Culture theory: The developing synthesis from biology

Conclusions We believe that a useful, complete theory of culture is simpler than the dichotomies promoted by the coevolutionary approach suggest. Culture can be regarded as an aspect of the environment into which each human is born and must succeed or fail, developed gradually by the succession of humans who have lived throughout history. We hypothesize that culture results from the inclusive-fitness-maximizing efforts of all humans who have lived. We think the evidence suggests that cultural traits are, in general, vehicles of genic survival, and that the heritability of cultural traits depends on the judgments (conscious and unconscious) of individuals with regard to their effects on the individual's inclusive fitness.The challenge now before students of culture is to understand the proximate mechanisms, especially the ontogeny of learning biases, that result in the acquisition and transmission of cultural traits. How, for example, do we learn what constitutes an appropriate return on a social investment in different circumstances; i.e., what causes us to feel rewarded by, say, helping offspring who do not help us back, yet consistently to begrudge lesser expenditures to most others, or to feel cheated if we are not compensated for such expenditures immediately? We suggest that the answers to such questions lie in a few basic evolved learning tendencies.     

Biocultural Diversity: Moving Beyond the Realm of ‘Indigenous’ and ‘Local’ People

During the past decade the relationship between biodiversity and human diversity has received increased attention, resulting in the identification of what the Declaration of Belém calls an ‘inextricable link’ between biological and cultural diversity. Although the term biocultural diversity, introduced to denote this link, is being used increasingly, there has been little critical reflection on what it precisely refers to. I argue that it is used with particular reference to ‘indigenous traditional’ people, but that there is scope for extending its application within biocultural discourse. I therefore review the concept of culture and discuss what constitutes cultural values of the natural environment. I conclude that the concept of culture must be understood as involving a dynamic process of transcultural exchange and constant re-articulations of tradition resulting in the persistence of certain cultural practices. This approach ultimately reveals that the concept of biocultural diversity is also applicable to non-indigenous traditional communities.     

Damp Rooms and Saying ‘Please’: Mimesis and Alterity in the Host Family Space in Study-Abroad Experiences

Study-abroad programs are a ‘globalizing project’ developed at the intersection of educational institutions seeking new income sources and the ideologies that the world is comprised of a mosaic of cultures and that ‘intercultural experience’ is valuable. While research on study-abroad programs often focuses on their effect on the students’ ‘global competence’ and language proficiency, this article focuses on the space, the space of host family in particular, produced in study-abroad programs. Study-abroad programs here are perceived in a wide sense to include various programs for students to go to another country to study.

Study-abroad guidebooks and researchers portray the host family's life as constituting a quintessential ‘native life’, in which study-abroad students should be immersed. However, based on ethnographic fieldwork in Aotearoa/New Zealand, this article argues that the distinction between ‘cultural difference’ and ‘cultural sameness’ is a construction, resulting in mutual accommodation and intolerant judgments, respectively. That is, when host parents recognised the ‘cultural difference’ of the foreign students’ behaviour, they often sought to understand meanings behind the behaviour, resulting in mutual accommodation. It turned the space into what Michael Taussig calls the ‘space between’, in which it is unclear who is imitating whom. When the host parents recognised ‘cultural sameness’ based on superficial similarity, however, their efforts to understand meanings behind behaviour was halted and, when the behaviour was considered problematic, led to the student being asked to move out. This article details an ironic space of study abroad where alterity inspired tolerance and similarity inspired intolerance.     

The Fundamental Constraint on the evolution of culture

This paper argues that there is a general constraint on the evolution of culture. This constraint – what I am calling the Fundamental Constraint – must be satisfied in order for a cultural system to be adaptive. The Fundamental Constraint is this: for culture to be adaptive there must be a positive correlation between the fitness of cultural variants and their fitness impact on the organisms adopting those variants. Two ways of satisfying the Fundamental Constraint are introduced, structural solutions and evaluative solutions. Because of the limitations on these solutions, this constraint helps explain why there is not more culture in nature, why the culture that does exist has the form it has, and why complex, cumulative culture is restricted to the human species.     

