Question details:

Foraging Societies. Answer one of the following four questions posed by Nowak and Laird, in Cultural Anthropology, at the very end of Chapter 3:

a. What can we learn from studying foraging societies? Is there anything we can learn regarding our relationship to the environment, or our family members, for example?

b. What is the ethnographic present? Do you think that the use of the ethnographic present in the film The Gods Must Be Crazy is appropriate, or do you think Lee’s criticisms are valid?

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c. Do you think the view of many anthropologists (pre–1970s) that men’s hunting activities are more highly valued than women’s gathering activities is a culturally biased perspective based on Eurocentric notions that men are the family breadwinners ? Do you think this view is outdated (based both on more recent ethnographic information and changes in American culture)?

d. An Inuit mother has just given birth to a baby. She has a one–year–old baby still dependent on her milk. It is the season of food scarcity, which means the mother is not as well nourished as she could be. She and her husband decide that their older child is a higher priority, and they opt to end their newborn baby’s life. Considering the concepts of ethnocentrism and cultural relativism, discuss the practice of infanticide.

Clearly identify the topic you chose at the outset of your discussion. Answer the question posed thoroughly and thoughtfully by building on the ideas and terminology in the text and your own ideas to support your answers. Your initial response should be at least 150 words in length. Respond to at least two of your classmates’ posts by Day 7.

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