Lecture 12: The Poetry of Culture (Poststructuralism and Discourse)

1. SC2218: Anthropology and theSC2218: Anthropology and the
Human ConditionHuman Condition
Lecture 12: The Poetry of CultureLecture 12: The Poetry of Culture
(Poststructuralism & Discourse)(Poststructuralism & Discourse)
Eric C. ThompsonEric C. Thompson
Semester 1, 2010/2011Semester 1, 2010/2011

2. Where Are We Going?Where Are We Going?
• Part 1: What is Anthropology?
– Strangers Abroad, Race, Culture
• Part 2: What do Anthropologists Study?
– Kinship, Gender, Economy, Community
• Part 3: Current Debates and Trends
– The “Crisis of Representation”
– Local and Global Ethnography (Zhang Juan)
– The Poetry of Culture
– World Anthropologies
YOU ARE
HERE

3. Zhang Juan: Local and GlobalZhang Juan: Local and Global
Ethnography (Highlights)Ethnography (Highlights)
• Local Ethnography
– Business, Sex and National Identity
– A small border town, but “globally” connected
• Global Ethnography
– Transnational performance of “Chinese”
national identity (Olympic anti-boycott protest)
• Positionality
– Gender; Nationality/Race

4. The “Anthropological” PerspectiveThe “Anthropological” Perspective
in Zhang Juan’s Workin Zhang Juan’s Work
• Detailed ethnography of a “local” place but
speaking to broader theories of society and
culture (economics, gender, nationalism)
• A “holistic” perspective; not describing a “whole”
culture – but seeing connections across multiple
domains (Sex, Business Nationalism)
• A focus on qualitative issues of meaning.
(Rather than quanitative measures)

5. Anthropology and the Human ConditionAnthropology and the Human Condition
Part 3: Anthropology NowPart 3: Anthropology Now
• For Lectures 10-13 you should understand:
• The “Crisis of Representation” (from
1980s)
– Postcolonialism, Positionality
• Local and Global Ethnography
– “Opening Up” (Kaifang)… of China and
Anthropology!
• The shift from Society-Culture to Discourse
• World Anthropologies

6. Today’s Lecture: OutlineToday’s Lecture: Outline
• What is “Structural-Functionalism”?
• What is “Discourse”?
• What is “Poststructuralism”?
• Examples of poststructuralist analysis:
– Bedouin Poetry
– Malaysian Rock-and-Roll
– Ju/’hoansi Complaint
– Singaporean Culture… Does it exist??
• Culture: A Complex, Adaptive System

7. CULTURE & SOCIETYCULTURE & SOCIETY
in 20in 20thth
Century AnthropologyCentury Anthropology
• Culture = systems or structures of
meaning (“webs of significance”)
• Society = systems or structures of
(exchange) relationships
• Structural-Functionalism
– Cultures and societies have a structure,
different parts related to each other.
– The different parts have functions, they “do”
something in the structure/system.

8. The Problem with StructuralismThe Problem with Structuralism
• Fixed stereotypes & categories
• Problem of change.
– If structures (e.g. kinship, language) are persistent,
how do we account for change?
– Is a culture (e.g. “Chinese culture”) always the same
at different times, in different places?
• Problem of human agency.
– Are people’s lives determined by culture?

9. Post-structuralism and Agency
How do we move beyond analytical structures, categories,
and stereotypes that limit our ability to see an understand
contemporary realities?
How do we account for human agency – the potential of people
to affect and change their social conditions of life?
POST-STRUCTURALISM: an attempt to move anthropological
analysis beyond the analytical confines of structures and
categories.

10. Here’s the Problem . . .Here’s the Problem . . .
If language & culture
are changing all the
time, how do we ever
know what anything
means??

