Role of the Anthropologist

Malinowski carried out field work among the Trobriand Islanders of New Guinea between 1915 and 1918, looking at social interactions such as their annual Kula Ring Exchange ceremonies, which he found to be associated with magic and religion, but also with kinship and trade. Through his studies with these peoples, he made contributions to cross-cultural psychology by looking at relationships, and even found evidence refuting FreudÆs Oedipus Complex theory by showing that among the Trobrianders, individual psychology depended on cultural context.

MalinowskiÆs emphasis on the functional nature of culture involved the principle that each part of a culture, be it a material object, a belief, a custom, or simply and idea, fulfills a v

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nowned living anthropologists, and, in contrast to MalinowskiÆs functionalist view of culture, is best known for his emphasis of the symbolic in anthropology (Geertz, 1973, pp. 9-10). He sees human behavior as symbolic action and culture as either ôpatterned conduct or a frame of mind, or even the two somehow mixed together.ö (pp. 9-10). Geertz believes that today the anthropologist needs two types of skills: the skills needed to succeed in the classroom and those needed to succeed in the field. Studying different cultures, he believes, involves discovering who they think they are, what they think they are doing, and why. To do this involves developing a working familiarity within the framework of their lives, and means learning how to live with them without intruding into their lives. Geertz believes the role of the anthropologist is to observe, record, and analyze a culture (Geertz, 1973). They must learn to interpret signs so that they can understand their meaning within the culture. This interpretation must be based on what Geertz calls a ôthick descriptionö which covers all the possible meanings of the sign within the culture. GeertzÆs theory of symbolic action was influenced by Kenneth Burke, and others such as Ryl
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Some common words found in the essay are:
Philosophical Topicsö, Emile Durkheim, Clyde Kluckholn, NativeÆs Viewö, Structural Functionalism, Austin Wittgenstein, Bronislaw Malinowski, Kardiner Preble, Oedipus Complex, Social Anthropology, task anthropologist, press geertz, geertz 1973, geertz believes, rituals ceremonies, todayÆs anthropologist, people studying, geertz 1999, kuper 1983, kardiner preble 1961, kardiner preble, light anthropological reflections, anthropological reflections philosophical, people studying experience, experience people studying,
Approximate Word count = 2112
Approximate Pages = 8 (250 words per page)

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