Chapter 2 : Ethics and Method

I invite you each week to post a comment about the readings or about questions that you find yourself asking about cultural anthropology or our class discussions. Anything is possible to discuss as long as you can make it relevant to the group. No talking to yourself out loud, so to speak. Speak to forwarding the action of our shared community of knowledge. Thanks, Prof. G

Some key ideas to discuss in Chapter 2: ethics, ethnographic practices, etc.

INTRODUCING TED TALKS: Anthropologist Wade Davis muses on the worldwide web of belief and ritual that makes us human. He shares breathtaking photos and stories of the Elder Brothers, a group of Sierra Nevada indians whose spiritual practice holds the world in balance.
A National Geographic Explorer-in-Residence, Wade Davis travels the globe to live alongside indigenous people, and document their cultural practices in books, photographs, and film.

Where do you notice Social Constructs today?

Bonus assignment: Give 1-2 examples of other social constructs you notice between now and next class.

On Day One of the Spring 09 Semester, I introduced the concept of SOCIAL CONSTRUCTS using a map upside down. How did you learn that north was up? North is not UP in the physical universe, is it? Read a previous post explaining social constructs.

The definition I shared in class was "an idea (time), a concept (masculinity) or an artifact (money) that seems natural or obvious to those who accept it but in fact is an invention of a particular culture or society."

The most well-known example is the "earth is flat". While the earth may appear to be flat to our everyday perceptions, in reality we cannot see the whole earth and its curvature. Thus, the social construct is not the condition of the flatness we see, but rather the view itself that people share. This view affects people's behaviors, thoughts, feelings and actions. It is a context from which people may live their lives.

A more common social construct that seems invisible to us is money. Money is not real in the way we view it. It is worth much more than the material it is printed on but by social agreement in any country we assign it certain values.

"Mathematics is a social construct. Numbers are words and ideas, not physical laws. Math is used to describe the physical universe, so it is shaped into a form that matches the universe as well as possible, giving it a framework. All things we would call math use this same framework. But describing a Law and being a Law are different things. Math measures things that exist, and it does this very well. It can also do things that the universe that it is describing cannot. The truth in numbers is not fundamental. It is built by humans." (http://everything2.com/node/163462).

Here are definitions from Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_construction):

A social construction or social construct any phenomenon "invented" or "constructed" by participants in a particular culture or society, existing because people agree to behave as if it exists or follow certain conventional rules. One example of a social construct is social status. Another example of social construction is the use of fiat money, which is worth more than the paper it is printed on only because society has agreed to treat it as valuable.

Pinker (2002, p. 202) writes that "social constructions: they exist only because people tacitly agree to act as if they exist".

One of the main theses of gender theory is that genders and gender roles are mere social constructs, and that there is nothing natural about being a man or a woman, a heterosexual or a homosexual, or even a transsexual, since genders are mere social appearances and built-in ideas, not unlike men's clothes or women's clothes.

USED BOOKS FOR SALE from Previous Students

I am invited former ANT1001 students who have used books to sell to post to this item. Stay tuned. The outlines of each chapter are available at http://highered.mcgraw-hill.com/sites/0073405248/student_view0/index.html

Check out the comments section below this post

REQUIRED TEXTS
Should acquire by no later than 2nd week of classes; see me if you have any problem doing this. The books may be in late at the bookstore and of course check online for used copies but make a special request of any seller that you need that ASAP!! Give them a date. Let them know you need it urgently. They may honor your request. They can't if they don't know. ;-)

• Kottak, Conrad P. Mirror for Humanity: A Concise Introduction for Cultural Anthropology, 6th edition (not the 5th) (McGraw-Hill, 2008)
• Spradley and McCurdy. Conformity and Conflict. (Boston: Pearson, 2008). [sample professional ethnographies]

Thanks for OLPC for our 2008 Contribution

January 13, 2009

Thank you for your contribution of $597 to the One Laptop per Child Foundation. Further we confirm that no tangible benefits were received by you, the donor, in exchange for the gift referenced above. Your order number is 13PSPJ55814IM1IOEJFCR32FGAB8Q6VHHGA.

The mission of the One Laptop per Child (OLPC) movement is to ensure that every school-aged child in the lesser-developed parts of the world is able to engage effectively with their own personal laptop, networked to the world, so that they, their families and their communities can openly collaborate as they learn and learn about learning together.

The OLPC Foundation is focused on enhancing and sustaining learning among those children, their families and communities in lesser developed communities by ensuring rich, diverse and open access to innovative learning materials and by encouraging interactive learning, communication and exploration with their XO laptops. For this purpose, the Foundation provides grants and other support for the development and use of collaborative learning resources and other initiatives that enrich children’s learning.

Your contribution will help us move forward with these important programs for children. Please tell your friends and colleagues about the One Laptop per Child program (www.laptop.org) and encourage them also to support our mission.

Sincerely,
Robert D. Fadel
One Laptop per Child Foundation