Cultural Anthropology Mid Term

Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis

The structure of language influences how speakers think about the world.

Field Work and Participant Observation

When anthropologists live and interact with the people they are studying.

Icon, Index, Symbols

Icon: Looks like what it’s meant to represent (bathroom sign)

Index: A direct connection (smoke=fire)

Symbol: Culturally agreed upon (traffic light)

Ethnography

Research method of hands on interaction and observation of a culture.

Agency

Making your own choices despite culture or society

Discourse

A shared set of ideas and conversations that shape how people understand a topic

Identity Politics:

When people organize or act politically based on a shared social category

Synchronic

Studying a culture or society at a set point of time

Syntax and Semantics

Syntax: The study of rules and patterns used to put words and phrases together

Semantics: The meaning behind those words or phrases

Cultural Relativism

The practice of understanding a societies beliefs from their perspective

Extensive Agriculture

A way of getting food that uses large amounts of land with little labor and letting land rest naturally

Redistribution

When goods and resources are brought to a central authority and then reorganized and given back to the society.

Herbert Blumer three premises

1. Action based on meaning (the way people act based on a preconceived meaning)

2. Socially derived meaning (meaning derived from a social interaction)

3. Interpretative process (meanings are modified through active interactions)

Invisible Pioneers impact on Native Americans, New Englanders, Mexico, and Great Plains

Native Americans: Did not believe you owned an animal until you killed it

New Englanders: Let livestock roam and they would destroy meadows

Native Americans would kill the cattle as they saw it roam and led to passed laws to protect cattle and land

Mexico: Cattle prevented a key Native American resource of corn

The Great Plains: Domestic cattle replaced bison and antelope

James Spradley Three Fundamentals of Culture

-What people do

-What people know

-What people make/use

Two levels of Cultural Knowledge and Consciousness

Explicit Culture: Can be communicated with ease (tip of iceberg)

Tacit culture: Outside our awareness (the bottom of iceberg, what you don’t think about everyday)