Week 2 Lecture 1 Notes

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School

Wilfrid Laurier University *

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Course

100

Subject

Anthropology

Date

Oct 30, 2023

Type

pdf

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Uploaded by MasterSalamander3575

Monday, September 12, 2022 Slideshow Professor "Armchair Anthropology" "Enlightenment Era (1685- 1815) Scientific Racism E.B Taylor Culture- "that complex whole which includes knowledge, belief, art, law, morals, customs, and any other capabilities and habits acquired by man as member of society." - Tylor- "Cultural Evolutionism" Darwin's Influence Why was Tylor's thinking flawed? Tylor Believed that all societies develop in the same way (universal progression) - Culture is synonymous with civilization - Due to his universalist view Tylor refused to accept the concept of race as significant - Missionaries would go to these places with the intent purpose of changing these people's lives - Data was very flawed, often incomplete, inaccurate, misleading, and exaggerated - Also known as: The Age of Reason - Reason, skepticism, science came out of this era - This way of thinking about the world isn't inevitable - The idea of scientific racism came from this time - Human behavior could be understood through biology (biological characteristics) - What is the meaning given to object and symbols - What is right and what is wrong - He wanted anthropology to be a science of culture - A theory in science - The pinnacle of science - In science, evolution is a theory - Tylor was influenced by other material - Had the idea that groups were at different stages of progress, which is why there are different cultures - Focused on evolution of culture - His thoughts were focused on biology - Darwin's idea of evolution was all about environment - Survival of the fittest doesn’t mean how strong you are but how well suited you are to your environment - Therefore, Tylor's understanding was flawed - Ethnocentric - He accepted the premise that all societies develop in the same way - There were three tiers to his concept - Western and European culture was at the top of civilization - W2 Lecture 1: Applying Anthropology/ Anthropology Matters Thursday, September 29, 2022 5:06 PM

in the study of culture Cultural Evolutionism and Colonialism Changes within Anthropology Eric Wolf (1964) "Anthropology is both the most scientific of the humanities and the most humanistic of the sciences." Looking Ahead…. Ethnocentrism For more than a century social science has distinguished between 'primative or traditional' societies and 'modern' ones - The basis for these distinctions is simply inaccurate and based on ethnocentric nations of what a society should look like - Recall… boas All people have equally developed cultures and that differences are a result of particular geographical, historical, and social conditions - European nations used cultural evolutionism and colonialism - Stage of which these nations made the rest of the world feel less intelligent - Anthropologists promoted these ideologies - Franz Boas is the father of American Anthropology - He conducted research among the Inuit - He challenged all the premises that Tylor layed out - He argued that all people have equally developed cultures - The differences are due to historical, geographical, and social relationships - He argued cultural pluralism - 1960" Most anthropologist approached most disciplines as a science - Culture was viewed as a system and anthropology was viewed as the interpreter - Many of the principles in the American Constitutions came from Europe - Reminder: Final assignment due September 23rd - Go out and take photos of things we take for granted and throw lens on why it might be weird -

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