Anthropology Unit Test Review - HSP3U1

Anthropology

The scientific study of humans, including their origins, behaviours, and physical, social, and cultural development

Psychology

The scientific study of the human mind, mental states, and human behaviour

Sociology

The scientific study of humans social behaviour, including individuals, groups, and society

Yanomami and Napoleon Chagnon

What is culture?

shared system of beliefs, values, and traditions

Cultural Anthropology

study of cultural variation

• immerse in cultures

• interviews

Ethnology

study of comparisons between cultures

• immerse themselves into a culture to take notes

Linguistic Anthropology

study of history and structure of language

Archaeology

study of physical remains of past cultures

Research tools for cultural anthropologists

participant observation, interivews

Informants

advantages - access to inside info.

disadvantages - not always trusted (reliability/credibility)

Structured Interviews

advantages - gets set answers, no training needed

disadvantages - not flexible to change in convo

Semi-structured Interviews

advantages - flexible but on topic with set questions

disadvantages - different answers can be difficult to compare

Unstructured Interviews

advantages - very flexible to adapt questions, good for broad interest

disadvantages - may stray off topic, no control, difficult to analyze

Participant Observation

advantages - gain deep understanding of cultures

disadvantages - presence may change results, bias, time

Ethnology Method

kinship, participant observation, ethnography

Ethnography

descriptions of cultural customs found by anthropologists

Subjective

observations based on feelings, opinions, or biases

Objective

observations that are pure facts, not interfered with by emotion or bias

Reflexivity

reflecting on your own beliefs, biases, and emotions and understanding how they may affect views on the world

Margaret Mead and Derek Freeman

ethnologists who both studied the same tribe years apart and found different conclusions:

Margaret said that girls were not pressured and feet free with sexuality

Derek said margarets conclusins were wrong because she was a stranger asking personal questions so they lied

Schools of Thought

Theories to make sense of evidence gathered:

Cultural Relativism

Functional Theory

Cultural Materialism

Feminist Anthropology

Postmodernism

Cultural Relativism

Main Concepts: An anthropologist cannot compare two cultures because each culture has its own internal rules that must be accepted - everyone sees cultures through the lens of their own

Key Terms: Ethnocentric - Believing ones culture is superior to others

Key Anthropologists: Franz Boas - promoted it

Real World Example: If you were born and raised in the US, your views on Canada would be different than Canadians

Functional Theory

Main Concepts: Every belief, action, and relationship in a culture functions to meet the needs of individuals

• importance of interdependance

• meet needs of individuals = success

Key Terms: Interdependance - everyone depends on eachother

Key Anthropologists: Bronislaw Malinowski - cultures can be compared but cultural evolutionism is bad

Real World Example: Tobriand Islands - ceremonial exchange of necklaces and armbands allow social interaction, other trades, and builds relationships

Cultural Materialism

Main Concepts: Materials or conditions within the environment influence how a culture develops, and how their ideas and ideology develops

• if something isnt valuable, it dissappears

Key Terms: Infastructure - material resources

Structure - societys social systems

Superstructure - societys ideas. values, symbols, religion

Key Anthropologists: Marvin Harris - 1960s

Real World Example: Sacred cow - cows shouldne be eaten because they’re good for pulling in farms

Feminist Anthropology

Main Concepts: Ensure female voices are heard and included in research

Key Terms: Culturally constructed - created or shaped by culture

Key Anthropologists: Ernestine Friedl -freedom of women depended on their contributions to food supply (main food berries or meat)

Real World Example: Forager societies where women bring home more food than men

Postmodernism

Main Concepts: It is impossible to have any true knowledge about the world because we cant study subjects in a detached, objective way because of personal relationships

Key Terms: Subculture - small group within a large group

Key Anthropologists: Sam Dunn (music study)

Real World Example: Subculture of heavy metal fans

Historical Linguistics

What questions are asked? - how are different languages related and what does this tell us about past humans?

Challenges: lack of records (lost languages), lang. constantly changes

Purpose of Studying: what can language tell us about past humans?

Key Findings: lang. evolves, connections btwn cultures

Structural Linguistics

What questions are asked? - rules of lang?, how is lang structured?

Challenges: constantly changing, unconcious rules, slang, no direct translations

Purpose of Studying: analyze how humans connumicate, find patterns in lang.

Key Findings: all lang. have rules

Sociolinguistics

What questions are asked? - how is lang. different through social groups (age, class, gender, ethnicity), formal vs informal

Challenges: social factors constantly change, biases

Purpose of Studying: understand how lang represents social status/relationships

Key Findings:language changes depending on social factors, people adjust lang. based on context

Evolution

how things change and adapt to the environment over time

Three Sub-disciplines of Physical Anthropology

paleoanthropology, primatology, human variation

Map of Africa

Human Evolution Timeline

Paleanthropology

study fossils, skeletons, ancient tools, animal bones…

Hominins

human-like ancestors that lived with humans

Fossils

cool rocks :)

LUCY

skeleton from 3.2 million years ago

found by Donald Johanson - 1974

Ethiopia

SELAM

3yr old female fossil

most complete to date

2006

ethiopia

Charles Darwin

species are forced to evolve or become extinct - natural selection

this helped people accept evolution as a fact

first humans were in africa

Natural Selection

those who changed to fit the environment survived, while those who didnt went extinct

Raymond Dart

found a skull in africa in 1924 to prove humans began in africa

Louis and Mary Leakey

proved african origin with radiometric dating in 1959

Radiometric Dating

finding the age of a fossil

Bipedalism

habitually walking on two legs

began 3.6 million years ago

Laetoli Footprints

foundy by mary leakey

proved bipedalism - shape of feet

in tanzania

Primatology

study of primates

Similarities between primates and humans

bond between mothers and infants is important for survival

primates have longest infant dependency

primates have dominance heiarchies 

agression among males for food and females

body language

similar body parts

groom one another

Differences between primates and humans

humans adapted to bipedalism

humans have longer infant dependency

symbolic language and physical ability of speech in humans

humans live in groups and mate in pairs

humans develop beliefs that guide their actions

Human Variation

study of genetic differences between people and populations

Three Principles of Natural Selection

variation - every species has variety

heritability - traits are passed on to offspring

environmental fitness - better adapted=stronger=more offspring=pass on strong traits

Race vs Culture

someone behaviour or personality is based on their culture. NOT race

Social Science

The study of society and social behaviour

Kinship

a relationship by blood (culturally defined relationships)