History of Anthropology Exam 2

The Gift

Marcel Mauss

Toward a General Descriptive Sociology

Marcel Mauss

The Rites of Passage (1909)

Arnold van Gennep

Tristes Tropiques

Claude Levi-Strauss

The Elementary Structures of Kinship

Claude Levi-Strauss

Structural Anthropology

Claude Levi-Strauss

Mythology (3 volumes)

Claude Levi-Strauss

The Raw and the Cooked

Claude Levi-Strauss

From Honey to Ashes

Claude Levi-Strauss

The Origin of Table Manners

Claude Levi-Strauss

Argonauts of the Western Pacific

Bronislaw Malinowski

Sex and Repression in Savage Society

Bronislaw Malinowski

Coral Gardens and their Magic

Bronislaw Malinowski

The Scientific Theory of Culture

Bronislaw Malinowski

The Sexual Life of Savages in Northwestern Melanesia

Bronislaw Malinowski

The Andaman Islanders

A.R. Radcliffe-Brown

The Social Organization of Australian Tribes

A.R. Radcliffe-Brown

A Natural Science of Society

A.R. Radcliffe-Brown

Structure and Function in Primitive Societies

A.R. Radcliffe-Brown

The Nuer

E.E. Evans-Pritchard

Witchcraft, Oracles, and Magic among the Azande

E.E. Evans-Pritchard

Inventor of ExT=C

Leslie A. White

Basin-Plateau Sociopolitical Groups

Julian H. Steward

Schism an Continuity in an African Society

Victor Turner

The Forest of Symbols

Victor Turner

The Drums of Affliction

Victor Turner

The Ritual Process

Victor Turner

Peoples of the Lake Nyasa Region

Mary Douglas

The Lele of Kasai

Mary Douglas

Purity and Danger

Mary Douglas

Natural Symbols

Mary Douglas

The Interpretation of Culture

Clifford Geertz

The Rise of Anthropological Theory

Marvin Harris

Cultural Materialism: The Struggle for a Science of Culture

Marvin Harris

The Cultural Ecology of India's Sacred Cattle

Marvin Harris

Myths of Male Dominance

Eleanor Burke Leacock

The Communist Manifesto

Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels

Das Kapital

Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels

The Conditions of the Working Class in England

Friedrich Engels

The Rites of Passage

separation, transition, incorporation

Structural Anthropology

concerned with the search for a subconscious grammar of culture...or "deep" structures" embedded in the human mind

Binary concepts

states that cultures are structured around pairs and opposing concepts

Alliance theory

Theory that maintains that the major function of marriage is to bind groups together into a larger social system

Restricted exchange

Marriage system involving only two extended families

Generalized exchange

an exchange where reciprocation involves the social network and isn't confined to two individuals

Ethnological Society of London

founded in 1843; a learned society established in 1843 that focused on the study of different human cultures, essentially pioneering scientific anthropology in its time

Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland

founded in 1871; the historical name of the organization, which later became the "Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland"

Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland

founded in 1907; a non-profit organization that promotes the study of anthropology and the world's oldest scholarly association dedicated to anthropology

Participant observation

a research method in which investigators systematically observe people while joining them in their routine activities

Functionalism

The belief that all social practices and institutions were functional in the sense that they fit together in a functioning whole which they contributed to maintaining

Kula ring

A mode of balanced reciprocity that reinforces trade and social relations among the seafaring Melanesians who inhabit a large ring of islands in the southwestern Pacific Ocean

Structural Functionalism

emphasized the formal ordering of parts and their functional interrelations as contributing to the maintenance needs of a structured social system

Descent theory

explores the ways in which consanguineal (or blood) relations are structured in various societies

-i.e. patriarchal descent, matriarchal, etc.

The role of history in anthropology

Evans-Pritchard believed that anthropology should be considered more akin to history than a natural science, emphasizing the need to understand a culture's historical context to accurately interpret its social structures and practices

ExT=C

establishes a correlation between energy, technology, and culture in anthropology

Technology and Energy

considered crucial elements of the "cultural core," meaning what they use to access resources and the expenditure required to do so significantly influences their social organization and cultural practices

Evolution in anthropology

concerned with origins and evolution of humans and their behavior

Cultural ecology

Geographic approach that emphasizes human-environment relationships

Multilinear evolution

used to explain common characteristics of widely separated cultures developed under similar ecological circumstances

Ritual

a ceremonial act; a customary procedure

Performance

a key part of culture and society

Liminality

one stage in a rite of passage during which a ritual participant experiences a period of outsiderhood, set apart from normal society, that is key to achieving a new perspective on the past, future, and current community

Communitas

a sense of camaraderie, a common vision of what constitutes a good life, and a commitment to take social action to move toward achieving this vision that is shaped by the common experience of rites of passage

Social dramas

a conflict that arises in a community after a social norm is violated, with discussion that challenges or validates the norm

Purity

the state of being physically and morally clean

Pollution

a relational concept that describes the mixing of things that should be kept separate

Symbolic analysis

attempts to analyze the symbolic meaning of objects by comparing them with their opposites

Thick Description (Geertz)

a research strategy that combines detailed description of cultural activity with an analysis of the layers of deep cultural meaning in which those activities are embedded

Cultural materialism

idea (Harris) that cultural infrastructure determines structure and superstructure

Epistemological principles of science

the underlying philosophical assumptions about how knowledge is acquired within the field of anthropology, essentially asking questions about how anthropologists can "know" what they claim to know about different cultures

Male and female roles

Leacock states that claims of male superiority are based on carefully constructed myths with no factual historical basis

Virilocal

A matrimonial system in which the bride lives with the groom's family

Taboo

A restriction on behavior imposed by social custom

Emic

approach of studying a culture's behavior from the perspective of an insider

Etic

approach of studying a culture's behavior from the perspective of an outsider

Mode of production

specific set of social relations that organizes labor

Infrastructure

comprises the conditions for existence-material resources, the division of labor

Use value

The value of an object itself is its correspondence to real human needs

Exchange value

An object's value is compared with other objects

Monogenesis

the position that humans constitute a single biological species with a common origin and physical differences produced by natural agents over time

Polygenesis

the position that humans constitute distinct species with separate origins and physical differences that are unalterable and innate

Potlatch

an opulent ceremonial feast at which possessions are given away or destroyed to display wealth or enhance prestige.

Kula

an interisland system of ceremonial gift exchange as a prelude to or at the same time as regular trading.

Soulava

a red shell necklace that is part of the Kula ring, a ceremonial gift-giving tradition in Papua New Guinea.

Mwali

bracelets of white shells

Gimwali

Market exchange (pigs, vegetables, food etc.)

Barter

Exchange goods without involving money

Reciprocal exchange

the equal exchange of gifts between the families of both the bride and groom to legitimize a marriage

Redistribution

a form of exchange in which accumulated wealth is collected from the members of the group and reallocated in a different pattern

Inheritance of acquired characteristics

Lamarckian belief that characteristics acquired during the lifetime of an organism can be passed on to offspring