ANTHRO 2A Midterm 1

Anthropology as the Study of Human Diversity

The study of human biological and cultural difference across space

The Four Subfields of Anthropology

Sociocultural Anthropology

The study of difference in culture in society throughout history

Linguistic Anthropology

Specialization in sociocultural anthropology on language

Archeology

Looks at sociocultural anthropology through time

Biological anthropology

Evolutionary history

Culture & Nature

Learned and shared meanings (signs, symbols, knowledge) that mediate our relations with our broader social and material world

The Power to Naturalize

The creation of shared meanings through interactions on a massive scale has the power to naturalize

A Priori

that which has come ahead of time (something we determine to be true before we even study it)

Scientific Racism

The idea that humans are divided into discrete biological types where each race has its own appearance, social and cultural attributes

Race and Colonialism

Race is the construction of cultural categories in the hands of science which is devised from cultural commonalities. This construct was developed to mediate the contradictions of human equity that upheld colonialism.

Science & Culture

Western Science's Construction of Racial Types focused on a small group of salient physical traits and behavioral and cognitive characteristics. These characteristics include intelligence levels, temperament, and work ethic.

Linneaus

“Variants” of Homo sapiens (1758)

“Variants” is the precursor to “race”

Based off no data

4 main variants

Homo sapiens Europaeus albescens (white)

Homo sapiens Asiaticus fucus (dark)

Homo sapiens Africanus negreus (black)

Homo sapiens Americanus rubescens (red)

Blumenbach

(1781) First explicit scientific delineation of “races”

Elevated it to the status of scientific category to describe variants

5 main races

Caucasian (white)

Mongolian (yellow)

Malay (brown)

Ethiopian (black)

American (red)

Hooton

(1926) Distilled races down to The Big Three:

Caucasoid

Mongoloid

Negroid

Polygenesis

Theory that each race had its own independent origin

Often based on biblical origin (each race had their own adam and eve)

Scientific basis claimed separate evolutionary paths arguing races were different species

Monogenesis

The theory of all humans have common origin

Race, Typologizing, and Rank

Racism is an example of typological thinking. Race descriptors are value-laden terms (diminutives). This construction of race instituted an inherent rank order of races which placed western europeans on top of hierarchy.

Craniometry

The study of measuring heads as a comparison of brains. Developed to prove the superiority of a particular race.

Robert Bennett Bean

Research on the anatomy of brain function measuring the "difference" between racial groups and male and female within each race.

Theory:

The anterior part of the brain (genu) is related to imagination and problem solving.

The posterior part of the brain (splenium) is related to motor and sensory functions.

Results:

Complete divergence

All white males had more genu than all other brains

(Falsified results using biased experimental method)

Paul Brocca

A leading scientist of his time

Researched craniometry attempting to replicate results and found conflicting information.

Skeptical of brain size, he devised a new measure:

Placement of the foramen magnum: The idea that spinal location in the skull indicates posture and subsequent intelligence.

Ex. chimpanzees are further to the back of the head because they walk on all 4s (species difference)

Results:

whites were slightly more posterior, differences negligible

Instead of “lying” and changing his data he starts hunting for an alternative interpretive framework after the fact

Concludes that because whites are more posterior, they have more genu.

Culture: Biological v Social Transmission

Culture is Socially Transmitted: Culture is learned, not inherited. Cultural differences between human beings are never due to biological difference and all peoples can acquire culture.

"Facts" of Human Biological Variation

There is Human Bio Variation

We do differ from each other biologically

Geographically localized variation

Two people from the same part of the world will be more like each other in biological ways

Variation is Continuous in its distribution

Human bio variation is continuous and subtle

Variation is discordant in its distribution

Different traits dont vary or sort together

Implications of the four facts for Racial Typologies

Variance within racial categories is greater than between categories

Traits aren’t distributed by race

Parents do not pass racial types genetically to children, parents pass genes to children

Units of analysis are necessary to understand human bio variation for the purpose of making comparisons

Social Races

As a belief its subject to shifting based on social, economic, and political factors

Hypodescent

The concept that the kids are more linked to the lower ranking race

Race in Brazil and Japan

Brazil being a multiethnic society and Japan being primarily made up of an East Asian ethnic group

Race and Intelligence

Race and intelligence have no direct correlation; intelligence is best determined by environment

IQ scores, Educational Achievement & Race

Measures through games practiced within western culture therefore western peoples will tend to perform better

IQ scores rise every generation, no biological change

Osage Indians

Has the highest educational achievement of any native american group

The found oil on their reservation, and put all the money in education

IQ scores black & white WWI military recruits

Blacks vs whites in rural south

Whites had higher IQ scores

Blacks from urban north vs whites rural south

Blacks had higher IQ scores

The earlier in life people migrated to the urban north, the higher the IQ scores

Steele and Aronson

Analyzed GRE Scores in "Black" and "White" students.

