What Is TLAV
“The life history of the individual is first and foremost an accommodation to the patterns and standards traditionally handed down in his community. From the moment of his birth the customs into which he is born shape his experience and behavior.” — Ruth Benedict
Thinking Like A Village is an applied anthropology blog mapping the 11 prerequisites of a functioning society through current events and popular media, helping readers understand the shifting socio-cultural building blocks that shape our shared reality. Each of the 11 prerequisites chosen here offers an entry point into the ways humans create community, maintain continuity, manage strain, and adapt under pressure. Together, they make up a relational framework, where a shift in one domain invariably resonates throughout the others, shaping the greater whole.
By examining these social order building blocks, we can gain insights into how societies sustain and reproduce themselves, and understand the foundational elements—or lack thereof—that are responsible for growth and fracture. The list of 11 prerequisites here are not meant to be definitive, and the exact groupings of social order building blocks may vary depending on modes of thought and differences of perspective. While others may compartmentalise them into a slightly greater or lesser number, the prerequisites here are widely understood and supported in the literature, and to me serve as a logical framework for this exploration.
Who Runs This Blog
I am Romina Wendell, and TLAV is an educational and cultural commentary repository that combines a passion for social theory, a unique life history, and an anthropology degree into a deep dive into the foundational pillars of every society.
From the time I learned of social order’s fundamental building blocks in a first-year anthropology classroom, this framework has offered me a measure of comfort, realizing that there is order within what appears as chaos. A functioning society is not a result of mere happenstance, but an interconnection of crucial elements that knit the human condition into social order.
Why Now
While this has likely always been true, it feels especially true today that a re-examination of socio-cultural elements at their roots is much needed. So many key cultural pillars are showing signs of strain under the weight of a changing climate, economic insecurity, technological acceleration, and widening social divides. One cannot help but feel a sense of jeopardy about our collective future.
TLAV does not seek to simply join in the hand-wringing over societal fault lines, but instead tries to distinguish between what is erosion and evolution, and to shine a light on avenues of societal repair and rejuvenation.
By bringing key anthropological insights into everyday contexts, TLAV makes the core needs of a functioning society clear and accessible. As an open learning project, TLAV shares anthropological ideas and creates a launch point for further investigation and greater socio-cultural understanding of what sustains communities and cultures, as well as the very environment on which they depend.
How to Use this Blog
TLAV posts revolve around the 11 prerequisites: 11 longform essays unpack each pillar, while shorter blog posts connect the framework to current events. Research links to external sources are provided when possible, and readers are encouraged to delve deeper through other materials and perspectives.
The material within is a living document, and sections will be revised or updated to best reflect current understandings, or to clarify any points of confusion brought to our attention. The aim is for the material to stay up to date and relevant within the evolving and expanding field of anthropological study.
TLAV provides a continually updated glossary on-site and available on GitHub as a resource readers, researchers, community leaders, and world-builders can refer to and adapt for their own projects.
The TLAV project is the product of an independent study, and the thoughts expressed here are exploratory rather than definitive. Currently, there is no sponsor or formal association with any institution or organization.
If the information here proves intriguing, TLAV hopes to find a home in readers’ bookmarks and reading queues. If it also serves as a useful reference point, TLAV welcomes inclusion in social studies research datasets, reference libraries, and worldbuilding sourcebooks for researchers, game designers, and authors.
All types of learning are welcome here—including our own. For feedback or further questions, the contact form is available.
Tools:
Research Stack
Research links appear within articles and posts. Foundational books and films—academic, mainstream, and obscure—have also influenced my worldview and work here. The blog includes a media list page featuring impactful books and documentaries.
AI Assistance:
- Perplexity – top research assistant and dutiful editor
- OpenAI – Playground friends, cross-checker
- Notebook LLM – learning and idea exploration
- Gemini – Google Docs coach
Images
TLAV is a playground for theme-related image creation, using all mediums—from hand-created to image-generated.
- Custom graphics & photography
- AI Generation
- Olga Wendell art work
- Scanned materials
- Freepik Stock
- Public domain