Elective Outcome 2: Race and Ethnicity

Race and ethnicity are two very complex terms.

Race is basically a population within a population, or in better words, a group within a species which is different than the rest. Humans are a great example of this. The “Human” would be the species, and the different groups within the species would be, for example, Africans, Asians, Americans, Italians, Germans, etc. There are so many different categories that I cannot even begin to describe them right now. And the reason there are so many races is because there is no “set” or “defined” limit as to what you can call a race. You could even go as far as saying all the ‘A’ students in a school are one race; the ‘B’ students are another, and so on. But what we as an American society have done is categorize race into a few basic categories. If we see a white person walking around, we generally consider them to be “white”. We don’t take into account where they came from, if they are Italian, Austrian, French, etc. As long as they speak our language, and look white, they are considered white. If we see a dark skinned person walking around, we as Americans generally consider them to be African Americans. So race can really be defined in many different ways. The technical term would be that it is all the groups within a species which are different or unique. And we as humans use it to categorize ourselves in a number of ways. When you begin to categorize someone based on their race, you are questioning their “ethnicity”, which is what brings me to…..

Ethnicity. What is it exactly? Simple. Ethnicity goes along almost side by side with race; however, it is the cultural version of it. It can be changed and altered, since it is a culturally accepted term. Ethnicity is how we categorize ourselves based on our race, in our own cultures. Ethnicity can be very broad as well though. What defines our ethnicity? How can we really be sure we are either Caucasian or African American, or something else? What if we are lighter skinned, but have an Irish ancestry? According to the US, we would be Caucasian. Even if we came from Italy, we would still be considered a Caucasian. If you are darker skinned, you don’t only have to be from Africa, there are darker skinned people from all around the world, just as the lighter skinned people. So to have these categories of “ethnicity” is rather ludicrous in my mind. But yes, ethnicity is basically a cultural identification of your race. Ethnicity is also a very broad and flexible term though. One could even have multiple ethnicities. It all depends on how you look at it. But enough explaining, let’s get down into comparing the two, and seeing how they are the same, and how they are different.

What exactly is the difference between race and ethnicity? They both seem so similar, and yet so different at the same time. A good way to think about it is that race is the biological factor of it all. Race is the physical characteristics that someone has, while ethnicity is how we as a culture define, categorize, and identify with all the different races. Ethnicity is all culturally created, while race is biologically created. If you are Asian for example, that is your race. However, if you are Caucasian, that is your ethnicity. These two terms can really be bounced around though. Since both the term “Asian” and “Caucasian” were both culturally created. Your traits and characteristics, however, were biologically created, and therefore can be considered your race.

Race and ethnicity affects many people in their daily lives. Unfortunately, we live in a racial world today. Almost everywhere you turn someone is being scrutinized because of their race or ethnicity. How race and ethnicity affects me as an individual is different though. An example would be the little bubble sheets that I have to fill out before taking important exams or surveys. I only get the option for “Caucasian.” I do have lighter colored skin, so I just choose that. But can I really call myself a Caucasian? I, along with many other individuals, am a mix of different cultures. I am mostly Italian, some Norwegian, and slightly German; how can all of those categories be summed up into one word “Caucasian?” Race and ethnicity also greatly shape different cultural events. A great example is Cinco De Mayo, or Day of the Dead, for the Latin American culture. It has been going on for a long time now, and is a culturally accepted tradition. So because of the culture and the ancestors who started it all, the Latin Americans still to this day have the celebration every year. It is a part of their ‘ethnicity’ because it is not biologically born in them, rather it is a cultural phenomenon instead.

Student Outcome: Technology and Communication

Technology and Communication/Relationships

Outcome Criteria:

Compare/Contrast the different variations of communication available today compared to the past.

Analyze how each variation has an impact on communication between people.

Explain your own personal experience with using technology to communicate with others.

