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These two scenarios call on us to suspend reality. We move into an almost science fiction mode. Force yourself to "think outside the box." In both instances you are asked to look at your culture from an "etic" -- or outsiders -- point of view.
Scenario #1
Remember Gulliver's Travels? Written in the early 1700's by Jonathan Swift, this delightful book (which was actually meant as social satire) recounts voyages to one strange place after another. The most well-known of those places is Lilliput where Gulliver is "captured" by a race of minuscule human beings, an event depicted in this antique advertisement by a thread company.
Gulliver's third voyage takes him to the flying island of Laputa. The inhabitants of that island speak a language that Gulliver does not know.
Suppose you were to travel with Gulliver to that flying island where you can communicate with people only by using objects that you are carrying with you. Suppose you could take only five things with you to "tell" people on Laputa about yourself.
What would those objects be? Once you've decided on them, write them on the chalkboard.
Scenario #2
You are space travelers who have been beamed down to earth from the planet Pegasi. You have been instructed to carefully study life on earth and report back your conclusions. You have ended up in a McDonald's restaurant which you assume is typical for the entire planet.
A McDonald's restaurant has thus become an ethnographic "text" for you. Look for those symbols which reveal meanings the people in it assign to areas of their life. From your observations of the following things in the restaurant, what might you conclude about life on the planet earth?
- Architecture/furnishings
- Food
- Sex or gender roles
- Family
 | Ready to start on your cultural anthropology paper, but don't know where to start? [ traditional students ] [ adult studies students ] |
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Howard Culbertson, Southern Nazarene University, 6729 NW 39th, Bethany, OK 73008 | Phone: 405-491-6693 - Fax: 491-6658
Copyright © 2000, 2001 - Last Updated: April 3, 2008 | URL: http://home.snu.edu/~hculbert/mcdon.htm
