'Human safaris'

I saw this story in the media the other day.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/jan/14/andaman-jarawa-india-human-safari

This term, my first essay was on modern perspectives of 'primitive society'. I learnt about the origin of the theory of 'primitive society', and how now we shouldn't think of any society as 'primitive' or primeval, but as different societies and not in the sense that 'complex societies' are at the end of an evolutionary line from fictional 'primitive' ones. Yet, watching this video made me realise that in many parts of the world the quest for the image of 'primitive society' still occurs. Obviously, in this video the Jarawa people are not dancing in this instance as a tradition; they are doing it for food at the amusement of tourists. Any culturally aware tourist should learn to respect the culture that surrounds them, and it seems all too frequent that the 'human safari' approach is taken when looking at other cultures. Let's hope India takes some actions to protect the Jarawa's rights from these 'safaris', and that more progress in made in making people more culturally courteous.

It also reminded me of this:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-16295827

The prevalence of human zoos in the mid-1880s based on racial stereotyping. While modern anthropology has left all this behind, it appears the portrayal of other cultures and societies in the media and public thinking has some catching up to do.