Post by Professor B on Mar 10, 2024 2:31:39 GMT
Calling all student investigators!
In this thread, I want you to bring your best examples of anthropology being featured in popular media: tv shows, books, movies, social media, the news, magazines, etc.
Write out your thoughts on how accurate or inaccurate you think your example is when it comes to answering the question: What Is Anthropology?
I'll start:
This is a still from "Who Watches The Watchers" which is an episode in the Star Trek The Next Generation television series. The episode follows the fallout after a group of anthropologists conducting research on a planet are discovered when the "human blind" they were covertly using to observe the planet's inhabitants malfunctions and they're seen. This is an example of misunderstanding what anthropology is and how anthropologists conduct research. It assumes that anthropologists act like spies and only observe their subjects. In reality, the participant observation research anthropologists conduct requires them to not only be known to their subjects, but also accepted by them enough to live and work with them over an extended period of time. To conduct anthropology research, all anthropologists (archaeologists, linguists, cultural anthropologists and physical anthropologists) must go to where their subjects live and get permission to conduct research. Then they will both participate with and observe their subjects -- not one or the other, but both at the same time. Participant observation research requires building human relationships. It's not best fostered by hiding or by being secretive.
In this thread, I want you to bring your best examples of anthropology being featured in popular media: tv shows, books, movies, social media, the news, magazines, etc.
Write out your thoughts on how accurate or inaccurate you think your example is when it comes to answering the question: What Is Anthropology?
I'll start:
This is a still from "Who Watches The Watchers" which is an episode in the Star Trek The Next Generation television series. The episode follows the fallout after a group of anthropologists conducting research on a planet are discovered when the "human blind" they were covertly using to observe the planet's inhabitants malfunctions and they're seen. This is an example of misunderstanding what anthropology is and how anthropologists conduct research. It assumes that anthropologists act like spies and only observe their subjects. In reality, the participant observation research anthropologists conduct requires them to not only be known to their subjects, but also accepted by them enough to live and work with them over an extended period of time. To conduct anthropology research, all anthropologists (archaeologists, linguists, cultural anthropologists and physical anthropologists) must go to where their subjects live and get permission to conduct research. Then they will both participate with and observe their subjects -- not one or the other, but both at the same time. Participant observation research requires building human relationships. It's not best fostered by hiding or by being secretive.