Unit One: Introduction

 The Meaning of Anthropology

 The term anthropology is derived from two Greek words, ‘anthropos’

and ‘logos’, which can be translated as ‘human being/mankind’ and
‘reason/study/science’, respectively.
 So, anthropology means ‘reason about humans’ or ‘the science of
humankind’.
 Man has two important characteristics: biological and cultural:

 It is very important to understand that the biological and the cultural

characteristics are inseparable elements and influence each others.

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 Anthropology is the study of people—
 their origins,
 their development,
 contemporary variations of human being and its life.

 It is a broad scientific discipline dedicated to

 the comparative study of humans as a group, throughout its
evolution
 investigation of the strategies for living that are learned and
shared by groups;
 study the characteristics that human beings share as members of
one species (homo sapiens) and the diverse ways that people live
in different environments;
 analyses of the products of social groups - material objects
(material cultures) and non-material creations (beliefs, social
values, institutions, practices, etc). 2

 Thus, it deals with culture, society and humanity.

 It seeks to explain
how and why people are similar and different both
physically & culturally
what makes us human?
why do some groups of people practice agriculture, while
others hunt for a living?
 Anthropology primarily offers two kinds of insight.
First, the discipline produces knowledge about the actual
biological and cultural variations in the world;
Second, anthropology offers methods and theoretical
perspectives enabling the practitioner to explore,
compare, understand and solve these varied expressions
of the human condition. 3
1.1.3 Scope and subject matter of anthropology
 In terms of the spatial dimension, anthropology studies from Arctic to
Desert, from Megapolis to hunting gathering areas.
 The discipline covers all aspects of human ways of life experiences
and existence, as humans live in a social group.
 Anthropology studies humanity with its all aspects of existence, and
in its all means of differences and similarities.
 It tries to understand both connections within societies and
connections between societies.
 Anthropology is concerned with
 both biological and cultural origins and evolutionary development of the
species;
 all humans, both past and present, as well as their behavior patterns, thought
systems, and material possessions.
 In short, anthropology aims to describe, in the broadest sense, what
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it
means to be human (Peacock, 1986).
1.2 Sub-fields of anthropology
Anthropology has often categorized into four
major subfields:
Physical/Biological Anthropology,
Archeology,
Linguistic Anthropologyand
Socio-Cultural Anthropology.

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1.2.1 Physical/Biological Anthropology
 is closely related to the natural sciences, particularly biology

 It studies how culture and environment have influenced

biological evolution and contemporary variations.
 They focus on how human biology affects or even explains
some aspects of behavior, society, and culture like
 marriage patterns,
 sexual division of labor,
 gender ideology etc.

 The features of culture in turn have biological effects like

 the standards of attractiveness,
 food preferences, and
 human sexuality.
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 Biological variations such as morphology/structure, color, and
size are reflections of changes in living organism.
 Physical
anthropology is essentially concerned with
two broad areas of investigation:
human evolution and
genetics.
 Human evolution is the study of the gradual
processes of simple forms into more differentiated
structures in hominid.
 It is interested in reconstructing the evolutionary
record of the human species using fossils/bones.

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1.2.1 Archaeological Anthropology
 Archaeological anthropology studies
 the ways of lives of past peoples by excavating and analyzing the
material culture/physical remains (artifacts, features and eco-facts)
they left behind.
 Artifacts are material remains made and used by the past peoples and
that can be removed from the site and taken to the laboratory for
further analysis.
 Tools, ornaments, arrowheads, coins, and fragments of pottery are
examples of artifacts.
 Features are like artifacts, are made or modified by past people, but
they cannot be readily carried away from the site.
 Archaeological features include such things as house foundations,
ancient buildings, fireplaces, steles, and postholes.
 Eco-facts are non-artefactual, organic and environmental remains 8

such as soil, animal bones, and plant remains that were not made or
altered by humans; but were used by them.
1.2.3 Linguistic Anthropology
 Linguistic anthropology studies human language as a cultural
resource and its social and cultural context across space and time.
 Language is basically a system of information transmission and
reception.
 Humans communicate messages by
 sound (speech),
 by gesture (body language), and
 in other visual ways such as writing.
 Linguistic anthropology, which studies contemporary human
languages as well as those of the past, is divided into four distinct
branches:
 Structural or Descriptive Linguistics,

 Historical Linguistics,
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 Ethno-Linguistics, and

 Socio-linguistics.
1.2.4 Socio-Cultural Anthropology
 It deals with human society and culture.

 Society is the group of people who have similar ways of life, but
culture is a way of life of a group of people.
 Society and culture are two sides of the same coin.

 It describes, analyzes, interprets, and explains social, cultural and

material life of contemporary human societies.
 It studies

 the social (human relations),

 nonmaterial (religious, language, and any other symbols) and
 material (all man-made objects) lives of living peoples.
 Socio-cultural anthropologists engage in two aspects of study:

 Ethnography (based on field work) and

 Ethnology (based on cross-cultural comparison).
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1.3 Unique (Basic) Features of Anthropology
 Anthropology is unique in its scope, approach, focus and method of
study.
 Anthropology has a broad scope.
 No place or time is too remote to escape the anthropologist's notice.
 No dimension of human kind, from genes to art styles, is outside the
anthropologist's attention.
 Its approach is holistic, relativistic, and focused one.
 Holistic- it considers culture, history, language and biology essential to a
complete understanding of society.
 Relativity- it tries to study and explain a certain belief, practice or institution
of a group of people in its own context.
 It does not make value judgment, i.e., declaring that this belief or practice is
‘good’ or ‘bad’.

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 Itconsiders insiders' views as a primary focus of its
inquiry.
 Anthropological studies give attention to
how people perceive themselves and understand their
world;
how a particular group of people explain about their
action, or
give meaning to their behavior or cultural practices.
 This is what anthropologists call emic perspective.
 It helps to understand the logic and justification
behind group behavior and cultural practices.
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 Another important unique feature is its research approach.
 Its is highly dependent on qualitative research to understand the
meaning behind any human activity.
 extended fieldwork,
 participant observation,
 in-depth and key informant interviews and
 focus-group discussion are qualitative research instruments to explore
information change and continuities in human societies.
 Ethnographic fieldwork is an important strategy is normally required
to spend a year or more with research subjects and document realities
occurring across time.
 Focusing more on the local than the big social processes has been
another exclusive approach in the discipline.
 Paying great attention to local or micro-social processes certainly help
us to better understand big changes in societies.
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 A detailed account of an event or phenomenon discovers multiple
realities in a community.
1.4 Misconceptions about anthropology
 Due to lack of awareness about the nature, scope and subject matter of
the discipline, different misconceptions are held about anthropology.
 One misconception about anthropology is related to

1. the area of its study. It is said that anthropology is limited to the

study of "primitive" societies.
 Indeed, most of the works done by anthropologists during early
periods focused on the so called "primitive", small scale societies.
 But, anthropologists nowadays study most advanced and most
complex societies as well.
 Another misconception is that anthropologists only study the rural
people and rural areas.
 As a matter of fact, most of the studies conducted during the
formative years of the discipline focused on rural areas.
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 But now, anthropologists are also interested in the study of
urban people and urban areas.
 It is also wrongly misconceived that anthropology is the
study/analysis of fossil evidences of the proto-humans like
that of Lucy/Dinkeneshe.
 It is true that anthropology is interested in the question of
the origin of modern human beings.
 However, this doesn’t mean that anthropology is all about
the study of human evolution.
 It studies both the biological and the cultural aspects of
humans and examines the existing human physical and
biological variations and cultural diversity.
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1.5 The Contributions of anthropology
 By studying anthropology, we get the following benefits
among others.
 First, the anthropological perspective-
Helps us to gain a fuller understanding of other cultures
and our own.
Helps us better understand ourselves or our own ways of
life.
As a mirror of human life, by studying others, we can
better understand ourselves.
Hence, it gives opportunity to understand and to be
critical about the ways of lives of our own community.
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 Second, anthropology helps to understand the logic and
justification behind group behavior and cultural practices.
 Help us to grasp how our everyday decisions are influencing others
in a multitude of ways and how others’ decisions are also
influencing ours.
 Its distinctive methodology help us to know how local cultural
groups are engaging with the process of globalization.
 Anthropology helps us to be more sensitive to and appreciative of
cultural diversity and variability.
 It helps us to avoid some of the misunderstandings that commonly
arise when individuals of different cultural traditions come into
contact.
 Anthropology helps us fight against prejudice, discriminations,
ethnocentrism and racism.
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 Anthropology is also used as a tool for development.
 Paying attention to local conditions, is crucial to solve community
problems.
 The application of anthropological knowledge and research results
have become important element to ensure people’s rights in
development and able to sustain projects' life.
 Anthropologists are better equipped with the knowledge, skills and
methods of identifying the needs and interests of local people for
the betterment and change of their lived experiences.
 It recognizes the advantages of consulting local people to design a
culturally appropriate and socially sensitive change, and protect
local people from harmful policies and projects that threaten them.
 In general, anthropology is able to suggest sound solutions to all
things human.
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Unit Two: Human Culture and Ties that Connect
2.1. Conceptualizing Culture: What Culture is and What Culture isn't
 Definition of Culture

 Anthropologists and sociologists define culture in different ways.

