In the question of whether or not globalization presents a new field of oppertunity, I would like to start of with looking at a text I looked at earlier in this essay called "A place of one's own: schooling and the formation of indentities in Modern Nepal" by Stephen Carney & Ulla Ambrosius Madsen, together with the text "Consumer Culture and Identities in Kathmandu: Playing with Your Brain" by Mark Liechty
The first text, presents the oppertunity of breaking out of historically constructed social classes, the individuals placement in the family and indentity development, through education and activities at school in modern Nepal.
I believe that globalization plays a significant role in education because it creates new oppertunities for individuals to get a job, make money and take more control of their future. This also benefits the rest of the world, in the case of job creation and a better economy, which develops the different industries and a globalized world. Education is also mentioned as one of the new ideologies in the second text I presented, which talks about the evolving consumer culture in Kathmandu.
This second text also mentions class and goods becoming a factor of social constructed classes. So even though education is in some parts of the world seen as a way of moving on in life, and breaking out of the social and historically constructed hiarchy, the consumer culture and the effects of material goods have the power to put you right back in a socially constructed caste. This part of globalization can be said to be a new way to structure old inequalities. With that said, I still believe that education provides an extraordinary before mentioned new field of oppertunities, especially in parts of the world where e...
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...rcher takes on his analysis. In the case of the European ethnographers who studied Africans, Asians or other third world people of color , and the early American ethnographers who studied American Indians from the perspective of the conqueror , it constructs a sense of hiarchy, because it may put the researcher in the position of the higher ranked observer of their object of research. In this particular case it gives power to the 'white man', and puts the 'non-white man' in a lower ranked caste of world society.
My focus of the pitfalls of ethnographic tradition, has been the possiblity of seperation of society in this particular research method. Some of the expamples I have looked at goes many years back in time, but presents an image of a seperation we should be cautious of in a modern globalized world and and traps an ethnograpic researcher should be aware of.
Sir Raymond Firth famously said that ethnography “makes the exotic familiar and the familiar exotic.” You mainly hear stories of ethnographers and anthropologist going to other countries to study societies that are fascinating and unknown so that we can become familiar with their culture and understand. This is how we make the exotic familiar. Within our own country we are under the impression that because we live around these people we know them and there is nothing to learn, but when we step in and begin to observe what’s in our own backyard we realize there are things that we don’t know. This is what Philippe Bourgois and Jeff Schonberg have done in Righteous Dopefiend.
Gender Importance of the Anthropologist of Ethnography What importance may the sex of the anthropologist have on the ethnographic process? There are many factors which can influence the ethnographic process for an anthropologist, and a very important one is his/her sex. This essay will examine the different attitudes towards sex, the problems that face all ethnographers when they embark on fieldwork in a different environment to their own, as well as the problems and benefits which can arise due to the sex of an anthropologist. In order to produce a written work about a certain culture or society (an ethnography, anthropologists must embark on what is known as the ethnographic process". This term refers to all of the various activities and research methods which the anthropologist must undertake if he/she wants to obtain a profound and objective understanding of the culture being studied.
Think of the term ‘globalization’. Your first thought may be of people from all corners of the Earth exchanging ideas, views, products, and so much more. Appiah introduces his article by describing a scene of a traditional Wednesday festival in the town of Kumasi. He allows the reader to visualize the traditions held by those in attendance, but begins his case by providing details of men on their cellphones and holding conversations on contemporary topics such as H.I.V/AIDS. When Appiah speaks of “contamination,” he highlights the way one culture is influenced by another accepting an exchange of ideas. In his article he asks, “why do people in these places sometimes feel that their identities are threatened?” (Appiah). This question raises a topic that is central to the unification of peoples’ ideals and cultures...
Burbules, Nicholas C., and Carlos Alberto. Torres. Globalization and Education: Critical Perspectives. New York: Routledge, 1999. Print.
