ANT 200 exam 1

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anthropology

systematic observational study of human beings and their variations throughout time and space

Use of anthropology

* Understand species uniqueness
* discover fundamental similarities

When did it begin?

1700’s and 1800’s with the Enlightenment period.

Industrialization

the shift from agricultural economy to factory-based economy.

* rise of evolutionary theories
* importance of colonization and imperialism

Colonial Origins

Behaviors that were different were labelled as “primitive” or “savage”

Salvage Anthropology

Recording of indigenous cultures before they disappeared

Evolution

Adaptive changes organisms make across generations

Four Subfields

Cultural, Biological, Linguistic, Archaeology

Cultural Anthropology

Studies the social lives of living communities--ethnic groups, occupations, institutions, technology, advertising

Biological Antrhopology

Studies biological aspects of humans and primates

Linguistic Anthropology

Studies how people communicate through language and how language shapes identity

Holism

All things are interconnected

Culture

notions, rules, morals, and behaviors of a social group

Ethnocentrism

Assuming one’s way of doing things is correct while other ways are incorrect. Believing in the superiority of your group over others.

Cultural Relativism

Principle that one should seek to understand cultures in their own terms and hold their judgements

Comparative Method

A general approach that holds that any detail of human behavior or social condition should not be viewed as isolated.

Ethics

Moral questions about right and wrong and standards of appropriate behavior

Enculturation

Process of learning the cultural rules and logic of a society

Integrated

values and beliefs are shaped by life experience and governed by society

Cultural determinism

the idea that all human actions are the product of culture

* denies the influence of other factors like environment or biology

Symbols

Something that stands for something else.

* may be verbal or nonverbal
* provide cultural stability
* arbitrary

Values

Symbolic expressions that are intrinsically desirable principles or qualities

Norms

Typical patterns of behavior, viewed as the rules of how things should be done

Social sanction

A reaction or measure intended to enforce norms

Customs

Long-established norms with a lawlike aspect

Traditions

the most enduring and ritualized aspects of a culture

Cultural Appropriation

The unilateral decision of one social group to take control over symbols, practices, or objects of another

Etic Perspective

An outside observer’s perspective on a culture

Emic Perspective

A cultural insider’s perspective on his or her culture

How did anthropology begin?

During the 19th century with industrialization, evolution theories, and colonial contact

What do the 4 subfields have in common?

They shares approaches and concepts like cultural relativism, culture, diversity, change, and holism

How do anthropologists know what they know?

They use the scientific method to collect, analyze, and interpret data.

How do anthropologists put their knowledge to work in the world?

All the 4 subfields use theoretical and applied theories and research.

What ethical obligations do anthropologists have?

The heart of anthropology is looking at moral rights and wrongs

interpretive theory of culture

culture is embodied and transferred through symbols

cross cultural perspective

analyzing social phenomenon by comparing it through different cultures

cultural constructs

people build meaning through shared experiences

cultural determinsim

all human actions are the product of culture -- ignores biological and environmental influences

functionalism

assumes that cultural practices and beliefs serve social purposes in any society

what is culture?

involves processes through which we comprehend, shape, and act in world around us

If culture is always changing, why does it feel stable?

Cultural processes are fluid, marked by creativity, uncertainty, and conflict. Yet there are stable aspects

Environmental Anthropology

studies how societies understand, interact with, and make changes to the natural world

Human-Nature Divide

Human view of nature as a resource to own, exploit, control, and manage

Cultural Landscape

culturally specific images, knowledge, and concepts of the physical landscape that affect how people will actually interact with that landscape

ethnobiology

indigenous way of naming and codifying living things

tranditional ecological knowledge

indigenous ecological knowledge and its relationship with resource managements strategies

anthropogenic landscapes

products of human shaping

carrying capacity

the population an area can support

ecological footprint

measures what people consume and the waste they produce

politial ecology

linkages between political economic power, social inequality, and ecological destructions. Rejects singular factor explanations like overpopulation, ignorance, or poor land use

What does political ecology propose?

capitalism undermines itself in the long term because it exploits labor and natural resources to produce commodities

Who is at the greatest environmental risk?

low income groups and minorities because they are less able to challenge powerful economic and political activities like toxic waste dumping and pollution

foodways

one country’s structured beliefs and behaviors surrounding the production, distribution, and consumption or food.

