Anthropologist's Digest

Tag: history

  • Who Gets to Be a Hero?

    Who Gets to Be a Hero?

    The Anthropology of Prestige In World War 2

    Hello all, and welcome back to my blog! After a busy summer, there should finally be more posts on the way, so stay tuned for more soon.

    I recently finished the very well-written nonfiction book A Higher Call by Adam Makos (and it is highly recommended). In this book, Makos writes of the lives of pilots during the Second World War, describing famous missions and the strategic failures that eventually led to the collapse of the Third Reich. A Higher Call deals heavily with the themes of honor and morality in war, two values that were tested in the skies above Europe and Africa.

    Reading this book, I was impressed by the number of aerial victories scored by many of the famous German Aces (known as Experten). Erich Hartmann, the highest scoring pilot of all time, took down 352 planes over 1,404 combat missions. Adolf Galland, commander of the famous JV-44 wing, scored 104 victories. Richard I. Bong took down 40 enemy planes in his P-38 fighter. All of these men were known as “Aces”. I’ve read a number of articles about these talented fighters, and one thing I noticed is that many of them hail from Europe or the United States. While the massive scale of aircraft production as well as the range of fighting in the European theater are obvious reasons for this, the trend of Western countries producing the largest numbers of recognized aces is something that I found interesting.

    The Mythic “Ace” Status

    Hailing from the French word used to describe someone elite, a flying ace is a military pilot credited with shooting down five or more enemy aircraft in air-to-air combat. Though it was a far more attainable status during WWII, when targets were in abundance, it has always been a prestigious title only held by the most skilled aviators. During the Second World War, estimates indicate that there were over 4,000 aces globally, with Nazi Germany and the United States producing the most. Due to the impressive nature of this status, wartime ministries on all sides aggressively cultivated the mythos of the ace to put a heroic face on the otherwise anonymous and industrialized slaughter of World War II.

    At this point in the article, you may be wondering why I have gone on about fighter planes and propaganda on an anthropology blog. The prestige surrounding aerial victories is precisely where anthropological themes come into play, though. In an earlier article, I explained the theme of collectivism vs. individualism, but I will briefly describe it here. Collectivist cultures prioritize the needs of the group, and the role of the individual often contributes to the functionality of their group. Individualist cultures, on the other hand, prioritize the individual. In these cultures, individuals often pursue their own goals instead of working towards group goals. During World War II, the collectivist-individualist spread of belligerents was as follows:

    Nazi GermanyTraditional Individualist
    United StatesStrongly Individualist
    United KingdomStrongly Individualist
    Australia & CanadaStrongly Individualist
    Soviet UnionIdeologically Collectivist
    Republic of ChinaStrongly Collectivist
    Empire of JapanStrongly Collectivist
    Fascist ItalyIn-Group Collectivist

    The Highest Honor

    The individualism-collectivism theme had an important role in how different countries’ pilots were honored. Nazi Germany is the most prominent example of an individualist prestige system during the war. Extreme hierarchical rewards characterized the “cult of aces” promoted in the Luftwaffe. Pilots earned medals in a preset order that required one to obtain every medal in a preset sequence. After receiving two Iron Cross medals, the Honor Goblet of the Luftwaffe, and the German Cross in Gold, pilots who scored 20 aerial victories had the ultimate honor of wearing the Knight’s Cross of the Iron Cross. Earning the Knight’s Cross instantly transformed any Jagdflieger into a national hero. The pilot’s name and achievements were blasted across the nation through the daily Armed Forces Report radio broadcast, turning anonymous servicemen into household names overnight. The Nazi state printed millions of postcards and collector’s cards featuring images of pilots wearing their medals, and the propaganda magazine Signal regularly featured high-profile pilots on its cover. From there, aviators could earn milestone additions to their Knight’s Cross; oak leaves, swords, diamonds, and golden oak leaves were added, in that order, to the Knight’s Cross for additional victories. The achievement of these milestones, like the Cross, was highly publicized.

