ANTH 210 Exam #3 Final (TAMU)

Worldview

-Ways cultures make sense of the world

-Learned during socialization process

-Shared assumptions of reality

-Not easily verbalized

-Part of socialization

Religion

-Set of attitudes, beliefs, and practices to supernatural power

-It's a specific worldview

Functions of Religion

-Provides an orderly model of the universe

-Reduces fears and anxieties

-Provides a way of dealing with crises

-Binds people together through group ritual

-Educates and initiates the young into societies

-Provides a moral code

Supernatural

Not human, not subject to the laws of nature

Myth

-Sacred stories for explanations and reinforcing norms

-Explanations for unknown

-Reduces fear and anxiety about life/ death

-Morals of conduct

Ritual

-Patterned, repeated, predictable action

-May be secular or religious

-Performed to emphasize some fact, desire, or belief

-To transform or influence the feelings or beliefs of those participating

-To re-signify social relationships

Rites of passage

-Rituals that mark the transition between developmental stages, especially between childhood and adulthood

-Can be one of the means through which a person relates to the supernatural

Rites of intensification

-Communal rituals celebrated at various points in the yearly cycle

-Encourage solidarity by uniting people in common effort to overcome/ face up to problems/ danger (Rain dance)

-Rites which reaffirm a status in society (Christian confirmation)

Monotheism vs. polytheism

-Monotheism- belief in one god/ goddess

-Polytheism- belief in several gods/ goddesses

Animism

-Inanimate objects possess spirits or souls

-Nature is animated by impersonal spiritual power (mana)/ personalized spirit beings (fairies)

-The attribution of a soul to plants, inanimate objects, and natural phenomena

-Mana (a force inherent to all objects, plants, and animals (including people) to different degrees)

Shaman

-Tribal religious figure usually serves as the intermediary between people and the spirits

-Direct contact, usually in trance-like state

-Power is acquired individually, usually in physical and/or mental solitude and isolation from others

-Not part of an organized religion

-Essentially a religious entrepreneur who acts for human clients

-Ex- curing illness, discovering cause of unexpected death

Magic

-Application of supernatural powers for good or evil purposes

-Imitative magic (Voodoo dolls and effigies)

-Contagious magic (Rosary blessed by the pope)

Witchcraft

-Explanation of events based on belief that certain individuals possess power capable of causing harm

-A witch differs from a sorcerer in that they do not use physical tools or actions to curse

-Perceived as extending from some intangible inner quality

-Sometimes involuntary

-Ex- Azande witchcraft

Ecclesiastical religion

-Generally no separation between state and religion

-Ex- China, Greece, Rome, Egypt, and Aztec

-Religion in agricultural states

Universalistic religion

-Religious traditions in which spiritual associations are thought to apply to all people, regardless of cultural affiliation

-Ex- Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, and Buddhism

-Religion in agricultural states

Globalization

-An ongoing phenomenon in which interactions between people across the world are becoming easier

-More contact

-More rapid pace

-Not a new concept- we have always had contact, but intensity and pace of globalization has changed

Colonialism

-The control of one society by another, usually by military force

-Results in domination in politics, culture/ society, economy, ect.

-Ex- areas that were under European colonial control by 1914

-One example of globalization

Neocolonialism

-The geopolitical practice of using capitalism, business globalization, and cultural imperialism to influence a country

-Certain countries meddling in affairs of other countries through indirect means (ex- indirect political influence) and leveraging structural inequalities of the established global economic system

-Shift from military/political dominance to cultural/economic dominance (i.e. heavily economically dependent on the colonizing countries) = transition to neocolonialism

Capitalism

-An economic system based on private ownership of capital

-The system actually survives on neocolonial and imperial exploitation

-Draws wealth from these previously colonized countries

-Takes resources, pays cheaply for labor and exploits (slave labor, child labor, ect.)

