Cultural Anthropology

For Norwegian anthropologist Fredrik Barth, ethnicity is not just based on a "group" with its "culture". Ethnicity is based on its "contrast" with the "Others". Thus, Ethnicity is organized and focused on "Cultural Differences." For the American anthropologist Lila Abu-Lughod, Anthropology from its inception was directed towards the study of external "Others" where every Culture is an "Ethnography of the Particular" (because Cultures are all Ethnographies of the Particular). The notion of Culture reinforces the distinction between "Cultures" and clarifies the distinctions between the Self and the Other (Self/Other). The distinction between the Self and the Other is central to the anthropological paradigm. Finally, the American anthropologist Sherry Ortner has observed that although there is no link between "issues of Subjectivity" and "issues of Power" (which trigger "issues of Subordination"), we must put aside the thinking that considers that Subjectivity must be neutral (and start to see a link between "Subjectivity" and "Power").