    Knights Cross with Oak Leaves, Swords, and Diamonds

    Pilots who earned these honors were portrayed not as soldiers fighting under the Wehrmacht leadership, but as romantic, individualistic “knights of the air”. Emphasizing the pilots’ Aryan traits and devotion to the regime, the German propaganda machine was able to use these men to inspire the mass purchase of war bonds and maintain high civilian morale. Additionally, when the tide of the war turned and the Defense of the Reich campaign began, newspapers began to run stories detailing how single ace pilots “saved” cities by shooting down several Allied bombers in single nights. This served to counter the growing demoralization in the German public.

    While sometimes promoting shared credit and teamwork, the United States held the same individualistic values as Nazi Germany in terms of its pilots and propaganda. American propaganda was far less centralized than that of Germany, as most was produced through cooperation with Hollywood or other commercial entities. Still, top aces like Richard Bong (40 victories) and David McCampbell (34 victories) were brought back to the United States at the peak of their fame to be used as public relations assets. These national heroes were the faces of the War Bond system, travelling to cities and factories to sell government war bonds.

    Some interesting American Ace propaganda

    While aerial victories meant everything to pilots in America, Germany, Canada, Britain, and Australia, the situation was far different in collectivist countries, especially Japan. The Imperial Japanese Navy and Army Air Forces supported group-only victory credits. When an aerial victory was achieved, it was officially recorded in the air group (sentai) logbook not as an individual victory, but as a victory for the entire group. Rather than emphasize individual victories like Germany, Imperial Japan placed no emphasis on personal accomplishments. According to the popular Warbird’s Forum, except for high-ranking officers, the only medal awarded to Japanese soldiers was one that was awarded upon a pilot’s death. One aspect of the war unique to Japan that perfectly reflects the empire’s collective ideals is the Kamikaze. Rather than relying on skill to win dogfights, the Kamikaze program relied on the ultimate collective spirit of Japanese pilots. Erasing the role of the individual completely, a Kamikaze pilot’s sole purpose was to guide explosive-laden planes into enemy targets. In this display of ultimate devotion to the empire (the collective group), the individual was entirely unprioritized in order to benefit the survival of Japan.

    The contrast between the prestige systems of collectivist and individualist belligerents in the Second World War is stark. While the core values of individualist nations were reflected in their use of aces as heroes and knights, collective countries removed all focus from the individual. Such a difference shows just how deeply the cultural values and traditional beliefs of a nation and its people impact the development of political, social, and economic institutions.

    I hope you enjoyed this week’s post about something new! Stay tuned for another article soon.

  • Cultural Stomachaches: Empacho

    Hello all, and welcome to another AnthroKy article! Today, I am writing about another Latin American folk illness that appears rather often in anthropological studies. To recap from previous posts, folk illnesses are sets of symptoms clustered into “illnesses” that are only recognized within certain cultures. If you are new to the concept of folk illnesses and want to learn about them more deeply, you can read more about them here. Though I will continue to publish articles on anthropological applications to interesting phenomena, I plan to research folk illnesses and medical anthropology over the next few months. After exploring cultural ailments in Latin American peoples, I will shift the focus of my articles to African American experiences with asthma.

    Empacho

    Empacho is recognized by multiple medical organizations as one of the three major Latino culture-bound syndromes (along with Susto and Mal de Ojo). Closely resembling dyspepsia, the syndrome is described as a feeling that food or other matter has stuck to the walls of the stomach or intestines. This creates a sensation of physical blockage in the intestine, with symptoms typically including loss of appetite, stomach pain, cramping, nausea, and constipation. Those who report experiencing Empacho attribute it to dietary indiscretions such as eating too quickly and consuming raw or spoiled food. While this appears to be a harmless cultural classification for a common occurrence, traditional Empacho treatments can be harmful for patients, especially if the underlying condition being classified as the folk illness is actually an acute medical emergency. These treatments range from abdominal massages intended to “dislodge” trapped food to “back snapping”, a technique where skin on the patient’s back is “snapped back” to relieve the tension in the intestine. Less popular is the ingestion of lead-based remedies, stored in the homes of about 11% of Mexican households (PubMed). According to the CDC, lead-based medicines are extremely dangerous, posing risks of damage to the brain and body. Treatment is typically administered by family members at home or with folk healers (curanderos or sobadores).

