Anthropology first half

Sociocultural anthropology

A comparative approach to the study of societies and cultures that focus on differences and similarities in the ways that societies are structured and cultural meanings are created

Biological Anthropology

A sub discipline of anthropology that focuses on the evolution, function, and health of the human body and those of our closest primate ancestors

Archaeology

The branch of anthropology that studies human history and its artifacts. Archaeologists typically look at the material remains of human groups in order to learn how people lived

Linguistic Anthropology

A study of the relationship between language and culture. Linguistic anthropologists explore how people use language both in a physical sense with regard to how communication is structured and in a historical sense.

Society

The social structures and organization of a group comprised of people who share a territory and culture

Culture

The system of meanings about the nature of experience that are shared by a people and passed on from one generation to another, including the meanings that people give to things, events, activities, and people

Anthropology

The study of humans, both past and present. To uncover why a group of people do what they do

The anthropological subcategories for study

• Sociocultural

• Biological

• Linguistic

• Archaeology

Ethnocentric fallacy

The mistaken notion that the beliefs and behaviours of other cultures can be judged from the perspective of one’s own culture

Ethnocentrism

The tendency to judge the beliefs and behaviours of other cultures from the perspective of one’s own culture

Cultural relativism

The effort to understand the beliefs and behaviours of other cultures in terms of the culture in which they are found.

Forensic anthro

The study of human remains for identification and cause of death

Paleoanthropology

The study of humans fossil remains

Primatology

The study of our closest non-human relatives

Relativistic fallacy

The idea that it is impossible to make moral judgments about the beliefs and behaviours of members of other cultures

Critical cultural relativism

An alternative perspective on cultural relativism that poses questions about cultural beliefs and practices in terms of who accepts them and why, who they might be disproportionately harming and benefiting, and the cultural power dynamics that enable them

Cultural text

A way of thinking about culture as a text of Significant symbols, such as words, gestures, drawing and natural objects of all which carry meaning

Applied anthropology

The sub-discipline of anthropology that specializes in putting anthropological knowledge into practice outside academia

Ethnographic fieldwork

A research method in which sociocultural anthropologists have intensive, long term engagements with a group of people. It may involve the use of both qualitative and quantitative methods, including interviews, participant observation, and survey based research

Qualitative research

Research methods that aim to explore rather than measure various phenomena, often through forms of observation such as interviews, focus groups , and direst participant observations

Quantitative research

Research methods that involve the generation of statistical data, examples include surveys and censuses

Rapport

A feeling of affinity friendship and responsibility between an anthropologist and an informant. it is often developed through the use of long-term ethnographic fieldwork

emic perspective

Traditionally refers to a insiders perspective. The goal of most fieldwork is to employ cultural relativism to understand an issue or perspective from the point of view of one’s informant.

Etic perspective

Refers to the analysis of an aspect of culture, using comparative categories, explanations and interpretation from the perspective of an outside observer

Representation

The way in which a group of people is depicted in writing or through images. Anthropologists are increasingly conscious of the fact that when they write about a group of people, they are constructing particular presentations that may have a positive or negative long-term effect on a group of people.

Armchair anthropology

Refers to an approach to the study of various societies that dominated anthropology in the late 1800s. It involve the collection study and analysis of the writings of missionaries explorers and colonists Who had sustained contact with non-western peoples. Armchair, anthropology use these documents to make comparisons and generalization about the ways of life of various groups.

Participant observation

An element of fieldwork that can involve participating in daily tasks and observing daily interactions among a particular group

Ethnography

A written description and analysis of a particular group of people usually based upon Anthropological fieldwork

Salvage anthropology

An approach to anthropology that arose in the late 1800s when anthropologist witnessed the extinction or assimilation of indigenous peoples throughout the world

Multi-sited fieldwork

The term coined by George Marcus in 1995 referring to the process of connecting localized experiences of fieldwork with broader global processes. It necessitates understanding various issues from multiple sites or perspectives.

Culture shock

Refers to a feeling of disorientation in the initial stages of fieldwork when an anthropologist is adjusting to a new language, beliefs, food, or even climate

Informed consent

The ongoing process of ensuring that research participants understand the goals methods and potential outcomes of the research process and give permission for the researcher to conduct said Research

Essentialism

The act of creating generalizations or stereotypes about the behaviour or culture of a group of people

Culture change

The changes in meanings that people ascribe to experience and changes in their way of life

Bands

A term used by anthropologist to refer to egalitarian units of social organization found mostly among forger. These units usually consist of fewer than 100 people.

Foragers

A term used by anthropologist to refer to societies that make their livelihood through gathering plants hunting and fishing

Sedentary

Referring to the practice of living in permanent or semi permanent settlements

Clans

Unlineal descent groups, whose members claimed descent from a common ancestor

States

forms of society characterized by a hierarchical of people and centralized political control

Irrigation agriculture

A form of cultivation in which water is used to deliver nutrients to growing plants

Natural selection

Refers to Darwin’s idea that the survival of different species of organisms is partly contingent upon how well adapted they are to their physical environments those with favourable physical traits are more likely to survive to reproduce

Unlineal evolution

A late 19th century theory of social evolution, which positive that all societies go through a series of standardized stages of change

Population density

The number of people in the given geographic area

Colonialism

Refers to the accusation of new territories throughout the world by European powers from 1492 until approximately 1945. Colonizers often impose, new forms of politics, economics and religion upon colonized, indigenous or other cultures and are frequently exploited local populations for their labor.

World bank

One of the institutions created at the 1944 Britain Woods, New Hampshire, meeting Of allied nations. The world bank functions as a lending institution to nations largely for projects related to economic development.

Worldview

An encompassing picture of reality based on shared cultural assumptions about how the world works

Totemism

The use of a symbol, generally an animal or a plant as a physical representation for a group generally a plan