What communities do you belong to and how are they constructed in relation to other communities and larger society?
get into the website and watch the film and reading. answer the questions in 300 words
Journal Entry #1
I was raised in a predominantly white, middle-class community. Being of Jewish descent,
I understood the perspectives of minorities to a certain extent, but I was never truly exposed to a
culturally diverse society. With that being said, as I grew up, I thoroughly enjoyed learning about
different cultures. I became interested in law and government, which led to my passion for
current social issues. Among these are criminal justice reform, Black Lives Matter,
undocumented Latino/Latina immigrants in the U.S, and other legislature that works towards
equality in the U.S.
Although I am educated on these cultures and continuously strive to acquire new
knowledge, all of my information has mainly come from secondary resources such as reports,
articles, books, and documentaries. Given that I did not participate in any of the experiences of
these cultures, there was always the possibility I could unintentionally regard these groups of
people as The Other.1 The concept of The Other is a sentiment among Armchair
anthropologists, who used secondary resources for their research as well.2 While I make efforts
to empathize with these groups and understand their perspective, in contrast, early
anthropologists evaluated these cultures using their own standard of culture, leading to racism
and misrepresentation.3
I acquired a broader, more in-depth understanding of a particular culture during a summer
program while bonding with another student who was an undocumented Mexican immigrant. By
learning about her family history and struggles, I could see more clearly her culture in its
1 Featherstone, Don, director. Babakiueria. 1986
The film as a whole demonstrates the concept of “The Other” and treating unfamiliar cultural groups as exotic
2 Chapter 3: Doing Fieldwork: Methods in Cultural Anthropology Perspectives: An Open Invitation to Cultural
Anthropology, by Nina Brown et al., 2nd ed., American Anthropology Association, p. 49.
3 Lecture 9: Franz Boas; slides 3 and 9
entirety. Even more, I recognized what united us as teenage girls but also as simply human
beings. I now realize that the study of particular cultures as well as developing general principles
for all humans are both methods that when used in conjunction, can provide a more wholesome
view of humanity.4
4 Lecture 9: Franz Boas; Slide 11 Week 1 Ethnographic Journal Entry, Example #2
There is tension in the anthropology world when it comes to understanding cultures on their own
terms and reaching universal conclusions about all humans. From the first lecture we learn about
universalism, the idea that there is one overarching condition and experience, meaning that there is one
single assessment of people and one universal story. I believe that this is not true because it displays
incorrect biased assessments of peoples culture and enforces the belief of unilineal social evolution.
Unilineal social evolution is belief that was widely used when anthropologists practiced armchair
anthropology and theorizes that all cultures started in the same place and follow a single trajectory that
culminates into apex European culture (Lecture 8). All cultures that are not like North American or
European are seen as stuck in the past and primitive. Franz Boaz strongly critiqued this theory and
argued that cultures must be studied relatively and in their own terms to better understand practices and
prevent moral judgements (Lecture 9). Anthropologists understand that this is hard because all humans
see other cultures objectively and the majority of the world is ethnocentric and believe that their own
culture is the correct way to do something (Cowell and Medeiros 33). I still struggle with understanding
other cultures through their terms and also drawing conclusions about all humans and a way Ive dealt
with this is through traveling. Thankfully, Ive had the privilege to experience many different cultures
with my family and I find it important to be exposed to differing peoples/cultures (not only internationally
but also within your own country), as it gave me worldly knowledge about how others live their life. I
recognize that I still hold many biases against other cultures practices but because of my travels I realize
my judgements and therefore I work on improving and understanding these biases. Many years later, I
look back and change my conclusion about the culture I came in contact with as I gain new experience
and connections. This is one of the ways I deal with the tension between drawing generalizations about all
humans and striving to understand peoples cultures through their terms.