Imperialism

-A policy in which a nation seeks to dominate other countries politically, socially, and economically

-Influence from afar

Time-space compression

-The decreasing of space between people and ideas in the last 200 years

-Important when considering changes in cultures and structure, especially transit and value production

-Time and space were first compressed when trains began to drive through human geography

-Speed and quality of communication has increased (Transportation, phones, internet, and social media)

-The rapid innovation of communication and transportation technologies associated with globalization that transforms the way people think about space and time

Human migration

-Movement of people and ideas

-Globalization is also a social process

Cultural diffusion

-Diffusion of cultural traits and ideas

-Incorporated based on local culture and customs

-Ex- Coca-Cola and KFC in Japan

Medical anthropology /Critical medical anthropology

-Study of how health and illness are shaped, experienced, and understood in light of global, historical, and political forces

-20th century- documenting and cataloguing healing practices and health systems around the world

-Key findings- beliefs and practices are intertwined with the way local cultures imagine the world works and the relationship of the body to one's surroundings

Health

The complete physical, mental, and social well-being

Disease

-A discrete, natural entity that can be clinically identified and treated by a health professional

-Genetic, infection by bacteria, virus, or parasites, ect.

-Causes will always be the same for that illness regardless of location or cultural context

-Causes symptoms

Illness

-The patient's experience of being unwell; culturally-defined understanding of disease

-Culture gives meaning to disease by shaping experiences of illness, pain, suffering, dying, and death

-Culturally viewed way of how the individual experiences being sick

Sickness

-Public expression of illness and disease, including social expectations about how one should behave and how others will respond

-Ex- having a cold or flu

-Released from obligations (work or school)

-But, requires patient to perform a certain "sick role" in order to receive social support

-Cultural too but how others respond and how u act

Personalistic health systems

-Illness due to acts or wishes of other people or supernatural beings and forces (no accidents)

-Much of non-western world has traditionally accepted personalistic explanations for illness

-Intrusion of foreign objects into the body by supernatural means

-Spirit possessions, loss, or damage and bewitching

-Causes/ cures sought through natural and supernatural

Naturalistic health systems

-Western world mainly relies on this

-Assumes illness is entirely due to impersonal, mechanistic causes in nature (Organic breakdown, obstruction, trauma, imbalance, malnutrition, parasites, ect.)

-Can be potentially understood/ cured through use of the scientific method

-Healing experience also impersonal- matter-of-fact

Ethnomedicine

-Local systems of health and healing rooted in culturally specific norms and values

-Ex- Amchi healers

Amchi healers

-Traditional healers with practices deeply rooted in Tibetan Buddhism

-Goal- Bodily and spiritual balance between individual and universe

-Diagnose ailments by asking questions, examining bodily wastes, and taking pulse

-Treatments include changes in diet and behavior (social & religious)

-Natural medicines from local plants/minerals

-Many prescribed treatments are effective

-Do not perform surgery- patients needing surgery transported to doctor trained in Western biomedicine

-Practices under threat

-Ladakh region ("little Tibet") of northern India

Biomedicine

-A practice, often associated with western medicine, that seeks to apply the principles of natural sciences to the practice of diagnosing disease and promoting healing

-Encompasses wide range of treatment practices

-Medication, surgery, and other invasive treatments

-Biomedicine varies (U.S. emphasizes most extreme treatments while Germany is less extreme)

-Rooted in particular knowledge system (European enlightenment values- rationality, individualism, and progress)

Disparity/Inequity

-Disparity- difference in health status rates between population groups

-Inequity- disparity due to differences in social, economic, environmental, or healthcare resources

Tuskegee syphilis study

-Research study conducted by a branch of the U.S. government, lasting for roughly 50 years (ending in the 1970s), which followed the progression of syphilis in hundreds of African American men in Tuskegee, Alabama, without providing them with a known cure for the disease/ left untreated to learn about the lifetime course of the disease

-Poor provider-patient communication

-Patient mistrust

-Stereotyping and bias

-Men were misinformed/misled; never provided informed consent

-1973- Class-action lawsuit

Medical migration

-The movement of diseases, medical treatments, and entire health care systems, as well as those seeking medical care, across national borders

-Diseases migrate on global scale- HIV/AIDS, COVID-19, ect. Know no national boundaries

-Senior citizens travel on tourist visas to impoverished countries to receive organ transplants

-The poor travel without documents to wealthy countries to receive basic health care

-Many medical travelers search for alternative cures outside the world of biomedicine, including Chinese or Indian treatments for chronic ailments such as cancer or diabetes

