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The purpose of symbolic and interpretive anthropology can be described through a term used often by Geertz that originated from Gilbert Ryle, "Thick Description."By this what is conveyed, is that since culture and behavior can only be studied as a unit, studying culture and its smaller sections of the structure, thick description is what details the interpretation of those belonging to a ...
Archaeology, Anthropology, and Interstellar Communication is subdivided into four sections, each with several essays. "Historical Perspectives on SETI" is a historiography of NASA's SETI (search for extraterrestrial intelligence) program, which ran for much of the late twentieth century before being dissolved due to lack of funding, and its humanities and social sciences representation.
Examples of symbolic culture include concepts (such as good and evil), mythical constructs (such as gods and underworlds), and social constructs (such as promises and football games). [9] Symbolic culture is a domain of objective facts whose existence depends, paradoxically, on collective belief.
The concept of thick description has become a cornerstone of ethnographic research, emphasizing the importance of context in understanding cultural practices. Geertz’s ideas also laid the groundwork for what would later be known as symbolic or interpretive anthropology, a school of thought that has had a lasting impact on the study of culture.
British anthropologist Victor Turner (who eventually left the United Kingdom to teach in the United States) was an important bridge between American and British symbolic anthropology. [140] Attention to symbols, the meaning of which depended almost entirely on their historical and social context, appealed to many Boasians.
Lévi-Strauss's theory is set forth in Structural Anthropology (1958). Briefly, he considers culture a system of symbolic communication, to be investigated with methods that others have used more narrowly in the discussion of novels, political speeches, sports, and movies. His reasoning makes the best sense when contrasted against the ...
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David Murray Schneider (November 11, 1918, Brooklyn, New York – October 30, 1995, Santa Cruz, California) was an American cultural anthropologist, best known for his studies of kinship and as a major proponent of the symbolic anthropology approach to cultural anthropology.