In today’s world there is a demand in business and industry to hire people who can work with people of other nations and cultures and, if need be, can travel independently internationally to promote their business or industry. In addition, the world faces global challenges that will take interdisciplinary groups to solve; providing access to clean water for everyone on this planet and making clean renewable energy affordable just to name a few. These global challenges will need to be solved through the gathering and sharing of knowledge across disciplines, institutions, and on a global scale. We spent the last two weeks discussing anthropology, culture, and globalization. What piqued your interest? What are you interested in exploring in more detail? Depending on your chosen topic, you will want to be specific in terms of location or you will become overwhelmed with the amount of information available. For example, if I am interested in learning more about how renewable energy projects are impacting indigenous societies, rather than looking at renewable energy in a broad sense, I would explore how solar energy is impacting the Quechan Tribe. It is not enough to simply report about an issue you read. You need to dig deep and discuss the cultural impacts the society is facing as a result of your chosen topic. Research your topic. You will be required to have at least four sources. Please remember that internet sources can be quite unreliable. If you find an online article that provides relevant information for your research topic, you should take care to investigate the source to make sure it is valid and reliable. This is an essential step in maintaining sound research ethics. Some things to consider when researching your topic on the internet: If the information is linked to an organization, try to determine the reliability of the sponsoring organization. One tip is the URL ending. If the site name ends with .edu, it is most likely an educational institution. Even so, you should be aware of political bias. If a site ends in .gov, it is most likely a reliable government website. Government sites are usually good sources for statisticsand objective reports. Sites that end in .org are usually non-profit organizations. They can be very good sources or very poor sources, so you′ll have to take care to research their possible agendas or political biases if they exist. Other sites with the .org ending are advocacy groups that are highly political. While it is entirely possible to find reliable information from a site like this, be mindful of the political slant and acknowledge this in your work. A reputable journal or magazine should contain a bibliography for every article. The list of sources within that bibliography should be pretty extensive, and it should include scholarly non-Internet sources. Check for statistics and data within the article to back up the claims made by the author. Does the writer provide evidence to support his statements? Look for citations of recent studies, perhaps with footnotes and see if there are primary quotes from other relevant experts in the field. Every television and print news source has a website. To some extent, you can rely on the most trusted news sources such as CNN and the BBC, but you should not rely on them exclusively. After all, network and cable news stations are involved in entertainment. Think of them as a stepping stone to more reliable sources. Blog entry: Within your blog post you will need to discuss the issue at hand as well as the impacts to the society, including culture. Why should people care about what is happening? Explain this to them as not everyone will make the connections themselves. For example, the Kuy of Cambodia lost a majority of their land to logging. In addition to any physical and/or economic impacts, you would want to discuss why the loss of the land was so devastating to the Kuy. Some have argued that people can move but resources cannot; however, it is not always that easy and many can’t just relocate to another area of open land. Having negotiated numerous land projects on behalf of several Tribes, I can tell you first hand that the government never understands why a group won’t just move to another area or use another section of land. In this instance, the ancestors, or spirits, of the Kuy live within the land. If the land is taken, or the Kuy move, they lose the connection to the spirits and are unable to continue traditional cultural practices, including ceremonies. You will be expected to: discuss all sides and perspectives of the issue (the community being affected and the developers/government) the origins of the project/issue Who is involved the cultural impacts how the issue was resolved or, if it not currently resolved, where the project/issue currently stands. Demonstrate an understanding of cultural relativism and why it is important to use cultural relativism. How would the use of cultural relativism help mitigate the issue?
