Cultural Anthropology Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Cultural Anthropology - Essay ExampleSir Edward Taylor gave one of the earliest definitions of anthropology as A floriculture or a civilization is a complicated package which includes knowledge, ideas, beliefs, morals, values, style of living and any former(a) capabilities acquired by a human being when he becomes a member of any society.Cultural Anthropology is back up by ethnography (Ethno meaning people graphy meaning writing). Whatever info is collected by anthropologists through and through observations, interviews, questionnaires it is captured by writing it. This writing is very similar to the field studies or case reports which we make these days. These writings are used to describe the human societies, their cultures, their style of living, customs, languages, food, marriages etc. Ethnography is the backbone of cultural anthropology. Without the scripted descriptions of civilizations and human societies, it would be impossible for the future generations to learn of a par ticular cultural/nation or society that existed in the past. There are various ways through which an anthropologist can collect data for ethnography. The most common and the easiest way to collect data is by observing the participants. Anthropologists often study polar human societies by living with the participants and observing them.Another common method often used by anthropologists is by interviewing the people of a society. Interviews can vary between small peep talks with the citizens or can involve long detailed conversation covering various topics.The third method is by asking the participants to fill in the questionnaires.