CHAPTER III

We are all linked…

AN ANTHROPOLOGICAL
CONCEPTUALIZATION
SELF: THE SELF AS
EMBEDDED IN CULTURE
JULY 15, 2019

Prepared by: Crissanta R. Marcelo

Bachelor of Arts in Political Science 2-1

Prepared for: Professor Ma. Aurora De Leon

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 AN ANTHROPOLOGICAL CONCEPTUALIZATION OF SELF: THE SELF AS EMBEDDED IN CULTURE

Learning outcomes:
1. recognize what the field of anthropology can contribute to the understanding of the self:
2. understand how culture and self are complementary concepts
3. discuss the cultural construction of the self and social identity
4. explain the concept of identity struggles; and
5. develop insights on how to achieve a sense of self, situated in multicultural and dynamic situations

We are each a product of biological endowments, culture, and personal history. Culture, ideology, and
cultural events along with transmitted cultural practices influence each of us. We are each a molecule in
the helix of human consciousness joined in a physical world. We form a coil of connective tissue soldered
together by cultural links.
Kilroy Oldster
ANTHROPOLOGY

▪ Anthropology encroaches on the territory of the science as well as the humanities, and
transcends, the conventional boundaries of both while addressing questions from distant
past and the pressing present— perhaps with implications for the future.
▪ An academic field that understands the interconnection and interdependence of
biological cultural aspects of human experience at all times and in all places

Who am I?
Nature- genetic inheritance which sets the individual’s potential
Nurture- the sociocultural environment that influences self

▪ Anthropology is concerned with how cultural and biological process to interact to shape
human experience.
In addition:
▪ Understanding of self through ethnographic investigations (sampling method,
observation, sentence completion, interview)
▪ Complex relationship of self and culture (explain how)

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Culture
“… that complex whole which includes knowledge, belief, art, morals, law, customs, and any other
capabilities and habit acquired by man as a member of society”

▪ Cultural diversity=Self & identity variation

You are the most taken-for-granted product of culture.

Self IDENTITY
Self IDENTITY- basic personality feature, where one person /group belongs
ETHNIC IDENTITY- sameness of self
Self IDENTITY
Self IDENTITY
▪ The basic meaning of identity refers to where one (a person or a group) belongs, and what
is expressed as “self-image” or/and “common-image”, what integrate them inside self or
group existence, and what differentiate them vis-à-vis “others”.
▪ In anthropological theory cultural paradigm is applied in order to explain the genesis of
identity and the complexity of its meaning. Therefore, there is an agreement that identity
is specifically “anthropological category”, in terms of identification with one’s own culture
and self-reflection of the way one is to live in a given socio-cultural environment, because
it is a matter of conviction, or a possibility of choice due to its multidimensional
expressions: as class, status, profession, styling or symbolic connotation.

Two Views of Self

Sociocentric The self is contingent on a situation or social setting.
▪ Japan
▪ China
Egocentric The self is seen as an autonomous and distinct individual.
▪ America

Identity toolbox Features of person’s identity that he or she choose to emphasize in constructing self.
Indivudual
1. Kinship
2. Gender
3. Age
Group
1. Membership
2. Language
3. Religion

Personal naming
▪ establishes child’s birthright and social identity
▪ individualize a person
▪ legitimize a person as a member of social group

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Cultures around the world
AYMARA INDIANS- do not consider individual as human until name is given
ICELANDER- name babies soon after birth
MINANGKABAU- babies inherit mother’s family name
ARCTIC CANADA- babies named after deceased relatives
PHILIPPINES- babies named after patron saints

Blank slate
▪ one’s identity is not inborn
▪ continue to develop

Rites of Passage
Three-Phased Rite of Passage by Arnold van Gennep
▪ Separation phase- people detach from former identity
▪ Liminality- person’s transition from one identity to another
▪ Incorporation- change in status

Identity struggles
▪ discrepancy between person’s assumed identity and identity imposed by others and society

self-identification
cultural changes
conflicting norms
postmodern society
▪ Golubovic Theory of Identity Crisis – in order to attain self-identification,
individuals have to overcome many obstacles as traditionally established habits
and externally imposed self-images.
▪ Illusionary of Wholeness

Know thy self

▪ It is argued that an analysis of how a particular individual acts in situations involving contradictory
identities requires a concept of a self as it emerges from the actions of individuals that is capable
managing the respectively shared identities. Besides any culture‐specific attributes, this self is
endowed with reflexivity and agency. This concept of self is a necessary supplement to the
concept of culture in anthropology and should be regarded as a human universal. (Sokefeld, 1999).

Clifford Geertz
▪ “without men, no culture: without culture, no men”
▪ Symbolic interpretative model of culture

Robbins
Humans are cultural animals.
▪ Humans are cultural animals as they create meanings of objects, persons, behaviors, emotions,
and events, and behave in accordance with meaning they assume to be true.

Sumarizing, one may say that culture provides patterns of “ways of life” (for both collective and individual existence); as well as ways/types of
think- ing and believing besides common experiences and frames of value-refer- ences. Nevertheless, being that culture is pluralistic, identity
itself may have plural forms not only in different cultures, but within the individual’s and collective’s expressions, and also in the context of their
experiences of the given ways of life.

