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Why is the body an important object of anthropological study
Member rating: No Rating | Words: | Submitted: Tue Jun 20 2006
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Why is the body an important object of anthropological study? In order to try and understand a different culture I feel it is of paramount importance to first consider the smallest human unit of that culture. How people relate to that individual unit, facilitates understanding of collectives such as the family and the society itself. As Comaroff suggests, (1985:6-7), "the body mediates all action upon the world and simultaneously constitutes the self and the universe of social and natural relations of which it is a part. It is through this mediation that a body becomes a person." Therefore, without the fundamental understanding of the values and significance different cultures place on the object 'the body', and how that transpires into how cultures classify basic notions of personhood, gender and membership of families, there can be no real understanding of more specific ideas e.g. the need for genitalic manipulation in Somalia...
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