SA 101 Lecture Notes - Lecture 2: Anglo-Saxons, Social Evolution, Noble Savage
19 Jun 2018
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Module 2 (Week 2): Group compilation responses
1. Consider the words “primitive” and “savage.” What does the word connote and how would
you define it? Do you believe these words are outdated? Why or why not?
(The responses to the second question regarding “an experience that made you aware of
profound cultural differences” were more personal in nature and were written under the
impression that only the small group would read them, so I’ve excluded these responses here).
1. In this week's group discussion, we all had a much more broad definition for the word
“primitive” compared to “savage”. Both words are used to described humans, but “primitive”
was described in the sense of a society in a simpler or older time. “Savage” was used to describe
a type of violent and barbaric behaviour that a person possessed. Although Jeffrey and I
considered the word “primitive” as outdated, we all had the similar idea that the word “savage”
is not obsolete and is rather used frequently in a way to judge certain types of behaviour from
group or someone other than themselves.
1) Our discussion group overwhelmingly agreed the words “primitive” and “savage” have a
negative connotation attached to them and are now outdated. Many members agreed that these
words invoke ideas of a simplistic, undeveloped, instinctive, and animalistic being. When using
these words in definitions of culture, they imply a superiority and prestige in comparison to its
“complex” and “civilized” counterpart. Olivia continued that these words are now
“dehumanizing” due to their derogatory context and underlying racism. Many group members
examined the development of these words in anthropology. Eveliina spoke towards the Anglo-
Saxons use of these words to describe and diminish any other societies and cultures. On the
contrary, I discussed how this may not have been the intention of Anglo-Saxons, as they were
faced with unknown lands, traditions, politics, and people. These words may simply have been
derived due to ignorance or theory. However, many of us discussed how these words lessened
communities to a lower stage of social evolution. We concluded that the continued use of these
words is offensive and derogatory, as they imply that groups differing physically and culturally
are also differing biologically and intellectually.
1) This week's readings discussed how the words “primitive” and “savagery” were used by many
people in the Western world to refer to other societies. The words carried a negative connotation
and implied the societies and their people were biologically inferior to Europeans.
I believe the discussed definitions of these words are outdated. Today, “primitive” is mainly used
when describing something that is simple and bare-bones. I associate this word with
technological domains to describe technology that is relatively underpowered compared to its
alternatives. If a society was called primitive, it would be highlighting a lack of technological
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advances and their environment, and would not be referring to the people themselves like in the
past.
Savagery's definition is also outdated. These days the word would not be used to identify a
society as a whole, rather, it could be used to characterize individuals that are overly aggressive
and disruptive to their society and community. Historically it was believed to be an inherent
property of the person, while today it would describe the behaviour of the person. Today it still
labels the person as inferior and social outcasts, but only because their actions are detrimental to
others in some way and therefore are not in line with the expectations of a functioning member
of society.
1. The word “primitive” implies that someone or something is extremely basic and unevolved.
Here it is used to negatively describe the individuals that are different from the ‘civilized’
Europeans.The term “savage” however has a much darker connotation. Savage implies that
something is wild, cruel, and uncivilized such as a pack of wolves mauling another animal. In the
text, “savage” was used as a degrading term to describe those who were not from the Anglo-
Saxon descent. These individuals are thought to be less developed and complex in comparison to
those who discovered their lands. These words were used to distinguish a superior and prominent
nature of the Europeans in relation to their opposing beings. No person should ever be referred to
as savage to denote a different ethnicity. Due to language, physical and cultural barriers, English
tourists such as Samuel Baker appeared to be racists. The discovery made by these europeans
was unexpected and caused them to compare these people to what they know. Themselves.
Instead of racism, we believe this is ignorance to unknown cultures and lands. We believe these
words have been filtered out of society due to education. As time went on, individuals like
Edward Burnet Tylor became open minded to diverse cultures. By taking the time to learn the
language, traditions, beliefs and values of different cultures, the term “savage” began to fade.
These words are continuous used through the reading to identify the difference in the
civilizations both physically, mentally, and culturally. However we believe education has thus
changed the context of these words, making them outdated, and no longer used to describe
people or cultures - and never should.
For the first DQ, the three of us who have contributed to this week’s discussion all agree that
both the terms “primitive” and “savage” carry a negative connotation, stemming from
supremacist origin. Breanna and Rita bring up the concept of globalization and how that
contributes to the terms of “primitive” and “savage” becoming out-dated/ or even demeaning (in
my opinion). I brought in Barret's notion of ‘studying-down’ and how this related to how
Anthropologists used the terms “primitive” and ‘savage” when conducting analysis on other
social/cultural groups, as well as the idea of “otherness”. Rita brought in some course material in
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Document Summary
Both words are used to described humans, but primitive was described in the sense of a society in a simpler or older time. Savage was used to describe a type of violent and barbaric behaviour that a person possessed. Many members agreed that these words invoke ideas of a simplistic, undeveloped, instinctive, and animalistic being. When using these words in definitions of culture, they imply a superiority and prestige in comparison to its. Dehumanizing due to their derogatory context and underlying racism. Many group members examined the development of these words in anthropology. Saxons use of these words to describe and diminish any other societies and cultures. On the contrary, i discussed how this may not have been the intention of anglo-saxons, as they were faced with unknown lands, traditions, politics, and people. These words may simply have been derived due to ignorance or theory.