History,Houses and Regional Identities

The Indonesian government authorises particular modes of representations of the diverse cultural traditions of the archipelago which are subservient to the display of a national culture in the pursuit of national unity. The ‘Taman Mini Indonesia Indah’ theme park in Jakarta manifests the authorised version of difference, as do regional museums. In the province of South Sulawesi, under the guiding influence of local scholars, the provincial government has developed its own theme park which, in the manner of the Jakarta park, uses house forms as emblems of the cultural diversity found in the province. This paper investigates the historical sensibilities displayed in the park, those of the planners and those of the people who live in and use the park. The planners have tried to avoid the use of ersatz forms, with a stress on cultural ‘authenticity’ in the creation of the displays. They have made the park a showcase for an expression of a regional sensibility about the historical genesis of the place of the province in the modern world, giving their own traditions a centrality which is lacking in expressions of culture authorised by the national government.     

"Galton's Asset" and "Flower's Problem Cultural Networks and Cultural Units in Cross-Cultural Research Ml (Or, Male Genital Mutilations and Polygyny in Cross-Cultural Perspective)

Edward Tylor had envisioned anthropology to be comprised of ethnology and ethnography in equal parts, but today ethnography dominates the field. In this paper, we examine two reasons for the refugee status of ethnology. First, we look at the notorious "Galton effect." Second, we examine the problem of defining and using cultural units, particularly when positivistic and static theories and methods of culture have been largely discredited by anthropology. We argue against any formulaic solutions to these problems and show that for each research question one needs to reconsider the criteria for how to construct cultural units and how to ensure that the cultures under study are not merely replicas of one another. We show that previous solutions to these issues are limited because they fail to appreciate the contingent and multidimensional nature of culture. We also argue that, instead of a "Galton problem," there is actually a "Galton asset," which can be used to study historical and emergent communicative networks. [Keywords: cross–cultural research, Galton problem, cultural units, methods and theory]     

The Perils of 'Positivism' in Cultural Anthropology

'Positivism,' it seems, is a movement that cultural anthropology can do without. But what is positivism, who are these positivists, and what precisely are their sins? Notwithstanding appearances to the contrary, the image of positivism in cultural anthropology is comparatively coherent and the criticism directed at it relatively well founded. What is dubious is the conclusion to which many critics think it leads: that the methods of the natural sciences are inappropriate to the study of human culture and society.     

On the Relationship Between Memes and Genes: A Critique of Dennett

Dennett (1995) argues that memes or cultural replicators are largely autonomous of genes, and that they are fairly efficacious in determining who we are and what we do. I argue that Dennett's arguments are wrong in several aspects, which we can see by analyzing processes at appropriate levels. Specifically, I argue that it is not true that we as persons are created largely by memes, that our memes are not largely independent of our genes, and that we can use the universality of memes to make inferences about genetic predispositions. Finally, by suggesting an innate psychological mechanism for morality, I argue that morality may be largely the effect of genetic predispositions rather than autonomous.     

Genetic enhancement, social justice, and welfare-oriented patterns of distribution

The debate over the host of moral issues that genetic enhancement technology (GET) raises has been significant. One argument that has been advanced to impugn its moral legitimacy is the 'unfair advantage argument' (UAA), which states: allowing access to GET to be determined by socio-economic status would lead to unjust outcomes, namely, create a genetic caste system, and with it the exacerbation and perpetuation of existing socio-economic inequalities. Fritz Allhoff has recently objected to the argument, the kernel of which is that it conflates the use of the technology with its distribution. GET, he argues, would generate unjust outcomes only if it is distributed according to principles of an unjust pattern of distribution; for if we can determine what constitutes a 'just' distributive scheme, then the technology can be allocated according to the principles of that scheme. In this paper I argue the following cluster of related claims: (1) both UAA and Allhoff's proposed distributive schemes ignore the importance of non-genetic factors in the development of an individual's characteristics and capacities; (2) if we accept the view that it is good to prevent unjust outcomes that arise because some have exclusive access to GET, then we have to accept wide-ranging distributive schemes; (3) by tracking genetic and non-genetic factors wide-ranging schemes do violate in some sense the widely shared value of neutrality in liberal democracies.     

