Cultural anthropology

Seminar-7
Presented By
Akhil C A
First Year PGT
Dept. Of Public Health Dentistry
SCB Dental College,cuttack


 INTRODUCTION
 ANTHROPOLOGY AND BRANCHES
 EVOLUTION OF CULTURAL ANTHROPOLOGY
 CULTURES ACROSS THE WORLD
 THE INDIAN CULTURE
 CULTURAL FACTORS IN HEALTH AND DISEASE
 EFFECT OF CULTURAL FACTORS ON ORAL HEALTH
 DENTAL ANTHROPOLOGY
 CONCLUSION
 REFERENCES
CONTENTS
3


 Man is a social animal who is influenced by the physical and
biological environment.
 Human beings are not only influenced by these factors but are
also affected by their social environment too.
 To live a healthy life, it is required to have a balance with one’s
physical, mental and social well being.
 The concept of health has also revolutionized from the basic
definition of “mere absence of disease” to the “state of
complete physical, mental and social well being and not
merely an absence of disease or infirmity so as to lead a
socially and economically productive life” as given by W.H.O
(1948).
INTRODUCTION
4
Jain swati, Patthi B. Cultural anthropology and its effect on health and oral Health. [eBook]. photon e books; 2014 [cited 2021
june 24]. Available from :https://sites.google.com/site/photonebooks/home/photon-books
Pearson Ed .Anthropology and the Study of Culture -[Internet]. [cited 2021Jun23]. Available from: http://www.pearsoned.ca/highered/showcase/miller/media/01Ch01


 This emphasizes that for the complete well being of an
individual, one’s social environment also plays a major role.
This social world of an individual is further influenced by
“CULTURE”.
INTRODUCTION
5


 “Culture” has always been a difficult concept to explain. It is an
important sector of social and human development, which
contributes to identity-building and self-esteem.
 Every culture has its own customs which may have significant
influence on health and oral health.
 Culture is not a single entity ,
rather it consists of numerous
factors like customs, beliefs,
religious practices, rules about
the moral conduct, marriage,
family type, cultural taboos etc.
6
INTRODUCTION


 Samuel Pufendorf (1871) defined culture in a modern context,
"refers culture to all the ways in which human beings overcome their
original barbarism, and through artifice, become fully human.”
 Tylor’s Primitive Culture (1871) defined culture as
“that complex which includes knowledge, beliefs, art, morals, laws,
customs and any other capabilities and habits acquired by man as a
member of society”.
 Culture can thus be defined in a comprehensive way as
“learned behaviour which has been socially acquired” and in other
words “the shared and organized body of customs, skills, ideas and
values, transmitted socially from one generation to other.”
Definitions-culture
7
INTRODUCTION
Park K. Park's textbook of Preventive and social medicine. 25th ed. India: Bhanot Publishers; 2017.


 cultural modification of an individual, group, or people by
adapting to or borrowing traits from another culture.
 It is the process of cultural and psychological change that
takes place as a result of contact between cultural groups and
their individual members.
 Adaptation to living in culture contact settings takes place
over time.
 Occasionally it is stressful, but often it results in some form of
mutual accommodation.
Acculturation
8
INTRODUCTION
Acculturation means "culture contact."


 The initial interest in acculturation grew out of a concern for
the effects of European domination of colonial and indigenous
peoples.
 Later, it focused on how immigrants (both voluntary and
involuntary) changed following their entry and settlement into
receiving societies.
 More recently, much of the work has been involved with how
ethnocultural groups relate to each other, and to change, as a
result of their attempts to live together in culturally plural
societies.
9
INTRODUCTION


 Anthropology is defined as
“the scientific study of the origin, the behaviour, and the physical,
social, and cultural development of humans.”
 It is the study of the physical, social and cultural history of
man.
What is Anthropology?
10
ANTHROPOLOGY AND BRANCHES
The word 'anthropology'
is derived from the root
words. anthropos
meaning man and logos
meaning science.


 Anthropology is the study of humanity, including prehistoric
origins and contemporary human diversity.
 Compared with other disciplines that study humanity (such as
history, psychology, economics, political science, and
sociology), anthropology is broader in
scope.
 Anthropology covers a much greater
span of time than these disciplines, and
it encompasses a broader range of topics.
11


 It studies man on any part of the earth; irrespective of whether
he is savage or civilized.
 "The purpose of anthropology as said by, (Anthropologist
Ruth Benedict) is to make the world safe for human
differences."
 One of the goals of anthropology is to promote understanding
among peoples.
12


 In North America, anthropology is divided in to four fields that
focus on separate, but connected, subject matter related to
humanity:
 Biological anthropology
or physical anthropology
 Archaeology
 Linguistic anthropology
 Cultural anthropology
13


Biological anthropology
 Biological anthropology deals with the adaptation of humans
to diverse environments.
 It also tells us how biological and cultural processes work
together to shape growth, development and behaviour, and
what causes disease and early death.
 Further, one also studies biological origin of humans, their
evolution and variation.
14


 To understand these processes, biological anthropologists
study other primates (primatology), the fossil record
(paleoanthropology), prehistoric people (bioarchaeology), and
the biology (e.g., health, cognition, hormones, growth and
development) and genetics of living populations.
15


 Linguistic anthropology is the study of human communication,
including its origins, history, and contemporary variation and
change.
 It is the comparative study of the ways in which language
reflects and influences social life.
Linguistic anthropology
16


 Archaeologists study past peoples and cultures, from the deepest
prehistory to the recent past, through the analysis of material
remains, ranging from artefacts and evidence of past environments
to architecture and landscapes.
 Material evidence, such as pottery, stone tools, animal bone, and
remains of structures, is examined within the context of theoretical
paradigms, to address such topics as the formation of social
groupings, ideologies, subsistence patterns, and interaction with the
environment.
Archaeology
17


 Like other areas of anthropology, archaeology is a
comparative discipline; it assumes basic human continuities
over time and place, but also recognizes that every society is
the product of its own particular history and that within every
society there are common features as well as variations.
18


 Socio-cultural anthropology deals with social patterns and
practices across cultures emphasizing on how people live in
particular places and how they organize, govern, and create
meaning.
 The study of the total way of life of contemporary primitive
man, his ways of thinking, feeling and action is called cultural
anthropology
Socio-cultural anthropology
19


 It is the branch of anthropology that has developed and
promoted " culture" as a meaningful scientiﬁc concept,
studied cultural variation among humans, and examined the
impact of global economic and political processes on local
cultural realities.
 Ethnicity, sexuality, class, gender, and nationality also
influence one’s culture.
 cultural anthropology has a direct or indirect effect on an
individual’s health, work, environment, education, agriculture
and development, and social change.
20


Goals of cultural anthropology
 To provide objective insight into other cultures
 To help preserve valuable knowledge, cultural practices and
languages around the world
 To foster cross-cultural empathy, understanding and
collaboration
 To emphasize similarities among human cultures and help
bridge their differences and misunderstandings
21


 Applied anthropology is the aspect of anthropology that
serves practical ,community or organizational needs.
 All branches of anthropology have applied aspects.
 Physical anthropologists work in forensics and industrial
designs. Archaeologists support historic preservation.
 Anthropological linguists have designed educational programs
and whole writing systems.
 Also known as Engaged Anthropology
Applied anthropology
22
Amin Ahmed H, Mustafa Muhammad D. Students' Beliefs toward Illness Causation. International Journal of Advanced
Research. 2014;2(11):581–9.