There are many different types of communication available today, more than there was even ten or twenty years ago. Way back then, people mainly communicated by “snail mail”, or regular postal service. Depending on how far the mail went, it could take anywhere from a few days to weeks to arrive to the recipient. Nowadays, the major lines of communication between people are cell phones and email. With cell phones, it is possible to instantly call anyone, anywhere, provided you have a signal. And with email and internet usage, it is possible to do the same. This opens the doors for new relationships and friendships to emerge. People can use technology to keep in touch like never before, and stay connected with friends and loved ones. Long distance relationships are now much more likely to succeed than they were in the past, and I for one have experience in that area. Back in the past, if you graduated high school, you probably did not hear from at least 90% of your old classmates. Nowadays, with such websites as Facebook and Myspace, keeping in touch is just a click away. The interesting thing is that people still use the good old fashioned “snail mail” too. Mainly it is used for sending packages, and handwritten letters and such. Text messaging is the new emergence in the communication area. Now it is possible to keep an ongoing conversation with someone throughout the entire day, without actually talking on the phone or speaking to them in person. Email has also taken over as the prime way of communicating. What do you do when you are stuck with a school project and need help? You would probably email your instructor. Way back in the past if you had a question, you would probably have to wait until the next class session in order to speak with your teacher. So basically, today’s communication compared to the past is drastically different. So nowadays, you can pretty much get a hold of anyone, anywhere, instantaneously, whereas in the past it could take days to weeks to communicate with someone far away.

I myself have a lot of personal experience with all of this. I use technology daily to communicate to my friends and loved ones. Every morning I take my cell phone with me out the door, text message people, pick up calls, etc. In fact, my cell phone is such a big part of my life that I don’t know what I would do without it. From the moment that I wake up to the second I go to bed, I keep my phone right beside me in case I get a text or a call. Keeping in touch with other people is a big thing to me. Technology is also what makes it possible to stay in my current relationship. My girlfriend and I went to different colleges, and are now in a long distance relationship together. She goes to Humboldt State University, which is hundreds of miles away from Sierra College, but we make it work. Every day we either call or text each other and every night we talk on instant messenger, and try to keep in touch with each other until we see each other again. All of these things are communication with technology. Along with that we use webcams to see each other, so the distance really doesn’t seem like that much. In fact, I am talking to her this very second, as I am writing this outcome. So this is what I meant when I said that communication with technology can open up new types of relationships. Way back in the past, those kinds of things probably didn’t exist, but today, they are definitely possible. I am also signed up for both Myspace and Facebook, two of the largest online communities out there today. Using these websites, I am able to keep in touch with old high school classmates and friends, and even family that is out of town. My parents have hardly any contact with people they went to high school with, yet I talk to everyone I knew almost daily, and that is because of the huge impact that technology has on our communication. Myspace even has a bulletin feature, in which friends can post comments and have them broadcast to their entire friends list. My friend Eric, for example, posted something today about going hiking in Arizona. He also had posted some pictures of his endeavor. Now outside of Myspace, I really don’t talk to him that much, so I would never have known about his trip. Someone else I know works from her own home. She has meetings and conferences on the internet, and that’s how she gets things done. How amazing is that, you can have a meeting with your coworkers in your pjs from the comfort of your own home. That’s technology for you.

In conclusion, technology has drastically changed how we communicate with one other. You can pretty much get in touch with anyone, anywhere, provided that you both have the correct technology to do so. People can work, stay in touch with friends, a special loved one, family members, coworkers, anyone really, with just a click away.

Elective Outcome 1: Power and Control

Power. What is it? The first thing that comes to my mind is force, brute force. I also think about a hierarchical structure, such as in most jobs and places of employment. Power, in terms of physical aspects, is really the amount of force that something exerts. For example, if a car has lots of power, it will go faster, and run longer. If a river is powerful, it may sweep you under if you hop into it. Power is really a concept of strength and exertion. Power can also mean something of a hierarchical means. This usually crosses over into social control. A good example is the president of the United States. He/she has a lot more “power” than the normal citizen does. A normal citizen can’t just walk up to congress and tell them that their new bill is unacceptable and reject it. Only the president has the power to veto such things. Now, if you are talking about power in a social situation; that is called social control.

So that brings me to my example of power. I would say the perfect example of power, in our own nation at least, would have to be the government and congress. There is a certain balance of power. The people of the nation arguably have the most control, since they choose who gets to be in congress. The people in congress therefore have more power than the people once elected, since they get to make laws and whatnot. The President has the most power out of everyone, but can be balanced by the congress. So it is important that with power comes balance and control.

