ANTH 100A Lecture Notes - Lecture 4: The Master Builder, Final Analysis, Marvin Harris
Document Summary
Anthropology exposed the fallacies of racial and cultural superiority. Deciphering the stranger, making sense of the exotic other, essence of anthropology goes back to herodotus. Emperor darius: one culture cremates dead; other eats them: both subjects express horror at the thought. Herodotus concluded; every culture favors its own traditions and looks down upon those of any other. Myopia our way is the right way everyone else is a failure. Anthropologists are sometimes accused of loving every culture save their own. 19th century, 20th, anthropologist went to study remote tribal people seeking exotic societies, alien worlds, everything was different except for the basic humanity. Tribal societies lacked the tech of the industrial world no less intelligent or rational than citizens of supposedly advanced nations. E(cid:448)olutio(cid:374)ary (cid:373)odel: (cid:862)sur(cid:448)i(cid:448)al of the fittest(cid:863), e(cid:374)(cid:448)isio(cid:374)ed li(cid:374)ear progressio(cid:374) of ad(cid:448)a(cid:374)(cid:272)e(cid:373)e(cid:374)t. Darwin was the inspiration: species evolved, surely cultures did as. Morgan: savage, barbarian, civilized correlated with tech innovations.
