Tóth Ferenc szerk.: Fiatal Néprajzkutatók Országos Konferenciája. Makó, 1991. augusztus 26-28. A Makói Múzeum Füzetei 75. (Makó, 1993)

ELŐADÁSOK - BORSOS BALÁZS: Az ELTE BTK Kulturális Antropológia Programja és céljai

ABSTRACT THE PROGRAMME AND AIMS OF THE DEPARTMENT OF CULTURAL ANTHROPOLOGY OF THE "EÖTVÖS LORÁND" UNIVERSITY OF BUDAPEST Balázs Borsos Cultural anthropology, in the wider sense, investigates all cultural phenomena of human society. Its basic characteristic is that it accepts, and professes as its starting point, that cultures are equal in value, even in their multiplicity. In addition to the theoretical foundation acquired through study, therefore, it places the chief emphasis on field work, on "participatory observation." In this interpretation, "cultural anthropology" is not related to its German but its Anglo-Saxon definition, and that is why it is able to investigate anthropologically (ethnologically) the cultural phenomena of societies not only outside butinside Europe as well. Instead of again attempting to define culture or society, we should rather concentrate on percieving and analysing phenomena. Since the scope of investigation of cultural anthropology is not the "people" or the "peasantry" but the whole society - within which it examines the cultural phenomena of micro-communities, groups based on local, social or cultural identity - the task of the future does not differ in principle from that of today: communities such as these, organized on certain varying bases, will always exist. Cultural anthropology differs from ethnography in that cultural anthropology does not investigate material or spiritual relics of the past but analyses living culture. Its methodology is less museological or descriptive; it makes an effort towards "participatory observation," it attempts to register living cultural phenomena. Cultural anthropology is distinguished from sociology by the fact that its chief aim is not to describe or analyse social movements, stratifications, or transformations but to grasp the cultural phenomena attached to all of these. Out of the related branches of social sciences, it relies on ethnography, sociology, psychology, and historical anthropology. "Active" or "applied" anthropology directly follows "participatory observation," that is, the researcher may act as the social spokesman of the investigated community (as so many examples from Latin-America illustrate). There are several methods available to the young researcher in the field of anthropology: 39