ANTH 195 Exam 1

Culture

Learned shared behavior

Ethnography

Genre of writing describing the research of a cultural anthropologist in a community

Indicative

Based on day to day observations

Holism

Looking at all aspects of culture, rather than limited view. Learning how different aspects of humanity interact with and influence one another.

Cultural relativism

Looking at a culture through its own lens/perspective, Franz Boas

Ethnocentrism

Judging a culture from your own cultural lens

Fieldwork

Entering a culture and observing aspects of culture

Participant observation

Ethnographers observing while participating in the same activities in which their informants are engaged

Biopower

Using the threat of violence to control a population

Etic

Explanations for behavior made by an outside observer in ways that are meaningful to the observer

Emic

From the perspective of the studied culture

Characteristics of culture

Humans are born with the capacity to learn the culture of any social groupCulture changed in response to both internal and external factors

Humans are not bound by culture, they have the capacity to conform to it or not, and sometimes change it

Culture is symbolic; individuals create and share the meanings of symbols within their group or society

The degree to which humans rely on culture distinguishes is from other animals and shaped our evolution

Human culture and biology are interrelated. Our biology, growth, and development are impacted by culture

Humans and culture

Humans are not bound by culture, they have the capacity to conform to it or not, and sometimes change it

Symbolic culture

Culture is symbolic; individuals create and share the meanings of symbols within their group or society

Culture and biology

Human culture and biology are interrelated

Archaeology

Focus on the material past

Biological anthropology

The study of human origins, evolution, and variation

Linguistic anthropology

Study of human language

Enculturation

The process by which we learn to become members of our group both directly, through instruction from those around us, and indirectly by watching and copying our peers

Applied anthropology

Application of anthropology theories, methods, and findings to solve practical problems, fifth dicipline

The other

Groups outside of your own experience

Armchair anthropology

Viewing a culture from a distance can cause the anthropologist to measure that culture from their own vantage point

Orientalism

A term coined by literary scholar Edward Said to describe the way Westerners misunderstood and described colonial subjects and cultures

Plasticity

The human capacity to learn any language or culture

Area Studies

A way of organizing research and academic programs around world regions

The Global South

Term used by non-governmental organizations as an index of economic development

Reification

Where an inaccurate concept or idea is so heavily promoted and circulated among people that it begins to take on a life of its own

Socially constructed

A concept developed by society and maintained over time through social interactions

Cultural Determinism

The idea that culture determines beliefs and behaviors

Coercive harmony

An approach to dispute resolution that emphasizes compromise and consensus rather than confrontation

AAA: Race Statement

Race is a recent human invention

Race is about culture, not biology

Race and racism are embedded in institutions and everyday life.

Craniometrics

Study of head shapes and sizes to determine intelligence and moral behavior

"Racial commonsense"

A deeply entrenched social belief that another person's racial or ethnic background is obvious and easily determined

Cline

Differences in the traits that occur across a geographical area

Sir James Frazer

Armchair anthropologist, used library sources to write the Golden Bough

E.B. Tyler

Oxford professor

Malinowski

Anthropologist who introduced fieldwork to the discipline through participant observation. Wrote about the Kula ring in Argonauts of the Western Pacific

Franz Boas

Opposed ethnocentrism and developed concepts of culture relativism and cultural determinism, as well as four field anthropology. Challenged craniometrics

Edward W. Said

Orientalism

Johann Blumenbach (1752-1840)

Listed five races in an order he believed reflected their descent from a "primeval" Cuacasin original from which other groups "degenerated"

Carl Linnaeus

the botanist who invented binomial nomenclature, the formal taxonomic system used to classify biological species in the natural world

'ASI

Nobility by blood

Tahashasham

To show modesty to someone or acknowledge their authority through veiling to them

Hasham

Honor

Haram

Forbidden/Shameful

'Afarit

Evil spirits

Family

The smallest group of individual that see themselves as connected to one another

Household/Domestic Group

Family members who reside together or who share resources and activities pertaining to domestic life (may also include chosen kin

Kinship

Ties between members of a family. Kinship includes the terms or social statuses, used to define family members and the roles or expected behavior family associated with these statuses

Kinship chart (Rules)

Man is triangle, woman is circle, the line you're tracking (men or women) is shaded in

Agnation

Traces lines of descent through the paternal side

Consanguinity

The fact of being descended from the same ancestor. Biological relationships, such as those created between birth parents and children

Affines/Affinity

Relationships created through marriage ties

What is De Leon's argument?

The argument is that the terrible experiences of migrating people are part of a strategic federal plan.

What is structural violence?

Systemic harm caused by social structures and institutions.

What does the terminology for people who cross the U.S.-Mexico border do to establish a particular hierarchical relationship? What does it say about their status?