Social control is basically a combination of things. It’s basically how we as humans control ourselves and one another. There are the formal mechanisms of social control, such as laws and rules that make it so you cannot act in defiant manners. The formal mechanisms basically keep our society in “control” and make it so that we can all live with our own rights. There are also informal mechanisms, which are usually tacit, so we really don’t know that we are being “controlled” by them. An example I can think of this would be something like putting clothes on before you go outside. Now there is a law that prohibits public indecency, so one could not walk around in the nude in public, but we don’t really even think about that law when we put clothes on before heading out the door. We don’t think “Oh, I will get arrested if I don’t put clothes on, I better do that before I leave.” We just do it because it’s a cultural norm in our society to do so.

It is very important to study power in the cultural anthropological means, as it helps us better understand the structure and whatnot for when power takes place in our own lives. Studying it in an anthropological way means looking at the bigger picture. Not just looking at who is in power, but why they are in power, what they are doing, how they are affecting other people and other cultures, and how they are using their power to control or maybe even manipulate others. It is very important that we look at power in such a way because if we never looked at the big picture, we would never progress! It is also important to note that the power and control in our lives shape our norms, and who we are. Think about it. We are controlled in our every-day lives. The “power” figures, or the authority figures, establish rules and laws that we must abide by, and therefore affects our life-style and how we live, and thus affects our cultural norms as well.

Different cultures can be used as examples when examining the relationship between culture and control. One example can be the hierarchical system in cultures. Take the United States for instance; we control people through our culture through many methods. The main one is through the laws and regulations. We as a culture have set these up for us to abide by, and in the United States, if you do not follow them, there are consequences. One can be thrown in jail for a certain amount of time, even put to death for serious infractions. For less serious crimes, one can be fined or cited. This is how the United States has chosen to deal with rule-breakers with our cultural control policies. Now let’s look at another culture, in the past rather. The Ancient Egyptians. They had a hierarchical control system to keep their culture straight as well. The Pharaoh was the supreme being, and what he said went, and the slaves and peasants were all the way at the bottom of the “pyramid” (no pun intended) :). How did the Egyptians keep their culture in control? Similar to the United State’s ways, except more extreme. If one disobeyed the pharaoh or a higher-up, one would most certainly be put to death, or buried alive, or mummified. So, both cultures offered punishments for not following the cultural rules that were established, and that’s really how culture and control tie in together, because with culture, you need control, because without it, it would be anarchy. It’s just that different cultures choose to control their selves in different ways.

Power and control have a huge impact on my everyday life. A big factor is my job at Sport Chalet. I am controlled by my department head and my managers, along with people at corporate. Ultimately the CEO controls the Vice President who controls corporate who controls the managers who control the department heads who control us. Wow that was a long sentence. My job is a big part of my life, so the people who control me at my job therefore have a big impact on my culture and my life. The managers tell me what to do and I have to do it, otherwise I will get fired. You could even say the teachers at Sierra college have power over me, because they do. They can either pass or fail me based on my performance in the class, and therefore either help or hinder me in my path to my degree and my future, so in a way, teachers have control over me because I must do assignments and tests and things in order to progress towards my goal. So basically, there are lots of things in my life in which power and control affect me, there are just way too many to list here. I have explained the main ones though.

Essential Outcome 5: Language, Speech, And Discourse

There is a huge connection between language and culture. Huge chunks of a culture are shaped and/or formed by its language. It is the sole part of our everyday lives that we use to communicate with each other, and direct each other as well. There are a few different methods to analyzing language and its impact on culture. The first of which is the Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis.

The Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis basically states that our entire reality is shaped and formed by our language. So basically, since we have a limited vocabulary, based on words that we have made up ourselves, that runs our reality for us. We have made up our own reality, and with each language and culture, there is a new reality different than our own. It basically states that language controls our thoughts, which therefore control our actions and perspectives as well. As Dr. Archer said, there are a couple different variations of the SWH. One states that our reality is just completely made up by our minds and thoughts, while others state that reality is influenced by our mind/thoughts/language. Our minds are primarily made up of our language, and thusly since our reality is greatly influenced by our minds and thoughts, then reality must really come from the source of it all. Our language.

