Mrdthree Posted August 12, 2016 Share Posted August 12, 2016 I teach a biology class where I get a moment to talk about the evolutionary origins of humans from hunter-gatherer societies. I was thinking of showing my ethnically diverse class the following video (and some others of laplanders). here an out of place white guy from wild kingdom steps in and talks about them being a handsome and colorful people https://youtu.be/jta8I0XdJ-M?t=239 here the laplanders act like primitives in a way that will offend the sensibilities of civilized people. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fftnExG-WFg These videos are examples of laplanders acting like primitives in a way that would offend the sensibilities of most civilized people. They are a nomadic herdsman type of tribal people whose life isnt much different from those of peoples in Africa. I am thinking.... (1) to ask people in my class whether they think their society is better than the laplanders? or equal and distinct. (2) to ask them whether their systems of tribal councils are direct comparable to congress and government in America or more primitive? (3) to accuse them of racism if they deny the equality. So is this too politically incorrect? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mister Mister Posted August 12, 2016 Share Posted August 12, 2016 Not sure I understand the question lol...compared to what? What would you be trying to achieve by doing this? What is the political climate where you work, and your tenure status (if that's what you're worried about)? What do you mean by "accuse them of racism?". Are you just trying to prove a point? Interesting topic though. In Stef's last talk with Dr. Duke Pesta, he mentioned how mistaking a Guatemalan for a Mexican is some horrible racist "micro-aggression", yet this same ideology will gleefully label the wonderful multicultural diversity of Europe all as "white people". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mrdthree Posted August 12, 2016 Author Share Posted August 12, 2016 Not sure I understand the question lol...compared to what? What would you be trying to achieve by doing this? What is the political climate where you work, and your tenure status (if that's what you're worried about)? What do you mean by "accuse them of racism?". Are you just trying to prove a point? Interesting topic though. In Stef's last talk with Dr. Duke Pesta, he mentioned how mistaking a Guatemalan for a Mexican is some horrible racist "micro-aggression", yet this same ideology will gleefully label the wonderful multicultural diversity of Europe all as "white people". Its an attempt to sneak past the politically incorrect issue of cultural superiority by disentangling it from race. I am curious if students would be happy to feel cultural superiority towards white people. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rosencrantz Posted August 13, 2016 Share Posted August 13, 2016 I wouldn't call the Sami people white. For once, you can find that a lot of them have an epicanthic fold. In addition, their mitochondrial DNA and their language points to a Eurasian origin. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mrdthree Posted August 13, 2016 Author Share Posted August 13, 2016 I wouldn't call the Sami people white. For once, you can find that a lot of them have an epicanthic fold. In addition, their mitochondrial DNA and their language points to a Eurasian origin. Perhaps this will change your mind. Lapp girl. There was a time when southern europeans were considered not to be white by some. Better be nice to her though... https://youtu.be/fftnExG-WFg?t=38 I wouldn't call the Sami people white. For once, you can find that a lot of them have an epicanthic fold. In addition, their mitochondrial DNA and their language points to a Eurasian origin. in case the link is dropped for not being fair use. In the American context, are these white or non-white people... https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d7/3NorwSamiPresidents.jpg Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WorBlux Posted August 13, 2016 Share Posted August 13, 2016 FYI, herders aren't hunter-gatherers. And the practice isn't terribly offensive to me. Anesthesia for humans wasn't even a thing until very recently, much less animals. Most cattle farmers nowadays will castrate young bulls and then inject artificial hormones to increase growth. This ball-biting seems to make the same effect. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mister Mister Posted August 13, 2016 Share Posted August 13, 2016 I thought it was interesting the practice of "ear-notching", as a primitive version of property rights. And that these people must have a culture and perhaps a biology that makes them trust one another, or this would never work. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ValueOfBrevity Posted August 17, 2016 Share Posted August 17, 2016 I teach a biology class where I get a moment to talk about the evolutionary origins of humans from hunter-gatherer societies. I was thinking of showing my ethnically diverse class the following video (and some others of laplanders). here an out of place white guy from wild kingdom steps in and talks about them being a handsome and colorful people https://youtu.be/jta8I0XdJ-M?t=239 here the laplanders act like primitives in a way that will offend the sensibilities of civilized people. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fftnExG-WFg These videos are examples of laplanders acting like primitives in a way that would offend the sensibilities of most civilized people. They are a nomadic herdsman type of tribal people whose life isnt much different from those of peoples in Africa. I am thinking.... (1) to ask people in my class whether they think their society is better than the laplanders? or equal and distinct. (2) to ask them whether their systems of tribal councils are direct comparable to congress and government in America or more primitive? (3) to accuse them of racism if they deny the equality. So is this too politically incorrect? What if they reply that their society is worse than the laplanders? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mrdthree Posted August 29, 2016 Author Share Posted August 29, 2016 What if they reply that their society is worse than the laplanders? Well have to remind them of medical science, that courts are as yet better than rulings by clan heads, and that factories that make snowmobiles require certain institutions and etc. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mrdthree Posted March 10, 2017 Author Share Posted March 10, 2017 For what its worth I started introducing the video of lapps as herdsman as an example of early human culture. I dont do much commentary except to introduce it as part of human evolution and as an example of what precedes agriculture and modernity. However even in this limited form it burns into the minds of people (reindeer castration is a big hit). I think this term I may illustrate cultural progression with communities in Africa (Kenya, Sudan, Ethiopia) that have domesticated animals and agriculture. Perhaps end it with types of civilizations ala Star Trek (lol). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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