ANTHROPOLOGICAL

PERSPERCTIVE
of the SELF

Prepared by:
LESLY ANN C. JACINTO, MA CLP, RPm
OBJECTIVES:
1. To increase awareness of the various dimensions
of anthropology and its influence on self-
concept;
2. To explain how culture affects or shapes one’s
identity;
3. To understand how each culture develop a
unique cultural lens;
4. Examine their own cultural identity from a
global perspective; and
5. Demonstrate critical and reflective thought in
analyzing how culture influences our beliefs and
behavior through an essay.
 ANTHROPOLOGY
It is the study of people, past, and present.
This does not pertain only to one aspects of
man but rather on the totality of what it
means to be human.

ETYMOLOGY:
 ANTHROPOS (human)
 LOGIA/LOGOS (study)
Ability to think
Use tools
Learn from
experiences
They have adapted
and gained dominance
over all earth’s
creatures.
The most important
aspects of human
nature – which is the
SURVIVAL.
4-FIELD APPROACH IN
ARCHAEOLOGY
Interprets human
behavior through
material remains.
Archeology of the self
is the exploration of
gender, race, class,
sexual orientation,
and religion that are
living within us (Ruiz,
2020).
 ARCHAEOLOGY
 They focus in the past
and how it may
contributed to the
present ways of how
people conduct their
daily lives.
 They discovered the
unique ways in which
human beings adapted
to changes in their
environment in order for
them to survive.
 LINGUISTIC
Language in its social
and cultural context
across time and
space.
Language changes
every cultural value
that is being
traditionalized by a
certain community or
society.
LINGUISTIC
 Aims to discover how
languages is used to
create and share
meanings, to form
ideas and concepts
and to promote social
change.
 A means to discover a
group’s manner of
social interaction and
his worldview.
 It identifies a group of
people
 LINGUISTIC

* Words * Symbols
* Sounds * Writing and Signs
 BIOLOGICAL (PHYSICAL)

Scientific study concerned with the

biological and behavioral aspects of human
beings and other non-human primates.
 BIOLOGICAL (PHYSICAL)
 To know how human  They look at the
beings might have probable causes of
evolved from their early disease, physical
forms. mutation and death.
 Focus primarily on how  Pandemic (disease
human body adapts to affecting people in a
the different earth large area) and an
environments. effective cure.
 Interested in explaining  Intake of minerals which
how the biological are beneficial to human
characteristics of beings.
human beings affect  Eating the right balance
how they lived their diet.
lives.
BIOLOGICAL (PHYSICAL)
CULTURAL
Explores the diversity
of past and present.

ETHNOGRAPHY
- Based on field-work

ETHNOLOGY
- Based on cross-cultural
comparison.
 CULTURAL

Cultural Anthropologists are interested in knowing

what makes one group’s manner of living particular
to that group and forms an essential part of the
member’s personal and social identity.
What is CULTURE?
CULTURE refers to the
shared values, beliefs,
and norms of a specific
group of people.
Culture, therefore,
influences the manner
we learn, live, and
behave.
It derived from the
Latin word cultus
which means care or
cultivation.
What is CULTURE?
It is described as a group
of peoples ways of life,
including their
behaviors, beliefs,
values and symbols that
they accept.
It is a customary
behavior and beliefs
that are passed on
through enculturation
(Kottak, 2008).
What is the place of the SELF in the
CULTURE?

SELF
INHERITANCE ENVIRONMENT

CULTURE

The SELF is embedded in CULTURE

by which it may be sourced by blood
or by its surroundings.
CULTURAL IDENTITY &
NATIONAL IDENTITY
IDENTITY
-It refers to “who the
person is” or the
qualities and traits of
an individual that
make him or her
different from others.
 CULTURAL IDENTITY &
NATIONAL IDENTITY
CULTURAL IDENTITY
- It refers to the
identity or feeling of
belongingness to a
certain culture group.
- It is an individual’s
perception about
himself or herself
anchored on race,
gender, nationality,
religion, ethnicity and
language.
 CULTURAL IDENTITY &
NATIONAL IDENTITY

