Anthropology and activism

It is generally accepted that anthropologists are to observe and record cultural phenomena without trying to change or “fix” it. Anthropologists can become active participants of various cultural processes in order to gain information and better describe whatever it is they are studying, but they are not supposed to use their own cultural and moral norms to judge and correct other people’s belief systems, traditions, rites, and customs.

Cultures themselves are not static; they change through time. But we, anthropologists, are not there to bring the change according to our own standards of what cultures are supposed to be. On the contrary, often anthropologists often strive to record cultures the way they are before they change or cease to exist, like in the case of many disappearing languages. In a way, anthropologists are historians of the present. They make records for the future generations who will live in a very different world with changed, transformed societies which might view our present as unfamiliar, distant, and bizarre.

We also live in the world of globalization where societies, cultures, and ethnicities merge and blend together like never before. In this world of cultural interconnections, displacements, and marginal states of existence things change and transform constantly. Anthropologists must adapt to this fast-paced globalized world as well.

The idea of observing and recording things without trying to “fix” them goes hand in hand with cultural relativity and the notion that no culture is “right” or “wrong”. Good and bad are relative terms that exist within cultures and may not be the same for everyone in the world. What is accepted as normal in our culture may look horrible to someone from another, and vice versa.

But what do we do when we come across things like female genital mutilation, child brides, victims of torture, child labor, slave trade, destruction of various environments, and much more? Do we stand in the midst of the crowd, watch, and record like indifferent observants, or do we actively engage ourselves? If we try to “make things better”, do we cease to be anthropologists and turn into activists instead?

At this point I believe that anthropology and activism don’t have to be mutually exclusive. We may be anthropologists, writers, historians, engineers, business-people, teachers… But first and foremost we are all human beings. Each person plays a wide array of various social roles. You cannot be just an anthropologist, or just a police officer, or just a grandmother. Life is more complex than that. Our personalities are complex, as well as our ideas, thought processes, and beliefs. We change throughout our lives just like our cultures do. We are not static beings frozen in time. 

Being an anthropologist doesn’t mean being rigid. We must be flexible. We can remember about cultural relativism AND try helping those who are sexually and emotionally abused. We can observe AND fight against companies which employ little children to do dirty jobs in slave factories overseas. We are allowed to be non-judgmental and accepting of other cultures, but recognize when it’s time to say “you don’t have to be a victim of torture and mutilation; you are a human being and you must have rights.” We are anthropologists, and we do not judge, but we can describe things and let the society decide if these things need to be transformed into some relative “better.” 

How to prepare for the general anthropology exam

Anthropology exams don’t have to be dreadful. I know that different things work for different people, depending on the way their minds work to process and store information. I’ll describe what worked for me when I was a university student. You decide if this method of studying works for you.

For any general anthropology exam (cultural, social, and even physical), we must know four main things that work somewhat like strongholds for everything else.

1. Key anthropology figures

2. Key anthropology theories (approaches, “schools of anthropology”)

3. Key anthropology concepts

4. Specific examples to illustrate numbers 2 and 3

Our professors want us to remember the key figures who have influenced the field of anthropology, but who cares about names and dates if we don’t know what they practiced and believed in? For each anthropologist, we must know the following: 

- what does this person believe?

- how does he/she think the society works?

- his/her main focus (ethnography, linguistics, medicinal plants, evolution, gender, etc.?)

- which words and concepts does he/she like to use?

- most famous writings by this anthropologist

- other anthropologists whose approaches he opposes or supports

Also, as a nice extra, it’s always good to know one or two memorable quotes that you could gracefully use in your exam.

Being a visual person, I used both written notes and various charts. For example, as a basic memorization technique,  I would draw a big circle named “functionalism”, and write the names of all functionalist anthropologists inside. I did the same for evolutionists, structural anthropology, relativism, etc. I would also make bubbles and connect them to “school” circles. Inside the bubbles I wrote basic concepts and ideas for each approach and school of thought. Of course, this was just a bare skeleton, some very general information to remember.

Even if two anthropologists belong to the same school of thought, their ideas might differ greatly. So, they might be in the same circle – evolutionism – but their thoughts about what evolutionism is and how it works might be different. They can use different terms to describe their theory and come up with various categories. Also, anthropologists’ thoughts and ideas can change throughout their lives, so any given school of thought is not something rigid that an anthropologist must necessarily adhere to for ages.

In my studies I also wrote a particular name, let’s say  “Anthropologist X” on a piece of paper, and underneath I wrote all the key words related to that person. It could be a long list of various terms, names, countries, titles, for example, “structuralism, systems of exchange, reciprocity, New Guinea, opponent of evolutionism, opponent of anthropologists Y and Z, animism, believed behavior.” You can write this on flash cards for each anthropologist and carry them around, quizzing yourself throughout the day. A name will stick with a set of particular terms and titles, even quotes. If you do this in addition to reading all the assigned literature and actually understanding it, you WILL remember. 

In my experience, knowing anthropologists and their theories well is essential to passing any written exam in general, cultural, social anthropology. 

You can have brilliant ideas and examples from real life. You can remember a certain book or story well and use it to illustrate something in relation to the exam question. You can understand a concept and describe it without naming any anthropologist or school of thought. Most of the anthropology is actually real life, something we all deal with every day. It happens to us, around us, in the world we perceive from different angles. 

However, in our classes and during exams, professors do want to see that we remember what we have learned. They want us to understand existing theories and use the names of those who worked in the field before us. We must use their concepts and give them credit, and apply established concepts in our discussions.