Anthropology is the study of human beings and cultures. It examines human cultural similarities and differences, as well as human biological diversity and evolution. Anthropology takes a holistic and relativistic approach to understand cultures from the perspective of cultural insiders. The four main subfields are socio-cultural anthropology, archaeological anthropology, linguistic anthropology, and biological/physical anthropology. Culture is learned, symbolic, shared, integrated, and dynamic. It includes both material and nonmaterial aspects such as values, beliefs, and norms. Cultures change through mechanisms like diffusion, acculturation, and invention.

1. ANTHROPOLOGY OF ETHIOPIAN SOCIETIES AND
CULTURES
(ANTH1012)

2. Unit One: Introducing Anthropology & its Subject
Matter
 Definition, Scope and Subject Matter of Anthropology
 Definition & Goals of Anthropology
 Etymology: the word anthropology →→ the Greek terms ,
• Anthropos →→ man/human being, &
• logia or logos →→reason/science or study of
 Anthropology literally means the science or study of man/human being
 The goals for anthropological research include, describing,
explaining, & analyzing:
• human cultural similarities & differences
• the cultural development of our species
• the biological evolution of the human species
• human biological diversity
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3. 3
 Anthropology tries to :
• Explain how & why people are both similar and different
• Develop an integrated picture of humankind
• Understand what it means to be HUMAN
• Offer two insights:
i) production of knowledge (the cultural & biological differences)
ii) providing methods & theoretical perspectives
(to solve societal problems)

4. The Historical Development of Anthropology
 Divergent views (about its origin)
• the 18th Century European Enlightenment (social & philosophical
mov’t →human progress & power of reason
• the 1850s(scientific discipline)→Darwinian theory of evolution
• after the First World War (1914-1918)- present-day sense
• Closely associated with the Western countries: Britain, France,
Germany, & U.S.A.
• Also linked with the European colonization
• In Ethiopia, professional anthropology → late 1950s
4

5.  Scope & the Uniqueness of Anthropology
 Anthropology’s relation with other Disciplines
 What distinguishes anthropology from other disciplines?
 Its scope, approach, focus and method of study
• it has a broad scope
 the temporal dimension: past, present & future
 the spatial dimension: covers all areas
- wherever human beings live, there is always anthropology
• its approach which is holistic, relativistic, & focused
 Holistic: it looks any phenomena from different
vantage points
( cultural, historical, linguistic, biological) 5

6. 6
 Relativistic: it tries to study & explain a certain belief, practice,
institution or a group of people in its own context
- doesn't make value judgment
 Focus: considers insiders' views inquiry (emic perspective)
- how people perceive themselves & understand their world
- how a particular group of people explain about their action
- give meaning to their behavior or cultural practices
- the logic/justification behind group behavior & cultural practices
- focusing more on the local than the big social processes
Research approach (hang in, hangout, & hang on)
- extended fieldwork
- participant observation
- in-depth & key informant interview
- focus group discussion (FGD)

7.  Misconceptions about Anthropology
 the area of its study:
• anthropology is limited to the study of "primitive" societies
• anthropologists only study the rural people & rural areas
• anthropology is the study/analysis of fossil evidences of the
proto-humans like Lucy/Dinkinesh
• the purpose of anthropology is to study & preserve
communities far from development & obsolete cultural
practices (in fact, supports those communities' capacity to
empower themselves in development processes)
 It studies both the biological & the cultural aspects of humans
7

8.  Contributions of Anthropology
• Helps to gain a fuller understanding of other cultures
• helps us better understand ourselves/ our own ways of life
• gives us an insight into different ways & modes of life of human
society (social & cultural diversity)
• Because of its relativistic approach, anthropology helps us to be
more sensitive to & appreciative of cultural diversity and variability
• helps us fight against ethnocentrism
• in its applied perspective, used as a tool for development
(environmental change, health and nutrition, social justice & human
rights, etc.) 8

9. Unit Two: The Four Sub-fields of Anthropology
9

10.  Socio-Cultural Anthropology
• North American universities → cultural anthropology
• Germany → Ethnology
• United Kingdom/Ethiopia → Social Anthropology
 Social Anthropology studies
• the social (human relations),
• symbolic or nonmaterial (religious, language, & any other
symbols) &
• material (all man-made objects) lives of living peoples
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 SA has two major components(aspects of study):
 Ethnography
• a detailed study of a particular culture based on fieldwork
• organizes, describes, analyzes, & interprets→ account
• The field situations can be quite diverse
• the classical ethnographies of African societies → colonial
countries (Evans Pritchard and Meyer Fortes-British colonies )
• Formerly most ethnographic fieldworks → focus on non-Western
societies
• Indigenous anthropology or ‘anthropology at home’

