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Re: M & IRead, Dwight ANTHRO (Read@ANTHRO.SSCNET.UCLA.EDU)Tue, 9 Apr 1996 09:34:00 PDT
"This is, to me, the problem with observing the religions of other groups. We must view through our "lens" which has been built over the years by our culture. Hence, our observations are doomed to be colored by our past." If it were the case that we are incapable of recognizing the effect of our cultural situatedness, then we would, indeed, be in "hot water." One of the primary goals of extended field work is precisely to gain perspective by moving outside of one's own culture. WHile I am no fan of the post-modern ideology, the notion of giving the other voice could be read as saying that we need to be a listener to what "they" are saying (i.e., remove our own cultural baggage). What is usually left out, though, is the role we also play as scientists trying to make sense of the particularistic phenomena we observe as instances of general processes which structure human societies. D. Read READ@ANTHRO.SSCNET.UCLA.EDU
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