Cultural Anthropology: Communication, Religion, and Expressive Culture

Communication
How do humans communicate?  How does communication relate to cultural diversity and inequality? How does language change?  These are a few questions Barbara Miller touches on in her book "Cultural Anthropology in a globalizing world."

Communication is the process of sending and receiving messages.  Humans communicate with words, spoken or nonverbal, with gestures and body language.  Language is the systematic set of symbols and signs with learned or shared meaning.  There are two features of human language:

• Productivity- the ability to create an infinite range of understandable expressions from a finite set of rules. 
• Displacement- the ability to refer to events and issues beyond the immediate present.

Languages differ widely throughout the world and this is why language can be analyzed by formal properties; such as, sounds, vocabulary, and grammar.  The sounds that distinct languages from others and make the meaning in a spoken language are called phonemes. 

The forms of nonverbal communication do not rely on speech rather they rely on symbols and signs of body language.

• Sign language- form of communication that uses hand movements to convey messages
• Silence- though may be passes as something that is not communication, it highly is.  Silence is an important component to communication and in some cultures silence represents power and is a highly used form of nonverbal communication (ex. American Indians).
• Body Language- beyond the mechanics of speaking, hearing, gesturing, and seeing, the body itself can function as what Miller calls "text" that conveys messages. 

Communication, Diversity, and Inequality
Miller presents two models of the relationship between language and culture.  During the 20th century, two theoretical perspectives were influential in the study of the relationship between language and culture. 

• Sapir-Whorf hypothesis- formulated by Edward Sapir and Benjamin Whorf, its a perspective which says that people's language affects how they think.
• Sociolinguistics- a perspective that emphasizes how people's cultural and social context shapes their language and its meanings. 

Language Change
Language can experience changes just as the cultures that hosts these languages change.  Human creativity, war, imperialism, genocide, disasters and other tragedies and occurrences can affect languages. 

The beginning of verbal language, where and whom started it, is not known.  Throughout history, language has had its changes and has been studied.  The study of language change though history is called historical linguistics. 


Religion
What is religion and what are the basic features of religions?  How do world religions illustrate globalization and localization?  What are some important aspects of religious change in contemporary times?  These are some of the question Miller focuses on in her tenth chapter in the "Cultural Anthropology in a globalizing world."

Since the early days of cultural anthropologists, scholars have came up with multiple definitions of religion.  Sir Edward Tylor, a British Anthropologist in the late 1800s, defined religion as the belief in spirits.  A more current definition says that religion consists of beliefs and behavior related to supernatural beings and forces. 

There are varieties of religious beliefs and how they are expressed.  Beliefs are expressed in two main forms:

• Myth- stories about supernatural forces or beings (a narrative plot with a beginning, middle, and end)
• Doctrine- direct statements about religious beliefs (explicitly defines the supernaturals, the world and how it came to be, and people's roles in relation to supernaturals and to other humans)

Ritual Practices
Rituals are patterned, repetitive behavior focuses on the supernatural realm.  There are different forms of rituals as followed:

• Sacred rituals- enactment of beliefs expressed in myth and doctrine
• Secular rituals- ritual that has no connection to a supernatural realm
• Periodic rituals- regularly performed rituals
• Non periodic rituals- occur irregularly and at unpredictable times
• Life-Cycle rituals- rite of passage, and marks a change in status from one life stage to another of an individual or group

There are five world religions based on texts and generally agreed on teachings and beliefs shared by many people around the world:

• Hinduism
• Buddhism
• Judaism
• Christianity
• Islam

Religious movements have often been promoted by colonialism and other forms of social contact. 

Expressive Culture
How is culture expressed through art?  What do play and leisure activities reveal about culture?  How is expressive culture changing in contemporary times?  These are a few questions Miller focuses on in her eleventh chapter of "Cultural Anthropology in a globalizing world."

Expressive culture is the behavior and beliefs related to art, leisure, and play.

Art- is the application of imagination, skill, and style to matter, movement, and sound that goes beyond the purely practical.

Play, Leisure, and Culture
Area of expressive culture related to what people do for 'fun'. In most cases, play and leisure can be distinguished from other activities.  In the case of play according to Miller:

• it is an unnecessary activity
• it serves no direct utilitarian purpose for the participants
• it is limited in terms of time
• it has rules
• it may contain chance and tension

I tend to disagree with Miller on the subject of play.  Play is an expressive culture and even language.  And play can even coincide with leisure and culture itself.  Play is an important aspect of culture and i believe it does have an impact on culture and serves a purpose.

The Change in Expressive Culture in contemporary times
Major forces of change in expressive culture include:

• Western colonialism
• Contemporary tourism
• Globalization in general

In some cases, outside forces have led to the extinction of local forms of expressed culture and in others have promoted continuity or the recovery of practices that had been lost.

Communication, religion, and expressive culture are three main aspects to cultural anthropology and will continue to be studied throughout time.