ANTH Final

colonialism

political, social, economic, cultural domination of a territory/people by a foreign power for extended period of time

imperialism

policy of extending the rule of a country/empire over foreign nations and of taking/holding foreign colonies

settler colonialism

form that seeks to replace original population of colonized territory with a new society of settlers

covenant settler state

believe they have a mandate from God to settle territory (U.S., Israel, Apartheid South Africa)

Manifest Destiny

the 19th-century doctrine that the expansion of the United States throughout the American continents was both justified and inevitable.

Age of Discovery

a period from the late 15th century to the start of the American Revolution marked by European exploration and colonization of the Americas, Africa, and Asia.

decolonization

British Empire was weakened post WWII: nationalist movements for independence

postcolonial

legacy of colonization isn’t over, but everything that has come after colonization must be understood as a product of it

postcolonial studies

concern interactions between European nations and societies

World Bank and IMF

two key global financial institutions that keep formerly colonized nations in a cycle of debt under the control of former colonizers

Bretton Woods Conference

An international meeting held in 1944 to establish rules for commercial and financial relations among major industrial states, leading to the creation of the IMF and World Bank.

structural adjustment programs

loans with very specific policy requirements—former colonial powers make nations’ economic choices

trade programs

goods imported from colonizer nations are heavily subsidized = local farmers/producers can’t compete

indigenous peoples

culturally distinct groups that have occupied regions longer than other immigrant/colonizer groups and maintain social, cultural, economic, political characteristics

indigenous people as frozen in time

a stereotype suggesting that indigenous communities are static and do not evolve, ignoring their dynamic cultures and adaptations over time.

indigenous people and authenticity

if people don’t appear “racially” indigenous, they’re not physically authentic

bloodthirsty savage to noble savage

Noble savage has not been corrupted by civilization, lives as one with nature, embodies the best of humanity. Connected to the land—migrating away from from rural, native lands further challenges perceptions of authenticity. Urban indigenous people are often considered less “authentically Indigenous” than their rural counterparts

residential school system

A government-sponsored program in Canada and the United States aimed at assimilating Indigenous youth by removing them from their families and cultures, often resulting in significant trauma and loss of cultural identity.

An Indigenous People’s History of the United States Chapter 2

Colonization wasn't just about moving to a new place—it was about controlling and exploiting people for power and profit. The idea of conquering other people for religious reason didn't start in the Americas. It had been going on for centuries, especially during the Crusades, when European soldiers were told they could take land, riches, and power in the name of religion. Colonization in the Americas was just a continuation of this mindset—using religion as an excuse to take what they wanted.

sex

culturally agreed-upon physical differences between male and female—biological differences related to human reproduction

genitalia

the external and internal reproductive organs of individuals, typically categorized as male or female, and involved in sexual reproduction.

gonads

the reproductive glands that produce gametes (sperm in males and eggs in females) and sex hormones.

chromosomes

threadlike structures made of DNA and proteins that carry genetic information. Humans typically have 23 pairs, including sex chromosomes that determine biological sex.

gender

expectations of thought and behavior that each culture assigns to people of different sexes

sexual dimorphism

phenotypic differences between males and females of same species. Far more absolute in humans—human male and female bodies are more similar than they are different

gender identity

each person’s internal experience and understanding of their own gender

gender expression

how a person expresses/presents themselves in relation to gender, whether in their behavior, appearance, name, or pronouns

transgender

people whose gender identity/expression don’t correspond w/assigned biological sex category at birth

cisgender

gender identity/expression correspond w/biological sex category assigned at birth

cultural construction of gender

the way humans learn to perform and recognize behaviors as masculine/feminine within cultural context

masculinity/femininity

ideas and practices associated w/man or womanhood

gender performance

the way gender identity is expressed through action

Meanings of Macho

Gutmann (2007): machismo and masculinity in Mexico constitute a shifting landscape and fluidity in male identity. Men in the community he studied worked out their roles with women, deciding on chores, child care, sex, use of money, work outside the home, alcohol.

intersex

state of being born with a combination of male and female genitalia, gonads, and/or chromosomes

Castor Semenya

a South African middle-distance runner whose sex verification controversy raised awareness about intersex athletes and gender classification in sports.

intersex surgery

a surgical procedure intended to modify intersex individuals' physical characteristics to align them with binary male or female norms. Increasing criticism in medicine and advocacy groups.