    Cultural Application

    Empacho has been studied extensively by medical anthropologists and public health researchers alike. The treatment methods practiced by Latin Americans have been closely studied, in particular. Most studies have been conducted in order to mitigate harmful practices, building on the examination of the impacts of traditional treatments of Susto, the dangers of traditional treatment on unofficial illnesses can be seen in the way that Empacho is treated in many individuals. Relating to the purpose of this series (to examine how a diagnostic AI model could impact cultural illness and be impacted by it), beliefs that one is suffering from Empacho could complicate a diagnosis by skewing the user’s provided information if they are part of the Latin American culture. Similar to Susto, an AI model trained by American doctors only could have a heightened likelihood of misdiagnosing symptoms due to the lack of cultural training of the model, coupled with the reporting bias of the patient. This article is only a brief examination of another popular illness that has the potential to lead to misdiagnoses. Next week, I will delve further into the issue of culture and race-based bias in diagnoses as I study African Americans and asthma. Thank you for reading!

    Sources

    https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/9783868

    https://www.cdc.gov/lead-prevention/prevention/foods-cosmetics-medicines.html

  • A Look Into Cultural Influences on Attachment Styles

    Introduction

    Hello all, and welcome to my first post of the new year! Today, I am researching a rather niche topic that did not realize could be looked at through an anthropological lens: attachment styles. I recently learned about this psychological phenomenon during my studies in AP Psych class, and I found the science behind innate infant behaviors to be fascinating.

    A Brief History of Attachment Theory

    First developed by the 20th century psychiatrist John Bowlby, attachment theory postulates that infants must bond with a primary caregiver to properly develop socially and emotionally. Though the concept of attachment has been studied extensively in the last 100 years, developmental psychologist Mary Ainsworth’s famous “strange situation” experiment paved the way for modern understanding. This experiment placed infants in an unfamiliar room with a caregiver before removing the caregiver and leaving the infants alone. After a while, the caregivers returned, and the reactions displayed by the infants were recorded. This study found that attachment to a caregiver typically is expressed in either a secure or insecure manner, with insecure attachment taking the form of anxious attachment, avoidant attachment, and disorganized attachment (anxious-avoidant). Though one’s attachment style manifests itself at an early age and is influenced mainly by primary caregiver interactions, these styles tend to stick with us into adulthood, and they continue to be evident in mature relationship dynamics.

    Cultural Influences

    Now that an understanding of the psychology behind attachment styles has been established, I will turn to a well-known meta-analytic study of existing “strange situation” experiments (Van Ijzendoorn & Kroonenberg) across cultures to examine cultural differences in attachment. This analysis blends psychology and anthropology in its classification of cultures as either collectivist or individualist (see earlier article). Examining almost 2000 instances of the strange situation across 8 different cultures, researchers found that levels of secure attachment were relatively uniform across cultures (with Britain having the highest percentage and China having the lowest). More interestingly, individualistic countries that value independence tended to have higher levels of disorganized attachment, while collectivistic countries tended to have high levels of resistant anxious attachment. Despite these findings, intercultural variations of attachment styles suggest that culture is not a necessarily a primary influence on attachment styles or parenting styles. Moreover, unique ways of life (such as the Israeli way of raising children in a kibbutz) can contribute to the development of attachment styles that can skew the overall outcome of studies such as this one. In conclusion, culture plays a role in the development of attachment styles, but unique traditions as well as differing parenting styles mean that more research needs to be done to make a definitive statement as to what extent culture truly affects attachment.

    Thank you for reading this month’s post! If you are interested in the concept of attachment styles and want to learn about what yours could be, check out this short survey that gives you a general idea of your style: https://www.attachmentproject.com/

    Note: I am in no way affiliated with the linked survey; I included it purely as an interesting resource.