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 Ethnology
• comparative study of cultures → analytical generalizations
• involves explaining their similarities & differences
• looks beyond the particular to the more general
• attempt to build theory & uncover general cultural principles
 SA is further sub-divided into various specialized fields:
- Medical, Urban, Economic, Political, Developmental,
- Ecological, Demographic, Psychological,
- Art, Religion, Ethnomusicology,
All are the applied areas of anthropology

13. Ethnography Ethnology
Requires field work to collect
data
Uses data collected by a
series of researchers
Often descriptive
Usually synthesizes
ethnographic data
Group/community specific Comparative/cross-cultural
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 Archaeological Anthropology
• studies human cultures through the recovery & analysis of
material remains & environmental data
 Material Remains(Objects):
• Artifacts: man made objects or material remains used by
the past societies (e.g. tools, ornaments,
arrowheads, coins, pottery. etc.)
• Features: non-portable evidence of technology (e.g.
roadways, ruins of building, steles, postholes, etc.)
• Ecofacts: natural materials such as plant or animal
remains (e.g. fossils, pollen, soils, etc.)

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 Specializations within archaeology:
 Prehistoric archaeology
• studies remains of cultures existed before the time of
written records (before 6,000 years ago)
• by careful excavation & laboratory analysis of such remains
reconstruct the way people lived in ancient times
• trace how human cultures have changed over centuries &
millennia
 Historic archaeology
• studies the remains of cultures that existed during the time of
written records
• uncover information lacking in old documents about how
people lived

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 Ethnoarchaeology
• the study of contemporary (present) societies’ behaviors & uses
of material objects
• We Ethiopians have very glorious past

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 Linguistic anthropology
• studies human languages and investigates their structure,
history, & relation to social and cultural contexts
 Language is a key to understand a culture
• Humans communicate messages by sound (speech), gesture
(body language), & other visual ways such as writing
• as genes carry & transmit genetic materials → offspring
languages hand down cultural traits from one generation to
another

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 Specializations in Linguistic Anthropology
 Structural /Descriptive Linguistics
• studies the linguistic & grammatical patterns of languages to
identify the similarities and differences
• examines sound & grammatical systems, and the meanings
attached to words in specific languages
• compile dictionaries & grammar books for previously
unwritten languages
 Ethnolinguistics
- examines the relationship between language & culture
- explore how different linguistic categories can affect how people
categorize: their experiences,
they think, & perceive the world

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 Historical linguistics:
- deals with the emergence of language in general &
- how specific languages have diverged over time
- focuses on the comparison & classifications of d/t languages
- to differentiate the historical links between them
 Sociolinguistics:
- examines how the use of language defines social groups
- investigates linguistic variation within a given language
- one reason for variation is geography
(regional dialects & accents)

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 Physical/Biological Anthropology
• focuses on the biological aspects of human beings
• studies how culture & environment influenced biological
evolution & human variation
Human evolution
• Major areas of research
Human variation(Genetics)
Paleoanthropology(analysis of fossil)
 Human Evolution
Primatology(anatomy/adaptation/social
behavior of primates)
 Genetics: examines the genetic materials of an organism such
as DNA & RNA
• how & why the physical traits of contemporary human
populations vary throughout the world

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Evolutionary & Paleoanthropological Perspectives on Human
Origin
• Evolution: a process & gradual change in species over time
• Charles Darwin (1809-1882): Natural selection &
Survival of the fittest
• Attributes of Evolution:
- Replication: producing offspring
- Variation: slight variation between parents & siblings
- Selection: not all offspring survive
 No consensus about the origin of humanity,( racial groups)
• Polygenism: separate origin of races (Britain/France)
• Monogenism: common origin of races (Germany)
 Virchow, Ranke, Bastian refute evolutionary theory(methodology)
- derisively referring to it as ‘the monkey doctrine’

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 Anthropological Perspectives on Racial Types and
Human Physical Variation
 Race: a group of organisms of the same species that share
similar physical (and genetic) attributes & specific
geographic regions
Lexical definition(Oxford dic.):
a) human category based on physical differences(e.g. skin color)
b) a group of people who share the same language,
history, culture, etc..

