Prof. Bradd Shore (MARIAL Center Director and
Department of Anthropology, Emory University)
"Is There Really an American 'Culture?'
The 'Modularity Schema' Reconsidered"
Wednesday, December 13th, 2000, 4:00 p.m.
In the face of the post-structuralist assault
on the idea of shared culture, I want to consider two questions:
what is a "culture" and does America have one? Despite the discomfort
of contemporary anthropology with "culture," scholars studying
the United States still often presume that "American culture"
means something, but are often at pains to clarify just what
it means and what unit of analysis to use in studying American
culture. In this context, can we still subscribe to the idea
that 'culture" is an important aspect of what binds people together
in a community? And if so, can this "culture idea" really apply
to a complex and diverse modern nation state like the U.S.?
Contrary to contemporary doubts about the usefulness
of the culture concept, this talk makes a case for meaningful
conceptions of both culture in general and American culture
more specifically. It restores the culture concept by defining
a set of useful "units" of culture (instituted models, foundational
schemas). Then the paper attempts to illustrate the utility
of these units of culture by describing "the modularity schema,"
taken to be a key American schema that is significantly shared
by a vast number of apparently unrelated American institutions
such as hamburgers, skyscrapers and college curricula.Following
the formal talk, discussion will evaluate the viability of this
way of looking at culture both theoretically and in terms of
the success or lack of success of the attempt to account for
so many institutions by a single schema.
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Bradd Shore is Professor of Anthropology at Emory
University and holds the Emory College Distinguished Teaching
Chair in the Sciences and Social Sciences. Since 1999 he has
been Director of the Emory Center for Myth and Ritual in American
Life (MARIAL Center). His most recent books are Culture in Mind:
Cognition, Culture and the Problem of Meaning (Oxford, 1996)
and How Culture Means (Clark University Press, 1998). Currently,
Shore is researching family time allocation and ritual in Newton
County, GA.
---
The MARIAL Center
Emory West, 4th Floor, Room 415E
Open to the public
Refreshments will be served
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DIRECTIONS TO THE MARIAL CENTER
Convenient and quick transportation to Emory West
is available every 10 minutes from the Campus via shuttle (Route
W, which can be found on the corner of Asbury Circle and Pierce
Drive, Along Pierce Drive, or in Front of the Administration
Building). It is a 5 minute ride. Or you can drive and park
close in at Emory West, 1256 Briarcliff Rd. Tell the receptionist
at the front window that you are here for the MARIAL Center
lecture.
