Email: wolfordj@msx.umsl.edu
| page 6 | anthropology | the study of humankind, in all times and places |
TRADITION |
o Etymology: tradere (Latin)—to pass on
o Western Civilization
o The modern era (c. 1500 on) has been increasingly secular (oriented to the physical world)Return to Topo this has led to an increased emphasis on physical things, things of the worldo our sense of tradition as a physical reality reflects our Worldviewo our sense of tradition as a physical reality is also conveyed through our language
o language conveys our underlying perceptions of reality (Sapir-Whorf hypothesis)o since what we value is physical (material comfort, cars, clothes, homes, computers, etc.), our language frames our values and thoughts in physical terms
o abstract ideas and values, like love, death, spirit, we talk about as if they are physical, bounded, touchable items
o touched by love, falling in loveo flirting with death, fighting death
o touched by the spirit, filled with the spirit
o we make things seem physical when they
are not
o we do this because it makes them seem more real to uso this is called REIFICATION
o thus, we reify our abstract ideas and values
o Tradition is likewise another term that we reify,
in order to comprehend it the better
o which is exactly what Handler and Linnekin talk aboutReturn to Topo we talk about tradition as if it is some thing we hand down from one generation to the next, like luggage
Notes for Handler & Linnekin, "Tradition, Genuine or Spurious?" |
o Organic or natural metaphor of tradition is a
REIFICATION
o it implies boundaries and substance (body-ness) where there is noneo this is the danger of metaphor (or simile)o FOR EXAMPLE: Love is a feeling, something we cannot see or perceive, but we talk about it as if it were physical
o "Love is like a red, red rose"o Love hurts (that is, it is some physical thing with the power to exert a physical effect on you
o although the metaphor (or simile) is used to be descriptive, figurativeReturn to Topo it is taken to be literal, real, in a society that values the tangible over the ideal
o To say tradition "travels" or that it is "passed on" or that a group "has" [= holds, or possesses, as a thing] a tradition
o is simply metaphoric, descriptive, not realo we assume tradition's tangible, physical, materialo no one can physically hold a tradition
o because we live in a material worldo because we center our lives, our sense of reality, around materiality
o the consumerist transformation of Christmas, Hanukkah, etc., for exampleo our valuation of individuals according to material possessions [= Status], for example
o Okay—if tradition is not a thing, to be held
and passed on like a dish at the dinner table, WHAT IS IT?
o It is, in our usage of it, a SYMBOLIC CONSTRUCTIONReturn to Topo it is a human process, part of human behavior--NOT a thing
o people in the present interpret and then re-present their memory of the past in terms of their present needs, requirements, desires, expectations, etc.
o Thus, there are TWO STRAINS of TRADITION
o Commonsense, or everyday, or popular sense of tradition: how we use the term in everyday usageo tradition as the "things" "passed on" from generation to generationo as products of our culture and worldview, we necessarily represent tradition as a material, physical, bounded, organically-complete thing
o we do this because it is useful to help us to understand it, because that is the way we understand the world, our environment, people, etc.
o Scholarly, or Analytical, sense of traditiono tradition as a SYMBOLIC REPRESENTATION USING MATERIALS FROM THE PAST TO MAKE SENSE OF EXPERIENCE, BEHAVIOR, HUMAN RELATIONSHIPS, AND ARTIFACTS IN THE PRESENT
o ANOTHER MAJOR POINT:o TRADITION is simply a way to use the past to make new interpretations of the present and thus make sense of the present in terms of our present values, norms, attitudes, and customso this SCHOLARLY, OR ANALYTICAL SENSE is the way I want the class to understand how tradition really functions, even though most people think of tradition in the commonsense, or popular, way
o Tradition is never stableReturn to Topo both continuous and discontinuouso both conservative and dynamic
o Barre Toelken calls this the TWIN LAWS OF FOLKLORE
o appropriates the qualities of traditiono ANOTHER MAJOR POINT:o makes them intrinsic to folkloric processes
o Important metaphorical aspects of tradition, in terms of people's traditional behavior:o Active bearers of tradition (traditors)o people who actively perform a traditional behavior, or remember the traditional elements and actively pass them on
o Passive bearerso people who know the traditions but do not actively perform or pass them ono rather, they reinforce the active bearers by participating in the traditional behavior that is performed or initiated by the active bearers
o e.g., the audience to a storytelling session, by laughing or booing at appropriate spots
Notes for Toelken, "Folklore and Cultural Worldview" |
o What is worldview?—a
way of viewing the world
o the important word: WAY
o everyone "sees" the world differently
o even the term is culturally-specificReturn to Topo why world-VIEWo why not world-SENSE...or world-FEEL...etc.
o Westerners rely most heavily on SIGHT to orient themselves
to their surroundings
o thus, we have many words & phrases to describe the process, products, and agents of sight
seeing is believing Do you see? [meaning, Do you understand?] What a looker! [a beauty] o a reflection of the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis: HOW?
