Lecture 4 - Anthropology Flashcards
What is one of the most important factors in anthropology?
Context!
What affects our perceptions of other cultures?
Our own ethnocentric ideas
Emic =
We’re trying to understand people through their own thoughts/ perspective; the meaning they have attached to things, their own words.
Etic =
The opposite of emic. Use of scientific language/ jargon.
What are some anthropological concepts around privacy?
- Proxemics: personal space, social skin (different distances used for different relationships)
- Privacy in public: attempts to create and defend a private territory in a place where no physical facilities for privacy exist (cultural variations!)
Metonymic =
Part of you stands for you as a whole (e.g. your dog, your coat, your shampoo).
What is an example of territorial fencing off of one self?
Creating distance between things by for example putting your bag on the seat next to you on the train.
Civil inattention (in public) =
The behaviour we display when we see someone coming towards us in a distance (glancing once, looking down, quick glance of recognition when passing).
How does gossip relate to privacy?
- Indirect (and secret) invasion of privacy
- Disreputation (by revealing private information)
- Witchcraft example (danger of intimate relations): home becomes a dangerous place
Why is lying sometimes the only effective way to protect one’s privacy?
- Politeness
- Saying it’s ‘none of their business’ makes you seem guilty
- The social character of an interview situation determines the quality of the research (humour helps)
What is at the core of disgust?
Undesired confrontation with someone else’s privacy (ongewenste intimiteit)/ sexual harassment.
Why is privacy relational?
Because it is different to different people.
Why is privacy cultural?
Learned behaviour, learned ideas, learned sentiments.
Why is privacy situational?
Its context dependent.
Explain social vs. physical privacy?
Where there is no physical privacy, there are social rules and matter to practice privacy. Lack of privacy is not due to lack of desire thereof, it is due to lack wealth to afford privacy.
