Discuss some specific ways in which the cultural values , age, gender, political ideology, nationailty, and?

Question

social status of an anthropologist might affect their understanding of another culture?

Answer 1

Say for example, an American anthropologist who actually lost someone (a father, an uncle) in the Vietnam war, would he not be prejudiced if he were to do research in Vietnam? Would he not be troubled by the fact that he might be speaking with someone that is also the son or nephew of a man killed by his kin? How could he honor his own dead and still acknowledge the merits of a culture that survived such a war?

An anthropologist's specific background will always be present when on the field and though anthropologists are trained to avoid being biased by it, there is no vaccine that will make you immune, so it mus be included as one of the variables invloved in the research.

Answer 2

the goal of an anthropologist is to understand other cultures without this bias.  i agree that when studying other cultures there will always differences of opinion based on the factors that you stated, but an anthropologist has to look past these things.  i am a student at Tulane University majoring in anthropology and all of my professors have been of this opinion.  one must take into consideration the factors that lead to differences in opinion.  that is exactly what cultural anthropologists do.  one must eliminate bias in order to get a true grasp on another culture.  even though as Americans we might disagree with the practices and customs in, for example, the middle east, one must consider that they disagree with ours just as much.  when studying another culture it is just as important to study one's own culture in order to find the root of these differences and also a way to coexist.  our biases our what makes us different and if we hold on to them there is no way to truly understand another culture.