What seems interesting is that, after asking for references, you found very rich ethnographic material. Im in this group for almost 10yrs and had never seen so many helpful responses, turned into raw cultural material. Congrats!
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<div>Em seg, 22 22e jul 22e 2019 às 18:55, Cathy Baldwin</div><div><[log in to unmask]> escreveu:</div> Another key point in these debates about 'what anthropologists should do',
as in, 'we are a tribe who represent an important source of knowledge and
school of thought, and by not using terms like 'culture', we are able to
inform the wider world not to reify anybody's habits or use divisive and
destructive exclusionary tactics in politics, policy, economic
decision-making, commanding the military, powerful elites etc'.... with all
due respect to the wonderful anthropology people who do actively do this
who are out there...but...
....how many folks practicing academic anthropology are out there regularly
influencing public and political discourse outside of academia and peer
review publishing (that governments often don't read) with this knowledge?
How many of you are going on telly, talking on the radio, writing blogs in
non-technical language in non-academic forums and having them tweeted
about, chatting with groups outside peer review conferences and meetings in
universities, sitting directly opposite a politician and telling them what
you think, sending press releases to the media that synthesis your
arguments in 5 bullet points in non-technical terms that everybody can
understand, advising governments, the corporate sector, NGOs as
independent, impartial consultants outside of an academic appointment and
doing this everyday? Having a party with a large number of people and
giving them such a good time that they take your point onboard?
Evidence of impact on public and political discourse? I love it when I see
it - but really - I want evidence before I believe it. Engaging with civil
society and giving a seminar is a great start, but when I see evidence of
people practicing what they preach and actually doing something rather than
just talkingor writing articles to their peers, I may have renewed faith.
Cathy
If anthropologists want to be as useful to the world
On Mon, 22 Jul 2019 at 22:12, Peter Cave <[log in to unmask]>
wrote:
> Appreciation to everyone who has contributed to this interesting
> discussion. I'd like to respond to the posts from Cathy Baldwin and Lola
> Martinez.
>
> In response to Cathy: I entirely agree that humans seek a sense of
> belonging and identify with groups, and I don't find anything wrong in
> that. What I am saying is that it is unhelpful and misleading for
> anthropologists (or other scholars) to use the concept of 'culture' to
> represent the behaviours, assumptions, habits of thought, practices etc of
> a group as if they were a cohesive whole, for the reasons I explained in
> earlier posts. I think it is better to use more precise terms (widespread
> behaviours, habits etc) which allow us to represent variety and change more
> accurately.
>
> In response to Lola: I agree that states often use the term 'culture' and
> try to teach their own citizens and others that certain practices, beliefs,
> etc, have a privileged status as 'Japanese [etc] culture'. Does that make
> it right for them to do so? No, I don't think so. Should anthropologists
> continue to accept and use the concept and term 'culture' because states
> (as well as other groups and powers) use it for their own ends? Again, no,
> if it is an unhelpful and misleading concept, as I think it is. You give
> some good examples of conventions in the UK, which I agree are widely
> shared - but there is no need to use the word 'culture' for them. They can
> simply be called conventions, for example. The difference between calling
> them conventions and calling them culture is that the former entails no
> claim that they are part of a larger cohesive whole, and because it does
> not entail such a claim, it allows more scope to accept that such
> behaviours can change and are not necessarily shared by everyone in a
> group. One of the major problems with the concept of culture is that it
> inevitably tends to reification and a sense that 'culture' is a
> slow-to-change 'thing'. Of course, anthropologists who want to rescue the
> concept of culture often argue that this is a misunderstanding and that
> 'culture' is in fact dynamic. I understand the point, but I am afraid these
> arguments are doomed to failure. I would submit that outside academic
> publications, the concept of 'culture' tends to be used precisely to defend
> the idea that practices, conventions, ways of thinking etc should NOT
> change, and should be maintained. 'Culture' is a valuable conceptual and
> rhetorical weapon in such struggles precisely because it has such strong
> connotations as something that changes only very slowly if at all.