 According to Edward B. Tylor,

 culture is “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 has defined
 culture “as cumulative creation of man".
 Robert Bierstadt says,
 “Culture is the complex whole that consists of everything we think and do and have
as members of society.”
 Thus, culture is includes all things beyond nature and biology.
 It includes moral, intellectual and spiritual discipline for advancement, in
accordance with the norms and values based on accumulated heritage.
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 Culture is a system of learned behavior shared by and transmitted among the
members of the group.
2.2 Characteristic Features of Culture
1. Culture Is Learned:
 Culture is not transmitted genetically rather; it is acquired through the
process of learning or interacting with one’s environment.
 More than any other species human relies for their survival on
behavior patterns that are learned.
2. Culture Is Shared:
 For a thing, idea, or behavior pattern to qualify as being “cultural” it
must have a shared meaning by at least two people within a society.
 In order for a society to operate effectively, the guidelines must be
shared by its members.

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3. Culture Is Symbolic:
 Symbolic thought is unique and crucial to humans and to cultural
learning.
 A symbol is something verbal or nonverbal, within a particular
language or culture that comes to stand for something else.
4. Culture Is All-Encompassing
 Culture encompasses all aspects, which affect people in their
everyday lives.
 Culture comprises countless material and non-material aspects of
human lives.
 Culture is the sum total of human creation: intellectual, technical,
artistic, physical, and moral; it is the complex pattern of living that
directs human social life, and which each new generation must learn
and to which they eventually add with the dynamics of the social
world and the changing environmental conditions. 21
5. Culture Is Integrated:
 When we view cultures as integrated systems, we can see
how particular culture traits fit into the whole system and,
consequently, how they tend to make sense within that
context.
 A culture is a system, change in one aspect will likely
generate changes in other aspects.
 The physical human body comprises a number of systems,
all functioning to maintain the overall health of the
organisms, including among others, such system as the
respiratory system, the digestive system, the skeletal
system, excretory system, the reproductive system, and
lymphatic system.
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6. Culture Can Be Adaptive and Maladaptive:
 Humans have both biological and cultural ways of coping
with environmental stresses.
 Besides our biological means of adaptation, we also use
"cultural adaptive kits," which contain customary activities
and tools that aid us.
 People adapt themselves to the environment using culture.

 This ability is attributed to human’s capacity for creating

and using culture.
 Sometimes, adaptive behaviour that offers short-term
benefits to particular subgroups or individuals may harm the
environment and threaten the group's long-term survival.
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 Example: Automobiles permit us to make a living by getting us from
home to workplace.
 But the by-products of such "beneficial" technology often create new
problems.
 Chemical emissions increase air pollution, deplete the ozone layer,
and contribute to global warming.
 Many cultural patterns such as overconsumption and pollution appear
to be maladaptive in the long run.
7. Culture Is Dynamic:
 There are no cultures that remain completely static year after year.

 Culture is changing constantly as new ideas and new techniques are

added as time passes modifying or changing the old ways.
 This is the characteristics of culture that stems from the culture’s
cumulative quality.
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2.3 Aspects/Elements of Culture
 There are two types of culture: material and non material

2.3.1 Material culture

 Material culture consist of man-made objects such as tools, implements,
furniture, automobiles, buildings, dams, roads, bridges, and in fact, the
physical substance which has been changed and used by man.
 It is concerned with the external, mechanical and utilitarian objects.

 It includes technical and material equipment. It is referred to as

civilization.
2.3.2 Non – Material culture
 It is something internal and intrinsically valuable, reflects the inward
nature of man.
 Non-material culture consists of the language people speak, the beliefs
they hold, values and virtues they cherish, habits they follow, rituals and
practices that they do and the ceremonies they observe.
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 It also includes our customs and tastes, attitudes and outlook, in brief, our
ways of acting, feeling and thinking.
 Some of the aspects of non-material culture listed as follows:
 Values:
 Values are the standards by which member of a society define what is good or bad,
beautiful or ugly.
 Every society develops both values and expectations regarding the right way to
reflect them.
 Values are a central aspect of the nonmaterial culture of a society and are important
because they influence the behavior of the members of a society.
 Beliefs:
 Beliefs are cultural conventions that concern true or false assumptions, specific
descriptions of the nature of the universe and humanity’s place in it.
 Values are generalized notions of what is good and bad; beliefs are more specific
and, in form at least, have more content.
 “Education is good” is a fundamental value in American society, whereas “Grading
is the best way to evaluate students” is a belief that reflects assumptions about the most
appropriate way to determine educational achievement.
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 Norms:
 Norms are shared rules or guidelines that define how people “ought” to
behave under certain circumstances.
 Norms are generally connected to the values, beliefs, and ideologies of a
society.
 Norms vary in terms of their importance to a culture, these are:
 a) Folkway: Norms guiding ordinary usages and conventions of everyday life are
known as folkways. Folkways are norms that are not strictly enforced, such as not
leaving your seat for an elderly people inside a bus/taxi. They may result in a
person getting a bad look.
 b) Mores: Mores (pronounced MOR-ays) are much stronger norms than are
folkways. Mores are norms that are believed to be essential to core values and we
insist on conformity. A person who steals, rapes, and kills has violated some of
society’s most important mores.
 People who violate mores are usually severely punished, although
punishment for the violation of mores varies from society to society.
 It may take the form of ostracism, vicious gossip, public ridicule, exile,
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loss of one’s job, physical beating, imprisonment, commitment to a mental
asylum, or even execution
2.4 Cultural Unity and Variations: Universality,
Generality and Particularity of Culture
 Certain cultural features are universal (found in every culture), others
are merely generalities (common to several but not all human groups),
other traits are particularities (unique to certain cultural traditions).
1) Universality:
 Universals are cultural traits that span across all cultures.

 A great example of universality is that whether in Africa or Asia,

Australia, or Antarctica, people understand the universal concept of
family.
 Anthropologists would argue that it's just what we as humans do - we
organize ourselves into families that are based on biology.
 No matter where you choose to travel and explore, you'll find a family
system.
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2) Generality:
 Generalities are cultural traits that occur in many societies but not all
of them.
 Societies can share same beliefs and customs because of borrowing
Domination (colonial rule) when customs and procedures are imposed
on one culture can also cause generality Independent innovation of
same cultural trait – Farming Examples: – Nuclear family Parents and
children.
3) Particularity:
 Trait of a culture that is not widespread Cultural borrowing – traits
once limited are more widespread Useful traits that don’t clash with
current culture get borrowed Examples: – Food dishes Particularities
are becoming rarer in some ways but also becoming more obvious
Borrowed cultural traits are modified Marriage, parenthood, death,
puberty, birth all celebrated differently.
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2.5. Evaluating Cultural Differences: Ethnocentrism and Cultural Relativism
A. Ethnocentrism:
 The common response in all societies to other cultures is to judge them
in terms of the values and customs of their own familiar culture.
 Ethnocentrism refers to the tendency to see the behaviors, beliefs,
values, and norms of one's own group as the only right way of living
and to judge others by those standards.
 Being fond of your own way of life and having negative attitude toward
other cultures is normal for all people.
 Because of ethnocentrism, we often operate on the premise that our
own society’s ways are the correct, normal, better ways, for acting,
thinking, feeling and behaving.
 Our own group is the centre or axis of everything, and we scale and rate
all others with reference to it.
 Ethnocentrism is not characteristic only of complex modern societies.
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 People in small, relatively isolated societies are also ethnocentric in
their views about outsiders.
B. CULTRUALRELATIVISM:
 We cannot grasp the behavior of other people if we interpret what they say and
do in the light of our values, beliefs, and motives.
 Instead, we need to examine their behavior as insiders, seeing it within the
framework of their values, beliefs and motives.
 The concept of cultural relativism states that cultures differ, so that a cultural
trait, act, or idea has no meaning but its meaning only within its cultural setting.
 Cultural relativism suspends judgment and views about the behavior of people
from the perspective of their own culture.
 Every society has its own culture, which is more or less unique.

 Every culture contains its own unique pattern of behavior which may seem alien
to people from other cultural backgrounds.
 We cannot understand the practices and beliefs separately from the wider
culture of which they are part.
 A culture has to be studied in terms of its own meanings and values.

 Cultural relativism describes a situation where there is an attitude of respect for

cultural differences rather than condemning other people's culture as uncivilized
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or backward.
 Respect for cultural differences involves:
 Appreciating cultural diversity;

 Accepting and respecting other cultures;

 Trying to understand every culture and its elements in

terms of its own context and logic;
 Accepting that each element of custom has inherent dignity
and meaning as the way of life of one group
 Knowing that a person's own culture is only one among
many; and
 Recognizing that what is immoral, ethical, acceptable, etc,
in one culture may not be so in another culture.

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2.6 Culture Change
 Culture change can occur as a result of the following Mechanisms:
 Acculturation

 Invention

 Globalization

 Diffusion

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2.7 Ties That Connect: Marriage, Family and Kinship
2.7.1 MARRIAGE:
 Almost all known societies recognize marriage.

