ANP 201 Lecture Notes - Lecture 2: Franz Boas, Cultural Relativism, Bathin
Document Summary
Thru a holistic approach - whole of human capacity - evolved&changed, history of diversity - how to act, speak, body, shape, etc . Comparative approach - look at different societies. Savagery -> barbarism -> civilization - one line, unilinear - stages. Right way is my way -> become civilized. Psychic unity - all humans are the same, proper training. Western superiority - european culture = best. Ethnocentrism - believing your culture is the right one; to judge another culture using one"s own cultural standards&values. Lost cultures of central&south am. based on material culture&diaries from conquistadors. Idea of cultured individuals is merely relative(1883) Culture: product of history - what happened to them. Culture: a set of practices into which people are socialized. Culture response to warfare, accident, resources, made sense in own right. An individual"s belief&practices should be studied in terms of that individual"s own culture. Ethnocentrism and cultural relativism on opposite sides of the same coin.
