Term
| how is anthropology a holistic discipline? |
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Definition
| biological, social, cultural. all around the world, and all through time |
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Term
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Definition
| it is the lens through which we interpret everything |
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Term
| what are the four fields of anthropology? |
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Definition
1. physical/biological
2. cultural
3. archaeology
4. linguistics
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Term
| Physical/biological anthropology's 2 main divisions: |
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Definition
1. paleoanthropoloy (human paleontology): the study of ancient humans and human evolution
2. human variation: study of biological variation in contemporary humans |
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Term
| two ways through which human paleontology is studied |
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Definition
| fossil remains and primatology (our closest relatives) |
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Term
| 3 material remains that archeologists rely on |
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Definition
artifacts: objects that have been made or modified by humans
features: non-portable elements that have been made or modified by humans
ecofacts: objects that were used but not modified by humans |
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Term
| what are linguistic anthropologists interested in studying? |
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Definition
| the nature of the language, historical development, and the relationship between language/society or language/culture |
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Term
| phonemics and phonetics (definitions) |
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Definition
phonemics: the branch of linguistics that studies the meaningful groups of sounds in a language (for example, phonemic group "t" for t sound in MATT)
phonetics: the branch of linguistics that systematically studies the sounds in spoken language |
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Term
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Definition
anthropological description of a particular contemporary culture usually by means of direct fieldwork
(vs. ethnology, which is comparative and uses data collected by others to generalize across cultures) |
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Term
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Definition
| attempts to capture what ideas and practices mean to members of a culture (INSIDE) |
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Term
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Definition
| describes and analyzes culture according to principles and theories drawn from the Western scientific tradition (OUTSIDE perspective) |
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Term
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Definition
| the comparative study of cultural differences and similarities (vs ethnography which is descriptive, based on direct fieldwork, and focuses on a single culture) |
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Term
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Definition
| a group of people who depend on one another for survival or well-being |
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Term
| ethnocentrism and its sources |
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Definition
the tendency to view one's own culture as superior and to apply one's own cultural values in judging the behavior and beliefs of people from other cultures
sources: we believe that the way we do things is natural and correct (rather than cultural and arbitrary)
we have a tendency to be arrogant and paternalistic
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Term
| enculturation vs. acculturation |
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Definition
enculturation: the process through which young humans learn their native culture (happens naturally and comes easily)
acculturation: the process through which people can learn a different culture from their own (difficult and requires careful attention, sensitivity, and work) |
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Term
| culture is... (6 characteristics) |
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Definition
learned and adaptive (enculturation/acculturation)
integrated and dynamic (innovation and diffusion)
symbolic and shared (cultural relativism) |
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Term
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Definition
| the belief that all people define the real world in the same way |
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Term
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Definition
| the study of what actually exists |
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Term
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Definition
| anthropologists strive for this because we want to see things from the inside AND the outside, as a native AND a social scientist |
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Term
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Definition
the "first anthropologist"
Armchair anthropologist: used "data" from travelers, missionaries, and colonial administrators |
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Term
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Definition
got out of the armchair and onto the verandah
philosophy: unlineal social evolution- all societies pass through 3 stages of evolution as they progress
1. savagery 2. barbarism 3. civilization |
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Term
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Definition
philosophy: historical particularism-each society is a collective representation of its unique historical past
fieldwork with Kwakiutl around turn of the 20th cent. (however, did not fully integrate and was distanced) |
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Term
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Definition
fieldwork on Trobriand Islands
did participant observation: long-term and lived with the natives
philosophy: functionalism- the theory that all cultural practices and institutions serve a function |
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Term
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Definition
| a method of research based on the first-hand systematic exploration of a culture |
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Term
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Definition
as participants, we try to see things from the inside, and as observers we try to see things from the outside
synthesis: thesis (emic, participant) + antithesis (etic, observer) |
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Term
| Heisenberg and Rashomon effects in participant-observation |
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Definition
Heisenberg: our presence impacts the culture we study
Rashomon: our interpretation of culture is subjective (to our biases, ethnocentrism, expectations, etc.) |
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Term
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Definition
| a residence pattern where a married couple forms a new household |
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Term
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Definition
| a system for organizing relationships that is rooted in biology, but defined by culture (kinship systems are cultural and arbitrary) |
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Term
| 7 factors to classify kin |
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Definition
| generation, relative age, lineal/collateral (vertical/horizontal), gender, consanguine/affine, gender of linking relative, bifurcation (mother's/father's side) |
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Term
| what kinship system do we use in the United States? |
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Definition
Eskimo!
