Anthropology, Sexuality, and Reflexive Ethnography

Vocabulary practice flashcards focusing on the anthropological study of sexuality, cross-cultural same-gender practices, feminist critiques of kinship, and methodological reflexivity in fieldwork.

Sexuality (Anthropological Definition)

A phenomenon encompassing desires, beliefs, behaviors, and sexual practices, as well as an arena of ideas and debates concerning what is considered natural, normal, and appropriate within a society.

Gail Rubin

A feminist anthropologist associated with the 1970s feminist critique of classic kinship studies, highlighting how traditional analyses naturalized and reinforced compulsory heterosexuality while erasing non-normative sexualities.

"Short Haired"

A Turkish euphemism used pejoratively as a coded linguistic substitute for "lesbian," frequently applied to women soccer players to silence open references to homosexuality.

"Wannabes"

A derogatory label documented in Turkish women's soccer used to diminish and undermine players'—particularly younger players'—claims to a lesbian identity by alleging they merely adopt the aesthetic of soccer culture.

"Proper Lesbian"

A normative discourse in Turkey describing an individual who is not outwardly identifiable as gay and presents a conventional, heterosexual appearance, often associated with urban, upper-middle-class athletes rather than rural or working-class players.

Azande Warrior Relationships

A historical practice documented by E. E. Evans-Pritchard in Central Africa where older warriors took younger men as "boy wives" in an apprenticeship dynamic during periods of geographic isolation, after which the men typically married women.

Azande Co-Wife Relationships

Same-gender sexual and emotional relationships occurring among female co-wives within polygamous marriages in Azande society, which could be formally recognized through specific ritual procedures.

Roger Lancaster

An anthropologist who conducted long-term ethnographic fieldwork in working-class neighborhoods in Managua, Nicaragua during the 1980s, examining male same-gender sexual practices, categories, and machismo.

Kochon

A Nicaraguan category documented by Roger Lancaster referring to the receptive, passive male partner in same-gender intercourse, who is socially identified and stigmatized as gay or queer.

Macho (Nicaraguan Context)

In Roger Lancaster's Nicaraguan study, the active, penetrating male partner in same-gender sexual relations who is neither socially labeled nor self-identified as homosexual, as his dominance is viewed as an extension of standard masculinity.

Annette Weiner

A feminist anthropologist who restudied the Trobriand Islands 50 years after Bronislaw Malinowski and demonstrated how male bias had led earlier researchers to overlook vital female contributions to economic exchange and social life.

Women's Wealth (Trobriand Islands)

An exchange system documented by Annette Weiner involving banana leaf bundles, which plays an indispensable role in matrilineal clan relations and funeral repayments, but was largely unexamined in Malinowski's earlier work.

Reflexivity

The practice of critical self-awareness in ethnographic fieldwork where the researcher explicitly accounts for how personal attributes—such as gender, sexuality, race, social class, and age—affect access, interlocutor interactions, and data analysis.

Reflexive Ethnography

A genre of anthropological writing that moves away from the detached, objective third-person model by situating the ethnographer directly in the narrative and openly examining the researcher's presence and impact on the field setting.