Anthropology Final (copy)

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

1) How & Why was the world created?
2) How & Why did humanity come into being?
3) What am I? Why am I here?
4) 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