Anthropology Lecture Notes Flashcards

Flashcards about key people and concepts in Anthropology.

Who is Noam Chomsky?

Father of modern structural linguistics, developed the Theory of Universal Grammar.

Who is Charles Darwin?

Biologist known for the Theory of Evolution by Natural Selection.

Who are Louis and Mary Leakey?

Famous paleoanthropologists known for discovering different hominid fossils.

Who is Margaret Mead?

American Cultural Anthropologist who studied Samoan adolescent girls and the influence of societies on gender roles.

Who is Jane Goodall?

Primatologist who studied chimps and discovered primates can make and use tools.

Who is Dian Fossey?

Primatologist who studied mountain gorillas and their behavior in groups.

Who is Birute Galdikas?

Primatologist who studied orangutans and their reproductive cycles.

Who is Edward Sapir?

Linguistics theorist, believed language shapes personality and helps interpret reality.

What is Postmodernism?

Perspective that a person’s interpretation is guided by their own experience.

What is Feminist Anthropology?

Research strategy to combat male bias in anthropology.

What is Functionalism?

The belief that all cultures are set up to deal with universal problems faced by human societies.

What is Structuralism?

Understanding things by looking at the big structures/patterns behind them.

What is Cultural Anthropology?

The study of human cultures, focusing on their beliefs, practices, and social structures.

What is Ethnography?

Detailed description of a culture based on fieldwork.

What is Ethnology?

Comparing different cultures to discover patterns that extend across many cultural groups.

What is Culture?

Specific sets of characteristics of a particular society or population which are learned, including behaviors, beliefs, attitudes, values, and ideals.

What is the Canadian Culture described as mosaic reflects?

Different cultures coexist but maintain their distinct identities.

What is Ethnocentrism/Western Gaze?

Judging other cultures based on the standards of your own and viewing your own culture as superior.

What is Social Darwinism?

Theory that people follow the same laws of natural selection as plants/animals.

What are the Rites of Passage?

Marks a change in life or social status, often celebrated through rituals, ceremonies, or specific events.

• Segregation

• Transition

• Reintegration

What is Nacirema?

Civilization from North America with a basic focus on the human body - how ugly and vulnerable to weakness/disease it is.

What is Kinship (family)?

The anthropologists believe it is the most important agent of socialization.

What is Matrilineal?

People trace their ancestry through their mothers.

What is Patrilineal?

People trace their ancestry through their fathers.

What is Bilineal?

People trace their ancestry through both parents.

What is Physical Anthropology?

Aims to understand/define the physiological or biological nature of humans.

What is the Fossil Record?

Shows evolutionary change throughout the human species and connection between past and future species.

What is Natural Selection?

Organisms with traits that are more favourable to their environment are more likely to survive and pass down these traits.

What is Genetics/Heredity?

Genetics & the environment shape human behaviour.

What are Cesspits?

Large underground pits/containers used for the collection of human waste and sewage.

What is a Hominid?

Any humanlike species (including us).

Advantage of Bipedalism?

Allows use of hands for other tasks.

Who is Raymond Dart?

First to discover the fossil of a child in Africa and began paleoanthropology.

Who is Lucy?

Fossil found in 1974, distant ancestor to homo sapiens, proved hominids were bipedal earlier than we thought.