Cultural Anthropology Exam 2

Animatism

a belief that the world is animated by impersonal supernatural powers

Mana

• a sacred impersonal force that can reside in people, animals, plants, and objects

• similar to luck

• could be acquired by chance

Shamans

• skilled at contacting and manipulating supernatural beings and powers through altered states of consciousness

Rites of separations

• the ritual removal of the individual from society

rites of transition

• isolation of the individual following separation and prior incorporation into society

rites of incorporation

• reincorporation of the individual into society in his or her new status 

rites of intensification

• rituals mark occasions of crisis in the life of the group

Magic

• the belief that supernatural powers can be compelled to act in certain ways for good or evil purposes by recourse to certain specified formulas

imitative magic

based on the principle that like produces like. sometimes called sympathetic magic

contagious magic

• based on the principle that things once in contact can influence one another after separation 

Zombies

• five constant animal ingredients: burned and ground up human remains, a small tree frog, a segmented worm, a large new world toad, and one or more species of pufferfish

witchcraft

• an explanation of events based on the belief that certain individuals passes an innate psychic power capable of causing harm, including sickness and death

divination

• a magical procedure for determining the cause of a particular event, such as illness, or foretelling the future 

functions of witchcraft

• an effective way for people to explain away personal misfortune without having to shoulder any of the blame themselves 

• provides an outlet for feelings of hostility and frustration without disturbing the norms of the larger group

voodoo

• combines elements of African beliefs, Haitian beliefs, Catholicism, and magic 

• example of sympathetic magic 

• animal sacrifices

animal sacrifice

the purpose of the ritual is to gain favor from a spirit in order to help them obtain good fortune

revitalization movements

• cult

• social movements, often of a religious nature, with the purpose of totally reforming a society

marriage

• a relationship between one or more men and one or more women who are recognized by society as having a continuing claim to the right of sexual access to one another

the ritual husband (Nayar)

• shortly before a girl experiences her first menstrual cycle there is a ceremony that joins her and a man of her parents choosing for a temporary period of time

Visiting husband

• When a young Nayar women entered into a continuing sexual liaison with a man approved by her family, it became a formal relationship that required the man to present her with gifts three times a year 

• Can have as many visiting husbands she wants 

• Men have no obligation to care for her financially

acknowledging paternity

• when the woman becomes pregnant, one of the men with whom she had a relationship with must acknowledge paternity by making gifts to the woman and midwife

endogamy

• marriage within a particular group of category of individuals

• INSIDE GROUP

exonomy

• marriage outside the group

serial monogamy

• a form of marriage in which a man or woman marries a series of partners

polygyny

• marriage of a man to two or more women at the same time

polyandry

• marriage of a woman to two or more men at one time

fictive marriage

• marriage by proxy to the symbols of someone not physically present to establish the social status of a spouse and heirs

bride price

• payment of money from the groom’s to the bride’s kin

bride service

• the groom is expected to work for a period for the bride’s family

dowry

• payment of a woman’s inheritance at the time of marriage to her or her husband

prenup

• a document that splits up the division of things before marriage happens

conjugal families

• nuclear family 

• a family consisting of one man married to one woman and their offspring

consanguineal family

• extended family

• related women, their brothers, and their offspring

what is language

• a system for the communication, in symbols, of any kind of information

the nature of language

• there are approximately 6000 languages 

• all languages are organized in the same basic way 

phonology

• study of language sounds

phonetics

• the distinctive sounds of a language

morphology

• the study of patterns or rules of word formation in a language

syntax

• the rules or principles of phrase and sentence making

grammar

• the entire formal structure of a language

sociolinguistics

• the study of the relationship between language and society, examines how social categories influence the use and significance of distinctive styles of speech

code switching

• the process of changing from one language or dialect to another

kinesics

• a system of notating and analyzing postures, facial expressions, and body motions, that convey messages

proxemics

• the cross-cultural study of human-kind’s perception and use of space 

paralanguage

the extralinguistic noises that accompany language, for example, those of crying or laughing

tonal language

• a language in which the sound pitch of a spoken word is essential part of its pronunciation and meaning

critical language hypothesis

• if you do not learn language by the time, you are 7-9 years old you will never learn it