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Current writing about culture is still characterized by conceptual slovenliness. Despite the clear thrust of E. B. Tylor's old definition, persons are still often said to be "members" of culture, which is about as justifiable as saying that a religious ritual, for example, is a member of a street corner gang. In current writing about culture there is also discernible a misplaced humanism that makes it unnecessarily difficult to allow a kind of "objective" analysis of culture that focuses away from human beings, temporarily but very usefully. Emic approaches in anthrop have their decided limitations. There are some older notions bearing on culture which have not recently received the attention they might. Autonomization, hierarchization, alienation & cultural alternation are still worth further analysis. Avoiding conceptual slovenliness & misplaced humanism & further developing the older notions indicated are indispensable procedures for enhancing the at present limited & vague utility of the idea of culture in the soc sci's. AA.

This study concerns the representation of colonial Latin American history and the characterisation of Daniel/Hatuey in the 2010 film-about-a-film También la lluvia. A metacinematic work comprising historical study and political commentary, También la lluvia has received mixed critical reactions regarding its portrayal of the historical and social inequalities it analyses. This article examines the ambiguous nature of the work by analysing the motif of conversion. It argues that, by foregrounding the contemporary conversion story of Costa, the film sacrifices both nuanced historical attention to the colonial past it dramatises and sustained development of one of its apparently central characters: Daniel/Hatuey, who is repeatedly converted into narrative and symbolic figures of secondary prominence, despite their importance to the development and legibility of the work as a whole. ; Publisher PDF ; Peer reviewed