anthronewb - Tumblr blog

anthronewb · 5 months

Text

Anthropology is a reflection of the Prominant Political/social beliefs of the time

Anthropology is the study of what makes us human. Anthropologists study various cultures (past to present) to better understand them, and the data collected is used to develop anthropological theories. Despite claims of the research/findings being unbiased, factors such as the prominent political and social beliefs of the time influence the anthropologist's research (unintentionally or intentionally). Due to these factors, it is important to examine the prominent political and social beliefs of the time when reexamining anthropological theories.

When you create a timeline of anthropological theories alongside the political and social beliefs of the time, it's clear to see the influences.

18th century

Anthropological theory

Unilineal Evolution: Presented the e idea that there was a sequence of stages that all cultures would go through (Long & Chakov, 2017). Those cultures may not necessarily go through the stages at the same time or pace but would go through the same developmental stages. This would be most popularly become known as the Three Age system. The categories being; THe Stone Age, Bronze Age, and Iron Age. Each indicative of the stage of development through technology

Physical Anthropology: “scientific” approach to study the development of different racial groups. Studies humans through their biological and physiological characteristics to study human development.

Cephalic index: calculations from the measurement taken of the skull. It measured the breadth and length of the skull, which would be then used for the classification of racial groups.

Samuel Morton, a physician furthered this research and linked cranial capacity with moral and intellectual endowments and assembled a cultural ranking scheme that placed large-brained Caucasoid at the pinnacle

Anatomist and natural historian Johan Friedrich Blumenbach believed racial differences were due to adaptation to different environments

Social and Political Beliefs of the time

Enlightenment period: The biggest influence on the formation of scientific development. There was a push away from the religious doctrine, in favor of a more science-based view of society.

There was also an increase in encounters with non-Europeans with the emergence of the Trans-Atlantic Slave trade.

These factors combined to develop an interest in the scientific notion of race

Despite the push away from religious doctrine, scientific thought was still developed based on religious knowledge.

E.g. the Bible story Adam & Eve

They were believed to be Caucasian, making Caucasians the ‘superior’ race, and thus anyone else was inferior.

The main takeaway is that Caucasians were the Superior Race (more specifically Germanic) and all other races delineate from them making them inferior.

These ideas of racial superiority/inferiority would be used to support racist ideologies. Nazis would use this to support their movement.

1920’s-Boasian

Boasian Anthropology: A theory developed by Franz Boas, who is considered the “Father of American anthropology”

These consisted of Boas’s theories on culture and its development.

Cultural Relativism: We must make evaluations based on other cultures rules/beliefs and not our own. Using our own culture as a basis for analyzing other cultures results in biased research.

Boas would argue that “classificatory schemes of evolutionary theory dividing the world into “savage” "barbarian," and "civilized" peoples were "artificial," their pretensions to universal, scientific validity marred by their grounding in Western values.

He would ignore the predominant theories in favor of conducting research.

Social and Political Beliefs of the time

There wasn’t much change in political and social beliefs of the time, but much of the research was influenced by the cultures that were studied. The idea of cultural relativism was influenced by the cultures that boas studied, specifically his study of the Inuit people.

Boas would study under ethnologist Adolf Bastian, a person who believed in “psychic unity of mankind” (idea that all humans held the same intellectual capacity and all cultures were based on the same mental principles)

This would cause a shift in Boas’s approach to his study of the Inuit people.He wanted to understand Inuits as they understood themselves, rather than through his lens

Boas would influence anthropological theory into the mid-twentieth century as evidenced by his students like Zora Neale Hurston

Mid-20th century to the Present

There was a push for a more scientific-backed discipline. Processualism as it would later be classified as was first introduced by Lewis Binford. He believed that there was a certain way that anthropological research should be conducted. His main goal was to develop the

field into a “hard science” by using the scientific method. His focus was on the sub-category, archaeology and how the material evidence was identified.

Archaeological data would be classified into either Technomic (technology/tools, socio-technic (social/relation to social subsystems), and ideo-technic (ideological/ rationalizations in social system)

There was a push for reflection of traditional anthropological research- especially that of the study of race/racism.

Tody anthropological theory mostly focuses on the reflection of traditional anthropological theories

A launch of a public initiative titled, “Race: Are We So Different?” by the American Anthropological Association (AAA)”

Social and Political Beliefs of the time

There was a rise in criticisms and challenging of early anthropological theories. This was due to the rise in the fight for equality by several groups (women, gays and lesbians, African Americans, and Native Americans) with The Civil Rights movement being one of the largest movements.

This was evident by the rise in more people of color entering the discipline.

Processualism as a whole was mostly influenced by the academic community and trying to make it into a scientific discipline. A byproduct of this was ignoring the racist ideologies of past anthropological theories

There was a continued push for reflection and change in the academic community following the Civil Rights Movement.

Anthropology not influenced by society?-Counter

With the use of science, there was this idea that it created an unbiased way of interpreting information, and the outside factor was irrelevant. While it is true that science can be objective, scientists aren’t. Scientists choose what they study and can interpret data in different ways. Due to this, science will only ever offer a glimpse of objectivity. Physical anthropology used a scientific justification with the use of the cephalic index and the systems created based on the data collected for racial classifications. It is important to recognize that just because something claims a scientific basis, doesn’t make it so.

What does it mean when there is anthropological theories developed counte the predominant anthropological theory? Anthropologist like Gordon V. Childe was heavily influenced by Marxist theories. He developed/presented his theories during a time in which Marxism was heavily criticized. While he was still able to publish his works, it was much harder and prevented him for being recognized for his contributions to the field.

Just because there are examples of anthropologists developing theories counter to the prominent political and social beliefs of the time, it doesn’t mean that there can't be a relationship between the two. Rarely in life do you see everybody agree on a single thing. Take “4 out of 5 dentists recommend (blank) toothpaste” for example. The overall opinion of the toothpaste doesn’t change if one disagrees. In the case of anthropological thought/theory, anthropologists remained influenced by political/social beliefs.

While these are good reasons to dispute my claims, there isn’t enough data to support this claim.

Conclusion

The evidence supports the idea of the inter-connected relationship between prominent social/political beliefs and anthropological thought/theory. From the foundation of early anthropological theories in the eighteenth century to the present, anthropology has been formed and reformed by the ideological movements of its time. Creating a lens through which anthropologists can view and interpret cultures, reflecting the wider societal mindset, and forming a dynamic relationship between Academic research and the cultures it seeks to understand

Much of early anthropological thought/theory was rooted in the personal biases of the anthropologists conducting research. They would use religion and “science” (what we would call today pseudoscience) as justification for their beliefs. Franz Boas would become one of the first anthropologists to question this idea as his research found that the earlier thought/theory didn’t reflect his findings. This would later be called Boasian anthropology (named after its creator). This would be the driving belief into the 1960s, where anthropology would then focus on the criticism of early anthropological thought/theory and processualism which was influenced by the many movements pushing for equality. More anthropologists of color and more research on black culture were conducted. Today we still reflect on and criticize early modes of anthropological thought with the continued push for equality.

In conclusion, some may try and argue that there is a distinction between predominant social/political beliefs and anthropological thought/theory, its relationship is undeniable. To study anthropology is not to view it statically but dynamically. It is important to recognize that anthropology isn’t just a story about a culture it studies, but also about the anthropologist’s narrative and how it is influenced by society.

#anthropology #history #university of maryland

89 notes · View notes