I have a great example of why the SWH works. When I am thinking about this subject deeper and deeper, I am starting to agree with the hypothesis. When you think about it, our reality really is shaped based on our language. Our language is basically created by us. Here is an example. I bet there is not a word in our language that can describe a person standing on their head, eating a sandwich, and twirling around at the same time. That seems random, I know, but there isn’t a word that can describe that. I’ll make one up. Flarrg. Ok, so now that I know what flarrging is, it is now a part of my reality. When you see someone in a car going somewhere, you notice they are “driving”, when you see someone coming toward you on the sidewalk, they are “walking”, when someone is looking at a T.V., they are “watching” it. All of these words are based off of our language, and yet all of these actions are a part of our everyday lives, our reality. Language can be used to explain every single thing in our reality and everyday lives, so therefore it must be the basis of our reality. I mean sure, if there wasn’t language, there would still be objects in our world, but we wouldn’t know what they were, or what we would do with them. So it is language that forms everything together and that enables us as a society to function within our realities. Since language is so powerful, it forms and molds our thoughts, and therefore we can only experience our reality based on how we created it, which was through language. (Sorry if I sound confusing there)

I believe that the Supir-Whorf Hypothesis is mostly true. I have thought about this extensively and have come to the conclusion that language makes up MOST of our reality. The SWH I believe is true, based on what I have stated above. It pretty much is my own perspective on language now that I think about it. I never really thought this deeply about language before but now that I do, I believe that language doesn’t create our reality, but rather form it, just as the SWH says. Language definitely plays a huge role in our everyday lives and realities.

Essential Outcome 4

Ethnocentrism is basically a belief system in which people think that their own culture is better than anothers. It revolves around opinions. And there is more than one kind of ethnocentrism too. The first kind is when someone is raised in a certain culture and brought up to their standards/lifestyles. They then look at the other cultures through the point of view of their own and notice differences. The other kind of ethnocentrism just simply believes that one’s own culture is better or superior than other ones. So basically, you can say that it is looking at the worlds cultures from your own, and noticing the differences.

A perfect example of ethnocentrism that I think of right away is the cows in India. We here in the United States, we raise cattle predominately to use them for meat, such as hamburgers. We don’t even think twice when we chow down on a hamburger or slaughter cattle for their meat. However, in India, the cow is viewed as a sacred animal, and one that should be admired. They do not slaughter the cow, but rather worship it. That is a huge ethnocentric difference! We look at the people in India and think they are crazy for worshipping an animal that has revolutionized the fast food industry here in America. I don’t know what we would do without hamburgers! If you go into a restaurant, you almost always see a hamburger or two on the menu. Another good example is the female genital cutting that Dr. Archer talked about in class. We in the United States tend to encourage the growth and development of all our adolescents, so when we hear about the cutting of the female genitals in other cultures, we freak out. I know that when I saw that rusty razor blade and pool of blood and the look of horror on the young girl’s face, I was confused. I myself can’t fathom how someone would want to rid themselves of their sexual pleasure. Then again, the United States as a culture has seen a sexual revolution over the past few decades. Almost everything you see now has some sort of sexual meaning behind it now, mainly in sales. So because of my understanding of my own culture as embracing one’s own gender identity, I am confused and almost disgusted when I see what the females in that tribe are doing to each other. To them, it is just a normal coming-of-age practice to perform, but to me it seems cruel.

Culture shock is almost the same thing as ethnocentrism, except for one major difference. While ethnocentrism relies mainly on opinions and beliefs, culture shock relies on actually being there and experiencing the ‘shock’ for yourself. When we go to another culture and embed ourselves in it, we begin to see the differences between our own culture and the one we are living in, and it is hard to make such a sudden change to adapt to that kind of thing. That is why it is culture ‘shock’, because it is very hard to so quickly change your habits that you have had basically since you were born and raised in your own particular culture. An example would be if you went to Iraq even before the U.S. went to war with it. If you walked down the street there, things would be very different than you see here in the States. Living conditions are much poorer, the dictator sucks, etc. Anyways, my own personal example of culture shock would be when I visited Mexico. I was on an ATV tour and we went through some remote villages and even stopped at one of them to eat. It was very different indeed. I saw all of the children running amuck barefoot, all the ancient structures, the poor living conditions, etc. Even the place where we went to eat had no floor in it! Instead it just had sand in place of the floor. And so in that manner I was shocked to see the major differences between my own culture and theirs.