A NATION is a group of people built on the premise

of shared customs, traditions, religion, language,
art, history and more.
CULTURAL IDENTITY &
NATIONAL IDENTITY
NATIONAL IDENTITY
- It refers to the identity
or feeling of
belongingness to one
state or nation.
- Rupert Emerson, a
political scientist,
defines it as a “body of
people who feel that
they are a nation.”
 CULTURAL IDENTITY &
NATIONAL IDENTITY
National identity requires the process of
self-categorization.
In self-categorization, one must identify
himself or herself with an in-group
(identifying with one’s nation) and
differentiate himself or herself from the
out-groups (other nations).
 CULTURAL IDENTITY THEORY
 It explains why a
person acts and
behaves the way he
or she does.
 It make sense of
how an individual is
influenced by the
cultural context he
or she is situated in.
 CULTURAL IDENTITY THEORY
MATERIAL CULTURE
- It pertains to all the tangible materials
that are inherited from the previous
generation. This is the most obvious
components because of its physical
nature.
- It refers to the national flag, emblem or
seal, and those representing all the
people who are part of a nation.
 CULTURAL IDENTITY THEORY
NON-MATERIAL Cognitive
CULTURE component
- It embodies the Normative
shared
component
understanding of a
group of people  Social Norms
which includes Folkways
norms, beliefs, and oMores
traditions.
1. COGNITIVE COMPONENT
- It is divided into ideas, knowledge and belief,
values, and accounts.

2. NORMATIVE COMPONENT
 Social Norms
- these are the accepted standards of
behavior of social groups subheading
- these groups range from friendship and
workgroups to nation states.
Folkways
- it is the general rules, of customary, and
habitual ways and patterns of expected behavior
in society.

o Mores
- it refers to the special folkways that are
generally emphasized because they are
deemed necessary for the welfare of the
society.
THEORY OF CULTURAL DETERMINISM
 The contention that
culture has a strong
impact on how the
individual views
himself.
 States that Cultural
diversities are
manifested in
different ways and
at different levels of
depth.
 SYMBOLS
 It is considered as the most
superficial level of culture
and values belong to the
deepest level or are
considered the core of
culture.
 These are words, gestures,
pictures or objects that
have a recognized meaning
in a particular culture.
 It can be shaped or copied
by other culture who find
them also fitting for their
own culture.
SYMBOLS
SYMBOLS
 HEROES
 A persons from the
past or present who
have characteristics
that is important in a
culture.
 They may be real or
fictitious and are
models for behavior.
HEROES
REAL
 HEROES
FICTITIOUS
RITUALS
These are activities
(may be religious
or social)
participated in a
group of people for
the fulfillment of
desired objectives
and are considered
to be socially
essentials.
 RITUALS
Religious ceremonies
like baptisms

Social ceremonies like

birthdays
RITUALS
 VALUES

It is considered being the core of every

culture. It involves human
tendencies/preferences towards good or bad,
right or wrong.
VALUES
 BRIAN MORRIS’
ANTHROPOLOGY OF THE SELF
 He reiterated that the
self is not an entity but a
process that orchestrates
an individual’s personal
experience.
 As a result of this
process, a person
becomes self-aware and
self-reflective about his
or her place in the
surrounding world.
 BRIAN MORRIS’
ANTHROPOLOGY OF THE SELF
 Morris stated that the most crucial form
of interaction and exchange takes place
neither between the individual and
society nor between the psyche and
culture but instead between the self and
his or her cultural environment as
mediated by social practices.
 BRIAN MORRIS’
ANTHROPOLOGY OF THE SELF
 In view of the dialectical relationship between the self
and the cultural milieu, which is assumed to be
different depending on the dynamics of a society, a
dichotomy between Western and Non-Western
notions of self has long been embedded in Western
philosophical and psychological traditions of thinking.
 CULTURAL CONCEPTION – a category of particular
community.
 This idea about the self was long conceived by
Marcel Mauss (1938 as cited in Van Meijl, 2008).
 MECHANISM OF CULTURAL CHANGE

CULTURAL CHANGE happens because no society

is in a constant state. Society continuously
evolves from one period of time to another.
MECHANISM OF CULTURAL CHANGE

1. CULTURAL LAG
- One must take into
account both a
social need and the
cultural goal. Every
cultural goal is
anchored on social
need.
 MECHANISM OF CULTURAL CHANGE

2. CULTURAL
BORROWING
- It is a situation
where one society
borrows the culture
of another society
and uses it as new
part of the culture.