 The ritual of marriage marks a change in status for a man and a woman and
the acceptance by society of the new family that is formed.
 The term marriage is not an easy terms to define.

 For years, anthropologists have attempted to define these terms in such a

way to cover all known societies.
 Frequently, anthropologists have debated whether or not families and the
institutions of marriage are universals.
 One interesting case is that the Nayar of Southern India, did not have
marriage in the conventional sense of the term.
 Although teenage Nayar girls took a ritual husband in a public ceremony,
the husband took no responsibility for the women after the ceremony, and
frequently he never saw her again.
 Thus the Nayar do not have marriage according to our definition in34 that
there is no economic, cooperation, regulation of sexual activity,
cohabitation, or expectation of permanency.
2.7.1.1 Rules of Marriage
 Societies also have rules that state whom one can and cannot marry.

 The most common form of prohibition is mating with certain type of kin that
are defined by the society as being inappropriate sexual partners.
 These prohibitions on mating with certain categories of relatives known as
incest taboos.
 The most universal form of incest taboo involves mating between members
of the immediate (nuclear) family: mother-sons, father-daughters, and
brother-sisters.
 There are a few striking examples of marriage between members of the
immediate family that violate the universality of the incest taboo.
 For political, religious, or economic reasons, members of the royal families
among the ancient Egyptians, Incas and Hawaiians were permitted to mate
with and marry their siblings, although this practiced did not extended to the
ordinary members of those societies.
 Marriage is, therefore, a permanent legal union between a man and a woman.
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 It is an important institution without which the society could never be
sustained.
2.7.1.2 Mate Selection: Whom Should You Marry?
 In a society one cannot marry anyone whom he or she likes.

 There are certain strict rules and regulations.

a) Exogamy:
 This is the rule by which a man is not allowed to marry someone
from his own social group.
 Such prohibited union is designated as incest.

 Incest is often considered as sin.

 Different scholars had tried to find out the explanation behind this
prohibition. i.e. how incest taboo came into operation.
 In fact, there are some definite reasons for which practice of
exogamy got approval.
 They are: A conception of blood relation prevails among the
members of a group. 36
 Therefore, marriage within the group-members is considered a
marriage between a brother and sister
b) Endogamy:
 A rule of endogamy requires individuals to marry
within their own group and forbids them to marry
outside it.
 Religious groups such as the Amish, Mormons,
Catholics, and Jews have rules of endogamy, though
these are often violated when marriage take place
outside the group.
 Castes in India and Nepal are also endogamous.

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c) Preferential Cousin Marriage:
 A common form of preferred marriage is called preferential cousin marriage
and is practiced in one form or another in most of the major regions of the
world.
 This type of marriage include;

 Cross Cousins: are children of siblings of the opposite sex- that is one’s
mother’s brothers’ children and one’s father’s sisters’ children.
 The most common form of preferential cousin marriage is between cross
cousins because it functions to strengthen and maintain ties between kin
groups established by the marriages that took place in the proceeding
generation.
 Parallel Cousins: When marriage takes place between the children of the
siblings of the same sex, it is called parallel cousin marriage. are children of
siblings of the same sex, namely the children of one’s mother’s sister and
one’s father brother.
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d) The Levirate and Sororate
 Another form of mate selection that tends to limit individual choice
are those that require a person to marry the husband or wide of
deceased kin.
 The levirate- is the custom whereby a widow is expected to marry
the brother (or some close male relative) of her dead husband.
 Usually any children fathered by the woman’s new husband are
considered to belong legally to the dead brother rather than to the
actual genitor.
 The sororate, which comes into play when a wife dies, is the practice
of a widower’s marrying the sister (or some close female relative) of
his deceased wife.
 In the event that the deceased spouse has no sibling, the family of the
deceased is under a general obligation to supply some equivalent
relative as a substitute. 39
2.7.1.3. NUMBER OF SPOUSES
 Societies have rules regulating whom one may/may not marry; they
have rules specifying how many mates a person may/should have.
 Monogamy: the marriage of one man to one woman at a time.

 Polygamy: marriage of a man or woman with two or more mates.

 It can be of two types:

 Polygyny: the marriage of a man to two or more women at a time.
 Polyandry: the marriage of a woman to two or more men at a
time.
 Marriage of a man with two or more sisters at a time is called sororal
polygyny.
 When the co-wives are not sisters, the marriage is termed as non-
sororal polygyny.
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 Advantages & Disadvantages of Polygamy marriage
 Having two/more wives is often seen as a sign of prestige.

 Having multiple wives means wealth, power, & status both for the
polygnous husband, wives and children.
 It produces more children, who are considered valuable for future
economic and political assets.
 Economic advantage: It encourages to work hard (more cows,
goats..) for more wives

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2.7.1.4 Economic Consideration of Marriage
 Most societies view as a binding contract between at least
the husband and wife and, in many cases, between their
respective families as well.
 Such a contract includes the transfer of certain rights
between the parties involved: rights of sexual access, legal
rights to children, and rights of the spouses to each other’s
economic goods and services.
 Often the transfer of rights is accompanied by the transfer of
some type of economic consideration.

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 These transactions, which may take place either before or after the marriage can
be divided into three categories: Bride Price, Bride Service and Dowry
1.Bride Price:
 It is also known as bride wealth, is the compensation given upon marriage by the
family of the groom to the family of the bride.
2. Bride Service:
 When the groom works for his wife’s family, this is known as bride service.

 It may be recalled that in the Old Testament, Jacob labored for seven years in
order to marry Leah, and then another seven years to marry Rachel; Leah’s
younger sister, thus performed fourteen years of bride service for his father-in-
law.
3. Dowry:
 A dowry involves a transfer of goods or money in the opposite direction, from the
bride's family to the groom’s family.

43
2.7.1.5 Post-Marital Residence
 Where the newly married couple lives after the marriage ritual is
governed by cultural rules, which are referred to as post-marital
residence rule.
 Patrilocal Residence: the married couple lives with or near the
relatives of the husband’s father.
 Matrilocal Residence: the married couple lives with or near the
relatives of the wife.
 Avunculocal Residence: The married couple lives with or near the
husband’s mother’s brother.
 Ambilocal/Bilocal Residence: The married couple has a choice of
living with relatives of the wife or relatives of the husband
 Neolocal Residence: The Married couple forms an independent
place of residence away from the relatives of either spouse.
44
2.7.2 FAMILY
 Family is universal institution and the basis of human society.

 It is the most permanent and most pervasive of all social institutions.

 There are 2 types of family structure-the nuclear family and the extended family.

1. The Nuclear Family:

 Consisting of husband and wife and their children, the nuclear family is a two-
generation family formed around the marital union.
 Generally, parents are not actively involved in mate selection for their children, in
no way legitimize the marriages of their children, in no way legitimize the
marriages of their children, and have no control over whether or not their children
remain married.
2. The Extended Family
 In societies based on extended families, blood ties are more important than ties of
marriage.
 Extended families consist of two or more families that are linked by blood ties.
 Most commonly, this takes the form of a married couple living with one or more of
their married children in a single household or homestead and under the authority
45 of
a family head.
2.7.2.1 Functions Marriage and Family
 Family performs certain specific functions which can be
mentioned as follows:
1. Biological Function:
 The institution of marriage and family serves biological
(sexual and reproductive) function.
 The institution of marriage regulates and socially validates
long term, sexual relations between males and females.
 Thus, husband wife relationship come into existence and
become a socially approved means to control sexual relation
and a socially approved basis of the family.

46
 Sexual cohabitation between spouses automatically leads to
the birth of off-springs.
 The task of perpetuating the population of a society is an
important function of a family.
 Society reproduces itself through family.

2. Economic Function:
 Marriage brings economic co-operation between men and
women and ensure survival of individuals in a society.
 With the birth of off-springs the division of labor based on
sex and generation come into play.
 In small scale societies family is a self-contained economic
unit of production, consumption and distribution.
47
3. Social Function:
 Marriage is based on the desire to perpetuate one’s family line.

 In marriage one adds, not only a spouse but most of the spouse’s
relatives to one’s own group of kin.
 This means the institution of marriage brings with it the creation and
perpetuation of the family, the form of person to person relations and
linking once kin group to another kin group.
4. Educational and Socialization Function:
 The burden of socialization (via processes of enculturation and
education) of new born infants fall primarily upon the family.
 In addition, children learn an immense amount of knowledge, culture,
values prescribed by society, before they assume their place as adult
members of a society.
 The task of educating and enculturating children is distributed among
parents. 48
 Moreover, family behaves as an effective agent in the transmission of
social heritage.
2.7.3 KINSHIP
 The family in which he was born and reared is called ‘family of
orientation’.
 The other family to which he establishes relation through marriage is
called ‘family of procreation’.
 A kinship system is neither a social group nor does it correspond to
organized aggregation of individuals.
 It is a structured system of relationships where individuals are bound
together by complex interlocking and ramifying ties.
 The desire for reproduction gives rise to another kind of binding
relationship.
 “This kind of bond, which arises out of a socially or legally defined
marital relationship, is called a final relationship”, and the relatives
so related are called ‘a final kin’.
 The final kinds [husband and wife] are not related to one another49
through blood.
2.7.4 DESCENT
 Descent refers to the social recognition of the biological relationship
that exists between the individuals.
 The rule of descent refers to a set of principles by which an individual
traces his descent.
 In almost all societies kinship connections are very significant.

