Anthropology

This written assignment is worth 100 points and is due as a pdf file or document file upload (double spaced and 12 point font) on Canvas by . Note: This due date is one day later than originally scheduled. Complete all activities and answer all questions. There is no minimum or maximum word limit for answers. Please feel free to write as much as necessary. The key to doing well is to construct thoughtful, thorough, and well written answers that demonstrate command for the material presented, critical analysis, and the ability to relate particular issues presented to central themes and issues in the course. See the syllabus for specific grading criteria information for written assignments.

Activity 1: “Dreams from Endangered Cultures”

Watch the TED Talk video lecture “Dreams from Endangered Cultures” by anthropologist Wade Davis concerning the value of global cultural diversity and the importance of cultural survival.
http://www.ted.com/talks/wade_davis_on_endangered_cultures?language=en (Links to an external site.)

Then answer the following three questions:
(1) What are the main themes in Wade Davi’s lecture? How do these themes relate to central themes or concepts in cultural anthropology described in chapters 1-4 of Cultural Anthropology: A Tool Kit for a Global Age (3rd or 4th edition) by Kenneth J. Guest? Provide at least three examples to support your answer.
(2) Explain Wade Davi’s idea of the ethnosphere?
(3) What did you find most relevant and/or interesting to you in Wade Davi’s lecture and why?

Activity 2: Doing Anthropology and Ethnography

Watch the video Doing anthropology from MIT TechTV. As you watch think about concepts concerning applied anthropology, ethnography, and the anthropological fieldwork and the study of culture presented in Chapters 1-3 in your textbook Cultural Anthropology: A Tool Kit for a Global Age (3rd or 4th edition) by Kenneth J. Guest and in course lectures.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BhCruPBvSjQ

Then answer the following questions, providing specific examples to support your answer. Be sure to relate issues concerning the Doing anthropology video to themes and issues addressed in course readings in Cultural Anthropology: A Tool Kit for a Global Age (3rd or 4th edition) by Kenneth J. Guest.
(1) As you watched the video, did the type of fieldwork surprise you? When you think of cultural anthropologists doing fieldwork, do the types of settings and subjects shown in the

video match your conceptions of the issues and peoples with whom anthropologists work? In other words, is this what you imagine when you think of cultural anthropological fieldwork?
(2) What aspects of the three anthropologists’ work shown in the video might be classified as
ethnographic fieldwork?
(3) In what ways are the three anthropologists’ work presented in the video examples of applied anthropology? In your answer make sure you address what applied anthropology is, as described in your textbook and course lectures material.
(4) How do the ethnographic settings of the three anthropologists differ (where the ethnographers are working, with whom they are working, etc.)? How might this impact or condition the ways in which data are collected and interpreted by the anthropologists?

Activity 3: “How Language Shapes the Way We Think”

Watch the presentation by cognitive scientist Lera Boroditsky. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0TFNVP6r_-o
As you watch think about the concepts of “linguistic relativity,” the relationships between language, thought, and culture, and “Sapir-Whorf hypothesis” presented in Chapter 4 of your textbook and course lectures material.
(1) Summarize how Lera Boroditsky’s presentation relates to the concepts of “linguistic relativity” and the “Sapir-Whorf hypothesis.”

(2) Describe the examples presented by Lera Boroditsky concerning the how language shapes the way people think concerning the following:
Time and space Color
Gender
Description of events

(3) What are the three thoughts that Lera Boroditsky wants to leave the viewer with? Did you find these three thoughts interesting or intriguing? Why or why not?

Activity 4: Endangered Languages

Step 1: Review key concepts in course lectures material concerning language change and endangered languages and in chapter 4 “Language” in Cultural Anthropology: A Toolkit for a Global Age (3rd edition or 4th edition) by Kenneth J. Guest.
Step 2: Explore the Recovering Voices website of the National Museum of Natural History https://naturalhistory.si.edu/research/anthropology/programs/recovering-voices

Step 3: Explore Endangered Languages: A project by the Alliance for Linguistic Diversity http://www.endangeredlanguages.com/
Step 4: Watch the video Exploring Endangered Languages by linguist K. David Harrison https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uwprHuUGNBs

Step 5: Watch the TEDx Talk video “Endangered languages: why it matters” by linguist Mandana Seyfeddinipur
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D7HZOsQYx_U

Step 6: Answer the following questions:
(1) Explain the connection made by K. David Harrison between language diversity and biodiversity?
(2) What are the language “hot spots” of the world? What are the criteria for identifying these hot spots?
(3) Explain why K. David Harrison and Mandana Seyfeddinipur are so concerned about global language loss? What is lost when languages are lost? In your answer, be sure to relate issues presented in Harrison’s and Seyfedinipur’s presentations to concepts and central issues presented in the course textbook and course lectures.
(4) Drawing from Chapter 4 of your textbook and from the presentations by Harrison and Seyfeddinipur in your answer, explain how globalization and language loss are related.
(5) Describe some of the examples of nomadic knowledge in the Tuvan language as described by K. David Harrison.
(6) What examples or case studies did you find most interesting and/or relevant about K. David
Harrison’s presentation and why?
(7) What examples or case studies did you find most interesting and/or relevant about Mandana
Seyfeddinipur’s presentation and why?