Nature,Work and ‘the Environment’: Contesting Sentiments and Identities in the Southwest of Western Australia

Contesting discourses about natural resource development present a rich arena for ethnographic investigation. This paper focuses on interviews with environmental activists and forest industry defenders to document a struggle over the meaning of land, work and nature in the southwest of Western Australia. While Green activists condemn what they regard as crimes against nature, this moral challenge to rural communities from urban-based environmentalism is inverted by those working in the industry, such that local cultural practices are celebrated in the face of what is seen as emotional and non-scientific rhetoric. Conflicts about resource development are thus driven in significant respects by identity politics. The paper argues for the importance of cultural analysis, focused particularly on concepts of identity and ‘place’, in the study of contesting moral claims about what should be done with ‘the environment’.     

The Death and Rebirth of Anthropology

This paper is a study of one component of the recent and contemporary circulation of cultural objects, the exhibition of Australian Aboriginal acrylic paintings in a French museum. The author argues that the recent emphases on ‘appropriation ‘ and the primitivizing gaze ‘ are not sufficient to understand what happens when such objects circulate. To ask what does happen in circulation, at the sites of exhibition, is to ask how they are produced, inflected, and invoked in concrete institutional settings, which have distinctive histories, purposes, and structures of their own. The gazes’ (representations) which are discussed in this French example are analyzed within the specific conditions of their production to show how such exhibitions and circulations of culture are produced in relationship to the requirements internal to museums to distinguish themselves from others, to respond to claims placed upon them by their own institutional settings.     

Water Works: Agency and Creativity in the Mitchell River Catchment

This paper outlines some of the theoretical developments in cultural anthropology that have been particularly useful in elucidating human engagements with land and resources. It examines some of the meanings and values encoded in water by a range of water using groups along the Mitchell River in northern Queensland, and their diverse ideas of what constitutes environmental ‘productivity’. Exploring some of the cultural and sub‐cultural beliefs and practices within the catchment area, it considers how these intersect with ecological issues; social issues; and with local conflicts over the ownership, control and management of water.     

From a Howling Wilderness to Howling Safaris: Science,Policy and Red Wolves in the American South

This article details the complex natural and cultural history of red wolf (Canis rufus) restoration in the American South. The decisions and methods utilized in the red wolf’s recovery after 1960 were unprecedented and creative but not geographically limited. The federal red wolf recovery experiment highlights the debate over what constitutes a species in a dynamic world, and the practical challenges and unexpected results in endangered species management in peopled landscapes. This wildlife restoration story illustrates not only the “hands-on” management role humans played, and continue to play, but also reveals cultural assumptions about what constitutes a “wild” wolf and about the necessity of wilderness. The red wolf recovery project provides constructive lessons for future species restoration involving flora and fauna on public and private land, and demonstrates human and animal engagement in the making of nature and culture.     

"Race" and the Construction of Human Identity

Race as a mechanism of social stratification and as a form of human identity is a recent concept in human history. Historical records show that neither the idea nor ideologies associated with race existed before the seventeenth century. In the United States, race became the main form of human identity, and it has had a tragic effect on low-status "racial" minorities and on those people who perceive themselves as of "mixed race." We need to research and understand the consequences of race as the premier source of human identity. This paper briefly explores how race became a part of our culture and consciousness and argues that we must disconnect cultural features of identity from biological traits and study how "race" eroded and superseded older forms of human identity. It suggests that "race" ideology is already beginning to disintegrate as a result of twentieth-century changes.     

Is there a place for culture in life cycle sustainability assessment?

Purpose

Cultures are increasingly recognised for their inherent value, yet, despite political and societal concern, culture is widely unrecognised in assessment techniques. Life cycle sustainability assessment (LCSA), a technique encompassing environmental, social and economic aspects, is growing in popularity. However, cultural values are rarely considered in LCSA. This paper reviews the meaning of culture; current efforts to include culture in environmental life cycle assessment (LCA), social LCA (S-LCA) and LCSA; and aspects to address when investigating integration of culture in LCA, S-LCA and LCSA.

Methods

A literature review was undertaken on definitions of culture, recognition of culture in policy and decision making, and how culture is incorporated into assessment techniques. The potential for integrating culture in LCSA was evaluated in terms of the potential benefits and challenges.