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References:

Go-Monilla, J. M. and Ramirez, N. (2018). Understanding the Self. Chapter 3 An anthropological

conceptualization of self: the self as embedded in culture. Quezon City: C&E Publishing, Inc. pp 35-
52

Gulobovic, Z. (2010). An Anthropological Conceptualisation of Identity. Retrieved from

http://www.hrfd.hr/documents/03-golubovic-pdf.pdf

Abstract
The anthropological approach to the concept of identity is needed because “identity” (ei-
ther personal or collective) is not naturally “given”, but it is culturally defined and consti-
tuted, for human beings live in cultural settings as “a second nature of man”; so they are
humanly conditioned and conceptualised in different “ways of peoples’ lives”. Being that
culture makes an essential context of social life and of the personality foundation, it pro-
vides the pattern of the common way of living and thinking of the communal experiences
as a value-referential framework upon which definitions and interpretations of identities
rely. Thereby, cultural paradigm enables researches to understand what identity
(collective and personal) expresses in different socio-historical conditions and ideological
connotations, assuming that this concept is dynamic vs. the other one, e.g. national
pattern of identity which is narrow as well as exclusive; and as a static category, it does
not suppose possibil- ity of change. In the paper a traditionally oriented conceptualisation
of identity in Serbia will be also treated, together with its influence upon the slow changes
within a democratic transition during the new millennium.

Haviland, W. et al. (2010). The Essence of Anthropology. Social identity, personality and gender. Belmont:
USA. Wadsworth Cengage Learning p 183-193

Sokefeld, M. (1999). Debating Self, Identity, and Culture in Anthropology. Self, identity and culture.
Retrieved from https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/pdf/10.1086/200042?download=true

Abstract
This paper explores relations between “identity” and “self”—concepts that tend to be
approached separately in anthropological discourse. In the conceptualization of the self,
the “Western” self, characterized as autonomous and egocentric, is generally taken as a
point of departure. Non ‐ Western (concepts of) selves — the selves of the people
anthropology traditionally studies—are defined by the negation of these qualities. Similar
to anthropological conceptualizations of identity, this understanding of non ‐Western
selves points exclusively to elements shared with others and not to individual features.
Consequently, anthropological discourse diverts attention from actual individuals and
selves. A different approach is exemplified by a case from northern Pakistan in a social
setting characterized by a plurality of contradictory identities. It is argued that an analysis
of how a particular individual acts in situations involving contradictory identities requires
a concept of a self as it emerges from the actions of individuals that is capable managing
the respectively shared identities. Besides any culture ‐specific attributes, this self is
endowed with reflexivity and agency. This concept of self is a necessary supplement to
the concept of culture in anthropology and should be regarded as a human universal.

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Name: Date:
Course and Section: Understanding the Self

CHAPTER III AN ANTHROPOLOGICAL CONCEPTUALIZATION OF SELF: THE SELF AS EMBEDDED IN

CULTURE

I. Multiple Choice. Encircle the letter that corresponds to your answer.

1. The discipline of science and humanities that give meaning to self as a composition of
biological and cultural processes.
A. Anthropology
B. Philosophy
C. Theology
D. Sociology
2. It refers to “complex whole which includes knowledge, belief, art, morals, law, customs,
and any other capabilities and habit acquired by man as a member of society.”
A. Society
B. Identity
C. Culture
D. Self
3. According to this view, there is no intrinsic self that can possess enduring qualities.
A. Androgenic
B. Egocentric
C. Sociocentric
D. Polycentric
4. In anthropology, sameness of self refers to ________________.
A. Personal identity
B. Political identity
C. Social identity
D. Ethnic identity
5. This refers to the features of a person’s identity that he or she chooses to emphasize in
constructing self.
A. Personal name
B. Social identity
C. Identity toolbox
D. Attitude
6. It is universal practice with numerous cross-cultural variations and establishes child’s
birthright and social identity.
A. Personal naming
B. Rites of passage
C. Baptism
D. Ritual

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 7. According to Robbins (2012) human beings are __________ for they create meanings and
manage to share it either way operate within same culture.
A. Political animal
B. Robot
C. Bird with same feather
D. Cultural animal
8. These are interactions in which there is a discrepancy between the identity a person
claims to possess and the identity attributed by other persons.
A. Separation
B. Illusion of wholeness
C. Identity struggle
D. Split
9. Individuals may attain __________ by overcoming traditional practices or internalizing
cultural models and suppressing conflicting self-representations.
A. Alter ego
B. Self-identification
C. Anxiety
D. Self-image
10. Who am I? in the lens of anthropology is:
A. Ethical and Moral
B. Truth and Lies
C. Nature and Nurture
D. Supply and Demand

II. True or False. Write true on the blank if the statement is correct and false if not.

__________1. Culture and self are complementary.

__________2. We are born with an identity.
__________3. The Japanese view of self is egocentric.
__________4. Otherwise, America is sociocentric, it view itself as contingent on a situation.
__________5. Without name, an individual’s social identity is not established.

III. Enumeration. Enumerate the following.

1-2. Give at least two factors that triggers identity struggle

1.
2.
3-5. Three -phased rite of passage by Arnold van Gennep
3.
4.
5.

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KEY TO CORRECTION

I. Multiple choice
1. A
2. C
3. C
4. D
5. C
6. A
7. D
8. C
9. B
10. C

II. True or False

1. True
2. False
3. False
4. False
5. True

III. Enumeration (either of the ff.)

1-2 Changing culture, conflicting norms, postmodernity
3-5 Separation, liminality, incorporation

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