the belief that one’s own culture or way of life is normal and natural; using one’s own culture to evaluate and judge the practices and ideals of others
New cards
2
ethnographic fieldwork
primary research strategy in cultural anthropology typically involving living and interacting with a community of people over an extended period to better understand their lives
New cards
3
four-field approach
the use of four interrelated disciplines to study humanity: archeology, physical anthropology, linguistic anthropology, and cultural anthropology
New cards
4
holism
the anthropological commitment to look at the whole picture of human life-culture, biology, history, and language- across space and time
New cards
5
physical anthropology
the study of humans from a biological perspective, particularly how they have evolved over time and adapted to their environments
New cards
6
primatology
study of living nonhuman primates as well as primate fossils to better understand human evolution and early human behavior
New cards
7
archeology
the investigation of the human past by means of excavating and analyzing artifacts
New cards
8
linguistic anthropology
study of human language in the past and the present
New cards
9
descriptive linguists
those who analyze languages and their component parts
New cards
10
historic linguists
those who study how language changes over time within a culture and how languages travel across cultures
New cards
11
sociolinguists
those who study language in its social and cultural contexts
New cards
12
cultural anthropology
the study of people’s communities, behaviors, beliefs, and institutions, including how people make meaning as they live, work, and play together
New cards
13
participant observation
a key anthropological research strategy involving both participation in and observation of the daily life of the people being studied
New cards
14
ethnology
the analysis and comparison of ethnographic data across cultures
New cards
15
globalization
the worldwide intensification of interactions and increased movement of money, people, goods, and ideas within and across national borders
New cards
16
time-space compression
the rapid innovation of communication and transportation technologies associated with globalization that transforms the way people think about space (distances) and times
New cards
17
flexible accumulation
the increasingly flexible strategies that corporations use to accumulate profits in an era of globalization, enabled by innovative communication and transportation technologies
New cards
18
increasing migration
the accelerated movement of people within and between countries
New cards
19
uneven development
the unequal distribution of the benefits of globalization
New cards
20
culture
A system of knowledge, beliefs, patterns of behavior, artifacts, and institutions that are created, learned, shared, and contested by a group of people
New cards
21
enculturation
the process of learning culture
New cards
22
norms
ideas or rules about how people should behave in particular situations or toward certain other people
New cards
23
values
fundamental beliefs about what is important, what makes a good life, and what is true, rights, and beautiful
New cards
24
symbol
anything that represents something else
New cards
25
mental maps of reality
cultural classifications of what kinds of people and things exist, and the assignment of meaning to those classifications
New cards
26
unilineal cultural evolution
theory proposed by 19th century anthropologists that all cultures naturally evolve through the same sequence of stages from simple to complex
New cards
27
historical particularism
the idea, attributed to Franz Boas, that cultures develop in specific ways because of their unique histories
New cards
28
diffusion
borrowing of cultural traits and patterns from other cultures
New cards
29
society
focus of early British anthropological research whose structure and function could be isolated and studied scientifically
New cards
30
structural functionalism
conceptual framework positing that each element of society serves a particular function to keep the entire system in equilibrium
New cards
31
interpretivist approach
a conceptual framework that sees culture primarily as a symbolic system of deep meaning
New cards
32
thick description
a research strategy that combines detailed description of cultural activity with an analysis of the layers of deep cultural meaning in which those activities are embedded
New cards
33
power
the ability or potential to bring about change through action or influence
New cards
34
stratification
uneven distribution of resources and privileges among participants in a group or culture
New cards
35
hegemony
the ability of a dominant group to create consent and agreement within a population without the use or threat of force
New cards
36
agency
the potential power of individuals and groups to contest cultural norms, values, mental maps of reality, symbols, institutions, and structures of power
New cards
37
salvage ethnography
Fieldwork strategy developed by Franz Boas to collect cultural, material, linguistic, and biological information about native American populations being devastated by the westward expansion of European settlers
New cards
38
cultural relativism
Understanding a group’s beliefs and practices within their own cultural context, without making judgements
New cards
39
participant observation
Key anthropological research strategy involving both participation in and observation of the daily life of the people being studied
New cards
40
reflexivity
A critical self-examination of the role the anthropologist plays and the awareness that one’s identity affects one’s fieldwork and theoretical analyses
New cards
41
quantitative data
statistical information about a community that can be measured and compared
New cards
42
qualitative data
descriptive data drawn from non statistical sources, including personal stories, interviews, life histories, and participant observation
New cards
43
rapport
Relationships of trust and familiarity with members of the community we study
New cards
44
Zeroes
Elements of a story of a picture that are not told or seen and yet offer key insight into issues that might be too sensitive to discuss or display publicly
New cards
45
Emic
An approach to gathering data that investigates how local people think and how they understand the world
New cards
46
Etic
Description of local behavior and beliefs from the anthropologist’s perspective in ways that can be compared across cultures
New cards
47
Polyvocality
Practice of using many different voices in ethnographic writing and research question development, allowing the reader to hear more directly from the people in the study