1) POST comments/reflections on TWO ideas, examples, or claims from the video lecture.

2) FIND one example of U.S. American ethnocentrism. You can use any media you want. (15 points)

Remember that ethnocentrism is framing/presenting/showing U.S. American values, norms, beliefs, practices, material culture, or U.S. American people as "normal," "natural," "better," "more advanced," "smarter/stronger," "more important," etc. IN RELATION to any other culture or people.

You need to attach the example as an image, link or document and you need to briefly explain the ethnocentrism you see in the piece.

1) Make sure you identify the SPECIFIC U.S. American cultural values, practices, norms, at play.  (5 points)

2) Explain where you see ethnocentrism in the example. What is being valued? (Over what?) What is being privileged? (Over what?) What is being normalized? What is being idealized?  (10 points)

For this assignment, please POST:

1) Reflections/comments on two ideas, claims, concepts, or points from the "Ethnocentrism, Cultural Relativism, and Moral/Ethical Questions" video lecture (20 points)

2) Now that we have examined what defines U.S. American culture, you also need to find one example of U.S. American ethnocentrism. You can use any media you want that captures ethnocentrism--a photo, an article (news, magazines, etc.), a video, or a written story/example.

Remember that ethnocentrism is framing/presenting/showing U.S. American values, norms, beliefs, practices, material culture, or U.S. American people as "normal," "natural," "better," "more advanced," "smarter/stronger," "more important," etc. IN RELATION to any other culture or people.

You need to attach the example as an image, link or document and you need to highlight the ethnocentrism in the piece.

Make sure you identify the SPECIFIC U.S. American cultural values, practices, norms,

Technical: 4-5 pages. 11-12 point font, regular margins, double-spaced with in-text citations and works cited. Citation style (MLA, APA, Chicago etc.) is up to you.
Include the following subheadings:
a) focus of study;
b) importance of study;
c) methods (including justification for why these methods are appropriate);
d) ethical obligations and considerations (list how each of the requirements in the AAA
guidelines will be addressed and exercise reflexive thinking with possible
complications that may arise in the course of your research)
e) profile of the researcher (you, and why you are the best person to conduct this
study).

For this assignment, imagine you are an evolutionary biologist/paleoanthropologist who has just uncovered a relatively complete fossilized hominid skeleton. You have determined that this is a new species and plan to publish your results in the peer-reviewed journal New Discoveries. You are also aware that new hominin species attract lots of public interest, so you need to prepare a visual depiction highlighting the salient features of your hominin.

Watch two videos featuring the performance of a twentieth century music composition. Your choices must be from the twentieth or twenty-first century classical tradition, such as solo, orchestral or chamber music performances, not pop, rock, or jazz. Please note that this assignment is not a 20th or 21st century performance of music from the Classical era - students should watch videos of music that was composed in the twentieth or twenty-first century. The music chosen for this assignment needs to have been written in the twentieth or twenty-first century, so it is important to not choose music that was composed before the twentieth century. You can either choose two compositions written by the same composer or a composition from two different twentieth or twenty-first century composers. If you are not sure if your choices fit the requirements, be sure to ask in the Questions thread or by sending a personal message to your instructor. The following is a list of possible choices for com

Choose one of these options for your initial post. 

Forum Question: Define the different kinds of reciprocity that are discussed in the readings (it's necessary to read both the required materials for this week as well as the Week 5 Lesson). Explain these using examples of each from your own life. 

Forum Question: Identify a specific type of kinship system (Eskimo, Hawaiian, Sudanese, and others) that is different from your own and then imagine growing up in that other kinship system. How would your family relationships and personal experiences be different from what they are now?  enlightenedHelpful Hint: Polygamy (polygyny and polyandry) is not a kinship system. 

Choose one of these options for your initial post.

Forum Question: Sex is a biological category (male, female) and gender is a more fluid category (woman, man, transgender).  Using the interactive PBS map about global concepts of gender to identify and then research another culture where there are third genders.  Why is gender diversity important?

Forum Question: Complete the Human Variation Quiz on the American Anthropological Association's RACE: Are we do different? website (2011).  To navigate to the Quiz, follow the link, then click "Human Variation" then click "Human Variation Quiz".  Identify which question(s) you had the most difficulty in answering and describe why.  Why are such misconceptions about race popularized?

Forum Question: Some theorists have argued that colonialism-and in turn anthropology-rely on defining rigid categories of Us and Others, emphasizing the differences between the categories and dehumanizing "Others," tr

Purpose:

The goal of this Assignment is to observe an 'archaeological site' as an anthropologist would. The student will analyze their observations in terms of themes from the subfield of archaeology such as how it helps frame our understanding of how we can learn more about the human past by studying and interpreting material culture.

Description:

Motel of the Mysteries is a well-known book among archaeologists (see basic description in Smith, 2009).  This humorous (now sadly out of print) book takes a look at how an archaeologist of the future might look at a late 20th century roadside motel.  While our artifacts make sense to us, how might they preserve and be interpreted by future archaeologists?  In this Assignment we will explore this idea.

Smith, S.  (2009).  Motel of the Mysteries.  The Society for Georgia Archaeology.  Retrieved from: http://thesga.org/2009/01/motel-of-the-mysteries/



Directions for

Anthropology was created in the 19th century to assist in the colonization of the world by the West. In the west there was an industrial revolution where because of technology, agriculture increased, creating increased populations that were no longer needed on the farm, they moved to the cities for industry and that is where sociology was created to study people in the cities working. For other people, they went abroad to help with colonization. The anthropologists researched the indigenous people and provided the colonizer with an understanding of the culture and society of people around the world in a very scientific methodological way.
In what way do people learn about their values, the rules of society etc...? Who were these people who started anthropology and what views did they have of the people they studied? "Cultural particularism", "Historical particularism"  these words mean that these modern anthropologists wanted to study them in the context of their culture. They