others: Hawaiian, Iroquois, Crow, Omaha, and Sudanese (?) |
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Term
descent (def)
bilateral descent
unilineal descent
descent groups |
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Definition
a culturally established affiliation with one or both parents
bilateral descent: kinship affiliation is inherited by children of both sexes from both parents
unilineal descent: affiliation inherited by children of both sexes only through one parent
descent groups: multi generation consanguinal group that are lineal descendants of a common ancestor |
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Term
| benefits of unilinear descent systems |
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Definition
| kinship status is clear, lineage status does not get "watered down", you are closely related to more people, and the lineage has a permanent existence (corporate descent groups: permanent social units that have an existence beyond the individuals who are members for a given period of time) |
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Term
| what is the main reason that cultures have incest taboos? |
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Definition
| to promote alliances with other families by preventing sex within your own family |
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Term
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Definition
| a group of people who live together and share some resources |
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Term
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Definition
nuclear: consists of a married couple and their children
composite: consists of several nuclear families linked by a common spouse (polygamy)
extended family household: consists of two or more lineally related kinfolk of the same sex, their spouses and children |
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Term
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Definition
neolocal: married couples set up new independent household
patrilocal: wives move in with their husband's extended family
matrilocal: wives move in with their husband's extended family
avunculocal: married couples move in with the husband's mother's brother |
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Term
| neolocal families: 2 types and definitions (family of ___) |
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Definition
family of orientation: the family into which one is born or adopted and raised
family of procreation: the family that one forms by becoming a parent and raising one or more children |
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Term
| etic view of marriage functions (4) |
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Definition
procreation (sex and kids)
obligation (raising children)
labor (combining sexually divided labor)
alliances (relationships between kinship groups) |
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Term
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Definition
| husband's kin present formally agreed amounts of goods and money to the wife's family |
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Term
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Definition
| husband works for the wife's family for a specified period of time |
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Term
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Definition
| bride's kin present goods and money to the husband's family or to the new couple |
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Term
| what is the role and value of women in bride wealth/service systems? |
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Definition
| women are recognized to be economically valuable, and if a woman is educated then her family will receive higher bride wealth payments |
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Term
| what is the role and value of women in a dowry system? |
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Definition
| dowry may be payment to the husband's family to compensate for the economic burden a woman presents |
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Term
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Definition
| the biological differences between male and female |
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Term
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Definition
| culturally defined roles, behaviors, activities and attributes that are considered appropriate for women, men, and other recognized groups |
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Term
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Definition
| a theory that various social and cultural processes interact on multiple and simultaneous levels to contribute to systematic social inequality |
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Term
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Definition
| the dominance achieved and maintained by elites by getting the larger society to internalize the values and interests of the elites |
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Term
| we ___ a sex, we ____ a gender |
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Definition
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Term
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Definition
| the act of judging individuals and trying to push them to conform to an ideal |
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Term
| typology approach to political systems |
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Definition
attempts to classify all societies into discreet categories based on certain variables:
social differentiation - egalitarian, rank, stratified
political organization - band, tribe, chiefdom, state |
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Term
| ethnography approach to political systems |
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Definition
| attempts to use certain key concepts to understand power and politics within and between specific societies |
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Term
| social differentiation (def) |
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Definition
| the relative access individuals and groups have to basic material resources, wealth, power, and prestige |
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Term
| what is the problem with the social differentiation typology? |
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Definition
| it reinforces the false notion of romantic primitivism |
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Term
| romantic primitivism (Def) |
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Definition
| the false idea that all "simple" foraging societies live at harmony with themselves, while all "civilized" societies live in conflict with themselves and nature |
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Term
| 4 types of political organizations |
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Definition
| band, tribe, chiefdom, state |
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Term
| what is the problem with the political organization typology? |
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Definition
it reinforces the false notion of unilineal cultural evolution
(not all societies go from band --> tribe --> chiefdom --> state) |
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Term
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Definition
| an attempt by one group to reallocate power and resources within an existing political structure |
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Term
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Definition
| an attempt to overthrow an existing form of political organization and put another type of political structure in its place |
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Term
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Definition
exogamy: a rule specifying that a person must marry outside a particular group (incest taboos!)
endogamy: a rule prescribing that a person must marry within a particular group (can preserve culture, religion, property or power) |
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Term
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Definition
levirate: a man must marry the widow of his dead brother
sororate: if a wife dies, her kin group supplies a new wife, usually her sister (sometimes applied in cases of infertility) |
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Term
| monogamy/polygyny/polyandry |
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Definition
monogamy: a rule that permits a person to be married to only one person at a time
polygyny/polyandry: part of polygamy- a rule allowing more than one spouse |
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Term
| closed vs open stratification systems |
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Definition
closed: do not allow for social mobility
open: allow for social mobility |
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Term
| ascribed status and types (2) |
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Definition
a social position that one is born into
biological: race, gender, caste
non-biological: wealth |
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Term
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Definition
| a social position that a person chooses or achieves on his or her own |
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Term
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Definition
| social stratification system in which the only relevant attributes are ability and achievement |
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Term
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Definition
ethnicity: a culturally constructed category based on perceived CULTURAL differences
race: a culturally constructed category based on perceived PHYSICAL differences |
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