o Toelken says:
| Toelken | worldview | "'Worldview' is a general way of referring to the manner in which a culture sees and expresses its relation to the world around it." |
1) it is culturally-specifico Study of worldview: relies on concept of CULTURAL RELATIVISM2) it is a process, a "manner"
3) it is perceptually-based
4) it is transmitted through expression
5) it relies on dynamic interaction between the perceiver and his/her environment
o thus—experientially-based
o every culture is differentReturn to Topo every culture should be evaluated according to its own standards
o Departs from an original thesis in Anthropology, which has been proven to be false:
o that people, being the same physically, would react similarly to the same external conditions, and thus would develop similar cultureso false assumption: objective reality is stable and verifiableo reason it is false: objective reality is variable and dynamic; and is dependent on a perceiver's means of perceiving it, and on that perceiver's interpretation of the data receivedo in other words: everyone understands the world differently
o A "scientific" proof of people's variable perceptual
capabilities:
o Hopis:Return to Topo left hemisphere of brain used for speaking and hearing Englisho right hemisphere used for speaking and hearing Hopi
o Each society develops a culture that has a distinctive way of thinking
o that way is coded:o these forms come to be the only way the people in that society can learn, can communicateo languageo gestures
o customs
o physical artifacts
o p. 226: Toelken says—
o that members of any given culture perceive reality in terms of culturally-provided sets of ideas and premises and that the world of reality is processed somewhat differently from culture to culture.Return to Top
o In this reading by Toelken, he focuses on the WORLDVIEW of two groups:
o 1) European-Americanso 2) Navajos
o He notes his analytical process:
o 1) He needs to isolate culturally-specific exampleso The two large universal categories he isolates:o 2) But he needs to have examples that can be compared cross-culturally
o which, BTW, is a crucial anthropological analytical techniqueo 3) To satisfy cross-cultural need, he isolates universal human conditionso 4) With these universal human conditions, he examines how each culture perceives and expresses itself in terms of them
o thus revealing their culturally-specific traits
o 1) the household (a group of people the child grows up among)Return to Topo 2) the home (a physical context a child grows up in)
EUROPEAN AMERICAN WORLDVIEW |
THE PRIMAL CONTEXT |
o baby in crib in room
o linearity surrounds it—what does this mean?o parents/caregivers appear suddenly from above—what does this mean?
o typically or ideally placed in solitary surroundings—what does this mean?
o child growing up must compete for affection,
for things, for attention, for dominance with siblings, playmates, classmates
o What values, influences do these conditions nurture?Return to Top
o Whatever they are, they create what we consider what is NORMAL, our ideas of normalcy, the standards and rules by which we conduct ourselves daily so that we appear and act NORMAL
o Further, we judge others, positively or negatively, by the degree to which they adhere to these prescribed rules of normalcy
o and the degree to which we believe in them
o The primal European American worldview ideas:
o ORDER, and a sense of well-being, derives from straight lines, grid patterns, such as we might find in streets, classrooms, structure of buildings, clothing, etc.Return to Topo our RELIGIOUS sensibilities, whether adhered to or not, presuppose that help comes from above, that nurturance, comfort, aid, etc., will be forthcoming if we simply make the proper appeals
o we consider the INDIVIDUAL to be the basic unit of society, the cornerstone, which presumes individual responsibility, etc.
