Anthropology Unit 2: Race and Ethnicity

Situational Negotiation of Identity

different identities in different context, environments, or situations

Ethnic Groups

Group whose members share certain beliefs, values, habits, customs, and norms because of their common background

Ethnicity

Identification with, and feeling part of, an ethnic group

Ascribed Status

Social status based on limited choice [few statuses are absolutely scribed]

Achieved Status

Status (positive or negative) attained throughchoices, actions, efforts, talents, or accomplishments

Stratification

the hierarchical arrangement of individuals and groups within a society based on unequal access to resources, power, and status

Racial Classification

Assigning humans to categories(purportedly) based on common ancestry. This is not in use anymore

Race

An ethnic group assumed to have a biological basis

Racism

Discrimination against an ethnic group assumed to have a biological basis

Phenotype

an organism's evident traits, its "manifest biology"—anatomy and physiology

Genotype

All of the genes an individual carries

Hypodescent

Automatically places children of mixed marriages into the group of the minority parent

Hafu

In Japanese culture: Term to describe biracial Japanese citizens; Not whole, incomplete, less than.

Status

Position an individual occupies in society. Often used as a synonym for prestige

Rule of descent

Assigns social identity based on ancestry

Intrinsic racism

Belief that a perceived racial differenceis a sufficient reason to value one person less than another

Features of Stratification in US

Unemployment rates

Data on income and wealth

Explanatory Approach

Focuses on understanding specific biological differences

Study of human biological variation has two approaches

1. Racial classification

2. Explanatory Approach

Race is NOT biologically distinct

• Race is supposed to reflect shared genetic material (inherited from common ancestor), instead early scholars used phenotypical traits (Skin color) for racial classification

RACE NOTES

1. Race is recent human invention

2. Race is about CULTURE not biology

3. Embedded racism in every institution

Race is NOT the same as ethnicity (example)

Hispanics can be of any race, but are not a race themselves

Race in Brazil (Podcast ex)

• Flexible Racial Identity

• Race can change by altering speech, clothing, location, or attitude

• hypodescent rule never established to seperate whites and blacks

Adaptive Strategies

a society's main system of economic production

Yehudi Cohen's Typology

foraging, horticulture, agriculture, pastoralism, industrialism

Foraging

Economy based on hunting, gathering, and/or fishing;

• modern [blanks] survived in where cultivation was. not practicable

• all [blanks] live in nation-states

Band

Basic social unit among foragers. [Blank] are usually groups of fewer than 100 people who may split up seasonally

Horticulture

Non-intensive plant cultivation with fallowing. [They] use simple tools

Agriculture

Cultivation using land and labor continuously and intensively. [Blank] is more labor intensive than horticulture

• Domesticated animals are used by many [blank] as a means of production.

• Sometimes use irrigation and/or terracing to support [Blank]

Cultivation Continuum

Continuum of land and labor use that ranges from horticulture to agriculture

Intensification

increasing the output or efficiency of a system, such as farming, by using more labor, technology, or resources

Pastoralism

Herders whose activities focus on domesticated animals

Modes of Production

Ways of organizing production

Economy

system of the production, distribution, and consumption of resources

Economics

study of resources

Means of Production

Land, labor, technology, and capital—major productive resources.

Alienation

Separation of the worker from their labor;

Economizing

Rational allocation of scarce means (resources) to alternative ends

Alternative Ends

People in various societies put a portion of their scarce resources toward building funds; subsistence fund, replacement fund, social fund, ceremonial fund, rent fund

Food Production

Plant cultivation and animal domestication

Common features of foragers

● Small social groups

● Mobile settlement patterns

● Sharing of resources

● Immediate food consumption

● Egalitarianism

● Decision making by mutual consent

correlations

associations or covariations between two or more variables

Features of bands

• Emphasis on flexibility and mobility

• few status distinctions are made

Features of Horticulture

● Fields are not permanently cultivated.

● Slash-and-burn and shifting cultivation methods are used.

● Can support large, permanent villages.

● Locations of farm plots are shifted while the village remains in place

Differences between Agriculture and Horticulture

• Cultivation is more intensive than with annually shifting horticulture.

