Cultural Anthropology

Intersectionality

The intersection of multiple cultural identities

Acculturation

Acquiring new cultures

Ethnocentrism

Cultural biases, when you use your own culture as a standard to judge everyone else

Cultural relativism

Everything that people do makes perfect sense to them/not judging

Etic

Explain something from a material point of view. (Ex. outsider or quantitative)

Emic

Represents something from a non-material point of view. (Ex. how does it feel, qualitative)

Reprocity

The practice of exchanging things with others for mutual benefit. Give and take. Creates obligations

Foraging

Hunting and gathering for a living

Generalized reciprocity

Giving and receiving goods with no immediate or specific return expected. Gift giving.

Food sharing

Necessary for human survival. Especially during early human evolution.

Salvage anthropology

Activities such as gathering artifacts, or recording cultural rituals with the belief that a culture is about to disappear.

Documentary

A film made from the directors point of view

Ethnography

An academic study of culture

Reductionist

Reduces an entire culture down to just one or two simple things.

Oversimplified

Simplistic. Makes a culture look simple.

Objectified

Cultures are being seen as objects and things rather then complicated human beings

Omiak

Womens boat

Inivimuit

An Inuit group from Northeastern Canada

Ache

from Paraguay in the center of South America

San

Kalahari Desert in South Africa

Sharing is the core value

No one will let anyone else go hungry

Egalitarian

promoting equal rights for all people/equal access to food

Symbolic anthropology

Focuses on cultural meaning. How people feel and what they believe.

Binary opposition

pairs of words that seem to come together to contrast one another. Two categories. Good vs. Evil

Liminal

between two oppositions

Microcultures

We all belong to multiple micro cultures

Horticulture

Uses only human labor, no animals, machines, depends on rainfall for success.

Yanomamo

Lived in South America, Venezuela and Brazil

Shabano

A Yanomamo village or communal dwelling

Power

You can force people do do things

Authority

You have been granted legitimacy to make certain forms of action. ( Ex. Your professor)

Replacement Level

Two children for every two adults

Nomadic

Wandering from place to place

Unilineal cultural evolution

Cultures have all evolved through stages of cultural evolution. Old ethnocentric viewpoint seen as racist.

Materialist anthropology - ETIC

Focuses on material things (food, resources, reproduction etc.)

Outsiders perspective. Quantitative focus (how much, how many)

Functionalism

Every culture practice happens for a reason. The purpose is to keep the culture running smoothly.

The Sukuddei

Practice exogamy (which means they marry people from other villages or social group)

Sign

Represents something

Denotation

The act of using a symbol or word to signify explicit meaning. Ex. ! @ #

Connotation

All the meanings, associations, or emotions that a word suggests or implies.

Icon

Looks like what it represents. (The home button on your phone screen)

Index

Has a pysical connection to what it represents.

Symbol

A thing that represents or stands for something else, especially a material object representing something abstract.

Values

Standards of good or bad

Norms

Rules of what right or wrong .

Culture shock

Feeling extremely uncomfortable in that culture or group

Participant observation

Correct way to do fieldwork. You live with the people and speak their language.

Enviornmental Determinism

The behavior of any culture is determined by their environment.

Human agency

The idea that people make choices

Influence

You lead by example. (Common for the headman in the Yonomamo tribe)