ANT100Y1 Lecture Notes - Lecture 1: Political Correctness, Homo Sapiens, Potlatch
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ANT100Y1 Full Course Notes
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What we learn from each other vs. what was (cid:494)programmed(cid:495) by our genes. Universal ability and particular cultures: being able to have culture is programmed by our genes, the program enables culture specific ways of acting, living and thinking, forming procreative relationships (how is the species reproduced ex. Cultures are significantly different, but not infinitely different. Human cultures have more in common than not. 100 years ago anthropologists were interested in incest (universally prohibited, but incest may vary from culture to culture, freud interested in this) Animals don(cid:495)t have language (cid:523)the linguistic structure that humans have(cid:524) Homo sapiens only species who have language. Like cultures, languages have more in common than not. Language and culture allow us to adapt to new situations. But specific languages and specific cultures are human particulars. Universals (language culture) are innate: transmitted via genes (through sex)
