Instructor Myeshia C Babers Course ANTH 210 502 Term Fall 2013 Chapter 3 Notes 1 Chapter 3 Studying Culture a Evolutionism i View held by early social philosophers that human differences can be accounted for by different rates of progress leading to different levels of cultural achievement b Empiricism i The practice of conducting studies through direct observation and objective description c Functionalism i View that cultural traits have social functions that contribute to the smooth operation of the whole society d Modern Theoretical Perspectives i Materialist Perspectives 1 Marvin Harris 2 Cultural Ecology 3 Cultural Materialism ii Structuralist Perspectives iii Interpretive Perspectives iv Conflict Perspectives e Explaining Cultural Diversity Table 3 1 p 49 f Reflexive Anthropology Page 1 of 5 Instructor Myeshia C Babers Course ANTH 210 502 Term Fall 2013 Chapter 3 Notes i Focuses on 1 The labels that anthropologists use 2 The impacts of anthropologists on the people they study 3 Professional ethics g Ethnography and Fieldwork i Polyphony ii Fieldwork iii Cross cultural Comparasons h Cross cultural Comparisons i Means of understanding cultural differences and similarities through cultural differences similarities rather than direct observation i Ethnohistory Research i Field of study for reconstructing and interpreting the history of indigenous peoples from their point of view as well as the points of view of ethnohistorians j Doing Fieldwork i Choosing a problem ii and site iii Conducting preliminary research Page 2 of 5 Instructor Myeshia C Babers Course ANTH 210 502 Term Fall 2013 Chapter 3 Notes iv Arrival and Culture Shock v Choosing a place to live vi Working with an unfamiliar language vii Gathering Data viii Interpreting data k Culture Shock i Feeling an anthropologist might have at the start of fieldwork at being out of place in unfamiliar surroundings l Qualitative Quantitative Data i Qualitative Data Information obtained through personal interviews life histories observation and interaction with community members ii Quantitative Data Statistical information about population employment and income figures census reports on birth and mortality and so on that reflects trends and processes within a community m Anthropological Research in Large Scale Societies i Urban Anthropology 1 Field that focuses on studying the lives of people living in cities or urban neighborhoods ii Survey Research Page 3 of 5 Instructor Myeshia C Babers Course ANTH 210 502 Term Fall 2013 Chapter 3 Notes 1 Use of formal questionnaires administered to a random sample of subjects eliciting social data that can be analyzed statistically n Ethical Issues in Anthropology i Labeling Issues in Anthropology ii AAA Code of Ethics iii Ethics and Advocacy o AAA Code of Ethics i A slate of principles recommended to cultural anthropologists by the 1 Mandates intellectual 2 falsification or intentional biasing of data 3 Obligates researchers to harming or peoples being studied p Ethics and Advocacy i Opinions on the relationship between anthropologists and the people they study 1 Some anthropologists see as an end in itself 2 Some become for the communities they have studied for example seeking to disseminate information that counters negative stereotypes about poor and marginalized peoples Page 4 of 5 Instructor Myeshia C Babers Course ANTH 210 502 Term Fall 2013 Chapter 3 Notes Page 5 of 5