1. Thick Description Presented by: MiqdadSibtain BS Social Sciences Section B Instructor: Sohail Muhammad Ali

2. Types of Anthropologies • Symbolic anthropology • Cultural anthropology • Biological anthropology • Masculine anthropology • Feminine anthropology • Interpretative anthropology • Physical anthropology • Psychological anthropology • Forensic anthropology • Social anthropology

3. Basic Premises Symbolic Anthropology An area of Cultural anthropology symbolic system that arises primarily from human interpretations of the world

4. Continuation…. • Furthermore there are two major premises governing symbolic Anthropology: • Basic Premises: The ways in which people understand and interpret their surroundings as well as the actions and utterances of the other members of their society • The second major premise is that actions are guided by interpretation.

5. Culture Geertz believes that an analysis of culture should "not (be) an experimental science in search of law but an interpretive one in search of meaning".

6. Principal Concepts of Culture Thick Description was a term which was originally borrowed by Clifford Geertz from a renowned anthropologist Gilbert Ryle to describe and define the aim of interpretative anthropology.

7. Social Anthropology is based on ethnography or the study of culture. In order to understand culture, it is very important to understand symbols that guide social behavior.

8. By analyzing culture, one develops a thick description of culture.

9. What is Thick Description?

10. 3 characteristics of thick description • Interpretative • Interpretative consists of taking the said and changing it into things that can be studied. • Microscopic

11. How does thick description work?

12. Winking & Twitching (A twitch and a wink can look exactly the same, but have completely different intents)

13. Object of Thick Description • “Stratified hierarchy of meaningful structures” • thindescription – what you can observe • thickdescription – the meaning behind the action.

14. Examples of Thick Description • Why do Muslims condemn the eating of pork, ham or any other foods related to pigs swine? • Why do Muslims condemn drinking when a hardcore drinker can stand upright or behave normally(according to the social circle) even if he is 5 pegs down?

15. Why do male teachers usually act cheeky with female students?

16. Sources and References: • en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_sciences • www.ssrc.org • vlib.org/SocialSciences  • www.doaj.org/doaj?func=subject&cpid=88 • www.doaj.org/doaj?func=subject&cpid=87  • Ssrn.com • Notes and Handouts • Class Lectures

17. SAY To Social Sciences… Warning: It causes mental disorder

18. Thank You 