Anthropologists study human culture and society. They ask “what it is to be human?”. Anthropologists answer this question by analysing diverse societies to find out what all humans have in common. To undertake this study, anthropologists have a ‘kit’ full of conceptual tools. Join the Audible Anthropologist (aka La Trobe University’s Nicholas Herriman) as we describe some of these tools and put them to use.
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Anthropologists study human culture and society. They ask “what it is to be human?”. Anthropologists answer this question by analysing diverse societies to find out what all humans have in common. To undertake this study, anthropologists have a ‘kit’ full of conceptual tools. Join the Audible Anthropologist (aka La Trobe University’s Nicholas Herriman) as we describe some of these tools and put them to use.
Notions of gender are culturally specific. Until recently, at least, Western societies tended to define sexuality (ie. homo-, bi-, and hetero-sexuals) in terms of sexual orientation or attraction. In Western understandings of rape, women’s genitalia and sexuality were frequently understood as inherently vulnerable and subject to brutalisation, while men’s were thought inherently brutalising and penetrative. However, for various reasons, mostly circulating around conceptions of the body, these ideas are not shared in all societies. In this episode, we consider several examples from non-Western societies that conceptualise and work with gender in unique ways.
Copyright 2013 Nicholas Herriman / La Trobe University, all rights reserved. Please contact for permissions.
The Audible Anthropologist
Anthropologists study human culture and society. They ask “what it is to be human?”. Anthropologists answer this question by analysing diverse societies to find out what all humans have in common. To undertake this study, anthropologists have a ‘kit’ full of conceptual tools. Join the Audible Anthropologist (aka La Trobe University’s Nicholas Herriman) as we describe some of these tools and put them to use.
