A Family in a Turkish Village
While studying anthropology at Boston University, I acquired tools that helped me navigate America’s melting pot. Viewing workplaces and social environments as unique cultures influenced how I interacted with staff and managed my business. Most important was understanding that what a person sees differs from their neighbor. Images traveling through the optic nerve to the brain are filtered by birth order, family, community, school, friends, religion, education, economic station, culture, and work history, which influences interpretation.
Sir Edward Taylor, credited with founding cultural anthropology, coined”culture” as an ethnographic term in the 1800s. His emphasis was on the non-genetic ways people adapt to their environments. Human evolution from hunter-gatherer communities to complex urban environments was spurred by climatic changes, power struggles, and innovations to meet the needs of an expanding population.
Anthropologists speak of cultural relativism rather than comparing humanity’s commonality and generalizing about the human condition. They study how particular cultures differ and strive to understand the context of society that causes people to act in specific ways.
Anthropologists are challenged when interpreting another person’s culture. They also have biases and reactions based on their upbringing. To overcome these predispositions and biases, anthropologists advocate living in the culture of interest for an extended period, learning their language and the customs that contribute to their beliefs. Immersion makes it easier to unravel systems of social relations related to domestic life, the economy, law, politics, and religion.
Thinking like an anthropologist aided my interaction with a culturally diverse staff. Being curious about their childhoods, how they identify themselves, their education, economic situation, and culture made them open up to me. Respecting their uniqueness made communicating easier and finding solutions possible when opinions differed. It helped rally a diverse staff around company goals.
The U.S. has been a melting pot of cultures and ideas since its inception. It’s what made the country prosperous, yet it also divided us. Residents have consistently expressed concerns over immigration surges. Though they or their ancestors were immigrants, they want the door closed to new arrivals. They forget that European Settlers stole the land occupied by Native Americans. Early settlers ostracized Scotch-Irish (17763-1775), Irish and Germans (1846-1885), Ellis Island arrivals from Eastern And Southern Europe (1992-1914), Mexicans and Latinos (1982-2007). Thousands of Chinese railroad workers were returned to China between 1863 and 1869. In the late 18th century, there was a movement to send Africans back to Africa. Sierra Leone and Liberia were established by formerly enslaved people repatriated to Africa within 28 years. It took a civil war to grant enslaved Africans the right to citizenship.
Though the Statue of Liberty welcomes the tired, the poor, and those yearning to be free, most Americans don’t mean it. We can be cruel, forgetting why our ancestors left their countries of origin. As the population became more urban and our cities became more crowded, it required a greater effort to get along. Factory jobs, logging, the public education system, the military, and diversifying the workplace stirred the pot. Melting ideas and customs made our country work.
Instead of looking back to something that never was, why not become an armchair anthropologist and look forward and consider how to get along? Become immersed in a subculture culture and learn what makes it click—putting yourself out, becoming vulnerable, and questioning your biases in enriching. Interacting, understanding, communicating, and being willing to compromise will keep America great.
Art is always for Sale. A Family in a Turkish Village is a 24″ x 48″ framed acrylic painting available for $795. Shipping is included in the continental U.S. For information, contact me at marilynne@eichingerfineart.com
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References:
Website. Edward Burnett Tylor. Wikipedia. Retrieved from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Burnett_Tylor
Website. Cultural Anthropology. Wikipedia. Retrieved from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cultural_anthropology
Barnes, F. (2024) America and its Immigrants. Washington Examiner. Retrieved from https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/policy/immigration/211955/america-and-its-immigrants
