ANTHROP 1AA3 Midterm: Anthro - Jan 8th (Lecture and Textbook)

• School: McMaster University
• Department: Anthropology
• Course: ANTHROP 1AA3
• Professor: Karen Mc Garry

Document Summary

Anthropologists studying human culture: learned behaviors and believes that shape our human existence. Culture is learned; we think about many of our behaviours as natural/biological but many are not: eg. Ethnocentrism the idea that one"s culture and its values are somehow right or superior to another culture; judging another culture according to the standards of their own: often involves overcoming culture shock. Cultural relativism trying to understand another society in its own terms; the opposite of ethnocentrism. Holism understanding how different aspects of societies are interrelated & taking an interdisciplinary approach. Fieldwork anthropologists do long term fieldwork, living with the people they study or conducting excavations. Anthropologists want to learn about as many different ways of life as they can: this may involve patterns of regular movement across international boarders or making permanent homes in borderlands. Culture is defined as sets of learned behaviour and ideas that human beings acquire as members of society.