present but also across the whole of human history. In doing so, Anthropology also takes a lot of its inspiration from other social science disciplines.

Why Anthropology?

  • By studying the way humans interact with one-another in the cultural and societal spaces they are apart of, throughout history and in the present, the goal is to come up with explanations and understandings for why certain human behavior exists. At the same time the study is able to celebrate the diversity we all share as the human race, by showcasing humanity in all its beauty and pain over it’s entire history

Main related topics

 

More supporting content:
Anthropology and understanding another: home bundle

Anthropology and understanding another: home bundle

Main content and contributions for anthropology, ethnology and understanding other people and cultures

Anthropology and ethnology - Theme
What is cultural anthropology?

What is cultural anthropology?

Cultural anthropology dives deeper than tourist experiences. It's a branch of anthropology that delves into the social and cultural practices of human societies across the globe.

What are the main features of cultural anthropology?

  • Holistic Approach: Cultural anthropology takes a holistic approach, examining a culture's social organization, language, religion, economy, and material culture to understand the whole picture.
  • Ethnography: The primary research method involves ethnography, where anthropologists immerse themselves in a culture for extended periods, observing and participating in daily life.
  • Cultural Relativism: This field promotes cultural relativism, encouraging the understanding of cultures on their own terms, not through the lens of our own.
  • Focus on Meaning: Cultural anthropologists strive to understand the meaning behind cultural practices, beliefs, and customs.

What are important sub-areas in cultural anthropology?

  • Medical Anthropology: Explores the intersection of culture and health, examining beliefs about illness, healthcare practices, and the cultural impact of diseases.
  • Linguistic Anthropology: Studies the relationship between language, culture, and thought, exploring how language shapes our understanding of the world.
  • Political Anthropology: Examines how power is organized and contested within different cultures, including political systems, leadership structures, and social movements.
  • Economic Anthropology: Studies how cultures produce, distribute, and consume goods and services, analyzing different economic systems and their cultural contexts.
  • Urban Anthropology: Focuses on the study of culture in urban environments, examining social life, community dynamics, and the impact of urbanization.
  • Legal Anthropology: Explores the relationship between law and culture, examining how legal systems are shaped by cultural values and practices.

What are key concepts in cultural anthropology?

  • Culture: The shared system of beliefs, values, practices, and behaviors that shape a group of people's way of life.
  • Ethnocentrism: The tendency to view one's own culture as superior to others. Cultural anthropology works against this bias.
  • Social Structure: The way a society is organized, including social hierarchies, kinship systems, and gender roles.
  • Cultural Adaptation: How societies adapt their social and cultural practices to their environment and resources.
  • Cultural Change: The dynamic nature of cultures, constantly evolving due to internal and external factors.

Who are influential figures in cultural anthropology?

  • Franz Boas: A pioneer in cultural anthropology, Boas emphasized cultural relativism and the importance of studying cultures in their entirety.
  • Margaret Mead: Famous for her studies of gender roles in different cultures, she challenged traditional gender stereotypes.
  • Bronislaw Malinowski: A key figure in developing ethnography, he spent years living amongst islanders in the Pacific, documenting their culture through participant observation.
  • Claude Lévi-Strauss: French anthropologist whose work focused on symbolism and the way cultures create meaning through myths and rituals.
  • Clifford Geertz: Promoted the concept of "thick description," aiming to understand cultural practices from the perspective of the people who participate in them.

Why is cultural anthropology important?

  • Cross-Cultural Understanding: Cultural anthropology fosters an appreciation for the diversity of human cultures and promotes tolerance and understanding.
  • Challenging Biases: It helps us identify and challenge our own cultural biases and ethnocentrism.
  • Understanding Ourselves: By studying other cultures, we gain a deeper understanding
.....read more
Access: 
Public
What is ethnology?

What is ethnology?

Ethnology, closely linked to cultural anthropology, focuses on the systematic study and comparison of human cultures across the globe. It aims to understand the similarities and differences in social structures, customs, beliefs, and languages. While cultural anthropology often emphasizes fieldwork, ethnology might rely more on existing data and historical records for comparison.

What are the main features of ethnology?

  • Comparative Approach: Ethnology is known for its comparative approach, analyzing cultural similarities and differences across various societies.
  • Focus on Classification: It often seeks to classify cultures into categories based on shared characteristics, such as social organization, kinship systems, or subsistence strategies.
  • Historical Context: Understanding how cultures have evolved and changed over time is a key aspect of ethnology.
  • Cultural Diffusion: Studying the spread of cultural traits and practices from one society to another is another important theme.

What are important sub-areas in ethnology?

