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ASSIGNMENT
ON

ANTROPOLOGY

Date: - _____________

Total Weight: - 30 %

Name: - ____________________________ ID NO: - ______________

Department: -_______________ Study center: -_____________ Entry year: - ___________

Program: DEGREE

EThis is the only assignment of this course.

EThis assignment is to be completed and submitted to the office of your center. Do not
attempt the assignment until you are certain that you have understood the units it covers
and have revised your self-test exercises and learning activities, and other necessary
references.

EIf you have any question about the units and activities, state the item/s clearly on a
separate sheet of paper and attach to your assignment paper.

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 1. Describe socio-cultural Anthropology and the methods it uses to study social

and culture?

Social-cultural anthropology studies the diversity of human

societies in time and space, while looking for commonalities across

them. It uses a holistic strategy—linking local and global, past and

present—to offer various approaches to understanding

contemporary challenges.

 Four common qualitative anthropological data collection methods are: (1) participant

observation, (2) in-depth interviews, (3) focus groups, and (4) textual analysis.

Participant Observation. Participant observation is the quintessential fieldwork method in

anthropology.

Social anthropologists conduct their research in many ways, but

the method most characteristic of the discipline is that

of fieldwork based on ‘participant observation’. This usually means

spending a long period (a year or more) living as closely as possible

with the community being studied; learning the language if

necessary; sharing the activities of daily life; observing and

participating in the texture of social interactions; and identifying

underlying patterns. Through analyzing this experience and

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exchanging ideas with members of the community, the

anthropologist aims to gain a deep understanding of how the

society works, including its inherent tensions and contradictions.

Social anthropologists usually report their research in the form of

‘ethnographies’, which are detailed descriptions of the society in

question, shaped and informed by the research questions the

anthropologist has posed. Frequently, these questions change in

the course of fieldwork, as growing knowledge reveals ever-deeper

issues calling for investigation. With this deep knowledge of very

local situations as their grounding, it is often possible for social

anthropologists to make comparisons across societies, and draw

out broader hypotheses about human life in society.

Cultural anthropologists study how people who share a common cultural

system organize and shape the physical and social world around

them, and are in turn shaped by those ideas, behaviors, and

physical environments. Cultural anthropology is hallmarked by the

concept of culture itself. Ethnography is a research strategy where

the approach is to get as much information as possible about a

particular culture. The ethnographer, or cultural anthropologist,

tries to get information from many angles to see whole picture--

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again, striving for that holistic view. There are multiple

methodologies that can be employed:

2. Explain the concept of ethno-centrism and cultural relativism?

Ethno-centrism is the tendency to look at the world primarily from

the perspective of one’s own culture. Part of ethnocentrism is the
belief that one’s own race, ethnic or cultural group is the most
important or that some or all aspects of its culture are superior to
those of other groups. Some people will simply call it cultural
ignorance.

Ethnocentrism often leads to incorrect assumptions about others’

behavior based on your own norms, values, and beliefs. In extreme
cases, a group of individuals may see another culture as wrong or
immoral and because of this may try to convert, sometimes forcibly,
the group to their own ways of living. War and genocide could be
the devastating result if a group is unwilling to change their ways of
living or cultural practices.

Ethnocentrism may not, in some circumstances, be avoidable. We

often have involuntary reactions toward another person or culture’s
practices or beliefs but these reactions do not have to result in
horrible events such as genocide or war. In order to avoid conflict
over culture practices and beliefs, we must all try to be more
culturally relative.

Cultural relativism is the principle of regarding and valuing the

practices of a culture from the point of view of that culture and to
avoid making hasty judgments. Cultural relativism tries to counter
ethnocentrism by promoting the understanding of cultural practices
that are unfamiliar to other cultures such as eating insects,
genocides or genital cutting. Take for example, the common
practice of same-sex friends in India walking in public while holding
hands. This is a common behavior and a sign of connectedness
between two people. In England, by contrast, holding hands is
largely limited to romantically involved couples, and often suggests

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a sexual relationship. These are simply two different ways of
understanding the meaning of holding hands. Someone who does
not take a relativistic view might be tempted to see their own
understanding of this behavior as superior and, perhaps, the foreign
practice as being immoral.

Despite the fact that cultural relativism promotes the appreciation

for cultural differences, it can also be problematic. At its most
extreme, cultural relativism leaves no room for criticism of other
cultures, even if certain cultural practices are horrific or harmful.
Many practices have drawn criticism over the years. In
Madagascar, for example, the famahidana funeral tradition
includes bringing bodies out from tombs once every seven years,
wrapping them in cloth, and dancing with them. Some people view
this practice disrespectful to the body of the deceased person.
Today, a debate rages about the ritual cutting of genitals of girls in
several Middle Eastern and African cultures. To a lesser extent, this
same debate arises around the circumcision of baby boys in
Western hospitals. When considering harmful cultural traditions, it
can be patronizing to use cultural relativism as an excuse for
avoiding debate. To assume that people from other cultures are
neither mature enough nor responsible enough to consider criticism
from the outside is demeaning.

The concept of cross-cultural relationship is the idea that people

from different cultures can have relationships that acknowledge,
respect and begin to understand each other’s diverse lives. People
with different backgrounds can help each other see possibilities
that they never thought were there because of limitations, or
cultural proscriptions, posed by their own traditions. Becoming
aware of these new possibilities will ultimately change the people
who are exposed to the new ideas. This cross-cultural relationship
provides hope that new opportunities will be discovered, but at the
same time it is threatening. The threat is that once the relationship
occurs, one can no longer claim that any single culture is the
absolute truth.

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 3. Explain the concept of humanity and human race

anthropologically?

Humanity is compassionate, sympathetic, or generous behavior or

disposition: the quality or state of being human.
A race is a grouping of humans based on shared physical or
social qualities into categories generally viewed as distinct
by society. The term was first used to refer to speakers of a
common language and then to denote national affiliations. The
concept of race classification in physical anthropology lost
credibility around the 1960s and is now considered untenable.

A 2019 statement by the American Association of Physical

Anthropologists declares:

Race does not provide an accurate representation of human

biological variation. It was never accurate in the past, and it
remains inaccurate when referencing contemporary human
populations. Humans are not divided biologically into distinct
continental types or racial genetic clusters. Instead, the Western
concept of race must be understood as a classification system that
emerged from, and in support of, European colonialism, oppression, and
discrimination.

4. Describe how do you define or conceptualize ethnicity?

In sociology, ethnicity is a concept referring to a shared culture and a way of life. This can

be reflected in language, religion, material culture such as clothing and cuisine, and cultural

products such as music and art. Ethnicity is often a major source of social cohesion as well as

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social conflict. For example I am gurage and we have so many cultures which will attract

everyone our music, food and others.

5. Explain what do we mean by marginalization of religious and ethnic

minority?

Marginalized populations are groups and communities that experience discrimination and

exclusion (social, political and economic) because of unequal power relationships across

economic, political, social and cultural dimensions.

A minority religion is a religion held by a minority of the population of a country, state, or region.

Minority religions may be subject to stigma or discrimination. An example of a stigma is using the

term cult with its extremely negative connotations for certain new religious movements.[1] People who

belong to a minority religion may be subject to discrimination and prejudice, especially when the

religious differences correlate with ethnic differences.