 An individual always possesses certain obligations towards his

kinsmen and he also expects the same from his kinsmen.
 Succession and inheritance is related to this rule of descent.

 There are three important rules of decent are follows;

50
1. Patrilineal descent
 When descent is traced solely through the male line, it is
called patrilineal descent.
 A man’s sons and daughters all belong to the same descent
group by birth, but it only the sons who continue the
affiliation.
 Succession and inheritance pass through the male line.

2. Matrilineal descent
 When the descent is traced solely through the female line.

 It is called matrilineal descent. At birth, children of both

sexes belong to mother’s descent group, but later only
females acquire the succession and inheritance.
 Therefore, daughters carry the tradition, generation after
51

generation.
3. Cognatic Descent
 In some society’s individuals are free to show their
genealogical links either through men or women.
 Some people of such society are therefore
connected with the kin-group of father and others
with the kin group of mothers.
 There is no fixed rule to trace the succession and
inheritance; any combination of lineal link is
possible in such societies.

52
Unit-Three: Human Diversity, Culture Areas and Contact in
Ethiopia

Reading Assignment

53
 Unit Four: Marginalized, Minorities, and Vulnerable Groups
4.1 Definition of concepts
 What is marginalization?

 Marginalization is defined as a treatment of a person or social group

as minor, insignificant or peripheral.
 Marginalization involves exclusion of certain groups from social
interactions, marriage relations, sharing food and drinks, and working
and living together.
 Who are mostly marginalized?

 There are marginalized social groups in every society and culture.

 Women, children, older people, and people with disabilities are

among marginalized groups across the world.

54
 The nature and level of marginalization varies from society
to society as a result of cultural diversity.
 Religious, ethnic, and racial minorities are also among
social groups marginalized in different societies and
cultures.
 Crafts workers such as tanners, potters, and ironsmiths are
marginalized in many parts of Ethiopia.
 What is vulnerability?

 Vulnerability refers to the state of being exposed to

physical or emotional injuries.
 Vulnerable groups are people exposed to possibilities of
attack, harms or mistreatment.
55
 As a result, vulnerable persons/groups need special
attention, protection and support.
 For example, children and people with disabilities need
special support and protection as they are exposed to risks
and neglect because of their age and disabilities.
 Universities have introduced special needs education for
students with disabilities to give them special support.
 Minority groups: The phrase ‘minority group’ refers to a
small group of people within a community, region, or
country.
 In most cases, minority groups are different from the
majority population in terms of race, religion, ethnicity, and
language. 56
 For example, black Americans are minorities in the United
States of America.
 Christians could be minorities in a Muslim majority
country.
 Muslims can be minorities in a predominantly Hindu
society.
 Hence, minority groups can be ethnic minorities, religious
minorities, or racial minorities in a given community,
region of country.
 There are different forms of marginalization.

 In this chapter we will discuss issues related to

occupational, age and gender-based marginalization.
57
4.2 Gender-based marginalization
 Gender inequality involves discrimination on a group of people based
on their gender.
 The manifestations of gender inequality varies from culture to culture.

 Girls and women face negative discrimination in societies across the

world.
 Women are exposed to social and economic inequalities involving
unfair distribution of wealth, income and job opportunities.
 Gender-based marginalization is a global problem.

 It involves exclusion of girls and women from a wide range of

opportunities and social services.

58
 Gender disparities in education, and GBV/VAWGs are good
examples.
 Girls in developing countries, especially those who live in remote
and rural areas, are excluded from formal education.
 The enrollment of girls in higher education is much lower than that of
boys.
 Women do not enjoy equal employment opportunities.

 They do not have equal rights in terms of property ownership and

inheritance.
 Women and girls are also vulnerable to gender-based violence such
as rape, early/child marriage, forced marriage, domestic violence and
female genital cutting/mutilation.

59
4.3 Marginalized occupational groups
 According to anthropological findings, there are occupational
marginalized groups in many parts of Ethiopia.
 Marginalized occupational groups in Ethiopia include; tanners,
potters, weavers and ironsmiths.
 These craft-workers have different names indifferent parts of the
country.
 Craft-workers such as potters and tanners are considered as impure
and excluded from social interactions, ownership of economic
resources (e.g., land), and participation in associations and
celebrations.
 They have important contributions to their communities; however,
they are marginalized by the dominant and majority groups.

60
 For examples, weavers produce cultural clothes highly
demanded by thousands and millions of people.
 Many people use cultural clothes during annual
celebrations, religious holidays, weddings, culture days,
and mourning.
 The demand of cultural dresses has been increasing in the
last three decades.
 People dress cultural clothes in different occasions such as
cultural festivals, days of nations and nationalities, and
religious celebrations.
 Despite their contributions, weavers are marginalized from
the wider society.
61
 Ironsmiths are among occupational groups marginalized in many
cultural setting in Ethiopia.
 Ironsmiths make and repair iron articles without using machines.

 They contribute a lot especially in rural areas. Ironsmiths serve rural

communities by producing farming tools such as plough shares,
sickles, and hoes.
 Ethiopia families widely use household utensils (e.g., knives and
axes) made by ironsmiths.
 Tanners make leather products that serve community members.

 Potters produce pottery articles essential for food processing and

serving and fetching water.
 Despite their contributions, these craft-workers are considered inferior
and marginalized from wide areas of social interactions.

62
Type of marginalization Manifestations of marginalization
Spatial marginalization
 Craft-workers settle/live on the outskirts of villages, near to forests,
on poor land, around steep slopes.
 They are segregated at market places (they 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

 Craft-workers are excluded from certain economic activities including

production and exchanges. In some cultures they are not allowed to
cultivate crops.
 They have a limited access to land and land ownership.

63
Social marginalization
 Craft-workers are excluded from intermarriage, they do not share
burial places with others; they are excluded from membership of
associations such as iddirs.
 When marginalized groups are allowed to participate in social
events, they must sit on the floor separately-sometimes outside the
house ornear the door.
Cultural marginalization
 Occupational minorities are labelled as impure and polluting; they
are accused of eating animals that have died without being
slaughtered;
 Occupational minorities are also considered unreliable, lacking
morality, respect and shame.

64
4.4 Age-based vulnerability
 What is age-based vulnerability?

 Age-based vulnerability is susceptibility of people, especially children

and older people, to different forms of attack, physical injuries and
emotional harms.
 For example, children and older people (people aged 60 and above)
are exposed to possibilities of attack, harm and mistreatment because
of their age.
 As a result, vulnerable persons/groups need special attention,
protection and support.
 In this section, we discuss some example related to children and older
people.

65
4.4.1 Children: Discrimination/vulnerability
 Children are among vulnerable groups exposed to harm because of their age.

 Both boys and girls are exposed to some harm and abuse in the hands of
older people.
 However, girls are exposed to double marginalization and discrimination
because of the gender.
 Child girls are exposed to various kinds of harm before they reach at the age
of maturity.
 As discussed earlier in this chapter, girls are exposed to HTPs such as female
genital cutting.
 Minor girls are also exposed to early/child marriage in many parts of
Ethiopia.
 Early/child marriage: Early marriage refers to marriage which involves girls
below the age of 18.
 The prevalence of early marriage is declining in Ethiopia and other African
countries. 66
 However, it is still widely practiced in different regions of Ethiopia.

 Early marriage is regarded as violation of the rights of the child.

 Early marriage has the following major harmful
consequences:
 Young girls enter into marital relation when they are too
young to give their consent to get married.
 Early marriage inhibits girls' personal development; it
hinders girls’ chance to education and future professional
development.
 Early marriage exposes young girls to sexual abuse by their
older husbands.
 Early marriage leads to early pregnancies, which increases
risks of diseases and complications during delivery, fistula,
and death of the mother or child.
67
 Child marriage is an illegal practice according to
the Criminal Code of Ethiopia.
 Despite this legal restrictions, early marriage is still
practiced in different regions of the country.
 Facts about early marriage in Ethiopia
 40% of all women who are in their early twenties
married before the age of 18.
 8% of girls aged 15-19 were married before they reach
at the age of 15.

68
Factors of early marriage
 Social norms: Social norms contribute a lot for the
continuation of early marriage in many parts of the
world.
 Chastity of girls is one of the social norms that
influence parents to protect girls from pre-marital
sex.
 The value attached to virginity is another driver of
early marriage.
 Girl’s reputation and family social status are
associated with sexual purity of girls.
69
 Parents incline to marry off their daughter before the girl
reach at the stage of poverty to avoid the possibility of pre-
marital sex and love affair.
 Economic factors are among the major factors that drive
child marriage.
 In many areas of Ethiopia marriage provides economic
security for young girls.
 Hence, parents, in some cases girls, support early marriage
for economic benefits such as access to land and other
resources.
 Parents’ desire to get a good husband for their daughter is
also another reason.
70
4.4.2 Marginalization of older persons
 We have discussed age-based marginalization considering the
vulnerability of children.
 Age-based marginalization also affects older people.