 Medical anthropology, deals with the cultural
component in the ecology of health and disease.
 Medical anthropology is the primary discipline addressing the
interfaces of medicine, culture, and health behavior and
incorporating cultural perspectives into clinical settings and
public health programs.
 It examines how the health of individuals, societies, and the
environment are affected by interrelationships between
humans and other species; cultural norms and social
institutions; and forces of globalization as each of these
affects local worlds.
Medical anthropology
23
Amin Ahmed H, Mustafa Muhammad D. Students' Beliefs toward Illness Causation. International Journal of Advanced
Research. 2014;2(11):581–9.


 Cultural anthropology has evolved through many years. There
are important landmarks which have shaped the present
meaning of cultural anthropology.
Evolution of cultural anthropology
• Herodotus can be considered as one of the
first anthropologists, and his work can be
considered some of the first
anthropological studies.
• He “sought to understand other people
and cultures by travelling far and wide.”
• In his nine scrolls known as The Histories,
Herodotus describes the conflict between
the Greeks and the Persians.
24


 Friar John of Pian de Caprine (1245-1247), is another milestone
in the early cultural anthropological study.
In the book written by Friar John of
Pian de Caprine, one of the most
descriptive, in-detail accounts of the
Mongols in the thirteenth century is
found.
25


 Edward Burnett Tylor in 1861 wrote the first cultural
anthropology book, Anahuac: Or Mexico and the Mexicans,
Ancient and Modern -
• This book reviewed Tylor’s recent trip
to Mexico and the surrounding areas.
• The stories within the book
demonstrated views of the modern
European culture compared to the
diverse cultures of the country of
Mexico.
26


 The central idea of her book ,Patterns of Culture (1934), which
was translated into fourteen different languages and used in
universities for many years, is that each culture chooses from
the “great arc of human personalities” but only dominant
traits emerge in people’s characters and the overall character
of society.
Ruth Benedict
was an
American
anthropologist.
27


 Paul Farmer, a medical anthropologist and a medical doctor,
born in 1959 used his anthropological knowledge and
ethnographic analysis to create sustainable and practical
health care services for those in needs.
He is working to offset the negative effects
in the societies caused by social and
structural violence.
Farmer is well known for the concept of
"pragmatic solidarity", the idea of working
to meet the needs of the victims while
advocating for positive social change
28


 Human culture is the inevitable result of the way our species
acquires its behavior.
 We are extremely social animals and an overwhelming
proportion of our behavior is socially learned.
EVOLUTION OF VARIOUS CULTURES OF WORLD
Various theories regarding
the cultural evolution have
evolved such that we have
unilineal evolution theories
at one end and multilineal
evolution theories on the
other hand.
29
Pauls, E. Prine. "Cultural evolution." [Internet]. Encyclopedia Britannica, August 3, 2020. [cited 2021Jun23]. Available from:
https://www.britannica.com/topic/cultural-evolution


 Proposed in the 19th century, Unilineal Evolution, is typically
regarded as the first theoretical framework in anthropology.
 Originally proposed by E.B. Tylor, unilineal evolution suggests
that all cultures evolved through three sequential
stages: savagery, barbarism, and, finally, civilization .
Unilineal Evolution
30


 Lewis Henry Morgan further subdivided savagery and
barbarism into sub-categories: lower, middle, and upper.
 These stages were based primarily on technological
characteristics but included other things such as political
organization, marriage, family, and religion.
Since Western societies had the most advanced
technology, they put those societies at the
highest rank of civilization
31


 Societies at a stage of savagery or barbarism were viewed as
inherently inferior to civilized society, namely, Euro-Americans.
 Although Morgan acknowledged that there is no
biopsychological difference between races, he was, in fact, a
racist.
• He believed that the people
and races who were at the
lower stages of cultural
evolution were inferior
because their mental
abilities and brain size had
not yet fully developed .
32


33


Definition: Unilineal Evolution
 The belief that cultures moved through various stages of
development according to different levels of rational
knowledge, ending up with something resembling Euro-
American lifestyles (Harris & Johnson 2007).
34


Social Darwinism
 Herbert Spencer’s theory of cultural evolution, which is often
referred to as Social Darwinism, proposed that cultural
evolution was linked to biological evolution .
The central belief of Social Darwinism was
that there were innate biological differences
that accounted for differences in intelligence,
the capacity for language, and the behaviors
of the different races and cultures, a view
referred to as biological determinism .
35


• As a result, Euro-Americans were biologically and culturally
superior. Spencer also coined the term “survival of the fittest
and advocated for allowing societies to compete, thereby
allowing the most fit in society to survive.
• With these ideas, Spencer opposed social policies that would
provide assistance and relief to the disadvantaged or "inferior
races" as it would interfere with the evolutionary process .
36


 A widespread reaction against sweeping generalizations about
culture began in the late 19th century in the United States and
somewhat later in Europe.
 Theories and descriptions of hypothetical stages of evolution
generally, and of unilinear evolution specifically, were heavily
criticized as racist; instead of presuming that some peoples
were more evolved than others, the new trend was to regard
all cultures as unique in time and place.
Multilinear theory
37


 In the United States this movement, known as cultural
particularism, was led by the German-born anthropologist
Franz Boas.
38


 Boas and several generations of his students rejected broad
generalizations about culture and concentrated on fieldwork
among traditional peoples, harvesting a great variety of facts
and artifacts as empirical evidence of cultural processes within
existing societies.
 The creation of encyclopaedic lists of cultural traits and
changes there in led to the development of “culture histories”
and dominated American anthropology for the first half of the
20th century.
39


