Margaret Mead's much more defined and singular approach to anthropology is markedly different from Ruth Benedict's, however it is far from opposed to the more holistic construct of her colleague. Mead would typically define and address specific research questions regarding a particular culture, such as adolescence or sexuality, focusing only on the rituals and beliefs that these particular cultural areas touched upon. While there is definitely a limitation in Mead's work in that it is confined to specific research questions, Mead does not fail to connect the rituals and beliefs of the cultural phenomenon or elements she examines to larger cultural values and trends. That is, though Mead examines elements of culture in a setting and context that definitely separates them and defines boundaries more than in Benedict's overall construct and approach, this does not mean she actually considers all cultural elements to be truly separate and non-influential. It is…...
The value of anthropology is its ability to provide an outsider's perspective from someone living within a culture.
Anthropologists who do insufficient fieldwork leave their work open to criticism. For example, Margaret Mead, author of Coming of Age in Samoa, suggested that adolescent sexual experimentation was relatively unproblematic and free of angst for Samoans. But Mead's methodology and conclusions were debunked by Derek Freeman, an anthropologist at the Australian National University at Canberra. Freeman pointed out that Mead only stayed in Samoa for six months, never learned the language, and never resided with the Samoan people. Instead, she conducted a series of interviews with her subjects under highly artificial conditions (Christensen 2000). Today, anthropologists usually live with their subjects, conduct intensive interviews, learn the native language, and attempt to place the lives and artifacts they encounter in a meaningful cultural context. Meaning and interpretation are always contextual, and to understand…...
mlaWork Cited
Christensen, Jean. "Mead work named the worst of the century." The Los Angeles Times.
January 2, 2000. November 24, 2009. http://www.3ammagazine.com/short_stories/fiction/margaret_mead/page2.html
Experiencing a virtual world is no less a real human experience than acting in a play or participating in any other mediated human transaction.
Can virtual worlds (second life) become true communities? Virtual worlds have the potential to become highly functioning institutions, but since they are not set up to deal with the human reality of the body (indeed, they are adept at obscuring this reality) they cannot go beyond the status of institutions. Another kind of institution that limits its own capacity to be a true community is the university, which is not set up to deal with, and in many ways obscures, the human reality of the family and reproduction.
How can a virtual world create a sense of place by way of the presence of people? Virtual worlds create a sense of place for individuals to the degree that those individuals are able to feel a sense of…...
Anthropologist working with the VA
Definitions / Interests / Key Problems and Issues
Previous Work Performed by Anthropologists in this Area
The Employment Situation, Current Salaries and Opportunities for Advancement
ibliography of the most important books, chapters and articles
Relevant professional organizations, ethics statements and newsletters
Names / locations of PAs and others working in the content area locally and elsewhere.
Relevant Laws and Regulations
Relevant international / domestic organizations, private and public
Other helpful information you think about on your own
The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan had a dramatic impact on the way someone sees themselves and the world around them. This is because many veterans have been forced to serve multiple tours and are still dealing with the lasting experiences from them. Two of primary injuries most are suffering from are post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and traumatic brain injury (TI). Anthropologists are seeking to understand the issues and how they impact the individual. This paper is…...
mlaBibliography of the most important books, chapters and articles.
2014. Summary. BLS. Electronic document, accessed April 3, 2012http://www.bls.gov/ooh/life-physical-and-social-science/anthropologists-and-archeologists.htm .
Driscoll Patricia
2010. Hidden Battles on Unseen Fronts. Drexel Hill: Casemate.
Elliot Marta
Anthro
If Anna Tsing, author of In the ealm of the Diamond Queen, were to apply her methodologies, theories, and approaches to ethnography to the Nuer people, the result would be a far different book than E.E.E. Pritchard's (1969) The Nuer. Flipping the perspective would completely alter Tsing's goals in the research, and the view the researcher takes on what the appropriate role of the ethnographer is to provide context and meaning to the work. Both Tsing and Pritchard would remain concerned about issues like kinship, lineage, and basic socio-political structures. Both would also include explication of economic institutions and processes, and might mention gender roles, norms, and hierarchies, too. However, Tsing would bring multiple dimensions to the Nuer study that Pritchard misses. Tsing starts her analysis of the Meratus people by describing how they are perceived not by the foreign ethnographer, but by the modern nation-state in which they find…...
mlaReferences
Pritchard, E.E.E. (1969). The Nuer. Oxford University Press.
Tsing, A.L. (1993). In the Realm of the Diamond Queen. Princeton University Press.
Whiteness
An illusory correlation occurs when there is an observance of an expected relationship between variables and in fact this relationship does not exist (Chapman, 1967). One of the most common examples of this occurs when people stereotype; when people form false associations between membership in a particular group and novel behaviors that are typically negative and tend to be the focus of one's attention (Hamilton and Gifford 1976). With the mapping of the concept of race itself.
