Course Index
Anthropology - the science and formal academic discipline created to understand different peoples + cultures of the world is by definition modern
> It didn't even exist until the late 19th, early 20th century and its whole purpose was to document the cultures modernity was leaving behind in its wake in a scientific - i.e., analytic - way
> It emerged alongside the invention of museums, the side show, The World's Fair and National Geographic magazine and so, as we will learn in this course, became essential to definition the exotic or ... even more simply ... the other, the different
> This is a very romantic academic discipline with glamorous locations
> You know about it because of this guy, Dr. Henry Walton Jones, Jr.
In class I screened scenes from Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) to outline the basic features of this discipline
> If you are in the on-line class you will need to stream this film on your own and off Canvas for a few dollars and watch the first 45 minutes and the last thirty minutes ...
Anthropologists are scholars who are allowed to leave the university for periods of time in order to do field research
Imagine if rather than snuggling up to him like this, the Oompa Loompas chased Willie Wonka like this
But the deal is that they must always "leave the field" (or the world) and return to the university to teach others about all they learn
Here is the basic plot of Raiders of the Lost Ark (1982). Pay attention to the Hitler reference
Renowned archeologist and expert in the occult, Dr. Indiana Jones, is hired by the U.S. Government to find the Ark of the Covenant, which is believed to still hold the ten commandments. Unfortunately, agents of Hitler are also after the Ark. Indy, and his ex-flame Marion, escape from various close scrapes in a quest that takes them from Nepal to Cairo.
Indiana Jones as a real guy, by the way, Dr. Robert Braidwood, but it hardly matters
I want to end our first week of class by introducing you to a real life anthropologist, whom I happen to think is as cooler - or perhaps even cooler - than Dr. Henry Walton Jones
His name is Jason De León and his archaeological research will also foreground one of the major topics we will allow us to broaden the discussion we have been having about migration and immigration this week from a brand new perspective ... It will also help us understand the difference between a migrant, an immigrant and ... a refugee ...
Jason studies garbage ... refuse ... which is a little different from Indiana Jones, who seeks out objects of established cultural value ... Even more specifically he studies the garbage left by migrants and refugees crossing the Mexican/U.S. border without documents ... Here are some of the things people leave behind ...
Jason doesn't just due archaeological research like Indiana Jones, he also does ethnographic research and forensic research.
Archaeology
- The study of human history and prehistory through the excavation of sites and the analysis of artifacts and other physical remains.
Ethnography
- The scientific description of the customs of individual peoples and cultures.
Forensic Science
- Forensic science is the application of science to criminal and civil laws, mainly - on the criminal side - during criminal investigation, as governed by the legal standards of admissible evidence and criminal procedure.
Look out for how he defines these three specific kinds of anthropology ... Make sure you take note of who Marisol was and why is she so important to Jason's research. She is mentioned in the National Geographic video below and you can follow up with this supplementary material.
One last thing ... The evidence Jason excavated and curated has now become a museum exhibit ... Does that now mean it is an object of established cultural value, like Indiana's Jones' ark?