Anthro Test 1

• The study of the humans around the world and through time

• A holistic science

• Traditionally viewed as the study of non-Western, non-Industrial societies and fossils

What is ‘anthropology’?

study of the whole human condition - encompassing past, present and future; biology, society, language and culture.

What does ‘holistic’ mean?

• Other Social Sciences focus on a single society

• Anthropology focuses on comparing and a cross-cultural perspective. Meaning it looks at customs of one society and compares it with that of another

How is Anthropology different than other Social Sciences?

• organized life in groups

• Shared by humans; monkeys; apes; wolves; mole rats and ants

What is ‘society’?

• the traditions and customs transmitted through learning within a society

• These traditions and customs form and guide the behaviour of the people exposed to them

• Culture is unique to humans

What is ‘culture’?

the broad study of humankind around the world and throughout time

What is General Anthropology?

1. Cultural Anthropology

2. Anthropological Archaeology

3. Biological Anthropology

4. Linguistic Anthropology

What are the four sub-disciplines of General Anthropology?

• the comparative, cross-cultural study of human society and culture

• It describes, analyzes, interprets and explains social and cultural similarities and differences

What is Cultural Anthropology?

1. Ethnography

2. Ethnology

What are the two sub-disciplines of Cultural Anthropology?

• the fieldwork in a particular study

• Looks at a particular group, community or society

• Traditionally, ethnographers lived in small communities to study local behaviour, beliefs, customs

• Modern ethnographers realize the impact of larger social systems on small communities – like regional, national, global politics, economics and information

What is Ethnography?

• is the study of sociocultural differences and similarities by examining the results of the ethnography  (the data gathered in the fieldwork)

• Uses collected data to generalize about a culture

What is Ethnology?

• the study of human behaviour through material means

• It reconstructs, describes and interprets human behaviour

• Materials looked at  - artifacts, things made, used, modified, tools, weapons, campsites, buildings and garbage (consumption and activities)

• It helps to determine wild or domestic plants or animals

What is Anthropological Archeology?

• fragments of earthenware (clay or ceramic)

• They are more durable than other artifacts

• They can be indicative of population size, density, trade (use of materials not found locally) Similarities at different sites can show cultural connections – history, ancestors

What are potsherds?

the study of a community or culture by analyzing its waste

Think: the garbology experiment video, analyzing people’s alcohol consumption

What is Garbology?

a scientific discipline concerned with the biological and behavioral aspects of human beings, their extinct hominin ancestors, and related non-human primates, particularly from an evolutionary perspective

What is Biological Anthropology?

the study of language and linguistic diversity in time, space and society

What is Linguistic Anthropology?

• the study of language in society

• Studies linguistic differences based on : historical changes, gender, class and social variances

What is ‘sociolinguistics’?

• the use of anthropology to solve contemporary problems

• Public health, family planning, business, market research, economic development, public educational programs, historical preservation

What is Applied Anthropology?

deciding what needs saving when entire archaeological sites cannot be saved

What is Cultural Resource Management?

• the process by which culture is learned and transmitted across generations

• Starting as children we all learn culture, just like primates

• As kids, we consciously and unconsciously, internalize and incorporate cultural traditions; directly and indirectly

What is ‘enculturation’?

Cultures are patterned systems. This means if one part of the system changes, then other parts will change too.

How are cultures integrated?

the key, basic or central values that integrate a culture

Ex: In our North American culture, work ethic and individualism are our core values

What are ‘core values’?

members of the hominid family – defined as any fossil or living human, chimp or gorilla

What are ‘hominids’?

hominids excluding the African apes – defined as all the human species that ever existed

What are ‘hominin’?

'Hominin' is a term given to humans and all of our extinct bipedal ancestors – those ancestors who walked upright on two feet. 'Hominid' is the term given to all modern and extinct great apes, including humans, chimpanzees, gorillas, orangutans and all their immediate ancestors.

What is the difference between hominin and hominid?

• The ability to grasp, manual dexterity (opposable thumbs)

• Depth and colour vision

• Learning ability based on a large brain

• Substantial parental involvement in a limited number of offspring

• Tendencies towards sociality and cooperation

What traits do we share with primates?

• How we eat

• Mating

• Exogamy and kinship systems

How do we differ from primates?

something that exists in every culture

Define ‘universal’?

culture pattern or trait that exists in some, but not all, societies

What is ‘generality’?

distinctive, or unique culture trait, pattern or integration; confined to a single place, culture or society

What is ‘particularity’?