One of the consequences of mapping the human genome has been that genetics and science has gone on to conform something many often said but perhaps few were really convinced of: qualities such as "whiteness" are cultural constructions and the concept of "race" itself may also be a cultural construction. Instead of representing an actual biological distinction perhaps it is our political ideologies, economic systems, and other social constructions that invent concept of biologically-based…...
mlaReferences
Allen, T.W. 1994. The invention of the white race (Vol. 1). London and New York: Verso.
Allport, G.W. 1954. The nature of prejudice. Cambridge, Mass: Addison-Wesley.
Chapman, L. 1967. Illusory correlation in observational report. Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal Behavior 6 (1), pp. 151 -- 155.
Hamilton, D and Gifford, R. 1976. Illusory correlation in interpersonal perception: A cognitive basis of stereotypic judgments. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology 12 (4), pp. 392 -- 407.
Ethics in Anthropology
The use of anthropologists in the war in Iraq is both compelling and troubling. The thought that social scientists could partner with marines to produce results in war extends my understanding of the role of social scientists well beyond the initial limited confines. Social scientists have played dominant roles in business, academia and other sociopolitical arenas. The inclusion on the battle redefines the role and provide new avenue for controversy. The troubling area is the ethics of using social scientists in a war zone. I believe that the role of social scientists will be more beneficial than harmful.
From the reading and the video it was clear that the American Anthropological Association is decidedly against anthropologists providing critical information to assist in military decision making. This position is based on the view that anthropologist in their interaction with other peoples and cultures should do no harm. Consequently, if the…...
Gradually, these diverse languages, culture, and customs began to become eradicated. Although she does not use the term, the anthropologist paints a picture of White usurpation of Indian territory a kind of cultural genocide, whether intentional or not. Clearly, Theodora Kroeber's aim in recording her dealings with Ishi is an attempt upon her part to undo this legacy of 'her' people.
Kroeber charts the course of the Ishi eradication through the eradication of the Ishi language. She notes that of the six main language groups of North American Indians, five of these were represented in the vast and expansive Western territory of what is now the state of California. According to her estimates, these five language groups divided themselves into over one hundred distinct spoken languages, an extraordinary diversity of languages on one continent, languages and cultures that are now lost to us.
One extraordinary testimony to Kroeber's achievement as an…...
Students would undertake self-directed research projects, guided or led by teachers at their request. Agency would enable students to play a few hours of sports instead of read, or to read instead of play the piano. Teachers expressing their agency could hold classes outdoors, and teach about any subject they wish.
2.What contradictions might result?
The teacher's agency can easily conflict with that of the student. The teacher's agency might also clash with prevailing social values and norms. For example, a teacher who wanted to include Intelligent Design in the course curriculum could do so if all structure to the educational system were removed. With that structure in place, the teacher cannot teach Intelligent Design. The contradiction between structure and agency becomes poignant in an educational setting.
Between teacher and student, conflicts would arise between what is being taught and what is being learned; between what students want to learn about and…...
On the other hand, this return to a people made largely more recognized by Turnbull's first ethnography does suggest something about the ethnography itself where anthropological purpose is concerned. Namely, the degree to which the people of the Mbuti tribes may have been exposed to the larger intersection with the modern world as a result of Turnbull's first work is illustrative of the way that research can actually interfere with and alter the course of its subject's experience.
To an extent, the ethnography may be a double-edged sword, with its apparent benefits through immersion taking on troubling implications where the researcher's immersion itself becomes a factor in shaping data and outcomes. In addition to distorting intended findings, this also calls into question various ethical concerns where scientific examination is concerned. It is conceivable to argue that an ethnography such as that crafted by Turnbull may have eschewed proper ethical considerations…...
mlaWorks Cited:
Garson, J. (2006). Ethnographic Research. North Carolina State University. Online at .
Turnbull, C. (1983). The Mbuti Pygmies: Change and Adaptation. Thomson Learning.
Often, bones have different shapes and/or sizes depending on whether they belonged to a male or female individual, and age also plays an important factor in the way bones look (Maples, 142). hereas doctors usually specialize in a certain branch of medicine, as in pediatrics or gerontology, forensic anthropologists must retain a broad range of knowledge because they might be called in to identify bones or other remains from any individual of any age or pathology. If they only knew a small portion of the type of details that could aid them in such identification, that particular forensic anthropologist's usefulness would be severely limited. Throughout his book, Dr. Maples demonstrates quite clearly how vital it is that observation, research, and learning continue throughout one's career as a forensic anthropologist, especially in the area of biology. As medical and biological knowledge grows, the forensic anthropologist must stay up-to-date or run…...
mlaWorks Cited
Maples, William R. Dead Men Do Tell Tales. New York: Random House: 1994.
The job of therapy is in no small part to help individuals push back about over-simplification. Behind the comedy in this movie -- and it is a very funny movie -- is the recognition that much of what makes us miserable in our lives is the fact that we find ourselves limited in our sense of Self by the categories that other people bring to bear on us. And the more distant that we are from what our society considers to be "normal," the more our lives are likely to be constrained by other people's concept of the "Other."
