TOPIC 3: ANTHROPOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE

Dr. Jona Addatu, RGC

“The main purpose of anthropology is to make the world safe for human indifferences” – Ruth
Benedict

Social scientists and anthropologists have long recognized the idea that people in different parts
of the world view themselves in different ways. These different ways of viewing one’s self may
be attributed to biological or genetic variants and partly to social or cultural variation.

Your racial category, family structure, ethnic affiliation, religious customs, language, social
beliefs and values, cultural expression and identification indubitably contribute on your
formation as a person, and accordingly, on your self-construal.

These concepts or forces form part of the main subjects of anthropology. What is anthropology?
How does anthropology shape your sense of self? Etymologically, the word “anthropology”
stemmed from two Greek words, anthropos meaning man and logus meaning study or science.
Thus, anthropology is the science of man. It is concerned about the various aspects of the human
species, irrespective of time and place, from ancient to the
contemporary. Anthropologists are interested not only on how
humans have structurally evolved from their animal
predecessors but also on how humans transformed and into a
culturally and socially adaptive beings. By taking a closer look
unto how we have metamorphosed physically and culturally,
this unit can help us explore what makes us uniquely different
from other living organisms. This topic on anthropological
perspective about the self will be finished in 3 hours.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

www.nourfoundation.com At the end of this lesson, you will be able to:

1. appreciate the science of anthropology and recognize its relevance on elucidating the
development of self and identity;
2. understand how the sense of self is shaped and influenced by culture;
3. elevate awareness and pride on the Filipino culture.

THE SELF AND THE PERSON IN CONTEMPORARY ANTHROPOLOGY

Are there characteristics and experiences which are inherently common among us? Are there
universals in terms of our biological endowments and predispositions? Given the uniformity in
terms of our physiology and genetic profile, are our behaviors and actions rooted from the same
drives and passions? And do we share the same biological needs?
With the identicalness of our physical environment and the cultures in which we thrive, can we
affirm that all men are alike? These questions about human universals form part of the central
themes of anthropology since its inception as a scientific discipline.

In their book, Personality in Nature, Society and Culture, psychologist Henry Murray and
anthropologist Clyde Kluckhohn (1953) claimed that “Every man is in certain respects like all
other men, like some other men, and like no other man.” This statement pictured how pre-
contemporary and contemporary anthropology viewed the human person. The pre-contemporary
view of human nature demonstrated sameness, invariability, and universality where man was
regarded as identical, constant, and general.

Humans, like all other species, are considered essentially the same regardless of place and time.
Thus, they are predictable and can be studied uniformly.

While recognizing the self as an unchanging entity, anthropologists also accept its inherent
variability. Contemporary anthropologists subscribe to a more holistic approach in studying the
self by looking unto human variety brought about by variations across cultures and variations
over time.

They suggest that the human person can be studied from many points of view. And that it’s only
when we study the full range of human phenomenon and consider the inescapable fact that men
are in many respects like no other man, can we genuinely appreciate human nature. This calls for
a more comprehensive and encompassing approach towards understanding the human person.
That is, taking into account all the physical, biological, psychological, social and cultural
elements that make up the self.

This pursuit towards a holistic appreciation of the human nature was supported scientifically. For
instance, Anthropology Professor Katherine Ewing asserted an integrative stance on the self by
defining it as one that which “encompasses the physical organism, possessing all aspects of
psychological functioning, and social attributes”, (1990:254). Even the neurobiologist Joseph
LeDoux described the self as the totality of what an organism is physically, biologically,
psychologically, socially, and culturally. He further claimed that though the self is a unit, it is
not unitary” (2002: 31).

Considering then the totality of all the processes and elements that constitute the self and the
interrelationship between and amongst these remain to be fundamental in understanding the
human being. Study the figure below. What does this show about how anthropology advances
our understanding of ourselves?
 points.htm

The Concept of Culture

Cultural anthropology being one of the sub-disciplines of anthropology underscores the concept
of culture and its influence in shaping the self. By reflecting on your outputs in the activity
Festival of Cultures, you probably had a
good grasp of what culture is and what constitute it. You might have also realized how culture
affects the way you construe your personal identity.

