> I've tried Googling Levi-Strauss, and found information overload and a lot
> of ambiguity. Is there a useful link for the definitions you're refering to
> here?
If your really interested there is a Wiki on Structural Anthropology, his main body of work.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Structural_anthropology
I belive him to be very insightful and I still find his ideas enlightening but not a light read and very dated.
But my point is not really related to his theories, I was borrowing his definition of culture. (Which may be on the web but have not looked.) One that sees culture as a kind of meta-language for a society, i.e. all culture is a form of communication.
If you take this view then a society with a reduced culture or one that has been stripped down to a minimum level is one that is limited in expression and has profound barriers to communication.
So it would be hard to say "hey why don't you eat this fruit" even by demonstration, as they may take it completely the wrong way, if they understand what you mean at all. Easier to start from scratch and as I posted on HW Digest, emphasise and build on the similarities of culture and ignore the differences (especially if you dont really care about their culture).
Jamie
anti.spam_at_blueyonder.co.uk
orlanth.umathi_at_blueyonder.co.uk
Received on Tue 03 Jan 2006 - 00:57:27 EET
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.2.0 : Wed 18 Jul 2007 - 23:38:02 EEST