Observing Cultural Anthropology at Starbucks Cafe

Running head: CULTURAL ANTHROPOLOGY
CULTURAL ANTHROPOLOGY
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author note

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CULTURAL ANTHROPOLOGY
The scene chosen for the assignment is the Starbucks Café at a local shopping mall. The
time when the observation was done was 20:00 hours and the date was April 2, 2018. The
customers thronging the café were observed and many interesting things were observed. The
main aim of this observation was to notice the various etiquettes of the different cultures and
subcultures. Culture, as mostly defined is the way of life. It encompasses the ways people eat,
drink, sleep, sit, and converse and interacts with others. Defining culture from an anthropological
point of view, culture is the “complex whole includes knowledge, belief, art, morals, law and
custom amongst other habits acquired by man as a member of the society” (Lysgård, 2013).
Many anthropologists have defined in different ways one of which has been used here. Culture
provides humans with a great advantage to enter into every place in nature. Its development and
maintenance is what demarcates the humans from other living species on the earth. Another
dynamic aspect of culture is that it varies from place to place and from time to time (Surber,
2018). The present paper shall discuss the observations done at the café and provide insights into
the different aspects o culture. Four anthropological concepts have been identified while
observing the scene that will be analyzed.
The coffee shop has chairs arranged in a circular order with customers having to face
each other while they enjoy their snack and coffee. Customers are filling in every chair of the
café with friends, families and colleagues accompanying them. The paintings hanging on the
walls within the dimly lit interior of the café presents a sense of sophistication. Within a group of
the customers, a woman is seen looking after her baby while the man, probably her husband is
ordering the food. Within another group, probably friends, one being an Asian, they were
discussing something related to a videogame or a movie as evident from their hand gestures and
facial expressions. Then a middle-aged man was observed entering the café with his colleague

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CULTURAL ANTHROPOLOGY
probably because both had adorned formal suit and tie. They sat for around five minutes, had just
a sip of coffee and then one of them paid the bill in cash and they left. Another group of
customers who were at the café seemed to belong from a different community probably Asian.
The woman and the little girl had flower garland attached to the pony and they had something on
their forehead. They sat quite silently and the mother was seen instructing the little girl on how to
sit properly and eat the sandwich.
After observing the scene for about 25 minutes, many interesting aspects of culture came
to the fore. During the entire observation, many things happened at one given time and hence
went unnoticed. However, the observation helped explain the various concepts of anthropology
that was studied during the course. Four anthropological concepts shall be discussed in the paper
that includes gender roles, kinship, market system and common interest association.
Gender role is that anthropological concept that defines the expectations a culture has of
an individual’s role in the society as per their gender. In almost every society, the role of men
and women has been preconceived (Alesina, Giuliano & Nunn, 2013). Women mostly are
allotted the role of raising the children and men have the role to give financial support to the
family along with providing security and safety. The woman looking after her baby and the
husband ordering the food at the coffee shop demonstrated this concept.
Kinship as an anthropological concept refers to the blood relations people have. The
prominence given to kinship differs from culture to culture. In Western culture, kinship is given
minimum importance compared to the Eastern culture (Carsten, 2013). This might be because
western people give prominence to career, success and achievements. In addition, the concept of
joint family is not prevalent in the western culture as it is in the eastern part. Staying with a joint