• Ideal Culture is what people say they should do and what they say they do

• Real Culture is what people actually do (their real behaviour)

What is ‘Ideal Culture’ vs ‘Real Culture’?

1. National Culture – cultural features shared by citizens of the same nation

2. International Culture – cultural traditions that extend beyond national boundaries

3. Subcultures – different cultural traditions associated with subgroups in the same complex society

What are the three levels of culture?

• the action of  judging other cultures based on one’s own cultural standards

• Fundamental to anthropology is the fact that what is considered alien to us may be normal, proper and prized elsewhere

What is ‘ethnocentrism’?

• the idea that behaviour should be evaluated not by outside standards but in the context of the culture in which it occurs

• This is not a moral belief, but a methodological position

What is ‘cultural relativism’?

• rights based on justice and morality beyond and superior to any countries, cultures and/or religions

• Human rights include the right to speak freely, hold religious beliefs without persecution and not to be murdered, injured, enslaved, or imprisoned without charge

• Human rights are inalienable and international

What are ‘human rights’?

• rights vested in groups  

• Examples include: religious and ethnic minorities; indigenous societies

• Many countries sign pacts endorsing cultural minorities within the nation

• These pacts include pertain to things like self-determination, degree of home rule, right to practice the group’s religion, language, culture

What are ‘cultural rights’?

• A cultural right among indigenous groups to control who may know and use their collective knowledge and its applications

• Why is this necessary ? Much of the intellectual property has commercial value. For example -  ethnomedicine, cosmetics, cultivated plants, foods, etc.

• This allows the cultural group to determine how the knowledge/product is used and distributed and the level of compensation required

What are ‘intellectual property rights’, or ‘IPR’?

the borrowing of cultural traits between societies

What is ‘diffusion’?

1. Direct – when two cultures trade, intermarry or wage war on one another

2. Indirect – when items move from group A to group C via group B without any firsthand contact between Group A and C

3. Forced – when one culture subjugates another and imposes its customs on the dominated group

What are the three types of diffusion?

1. Acculturation – an exchange of cultural features between groups in firsthand contact

2. Independent Invention – the independent development of a cultural feature in different societies

3. Globalization – the accelerating interdependence of nations in the world system

What are three mechanisms of cultural change?

• Participant Observation – taking part in community life, participating in the events that one is observing, describing and analyzing

• Conversations, Interviewing

• Genealogical method – the use of diagrams and symbols to record kin connections

• Longitudinal research – long-term study, usually based on repeated visits

What are some methods of ethnography?

1. Native oriented, or ‘enic’: research strategy focusing on local explanations and meanings

2. Scientist oriented, or ‘etic’: research strategy emphasizing the ethnographers’ explanations and categories

What are two ethnographic perspectives?

the idea of single line or path of cultural development

What is ‘unilinear evolutionism’?

Animism → Polytheism → Monotheism → Science

What was Morgan’s theory of unilinear evolution?

Social Darwinism

Savagery → Barbarism → Civilized

What was Tylor’s theory of unilinear evolution?

• the idea that histories are not comparable; diverse paths can lead to the same cultural result

• Works found that biology (including race) did not determine cultural achievements

• Fought against the previous belief of a pre-ordained evolutionary path

• Viewed cultural generalities as a result of independent invention – where individual cultures came up with the same solution to the same/common problem (Example – agriculture was ’invented’ many times throughout the world)

• Believed that each culture trait has its own history and that although it looks the same, it is unique because of this history

What is ‘historical particularism’?

• an approach that focuses on the role of sociocultural practices in social systems

• Famous Anthropologists - Malinowski and Radcliffe-Brown 

• Focused on the present, not history

• Saw all customs and institutions integrated and interrelated – when one changes, so does another – they are a function of one another

What is Functionalism?

• the view of culture as integrated and patterned

• Famous Anthropologists: Ruth Benedict and Margaret Mead

• This supports that culture, not biology, determine behaviour and personality

What is Configurationalism?

• the study of symbols in their social and cultural context

• Victor Turner, author of The Forest of Symbols

• Symbols used to regulate, anticipate and avoid conflict within a society

What is Symbolic Anthropology?

