Given that Christianity tended to view history as progressive, and Christ's sacrifice and the event of Christendom being the ultimate apex of earlier civilization, the past was often seen as an inferior precursor to the present in a particularly judgmental light -- hence the persecution of certain groups as infidels and outsiders. It is the historian and the anthropologist's duty to unpack such cultural assumptions and to view the world through a less morally-clouded and self-justifying lens.
References
Episode 2: Conquest. (2005). Guns, Germs & Steel. PBS. Retrieved May 31, 2011 at http://www.pbs.org/gunsgermssteel/show/episode2.html
Anthropological research project: Celebrating women anthropologists
URL: http://anthropology.usf.edu/women/index.html
This website catalogues the research of famous women anthropologists throughout the ages. It has a specifically feminist slant, and details the research these women engaged in, along with their personal struggles for recognition in the field. While most people are familiar with the work of Margaret Mead in Samoa, Zora Neale Hurston's cataloging of African-American folklore and Dian Fosse and her work with primates, the accomplishments of other pioneering female anthropologists have often been forgotten.
Even during the 19th century, women such as Alice Cunningham Fletcher studied other cultures from an objective anthropological lens. Fletcher...
history of the League of Women Voters rightly begins with the very inception of the Women's Movement and the fight for liberation in the United States. During the early history of the United States there was little, if any respect for the principles of women's rights. In an intensely patriarchal society a man " ... virtually owned his wife and children as he did his material possessions. If a
Egyptian History Ancient Egyptian History Ancient Egypt is one of the very first societies that is taught in most elementary history (or social studies) classes. It has become so familiar, in many ways because it is both the example of how ancient cultures relate to modern ones and how they are unique. Egypt, like any other world power, rose to great heights, but it also sank to devastating lows. This civilization had
Southwest History Susan Shelby Magoffin was the first or among the first white American or non-Indian women to cross the Santa Fe Trail. She traveled as the young and new bride of a successful trader, Samuel Magoffin, who had established business with the Mexicans before he married Susan. Their journey from Independence, Missouri to Chihuahua, Mexico was their honeymoon. On the way, Susan recorded her experiences, perceptions and insights in a
Catholic Church in Spain and the United States The Catholic Church has been a very significant religious and political institution in the Europe. Its origins can be traced to a thousand years when Christianity was itself in its infancy. It was a symbol of colossal authority and was much regarded as an institution that was as similar to the installed governmental mechanism of any nation state. Its power and influence spread
French and Indian War: Braddock and Thereafter How little credit is given to a Commander, who perhaps after a defeat, in relating the cause justly lays the blame on some individual whose cowardly behav'r betray'd the whole to ruin; how little does the World consider the Circumstances, and how apt are Mankind to level their vindictive Censures against the unfortunate Chief, who perhaps merited least of the blame. George Washington, 1755 Who
Strauss and Nature Strauss is contending that the "self-evident" natural rights of man are no more apparent because of a creeping relativism in thought and an increasing dependence on legalism. Thus, "the legislators and the courts" decide what is "right" and what is not. In a sense, the lament of Strauss for the loss of common sense, especially regarding what is naturally good and lawful is appreciable. It is just. On
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