History of Reflections on Culture

obligatory courses

Introduction to cultural research 3224-D1WBK

The course expands the knowledge that students receive from the Introduction to cultural research (3224-D1WBK). The lectures aim to present the most important directions, trends, systems, theoretical approaches and intellectual schools of academic reflections on culture in history of Humanities. Topics cover: theories of G. Vico, J.-J. Rousseau, J.G. Herder, romanticism, evolutionism, diffusionism, psychologism, Marxism, historicism, functionalism, actionist and processual approaches, relativism and its braches, and structuralism, with particular emphasis on those that are still under discussion and a source of inspiration. Course shows the historical heterogeneity of this reflection and the emergence of anthropological approach, thus covers the elements of sociological, ethnographic and historical-cultural perspectives. The curriculum also includes a presentation of the biographies of the most outstanding scholars of cultural studies.

Introductory remarks

a) criteria for the classification of trends in reflections on culture

b) historical periodization of reflections on culture

I. Preformative period (till the mid-19th cent.)

1, Antiquity, middle ages, renaissance, baroque

a) Antiquity: the myth of Prometheus, Hesiod, Works and Days (paideia), Herodotus, Histories (ethnography of the barbarians) Cicero, Tusculan Disputations (cultura animi).

b) the Middle Ages: the unity of European Latin culture (ichristianitas), theocentrism, and teaching under the control of the Church

c) Renaissance: humanism, anthropocentrism, reformation, national languages, great geographical discoveries, Michel de Montaigne Essays ("noble savage"), Jean Bodin (searching for sources of cultural facts in natural phenomena)

d) Baroque Thomas Hobbes Leviathan (opposition nature - culture)

2. Enlightenment and Romanticism

a) Enlightenment: Giambattista Vico The First New Science (historical), Jean-Jacques Rousseau Discourse on the Arts and Sciences (nature-culture opposition), Charles Montesquieu Persian letters (ethnography of non-European peoples)

b) Romanticism Johann Gottfried Herder Ideas on the Philosophy of the History of Mankind (folk culture, ethnic language, the place of Slavs in Europe)

II. Formative period (from the mid-19th century to the beginning of the 20th century)

3. Classic Evolutionism (from the 1850s)

a) Keywords: barbarians, civilization, wild, evolution, culture, humanity, progress, stages, cultural relics

b) issues: the course of human development, the direction of human progress, the genesis of cultural phenomena, the inference about the past of the most advanced civilizations, superiority and inferiority of evolution, the community of human nature, the attributive understanding of culture

c) representatives: Lewis Henry Morgan, Edward Burnett Taylor, James George Frazer, and Ludwik Krzywicki

d) similar currents: social Darwinism (Herbert Spencer)

4. Diffusionism (from the 1860s to the beginning of the 20th century)

a) Keywords: diffusion, human geography, cultural contact, cultural circle, cultural area, cultural centre, cultural borrowings

b) issues: the emergence of cultural inventions, the course of cultural contact and the laws governing it, the spread of cultural elements, laws governing diffusion

c) representatives: Friendrich Ratzel, Leo Frobenius, Fritz Graebner, Bernhard Ankermann, Alfred L. Kroeber, Wilhelm Schmidt, Ralph Linton

d) similar currents: hyperdiffusionism (Grafton Elliot Smith, William James Perry) convergenceism (Adolf Bastian, cultural convergence, elementary ideas, ethnic ideas).

