Anthropology 4400E Chapter Notes - Chapter online reading: Cultural Relativism, Ethnography
3 Dec 2017
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Anthro 4400 nov 29 notes on reading resistance and the problem of ethnographic refusal by sherry b. ortner. In contrast to reading last week on cultural relativism. Ethnography the source of internal criticism in anthropology lately. Ethnography used in terms of thickness to produce understanding through richness, texture, and detail. Ethnographic refusal = a refusal of thickness. Resistance used to be clear cut de nition but now not so clear. Author thinks resistance is a useful term. The discussion will be organized in terms of three forms of such refusal, which i will call sanitizing politics, thinning culture, and dissolving actors. Says people who look at resistance do not look enough at the politics. Not just relationship between subordinate and power. When politics are missing it gives them sense of romanticism. The british defended colonialism in india by saying they were saving them from barbaric practices like sati.
