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-~~DECKJS~~
-# Anthropology, race and culture #
-## Anthropology, race and culture ##
-Ryan Schram
-Social Justice Panel Discussion
-Wingara Mura Bunga Barrabugu Summer Program
-University of Sydney
-January 2015
-Available online at http://anthro.rschram.org/talks/sydney/
-## What makes us human? ##
-* What does 'human' mean?
-* What is the difference between people and other animals?
-* What do all human beings have in common?
-## Some possible answers ##
-* Need to eat, drink, breathe.
-* Eyes, nose, mouth, two legs, two arms, and so on.
-## Why are people different? ##
-Around the world, people can be quite different. People within one
-society can be pretty different from each other too.
-What are some of the ways in which people differ or vary?
-Why do people differ in these ways?
-## I made a graph! I make a lot of graphs... ##
-{{dimensions.table.gif}}
-Table 1: Dimensions of human characteristics (after Eriksen 2001: 5).
-## Before anthropology ##
-In the late 19th century, people were very interested in why humans
-were different, and they generally believed that most of the
-differences had something to do with innate, inherited
-characteristics.
-Others argued that the climate and environment imposed limits upon the
-people living there, giving them these innate features.
-The differences between people were **natural** and could not be changed.
-## Scientific racism ##
-Back in this time, people used race as a theory of why people were
-different. Specifically, they believed:
-* All people belonged to one of several races.
-* Each race was different physically.
-* One's race determined how one thought and acted.
-* Some races were better or more "civilized" than others.
-We can call this way of thinking "scientific racism." People believed
-that racism was a scientific, natural fact.
-## Franz Boas, founder of anthropology ##
-{{boas.hamatsa.jpg}}
-## Race does not exist ##
-Boas argued that racial differences were actually not all that
-great. Mostly people were alike.
-More to the point, he said nature is not destiny. It is the things
-people acquired from their surroundings and their upbringing that made
-them into who they are. One's community teaches one how to behave,
-changing one's body and health.
-## Immigrants in the United States ##
-Immigrants from Eastern Europe to the United States often were very
-short compared to Americans, leading people to think that they were
-racially different.
-Children of these immigrants tended to grow to be much taller than
-their parents, and were pretty close to the average height for people
-their age.
-## Washington, DC, December 5, 2014 ##
-{{diein.aaa.jpg}}
-Why would a bunch of anthropologists choose to lay down in the middle
-of their national convention to protest police racism (McGranahan 2014)?
-## The concept of culture ##
-People are not more cultured or more cultivated than other
-people. Everyone acquires the distinct patterns of behavior and
-thinking from their upbringing.
-A lot of a person's way of life is acquired or learned. It's not
-innate.
-A person's behavior is always **relative** to their culture. That means
-that when a person learns a particular pattern of behavior, they also
-learn why it makes sense. It is normal to them and all the people
-around them, even though it seems strange to people from other places.
-## What makes us human? Culture. ##
-Every culture is different. But people need culture.
-Any person can learn any culture.
-Do cultures have anything in common? Is there anything that is both **acquired** and **universal**?
-## References ##
-Anonymous. ca. 1895. Hamats’a Coming out of a Secret Room. Photograph. United States National Museum Report, Plate 29. https://flic.kr/p/5zfdHK.
-Eriksen, Thomas Hylland. 2001. Small Places, Large Issues: An Introduction to Social and Cultural Anthropology, 2nd ed. London: Pluto Press.
-McGranahan, Carole. 2014. “#BlackLivesMatter and #AAA2014: Die-In, Section Assembly Motion, and the ABA Statement Against Police Violence and Anti-Black Practices.” Savage Minds, December 9. Accessed January 11, 2015. http://savageminds.org/2014/12/09/blacklivesmatter-and-aaa2014-die-in-section-assembly-motion-and-the-aba-statement-against-police-violence-and-anti-black-practices/.
-**Further reading**
-Pierpont, Claudia Roth. 2004. “The Measure of America.” The New Yorker 8: 48–63.
-http://www.globalchange.umich.edu/globalchange2/current/Additional%20Course%20Readings/annals_of_culture.pdf