ANTA02 Vocabulary MT+FINAL

why is anthropology generous

must pay attention to and listen to what people say, believe, value.

why is anthropology open ended

research not based on solutions but instead insights, accept that more knowledge may lead to more questions.

why is anthropology comparative

acknowledges how there are many different ways to be human

why is anthropology critical

“because we can’t be content with the way things are”

describe anthropology in four words (G, O, C, C)

Generous, openminded, comparative, critical.

What does it mean to “think

like an anthropologist?"

• An anthropological sensibility

• “Being there” (“there” not necessarily being about geography, doing

participant observation)

• A commitment to paying attention to the context(s) in which people do

what they do, believe what they believe, etc.

what does ethnography accomplish

understanding culture from natives’ POV

Malinowski came up with what idea (and a little bit of Boas too)

Participant observation (evolution away from armchair anthropology)

Historical Particularism

each society

has its own unique historical development

and must be understood based on its own

specific cultural and environmental context,

especially its historical process.

Cultural Relativism versus

Ethnocentrism

cultural realism is methodology of being impartial, not judging cultures directly. suspending moral judgement temporarily. bias is inevitable, but this helps!

ethnocentric: judging off stereotypes. opposite of romanticizing which is also bad btw.

Salvage Ethnography

gathering info with the goal of rescuing a culture (bad mindset)

Anténor Firmin

“On the Equality of

Human Races” (1885); a comparative “armchair”

anthropology that argued against racial hierarchy

Franz Boas saw culture as a

lens for experience

Clifford Geertz saw culture as a

common sense

Culture is:

shared patterns of learned behaviour, a concept

critical cultural relativism

cultural relativism with some ethics involved, most optimal.

5 consensus of culture definition

1. is taught

2. symbolic and material

3. shared yet contested

4. not pristine (always affected by other cultures)

5. just bc a culture is exposed to globalization deosn’t mean it’ll extinct.

2 important takeaways from Balinese cockfights

1. tells story of status

2. culture integrated into text/vocabulary ( he scored!) Canada&hockey

Sapir-Whorf hypothesis

different language patterns yield different patterns of thought. "learning a language is learning a culture”

Lakoff and Johnson’s metaphors:

Perhaps it is not the structures of

language, but culturally significant

key metaphors, that shape and

reflect worldview and culture ( he scored!) Canada&hockey.

if you understand a place’s metaphors you understand their culture.

Sapir-Whorf time analysis in a place, compared with our own views on time.

them, “in the time where the snow melts” instead of numerical values

significance of hunger among the kwakwaka’wakw

controlling hunger. reincarnation as salmon. also have the Hamatsa(key metaphor for hunger) dance ritual.

think about how we think of time as something to ration. “running out of time”, when some other cultures see it as something to share

interesting!

how do the Dene tha people see resources, compared to us.

we exploit resources, while they practice stewardship instead.

what makes a ritual

• Ritual is patterned, repetitive, and

  symbolic

• Rituals are set off from everyday life

and recognized as significant

• Religious rituals attempt to gain

influence or sympathy of a particular

cosmic being

Asceticism— Benjamin Franklin, 1748

. the practice of strict

self-denial as a measure of personal

and especially spiritual discipline. related to the time thing

three phases of a ritual (STI)

• Separation

Transition/liminality

 Integration

One result of participating in a rite of

passage with others

communities

what is an etic POV

from outsider

what is emic POV

from insider

triangle kinship symbol?

man circle

circle kinship symbol

woman

dot in the middle kinship symbol

adopted

which stage of a ritual is likely to be the most dangerous

liminal/transition

communitas definition

collective feeling of investment into a community

Bilateral kinship class

‘normal’ white ppl one

Bifurcate Merging

father’s bro= father, and kids=siblings

mothers sis=mother, and kids=siblings

can be duallinal!

square kinship symbol

ego, no gender

matri, patri, or dualinial

dualiial

bilateral kinship

bifurcate merging

patriarchal society means patriarchy? true or false

false!

____lineal

patrilineal

______lineal

matrilineal

______lineal

matrilineal

parallel cousins vs cross cousins

parallel: parent’s same sex sibling’s kinds

Cross: parents opposite sex sibling’s kids

Affinal kin

related through marriage

endogamy vs exogamy

endoga,y within ones of group, exo: out of

Consanguinal kin

related through “blood” ties

an example of fictive kin

milk kin in azawagh Arabs

things risked from exogamy vs endogamy

exogamy? Depending on context: Wealth,

sentiment, trust, residence, other aspects of health, personhood itself

endo: health slightly

what are the two forms of unilinial descent

matrilineal and patrilineal

Gender

is one aspect of identity, selfhood, and personhood

egocentric vs sociocentric selfhood

you know, its a spectrum!

