History of Anthropology Exam 2 Study Guide

Marcel Mauss

French sociologist known for 'The Gift' and 'Toward a General Descriptive Sociology'

Arnold van Gennep

Anthropologist who studied 'The Rites of Passage' including separation, transition, and incorporation

Claude Levi-Strauss

Anthropologist associated with structural anthropology, binary concepts, and alliance theory. Notable works include 'Tristes Tropiques' and 'The Elementary Structures of Kinship'

British Anthropology

Includes Ethnological Society of London (founded 1843), Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland (founded 1871), and Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland (founded 1907)

Bronislaw Malinowski

Polish anthropologist known for participant observation, functionalism, and the kula ring. Notable works include 'Argonauts of the Western Pacific' and 'Coral Gardens and their Magic'

A.R. Radcliffe Brown

Anthropologist associated with structural functionalism and descent theory. Notable works include 'The Andaman Islanders' and 'The Social Organization of Australian Tribes'

E.E. Evans-Pritchard

Anthropologist known for emphasizing the role of history in anthropology. Notable works include 'The Nuer' and 'Witchcraft, Oracles and Magic Among the Azande'

Leslie A. White

Anthropologist known for the equation ExT=C, focusing on technology, energy, and evolution in anthropology

Julian H. Steward

Anthropologist known for Great Basin ethnography, cultural ecology, and multilinear evolution

Victor Turner

Anthropologist known for his work on ritual, performance, liminality, communitas, and social dramas. Notable works include 'The Forest of Symbols' and 'The Ritual Process'

Mary Douglas

Anthropologist known for her work on purity, pollution, and symbolic analysis. Notable works include 'Purity and Danger' and 'Natural Symbols'

Clifford Geertz

Anthropologist known for 'thick description' and works such as 'The Interpretation of Culture'

Marvin Harris

Anthropologist associated with cultural materialism and epistemological principles of science. Notable works include 'Cultural Materialism: The Struggle for a Science of Culture'

Eleanor Burke Leacock

Anthropologist known for her work on male and female roles, particularly 'Myths of Male Dominance'

Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels

Authors of 'The Communist Manifesto' (1848) and 'Das Kapital' (1867)

Virilocal

A residence pattern where a married couple lives with or near the husband's parents

Taboo

A social or religious custom prohibiting or restricting a particular practice or forbidding association with a particular person, place, or thing

Emic, Etic

Emic refers to the insider's perspective, while etic refers to the outsider's perspective in the study of culture

Mode of production

The way in which a society is organized to produce goods and services

Infrastructure

The basic physical and organizational structures and facilities needed for the operation of a society

Use value, exchange value

Use value refers to the practical utility of a commodity, while exchange value refers to its value in terms of other commodities

Monogenesis, Polygenesis

Monogenesis refers to the concept of human evolution from a single origin, while polygenesis suggests multiple origins

Potlatch

A ceremonial event among certain indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest, typically involving the giving away or destruction of property

Soulava, mwali, gimwali

Terms related to the kula ring, a ceremonial exchange system in the Trobriand Islands

Barter, reciprocal exchange, redistribution

Different forms of economic exchange: barter involves direct exchange of goods, reciprocal exchange involves mutual giving and receiving, and redistribution involves a central authority collecting goods and redistributing them

Inheritance of acquired characteristics

The discredited theory that an organism can pass on characteristics that it acquired during its lifetime to its offspring

Liminality

The transitional stage in a rite of passage, often characterized by ambiguity and disorientation

Rites of passage, stages

Ceremonial events that mark important transitional periods in a person's life, typically involving separation, transition, and incorporation

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