Understand the meaning of Anthropology, European colonialism, ethnocentrism and cultural relativism

Essay by dappapimp June 2007

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According to Keesing et al, Anthropology is described as the study of human beings relating to their physical and cultural behaviours. This is the term used to illustrate the time when European Anthropologists went out of Europe to the colonies in order to observe and describe the particularity of non European countries, attending to their traditional culture forms or their subjection to modern social change. For example, John Owen who was born in Uganda and was educated in Oxford University, who received a degree in Anthropology and after he became district commissioner in Sudan (The Guardian 4.3.1995). Anthropology is therefore divided in different fields and these include, Physical Anthropology which is based on human behaviours, Evolution, Forensic and Genetics. Another field of Anthropology is Linguistic which is based on different types of languages. Archaeology Anthropology is the way anthropologists use to collect peoples' remains and materials whereas Social Anthropology is the one that is based on peoples' beliefs, customs and relationships according to the way they live in different societies.

I have attached the diagram that illustrates the different fields of Anthropology and their sub areas.

EUROPEAN COLONIALISMThis is the term used to illustrate the process when some of the European countries conquered and ruled different parts of the world by maintaining colonies but staying under the rule of their home lands. This is the system which therefore demonstrates the way that Europeans challenged their new masters with varying degrees of violence and also shows the new forms of power, work and knowledge which was introduced in the conquered colonies. It was this period that some European countries for example Britain, Spain, Portuguese, Italy moved into other parts of the world like Uganda, Kenya, Australia, Caribbean and many more. The purposes for the European colonisation were financial, political or economical...