ANTH1220 Week 9-13

Marriage

Affects both affinal and consanguineal relationships. It transforms the state of the participants, stipulates degree of sexual access, perpetuates social patterns, creates relationships, and is symbolically marked. Some cultures use marriage to creatively emphasize particular social relationships. Example: Nuer woman-woman marriage and nuer ghost marriages.

Endogamy

Marriage within a defined social group

Exogamy

Marriage outside a defined social group

Neolocal

A pattern of residence after marriage, residence is in a place of their own choosing. Found in most western nations, including Canada and the US

Patrilocal

A pattern of residence after marriage, residence is with or near the husband’s father’s family. Most common in herding and farming societies. Found in China and Turkey

Matrilocal

A pattern of residence after marriage, residence is with or near the family in which the wife was raised. Most common in horticultural groups. Found in the Iroquois, Hopi, Tlingit, etc.

Avunculocal

A pattern of residence after marriage, residence is with the husband’s mother’s brother. Found in matrilineal societies. Found in Chamorros, Taino of Turks, and Caicos Islands.

Ambilocal

A pattern of residence after marriage, residence is first with the family of one spouse and later with the family of the other. Eventually they choose which family they want to affiliate with permanently. Found in the Mbuti, and the democratic republic of the Congo, etc.

Duolocal

A pattern of residence after marriage, residence is that each partner lives with his or her own lineage even after marriage. Seen where lineage membership is the most important societal aspect. Found in the Nayar, and Minangkabau in indonesia

Monogamy

When a person only has one spouse

Polygamy

When a person is allowed to have more than one spouse

Polygyny

When a man has more than one wife, in muslim societies, its usually a polygyny, they can take up to 4 wives

Polyandry

When a woman has more than one husband, rarer than polygyny

Polygynandry

When multiple males are married with multiple females, it’s complicated

Bridewealth

The transfer of goods from the family of the groom to the family of the bride

Dowry

The transfer of the bride’s share of the family wealth to the groom when she gets married. The womans share of inheritance

Whats the deal with dowry in India?

It has been illegal for many years in India due to abuses such as dowry violence

Family

Two or more people in an adaptable social and economic alliance that involves kinship

Household

A group of individuals who live in the same residence and share socioeconomic needs

Nuclear family

Two parents and their offspring living together. Only 25% of north americans currently live in such family

Extended family

When there are three or more generations are living together

Joint family

When a group of brothers and sisters live together with their children

Blended family

When any combination of a couple and their children, as well as children from previous marriages, and sometimes the children of these chidren are living together

Mende

An ethnic group from Sierra Leone who have a polygynous family/dynamic. They’re complex due to relationships between co-wives and half siblings

Ashanti

An ethnic group from Ghana where the most important male-female relationship is the brother-sister relationship

Families of choice

Intentional, non-biological kinship networks built on deep emotional bonds, mutual support, and love rather than legal or blood ties. They have evolved in many LGBTQ communities

What is the process of divorce of the Nuer?

Dissolving a marriage requires the return of the bridewealth cattle, prompting the wife's family to pressure her to remain in the marriage

What is the process of divorce of the Fulbe?

It is largely influenced by Islamic law to divorce, women often have to return the bridewealth

What are the grounds for divorce in Malawi?

Divorce is primarily granted based on fault-based grounds, including adultery, cruelty, and desertion

What are the grounds for divorce in Ju/’hoansi?

Grounds include: Laziness or failure to provide, adultery or jealousy, constant arguing, incompatibility abuse, mistreatment, infertility, and failure to fulfill marriage obligations. Divorce is relatively easy and not heavily stigmatized. Couples may separate and reconcile multiple times

Kinship

Refers to the selective interpretation of common human experiences, such as: How should group members be recruited? Where should people live? How should members of different generations relate to one another? How should we pass on our possessions and our social positions after we die?

Bilateral descent

A kinship system tracing family lineage and inheritance equally through both maternal and paternal sides. Equal descent from mother and father

Unilineal descent

A kinship system tracing family lineage and inheritance through only one parents side. Descent is traced through either the mother or the father but not both

Bilateral kinship

A family system where individuals trace their ancestry and recognize kinship equally through both the mother's and father's sides, it is flexible, but hard to mobilize people

Unilineal descent group

A patrilineage or matrilineage

Lineage

A group of people who think they can specify the relevant parent-child links that relate them. They have a corporate identity

Patrilineage

A line of descent traced exclusively through the male or paternal side of a family. Almost always a patriarchy/patriarchal, but rests on a paradox.

