week 2: cultural anthropology

Question 1

what is ethnology?

Answer 1

• Comparison, similarity and difference
• Comparison along the lines of universals
  ○ Economics
  ○ Families
  ○ Politics
  ○ Marriage
  ○ Religion
  Can be generalizing

Question 2

what is anthropology

Answer 2

Anthropology is the integrated study of huma nature, human society, and human history. It is a scholarly discipline that aims to describe, in the broadest possible sense, what it means to be a human.

Question 3

what is cultural anthropology

Answer 3

study of similarities and differences among living societies and cultural groups
* Aims to describe in a very scientific way
* Focuses on present-day societies
* Examines topics like globalization, gender and sexuality, transnational labor migration, urbanization
* Uses the extended fieldwork method: researchers gather information from people they encounter in the field who are variously called informants, participants, consultants, etc.

Question 4

what is ethnocentrism

Answer 4

“the belief that one’s own culture is better than others”

Question 5

what is cultural relativism

Answer 5

all cultures are equally valid and beliefs and behaviours can only be understood and interpreted in this own context (history)

Question 6

what is culture

Answer 6

a set of beliefs, practices, and symbols that are learned and shared. Together, they form an all-encompassing, integrated whole that bind people together and shapes their worldviews and lifeways

Question 7

what is fieldwork

Answer 7

○ An extended period of close involvement with the people in whose way of life anthropologists are interested, during which they ordinarily collect most of their data
Immersing themselves

Question 8

what is participant-observation

Answer 8

The method anthropologists use to gather info by living and working with the people whose culture they are studying while participating in their lives as much as possible

Question 9

situated subjectivity, positionality, and situated knowledge

Answer 9

• Situated subjectivity: one’s unique perspective
• Positionality: a person’s uniquely situated social position such as gender, nationality, political views, etc.
  Situated knowledge: knowledge that is set within or specific to a precise context or situation

Question 10

What constitutes a cultural fact?

Answer 10

○ Facts are complex phenomena
○ Participants and anthropologists may disagree
○ Anthropologists may disagree with each other
○ Participants may disagree with each other