talks:sydney
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+ | ~~DECKJS~~ | ||
+ | # Anthropology, | ||
+ | ## Anthropology, | ||
+ | |||
+ | Ryan Schram | ||
+ | |||
+ | Social Justice Panel Discussion | ||
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+ | Wingara Mura Bunga Barrabugu Summer Program | ||
+ | |||
+ | University of Sydney | ||
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+ | 12 January 2015 | ||
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+ | Available online at http:// | ||
+ | |||
+ | ## What makes us human? ## | ||
+ | |||
+ | * What does ' | ||
+ | * 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... ## | ||
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+ | {{dimensions.table.gif}} | ||
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+ | 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, | ||
+ | |||
+ | * 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 " | ||
+ | |||
+ | We can call this way of thinking " | ||
+ | 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 | ||
+ | big. 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' | ||
+ | innate. | ||
+ | |||
+ | A person' | ||
+ | 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:// | ||
+ | |||
+ | Eriksen, Thomas Hylland. 2001. Small Places, Large Issues: An Introduction to Social and Cultural Anthropology, | ||
+ | |||
+ | McGranahan, Carole. 2014. “# | ||
+ | |||
+ | **Further reading** | ||
+ | |||
+ | Pierpont, Claudia Roth. 2004. “The Measure of America.” The New Yorker 8: 48–63. http:// | ||
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+ | ----- | ||
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+ | <WRAP box similar> |