One group was not told of diagnostic purposes (disguised test) → scores the same

Other group was told it was for comparison → significant difference between scores

Race, stereotypes, and standardized test scores

Race as an identity conflates perceptions of biology and culture, resulting in an impact one's very subjectivity, self perception. This materialized in poorer performance of those self identified with a "lesser race" on the Steele and Aronson analysis of standardized test scores.

Genes

DNA segments that serve as units in hereditary transmission.

Breeding Populations

Used in the field of population genetics

Used to define a group of regularly breeding individuals

Flexible category, defined as needed given specific research questions

Race doesn't have flexibility, its taxonomical (Ex. you cant classify a gorilla as a fish

Clines

Univariate Analysis: Clines

Gradation in character over geographic difference

A range of measurable values of a particular trait and where in the world you find those values

Clines don't overlap

Ethnicity and Ethnic Groups

Common identity based on cultural similarities

Ethnic groups

Share language, food, customs, religion

Expression of ethnic identity is situational

People are far more complicated than ethnicity

Minority groups

Groups that are smaller in number than the majority group, and are often subordinated by society. Minority groups can be defined by ethnicity, race, gender, sexual orientation, and disability. They may experience discrimination, oppression, or persecution from the majority group

Majority Groups

The dominant group with the most power in a given area, often determined by statistics or representation. Social majorities can be based on race, gender, power, economic background, cultural interests, and sexuality

Minority Groups and Majority Groups

Majority and minority groups are social groups that differ in power and representation

Assimilation v Multiculturalism

assimilation involves adopting the dominant culture while multiculturalism involves embracing cultural differences

Discrimination: de jure & de facto

South Africa: De Jure

The Apartheid system was a de jure system of racial segregation that separated people into four racial categories and restricted their movement, employment, and education.

South Africa: De facto

This is the separation of people that occurs naturally as a result of racism, circumstances, or personal choice. Even after the end of Apartheid, some de facto racial segregation remained in South Africa. For example, school governing bodies have nearly complete autonomy in their admissions policies, and there is no legal requirement to desegregate schools.

Imagination and Identity

With circumstances in history changing our relationship with our social identifiers change

The sociocultural "reality" of race is historically produced, and is constantly re imaged and reshaped through time

Social Evolution

Describes changes (evolution) in social forms

Social Darwinism (Survival of the Fittest)

The peoples of the world are all in conflict of resources and the "fittest" individuals of a society will come to dominate

Herbert Spencer

Coined the term "survival of the fittest" using it to describe social change in service of superiority

Unilinear Evolution

Change happens through discrete evolutionary stages where cultural attributes evolved in sequence

Lewis Henry Morgan

One of the founding “fathers” of anthropology

Presented unilinear social evolution as an alternative to scientific racism

Argued material conditions explain different rates of change

Evolutionary Stages

Savagery

Technology development early stages: Fishing, Fire

Technology development later stages: Bow, Arrow

Marriage structure early stages: Promiscuous Hordes

Marriage structure later stages: Group Marriage

Barbarism

Technology development early stages: Pottery

Technology development middle stages: Agriculture

Technology development later stages: Metallurgy

Marriage structure defining traits: Polygamy

Civilization

Technology development defining traits: Phonetic alphabet

Marriage structure defining traits: Monogamy

Diversity and Evolutionary Stages

In evolutionary stages there is no diversity there's only social maturation

Franz Boas & Critique of Unilinear Evolution

Founded first department of anthropology

Empirical problems (Bad Data)

Sociocultural Evolution is Multilinear

There are many ways of changing, all peoples/societies change, but they don't change in the same way

Histories Are Not Independent of Each Other

Societies have contact with each other, trade

“Progress” is a Value Laden Term

Those making the rank orders make the criteria to fit their societies (Culturally specific criteria)