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 Adaptation: a process of changing sth to suit a new situation ( to
increases the likelihood of survival for an organism)
Behavioral ( way of life, tool making, etc.)
• Adaptation Observable(skin color, hair, eye,..)
Biological
Unobservable (genes)
 Skin color: adaptation to a particular environment
• Dark skin: tropical zones
- adaptation to intensive sunlight
• Light skin: temperate & polar zones/exposed to less sunlight
 Bergmann’s Rule: stature & size
- Polar regions: short and stockier(heavy & compact) & short
- Tropical regions: slim & long/ not to retain much heat

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 1890s physical anthropology: classification of human variations
• Anthropometry: measurement of human anatomical
structure (especially the shape of skull & bone)
• Craniometry: the practice of measuring the form &
proportion of human skull
• Johann F. Blumenbach (1752-1840), German anatomist &
anthropologist
 Caucasian
 Mongolian
 Ethiopian
 American
 Malayan

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• Andres Retizus (1796-1860), Swedish anatomist, provided the
foundational technique for skull measurement
• Cephalic Index: the ratio of the skull’s width with its length
 Dolichocephalic: “ long-skulled”/long &narrow head
 Brachycephalic: “short-skulled”/ broad head
 Biological Determinism: links race with physical traits
with behavior, intellect, values and morals
 Social Darwinism: applying Darwinian views on society
• as societies & nations evolved and competed, the morally
superior ones would prevail, while the less moral societies
would perish

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 Eugenics ( coined by Francis Galton in 1883)
• The practice and advocacy of controlled breeding of human
population
• In the late 19th & first half of the 20th century it served as
state regulation of marriage, family, & prohibition of
reproduction
• used by the Nazis / the idea of master race
 Anthropologists perspective on Human Race
• Genetic difference within humanity is very insignificant
• Cultural traits cannot be transmitted through genes
(challenged biological determinism)

27. Chapter Three
Human Culture and Ties that Connect Society
 What is Culture?
• Edward Tylor: “a complex whole which includes knowledge,
belief, art, morals, law, custom, and any other capabilities and
habits acquired by man as a member of society”.
• B. Malinowski: “cumulative creation of man”
 Culture is a system of knowledge, beliefs, patterns of behavior, artifacts, &
institutions that are created, learned, & shared by a group of people.
 Characteristic Features of Culture
 Culture is Learned (not genetically inherited; not inborn)
 Enculturation: the process of social interaction through
which people learn & acquire their culture
• agents: family, schools, medical systems, media, & religious
institutions (culture shapes our ideas & actions)
27

28.  Culture is Symbolic
 Symbol: something ( object or action/verbal or nonverbal) that
represents, calls to mind something else
• Communicate meanings which are arbitrary & conventional
• Creating images through symbols, & giving meanings, & making
inferences are unique features of humanity
• Culture is transmitted → symbolic learning process
(oral traditions & texts transmit knowledge across time & space)
• Its meaning is not always obvious, but they can trigger emotions &
behaviors (e.g. flags- abstract ideas & concepts of nations, freedom)
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 Culture is Shared
• Culture is a shared experience (collective phenomenon)
• No individual has his or her own culture
( e.g. a classroom culture: shared understandings (what to
wear, how to sit, when to arrive or leave, how to
communicate with classmates / instructor...)
• But not shared equally by all members
 Culture is All-encompassing (all-inclusive)
• sum total of human creation
• intellectual, technical, artistic, & moral

30.  Culture is Integrated
• Cultures are not haphazard collections of customs & beliefs
• All parts of which are interconnected (interacted)
• When one behavior pattern changes, others also change
 Organic analogy: digestive/ respiratory/skeletal/reproductive sys.
 Society: economic, political, kinship, religious systems
 Culture can be Adaptive or Maladaptive
• by using culture people adapt themselves to the environment
• cultural traits (e.g. air conditioning) can be adaptive if they
help individuals cope with environmental stresses
• such traits can also be maladaptive
 Culture is Dynamic: it is constantly changing
• Culture change is inevitable
• it can be changed due to internal & external influences
30