Hijras

a marginalized community in South Asia, recognized as a third gender with a rich cultural history, often including intersex individuals and eunuchs. Often face discrimination, but are revered as auspicious and powerful ritual figures.

Two-Spirits

a term used by some Indigenous North American cultures to describe a person who embodies both masculine and feminine spirits, often serving a unique social and spiritual role within their communities.

gender stratification

unequal distribution of power in which gender shapes who has access to a group’s resources, opportunities, rights, privileges

gender stereotypes

preconceived notions about the attributes of, differences between, and proper roles for women and men in a culture

gender ideology

set of cultural ideas about men and women’s character, capabilities, value that promotes/justifies stratification

gender violence

forms of violence shaped by gender identities of people involved

gender violence and queer people

targets of violence asserting gender norms

structural gender violence

gendered societal patterns of unequal access to wealth, power, basic resources such as food, shelter, healthcare that differentially affect women in particular

The Egg and the Sperm: How Science Has Constructed a Romance
Based on Stereotypical Male-Female Roles.

This essay by Emily Martin critiques how biological science often employs gender stereotypes to describe egg and sperm, reinforcing traditional gender roles in society. The sperm is seen as “active” and a “warrior” while the egg is passive.

ethnicity

sense of historical, cultural, sometimes ancestral connection to a group of people who are imagined to be distinct from those outside the group

origin myth

story told about the founding/history of a particular group to reinforce a sense of common identity

examples of origin myths

the landing of the Mayflower, the first Thanksgiving, the Boston Tea Party, the American Revolution, the Civil War, the settling of the West

ethnic boundary marker

practice/belief used to signify who is in a group and who is not; not clearly fixed/defined

situational negotiation of identity

an individual’s self-identification with a particular group that can shift according to social location

identity entrepreneurs

political, military, religious leaders promote a worldview through the lens of ethnicity and use war, propaganda, state power to mobilize people against those whom they perceive as a danger

examples of identity entrepreneurs

include leaders like politicians who exploit ethnic divisions for personal gain or military commanders who rally troops based on ethnic identity.

genocide

the deliberate and systematic destruction of an ethnic/religious group

ethnic cleansing

efforts by representatives of one ethnic/religious group to remove/destroy another group in a particular geographic area

Rwandan genocide and Belgium colonial rule

Belgian colonial government elevated Tutsi to influential positions in society and excluded Hutu and used eugenics to justify this. Led to ethnic tensions and violence in Rwanda, leading to the mass slaughter of the Tutsi population by Hutu extremists in 1994.

melting pot

metaphor used to describe process of immigrant assimilation into U.S.-dominant culture

assimilation

process through which cultural minorities accept patterns/norms of dominant culture and cease to exist as separate groups

multiculturalism

pattern of ethnic relations in which new immigrants and their children acculturate into dominant national culture yet retain an ethnic culture

state

regional structure of political, economic, military rule

nation-state

political entity, located within a geographic territory w/enforced borders, where population shares a sense of culture, ancestry, and destiny as a people

citizenship

legal membership in a nation-state

nation

term once used to describe a group of people who shared a place of origin; now used interchangeably with nation-state

nationality

identification with a group of people thought to share a place of origin

nationalism

desire of an ethnic community to create/maintain a nation-state

imagined community

invented sense of connection and shared traditions that underlie identification with a particular ethnic group/nation whose members likely will never all meet

techniques to create imagined community

French national education and transportation systems, members of Eritrean diaspora engaged online to remake the state, citizenship, identity

diaspora

group of people who live outside their ancestral homeland yet maintain emotional and material ties to home

Iraq and Nationalism

Doesn’t have an ancient history as a nation, didn’t exist before WWI. After the US occupation in 2003, people of Iraq inherited a collapsed state structure and confronted the prospects of nation building while under foreign occupation and having had experienced decades of state-sponsored violence. Western media has portrayed Iraq’s issues to the roots of ethnic and religious conflict.