  • Social Ethnology: Examines the social organization of different cultures, including kinship systems, social stratification, and political systems.
  • Religious Ethnology: Studies the diverse forms of religious beliefs and practices across cultures, exploring their impact on social life and worldview.
  • Economic Ethnology: Analyzes different economic systems and subsistence strategies employed by various societies.
  • Linguistic Ethnology: Explores the relationship between language and culture, examining how language shapes thought and social interaction.
  • Legal Ethnology: Studies the legal systems of different cultures, analyzing how they reflect cultural values and social norms.
  • Technological Ethnology: Examines the development and use of technology across cultures, exploring its impact on societies and material culture.

What are key concepts in ethnology?

  • Culture: The shared system of beliefs, values, practices, and behaviors that shape a group of people's way of life.
  • Social Structure: The way a society is organized, including social hierarchies, kinship systems, and gender roles.
  • Cultural Universals: These are elements found in all or most cultures, such as language, family structures, or religious beliefs.
  • Cultural Variation: The vast diversity of cultural practices and beliefs observed across human societies.
  • Acculturation: The process of cultural change that occurs when two or more cultures come into contact.

Who are influential figures in ethnology?

  • Edward Tylor: A British anthropologist considered the "father of anthropology." He emphasized the importance of studying cultures in a systematic and comparative way.
  • James Frazer: Scottish anthropologist known for his studies of myths, rituals, and magic across different cultures.
  • George Murdock: American anthropologist who developed a system for cross-cultural comparison based on a large database of ethnographic information.
  • Claude Lévi-Strauss: French anthropologist whose work on symbolism and the way cultures create meaning through myths and rituals is relevant to ethnology as well.

Why is ethnology important?

  • Comparative Understanding: Ethnology fosters a broader understanding of human cultures by analyzing similarities and differences across societies.
  • Cultural Change & History: Studying cultural change and historical interactions helps us understand how cultures evolve and adapt.
  • Appreciating Diversity: It promotes appreciation for the richness and diversity of human cultures and societies.
  • Social Issues: Ethnological insights can contribute to understanding social issues like ethnicity, migration, and globalization.
.....read more
Access: 
Public
Summaries: the best textbooks for society and culture summarized

Summaries: the best textbooks for society and culture summarized

Summaries: the best textbooks for society and culture summarized

What is this page about?

Where to go next?

  • Read on for highlighted summaries.
  • Click on the topic of your interest, then use the links to go to the summaries
Access: 
Public
Anthropology and understanding cultures: suggestions, stories and summaries of WorldSupporters

Anthropology and understanding cultures: suggestions, stories and summaries of WorldSupporters

Suggestions, stories and summaries of WorldSupporters about understanding another culture and anthropology

My Anthropology

My Anthropology

 Anthropology on WorldSupporter

What you can find on this page

This page bundles together the study guides, summaries and other materials that are available on WorldSupporter with relation to Anthropology. The pages are divided in different sub-categories to provide an easier way to locate the material that you are looking for.

Who am I?

Personally I hold a bachelor in Cultural Anthropology and Development Sociology from the University of Amsterdam, where I specialized in biomedicine, immigration and development. I like to share my passion for Anthropology with you, so please feel free to check out the pages below to learn more about this amazing field of study.

What is Anthropology?

In a basic sense, Anthropology is the study of humanity itself, of what makes us human. It further focuses on a wide variety of aspects like human behavior, culture, society and biology, in the present but also across the whole of human history. In doing so, Anthropology also takes a lot of its inspiration from other social science disciplines.

Why Anthropology?

By studying the way humans interact with one-another in the cultural and societal spaces they are apart of, throughout history and in the present, the goal is to come up with explanations and understandings for why certain human behavior exists. At the same time the study is able to celebrate the diversity we all share as the human race, by showcasing humanity in all its beauty and pain over it’s entire history.

Questions and comments

Any questions or comments about the material or text that is used in this guide or any of the linked guides below can be posted on their respective pages. There is always room for discussion as well, please make sure to keep everything respectfull for all of the fellow visitors.


Overarching Anthropological works

Social Research Methods

Ethnographic Fieldwork

Nationalism

 

Voor mezellef
https://www.joho.org/nl/maatschappelijke-en-sociale-studies-uitgelichte-chapter-en-boeksamenvattingen

Access: 
Public
Antropologia y Grupos Minoritarios Actuales - Resumen Analitico

Antropologia y Grupos Minoritarios Actuales - Resumen Analitico

Image

Universidad Alicante

Trabajo Social

Antropologia y Grupos Minoritarios Actuales (7582)

Profesora: Ma. Dolores Vargas Llovera

Tercer Curso

Resumen analitico del libro ULTRAS Y SKINHEADS, LA JUVENTUD VISIBLE de Teresa Adán Revilla

Imagenes, estilos y conflictos de las subculturas juveniles

(Ediciones Nobel)

La autora

Teresa Adán Revilla nació 1966 en Palencia. Ella es Licenciada en Filosofía por la Universidad de Salamanca. Estudiosa del fenómeno subcultural en España e Italia, ha publicado diversos artículos sobre él, siendo también el objeto de su propia tesis doctoral. Colaboraba además en diferentes proyectos de investigación relativos a la misma materia.