11. “. . .There's glory for you!"
"I don't know what you mean by 'glory,'" Alice said.
Humpty Dumpty smiled contemptuously. "Of course
you don't--till I tell you. I meant 'there's a nice
knock-down argument for you!"
"But 'glory' doesn't mean 'a nice knock-down
argument,'" Alice objected.
"When I use a word," Humpty Dumpty said, in rather
a scornful tone, "it means just what I choose it to
mean--neither more nor less."
“The question is,“ said Alice, "whether you can make
words mean so many different things."
"The question is," said Humpty Dumpty, "which is to
be master--that's all."
http://sundials.org/about/humpty.htm
Do Language and
Meaning really
work like this?
Through the Looking Glass, Lewis Carroll 1871
““Humpty-Dumpty” MeaningHumpty-Dumpty” Meaning

12. Encoding and DecodingEncoding and Decoding
• Discourse is a matter of ongoing exchange.
• Discourse is back-and-forth, not one-way.
• Speakers/listeners; writers/readers cannot fix
meaning.
http://planet.tvi.cc.nm.us/ba122/What%20is%20Communication.htm

13. Language, Culture, DiscourseLanguage, Culture, Discourse
• Language and Culture are closely related.
• Culture includes Language and Linguistic
systems of meaning; but also many systems or
elements that we do not usually think of as
“Linguistic”, for example:
– Flags, Maps, Architecture, Food
– Skin Color, Eye Shape and other “Signs” of Race
– Body Language and Gestures
• Discourse can refer to both Language and/or
Culture “in use” (process)

14. The Idea of “Discourse”*The Idea of “Discourse”*
Language as a System
“Langue” (language)
Form
Structuralism
Culture (mid-20th
c.)
Language in Use
“Parole” (speech)
History
Poststructuralism
Discourse (late-20th
c.)
*These ideas come from Ferdinand de Saussure, Jacque Derrida, and others.

15. Structure and MeaningStructure and Meaning
Consider the following sentences:Consider the following sentences:
(1) Colorless green ideas sleep furiously.
(2) Sleep ideas green furiously colorless.
Are either of these sentences meaningful?
Why or Why Not?

16. Structure and Meaning:Structure and Meaning:
Colorless Green IdeasColorless Green Ideas
(1) Colorless green ideas sleep furiously.*
– Structurally (grammatically) sound.
(2) Sleep ideas green furiously colorless.
– Structurally unsound.
Are either of these sentences meaningful?
Why or Why Not?
*Famous example used by linguist Noam Chomsky.

17. `Twas brillig, and the
slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble
in the wabe:
All mimsy were the
borogoves,
And the mome
raths outgrabe.
Is “Jabberwocky” meaningful,
or just nonsense?
Structure and Meaning:Structure and Meaning:
JabberwockyJabberwocky
http://www.jabberwocky.com/carroll/jabber/jabberwocky.html
Through the Looking Glass, Lewis Carroll 1871

18. What “Structures” areWhat “Structures” are
found in Jabberwocky?found in Jabberwocky?

19. What “Structures” are found inWhat “Structures” are found in
Jabberwocky?Jabberwocky?
• Poetic structure
• English language
(words and grammar)
• Adventure story
• Kinship (!)
– Father & Son
• Others?
He took his vorpal
sword in hand:
Long time the
manxome foe he
sought.
Beware the
Jabberwock, my son!
Come to my arms, my
beamish boy!
These STRUCTURES
allow us to interpret
Jabberwocky’s “nonsense”

20. Structure, Discourse, MeaningStructure, Discourse, Meaning
• Structure enables meaning, but does not
(completely) determine it.
• Meaning emerges through discourse – between
subjects (it is “intersubjective”).
– Encoding and decoding.
– Speaking and interpreting.
– Writing and reading.
• Because it is intersubjective, meaning is never
fixed.

21. Post-StructuralismPost-Structuralism
• Examining the emergence of meaning.
• “Post –” (after, beyond, out of).
• Poststructuralism is a mode of analysis, not a
quality of things (such as cultural practices,
social relationships, etc.).
• Examples of poststructuralist analysis . . .

22. Bedouin PoetryBedouin Poetry
• Abu-Lughod examines
“traditional” Bedouin Poetry.
• Are the women reciting these
poems merely echoing
hundreds of years of tradition?
• What about Abu-Lughod’s
analysis is “poststructural”?

23. ELLAELLA: Malaysia’s: Malaysia’s Ratu RockRatu Rock
(Queen of Rock-and Roll)(Queen of Rock-and Roll)
• Is Ella’s music just a copy of
American rock-and-roll?
• What structures is she
drawing on?
• How is she transforming
those structures?
• What does USA stand for?

