ABSTRACT
This chapter uses the rich offerings from anthropology as a foundation from which to discuss culture as a way of viewing higher education organizations. This perspective can help make meaning of the rituals and ceremonies, architecture, sagas, language, and other cultural features that exist within colleges and universities. Organizational culture theory can take two different approaches. The corporate culture approach advantages upper level administrators, assumes culture can be "managed", and holds executive leaders responsible for the substantial messages and meanings about culture. The literature on corporate organizational culture contrasts strong and weak cultures. In a higher education context, women's colleges, Historically Black Institutions, and Ivy League institutions with their historical traditions are often cited as "strong" cultures. The anthropological cultural perspective on organizations eschews rigid and deterministic hierarchical arrangements of human perspectives and behavior. The cultural perspective, particularly when updated with critical race theory (CRT), offers a helpful analysis with which to view colleges and universities.