Introducción

En la introducción Revilla explica la motivación de su ensayo sobre Ultras y Skinheads: La Juventud Visible se trata de un fenómeno que llama la atención del público, autoridades y medios de comunicación españoles desde los años ochenta del siglo pasado. Con este estudio ella intentaba cubrir una vacío teórico existente en las ciencias sociales.

Este ensayo era en principio un trabajo académico sobre el grupo Ultras Sur, un análisis de la subcultura ultra centrado en el conocimiento de sus origines, peculiaridades, transformaciones y actividades. Al final terminó en un gran interés por lo que afecta aquellos grupos de jóvenes ultras y subculturas a sí mismo que se mueven en España. Estos tienen su origen en Gran Bretaña hacia mediados del siglo pasado (XX), y que se adopta en otros países europeos. La base común a la aparición de estas subculturas se encuentra en la vivencia, compartida por los jóvenes europeos, de las dificultades derivadas de su integración en el mundo de los adultos, motivadas por desajustes económicos, planes educativos, etc, en una combinación que suele condena a los jóvenes a una eterna adolescencia al final del siglo

Revilla introduzca el concepto de la juventud como un periodo de espera. Mientras se cumple este tiempo, que cada vez es más prolongado y donde no hay una sociedad a su medida, los jóvenes tratan de crearla. En consecuencia surgen sociedades alternativas (término derivada de la sociología inglesa), también en España a principios de los años 80, en coincidencia con la instalación de los jóvenes en los valores del desencanto y la decepción. La motivación de Revilla para investigar aquellas sociedades alternativas es la de la ignorancia de ellos por los sociólogos de la juventud.

En este libro Revilla habla de dos subculturas especialmente: los ultras y los skinheads, desde su nacimiento, puesto que tenían demasiados puntos en común. El libro se trata de una presentación previo de información de trasfondo histórico sobre sus existencias en

.....read more
Access: 
Public
Antropologia Social - Resumen de articulos

Antropologia Social - Resumen de articulos

Image

MUJERES EN MARRUECOS’: Una análisis desde el parentesco y el genero.

De Yolanda Aixelá

Eso es un resumen analitico del libro 'Mujeres en Marruecos: Un análisis desde el parentesco y el genero' (2000) de Yolanda Aixelá, En Mujeres en Marruecos la autora oferta una narración y interpretación de múltiples aspectos claves a la experiencia colectiva de las mujeres en los espacios urbanos de Marruecos. Además es un aproximación de las complejas realidades sociales, culturales, jurídicas, religiosas y sociales de la sociedad marroqui. El objetivo del estudio es el análisis del universo público y privado de las mujeres en relación al parentesco y la construcción del género como elemento explicativo para entender sus opciones, estrategias y elecciones. Es el objetivo de la investigación explicar cómo expresa esa construcción de género desde diferentes esferas: la esfera legislativa (derecho), la esfera laboral (trabajo), y la esfera política (movimientos). Le analizó el objeto del estudio desde las dos grandes disciplines de antropología y historia.

Los conclusiones de la investigación son basados en el trabajo de campo de Aixelá que consiste de un análisis de entrevistas con mujeres de Marruecos durante un periodo de nueve meses. Su organización para el análisis y la comparación se fundamentó en el estado civil de las mujeres.

A continuación del libro los conclusiones de la investigación están confirmado con ejemplos derivados de las entrevistas.

Primero parte del libro

En el ambito de su estudio, la autora dio una aproximación a los primeros trabajos sobre mujeres en el Magreb en el siglo XIX. A finales del siglo pasado se inicia con los primeros trabajos dedicados a las mujeres, correspondientes a los viajeros/exploradores y a la sociología jurídica francesa. Después se desarrollan estudios del parentesco sobre el norte de Africa y Occidente Próximo que aparecen desde medios de los años cincuenta. El capitulo termina con el aproximación de los estudios centrados en el género y en la vida cotidiana de las mujeres desde finales de los años sesenta hasta la actualidad en el mundo árabe en general. Los dos tipos de estudios más relevante para la investigación de Aixelá eran los del parentesco y el de mujeres.