• Comparatively lesser with permanent agriculture.Key difference:

• Unlike agriculture, horticulture always has a fallow period

pastoral nomadism

the annual movement of an entire pastoral groups with herds

transhumance

part of the group moves with the herd. Most stay in a home village

MOP: land

● Ties between people and land are less permanent among foragers than for food producers.

● Among food producers, the rights to the means of production also granted through birth as well as kinshipand marriage

classical economic theory

● Assumes wants are infinite and means are limited.

● Society must learn to utilize available resources efficiently.

● Classical economists assume that when confronted with choices and decisions, people tend to make the one that maximizes profit.

Subsistence fund

Working for sustenance

Replacement fund

Maintaining technology and other items essential to production.

Social fund

Helping friends, relatives, in-laws, and neighbors.

Ceremonial fund

Covering expenditures on ceremonies or rituals

Rent fund

Rendering resources to an individual or agency that is politically or economically superior.

Peasants

Small-scale agriculturalists with rent fund obligations.

● Live in state-organized societies.

● Produce food without elaborate technology.

● Pay rent to landlords.

● Pay taxes.

● Rent fund often becomes the foremost and unavoidable duty

Ju'/hoansi

This is an ethnic group categories that arise with colonialism and the nation-state

Karl Polanyi's 3 Principles that Guide Exchange

1. Market principle.

2. Redistribution.

3. Reciprocity

All three principles can be present in the same society but may govern different kinds of transactions. Society is usually dominated by one. Dominant principle determines how means of production are exchanged.

Market principle

Buying, selling, and valuation based on supply and demand; dominate in capitalist societies

Redistribution

Flow of goods from the local level into a center, then eventually back out to the public.

● Chiefdoms; products moves through hierarchy of officials

● Custom of tithing

● [Blank] is seen in taxation and government provision of social services, education, health care, and infrastructure.

Reciprocity

Exchange between social equals who are normally related by kinship, marriage, or close personal ties; Dominant in societies that are primarily egalitarian.

Reciprocity continuum

Runs from generalized reciprocity(closely related/deferred return) to negative reciprocity(strangers/immediate return)

Types of Reciprocity

1. Generalized

2. Balanced

3. Negative

Generalized Reciprocity

Exchanges among closely related individuals; most widespread form of exchange

Balanced Reciprocity

Giving goods with the expectation of receiving something of equal value in return

Negative Reciprocity

social distance between the people of exchange [strangers FB marketplace]; could potentially be hostile

Coexistence of exchange principles

Most economies are not exclusively characterized by a single mode of exchange; In NA, market principle governs most exchanges.

Potlatch Case Study

Festive event within a regional exchange system among groups of the North Pacific Coast of North America

Sponsoring community give items such as food, blankets, pieces of copper, or other items to visitors from other villages.

● Sponsoring community received prestige in return

● Name/Title tied along with gifted items

Key Question: If profit motive is universal, how does one explain thepotlatch, in which wealth is given away?

● Some anthropologists understand the potlatch as a cultural adaptation to alternating periods of local abundance and shortage.

● "Even in hard economic times, the potlatch has always been the structure that enables people in our society to work together." Bill Cramer, Chief of Kwakwaka'wakw

Kula Case Study:

Exchange practiced by Trobriand Islanders. Bronisław Malinowski was first anthropologist to study the kula exchange and explain its importance. Items exchanged include shell necklaces (soulava) and armbands(mwali).

Key Questions: Kula

1. How does this form of distribution and exchange compare to capitalist economic systems?

2. In what ways are these kula exchanges tied to social status and the adage, "It's better to give than to receive"?

3. How is value carried on in things in your own life? Can you think of any examples?

Key Questions of Political Systems

● What kinds of political systems have existed worldwide, and what are their social and economic correlates?

● How does the state differ from other forms of political organization?

● What is social control, and how is it established and maintained in various societies?

"The Political"

Morton Fried's definition emphasizes "individuals or groups that manage the affairs of public policy."

