Week 2 Assignments: Ethnocentrism

Most of you should now be comfortable with this format.  However, we are going to change it at bit this week.  Instead of responding to this post, add a new post with your response to this question.  In the subject line include the term "Ethnocentrism" and your name.

If you have not yet posted an Introduction, please do that as soon as possible.

This week's assignment:

Read Chapter 2 and the following articles:

Eating Christmas in the Kalahari

Doing Fieldwork Among the Yanomamo

In Chapter 1 you learned that a major contribution of Anthropology is the concept of cultural relativism - understanding a people's values and customs in terms of the culture of which they are a part. This is important because people have a tendency to believe that their own culture is superior to any other. Even anthropologists can be ethnocentric.
In fact, "Body Ritual Among the Nacirema" (page 2-4 of your text) was written to heighten anthropologists awareness of their tendency to describe cultures in an ethnocentric way.

How did Richard Lee (Eating Christmas in the Kalahari) and Napoleon Chagnon (Doing Fieldwork among the Yanomamo) fall victim to this tendency?

Can you think of an example of how you have interpreted an aspect of a different culture in an ethnocentric way?

Respond to at least two of your classmates.

Complete the Chapter 2 Quiz in Moodle by Sunday, August 28.