ANTH18731GD CULTURAL ANTHROPOLOGY

INTRODUCTION

PROFESSOR: DR. ANNA K. BOSHNAKOVA

WEEK 1
 AGENDA:

1. Getting to know you/each other and me

2. How we can become a “Community of Learners”

3. Introduction to the course

 Evaluation Plan: Assignments and tests -

dates/expectations/examples
 Introduction to the course in SLATE

 Introduction to the course content

CONTACT INFORMATION:
Dr. Anna Boshnakova
Office: HMC-2 B580
Ext. 2342
Email: anna.boshnakova@sheridanc.on.ca
 CLASS TIME-SCHEDULE
Lecture/Activity 1 hour

Break 20 min.
Lecture/Activity 1 hour

Question/Answer Period 20 min.

 “TELL YOUR STORY”

1. Getting to know you/each other and

me

???

???
2. HOW TO BECOME A “COMMUNITY OF LEARNERS?”

What should we be able to

expect from each other?
 TEXTBOOK
Jack David Eller. 2009. Cultural Anthropology.
New York: Routledge.

(online/SLATE)
Introduction to the Course Outline in
SLATE
 ASSIGNMENTS AND EVALUATION PLAN

Test dates/expectation: 2@30% = 60%

Week 5: Test 1 (test review week 4)
Week 10: Test 2 (test review week 9)
NB// Come 15 min. earlier for the test.

Assignments:

1. Creative assignment: 10%

 Submit on SLATE: due week 6, March 10, 12:30 p.m.

2. Major project: 30% (15 min. presentation = 3 x 5 min.)

Challenge # 1 presentation
Challenge # 2 presentation
Challenge # 3 presentation

For missing tests and assignments see the Academic Policy

 CREATIVE ASSIGNMENT 10%
CROSS-CULTURAL PERSPECTIVE ON BEAUTY
 Beauty is a universal concept.
 However, every culture has its own standards of
beauty.
 Look around the world and illustrate or take a
photo of some of the cross-cultural examples of
beauty.
 Submit your illustration or photo to the
assignment folder on SLATE by the end of week
6 (March 10, 2018, 12;30 p.m.).
 For this creative assignment you will get 10% out
of 10%.
SOME EXAMPLES OF TRADITIONAL
BEAUTY: I AM BEAUTIFUL
THE WODAABE TRIBE, WHO LIVE IN THE SAHEL, COME TOGETHER
EACH YEAR FOR ARGUABLY THE MOST INTENSE BEAUTY PAGEANT
IN THE WORLD.
THE TRIBE WHERE BIG IS DEFINITELY BEAUTIFUL: ETHIOPIAN MEN COMPETE TO BE THE
FATTEST IN THE VILLAGE BY DRINKING A MIXTURE OF BLOOD AND MILK WHILE LIVING IN
ISOLATION FOR SIX MONTHS.
 MAJOR ASSIGNMENT 30%
THINK LIKE AN ANTHROPOLOGIST

“The purpose of anthropology is to make the world

safe for human differences.”
Anthropologist Ruth Benedict (1887 - 1948)

“Cultural anthropology is valuable because it is

constantly recovering the normal.” Anthropologist-
linguist Eduard Sapir (1889 – 1939)
 EXPLANATION

Cultural anthropologist who studies a particular

culture through personal participation in people’s
everyday life, by observing and experiencing the
local traditions on site, is called ethnographer.