Both of my examples show the power of the culture that is embedded deep within every one of us. Take the cows in India for instance. Our culture has taught us that raising and slaughtering cattle is ok to do for consumption purposes. We raise a cow, we kill it, and we eat it, and we don’t really think twice about it, since the power of our culture has set that in our minds to be a culturally acceptable thing to do. However people in other cultures, such as India, see that as cruel and inhumane. What is deeply imbedded in their culture is that the cow is a sacred animal and one that should be treated with respect. So since we both have our cultural values and beliefs so deeply embedded within us, we look at the other culture and think that they are the wrong ones, and that we are right.

My example visiting Mexico is the same thing. The culture that is in me is that of the United States, where if you see someone walking around outside barefoot you would think he is weird, or if you walked into a restaurant with no floor you would be like “Huh?” Or if you saw tons of starving little children begging to you for food, you would reel back and be shocked. But all of this is what I saw and experienced in my trip to Mexico, and so it proved to me that I do indeed have my own cultural norms and ways of dealing with things that are inside of me. Since I was taught the complete opposite as them, my experience down in that village was a lot different than theirs. They were just experiencing everyday life, but I was experiencing a huge cultural difference.

Along with benefits come problems, and there are some related to cultural shock and ethnocentrism. I believe most of it relies in ethnocentrism, as none of it relies on actual experience, just thoughts and opinions. People may think that a certain culture is wrong or just plain weird, and that’s the main problem right there. They can’t say that unless they’ve been there and experienced that culture for themselves. And the problem that comes with experiencing it, aka culture shock, is that there is no way possible you can experience it all. With culture shock, you may get the wrong idea about a particular culture. You have to adapt to so many things so quickly that you begin to feel overwhelmed and extremely stressed out, which in turn causes you to feel bad, and view the culture you are in as weird and unsettling. You may think it’s strange and very challenging in the way that a particular culture runs its everyday life, but that view is only imposed on you because of the intense culture shock that you experience. I think that if you spent more time in the culture, like an ethnographer, and studied them and lived their lives, then it would erase the problem of culture shock and ethnocentrism all together, as you could form an honest, truthful opinion based on your vast experiences with the culture you were with for a long period of time.

Cultural relativism is a possible solution to ethnocentrism and culture shock in many different ways. Being a cultural relativist means that you put your own cultural beliefs and thoughts aside whilst observing another culture. And by doing so, you eliminate all the problems associated with ethnocentrism and culture shock, because you put your own opinion out the door, and can better understand the culture you are observing because of that.

Cultural Relativism relates to my examples in many ways. We think the people in India are weird for worshipping the cow and calling it sacred, but if we put our own culture out of the picture, and all the fast food burgers, etc, we would see it different. If we put our culture aside, we might see the bigger picture. Maybe the cow has some sort of ancient history with the Indians, or maybe it is some form of God to them, who knows. If we were to take the time to research that I’m sure we would find some sort of reason for it. Same goes for the Mexico trip. While I found it weird that everyone was running around barefoot, not very clean, and living in poor conditions, it really wasn’t. When I took my own culture out of the picture and looked at theirs, I realized that that was all that they had. They had no money to afford good clothes or shoes or housing, so they made the best of what they had at their disposal. So because I was a relativist, I realized that what I considered poor conditions were actually normal conditions to them.

Essential Outcome 3: Ethnography

Ethnography is another complex subject. It is basically a way of studying a culture of a particular group of people while actively becoming a part of their community. As an example, the man who went to live with the villagers in the film that Dr. Archer showed us. He was a part of an ethnographic study, as he lived with the people of the community, learned their culture, and adhered by it. It is hard to really learn everything about the culture, as most things lie beneath a conscious level. For example, if someone were to come live in our house for a week and observe everything we do as a part of an ethnographic study, we wouldn’t tell them everything we do, such as putting on clothes in the morning before heading out, putting our food on a plate before we eat it, using spoons, forks, etc. That sort of stuff seems so natural to us that it may slip past our point of view.

The process of gathering information in an ethnographic study is quite diverse. It can either be by writing it down, recording a video, maybe even typing it, surveying it, etc. In an ethnographic study, it is also important to gather your information from as many sources as possible, to avoid bias opinions or false information. By doing this, you have a better chance of getting more accurate information.