>
> Peter Cave
> Senior Lecturer in Japanese Studies
> SALC, University of Manchester
> Samuel Alexander Building
> Oxford Road
> Manchester M13 9PL
> United Kingdom
> Tel: +44 (0)161 275 3195
> www.manchester.ac.uk/research/peter.cave/
>
>
> ________________________________________
> From: The Anthropology-Matters forum mailing list [
> [log in to unmask]] on behalf of Catherine Whittaker [
> [log in to unmask]]
> Sent: 22 July 2019 15:31
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Re: British cultural code
>
> Dear Yohai,
>
> Thank you for starting this fascinating thread by asking some excellent
> questions.
>
> There seem to be some contradictory uses of the notion of "culture" in
> Britain as well as in British Anthropology. The first time I spoke to a
> Social Anthropology professor at an elite institution, I was presented with
> the credo: "There is no such thing as cultural universals!" Similarities
> within populations - be that on a global, national, or smaller scale - are
> consistently discounted as being "superficial" or simply too banal to be
> "interesting"/worthy of study (e.g. incest taboos, tendencies to identify
> up/higher with good/powerful, ...)
>
> The virtues of this approach have already been illuminated by previous
> respondents. The danger of over-emphasising difference over similarity,
> however, is obscuring the important place the latter holds in identity
> formation, which is a powerful force in Britain and beyond, as Sitna
> highlighted.
>
> Anecdotally, my colleagues in Britain frequently refer to me as "German",
> though I am technically British in terms of citizenship, name, and ancestry
> (and also Italian and Australian). Even though they are aware of the
> nuances of identity, in an informal context, even anthropologists tend to
> identify others in terms of simplistic identity markers, such as whether or
> not they possess an authentic locally-specific accent, or abide by certain
> behavioural norms, which vary somewhat between different UK cities. The
> only thing that makes me "German" is culture - the fact that I was raised
> and socialized mostly in Central Germany - but my colleagues are unlikely
> to use that word, because of the abovementioned credo. (Note that I don't
> identify as German and never introduce myself as such.)
>
> This not a complaint - I, too, recognise the differences between myself and
> "fully" British people, and it's linguistically economical for people to
> use shorthands to express those differences - such as "German". So how do
> we deal with the temptations of falling into intellectual/linguistic
> shortcuts, which undermine our disciplinary efforts? It doesn't seem to be
> enough to declare that culture doesn't exist, but I don't have any great
> solutions to offer either, just one recommendation:
>
> Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's novel Americanah. It doesn't overgeneralise
> about what it means to adapt to US and UK dominant culture for Nigerian
> immigrants of various backgrounds, but is still highly ambitious in its
> scope, giving a sense of the many different dimensions involved in adapting
> (such as how to wear one's hair, when to laugh in a conversation...), but
> also of the way cultural otherness intersects with nuances of region,
> political orientation, class, race, and gender (among other things). Novels
> can't replace thorough ethnographic research, but they can help to expand
> our anthropological imagination.
>
> Regards,
>
> Catherine Whittaker
> Research Fellow
> Centre for Citizenship (CISRUL)
> University of Aberdeen, UK
> Current project: https://cisrul.blog/research-projects/michoacan/
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> Am So., 21. Juli 2019 um 14:50 Uhr schrieb Yohai Hakak <
> [log in to unmask]>:
>
> > Hello all,
> >
> > Thanks again for the many responses and helpful suggestions.
> >
> > My own summary of this email trail is as follows:
> >
> > 1) Quite a few weren't happy with the intention to explore British
> culture
> > and suggested a more regional perspective, which I agree with. Exploring
> > cultural traits in relation Britain was seen as questionable, not a
> serious
> > scholarly pursuit.
> >
> > 2) Many of the ethnographic studies suggested focus on marginal and
> > minority groups within the UK (travellers, BME, working class or rural
> > communities) and very little exploring white middle class Britain (or any
> > of its regions).