Medical pluralism

-The intersection of multiple cultural approaches to healing

-Often creates tensions, especially between western biomedicine and other cultural patterns

-Also provides opportunities for additional/ complementary choices to emerge

-Ex- Hmong and U.S. Healthcare Systems

Illness narratives

-The personal stories that people tell to explain their illnesses

-Reveal psychological, social, and cultural aspects that give illnesses context and meaning which is crucial

Roles of food

-Food as identity (Food preferences are personally and culturally meaningful)

-Food as survival (Biological and economic necessity)

-Food as status (Access to food and

demonstration/Performativity)

-Food as pleasure (How cultures savor food)

-Food as community (Daily iftar in Arab cultures)

-Food as humanity (Where culture and ecology intersect and basic nutritional needs are universal)

Biocultural framework (for studying nutrition/diet)

-Focuses on modern human pops and how tech, social organization, and ideology related to food production, distribution, and consumption create sets of interacting phenomena that influence diet

-Can't study diet by its own (can't detach diet from sociocultural factors)

Nutritional status

-Unit of analysis is individual

-Humans have basic nutritional requirements, but amounts will vary based on individual factors

-One component of diet, but as will see, diet is multifaceted

Diet

-The actual foods that individuals or groups consume to meet their nutrient needs

-Influenced by socioeconomic environment, physical environment, and sociocultural environment

Cuisine

-The foods, food preparation techniques, and taste preferences that are shared by the members of a group of people

-Diet is nested within cuisine because a set of preferred preparation techniques and dishes that characterized a particular culture group can impact the diets of individual members

-However, people also eat novel foods or deviate from the group's preferences

-Influenced by the sociocultural, physical, and socioeconomic environments in which they develop

-Each nation/ culture can have several cuisines (ex- regionally distinct, influenced by religion, ect.)

Food system

-Chain of interconnected activities that take place in order to get food from the environment and into the homes of people

-Includes logistical aspects

-Also includes the knowledge and customs surrounding food and food consumption

-If change occurs in one component, the others must change in order for the system to maintain balance

Food desert

-Region where people have limited access to healthful and affordable food

-May be the result of low incomes (can't afford healthful foods)

-May be the result of geography (having to travel far to find healthful food)

-Rural areas West, Midwest, and South much more likely to be food deserts than rural areas Northeast (perhaps because rural areas in N.E. tend to be closer to urban areas)

-Without access to healthful foods, people may be at higher risks of conditions such as obesity, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, nutritional deficiencies, ect., as well as difficult relationships with food

Diet culture

-Diet culture rooted in systems of oppression (patriarchy and white supremacy) that define a very narrow standard of beauty

-Based on the (extremely false) core belief that some bodies are inherently better than others

-Diet culture narrative- if we want to be more desirable/ worthy/ good, we should make our bodies smaller by dieting- completely BS

-Since dieting is a vicious, ineffective cycle, they perpetually profit off of the same consumers

-Diets can negatively affect mental and physical health

Expressive culture

-Manifestation of human creativity

-Dance, music/song, drawings, paintings, sculptures, poetry, fabric work, storytelling, drama, comedy, ect.

-Expressive culture is universal

Propaganda & commercialism

-Propaganda- art used to subtly influence popular conceptions or mood

-Commercialism- art tries to sell a product

-In both cases, the function of art is to subtly manipulate the viewer into a particular emotional/ psychological response toward a particular idea or object

Ethnomusicology

-The comparative study of the musics of the world as an aspect of culture and society

-Draws from musicology and anthropology

-Musicology- study and analyze music itself and instruments

-Anthropology-Examine specific sociocultural features that influence how music is created and performed and explore cultural elements

Examples of early art

-75,000 year old shells w/ holes in them from Blombos Cave, South Africa

-35,000 year old flute from Germany

-25-30,000 year old Venus figurines from Willendorf, Austria

-17,000 year old paintings from Lascaux cave, France

Goals/functions of art

-Personal Expression

-Art as Entertainment

-Art as Propaganda/ Commercialism

-Art as Healing

Media

A set of techs that connect multiple people at one time to shared content

Media Anthropology

The study of mass communication (broadcast radio and T.V.) and digital media (internet, streaming, and mobile phones) with a particular interest in the ways in which media is designed or adapted for specific communities or cultural groups