Foodways are culturally constructed

they are surrounded by cultural beliefs and governed by systematic rules and etiquette

Structualism

the human mind creates meaning and understanding by making patterned oppositions and contrasts

taste

refers to the sense that gives humans the ability to detect flavors as well as the social distinction associated with certain foodstuffs

Change in foodways

Typically persistent, but things like overhunting or changes in symbols may lead to changes in diet and preferences

Modes of subsistence

foraging, horticulture, pastoralism, and intensive agriculture

Foraging

searching for edible plant and animal foods without domesticating them. Hunter gatherers

Horticulture

cultivation of gardens and small fields to meet the basic needs of a household

swidden agriculture

slash and burn agriculture

Pastoralism

animal husbandry-breeding, care, and use of domesticated animals

transhumance

regular seasonal movement from one ecological niche to the next

horizontal migration

movements across a large area in search of available grazing grounds

intesification

processes used to increase yield

intensive agriculture

increase yields to feed larger communities

industrial agriculture

applies industiral principles to farming. specialization and viewing land, labor, water, and seeds as commodities

Green Revolution

scientific research was applied to the intensification of crop production

Biotechnology

produce high yields, but introduce chemicals to environment

food security

access to sufficient nutritious food to sustain an active and healthy lifestyle

sustainable agriculture

farming based on integrating goals of environmental health, economic productivity, and economic equity

agroecology

integration of the principles of ecology into agricultural production

Why is there no universal human diet?

because our dietary physiology is open ended, leaving our needs defined and fulfilled partly by the specific natural environments in which we find ourselves

Why do people eat things that other people find disgusting?

Cultural processes influence how we view food and what, how, and when we eat

fieldwork

long term immersion in a community.

What do anthropologists do during fieldwork?

* become involved in daily life
* make observations and ask questions
* take notes on observations and interactions

participant observation

recording what is going on while ‘hanging out’

intersubjectivity

knowledge about other people emerges out of relationships individuals have with each other

informants

fieldworker’s subjects

interviews

systematic conversations with informants to collect data

open ended interview

informants discuss a topic and in the process make connections with other issues

fieldnotes

written records of information that the anthropologist collects

headnotes

mental notes we make while in the field

Human Relations Area Files (HRAF)

database that collects and indexes ethnographic accounts of several hundred societies from all parts of the world

genealogical method

systematic way of classifying all kin according to their relationship to his informants

life histories

important tool for understanding past social institutions and how they have changed

ethnohistory

combines historical and ethnographic approaches to understanding social and cultural change

rapid appraisal

“parachute ethnography” researcher drops in for only a few weeks to collect data

When is rapid appraisal done?

when a researcher only has a limited amount of time, but already has background knowledge or experience with that particular group

participatory action research

the involvement of community members in formulating research questions, collecting data, and analyzing data

primary materials

produced by the researcher

secondary materials

media clippings, government reports, scientific studies, institutional memos and correspondence, and newsletters

What is the struggle of working within our own society?

It is hard to be a ‘professional stranger’ when we already know the language and already have our own views on people’s behaviors

ethnography of speaking

uses participant observation that focuses on listening to what people say, the register they say it in, the words they use, and what they are hoping to communicate

ethnopoetics

act of recording narrative speech acts in the form of verses and stanzas rather than prose paragraphs in order to capture the format or other performative elements that might be lost with prose

call systems

sounds and movements of the body used to communicate

Why is communication not language?

1. Animal call systems are limited in what and how much they can communicate
2. Call systems are stimuli dependent, which means an animal can communicate only in response to real world stimuli
3. Among animals, each call is distinct and these calls are never combined to produce a call with a different meaning
4. Animal call stsyems tend to be nearly the same within a species with only minor differences between call systems used in widely separated regions

philology

historical analysis of long term language change

proto language

the supposed common ancestor language that became extinct after divergences took place

cognate words

words in two or more language that may sounds somewhat different today but would have changed systematically from the same word as groups became more isolated from one another