anthro

Culture

A system of meanings about the nature of experience shared by a people and passed down through generations.

Thinking Anthropologically

Thinking about the world with a particular set of tools.

Fieldwork

A key method in sociocultural anthropology, essential for gathering data.

Ethnography

The main methodology used by anthropologists, involving the writing about cultural observations.

Thick description

Detailed recording of cultural context to understand the native's point of view.

Cultural Relativism

Interpreting a culture based on what is important in that culture.

Ethnocentrism

Judging another culture by the standards of one's own.

Worldview

What people understand to be reality according to their cultural framework.

Ritual

A dramatic rendering or social portrayal of meanings shared by a specific group.

Rites of passage

Rituals that mark the transition from one life stage to another.

Separation (in Rites of Passage)

The first stage where individuals are removed from their former status.

Transition/Liminality

The second stage where individuals exist in between statuses and may learn what is needed for their next status.

Integration (in Rites of Passage)

The final stage where individuals are reintegrated into society with a new status.

Kinship

The understanding of relationships within a social group.

Emic perspective

Understanding and representing a culture in its own terms.

Etic perspective

Analysis of a culture using categories and explanations from an outside observer's perspective.

Personhood

The status of being a person in a given culture.

Selfhood

One's own sense of being a person.

Ethnocentrism

Judging another culture based on the standards of one's own.

Fictive Kin

Individuals treated as family but not related by blood or marriage.

Matrilineal Descent

A kinship system where lineage is traced through the female line.

Patrilocality

The practice of a newlywed couple living near the husband's family.

Balentia

A male code of honor providing a framework for contemporary masculinity in Sardinian culture.

Legacies of Violence

Explores the history of resistance among the inhabitants of highland Sardinia.

Orgosolo

A village in Sardinia known for its dissident history against outside forces.

Disamistades

States of enmity between individuals.

Sa mala iustizia

A term used to describe the agents of the state perceived as evil justice.

Superior Whorf hypothesis

Suggests there's a systematic relationship between language categories and how individuals understand the world.