5. Sociologism and the Durkheim school (turn of the 19th and 20th centuries to the 1930s)

a) key words: general social fact, social morphology, prelogical thinking, participation, collective ideas, society, community

b) issues: a comprehensive analysis of social phenomena, society as a sui generis reality, the social nature of cultural phenomena, the mind and psyche as social phenomena

c) representatives: Marcel Mauss, Lucien Lévy-Bruhl, Maurice Halbwachs, Stefan Czarnowski

6. Historicism and Boas’ school (1880s to 20s).

a) keywords: historical research, cultural relativism, field research

b) issues: no basis for formulating generalizations about cultural phenomena, distributive understanding of culture, multiplicity of cultures, critique of evolutionism and diffusionism, rejection of comparison of cultures

c) representatives: Franz Boas, Alfred L. Kroeber, Kazimierz Moszyński

7. Marxism (the 70s and 90s of the 19th century)

a) Keywords: economic base, cultural superstructure, class structure, class struggle,

b) issues: eclecticism of Marxism: historicism (evolutionary history), diffusionism (the spread of revolution), functionalism (self-regulating societies), relativism (production methods related to ideologies)

c) representatives: Karl Marx, Friedrich Engels

III. Period of formation of the discipline (from the turn of the 19th / 20th centuries to the 1940s)

8. Configuration (at the turn of the 20th and 30th centuries)

a) keywords: configuration, culture, cultural arch, cultural patterns

b) issues: culture as a coherent and comprehensive phenomenon, rejection of cultural comparison, cultural change as a destructive force, cultural diversity as an elementary human feature

c) representatives: Alfred L. Kroeber, Ruth Benedict, Ralph Linton

9. Functionalism (20-60 years of the 20th century)

a) Keywords: social anthropology, field research, function, institution, social integration, needs, society, social structure, kinship system, matrylinearism, power

b) issues: mechanisms maintaining society in a state of equilibrium, intercultural comparisons and their limitations, understanding of cultural identity, social structure as the basic subject of anthropological research, field study as the basic method of anthropology

c) representatives: Bronisław Malinowski, Alfred R. Radcliffe-Brown (structuralist), Edward E. Evans-Pritchard

10. Psychologism / psychokulturalizm (1930-1940)

a) key words: primary institutions, secondary institutions, basic personality, status personality, subconsciousness, socialization, projection systems, norm and deviation

b) issues: shaping the individual's psyche through social life and culture, the relationship between culture and personality, cultural determinants of characteristics and phenomena treated as natural, the course of socialization in different cultures, the impact of social life on the subconsciousness, the mechanism of shaping the basic personality

c) representatives: Sigmund Freud, Ruth Benedict, Edward Sapir, Abraham Kardinger, Ralph Linton, Margaret Mead

11. Structuralism (1940s / 50s / 1980s)

a) keywords: language, linguistics, humanity, thinking, human nature, concepts, cultural universals, structure, myth

b) issues: homogeneity of human thinking, language as the area of expression of the human mind, understanding of thinking and behavior of people of different cultures, hidden structures of thinking and their way of expressing

c) representatives: Claude Lévy-Strauss, Edmund Leach, Rodney Needham

12. Neoevolutionism (1950s)

a) Keywords: specific evolution, general evolution, multi-line evolution, progress, rationality

b) issues: an atypical understanding of culture, a man as a rational being, the possibility of comparing culture and its limitations, the process of culture development, the impact of environmental conditions on culture and social life

c) representatives: Leslie A. White, Julian H. Steward, Marshall D. Sahlins

13. Cultural materialism and ecological anthropology (1960s)

a) key words: environment, adaptation, cultural ecology, social complexity, economic rationality of human activities

b) issues: criticism of cultural relativism, postulate of the creation of anthropology, materialistic analysis (analysis of "hard" data), holistic approach to cultural research,

c) representatives: Marvin Harris, Roy A. Rappaport

IV. critical period (from the 1950s)

14. Processualism (50-70 years)

a) Keywords: Manchester School, social change, social order, social cohesion, social drama, extended case study

b) issues: tribal and urban life, criticism of Malinowski's functionalism, rule and behavior, conflict anatomy and dispute resolution, ritual process, liminal phase, relations between structures, processes and historical events

c) representatives: Arnold van Gennep, Max Gluckman, Edmund R. Leach, Victor W. Turner

15. Transactionism and economic anthropology (60-80 years of the 20th century)

a) key words: social organization (opposition: social roles - social status), conflict and covenant

b) issues: critique of functionalism, relations between individuals and decisions in social action, negotiation of identity, creation of social values,

c) representatives: Fredrik Barth, Oscar Lewis, Ladislav Holý, Raymond Firth

A student develops his research skills, under supervision of the teacher a student learns to acquire knowledge independently.

