ANTA02H3 Chapter Notes - Chapter 1: Sociocultural Anthropology, Michel Foucault, Ethnography
Document Summary
Sociocultural anthropology strives to look beyond the world of everyday experiences to discover the patterns and meanings that lie behind that world. Classroom chair with attached desk is something to sit on, write on, or put our feet on. Sociocultural anthropologists suggest that acts are never merely acts, nor are objects, even classroom chairs, merely objects. Both are signals whose meaning is culturally specific. Sociocultural anthropology: a comparative approach to the study of societies and cultures that focus on differences and similarities in the ways that societies are structured and cultural meanings are created. Refers to the shaping of the human body as a "political anatomy" Political anatomy: people"s bodies are controlled by others to operate with the necessary speed and efficiency. The ways in specific societies order behaviour through the arrangement of space and time is but one small area examined by sociocultural anthropology.
