As you guys may know, I am double majoring in anthropology and sociology. This morning, I have a little bone to pick about anthropology specifically.
Anthropology evolved basically on the premise of racially classifying human beings. The entire science has the origin of classifying people for the purposes of discrimination and racism.
The word "race" did not appear in the English language until the early 1500s when Europe began to come into contact with other cultures in the world. They were obsessed with labeling humans and finding scientific evidence for why they were the best and anyone non-white was inferior. Anthropology is responsible for the cephalic index, the measurement of brain volume, as well as the facial angle.
All of this makes me ashamed of my chosen field of study (and of being white), however, the field is not like that anymore. We have the concept of cultural relativism, or not bringing our own cultural bias into the situation when observing other cultures, understanding that what may be wrong or disgusting in our world is normal in their world.
Part of the appeal of anthropology for me is learning about and understanding different cultures. I want to help small societies threatened into assimilation to embrace their own origins and cultural identities and I want to help Native Americans have their own country, not just piece of federal land called a reservation. That last one is a bit of a stretch, but let's not get into it.
I want to further change the face of anthropology and make it a science people want. People would get more excited about it if they knew what it truly was.
The point of this post is that if you find something that you love, don't be afraid to change it, evolve it, improve it, make it yours completely. Find your passion and make it yours. Be proud of it and don't be afraid to help someone else be proud of it.
Anthropology evolved basically on the premise of racially classifying human beings. The entire science has the origin of classifying people for the purposes of discrimination and racism.
The word "race" did not appear in the English language until the early 1500s when Europe began to come into contact with other cultures in the world. They were obsessed with labeling humans and finding scientific evidence for why they were the best and anyone non-white was inferior. Anthropology is responsible for the cephalic index, the measurement of brain volume, as well as the facial angle.
All of this makes me ashamed of my chosen field of study (and of being white), however, the field is not like that anymore. We have the concept of cultural relativism, or not bringing our own cultural bias into the situation when observing other cultures, understanding that what may be wrong or disgusting in our world is normal in their world.
Part of the appeal of anthropology for me is learning about and understanding different cultures. I want to help small societies threatened into assimilation to embrace their own origins and cultural identities and I want to help Native Americans have their own country, not just piece of federal land called a reservation. That last one is a bit of a stretch, but let's not get into it.
I want to further change the face of anthropology and make it a science people want. People would get more excited about it if they knew what it truly was.
The point of this post is that if you find something that you love, don't be afraid to change it, evolve it, improve it, make it yours completely. Find your passion and make it yours. Be proud of it and don't be afraid to help someone else be proud of it.