Peoples and Cultures ANTH 1101 Northeastern University Fall 17

Acculturation

cultural modification of an individual, group, or people by adapting to or borrowing traits from another culture; process of learning a culture other than one's own

Affinal Kinship

kinship through marriage

Agriculture

the science or practice of farming, domestication of plants

Ambilocal

near whichever family members are convenient/ has the most resources or work to share

Applied Anthropology

the application of the method and theory of anthropology to the analysis and solution of practical problems

Archaeology

the scientific study of historic or prehistoric peoples and their cultures by analysis of their artifacts, inscriptions, monuments, and other such remains, especially those that have been excavated.

Arm Chair Anthropology

taking things out of context, over simplifies connections among cultures, being lazy (ex: Jared Diamond)

Avunculocal

lives with the mother's brothers, typically sons of mother go live with their uncle

Balanced Reciprocity

exchanges between people who are more distantly related, giver expects something in return

Biological Anthropology

the study of humans as biological organisms, and their physical aspects

Comparative approach

involve comparing parallel cultural features between 2 or more cultures

Cultural Relativism

the belief that we must understand others' cultural practices on their own terms, in their own context

Cultural reproduction

creating the next generation, in terms of culture

Domestication

the process whereby humans modify, either intentionally or unintentionally, the genetic makeup of a plant/animal population, to make them better situation for human use

Economy

system of production/distribution/consumption of resources

Emic

perspective held by members of the cultural group

Endogamy

marring within some culturally defined group

Ethnocentrism

the belief that ones own cultures way of doing something is the right, natural, or universal way

Ethnography

the scientific description of the customs of individual peoples and cultures by immersing into their community

Ethnology

the study of the characteristics of various peoples and the differences and relationships between them, studying ethnographies

Etic

perspective held by outsiders

Exogamy

marrying outside some culturally defined group

Explicit

clearly stated

Fictive Kinship

unrelated individual as a member of the kin group (godparents)

Fieldwork

Leaving university to spend time w people you wish to study; first-hand observation/research

Generalized Reciprocity

someone gives to another person and expects nothing concrete/immediate in return

Genitor

father in the sense of who impregnated the mother; biological

Human Ecology

study of the relationship between humans and their natural, social, and built environments

Implicit

learned through trial and error, or by observatioon

Incest

having sexual relations with an individual who is culturally defined as a relative to you in such a way which makes sexual activity inapropriate

Interviewing

a type of qualitative research; formal/informal/group; key part of ethnography

Kinship

a sense of organic continuity; and a sense of mutual obligation/solidarity; a type of relationship

Kipkondit

husband surrogate; in Kipsigis culture

Linguistic Anthropology

structure of human languages, relation between language and worldview, social and cultural uses of language

Matrilocal

lives with the wife's matrilineal kin`

Means of production

land, labor, natural resources, technology, capital

Negative Reciprocity

exchanges in which someone attempts to get something for as little as possible

American Schoolrooms

nightmare that drives people away from something (in our case, failure) and toward something (success); competition

Child Care in China

Encourage cooperation, sharing, and altruism (helping more important than winning)

daughter adoption

if a family has no sons, few daughters, and little cattle, The father can "keep the girl home" and adopt her as his son, Such a woman would never be married and Her sons will be her father's patrilineal grandsons and heirs

personal kindred pattern

American kin pattern (up to grandparents; out to aunt/uncle); only full siblings share the same set of kin; called "ego's known relatives"

Time, Culture, and Lateness

Pace of Life in Six Countries (bank clock accuracy, walking speed, time to buy stamp at post office)

woman marriage

if a wife is past childbearing years and has no sons, the old woman plays the role of groom on behalf of her husband's descent line. The young bride is assigned a kipkondit. The two women live as mother-in-law and daughter-in-law. usually option to balance houses/wealth, lots of cattle.

