ANTHRO 2A Final

Gender

Assigned social meanings and expectations that are culturally constructed

Sex

Perceived biological differences (hormones, physiology), what is "assigned" at birth by doctors

Gender as performance

People get rewarded or punished depending on their conformity to gender expectations in their society

Male-female/nature-culture binary

Men often seen as associated with culture, women seen as associated with nature (culture has primacy over nature in this ideology)

Intersectionality

Not simply all men dominating all women, it is complicated by relationships of class, race, ethnicity, religion, etc.

Globalization

The development/proliferation of complex, interdependent international connections created through the movement of capital, natural resources, information, culture, and people across national borders

Tensions between the global vs local when it comes to gender/sexuality

Chua examines the interactions and experiences of (usually) non-Western population with LGBT identities amid globalization

Contributions of queer anthropology

Helped us understand that sexualities are cultural constructions; there are diverse practices of sexuality and gender

Social constructionists

Rejected universal definitions of sexuality; saw gender as interactional rather than individual; gender is developed through social interactions

Malleability of sexualities/genders

Because sexualities and genders are diverse and ever-shifting in meanings and practices, they are capable of being challenged and transformed through social interactions and relations, both at the local level and global level

Relational construction of self

Seeing selfhood as constituted by social relationships, contrary to 'Western' conception of an individual being a bounded and distinctive whole, separate from everyone else

Differences in portrayal of women's vs men's reproductive systems

Women's reproductive systems were portrayed in a negative light compared to men's; egg portrayed 'femininely,' while sperm portrayed 'masculinely'; egg=large, fragile, dependent and passive; sperm=active and propelled by 'strong' tails

Possible legal and social effects of personifying/gendering sperm and eggs

Personification of biological processes could lead to more difficulties for women, like legal restrictions on pregnant women's activities; need to stop bestowing personalities on cells in the first place

Industrialism's effects on time tracking and work scheduling

In the factory setting and amid industrialism, workers had very little control over their own work cycles

Cattle clock

Nuer in Sudan: their way of telling time was cattle clock, the rounds of pastoral tasks

Task-orientation

Passage of time seen as the succession of tasks and their relation to one another

Point at which shift occurs from task-orientation to timed labour

With hired hands, time becomes money-the employer's money

Time as currency

Employer must use the time of his labour, or else it is seen as wasted; Time is now currency: it is not passed but spent

Timepieces and synchronization of labor

General diffusion of clocks and watches occurred at the exact moment when the industrial revolution demanded greater synchronization of labor

Connections between time measurement and labor exploitation

Concerns with time-measurement became means of labour exploitation; Discipline in the temporal (time) sense: A way of policing people's use of time and how/when they do work

Industrial capitalism

Phase in history of capitalism characterized by emergence of large-scale industrial production and dominance of industrialists and factory owners in the economic system

Schools and 'time thrift'

Belief that poor children should be sent at age of four to be employed in manufactures and given two hours' schooling a day; seen as socializing influence of process; this way, rising generation would become used to constant employment; punctuality regularly written into the rules of all early schools

Time-discipline

A societal and economic construct...described as the moral obligation to fill every waking minute with productivity

Puritan view of work

Hard work and efficiency is an expression of one's faith and has a positive moral value; moreover, success from one's work is at least potentially a sign of one's own salvation

Space

Often defined by abstract scientific, mathematical, or measurable conception; the physical locations/geographies

Place

Elaborated cultural meanings people invest in or attach to a specific site or locale

Agency and embodiment

How freely people can move through space and how they embody/internalize it

Mobility and displacement

Migration, place-making (how people assign meaning to their locale), and identity construction

Hegemony, surveillance, and actions of the state

Hegemony (dominant shared system of ideas, values, morals, and ethics), surveillance (watching over through human and/or non-human technologies), and actions of state to manage space/place (ex: police violence, laws, bureaucratic processes)

Public vs private space and work

Attempts to control, discipline, constrain sexuality, and enforce morality not about sexuality or lax morals of foreign domestic workers; in many societies where industrial revolution occurred, lines between public and private (work and home) got demarcated (but also blurred) in various ways

Disciplining of domestic workers

Common view among Hong Kong Chinese was Filipina domestic workers ought to be better disciplined and restrained; saw this as being for workers' own good; imposed strict curfews and rules, with strict dress codes to control how they presented themselves publicly and privately

Cosmology

Term for worldview in its widest cultural meanings; gives us a sense of where we are and what kind of world we live in, sort of like our internal map of the world/universe that we largely adopt from our cultures; represents people's notions about the way the world works, including the functions of space/place and where people see themselves fitting in both

Matter out of place

People made to seem like they are 'Matter out of place,' where spatiality is used as a technique of power to reinforce certain social and spatial arrangements

