ANTH FINAL

Environmental Anthropology

Studies how different cultures understand, interact with, and make changes to the environment, Need to understand people’s ideas about the environment in order to understand their behavior within it

Adaptationalist paradigm

A concept from the mid-20th century that explores how culture helps humans adapt to various terrestrial habitats.

Ecological footprint

The impact individuals or populations have on the environment, varying based on location and lifestyle.

Anthropocene

The current geological period defined by human activities' effects on the environment and the earth's atmosphere.

Foodways

Cultural beliefs and rules governing the procurement, preparation, and consumption of food.

Food Democracy

Ensuring secure access to culturally appropriate, sustainable, and healthy food for all citizens.

Cultural Food Colonialism

The practice of dominant cultures appropriating foods from economically dominated cultures.

Religion

A system of beliefs and practices related to sacred things that unite people into a community.

Rites of Passage

Ceremonies marking transitions between life stages or statuses, such as graduations or weddings. (A ceremony designed to transition individuals between life stages)

Collective Effervescence

Energy experienced during religious rituals when a crowd shares similar emotions and actions.

Study of Livelihoods

Focuses on how humans work to obtain material necessities like food, clothing, and shelter essential for sustaining life.

Economic Anthropology vs

Contrasts how decisions are made; Economics based on rationality and self-interest, while Anthropology considers social, cultural, political, and institutional factors.

Modes of Production

Refers to the social relations through which human labor transforms energy from nature using tools, skills, organization, and knowledge.

Moral Economy

Involves customs, cultural values, beliefs, and social pressure influencing economic behavior.

Modes of Exchange

Ways of distributing goods based on economic and social relations, including Market Exchange, Reciprocity, and Redistribution.

Money

Symbolic and political tool shaping economic relations, used for exchange, storing wealth, and assigning values.

Consumption

Involves behaviors connecting economic activities with cultural symbols, such as buying, eating, or using goods/services.

Occupation

Defined as "embodied habitation," creating a relationship between oneself and a place through interactions and practices.

Political Economy

Contextualizes economic relations within state structures, political processes, social structures, and cultural values.

Media Ideologies

Beliefs about communicative technologies shaping how users and designers perceive media structure and meaning.

Social Media

Platforms that enable communication between various audience sizes and degrees of privacy, seen as a place where people spend time and connect with others.

Gender Relations

Altered by social media, especially in conservative societies, allowing contact between young men and women and the expression of non-normative gender ideologies and sexual orientations.

Polymedia

The concept that the significance of each social media platform is understood in relation to others, influencing social and moral judgments based on platform choice.

Memes

Used to morally police online behavior, conveying serious or humorous messages that assert values and critique others.

Globalization

Involves the fast movement of goods, ideas, and people worldwide, shaping local events and linking distant localities.

Development Anthropology

Focuses on guiding development projects beneficial for both local communities and external agencies, aiming to improve material conditions while maintaining diversity.

Appadurai's Scapes

Include Ethnoscapes (movements of people), Ideoscapes (movements of belief systems), Mediascapes (movements of media), Technoscapes (movements of technologies), and Financescapes (movements of capital).

Cultural Convergence

Theories suggesting the fading of local traditions as Western ideas spread, exemplified by "McDonaldization" and "Coca-Colonization."

Hybridization Theory

Proposes that cultures mix, creating diverse cultural expressions, challenging the idea of complete cultural convergence.

Applied Anthropology

Focuses on practical problem-solving, separate from academic anthropology, originating from the UK and the US in various contexts, with ethical considerations regarding its impact and biases.

Applied Anthropology

Anthropological practice that involves addressing real-world issues, working with clients, influencing public opinion and policy, and providing assistance.

Roles of Applied Anthropologists

Include policy researcher, evaluator, impact assessor, needs assessor, planner, research analyst, advocate, trainer, culture broker, expert witness, public participation specialist, administrator/manager, change agent, and therapist.

Development Projects

Structured interventions aimed at economic and social change, often designed top-down with little local consultation, involving staged activities from identification to evaluation.

Critiques of Applied Anthropology

Focus on concerns about quality, objectivity, ethical integrity, and opportunism in research for companies and governments.

Action Anthropology

Approach emphasizing simultaneous pursuit of theoretical knowledge and community responsibility, aiming to solve problems while learning, and sharing research findings with both academics and the studied community.

Public Anthropology

Approach involving sharing anthropological insights with a broad audience, addressing social issues relevant to academic debates and the general public.