Ethnography is also a good mix of qualitive and quantative measures. Not only are they interested in the quality of their research and data collection; they are also interested in getting into things that can be counted. And that’s what it’s all about. Not only is an ethnographer participating and experiencing a new culture, they are comparing their own culture to the one they are studying. In that regard, the ethnographer can compare and contrast the individual strengths and weaknesses of their culture compared to the one they are studying.

There are many subjects that an ethnographer can study. One that I chose to study as a part of the class exercise was the school computer lab on the floor right above the library. I first walked in and immediately noticed how quiet that the environment was. Everyone seemed to be doing one thing or another on their own computers. I saw that some people were surfing around on the internet, while others were feverishly typing up papers. I went around the room and asked a few people what they were doing there at the computer lab so early in the morning for. The replies I got ranged from “I’m busy right now I can’t talk,” to “I’m working on a paper for my next class,” to “Doing some math homework.” This led me to conclude that most of the students that were there either didn’t have access to a computer at home, or procrastinated and waited until the last minute to get their homework done in time for class that day. Out of the twenty or so people that were there, I noticed maybe one or two who weren’t seriously into what they were doing, and were just kind of messing around. The rest of the students, however, seemed to be working intently on some kind of project or assignment. I myself have had to use the computer lab back when I was living on my own and did not always have the time at home to use my laptop to type up papers. I would go into the computer lab a couple times to fine-tune or type up an assignment. So by participating in this activity, I know now why I got some of the answers like “I’m busy.” When I was typing up my papers I was really focused on what I was doing so I wouldn’t have wanted anyone to come up to me and start asking me random questions and break my concentration.

So basically, I dealt with ethnography on a smaller scale, but there are definitely strengths and weaknesses to the practice. Strengths include being able to understand and become a part of someone’s daily life and practices. Some main weaknesses of that though are the things below the conscious level, or the tacit ones. So while an ethnographer can learn a lot about a particular culture, he/she must get their information from a number of sources to insure accuracy; but they also won’t get the full cultural experience, since many aspects of culture are hard to identify and explain.

Essential Outcome 2: The Concept Of Culture

Culture is such a dynamic term, that it is hard to define it to a single definition. Basically though, culture is WHO we are. It defines everything we do, from our living styles, to our thoughts about each other, to what we eat, how we dress, everything! A good example is that in our culture, we have lots of fast food places that serve burgers, and we love them, and don’t think twice about eating them. However, in other cultures, such as those in India, where the cow is sacred, they view our consumption of cow meat as barbaric and cruel. We could flip that around the other way as well. An example? In our culture, we view dogs as man’s best friend, and a great loving pet. In some other cultures (maybe even India?), dog is a delicacy, and people love to eat it. We as Americans view that as wrong, gross, and disgusting, and maybe even as animal cruelty. Heck, we can go to jail for even kicking a dog here, and over in other countries they cook them and eat them and have no consequences. Thus, we have cultural differences.

Culture to me is something that is a part of us, and that is where enculturation comes into play. Enculturation pretty much is how we “learned” our culture, and put it into practice. It is what we learn is “right and wrong” in our culture, and how we learn the proper way or fashion to do things. Some of enculturation you know you are learning, and some you just learn and don’t even realize it. For example, we were talking about the elevator etiquette. Usually parents don’t go around telling their children, “Ok, now, when we get into the elevator, make sure to face the door ok?” Instead, we just observe the other people facing the door, and we follow suit. That would be one that we just instinctually learned. I believe that most of our enculturation comes from observing the others that are around us. Some of it is learned by language yes, but mostly observations.

Explicit and tacit culture are basically two different ways of thinking about culture. Something that is tacit in our culture helps shape the way that we act and behave, and can be expressed through objects. And again going back to the enculturation, and how some of it is learned without us even knowing it; as is tacit culture. As soon as we can think about something, and analyze it, it becomes explicit. For example, traffic jams. Cars and roads and transportation all play a huge role in our culture. But why do traffic jams occur? It is because too many people are heading the same direction at around the same time, thus causing congestion and traffic backup. Now, because I was able to think about that and process it, it is not tacit, because I know it is going on, and what is causing it. Mostly everything we do in our everyday lives can be considered tacit. Say for example, putting clothes on. We usually don’t think twice about putting on clothes before heading out the door, as it has been a cultural norm for us since we were little kids. And because we don’t think about that, it is considered tacit. To me, that is now explicit though, because I thought about it and typed it in this response.