The terminology establishes a hierarchical relationship and implies a lower status for border-crossing migrants.

What is fetishism?

The belief in the power of inanimate objects.

What is a totem?

A natural object or animal with spiritual significance.

How are these individuals dehumanized and why? (LOOG)

They are dehumanized through policies and rhetoric to justify mistreatment.

What are liminal spaces?

Spaces outside of normal state or moral law, like borders.

What were the Deterrence-displacement strategy and Prevention Through Deterrence (PTD)?

Forcing people to cross less populated areas, mountains and deserts with dangerous terrain, forced them to rely on coyotes (human smugglers, traffickers)

What is habitus?

A system of internalized structures and schemes shared by a group.

What is PTD (Prevention by deterrence)?

Draws on the "agency of animals and other nonhumans" to create hostile terrain, resulting in high migrant mortality rates while itself absolving itself of blam (Moral alibi)

What is moral alibi?

Absolving oneself of blame.

What is the purpose of using a desert as a deterrent to migration?

To create hostile terrain and increase migrant mortality rates.

What are some of the elements of hostile terrain?

Extreme temperature, steel walls, ground sensors, armed agencies, bandits, etc.

What roles do Lupe, Carlos, Javier, and Marcos play in the narrative?

They represent different accounts and experiences to provide a more nuanced picture.

Who is Javier? (fictional)

A man who was recently deported for driving under the influence and having a busted taillight.

Who is Lupe? (fictional)

A 27-year-old mother of two who lived in New York and had immigration called on her by a neighbor, trying to get back to her kid (dies)

Who is Carlos? (fictional

A young man who is planning to meet up with a girl after he crosses the border (dies)

Who is Marcos? (fictional)

A man in his early 30s who lied about his place of origin and name

Why does the author use fictionalized characters to describe the border crossing?

To protect the identities of individuals and share the stories of many people at once.

What is phenomenology?

A collection of perspectives, gazes, and variables among heterogeneous actors.

What is semi-fictionalized ethnography?

Condensing multiple perspectives into one 'character' in order to share a broader narrative.

Why does De Leon use semi-fictionalized ethnography in this chapter?

To present a more comprehensive account of the border crossing experience.

What is the voluntary departure complex?

A system where migrants could waive their rights to deportation hearings and be returned to Mexico without lengthy detention.

What was the effectiveness of the voluntary departure complex?

It was ineffective in addressing the issue of migration.

What was Operation Blockade?

A 1993 immigration and Naturalization services operation to force border crossers into the desert rather than through urban areas in Ciudad Juarez and El Paso

What does Operation Blockade involve financially?

The funneling of money to contractors and generating profit.

What does Operation Blockade aim to do?

Create a hostile terrain and deter migration.

What does Operation Blockade render invisible?

The various human and nonhuman political subjects that influence the movement of people across the border.

What is the Deterrence-Displacement strategy?

Change of policy to force border crossers into the desert rather than through urban areas in Ciudad Juarez and El Paso.

What is the Hybrid Collectif?

Connection of the landscape, past histories, border control, actants, laws, and how they impact each other and create a system of Necroviolence.

What are Connect actants?

An emergent property created by the interaction of many heterogeneous components known as actants, sources of action that may be human or nonhuman.

What is Agency?

The capacity to act, ability to do things.

What are Actants?

Human or nonhuman source of action.

Who is El Gordo?

A cayote who left a group he was helping transport, resulting in the group getting robbed (this presumably was part of his plan)

What does a 'multi-species ethnography' mean?

Including other animals in work and recognizing their agency, not just focusing on humans.

What is Biopower?

Numerous and diverse techniques for achieving the subjugation of bodies and controlling populations.

What is Politics?

A project of autonomy and achieving agreement among a collectivity through communication and recognition.

What is Necropolitics?

Killing in the name of Sovereignty; dictating who lives and dies.

What are tangible ways that Necroviolence is exercised?

Death and the rights to kill (or let live) in contemporary forms of political power.

What is the purpose of the Deterrence-Displacement strategy?

To make migration less visible and reduce witnesses to policing.

How are actants connected?

Through interaction with many bodies and forces.

What is the role of humans in the hybrid Collectif?

Humans are not the sole agents responsible for action.

What is the purpose of a multi-species ethnography?

To recognize the agency of animals in addition to humans.

What is the purpose of Biopower?

To subjugate bodies and control populations.

What is necrovioence?

Violence performed and produced through the specific treatment of corpses that is perceived to be offensive, sacrilegious, or inhumane.

What is the purpose of necrovioence?

It can be intended to have a spiritual effect and send messages to the living.

What are trophies and fetishization in relation to necrovioence?

They are objects or behaviors associated with the violent treatment of corpses.