中研院民族所

Cultural learning, or how culture is acquired by its members, has always been an important issue in anthropology and a key concern of every anthropological paradigm. Despite its importance, the actual process of cultural learning is seldom studied in all its details. No matter whether it is framed in terms of “enculturation” or “acculturation,” anthropologists tend to take the cultural learning process for granted, with the exception of Bourdieu and a few others. As Maurice Bloch has pointed out, anthropologists tend to regard culture as being acquired as though it came ready-made in a package and have ignored the important psychological findings that people learn culture through long-term interactions with the socio-cultural environment in which they are situated.

The body is a key instrument of cultural learning. Through it we interact with the environment; we perceive the world through our senses and respond with meaningful actions carried out by our bodies. For instance, we observe hierarchy (or various sensory orders) and behave accordingly. Cultural programs, no matter whether they are bodily disciplines or other practices, are designed to ensure that culture members internalize important rules, concepts, and values. These rules, concepts and values are not only diverse but also include antagonistic extremes, for example, “respect for authority” versus “resistance against power,” or values as simple as “good” versus “bad” or more elaborated ones such as “elegant” versus “vulgar.”

In somewhat different terrain, we have distinct but corresponding forms of narrative that aim to interpret, elaborate, and persuasively impose those culturally designed bodily programs. These diverse forms of narrative can be formal and explicit, like propaganda and regulations, or casual and hidden, e.g., storytelling and gossip. They are supposed to help implement bodily programs through words and images, but sometimes they also spark protest and other types of negative reaction.

Our 2016 conference at the Institute of Ethnology will focus on how bodily practices and narratives work together— and against each other—in the process of cultural learning.

30 November-1 December 2016, Wed.-Thu.

Room 2319, 3F, the New Wing, Institute of Ethnology, Academia Sinica

20 November 2016 (Sun.), via on-line registration.

Seats are limited. Please register online first. The applicants who are accepted by the conference organizers will be notified after the deadline.

YU, Shuenn-Der (Research Fellow, Institute of Ethnology)

CHIEN, Mei-Ling (Professor, Department of Humanitites and Social Sciences, National Chiao Tung University)

TAO, Hsiao Hsuan

02-2652-3324, hsiaotao@gate.sinica.edu.tw

November 30^th (Wed.)

December 1^st (Thu.)