Joana Breidenbach

‘Seeing Culture Everywhere – From Genocide to Consumer Habits’ is a book with a bold mission: to present the layman with some of the basic ideas and problems of anthropology. In a world where culture is still used as an explanation whenever you can’t think of anything else this is not an easy task. However, Joana Breidenbach and Pál Nyiri does a very good job of it, although not perfect, but then again, noone is perfect.

In the book we see the authors trying to explain that culture is not something that is ‘loose on the streets’, but a constant process always moving and changing. They have chosen to do this by focusing on certain key issues in anthropology and then using these to explore and explain how this anthropological view of culture works. Something that is not always easy. I have been in more than one discussion with essentialists or cultural fundamentalists, who have looked at me with distrust and told me that my views on culture were exotic and weird. Anthropologysimply hasn’t been good at getting the message out there. That is why this book is indeed very welcome.

Chapter 1 of the book takes on someone who has been much more succesful in getting his ideas disseminated. His name is Samuel Huntington and the chapter deals mostly with his ideas, but also with the idea of cultural essentialism in general. They then proceed to describe how China and other opressive states have used the idea of cultural essentialism to justify their actions. Evo Morales and his ideas about culture get a mention too. The book uses a lot of well known examples from anthropology to show the implications of putting ‘culture’ to use in certain ways.

In chapter 2 (simly named ‘culture) we get to hear about the problems of defining culture. What exactly are we talking about when we speak of protecting culture for instance? What can be the consequences in the real world out there when we use a certain definition of culture? This is especially important when it comes to the developing countries and the ideas behind development aid.

Third chapter is about culture and violence. Rwanda and the former Jugoslavia are the obvious choices used as examples here of how culture can be put into play and used for violent purposes. The chapter also includes information on how the US military has utilised the idea of culture when analysing conflict and is some times mentioned as a cause of war. Today the US forces receive cultural training and it is more often of the Huntington kind than in the kind of culture that most anthropologists work with today.

Multiculturalism is the theme of the fourth chapter, and with populist right wing parties frightened of islam and ‘muslim culture’ all around Europe, and discussions about headscarfs and what not abound there are plenty of issues to discuss. The chapter is a great resource of the discussions within and without anthropological circles, but will of course be repetitive to some.

Fifth chapter highlights some of the problems concerning indigenous peoples and protection of their cultures. In a time where more and more people are questioning intellectual property rights indigenous peoples (especially in the US, New Zealand, and Australia) are demanding total control of what they consider to be their culture and also the representations of their peoples. The chapter delves into the obvious problems with this kind of thought and offers a good overview of years of anthropological discussions on the subject.

Last chapter is about cultural competencies and cultural translation. Today we have people offering courses on these subjects to businessmen and the like. But how much do they know? What concept of culture are they working what and what does that mean? I have to say that in this chapter I couldn’t help feeling that the authors had a bit of an axe to grind. It’s not that the chapter isn’t serious enough or well enough researched and written, and I must say I can’t quite put my finger on why, but it just left me with that feeling. It just seemed a bit more ‘emotional’ in some places than the other chapters to me I guess.

Then comes the conclusion in which they speak of the advantages of the ethnographic method and also of the future of ethnography. They also sum up some of the important points from the book. What to think about when someone uses the idea of culture to say or do something and such. All in all I have to say that this was a very enjoyable book, and anyone who has a passing interest in culture and anthropology should read it. It could also serve as a great companion book to introductory courses on culture.

from my blog: http://culturedaddy.me… (mehr)