31.  Mechanisms of Culture Change
 Diffusion: the borrowing / exchange of items or ideas b/n cultures
• can be direct or indirect
• can also be voluntary or forced
 Acculturation:
• the incorporation of knowledge, ideas, behaviors, & material
creations from a different culture
• due to prolonged contact with that culture
(e.g. a pidgin, a mixed language that develops to ease
communication b/n members of different societies in contact)
 Invention: generated within a culture (both material & non-
material aspects(new arts & ideas)
 Globalization: the worldwide impact of industrialization & its
socioeconomic, political, & cultural consequences on the world
31

32.  Aspects/Elements of Culture
 Material Culture: the physical products of human society
technical and material equipment
Nonmaterial Culture: the intangible products of human
society (values, beliefs, and norms)
 Values: standards that define what is good or bad, beautiful
or ugly(e.g. individualism, material comfort,…)
• the goals we pursue; our general ideas about the good life
the qualities people believe are essential(family life, career enhancement)
 Beliefs: cultural conventions regarding true or false
assumptions
32

33. 33
 Norms: shared rules /guidelines that define how people should
behave in certain circumstances(what is considered as ‘normal’)
• people are not consciously aware of all norms
i) Folkways- conventions of everyday life, not strictly enforced
• how things should be done (properly/improperly)
(e.g. politeness, greetings, table manners)
ii) Mores- norms believed to be more essential / stronger
(e.g. sexual behavior, familial obligations, the proper
form of dress for women)
• Punishment varies across cultures
(e.g. ostracism, gossip, exile, beating, imprisonment, execution)

34. Cultural Unity & Variations: Universality,
Generality and Particularity of Culture
 Universality: found in every culture
• Biological - long period of infant dependency
- year-round sexuality
- use of symbols, languages, & tools(complex brain)
• Psychological, Social, & Cultural:
- life in groups
- concept of family, incest taboo, and ethnocentrism
 Generality: Cultural traits found in several societies
(e.g. farming, English language, nuclear family)
 Particularity: specific to some cultures ( e.g. dietary
norms, marriage ceremonies, funeral) 34

35. 35

36.  Evaluating Cultural Differences: Ethnocentrism, Cultural
Relativism and Human Rights
 Ethnocentrism: judging another society by the values & standards of
one’s own society
• viewing others culture as strange, even inferior, crazy/immoral
• prevents to understand & appreciate other’s culture
• counterproductive for smooth interaction (e.g. business…)
• it can help to preserve one’s own culture
 Cultural Relativism: Understanding a group’s beliefs and practices within
their own cultural context, without making judgments
- respects cultural differences (diversity)
 Human Rights: are inalienable & international rights
• emphasize individual rights than group rights
• challenges cultural relativism
• besides objectivity, sensitivity/ justice and morality
36

37. 37

38.  Ties That Connect: Marriage, Family and Kinship
 Kinship
- the method of reckoning relationship
Blood (consanguinal/descent)
- two major bases of kinship relations
Marriage (affinal) ties
- “family of orientation”(birth)/ “family of procreation”(marriage)
 Rule of descent
a) Patrilineal descent: Succession and inheritance pass through
the male line
b) Matrilineal descent: only females acquire the succession and
inheritance
c) Cognatic Descent: no fixed rule to trace the succession and
inheritance
38

39.  Defining Marriage
- marriage is a r/s between a woman and a man
- cohabitation, child rearing, and shared joys and burdens of life…
- legal aspects: joint property rights & obligations to share support
of children
- a relationship sanctioned by God - until the parties are separated
by death
 Marriage Rules
- All cultures have rules about whom it is appropriate to marry
- incest taboo: prohibitions on mating with certain categories of
relatives- e.g. mother-sons, father-daughters, & brother-sisters
39

40.  Mate Selection: Whom Should You Marry
a) Exogamy: it dictates that one must marry outside of a designated
group (e.g. outside of one’s lineage, clan, village)
a) Endogamy: A cultural rule that dictates that one must marry
within a designated group
c) Preferential Cousin Marriage:
i) Cross Cousins: Ego’s mother’s brother’s child and father’s
sister’s child
ii) Parallel Cousin: Ego’s mother’s sister’s child and
father’s brother’s child
40

41. d) The Levirate and Sororate
i) The Levirate: a widow marries her deceased husband’s
brother
ii) The Sororate: a widower marries a sister of his deceased
wife.
 Number of spouses
 Monogamy: the marriage of one man to one woman at a time
 Polygamy: multiple spouse marriage
Polygyny: marriage of one man to two or more women at a time
Polyandry: marriage of a woman to two or more men at a time
41

