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Introduction
The reason I'm writing this essay is to discuss the process of appropriation, specifically, and a conceptual theory about change, in general. I will examine appropriation in the context of anthropology and hermeneutics as a conceptual theory of internal change and not as a form of invidious cultural seizure (1). However, before I can effectively elaborate on this unique hermeneutical use of appropriation some groundwork must be laid to show its applicability to anthropology and ideas about change. First, the concept must be placed in a context that most appropriately illustrates the artistic, scientific, and empirical evidence for the presence of humanly created moralities and aesthetics-cultures (2). Why? Because internal change does not take place outside of a cultural context, irrespective of what that context is. So I will talk about what anthropology is and the problem of empathy in the study of culture. Here, I will introduce a discussion about interiority (3) and its relationship to narrative identity (4). Why? Because it is through the most intimate of dialogues with oneself that the shaping and the reshaping of one's interiority can take place.
Anthropology is the most suited of all disciplines to address this situation because its aim is to directly confront the distinct and diverse shapes and forms of human life in the world-what one might refer to as culture- though space and time. Last, I will depict how Ricoeur discusses the process of appropriation as a framework and/or descriptive analysis of a process of internal change.
What is Anthropology?
Anthropology, as a discipline, has its roots deeply embedded in the emergence of humanity at all times and in all places. As a unifying science anthropology has embraced, in general, four-fields: physical anthropology (the study of the emergence of self-awareness and the physical evolution of humanity), archaeology (the study of the remains of prehistoric and historic cultures), anthropological linguistics (the comparative, historical study of the five thousand or so mutually unintelligible languages of the world), and cultural anthropology (the study of living cultures as historically created forms of life) (5).
A hallmark of anthropological research is prolonged fieldwork. During our fieldwork experiences we involve ourselves as fully as possible in the activities of the communities in which we are living so...