Cultural events are made up of three main elements: Cultural knowledge, cultural practice, and cultural artifacts. Now, a cultural event may include more than these three things, but it must include those three at least.

There are a few main elements of cultural knowledge. Values, or what people within a culture consider to be right or wrong, whether it be actions, words, anything of that matter. A Norm is another big part, as they basically run society. It is a rule that is within a society that the people follow. Beliefs and world views are also part of it. They are basically ideas and concepts that need no explanation, as well as how the society views the world and what is going on around them. Symbols and desires are a part of it too. Symbols are signs that stand for other things, while desires tie into norms, values, and most everything else on this list. Knowledge is obviously an abstract idea, and not something you can actually see yourself.

Cultural practices are very complex. Now, yes it’s obvious that the way we act and behave can be considered a practice, but there are also more complex roots to that. Like Dr. Archer said, even speech can be a practice of its own. Or maybe perhaps thought and intuition are practices as well. So it goes beyond just what we do and can branch out into what we think as well.

Cultural artifacts can also be very simple or very complex in nature. They are the result of human actions. Obvious examples, such as a television set, are artifacts, but so are some not-so-obvious things, such as T.V. channels. Technically, that is an artifact. Although it seems like an abstract sort of thing, that just goes along with the television, a channel is its own entity and can thusly be considered an artifact of its own.

Anthropologists look for the three main elements in analyzing cultural events. A great example provided by Dr. Archer would be American football. All three elements are indeed present in American football. It has knowledge built right into it, obvious artifacts such as the football itself, football helmets, etc, and practices, maybe such as the plays that are called, or the creation of new plays.

Another example of my own could be a school. It has a hierarchical system, with the principal at the top, and the students at the bottom. So ultimately, what the principal decides to do will impact everyone down the line, all the way to the student. So, you could say that the principal, as the head of the school, would examine his cultural knowledge, choose what is right or wrong in his/her opinion, and act upon that (which is also practices). Artifacts could be the results of the principal’s actions. Say for example, there was a change in school policies, and so the principal decided to print out a newsletter to give to the teachers to hand out to the students. The newsletter could be considered an artifact that was created from the cultural knowledge and practices of the principal.

A great example including all of these elements from the assigned course material would have to be the anthropologist traveling on the commuter train to Chicago. One of the first things he noticed was that most of the people on the train were reading something, which could be considered a cultural behavior. He said that the reading was a cause of the many cultural artifacts that were around us, including the newspapers, books, tickets, and billboards. Cultural knowledge is what is embedded deeply within the subject. In the book, it talks about what the people needed to know in the first place in order to do that behavior, which was reading. They would have to know a language, how it is used in the context of reading, all the grammar rules, that they were supposed to read left to right, that a period was the end of a sentence, etc. So by sitting back and observing his surroundings, and the behavior of the people around him, he was able to successfully analyze the cultural event and break it down into its three main subcategories.

Essential Outcome 1: Introduction to Anthropology

Outcome 1: Introduction to Anthropology: Shaun Piazza

Anthropology is the study of humans/humanity. Anthro comes from a Greek word “Anthropos” meaning humanity, and “–ology” means “the study of.” Anthropologists can study a variety of things within their subject. From ancient humans, to modern day humans, to culture, to body structure, etc. It is very broad, and can cover almost everything in our everyday lives.

General principles are: Global, comparative, holistic, empirical, and relative.

Four subfields are: archaeology, cultural anthropology, physical anthropology, and linguistic anthropology.

Global: Anthropology not only has to do with us in America, but the entire human race around the world. We try to study every group of humans that we can, so that we may better understand our own culture. Global pretty much tries to see all the various qualities that we as humans have from all around the world.

Holistic: The Holistic principle basically brings upon the idea that each part or section of culture around the world contributes to the whole understanding of what we as humans are in their own little ways. It means that you can consider all of the "smaller" parts of the whole picture to see what it really is all about. Take for instance Dr. Archer's example about his kids' afternoon care sessions. He had to choose between keeping them in the program, and paying the people there, but in return he had less time with his kids. However, if he took them out of the program, he would have more money in his pocket, and more time to spend with his kids. So holistic is basically all the little factors of something that tie into the main idea/concept. You can think as broadly as you'd like to. Following Dr. Archer's teeth example, I will go with body sculpting. Why is it that we as a society tend to favor lean, muscular, and fit bodies over out of shape and overweight ones? How have our culture and our minds evolved to that type of mentality? Was it different in the past? That's what holistic is. Taking a concept, and thinking about everything you can possibly think of in relevance to that particular subject.

