Category: Anthropology

Identify your research environment and provide a specific example of name, culture, or agency.Explain why fieldwork is essential to the goals of anthropology.

Answer Focus Questions:
Answer the following questions regarding how you, as a Cultural Anthropology, would use anthropological fieldwork methods within your research environment:

Identify your research environment and provide a specific example of name, culture, or agency.

Explain why fieldwork is essential to the goals of anthropology.

Examine a fieldwork method(s) you can use to understand your research environment and to fully understand the culture/group. Make sure to apply it to the specific example you have chosen.

Identify if and how your research results could be used to make changes, improvements, or modifications within the cultural/agency you chose.

Explain the development of ideas pertaining to formation of social actions in society.

Explain how the discipline uses field method technique(s) to study a living culture, an ancient culture, or the earliest human hunter-gatherers.

Answer Focus Questions
Explore one sub-discipline of Cultural Anthropology from your research:

Explain how the discipline uses field method technique(s) to study a living culture, an ancient culture, or the earliest human hunter-gatherers.

Describe how important the AAA Code of Ethics are when using human subjects for research.

Identify a significant contribution within the discipline you chose.
Share why the career is of interest to you.

Provide reference citation(s) that do not have to follow a particular format. Web site link needs to be hyperlinked. 1 point.

Submission:

Write an Essay (25 sentences plus reference) – Note the discipline name (i.e. Business Anthropology) at the top of the page.

What are the learned, shared, ideas and patterns of behavior of this community?What are key beliefs, dynamics, and/or interactions in this community? (min 2-3 paragraphs)

Anth 206 Final Project Option 2 Mini-Ethnography

Do certain people have different roles or different power (is someone in charge)? Do certain individuals interact with each other or some individuals not interact with others?

Describe the event or activity you observed. Include a map/ drawing of the layout of the location, description of people involved
and their roles, observations from the events/ activity itself, descriptions of any objects, clothing, or special items used in the event. (min. 2-3 paragraphs)

What are the learned, shared, ideas and patterns of behavior of this community?

What did you learn about this community through your observations and interviews?

What are key beliefs, dynamics, and/or interactions in this community? (min 2-3 paragraphs)

What did you learn about this group? What additional questions do you still have for the community? What ideas do you have for continued study of this community? (min. 1-2 paragraphs)

What do Aka and Ngandu women mean when they refer to menopause as being “like a man?” What life lessons might you have learned from Nali, Konga, Therese, and Blondine?

Listen, Here’s A Story –by Bonnie L. Hewlett

Assignment #3: Chapters 5 through 7

Divorce is a common feature of married life, both within our own culture and that of the Aka and Ngandu. How are their causes of divorce similar or different to causes of divorce in parts of the Western World? Women from both populations spoke about the difficulty of polygyny, but a few women also noted how beneficial it was for their husbands to bring home a second wife. What would you consider to be potential benefits of polygyny? What factors of polygyny might make it difficult for some women to accept? What do Aka and Ngandu women mean when they refer to menopause as being “like a man?” What life lessons might you have learned from Nali, Konga, Therese, and Blondine?

Reflect on the various ways you have “learned” about gender and sexuality throughout your life. Which influences do you think had the biggest impact?

Reflection #4

Prompt 1 (Week 10: Magic, Belief, and Religion)
Durkheim argued that a distinction between the sacred and the profane was a key characteristic of religion. Thinking about your own culture, what are some examples of ideas or objects that are considered “sacred”? What are the rules concerning how these objects or ideas should be treated? What are the penalties for people who do not follow these rules?

Prompt 2 (Weeks 11-12: Race)
García describes the reasons that race is considered a “discredited concept in human biology.” Despite this scientific fact, most people continue to believe that race is “real.” Why do you think race has continued to be an important social reality even after it has been discredited scientifically?

Prompt 3 (Weeks 13-14: Gender)
Reflect on the various ways you have “learned” about gender and sexuality throughout your life. Which influences do you think had the biggest impact?

“What is Race? is Race for real” – https://www.pbs.org/race/001_WhatIsRace/001_00-home.htm

Race: The power of illusion part1 video link –
https://capture.udel.edu/media/RaceA+The+Power+of+an+Illusion%2C+Ep.+1A+The+Difference+Between+us/1_de7u5ihx/180544301

PBS website “What is Race? is Race for real” – https://www.pbs.org/race/001_WhatIsRace/001_00-home.htm

Are there things that you can’t put a price on?is it all about the monetary value of the gift, or does gift-giving have a social value beyond the price tag?

Discussion Post 9: Economic Anthropology

Use these sources for the response:
The Many Hands Shirt: Reuniting a Family and an Heirloom
https://www.sapiens.org/column/curiosities/many-hands-shirt-chief-black-horn/

In this column from Sapiens, a museum curator gives us an example of a key concept from chapter 8: the value of an object isn’t just measured in money. As you read this article, think about the ways that people value things outside of money. Are there things that you can’t put a price on?

“Throw Me Something, Mister!”
https://www.sapiens.org/culture/throw-me-something-mister/
This article considers the idea of gift exchange – another key concept from chapter 8 – as seen during Mardi Gras in New Orleans. Read this article and think about the value of gift-giving: is it all about the monetary value of the gift, or does gift-giving have a social value beyond the price tag?