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Definition
| the study of culture, including shared values and beliefs, environment, daily activities, group and region, norms and expectations, "evolution of patterns" religion, POWER relationships, law/government |
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-being an insider, emerging oneself in culture (by living among the people, learning the language, participant observation)
-Malinowski's modern anthropological approach of going "off the veranda"
-immersion |
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-technique of field research where anthropologist learns about a group by sharing in its activities
-Malinowski stressed participant observation with the Trobriand islanders in his "Argonauts of the Western Pacific" |
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-living among a group of people for the purpose of learning about their culture
-accessing the “inponderabilia of actual life” and grasping “the native’s point of view” |
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-the spreading and meshing of cultures
-the moving of idea, concepts, values, or practices from one culture to another |
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Term
| ethnocentrism vs. cultural relativism |
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Definition
-Ethnocentrism is judging another culture solely by the values and standards of one's own culture
-Cultural relativism regards the beliefs, values, and practices of a culture from the viewpoint of that culture itself |
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every cultural / social construct we create as humans has a function to serve our base biological human needs.
-holistic inquiry (every piece of culture is connected to something else) |
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while they might emerge in different forms, there are underlying structures in every culture
- Levi-Strauss and the incest taboo (claims that there is an incest taboo of one form or another in all cultures while it might vary by culture) |
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-institutions working together
-what kinds of institutions exist in a society (religious systems, economics, politics, etc)
-Evans-Pritchard & the Nuer |
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-Participant observation
-ethnography
-Living among the people
-fieldwork
-surveys
- immersion and self-comparison |
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- beginning of modern anthropology by going "off the verandah"-- turn from ethnology to ethnography
-studied trobriand islanders in papua new guinea, Argonauts of the Western Pacific (humanistic title to equalize savage connotation preconceived by audiences) |
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| -the idea that some cultures (western) are more civilized than others (non-western) and that the western destiny is to go out and civilize uncivilized cultures (through colonialism- justification) |
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| evolutionary models of culture |
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Definition
-Evolution as a concept has been misapplied in two major ways in anthropology:
-“survival of the fittest” as a justification for control and conquest
-The idea of a timeline of cultural evolution: that some cultures “progress” faster than others, or are more evolved
-characteristics of more “evolved” societies mirror scientists’ own context |
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-Idea that all cultures evolve in a dialectic relationship with the environment
-challenges Social Darwinism/still maintains ideas of cultural evolution and functionalism. |
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-cultural/social application of Charles Darwin's ideas of survival of the fittest, natural selection, and the passing on of dominant traits
-says that certain groups of people are more evolved, civilized, fit
-Darwin's theories suggested a time frame of change over millions of years and therefore have been misapplied to anthropology |
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-the idea that non-European people were less human species and therefore inferior
-used to justify colonialism, slavery, and eugenics
-also connected to gender and sexuality
-"Measuring Heads" by Stephen Gould: the "science" of craniometry (studying skull size to prove inferiority of black people and other non-westerners)
-connected to social darwinism and civilizational discourse
-central to project of European imperialism |
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Definition
| -the seemingly inferior people that come from different cultures in which anthropologists study |
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Definition
-"Orientalism" by Edward Said
-Produces a fixed idea about the Orient that has little to do with the reality of the place
-knowledge produced under very political circumstances (colonialism/imperialism)
-has internal consistency that relies upon lack of real experience in the orient
-diffuse and flexible
-this article says more about the West than the Orient |
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Term
| Colonialism and Anthropology |
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Definition
-Anthropology is rooted in colonialism, anthropology as a science cannot escape its ties to colonialism
-Knowledge is POWER (anthropology displays the unequal power relationship between the west and the 3rd world/ the ones who study have power over the ones who are being studied
-anthropology will always, therefor, be skewed (never truly objective) |
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Definition
-a person who is already a member of a specific culture and their account of the culture its meaning, values, and beliefs
-thought to be a complete insider in the culture
-not as respected as the "objective" non native anthropologist |
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Term
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Definition
Kirin Narayan
-argues that anthropologists should embrace the hybridity already within themselves rather than attempting to force clear cut distinctions between "native" and "non-native" anthropologists
-no one person can fully be an insider or an outsider in any culture |
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Definition
-capturing the complexity of culture
-Thick Description by Geertz
symbolic/ interpretive anthropology
-interpreting symbols and language
-public meanings and codes of culture (the wink)
-abandon search for ultimate truth and instead interpret the things we see |
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| the "critical turn" in anthropology |
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Definition
-The transformation of anthropology from a scientific area to an increasing literary focus
-focus now on reflexivity and examining problems in anthropological texts |
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Definition
-everyone does kinship differently
-kinship is what we want it to be, yet we believe it is based in blood and sex.
