ANTH 1120 Lecture Notes - Lecture 1: Audrey Richards, Franz Boas, Cultural Relativism
10 Feb 2016
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Aim: reflect critically on who you are. Anthropology: study of the full scope of human diversity and the supplication of that knowledge to help people of different backgrounds better understand one another. Shift over time: from explaining a culture to examining issues facing humanity. Franz boas: founder of american anthropology, taught at. Columbia his argument: if you live in a cold environment then the env. has a bigger role on how you look vs. genetics. Previous anthropologists got informantion to serve the state. Ethnocentrism: the strong human tendency to believe that one"s own culture or way of life is normal, natural, and superior to the beliefs and practices of others (judging others culture) Cultural relativism: understanding a group"s beliefs and practices within their own cultural context, without making judgments e. g. whether to support or not an unethical practice (beach example) Anthropologists study everyone/everything they start with people and their local communities (people.