42.  Advantages and Disadvantages of Polygamous marriage
 seen as a sign of prestige
 means wealth, power, & status
 produces more children, who are considered valuable for future
economic and political assets.
 economic advantage: encourages working hard (more cows,
goats…) for more wives
Drawbacks of Polygyny: jealousy among the co-wives for the
husband’s attention
42

43.  Economic Consideration of Marriage
• Marriage involves the transfer of some rights (sexual access,
children’s rights, economic )
1) Bride Price (wealth): valuable gifts are given by the groom’s
kin to the bride’s kin (common in many cultures
-security for the good treatment of the wife
- stabilize marriage (reducing divorce)
- compensation for the bride’s lineage
- symbol of the union of the two groups
2) Bride Service: the groom’s provision of labor service
3) Dowry: gifts given by the bride’s kin to the groom’s kin 43

44.  Post-Marital Residence
 Patrilocal Residence: the married couple lives with or near the
residence of the groom’s father
 Matrilocal Residence: the married couple lives with or near the
bride’s mother
 Avunculocal Residence: the married couple lives with or near the
husband’s mother ‘s brother
 Ambilocal/ Bilocal Residence: the married couple has a choice to
live either to the wife’s or husband’s relatives
 Neolocal Residence: married couple live in independent place
 Family:
a) Nuclear Family: - a husband, a wife and their children
- relatively autonomous and independent
b) Extended Family: includes two or more families
44

45.  Functions of Marriage and Family
 Biological Function:
- regulates husband-wife relationships
- perpetuation of the society
 Economic Function:
- co-operation between men and women
- the division of labor based on sex and generation
 Social Function:
- linking one’s kin group to another kin group
 Educational and Socialization Function:
- enculturation and education
45

46.  Culture areas and culture contact
• Culture Area: a cluster of related cultures in certain areas
- Alfred Kroeber (1920s)
 Plough Culture Area:
- agriculture is predominant
- highland and central parts of the country
- Donald Levine, Allen Hobben, Fredrick Gamst and Jack Bauer
 Enset Culture Area:
- the southern part of country
- enset serves as a staple diet
 Pastoral Culture Area:
- the low land areas (Afar, Somali, Borena)
- rely significantly on their herds and cattle
- mobility of people and herds
46

47. Unit Four: Marginalized, Minority, and
Vulnerable Groups
Definition of concepts
 Marginalization: a treatment of a person or social group as
minor, insignificant or peripheral
 It involves exclusion of certain groups from:
- social interactions
- marriage relations
- sharing food & drinks
- working & living together
 Marginalized Groups:
- women, children, the aged, people with disabilities
- religious, ethnic, and racial minorities
- occupational groups (tanners, potters, ironsmiths…) 47

48.  Minority group:
- a small group of people within a community, region, or country
- mostly these groups differ in race, religion, ethnicity, & language
e.g. Afro-Americans, Christians ( in Muslim majority), Muslims
(in Hindu majority)
 Vulnerability : the state of being exposed to physical or
emotional injuries
 Vulnerable groups –
- exposed to possibilities of attack, or mistreatment
- children, women, aged, disabled
- need special attention, protection, & support 48

49.  Gender-based marginalization
- associated with gender inequality
- discrimination based on gender
- result of socio-cultural norms
- its manifestations differ from culture to culture
- women are exposed to social & economic inequalities
- unfair distribution of wealth, income, job opportunities
• gender disparities in Education (higher education)
• women are also exposed to gender-based violence
(e.g. rape, child marriage, abduction, FGM)
49

50.  Marginalized Occupational Groups
 Crafts persons lead a life of paradoxes
• Weavers – valuable cultural clothes
• Ironsmiths – farming tools, utensils
• Tanners – leather products
• Potters – clay products
- Yet they are considered as inferior
50

51. Types of
Marginalization
Manifestations of Marginalization
Spatial
Marginalization
- settled /live on the outskirts of village, near
forests, on poor land,
- they are segregated at market places (sell their
goods at the outskirts of markets
- when they walk along the road they are expected
to give way for others and walk on the lower side of
the road
Economic
Marginalization
- excluded from certain economic activities
- in some cultures they are not allowed to
cultivate crops
- they have a limited access to the land
51