Results

Culture is often intangible and inaccessible, which may then lead to a lack of recognition in decision-making processes, or if it is recognised, then it is relegated as an afterthought. Explicitly including consideration of culture within LCSA will allow its representation alongside other sustainability aspects. The challenges of representing culture within LCSA include recognising when ‘culture’ should be distinguished from ‘social’; culture’s dynamic nature; the data collection process; and the diversity of cultures between stakeholders and at different scales from community through to nation. The potential benefits of representing culture within LCSA include greater resonance of LCSA results with stakeholders; a more comprehensive decision support tool which appropriately accounts for values; and an assessment technique which may help protect communities and their diversity of cultures.

Conclusions

Representing culture in LCSA is not straightforward and, to some extent, may be addressed through social indicators. However, developing LCSA to explicitly address cultural values has potential benefits. Future research should focus on opportunities for the development of (a) a culturally inclusive LCSA process and (b) additional cultural indicators and/or dimensions of existing LCSA indicators that represent cultural values.     

‘After the break’: re-conceptualizing ethnicity,national identity and ‘Malaysian-Chinese’ identities

Focusing on ethnic Chinese as cultural citizens of the nation, this paper examines national identity in the context of generational change. In so doing, it connects to colonialist conceptions of identity the dominant framework of ethnicity that operates in Malaysia. It argues that this framework allows for the nationalist imagining of ‘Malaysian-Chinese’ as ‘outsiders’. In probing the complex conceptual relationship between ethnicity, national identity and cultural citizenship, this article asks: How does ‘ethnicity’ enter into negotiations over the ‘national’ in the cultural realm? What are the notions of cultural difference and national otherness that operate in the negative dualisms by which nation and ethnicity are defined? How are these dualisms tied to notions of authenticity and cultural citizenship? Using the novel The Harmony Silk Factory by Malaysian author Tash Aw to address these questions, this paper argues the need to rethink current policies and narratives of ethnic and national identity in Malaysia.     

The Fate of Utopia: Adaptive Tactics in Four Japanese Groups

Utopian groups, like other kinds of revitalization movements, work to create a new "cultural end-state." This implies, at the very least, a mild rejection of some of the present norms and institutions of the ambient society. To be allowed to continue its work, a utopian community must adopt to the demands of its cultural milieu, but at the same time it must do so in ways consonant with the group self-image. This essay reports on the adaptive tactics used by four Japanese utopian groups in dealing with present-day state institutions and with the public at large. It argues that in the study of utopian groups—and by extension revitalizations and revolutions—we must examine adaptive tactics as carefully as group goals if we hope to understand the fate of purposeful action in complex civilizations.     

Faith, Hope, Neoliberalism: Mapping Economies of Violence on the Margins of Europe

This paper explores the manner in which the east of Europe has been theorized in the post cold war environment, and the implications for our understanding of the relationship between east and west. It argues that hegemonic discourses of neoliberalism lend a quality of inevitability to the integration of east into west, which in turn leads to a singular conception of Europe at the end of a trajectory of development. The paper argues that the relationship of western Europe to eastern Europe is more fruitfully explored through the conceptual framework of a center to its margins, which allows for a broader range of analysis on the issues — conceptual and implementational — at stake in transition processes, and which will allow for a theoretical exploration of where power is located and exercised. Because eastern Europe is understood in scholarly and policy communities as politically and geographically European, the study of postcommunist transition in Europe falls outside the purview of a development studies community that is increasingly focused on the emerging north/south divide. In a scholarly environment where the East/West divide no longer constitutes a salient focus of study, there is a need for the development of a framework that will provide a richer understanding of the reconstituted relationships being formed in Europe in the post-cold war environment. This paper argues that the social, economic, and political impact of disciplinary neoliberalism in eastern Europe can benefit from an analysis that takes into consideration the Eurocentric, disciplinary power that lies at the core of the transition process. Toward this end, it is necessary to query the discursive foundations of what constitutes the ‘properly European’ in order to develop a framework for a more fruitful course of analysis with respect to the relationship between Europe and its fluctuating eastern margins.