Culture is a broad construct which covers a wide range of elements – from your clothing designs
to your food preferences, the dialect you use for communicating, the festivals you enjoy, the
religious beliefs and customs you observe, the set of values you conform to, or even the kinds of
books you read, or the jokes you crack – all these illuminate your way of life and all these
elements form part of the culture you were raised to.

One of the most fundamental aspects of culture is symbol. As people interact, they share a
common set of symbols which represent their identity. Cultural symbols aid in establishing the
uniqueness of a particular culture. When properly preserved and accurately passed on from one
generation to the other, it continues to be an indelible representation of one’s personhood.

Our Bodies and Culture

Recall some circumstances in your life where you pursued a particular fashion statement or
modified your body image because it is what’s “in” or it is what seems typical based on your
cultural context. Did you ever go through tattooing or body piercing because these convey
something about your status? Or had you ever been refrained from letting your hair be cut
because of some religious beliefs? What about having been restricted of wearing revealing
clothes because it is considered a taboo?
If you answered in the affirmative then you probably adhere unto the proposition that culture
influences our body image. Consciously or unconsciously, your body image or your perception
of your body or that of others is largely influenced by your culture.

Your bodies and what you do with it is a reflection of the life you live and the culture you were
accustomed to. Body modifications and embellishments for instance are regarded as part of the
norms and representations of some cultures.

The pictures below exemplify how our cultures are projected through our bodies.

Apo Whang-Od Oggay, the Living Legend A woman from the Mursi Tribe in South
Mambabatok (Tattoo Artist) of the Butbut Ethiopia, Africa with her profound lip and
Tribe in Buscalan, Kalinga. earlobe plates.
https://www.pinterest.ph/pin/355010383108304495/?lp=true https://tatring.com/piercing-types/Have-Mursi-on-the-Lip-Plate

A woman from the Karen Tribe (also known A member of the Bagobo people from
as Padaung People) of Thailand with heavy coastal Mindanao in the Philippines with
brass rings on the neck. filed and blackened teeth.

Chiang_Mai/Village_of_North/photo896982.htm body-modifications-in-the-world-f996b311036d
The Self Embedded In Culture

The figure below illustrates a hypothetical self-concept of Mr. Juan Dela Cruz. Given the
different roles he assumes, he may be viewed in different ways by people around him. This
demonstrates Mead’s idea that the meaning or the characterization that we ascribe to the self
depends on our roles in the society. The self as a basic psychological concept which is
commonly assumed to be static and have a universal nature is therefore susceptible to changes
depending on social situations and cultural contexts. The self is malleable and can act in different
ways depending on circumstances; it is multi-faceted yet unified. As such, the self has to be
examined as an entity embedded in culture.

Having interest in cross-cultural understandings of the person, French sociologist and

As a social category, the person is said to be socially and culturally constituted that can only be
understood in relation to everything else in the society and thus, may be subject to quite
substantial, if not infinite, variation. In the hypothetical self-concept map of Mr. Juan Dela Cruz,
you might have noticed the different attributes of his personne or the person that he is depending
on his social situation. At home, he has to be the affectionate but strict father that he is; he can be
a very caring husband to his wife, yet may likewise be wary. At one point, he is regarded soft-
hearted but at another, he is viewed as someone firm. This points out to the malleability of his
personne depending on his cultural context.

Harry Triandis (2019), a psychology professor at the University of Illinois, furthered the
discourse about the self being culturally shaped. In his research, The Self and Social Behavior in
Differing Cultural Contexts (1989), he introduced and distinguished three aspects of the self:
private, public, and collective self. The private self are cognitions that involve traits, states, or
behaviors of the person; it is an assessment of the self by the self. Statements like “I am
amiable”; “I am outspoken”; “I will buy X” are examples of our self-assessments about
ourselves.

The public self on the other hand refers to cognitions concerning the generalized other’s view of
the self, such as statements like “People think I am shy” or “People think I will buy X”. The
public self is an assessment of the self by the generalized others. The collective self are
cognitions concerning a view of the self that is found in some collective (e.g., family, co-
workers, tribe, scientific society), such as, “My family thinks I am introverted” or “My co-
workers believe I shop too much.” The collective self corresponds to an assessment of the self by
a specific reference or groups. These aspects of the self are heavily influenced by culture.