Anth 1220 (Chapters 1-4)

4 fields of anthropology

Biological Anthropology, Archaeology, Linguistics Anthropology, Cultural Anthropology

The sub-field, sometimes considered the fifth field in anthropology?

Applied Anthropology

The first commitment in anthropology

Exploring sociocultural diversity

The second commitment in anthropology

Understanding how societies hold together

Organic analogy

Social institutions work together like the organs in a body

Holism

All part of a society are interrelated

The third commitment in anthropology

Examining the interdependence of humans and nature

Biological Anthropology

The branch of anthropology concerned with the physical development of the human species

Paleoanthropology

The study of human evolution and their ancestors

Primatology

The study of primates

Physical anthropology

The study of human evolution, biological variation, adaptation and behaviours of humans (the older branch of biological anthropology)

Osteology

The study of bones

Fields related to Biological anthropology (Human evolution)

Paleoanthropology, Primatology

Fields related to Biological anthropology (Human variation)

Physical anthropology, Osteology, Genetics

Archaeology

The study of past cultures through analysis of material remains, such as artifacts

Prehistoric archaeology

Study of human societies before written records

Historic archaeology

Study of human societies with written/verbal records

Classical archaeology

Study of ancient greek and roman civilizations

Underwater archaeology

Study of human history and cultures through physical remains found in water

Ethnoarchaeology

Study of living cultures to understand past societies

Linguistic anthropology

The study of the relationship between language and culture, how language is used in society, and how the human brain acquires and uses language

Structural linguistics

Study of linguistics that view language as systems of interrelated structures

Sociolinguistics

Study of the relationship between language and society

Historical linguistics

Study of how language(s) change over time

Socio-cultural Anthropology

The study of contemporary societies and cultures

Ethnography

The in-depth study of the everyday practices and lives of a people

Ethnology

Study of characteristics of various peoples and the differences and relationships between them

Applied Anthropology

Use of anthropological data from one or more other subfields to address practical problems

Socialization

Learning to live as a member of a group

Enculturation

Coming to terms with appropriate ways of thinking and feeling in your culture

Ethnocentrism

The belief that the ways of one’s own culture are the only correct ways and that all other cultures should be judged by this standard

Primitivism

Africans and Indigenous peoples are depicted as ignorant, backward savages

Orientalism

Middle eastern and Asian peoples are depicted as irrational, fanatical, and out of control

Lewis Henry Morgan

Unilineal evolutionist who believed that all societies passthrough stages of savagery, barbarism and civilization

Franz Boas

He was a pioneer of modern anthropology who has been called the "Father of American Anthropology". His work is associated with the movements known as historical particularism and cultural relativism

Cultural Relativism

Every element of culture must be understood within the broader whole of that culture

E.B Tylor’s definition of culture

That complex whole which includes knowledge, belief, art, morals, law, customs and any other capabilities and habits acquired by man as a member of society

Human beings are ___

biocultural organisms

Characteristics of culture

Shared, learned, Patterned, Adaptive, Symbolic

E.B Tylor was all of the following except

Was a cultural relativist

Psychic Unity

The idea that people everywhere are engaged in the same narrative of progress (not all at the same pace)

Bronislaw Malinowski

Championed participant-observation fieldwork, and believed culture satisfied individual biological, social and psychological needs

A.R Radcliffe-Brown

Developed the organic analogy to explain how societies self-regulate and admitted the limitations of functionalism

Clifford Geertz

Lead the interpretive turn moving anthropology away from “tribes and island” and avoided major theory because, “culture was too variable”

Technology

Specialized knowledge and skills used for making material culture in a group

Material culture

Things made and used by humans (or near humans) in a group context

Cultural practises

Routine speech communicates meaning and values. Routine actions organizes social events.

Cultural frames

Patterned, shared ways of making sense of situations

Cultural roles

Conventionalized position held by a person or person in a particular context or setting

Non-material culture

Thoughts, ideas and values that make up a culture

Beliefs

Cultural conventions about what is true and false

Some beliefs are combined into…

Ideologies

Ideology

A set of symbols and beliefs supporting the interests of a specific group

Cultural Hegemony

Control over values, beliefs and norms

Norms

Rules for right and wrong behaviour (connected to values)

Folkways

Taken for granted norms guiding everyday behaviour (somewhat flexible)

Mores

Stronger norms, the violation of which is punished

George Murdock

Founded the Human Relations Area Files (HRAF) to study cross-cultural similarities

Psychological Anthropology

Studies interaction between individuals and culture

Ruth Benedict

Founded the “Culture and Personality” school of thought (features ideas like, “Culture is personality writ large”)

Piano analogy (Everyone has the same keyboard, but different individuals and different cultures strike some keys more than others)

An analogy which explains how some emotions are cross-cultural while others are not

Cultural determinism

The belief that the culture in which we are raised determines who we are at emotional and behavioral levels.

Cultural evolutionism

A discredited theory popular in nineteenth century anthropology suggesting that societies evolved through stages from simple to advanced

Functionalism

An approach to anthropology developed in British anthropology that emphasized the way that parts of a society work together to support the functioning of the whole

Kinship

Blood ties, common ancestry, and social relationship that from families within human groups

Fieldwork

An extended period of close involvement with the people whose way of life anthropologists ordinarily collect most of their data

Participant-observation

The method anthropologists use to gather information by living and working with the people whose culture they are studying while participating in their lives as much as possible

Positivism

The view that there is a reality ‘out there’ that can be detected through the senses and that there is a single, appropriate scientific method for investigating that reality

Objective knowledge

Knowledge about reality that is absolute and true for all people, in all times and places

Emic

a description of the studied culture from the perspective of a member of the culture or insider.

Etic

a description of the studied culture from the perspective of a outsider to a culture or observer

Multi-sited Fieldwork

Ethnographic research on cultural processes that are not contained by social, ethic, religious or national boundaries in which the ethnographer follows the process from site to site, often doing fieldwork in sites and with persons that were traditionally never subject to ethnographic analysis

Linguistic anthropologists are interested in…

the role of language in sociocultural life

Language evolved between…

200000 and 50000 ya

Modern language evolved between…

7000 and 5000 ya

Speech allowed for…

culture

Monkeys and apes, like many other animals, have…

Call systems

The Chimpanzee Washoe learned

150 signs

The Chimpanzee Lana learned

Lexigrams (keyboards)

The Gorilla Koko learned

1000 signs (was able to lie/joke/swear)

The Chimpanzee Nimbus Chimpsky learned

Trained in ASL (responded but did not initiates)

Calls are not language because the require…

Stimulus

Gorillas have how many calls

22 sounds

Howler monkeys have how many calls

20 sounds

Japanese macaque have how many calls

30 sounds

Gibbons have how many calls

9 sounds

Call system refers to…

Sounds and gestures

In English ___ of emotional information is conveyed in “body language”

90%

Kinesics

Study of postures, facial expressions, motions

Universal nonverbal communication

Smile/laugh/crying

non-universal nonverbal communication

Posture

Proxemics

The study of how people use space to communicate

The design features of human language:

Openness, Displacement, Prevarication, Arbitrariness, Duality of Patterning, Semanticity

Openness

Creativity and different perspectives

Displacement

Talk of thing in the past, future or that are non-existent

Prevarication

Making up meaningless things

Arbitrariness

No link between word and sound

Duality of patterning

the use of combinations of a small number of meaningless elements to produce a large number of meaningful elements

Semanticity

Importance of context in communication (certain demographics prefer certain topics of conversation)

John Locke and B.F. Skinner believed

Language learning through conditioned response and feedback