• the study of culture as a system of meaning

• Famous Anthropologist: Clifford Geertz, who saw culture as ideas based on learning and symbols

• Sees a culture as a text whose meaning must be deciphered within that culture and historical setting

• Anthropologists choose something in the culture that engages/interests them, fill in details and elaborate to inform readers

What is Interpretive Anthropology?

• Human beings have certain universal characteristics – these cause people to think similarly regardless of society or cultural background

• Famous Anthropologist : Claude Levi-Strauss

• To impose order on aspects of nature, on people’s relation to nature, and on relations between people

• Universal aspect of classification is opposition or contrast

What is Structuralism?

common means of classification – good/evil, black/white

What is ‘binary opposition’?

• a field that examines the sociocultural dimensions of economic development

• Developmental Anthropologists plan and guide policies pertaining to economic development

• The goal is to increase equity

What is Developmental Anthropology?

• the reduction in absolute poverty, with a more even distribution of wealth

• In order to reach this goal, you should be working collaboratively with local people

What is ‘increased equity’?

• Overinnovation – trying to achieve too much change (Causes many development projects to fail)

• Underdifferentiation – seeing less-developed countries as all the same; ignoring cultural diversity

What are two problems that may be encountered as part of Developmental Anthropology?

the comparative, biocultural study of disease, health problems, and health care systems

Examines:

• which diseases and health conditions affect individual populations and why

• how illness is socially constructed, diagnosed, managed and treated in various societies

What is Medical Anthropology?

• a scientifically identified health threat caused by a known pathogen 

• Incidence and severity of disease differ from culture to culture

• Stark difference with indigenous populations worldwide

What is ‘disease’?

• a condition of poor health perceived or felt by an individual

• Particular cultures and ethnic groups recognize different illnesses, symptoms and causes- developing their own health systems and treatment strategies

What is ‘illness’?

1. Personalistic – blame illness on agents (sorcerers, ghosts, spirits)

2. Naturalistic – aims to link illness to scientifically demonstrated agents that bear no personal malice towards their victims

3. Emotionalistic – emotional experiences cause illness

What are the three basic theories of disease?

• a communication system based on meaningful signs, sounds, gestures or marks

• The primary means of human communication

• May be spoken, written or signed

• Language is transmitted through learning as part of enculturation

• Language is based on learned associations between words and the things for which they stand

• The complexity of our language allows us to conjure up elaborate images, to discuss the past and the future, to share our experiences with others and to benefit from experiences

What is ‘language’?

• Anthropologists study language in both its social and cultural context

• Key feature is how language is always changing

What is Linguistic Anthropology?

• –communication systems of nonhuman primates

• –There are a limited number of sounds (calls) that are produced when certain environmental stimuli are encountered

• –These calls are automatic and are not combined

• –The vocal tracts of primates are not suitable for speech

What are ‘call systems’?

• –transmission through learning

• –This is a basic component of  language

What are ‘cultural transmissions’?

• creating new expressions that are comprehensible to other speakers

• A basic component of language

What is ‘productivity’?

• describing things and events that are not present

• A basic component of language

• Example - Past, present, future

What is ‘linguistic displacement’?

• A mutated gene, FOXP2, partially explains why humans speak and apes do not

• British families with speech impediments were studied. It was found that they had the same version of this gene as primates – causing an inability to make the fine tongue and tip movements necessary for speech

• It is believed that the speech friendly form of the gene mutated around 150,000 years ago

What are the theorized origins of language?

• –the study of communication through body movements, stances, gestures and facial expressions

• –Kinesics look not just at what is said but HOW it is said

• –Specifically at things like gestures, intonation, pitch, loudness, strategic pauses, silence

• –Much of our communication is nonverbal – which is problematic with rapid means of communication -  like texting, messaging

What is ‘kinesics’?

1. –Phonology – the study of sounds used in speech in a particular language

   → Considers what sounds are present and significant in each language

2. –Morphology – the study of morphemes and word construction

3. –Morphemes – words and their meaningful parts

4. –Lexicon – vocabulary

   → All morphemes and their meanings

5. –Syntax – the arrangement and order of words in phrases and sentences

6. –Phoneme – the smallest sound contrast that distinguishes meaning

   –Example -  pit and bit

7. Phonetics – the study of speech sounds – what people actually say

8. Phonemics – the study of significant sound contrasts in a language

What are eight aspects of the structure of language?