The gay characters in this movie have far less latitude to define themselves in ways that serve themselves (rather than the straight individuals in the movie or a broader straight society in general) than is true of the straight characters. And the more closely the gay characters align themselves with what might…...
mlaReferences
Adams, M.V. (1996). The multicultural imagination: "Race," color, and the unconscious. New York: Routledge.
Robinson-Wood, T. (2009). The convergence of race, ethnicity and gender: Multiple identities in counseling. Princeton, NC: Merrill.
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It would be easy to assume, then, that biologists are making a mistake by rejecting the race concept because that rejection would force them to also ignore such biological variation. However, this assumption would be false. Most intelligent anthropologists are not rejecting the idea of biological variation or a geographical/genetic component to that variation. On the contrary, they reject the idea of "race" specifically because it is not flexible enough to accurately model the full range of biological variation and therefore lumps all geographic/genetic variable populations together based on a small subset of their traits.
The race concept would lump together, for example, both the small and slightly darker Mediterranean body build with the robust, blond Nordic body build as both "White" while assuming that all the wide variety of genetic, facial, and morphological differences in Africa rendered a single "Black" race. The critical anthropologists would have to reject such a…...
What does racism means if race has no biological basis?
Race may have no biological basis, but anthropology does not study biology alone -- race is also a cultural construction. An African-American man might have the physical DNA of European, Caucasian individuals within his genetic code, but because he is subject to the racial classification and potential discrimination within America, because America holds race to be an extant category, this does not mean that race lacks significance as a subject of cultural study. Race may be a constructed fiction, but racism, or the hatred that the cultural fiction of race has spawned, is real.
It is important to remember the lack of true 'races' in the world, however, when analyzing potential associations between groups. For example, even though they may be considered different 'races' by society, groups of marginalized persons subject to the culturally constructed notion of racism may wish to band…...
Holi, Colors speak and people Play!
Indian culture is enriched with traditions, religious ceremonies and festive celebrations. The paper is about historical and religious significance of Holi, a spring celebration which is also referred to as the 'celebration of colors'. However, the event dates back to ancient Hindu religious celebrations. In South Asia, Holi has also gained popularity among non-Hindus. It is majorly celebrated in India, Nepal and other parts of the world wherever Hindu communities reside. The event starts a night before Holi with Holika, which is the bonfire where people gather in masses to dance and sing around the fire. The very next morning Holi is celebrated by playing with colors, singing and dancing. However, there are few symbolic elements prominently observed in Holi carnival. Every single person adorns in complete white, has water gun fight, plays with colors in the shape of dry powder and drinks "Bhang."…...
mlaWorks Cited
Albers, Josef. Interaction of Color. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1975.
Ball, Philip. Bright Earth: Art and the Invention of Color. Chicago: University of Chicago, 2001.
Della Vache, Angela and Brian Price. Color: The Film Reader. London: Routledge, 2006.
Gans, H, J. Symbolic ethnicity and symbolic religiosity: towards a comparison of ethnic and religious acculturation. 1994.
Understanding Identity through Literary Representation
Exploring the Construction of Identity in Textual Narratives
The Narrative Tapestry of Identity: Unraveling the Threads in Literature
Identity's Shadow: The Literary Exploration of Selfhood
Mirrors and Masks: Identity Reflected in the Literary Canvas
Deconstructing Identity through the Prism of Literature
The Crucible of Identity: Forging the Self through Literary Encounters
The Labyrinth of Identity: Navigating the Literary Maze of Self
Echoes of Identity: Resonant Voices in Literary Representation
The Mosaic of Identity: Literary Reflections of a Fragmented Self
The Literary Crucible: Refining the Essence of Identity
Exploring the Spectrum of Identity: A Literary Journey
The Literary Microscope: Examining the Intricacies of Identity
Identity's Prism: Refracting through the....
I. Introduction
A. Background information on Zora Neale Hurston
B. Thesis statement on the significance of her work
II. Early Life and Education
A. Birth and childhood in Notasulga, Alabama
B. Move to Eatonville, Florida and sense of community
C. Education at Howard University and Barnard College
III. Career as a Writer
A. Work as a folklorist and anthropologist
B. Publication of her first short story and novel
C. Success as a playwright and essayist
IV. Literary Contributions and Themes
A. Exploration of race, gender, and identity in the African-American experience
B. Use of vernacular language and folk traditions in her writing
C.....
Cultural Diversity: A Symphony of Human Experiences
Cultural diversity, the tapestry woven from the myriad threads of human traditions, beliefs, and expressions, serves as a potent force in enriching the human experience. By embracing the kaleidoscopic variations of human existence, we unlock a treasure trove of perspectives, insights, and experiences that broaden our understanding of the world and ignite our imagination.
A Tapestry of Perspectives
Cultural diversity challenges us to transcend the confines of our own limited perspectives. Through encountering cultures distinct from our own, we gain a glimpse into alternative ways of thinking, feeling, and relating to the world. These encounters disrupt....
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