ANT 111 mid term

anthropology

the study of the full scope of human diversity, past and present, and the application of that knowledge to help people of different backgrounds better understand one another

ethnocentrism

the belief that one’s own culture or way of life is normal and natural; using one’s own culture to evaluate and judge the practices and ideals of other

cross-cultural and comparative approach

the approach by which anthropologists compare practices across cultures to explore human similarities, differences, and the potential for human cultural expression

the 4 fields of anthropology

Biological, Archaeology, Linguistics and Cultural (currently studying cultural)

holism

the anthropological commitment to look at the whole picture of human life — culture, biology, history, and language — across space and time

biological anthropology

the study of humans from a biological perspective, particularly how they have evolved over time and adapted to their environments

Archeological Anthropology

the investigation of the human past by means of excavating and analyzing artifacts

Linguistics Anthropology

the study of languages in social and cultural contexts

Cultural Anthropology

the study of peoples communities, behaviors, beliefs, and institutions including how people make meaning as they live, work, and play together

globalization

the worldwide intensification of interactions, and increased movement of money, people, goods, and ideas within and across national borders

Culture

a system of knowledge, beliefs, patterns of behavior, artifacts, and institutions that are created, learned, shared, and contested by a group of people

enculturation

the process of learning culture

norms

ideas or rules about how people should behave in particular situations or towards certain people

symbols

anything that represents something else

values

fundamental beliefs about what is important, what makes a good life, and what is true, right and beautiful

mental map of reality

the way you classify things and the meaning behind the classification

cultural appropriation (assimilation)

the unwanted taking of cultural practices or knowledge from one group by another, more dominant group

unilineal cultural evolution

a theory proposed by 19th century anthropologist that all cultures evolve through the same sequences of stages from simple to complex

historical particularism

the idea that cultures develop in specific ways because of their histories (attributed by Franz Boas)

cultural relativism

understanding a group’s beliefs and practices within their own cultural context, without making judgement (the opposite of ethnocentrism)

structural functionalism

conceptual framework positing that each element of society serves a particular function to keep the entire system in equilibrium

interpretivist approach

a conceptual framework that sees culture primarily as a symbolic system of deep meaning

power

the ability or potential to bring about change through action or influence

stratification

the uneven distribution of resources and privileges among members of a group of culture

hegemony

the ability of a dominant group to create consent and agreement within a population without the use of threat or force

kinship analysis

a fieldwork strategy of examining interlocking relationships of power built on marriage and family ties

salvage ethnography

collecting cultural, material, linguistic, and biological information about Native American populations being devastated by the westward expansion of European settlers (Franz Boas)

social network analysis

a method for examining relationships in a community, often conducted by identifying whom people turn to in times of need

mapping

the analysis of the physical and/or geographic space where fieldwork is being conducted

Reflexivity

a critical self-examination of the role the anthropologist plays and an awareness that one’s fieldwork and theoretical analyses.

mutual transformation

the potential for both the anthropologist and the members of the community being studied to be transformed by the interactions of fieldwork

Emic

an approach to gathering data that investigates how local people think and how they understand the world

etic

Description of local behavior and beliefs from the anthropologist perspectice in ways that can be compared across cultures

polyvocality

the practice of using many different voices in ethnographic writing and research question development, allowing the reader to hear more directly from the people in the study

language

a system of communication organized by rules that uses symbols such as words, sounds, and gestures to convey information

historical linguistics

the study of the development of language over time, including its changes and adaptations

descriptive linguistics

the study of the sounds, symbols, and gestures of a language and their combination into forms that communicate meaning

linguistic anthropology

the study of human language in the past and present

sociolinguistics

the study of the ways of culture shapes language and language shapes culture

language continuum

variation in languages appears gradually over distance so that groups of people who live near one another speak in a way that is mutually intelligible

speech continuum

a group of people who come to share certain norms of language use through living and communicating together

phoneme

the smallest unit of sound that can make a difference in meaning (p&b)

Morpheme

smallest unit of sound that can carry meaning on its own (anti and non)

Syntax

the specific patterns and rules for combining morphemes to construct phrases and sentences

Grammar

the combined set of observations about the rules governing the formation of phonemes, morphemes, and syntax that guide language use

Kinesics

the study of the relationship between body movement and communication

paralanguage

an extensive set of noises and tones of voices that convey info about the speaker

linguistics relativity

the notion that all languages will develop the distinctive categories necessary for those who speak them to deal with the realities around them

Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis

the idea that different languages create different ways of thinking

lexicon

all the words for names, ideas, and events that make up a languages dictionary

Prestige Language

a particular language variation or way of speaking that is associated with wealth, success, education, and power

Code switching

switching back and forth between one linguistic variant and another, or one language and another, depending on the cultural context

language ideology

Beliefs and conceptions about language that often serve to rationalize and justify patterns of stratification and inequality

Race

a flawed system of classification, with no biological basis, that uses certain physical characteristics to divide the human population into supposedly discrete groups