  • Globalization: The Interconnected World of Today

    Globalization: The Interconnected World of Today

    Since 1980, world trade as a percentage of global GDP has almost doubled (Index Mundi), international migrant stock has more than tripled (United Nations), and the number of people using the internet has increased by thousands of times (ITU). As a reader of an anthropology blog, you may ask why I am sharing seemingly unrelated statistics that would fit much better in a blog about technology or global economics. However, these statistics are all proof that there is a force driving connection in the world of today: globalization.

    A Brief History of Globalization

    Globalization is defined as the process of connecting and integrating different economies, cultures, technology, and populations, increasing global interconnectivity. This is done through the means of technology, people, shared ideas, and trade, to name a few. Globalization can be observed in all walks of life around the world, and its presence is ever-increasing.

    Image Credit: NASA

    The spread of the globalization phenomenon can be traced back to early trade routes like the silk road. On these routes, merchants moved their goods across trade chains for thousands of miles across continents (Eurasia, in the case of the silk road). Though this did not directly establish links between cultures, a large-scale economic market spanning dozens of countries was established, paving the way for economic interconnection. Future widespread trade included the spice routes of seventh-century Arabs, connecting the east and the west as well as paving the way for the Age of Discovery. During this period (1400-1700), European nations greatly advanced globalization through their conquest of foreign nations, one of which later became the United States of America. Through the founding of Spanish and Portuguese trade routes to outposts in South and Central America, the Columbian Exchange, a web of trade routes bringing regionally specialized goods to new areas, opened a new worldwide colonial economy. While these advancements led to partial globalization, true globalization was not achieved until around the 20th century, when the industrial revolution opened a new era of trade dubbed the “First Wave of Globalization”. Over the years, the process of globalizing advanced and economic bonds were strengthened by innovations in technology (brought by the first and second industrial revolutions). Today, a new “Fourth Wave of Globalization” is continuing the upward economic trend as cybertechnology dominates world markets.

    Columbus’s exploration of the New World played a large role in establishing a global economy. (Image Credit: Kristijan Arsoy)

    Types of Globalization

    While my not-so brief overview of globalization’s lengthy history makes it sound like a primarily economic topic, globalization in the modern age takes many forms. Each of these comes with its own advantages and drawbacks.

    Political Globalization

    Starting with a type of which we have no shortage in the current day and age, political globalization describes the development of global policy and international government. In the modern interconnected world, tensions such as geopolitical conflicts (i.e. the Russo-Ukrainian conflict or the Arab Spring) have far-reaching effects that extend well beyond their borders (such as ethnic tensions that resulted from the revolutions). Additionally, world governments and allegiances such as the UN, EU, NATO, and the defunct Warsaw Pact have become increasingly active on the world stage in the last century. These bodies, primarily established to promote security and harmony in member countries, have led to an increased political interconnectivity that has brought previously closed-off countries with their own unique policies into shared-policy groups. Political globalization is seen by some as a force of positivity, as it fosters peace as well as economic connections, but it has been criticized by some as having caused a loss of sovereignty (i.e. British Eurosceptics such as Nigel Farage, who criticize the European Union’s undermining of state independence).

    Economic Globalization

    Economic globalization refers to the integration of national economies into the global economy. The modern technology market is a perfect example of this: a computer made of American raw materials and Chinese computer chips could be assembled in a Hungarian factory. This international economic integration has become a standard of modern manufacturing, and the outsourcing of different countries’ labor and resources creates economic ties that have merged multiple nations’ economies into one (or something that is on the way to being one). Global stock markets are another prime example of economic globalization; the fluctuation of a stock in one country could have an impact on investors and governments around the world. While economic globalization drives the growth of international markets and promotes healthy economic competition, the interconnectivity it brings increases the risk of a potential financial crisis having global consequences.