52. Social
Marginalization
- they are excluded from intermarriage
- do not share burial places with others
- excluded from membership of associations
(iddirs).
- not allowed to participate in social events
Cultural
Marginalization
- labeled as impure & polluting (accused of eating
dead animals- not slaughtered)
- considered unreliable, lacking morality, respect
52

53.  Age-based vulnerability
• Age-based vulnerability: susceptibility of people to different
forms of attack, physical injuries & emotional harms
(children and the aged)
- younger girls- face double burden (age/gender)
Child marriage: marriage which involves girls below the age of 18 - is
declining in Ethiopia & other African countries
- but still practiced in many parts of Ethiopia
- international conventions- violation of the rights of the child
23
53

54.  Negative Outcomes of Early Marriage:
- too young to give their consent
- hinders the girls chance to education/personal development
- exposes young girls to sexual abuse by older husbands
- leads to early pregnancy ( risk of disease and complications in
delivery – fistula & death)
 Factors encouraging child marriage:
 Social Norms:
- premarital sex and pregnancy- expose the girl and her family
to social exclusion
- Community influences unmarried teenage girls to marry
- Social pressure- insulting girls considered to be late to get
married (komoker)
54

55.  Economic factor
- marriage provides economic security ( access to land)
 Parents’ desire to get a good husband for their daughter
 Facts about Early Marriage in Ethiopia
• 40% of all women who are in their early 20s married before the
age of 18
• 8% of girls (aged 15-19) married before they reach 15
• Girls who are uneducated, from poor families, and rural areas
are more likely to early marriage than girls from wealthy families,
urban and educated girls.
55

56.  Marginalization of older persons
• ‘older persons’ - adults with the age of 60 and above
• According to the UN- older people will increase to 2 billion by
2050 (80 %- in low and middle income (LMI) countries)
• Older men and women have been respected across Ethiopian
cultures (mentoring, resolving disputes…)
• Care and support for older men and women tend to decline
• Ageism is a widely observed social problem in the world
• Ageism: stereotyping, prejudice, and discrimination against
people based on their age
• OP - are considered as social burden rather than social assets
56

57.  Religious and Ethnic Minorities
• The Jewish people suffered discrimination and persecution in
different parts of the world
• Muslim Rohingyas are among the most marginalized and
persecuted people in the world
• more than half-a-million Rohingyas fled from their homes in
Myanmar to neighboring countries
 Human right approaches and inclusiveness:
Anthropological perspectives
- Anthropology appreciates cultural diversity and commonality
- Cultural Relativism-guiding principles in social anthropology
- anthropologists do not support harmful practices
(FGM, early marriage, rape, …) 57

58. 58
Unit Five
Ethnicity, Ethnic Group, and Ethnic Identity
 Ethnicity: Greek origin- ‘ethnos’ (‘ethnikos’-Latin)
- literally - a group of people sharing the same custom, manners
- also used to denote non-Hellenic (non-Greeks) (second class)
- early England-neither Christian nor Jewish (heathen)
- Modern usage- before WWII … ‘tribe’- pre-modern societies/
- ‘race’- modern societies
- After WWII - ‘race’ is replaced by ‘ethnic’ b/se of the link b/n
‘race’ and Nazi ideology

59. 59
• North American tradition- minority groups (Jews, Italians,
Irish,..)
• European tradition- ‘ethnic groups’ - nationhood (historically
defined by territory or descent)
• In popular discourses- ‘ethnicity’ and ‘race’- used interchangeably
• Decolonization period (1950s-1960s)- the confusion widened
- many people from the colonies migrated to Europe
- the term ‘ethnic’ also given to these immigrant minorities
• The collapse of Communism – breakdown of the Soviet Union
- the conflicts in the former Yugoslavia
- the term ‘ethnic’ – tribal, primitive, barbaric, & backward

60. 60
• Hence the term ‘ethnicity’ is vague, illusive, & expansive
- has multiplicity of meanings and ambiguities
 Ethnic Group and Ethnic Identity
*Ethnic Group: Hutchinson & Smith (1996)identified 6 main features
1) a common proper name (identify & express the group)
2) myth of common origin(ancestry)
3) shared historical memories (common past, heroes, events…)
4) one or more common culture(e.g. customs, language, religion…)
5) link with the homeland(not necessarily physical/can be symbolic)
6) a sense of solidarity

