Symbolic and Interpretive Anthropology is the study of symbols in their social and cultural context, which was brought about in the 1960’s and progressed through the 1970’s. These symbols are generally publicly shared and recognized by many and could be words, customs, or rituals.
Symbolic Anthropologists describe and interpret symbolic meaning in emic terms, meaning that they interpret the symbols in the context of the culture that they are studying. A symbolic anthropologist believes that culture can be found in the public performance of symbolic systems and that there is generally a response to these symbols.
Symbolic and Interpretive Anthropology
Symbolic or Interpretive Anthropology is concerned with the process through which actors are giving meaning to their world and these meaning finding a place in system or systems of cultural symbols. The study conducted by Geertz is basically guessing about the meanings and enveloped it in his account by analysing them and caricaturing the explanatory conclusions.
Along with criticisms and arguments involved something which is important to observe that via his study, where the humanistic approach kind of lost ground was brought back by his work while in addition, Turner’s work and his became the gems in anthropological tradition.
Although symbolic anthropologists have never outlined the methodology for this sort of work but characterised the kind of work needed in anthropological tradition by leading a paradigm shift where actor centric approach was further refined by post modernists as a critique to this modernist tradition. Along with the emergence of post modern tradition certain development were made in modern which reshaped it with some other attributes taking it to the next level and recording a continuous development with the basic ideology of people.
Symbolic and Interpretive Anthropology | BCS Preparation in details :
Read more…