 The phrase ‘older people’ refers to adults with the age of 60 and
above.
 The number of older people is increasing globally.

 According to the estimation of the United Nations (2009), the

number of older people will increase to 2 billion by 2050.
 Eighty percent of the 2 billion older persons would live in low and
middle-income countries.
 This means Africa would have a large number of older adults after
30 years.
 Ethiopia, the second populous country in Africa, would also have
71
millions of older persons after three decades.
 People’s attitude towards older persons is changing over time in
Ethiopia and all over the world.
 Older men and women have been respected across Ethiopian cultures.

 Older persons have been considered as custodians of tradition, culture,

and history.
 The role of older persons crucial in mentoring younger people,
resolving disputes, and restoring peace across Ethiopian cultures.
 Situations are changing as family structures and living patterns are
changing over time.
 Rural-urban migration, changes in values and life style, education and
new employment opportunities lead to so many changes.
 Care and support for older people tend to decline as younger people
migrate to urban areas and exposed to economic pressure and new life
styles.
 Ageism is a widely observed social problem in the world.
72
 Ageism refer to stereotyping, prejudice, and discrimination against
people based on their age.
4.5. Religious and ethnic minorities
 We have discussed the marginalization of different social and
occupational groups in different socio-cultural contexts.
 Religious and ethnic minorities groups also face different forms of
marginalization.
 There are several examples of marginalization and discrimination
targeting religious and ethnic minorities in the world.
 Let us mention two examples.

 The Jewish people suffered from discrimination and persecution in

different parts of the world.
 They were targets of extermination in Germany and other Western
European countries because of their identity.
 Muslim Rohingyas are among the most marginalized and persecuted
people in the world.
73
 According to Abdu Hasnat Milton et al (2017), the Rohingya are
‘one of the most ill-treated and persecuted refugee groups in the
world’.
 In recent years, more than half-a-million Rohingyas fled from their
homes in Nyanmar to neighboring countries such as Bangladesh.
 As people living in refugee camps, the Rohingyas are vulnerable to
problems such as malnutrition and physical and sexual abuse.
 These are among the widely known examples of discrimination
against religious and ethnic minorities.
 The problem is not limited to specific areas, regions or countries.

 Although the level of the problem varies in different contexts,

religious and ethnic minorities face different forms of discrimination
in many parts of the world.

74
4.6. Human right approaches and inclusiveness
 All forms of marginalization and discrimination against vulnerable
and minority groups contradict the principles of human rights.
 The major human rights conventions denounce discrimination against
women, children, people with disability, older people and other
minority and vulnerable groups.
 People with disabilities have the right to inclusive services and equal
opportunities.
 The human rights of women and girls include right to be free from
harmful traditional practices such as forced marriage, early marriage,
and female genital cutting.
 Any form of discrimination, exclusion, and gender-based violence
also violate the human rights girls and women.

75
 Anthropology appreciates cultural diversity and commonality.
 Do you remember the meaning of cultural relativism? It is one of the
guiding principles in social anthropology.
 It is about the importance of understanding the values, norms,
customs and practices of a particular culture in its own context.
 This requires appreciating the life styles of others including their
dressing styles, food habits, beliefs, rituals and celebrations.
 It also requires avoiding value judgments such as saying ‘this custom
is backward or primitive’.
 This does not mean that we need to appreciate every custom and
practice.
 Anthropologists do not support/appreciate cultural practices that
violate the rights and wellbeing of individuals and

76
CHAPTER FIVE: IDENTITY, ETHNICITY AND RACE
Introduction
 Human beings have the ability to think about and reflect upon the
nature of the social world and their position in that world.
 This ability allows to develop values and norms that characterize the
culture of a society.
 The creative dimension of human consciousness enable to impose
meaning and purpose on events.
 The cultural values and norms we create reflect back upon us.

 This shapes the way we think and act (through the general
socialization process in society).

77
 Major theoretical dilemma for social scientists.
1. Our consciousness gives us the ability to create
societies and, theoretically at least, to shape them
in any way that we choose.
 In this respect, people clearly create society.
2. On the other hand, the societies we create take on
a life of their own that is separate from each
individual (that is, we experience society as a force
acting on our range and choice of behavior).
 If we have to be socialized into becoming a recognizable human
being and this socialization process reflects the values and
norms of cultures and subcultures, then effectively society is
creating us, not the other way around. 78
Definitions
 Identity is widely used & it means many d/t things to d/t pple.
 Identity -the distinctive character belonging to any given individual,
or shared by all members of a particular social category or group.
 It emphasizes the sharing of a degree of sameness or oneness with
others of a particular characteristicIdentity-a sense of integration of
the self, in which different aspects come together in a unified whole.
 social identity refers specifically to those aspects of a person that are
defined in terms of his or her group memberships.
 Although most people are members of many different groups, only
some of those groups are meaningful in terms of how we define
ourselves.
 our self-definition is shared with other people who also claim that
categorical membership, e.g. as a woman, as a Muslim, as a marathon
79
runner, or as a Democrat.
Korostelina (2009) defined social identity in terms of
 Membership- The meaning of this identity can be
found in the answer to the question ―Who am I as
X? where X is the group or social category.
 Role- a social group is a set of individuals who
interact by accepting different interconnected roles.
 Individuals have different social identities depending on their
roles and positions within a group.
 CollectiveSocial Identity- collective identity can be
described through the achievement of a collective
aim for which this group has been created.
80
James D. Pearson (1999) reviewed identity as
 Is people's concepts of who they are, of what sort of people they are,
and how they relate to others" .
 describe the way individuals and groups define themselves and are
defined by others on the basis of race, ethnicity, religion, language,
and culture".
 the ways in which individuals and collectivities are distinguished in
their social relations with other individuals and collectivities.
 National identity describes that condition in which a mass of people
have made the same identification with national symbols {have
internalized the symbols of the nation ..." .
 Identities
are relatively stable, role-specific
understandings and expectations about self" .

81
 Social identities are sets of meanings that an actor
attributes to itself while taking the perspective of
others, that is, as a social object.
 The term [identity] (by convention) references
mutually constructed and evolving images of self
and other".
 Identities are prescriptive representations of
political actors themselves and of their
relationships to each other" (Kowert and Legro
1996, 453).

82
 Our identity is defined by the commitments and
identifications which provide the frame or horizon within
which we can try to determine from case to case what is
good, or valuable, or what ought to be done, or what we
endorse or oppose".
 Identity is any source of action not understandable from
biophysical regularities, and to which observers can
attribute meaning"
 Identity is objectively defined as location in a certain world
and can be subjectively appropriated only along with that
world.

83
 Identity is not a fixed point but an ambivalent point.
 Identity is also the relationship of the Other to oneself.

 It is how one answers the question who are you?"

 My identity is how I define who I am.

 A person's identity is how the person defines who he or she

is").
 For example, an Ethiopian, sociologist, Oromo, Somali,
Muslim, protestant, adult

84
Self and identity
 Self is distinct identity that we create that sets us apart
from others.
 It changes from time to time.

 Meads identified three stages of development of self

I. Preparatory stage -children imitate the people around them especially of
family members with whom they continually interact
II. Play stage -child begins to pretend to be other people. Example to become a
doctor, captain, etc. it is the stage of role taking.
III. The game stage-the stage where children grasp their own social position
and other around them
 Thinking of your selves as a group member is social
identity while thinking yourself as a unique individual is
personal identity
85
Identity crisis
 A condition where somebody feels great anxiety, confusion and
uncertainty about his/her identity and role in life.
Types of Social Identity
Five distinct types of social identification: ethnic, religious , gender,
age, and regional.
 There are numerous types of identity, each of which reflects a unique
criterion that may be used to differentiate between individuals or
groups, or alternatively to establish or reinforce commonality among
or within them.
 D/t criteria include: sex, gender, age, generation, sexual orientation,
disability, socio-economic (class), occupation, culture, ethnicity, race,
religion, nationality, language, ideology, and territorial allegiance,
among others.
86
 The types of identities that these criteria define are all
based on socially and/or culturally relevant similarities
and distinctions that are operative in any given societal
context.
 However, both their nature and relative saliency may
vary from situation to situation, culture to culture, and
society to society. (e.g. age cohort, tribe and lineage,
moiety and clan).
 Each of these types of social identification has some
unique characteristics that make it somewhat different
from another type.
 Relationship identities, in particular, have some special
features.
87
 To be a mother, for example, can imply a sense of shared
experience with other people who are mothers.
Major sources of identity
A. GENDER IDENTITY
 Gender is defined in terms of the particular cultural characteristics
that people give to different biological sexes.
 Gender refers to the various ways that cultures confer (or ascribe) all
kinds of behavioral differences to biological males and females.
 The first conscious label applied to human infants is that of sex,
followed closely and intimately by that of gender.
 These labels are significant because they will be used to tell people
things such as:
 How to raise a child appropriately in terms of its gender;
 The types of behavior/roles that a culture expects

 Gender is a very significant source of identity in our society, b/c of

the social characteristics we give to children of different genders.
88
 Gender clearly Affect the various ways that we
behave
 The rules that apparently govern (or structure if
you prefer) the roles that we play in life.
 Thus, to be male or female in our society means
conforming to various cultural rules and
expectations around what it means to be male or
female.
 The first thing we need to do, therefore, is to
identify the rules of gender in our society.
 how and why these rules develop, are maintained and can be
changed.
89
Gender Identities
 As should be apparent, when thinking about any form of social
identity we are talking about the way we see ourselves and the
way others see us.
 Aspects of male roles, reflecting the kinds of assumptions we
make about how men should behave, include:
 Leadership;
 Taking control of situations;
 Making decisions; and
 Being active, worldly, unemotional and aggressive.

