Ethnography

Age of Exploration

• Prince Henry the Navigator: Discovered sub-Saharan Africa (1434).

• Columbus: Discovered America (1492).

• Vasco da Gama: Reached India by sea (1498).

Charles V’s Great Debate (1550)

• Valladolid Debate: First human rights debate.

  • Juan Gines de Sepulveda: Natives as “natural slaves.”

  • Bartolome de las Casas: Defended native culture, spent 50 years with natives.

Nineteenth Century Evolutionism

• Lewis Henry Morgan: Stages of cultural evolution.

Functionalism (Bronislaw Malinowski)

• Fieldwork: Immersion, mastering native language, trust-building, participant-observation.

• Purpose: Social practices fill needs (food, shelter, social ties, reproduction).

American Historical Particularism (Franz Boas)

• Environment doesn’t determine culture.

• Culture = Specific histories of people.

• No reconstruction of past societies from contemporary ones.

Postmodern Ethnography (1990s–today)

• Key Consultants: Provide specialized cultural knowledge.

• Reflexive Ethnography: Ethnographer isn’t the sole authority.

• Androcentrism eliminated.

Famous Ethnographers and Works

• Napoleon Chagnon: The Yanamamo.

• Colin Turnbull: The Forest People.

• Bronislaw Malinowski: Argonauts of the Western Pacific.

• George Murdock: Outline of World Cultures (Ethnology).

• Margaret Mead: Coming of Age in Samoa