-We export this understanding of kinship onto other societies |
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Definition
-Ralph Linton's "100% American" proves that globalization is not a new thing. The article was written in 1937, argues against American isolationism/ nationalism/patriotism
-argues cultural diffusion is what created the American nation |
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Term
| feminist interventions into anthropology |
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Definition
-challenging taken for granted ideas about gender differences and gender roles in the field
-looking at how identity is not essential but constructed
-"Naturalizing Power" by Sylvia Yanagisako and Carol Delaney |
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Definition
-rethinking objectivity
-no longer disembodied objectivity or the "view from nowhere"
-changing the lens we look through
-objectivity is partial
-think about and acknowledge our multiplex viewpoints as the best way of achieving as much objectivity as humanly possible
-goes against the "god trick"
-reflexivity is a way of being nowhere while claiming to be everywhere |
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Term
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Definition
| - The study of how knowledge is produced across cultures |
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Term
| presentism vs. historicism |
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Definition
-Presentism is looking at the past through the eyes of the present/ looking back and recognizing ideas through our own context and values
-Historicism is looking back at the past through the context of the past/ looking back and understanding the ideas with respect to the time |
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Definition
| -culture is learned; it is not an innate product but rather due to the person’s surrounding environment |
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Definition
-We are all universally human
-perspective used quite often in anthropology (humanistic lens)
-"Argonauts of the Western Pacific"
-Different kinds of humanism: ex) paternalistic humanism of missionaries (they are humanist but not relativist) |
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Term
| anthropological knowledge |
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Definition
-tacking back and forth between insider and outsider status
-learning about others is a way to learn about ourselves; to see what we take for granted in our own cultural contexts in a different light |
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Term
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Definition
-Malinowski (Argonauts of the Western Pacific)
-clockwise and counter-clockwise trade
-brass necklaces, shell armbands
-enhancing social status through giving
-not primarily economic: gift exchange and non-currency wealth
-creates social ties among islanders and across a range of regions
-magic |
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Term
| "making the strange familiar and the familiar strange" |
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Definition
-Nacirema by Horace Miner
-role of anthropologist is not only to make the strange familiar, but to make the familiar strange
- criticism of the exoticization of the way that anthropologists represent the people they study as exotic/different/primitive
-think about common humanity |
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Term
| science vs. magic vs. religion |
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Definition
-anthropological knowledge seeks to question whether these cultural beliefs are so different from each other
-major taken for granted in western knowledge
-Perhaps science, magic, and religion all serve the same function for human societies
-commonly used to distinguish societies along a continuum of development, with Western ideas of science as the "absolute truth" being most civilized, and magic being most primitive.