Comparative: We can compare our own culture to another one to see the differences and/or similarities that we share. We can even use other cultures to learn more about our own.

Relative: Again comparing cultures, however, trying not to value one culture over another. Treating them all equal. No group is superior to any other, we all have strengths and weaknesses in different areas.

Empirical: Has everything to do with experience, and the way anthropologists think about the research and data that they collect through their work. If you experience it first hand, it is going to be empirical. You were there, and you collected the data.

Cultural implies anything passed down from generation to generation that’s not genetic, such as words, ideas, concepts, ways of doing things, etc. It helps us understand other culture’s way of doing things as well. If we see a culture making sacrifices to their god, it may seem strange to us, however, they may view our activities, such as eating hamburgers or driving cars as weird. It covers everything from politics, to law, to relations, to exchanges; basically anything having to do with one’s culture can be found under this subfield. They try to understand how different cultures interact with each other and how they understand the world around them.

Physical Anthropology focuses on evolution, genetics, and primatology, amongst other things. They would look at say for example, how humans learned to walk, and they would say it would have something to do with the feet evolving or something, while the cultural anthropologist would say it was a learned behavior. In fact, forensic anthropologists, and crime scene investigators are sub fields of this subfield (if that makes any sense). They could, for example, look at the differences between primates bone structures and our own, and try to connect a link as to how we evolved.

Linguistic: These guys look at the history and basic overall structure and integrity of all human languages throughout time. They try to connect behavior to actions and movements and thoughts and words. Without language, our society wouldn’t be the same as it is today, that’s for sure. It is important to realize they look at both verbal AND non-verbal communications, and how they both relate to one another. They can look at cave paintings on the wall from the Neanderthals, or perhaps study a written script that was unearthed, or even look for vocal signs in human skull remains.

Archaeology: Study the humans of the past. These guys look at everything from writings left behind by cultures, to human remains, to artifacts associated with cultures, etc. They also look at how the artifacts relate to the culture, and how they affected/impacted it as a whole. They try to understand the humans of the past and relate them to today’s world. An example of something archaeologists would study would be human remains.

A subject that two or more subfields could study could be the remains of the people of Pompeii. The Physical Anthropologists could examine the human remains, bones and things, and see how they compared to the different cultures today (a holistic point of view). And try to see how we changed over time. Archaeologists could not only study the human remains, but the artifacts and objects that were found in the buried town of Pompeii. And hey, cultural anthropologists could even come into the picture and study the remains and artifacts and try to link them to today’s world and see how they compare and how they differ.

Anthropology can be related to many other fields. One such is criminal justice. A huge part of the criminal justice system is the crime scene investigation unit. Forensic Anthropologists know all about human remains and things like that, and so they can help out in that regard to the crime scenes. They could look at victims and determine many things.

There are many strengths of anthropology. Anthropology can seek to help out human- kind as a whole. It helps us all understand each other, and how our cultures are similar and different in many different ways. Basically, since it is such a BROAD field, it helps out our society in more ways than imaginable. Archaeology helps us better understand ourselves today compared to the past. Cultural helps us understand who we are in relation to other cultures around the globe. Physical helps us see how we as humans have evolved over time, and how our body functions. And Linguistic helps us understand how our language has helped our culture change.

There aren’t too many weaknesses of anthropology, but there is one I can think of. Since the study is so broad, it is hard to define what is in each subfield, because many subjects cross over into two or more of them. And since the subjects cross into different subfields, many anthropologists in the fields disagree on many points.

Anthropology actually has been a big part of my life over the past year or so. My girlfriend is an anthropology major up at Humboldt State University, so I learn a lot from her, because I’m taking a lot of the same classes that she has (like this one). I took physical anthropology last semester so I learned a lot about the body and how we compare to primates, and how we as a species came into existence. I’ve always been kind of interested in anthropology, and I hope that with this class I can learn more about it.

Hey guys

Sweet, got the blog up, hope to get my first Outcome up by this weekend.