Download Culture internet exercise

Culture internet exercise
Name: ______________________________
Culture internet exercise
This internet exercise is designed to introduce you to relevant resources on the
world wide web and to use the web to supplement and extend what you have
learned in class. Although the websites have been carefully selected, please
keep in mind that it if always important to evaluate critically all web resources [
http://www.mlb.ilstu.edu/ressubj/subject/intrnt/evaluate.htm ]. You are
encouraged to bookmark and explore these sites further on your own.
Definitions of culture vary widely--from extremely broad ones like "the entire way
of life of a people" to more specific ones like "systems of meaning that people
use to make sense of the world." Whether the focus is broad or narrow,
sociologists and anthropologists have to grapple with the challenge of
understanding cultures different from their own. This internet exercise explores
some of the concepts and challenges in doing this. As you will see, the
challenges are real, and there are no simple answers.
Since anthropologists pioneered the study of culture, let us start with Texas
A&M's Anthropology in the News webpage
[http://anthropology.tamu.edu/news.htm]. Perusing this list should show you how
relevant anthropology is the world today and how much path-breaking research
is currently going on.
1. Choose a news story that sounds interesting to you, click on it and read it, and
then summarize what you learned with a few sentences in the space below.
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There are many reasons to study other cultures. Although some question this
goal today, anthropology emerged as an effort to explain scientifically the
extraordinary cultural variation found among humans. The famous anthropologist
Margaret Mead shared this ambition, but she also saw another purpose in
learning about other cultures. What was it? Read the short biography of Margaret
Mead at the Museum of Natural History webpage
[http://www.amnh.org/exhibitions/expeditions/treasure_fossil/Treasures/Margaret
_Mead/mead.html] website and answer the question below.
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2. Why did Margaret Mead say that she spent her life studying faraway peoples -in other words, what did she identify as one of her goals??
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(Please note that Mead's work was not without its critics. See
http://com.hilbert.edu/students/papers/carolina-2000/2000mead.html for more on
this debate)
One of the biggest obstacles to understanding other cultures is ethnocentrism.
While fairly well-known, this concept is often narrowly defined as a feeling of
superiority towards other cultures. In fact, the problems ethnocentrism causes go
much deeper than this. This is made clear in Indiana University anthropologist
Ken Barger's website on Ethnocentrism
[http://www.iupui.edu/~anthkb/ethnocen.htm]. While worth reading in its entirety,
the questions below focus on the first four sections or so.
3. As Professor Barger points out, the real problem with ethnocentrism in the
social sciences is which of the following (circle the correct answer below) -a. thinking that another culture is superior to your own
b. thinking that your own culture is superior to another culture
c. thinking that you understand another culture when you really don't
4. The reason we are likely to make false assumptions about other cultures is
that (circle the correct answer below) -a. other cultures are impossible to understand
b. we are always limited by our own experience
c. people in other cultures can't communicate with us
5. In his observations about his participation in an Inuit snowshoe race, what did
Professor Barger come to realize about how his own initial reaction of
embarrassment? How did this help him overcome his own ethnocentrism?
Discuss briefly in the space below.
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It’s often difficult not to be ethnocentric; we often think we understand the
meaning of things when in fact our perspective is at best a very limited one. Let’s
explore this possibility by looking at the following short articles -- The Question of
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Hijab: Suppression or Liberation? [http://www.islamfortoday.com/hijab.htm] and
Young Muslim women are reclaiming the hijab.
[http://www.islamfortoday.com/hijabcanada2.htm] These readings examine the
veil in Islamic tradition —something that many Westerners think epitomizes the
subjugation of women in Islamic societies. After reading through these articles,
answer the following question. For more information about the hijab, see Islam
For Today website.
6. Did this website make you feel that you may have been ethnocentric in your
view of the meaning of the veil in an Islamic society? Discuss, explaining what
this website seems to be saying about women and the veil (or hejab) in
contemporary Iran.
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Close the articles window and return to the Culture Virtual Exploration.