-but all three of these things are merely beliefs held by individuals and communities |
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Term
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Definition
-Fetish=lucky charm, we give meaning to it beyond what it is
-Taboo= grow out of bad experiences, there is rationality built into that
(opposite of rituals)
-Baseball magic by George Gmelch illustrates ritual, fetishes(wearing crucifix) and taboos(not stepping on white foul lines)
-fetishes and taboos used to try and control the uncontrollable |
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Term
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Definition
-Ritual in the Operating Room by Pearl Katz
-dirt is matter out of place |
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Term
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Definition
-ethnicity:belief in shared cultural features (language, common descent, region, beliefs)
-race: thought to be based in biological similarities and differences, but this is not true
-race is a social construct just like ethnicity
-AAA Statement on Race
-Race is an invented way of thinking about difference, used to justify colonization
-there is more variation within racial groups than between them
- there is no proof of biological race, but there are racial inequalities that stem from historical mistreatment and unequal opportunity
-race is a social construct |
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Term
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Definition
-Something that is not naturally or biologically inherent, but rather, constructed by society to fulfill a specific need
-social constructs are nevertheless, equally real and equally important to culture and society |
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Definition
-social construction of race forms
-race changes over time
-different racial groups are targeted within societies at specific moments in time. Ex) 1780-Catholics, 1850-Chinese, 1920-Jews, Post 9/11- Arabs, Muslims, Sikhs, Middle Easterners and South Asians |
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Term
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Definition
-selective breeding
-justified by scientific racism, the idea that non-European people were less human species and therefore inferior
-could include sterilization of those deemed "unfit" to reproduce |
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Term
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Definition
-the breaking up and defining of social categories like religion, kinship, economics, etc
-very western practice
-many cultures do not have specifically clear social domains like the west does |
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Definition
-proposition of scarcity, “inadequacy in economic means is the first principle of the world’s wealthiest people"
-Western idea |
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Term
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Definition
| what you are writing and observing is what you want to see; a sort of preconceived notion and you are looking for it to be true; infused with cultural biases, politics |
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Definition
-Writing about cultures as if they are unchanging/ stuck in time
-often gives impression of ongoing primitiveness/savagery, speaks about other cultures as if they are our living ancestors
-vs. the newer practice of writing about cultures in a historical context |
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Term
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Definition
-being aware of conditions in which knowledge is produced
-being aware of one's own biases and assumptions |
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Term
| "turtles all the way down" |
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Definition
-the never ending chain of culture -culture itself is so deep that one can never reach the limits of it
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Term
| postcolonialism/ postcolonial theory |
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Definition
-reexamining the master narratives of western Europe, discussing colonization
-people from formerly colonized countries putting in their input
-Edward Said
-Talal Asad |
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Term
| the "god trick"/ "view from nowhere" |
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Definition
-objectivity
- Situated Knowledges by Donna Haraway |
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Term
| "writing culture" moment/ response to and future changes in anthropology |
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Definition
| -turned anthropology from purely scientific endeavor to increasingly literary focus |
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Term
| "Not a Real Fish" by Roger Keesing |
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Definition
-The ethnographer as "inside outsider"
-Anthropologist as humanizing agent
-different cultures have, at the core, very differing sets of fundamental beliefs and values, those of which are not easily understood by outsiders
-No anthropologist can ever truly become an insider in another culture.
-The question that arises: are we even fully insiders in our own culture? Culture is all encompassing and it is difficult to draw a line around specific cultures. This is one of the major issues in anthropology. |
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Term
| "Ritual in the Operating Room" by Pearl Katz |
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Definition
-science and ritual appear to be opposites
-yet there is much ritual in science
- these rituals serve to establish boundaries, define roles, and make order out of chaos |
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Term
| "Baseball Magic" by George Gmeltz |
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Definition
- shows that there is a lot of similarity between rituals in baseball and what “so-called” primitive people do with what Westerners call “magic”
-controlling the uncontrollable
-"civilized" societies have magic too |
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Term
| "How native is the native anthropologist" by kirin narayan |
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Definition
-there is a problem with the native/ real dichotomy in most anthropology
-we are all complex beings, not easily definable or groupable
-identity is multi-dimensional and hybrid-intersectional
-Diff aspects of identity utilised at diff times in field work
-reflexivity |
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Term
| Miner's "Body ritual among the Nacirema" |
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Definition
rather than making the strange familiar, Miner makes the familiar strange
makes a comment not only on American society but also on the western portrayals of the "other" |
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Term
| "Original Affluent Society" by Sahlins |
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Definition
-cultural ecology model
-challenges evolutionary model of culture |
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Term
| "measuring heads" by gould |
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Definition
-craniometry
-problems: a priori assumptions
-not double blind
-skewed samples
-great example of scientific racism in effect |
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Term
| "anthropology and the colonial encounter" by talal asad |
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Definition
-more acknowledgement that anthropology is rooted in unequal power relationships
-shift away from holistic functionalism to smaller scale topics
-"objects" are shifting |
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Term
| "Orientalism" by Edward Said |
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Definition
-post-colonial studies
-critique of anthropologists view of the native/ orient
-fixed ideas
-knowledge produced under political circumstances |
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Term
| "The impact of money on an african subsistence economy" by Bohanon |
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Definition
-Tiv
-impacts of colonialism
-impacts of capitalism
-severely impacts the status of women, makes them exchangeable for monetary value |
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Term
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Definition
-meaning is made in writing itself
-anthropology as partial truth
-authority of authorship |
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| "anthropology as cultural critique" |
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Definition
-not about the other anymore
-now about the self
-reflexivity |
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