I emphasize here the collusion between all parties involved, for it is important to recognize the ways in which informmants are also actors and agents, and that the negotiation of reality that takes place in the doing of ethnography involves complex and shifting relations of power in which the ethnographrapher acts and is also acted upon. (Kondo 75)
Anthropologists conduct fieldwork by studying people, their behaviours, and their culture. This is done in the field by actively striving to interpret and understand the world from the perspective of those studied (Powdermaker, 1968, Keesing 1981). Anthropological participant-observation includes a “deep immersion into the life of a people” (Keesing, 1981 p.16) with an aim to produce an ethnography that accurately details the experience in a holistic and valuable style (Powdermaker, 1968, Keesing 1981). Generally, full participation in a culture is thought to reduce the interference the researcher has on the behaviour of the informants (Seymour- Smith, 1986). Participant-observation is still widely used by anthropologists as it offers deeply insightful real world accounts which are difficult to achieve using other methods (Seymour-Smith, 1986, Li,
The Globalization Reader. 2011. Fourth Edition. Frank J. Lechner and John Boli, eds. Malden MA: Blackwell Publishing.
James P. Spradley (1979) described the insider approach to understanding culture as "a quiet revolution" among the social sciences (p. iii). Cultural anthropologists, however, have long emphasized the importance of the ethnographic method, an approach to understanding a different culture through participation, observation, the use of key informants, and interviews. Cultural anthropologists have employed the ethnographic method in an attempt to surmount several formidable cultural questions: How can one understand another's culture? How can culture be qualitatively and quantitatively assessed? What aspects of a culture make it unique and which connect it to other cultures? If ethnographies can provide answers to these difficult questions, then Spradley has correctly identified this method as revolutionary.
“The anthropologist is a human instrument studying other human beings”. This quote can only be described as extremely relevant when reading McHugh’s ethnography, a detailed analysis on the Gurung people of Nepal. She involved herself emotionally, physically, and mentally during her stay, portraying what it’s like and what it takes to study other people from an outsider’s point of view. The relationships McHugh created throughout her stay deepened her understanding and paved the way for her fieldwork as she dived into the unknown.
McGee, Jon R., and Richard L. Warms. Anthropological Theory: An Introductory History. 5th ed. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2012. Print.
It is noticeable that the system of education is changing from time to time based on financial issues and how the world is growing. In the past, individuals taught the education system from the oldest member of the family to children, and their members were charging fees from the families that sent their children to them. Which meant that education was an important thing in all ages. Nowadays, the education is shaped to an official system run by professional people in governments and many countries invest high amounts towards education which makes evidence of how important it is in our current life. Every country has a different system of education based on their financial stability, government infrastructure and the standard of the government officials. It is noticeable that there is a big difference between the education in developing countries and the prevailing system in developed countries .In my essay I will discuss some reasons for these differences...
Education is a vital part of society. It serves the beneficial purpose of educating our children and getting them ready to be productive adults in today's society. But, the social institution of education is not without its problems. Continual efforts to modify and improve the system need to be made, if we are to reap the highest benefits that education has to offer to our children and our society as a whole.
We cannot stop the phenomenon of globalization due to strong interdependence of our lives on those things which are a product of globalization. It has complicated the process of education but has also created many opportunities for countries to break out of the traditional models of education. The idea of global citizen is seen as a person who can act locally but think globally, is a goal that keeps an eye on maintaining cultural diversity while exposing a country’s citizen to the benefits of globalization. Cultural diversity can be strengthened through globalization by providing means and resources to support cultural groups attempting to make a difference in society while maintaining their distinctive set of values and
The idea of using an holistic approach in Anthropology is not only demonstrated throughout these works, but the downfalls of failing to use holism is shown as well. When discussing perspective, the standpoint of the individual and the relationship he or she has with the subject or area of study is of vital importance. Any pre-conceived notions one has entering into a study can affect the process and validity of gathering information in the form of facts. In the tale, the men were unable to gather reliable information because they had already made up their minds about what the elephant looked and acted like. Anderson, however, was able to observe from both a participant standpoint and an onlookers point of view when collecting information regarding her various cultures of study. Ones culture provides a frame of reference that places limitations on the way people of varying cultures look at one another (Tversky and Kahneman). If one has only knowledge and experience of their native culture, they will have difficulty comprehending the world around them
CHENG, Yin Cheong. Fostering Local Knowledge and Wisdom in Globalized Education: Multiple Theories. Bangkok, Thailand: Centre for Research and International Collaboration Hong Kong Institute of Education, 2002.