Development Anthropology

1. Development Anthropology Cultural Change

2. Development Anthropology • How cultures change • How anthropologists can inform and transform the process of international development

3. International Development • A process of directed change that focuses on improving the welfare of people in so-called underdeveloped countries • Often through promoting economic growth

4. Mechanisms of Cultural Change

5. Mechanisms of Change • Invention • Diffusion • Including “stimulus diffusion” • Migration • Devolution (cultural loss)

6. Mechanisms of Change • Invention • The creation of something new • “primary” • discovery of new principles • “secondary” • application of principles • Often associated with rapid change

7. Not all inventions have positive social outcomes Cultural anthropologists have made significant contributions to improving development by telling stories of the “victims” of change Inventions

8. Mechanisms of Change • Diffusion • The spread of something from one group to the next • Borrowing • Often associated with slow change • Including stimulus diffusion . . .

9. Mechanisms of Change • Stimulus Diffusion • The spread of an idea from one group to the next

10. Diffusion • Can occur between unequal societies • through force • through education or marketing

11. Diffusion • A culture can become so completely acculturated that it becomes assimilated

12. Mechanisms of Change • Migration • The movement of a person or people from one place to another

13. Mechanisms of Change • Devolution(cultural loss) • Loss without replacement of a cultural trait • Can be slow or rapid

14. “Modernization” • A model of change based on the belief in the inevitable advance of science and Western secularism and processes • including industrial growth, consolidation of the state, bureaucratization, market economy, technological innovation, literacy, and options for social mobility

15. “Modernization” = “Globalization”?

16. Cultural Change • Main Causes of Change • Environment • Individual variation (innovation) • Contact with other groups • Diffusion • Including Stimulus diffusion • Acculturation . . .

17. Acculturation • Change that takes place as a result of • firsthand • continuous contact • between two or more groups

18. Acculturation • Is usually rapid change, but it varies . . .

19. Acculturation • It varies with • Degree of cultural difference • Circumstances of contact • Intensity of contact . . .

20. Acculturation • It varies with • Frequency of contact • Amiability of contact . . .

21. Acculturation • It varies with • Relative status of agents of contact • Who is dominant and who is submissive . . .

22. Acculturation • It varies with • Whether the nature of flow is reciprocal or nonreciprocal

23. All cultures change • Change can be • intentional or accidental • forward or backward looking • rapid or gradual • obvious or nearly invisible

24. Acculturation Processes

25. Acculturation • Processes during acculturation include: • Substitution • Replacing one cultural item with another • Minimal structural change • E.g., Dani substitution of competitive games and events for warfare

26. Acculturation • Processes during acculturation include: • Syncretism • A blending of cultural elements • Considerable cultural change • E.g., Mayan “Folk Catholicism” • E.g., Trobriand Cricket

27. Acculturation • Processes during acculturation include: • Addition • Cultural items are added • Structural change may or may not occur • E.g., Yanomamö bananas

28. Acculturation • Processes during acculturation include: • Deculturation (devolution) • The loss of part of a culture • E.g., headhunting among the Asmat of New Guinea

29. Acculturation • Processes during acculturation include: • Origination • Development of new traits to meet the needs of a changing situation • E.g., Amish self-isolation

30. Acculturation • Processes during acculturation include: • Rejection • Changes may be so rapid that a large number of persons cannot accept them, resulting in total rejection, rebellion, or revitalization movements • E.g., The Ghost Dance Movement

31. Results of Acculturation

32. Acculturation • Results of Acculturation: • Assimilation (merger) • One culture becomes completely merged into another and no longer has a separate identity • often occurs with a loss of language

33. Acculturation • Results of Acculturation: • Incorporation • One culture loses autonomy but retains its identity as a subculture • Typical of conquest or slavery situations • E.g., Cast in India • E.g., American Irish, Cajun, Gullah

34. Acculturation • Results of Acculturation: • Extinction • One culture loses its individual members until it can no longer function, and members die out or join other cultures • The Shakers may become an example of extinction

35. Acculturation • Results of Acculturation: • Adaptation • A new structure may develop in “dynamic equilibrium” • Cultures make adjustments to enhance their survival • E.g., Amish self-isolation

36. Misc. Notes

37. Cultural Change • Early cultural anthropologists took a “synchronic” or “one-time” view in describing a culture with no attention to its past • More focus on “diachronic” or “across-time” analysis since the 1970s

38. Cultural Change • Now studies are diachronic • the analysis of cultures “across time” (Synchronic = A “one-time” view of culture with minimal or no attention paid to its past)

39. Cultural Change • Rates of change vary • Change is inevitable

40. Cultural Change • Traditional Development Anthropology • an approach to development in which the anthropologist accepts the role of helping to make development work better by providing cultural information to planners • an option that economists and others realize can help make their plans more effective • “What can I do to make this project successful?”

41. Cultural Change • Critical Development Anthropology • an approach to international development in which the anthropologist takes on a critical-thinking role and asks why and to whose benefit particular development policies and programs are pursued • developed out of the awareness of the socially negative impact of many supposedly positive development projects • “Is this a good project from the perspective of the target population?”

42. Cultural Change • Human Development • a model of change promoted by the United Nations that emphasizes improvements in human welfare such as health, education, and personal security • improvements in human welfare will lead to overall development of the nation

43. Cultural Change • Sustainable Development • a directed change that involves forms of development that are not environmentally destructive and are financially supportable by the host country or environmentally by the earth as a whole

44. Cultural Change • Sociocultural fit • concept that refers to how well a development project meshes with the “target” culture and population

45. Cultural Change • Indigenous People • people who consider themselves the original inhabitants of the territories they occupy • “First Peoples” • most often have lost or are losing their claim to ancestral lands

46. Cultural Change • Indigenous People • the United Nations distinguishes between • indigenous people • original inhabitants of the territories they occupy • and minority groups • E.g., Rom (Gypsies)

47. Indigenous people have been subjected to loss of rights, land and culture they once had Through indigenous claims and pressure, some states have begun to resolve land issues Indigenous People’s Development

48. Many indigenous people have formed their own organizations to promote “development from within” Indigenous People’s Development

49. Human Rights • Cultural anthropologists contribute insight from different cultures about perceptions of basic human rights and may be able to prevent human rights abuses in the future

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