Ethnographers are mostly associated with

collecting authentic primary sources of
information. They describe what people do, what
they think, and what they invent, produce, and use
as members of their society.
 EXPLANATION

 Ethnographers face many challenges, because

what they do is not just a job, it is a way of living
and a way of thinking.
 All the lessons they learned teach them to be
mentally quick, socially sensitive, flexible and
creative, good observers, accurate and detail
oriented, or in other words, to be able to see
things that other people cannot see without
special training.
 This assignment is designed to help you
experience what is to be a cultural anthropologist
by putting theories and techniques into practice.
 FORMAT

 The assignment has 3 components = 3 challenges,

each 10%: 3 challenges x 10% = 30%
 Each challenge has to be presented with short PPT in
class.
 Presentation of the experience from the challenge:
time 5 min (3 x 5 min.= 15 min. presentation)
 The three PPT presentations with challenges must
be submitted to the Assignment folder on SLATE
before your presentation.
 Each student must sign for their presentations:

Weeks 11, 12 or 13
 INSTRUCTIONS
Challenge # 1: (10%) DUE
Talking to Strangers

 Your first challenge is to go out into the world and

meet a stranger, hear their story, and ask if you can
share it in class. Take a photo (or photos) that
represents your new connection. Write a short
excerpt (not less than 300 words and not more than
500) from what you learned about them that you
think best represents this moment for them.
 Capturing and telling the stories of humans in compelling
ways is an essential component of anthropology, and these
days that means mastering multiple forms of storytelling
in multiple media (photography, video, audio, as well as
text).

 But capturing a great story is not just capturing a good

picture. You will need to practice using the most
important tools in the ethnographic toolkit:
communication, empathy, and thoughtfulness.
 Try to get in a positive mindset as you approach strangers
and let that carry you through this challenge. Remember
that people are different, and these differences represent
the vast range of human potential and possibility. The
differences between you and the stranger can be seen in a
positive way as a representation of our diversity.
STUDENT WORK EXAMPLE: “I’m in the National Guard and I work
LAYA anywhere between 35 and 45 hours per week
here. I’m pushing carts now to get in shape for
my surgery. I’m donating my kidney to my sister
who needs it because she has Lupus. It’s like
cancer but less extreme. That’s why I’m going to
college as a biochemistry major and why I want
to work in Public Health: because my mom and
sister are sick.”
“Wow, you’re a hero!”
“Psh, no, I’m not a hero. I’m just making my
Laya world a better place like I’m supposed to. Quote
me on that.”

I met Laya while she was frantically trying to

save the life of a baby bird whose wings had
gotten crushed by a shopping cart. She even
called animal control to try to save its life. When
they arrived and told her they were just going to
kill it she was distraught.

Then I looked at this tattoo on her arm.

 CHALLENGE #2: (10%)
GIVE SOMETHING UP TO DISCOVER SOMETHING NEW
“WE CREATE OUR TOOLS AND THEN OUR TOOLS CREATE US.”

Your challenge is to give something up to discover

something new.

Give something up for at least 48 hours, like:

mirrors, table, chair, bed, fork, knife, spoon, plate,

pen or pencil, Facebook, texting, lipstick, video, TV,
internet, electricity, gas, etc.

You should continue the experiment until you have some

significant results. (Extend the time frame or move up a
level if you do not have any significant insights yet.)
 STUDENT WORK EXAMPLE : NO ANY CUTLERY

1. Keep a daily photo diary of your experience.

2. Include in your PPT presentation examples of your daily
photo diary and reflect on the following:
 What do you miss about using the thing?

 What have you gained by not using it?

 How have you changed? Any insights? Do you see the world
or other people any differently?
 CHALLENGE #3: (10%)

BREAK A HABIT AND TRY SOMETHING NEW

Your challenge is to try something new or to break a habit.

As you have been learning, humans are great at asking

questions, making connections, and trying new things.

But we are also creatures of habit.

Explore our remarkable abilities to change by trying

something new or breaking a habit for at least 7 days.
  To start, simply take a picture of
yourself trying this new thing – or find
STUDENT WORK a picture that represents this new
EXAMPLE: PAINTING thing and set it as the featured image
of your presentation.

 Create a title that names the thing you

are going to try. Try to keep it to 1 or
2 words (e.g. dancing, handstands,
quitting coffee, painting, etc.)

 Keep updates by editing your

presentation periodically throughout
the 7 days.

