ANTHROP 1AA3 Lecture Notes - Lecture 1: Linguistic Anthropology, Cultural Anthropology, Applied Anthropology
25 Mar 2015
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Document Summary
The systematic study of humankind, both in the past and present. Anthropologists are not only interested in studying far away exotic cultures; they study any society (i. e. homeless people in toronto, politicians, etc. ) Pre-historic cultures and societies are studied through archaeology. Human culture: learned behaviors and beliefs that shape our human experiences (i. e. religion, spirituality, identities- gender, race, ethnicity, etc. ) We learn about culture through mass media, the educational system (i. e. what is deemed appropriate" canadian citizen), socialization (friends and family- gender is something that is learnt), work, etc. We tend to refer to our behaviors and identities as natural (i. e. born with and therefore cannot change) or biological however many are not. Nationalism- people use terms such as its in my blood to be an american, however american are taught what it truly means to be american. National identity is shaped by agent of culture. Ethnocentrism: the idea that your culture and its values are somehow right/superior to another.
