ANTHROPOLOGY 101 INTRODUCTION TO SOCIAL AND CULTURAL ANTHROPOLOGY NOTES FROM LECTURE 2 CULTURE ETHNOGRAPHY AND FIELDWORK Please remember that this information only contains some of the important points discussed in class this is not a complete summary of our class discussions Questions Often Asked about Anthropology How is it different from Sociology Sociology Anthropology Historically Study of the west or North Historically Study of the non west exotic cultures or South Historically study of industrialized or industrializing nations capitalism Historically study of non industrialized societies Historically study of urban societies Historically study of rural societies Method Quantitative methods Qualitative methods ethnography fieldwork HOLISTIC VIEW What does it teach us Cultural relativism to judge a culture by their specific standards not our own Dangers of ethnocentrism Ways of coping in multicultural global settings Ethnographic Methods Fieldwork First hand intensive systematic exploration of a culture Generally one year in a given culture Techniques used in fieldwork Observation PARTICIPANT OBSERVATION Mapping space Structured and unstructured interviews Census data Photographs and films Historical archives Life histories PARTICIPANT OBSERVATION The heart and hallmark of anthropology Gathering data on human cultures by Living among people Observing Participating Holistic perspective Results from fieldwork Living with people over long period of time culture as system of interrelated patterns Emic perspective Insider s perspective Ability to see things from another person s point of view Etic perspective Observer s perspective Ability to see patterns relationships and meanings of another culture Informants collaborators consultants KEY INFORMANTS People with deep knowledge of their culture ability and willingness to share it Relationships with Informants Bronislaw Malinowski Argonauts of the Western Pacific 1922 One of the founding fathers of anthropology outstanding ethnographer Worked in the Trobiand Islands native point of view Widow published personal diaries A Diary in the Strictest Sense of the Term 1967 Malinowski talks about his despise for the natives controversy in anthropology from anger to respect for Malinowski s humanity Kenneth Good Into the Heart One Man s Pursuit of Love and Knowledge Among the Yanomama 1991 Lived among the Yanomamo in Venezuela Accepted a wife from the community arranged marriage lived among the Yanomamo for a total of six years then moved to the United States Cultural ideal How things ought to be Example The Ng be Panama Practice sororal polygyny one man marries several sisters not his own sisters sisters from a different family Intimacy in fieldwork ethical considerations Three main ethical principles Informed consent Protection from risk Respect for privacy and dignity Responsibilities of anthropologists Toward those studied Physical social and psychological protection Anonymity Communicate results Important questions to ask How to conduct research without hurting others How are our relationships with our research subjects structured What are the power relations researcher researched Who benefits from social research Who should benefit from social research Example Chagnon Tierney Controversy Darkness in El Dorado How Scientists and Journalists Devastated the Amazon Patrick Tierney 2000
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