Power

Ability to exercise one's will over others; Authority is the formal, socially approved use of power

Socio-Political Organization

exercise of power and the regulation of relations among groups and their representatives; Political regulation includes such processes as decision making, dispute management, and conflict resolution

4 Levels of Political Organizations

1. Band

2. Tribe

3. Chiefdom

4. State

Band

Small kin-based group found among hunter-gatherers

Tribe

Food-producing society with a rudimentary political structure

State

Formal governmental structure with socioeconomic stratification

Key Questions about socio-political Organizations

● What kinds of social groups does the society have?

● How do those groups deal with each other?

● How are their internal and external relations regulated?

Foraging Bands

Modern foragers are different from their historical predecessors. Modern foragers live in nation-states and in an interlinked world.

● All foragers now trade with food producers.

● Most contemporary hunter-gatherers partially rely on governments and/or missionaries

● Egalitarian Societies

Foragers Conflict Resolutions

Foragers lacked formal law (the legal code of a state society, with trial and enforcement provisions) but had methods of social control for dispute settlement

Foraging Bands: The Inuit (RAP BATTLE LOL)

Most disputes between men were over women.

● Every man and woman had access to the resources he or she needed to sustain life.

● There was no notion of private ownership.

Hunting and fishing by men was the primary Inuit subsistence activity.

Adult women outnumbered men

Some men had two or three wives which contributed to prestige but also envy.

Jilted Inuit husbands had several options. Murder would bring retaliation.

One could instead challenge a rival to a song battle.

● Contestants made up insulting songs about each other

Egalitarianism NOTE

Egalitarianism diminishes as village size and population density increase

Village Head

Local tribal leader with limited authority

● Must lead by example.

● Acts as a mediator in disputes.

● Must lead in generosity

Yanomami

Village Fissioning: When a village is dissatisfied with its headman, its members can leave and find a new village

The [blank] are not isolated from outside events.

● Prone to attacks from outsiders.

● Outsiders are also vectors for diseases

The "Big Man"

Similar to a village head, except his authority is regional

A [Blank] may have influence over more than one village. Common to the South Pacific region

Kapauku Papuan "Big Man"

Big Man = "Tonowi"

● Key political figure with status achieved through hard work.

● Amassed wealth in the form of pigs and native riches.

● Distinguished by generosity, eloquence, bravery, physical fitness, and supernatural powers.

● Decisions are accepted as binding

Pantribal sodalities

Groups that extend across a whole tribe, spanning several villages; Grew with the spread of horses

The Maasai

● Linguistic group

● Predominantly pastoralists

● Polygyny (two or more women sharing a husband) common with older men.

● Marriage involves substantial brideprice (gifts from the groom to bride or bride's family)

● Patrilineal clans grouped into two moieties

● Socially organized by age-sets

Among the pastoral [Blank] of Kenya, men born during the same four-year period were circumcised together.Belonged to the same named group, an age set, throughout their lives.Sets moved through age grades.For [blank] men, the warrior grade was the most important. In parts of western and central Africa, pantribal sodalities are secret societies. These are made exclusively of men or women

Iranian Pastoral nomadic tribes

Qashqai and Basseri

Chiefdoms

Society with a permanent political structure, hereditary leaders, and social ranking but lacking class divisions

Social status in [blank] was based on seniority of descent.

● People in a [blank] are believed to have descended from common ancestors.

● Degrees of seniority were intricately calculated

● Horticulture or pastoral economies

●lacked stratification and formal government, but had villages heads/ "big man"

Archaic/non-industrial states

Another name for Early States

drew a firmer line between elites and masses.

Typically featured stratum endogamy; Marriage within one's social group

State Definition

"an autonomous political unit encompassing many communities within its territory, having a centralized government with the power to collect taxes, draft men for work or war, and decree and enforce laws."

office

Permanent position that must be refilled when it is vacated

Three Dimensions of Stratification

wealth, power, prestige

Wealth/Economic Status

An Individuals material assets

Prestige

Esteem, respect, and approval; basis of social status

Superordinate

Upper, elite group in a stratified society;privileged access to valued resources

Subordinate

Lower, underprivileged group in a stratified society; limited by the privileged group