Anth 205 Lycnh Exam 1

Anthropology

Comparative and holistic study of human biology and culture

4 sub disciplines of anthropology

Biological, Cultural, Archaeology, Linguistics

Biological anthropology

Biological and behavioral aspects of human beings

Examples of biological anthropology

Human paleontology, osteology, anthropometry

Human paleontology

Study of human and primate fossil records ex. Lucy the Skeleton

Osteology

Study of human skeleton ex. parodic hyperostosis (study of skull bone when suffering from iron deficiency anemia) , harris lines (arms and leg bone with lines that indicate malnutrition)

Anthropometry

Study of human weights and measurements ex. Spanish conquest Peru - believed that Inca ancestors cursed the Inca women to no longer give birth, so they moved to a new location that was at lower altitude, the real reason is because of hypoxia - altitude sickness, merty\=metric\=measurements

Cultural anthropology

Comparative and holist study of human culture, is both historic and contemporary

Comparative

Looking at patterns, 2 or more units of analysis are compared across cultures

Holistic

Elected, all perspectives must be examined to explain human phenomenon ex. Beri Beri in Thailand - After WW2 docs were needed due to Beri Beri (lack of vitamin B6), caused by thymine in fish sauce, they had to examine all cultural aspects to see where the issues came from

What began as a attempt to separate that which is universal from partial about human beings in the 1800's

Cultural anthropology

Dowery system

Giving of goods, cash, proper, that the brides family gives to the groom, ex. of cultural anthropology

Archaeology

Study of human culture remains reconstructed the life ways of past societies ex. artifacts found in human burials - can indicate social stratification and cultural complexity

Neanderthal burials

Band level, first to bury their dead on a social level

Lascaux cave

Tribal level, 15 year old girl burial was different from the rest because she had sea shells and a live size painting of a course, the closest shore was 300 miles away so this indicated trade

Etowan indian mounds

Cheifton level, separate mound for priest, warriors, royalty, and commoners

Aztec burial

Symbolic of money, state level society and professional which indicates stratification, each grave was different

Linguistics

Study of human languages, uses comparative and holistic methods

Glottochronology

Shows when language diverged from a common ancestral language by looking at core words

Human variation

Works with living groups ex. population genetics (blood samples) and anthropometry (study of human weights and measurements)

Participant observation

Anthropologist live with the people that they are studying and participate in their culture

Example of participant observation

Yanamamo got measles, tribes had not been contacted by outside sources, Changon came to vaccinate and study and found out they had made up the name, Brazil

Ethnography and ethnohistory

Detailed information on the way people live, their live hood and their beliefs

Emic perspective

The way people view their own behavior, inside, m\=me

Etic perspective

Outside perspective ex. elephantiasis - diseased passed by worms through misquotes, thought to be a punishment and they were shunned from family and society

Culture is

Learned, shared, dynamic, an interrelated system, and is our primary means of adaption

Learned

Acquired, taught by other people, not biological, 3 primary forms of transmission

Vertical transmission

From the independent to dependent, ex. parent to child language, beliefs, hard to change

Horizontal transmission

Between peers, ex. music, hair styles, drugs, can change quickly

Oblique transmission

One to many, ex. the media advertisement, the clean revolution of listerine

Shared

Everyone participates, is egalitarian, must be transmitted from one person to the next

Dynamic

Always changing, ex. football games, concerts, airport security

Examples on how culture is dynamic

9/11, technologic changes affect language, ogburn and cultural lag - ogburn thinks that material culture strives to adjust to tech technologies and inventions

Interrelated system

Idea that cultural traits are not random, they are most adjusted to or consisted with the other cultural traits within the group, one sphere will influence another

Example of social psychology and cognitive consistency

Children detects inconsistency in parents

Examples of one sphere influencing another

Sue fisher studied hispanic vs. white women with reproductive cancer in california, studied how they were treated, white women were given more informed, connotation, cryosurgery, hysterectomy

