Ask Like an Anthropologist: Questions That Reveal Surprising Details and Stories About Childhood and Teenage Years
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.69802/8mckgw04Keywords:
anthropology, cultural change, family storiesAbstract
This article describes a unique approach to collecting reminiscences and stories from older family members, particularly about their early life. What makes the approach unique is that it is an anthropological approach, that is, interviews with older family members focus on topics an anthropologist would be interested in when studying another culture. An anthropologist focuses on topics such as experiences of space and time, how social interaction was conducted, socialization practices, valued items of material culture, beliefs, fears, rites of passage, identity, body adornment, and kinship and marriage. Although it might seem counterintuitive to approach a family member as a person of another culture, doing so leads to discovering details and anecdotes that people thought they had forgotten and that many in the family have never heard. Such an approach recognizes the enormous cultural changes that have taken place over even one generation. It also recognizes the importance of understanding another person’s unique points of view.
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