Anthropology Essay Assignment Help

Anthropology Essay Assignment Help

Please choose 2 (TWO) of the following prompts and prepare a five page discussion for each (10 pages total). Grammar, organization, and level of effort all count here.

Three of our controversies (Yanomamo, Ik, and Tasaday) sell themselves as providing information on human’s predilections by nature: i.e. are we intrinsically violent, selfish, or nice.
Why did each of these researchers find these to be good topics, and how were these changed by their personalities or the era of their studies? Do you think these cultures really exhibited those traits, or was it all spin? How much do you believe these studies are “true”?

Two of our controversies (Yanomamo, Ik) do not present the groups in a positive light at all. Let’s assume these are really what these societies are like. Is it appropriate for an anthropologist to produce these accounts? Should they have made them more politically correct? What are the possible consequences to the groups themselves from having an unpleasant or frightening reputation?

For some of our controversies (Ik, Yanomamo) non-anthropologists have created a scandal by revisiting anthropological studies and finding them wrong or corrupt. Are there special problems in their criticisms because of their lack of understanding of the field? In others, (Samoa, Rigoberta Menchu, and Yanomamo again) anthropologists attack the work of other anthropologists. What problems do they see in the other’s work? Are the criticisms from either of these groups mainly theoretical, ethical, or personal? Why do people do such debunking studies, and are they effective attacks?

Sometimes these studies are meant to show that tribal people are more moral, or just have better societal practices than more “civilized” people (Samoa, Tasaday), and sometimes that contact with the larger world corrupts tribal cultures (Yanomamo, Ik). What do these studies suggest about which aspects of our cultures we wish we did better? In what ways were the Yanomamo and Ik damaged by outside contacts?