Egocentric selfhood: each person is perceived to be capable of acting

independently of others, and as the locus of internal motivations and drives (“He

is a generous person”)

• Sociocentric selfhood: a context-dependent view of the self; The self exists only

within the concrete situations or roles occupied by the person (“He shares what

he has with others”)

Cultural constructionism:

human behaviour and ideas are best explained as the

result of culturally-shaped learning

Biological determinism:

biological features such as genes or hormones are used

to explain behaviour and ideas

what’s the happy medium between biological determinism and cultural constructionism?

Biocultural approach

Social constructs are learned and shared

through ____

enculturation

3 examples of 3rd genders

two spirit, Albania sworn virgins, fa’afafine

explain how sperm and egg portray western stereotypes

sperm’s journey, egg is passive and stuff

what is reciprocity?

giving and getting in return or something

Traditional society is (not primitive!!)

held together by solidarity based on the

basic similarity of its members; custom

Modern society

is held together by the interdependence of its

parts; rationality. DOES NOT MEAN TODAY→ use contemporary for today

The Lubicon Cree of northern Alberta

The Cherokee Removal (aka The Trail of

Tears)

and in 19th-century USA

are examples of:

AB: no legal treaty , lots of resources and land taken. gov’t “youre in our way”\\\.

The Cherokee Removal (aka The Trail of Tears): machines in indu.revo need more land, cherokee forcibly removed from their land.

The detrimental effects of narratives of progress and development

• percieving time as linear, teleogical, time means progress. so those living in same ways as earlier societies misunderstood as ‘stuck in the past’, in need of saving, in the way of progress.

• this thinking does not alow us to see cultures objectively.

What explanations can anthropology offer for

thinking inequality between different types of

societies, other than linear narratives of

progress, or stereotypes about primitives who

need to become modern?

every different culture has its own lifestyle. all valid. we need to understand. approaching with an open mind allows us to learn objectively.

 Modes of livelihood

 Political Organization

 Social Organization

 Population Density

How are these things interrelated as we look at the shift from foraging to swidden agriculture to plough/irrigation/industrial agriculture?

more stratified, increased inequality, increase in population density, stronger nuclear family sense,

Why did most human societies shift away from foraging according to Morgan and White? but what’s the problem? what about Sahlins’ alternate explanation?

PROGRESS

Henry Lewis Morgan (<3 darwin)—societies easier/productive way, “evolved” from savagery to civilization

 Leslie White—technology=energy-efficient, all human=capacity, societies evolved accordingly

• but progress doesnt explain how some societies are still foragers, wealth differentials,

Marshall Sahlins, “the original affluent society”: omanticiizing hunter gatherer life, have lots of leisure time, a good life.

two examples of original affluent societies?

Progress for who? popular narratives of progress and development benefits and consequences?

benefits:

• Colonialism and the Industrial Revolution produced great wealth for some.(and not)

• Colonies produced stimulants (e.g., sugar, tea, coffee) and other goods to satisfy the consumer demands of the colonial countries.

Cons:

• Local industries in the colonies were destroyed (e.g., textile).

• Women’s livelihoods/status declined (India).

• indigenous peoples in the Americas and elsewhere forced from their ancestral lands to make way for progress

How can we explain the vast inequality

between the rich and the poor?

?? social stratification and racism?

the mindset of ‘thats just the way things are” and “its just natural” is used to justify"_____

race, and race is the reason for a lot of social stratification.

3 ways anthros think about race

1. its recent human invention

2. cultural category not biology.

3. race and racism are i\embedded in everyday life and institutions

Working definition of race:

the culturally constructed

categorization of people into groups based on physical

characteristics

Race versus ethnicity

Race—insists on “natural” or biological explanations

Ethnicity—based on a shared sense of identity, and a relationship

to other groups

Ex: race: settlers are white

ethnicity: there are differnces between anglo and franco canadians.

describe how reactions to Samoans in the NFL are an example of Racial thinking

• Racial thinking explain Samoan football prowess with reference to breeding, genetics, innate strength and size

• This is usually accompanied by “cultural” explanations that verge on

primitivism (warriorhood, etc.)

This takes away from the actual hard work, cultural, personal motivstions these athletes put in, saying its “just natural”.

why arent Races discrete biological categories?

There is more genetic

difference within “races” than

between them

(prolly dont need to know actual numbers.. its in mod.9 tho

Problems with using race as classification system

• Racial categories as subjective, but historically

  situated (Your racial identity might shift depending where (and when) you

  live:)

• Using phenotype to put people into discrete categories

  requires arbitrary decisions