Chapter 4: Applying Anthropology Flashcards

Vocabulary flashcards covering the key terms and concepts from Chapter 4 on Applied Anthropology, including developmental, medical, urban, and public subfields.

Applied anthropology

The use of anthropological data, perspectives, theory, and methods to identify, assess, and solve contemporary problems.

Ethnographic method

A valuable tool in applying anthropology that involves a firsthand study of societies.

Bronislaw Malinowski

One of the founders of ‘practical anthropology’ who worked with colonial regimes during the early 20th century.

Development anthropology

A branch of applied anthropology that focuses on social issues in, and the cultural dimension of, economic development.

Increased equity

The reduction in absolute poverty, with a more even distribution of wealth; a common stated goal of recent development projects.

Overinnovation

Trying to achieve too much change; development projects often fail when they are economically or culturally incompatible due to this.

Underdifferentiation

The planners’ tendency to view ‘less-developed countries’ as being more alike than they are, often adopting a uniform approach for different societies.

Anthropology and education

The study of students in the context of their family, peers, and enculturation, viewing children as total cultural creatures.

Urban anthropology

The cross-cultural and ethnographic study of urbanization and life in cities.

Medical anthropology

The comparative, biocultural study of disease, health problems, and health care systems across various societies.

Disease

A scientifically identified health threat caused by a known pathogen.

Illness

A condition of poor health perceived or felt by an individual within a particular culture.

Disease-theory systems

Systems used by all societies to identify, classify, and explain illness, such as personalistic, naturalistic, and emotionalistic theories.

Personalistic disease theories

Theories that blame illness on agents such as sorcerers, witches, ghosts, or ancestral spirits.

Naturalistic disease theories

Theories that explain illness in impersonal terms, such as Western medicine linking illness to scientifically demonstrated agents.

Emotionalistic disease theories

Theories that assume emotional experiences cause illness, such as susto in Latin America.

Health care systems

Beliefs, customs, specialists, and techniques aimed at ensuring health and diagnosing and curing illness.

Curer

One who diagnoses and treats illness, often a shaman in societies where personalistic disease theory is dominant.

Scientific medicine

A health care system based on scientific knowledge and procedures, distinct from the specific practice of Western medicine.

Public anthropology

Efforts to extend anthropology’s visibility beyond academia and to demonstrate its public policy relevance, also known as public interest anthropology.

Forensic anthropology

An application of biological anthropology where professionals work with police, courts, and organizations to identify victims of crimes, accidents, wars, and genocide.