Matrilineage

A line of descent traced exclusively through the female or maternal side of a family. They’re not a matriarchy/matriarchical, but women tend to have more power

What are the (6) criteria in relating kin/kinship?

Generation, gender, affinity, collaterality, bifurcation, relative age, gender of linking relative

What are the six kinship patterns?

Crow, Omaha, Hawaii, Iroquois, Eskimo, Sudanese

All english speakers use which kinship pattern?

English speakers use the Eskimo kinship pattern

What is the most complex and simple kinship pattern?

Sudanese is the most complex, and hawaii is the most simple kinship pattern

Patrilateral cross-cousin marriage (FZD)

When a man marries his father’s sister’s daughter. It sets up a direct exchange system

Matrilateral cross-cousin marriage (MBD)

When a man marries his mother’s brother’s daughter. It sets up an assymetrical exchange system, it makes a permanent alliance between the two groups

Ascribed positions

Positions that are assigned at birth

Achieved positions

Positions that are acquired later. Kinship positions can turn ascribed positions into achieved ones through adoption

Adoption is common in which group of people?

It is common with the Inuit people.

Genealogical method

A research technique used to study kinship

What were ancient egyptians ideas of race?

They thought there were red, yellow, white, and black people

The Great Chain of Being

A hierchical system of races that made the identification of races into racism. Race became a social category (not biological).

What races did Carl Linnaeus recognize?

Four races and linked them to the four humours, European, Indians (North Americans), Asians, and Black Africans

What races did Johann Blumenbach recognize?

Caucasian, Mongolian, Malayan, Ethiopian, Native Americans

What is skin colour influenced by?

Melanin, hemoglobin, UV radiation. The more melanin you have, the darker your skin. Generally the closer to the equator you are, the darker your skin.

Cline

A gradually shifting frequency of a phenotypic trait across space. They only map single traits, not GROUPS or COLLECTIONS of traits.

What was racial classification like in colonial Oaxaca?

A complicated racial hierarchy formed after the spanish arrived. They reworked their system of estates into the sistema de castas. The two top estates stayed the same. Then it was the indigenous people. Then the black slaves were at the bottom. They gave some indigenous nobles a bit of a higher status. If you had church marriage, your children became the highest class, between you and your spouse

What were the different racial classifications in colonial Oaxaca?

In order from highest to lowest: Criollos (spanish colonials), Espanoles (legitimate spanish-indigenous), Castizos (spanish-mestizo), Mestizos (illegitimate spanish-indigenous), Indigenous peoples, mulattos (black-any other race), and Black peoples

Ethnic group

A social group whose members distinguish themselves on the basis of ethnicity

Ethnicity

Created by historical processess that incorporate different groups into a single political entity under conditions of inequality

What was the deal with ethnic identities in colonial Zimbabwe?

A lot of smaller groups joined one or the other. Lots of small tribes started to unite to resist white colonialism, fight oppression, and for independance

How did conditions of colonialism affect Cameroon?

There were a bunch of groups treated the same way. It resulted in new ethnicities or eliminated pre-existing ones

Capitalist world system

A system of intergenerational wealth and colonialism

Neocolonialism

Indirect ways modern capitalist interests pressure poor nations to further exploit them

Neoliberalism

The prioritization of privatization of public services to decrease public spending. This leads to increased inequity.

Structural violence

When people experience overlapping structures of discrimination. Like sexism, racism, etc.

Paul Farmer

Well known on his work on structural violence in Haiti. A region lost all schools, markets, hospitals, due to hydroelectric accidents. They were tracking the structural violence in this place

Sex

Male and female, in biological terms. Most human females have XX chromosomes, and most human males have XY chromosomes

Gender

Purely social, cultural roles based on the biological categories of sex. It is a person’s internal experience of their identity as male, female, both, neither, etc. There are cultural expectations about gendered behaviour in all areas of life

Sexuality

The way people experience, and express themselves though sexual activities. Some cultures have very strict ideas of sexual practices while others don’t

Heterosexual

A sexuality where: boy-girl

Homosexual

A sexuality that includes gay and lesbian where respectively: boy-boy and girl-girl

Bisexual

A sexuality where: you like boys and girls (2 genders)

Pansexual

A sexuality where: you’re attracted to anyone regardless of their gender

Asexual

A sexuality where: you don’t engage in sexual thoughts/desires

Queer

An umbrella term for sexual and gender minorities that are not heterosexual or cisgender

Heteronormativity

When you think heterosexuality is the norm. Same-sex practices may be tolerated but are still expected to marry

The genderbread person

Created by Sam Killerman, it shows how identity, attraction, expression, and physical characteristics combine into a person’s gender/sexuality. Ientity is not the same as expression, sexuality, etc.