Student workload:

Participation in classes in the room - 30 hours (1 ECTS)

Preparation for the test- 45 hours (1.5 ECTS)

Literatura podstawowa

Barnard A., Antropologia. Zarys teorii i historii, tłum. S. Szymański, Warszawa 2006 (lub późniejsze wydania).

Deliège R., Historia antropologii. Szkoły, autorzy, teorie, tłum. K. Marczewska, Warszawa 2011.

Krawczak E., Antropologia kulturowa. Klasyczne kierunki, szkoły i orientacje, Lublin 2007.

Paluch A. K., Mistrzowie antropologii społecznej. Rzecz o rozwoju teorii antropologicznej, Warszawa 1990.

Literatura uzupełniająca

Assmann A., Wprowadzenie do kulturoznawstwa. Podstawowe terminy, problemy, pytania, tłum. A. Artwińska i K. Różańska, Wydawnictwo Nauka i Innowacje, Poznań 2015, s. 11-56.

Baldwin E., Longhurst B., McCracken S., Ogborn M., Smith G., Wstęp do kulturoznawstwa, tłum. Kaczyński M., Łoziński J., Rosiński T., Zysk i S-ka Wydawnictwo, Poznań 2007, s. 12-65.

Barnard A. i Spencer J. (red.), Encyklopedia antropologii społeczno-kulturowej, tłum. M. Barbaruk-Fereńska, Warszawa 2012.

Barth F., Gingrich A., Parkin R., Silverman S., Antropologia. Jedna dyscyplina, cztery tradycje: brytyjska, niemiecka, francuska i amerykańska, tłum. J. Tegnerowicz, Kraków 2007.

Eller J. D., Rozdział 3. Początki antropologii kulturowej, [w:] tegoż, Antropologia kulturowa, Kraków 2012, s. 71-102.

Fereński P. J., Gomóła A., Moraczewski K., (red.) Antologia tekstów polskiego kulturoznawstwa, Wydawnictwo Naukowe Katedra, Gdańsk 2017.

Fereński P. J., Gomóła A., Moraczewski K., Majewski P., Historia mówiona polskiego kulturoznawstwa, Wydawnictwo Naukowe Katedra, Gdańsk 2017.

Fereński P. J., Gomóła A., Wójcicka M., Zdrodowska M., (red.) Kulturoznawstwo polskie. Przeszłość, przestrzeń, perspektywy, Wydawnictwo Naukowe Katedra, Gdańsk 2018.

Inglis F., Kultura, seria „Key concepts”, tłum. M. Stolarska, Warszawa 2007.

Kaczorowski B (red.), Obyczaje, języki, ludy świata, seria „Encyklopedia PWN”, Wydawnictwo Naukowe PWN, Warszawa 2007.

Mencwel A., Wstęp: wyobraźnia antropologiczna, [w:] Godlewski G., Kolankiewicz L., Mencwel A., Rodak P., Antropologia kultury. Zagadnienia i wybór tekstów, Warszawa 2005, s. 9-20.

Mencwel A., Godlewski G., Kołakowski A. i inni (red.), Kulturologia polska XX wieku, tom 1: A-K, Warszawa 2013.

Mencwel A., Godlewski G., Kołakowski A. i inni (red.), Kulturologia polska XX wieku, tom 2: L-Ż, Warszawa 2013.

Nowicka E. i Głowacka-Grajper M., Słowo wstępne [w:] tychże (red.) Świat człowieka – świat kultury. Antologia tekstów klasycznej antropologii, s. 9-67.

Olszewska-Dyoniziak B., Człowiek – Kultura – Osobowość. Wstęp do klasycznej antropologii kulturowej, atla2, Wrocław 2003

Pankowicz A., Rokicki J., Plichta P. (red.), Tożsamość kulturoznawstwa, Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Jagiellońskiego, Kraków 2008.

