ANT 2410 Lecture Notes - Lecture 3: Cultural Relativism, Congo Pygmies, Ethiopian Americans
18 Jan 2017
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A theory is a statement that suggests a relationship among phenomena: theories enable us to reduce reality to an abstract set of principles, this helps us to better explain what we specifically talking about. Theoretical orientation is the general idea about how phenomena are to be explained: the overall idea or who you are as an anthropologist. Example) writing from the perspective of a feminist anthropologist. Many cultural anthropologists do not agree with this theory, but still regard it as part of anthropological history: can be seen as racist and discriminatory. Represented by sir edward b. tylor and james frazer (1854 1881) in england and lewis. Henry moran in the united states: collected travel journals to interpret different cultures. Influenced by charles darwin(cid:859)s theo(cid:396)(cid:455) of (cid:271)iologi(cid:272)al e(cid:448)olutio(cid:374: culture moves through steps like on a ladder. Believed that all cultures pass through the same developmental stages in the same order: evolution is unidirectional and leads to higher levels of culture.
