ANTHROP 1AA3 Lecture Notes - Lecture 6: Cultural Relativism, Nazism, Ethnocentrism
17 Oct 2018
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We tend to think about many of our behaviors and identities as natural/biological but many are not. E. g nationalism use terms like it"s in my blood to be an american, but americans are taught what it means to be america. Ethnocentrism: the erroneous idea that one"s culture and its values are somehow right or superior to another culture"s. Many people therefore judge another culture according to the standards of their own. An approach adopted and promoted by anthropologists. Cultural relativism: understanding another society in its own terms. Understanding how different aspects of societies are interrelated. Long term fieldwork living with the people they study (cultural anthro, linguistics), or conducting excavations (eg. archaeology/physical anthro) Your cultural upbringings and biology determine who we are. The study of contemporary cultures and societies; work with informants. Culture is defined as transmitted, learned behavior. Ethnography a description of an aspect of culture within a society.
