Cultural Anthropology Ethnocentrism and Cultural Relativism

Questions: 1.How does an outsider (i.e. anthropologist) understand a world completely different from their own? 2.Is there any value to studying different cultures around the world? 3.Should we place personal judgements and standards on other cultures? 4.How does one remain objective when studying other cultures? 5.Are there elements (universals) that exist in all cultures? 6.What makes cultures completely different? 7.Are some cultures better then others?

What is your place in the world? How much of the world do you know?

Do you know Africa?

What about the other continents?

Cultural Anthropology Is a social science that studies cultures around the world Cultural anthropologists have to remain objective and discourage generalizations The goal of cultural anthropology is to prevent ethnocentrism and instead to promote cultural relativism.

ETHNOCENTRISM Ethnocentrism is the belief that one's cultural group is centrally important and superior to others We are ethnocentric when we use our cultural norms to make generalizations about other peoples' cultures and customs. Ethnocentrism leads to cultural misinterpretation and it often distorts communication between human beings. CAN YOU THINK OF EXAMPLES?

Some very simple examples of ethnocentric thinking..... We often talk about British drivers driving "on the wrong side" of the road. Why not just say "opposite side" or even "left hand side"? We talk about written Hebrew or Arabic as reading "backward." Why not just say "from right to left" or "in the opposite direction from English." We consider certain types of art “naive” or “primitive”

While ethnocentric views are not necessarily intended, they have led to major human disasters throughout history causing Bullying, Discrimination, Intolerance, War, Genocide….

CULTURAL RELATIVISM Anthropologists promote cultural relativism as an approach to understanding diversity. Cultural relativism is the principle that an individual human's beliefs and activities make sense in terms of his or her own culture. Cultural Relativist perspective explains human diversity as a logical outcome of the diverse environments in which humans live. Therefore, when it comes to matters of right or wrong, there is no fixed truth but rather all is relative. What are some examples of ideas that are culturally relative?

FEMALE BEAUTY: is it a cultural universal? Why or Why not? FE

FOOD?

TEDTalk Clip: Why don’t we eat insects?

SOME AIMS OF CULTURAL ANTHROPOLOGY: To provide objective insight into other cultures To help preserve valuable knowledge, cultural practices and languages around the world To foster cross-cultural empathy, understanding and collaboration To emphasize similarities among human cultures and help bridge their differences and misunderstandings

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS: 1.Can you think of examples of universal values that supersede the particularities of cultures? 2.What are the challenges associated with determining international standards for morality within cultural relativism? 3.What are the benefits of cultural relativism? 4.What would you say are the deficiencies or dangers of cultural relativism? Read "This Forest Is Ours". The Kenyan government views the Mukogodo forest as a strategic national resource worthy of protection whereas the Indigenous Yiaaku view the Mukogodo as a cultural heritage and as inseparable from Yiaaku life. In your opinion, who should have access to the forest? Why ?This Forest Is Ours