ANTH 206 Lecture Notes - Lecture 17: Cultural Relativism, Social Class, Cultural Ecology
8 Jun 2016
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Issue: the indigenous even for self-determination is still expected to conserve. No way out of this being a sign (over which meaning the indigenous has less than perfect control) The principle according to which one culture should be evaluated on its own terms. This way of life balance needs with means. Often seen as a consequence of unlimited wants and limited technological means, this concept gains to be understood as an instituted or socially constructed one. According to this political ecology thesis, an otherwise innocuous system of production becomes increasingly destructive of the resource when incorporated to the state or tied to the markets. White sees it as a universal law and a theory applicable to human culture. This sort of evaluation has been criticized because it transforms indigenous knowledge into a bookish thing that risks loosing its adaptability in the process. Steward describes it as a method, a set of procedures.
