the beginning of a virtual fieldwork experience, but before I took you into the field I had to make sure you had the right tools and knew all the right terms.
Ethnocentrism: *the belief that one's own cultural beliefs and practices are the only proper ones
*a prison for the mind
Cultural Relativism
* suspend judgment
* understand others in their terms
* look back on own culture
Cultural Relativism can also be viewed as an antidote for ethnocentrism
Fieldworker's Toolkit: Communication, Empathy, and Thoughtfulness



Participant Observation: In order to understand the dance, anthropologists cannot be wallflowers, they need to get in there and shake their tailfeather! Then we went into the field together where we immediately faced: Culture Shock: anxiety provoked by being immersed in a foreign culture (At worst it is experienced as a complete loss of self.)

But luckily we made friends who helped us feel more welcome and learn more about the culture. Informants = Best Friends

Then we built our house, tying us into the social network.After showing a video of building my home in New Guinea, I then used my research to illustrate the ways that the environment, infrastructure, social structure, and superstructure are all interrelated and how the ethnographer engages in an analysis of all of these levels during fieldwork. At the superstructure level, I showed you the prevalence of beliefs in witchcraft. I ended with a short video showing my friend who was seriously ill, blaming my father for bewitching him. My father washed him Then the whole community washed him in a very touching ritual that allowed us all to heal our relationships with Tibenim. Unfortunately, he died soon after this. My father is blamed - they say he hid his magic.
Why my father?
His pig had been killed by Tibenim. Challenges our sense of justice. Why should he pay? My father is threatened.

What should we do?
to be continued ...

Need holistic perspective ...



Witchcraft beliefs are ...

Logical: Answers "Why me?" --- Not luck or far-off being, it's Joe next door

Socio-logical:
1. maintains morality (won't piss off Joe)
2. heals relationships (think of the washing / also exchange)
Also, socio-logical belief keeps a balance in the society because it has a tendency to keep people from doing evil due to its consequences

Eco-logical: move out when tensions are too great Either it heals the relations so the village can live in peace - or it sparks the rift that moves them apart, helping them to live in harmony with environment ...

So there we are ... What did I do? ... I did what the rest of my family did - vehemently defended my father as innocent. Nonetheless, there was a loss of life, and the immediate family needed compensation. So we paid them ... I contributed ... This gift will be returned ... re-establishing their bonds ... The most important step of cultural relativism is to look back on ourselves ... (more on this throughout the semester ...)