Sociocultural Anthropological Methods: Utilizing Material Culture to Understand Culture

Because of the innate nature of culture people tend to not recognize it as man-made and consider it natural, when that is not the case.  Therefore, studying material culture allows anthropologists an additional means of understanding culture, particularly when members of the culture may not realize their own cultural elements.  Today’s blog post is dedicated to describing how anthropologists, particularly sociocultural anthropologists, utilize material culture to detect important aspects of culture, such as but not limited to norms, beliefs, and values. 

Material culture refers to physical items that exist and have specific meaning(s) attached for the purposes of defining culture.  These items can and do range from something as small as a piece of jewelry to as large as a building, but they all have several characteristics in common, specifically that they are man-made (or manipulated by man in some way) and have cultural meaning attached to them.  Material culture is an integral part of understanding culture, and one that cultural anthropologists (as well as archaeologists) utilize to understand culture. 

But this concept of utilizing material culture to understand culture is often times a difficult concept for lay people to grasp and understand, so in this blog post you will learn how specifically anthropologists do this through a quick exercise.  This exercise will entail the use of a passage from a book published in 1936 by Hugh Morris.  The purpose of the book, The Art of Kissing, is to be a guide for both novice and more experienced men to know how best to kiss a lady.  To begin this exercise, I want you to consider the following concepts:

·         Norms are standard, accepted, and expected behaviors that exist in a particular culture.

·         Beliefs are notions that are believed to be true among large groups of people.

·         Values are guidelines that define what is considered right and wrong in a culture.

Keep these definitions in mind while you read the following passage (Figure 1) as I want you to pick out specific example(s) of norms, beliefs, and values you believe are being put forward by the author. 

Figure 1: Excerpt from The Art of Kissing by Hugh Morris

I have identified one example for each based on my own reading of the text.  This does not mean that your assessment is incorrect, as there is a level of subjectivity present in this activity.  Based on my own interpretation of the text the following information is what I believe to be evidence of specific cultural norms, beliefs, and values:

·         NORM: “…a man and woman kiss?”

o   This is an example of a norm because it is highlighting an expected behavior in this culture.  It is acceptable for a man and woman to kiss, but the passage does not make mention of individuals of the same sex being allowed to kiss.  The remainder of the book does not either (see below under the heading “Why Kissing is Pleasant” for a specific example).  As well as noted in the description of the book itself (which was taken from the author’s notes) it is more acceptable for a man to initiate the kiss, which is continually reinforced through the remainder of the text when the author points out that the man should be the “aggressor” and “must always be the one who takes the initiative”.  These words detail and describe to the reader the cultural norm of heterosexual (sexual relations between individuals of different sexes) relationships, as well as the expected roles of each individual in said relationship.

·         BELIEF: “…join their lips in bliss?”

o   This is a belief as it promotes the notion that kissing is a pleasurable experience that all individuals should engage in.  We see this in the word “bliss”, which means enjoyable, delightful, and even heavenly.  If you were to ask most individuals in this particular culture what they thought of kissing they would most likely describe it as a satisfactory experience, although in reality it is not always the case.  Furthermore, many people in other cultures find kissing indecent, further demonstrating this idea as a belief that exists in this culture.

·         VALUE: “…then comes the hunger for a home, for children and for marital happiness.” 

o   This statement is very much a value because it demonstrates a goal that readers should be striving for: to be married with children and sharing a home with family.  Furthermore, the idea of the nuclear family (parents and children with no extended family relations present) is encouraged by this statement, particularly given the context of two individuals’ activities leading to this end result (i.e. family).  This does not mean that this is a bad value by any means, but it is a value because it is not what everyone in the culture, or other cultures, ultimately want or strive to attain. 

As demonstrated through this exercise material culture is an integral part of understanding culture.  Through this exercise I hope you learned how specifically material culture is imbued with cultural norms, beliefs, and values, and how anthropologist (and now hopefully yourself) can identify those specific concepts through material culture.  Once you realize what is cultural vs natural you can begin to recognize how flexible and ever changing culture is, and hopefully you can begin the process of understanding your culture and yourself, and if so inclined, how best to make positive changes for both.

Bibliography

Jankowiak, W.R., S.L. Volsche, and J.R. Garcia.  “Is the Romantic-Sexual Kiss a New Human Universal?”  American Anthropologist 117: 535-539.

Morris, H.  1936.  The Art of Kissing.  New York: Padell Book Company.