ANTH 1105 Lecture Notes - Lecture 6: Scientific Method, Ethnomusicology, Margaret Mead
ANTH 1105
Week 4, Lecture 1
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Anthropology of Everyday Life Lecture Notes
Topic 3: Difference: Us, Them, We
Lecturer: Dr Georgina Drew
Online exam will be available on week from tomorrow – i.e. 1st April 2014
The week 5 reading of Gregory Reading has now been included within the required reading of
week 5 and has been manually uploaded to MyUni.
Last Week’s Lecture Revision:
▪ Cultural worlds
▪ Figured worlds
▪ Who we are
▪ How we can change
▪ How we are formed
▪ Cultural artefacts
▪ Before – sociological phenomenon shaping habitus
▪ Ahead – what continues to influence identity
Today’s lecture draws upon philosophy and will look at 3 vital keys to understanding difference:
1. Enlightenment
2. Modernity
3. Coloniality
1. Enlightenment
From the 1600-1800s Enlightenment developed in a time when it was faith and the church
which dominated the belief system and was used to explain all. Gradually this began to
transform, and here it was when individuals such as Descartes realised that I think; therefore I
am, instilling in him a sense that we are capable of our own thinking and experiences and allowed
for us to believe that our senses would provide us with the necessary knowledge of the world
around us. It developed a sense of the individual which was contained within its own world, its
own universe. This also led to the further and more beneficial development of scientific thinking
(reason and logic) and eventually the scientific method.
2. Modernity
Building upon the basis and realisation of development, Modernity came about in the 18th
century and extends in our time. As it was built upon enlightenment, modernity is therefore not
possible without it. Modernity has been described as the ‘mechanisms of control’ and is both
aware and in need of the infinite knowledge accumulating in our life. Through the notion of
Document Summary
Online exam will be available on week from tomorrow i. e. 1st april 2014. The week 5 reading of gregory reading has now been included within the required reading of week 5 and has been manually uploaded to myuni. Last week"s lecture revision: cultural worlds, figured worlds, who we are, how we can change, how we are formed, cultural artefacts, before sociological phenomenon shaping habitus, ahead what continues to influence identity. Today"s lecture draws upon philosophy and will look at 3 vital keys to understanding difference: enlightenment, modernity, coloniality, enlightenment. From the 1600-1800s enlightenment developed in a time when it was faith and the church which dominated the belief system and was used to explain all. It developed a sense of the individual which was contained within its own world, its own universe. This also led to the further and more beneficial development of scientific thinking (reason and logic) and eventually the scientific method: modernity.