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Ethnic Identity
• individuals can choose their ethnic identity on the basis of:
- Racial – physiognomic & physical characteristic
- Natal – ‘homeland’ (origin)
- Symbolic – holidays, foods,...
• Ethnic identity can have
- Objective aspects: observable behavior
- speaking ethnic language/practicing traditions
- participation in institutional systems
- Subjective aspects: images, ideas,& feelings
- include cognitive, moral and affective

62. 62
Identification and Social Categorization
• humans are individualistic and have their own personalities
• society validates this by attributing names
• Why my name is ‘X’ than ‘Y’?
• This can be extended to ethnic identity- ’ethnic ‘X’, ‘Z’…
 After WWII- terms like ‘ethnicity’, ‘ ethnic group’, ‘ethnic conflict’,
‘nationalism’, have become common
 In the early 20th c many scholars believed that ‘ethnicity’ and
‘nationalism’ would diminish and gradually disappear b/se of:
modernization, industrialization, & individualism
 But after WWII- they have grown
 In 1991, out of 37 major armed conflicts, 35 of them- internal
conflicts (ethnic conflicts)

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 Ethnicity & national identities also became relevant due to
- the influx of migrants to Europe & North America
- led to the establishment of new & permanent ethnic minorities
Europe i) Soviet Union/Yugoslavia-issues of nationhood/minority
problems
ii) Western: pan-European identity/ move towards
integration (economic > political)
Ethiopia- ethnicity has become organizing principle of the state
- ethnic and national identities are contested

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Conceptualizing Ethnicity
 Max Weber (1864–1920)
• ethnic membership doesn’t constitute a group
• it only facilitates group formation (esp.in politics)
• it is primarily the political community which inspires belief in
common ethnicity
 Fredrik Barth
• cultural difference per se doesn’t create ‘ethnic collectiveness’
• it is the ‘social contract’ with others that leads to the
definition and categorization of “us” and “them”
• cultural difference is not the decisive feature of ethnicity
• ethnicity is an aspect of relationship, not a property of a group
• defined ethnicity from the “outside in”

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• The production and reproduction of difference vis-à-vis external
others is what creates the image of internal similarity
• it is the social interaction with other groups that makes the
difference: possible, visible, & socially meaningful
e.g. Frenchness: is created & becomes meaningful
(culturally/politically) only through the interaction with
Englishness, Germanness…
 Barth shifted the study of ethnic difference: from its contents
(language, customs, norms) to cultural boundaries & social
interaction

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 Theories of Ethnicity: Primordialism, Instrumentalism,
and Social Constructivism
 Primordial Model of Ethnicity
- the earliest approach/influential until 1970s
- its root: German Romantic philosophy(Gottfried Von Herder)
- the primacy of emotion and language
- objectivist and essentialist theory (ethnic identity is real/tangible)
 Clifford Geertz: articulated ethnicity as a natural phenomenon
- its base: kinship, locality, and culture
- seen by actors as ineffable & obligatory
- as ‘given’, ascribed at birth/fixed & permanent

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 Anthony Smith
- ethnic identification is psychological & emotional
- linked with the individual’s historical & cultural background
- core of ethnicity resides in the myths, memories, values, symbols
(myth-symbol complex)
- M-S-C diffuses to its members & coming generation
 Primordialism (two major claims): Ethnicity is:
1) natural & innate
2) ancient & perennial(permanent)

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 Instrumentalist (Situational) Theory of Ethnicity
- ethnicity can be changed, constructed, even manipulated
- to gain specific political/economic ends
- its adherents; Abner Cohen, Paul Brass, Ted Gurr
- leaders ( political elites)- use ethnicity to their own ends
- it is created in dynamics of elite competition
• Ethnic group: as a product of political myths
- created/manipulated by culture elites( for power/advantages)
- circumstantial, flexible, fluid & instrumental
 Extreme position: not consider it as a community/but a rational &
a purposive association
 Moderate: recognizes its cultural contents/ but its boundary depends
on its purpose/ political advantage/material self-interest is the
calculus

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 Constructivist Theory of Ethnicity
- ethnicity is constructed & negotiated
- but it is based on historical & social factors
- based on subjectivist stance & role of individual agencies
- F. Barth- ethnic identities as “individualistic strategy”
- individuals move from one identity to another
- to advance their personal & economic interest , or minimize losses
F. Barth- the boundaries of ethnicity are permeable & osmotic
- ethnicity is dynamic (changes over time and space)
- ethnic identity: constructed, deconstructed, & reconstructed

