Ethnographic fieldwork in Anthropology challenges the experts to be less attached to the subjects of study; to leave their own believes, understandings of culture, and opinions outside of the research. While “Eating Christmas in the Kalahari” by Richard B. Lee takes place in foreign location, “Fieldwork on Prostitution in the Era of AIDS” by Claire E. Sterk occurred in a familiar urban setting; nonetheless, they both experienced the advantages and disadvantages of working in a known area versus an unfamiliar location. In the text “Eating Christmas in the Kalahari”, Richard Borshay Lee is exposed to the lifestyle of the !Kung. Some of the advantages of researching in a remote unfamiliar location might be in terms of exploring the area. Because
Wade Davis’ article, Among the Waorani, provides much of the content brought to light in Nomads of the Rainforest. His article delves deeper into their culture and motivations allowing one to more fully understand their beliefs, relationships, and savagery. Both the documentary and article attempt to create a picture of their close-knit relationships and their desire f...
Even a student that has been educated for only four weeks in anthropology can admit that their viewpoint has changed since acquiring their knowledge. Studying a foreign way of life and unfamiliar customs sheds light on the impact that one’s own culture has on their thoughts. Anthropology is valuable because has the ability to remove the shock and misunderstanding that occurs when examining an alien worldview. The value of cultural relativism, the principle that one culture should not be judged by the standard of another culture, is illustrated in the comparison of Peace Corp volunteer Floyd Sandford’s African Odyssey and anthropologist Richard Lee’s Dobe Ju/’hoansi. A trained anthropologist speaks primarily in the voices of the people and quantitative data, while a relatively untrained Peace Corp worker enters a new culture and colors his account with his own emotional reactions and voice.
Trigger’s expedition in Nubia was a tremendous beginning to his career, starting his exploring in the lands that originally inspired him to follow his anthropological career path. His research in the area was primarily based on tracking the patterns of movements and chan...
...l. 2013 Introduction to Anthropology. In: Sex, Food and Death. Anthropology 1AA3, Custom Second Edition for McMaster University. Toronto: Pearson Education.
Storytelling has a special importance in culture throughout the African continent; Anansi the spider in Ghana, is one great example of an African fable that teaches children important lessons including respect for elders, the importance of wisdom, and the importance of culture. These stories have been retained and perpetuated by oral tradition, despite the western emphasis on written records; African tribes have preserved history and culture well thorough oral historians. The translator, D.T. Niane, explains the validity of oral history well by stating that written text can contain inaccuracies as well (xv). The importance of the oral aspect of djelis method relays the information in a personal manner, as Djeli Mamoudou Kouyate states, “writing lacks the warmth of the human voice,” therefore by creating a written text of an oral story it “does violence” to it (xvi). I was raised in an African community, here in DC and was lucky enough to attend Djeli performances by family friend, Djimo Kouyate, and later his son Amadou. Although I do not speak Manding, Djeli Djimo Koyate, performed the music in such a way that I was able to relate and...
Richard Borsay Lee immerses himself into the world of the !Kung Bushmen, investigating the “hunting and gathering subsistence economy” (Lee, 2) of these people in his article Eating Christmas in the Kalahari. Lee shows his appreciation for the Bushmen accepting him into their world by partaking in a tradition: obtaining the largest, fattest Ox for the Christmas feast. Lee does just that, however the Bushmen erupt in discontent at the selection made. As the Ox is sliced into, layers of fat are apparent proving this to be a perfect Ox. Lee questions the Bushmen why they would fool him, their response provides the conclusion: to keep the Bushmen humble.
Gordon accurately depicts the varied and vibrant Asian culture, by showing the reader this world instead of simply describing it. Each of the men whom Gordon uses to tell the story undertakes expeditions which are mixed with hardships and triumphs. The varied spectrum of Asian cultures is covered. Readers will find Gordon’s take on tackling this topic fresh and straightforward.
The Sociology film “Cannibal Tours,” depicts a group of tourists visiting villages or places cut off from the rest of the synchronized world, at which native people live. The main reason they are trying to reach that kind of locations is that they finally want to see with their own eyes, all those things they read and saw in movies. At this particular film, wealthy tourists visit Sepia River, in the jungles of Papa New Guinea, near which inbred cannibal people live. We can clearly see two different perspectives of what the visitors think of the life the indigenous populations are having and on the other hand what the aboriginal peoples think of the modern people and their lives.
There are approximately 196 countries in the world and almost every single one of them celebrates Christmas differently. Christmas in Mexico (Navidad) is a million times different than the Christmas that we know and celebrate in the U.S. In Mexico there are lots of events that happen before January 6th, which is Epiphany day (The day of the Three Wise Men) also known as “El Dia de los Reyes”. I am will be explaining every all of the events that take place during Christmas (Navidad) all the way up to January 6th.
The article Eating Christmas in the Kalahari by Richard Borshay Lee was about an anthropologist who wanted to by an ox for the tribes to eat on Christmas day so they can dance and everyone could get full. The whole article was a long trick they were playing on Richard they were telling him the ox he bought to eat for Christmas wasn’t going to have enough meet for everyone that it was all bone and it was old and about to die. It turns out in the end it was fat and full of meat and everyone had enough to eat they ate it for a couple days after. It turns out that’s the way the people talk about food they don’t want anyone to get a big head and raise their pride they are afraid that it will create an individual who will feel his is superior
In Return to Laughter, the anthropologist describes the anthropological fieldwork they did in Nigeria, and explains how through this fieldwork, they learned a significant amount of information about Nigeria. In one example, the character described witchcraft in the West Africa, and explains how one time she was scolded for interacting with “a witch, one whom the entire community had ostracized” (Return to Laughter, 218). Connecting with witches was not tolerated in many African cultural groups, as many felt witches were evil. This example is significant as it illustrates how through anthropological fieldwork, anthropologists learn different values and customs in different cultural groups. In addition, another example that illustrates how anthropological fieldwork can provide individuals with information about cultural groups occurs when she describes how her understanding of the groups’ language improved significantly over time. She states, “As my grasp of the language improved, I began to be able to relax in company” (Return to Laughter, 78). Through her anthropological research, she was able to not only understand the language of the group, but she was also able to communicate effectively in that particular language. This is significant as it illustrates the importance of
In “Eating Christmas in the Kalahari” we are given an inside view of what a social anthropologist experienced while celebrating a tradition in another culture. In American culture Christmas is celebration of God, spending time with family members, and giving gifts to one another. On the other hand, in the Bushmen’s tradition they gather the biggest ox to offer to their people, and have a celebration. As a man from a different culture, Lee wanted to give the Bushmen’s one of the largest ox he could find in order to show his appreciation, and thank everyone for welcoming him into their land. After he gives the people a big ox he is taunted, and put down for not having a larger ox. He was told he was being inconsiderate to the people for not getting a large one that could feed everyone in the land.
In the essay, Eating Christmas in the Kalahari, it displays how important understanding a culture can be. A simple misunderstanding by the anthropologist, Richard Borshay Lee, caused him to fear and to practically leave the !Kung people. By the end of the article, Lee’s explains how he begins to understand the !Kung culture and how they view themselves. By enriching his knowledge in the !Kung’s culture, he was able to understand the idea of generosity better.
In order to come up with an elaborate and comprehensive research work, an individual has to employ tactics and various skills or approaches of gathering information from the field. These approaches are referred to as methodologies that must be used during data collection and analysis in general. In Kenneth Feder’s research work there are various skills and methods that he used in his anthropology to en...
With the help of the women’s movement and the rise of feminism, female anthropologists were able to publish their own ethnographies. However, women ethnographers conti...