On Key Symbols (1873)- S. Ortner

symbols that are representative of our culture. With culture comes a sense of identity, a

While our parents offer themselves to help us grow as civilized human beings, one of the most important things they do is present to us our culture. As a small child, my parents introduced me to the world, and what a wonderful place it can or can’t be. Different traditions were taught to me throughout my years and these developed into the fundamental ideas for my lifestyle and culture. The idea of culture that we all share is extremely complex, so it is hard to define any parts of it without the use of symbolism. In order to define my culture, I selected three objects to represent me and my culture in a broad spectrum. However odd these objects may seem, I chose an aluminum ring, a computer and a Christmas stocking. These particular items

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​When studying patterns in ancient civilizations’ literature, artwork and customs, it is not uncommon to view how indigenous individuals recurrently orchestrated society to reflect their beliefs. Though these ideals are conveyed in simplicity in contemporary society, these ancient civilizations’ ideologies on the understanding of the world were often veiled under the cloak of archetypical representations. Such archetypical representations utilized animals and inanimate objects to address the prevalent beliefs occurring in their societies. Although many civilizations were recognized to have emulated that basic ideology of archetypical representation in their literature, Sumerians and Egyptians, though vastly diverse in the meanings constituting their choices of utilizing various archetypes, proved to have the most exemplary archetypes. While many of the archetypes existing in these societies were similar, the symbols differed on the basis of the ideologies they stemmed from.

In the onset, the title of this book is enrapturing. Several cultures, including mine (East African), interpret a circle as a symbolic form that has significant interpretation. Elder J. Albert (personal communication, March 25, 2015) explained that in the Aboriginal culture, the circle emcompasses and encourages the meaning of togetherness

The origins of behavioral modernity has been the topic of debates for many experts in the anthropological field; however, there seems to be a consensus that behavioral modernity can be characterized by abstract thinking, planning, symbolic behavior (e.g. art and ornamentation), use of stone and blade technologies and many others. The use of abstract thought and symbolic representation is one of the defining characteristics of humans. Creating art is a shared trait among all human populations, and the ubiquity of art translates the value that all human cultures and groups place on the creation of symbolic representation.

Culture varies throughout the world depending on where you are standing. One object in this part of the world could be a different symbol on the other side of the world, even within your own country. Symbols are everywhere but our culture is what defines it. Charles Sanders Pierce is an American philosopher who has written pieces on semiotics called Collected Papers. Pierce defines a symbol, as something that has a completely arbitrary connection to what it represents and these symbols vary from culture to culture, shown by examples from literary texts like The Catcher in the Rye and Winter’s Bone

Symbolic and interpretive anthropologists put forward different views of culture asking about meanings of symbols and how these symbols shape’s people way of life. The whole event is a symbolic representation of how the supportive people have more power

In this week’s assignment, we will discuss Horace Miner’s analytical study of tribal behavior and Body Ritual among the Nacirema tribe by answering the following questions. First was I surprised when the true identity of the Nacirema tribe was revealed? Then how does Body Ritual among the Nacirema help us understand our own view of other cultures and how we are viewed by other cultures? Next why do some of the practices and rituals of other cultures seem odd or foreign to us? Finally, how do our own cultural norms affect our understanding and perception of other cultures?

In this article, anthropologist Richard Sosis hypothesis on Religious Signaling which religious custom advances groups cohesion by obliging individuals to participate in conduct that is too unreasonable to fake. In this manner, he contends that religious ceremonies are versatile in an evolutionary sense. Sosis endeavors to clarify religious ceremonies and taboos have concentrated on the otherworldly advantages of these practices, however, Richard claims there's an essential reason.

Qualitative assessments of impacts of my research program are important. I have been very fortunate that scholars writing in quality journals variously say my work is “authoritative”, “inspirational”,

Claude Levi-Strauss’s theory of binary oppositions was extremely influential in the anthropological world and fueled the reaction seen among the other anthropologists discussed here in this paper. Levi-Strauss proposed that binary oppositions are used to give things meaning; he argues that they act as organising principles of rituals and myths and construct the thought patterns of a culture. This can be seen, for example, in the way he examined and deconstructed myths: he asserted that every myth contained one or more sets of binary oppositions, saying that “all narratives have to be driven by a conflict that was caused by a series of opposing forces” (Levi-Strauss 34). This quote demonstrates how his believed all myths and rituals were based on universal contradictions. These contradictions within a myth are what it seeks to resolve within its narrative. In

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