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Unit Seven
Indigenous Knowledge Systems and Practices
Definition of concepts
 Indigenous Knowledge Systems (IKS)
- What people have known & done for generations
- Gained through careful observation& experimentation
- It is not just a set of information in people’s mind
- It is embodied in culture/integrated pattern of knowledge
 Indigenous Knowledge (IK)[folk; local; traditional; culture…]
- Local knowledge unique to a given culture/society
- it is basis for local-level decision making ( agri., health care, food
preparation, natural resource mgt.)
- found both in rural and urban societies

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 Special Features of Indigenous Knowledge
• Local : rooted in a particular society
• Tacit knowledge: not easily codified
• Transmitted orally, or through imitation & demonstration
• Experiential rather than theoretical
• Learned through repetition
• Constantly changing
 Significance of IK
- There are several sciences embedded in cultures of other people
- Today scholars & public policy makers are recognizing the significance of
culture-based knowledge[e.g. earth’s genetic diversity-farmers’ IKS]
- Useful for performing household & communal activities(debo & jige)

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- important to protect resources( e.g. useful plants, water bodies,
stone terracing, fallowing, agro-forestry, food preservation,
conflict mgt., calendar…)
- social capital of the poor: cost-effective, alternative to Western practice
 Preservation, Challenges, & Limitations
• Preservation: it may be lost unless it is recorded & preserved
- should be gathered, organized, & disseminated
- we should not expect all solutions from western knowledge
• Challenges: spread of industrialization (&urbanization)
- homogenization of the world
• Limitations: some indigenous practices can be wrong/ harmful
- romanticized & idealistic views of IK-should be viewed critically
- indigenous people also committed “environmental sins”(over-
grazing, over hunting, over-cultivation…)
- Some indigenous practices are jealously guarded (herbalists)

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 Erosion of Indigenous Knowledge Systems
• Rapid population growth: in-migration/relocation
- development projects- compromised environmentally sound
practices
• Market-oriented agriculture: mono-cropping
- losses of biodiversity& cultural diversity
- deforestation- make difficult to find medicinal plants
• Difficulty in transmitting knowledge to younger
generation
• Wrong perception about IK – as ‘primitive’, ‘static’ b/se of
complete faith on scientific method
- still many professionals are skeptical

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 WHO, health is defined as
 “a state of complete physical, mental, and social well-
being…not merely the absence of disease or infirmity” (2006).
 the fourth dimension- spiritual health, which includes
- a sense of fulfillment & satisfaction with our own lives,
- tranquility with dynamic emotional balance (internal &
toward the environment,
- morality and truthfulness, selflessness, positive emotions,
compassion & willingness to help and support others,
- responsibility & contribution to the common good,
- successful management of everyday life problems/ demands
as well as social stress” (Svalastog et al., 2017, p.433).
- holistic related with several other aspects of everyday life including
family, working & community life

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• Disease - a discrete, natural entity that can be clinically identified
& treated by a health professional
• Illness - the culturally defined understanding of disease
- the individual patient’s experience of sickness
- includes the way he or she
 feels about it, talks about it, thinks about it &
 experiences it within a particular cultural context
• Illness narratives: the personal stories that people tell to explain
their illnesses
 Ethnomedicine: the comparative study of how different cultures
view disease & they treat or prevent it
- the medical beliefs & practices of indigenous cultures
- conceptualizes the experience of health/ illness/ the physical world

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An Indian healer provides a villager with ayurvedic massage

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A clinical assistant performs an ultrasound sonogram on a pregnant woman

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 Biomedicine: a practice often associated with Western medicine -
seeks to apply the principles of biology & the natural sciences to
the practice of diagnosing disease and promoting healing
 Critical medical anthropology
- examines health as a system of power
- explores the impact of inequality on human health by examining
 how economic & political systems, race, class, gender, and
sexuality create and perpetuate unequal access to health care
 searches for
- the origins of these health disparities,
- the mechanisms that perpetuate them, &
- strategies for overcoming them

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 Medical migration: the movement of
• diseases,
• medical treatments,
• entire healthcare systems, as well as
• those seeking medical care, across national borders
• this era of medical migration has spurred the encounter of
multiple systems of healing
 Medical pluralism: the intersection of multiple cultural
approaches to healing
- this encounter between Western biomedicine and other cultural
patterns of health and illness- creates tension
- but the engagement also provides opportunities for additional
alternative and complementary choices