Connotation

Removal of small area

Cryosurgery

Freezing of cancer cells

Hysterectomy

Removal of uterus

What is out primary means of adaptation

Culture

Genetic adaptation

1/4 of the world live with malaria, sickle cell anemia offers immunity to malaria, sickle cell anemia is a mutation of red blood cells into sickle shape
Subject 1 - homozygous, normal reed blood cell, no anemia, has malaria
Subject 2 - heterozygous, slight sickle cells, little anemia, no malaria
Subject 3 - homozygous, full sickle cell, full anemia, no malaria

Developmental adaptation and example

Enhanced vasoconstriction/ dilation, 1940, Eskimoks vs lower 48, hand in ice water and measured temperature based on environment, only effects those born in the environment ex. hypoxia in peru

Cultural adaptation

Satisfy basic needs and wants psychological, social, emotional, and physical

Examples of cultural adaption

Ayahuasca - that makes you hallucinate, pintupi - people of western austraillia, gathers, hunters, forages, harsh climates, knowledge of environment, season adaption

Ethnocentrism

Belief that ones culture is supreme, ex. cultural extinction, brazil or columbian conquistadors

Xenophobia

Fear if foreign things, ex. Tasmanian devil - british capture islands, tasmanian devil applied to native because of cultural ritual in cannibalism, atrocities, was, slavery, cannibalism

Cultural relativism

Need to evaluated cultural practices, why do people do this, ex. elderly eskimos would walk on to the ice at night to die

Values

Emotionally charges preferences,usually reflects culture, ex. suffrage, death penalty, abortion, sexual taboos

Core values

Highly variable across cultures, ex. americans value freedom, but socialist countries don't, premarital chastity, dowery, bodily fluids, japan is more open with nudity, shut and unchi - dancing feces

Idiosyncratic values

Depending on the individual ex. vegetarian

Values are highly \_____ , and core values are very \_____

Divisive, ethnocentric

What tends to reflect, or be consistent with other areas of culture

Values

Example of value changing over time

Integrity of the government

Innovation

Basis of all culture change, ultimate source, 2 forms, invention and discovery

Invention

Novel rearrangement or use of preexisting knowledge or technologies, ex. american football, airplane, warfare

Discovery

A wholly new technology or knowledge, coming aware of existing phenomena. ex. microwave, pasteurization, oil, nuclear energy

Diffusion

Spreading of cultural traits over time and geographical space, modified to fit their culture that they're borrowing, ex. 100% americanized food, fast-food, coke, hollywood

Why are cultural traits usually adopted?

To have relative advantage and compatibility, ex. diffusion of horse, mcdonalds in india, sushi

Spiritism

Began in mid 19th century in france, effort to reconcile science and religion, mixture of christian moral code with reincarnation and belief in contact with the spirits of the dead

Founder of spiritism

Alan Kardec - interviews spirits through mediums (pen name of french school teachers)

Religious syncretism

Blending of two or more religious beliefs system into a new system

Medical pluralism

Employment of more than one medical system or the use of both conventional and complimentary and alternative medicine

Dr. Fritz

Spirit of german doctor, maricio malgainaes was a spirit medium, surgeries done without anesthetics, rituals must preformed before surgery

Results of Dr. Fritz

70% success rate
47% cured completely
80-95% satisfaction
23% received help in a significant way
25/34 said no pain
2/34 said a lot of pain
His surgeries do better on symptomatic illness as opposed to lifelong

Maladaptive behaviors

Any behavior which brings hard, retards or reduces an organisms ability to meet its physiological needs or reproduce, ex. sub incision among pre contact austrailian aboriginal groups, polyandry, tapirape, postpartum sexual taboos

Functionalism

Cultural traits generally have an adaptive function, long history social science

Examples of functionalism,

Ayahuase - intestinal parasite, hopi indians built their villages on high mesas because of the spread of different tribes

Adaptationist trap

Tendency to see everything as adaptive, over use of functionalism, "just so stories"

Some traits are neutral examples

Osborn noticed being were suffering from hypocalcemia so he crushed shells into pottery but this didn't make since because we don't eat pottery, marvin harris theorized that aztec would lack portion because they ate people, but ortiz de montellano refuted the claim by stating that there was no evidence, aztecs had chinampas, and had many sources of protein

Conformity

Natural selection has embedded the need to conform, one of the basis cognitive design elements, to detect and prefer the central tendency, ex. food binding, corsets, trypanosome and chagas disease from tooth shaving and eating of bugs

EEA

Environment of evolutionary adaptation

Tendency to conform is an explanation for what?

