Anthropology Study Guide

Ethnocentrism

Belief in the superiority of one's nation or ethnic group.

cultural relativism

belief that cultures should be judged by their own standards

unilineal cultural evolution

The theory proposed by nineteenth-century anthropologists that all cultures naturally evolve through the same sequence of stages from simple to complex. Savagery -> Barbarism -> Civilization

Franz Boas

(1858-1942) founded modern anthropology which is based on long-term ethnographic fieldwork, participant observation, and cultural relativism. historical particularism

EB Tylor

1st anthropologist to study religion. proposed 3 stages of religion. animism > polytheism > monotheism.

a founding figure in British ANTH

claimed society was a unilineal evolution through savagery to barbarism and finally to civilization

applied Darwinian ideas

Unilinear cultural evolution

Fresh Air on Franz Boas

Franz Boas, Margaret Mead and the other 20th century anthropologists who challenged outdated notions of race, class and gender.

Enculturation

the process of learning culture

Norms

rules and expectations by which a society guides the behavior of its members

values

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

symbol

something that stands for something else

mental maps of reality

cultural classifications of what kinds of people and things exist, and the assignment of meaning to those classifications

historical particularism

The idea, attributed to Franz Boas, that cultures develop in specific ways because of their unique histories.

Structural functionalism

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

thick description

looking beneath the surface activities to see the layers of deep cultural meaning in which those activities are embedded

hegemony

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

agency

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

Stratification

uneven distribution of resources and privileges among the culture's members that often persists over generations

Antonio Gramsci

He was a humanist, philosopher, and neo-Marxist known for having developed the concept of hegemony, first utilized in the early 1960. It describes the ideological control of the ruling class over the proletariat, in the context of a discussion of a "war of position". The ruling class' ideology imposed itself as normality, over and above the ideology of other classes. According to him, such control could be overcome through "organic intellectuals" and their new revolutionary ideas on how to run society.

Bronislaw Malinowksi

-Helped establish long-term fieldwork as core methodology of anthropology

-First to conduct fieldwork using local language

-First to conduct fieldwork while living in the community under study

-Trained a new generation of anthropologists (ex-Evans-Pritchard) at LSE

Clifford Geertz

an influential American cultural anthropologist known for his work in symbolic anthropology and interpretive anthropology. He is best known for pioneering the concept of "thick description," which involves providing detailed contextual information about cultural practices and symbols to understand their meanings within their cultural context

The Nacirema

A term anthropologists and sociologists have used to examine aspects of the behavior and society of American people

Ethnographic fieldwork

a primary research strategy in cultural anthropology involving living with a community of people over an extended period to better understand their lives

Participant observation

a research method in which investigators systematically observe people while joining them in their routine activities

Salvage ethnography

Fieldwork strategy developed by Franz Boas to rapidly collect cultural, material, linguistic, and biological information about U.S. Native populations being devastated by westward expansion.

Reflexivity

a critical self-examination of the role the anthropologist plays and an awareness that one's identity affects one's fieldwork and theoretical analyses

Bronislaw Malinowski

British anthropologist (born in Poland) who introduced the technique of the participant observer (1884-1942)

Key Reasons Anthropologists Conduct Ethnographic Fieldwork

In-depth Understanding: Immersing in a culture provides rich insights.

Contextualization: Placing behaviors in cultural context avoids misinterpretations.

Building Relationships: Long-term engagement fosters trust and genuine data collection.

Holistic Perspective: Studying various aspects of life together for comprehensive insights.

Uncovering Hidden Aspects: Revealing less obvious cultural elements.

Key Challenges of Ethnographic Fieldwork

Access and Trust: Gaining entry and building rapport can be tough.

Ethical Considerations: Ensuring informed consent and protecting confidentiality.

Bias and Objectivity: Avoiding influence from the anthropologist's own background.

Cultural Sensitivity: Respecting norms and avoiding misunderstandings.

Logistical Issues: Dealing with remote or challenging environments.

Emotional Impact: Handling culture shock and emotional strain.

Data Management: Organizing and analyzing large amounts of qualitative data.

language

our spoken, written, or signed words and the ways we combine them to communicate meaning

grammar

in a language, a system of rules that enables us to communicate with and understand others

Paralanguage

Nonlinguistic means of vocal expression: rate, pitch, tone, and so on.

