Its Anthropology - Assignment Example

Optional Essay Final This Optional Essay Final is worth a maximum of 100 points and will replace your lowest test grade. You must complete 10 answers for any credit. Each is worth 10 points. Do your choice of 10 of the following 30 questions. Look each all carefully before you select your 10. Please write at least 1/3 page per question. Please single space and use normal margins (about 1") and font (try 10). Note that some of the questions have multiple parts. Copy this whole thing into your word processor.

 Delete the questions you do not want to answer, and compose your answers, leaving the question above it (see note below on numbering your answers).  Please follow these specific directions for sending me your paper. If you are sending it via a PC computer and are using Word as your word processing program, please email your Essay Final to me as an attachment at *** by the due date above.  If you are using a Mac or are notusing Word as your word processing program, please paste your paper into the body of an email instead of sending it as an attachment.

Please write: "12wk Essay" in the Subject box. I will email back that I have received it and your grade will appear in Blackboard. As with any essay answer, please restate in your own words any material in the text that addresses the question. You are also encouraged to look things up using Google, etc. if you want more precise information for certain questions. Please email me or call me ***, with any questions.   Note on numbering your answers: Leave each question's original number with it, but in parenthesis type in 1 through 10 in front of it.

 For example, if you answered Question 6 as your first answer, it would look like: (1) 6. then the question in bold, then your answer not in bold.  This makes it easier for me to talk to you about any problems with your answers.  Good luck finishing up the semester, and enjoy the break ! 1. How is cultural anthropology a comparative, holistic, integrated study. Use some examples not given in the Objectives/Notes for Chapter 1. Use the concept of "spheres of activity" in your answer. Cultural anthropology is basically analyzed on cultural variation among humans.

It compares humans among one another. It should be a holistic and integrated study because to achieve a purpose on this study, fieldwork is used, e.g. through observations and surveys. Those kinds of activities make result on a whole draft. In this case, a researcher who does these activities must get involved in certain societies to know the complete concept of ways of living and their culture. When a fieldwork is applied in cultural anthropology research, doing interviews is also an essential part to reach good analysis.

Interviews are pattern to dig information deeply. A researcher who does interviews must be able to differentiate whom he faces when he tries to get information. He has to know how different language application works to get closer to the sources. For instance, It is not possible for a researcher to use slank language in front of the elderly. 2. Explain how race can be viewed as a cultural construct, a populational/evolutionary construct, and a statistical construct. Explain what is meant by anthropologists who say "since race lacks discreteness, it has no real meaning.

"  Consider the quote in your text on p. 305: "Although people exhibit biological differences, race is a social not a biological classification." Give me a definition of race in your own terms. -Cultural construct considered more to its psychological side. Race is viewed on cultural construct based on people assumption. It can be said that this phenomenon is about people`s subjectivity. For those who can accept differences, it might not be a problem to realize that this world consists of many races.

On the other hand, for those who cannot really accept the idea of multi-cultural life, seeing different races and having interaction to different races could be problems. -Populational/evolutionary construct is more to be how race has been developed from one kind into more than one kinds. In this era, it is not a strange thing anymore to see a person who has mixed blood from two different races or even more. -Statistical construct is a concrete way to explain the sum of races in the world. It is a not a comparison of who are better, smarter, et cetera.. but it is more to show data about population of certain races in this world.

-“Since race lacks of discreteness, it has no real meaning” means that individuality is not a characteristic of race. Race is a group type appearance and behavior implementation. It can be said that it has no real meaning because basically finding real meaning is a subjective point of view, while race has more group identity and race makes people do not want to be identified in separation. -In my own view, race is both biological and social classification. Even though people in the same race do not have exactly the same biological type like twins, but at least they have identical parts such as the same skin color.

Furthermore, it is true that race is more to be social classification because race influences people about how to behave. People were born with different race, and race has given habit and pattern in their lives. That is why there will be variety of interactions among people. 3. Chapter 2, Objective 1 lists 6 characteristics that are true for all cultures. Please elaborate on what is meant by each of these 6 characteristics. -Physical appearance: every culture has its own unique of its physical appearance.

This factor helps people to identify biological differences. -Custom: there are habits formed as customs to be followed by people in certain cultures. Usually, there will be consequences if there is ignorance to the customs. -Behavior: People`s behavior is also determined from their origin of cultures. Other people can analyze from his way of act to know where he comes from. -Culture: culture of culture means that there are characteristic of arts, for example different culture would preserve their traditional dances and clothes.

-Tribe: group of people who have the same culture and ideology and they form their own regulation to live. -Religion: beliefs are important to identify certain cultures. Basically, religion is a guidance to live. 4. Discuss and give examples of what is meant by "A common thread runs through magic, religion, and science, even though their methods differ". Use the definition of magic given in the objectives. From The Threshold of Magical Science, magic means “To practice magic is to be quack; to know magic is to be a sage”, and TMS mentioned that “Magic is the divinity of man achieved in union with faith”.

I agree more to the later definition. This world has some magic involvement in which God puts it as faith or destiny. That is why the story of human is basically comes from faith as it is a script made by God. Faith is usually made before someone is delivered to this world, while afterwards a human would know religion. Religion is a belief to run a proper life. After understanding a life with a religion, then a human goes on to the society and learn science to continue his ways. For example, magic as represented by faith says that a person will be a good person who helps many people.

When he is born, his religion tells him to do good deeds. Furthermore, when he grows up and learns science, he knows the concrete application to help people in the surrounding. To conclude, magic comes from God’s faith and it is Gods hands that work on someone, religion is basic human’s belief that comes from his origin (e.g.: taught by family), and science is learnt through life process and study. 5. Elaborate on what is meant by "There is no such thing as an immaculate perception." Give some examples.

