Comments on: Anthropology Lessons: Endangered Cultures

By: AbenaC

AbenaC — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 10:57:47 +0000

I thought it was a brilliant talk. And, although I do have a degree in anthropology, I feel it would be accessable to a wide audience. His words, while delivered matter-of-factly, were obviously driven by a passion for preservation of endangered civilizations.

(Although, he has been a major influence in my course of study and I aspire to do what he does, so perhaps I am a bit biased.)

By: Brian Barker

Brian Barker — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 21:24:48 +0000

I believe in the need to protect endangered languages.

However, although there are at least 7,000 languages throughout the World, an increasing number are endangered through the linguistic imperialism of both Mandarin Chinese and English.

Interestingly the following declaration was made in favour of Esperanto, by UNESCO at its Paris HQ in December 2008. http://portal.unesco.org/culture/en/ev.php-URL_ID=38420&URL_DO=DO_PRINTPAGE&URL_SECTION=201.html

The commitment to the campaign to save endangered languages was made, by the World Esperanto Association at the United Nations’ Geneva HQ in September.
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=eR7vD9kChBA&feature=related or http://www.lernu.net

By: Zach

Zach — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 16:23:36 +0000

I cannot see how the current shift in cultural habits is any more a “loss” of cultures than the shift in cultural habits in the past. In truth, technology and ideas have been spreading and changing cultures since time immemorial. This guy is a curator of nostalgia even as he denies it.

By: Mandy

Mandy — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 03:40:21 +0000

Really, Nate? As an anthropologist and a biologist, I found his talk quite stimulating. In order for the public to believe what your saying, you must say it in an assured and accurate way. It’s not “an insufferable need to romanticize everything,’ but a need to show the world what anthropologists have known for many years. Salvage ethnology won’t save humanity. Ishi and the last of every people cannot keep a culture alive or even begin to share it with outsiders. We must begin to see globalization for what it is: homogenization. We as a species must embrace cultural relativism before it is too late. Just as with our massive biological extinction rate, we cannot expect adaptability to be a magic, miracle fix; we must actively seek to stop the loss.

By: Jordan

Jordan — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 01:40:09 +0000

Man, I could watch TED talks all day.

By: Chris Higgins

Chris Higgins — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 23:02:40 +0000

@Nate – agreed, he is totally flowery and kinda hard to follow as a result. I found myself spending a lot of cognitive energy wondering what he had just said — though occasionally he’d have a really interesting zinger, so it seemed worth it.

By: Amanda

Amanda — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 21:19:08 +0000

As an anthropology student in Ottawa I can’t resist pointing and saying:

“HEY! Its the Canadian Serpent-and-the-Rainbow Guy!!

By: Nate

Nate — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 19:35:11 +0000

Lovely images but I can barely stand to hear him speak. His own language is that typically flowery speech of someone with the insufferable need to romanticize everything.

10 to 1 he used to wear a béret and smoke cloves.