Anthropology plays a critical role in understanding humans, societies, behaviors in the present and past. Through Anthropology, we get to learn various ways of lives of different people, communication, the underlying culture and their evolution throughout the ages. Nonetheless, the study of Anthropology enables scholars to investigate and conclude on the causes of various aspects of the lives of humans. Therefore, this paper aims to provide an overview and analysis of Kenneth Guest's book Essentials of Cultural Anthropology: A Toolkit for Global Age. More importantly, focus on the first four chapters, namely: Anthropology in the Global Age; Culture; Ethnography and Fieldwork; and, Language respectively.
Chapter One Summary and Analysis
The first chapter, Anthropology in the Global Age provides a brief background of the subject, Anthropology and the unique approaches utilized. The chapter traces Anthropology to the start of mass migration of Europeans to the new world where they fascinated with diverse cultures and artifacts. Besides, the section departs ethnocentrism, which provides that one's way of life is superior to and should be used to judge other people's way of life. Consequently, enabling us appreciate our own culture as well as those of other communities. The chapter outlines how Anthropologists can gain a comprehensive overview of the human culture. The methods are grouped into a four-field approach entailing physical anthropology, linguistic anthropology, archaeology, and cultural anthropology.
Also, the chapter introduces holism, which is a revolutionary way which commits Anthropologists to view human life through different lenses, that is, culture, language, biology, and history. Next, the chapter explores the aspect of globalization with Anthropology. Indeed, globalization is a disrupting factor that brings about changes in fundamental dynamics in regards to communities and research methodologies adopted by anthropologists. With the advent of globalization, communities are increasingly dispersed, and specific community elements are gradually fading ways. Therefore, Anthropologists have to devise ways to ensure feasibility of their studies.
Chapter Two Summary and Analysis
This chapter explores culture which is an intrinsic element of Anthropology-one cannot describe a community by avoiding to mention the culture. Chapter two explores how culture has shaped Anthropology throughout the centuries. The book uses two critical frameworks to explain the evolution of culture. American early transformational frameworks, for instance, sought to organize cultural diversities globally as missionaries traversed the world. This principle bases its understanding on the Darwinian Theory that cultures evolved as a result of the biological evolution to adapt to environmental pressures.
The chapter also explains culture as a system of beliefs, knowledge, behaviors, artifacts, or institutions created, learned and shared with a group of people. Besides, the chapter attempts to explain the relationship between culture and various systems of power. One thing strikes me about this chapter is that as much as biology influences who we are as a people, culture plays an integral role in determining the nature of a person. Globalization, on the other hand, leads to erosion of some cultures and creation of entirely new culture. As people increasingly migrate and interact, the dominant cultures overshadow minority cultures, and instances merge to create a mixture of two cultures. Thus culture results from interaction within a group of people.
Chapter Three Summary and Analysis
This chapter explores the aspect of fieldwork as an essential unit within the discipline of Anthropology. The first part outlines the importance of ethnography enables to study communities systematically thereby allowing him or her to explore cultural phenomenon from objectively. The chapter also describes the various stages of fieldwork from preparation phase, laying down strategies, matching skills and perspectives, to analysis. For this reason, it is imperative for researchers to lay particular attention to each stage since every phase determines the overall success of the expedition. Moreover, it is essential for researchers to maintain ethical guidelines such as not harming, seeking prior consent, and keeping the anonymity of their target population. This section also outlines the changes brought about by globalization in regards to fieldwork methodologies and content.
Chapter Four Summary and Analysis
This section explores language as a central aspect of Anthropology. Researchers cannot adequately describe a community or a society without addressing linguistics. Language involves a pattern of sounds and gestures arranged to convey, nonetheless, the origins of language is traced throughout the evolution as man evolved so did language. There are to principles used to understand language, descriptive and kinesics and paralanguage. Descriptive studies language in a view to extracting meanings from the sound. Kinesics and paralanguage on the other hand attempt to understand different purposes of communication, based on body language and the noises, such as yells and cries, produced by a speaker. Besides the chapter looks into how language intersects with power and how globalization shapes linguistics globally.
Conclusion
After a critical analysis of Guest's first four chapters of his book Essentials of Cultural Anthropology: A Toolkit for Global Age, we learn more as a society and as individuals. First, there is no superior culture compared to others, and everybody should hold their beliefs in high esteem. Next, various factors both tangible and intangible portray our cultures. More importantly, the dignity of any individual or society should be respected and upheld in the course of studies.
Reference
Guest, K. J. (2018). Essentials of cultural anthropology: A toolkit for a global age (2nd ed.). W.W Norton.
