Life in Riverfront A Middle Western Town Seen through Japanese Eyes

by Sano, Mariko Fujita; Sano, Toshiyuki

• ISBN13: 9780155064218
• ISBN10: 0155064215
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2000-05-04
• Publisher: Cengage Learning

Summary

LIFE IN RIVERFRONT is a unique case study that offers a fresh approach to ethnography because it looks at American culture as seen through the eyes of Japanese anthropologists. Every cultural anthropology student is introduced to papers on the Nacirema,” a very foreign culture with many daily rituals and a fanaticism for cleanliness, especially as they prepare themselves for work in the morning. In truth, the nacirema” is American (spelled backwards), and the lessons learned from seeing one’s own culture through the eyes of a ‘stranger’ illuminate the notion of ethnocentrism in a powerful way. While a major task of anthropology is to make the strange familiar and the exotic or enigmatic understandable, another task is to make the familiar strange so that one can see one’s own culture in a new light. This case study accomplishes this and more.

Table of Contents

Preface	ix
Introduction	xv
What Is ``Middle'' America and Riverfront?: Our Expectations and Reality	1	(16)
``Which Church Do You Go to?'': Finding a Place to Live	17	(10)
``In the Old Days Things Were Different'': Ways of Growing Up	27	(20)
``The North Side Is Polish Territory'': Mobility, Stability, and Ethnicity	47	(16)
``This Is Our Way of Doing Things'': Ethnic Manifestation and Identity	63	(24)
``Your Baby Will Be Half-Polish'': Changing Relationships with Riverfrontans	87	(10)
``Don't Spoil Your Baby'': Educating a Novice Mother	97	(12)
``Share!'' and ``Be Independent!'': Socialization and Social Management at a Child-Care and a Senior Center	109	(22)
``Boys Became Independent'': Hard Work and Caring among Men	131	(24)
Epilogue: ``Our'' Hometown	155	(4)
References	159