Anthropologic Question (Gr. 12 homework)?

Question

I can't think of anything...

"Suggest a stufy of some aspect of your community that would be of interest to an anthropologist. Explain how the research would be conducted, being sure that the research techniques match the skills and methods of anthropologists."

Any ideas? I need something to work with here.

Answer 1

well it s the study of humanity so almost anything people

'do' is valid

sport team

hospital

graveyard

police force

Answer 2

I agree with the person above me. You may also want to look at the ethnic diversity in your community as well. Or maybe how a certain group of people have incorporated their culture into the American culture. The time of research would be to speak with the people you are studying as well as doing checking out old records in the library about the area you are studying.

Answer 3

some thing that may be simple to explain is a study of a small local supermarket. the reasearcher could record the types and of food people buy and the total amount of money they spend.

they could then divide the people into catogories based on age, gender, and ethnicity.

or anouther thing to record would just be the different sorts of people going to the supermarket.

finnally, to use a second method, the researcher could interview the managers and cashiers and ask various questions.

Answer 4

Cultural anthropologists do participant observation. That means they live with and observe cultures, usually other than their own; record their observations (maybe after they get home for the night so they're not obviously writing down notes about people)...and try to explain what they observed. They also can interview people from that culture to find out about it.

Where can you find another culture? Well, within your culture, different families have their own culture--you could go to a friend's house and observe the family. For example, what are the rules of behavior in his/her family?  (Explain to his family what you're doing first and get their permission.)

Or you can interview a recent immigrant. This is more difficult because you have to introduce yourself; but you can ask questions such as, "what have you found most different about life here compared to life in your country?" "what's difficult for you here?" "what's easy for you here?"....think of a list of questions but you don't have to stick to it during the actual interview...letting the person talk rather than interrupting them to get to the next question will elicit the most information for you. You might even get invited to the person's home for a meal--with a chance to do participant observation, too. You can meet people at your public library, or a local cultural center...do be careful, though, and don't go anywhere private with a stranger. You also might know a new student at your school, or an exchange student you can interview.

Neither of these is a "specific aspect" of your community, though.

For that, you can observe

--rituals--(birthday parties; Hanukkah, Christmas, or other--what do people do and what does it mean?; football game rituals; etc.)

--social interaction--how do students at your school interact--what social groups are formed--who are the popular kids and why?--what causes conflict and how are conflicts resolved?

--Brack