 By mid-century, however, a number of American
anthropologists, including Leslie A. White, Julian H.Steward,
Marshall D. Sahlins, and Elman R. Service, had revived
theoretical discussions regarding cultural change over time.
They rejected universal stages outright, instead
conceptualizing cultural evolution as “multilinear”—that is, as
a process consisting of a number of forward paths of different
styles and lengths. They posited that while no specific
evolutionary changes are experienced by all cultures
universally, human societies do generally evolve or progress.
40


 They further suggested that the primary mechanism for such
progress involved technological breakthroughs that make
societies more adaptable to and dominant over the
environment.
 Technology, in this case, was quite broadly conceived, and
included such developments as improvements in tool forms or
materials, transportation (as from pedestrian to equestrian to
motorized forms), and food production (as from hunting and
gathering to agriculture).
 Proponents of multilinear evolution hold that only in this sense
can the whole of world culture be viewed as the product of a
unitary process.
41


 sociologists classify countries and cultures into two broad
groups - “low context” and “high context”.
 The concept of high and low context was introduced by
anthropologist Edward T. Hall in his 1976 book Beyond Culture,
and it refers to the way cultures communicate.
CULTURES ACROSS THE WORLD
42


 In high context cultures, communication is largely implicit,
meaning that context and relationships are more important
than the actual words, and therefore, very few words are
necessary.
 In low context cultures, the message is communicated almost
entirely by the words and therefore needs to be explicit.
43


 High and low context should be seen as a continuum, e.g. such
that England would be higher context than Denmark, while
being lower context than Japan.
 In low-context societies (Western societies such as New
Zealand are generally considered low-context) while India, on
the other hand (along with many other Asian societies) is a
classic example of a high-context society.
44


 There is information transferred in and out which I will call “A”.
Plus there is information that is stored in the system that we will
call “B”. It takes these two to make meaning. It takes both the
information that is transferred in and out and the stored
information, the information in the context, to make meaning.
 So basically, the internal information that we use to interpret
and make sense of things is called B, while the actual
communication message is A.
 High context cultures rely on traditions, very deep personal
relationships, and established hierarchies, and therefore have
a lot more B
45


 Low context cultures do not have the same depth of tradition
and have shallower, short-term relationships, thereby
requiring a lot more A.
 In other words, the main information in high context cultures
is either in “the physical context or it is internalised by the
person.
 A low-context communication is just the opposite; i.e., the
mass of the information is vested in the explicit code.”
46


High context cultures:
 Value traditions.
 Foster long-lasting relationships.
 Rely on non-verbal signs such as tone of voice, facial
expressions, body language, and so on.
 Require little explanation.
 Are more collectivistic. The identify lies with the group. Value
group harmony.
 Have stronger boundaries, i.e. one belongs with a certain
group.
 Are slow to change.
47


Low context cultures:
 Tend to make many shallower, short-term relationships.
 Require explicit communication since they lack additional
context.
 Communication is more direct and confrontational.
 Are more individualistic. Identify lies with the individual. Value
individual needs.
 Require all the information in the message.
 Can change quickly.
48


49


 The implications of the above are far-reaching. A person from
a low-context culture could behave in a way that would be
considered ignorant, rude, or incompetent in a high-context
culture.
 It is estimated that 70% of the world is high context .
 The key to cross- cultural success is to develop an
understanding of , and a deep respect,for cultural differences.
50


Major culture areas of world
51


 The map above shows the major culture regions of the world.
Latin America is one culture region. The Spanish and
Portuguese languages help to tie its people together. So does
its common history.
 Southwest Asia and North Africa is another culture region.
Most countries in this region share a common desert climate
and landscape.
 People have adapted to the desert in similar ways, thus
creating a common culture.
 Islam, which is the major religion in this region, also helps
shape a common culture.
52


Culture region
 A culture region is a portion of Earth’s surface that has
common cultural elements.
 Identifying and mapping culture regions are significant tasks
because they show us where particular culture traits or
cultural communities are located.
 Culture regions, like cultures themselves, display considerable
variety and differ greatly in size.
53


 Some are exceedingly large, like the Islamic culture region that
encompasses millions of square miles of North Africa and
Southwest Asia.
 Some are very small, like Spanish Harlem, which encompasses
about two square miles of Manhattan.
 Many others are of intermediate size, like the Corn Belt, which
occupies a portion of the Midwestern United States.
54


THE INDIAN CULTURE
55


 Indian culture is indeed a complex one. Indian cultural
traditions can be traced back at least five thousand years.
 India's languages, religions, dance, music, architecture, food,
and customs differ from place to place within the country.
 Immigrations, invasions, colonial rule and modernization have
caused immense influence on Indian culture.
 The Indian culture is often referred to as the amalgamation of
several cultures which spans across the Indian subcontinent
and includes traditions that are several millenniums old.
THE INDIAN CULTURE
56


There have been various approaches to understand cultures of
India. Few of the approaches are:
 The culture-personality approach
 Inferences from texts and scriptures
 The reductionist-positivist approach
 The human relations-oriented approach
 The etic approach
57
THE INDIAN CULTURE


The culture-personality approach
Culture-and-personality studies, also called
psychological anthropology, branch of cultural anthropology that
seeks to determine the range of personality types extant in a
given culture and to discern where, on a continuum from ideal to
perverse, the culture places each type.
58
THE INDIAN CULTURE


Inferences from texts and scriptures
 A number of scholars have drawn on the ancient texts to
construct a portrait of Indian culture that is characterized by
three major themes:
1. Cosmic collectivism
2. Hierarchical order
3. Spiritual orientation.
59
THE INDIAN CULTURE


1.Cosmic collectivism
 It reflected a world view that the universe consists of diverse
forms of animate and inanimate elements that are compatible
as well as conflicting.
 But they all are interconnected and held together by an
underlining sense of unity derived from being parts of the
ultimate Reality, the Brahman.
60
THE INDIAN CULTURE


2.Hierarchical order
 According to it the whole cosmos and everything within it is
arranged in a hierarchical order of being, where each thing is
ranked superior to some and inferior to others.
 Such that the plants, trees, rivers, insects, birds, animals and
human beings are all parts of the cosmic collectivism, and are
arranged hierarchically.
61
THE INDIAN CULTURE


3.Spiritual orientation
 Human beings tend to live through and then transcend them
by rising on a moral scale that leads to a transformed,
composed and detached mind-set that can maintain a balance
between the person and the environment, between body and
mind, between the states of mind and so on.
 Indians possess a strong moral orientation and Indian
negotiators often seek to take the high moral ground which
often lacks pragmatism.
62
THE INDIAN CULTURE