    Cultural Globalization

    Cultural globalization, the type most pertinent to the study of anthropology, is the spread and integration of cultures into other cultures. The internet (and its social media platforms) serves as the perfect vehicle for the spread of culture, something that can be seen in the global support for football team Manchester United or K-pop band BTS. Furthermore, mass global travel and tourism helps to spread cultural ideas and customs. Though cultural globalization can cause cultural homogenization and loss of unique traditions, with balance, the spread of cultures around the globe can help us gain a fuller understanding of viewpoints and ways of life through others’ perspectives.

    Applications to the Field of Anthropology

    The primary aspect of globalization pertinent to anthropology is the newfound connectedness of people and their ways of life (seen primarily in cultural globalization, but also through connections like business ties in economic globalization). Global interaction between cultures and individuals, a major theme in the study of anthropology, is greatly changing as globalization persists, and the field of anthropology must constantly adapt to keep up with global interconnection. Additionally, studying the reactions of people and cultures to globalization unlocks new perspectives that can reveal more about cultures as well as how globalization is working its way into their ways of life. This can be seen in many real-life studies such as Dr. Garett Cook’s research on indigenous villagers in Guatemala and how they work to maintain their traditions as globalization rapidly reshapes the environment they live in. All in all, anthropology can reveal much about globalism and help humanity adapt to the constantly shifting economic, political, and cultural landscape that is the world of today.

    All images were taken from Unsplash.com

  • Ethnography: The Emic and the Etic

    The Methodology of Ethnography

    The word ethnography is very general, being defined as the scientific description of the customs of individual people and cultures. It is primarily used, though, in reference to the methodology of ethnography. As a methodology, ethnography is a qualitative research method centered around studying cohorts or communities to understand social and cultural phenomena. Cultural immersion, external observation of cohorts, interviews, and collection of historical artifacts are the primary methods of research under ethnography. In the methodology of ethnography, two sub-methodologies exist: the emic and the etic. While some anthropologists favor either the emic or the etic, the two sub-methodologies compliment each other, and are often used together.

    Aleksander Stypczynski – Archaeologists at work in rural Uzbekistan

    The Emic

    The emic perspective involves gaining an insider perspective on a culture, examining their beliefs, values, and practices of that culture. This perspective is useful for identifying the motivations behind particular practices or traditions in a culture as understood by members of the culture. One of the primary benefits of the emic perspective is that it is useful for gaining an in-depth understanding of a certain culture. The primary fieldwork method of emic research is immersion into a culture, which involves living alongside members of a culture and participating in day-to-day activities and rituals with them. Unfortunately, the emic is not without drawbacks; only one culture can effectively be studied at once, leading to limited generalizability. Immersion in a culture over a long period of time can also cause a researcher to become biased, negatively impacting results. The emic is primarily employed by social scientists and anthropologists seeking to gain knowledge of a certain culture.

    The Etic

    In contrast, the etic is an outsider’s perspective, taking a more objective approach to examining cultures. This is typically done in a more scientific fashion, using standardized methods of data collection and evaluation to focus on more basic and general practices and traditions of a culture. In theory, since etic research is conducted from an outside point of view, the researcher can remain unbiased and objective. The etic also allows for researchers to compare two different cultures, and it is the primary method used to do so. Unfortunately, since etic research is so subjective and non-immersive, results fail to account for important contextual factors. Outside study may also lead researchers to interpret data incorrectly or make assumptions based on their cultural backgrounds. The etic is often employed in the same areas as the emic; it is used by anthropologists, social scientists, market researchers, and others seeking to understand cultural differences they are not familiar with.

    Conclusion

    In research, using the emic and the etic is not typically a “one or the other” type of situation. These sub-methodologies compliment each other and each serve their own purpose in research, often being used alongside each other to accomplish certain goals. In my own research paper that I will later write about, I am using etic as a primary methodology to compare different individuals’ opinions of medical AI based on where they are located. The emic is also being somewhat used, as I am a member of both cultures I am studying, and it offers me a way to understand exactly what factors are influencing participant’s responses. All in all, the emic and the etic are important for anthropologists who plan on doing research to understand, and they provide us with accurate ways to make conclusions about cultures when used correctly.

