Anthropology chapters 1-4

Biological/Physical Anthropology

Study of human and nonhuman life, past and present, human biological diversity

Paleoanthropology

Study of human evolution based on fossils

Archaeology

Study of the lives of past peoples through material remains

Lingustic anthropology

Study of communication (mainly, but not exclusively) among humans

Descriptive (structural) linguistics

study of how contemporary languages differ in terms of formal structure

Sociolinguistics

study of relationships among social variation, social context, and linguistic variation, including nonverbal communication

cultural anthropology

study of contemporary peoples and their cultures

applied anthropology

used to solve problems, can be found in all 4 fields

historical particularism

idea that histories are not comparable; diverse paths can lead to the same cultural result

cultural relativism

the practice of judging a culture by its own standards

unilineal evolution

early theoretical school that postulated that all cultures proceeded through a series of successive stages: savagery, barbarism, civilization

Functionalism

Culture is like an organism, every part has its function

Franz Boas

Father of modern American anthropology; argued for cultural relativism and historical particularism (1858-1942)

Bronislaw Malinowski

Father of fieldwork, participant observation (1884-1942)

Margaret Mead

United States anthropologist noted for her claims about adolescence and sexual behavior in Polynesian cultures (1901-1978)

French structuralism

Understanding culture through its myths + stories

Claude Levi-Strauss

French anthropologist, development of the theory of structuralism and structural anthropology (1908-2009)

Cultural Materialism

a theory that argues that material conditions, including technology, determine patterns of social organization, including religious principles

Marvin Harris

Cultural materialism: argued that the Hindu belief in the sacredness of cows is a practical strategy for adapting to the environment in India and therefore quite rational

Interpretivism

Understanding culture by studying what people think about, their ideas, the meanings important to them

Symbolic anthropology

a theoretical position in anthropology that focuses on understanding cultures by discovering and analyzing the symbols that are most important to their members

Clifford Geertz

Symbolic and Interpretive anthropology

Structurism

the view that powerful structures such as economics, politics, and media shape cultures, influencing how people behave and think, even when they don't realize it

Agency

the potential power of individuals and groups to contest cultural norms, values, mental maps of reality, symbols, institutions, and structures of power

Biological determinism

the belief that men and women behave differently due to inherent sex differences related to their biology

Cultural constructionism

a theory that explains human behavior and ideas as shaped mainly by learning

Ethnocentrism

evaluation of other cultures according to preconceptions originating in the standards and customs of one's own culture.

Globalization

the process by which businesses or other organizations develop international influence or start operating on an international scale.

Westernization

adoption of western ideas, technology, and culture

Hybridization

When two more more aspects of a culture combine into something new. syncretism/creolism

Localization

The transformation of global culture by local cultures into something new

Armchair anthropology

an anthropologist who relies on the reports and accounts of others rather than original field research

Verandah Anthropology

conducting anthropological research half in the field; living nearby but not with the population being studied

Fieldwork

the term anthropologists use for on-location research

Lewis Henry Morgan

Studied the kinship, political, and legal systems of the Iroquois nation in New York state

Participant observation

a key anthropological research strategy involving both participation in and observation of the daily life of the people being studied

Desk study

finding out where there are gaps in existing studies to find a new study subject

Diffraction anthropology

the study of the relationship between people and objects

Kula

a trading network, linking many of the Trobriand Islands, in which men have long-standing partnerships for the exchange of everyday goods, such as food, as well as highly valued necklaces and armlets

deductive approach

an approach whereby the researcher formulates a hypothesis first and then gathers data to test that hypothesis

inductive research

starts without a hypothesis, and proceeds to gather data through unstructured and informal observation

Emic data

Information provided by participants in their own words

Etic data

Information representing a researcher's interpretation of participants' perspectives

Quantitative data

Data associated with mathematical models and statistical techniques used to analyze spatial location and association.

Qualitative data

Data associated with a more humanistic approach to geography, often collected through interviews, empirical observations, or the interpretation of texts, artwork, old maps, and other archives.

Hawthorne effect

the tendency for people to behave differently when they know they are being studied

Time allocation study

quantitative method that collects data on how people spend their time each day on particular activities

Ethnography

A detailed description of a particular culture primarily based on fieldwork.

Collaborative research

an approach to learning about culture that involves anthropologists working with members of the study population as partners and participants rather than as "subjects"

Economic Anthropology

The subfield of cultural anthropology concerned with how people make, share, and buy things and services.

Mode of livelihood

the dominant way of making a living in a culture

Mode of consumption

the dominant way, in a culture, of using up goods and services

Mode of exchange

the dominant pattern, in a culture, of transferring goods, services, and other items between and among people and groups

Poverty

lack of access to tangible or intangible resources that contribute to life and well-being of a person, group, country, or region

Subjective well being

how people experience the quality of their lives based on the perception of what is a good life

Foraging

Mode of livelihood based on resources that are available in nature through hunting, gathering, fishing

Resource curse

the difficulties faced by resource-rich developing countries, including dependence on exporting one or a few commodities whose prices fluctuate, as well as potentials for corruption and inequality

Extensive strategy

a form of livelihood involving temporary use of large areas of land and a high degree of spatial mobility

Use rights

a system of property relations in which a person or group has socially recognized priority in access to particular resources such as gathering, hunting, and fishing areas and water holes

Intensive strategy

a form of livelihood that involves continuous use of the same land and resources

Agriculture

Mode of livelihood that involves growing crops on permanent plots with the use of plowing, irrigation, and fertilizer

Industrialism

Mode of livelihood where goods and services are produced through mass employment in business and commercial operations

Pastoralism

Mode of livelihood based on domesticated animal herds and the use of their products like meat and milk

Horticulture

Mode of livelihood based on cultivating domesticated plants in gardens using hand tools

Minimalism

mode of consumption with few and finite consumer demands and an adequate and sustainable means to achieve them (foraging, horticulture, pastoralism)

Consumerism

mode of consumption with many and infinite demands, and the means of satisfying them are never sufficient, thus driving colonialism, globalization and other forms of expansion (Industrialism)

Leveling mechanisms

unwritten, culturally embedded rules that prevent an individual from becoming wealthier or more powerful than anyone else

Personalized consumption

consumer products are produced by the consumers themselves or by someone in which they have a face to face relationship, typical in small scale foraging, horticultural, and pastoral societies

Depersonalized consumption

consumers are distanced from the workers who produce the goods we consume

Entitlement

socially defined rights to provide for one's life-sustaining resources

Generalized reciprocity

a mode of exchange in which the value of the gift is not calculated, nor is the time of repayment specified

Pure gift

extreme form of generalized reciprocity, something given with no expectation of anything in return

Expected reciprocity

the exchange of approximately equally valued goods of services, usually between people of roughly equal status

Redistribution

involves one person collecting goods or money from members of a group and then later returns the pooled goods to everyone who contributes

Market exchange

the buying and selling of commodities under the competitive conditions in which the forces of supply and demand determine value and the seller seeks to make a profit

Trade

the formalized exchange of one thing for another according to the set standards of value

Potlach

elaborate redistribution ceremony practiced among the Kwakiutl of the Pacific Northwest

Mode of reproduction

the predominant pattern, in a culture, of population change through the combined effect of fertility (birth rate) and mortality (death rate)