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ANTH 101
Kottak
56
Anthropology
Undergraduate 1
03/30/2010

Additional Anthropology Flashcards

 


 

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Term
rapport building
Definition
build a friendly host relationship in order to participate in community activities, etc
Term
genealogical method
Definition
anthropologists need to collect genealogical data to understand current social relations and to reconstruct history - kin links are often basic to social life
Term
key cultural consultants
Definition
expert on a particular aspect of local life
Term
emic
Definition
research strategy focusing on local explanations and meanings
Term
life history
Definition
a personal portrait of someone's life in a culture
Term
etic
Definition
research strategy emphasizing the ethnographer's explanations and categories
Term
longitudinal research
Definition
the long-term study of a community, region, society, culture, or other unit, usually based on repeated visits
Term
traditional ethnographic research
Definition
focused on a single community or culture - today's field work must be more flexible and encompassing. must study the outsiders (migrants, refugees, terrorists, warriors, tourists, developers)
Term
survey research
Definition
involves impersonal data collection, statistical analysis, and sampling - draws a sample from a large population
Term
complex societies
Definition
large and populous societies with social stratification and central governments
Term
unilinear evolutionism
Definition
idea (19th century) of a single line or path of cultural development - a series of stages through which all societies must evolve - talked about independent invention, all cultures eventually came up with the same ideas (false)
Term
historical particularism
Definition
idea (Boas) that histories are not comparable; diverse paths can lead to the same cultural result - stressed the idea of diffusion (borrowing from other cultures)
Term
functionalism
Definition
approach focusing on the role of sociocultural practices in social systems
Term
Malinowski
Definition
believed that all customs and institutions in society were integrated and interrelated, so that if one changed, others would change as well
Term
needs functionalism
Definition
2nd strand of Malinowski's functionalism - humans have a set of universal biological needs such as food, sex, shelter, and so on
Term
Radcliffe-Brown
Definition
advocated that social anthropology be a synchronic rather than a diachronic science - that it study societies as they exist today rather than across time
Term
structural functionalism
Definition
customs (social practices) function to preserve the social structure - the function of any practice is what it does to maintain the system of which it is a part
Term
Panglossian functionalism
Definition
a tendency to see things as functioning not just to maintain the system but to do so in the most optimal way possible, so that any deviation from the norm would only damage the system
Term
configurationalism
Definition
view of culture as integrated and patterned. diffusion was not automatic, traits might not be spread if they met environmental barriers or if they were not accepted by a particular culture.
Term
neoevolutionism
Definition
culture has evolved but particular cultures might not evolve in the same direction.
Term
cultural ecology (ecological anthropology)
Definition
considers relationships between cultures & environmental variables
Term
cultural materialism
Definition
Marvin Harris - idea that cultural infrastructure determines structure (social relations, kinship) and superstructure (religion, ideology)
Term
Mead - cultural determinist
Definition
viewed human nature as a blank slate on which culture could write any lesson - culture rather than economy, environment or material factors changed the biological evolution.
Term
culturology
Definition
Leslie White studied particular individuals who excelled & were an integral part of changing history - believed cultural forces were very powerful
Term
superorganic
Definition
the special domain of culture, beyond the organic and inorganic realms - Alfred Kroeber - power of culture over the individual (women's hem lengths)
Term
Durkheim
Definition
conscience collectif - based on study of social facts, anthropologists must study something larger than the individual
Term
symbolic & interpretive anthropology
Definition
Turner examined how symbols and rituals are used to redress, regulate, anticipate, and avoid conflict
Term
symbolic anthropology
Definition
study of symbols within their social & cultural context
Term
structuralism
Definition
Claude Levi-Strauss - human minds have certain universal characteristics that lead people everywhere to think similarly regardless of their society or cultural background (need to classify, relations between people) opposition - examined myths
Term
agency theory
Definition
the actions that individuals take, both alone and in groups, in forming and transforming cultural identities
Term
practice theory
Definition
individuals have diverse motives and intentions and different degrees of power & influence
Term
Leach
Definition
examined regions & how they all fit together & interrelate
Term
call systems
Definition
communication systems of nonhuman primates - limited number of vocal sounds or calls
Term
displacement
Definition
describing things and events that are not present; basic to language
Term
kinesics
Definition
study of communication through body movements and facial expressions
Term
phoneme
Definition
smallest sound contrast that distinguishes meaning
Term
lexicon
Definition
vocabulary; all the morphemes in a language and their meanings
Term
syntax
Definition
arrangement of words in phrases and sentences
Term
Chomsky
Definition
all humans have similar linguistic abilities and thought processes
Term
Sapir-Whorf hypothesis
Definition
different languages produce different ways of thinking
Term
focal vocabulary
Definition
set of words describing particular domains of experience
Term
semantics
Definition
language's meaning system - the ways in which people divide up the world - the contrasts they perceive as meaningful or significant - reflect their experiences
Term
sociolinguistics
Definition
study language in its social context - according to linguistic relativity, all dialects are equally effective as systems of communication - most people have a way of speaking "on the job" and at home
Term
diglossia
Definition
language with high (formal) and low (informal) dialects
Term
ethnicity
Definition
identification with an ethnic group
Term
race
Definition
ethnic group assumed to have a biological basis
Term
ascribed status
Definition
social statuses based on little or no choice
Term
achieved status
Definition
social status based on choices & accomplishments
Term
Japanese racism
Definition
intrinsic racism - the valued group is "pure" Japanese who share the same blood - the "not us" should stay that way & assimilation is not encouraged
Term
hypodescent
Definition
children assigned to same minority as parent - in US, some states say that children who have a black ancestor, no matter how remote, is classified as black
Term
nation-state
Definition
an autonomous political entity
Term
nation
Definition
society sharing a language, religion, history, territory, ancestry, and kinship
Term
state
Definition
stratified society with formal central government
Term
"imagined communities"
Definition
ethnic groups are described as "imagined communities" by Benedict Anderson because even when they become nation-states, most of their members will never meet - they can only imagine they all participate in the same unit
Term
assimilation
Definition
absorption of minorities within a dominant culture
Term
plural society
Definition
society with economically interdependent ethnic groups
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