The reductionist-positivist approach
 Social sciences adopted a reductionist and positivistic approach in
which a complex phenomenon was reduced to its simplest forms.
 This tended to separate culture from behaviour in order to
demonstrate pan-cultural generalizability of the laws and principles
of behaviour.
 The approach was coupled with the belief that all societies,
whatever their differing levels of economic development and
modernization, evolve in the same direction by adopting Western
values, attitudes, habits and lifestyles, and thereby converge into a
single pattern characterized by the industrialized cultures of the
west.
63
THE INDIAN CULTURE


The human relations-oriented approach
 This approach depends on the Western worldviews that all
human beings are born equal, and are internally directed,
growth oriented and autonomous individuals having unique
qualities that can be harnessed by allowing them both the
freedom and opportunity to realize their potential.
64
THE INDIAN CULTURE


The etic approach
 The etic approach adopts an 'outside view' of individual
cultures by delineating dimensions that were considered to be
universally applicable.
 It showed that the Indian culture was fairly high on power
distance, was inclined towards collectivism and masculinity,
was low on uncertainty avoidance , high on context
orientation , high in helping behaviour and high on vertical
collectivism
65
THE INDIAN CULTURE


 The multifarious pieces of Indian culture collected through a
variety of approaches adopting a whole range of methods
reveal the culture to be a highly complex one.
 The major components and determinants of Indian culture
are:
1. Religions
2. Languages and literature
3. Family structure
Components of Indian culture
66
THE INDIAN CULTURE


 India is the birthplace of Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism and
Sikhism, collectively known as Indian religions.
 Sikhism, Jainism and especially Buddhism are influential not
only in India but across the world.
 Christianity, Zoroastrianism, Judaism, and the Bahá'í Faith are
also influential but their numbers are smaller.
Religions
67
THE INDIAN CULTURE


 Atheism and agnostics also have visible influence in India,
along with a self ascribed tolerance to other people.
 India is one of the most religiously diverse nations in the
world, with some of the most deeply religious societies and
cultures. Religion still plays a central and definitive role in the
life of many of its people.
68
THE INDIAN CULTURE


 India has 22 official languages – 15 of which are Indo-European.
 The 2011 census of India found 121 first languages in active use.
Literary records suggest India had interacted in languages of
other ancient civilizations.
 The evolution of language within India may be distinguished
over three periods: old, middle and modern Indo-Aryan. The
classical form of old Indo-Aryan was Samskarta.
 Prakrta became middle Indo-Aryan leading to Pali (the
language of early Buddhists and Ashoka era in 200-300 BC),
Prakrit (the language of Jain philosophers) and Apabhramsa
(the language blend at the final stage of middle Indo-Aryan).
Languages and literature
69
THE INDIAN CULTURE


 It is Apabhramsa that flowered into Hindi, Gujarati, Bengali,
Marathi, Punjabi and many other languages now in use in
India's north, east and west.
 According to the 2001 and 2011 India census, Hindi is the most
spoken language in India, followed by Bengali, Telugu,
Marathi, Tamil and Urdu.
70
THE INDIAN CULTURE


LANGUAGES ACROSS INDIA
71
THE INDIAN CULTURE


 For generations, India has had a prevailing tradition of the joint
family system.
 It is a system under which extended members of a family –
parents, children, the children’s spouses and their offspring
live together.
 Orenstein and Micklin (1966) suggested that Indian household
sizes have remained similar over the 1911 to 1951 period.
 Thereafter, with urbanization and economic development,
India has witnessed a break up of traditional joint family into
more nuclear-like families.
Family structure
72
THE INDIAN CULTURE


 India is predominantly a rural country where most of the
people live in villages.
 Both the regions have immense influence on the general
outlook of the people and their cultural grooming.
 While rural India still continues to be more traditional in
outlook, Urban India is a blend of western and traditional
culture.
Rural-urban influence
73
THE INDIAN CULTURE


 Every individual has its own beliefs and customs.
 Culture plays an important governing force behind these
beliefs and customs.
 On one hand, some beliefs are beneficial for healthy living
while on the other hand some customs and beliefs might
compromise one’s health.
 Hence a brief account of the various cultural factors related to
health and sickness is essential.
CULTURAL FACTORS IN HEALTH AND DISEASE
74


Various cultural factors influencing the health of an individual
are:
1. Concept of etiology and cure
2. Religion
3. Race/Ethnicity
4. Geographic location
5. Familial influence
6. Parental influence
7. Gender influence
8. Socioeconomic factors
9. Dietary factors
10. Cultural taboos and beliefs
75


Concept of etiology and cure
 Since ages mankind has sought for the causes or the etiology
behind the various diseases in which cultural beliefs played a
major role.
 Most of the people initially acknowledged the concept of
supernatural causes of a disease.Some of the common beliefs
were:
(a) Spirits or Ghost intrusion
(b) Four Humour Theory
(c) Wrath of Gods and Goddesses
(d) Past sins
76


Religion
 Religious beliefs and teachings are generally supportive of
social connectedness and, healthy lifestyle increase social
contacts.
 Religious communities also provide nurturing frameworks for
living, promoting optimism regarding the future and giving
people’s lives purpose and meaning independent of their
health and material circumstances.
 All this has an immense influence on one’s mental and physical
well being.
77


Race/Ethnicity
 Every race/ethnic group has its own concepts of health,
sickness and health promotion depicting values, beliefs,
knowledge and practices shared by its people.
 Also, race or ethnicity may influence the socioeconomic status
of an individual thereby influencing health of an individual.
78


Geographic location
 It plays a fundamental role in shaping human health.
 The three basic necessities of life -access to clean water,
adequate nutrition, and rudimentary sanitation, differ greatly
from place to place.
 People’s access to immunization also often depends on social
circumstances and the distribution of health care facilities at
various places.
79


Familial influence
 Family members share their genes, as well as their
environment, lifestyles and habits.
 Risks for diseases such as asthma, diabetes, cancer, and heart
disease also run in families.
 Familial influences person’s habits, lifestyle and psycho-social
development.
 Family life shapes health related beliefs and practices.
 Family gives a sense of psychological security
80


Gender
 Gender is a basic social differentiator that interacts with many
other aspects of society.
 This social stratification between the sexes, leads to
differential access to all parts of society like jobs, health care,
or discriminatory policies.
 It is also a basic health determinant.
81


Socioeconomic factors
 Socioeconomic factors influence health and well-being of
every individual.
 People with more favourable socioeconomic position have
better health compared to those who are less well off.
 This can be explained on the accessibility to the health care
facilities.
82


Dietary factors
 Food and nutrition behaviours are influenced by myriad
environmental and cultural forces.
 These behaviours can differ from region to region and family
to family but some traditions exist across cultures.
83


