9 Key Concepts

Belief and Knowledge

Knowledge as power, advocacy, experts/lay-persons, hegemonic groups, indigenous knowledge, science and positivism, cognitive anthropology, systems of education (formal and informal)

Change

The alteration or modification of cultural or social elements in a society. May be due to internal dynamics within a society, or the result of contact with another culture, or a consequence of globalization.

Culture

Organized systems of symbols, ideas, explanations, beliefs and material production that humans create and manipulate in the course of their daily lives. Includes the customs by which humans organize their physical world and maintain their social structure. The shared social construction of meanings

Identity

Can refer either to the individual's private and personal view of the self or to how an individual is viewed from the perspective of a social group; may also refer to group specificity.

Materiality

Objects, resources and belongings have cultural meaning, and are embedded with all kinds of social relations and practices. Human experience can be understood through the study of material objects.

Power

Is an essential part of social relations and can be considered as a person's or group's capacity to influence, manipulate or control others and resources. In its broadest sense, can be understood as involving distinctions and inequalities between members of a social group. Some approaches focus on structural power or the capacity to produce subjectivities.

Social Relations

Refer to any relationship between two or more individuals in a network of relationships. The shared social construction of meanings. They pervade every aspect of human life and are extensive, complex, and diverse.

Society

Refers to the way in which humans organize themselves in groups and networks. Created and sustained by social relationships among persons and groups. Can also be used to refer to a human group that exhibits some internal coherence and distinguishes itself from other such groups.

Symbolism

The study of the significance that people attach to objects, actions, and processes creating networks of symbols through which they construct a culture's web of meaning.