La recuperación de los trabajos de viajeros es una tarea válida para esta investigación porque permite conocer la influencia que las mujeres tenían en las tribus y aproxima a cuáles eran sus tareas y comportamientos en la sociedad en los siglos XIX y XX. Así que traslada la actualidad la exóotica visión que se tenía de las mujeres y los recintos que las guardaban en el mundo musulman. Algunas viajeros

.....read more
Access: 
Public
Check or search: topics, countries and studies only

Search only via club, country, goal, study, topic or sector

Image SUMMARIES

Check or search summaries, tests and study assistance within topic: 'Cultural anthropology and ethnology'

SUMMARIES
Image
  • ‘MUJERES EN MARRUECOS’: Una análisis desde el parentesco y el genero.
  • Tres gramáticas de la alteridad: Algunas antropo-lógicas de la construccion del otro en las constelaciones históricas
  • ‘MUJERES EN MARRUECOS’: Una a...

Image
  • Resumen analitico del libro ULTRAS Y SKINHEADS, LA JUVENTUD VISIBLE de Teresa Adán Revilla
  • Resumen analitico del libro ON TOLERATION de Michael Walzer
  • Universidad Alicante Trabajo Social Antropologia y Grupos Minoritarios Actuales (7582) Profesora: Ma. Dolores V...

CHECK SUMMARIES (connected to Cultural anthropology and ethnology]

Select any filter and click on Apply to see results

Summaries: home bundle

Content and contributions related to summaries, study assistance and study skills

...to help another, travel with care, work together, learn to share and inspire with your experience

Summaries: home page

Summaries: home page

Home page for the use of summaries on WorldSupporter

What is this page about?

  • Contents: information about using and finding summaries of study books, scientific articles, academic concepts and practice exams on WorldSupporter
  • Study areas: Business, Education, Health, Psychology, Law, Nature, Society and more
  • Languages: English, Dutch
  • Access: Public

Where to go next?

What to find below?

  • Summaries per study and study field
  • Summaries per type and form
    • How to use and find summaries, study notes en practice exams on JoHo WorldSupporter?
    • How and why would you use summaries?
    • Finding summaries practice exams on JoHo WorldSupporter
    • Quicklinks to fields of study for summaries and study assistance
  • Main theme pages for learn and study
  • FAQ: questions and answers about summaries
Access: 
Public
Summaries: per type and form

Summaries: per type and form

Home page for summaries by type and form

  • Summary sort: Study books, Scientific articles, Academic Concepts
  • Areas: Business, Education, Health, Psychology, Law, Nature, Society and more
  • Languages: English, Dutch
  • Access: This study guide contains exclusive and publicly available study materials
Access: 
Public
Exams: home page for exams, exam tips and study tips

Exams: home page for exams, exam tips and study tips

Taking and passing exams, using study tips and learning to study

What is this page about?

  • Contents: information for exams, exam tips and study tips on WorldSupporter
  • Study areas: Business, Education, Health, Psychology, Law, Nature, Society and more
  • Languages: English, Dutch
  • Access: Public, Exclusive

Where to go next?

What to find below?

  • Highlighted content concerning exams, exam tips and study tips
Access: 
Public
ACTIVITIES
CHECK ACTIVITIES

Select any filter and click on Apply to see results

Activities abroad: home bundle

Main content and contributions for activities abroad

,,,accommodations, adventure activities, courses, internships, jobs and volunteer projects

...to help another, travel with care, work together , learn

........Read more
Activities abroad: home page

Activities abroad: home page

From language courses to gap year abroad, from work experience to volunteering abroad, from paid work to internship abroad, from mountaineering to diving and from backpacking to travel around the world

    What social activities can you do abroad?

    • Opportunities are found in the areas of helping, learning or studying. You can get involved to volunteer in a social project at a school in Africa, Asia or Latin America. You can get involved in nature, in a project with animals or cleaning the sea or beaches. Those who want to learn more can choose for example a language course in Latin America, Spain or South Africa.

    What work related activities can you do abroad?

    • If you want to gain work experience, and/or also earn money, go and work abroad. You can combine backpacking in Australia with temporary work. You can work on campsites in Europe or bush camps in Africa. You can pretty much go all over the world to work in the hospitality industry, hotels and hostels, in the healthcare sector or for example at a diving school.

    What sports activities to do abroad?