24. Ala AmerikaAla Amerika
• Semalam kau kata kau cinta
• Hari ini sudah lain pula jadinya,
• Kau kata kepadaku kita bercinta
• Ala Amerika . . .
• Kita hidup dengan budaya
• Jangan terpengaruh dengan
• Cara mereka,
• Barat dan Timur jauh berbeza . . .
• Yesterday you said you were in love
• Today it’s (another story)
• You say to me that we are in love
• A la America (American style)
• We live with culture,
• Don’t be swayed by
• Their ways,
• West and East are far different . . .

25. USA…USA…
Unik
Sugoi
Asli
"When I use a word . . . it means just
what I choose it to mean--neither
more nor less."

26. Ju/’hoansi Complaint DiscourseJu/’hoansi Complaint Discourse
• What does complaining among
elderly Ju/’hoansi have to do
with poetry and song?
• Complaint (and styles of
complaint) is a cultural
resource among Ju/’hoansi.
• Elderly Ju/’hoansi draw on this
resource discursively to
express their feelings and
influence their kin.

27. Culture and DiscourseCulture and Discourse
• CULTURE is a Complex Adaptive System
• DISCOURSE is the Process through which
Culture Changes
• “It’s a mistake to name a process after a
product… you can still go fishing if you never
catching a fish…” (from “Sight Unseen”)

28. 1st Generation
Cultural Structures
(Grammars, Words, Styles, Signifiers)
1st Generation
Agents (Subjects/Individuals)
(Drawing on the Structures to relate to others, influence
action, interpret meanings – their own and others)
Culture as an Iterative Process
Agents are “Subjects” of (“subject to”) cultural structures – they
cannot operate meaningfully outside of the structure.
Cultural Structures are emergent structures, dependent on the
agents for their existence.

29. 1st Generation
Cultural Structures
1st Generation
Agents (Subjects)
2nd Generation
Agents (Subjects)
2nd Generation
Cultural Structures
Culture always changes,
because agents never
reproduce it “perfectly”

30. Singapore… Ain’t Got No Culture?Singapore… Ain’t Got No Culture?
• “In the old days… you had the time and the
isolation to develop your own (culture) and
create something distinctive… Now you have to
synthesize all the time…
• “The basis of our culture is what we inherited
from our original countries, our original cultures.
So every Chinese Singaporean takes that as his
heritage. It doesn’t belong to China, it belongs
as much to you as to me…”
• MM Lee Kuan Yew

31. What is Authentic Culture?What is Authentic Culture?
• What is Authentic Chinese, Malay, Indian
or Other Culture?
• What is Authentic Singaporean Culture?
• Culture is what we make it and make of it.

32. What is “authentic Chinese culture”?What is “authentic Chinese culture”?
What is “authentic Singapore culture”?What is “authentic Singapore culture”?
Royston Tan – director
of “15” and other films.
Li Po (701-762); T’ang Dynasty Poet

33. What is “authentic Malay culture”?What is “authentic Malay culture”?
What is “authentic Singapore culture”?What is “authentic Singapore culture”?
• Malay Culture... Singapore 2007
• MALAY MASTERPLAN:
– Ketupat + Hang Jebat + Wau Bulan +
Sampan + Minah + Kebaya + Vespa + Soccer
+ Guitar + Void Deck + Laid Back + Aim
Hereafter + Humble + Modest + Kampung +
Sopan + Adat + Gotong + Royong + Peaceful
+ Loving + Siti . . . That’s Malay to Me…

34. Yesterday’s Innovation
Tomorrow’s Tradition
Today’s Innovation
Culture always changes,
Yesterday’s Innovation is Today’s
Tradition; Today’s Innovation is
Tomorrow’s Tradition
Today’s Tradition

35. Final Thoughts…Final Thoughts…
• In your project interviews… did you focus on
each other’s actual experiences and how they
used and performed “culture” (discourse) or on
cultural traditions (structures)?
• How do you use culture in your everyday life?
How do you reproduce culture? How do you
change it? Can you think of specific
examples?
• You cannot “escape” culture, but you can live
it intentionally and creatively not just passively.