    Sources used

    McCutcheon, Russell T. “ Theoretical Background: Insides, Outsides, and The Scholar of Religion.” Emic / Etic, Kenyon College, www2.kenyon.edu/Depts/Religion/Fac/Adler/Reln101/McCutcheon%20-%20emic-etic.htm#:~:text=The%20emic%20perspective%2C%20then%2C%20is,International%20Phonetic%20Alphabet%20for%20example. Accessed 24 July 2025.

    Mostowlansky, Till, and Andrea Rota. “Emic and Etic.” Open Encyclopedia of Anthropology, 11 Mar. 2025, http://www.anthroencyclopedia.com/entry/emic-and-etic.

  • A Brief Overview of Ethnomusicology

    Welcome back to my second blog post! I love all things music, so I have been hoping something related to music might be writeable for this blog. Today I will be writing about a subtopic that interested me while I was browsing anthropology news: the practice of ethnomusicology.

    What is it?

    Coined by Dutch musicologist Jaap Kunst in 1950, “ethnomusicology” is a big word, so let’s break it down. According to Miriam-Webster, the prefix “ethno-” generally means “relating to a race, culture, or people”. Musicology is the scholarly study of music that looks into its history and cultural roots. Ethnomusicology, the product of these two words, is the study of music within its social and cultural contexts that seeks to explore its deeper meaning. This can involve studying both music created by members of a certain culture and how it is performed and interpreted. Just like music is open to interpretation by those who listen to in, the definition of ethnomusicology is interpreted differently by anthropologists around the world; some place importance on the music itself while others prefer to center their studies more so around the cultures of ethnic groups.

    Kamala Bright ~ A Street Performer In India

    The Job

    In terms of field work, ethnomusicologists study the musical traditions of artists around the world, recording and analyzing performances in a cultural context as well as studying the element of music theory in their songs. Researchers may also engage in music creation with local artists to further immerse themselves in the culture. (Indeed Careers)

    Ethnomusicologists must be well-versed in music theory, ideally understanding composition and being able to play multiple instruments. The ability to conduct research both in the field and in an office setting is also a primary skill required. Ethnomusicologists are typically employed at museums, educational institutions, and research facilities, where they teach courses and publish texts.

    The Importance of Ethnomusicology

    Ethnomusicology plays a notable role in not just anthropology but musicology too. The practice itself of uncovering musical artifacts through archaeology stimulates continuous research of music in a society, stimulating further composition development in that society. It also provides a new lens to examine the progression of music in a culture throughout time, looking at the different reasons for musical style being changed the way it is. Such can function much like archaeology in the sense that it can help provide an understanding of historical perspectives by looking at what has been done with music in the past. Looking at it this way, a song could provide as much, if not more information than an ancient rune or piece of clothing. In terms of musicology, which usually employs a very straightforward and objective approach similar to the etic of ethnography, ethnomusicology is a less objective way to study music due to the fact that it takes into consideration the cultural context with which the music is created. (Li Li)

    While ethnomusicologists would likely regard their work as underrecognized, many schools have recently began incorporating ethnomusicology classes into their course offerings. These come in the forms of music or dance classes covering cultures anywhere from the Balkans to deep southeast Asia. Professional organizations related to ethnomusicology have largely grown too, with the Society of Ethnomusicology increasing membership the most among ethnomusicology groups. All in all, ethnomusicology is an increasingly relevant field of study that can uncover volumes about the world of yesterday as well as the world of today through song.

    Vicki Schofield

    Image Credits Unsplash

    Li, Li. “The Importance of Ethnomusicology in Other Disciplines Of …” Francis Press, Francis Academic Press, UK, francis-press.com/uploads/papers/xPjwVfhrdqFI7TjQVerHTJAukbNPQrmHodz8QeuD.pdf. Accessed 19 July 2025.