 Men are not supposed to be particularly emotional (crying, for example, is

generally not considered a permissible male action
 Men are allowed to be blunt, loud, and sloppy (chaotic) in their behavior
and dress.
 In their sexual relationships, men are expected to openly take the initiative
90
and they are allowed much greater scope in their sexuality (sexual
promiscuity).
 Aspects of female roles on the other hand, again
reflecting the kinds of assumptions we make about
how men should behave, include:
 Physical dependence (especially during pregnancy);
 Emotional behavior;
 Lack of control; and
 Being passive, motherly and family-oriented.

91
Age
 is rooted in biological development.

 All pass through various phases of physical development,

 Age group has clear cultural connotations with regard to identity.
 Thus, people are socialized into normative associations between age and
behavior.
 Four very broad cultural groupings based around age, namely:
 Childhood
 Youth
 Adulthood and
 Old Age
 Each of these groups reflects certain cultural assumptions about how it is
appropriate and/or inappropriate for people of a certain age to behave.

92
Region
 Region (or geographic location) is a further example of the way we use our
perception of physical objects (in this case, places where we were born or
now live) as a means of constructing a sense of identity (both personal and
group).
 Initially we can focus on two main aspects of region:
 The Concepts of Nation and Nationality; and
 The idea of Regional Variations within different Nations.
 The concept of a Nation (and, as a consequence, the concept of nationality)
relates, geographically, to the idea of dividing the world into various States
(hence the concept of a Nation-state).
 That is, the people who are born and live within certain geographic
boundaries have a sense of belonging to or being a part of a particular
Nation.
 People imagine themselves to have a specific nationality.

 The idea of nationality (related to concepts of patriotism and national

93
identity) has been and continue to be powerfully emotive cultural forms in
modern societies.
ETHNIC IDENTITIES
 Ethnicity is a central element of self-definition and becomes an
important social identity.
 In the past, social scientists categorized human beings in terms of
basic racial categories, such as Asian, Caucasian, and Negroid.
 With increasing awareness of the arbitrary nature of the social
construction of race, these categories are less frequently used.
 More common today is categorization on the basis of ethnicity,
defined in terms of culture, language, and country of origin.
 Nationality can be closely linked to ethnic identity, but it often
represents a distinct way of identifying oneself.
 Like most identities, national identities are flexible and subjectively
defined.

94
Multiplicity and Inter-sectionality of social identity
 Multiple identities & having separate identities
 Theories emanating from personality psychology focus on
the possibilities for integrating multiple identities into a
single identity.
 Within that particular tradition, the successful resolution of
potential conflicts among identities is seen as a criterion of
the healthy personality.
 There is general agreement among experts of identities that social roles
somehow provide cohesiveness for society, and promote order and
stability which permit individuals to live in relative harmony.

95
 Besides, there is intersectionality among various social identities.
 Intersectionality refer to the specific conditions that exist when one
holds two or more social statuses.
 Often discussion has focused on the intersections of race and gender,

 To be a Black female as opposed to being a Black male or a White

female.
 Ethnicity may be experienced differently in terms of gender.

 Proponents of intersectionality suggest that it is not possible to clearly

distinguish between experience that is related to race and
experience that is related to gender.
 Rather, the conditions are inextricably bound together in the
individual‘s life.

96
Development and Change of identity
 Identity overlaps and intersections cannot be examined in a vacuum.

 The role played by various social actors in these identification

processes.
 Three distinct, yet intertwined and mutually reinforcing, processes:

1. Identity development/formation,
2. Identity construction, and
3. Identity negotiation.
 Identity development/formation refers to the cognitive
developmental processes that each individual undergoes throughout
the maturation process as s/he explores his or her place in the world
and develops a unique sense of self.
 Different developmental stages and variations according to age,
gender, ethnicity, race, and culture.
97
 The role of various factors in identity development
 This includes an examination of the impact of
 place of birth,
 migration experience,
 religious affiliation,
 cultural differences,
 parenting,
 socialization,
 education, the state, language, cultural forms and industries,
moral factors, value orientations, in addition to racism and
hate/bias activity.

98
 People have multiple social identities characterized by
distinct attributes and behaviors
 Many identification processes occur
 Identity construction refers to the creation,
formulation and expression of personal and/or social
identities for the self, either by individuals or groups
 Identity negotiation refers to the political nature of
personal and social identification of self and/or other,
between or among, and by or within groups, via the
interactions
99
of individuals.
 Identities can be ascribed, achieved, or simply
assumed both by individuals and collectivities.
 Consideration of identity construction and negotiation
reveals that identities are not simply ascribed or achieved
as part of the individual's socialisation and developmental
process.
 Instead, they are socially constructed and negotiated,
both by individuals and social groups.
 Thus, these two processes help to inform the very range of
socially-salient identities from which individuals can select.
 Identity construction and negotiation reveals important
identification discrepancies.
 Are indicative of both personal struggles and important
societal tensions
100
 Certainly the forces of socialization act on the individual
to define gender.
 Parents describe their newborn children differently as a
function of gender—daughters are seen as more delicate
(gentle)and sons as better coordinated.
 Teachers as early as preschool engage in behaviors that
shape the behaviors of boys and girls in different ways,
 more often asking girls to be quiet or to speak softly.

 Thus, gender identity develops not in a vacuum, but in a

social context in which representations and beliefs about
gender are well established and actively fostered.

101
 Long-term shifts in social identities develop over time
 The expression of social identities can fluctuate considerably.

 Fluctuations in identity(shift from one identity to another) provide

evidence of the ways in which people respond to their environment
and can make choices that seem most appropriate to that setting.
Factors influencing identity negotiation
 the range and importance of social identities that a person has,

 the setting in which one is located, and

 the actions and influence of other people in those settings.

102
The Notion of Ethnicity and Ethnic Identity
 Within sociology, the terms race, ethnicity, minority,
and dominant group all have very specific and
different meanings.
 Ethnicity has been best defined within Sociology,
 But it has been a debated topic
 There is no single definition or theory of how ethnic
groups are formed.
 Overall, an ethnic group or ethnicity has been defined
in numerous ways.
103
 MERGER (2003) IDENTIFIED FIVE BASIC ASPECTS.
1. Unique Cultural Traits: Ethnic groups are subculture maintaining certain
behavioral characteristics that to some extent set them off from society‘s
mainstream culture.
2. Sense of community: display awareness of close associations.
 exists a we‖-feeling among members.
 sense of oneness derived from understanding of shared ancestor.

3. Ethnocentrism: is the tendency to judge other groups by the standards and values
of one’s own group.
The “we” feeling of ethnic groups produces a view of one’s own group
as superior to others.
 In group become “correct” and “natural,”
 Out - groups are seen as “odd,” “immoral,” or “unnatural. inferior or deficient
 Such inclination is a universal practice.
 In multiethnic societies, such feelings of group superiority become a basis for group
solidarity and fosters cohesiveness within one group, but also a basis of conflict
between different groups and deadly ethnic divisions
104
4) Ascribed Membership:
 Ethnic group membership is ordinarily ascribed and acquired at birth

 It is not subject to basic change but unusual circumstances.

 Change ethnic affiliation is possible e.g by changing one‘s name or

by denying group membership.
 But it is extremely difficult to divest/separate oneself completely of
one‘s ethnic heritage.
 If it is easy to resign from the group, it is not truly an ethnic
group (Hughes & Hughes).
5) Territoriality
 Ethnic groups often occupy a distinct territory within the larger
society.
 maintain a definable territory within the greater society.

 When ethnic groups occupy a definable territory, they also maintain

105
or aspire to some degree of political autonomy.
HUTCHINSON AND SMITH‘S (1996:6–7) - SIX MAIN FEATURES
1. A common proper name, to identify and express the ―essence
of the community;
2. A myth of common ancestry that includes the idea of common
origin in time and place and a sense of fictive kinship;
3. Shared historical memories, or better, shared memories of a
common past or pasts, including heroes, events, and their
commemoration
4. One or more elements of common culture include religion,
customs, and language
5. A link with a homeland, not necessarily its physical occupation
by the ethnic, only its symbolic attachment to the ancestral land
6. A sense of solidarity on the part of at least some sections of the
ethnic's population 106
Gerald Berreman (1972, 1981) defines
 Ethnicity as one level of social stratification or social inequality that also
includes race, class, kinship, age, estate, caste, and gender.
 Berreman provides clear distinctions between ethnicity and race or class.

