Ethnocentrism - Samma Pilson

 My mother taught me from an early age to respect all cultures. "You're no better than anyone else, don't ever forget that," she would say, not unkindly. I always had access to the National Geographic as well as Smithsonian magazines and I would spend hours reading them two and three times. I always saw myself as objective to other cultures, bristling whenever someone would insult people different from our own society. Yet, after 9/11, I failed myself and my mother when I joined other Americans in disliking, even hating Arabs, Muslim and non-Muslim alike. I simply did not understand their culture or their reason for doing all the heinous acts I saw them carrying out. I had never taken the time to study their history or religion nor did I care to at that point. I simply grouped them all into one category and assumed that everyone in the middle east meant us ill will. Somewhere along the line I snapped out of my poisonous thinking. They're people, too, I thought. They have families, men dying in the war, just like Americans. After some research, I came away with a better understanding of the situation. 

In the article Doing Fieldwork Among the Yanomamo, Napoleon Chagnon assumed that the "primitive men" that he was going to live with were simple minded. He thought that he would be readily welcomed because of his sophisticated tools and fancy wardrobe. He assumed that he could just show up, talk to some people, get the information he was looking for, and come home with a complete understanding of the Yanomamo. When he got there, he slowly realized that life would be drastically different from living in the US. No doubt he assumed he would be going on a simple camping excursion for a few months. The Yanomamo took advantage of his ignorance, seeing how far they could push him. He was unprepared for their culture of brutal politics, and for their lifestyle, which did not accommodate his usual hygienic practices. Instead of being an honored guest, as he expected, he was seen as a subhuman outsider. It wasn't until he came to understand their culture and immerse himself in it that he was able to gain respect from the Yanomamo.

Eating Christmas in the Kalahari proved to be a somewhat different article. Unlike Chagnon, Richard Lee knew something about the culture that he placed himself above. He understood their customs and practices, however he failed to see how what he perceived as generosity would be seen as arrogance within their culture. When he bought the largest ox, he assumed that he would be to them as Santa Claus on Christmas. As he was derided for his choice of ox, he became disillusioned, and could not understand why these people he had thought were his friends would treat him so. At one point, he even vowed to spend Christmas away from them. During all of this, he did not realize that the bushmen were actually bringing him into their culture, and that he was being treated as they treat their own. The arrogance he had concerning his own culture caused him to oversee the valuable lesson the Kung were teaching him.