ANT207H1 Lecture Notes - Lecture 3: Lewis H. Morgan, Terra Nullius, Tabula Rasa
Document Summary
Lecture 3: history of anthropology and the culture concept. Nowadays is seen as hierarchical, racist, judgemental. 17th-19th century: savages = term for travellers, adventurers, etc. who were exposed to other forms of living and considered themselves as advanced peoples compared to savages . Binaries: advanced or savage person - this or that. Did not have research to get to know supposed savages -> project assumptions onto them. Biases and prejudice = projected onto others (based on appearances, etc. ) Inversions: turn what we are upside down (i. e. we have complex structure, therefore, they have a simple one - taps into binaries again) Whatever we are, they are the opposite. Inversion itself can be flipped (i. e. we are good, so they must have the bad stuff or we are bad, so they must have the good stuff) - dependent on how we evaluate our own society. Evolutionary stages: explorers wrestled with idea that people encountered must be how their ancestors were.