Ethnicity Vs Race
 Ethnicity is linked in a dichotic relationship with race.
 Racial stratification is associated with birth-ascribed status based on physical and
cultural characteristics defined by outside groups.
 Ethnicity is also ascribed at birth, but the ethnic group normally defines its
cultural characteristics itself.
 Racial categorizations are normally mixed with inaccuracies and stereotypes,
 Ethnic classification is normally more accurate of a cultural group because it is
defined by the group itself.
 Ethnic classifications used by outside groups to stereotype an ethnic community in
ways that are often oversimplified

107
Pluralism
 a condition whereby people of all ethnicities and
races remain distinct but have social equality.
 Ideally, countries strive for pluralism,
 As an example, the United States is exceptionally
diverse, with people representing groups from all
over the globe, but lacking in true pluralism.
 the former Soviet Union with its more than 100
ethnic groups, some having more than a million
members.
108
 Two views of ethnic groups
1. an objective unit that can be identified by people‘s
distinctive cultural traits and
2. ethnic group is merely a product of people‘s thinking
of and proclaiming it as ethnic group.
 Most sociologists defined ethnic group both as objective and
subjective units.
 There are some fixed features such as territories, cultural
features and common ancestors (objective) and these ethnic
boundaries are subjected to change (flexible).
 In multiethnic societies
 ethnic boundaries are not rigid
 there is much marriage across ethnic lines
109
 the voluntary nature of ethnicity becomes more salient.
PERSPECTIVES ON THE FORMATION OF ETHNIC GROUPS/IDENTITIES
Primordial theory
 Assume that ethnicity is an ascribed identity-inherited from ones
ancestor.
 It is deeply rooted to bloodline

 Ethnicity is static- exist for ever.

 People belong to an ethnic group b/c share common biological and

cultural features.
 Emphasis the role of primordial factors such as blood and cultural
ties.
 Ethnicity is an emotional tie formed at an early stage by birth.

110
The constructionist school
 Ethnicity is a socially constructed identity- created rather than
ascribed.
 Therefore, ethnic boundaries are flexible and changeable.

 Ethnic membership is determined by society ,depending on the

environment
The instrumentalist school:
 View ethnicity as an instrument/strategy for gaining resources.

 People become member of their ethnic group when their ethnicity

yields significant returns to them i.e. ethnicity exist and persists
because it is useful.
 The function of ethnicity ranges from moral and material to
political gains.

111
An integrated approach:
 Either of the theories listed above do not explain ethnicity
alone rather in integration.
 Proposition 1. Ethnicity is partly ascribed- ancestor,
kinship, cultural and emotional ties developed at early
stage are important .
 Proposition 2. Ethnicity to some extent is socially
constructed by society and individuals.
 Proposition 3. Costs and benefit related to an ethnic group
is also important to some extent in ethnic identification.
 Proposition 4. Ethnic boundaries are relatively stable but
they can change from time to time
112
Why might Ethnic Identity be dysfunctional
 Primordial ethnic loyalties may overwhelm national purpose;
 Ethnic dominance may permanently bias public policy in favour of the
dominant group
 Minority groups may lose out
 May operate through democratic mechanisms or various types of
dictatorships
 May subvert democratic mechanisms with coup d’etats etc in order to
maintain dominance when challenged
 More extreme actions of domination may occur
 “Redistribution” in favour of the dominant group may be at the
expense of regional and ethnic balance and economic growth

113
Does Ethnic Diversity Cause Civil Strife?
Recent or Current cases:
Nigeria: Ogoni and others seeking a greater share of the oil
wealth vs. Federal Government;
Somalia: clan/territorial and sub-clan divisions wreck havoc
Kenya: Luo-Kikuyu rivalry
Chad: rival groups vie for oil wealth
Collier’s conclusion:
Most conflicts have an ethnic dimension; but the real underlying
cause and motivation may be control of resource wealth and
“rents”
i.e. conflicts get patterned on ethnicity or religion, though
fundamental causes usually lie elsewhere
114
Race
Race is one of the most misunderstood and misused concepts of the modern world.
It is not applied dispassionately by laypeople or even, to a great extent, by social
scientists.
Much of the confusion surrounding the idea of race stems from the fact that it has
both biological and social meanings.
 Rather, it can arouse emotions such as hate, fear, anger, loyalty, pride, and prejudice.
It has also been used to justify some of the most appalling injustices and
mistreatments of humans by other humans.
The idea of race has a long history, extending as far back as ancient civilizations.
It is in the modern world, however—specifically, the last two centuries— that the
notion has taken on real significance and fundamentally affected human relations.

115
The Bases Of Racial Classification
 The basis of racial classification is that a person from one genetic population can
interbreed with a person from any other population creates a difficulty in dealing with
the notion of race.
In answering the question, ―What are the characteristics that differentiate racial types?
Physical anthropologists distinguish major categories of human traits as either visible
anatomical features such as skin color, hair texture, and body and facial shape—or
genotypes—genetic specifications inherited from one‘s parents.
Races have traditionally been classified chiefly on the basis of the most easily
observable anatomical traits, like skin color; internal and blood traits have been de-
emphasized or disregarded.
 Attempts to categorize humans have proved futile b/c differences among individuals
of the same group (or ―racial type) are greater than those found between groups.
116
Social construction of race
 Most social and biological scientists today agree that the idea of race is not
meaningful in a biological sense, though this is hardly a settled issue.
 Its importance for the study of intergroup relations, however, clearly lies in its social
meaning.
 Race is socially constructed and that premise cannot be overemphasized.
 People attach significance to the concept of race and consider it a real and important
division of humanity.
 And, as long as people believe that differences in selected physical traits are
meaningful, they will act on those beliefs, thereby affecting their interrelations with
others.
 If, for example, those classified as black are deemed inherently less intelligent than
those classified as white, people making this assumption will treat blacks
accordingly.

117
 Employers thinking so will hesitate to place blacks in important
occupational positions; school administrators thinking so will
discourage blacks from pursuing difficult courses of study; white
parents thinking so will hesitate to send their children to schools
attended by blacks; and so on.
 The creation of such categories and the beliefs attached to them
generate what sociologists have called the self-fulfilling prophecy.
 This refers to a process in which the false definition of a situation
produces behavior that, in turn, makes real the originally falsely
defined situation.
 The notion of black inferiority is reinforced, and continued
discriminatory treatment of this group is rationalized.

118
 RACE is primarily, though not exclusively, a socially constructed category.
 A race is a group that is treated as distinct in society based on certain characteristics.
 It is often a source of differential and unfair treatment.
 It is not the biological characteristics that define racial groups, but how groups have
been treated historically and socially.
 Society assigns people to racial categories (White, Black, etc.) not because of
science or fact, but because of opinion and social experience.
 Thus, how racial groups are defined is a social process (socially constructed).
 The term race refers to groups of people who have differences and similarities
in biological traits deemed by society to be socially significant, meaning that people
treat other people differently because of them.

119
 Although some scholars have attempted to establish dozens of racial groupings for
the peoples of the world, others have suggested three commonly known types of
race: mongoloid-Asians, Caucasians-Hindus, and Negroids-Africans.
 Certainly, obvious physical differences—some of which are inherited—exist
between humans.
 But how these variations form the basis for social prejudice and discrimination has
nothing to do with genetics but rather with a social phenomenon related to outward
appearances.
 Racism, then, is prejudice based on socially significant physical features. A racist
believes that certain people are superior, or inferior, to others in light of racial
differences.
 Racists approve of segregation, or the social and physical separation of classes of
people.
120
Racism
 Racist thinking involves principles that lead naturally and inevitably
to the differential treatment of members of various ethnic groups.
In no society are valued resources distributed equally; in all cases,
some get more than others.
In multiethnic societies, ethnicity is used as an important basis for
determining the nature of that distribution.
Ethnic groups are ranked in a hierarchy, and their members are
rewarded accordingly, creating a system of ethnic inequality.
Groups at the top compound their power and maintain dominance over
those lower in the hierarchy. 121
Unit Seven: Indigenous Knowledge Systems (IKS) and Practices
7.1. Definition of concepts
7.1.1. Indigenous Knowledge Systems (IKS)
 IKS is defined as technical insight of wisdom gained and developed by people in a
particular locality through years of careful observation and experimentation with
the phenomena around them.
 IKS is not just a set of information that is in the minds of the people, which can be
simply taped and applied. It is accessible by recall and practice (Mangetane, 2001).
 IKS is embodied in culture and is described as an integrated pattern of human
knowledge, beliefs and behavior.
 It consists of language, ideas, beliefs, customs, taboos, codes, institutions, tools,
techniques, artifacts, rituals, ceremonies, folklores and gender.
 This culture is passed down from one generation to the next generation and
generally it provides a holistic view of how to use natural resources based on
traditional ethical perspectives (Atteh,1991).
 In sum, IKS refers to “ a total of knowledge and practices, whether explicit or
implicit, used in the management of socioeconomic, ecological and spiritual facets
of life (Hoppers, 2005: 2), stored in the collective memory and communicated 122
orally among members of the community and to the future generations [through,
stories, myth, songs, etc].
7.1.2. Indigenous peoples, and Indigenous Knowledge
 Indigenous peoples

 indigenous people' refers to a specific group of people occupying a certain

geographic area for many generations (Loubser, 2005).
 Indigenous people possess, practice and protect a total sum of knowledge and skills
constitutive of their meaning, belief systems, livelihood constructions and
expression that distinguish them from other groups (Dondolo, 2005; Nel, 2005).
 However, the concept “indigenous” is a social and historical construct with high
political, social, and economic stakes.
 Definitions of indigenous in international governing organizations (IGOs), in
indigenous communities, and in the academic literature are highly contested.
 The World Bank's definition of indigenous peoples includes close attachment to
ancestral territories and the natural resources in them; presence of customary social
and political institutions; economic systems primarily oriented to subsistence
production; an indigenous language, often different from the predominant language;
and self-identification and identification by others as members of a distinct cultural
group (The world Bank in Corntassel, 2003:86).
123
 Indigenousness, as defined by indigenous peoples, focuses
on the relationship with the community in which they live.
 In each definition the distinction between the communities
is cited.
 Both definitions also highlight the relationship of
indigenous peoples to the power structure within the state,
noting that indigenous groups are disadvantaged or lack
control.
 Territory is also essential in the definitions.

