WHEN: A Conversation about Culture

In: American anthropologist: AA, Band 103, Heft 2, S. 432-446

Abstract

For decades now culture has been a topic anthropologists argue about: WHAT it does or does not mean, IF it should or should not constitute a central concept of the discipline. This essay steps outside these arguments to rephrase the issue and our approach to it. It explores WHEN it makes sense to use the cultural concept: Should we proceed inductively or deductively in constructing connections between the concept and our data? And instead of assertions by one author, it utilizes a debate format to collectively raise possibilities to ponder,[culture, induction, deduction, anthropological analysis]