Problems in society arise, in part, because of a clash in viewpoints. People are all raised under their own unique conditions, causing them to see the world in certain ways. If a person has been raised in a certain culture they will adopt the opinions of that culture. Conflict arises when people with differing opinions clash. No one person thinks exactly like anyone else so as long as people are only able to understand their own ideas conflict will continue to occur.

Problems in trying to help other people, such as in a psychiatrist patient relationship, crop up when differing perspectives don’t reconcile with each other. If a psychiatrist uses only an etic approach with his or her patients he or she will hold preconceived notions that will affect how he or she interacts with his or her patients and his or her ability to help them. The psychiatrist will make inferences that fit the patients into a ready-made mold and diagnose them according to this mold as well.  A fully etic approach creates stereotypes leading to conflicts between cultures, races, educational levels, etc. This approach leads to other misconceptions as well, such as the idea that a homeless man would need a one hundred dollar pair of shoes and the idea that he is ungrateful for not wearing those shoes.

An anthropological analysis of the perspectives of Somali women in the West and their obstetric care providers on caesarean birth

An ideal approach to prevent disputes between people is the emic approach that allows you to understand others thought processes. Adopting others’ emic ideas and gaining and understanding of their thought processes is important. Understanding how and why people do the things they do lessens the amount of complications. It is very difficult adopt this approach entirely, however; in some cases, it is impossible. It is, therefore, more beneficial to take an etic-emic approach. This is a blend between the two perspectives that allows a person to have a rounder, fuller understanding of both sides of a story.

A Venn diagram of the two different types of perspectives people may adopt, showing that it is possible to overlap them

One step to fixing world problems is by trying to look through other people’s eyes and understand how they see the world. Conflict will always occur because it is impossible to get everyone to agree on everything. Problems would be better resolved, however, if people tried harder to understand each other’s perspectives.

Sources

http://openi.nlm.nih.gov/imgs/512/92/3055712/3055712_dpog32-010-f1.png

http://www.ohio.edu/people/thompsoc/reality.gif

http://www.intentionalitymodel.info/pdf/UXBRIDGE.pdf

http://ac.els-cdn.com/S0962184900800086/1-s2.0-S0962184900800086-main.pdf?_tid=e6ba9120-7f51-11e4-b932-00000aab0f6b&acdnat=1418095226_08c2e6da2641a70b46aa8974093cee85

Additional Reading

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0962184900800086#

http://openi.nlm.nih.gov/detailedresult.php?img=3055712_dpog32-010-f1&req=4

http://www.jstor.org/stable/2949316

http://www.intentionalitymodel.info/pdf/UXBRIDGE.pdf

Isotopic Analysis in Environmental Archaeology

The use of isotope analysis in environmental archaeology has expanded. By measuring the ratio of different isotopes found in human and animal remains, archaeologists may be able to tell a human or animal’s geological origin, including climate and seasonal movements, as well as their diet.

Most forms of isotopic analysis consist of analysis on bones and teeth and shells. An individual’s tooth is said to be able to provide a “geological snapshot from the early years of life, when teeth were developing.” An archaeologist could gain evidence of a person’s environment when they were younger as the isotopes in that environment during the period of time when the tooth was forming influences the isotopes found in that tooth. Another less used part of the body that can be analyzed is hair. It is thought to be not as susceptible to change due to age as bone and teeth may be and absorbs many isotopes from the surrounding environment.

Examples of various human diets

The ecosystem a person lives in transfers isotopes to the people and animals feeding there. They are transferred when people eat animals and/or plants and by reading the different levels of different isotopes a pretty accurate construction of what their diet consisted of can be formed. For example vegans and vegetarians differ from those who are neither vegan nor vegetarian in the composition and levels of isotopes in their bodies. Isotope analysis sometimes shows cultural differences through dietary habits. Stable carbon and nitrogen values found in the bones from an Early Anglo-Saxon cemetery site provided results on how class distinctions altered dietary habits between the “wealthy,” “intermediate wealthy” and “poor.” It also showed how diets were not different between the sexes at the time. Another study in Europe, through isotopic research, was able to propose the idea that the Late European Mesolithic era diet consisted of mostly marine fish with small contributions from shellfish or marine mammals.

Dr. Thorton using strontium isotope analysis to investigate faunal resource exchange among the ancient Maya

Climate leaves is mark on human beings and animals alike with its own isotopic signature. A carbon ration may be used to show where an individual obtains his or her food, displaying if the food was from an arid environment or not. The isotope strontium can be used to discover an individual’s geologic origins. The prevalence of the isotope found in remains can indicate the area a person lived in according to the area’s own isotopic record. Oxygen isotopes provide a good climactic indicator as well as evidence to animal movements. If an individual lived at higher altitudes the air would have been thinner than someone living at or below sea level and they would have, consequentially, had a different oxygen isotope ratio.

Isotopic Analysis is growing in its significance and use in archaeology. It can be used to do more than just date remains or artifacts. It can create a picture of the object or artifact’s environment.

Sources:

http://envarch.net/environmental-archaeology/no-longer-do-archaeologists-have-to-rely-solely-on-seeds-bones-and-shells-isotope-analysis-is-the-future-of-environmental-archaeology/

http://rstb.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/354/1379/65.short

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S030544030190785X

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0305440398903879

Additional Resources:

Biological Anthropology of the Human Skeleton, Second Edition

american archaeology: a quarterly publication of The Archaeological Conservancy