Media Practices

Habits or behaviors of people who produce media, audiences, who interact with media, and everyone in between

Media meaning

-Ideas or values that accompany the exchange of information

-There is no universal way of consuming media

-Methods- Media anthropology differs from other fields that study media/meaning by focusing on how producers/audiences share or contest different types of meaning

-Product- Ethnographies that describe how producers seek to arouse a particular set of feelings in viewers and how viewers give feedback to producers

Mass communication

-The process of sending a message to many people in a way that allows the sender complete control over the content of a message (though not complete control over the meaning)

-One-to-many communication; privileges the sender and/or owner of the technology transmitting the media

-Typically broadcast on widely available channels

Digital media

-More personalized than mass media

-Many-to-many communication using digital signals

-Digital media has created a space for anthropologists to think critically about the transformation of mass media and people's relationships with it

Media infrastructure

Media infrastructure refers to technologies that allow for the movement of information (e.g. pipes, people, values, electricity, etc.)

Mechanical infrastructure

Apparatuses that bring networks of technology into existence

Cultural infrastructure

Values and beliefs of communities, states, and/or societies that make the imagining of a particular type of network possible

Indigenous media

-Media produced by/for indigenous communities often outside of the mainstream commercial market

-Local communities able to use media for cultural expression thanks to portable recording technologies, televisual production, and copy-making technologies

Anthropocene

-Term used to describe the period in geological time in which the effects of human activities have altered the fundamental geochemical cycles of the earth as a result of human activities

-Our climate (winds, precipitation, weather, temperatures, etc.) is being modified by the collective impact of the human species

Role of anthropologists (in the context of environmental studies in general)

-Anthropologists are qualified to provide insight into key components of current environmental crises by:

1) Determining rationale behind human decisions

2) Bridging the social and natural sciences

3) Assessing cultural universals vs. particularities

-Anthropologists can make important contributions to geology, chemistry, and meteorology by considering the effects of humans and their cultural systems

Examples of human-environment interactions - past or present

-Neolithic revolution- Shaping landscape by cultivating plans, planting/irrigating crops, and domesticating plants/animals

-Expansions/ contractions of glaciers associated w/ ice ages facilitating dispersal of Homo sapiens

-Mayan cities- •Found that deforestation associated w/ expanding population around the Mayan city of Copan was one of the factors that led to city's decline

-Sugar cane plantations in the Caribbean- Demonstrates relationship between environment, culture, and economy

Cultural ecology

-Subfield of cultural anthropology that explores relationship between human cultural beliefs/practices and ecosystems in which they occur

-Built on concept of cultural evolution (i.e. cultures evolve over time and progress from simple-complex)

-Described how cultures evolved through ability to use energy (domesticating plants and animals, capturing energy stored in fossil fuels, developed nuclear power, etc.)

-Believed human cultural evolution best understood as process of increasing control over the natural environment (through technological progress)

Materialism

Marxist concept that stressed ways in which human social/cultural practices were influenced by subsistence/ economic needs

Processual archaeology

-Scientific approach from 1960s that focused on relationships between past societies and their ecological systems

-An approach that stresses the dynamic relationship between social and economic aspects of culture and the environment as the basis for understanding the processes of culture change

Ethnoecology/ethnobotany

-Study of the use and knowledge of plants, animals, and ecosystems by traditional societies

-Because they depended heavily on natural world for food, medicine, and shelter, ethnoecological knowledge = crucial for survival

-Ethnobotany- branch of ethnoecology (& cultural anthropology) which studies traditional usage of plants for food, shelter, crafts, medicine, etc.

