The article is written about the body ritual of the Nacirema. The author, Horace Miner, explains the role that culture plays in the development of stereotypes and prejudices. The author also focuses on seeing one’s culture through a different perspective. Miner begins with addressing how anthropologists are no longer surprised by people’s behavior because of the familiarity with diversity. The author then makes a point about how some exotic customs are yet to be discovered.
Anthropology of The Amish ANT 101: Introduction to Cultural Anthropology Instructor Vasilica Margarit April 12, 2013 Anthropology of The Amish Studying anthropology provides useful information on how groups of people choose to behave the way they do, and their reasoning for them. By applying proper methodological approaches to cultural relativism, an anthropologist can use this information to find the answers to various questions as they relate to economic concerns. The Amish society is a sub-culture that is well integrated, however, a closer anthropological examination divulged in this paper will reveal that the world of the Amish is much more dynamic and diverse than the current generally accepted idea of their backwards ways of
Kendra Allen Unit # 5 Individual Project Cultural Studies Instructor: John Theodore Well when it comes to answering and discussing a single cultural artifact that I believe that best represents the culture in which I live in today. I would first start off by defining what “Cultural Artifact” is. Cultural artifact can be described as a term that is mostly used in social science particularly in anthropology, ethnology, and last but not least in sociology which can be described as anything created by humans that gives particular information about the culture and background of its creator and potential users. Cultural artifacts can also provide knowledge about technological processes, economy along with social makeups and a host of other subjects as well. When answering the overall question I would have to choose and say it would have to be the “IPod”, because the IPod is considered as one of the most influential developments in today’s society.
Society is a living entity, constantly changing and anthropologists help usher us into and explain the changes and their necessity 2) Describe each of the primary characteristics of anthropology (holism, comparativism, culture and fieldwork). Holism- this approach considers culture, history, language and biology as necessary in understanding human society Comparativism – Culture – human thought, behavior and lifestyles that are learned Fieldwork a. What is the importance of each b. What contributions do they make to the
Put simply, an emic perspective is a view from within, and the etic view is from outside. In Pike’s words, while the “etic viewpoint studies (human) behaviour as from outside of a particular system, the emic viewpoint results from studying behaviour as from inside the system.” Marvin Harris however, defined these terms with slightly different connotations. As a cultural anthropologist, Harris associated the emic and etic perspectives closely with the study of human behaviour in different cultures, and over the years this has become one of the main definitions of emic and etic. An emic perspective would be from someone within that culture, or a researcher trying to understand the culture the way the natives do, and would be influenced and expressed in terms of what is regarded meaningful to natives of that culture. An etic approach would be from someone outside of that culture, or a researcher trying to understand the culture in mainly scientific terms.
Because of science one now can measure these processes and quantify them so that cognitive psychologist may use behavioral observation to measure damage, mental processes and mental states. Because of cognitive science, cognitive psychologist are able to see just what is going on within a person’s brain and make the most educated guess on how he or she should be treated because of their behavior (Van Wagner, 2009). Behavior of individuals can be observed and watched, measured and tested, and a conclusion can be made from behavior on whether or not cognitive psychology is the best treatment for the individual. Even though cognitive psychology arose in response to behaviorism, this does not mean that behavior is not important for the
Theoretical Perspective: “The Family Stone” There are many questions that social scientists ask to examine relationships within societies. They use their own points of views to identify how different people interact within diverse relationships with ranges of people and use theories to determine the type of discipline. The discipline (anthropology, sociology, and psychology), which is a specific branch of learning, is determined by the theoretical perspective. A theoretical perspective classifies an observation based on specific theories. Each theory is able to be used as an indicator as to how humans make decisions in society.
Thus anthropology means ‘reason about humans’ or ‘knowledge about humans’. The literal definition of Anthropology is the comparative study of cultural and social life. Its distinctive character is the analysis of a full range of human societies in time and space. Anthropologists are interested both in the elements that unite all Homo sapiens, and in the extraordinary diversity of human behaviour. It has a worldwide focus in that it does not separate out one region, or one kind of society, as being more significant than others.
Body Ritual Among the Nacirema Karie R. Shepherd Ivy Tech Community College Abstract The study of sociology allows us to understand the relationship between people and other cultures. As we define culture by a set of norms and values, we can also study how these cultures can often change over time. Several concepts, such as ethnocentrism and cultural relativism, can often change the way we think or view other cultures. These topics become more relevant as you read Horace Miner’s “Body Ritual Among the Nacirema” and force us to put these ideas into practice. How this short, but satirical, piece makes us initially feel or perhaps react to other cultures can say a lot about who we are as a person and our level of understanding and tolerance
Jones went through, my definition of anthropology is studying various events that took place in the past and seeing its evolution throughout time. It requires putting together pieces of details to figure out what the big picture is and its relevance to history and society as a whole. It also involves discovering various archaeological sites and analyzing the different things that could potentially be significant to spend time on. Anthropology requires precise analysis and interpretation in order for outside sources to understand its significance and meaning in history as well as its relevance to