o COMPETITION is praiseworthy, the accepted mode for life advancement, whether that is overt and aggressive (masculine) or covert and passive (feminine)
o These ideas are reinforced daily and every minute of our lives:
o by our physical surroundingso by human interactions
o by oral traditions
o by the media
o by our own thoughts and judgments
o Not only the child, but the parents are reinforced
in cultural ideas of normalcy
o by reciting or enacting culturally-coded forms, they take it in again and invest in it new meanings associated with the new situationReturn to Topo take nursery rhymes:o as little children, we think they are fun, cool, meaningfulo as adolescents, we think they are stupid, childish, meaningless
o as parents, we think they are cute, wonderful because our children enjoy them so much
o the form itself has not changed
o we have changed, and we put in—invest—different meaning to the same form according to our perceptions of a new situation
INDIVIDUAL ORIENTATION |
Westerner orients the self mostly in LINEAR ways
o imaginary spaceo compasses
o star charts
o heaven/hell—different levels
o physical spaceReturn to Top
cities as grids houses as boxes classrooms sports arenas graveyards offices recreational sites agricultural fields
2) In time—temporal orientation
o Time is seen as linear, measurable, divisibleReturn to Top
penchant for schedules, value on punctuality penchant for meals at specific times of the day/night penchant for future-orientation in Western culture demand for happy endings concern for future of children—"the children are the future of America!" concern/apprehension of retirement person's worth in terms of potential, of what s/he will be rookie of the year most likely to succeed in high school yearbook future rewards in heaven countdown of days "until..." or "since..." whole idea of financial credit financial investments—hold long-term for greatest growth, etc. financial investments—hold long-term for greatest growth, etc. time as having past/present/future: a linear progression the personal anxiety over clocks, timepieces weather forecasting
Return to Topo why?—to make things predictable, orderlyo we are not so dependent on weather for survival anymore, so why do we feel better or worse depending on the "5 day forecast"—esp. when it is never right, esp. in St. Louis
o our need to measure, schedule, order our lives
o we sense: if we don't have a watch, or an "organizer," we have little control over where we are
o we can let time slip by—and it seems lost to us
o which, BTW, is a complete REIFICATION of time, right?o that is, we think of time as something we can contain, something with borders we can either horde, or let go, something we can put a value on, a commodity like soybeans
INDIVIDUAL DEPORTMENT |
o Linearity, individualism, competition are again high on the list of values
o Space
o grid patterns of seating arrangementso individuals can establish themselves where they want
o group feels comfortable in an ordered, orderly arrangement
o allows for predictability as well as individual choice and expression
o Social Relations
o established in hierarchical fashion—linear and competitiveo measurable, in order to assess self-worth, worth of others
o Time
o enter significant social states of identity, in linear progression, at certain ages, or at certain sequences of events (dating to courtship to marriage to childbirth, for instance—preferably in that order)Return to Top
SOCIOCULTURAL DEPORTMENT |
o Historical, societal, political explanation, justifications, impositions
o based on premises of Western worldview (linearity, competitiveness, individualism, etc.)Western Worldviewo bringing order (highest level of civilization) to frontier (that which has no order)
o subduing nature and making it orderly
o establishing platted towns
o establishing hierarchical governments
o railroad/transportation timetables
o values time and space, but only when either is culturally-regulatedReturn to Topo must be ordered, measured, planned, timed, and weighed
o values that are devalued, demeaned, not taken seriously
o non-regulation/chaos
o spontaneity
o non-predictability
o Interesting example: De-regulation of business
o one might assume that it would not be favored by Western societyReturn to Topo yet it iso often called the survival of the fittest model of economicso because it assumes the laissez-faire (let it be) process of business to take overo the assumption: that the hierarchical, competitive, individualist nature of business is NATURAL, not CULTURALo IS IT?
o Other concepts to know:
o Folk ideaso the basic cognitive building blocks of worldview; cultural rules
linearity = order individuality = control competitiveness emphasis on youth emphasis on speed o Proxemics
o the idea that people and place have a mutually affecting relationship
NAVAJO WORLDVIEW |
THE PRIMAL CONTEXT |
o Child
o born at home, in a hogan, amid familyo Conception of timeo hogan: a one room, circular house
o constantly heldo constantly upright, looking at family members
o when lying down, sees domed inner roof of the hogan
o all activities are oriented to the cardinal directions
o door is always to the east
o living space & ritual space are united, in the hogan
o Navajo time is similar to Western spaceReturn to Topo a context in which things happen
INDIVIDUALS |
o See themselves in midst of vortex of forces
o ecologicalo familial
o everything surrounds them and influences them
o familyo clan
o tribe
o artifacts
o dances
o rituals
o supernatural
o Do not plan the future
o rather, negotiate with the forces around themo future, past, and present are simply interacting arenas in which forces interact
o Relationship to nature
o reciprocalReturn to Topo mutually responsible
NAVAJO CULTURAL DEPORTMENT |
o Effects of reciprocity as a basic folk idea
o attempt to establish cultural harmonyReturn to Topo avoid competition with family, friends
o avoid aggressiveness
CULTURAL ART AND ARTIFACT |
o Navajo view something as being Navajo if it inheres:
o circular, reciprocating, negotiating view
o Juniper seed necklace as primary example of Navajo
reciprocating value
1. Juniper seed falls from tree2. Chipmunks etc. pick them up, store them, chew some of them
3. Navajo girls raid chipmunk nests, taking only seeds w/one end chewed off, replace all others in the nest
4. Girls make necklaces, thereby unifying the plant (juniper), animal (chipmunk), human (Navajo girl exercising work and craft), and supernatural (placement of supernatural symbols, such as stars)
Return to Topo inheres harmony/partnership between all the elements of the cosmos
o said to be an "objective correlative" of their view of the worldo outward manifestation of some deeper realityo the deeper reality is peace, harmony, etc.
o person wearing such necklaces will be healthy, will not have accidents, not get lost, etc.
o not because of any imputed magical powers of the necklaceo wearing it simply reinforces the person's internal frame of mindo but because that person is modeling something representative of their deeply held belief in harmony
o the processes of communing with the totality is the significant aspecto not the product [the juniper seed necklace itself]—as it would be in Western culture
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