–all humans have similar linguistic abilities and thought processes

• –Theorized by Noam Chomsky, a famous linguist

• –The existence of a ‘universal grammar’ is supported by our ability to translate foreign languages from one to another

• –And the existence of pidgins, which occur when different societies come into contact and must devise a system of communication

What is ‘universal grammar’?

a grammatically simplified form of a language, used for communication between people not sharing a common language

What is a ‘pidgin’?

–the theory that different languages produce different patterns of thought

What is the Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis?

• –a set of words describing particular domains (foci) of experience

• –Vocabulary is the area of language that changes the most readily

• –The creation of new words – texted

• –Names get simpler as they become more common and important

What is ‘focal vocabulary’?

a language’s meaning system

What are ‘semantics’?

the study of lexical categories and contrasts

What are ‘ethnosemantics’?

• –focuses on features that vary systematically with social position and situation

• –Example study - The Language of Food  by Jurafsky – looked at upscale vs cheaper menus food description 

What is ‘sociolinguistics’?

–varying one’s speech in different social contexts

What are ‘style shifts’?

• –a language with ‘high’ and low dialects (formal and informal)

• –Example – Dutch, German

What is ‘diglossia’?

• terms of respect used in a language 

• Example: duke, duchess, dame, lady, lord

What are ‘honorifics’?

the study of languages over time

What is ‘historical linguistics’?

closely related languages (linguistic)

What are ‘subgroups’?

languages sharing a common parent language

What are ‘daughter languages’?

a language ancestral to several daughter languages

What is a ‘protolanguage’?

• one among several culturally distinct groups in a society or region

• Share certain beliefs, values, habits, customs and norms because of their common background

• Distinguish themselves through religion, language, historical experience, geographic placement, kinship

• Markers can include: a collective name, belief in common descent, a sense of solidarity, association with a specific territory

What are ‘ethnic groups’?

identification with, and feeling part of, an ethnic group and exclusion from certain other groups because of this affiliation

What is ‘ethnicity’?

any position, no matter what its prestige, that someone occupies in society

What is a ‘status’?

1. Ascribed Status – social status based on limited choice

2. Achieved Status – Social status based on choices or achievement

What are the two types of statuses?

• occupy subordinate (lower) positions within a social hierarchy

• These groups typically have inferior power and less secure access to resources than majority groups

What are ‘minority groups’?

1. No one is actually white, black, or yellow 

2. If we attempt to classify by combining traits… We still have difficulties – which are we combining, how many combinations are there ?

3. Assumption is that there is genetic material that is shared and endured for some time

• BUT phenotypes may change due to environment changes, not genetic changes

• Biological similarity does not indicate recent common ancestry

What are the three objections to phenotype use for classification?

• ‘natural sunscreen’ produced by skin cells responsible for pigmentation

• Manufactured in the epidermis (outer skin layer)

• Screens out UV rays, providing protection from the sun

• This can effect health – rickets and folate acid production

What is ‘melanin’?

• Descent – social identity based on ancestry

• Hypodescent – children of mixed unions assigned to the same group as their minority parent

• This divided people into groups with unequal access to wealth, power and prestige

What are two social classifications of race in the United States?

• the belief that a perceived racial difference is a sufficient reason to value one person less than another

• Regards ethnic groups as having a biological basis – despite no evidence that they do

What is ‘intrinsic racism’?

• Nation: a society that shares a language, religion, history, territory, ancestry and kinship

• State: a society with a central government, administrative specialization and social classes

• Nation-State: an autonomous political entity; a country

What is the difference between a nation, a state, and a nation-state?

the political, social, economic and cultural domination of a territory and its people by a foreign power for an extended time

What is ‘colonialism’?

• the absorption of minorities within a dominant culture

• Immigrant group adopts the patterns and norms of its host culture

What is ‘assimilation’?

a society with economically independent ethnic groups

What is a ‘plural society’?

the view of cultural diversity as valuable and worth maintaining

What is ‘multiculturalism’?

the idea of an association between ethnicity and the right to rule the United States

What is ‘ethno-nationalism’?

devaluing a group because of its assumed attributes

What is ‘prejudice’?

fixed ideas – often unfavorable – about what members of a group are like

What are ‘stereotypes’?

policies and practices that harm a group and its members

What is ‘discrimination’?