Comprehensive Anthropology: Key Concepts, Ethnography, Culture, and Gender

What is anthropology?

A generous, open-ended, comparative, and critical inquiry into the conditions and potentials of human life in a shared world.

What does 'generous' mean in anthropology?

Taking people's beliefs and experiences seriously.

What does 'open-ended' mean in anthropology?

Research is not conducted with a predetermined conclusion.

What does 'comparative' mean in anthropology?

Comparing cultures to recognize multiple ways of being human.

What does 'critical' mean in anthropology?

Examining power, inequality, and possibilities for change.

What is ethnography?

Writing about a group of people and their culture.

What are examples of ethnographies?

Feeding Desire and Gridiron Capital.

What is participant observation?

Participating in daily life while observing social interactions.

What does ethnography accomplish?

Provides native perspectives, cultural context, and 'thick description.'

What is Victorian anthropology?

Early anthropology using second-hand accounts and ranking societies hierarchically.

What is 'armchair anthropology'?

Studying cultures without doing fieldwork.

Who were key early fieldwork anthropologists?

W.H.R. Rivers, Bronislaw Malinowski, and Franz Boas.

Who was Franz Boas?

A founder of anthropology who promoted cultural relativism and historical particularism.

What is salvage ethnography?

Documenting cultures believed to be disappearing.

What is culture?

Shared patterns of learned behavior and meaning.

How did Franz Boas view culture?

As a lens through which people experience the world.

How did Clifford Geertz view culture?

As common sense and shared meanings.

What is the contemporary consensus on culture?

Culture is learned, shared yet contested, symbolic and material, never pristine, and influenced by global forces.

What is cultural relativism?

Understanding beliefs and behaviors in their cultural context.

Is cultural relativism the same as moral relativism?

No—it's a method, not a moral judgment.

What is a worldview?

A shared set of assumptions about reality.

Can multiple worldviews exist in one society?

Yes, but one may dominate.

What is an example of worldview differences about rain?

Bima see rain as a gift from Allah; Dou Donggo see it controlled by spirits.

What is the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis?

Language influences how people think and understand the world.

What is a ritual?

A patterned, symbolic activity set apart from everyday life.

What are rites of passage?

Rituals marking life transitions: separation, transition, integration.

What is patrilineal descent?

Tracing descent through the male line.

What is endogamy?

Marrying within one's own group.

What is exogamy?

Marrying outside one's group.

What are affinal kin?

Relatives through marriage.

What are consanguineal kin?

Blood relatives.

What is fictive kinship?

Non-biological relationships treated like kin.

What is brideprice?

Wealth given from groom's family to bride's family.

What is the main genetic risk of cousin marriage?

Increased chance of recessive genetic diseases.

How much does cousin marriage increase genetic risk?

About 1.4-2.5% above the general population risk.

What is risked through exogamy?

Wealth, trust, sentiment, residence, and social ties.

What is personhood?

The status of being a person in a culture.

What is selfhood?

One's sense of being a person.

What is social identity?

How people see themselves and others in society.

What is egocentric selfhood?

Individuals seen as independent agents.

What is sociocentric selfhood?

The self defined through relationships and roles.

What is sex?

Biological categories based on anatomy, chromosomes, hormones.

What is gender?

Culturally learned roles and expectations.

What is gender identity?

How one understands their gender.

What is a social construct?

Something seen as natural but actually culturally created.

What are Two-Spirit identities?

Indigenous third-gender identities, spiritual and non-binary.

How are men and women viewed among Azawagh Arabs?

Different but complementary roles.

How do Azawagh Arabs view procreation?

Men provide creative force; women nurture and enclose.

What is the 'fairy tale of sperm and egg'?

Gendered metaphors that reflect cultural power relations in biology.

What is crystallization?

Cultural values becoming embodied in body ideals.

How is fatness viewed among Azawagh Arabs?

A sign of beauty, status, and proper femininity.

How is fatness viewed in North America?

Often stigmatized due to the 'tyranny of slenderness.'

What cultural logics support fattening?

Gender complementarity, kinship, economy, caste, and Islam.

What values are associated with fatness?

Closedness, stillness, and contained wetness.

What is critical cultural relativism?

Understanding culture while recognizing power inequalities.

What are examples of inequalities in Niger?

Child marriage, limited women's mobility, slavery, low literacy, poverty.