> >
> > 3) From the many references to Kate Fox's Watching the English, which I
> > enjoyed reading, I infer that:
> >
> > a. She's a gifted author and had many satisfied readers
> >
> > b. There are almost no alternatives
> >
> > At the same time, it was mentioned in several responses that she's not an
> > academic scholar and doesn't have a PhD. Other references suggested -
> which
> > I look forward reading - relating to mainstream Britain, are also not
> > regarded as 'proper' academic writing. Somehow 'proper' academics don't
> > write about the topic.
> >
> > 4) It is intriguing to see that in an anthropological mailing list where
> > studies are regularly shared in which generalisations are made in
> relation
> > to endless numbers of Asian, African and South-American cultures, the
> > possibility of applying the cultural lens to British society raises so
> many
> > objections or reservations and that the anthropological studies of white
> > middle class British culture are so rare and practically don't exist.
> This
> > non existence of white middle class British culture as an object for
> > anthropological research renders it invisible.
> > During my own anthropological training, I learnt about the Crisis of
> > Representation during the 1980s that was followed by a shift to doing
> > 'Anthropology at Home' as was also mentioned by Cathy Baldwin, but this
> > might relate more to the American anthropological tradition?!
> >
> > 5) All of this leaves me wondering whether this might be just another
> case
> > of how being invisible serves the interest of the powerful. We all know
> > that the assumption that men have no gender, and white people have no
> race
> > is rife among these groups, so maybe it shouldn't be a surprise if a
> > similar assumption that white middle class Brits have no particular
> culture
> > is also common?
> >
> > Happy to be corrected.
> >
> > Best wishes,
> > Yohai
> >
> > *Dr. Yohai Hakak*
> > Senior Lecturer In Social Work
> >
> > Admissions Tutor and Athena Swan SAT Lead
> > *T* +44(0)1895 265844 | *E* [log in to unmask]
> >
> > *Brunel University London*
> > Inst of Env., Health and Societies (Welfare, Health and Wellbeing theme)
> > Department of Clinical
> > Sciences
> >
> > Brunel University London, Uxbridge, UB8 3PH, United Kingdom
> > *T* +44(0)1895 274000
> > *www.brunel.ac.uk* <http://www.brunel.ac.uk/>
> >
> > http://www.brunel.ac.uk/people/yohai-hakak
> >
> > On Sun, Jul 21, 2019 at 7:18 AM Nikolai Ssorin-Chaikov <
> > [log in to unmask]> wrote:
> >
> > > a very interesting study that touches on the issue of the history of
> > > English manners etc, is actually not in anthropology but in the history
> > of
> > > science. I highly recommend this:
> > >
> > > Steven Shapin. A Social History of Truth: Civility and Science in
> > > Seventeenth-Century England. Chicago: University of Chicago Press,
> 1995.
> > >
> > >
> > > >
> > > >
> > > > On Sat, 20 Jul 2019 at 12:11, Yohai Hakak <[log in to unmask]>
> > wrote:
> > > >
> > > >> Hello all,
> > > >>
> > > >> I am looking for recommendations on literature exploring key British
> > > >> cultural characteristics in daily interactions such as:
> > > >>
> > > >> - the British understatement
> > > >> - the tendency to avoid direct talk or the difficulty in calling a
> > > spade 'a
> > > >> spade'
> > > >> - queuing
> > > >> - British manners, for example apologising and saying thank you
> > > >> - minimal bodily contact
> > > >> - anything else you think is uniquely British and might manifest
> > itself
> > > in
> > > >> every day interactions
> > > >>
> > > >> Thanks a lot in advance,
> > > >>
> > > >> Yohai
> > > >>
> > > >> Dr. Yohai Hakak
> > > >> Senior Lecturer In Social Work
> > > >>
> > > >> Admissions Tutor and Athena Swan SAT Lead
> > > >>
> > > >> T +44(0)1895 265844 |
> > > >>
> > > >> E: [log in to unmask]
> > > >>
> > > >> Inst of Env., Health and Societies
> > > >> Department of Clinical Sciences
> > > >> Brunel University London, Uxbridge, UB8 3PH, United Kingdom
> > > >>
> > > >> http://www.brunel.ac.uk/people/yohai-hakak
> > > >>
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> > > >
> > > > --
> > > > M.
> > > >
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