ANTH10001 Lecture Notes - Lecture 2: Bride Kidnapping, Anathema, Rationality

• School: University of Melbourne
• Department: Anthropology
• Course: ANTH10001
• Professor: Andrew Dawson

Document Summary

There are 4 (5?) fields of anthropology. Culture: the everyday common sense knowledge that people require to function normally and efficiently in any given context. Anthro is a comparative discipline; diversity allows us to see commonalities between different cultures. Relativism: cultures can only be understood in their own terms. Ethnocentrism: the practice of attempting to evaluate and understand culture according to criteria from beyond those cultures themselves. Professor of anthropology, university of oxford 1902 - 1973. Witchcraft, oracles, and magic among the azande (first published 1937) Azande worldview governed by belief in witchcraft. They recognised ostensible causes of phenomena (e. g. ) the barn was destroyed by the charging of elephants) but believe witchcraft was always the underlying cause. Guilt not determined by weighing evidence and counter evidence, rather by oracular consultations. Therefore, given that some people are found guilty of crimes and others not, every person must be simultaneously guilty and not guilty.