We spent a lot of time this past week trying to find the
key aspect of humans that makes us unique. We discussed sentience, emotion,
survival instincts, faith, and nature vs. nurture. Culture didn’t really come
up. I recently found a rather ridiculous article about an anthropologist who
was “kidnapped by elves” for seven years.
This
is obviously not a very credible source, but it did get me thinking.
Anthropology is the study of humans and human culture. What would an
anthropologist make of a transhuman being, aliens, androids, or even elves?
It
turns out that there is actually a movement within anthropology that is
examining “culture” as it pertains to other species. This movement seems to be
primarily focused on other species found right now on earth such as dogs and
racing pigeons. One of the main drivers of this movement is Donna Harraway (Harraway
wrote “A Cyborg Manifesto” which was referenced in our study guide for Do
Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?).
Culture
is defined as “learned values, beliefs, and rules of conduct that are shared to
some extent by the members of a society, and that govern their behavior with
one another.1” Culture differs from instinctual behaviors in that it
must be learned, and therefore taught. Are human beings unique in having
developed “culture”? Do you think that the androids in Do Androids Dream of
Electric Sheep? had a culture?
1)
Bonvillain,
Cultural Anthropology, 3rd Edition, Pg. 4.
Katie, the question of whether humans are the only species on the planet to have developed culture is difficult indeed. I think of bees, who if I understand correctly have the second most complicated language of any animal species after humans. This does not mean they have writing or literature, but they do seem to have symbolic pattern recognition. But if you took a bee out of bee culture and put it in a wolf pack, would it start to act like a wolf? Perhaps biology would not permit that.
ReplyDeleteOn the other hand, if you take wolves or most other canidae, that is a highly socialized society. They *learn* to hunt and fight through play. And given the extensive behaviors acknowledging various relationships in groups from lions to horses, I think an argument could definitely be made that animals have culture.
Katie, this article about elf girl was ridiculously amazing - I definitely want to go to Iceland and check out Elf Rock.
ReplyDeleteYou brought up a good question about the androids in Dick's novel possibly having a culture. I would have to say that at least the beginnings of a culture were apparent in their collective movement from Mars to Earth. You said culture is defined as “learned values, beliefs, and rules of conduct that are shared to some extent by the members of a society, and that govern their behavior with one another.1” I think that the androids on Mars began to learn about the value of their own existence, and they began to believe that their lives there were unfair, or perhaps just boring. By formulating those ideas and sharing them with each other, many of them then made the conscious collective decision to disobey their human rulers and escape to Earth. In that act, I would argue that they created those new rules of conduct together and followed them out, thus it governed their behavior with one another and can be identified as a form of culture.
Very thoughtful post Katie W! My questions to you: (1) When is development of a new culture a revolution? (2) At what point does the culture become non-human?
ReplyDeleteI just saw a documentary on killer whales that relates to this post. Evidently, different pods have developed different languages and behaviors, and have been able to teach hunting techniques to their young. The difference in content varies enough that biologists have labeled it cultural learning rather than biological instinct.
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