Maladaptive behavior

Societies and levels of complexity are measured in what two ways?

Subsistence patterns and sociological types

Subsistence patterns

Hunting and gathering
Pastoralism
Transhumance
Agriculture

Sociological types

Band
Tribe
Chiefdom
State

Hunters and gatherers

Band level, small groups, free ranging, no longer exists, egalitarian, status was achieved

Hunter and gather myths

Man the hunter - man over emphasized the importance of hunting , driven by hunger/ hard life - they didn't have a hard life

Animism

Belief that everything is animated/ alive/ has a soul, ex. urbu collect honey and offer knifes to bees, heckwalder shot deer and offered it tobacco and said prayer, never take full protein of a plant

Tribe

Similar to bands, but larger, multiple settlements, multiple kin groups (huron and altihgnawatan), primarily achieved status but some ascribed, mostly horticultural or pastoral, mostly animist, some animitism - belief that humans can tap into a force through ritual and empower them, high death rates from war

Mobilization and two types of causes of war

Proximate causes - specific reason for fighting, immediate motivation ex. resources
Ultimate causes - what is in our nature ex. xenophobia

Pastoralism

Usually nomad, primary food is livestock, ex. west africa mile and blood, old testament people

Transhumance

Still pastoralist, but seasonal migration only, ex. swiss alps, mix horticulture with pastoralism, went to dry high locations

Horticulture

Small backyard farming with simple tools, "slash and burn", no surplus, group consumption only, ex. Huron

Agriculture

Mechanized with surplus and storage, massive expansion of the lands, caring capacity \= breeds dependency, but allows for larger surplus

Chiefdom

Greater population, density, and social stratification, usually agriculture, composed of more than one tribe with many clans and centralized power, must have surplus, no symbolic money system, some ascribed status, limited caste system, little craft specialization, no mercenaries or standing armies, ex. Mississippian culture,

State

Highly stratifies, always have agriculture, similar to chiefdom but larger and more stratification, greater population, based on market economy, symbolic monetary system, largely ascribed status, full time army, diver craft specialization and caste system, must have writing and advances system of records - taxes, monetary shared by entire state ex. aztec or meca

Aztec or meca

State, dense population, cortez, tenochtitlan- aztec city or state, chinampas - floating gardens, sewer system

4 social classes

Nobles
Professionals
Commoners
Slaves

1st social class

Kings and queens, tlatoahi - potential governors, pochteca - nobleman that anyone can achieve, believed to be traders, merchants military says, appointed by the king the hereditary

Extra social class

Military, cross cuts all social classes, purpose is to maintain tribute system, goal is to capture captive, tzompanti - skull racks

Basseri location

Southern iran/ middle east

Basseri subsistence pattern

Pastoral, sheep and goat are there substance products, had a milk based diet, no cattle, about 16,000 people

Basseri marriage

Marriage was arranged, is a transaction between tents, male must be able to support the family,

Patrilineal

Relationship to father or decedent of male line

Bride price

"Milk price", what the husband pays the wife's family in exchange for their marriage

Basseri cheif

Ascribed status, only one to be sedentary,responsibilities include: appointing headmen, allowing land, organizing patterns, settling disputes,

The Basseri were forced to leave the nomadic way of life because of

They became extremely poor

Basseri religion

Shi'ite muslims Islam

Basseri housing

Move every 3 days, location of tents depends on relationships, lots of tents together during winter, fewer tents together during summer

Basseri education

Lead them away from nomadic lifestyle