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Ethnography
Cultural Anthropology
All ancient and primitive people wondered why other groups of people were culturally and physically different
The answers they formulated were not derived systematically or objectively- Assumptions
Anthropology
Invention of Western Civilization, began in 1870s with ethnologies, not ethnographies. Started incorrectly, mostly assumptions
Bronislaw Malinowski
Father of modern ethnography, participant observation
American Historical Particularism
Franz Boas, Environment doesn’t determine culture, social activism, broad
Postmodern Ethnography
1990s to today, includes interaction, non biased, reflective, involves key consultants for specialty knowledge
Religion
Human behavior, no culture believes they are alone in the universe and responsible for their existence
Study of religion
Based on what is observed, measured and recorded. Faith is the s the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen
Eternal/Why Questions
How & Why was the world created?
How & Why did humanity come into being?
What am I? Why am I here?
How did death and misfortune come into being? Why did death and misfortune come into being? How can we overcome them?
Science and Religion
Science has absolutely nothing to do with the Why. Religion answers the why
Origin of religion
-Direct revelation by god or gods -Ingestion of Hallucinogenic Plants -Dreams of Dead-Edward Tylor (Spiritual beings, explain life and death) -External projection of an immortal society—Emile Durkheim -Primitive Science, explains away anxiety and uncertainty—Bronislaw Malinowski -Knowledge of certainty of death, invention of protective, savior parent figures—Sigmund Freud
If God did not exist (Voltaire)
it would necessary to invent him
Myth
Foundation of religion, sacred narrative, story worth telling, Rituals are the reenactments of myths
Rites of Passage & Rites of Intensification
The reenactment of myth through ritual and symbolism Passage ex.- Baptism, confirmations Intensification ex.- Christmas, 4th of July
Structure of Religions
Religions reflect social structure
Polytheistic (Struc Rel)
plurality of deities, gods & spirits all equally powerful
Presence of High God (Struc Rel)
One God powerful than the other
No all seeing (Struc Rel)
All knowing God, small societies police themselves
Deities (Struc Rel)
Anthropomorphic (look like humans)
Zoomorphic (look like animals)
Anthropopsychic (think like humans)
Naturalistic (associate with specific natural events & places)
Not allied with human groups
In control of some aspect of the world
Animatism (Struc Rel)
(Geography) Nature imbued with power; mana: energy believed to be in certain objects or places
Magic predominates (Struc Rel)
Cause and Effect
Plurality of deities
God's power increases so does wealth, meaning a good God
Biological Sex
the alterable physical manifestations of the unalterable 23rd chromosomes
Sex
Male- XY Female- XX Swyer Syndrome- XY ( Female structure besides ovaries) Chapelle Syndrome- XX (SRY Gene, male characteristics without Y chromosome XX, XY Intersex Sex is determined by your chromosomes not your genetalia
Gender Identity
individual’s understanding of him or herself as a male or female
Gender Ideals
cultural expectations of male and female personality; the way males and females are ( behaviors based on gender, double standards)
Gender Roles
cultural expectations of what males and females should do, women do this men do this.
Third Genders
Non-binary, transgender, male women, women men, many types of genders
Economy
A system of producing, distributing, and consuming goods and services
Household
basic residential unit in which economic processes are organized and carried out (food, child care, maintenance) Small scale cooperative work, not good for production
Reciprocity
Distribution in a household, exchanging goods/resources
Firm
Done by production, a profit-oriented company specializing in specific goods or services. Resources and knowledge are restricted
Redistribution
the movement of goods and services through a center—an individual or an agency. (ex- taxes, charity)
Market Exchange
Done by distribution, large scale, market for goods/services, money is medium of exchange, price depends on demand and supply
Means of Production
Powerful/Elite controlled, sell labor
Language
Culture expressed through sound
Sociolinguists
Study dialect & those who speak them
Dialect
A traditional speech variation
Accent
Pronunciation differences within a dialect
Code Switch
Switch between one dialect and another/using more than one language in the course of conversing
Quick Speech
an informal way of speaking in which high frequency words are shortened, usually in the middle (ex-gonna, kinda)
Discourse Particles
Placeholders, ex- ah but, like like
Dialect Leveling
Reduction in dialect, occurred through education and mobility following WWII.
