Digital Storytelling
Anthropology is the study of humanity, or what it means to be human. "Culture," to them, is a foundational concept, which encompasses all that which is the product of human mind and interaction. But they LOVE to argue about what it really means, and there are, supposedly, over thirty definitions of culture. I like to think of it as a meaning-making toolkit. Depending on where and how you grew up, you carry a different toolkit to interpret what's happening around you.
I have been thinking and writing about culture much of my life, and started doing so professionally since I chose to study anthropology. I'm always fascinated by how, filtered through the lens of culture, people assign different meanings or significance to the same thing (like grilled eel), yet at the same time, always seem to assume that the particular meanings are natural or just commonsense.
I'm thinking these days more and more about storytelling as the key element of what we do as anthropologists. "Culture" - all that which human beings learn as part of society gives us a framework to understand the world around us and to give meaning to what we do. It's a story we tell ourselves about ourselves, as Clifford Geertz, one of the most influential anthropologists of the 20th century, once quipped.