    • Have you ever thought of mountain biking, rafting (going down a wild river on a raft or rubber dinghy, climbing or canoeing), survival (which involves building rafts, climbing or canoeing), abseiling (descending a rock face while secured to ropes), zip-lining (whizzing down a cable), canyoning (starting at the top of a river and then climbing, swimming, diving down the bed) or caving (scrambling, wriggling and crawling through caves and crevices)?
    • Maybe you feel more comfortable on a bodyboard (on a half-wave surfboard, you surf the high waves lying down-with flippers), on a hang glider or while paragliding (with a parachute you float down a mountain or dune), hydrospeeding (on a bodyboard with flippers and a wetsuit on you go down a wild river via rapids) or Tiefschneeskiing (racing down through powder snow)?

    Check the pages below for more activities and inspiration and where to go and how to arrange it

      Image ORGANIZATIONS

      Check all organizations related to: 'Cultural anthropology and ethnology'

      ORGANIZATIONS
      Institute for Field Research (IFR)

      Institute for Field Research (IFR) is an independent, nonprofit academic organization that delivers evidence-based field science programs in a broad range of disciplines while ensuring excellence in research and teaching. Projects focus on raising awareness and enhancing protection of our shared wor...

      Blue Ventures

      Blue Ventures is an international organization that seeks to bring about lasting change in the lives of local fishermen by focusing on nature conservation in marine ecosystems. Starting out as a small NGO in Madagascar, they have since grown into a significant lobby group/advocate for small-sca...

      CHECK ORGANIZATIONS

      Select any filter and click on Apply to see results

      Organizations & Services: home bundle

      Bundled content, suggestions, stories and tips about organizations and their products and services

      ...to help another, travel with care, work together, learn to share and inspire with

      ........Read more
      Organizations: home page
      Organizations: for administrative, tax and legal work and consulting
      Organizations: for agriculture, grape picking, farming and vineyards
      Organizations: for animal protection, animal care and working with wildlife abroad
      Organizations: for au pairs, youth work and child care abroad
      Organizations: for bush camping and working at a campsite abroad
      Organizations: for catering, hospitality and entertainment abroad
      Organizations: for civil society and social work abroad
      Organizations: for corporate business services
      Organizations: for customer services abroad and help desks
      Organizations: for diving, snorkeling and water sports abroad
      Organizations: for education and schools abroad
      Organizations: for expatriate insurances, travel insurances, and emergency call centers
      Organizations: for gap year activities abroad and sabbaticals
      Organizations: for internship placement abroad
      Organizations: for insurances and finance abroad
      Organizations: for IT, engineering and construction
      Organizations: for language travel and language teaching abroad
      Organizations: for marketing, communication and PR
      Organizations: for mediation in au pairs, childcare and elderly care in the Netherlands
      Organizations: for moving, international relocation and transport abroad
      Organizations: for nature conservation, environmental protection and working in nature abroad
      Organizations: for nonprofit projects, development work and international cooperation
      Organizations: for online work as digital nomad, freelancer, or independent entrepreneur from abroad
      Organizations: for outdoor activities and sports
      Organizations: for providing accommodation and hospitality work in hotels, guesthouses, ecolodges and hostels abroad
      Organizations: for providing healthcare and working in medical care abroad
      Organizations: for psychological assistance and mental health care abroad
      Organizations: for real estate, brokerage abroad and property rental abroad
      Organizations: for research and scientific work abroad
      Organizations: for student support and student associations
      Organizations: for tour guidance and adventure tours abroad
      Organizations: for tourism and organized travel and leisure work abroad
      Organizations: for voluntary work mediation and project placement abroad
      Organizations: for yacht and shipping crew and working on a cruise ship abroad

      Image

      SPOTLIGHT & FAVORITES

      SPOTLIGHT
      Summary of Society the basics by Macionis
      • 1: The Perspective, Theory, and Method of Sociology
      • 2: The Workings of Culture
      • 3: Socialization Process, a Lifelong Process
      • 4: Social interaction in Daily Life
      • 5: The Workings of Groups & Organization in Society
      • 6: Sexuality and its Impact ...
      FAVORITES
      Boeksamenvatting bij Being There van Davis en Konner
      • Voorwoord
      • Introductie: Menselijk worden
      • Hoofdstuk 1. Een soort verwantschap
      • Hoofdstuk 2. Heiligen en verstotelingen
      • Hoofdstuk 3 Gekte door moderniteit
      • Hoofdstuk 4. Het bose oog van de Antropoloog
      • Hoofdstuk 5. Twee vrouwen
      • Hoofd...

      Image ALL CONTENT OF TOPIC

      Search all related content within topic: 'Cultural anthropology and ethnology'

      ALL CONTENT OF TOPIC

      Select any filter and click on Apply to see results

      Image

      Related topics and terms

      Relations of the topic: Cultural anthropology and ethnology
      Crossroad: spotlight pages