Sapir-Worf Hypothesis

Edward Sapir and Benjamin Whorf's hypothesis that different languages create different ways of thinking and perceiving

Lexicon

a dictionary; a specialized vocabulary used in a particular field or place

Focal vocabulary

the words and terminology that develop with particular sophistication to describe the unique cultural realities experienced by a group of people

Register

the variety of language used for a particular purpose or communicative situation within a specific cultural context

Dialect

A regional variety of a language distinguished by vocabulary, spelling, and pronunciation.

Prestige language

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

Language ideology

widespread assumptions that people make about the relative sophistication and status of particular dialects and languages

Code switching

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

Language Continuum

the idea that 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

Benjamin Whorf

1897-1941; Field: language; Contributions: his hypothesis is that language determines the way we think

Edward Sapir

anthropologist and linguist of Native Americans. Talked about importance of analyzing vocabulary in order to learn about physical and social environment of people.

Noam Chomsky

1928-present; Field: language; Contributions: disagreed with Skinner about language acquisition, stated there is an infinite # of sentences in a language, humans have an inborn native ability to develop language

Periods can mean

sarcasm

Capitalization can be used for

emphasis

Code-switching can be used

to blend in with other individuals with power. Certain methods of speaking English are viewed as "proper" and therefore "better"

Not one characteristic, trait or even gene distinguishes all the members of one so-called

race

Ten Things Everyone Should Know about Race

1. Race is a Modern Idea

2. Race has no genetic basis

3. Human subspecies don't exist

4. Skin color really is only skin deep

5. Most variation is within, not between, "races"

6. Slavery predates race

7. Race and freedom evolved together

8. Race justified social inequalities as natural

9. Race isn't biological, but racism is still real

10. Colorblindness will not end racism.

race

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

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.

intersectionality

an analytic framework for assessing how factors such as race, gender, and class interact to shape individual life chances and societal patterns of stratification

genotype

An organism's genetic makeup, or allele combinations.

colonialism

the practice by which a nation-state extends political, economic, and military power beyond its own borders over an extended period of time to secure access to raw materials, cheap labor, and markets in other countries or regions

miscegenation

a demeaning historical term for interracial marriage

US Census

*A government count of the people conducted every 10 years (1980, 1990, 2000, etc.)

*Required by Article I of the U.S. Constitution for the reapportionment of representatives among the states in the House of Representatives

white supremacy

the belief that whites are biologically different and superior to people of other races

whiteness

A culturally constructed concept originating in 1691 Virginia designed to establish clear boundaries of who is white and who is not, a process central to the formation of U.S. racial stratification.

Jim Crow

Laws implemented after the U.S. Civil War to legally enforce segregation, particularly in the South, after the end of slavery.

hypodescent

sometimes called the "one drop of blood rule"; the assignment of children of racially "mixed" unions to the subordinate group

nativism

the favoring of certain long-term inhabitants, namely whites, over new immigrants

Racialization

the process of categorizing, differentiating, and attributing a particular racial character to a person or group of people

white privilege

rights or immunities granted to people as a particular benefit or favor simply because they are white

Individual Racism

personal prejudiced beliefs and discriminatory actions based on race

microaggressions

common, everyday verbal or behavioral indignities and slights that communicate hostile, derogatory, and negative messages about someone's race, gender, sexual orientation, or religion

institutional racism

patterns by which racial inequality is structured through key cultural institutions, policies, and systems

racial ideology

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

Hypodescent rule

a law or judicial ruling that classified persons with even one nonwhite ancestor, or a nonwhite ancestor within a certain number of generations, as black

When was race invented in America and why?

1676, to justify slavery

Invisible Knapsack

a set of privileges and practices that white people carry around with them that largely protect them from everyday injustices

intersectional

theoretical concept that considers how gender, race, social class, sexual identity, and other hierarchies intersect and interact to shape experiences and opportunities

The main factor that allowed Jews to be considered "white" in the early 20th century was

their assimilation into the dominant white culture

How did European ethnics become "white"

Initially, groups such as the Irish, Italians, Jews, and Eastern Europeans were not considered white. However, as they immigrated to the United States and sought to integrate into American society, they began to adopt the cultural norms, values, and behaviors associated with the dominant white culture

Redlining

A discriminatory real estate practice in North America in which members of minority groups are prevented from obtaining money to purchase homes or property in predominantly white neighborhoods. The practice derived its name from the red lines depicted on cadastral maps used by real estate agents and developers. Today, it is officially illegal.

phenotype

physical characteristics of an organism