SOSA 1002 Lecture Notes - Lecture 1: Nacirema, Ethnocentrism, Cultural Relativism

• School: Dalhousie University
• Department: Sociol & Social Anthropology
• Course: SOSA 1002
• Professor: Liesl Gambold

Document Summary

Readings: body ritual among the nacirema by horace miner and. Build awareness of cultural diversity and variability. Introduce explanations of socio-cultural diversity (once we identify a di erence, how do we explain it?) Engage in all of this withholding or suspending judgement and maintaining an open mind. Think more critically about the relationship between data and theory. The word anthropology refers to the study of humankind . The main di erence between anthropology and other sciences that also deal with humankind, which examines both biological and sociocultural aspects of human behaviour. Assumes that no sharp boundaries separate mind from body, body from environment, individual from society, my ideas from your ideas, or their traditions from our traditions. All of these interpenetrate and de ne one another. Ask the question what is normal or natural ? . Human beings are what they are because the mutual shaping of genes and culture and experience has produced something new.