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“Making the Familiar Strange” Activity
A frequently cited goal of cultural anthropology is to make the strange familiar and the familiar strange. This activity is designed to introduce that concept and encourage students to look at your home culture from an outsider’s perspective.
- Conduct twenty-four hours of “fieldwork” in your own culture—on campus or at home if you commute—as if this was your first day in a strange new land. Record observations with as much objectivity and detail as possible, no matter how familiar or mundane.
- After taking notes for a day, review your field notes and identify observations and patterns in the familiar that might seem strange to someone from another cultural context.
A Thought Activity: Where in the World?
If you could conduct long-term ethnographic fieldwork anywhere in the world, where would you choose to work? What aspects of this location or culture interest you? What questions would you ask?
Where would you least like to work? Are there particular parts of the world that might make you feel especially ethnocentric, or cause you to experience extreme culture shock? Why?