Cultural taboos and beliefs
 Many cultural taboos and beliefs have an immense influence
on one’s health.
 For instance, with regard to health beliefs in the U.S., African
Americans attribute illness externally to destiny or the will of
God and believe in the healing power of prayer.
84

Seminar-7
Presented By
Akhil C A
First Year PGT
Dept. Of Public Health Dentistry
SCB Dental College,cuttack
Part-2


 INTRODUCTION
 ANTHROPOLOGY AND BRANCHES
 EVOLUTION OF CULTURAL ANTHROPOLOGY
 CULTURES ACROSS THE WORLD
 THE INDIAN CULTURE
 CULTURAL FACTORS IN HEALTH AND DISEASE
 EFFECT OF CULTURAL FACTORS ON ORAL HEALTH
 DENTAL ANTHROPOLOGY
 CONCLUSION
 REFERENCES
CONTENTS
87


 Ethnomedicine is a study or comparison of the traditional
medicine practiced by various ethnic groups, and especially by
indigenous peoples.
 It is concerned with the cultural interpretations of health,
disease and illness and also addresses the health care-seeking
process and healing practices
 Often, the medicine traditions it studies are preserved only by
oral tradition.
Arya R, Singh DC, Tiwari RC, Tripathi BM. An overview of ethnomedicine and future aspect of ethnomedicinal plants. Int J of
Ayur and Pharma Res. 2016;4:29-33.
88
Ethnomedicine


 Scientific ethnomedical studies constitute either
anthropological research or drug discovery research.
 Anthropological studies examine the cultural perception and
context of a traditional medicine.
 The purpose of drug discovery research is to identify and
develop a marketable pharmaceutical products.
 In China, traditional medicine accounts for around 40% of all
health care delivered.
 In Chile 71% of the population, and in Colombia 40% of the
population, have used such medicine.
 In India, 65% of the populations in rural areas are using
medicinal plants to meet their primary health care needs.
Arya R, Singh DC, Tiwari RC, Tripathi BM. An overview of ethnomedicine and future aspect of ethnomedicinal plants. Int J of
Ayur and Pharma Res. 2016;4:29-33.
89


Policepatel SS, Manikrao VG. Ethnomedicinal plants used in the treatment of skin diseases in Hyderabad Karnataka region,
Karnataka, India. Asian Pacific journal of tropical biomedicine. 2013 Nov 1;3(11):882-6.
90


 In the Western biomedical approach to healing, private healing
is the norm; oftentimes only the patient and the professional
health practitioner(s) is/are in the room.
 In other health systems community healing or humoral healing
are common.
 The community healing approach considers social context
critical for the healing process.
 Healing practices take place in front of the whole community
and often involve their participation.
T Evans . Cultural Anthropology [Internet]. Lumen. [cited 2021Jul1]. Available from:
https://courses.lumenlearning.com/culturalanthropology/chapter/health-illness/
91
Healing practices


 One example is the healing dance of Ju/hoansi foragers of the
Kalahari.
 Several times a month, the healing dance is performed to draw
on the collective energy of the participants.
 Men, and sometimes women, dance around a circle of women
who sit around a fire, clapping and singing.
 Healers draw on the spiritual energy of the dancers and
singers to enhance their consciousness. During this period of
enhanced consciousness, healers can heal those in need
(Miller 2011).
92


94
A Tsaatan shaman in northern Mongolia prepares for a ceremony. Khovsgol Province,
Mongolia.


 Cultural factors have immense influence on oral health as well.
 The various attributes contributing to one’s cultural beliefs and
practices cause varied effects on the health and disease of the
oral cavity.
 Some of the most common oral diseases like dental caries,
periodontal diseases, malocclusion, various forms of oral
cancers, oral mucosal lesions etc. may have cultural factors as
their underlying aetiology.
EFFECT OF CULTURAL FACTORS ON ORAL HEALTH
95


 various oral health diseases and the cultural factors influencing
it are;
1.Dental caries in children and adults
(a) Concept of etiology and cure based cultural beliefs
-The legend of Worm
-Humoral Theory
-Vital Theory
(b) Religion, race and ethnicity
(c) Dietary Habits
(d) Oral Hygiene Practices
(e) Geographic location
(f) Familial/Parental influence
96


2.Periodontal diseases
(a)Socioeconomic status
(b)Racial/Ethnic differences
3.Malocclusion
4. Oral cancers
(a) Cultural habits like chewing tobacco
(b)Chewing pan
(c)Cola chewing
97


5.Mutilation of teeth
(a) Unintentional alteration of teeth
(1) Habits
(2) Teeth as tools (para- masticatory)
(3) Tooth wear and functions
(b) Intentional alteration of teeth
(1) Tooth avulsion/ ablation
(2) Tooth bud enucleation
(3) Deliberate of tooth crown shape by chipping and filing
(4) Staining of teeth- dyeing and lacquering
(5) Adornment of teeth
98


6.Traditional tooth bud gouging/removal
(a)Germectomy
(b)Removal of unerupted canines
(c)Lancing of the alveolar process over the unerupted canine.
7. Lacquering & dyeing of teeth
8. Decorative dental inlays and crowns
9.Soft tissue mutilation
10.Uvelectomy / Staphylectomy etc.
99


A. Dental caries in children and adults
 The various cultural factors and beliefs influencing the
occurrence and the treatment of dental caries are:
(a) Concept of etiology and cure based cultural beliefs
1. The legend of Worm
2. Humoral Theory
3. Vital Theory
100


(b) Religion, race and ethnicity
 These cultural factors mainly influence the level of knowledge
as well as the self perception of oral health and access to
dental care.
 North London which is a distinct cultural group held together
by a combination of religious observance and cultural practices
,it was found that members of the community were unlikely to
visit a dentist on a Friday, unless in a dental emergency, due to
preparations for the Sabbath.
101


 In India, many misconceptions related to the family size and
structure exists. Many believe that children are god’s gifts, the
number of children in the family is determined by god.
 The close birth intervals here may result in maternal
malnutrition, nutritional anaemia, low birth weight and
increased maternal and infant mortality rates, all affecting oral
health including the prevalence of untreated dental caries.
105


(c) Dietary Habits
 Tribal and primitive populations have diet patterns which are
coarse and fibrous in nature and free from refined
carbohydrates, reducing the risk for dental caries .
 The western diet on the other hand consists of refined foods
which increase the risk for caries, Scandinavian food habits
mainly include variety of fishes, cheese etc which offers some
anticaries benefit.
 The trona salt used extensively as a preservative, tenderizer,
flavoring agent in food as well as for medicinal purposes by
Africans contains high concentration of fluorides increasing
the risk for dental fluorosis.
107