 Being indigenous is about “continuity of habitation,

aboriginality, and often a ‘natural’ connection to the land”
(Clifford 1997[1994]:287).
124
 For example, in the cosmology of Native Hawaiians the land is an
ancestor who gave birth to Hawaiians (Trask 1999).
 Thus, the relationship to the land is a form of kinship.

 There is a sense of stewardship and of duty to not only use the

resources that the land gives for sustenance, but to do what each
generation can to perpetuate the health and fertility of the land.
 Academic definitions focus on the following elements of indigenous
identity: living in tradition-based cultures, having political autonomy
prior to colonialism, and seeking to preserve cultural integrity in the
present (Corntassel, 2003).
 They also recognize the role of land to indigenous peoples—noting
that they are descended from inhabitants of the land they occupy
(ibid).

125
 In 1986, however, a working definition of Indigenous peoples was
offered by the UN Working Group on Indigenous Issues, developed
within the comprehensive Study by Martinez Cobo J. on the problem
of discrimination against indigenous populations.
 According to this definition:Indigenous communities, peoples and
nations are those which, having a historical continuity with pre-
invasion and pre-colonial societies that developed on their territories,
consider themselves distinct from other sectors of the societies now
prevailing on those territories, or parts of them.
 They form at present non-dominant sectors of society and are
determined to preserve, develop and transmit to future generations
their ancestral territories, and their ethnic identity, as the basis of their
continued existence as peoples, in accordance with their own cultural
patterns, social institutions and legal systems (MartinezCobo, 1982).

126
7.1.3. Special Features of Indigenous Knowledge
 Ellen and Harris (1996) identified the following special features of indigenous
knowledge that distinguish it broadly from other knowledge. As to them IK is:
 1. Local, in that it is rooted in a particular community and situated within broader
cultural traditions; it is a set of experiences generated by people living in those
communities. Separating the technical from the non-technical, the rational from
the non-rational could be problematic. Therefore, when transferred to other
places, there is a potential risk of dislocating IK.
 2. Tacit knowledge and, therefore, not easily codifiable.

 3. Transmitted orally, or through imitation and demonstration. Codifying it may

lead to the loss of some of its properties.
 4. Experiential rather than theoretical knowledge. Experience and trial and error,
tested in the rigorous laboratory of survival of local communities constantly
reinforce IK.
 5. Learned through repetition, which is a defining characteristic of tradition even
when new knowledge is added. Repetition aids in the retention and reinforcement
of IK.
 6. Constantly changing, being produced as well as reproduced, discovered as 127
well
as lost; though it is often perceived by external observers as being somewhat static
7.2 Significance of indigenous knowledge
 Until relatively recently, the development of a community’s
conception of knowledge was influenced primarily by the philosophy
and methods of western science.
 “Few, outside of some anthropologists and historians recognized that
there are numerous sciences embedded in cultures of other peoples
and civilizations throughout the world (Davies, S. and Ebbe, K.,
editors, 1995).
 Today, however, both scholars and public policy makers are
recognizing the importance of various local or culture-based
knowledge systems in addressing the pressing problems of
development and the environment” (ibid).
 Indigenous knowledge is important in that people in a community
value whatever resource they get from the environment through
sustainable production systems.
128
 The knowledge of local people is an enabling
component of development.
 IK system enable people to develop strategies for
handling household and communal activities
(Mangetane et al., 2001).
 For example in Ethiopia Debo and Jige are an
important uniting forces in communal activities.
 help find the best solution to a development
challenges. For example, familiarity with local
knowledge can help extensionists and researchers
understand and communicate better with local
people. In general, IK is an important part of 129the
lives of the poor.
 IK is a key element of the “social capital” of the poor; their main asset to invest in
the struggle for survival, to produce food, to provide for shelter or to achieve
control of their own lives. Furthermore, one cannot overlook indigenous
knowledge’s ability to provide effective alternatives to Western know-how.
 IK offers local people and their development workers further options in designing
new projects or addressing specific problems and wider disasters.
 Instead of relying on imported Western technologies, people in the developing
nations can choose from readily available indigenous knowledge or, where
appropriate, combine indigenous and Western technology.
 However, it is important to note that not all indigenous practices are beneficial to
the sustainable development of a local community; and not all IK can a priori
provide the right solution for a given problem.
 Typical examples are slash and burn agriculture and female circumcision.
 Hence, before adopting IK, integrating it into development programs, or even
disseminating it, practices need to be scrutinized for their appropriateness just as
any other technology. (A frame work for action, 1998).

130
7.4. Preservation, Challenges and Limitations of IK
 The future of IK, that reflects many generations of experience and problem
solving by thousands of indigenous people across the globe, is uncertain
(Warren, 2004).
 The loss of IK would impoverish society because, just as the world needs
genetic diversity of species, it needs diversity of knowledge systems (Labelle,
1997).
 The rapid change in the way of life of local communities has largely accounted
for the loss of IK.
 Younger generations underestimate the utility of IK systems because of the
influence of modem technology and education (Ulluwishewa, 1999).
 If IK is not recorded and preserved, it may be lost and remain inaccessible to
other indigenous systems as well as to development workers.
 Development projects cannot offer sustainable solutions to local problems
without integrating local knowledge (Warren, 1991).
 "Since IK is essential to development, it must be gathered, organized and
disseminated, just like Western knowledge''(Agrawal, 1995 in Amare, 2009).
131
 As IK is the key to local-level development, ignoring people’s knowledge leads
possibly to failure.
 Regarding the challenges and limitations of IK, Amare
(2009) states the following :
 As with scientific knowledge, ( Amare, 2009), IK has the following
limitations and drawbacks :
 IK is sometimes accepted uncritically because of naive notions that
whatever indigenous people do is naturally in harmony with the
environment.
 Thrupp (1989) argues that we should reject “romanticized and
idealistic views of local knowledge and traditional societies”.
 There is historical and contemporary evidence that indigenous
peoples have also committed environmental sins’ through over-
grazing, over-hunting, or over-cultivation of the land.
 It is misleading to think of IK as always being ‘good’, ‘right or
‘sustainable’.
 Sometimes the knowledge which local people rely on is wrong 132 or

even harmful.
 Practices based on, for example, mistaken beliefs, faulty
experimentation, or inaccurate information can be
dangerous and may even be a barrier to improving the
wellbeing of indigenous people.
 Doubleday (2003) pointed out that knowledge is power, so
individuals are not always willing to share knowledge
among themselves, or with outsiders.
 Knowledge is a source of status and income (as is the case,
for example, with a herbalist) and is often jealously
guarded.
 A related issue is that some indigenous peoples fear that
their IK will be misused, and lacking the power to prevent
such abuses, they choose to keep quiet. 133
7.5. The Erosion of Indigenous Knowledge Systems(IKS)
 With rapid population growth—often due to in-migration or
government relocation schemes in the case of large development
projects, such as dams — standards of living may be compromised.
 With poverty, opportunities for short-term gain are selected over
environmentally sound local practices.
 The introduction of market-oriented agricultural and forestry practices
focused on mono-cropping is associated with losses in IK and IK
practices, through losses in biodiversity and cultural diversity.
 In the short term, chemical inputs seem to reduce the need to tailor
varieties to difficult growing conditions, contributing to the demise of
local varieties.
 With deforestation, certain medicinal plants become more difficult to
find (and the knowledge or culture associated with the plants also
declines). 134
 More and more knowledge is being lost as a result of the disruption of
traditional channels of oral communication.
 As IK is transmitted orally, it is vulnerable to rapid change
— especially when people are displaced or when young
people acquire values and lifestyles different from those of
their ancestors.
 In sum, indigenous peoples often have much in common
with other neglected segments of societies, i.e. lack of
political representation and participation, economic
marginalization and poverty, lack of access to social
services and discrimination.
 Despite their cultural differences, the diverse indigenous
peoples share common problems also related to the
protection of their rights.

135