Paper short abstract:

In my communication, I try to sketch the valuable contributions but also the limitations of a strictly cognitive approach in anthropology for the study of cultural transmission, and I suggest an alternative framework closer to what we could call a “pragmatic” approach of cultural learning.

Paper long abstract:

In my communication, I try to sketch the valuable contributions but also the limitations of a strictly cognitive approach in anthropology for the study of cultural transmission, and I suggest an alternative framework closer to what we could call a "pragmatic" approach of cultural learning. The most valuable contribution of the mainstream cognitive approach consists in drawing the attention of social scientists to the crucial role of "cognitive constrains" in the elaboration and memorization processes of (potential) cultural representations. Among its main limitations, I want to stress its difficulty to deal with the complexity of real life situations where contextual, but also perceptual and emotional factors may play a crucial role in cultural learning. I see a way of reconciling cognitive and ethnographic approaches by embracing a pragmatic approach of cultural learning. By "pragmatic approach", I mean a theoretical and methodological framework focused on learning processes and able to take into account and articulate the relevant elements of the material, cognitive, emotional and perceptual context of action and communication. My suggestion is that "relevant elements" of cultural learning are "patterns" that can be identified by the ethnographer. They might be subdivided in patterns of acting (involving manipulation of objects and bodies), patterns of interacting (between persons, objects and invisible entities), patterns of thinking, patterns of perceiving and patterns of feeling. Drawing on my own ethnography in an Afro-Brazilian cult, I will try to (briefly) illustrate the explanatory potential of the pragmatic approach.