(d) Oral Hygiene Practices
 Hindu Brahmins and priests clean their teeth using cherry
wood for an hour, facing the rising sun which promotes oral
health.
 Orthodox Jains clean their teeth using fingers and without
using the brush which has a negative influence on their oral
health increasing the dental caries experience.
 Muslims offer prayer in the form of namaz, five times in a day.
During each namaz, as part of the ritual, they use miswack
stick, tooth picks and do gum massaging which decreases
dental caries.
108


(e) Geographic location
 A study on rural Mexico indicated differences in caries can be
attributed to geographic factors like greater exposure to
decay-inducing agents and varied access to dental care.
 Higher prevalence of untreated caries was also associated with
better roads due to increased availability of Western-type
foods and beverages, thus suggesting that improved road
conditions may facilitate the transport of decay-inducing
snacks and beverages to communities.
109


(f) Familial/Parental influence
 The influence of family and parents on child’s oral health is
quite evident.
 Children depend on their adults for most of decision-making in
their early life. Most cultures determine that mothers are
responsible for fulfilling most of the children's needs.
 Parental educational level is well established as indicators
associated with caries in preschool children.
110


B.Periodontal diseases
 Initially periodontal diseases were attributed only to the
presence of plaque, microorganisms, poor oral hygiene and
occlusal trauma.
 But, there are other cultural factors also which can increase
the risk for periodontal diseases.
112


1. Socioeconomic status
 Generally, those who are better educated, wealthier, and live
in more desirable circumstances enjoy better periodontal
health status than the less educated and poorer segments of
society.
 The ill effects of living in deprived circumstances can start early
in life (Schou and Wight, 1994).
 Gingivitis and poor oral hygiene are clearly related to lower
socioeconomic status.
113


2. Racial/Ethnic differences
 Influence of Racial/Ethnic differences in periodontal status has
been demonstrated many times.
 Certain racial/ethnic groups, like subjects of African and Latin
American background, have a higher risk of developing
periodontal tissue loss than other groups.
 In the United States population, subjects of African or
Mexican heritage have greater attachment loss than
Caucasians (Albandar et al., 1999).
115


C. Malocclusion
 The first comprehensive inquiry into malocclusion and its
causes was by Weston Price.
 In the 1930s where it was found that there was significant
increase in malocclusion in societies living on contemporary
diets of prepared foods from domesticated crops.
 He found that the incidence of malocclusion amongst
aboriginal peoples increased after contact with commercial
societies.
117


 In 1954, Begg reasoned that the relatively low incidence of
malocclusion in Stone Age Man is due to the reduction by
more than half an inch in the total length of each of his dental
arches.
118


D. Oral cancers
 Cancer is one of the most common causes of morbidity and
mortality today, with more than 10 million new cases and more
than 6 million deaths each year worldwide.
 The cancer epidemic is due to high or increasing levels of
prevalence of cancer risk factors.
 Among the various etiologic factors of oral cancers, there
exists cultural factor like chewing tobacco which may act as
risk factors for the development of oral cancers.
119


1.Cultural habits like chewing tobacco
 It is estimated that around 43% of cancer deaths are due to
tobacco use, unhealthy diets, alcohol consumption, inactive
lifestyles and infection.
 Of these, tobacco use is the world’s most avoidable cause of
cancer.
 In India, tobacco is one of the most important public health
issues and used in various forms.
 In addition to smoking, use of Smokeless Tobacco in a variety
of forms, is widespread among both men and women resulting
in increased prevalence of oral cancers.
120


 Smoking Tobacco: Beedi smoking is quite common among the
lower social class people, "Hookah" i.e. bubble smoking is
more frequent in places where Mughal cultural influence is
present.
 Another type of smoking habit practiced in India is Reverse
smoking which is widely practiced among the fishing
communities in Visakapatanam and Srikakulam districts of A.P.
it is most common in women in these areas.

The oral temperature raises upto 60 deg.
Celsius. This practice pays them with
cancers of hard palate and base of the
tongue, this practice is also common in
Goa and Eastern districts of Orissa 121


 Reverse smoking is also found in the people of lower socio-
economic states of Columbia, Panama, Venezuela, Jamaica etc.
 Cigarette smoking is more common among men and women
of Western societies.
 The main reason behind cigarette smoking is it is regarded as
a status symbol.
122


2.Chewing pan
 In India offering pan is a way of welcoming the guest.
 This practice is common in North in Indian states like West
Bengal, U.P., Rajasthan, Maharashtra etc.
 Refusing pan may be considered insulting, leading to ongoing
practice.
 This practice made people chew pan several time per day and
it became a habit.
 This causes oral cancer and staining of teeth.
123


3.Cola chewing
 The chewing of cola nut is common in West and Central Africa.
 The chewing of cola nut plays an important role in religious
functions.
 It contains alkaloids like caffeine, threbromine and tannin.
 The high tannin level in the nut is reported to exert a beneficial
effect on healing of oral mucosal lesions and to exert a
possible cariostatic effect.
124


D. Mutilation of teeth
 The practice of decorating and mutilating the human body has
been practiced since time immemorial.
 Such practices are carried out for a variety of reasons ranging
from motives related to aesthetics and concepts of
beautification to motives which are extremely complex.
125


(a) Unintentional Alteration
(i) Habits
 Teeth reveal a wide range of activities unrelated to eating that
result in unusual and often distinctive patterns that are task
specific.
a) Clay stemmed pipes leave a distinctive imprint on the teeth.
When the teeth are in occlusion, a distinctive opening appears
on one side, or both sides depending on the habits of the
smokers.
b) Another distinctive mark on teeth is produced by the cultural
practice of wearing ‘labrets’ the ‘cheek plug’ worn using
incisions cut into the cheek or lips.
126


 The continuous movement of the labret against the teeth
leaves distinctive polished facet of varying size on the facial
surfaces of the teeth.
 Labret usage is known from many new world populations
ranging from Eskimo in the North to Meso American people in
the South.
127


(ii) Teeth as Tools
 When distinctive occupational wear of the teeth is reported, it
is often described as ‘task related wear’.
 The classic example of ‘extra masticatory wear ‘is the patterns
of occlusal surface grooves seen on the surfaces of permanent
mandibular incisors and canines of great basin Indians of
Neveda.
 The high polish and orientation of the grooves reveal the use
of teeth in the processing of plant fibers for basketry.
128


