ANT 3241 Study Guide - Midterm Guide: Cultural Relativism, Ethnocentrism, Liminality
Document Summary
The approach anthropologists use to study human societies as systematic sums of their parts, as integrated wholes. Seeing humans as biological, social, and cultural beings. The idea that cultures should be analyzed with reference to their own histories and values rather than according to the values of another culture. Studying what they believe and not whether or not it is true. Considering your own behavior not only right but also natural. Judging other cultures from the perspective on one"s culture. The notion that one"s culture is superior-more beautiful, rational, and nearer to perfection than any other. The major research tool of cultural anthropology, including: 1) fieldwork among people in a society, 2)the written results of such fieldwork (reflective piece). The fieldwork technique that involves gathering cultural data by observing people"s behavior and participating in their lives. How locals/natives perceive and categorize the world, their rules for behavior, what has meaning for them, and how they imagine and explain things.