 If appropriate, include pictures of your

progress.
 INTRODUCTION TO THE COURSE

 What is Anthropology?

 What Do Anthropologists Do?

 How Do Anthropologists Do What They Do?

 WHAT WE WILL LEARN
 How does anthropology differ from other
social and behavioral sciences?
 What is the four-field approach to the
discipline of anthropology?
 How can anthropology help solve social
problems?
 What is holism, ethnocentrism, relativism,
participant observation?
 What skills will students develop from the
study of anthropology?
 HOW DOES ANTHROPOLOGY DIFFER FROM
OTHER SOCIAL AND BEHAVIORAL SCIENCES?

 Anthropology (gr. Anthropos = human + logos=

study)

 Sociology (a hybrid coined 1830 by Isidore Comte:

lat. Socius = associate + logos=study)

 Psychology (gr. Psyche = soul + logos=study)

 Political Science (gr. Politicos=civil)

 WHAT IS ANTHROPOLOGY?
(GR. ANTHROPOS+LOGOS)
The study of human The study of human The study of human
nature society past
Biological
anthropology
Applied
Archaeology Anthropology:
forensic, medical,
Four-field Cultural developmental,
approach Anthropology urban, business

Linguistic
Anthropology
Philosophical
Anthropology

Anthropology is a scholarly discipline that aims to describe in the

broadest possible sense how we became human and what it means
to be human.
 CULTURAL RELATIVISM

The idea that cultural traits are best

understood when viewed within the cultural
context of which they are a part.
 ETIC VERSUS EMIC APPROACHES

In the etic approach (outsider view), anthropologists use their own

categories and concepts to describe the culture under analysis.

The emic approach (insider view)

seeks to describe another culture
in terms of the categories, concepts,
and perceptions of the people
being studied.
 THE KEY TERMS IN ANTHROPOLOGY

Anthropology is:

1. Holistic To integrate all that is known about

human beings and their behaviour.

2. Comparative: To consider similarities and differences in

Ethnocentric point of view as wide a range of human societies
Relativistic point of vies (cultures) as possible before generalizing
about human nature.

Field research (participant observation

3. Descriptive and field
method, excavations) connect anthropologists
based
directly with people and their experience from
past to present.
4. Evolutionary
Biological and cultural evolution of
human development and social life.
 ANTHROPOLOGY: THE INTEGRATED STUDY OF
HUMAN NATURE, SOCIETY, AND HISTORY

What makes Anthropology a cross-disciplinary

discipline?

NB//
Because of its diversity, anthropology does not easily
fit into any of the standard academic classifications.

The discipline is usually listed as a social sciences but it

spans the natural sciences and the humanities, as well.
 WHAT IS ANTHROPOLOGY?
 Anthropology is the study of people
 their origins
 their development, and contemporary
variations
 wherever and whenever they have been
found
 WHAT CAN WE LEARN FROM
ANTHROPOLOGY?
 Social agility (to be mentally quick)
 Observation
 Analysis and planning
 Social sensitivity
 Accuracy in interpreting behaviour
 Ability to appropriately challenge conclusions
 Insightful interpretation of information
 Simplification of information
 Contextualization
 Problem solving
 Persuasive writing
 Assumption of a social perspective
 NON-ACADEMIC CAREER OPPORTUNITIES IN
ANTHROPOLOGY
Subfield Examples
Cultural International business consultant
Anthropology Cross-cultural consultant in hospital
Museum curator
Museum illustrator/animatior
International economic development
worker
Cross-cultural trainer
Public school educator
Immigration/refugee counselor
ANTHROPOLOGY AND CONTEMPORARY LIFE
 Anthropology provides a framework for promoting
understanding, acceptance and appreciation of the cultural
diversity of our global community.

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COPYRIGHT © 2005 Nelson, a division of Thomson Canada Limited. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
 UPCOMING CHAPTER

The Nature of Anthropology