ANTH 1120 Lecture Notes - Lecture 1: Social Anthropology, Ethnography, Gender Role
12 Dec 2015
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Document Summary
Culture: the system of meanings about the nature of experience that are shared by a people & passed on from one generation to another, including the meanings that people give to things, events, activities, & people. Ethnocentrism: the tendency to judge the beliefs & behaviors of other cultures from the perspective of one"s own culture. Ethnocentric fallacy: the mistaken notion that the beliefs & behaviors of other cultures can be judged from the perspective of ones own culture. The doctrine that knowledge, truth, and morality exist in relation to culture, society, or historical context, and are not absolute. Relativistic fallacy: the idea that it is impossible to make moral judgments about the beliefs & behaviors of member of other cultures. Refers to an approach to the study of various societies that dominated anthropology in the late 1800"s. It involves the collection, study, & analysis of the writings of missionaries, explorers, & colonists who has sustained contact with non-western peoples.