Uyghurs in China

are a Turkic ethnic group predominantly living in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, facing issues of cultural and religious repression by the Chinese government.

"The Roots of Christian Nationalism Go Back Further Than You
Think." Time Magazine,

White Christian nationalism stems from doctrine of discovery—European civilization and western Christianity are superior, domination and cultural conquest improves indigenous people’s lives

murder of George Floyd

was a high-profile incident of police brutality that sparked widespread protests against racial injustice and police violence across the United States and beyond. Revealed the systemic issue of police brutality and racism in law enforcement.

race

flawed system of classification that uses certain physical characteristics to divide the human population into a few supposedly discrete biological groups

racism

individuals’ thoughts and actions as well as institutional patterns/policies that create/reproduce unequal access to power, privilege, resources, opportunities based on imagined differences among groups

intersectionality

analytic framework for assessing how factors such as race, gender, class interact to shape individual life chances and societal patterns of stratification

gene flow

the transfer of genetic material between populations, which can lead to increased genetic diversity and mitigate differences among groups.

clines/clinal variation

gradual changes in the genetic or phenotypic traits of a population across geographical space, reflecting environmental influences and interpopulation interactions.

concordance

ability to predict the presence of a given trait based on presence of another related trait

genotype

inherited genetic factors that provide a framework for an organism’s physical form

phenotype

how genes are physically expressed in an organism as a result of the genotype’s interaction with environmental factors

racisms

the variety of ways race has been constructed among people in different places

race in Haiti/DR

Haiti formed a nation of formerly enslaved Africans, while the DR emphasized the connection to Spain over Africa and identified as Hispanic rather than Black. Dominicans use a wide range of color terms and reject African history and Blackness; Haitians are the racial “other.”

White supremacy

belief that white people are biologically different and superior to other races

Whiteness

culturally constructed concept designed to establish sharp boundaries of who was White and who was not, central to U.S. stratification

Jim Crow

laws implemented after Civil War legally enforcing segregation

hypodescent

“one drop of blood rule”; assignment of children of interracial unions to subordinate groups. Categories of race have been created in the U.S. and legal logic is used to assign individuals to certain racial categories.

nativism

desire to favor native inhabitants over new immigrants

racialization

process of categorizing, differentiating, attributing a particular racial character to a certain group of people

White privilege

the systemic advantages that white people experience in society solely based on their race, often manifesting in social, economic, and political benefits.

Unpacking the Knapsack

Peggy McIntosh’s metaphor of an unseen package of unearned assets/privileges that White people inherited as a legacy of generations of racial discrimination. Whites are the beneficiaries of cultural norms, values, mental maps of reality, institutions.

individual racism

personal prejudiced beliefs and discriminatory actions based on race, whether intentional or unintentional

microaggressions

common, everyday verbal/behavioral indignities and slights that communicate hostile, derogatory, negative messages about someone’s race, gender, sexual orientation, religionor other marginalized identities.

Weathering (Geronimus, 2010)

The chronic stress that marginalized individuals experience over time, which can adversely affect their health and well-being.

institutional racism

patterns by which racial inequality is structured through key cultural institutions, policies, systems

racial ideology

set of popular ideas about race that allows the discriminatory behaviors of individuals and institutions to seem reasonable, rational, normal

color blindness

elimination of race as a consideration in a wide range of institutional processes. Ignores the uneven playing field created by centuries of legal racism

Flint, Michigan water crisis

a public health crisis that arose in 2014 due to lead contamination in the drinking water supply, exposing residents to serious health risks and highlighting issues of environmental injustice and government negligence.

class

a system of power based on wealth, income, status that creates an unequal distribution of a society’s resources

stratification

uneven, often generational distribution of resources and privileges among members of a culture

egalitarian societies

a group based on the sharing of resources to ensure access with a relative absence of hierarchy and violence

reciprocity

exchange of resources, goods, services among people of relatively equal status, creates and reinforces social ties