Culture and RaceAnthropologists have always had their discrepancies with the word culture and its underlying meaning. There have been numerous definitions that have filtered into the field, but there is not one that everyone can accept or agree with. Franz Boas, an early 20th century anthropologist, and his students had difficulty understanding the goal of what culture is. Culture is about learning and sharing ideas about behavior. Although Boas and his students had a slightly different idea in mind. In the end they reached a conclusion, a definition of culture which, in their opinion, is a contradiction in terms. Boas states that “culture was expressed through the medium of language but was not reducible to it; more importantly, it wasn't race. Culture became everything that race was not, and race was seen as what culture was not; given, immutable biology”, (Visweswaran, p. 72). It not only focuses on culture, but anthropology also has a substantial connection. Anthropology is the field in which the study of cultural and biological variations among human groups is studied. The difficulty some people have in characterizing culture is that they associate it with race, when this is not the case. The two are extraordinarily distinct. Race is something biological, an innate genetic trait, while culture is something that is educated and experienced. Kamala Visweswaran and Lila Abu-Lughod are two distinguished anthropologists who currently teach at universities in the United States. In their articles they talk about culture from the point of view of anthropologists and detail their own opinions on it. They may have different opinions, but each has their own strong arguments that prove their points. Lila Abu-Lughod's article "Writing Against Culture" was written in 1991 and was published in the book Recapturing Anthropology. Within the article he discusses culture and many problems with it. The title of his article speaks for itself, writing against the culture. There are many questions he raises regarding culture and various influential strategies for abandoning the concept of culture. He reflects on culture and its need to be redefined. In his discussion of culture and difference, he opens with: “most American anthropologists believe or act as if “culture,” notoriously r... at the center of the paper... s. With this new connection to anthropology, the American Anthropological Association, “passed a resolution denouncing Nazi racism: “Anthropology provides no scientific basis for discrimination against any people on the basis of racial inferiority, religious or linguistic heritage” (Visweswaran, p. 71). “The solution is not to replace culture with race, but to hold the two terms in constructivist tension with each other” (Visweswaran, p. 79). Anthropology cannot struggle without culture, however there must be a distinction with race. Culture is something society is taught and learned, while race is something biological and something to be proud of. Boas and his ideas had not yet been educated on what culture meant. He was neglecting and only seeing his own perspective. Culture creates this diverse world, and in turn, race creates life with culture. Works Cited: Abu-Lughod, Lila. (1991) Writing against culture. Reclaiming anthropology. Richard Fox, ed. P, 137-162. Santa Fe, NM: School of American Research Press. Visweswaran, Kamala. (March 1998) Race and culture in anthropology. American anthropologist. P. 70-83. American anthropology