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Primary means of communication.
Language is emic:
-Symbolic
-Can be expressed through non-verbal communication
-Can be spoken or written
-Is transmitted through learning and facilities |
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Arrangement of words in phrases and sentences to create well formed sentences
Component of linguistics |
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| Immersed in a culture and community, how different cultures understand different concepts |
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| Set of related things, kinship, color terminology, perception of time, reflect and construct experiences |
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| A language's meaning system or how meaning is inferred from words and concepts |
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A social anthropologist who wrote "Ethnic Groups and Boundaries" in 1969.
-Ethnicity can only be said to exist when people claim a certain ethnic identity for themselves and are defined by others as having that identity; outlines an approach to the study of ethnicity which focuses on the on-going negotiations of boundaries between groups of people.
-Discrete categories are maintained despite changing participation and membership |
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| Minorities are expected to abandon their cultural traditions and values and be absorbed into the dominant culture |
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| The celebration of cultural diversity in a country that encourages the practice of cultural-ethnic traditions |
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| Attempts to explain human economic behavior in its widest historic, geographic and cultural scope, originally focused on exchange (reciprocity) as an alternative to market exchange |
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| Marked phenotypic differences between males and females f a species |
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The process of describing a culture of a specific people through field work
The scientific description of the customs of peoples and cultures |
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An emic account is a description of a behavior or belief that comes from a person within the culture
-The local's perspective |
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An etic account is a description of a behavior or belief by an observer in terms that can be applied across cultures
-Combining emic and etic perspectives provides a richer picture of a culture than either one can alone
-The perspectives of the outsiders |
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Compares different cultures by
-Studying similarities and differences b/w cultures through comparison and generalization
-Suggesting reasons for cross-cultural regularities that are observed
-Generating theories to explain those regularities |
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| A systematic organization of ideas proposed to explain a phenomenon |
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| Domestic-Public Dichotomy |
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| Relative value of work within the home (domestic) versus work outside the home (public) |
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The scientific study of the human language
-Language formation
-Language meaning
-Language in cultural context |
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| Unequal distribution of social resources (power and prestige) between men and women |
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| Groups of people based on belief in shared ancestry; a permanent social unit whose members claim common ancestry fundamental to tribal society |
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| How people in a particular society reckon kin relations |
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| Seeking a mate outside of one's kin group. Confers social benefits by linking people into wider social networks |
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| A population's system of labor, capital, land-based resources, and exchange that facilitates production and consumption |
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| Define the term "linguistics" and list and define the three parts (or subareas) of the field |
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Linguistics is the scientific study of the human language
Language formation:
-Phonology: is the study of speech sounds
-Morphology: is the study of word formation
-Syntax: is the formation and composition of phrases and sentences from words
Language meaning
-Semantics is a language's meaning system
Language in culture context:
-Sapir Whorf Hypothsesis suggest that language shapes culture, but modern anthropologist believe that culture shape language |
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| Describe and give an example of a focal vocabulary. Why are focal vocabularies of significance to anthropologists? |
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A set of words and distinctions that are particularly important to certain groups
Eskimo people have many words for "snow"
This is significant bcuz objects that can be described in many ways indicate that the object holds more importance in that culture than a culture that has one word for the object. |
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| In your own words, explain why race is or is not a biological reality. |
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| Race is not a biological reality bcuz there is not a genomic pattern defining race |
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| Explain how the concepts of Economic Anthropology might differ from those of strictly western Economics |
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Definition
Western economics have a heavy focus on market exchange
Economic Anthropology is exchange (reciprocity) as an alternative to market exchange |
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| Provide one example of how beliefs about gender work and attitudes have varied in NA in response to social circumstances or economic needs |
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| During WWII, women entered into the workforce bcuz there was a shortage of workers. After the war, women were assigned the "traditional" role of working in the home. Now, women have a higher percentage of jobs, but still earn less than the average man on a yearly salary. |
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| What is meant by a “theoretical perspective” and how does it apply to anthropologists’ attempts to understand human culture? |
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A theoretical perspective is a set of assumptions about reality that underlines the questions we ask and the kinds of answers we arrive at as a result
An anthropologist must understand with an emic perspective the theoretical perspectives that exist in the culture in order to make accurate statements about an observed culture |
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| What is the relationship b/w language and cultural meaning? Why is linguistic analysis used to understand human cultural systems? |
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| Speakers of particular languages use sets of terms to organize and categorize their experiences and perceptions. They also use focal language, which creates cultural distinction, by placing importance on an object |
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| What is meant by the term "universal grammar"? Compare this theory about language t the Sapir Whorf hypothesis. In your response, name the scholars most closely associated with each respective theory and explain why the distinction b/w the two theories is important to anthropologists. |
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Definition
Noam Chomsky's term universal language indicates that all languages have a common structural basis.
The Sapir Whorf hypothesis, founded by Edward Sapir, states that language affects a person's culture.
Assuming that the universal grammar theory and that this hypothesis are correct, we can assume that every culture conceptualizes their worlds in similar ways because they all have a common structural basis in their language. |
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| What is an economy and what factors set the conditions under which economies function? |
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An economy is the system of labor, capital, land-based resources and exchange that facilitate production and consumption
Technological evolution
History and social organization
Ecology
Natural resources
Geography |
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Term
| Describe the differences b/w horticulture and agriculture |
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Horticulture is a non-industralized plant cultivation. It uses the slash and burn technique and has periods of the season where nothing is grown. Women are the dominant role.
Agriculture uses domesticated animals to plow, irrigation and terracing to produce crops. Men have the dominant role. |
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| In Dr. Huff's talk on her research in Madagascar she noted three different ethnicities in the area that she works. What were these three ethnicities based on? Are these ethnicities permanent or fluid? |
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Vezo, Mikea, and Masikoro
Fluid
Ethnicity was based on residence, history, livelihood, and interaction with others |
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| What is the difference b/w emic and etic persecutive? What do anthropologists aspire to in their research, and why? Discuss potential difficulties one might encounter in maintaining their perspective during fieldwork |
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Emic perspective: perspective of a culture within that culture
Etic perspective: perspective of a culture from outside that culture
Anthropologist aspire to obtain both emic and etic perspective to provide a richer picture of a culture
A difficulty in keeping the perspective can occur when they come across a custom they are uncomfortable with, or not used to, compared to their own
Participant bias |
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| What is the difference b/w a lineage and a clan; what kind of descent characterizes each? |
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A lineage , also known as a demonstrated descent, can directly trace descent back to a common ancestry
Clan, also known as a stipulated descent, say they descend from a common ancestry |
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| What is the difference between sex and gender? Give samples |
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Sex is determined by the biological traits
Ex: hermaphrodite
Gender is determined on how an individual identifies themselves
Ex: transvestite |
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| Describe the two main types of questions that interest economic anthropologists |
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-How are production, distribution and consumption organized into different societies
-What motivates people in different societies to produce, distribute, and consume |
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