(iii) Tooth Wear and Function
 Often the degrees and kinds of tooth wear vary from
population to population.
 This variability is possibly related to certain material aspects of
culture such as diet, food preparation techniques and tool
usage.
 In some settings the degree of wear reflects social status. In
the medieval Edo period of Japan member of the elite class
had virtually no occlusal wear suggestive of a soft diet, unlike
the lower class people.
129


(b) Intentional Modification of Teeth:
 Intentional modification is also described in the literature as
‘Scarification’ or mutilation of teeth.
(i) Tooth Avulsion/ Ablation/ Extraction
 The basic theme such as initiation, identification and aesthetics
underlie almost all these cultural modification.
130


Some reasons are:
1. Tribal identification(Handler1994; Van Rippen 1978)
2. Initiation rite
3. Sign of manhood/ bravery
4. Identification with a tribal totem
5. Differentiation of a person from animal
6. Differentiation of sexes
7. Sign of marriageable age for women
8. To signify marriage status of females
9. Sign of ceremonial sacrifice
10. Sign of ceremonial rebirth
131


132


E. Traditional tooth bud gouging/removal
 This is a cultural practice of removal of tooth bud, before it can
come out of the gums.
Terms used for tooth gouging
 Morgenson (2000) coined the term ‘germectomy’ for the
more radical form of practice involving removal of the primary
canines and / or permanent tooth germs
 Baba and Kay (1989) referred to the traditional practice in
Southern Sudan, named ‘Lugbara’ that involves the removal of
unerupted canines as a treatment for childhood illnesses
 Rasmussen et al. (1992) said in Khartoum, the lancing of the
swollen alveolar process over the unerupted canine with a
heated instrument is known as ‘HAIFAT’
133


F.Lacquering & dyeing of teeth
 Tooth colouring or dyeing of teeth is an ancient form of dental
mutilation which is recorded for a variety of pre-historic
civilizations and contemporary societies in the tropical and
non-tropical world.
134


G.Mutilation of tooth crown
 It refers to deliberate altering of tooth crown and shape by
filing and chipping.
 For many centuries, people throughout the tropical and non-
tropical worlds have had a tradition of altering the shape and
thus the appearance of their teeth.
 In common with both avulsion the custom of altering tooth
crown shape is confined to anterior teeth (canine to canine) of
the upper and lower jaws.
 The resultant deformity is thus highly visible
135


H.Soft tissue mutilation
i) Body piercing
 It is a form of body modification. It is one of the oldest and
most interesting forms of adornment body modification. The
reasons for piecing body are as diverse as the cultures they
come from.
 The history of body piercing can be traced back to the ancient
times when the primitive tribes and the clans practiced this
unique art of body modification.
 The exclusive practice of body piercing was prevalent among
the jungle tribes in South America, Africa and Indonesia.
136


 Body piercing is also practiced In the South Indian season of Agni
(“Fire”) i.e. April and May in local villages in the Tiruvannamalai where a
special worship of Mariamman is practiced in the Karaga festival.
137


Wearing lip plates is a symbol of beauty and prestige for both
the Suri and Mursi tribes, also known as Surma people, who
reside in South Sudan and southwestern Ethiopia.
138


I.Uvelectomy / Staphylectomy
 Traditional Uvelectomy is a procedure in which uvula is
amputated with a non- sterilized sickle shaped knife without
giving the patient any form of anesthesia.
 The most common reason cited for performing uvelectomy is
sore throat which itself is a very common symptom.
 The undertakers of this traditional practice are usually barbers.
 This procedure is a very common practice in several sub-
Saharan African countries, in Maghreb and in Israel.
 It has also been reported in Saudi- Arabia.
139


J. Facial Scarring or Scarification
 Scarification is a permanent body modification that uses
scar tissue produced by the body to form designs pictures
or words in the skin.
 Scars are most often formed by cutting or branding the skin.
Scarification is sometimes called cicatrisation.
140


 Anthropology has a long history of using teeth to investigate
the relationships of people throughout time and place.
 Dental anthropology is a distinct subfield of physical
anthropology, attempting to answer questions about the
evolution and diversity of humans and our ancestors by
analyzing variations in the morphology and dimensions of
human teeth, as well as micro- and molecular analysis of dental
components.
 Teeth are an integral part of physical anthropology, not only
because they are a durable part of the human body and last
indefinitely in the fossil record, but because of what
morphological variation (metric and non-metric) as well as
pathologies can tell us about past peoples.
DENTAL ANTHROPOLOGY
141
American Dental Association [Internet]. Anthropology and Dentistry [cited 2021Jun 23]. Available from:
https://www.ada.org/member-center/oral-health-topics/anthropology-and-dentistry


 Tooth size and shape are under strong genetic control,and
development is “relatively independent” of the more plastic
(and thus environmentally influenced) orofacial tissues,
making teeth more genetically informative than their skeletal
counterparts.
 This means that dental morphological data may be used as a
proxy for genetic information, particularly when studying
population affinities and evolutionary relationships.
 Teeth are also an excellent reservoir of ancient DNA.
142
DENTAL ANTHROPOLOGY


Identification and Nomenclature of Teeth in Anthropology
 Anthropologists often use a dental identification system that
differs from clinical dentistry.
 A common method in anthropology is to label teeth according
to category and number; I for incisor, C for canine, P for
premolar, and M for molar; superscript numbers referring to
the tooth in sequence indicate upper and subscript lower; R
and L would indicate right or left side, respectively.
 Small case represents the deciduous dentition.
 Using this method, a permanent maxillary right central incisor
would be RI and its deciduous mandibular counterpart Ri.
143
DENTAL ANTHROPOLOGY


 Teeth have been used as a proxy for genetic studies, due to
their high heritability, when estimating population
relationships and affinities.
 There is geographic and historical variation in tooth
dimensions, overall size, number of teeth (hypo- and
hyperdontia) and crown and root morphology.
 Thus, the distribution frequencies of these metric and non-
metric traits can contribute to the determination of an
individual’s ancestry.
Population histories and affinities
144
DENTAL ANTHROPOLOGY


Metric Dental Variation
 Crown dimensions (particularly mesiodistal and buccolingual)
vary among human populations, but cannot be explained by a
simple geographic or environmental explanation.
 There has been a distinct reduction in crown sizes throughout
human evolution, but there is wide intra regional variation in
size among modern populations: Australian natives have the
largest total crown size among modern humans, along with
Neanderthals and Homoerectus, while the smallest crowns are
distributed as widely as the Lapps of Scandinavia and the San
Bushmen of southern Africa.
145
DENTAL ANTHROPOLOGY


