Final answer:
Cultural anthropology is a theoretical approach that explores the connections among aspects of culture. Contemporary anthropologists emphasize that cultural identity is formed and transformed through individual and group actions. They also analyze the tensions and contradictions within cultures to understand different perspectives and variations of cultural norms and practices.
Step-by-step explanation:
Cultural anthropology, a theoretical approach that aims to discover relations, themes, and connections among aspects of culture, has been faulted for being overly formal and for ignoring social process. Contemporary anthropologists now emphasize how day to day action, practice, or resistance can make and remake culture. Cultural identity refers to the actions that individuals take, both alone and in groups, in forming and transforming cultural identities.
Anthropologists study culture as a dynamic and evolving concept, recognizing that cultures change over time. The Boasian notion of historical particularism suggests that each culture has its own unique historical path. Cultural anthropologists analyze contemporary processes as the result of interactions between internal and external forces within a specific culture. The way individuals navigate and shape their own cultural identities is an important aspect of cultural change and transformation.
By examining the tensions, contradictions, and controversies within cultures, anthropologists gain a deeper understanding of different perspectives and variations of cultural norms and practices. This approach challenges the previous notion of culture as a stable and consensual set of features embraced by a certain geographical area. It highlights the diversity within a society and how different social categories and subgroups participate differently in the same cultural norms and practices.