Genotype

the inherited genetic factors that provide the framework for an organism’s physical form

phenotype

the way genes are expressed in an organism’s physical form as a result of genotype interaction with environmental factors

racialization

categorizing, differentiating, and attributing a particular character to a person or group of people (the spanish casta system, plessy v ferguson)

hypodescent/ “one drop rule”

the assignment of children of racially “mixed” unions to the subordinate group

social construct

an idea that people have come up with that is widely accepted and has practical implication for out every day lives.

whiteness

a culturally constructed concept designated to establish clear boundaries of who is white and who is not

racism

individuals’ thoughts and actions and institutional patterns and policies that create or reproduce unequal access to power, privilege, resources, and opportunities based on imagined differences among groups

individual racism

harmful behavior or beliefs, rooted in racial prejudices, against historically subordinated racial groups, enacted by and targeted towards individual/s

institutional racsim

policies, practices, and patterns within institutions that contribute to differential treatment of/outcomes for historically subordinate racial groups

racial ideologies

a set of popular ideas about race that allows the discriminatory behaviors of individuals and institutions to seem reasonable rational, and normal

nativism

the favoring of certain long-term inhabitants, mostly white people, over new immigrants

miscegenation

a demeaning historical term for interracial marriages

ethnicity

a sense of historical, cultural, and sometimes ancestral connection to a group of people who are imagined to be distinct from those outside the group

origin myth

a story told about the founding and history of a particular group to reinforce a sense of common identity (thanksgiving and the pilgrims)

ethnic boundary markers

a practice or belief used to signify who is in a group and who is not; usually not clearly fixed or defined and may change over time

situational negotiation of identity

an individuals self-identification with a particular group that can shift according to social location (Portland → Maine → New England → American)

identity entrepreneurs

political, military, or religious leaders who promote a worldview through the lens of ethnicity and use war, propaganda, and power to mobilize people against those whom they perceive as danger (the Rwanda Civil War)

Genocide

a deliberate and systematic destruction of an ethnic or religious group

Ethnic Cleansing

effort to remove or destroy an ethnic or religious group in a particular geographic area

assimilation

process in which cultural minorities accept (or are forced to accept) the patterns of the dominant culture

nation

a term used to describe a group of people who shared a place of origin (also a synonym for a nation-state/country)

state

an autonomous regional structure of political, economic, and military rule with a central government authorized to make laws and use force to maintain order and defend its territory

nation-state

a political entity within a geographic territory with enforced borders, where the population shares a sense of culture, ancestry, and destiny as a people

sovereignty

the full right and power of a governing body over itself without any interference from outside sources or bodies

nationality

an identification with a group of people thought to share a place or origin

nationalism

the desire of an ethnic group to create/maintain a nation-state

imagined community

the invented sense of connection and shared traditions that underlies identification with a particular ethnic group or nation whose members likely will never meet

diaspora

a group of people who live outside their homeland yet maintain emotional and material ties to home

sex

the culturally agreed upon physical differences between male and female; especially biological difference related to human reproduction

gender

the expectations of thought and behavior that each culture assigns to people of different sexes

sexual dimorphism

the phenotypic differences between males and females of the same species

gender identity

each persons internal experience and understanding of their own gender

gender expression

how a person expresses or presents themselves in a relationship to gender

cultural construction of gender

the ways humans learn to perform and recognize behaviors as masculine or feminine within their cultural context

gender stratification

an unequal distribution of power in which gender shapes who has access to a group’s resources, opportunities, rights and privileges

gender stereotypes

widely held preconceived notions about the attributes of, differences between, and proper roles for men and women in a culture

gender ideology

a set of cultural ideas, usually stereotypical, about the essential character of different genders that functions to promote and justify gender stratification

sexuality

the complex range of desires, beliefs, and behaviors that are related to erotic physical contact, and the cultural arena within which people debate what kinds of physical desires and behaviors are right, appropriate and natural

kinship

the system of meaning and power that cultures create to determine who is related to whom and to define their mutual expectations, rights, and responsibilities

Franz Boas

Famous Anthropologist who contributed to the rise of cultural relativism, historical particularism, long-term fieldwork and critiqued eugenics and brought up the topic of race being a social construct (nicknamed the father of American Anthropology)

Samuel Morton

Mostly known for his work on comparing size of skulls and comparing it to skills (size of brain determined intelligence)

Audrey Richards

Focused on issues on health among women + children, her work is credited with opening the pathway for opening the pathway for studying women, children, food, and nutirtion in anthropology

Bronislaw Molinowski

credited for inventing modern ethnographic fieldwork and establishing cultural functionalism through his ethnographic work with the Trobriand

E.E Evans-Pritchard

wrote the Nuer about his research on the Nuer people in Sudan in a synchronic approach (controlling their experiment by limiting consideration of the larger historical + social context in order to isolate as many variables)

Margaret Mead

examined teen sexuality, diversity in gender roles in Papua New Guinea, and testified that gender roles weren’t biologically significant - and that U.S cultural norms were culturally significant (a student of Franz Boas)

Zora Neale Hurston

documented folktales, religion, stories, etc… on black culture in Florida through participant observation and active participation, conducted work in Florida, Jamaica, and the Bahamas