As part of the Harold B. Lee Library’s House of Learning Lecture Series, Brigham Young University professor David Crandall will speak on “A Civilized Account of Savage Thought: How Do ‘Natives’ Think?” on Thursday, March 2, at 2 p.m. in the library auditorium on the first level.
Admission is free and the public is welcome.
Crandall will discuss both historical and contemporary aspects of how non-westerners think. He explains that Europeans in the mid-19th century encountered other groups of people who seemed to have a very different conception of the nature of the world and the things therein.
“There is no divide between the intellectual capacity of ‘savages’ and ‘civilized’ people,” Crandall says. “I will run through early ideas that branded 'savage thought'—a term taken from the title of a well-known book on the subject.”
With a degree in social anthropology from Oxford University, Crandall spent time in Namibia with the Himba people before coming to teach at BYU in 1994.
For more information about the House of Learning Lecture Series, contact Brian Champion at brian_champion@byu.edu or visit library.byu.edu.
Writer: Michael Hooper
