anthroact.html

Cultural Anthropology Activity
Dr. Bob Pettapiece

Each group (or class) is to design a simple culture with as many of the elements listed below as possible. Each element should have a clue (artifact) in written form or visual form. For example, you could describe how a car runs or have a drawing or 3-D model of a car. Cultural elements may be fragments, so long as they have significant clues in them.

Each culture must have a theme. For example, all laws are made by children ages 8-18. Most cultural elements should contain this clue.
You must also design a Rosetta Stone which has your culture’s language and a translation in English below it.
Bring a container to house your culture and to pass it to another group.

Possible elements of a culture are (in alphabetical order):

• Acculturation (taboos, mores, rituals, etc.)
• Clothing
• Communications (Newspaper? TV? Sign lang.?)
• Economy (jobs, coinage, etc.)
• Education (schooling)
• Government
• Language
• Laws
• Recreation (sports, spare time acts., etc.)
• Religion, including a world view
• Shelter (housing)
• Superstitions & Magic
• The Arts
• Transportation (How do you get around?)

This activity can be done as a whole class with each group creating an element or each group within a class may create their own culture with as many elements as possible.
This may be done in one day, several days or several weeks. The exchange of cultures may be done in class by containers or they may be as elaborate as two classes creating separate cultures, going outside, burying them and then the other class digs the cultures up like archeologists.

We do not learn from our experiences. We learn by processing our experiences.
-- John Dewey