Ways of conceptualizing culture

Objectives

This discussion is designed to highlight the similarities and differences between how we personally define the term “culture” and how anthropologists understand the “culture concept”. How does your notion of culture compare to that of your peers and anthropologists? The aim is to get you to start thinking about how different ways of conceptualizing culture can shape how we understand and study it.

Discussion Prompt

In the The Culture Concept the anthropologists Cowall and Medeiros interview people at a coffee shop about what “culture” means to them. The two then reflect on their interviewees’ views as well as how their own understanding of culture has been shaped by their personal and professional experiences. In this discussion, I would like you to:

1. Reply to this prompt with a short paragraph explaining what the term “culture” means to you.