Liminal space

An in-between space; Example: the porch, in between the private inside of the house and the public arena outside

Politics of mapmaking

The Mercator map: shows Europe as North and distorts the size of continents; North America shown as 1 ½ times the size of Africa, even though Africa is 3 ½ times the size of North America; Maps are not just physical guides but also ideological ones

Segregation/apartheid

Apartheid in South Africa: lines drawn to keep Black people separate from white people; same institutionalized segregation was/is practiced in the US; redlining- systematic denial of services such as mortgages, insurance loans, and other financial services to residents of certain areas, based on their race or ethnicity; Space is often used to keep certain people in and out, regulating who can enter and exit, and determining who has freedom of movement

Gendering of space and violence

'Take Back the Night': march to protest violence against women walking outside at night; Space is gendered and violence informs its use

Gated communities

Help some people feel as if they are more 'safe,' even though they aren't actually necessarily more safe

Insiders

Individuals within a specific social group.

Outsiders

Individuals outside a specific social group.

Cyberspace

Non-material space influencing social fields.

Medical Anthropology

Study of health influenced by culture and society.

Health and Wellbeing

Broadly defined factors affecting physical and mental states.

Experience of Illness

Personal and social interpretation of health issues.

Disease

Condition diagnosed by medical professionals.

Illness

Personal experience related to health conditions.

Medical Pluralism

Belief in multiple healing practices beyond biomedicine.

Cartesian Dualism

Separation of mind and body in Western thought.

Individual Body

Sense of self as a separate entity.

Social Body

Body as a symbol for society and culture.

Body Politic

Regulation of bodies by state power.

Embodiment

Experiencing the body in a visceral manner.

Body Image

Collective perceptions of one's body and environment.

Body Alienation

Disconnection from one's physical self.

biopower

Governmental control over sexuality and reproduction.

structural violence

Health disparities caused by social inequalities.

foodways

Cultural practices surrounding food and its distribution.

hunter-gathering

Nomadic lifestyle focused on wild food sources.

horticulture

Small-scale farming often combined with gathering.

intensive agriculture

Monocropping with focus on single crop production.

pastoralism

Livestock production and animal husbandry practices.

industrial agriculture

Large-scale farming using chemical inputs and monocropping.

swidden

Slash-and-burn technique to enrich soil nutrients.

commensality

Cultural practice of eating together as a group.

food classification

Cultural distinctions of what is considered food.

edibility categories

Three classifications of food acceptance in cultures.

ideological eating

Food choices reflect underlying cultural values.

Fast Food Nation

Impact of fast food on health and environment.

GMO issues

Dependence on patented seeds affects food distribution.

nature-culture dichotomy

Gendered associations of nature as passive, culture as active.

Anthropocene

Epoch where humans dominate Earth's ecological processes.

homo economicus

Model assuming humans act solely for profit maximization.

ethical relationality

Understanding nature through reciprocity and relationships.

sentience of non-human entities

Recognition of nature as feeling and experiencing beings.

anthropocentrism

Belief that humans possess intrinsic value over others.

fish-as-non-human persons

Recognition of fish as sentient beings with agency.

incommensurability

Cultural elements that cannot be compared by same standards.

principled pragmatism

Navigating complex social and political pressures effectively.

Méndez's critique

Intersectionality must include non-human entities in justice.

Green Belt Movement

Grassroots initiative for environmental conservation in Kenya.

environmental anthropology

Study of human-environment interactions and cultural impacts.

tragedy of the commons

Overuse of shared resources due to selfish behavior.

extraction-for-profit

Unsustainable resource use prioritizing profit over sustainability.

water of immortality

Symbolic water in Navosavakadua's political mobilization.

Fiji water marketing

Portrayal of Fiji Water as pure and untouched nature.

environmental racism

Disproportionate pollution exposure in marginalized communities.

infrastructure

Systems enabling movement of resources and people.

Flint water crisis

Contaminated water crisis affecting Flint's residents.

publics

Collective identity formed through shared media consumption.

knowledge production

Creation and dissemination of knowledge in societies.

knowledge economy

Economic system focused on intellectual capital and ideas.

neoliberalism

Governance through market-driven policies and privatization.

language and power

Language as a tool for exerting social control.

Ngũgĩ's critique

Normalization of European languages undermines African identity.

role of writers

Writers depict societal contradictions and inspire change.

intelligence as a concept

Intelligence used to justify social hierarchies and inequalities.

robots and AI

Technologies blurring lines between human and machine.

biases in algorithms

Biased programming reflects societal prejudices.

personhood and legal rights

Legal recognition extends beyond humans to corporations.

UniverCities

Universities influencing urban governance and local economies.