Anthropologists and sociologists often distinguish between material and ideal
culture: between the physical products of human groups and the ways of thinking
that characterize them. Inspired by Madonna’s “Material Girl” song,
photojournalist Peter Menzel traveled around the world, taking pictures of
families with all of their physical possessions laid out for the camera. Go to the
Material Worldpage [http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/worldbalance/material.html]
of the PBS website, World in the Balance and read through the page, clicking on
each of the five photos to see them in full-size (be sure to maximize the pop-up
window that appears to see the entire picture).
7. What strikes you most about material culture in these pictures and
descriptions? Do these images of material culture at the household level tell you
something about ideal culture as well? Please share your thoughts in the textbox
below.
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Close the NOVA Material World window and return to the Cultural Virtual
Exploration.
Turning to exoticism closer to home, let's visit a website about the Nacirema
[http://www.msu.edu/~jdowell/miner.html] -- a people made known by the
anthropologist Horace Miner in a famous article. If you haven't read about the
Nacirema before, go to the link above and skim through the article. Answer the
questions below.
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8. Who do you think the Nacirema are??
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9. What point do you think Miner wanted to make about ethnocentrism?
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(Note -- if you want to learn about another interesting aspect of Nacirema culture,
check out the link to The Sacred Rac [http://www.drabruzzi.com/sacred_rac.html
]
Communication is central to culture and language is the primary--but by no
means the only--mechanism of communication. The Language and Culture
[http://anthro.palomar.edu/language/default.htm] website offers information and
interactive tools to explore this subject. Start by clicking on Introduction.
10. How many languages are currently spoken in the world?? ____________
11. Is English the most widely spoken language in the world?? Circle correct
answer below.
Yes or No
12. How many languages have less than 1,000 living speakers?? ____________
Go back to the Language and Culture homepage and click this time on Hidden
Aspects of Communication. Read through this page, clicking on the buttons to
check your responses. Answer the following questions:
13. What proportion (percentage) of communication do linguists estimate is
conveyed through various types of non-verbal means? ____________
14. Look through the pictures on this webpage. Which one communicates the
most to you through paralanguage? Describe the picture and why you chose it in
the textbox below.
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Finally, let us explore the aspect of cyberculture known as "netiquette," by visiting
Virginia Shea's Netiquette [ http://www.erc-assoc.org/students/netiquett.htm]
home page. Click on Core Rules of Netiquette and read through them, starting
with "Introduction" and finish by taking the Netiquette Quiz.
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15. If someone writes in CAPITAL LETTERS on the internet, it is considered
which of the following (circle correct answer):
a. a sign of friendship
b. shouting
c. normal internet behavior
16. Expressing strong opinions emotionally on the internet is known as which of
the following (circle correct answer):
a. spamming
b. flaming
c. lurking
Close the Netiquette quiz window and return to the Culture interent excersize.
While much of culture is enduring and widely shared, some aspects of culture are
more fleeting and confined to particular networks. What sociologists and
folklorists call "urban legends" is an interesting example of this. Go to Urban
Legends Reference Pages [http://www.snopes.com/] and click on Glossary.
Read the discussion of urban legends.
17. According to the authors, urban legends are typically cautionary tales that
warn about unexpected consequences of risky behavior.
True or False
18. Urband legends cannot, by definition, be true.
True or False
19. What is the difference between a "myth" and a "legend"??
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Go back to the main Urban Legends page and explore at least two topics,
clicking on the hyperlinked word in several of the urban legend statements.
20. Choose one of these urban legends and summarize it below.
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21. Sociologists and folklorists believe that urban legends generally originate out
of concerns that people have, and that they circulate widely when they connect
with these concerns. How would you explain the origin and reach of the urban
legend that you chose to describe in #20?
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Summary
We have looked at Margaret Mead's rationale for studying other cultures and
have explored some of the challenges and dilemmas in doing so. In particular,
we have focused on the concepts of ethnocentrism, exploring its meanings in
analyzing the cultures both of others and of our own. We have also taken a look
at emerging cultures in cyberspace, as evidenced in such norms as those of
"netiquette." Cultural meanings surround us, but it takes a special kind of
discipline to recognize and understand them. In the space below, please either
summarize this exercise OR discuss anything that was new or especially
interesting to you in completing this assignment. DO NOT LEAVE THIS BLANK!!
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