Primatologists were influenced by what in the 1950s?

They were influenced by human gender stereotypes in their own societies. They concluded male hierarchy was the only thing going on. However, they found that most primate groups were made of related females while males were outsiders. Females can also be competitive and often mate with male “friends” rather than “alphas”

What are the primate sexual differences?

Male and female primates are both competitive and cooperative. Females do spend more time in taking care of children, males are a bit bigger. Chimps and bonobos are our closest relatives but are completely different

What did Euro-American scholars believe about in women?

They thought that women were unfit/couldn’t go for higher education, voting, working outside the home, and hold political office. Though there was no statistical difference in the cognitive abilities of boys and girls. What differences exist seem to be the result of culture

Is there a biological difference in aggression between boys and girls?

There is no clear biological difference between boys and girls. Boys who grew up with less sisters were more aggressive. Aggression in boys appears to be linked to experience rather than biology

“Man the Hunter” theory

A biased theory. These ideas were supported by sociobiologists. These theories were based on the assumption that men were only hunters. The idea was that men did the important stuff, while women stayed taking care of children. That, men were the drivers of human evolutions. However they were contradicted by the evidence

Arapesh

A group that Margaret Mead studied where both men and women were gentle, nurturing, and cooperative

Mundugumor

A group that Margaret Mead studied where both men and women were aggressive, violent, and ruthless

Tchambuli

A group that Margaret Mead studied where gender roles were reversed (from the west)

What did Judith Butler say about gender?

That gender is also performative, that most people work at their gender on a constant basis

Women and feminist theories of gender

Women’s issues were not seriously regarded in anthropology until the 1970s. Early writings focused on the determinants of women’s subordination to men (thought to be that men universally dominated women). Argued that colonialism caused women’s subordination. Nowadays, feminist anthropology has been influenced by postmodernism, queer theory, and the scholarly response to neoliberalism

How have gender studies changed how men are being seen?

Men were taken as the norm of their society. But now gender studies allowed men to be seen through the eyes of gender. Male is not a standalone category. New studies showed that masculinity is constructed through initiation, friendships, marriage, and fatherhood.

What percentage of people are born intersex?

1.7% of people

Variant gender

A gender that accommodates people in a variety of ways

Two-spirit

A variant gender, early europeans were shocked to find these people in first-nations groups. Variant genders like this almost disappeared due to colonialism and residential schooling in Canada

Gender ideology

A coordinated set of ideas about gender categories, relations, behaviours, norms, and ideals. It is embedded in family, economy, politics, religion, etc.

Patriarchy

A gender hierarchy that positions men as the rulers of private and public life. Contemporary Euro-american patriarchy is linked to capitalism in the 1600s. In India, patriarchy is linked to agriculture and the state during the Vedic period (1500-800 BCE)

Matriarchy

A gender hierarchy that positions women as the rulers of private and public life. There are many egalitarian societies, but no evidence of matriarchal ones

How do the Igbo men experience patrilineal societies?

They struggle to earn money, consumer items to help them. Without money Igbo men can’t have a masculine identity. They can’t do anything, take care of kids, build nice houses, clothes, etc.

Intersectionality

It occurs when different categories of inequality complicate experiences of inequality

Sojourner syndrome

When race, class, and gender change the way people experience oppression

Misogynoir

Coined by Moya Bailey, the intersection of racism and sexism

Religion

A world view that postulates reality beyond that which is available to the senses. The components of religion include beliefs about the nature and character of supernatural powers, oral or written stories about supernatural powers and cultural heroes, and rituals intended to include or direct these powers for the benefit of the group.

Intellectual explanation of why religion exists

Religion explains puzzling things and events. Sir James Frazer and Clifford Geertz saw religion this way

Psychological explanation of why religion exists

Religion helps people cope. Bronislaw Malinowski thought that religion helped people handle situations otherwise out of their control