As I have analyzed from www.wikipedia.org, there are three basic understandings of immaculate perception, as I elaborate below: Related to immaculate perception, Plato on his theory of knowledge mentioned that “all knowledge came from past lives, and from one`s knowledge of the forms”. An English philosopher named Francis Bacon referred the immaculate perception as “keeping the eye steadily fixed upon the facts of nature and so receiving the images simply as they are”. From those two examples, I do agree that there is no such thing as an immaculate perception.

Knowledge is a thing that always develops from time to time, so it is absurd if it only came from the past. Although human might get basic knowledge from the past, but as time goes by and there many life improvements occur, so knowledge comes anytime when science needs a development due to certain needs in some eras. Moreover, human cannot just accept everything as it is if they want to improve the life. Analysis is needed to know whether certain things are acceptable or not. It can be said that if human follows the pattern of immaculate perception, he will not be critical and cannot improve the life of his children eras. 6. Define ethnic identity, national identity, and global identity in terms of how they are created as well as what they mean and their mutability (free-choice in changing over time) -Ethnic identity refers to race and originality.

Some people whose families are still bounded with their ethnic identity would always do everything based on their cultural beliefs. Ethnic identity is created based on situation in the past of the ancestors. If the family still follows their cultural beliefs, so it might be rare to have mutability. -National identity is created based on the ideology to build a country. People who choose to be in certain countries are usually in the same ideas to follow the law and regulations applied. The mutability is quite easy if someone can fulfill the conditions asked in a country.

As long as someone has the ability to use a language and has purpose to stay in a country, he can choose any national identity which is suitable for him. -Global identity is created based on how the world changes so fast. Basically, it is because the world has been influenced by technology and rapid movements in many sectors. Usually, people are defined as “what they are, individually, or their achievements” to have their global identity. Global identity is the easiest way to have mutability, especially since AFTA 2010 in which people can do anything based on their wants and personal ideas.

They can be everywhere out from their origins. 7. In trying to scientifically explore which aspects of human behavior may be learned versus which behaviors or personality traits may be genetic (inherited), the best types of people to compare are identical twins raised apart. Explain why. Briefly sum up what these studies have shown us. When identical twins were born, they would have almost the same characteristics. Simply because they were born on the same date, so they have the same star sign to determine their traits and behaviors.

If they are raised apart, they will have difference because they face different environment. Every single person will raise a child differently. A child is like a plain white paper, the person or might be people around him will put colors on it and lead to which pathways of life this child be. Both of the identical twins get inherited personality from their parents, but time and situation lead them to think as what the environment wants. Learning to behave is a positive side because not everyone was born with good traits.

People around him are considered as influences to shape the behaviors. The study has shown us that no matter our originality is, we can still improve ourselves to be better by learning from good examples or role models. 8. Define the theories of Franz Boas (2), Bronislaw Malinowski, Frank Cushing, A.R. Radcliffe-Brown, and Claude Levi-Strauss. - Frans Boas theory defined how anthropology also influenced the knowledge of how human needed to interact with the environment too. It can be said as a need of human to take care of the earth and its sources.

Climate change could be one of the consequences of ignoring his theory. -Bronislaw Malinowski defined a practical way to do research in anthropology by using fieldwork. Reciprocity was also one of his concerns, and his theory made people understand to know informal economic system. -Frank Cushing defined that basic culture of all people came from things that they draw from. It can be said that even though culture comes from originality of certain ideas, but those ideas could actually come from what they basically had planned. -A.R.

Radcliffe-Brown defined analysis of myths and also gave ideas of kinship. It helped human to understand personal interaction to one another and gave ideas how myths existed in its own way to be believed by certain people. -Claude Levi-Strauss defined that the savage mind had the same structure as the civilized mind that human characteristics are the same everywhere. It made people know that every human is the same. Being in savage mind is only based on condition in which people lived in traditional era, while they became in civilized mind based on the life’s development. 9. Briefly summarize the definitive characteristics of the 5 subsistence models.

  There are five main subsistence patterns, they are: -Foraging (hunter-gatherers) : the behavior of a forager is important to encounter different types of prey and must choose which to attack. There is also central place foraging theory that explains the behavior of a forager that must return to a particular place in order to consume food. - Pastoralism (raising domesticated animals): using animals like camels and goats, mobile working principle, technique used such as artificial insemination.

-Horticulture: there is a process to prepare the soil to planting seeds, to improve crop and yield, improving quality and nutritional value, usually applied as small-scale gardening. -Agriculture: more to be cultivation of animals,foods, plant, fungi and fiber, playing key role in human civilization, most people in industrial revolution worked in agriculture. -Industrialism: major changing in agriculture, mining, transportation, manufacturing and technology, innovations to make steam power, in textile industry and iron making, major changes in metal industries. 10. Define generalized reciprocity, balanced reciprocity, negative reciprocity, and investment reciprocity.

 Be as detailed as possible and give an example of each.   -Generalized reciprocity is the exchange of goods and services without keeping track of their exact value, but often with the expectation that their value will balance out over time. For example, among the east Semai of Malaya, in which the exchange is in informal system and based on trust. Doing favors is also one of the examples of this system and usually happens among friends and relatives. -Balanced reciprocity involves a moderate amount of trust and social distance.

Even though there is a goodness in this system, but both parties should get balanced return. The time and amount are specified. -Negative reciprocity is the exchange of goods and services where each party intends to profit from the exchange. Usually, this system happens among strangers and each of them intends to get more benefits than the other one. -Investment reciprocity is the way to increase value to get profits. Usually, it does not involve two parties directly, but it involves a person to a thing he wants to invest and from the investment he can obtain profit.