Cultural invention
A cultural invention is any
Allan Hanson, a postmodern anthropologist, believed that the analytical purpose of studying cultural inventions was not to uncover which portions of a culture's belief systems are invented, but rather to study how cultural inventions become accepted as authentic within groups.[3] This notion has been met with criticism from within the anthropological community as well as from outside sources, and has been referred to as both politically revisionist and anti-native.[4] The fear is that viewing cultural invention as a process which leads to something authentic and widely accepted may undermine indigenous people's traditions in addition to questioning the authority they have over their own culture.[5]
Examples
Examples of areas where cultural inventions may take place include:
- Languages
- Legal systems
- Political systems
- Scientific method
- Sports
- Social institutions
- Belief systems
Cultural transmission
One way that cultural inventions can be spread is through
Case study: Maori
Allan Hanson proposed that several aspects of
Additionally, to make the Maori seem more elevated in European eyes, scholars may have invented a cult to the named Io, who was thought to be a supreme being that controlled all the other gods in the Maori pantheon. The story of Io creating the world is so similar to that of the Book of Genesis in the Bible, that it is believed to have been a European invention.[10] Hanson asserted that those and other elements of Maori tradition were incorporated and taken to be true by the Maori and that they have been passed down through generations by way of oral tradition. According to Hanson, "Io and the Great Fleet have been incorporated into Maori lore and are passed down from elders to juniors in storytelling, oratory, and other Maori contexts".[11]
See also
References
- ISBN 0-8166-2873-4
- ^ Ostherr, Kirsten; Review of Artificial Mythologies. A Guide to Cultural Invention, Fall 1998 http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3709/is_199810/ai_n8821092
- ^ Hanson, Allan 2012 [1989] The Making of the Maori: Culture Invention & its Logic. In Anthropological Theory: An Introductory History. R. Jon McGee and Richard L. Warms, eds. Pp 549-562. New York: McGraw-Hill.
- ^ Jocelyn Linnekin. American Anthropologist, New Series, Vol. 93, No. 2 (Jun., 1991), pp. 446-449
- ^ Jocelyn Linnekin. American Anthropologist, New Series, Vol. 93, No. 2 (Jun., 1991), pp. 446-449
- ^ Cultural Sharing and Cultural Theory: Some Findings of a Five-Society Study. Marc J. Swartz. American Anthropologist , New Series, Vol. 84, No. 2 (Jun., 1982), pp. 314-338
- ^ Cultural Sharing and Cultural Theory: Some Findings of a Five-Society Study. Marc J. Swartz. American Anthropologist, New Series, Vol. 84, No. 2 (Jun., 1982), pp. 314-338
- ^ Cultural Sharing and Cultural Theory: Some Findings of a Five-Society Study. Marc J. Swartz. American Anthropologist , New Series, Vol. 84, No. 2 (Jun., 1982), pp. 314-338
- ^ Hanson, Allan 2012 [1989] The Making of the Maori: Culture Invention & its Logic. In Anthropological Theory: An Introductory History. R. Jon McGee and Richard L. Warms, eds. Pp 549-562. New York: McGraw-Hill.
- ^ Hiroa, Te Rangi (Peter H. Buck). 1950. The Coming of the Maori. 2nd Edition. Wellington: Whitecombe and Tombs.
- ^ Hanson, Allan 2012 [1989] The Making of the Maori: Culture Invention & its Logic. In Anthropological Theory: An Introductory History. R. Jon McGee and Richard L. Warms, eds. Pp 549-562. New York: McGraw-Hill.