Staszczak Z., Słownik etnologiczny: terminy ogólne, Warszawa 1987.

Szacki J. Historia myśli socjologicznej, Warszawa 2002.

Knowledge: the graduate knows and understands:

- basic theoretical and methodological approaches to the humanities, especially cultural studies and religious studies (with particular emphasis on its interdisciplinary nature); understands their mutual connections and inspirations, has elementary knowledge about schools and research directions, with reference to cultural heritage as well as historical and contemporary socio-political conditions of Central and Eastern Europe (K1_W01; Reference to P6S_WG Range and depth)

- basic terminology of cultural studies, including the research perspective of Central and Eastern Europe (directions, texts, researchers in the field of culture studies) and the specificity of development of this discipline in the countries of the region; knows in a basic scope the terminology of related disciplines, necessary in getting to know and understanding the cultural phenomena of the region's countries (K1_W02; Reference to P6S_WG Range and depth)

- to the basic level, the specificity of various cultural models in anthropological terms (traditional, noble, bourgeois, mass), their transformation processes and interrelations and emanations in the symbolic and semiotic sphere, in the space of culture and art, literature and history of Central and East European countries (K1_W03; Reference to P6S_WG Range and depth)

- the broadly understood intercultural context; has knowledge about man as an entity constructing social structures and cultural products, is aware of the rules of their functioning and the resulting differences in the perception of social life by representatives of different nationalities, ideological and religious groups and differently understood minorities (K1_W07; Reference to P6S_WG Range and depth, P6S_WK Context / conditions, effects)

Skills: a graduate can:

- search, select, analyse and use the information it needs from various sources (K1_U01; Reference to P6S_UW Use of knowledge / problems to be solved and tasks performed)

- formulate and analyse research problems, select research methods and tools, and conduct simple research in the field of culture and religion and related disciplines concerning the region of Central and Eastern Europe under the supervision of a tutor (K1_U02; Reference to P6S_UW Exploitation / problem solving and performed tasks)

- use theoretical approaches, research paradigms and concepts appropriate to the sciences of culture and religion in typical professional situations (K1_U04; Reference to P6S_UW Use of knowledge / problems to be solved and tasks performed)

Social competences: a graduate is willing to:

- critical assessment of the knowledge possessed, continuous education and supplementing the acquired knowledge (K1_K01; Reference to P6S_KK)

- effective communication and life in society, including in a culturally different society from one's own, to work in a group, to deal with typical professional situations, to verify their views through a matter-of-fact discussion and assessment of knowledge (K1_K02; Reference to P6S_KK)

I. Course provision

According to the Detailed studying provisions at the Faculty of Applied Linguistics (in Polish: Szczegółowe zasady studiowania na Wydziale Lingwistyki Stosowanej UW)

1) Presence at all classes included at the study programme is compulsory. (§ 9 sec. 2)

2) A student is not allowed to resit examination, if he/she failed to get the credit because he/she did not filled requirement of compulsory presence. In that case a student has the right for a conditional entry ('wpis warunkowy') for next year and to attend the course again. (§ 2 ust. 4.)

3) A student has the right to be absent 2 times in one semester, consisting of 30 class hours (thirty 2-hour classes). At the beginning of the course the teacher will instruct students on how to make up for the absence and complete what they have missed. The student's time table overlaps do not excuse over limit absences.

2. Assessment methods

The course examination is credit with grade.

Test which verifies the knowledge obtained during the course. 100 questions. 3. Assessment criteria

The unsatisfactory mark can only be given to students who have not shown satisfactory results in the test.

4. Grading scale

99 - 100% - 5! (outstanding)

93 - 98% - 5 (very good)

87 - 92% - 4,5 (good plus)

77 - 86% - 4 (good)

71 - 76% - 3,5 (satisfactory plus)

60 - 70% - 3 (satisfactory)

0 - 59% - 2 (unsatisfactory)