Hunting & Gathering
foraging, fishing, scavenging, Homo genus, 2.6million year ago to present, small group, minimal trade
Agriculture
seed propagation on land well-watered by natural rainfall or irrigation. First began approximately 10,800 years ago in the Fertile Crescent, High population, large group
Commercial Food Production
application of industrialized machinery to agriculture, horticulture, pastoralism, and even hunting and gathering. Food is produced/distributed through factories, from farms, to feedlots, to grocery stores and restaurants. Year round, High population,
Horticulturalism
Tropical rainforests, land rotation, similar to backyard gardening,
Pastoralism
(pastores), rid grasslands, steppes & uplands. It involves herding mammals: goats, sheep, cattle, horses, etc. Animals products, seasonal
Food
Culture expressed through taste, culture dictates when we are hungry and how much we eat
Hunger
basic nutritional deprivation and is a physiological concept
Enculturation
The process of learning one’s culture, lifelong process
Agents of Enculturation
Family, school, government, media
Cultural Messagry
Culture is the way humans are adapted to the world, but culture also intermediates between our sense organs and brains and the universe in which we live
Culture
the medium through which we view and interpret reality. Set of learned behaviors and ideas including beliefs, attitudes, values, and ideals.
Ethnocentrism
Judging other cultures, their behaviors and beliefs, from the perspective of one’s own culture. The idea that one’s own culture is more beautiful
Cultural Relativism
The idea that cultures should be analyzed with reference to their own histories and values, in terms of the cultural whole, rather than according to the values of another culture.
Society
an ethnos, a people, often constituting a nation-state or occupying a large geographic area
Group
consists of people who regularly interact with one another and, usually, share similar values, norms, and expectations. Smaller than societies
participant observation
Living among the people being studied
Artifact
Any object made by a human
Sub-Culture
shared customs of a subgroup within a society
Ethnocentric
Refers to judgement of other cultures solely in terms of one’s own culture
Ethnocentrism
Attitude that other societies’ customs and ideas can be judged in the context of one’s own culture
Maladaptive Customs
Cultural Traits that diminish the chances of survival and reproduction in a particular environment
Adaptive Customs
Cultural traits that enhance survival and reproductive success in a particular environment
Ideal norms
ideas people in a society share about the way things ought to be done
Real norms
what they actually do
Norms
Standards or rules about what is acceptable behavior
Maladaptive Culture
Cultural traits that diminish the chances of survival and reproduction in a particular environment
Adaptive Customs
Cultural traits that enhance survival and reproductive success in a particular environment
Globalization
The ongoing spread of goods, people, information, and capital around the world
Ethnography main goal is to
find cultural and subcultural patterns of speech variation in different social contexts
Reciprocity
consists of giving and taking without the use of money; mainly gift giving
balanced reciprocity
giving with the expectation of a straight forward immediate or limited time trade
potlatch
a feast among pacific Northwest Native Americans at which great quantities of food and goods are given to the guests in order to gain prestige for the hosts
redistribution
accumulation of goods by a particular person or in a particular place and their subsequent distribution
General purpose money
Universally accepted medium of exchange
Special-purpose money
Objects of value for which only some goods and services can be exchanged
Animism
A belief in a duel existence for all things a physical visible body and a psychic, invisible soul
mana
supernatural impersonal force that inhabits certain objects or people and is believed to confer success and or strength
polytheistic
recognizing many gods none of whom is believed to be superordinate
Monotheistic
Believing that there is only one high God
rituals
repetitive set of behaviors that occur in essentially the same patterns every time they occur. Religious rituals involve the supernatural in some way
Azdane of Zane
Witchcraft was part of everyday living
Shaman
part-time male specialist who has high status involved in healing
Term for people getting food
subsistence strategy
five subsistence strategies
hunting and gathering, horticulturalist, pastoralism, agriculture, and commercial or industrial food production. Hunter gathering is oldest.
Hunter gathers made use of?
Everything in their environment
Agriculturalists and commercial food producers, grow?
Wheat, corn, rice, or potatoes
Hunter gatherers could only
make use of what was in their environment
Hunter gathers diet varied when?
Seasonally
Hunter gathers were
nomadic, moved around a lot
Hunter gatherers believed that land was
their right to use, but not claim it
hunter-gatherers are called
egalitarian
4 kinds of places to be powerful
Mountains, groves, water, caves
Morphos =
body
Rites of Passage
Baptism, Confession, Communion, Confirmation, Marriage, Funeral
Rites of intensification
Christmas, 4th of July parades and fireworks, Thanksgiving, sporting events and the National Anthem
The Berdach
male prostitute
The shaman as
The Hijra of India
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Flashcard (20)