-Ethnobotanists have traveled to remote areas to document knowledge of shamans, healers, and traditional medical experts

"Slash & burn" vs "swidden" cultivation

-Indigenous practice in which small-scale farmers (mostly in tropical developing countries) cut down forest, let wood dry for a few weeks, then burn it to clear land for cultivation

-Swidden cultivation- term used to describe sustainable practice since "slash-and-burn" has connotation of being highly destructive

Myth of the Noble Savage

Tendency to view primitive peoples as closely connected to / defenders of the exotic and vibrant natural world (having a connection with nature)

-Perceived indigenous groups as "simple" people living in a state of innocence

-Positive connotations, but extremely oversimplistic & treats indigenous groups as "others"

-The interpretation of indigenous environmentalism may be a projection of Western ideals onto another culture rather than legitimate observation about that culture

Political ecology

-Emphasize importance of examining environmental questions that appear to be strictly scientific (i.e. apolitical)

-By focusing on power dynamics in political dimensions of conservation (esp. in developing world), political ecologists explore why conservation efforts often fail to achieve desired outcomes

-Questions the objectivity of science

-One can't detach social and political aspects of science/ the environment

Environmental justice / eco-justice

-Many environmental justice advocates are anthropologists and political ecologists

-Examine environmental questions from perspective of social equality by exploring how risks/impacts associated w/ environmental damage disproportionately affect socially marginalized groups

-Explores connection between ecocide (environmental destruction) & ethnocide (cultural destruction)

-In many indigenous communities, cultural activities/beliefs connected to specific landscapes and ecologies

Cultural resource management

-A branch of archaeology concerned with survey and/or excavation of archaeological and historical remains that might be threatened by construction or development; also involved with policy surrounding protection of cultural resources

-Growing field of anthropology / standard operating procedure in archaeology

-Catalogs & preserves archaeological sites and historic places threatened by development

-Recognizes need to preserve both "natural" ecosystems and those shaped by human activities

-Recognizes need for continuing involvement of indigenous communities w/ archaeological sites; seeks their input to inform management plans/practices

-Destruction of historic places and archaeological sites = form of environmental destruction (like climate change, species extinctions, etc.) that force us to examine underlying cultural values

Applied anthropology

-Application of anthropological data, perspectives, theory, and methods to identify, assess, and solve contemporary social problems

-Medical, environmental, historical preservation/ CRM, forensic, ect.

Stages of an applied project

-Consultation- asking community to determine what they perceive to be in need of change

-Collaboration- working with community members to design project to resolve problem

-Implementation- executing solution in a way that address problems while also protecting them from negative consequences

Ethical obligations / responsibilities

-Primary ethical obligation is to study subjects (community)

-Do no harm

-Disclosure of research goals, risks, ect.

-Obtain informed consent

-Respect dignity, integrity, well being, and privacy

Educational anthropology

-Study of how culture influences learning

-Applied educational anthropology seeks to understand how educational institutions can improve to meet the needs of students

Medical anthropology

-Study of how health and illness are shaped, experienced, and understood in logout of global, historical, and political forces

-Pulls from biological and cultural anthropology

-Applied medical anthropologists can serve as cultural interpreters between traditional and Western (biomedical) systems

Business anthropology

-Applying anthropological perspectives/ methods to business settings

-Plays key roles in the business world

-Ex- helping corporations develop culturally appropriate business strategies; facilitating cooperation with suppliers, business partners, or customers; promoting healthy working relationships among employees; increasing diversity and cultural awareness ect.

Media anthropology

-Telecommunication/ media companies hire anthropologists as consultants

-Use sociocultural theory and ethnographic methods to help create new technologies

-Tech companies hire anthropologists to work in AI, social media, and networked systems labs

-Use anthropological methods/theory to inform new developments in media technologies, communication and advertising strategies, and culturally-specific programming

Environmental anthropology

-Sustainability & public anthropology- Using anthropological perspectives to inform/engage in public policy decisions, land-use management, and advocacy for marginalized groups

-Environmental justice

-Applied anthropologists often work w/ conservation and development orgs to help them understand local cultures/practices while developing projects; later help w/ implementing projects

Development anthropology / "development"

-Application of anthropological perspectives to the multidisciplinary branch of development studies

-"Development" refers to social action made by diff agents in an attempt to modify the economic, technical, political, or/and social life of a given area (especially in impoverished and/or formerly colonized regions)

-Focus on international development and international aid

Urban anthropology

-Cross- cultural and ethnographic study of global urbanization and life in cities; heavily influenced by sociology

-Applied urban anthropology- application of these methods to solve contemporary issues related to city-life (ex- mental illness and addiction, poverty, homelessness, ect.)