Anthropology

study of human diversity (humanities + natural/social sciences)

anti-racism in anthropology

all cultures are equal (Boas); race is not biological; contrast with social Darwinism (ladder)

artifacts

intentional or unintentional material objects that reflect cultural ideas

Bilateral Descent

descent is traced through either/both parents

bridewealth

payment (of cattle) by groom to bride's family for rights to marriage, sexual access, woman's labour, children etc. received by bride's mother's house, shared equally between brothers

Social Anthropology

Evans-Pritchard studied the African Nuer (1930s) with British funding (to control/manipulate)

Bureau of American Ethnology

research branch of Smithsonian to study Native Americans (founded 1879)

Capitalist Economy

money buys labor power, social gap between people involved in production (boss vs worker)

characteristics of culture

necessary,integrated,conservative yet changing,learned,normative,shared,multiple,ideational,embodied/ material

Consanguinal kinship

based on shared blood--that is, biological relatedness (usually)

continuous care and contact model of parenting

high level of contact, frequent feeding, and constant supervision all by mother, bed sleeping

Cross Cousins

children of parent's opposite-sex sibling; good marriage partners in Iroquois system

cultural analysis

using qualitative research to gain knowledge and understanding of cultures

Cultural Anthropology

study of living human cultures

Culture and Personality Approach

psychology; child-rearing practice causes particular personalities (national character)

culture of fear

propogated by media; see Bowling for Columbine

culture versus "Culture"

big C is high-status arts/etiquette, little c is all behaviors/beliefs

difference between anthropology and sociology

Anthropology historically focused on non-Western; Sociology is quantitiative and Western centric

educational space

school; segregated by age; "[not] to free the mind [...] but to bind [it]"; very systematic/compartmentalization of schools

Enculturation

process whereby culture is transmitted from one generation to the next, learned

Eskimo system

nuclear family special/differentiated; bilateral; others differented by generation, sometimes sex, not maternal/paternal

Ethnoelimination

study of bathroom behavior (privacy: recreate home in public, masculinity: sexual/homophobic, coolness: no acknowledgement)

exoticization of other cultures

portrayal of "others" based on our own values; charm of unfamiliar; National Geographic

explicit versus implicit rules

rules specially told to us versus those we must pick up due to social cues (the vast majority)

family herd (house/property complex)

cattle and house

Frank Cushing

spent 5 years with American Southwest Zuni; early like Boaz, but died young

Franz Boas

founder of modern-day American anthropology

Hawaiian system

all relatives of the same generation and sex are called by the same term; not a strongly lineage-oriented system

history of cultural anthropology

Europeans making sense of the world; cultural/religious/political domination (colonization)

holism

a theory that the universe and especially living nature is correctly seen in terms of interacting wholes (as living organisms) that are more than the mere sum of elementary particles, the theory that the parts of any whole cannot exist and cannot be understood except in their relation to the whole (REALLY UNDERSTAND THIS)

hunter-gatherers

hunting wild animals and gathering wild plant foods as a way of life. the oldest, most universal method

Iroquois system

father and father's brother are called by the same term, as are mother and mother's sisters; deals with cross and parallel cousins

Latent Kinship

ties to kin outside the network (that can be contacted/activated if needed)

magic

explaination for that which we do not or cannot understand; see Nacirema

market principle

means of production are bought and sold to maximize profit and value is determined by the law of supply and demand

marriage

relationship between (multiple) men/women recognized as having a continuing claim to mutual sexual access

matrilineal

follows a female line; only daughters can pass on the family line to their daughters

mode of production

a way of organizing production through which labor is deployed to wrest energy from nature by means of tools, skills, organizations, knowledge; a set of social relations

neolocal

couple lives somewhere new--not close to either family

nomadic

a member of a people who have no permanent home but move about according to the seasons

nuclear family

mother, father, and their children in one household

parallel cousins

children of parent's same-sex sibling; same name as sibling in Iroquois system

pastoralism

a form of subsistence based on care of herds of domesticated animals

potlatch

A ceremonial feast used to display rank and prosperity in some Northwest Coast tribes of Native Americans.

power and ethics in research

understanding a culture (especially politically) can be used to dominate it (ex: Nuer)

reciprocity

exchange between social equals, who normally are related by kinship, marriage, or another close personal tie

rights of filiation

legal paternity regarding lineality and inheritance

school as a site for enculturation

School is an institution for drilling children in cultural orientations

social sanctions

how a culture enforces its rules (for what is acceptable)

subculture

small group in a culture that shares specialized knowledge/languages/identities

subjects/informants/consultants

people being studied;consultants (professional) > informants (rat) > subjects (dehumanize)

the Dickson Mounds

pre-mississippian Dickson: hunter-gatherers, very low population.

mississippian dickson: farming, trade, higher population

the four field approach

biological/physical anthropology, linguistic, cultural, forensic

The kipsigis of Kenya

an example of polygyny

Paleopathology

anthro concerned with the pathological conditions found in ancient human and animal remains, study of diseases of ancient cultures

Participant-observation

the observer participates in ongoing activities and records observations