Empirical Problems with Social Evolution

Many social evolutionists didn't actually do research, they pulled second hand information from missionaries, merchants

"Arm-chair thinking"

Lewis Henry Morgan did some research with iroquois groups then used these assumptions to carry over to all other "research"

Multilinear Evolution

There are many ways of changing, all peoples/societies change, but they don't change in the same way

Ex. There are glass beads from 1500 years ago found in central africa

All peoples have equally long histories

Cultural Diffusion

The spread of ideas, customs, and technologies from one people to another

“Progress” is a Value Laden Term

Those making the rank orders make the criteria to fit their societies (Culturally specific criteria)

Ethnocentrism: taking one's own social norms and making them the criteria

If people do it differently then it is “wrong”, ignores cultural diversity

Problem of Perspective - Misrepresents and Ignores Diversity

Ethnocentrism

Belief in the superiority of one's nation or ethnic group.

Dominance is ephemeral

Contradicts ethnocentrism

Ex. Military dominance as a measure of superiority

Any type of dominance is ephemeral (not permanent)

Ephemeral criteria is not a good measurement

Nature v Nurture

the longstanding controversy over the relative contributions that genes and experience make to the development of psychological traits and behaviors

Hobbes

Argues there's an underlying human nature that's greedy, selfish, individualistic

Culture and society constrain that "human nature" and imposes "morality" on society

“Noble Savage”

Rosseau believed native americans had less culture, less society, than his french culture, and less corrupting influence

Create this image of native americans as a foil to criticize french society

Portrayed them as the opposite

French are rational → native americans are superstitious

French are greedy → native americans are sharing communal

Rosseau

Believed human nature deep down is social, communal, we care about one another

Argued that society corrupts us, society teaches us greed, to use and to exploit

Romanticized native americans through this lens

Culture in Evolutionary Perspective

Are chimpanzees cultural creatures?

Chimpanzees conduct war, kill each other for occupying territory

They hunt, adult males are far too aggressive and dangerous to be used for birthday parties

The split between chimpanzees and humans occurred from bipedalism, distinguished the human line from the chimp line from our common ancestor

Oldest evidence of culture is stone tool use

Humans: 2.5+ million years ago

Our teeth aren't built to cut our food, our evolution depended on tools

2.5 million years ago we were cutting food

Culture & Society

Culture is distinguished from society; society and culture are not interchangeable

Culture & Biology

Culture is distinguished from biology; Culture is learned, socially acquired

Supra-Organic

Culture operates at a level above the individual; transcends individual or human life (ex. English language-still exists even after a person dies, transcends their life).

Subjectivity and Agency

Agency: our capacity as individuals for creative action, to strategize, plot, plan manipulate, lie

Subjectivity: meanings of organized life

Culture & World View

Culture refers to the orders of learned shared meanings and interpretations of our behavior

Signs enabling communication

Behavior conveys meaning, flag conveys meaning, language, clothing

Rules and Values: Social norms; appropriate behavior; etiquette

Cultural Constructions

It is shaped by interactions happening at scale everyday

Culture is hardly politically neutral

Culture is products of social history

Cultural Relativism

Cultural practices need to be understood in terms of their own sociocultural context; opposite of ethnocentrism

Language: verbal and non-verbal communication

The use of words and body language to communicate with people.

Language: phoneme & morpheme

phonemes are the smallest units of sound in a language, while morphemes are the smallest units of meaning

Language: lexicon & syntax

a language lexicon includes the complete set of available terms. A language syntax, in turn, represents the possible ways that we can put words from the lexicon together.

language and thought

relationship between verbal communication and mental manipulation of information

Sociolinguistics

investigates relationships between social and linguistic variation

dialects (BEV)

Black English Vernacular (BEV), also known as African American Vernacular English (AAVE) or Ebonics, is a dialect of English primarily spoken by African Americans. It has its own unique grammatical and phonological features that distinguish it from Standard English (SE)

gender speech contrasts

Men and women have differences in phonology, grammar, and vocabulary as well as in body stances and movements that accompany speech.

stratification & symbolic domination

- People use and evaluate speech in context of social, political, and economic forces

- Speech habits help determine access to employment and other material resources

- Linguistic forms take on power of groups they symbolize