 One study has found that on a global level, overall tooth size
indicates large geographic population distinctions (but with
wide intra-regional variation), with native populations of
Australia having the largest teeth, followed by native North
American and Sub-Saharan Africans; East Asians, Indians, and
Europeans were found to have the smallest teeth.
 Despite the high heritability of tooth dimensions, overalltooth
size may be affected by prenatal and developmental stress.
146
DENTAL ANTHROPOLOGY


Non-Metric Dental Traits
 Non-metric traits, particularly accessory cusps, fissure patterns
and incisor shoveling have been shown to be more indicative
of population history and relationships, and frequencies of
such traits vary according to major racial groupings.
 The tubercle of Carabelli, or Carabelli’s cusp, is a supplemental
tubercle, or fifth cusp, along the mesiolingual cusp of maxillary
molars ranging in expression from a small furrow to a full cusp.
It is common among Europeans (up to 85%) and least common
among Pacific Islanders.
147
DENTAL ANTHROPOLOGY


148
DENTAL ANTHROPOLOGY


 Seminal research on nonmetric dental trait complexes have
distinguished between Asian and Caucasian dental complexes
and have further divided Asian traits into a Sinodont pattern of
“trait intensification” among Southeast Asians and Pacific
Islanders.
 Additionally, three major groups of the native peoples of the
Americas can be distinguished by their expression of a three-
rooted mandibular first molar: Eskimo-Aleut, Na-Dene, and
“others.”
149
DENTAL ANTHROPOLOGY


 Incisor shoveling, described as a measurably deep lingual
fossa, as well as double-shoveling, are found more frequently
in East/Northeast Asia and the Americas, and least frequently
in North Africa and Sub-SaharanAfrica.
 As predicted by a number of anthropological studies, Sub-
Saharan Africans show the highest level of intraregional
variation in non-metric dental traits, which is consistent with
the Out-of-Africa theory of modern human origins.
150
DENTAL ANTHROPOLOGY


151
DENTAL ANTHROPOLOGY


 Cultural anthropology addresses broad questions about what
it means to be human in contemporary societies and cultures,
as well as those of the recent past.
 Culture forms an integral part of our lives. It plays a very
important role in maintenance of our health.
 Various beliefs and customs, food practices and social
practices have influenced oral health as well.
 When cultural practices are studied from time immemorial, it
reveals that beliefs play a vital role in all these oral health
practices.
CONCLUSION
152


 Park K. Park's textbook of Preventive and social medicine. 25th ed.
India: Bhanot Publishers; 2017.
 Jain swati, Patthi B. Cultural anthropology and its effect on health
and oral Health. [eBook]. photon e books; 2014 [cited 2021 june 24].
Available from
:https://sites.google.com/site/photonebooks/home/photon-books
 American Dental Association [Internet]. Anthropology and Dentistry
[cited 2021Jun 23]. Available from: https://www.ada.org/member-
center/oral-health-topics/anthropology-and-dentistry
 Pauls, E. Prine. "Cultural evolution." [Internet]. Encyclopedia
Britannica, August 3, 2020. [cited 2021Jun23]. Available from:
REFERENCES
153


 Doggalli N, Kalistu S, Patil K, Rudraswamy S. Race determination
based on nonmetric teeth morphological traits. SRM Journal of
Research in Dental Sciences. 2019;10(4):233.
 Pearson Ed .Anthropology and the Study of Culture -[Internet].
[cited 2021Jun23]. Available from:
http://www.pearsoned.ca/highered/showcase/miller/media/01Ch01_
Miller.pdf
 Amin Ahmed H, Mustafa Muhammad D. Students' Beliefs toward
Illness Causation. International Journal of Advanced Research.
2014;2(11):581–9.
 Arya R, Singh DC, Tiwari RC, Tripathi BM. An overview of ethnomedicine
and future aspect of ethnomedicinal plants. Int J of Ayur and Pharma Res.
2016;4:29-33.
154
REFERENCES


 They are invested in several lines of research, of which five are highlighted.
The first is the biocultural examination of health and illness across the life
course given changing social, cultural, material, and environmental
conditions that affect biological processes. The second is the study of how
cultural values and social institutions, socioeconomic processes, and power
relations inform regarding the way illness and risk of illness is experienced,
represented, and responded to by different groups and (ethno)medical
systems. The third is an examination of health care provision and exclusion,
disease surveillance, and control as a means of understanding the politics
of responsibility locally, nationally, and globally. The fourth involves the
critical assessment of interventions developed in the name of health and
development, and the ways they have been implemented, monitored, and
evaluated. And the fifth line of research is attentive to the production of
knowledge about health, the way health problems are framed (and by
whom), and the ways in which framing problems and groups in particular
ways serve as charters for thinking about and solving problems in particular
ways.
156


 What is the difference between acculturation, assimilation,
and amalgamation?
 Acculturation is one of several forms of culture contact, and has a
couple of closely related terms,
including assimilation and amalgamation. Although all three of these
words refer to changes due to contact between different cultures,
there are notable differences between them. Acculturation is often
tied to political conquest or expansion, and is applied to the process
of change in beliefs or traditional practices that occurs when the
cultural system of one group displaces that of
another. Assimilation refers to the process through which individuals
and groups of differing heritages acquire the basic habits, attitudes,
and mode of life of an embracing culture. Amalgamation refers to a
blending of cultures, rather than one group eliminating another
(acculturation) or one group mixing itself into another (assimilation).
157


158


159


 The term 'social sciences' is applied to those disciplines which are
committed to the scientific examination of human behaviour.
 These are economics, political science, sociology, social psychology and
social anthropology.
 S.C. Roy ( Sarat Chandra Roy) (1871-1942):
 He is widely regarded as the father of Indian ethnography, the first Indian
ethnographer, and as the first Indian anthropologist. He said that
Anthropology in India would help in understanding the meaning and goals
of human existence, the trend and aim of human culture and civilisation
could be understood by understanding Anthropology.
 He initiated his study by studying and helping the oppressed tribals. He
believed that it was necessary to know our foundations in order to
understand our present. He gained expertise in understanding tribal
dialects and living among them.
 He started the journal 'Man in India' in Ranchi. Later he was elected as the
president of "Anthropology and folklore section of All Indian oriental
conference".
161

Cultural anthropology

Recommended

Recommended

More Related Content

What's hot

What's hot (20)

Similar to Cultural anthropology

Similar to Cultural anthropology (20)

More from AKHIL C A CHANGANATH

More from AKHIL C A CHANGANATH (6)

Recently uploaded

Recently uploaded (20)

Cultural anthropology

Editor's Notes