ANT E101 Lecture Notes - Lecture 2: Sam Dunn, Structural Linguistics, Participant Observation
Document Summary
They study certain behavior and ideas that are transmitted to a generation to one. Culture is defined as transmitted, learned behavior. As children, their beliefs are transmitted by family members and parents. We tend to think of such behaviors (religion/spiritual beliefs) as natural but they are transmitted and learned. Cultural anthropologist use qualitative research in their research. They do not use a lot a number crunching but they use participant observation. Participant observation is studying people from their own cultures which could mean going out and living with people. Participating with people"s daily activities (gardening and going to a temple with them) Through the process, you are talking to the people and learning the experiences they have. We also use interviews as a method in cultural anthropology. Ethnography: a description of an aspect of culture within a society. The details, observations, and analysis of what you saw during the research.
