The Calcagno And Goodman Articles

James P. Spradley (1979) described the insider approach to understanding culture as "a quiet revolution" among the social sciences (p. iii). Cultural anthropologists, however, have long emphasized the importance of the ethnographic method, an approach to understanding a different culture through participation, observation, the use of key informants, and interviews. Cultural anthropologists have employed the ethnographic method in an attempt to surmount several formidable cultural questions: How can one understand another's culture? How can culture be qualitatively and quantitatively assessed? What aspects of a culture make it unique and which connect it to other cultures? If

This study examines Horace Miner’s essay “Body Rituals Among the Nacirema. While using the participant observation approach, he gives us a new perspective on the daily behaviors within this group of people. Exploring ethnocentrism and how we view cultures outside of our own.

Anthropology, as a discipline in the field of human sciences, is based on certain ethical principles to guide its practitioners through their research. This creates a stable framework on which to start any research project. Avoiding deviation, however, can be complicated. Anthropologists have a responsibility to their field,

Anthropologists conduct research in order to answer specific questions about a particular group of people and their culture. Most anthropologists use fieldwork to collect their data, which is then interpreted within their ethnographic writing. When collecting their data, anthropologists use many different approaches such as developing relationships with their informants, but do not illustrate these relationships in their actual writing. Anthropologists Claire E. Sterk and Philippe Bourgois are two of the anthropologists that emphasize their relationships and the importance of gaining trust of their informants in their perspective articles studied. In Bourgois’ article “Crack in Spanish Harlem” and Sterk’s article “Tricking and Tripping:

Peter S. Goodman an american journalist claims that foreign correspondent reporters are very important to producing and supplying our foreign news, but yet the amount of them has decreased over the years due to the rigorous conditions of war and also recessions. Goodman, uses appeals to emotions of his readers as well as stylistic dialect to support his claims. Peter S. Goodman states that in an AJR surveyed conducted, “ found 307 full-time people...the count has dropped to 234”. He also expressed the mount of information being produced on foreign news had dropped severely. He stated’ “the space devoted to foreign news had shrunk by 53%”. Goodman, believes that foreign correspondents are very important and consequently, that this issue must

Richard B. Lee engaged in a participant observation study of the !Kung Bushman of Botswana in order to disprove current anthropological views of hunter-gatherer societies. Lee’s

Reflexive anthropology has pressured scholoars to recognize their own biases and look increasingly inwards when studying “other” cultures. Reflexive anthropology is a break away from the traditional study of a clearly defined “us” and “them,” that seeks to shift towards indentification rather than difference. It attempts to uncover the politics behind ethnography. Reflexivity shows how “we” are effected by “others”, and how “others” are effected by “us.” It holds anthropologists accountable for what they write, and how they represent culture. Anthropologists like Dorinne Kondo and Renato Rosaldo have greatly influenced the devlopment of reflexive anthropology through their enthnographies.

Science has come a long way, helping humans to understand the mysteries of this planet. The science of anthropology has help to find the origins and remains of early humans. In addition, it has assisted to have a better understanding of the evolutionary changes that humans went through before becoming the humans of today. Biology has been a social support for the understanding of evolutionary changes of humans and other animals—primates. However, the evolutionary changes that humans have gone through, who can really say that they have been only biological changes nonimpacted by other factors. Perhaps, culture has played and continues playing an enormous

Throughout the field of anthropology, interviews are conducted day in and day out in order to collect valuable data to contribute to rich ethnographic records on cultures that may not be as familiar to us as our own. The concept of interviewing is one that has been around for many years, especially since the shift from armchair anthropology to “in the field” work. This paper will examine the pros and cons of face-to-face interviewing, as well as illuminating the progression to other methods of qualitative data collection, specifically the use of telephone and email interviewing. Throughout the examination of these different methods and how using interviews in an anthropological setting is conducted, it will become clear that the

Medical anthropology addresses the symbolic, narrative, and ethical dimension of healing, medicine and medical technology in many ways. One way anthropologists address these dimensions is by exploring how local and international communities view wellness, illness, disease and healing through different perspectives. Their goal is to examine how communities are able to function individually as well as to look for themes within the structure and systems of separate communities and cultures. Anthropologists spend a lot of time observing and discussing the theme of treatment within various communities.

Three Theoretical Approaches in Medical Anthropology, the first major theoretical approach to understanding health systems emphasizes the importance of the environment in shaping health problems and how they spread The third points to the need to look at structural factors (political, economic, media) as the underlying causes of health problems and examines Western biomedicine as a cultural

This essay will discuss two major anthropological works of the twentieth century; Cannibals and Kings (1977) by Marvin Harris and Coming of Age in Samoa (1928) by Margaret Mead. Each of these works were pioneering in their contribution to anthropology, and both have also been widely criticized. Margaret Mead (1901-1978) is widely regarded as one of the most renowned, and controversial, anthropologists of her time, and helped popularize the discipline, especially in the USA where she was born and worked (Geertz 1989: 329). She was a student of Franz Boas and his teachings of cultural relativism, and was also one of the pioneers of ethnographic fieldwork in the anthropology (ibid: 331). Also an American anthropologist, Marvin Harris (1927-2001) is considered one of the most prominent and innovative theorists in twentieth century anthropology, and his work also stimulated much controversy and discussion in anthropological circles (Margolis and Kottak 2003: 685). Both books will be discussed in terms of what theoretical perspectives the author utilized and how this affected the conclusions drawn in each work. The two approaches will then be compared and the benefits and disadvantages of each perspective will be evaluated.

John Humphry makes it in his article very clear that he is a big fan of old fashioned dictionaries. He personally states that by saying “they are as close to my heart as they are to my desk because they are so much more than a useful tool.” Throughout the article there are couples arguments that show why he prefers dictionaries over anything else, such as the “physical sensation – the feel and smell of good paper”. However, I believe his main argument is that people forget / people will forget how to prober write. He states in his article that nowadays, hardly anyone still writes an actual letter to a person, instead everyone is using emails. When writing an email, the spellcheck will automatically tell you what’s written wrong and what not.

13. Two domains, out of the multitude of possibilities, of Ethnomedical systems that anthropologists would be interested in investigating are ethnopharmacology and ethnopsychiatry. The domain of ethnopharmacology is at a basic level, the study of the uses of what some may consider ‘drugs’ or medicines to treat an illness within a cultural context. Ethnopharmacology can be both curative and palliative forms of treatment. Ethnopharmacology can be something within biomedicine such as taking an antibiotic to cure a bacterial infection. It can also be something considered an ‘alternative’ form of healthcare such as ingesting and herbal remedy, like Chamomile tea, to ease an upset stomach. Another domain, ethnopsychiatry focuses on the perceptions of mental health from a cultural perspective. This domain could be intriguing to anthropologists because unlike biomedicine, many cultures do not separate mental and physical health and health practices into different categories; but instead believe they are interconnected.

In the first chapter, “Anthropology and Human Diversity,” the term holistic/holism was introduced. In this course, holism is used to describe an approach that considers all the essentials such as, culture, history, language, and genetics to completely understand a human society. Holism is used to understand and explain how to analyze human groups through learning and shared patterns of human behavior and thoughts. As you study culture and people, you want to know each component of their culture. In my experience as a nursing student, we are taught to be culturally competent and always care for a person holistically through their body, mind, and soul. When I am treating my patients, every individual is different from another because everyone has a different background and history. Therefore, we must take in consideration of all factors of their life when caring for them.