ANTHRCUL 101 UMICH Exam 1

What is Anthropolgy

The study of humans across time and space. The Scientific and Humanistic study of human beings encompassing the evolutionary history of humanity, physical variation amongst humans, the study of past societies, and the comparative study of current day human societies and cultures

Holistic Approach

Encompasses past present and future, biology, society, language, and culture. Local and Global, Individual and Collective

Cross-Cultural

involving the comparison of two or more cultures

Example: Thanksgiving; An American holiday or harvest festival

Applied Anthropology

The use of anthropology to solve contemporary problems

Biocultural

combining biological and cultural approaches to a given problem

Society

organized life in groups

Four Fields of Anthropology

cultural, archaeological, biological, linguistic

Anthropological Archaeology

the study of past cultures based primarily on their material remains"

Biological Anthropology

The study of human biological variation through time and as it exists today.

Linguistic Anthropology

The study of language and linguistic diversity; the study of language and its relation to culture

Cultural Anthropology

"The study of human thought, behavior, and lifeways that are learned rather than genetically transmitted and that are typical of groups of people"

Ethnography

fieldwork and its written results

ethnology

the attempt to find general principles or laws that govern cultural phenomena through the comparison of cultures. Drawing conclusions about society at large from multiple sources

The Nacirema

A term anthropologists and sociologists have used to examine aspects of the behavior and society of American people

Unilinear Evolution

The idea of a single line or path of cultural development.

Ex Savage->Barbarian-> Civilized

Franz Boas

He believed in historical particularism.. Histories are not comparable and diverse paths lead to the same result. He Determined that biology (inc. race) does not determine cultural achievements

Bronislaw Malinowski

British anthropologist who conducted long term fieldwork with the Trobriand islanders. He recommended to cut yourself off from your own, write everything down, live in community and participate in daily life

Fieldwork methods

Building Rapport, participant observation, key informants, interviews, life history,

Building Rapport

building a friendly working relationship with hosts, based upon personal contact

Emic Approach

a research strategy focused on local explanations and meanings

Etic Approach

A research strategy emphasizing the ethnographers explanations and categories

Ethics of Fieldwork

If the project can fulfill the

AAA code of ethics

by

doing no

harm

How to protect identity of consultants

How to obtain informed consent and proper permissions

How to avoid damaging own reputation or reputation of

anthropologists as a community

Potential consequences of publications

Ways of being sensitive to the beliefs, practices, traditions, etc,

of community members

Any particular vulnerabilities of the population

Wink Vs Twitch

A wink is deliberate, directed at someone, intended to impart a specific message, according to a socially established code

Culture

"Systems of human behavior and thought" (Kottak)

Traditions and customs, transmitted through

learning (rather than

biological inheritance),

that form and guide the beliefs and

behavior of the people exposed to

them" (Kottak)

"

The learned behaviors and symbols that allow people to live in

groups; the primary means by which humans adapt to their

environment; the ways of life characteristic of a particular human

society"

Culture is learned

Cultures are made up of learned behaviors

Miner Reading

presented everyday American rituals as customs of a savage tribe

Azande

a people of the Sudan who believe in witchcraft as an explanation for coincidences. It is used as a perfectly rational way of explaining why events occur

Dominant Culture

The culture of the majority (the mainstream culture)

Subcultures

groups within the dominant cultures with shared values

Style Shifting

Those occupying middle class switch their styles of speaking depending on who they're with

Talking Black in America: Main Arguments

There's no such thing as a proper English, AAVE developed

Hypodescent

a child of mixed descent is automatically classified as the minority

Enculturation

The process by which culture is learned and transmitted across the generations. We are not born knowing our culture, we are capable of learning any culture through teaching and messing pop

Characteristics of Culture

All encompassing, learned, shared, multi scalar, symbolic, integrated, adaptive, contested

Culture is shared

It is an attribute of groups and something transmitted in society.

Norms

shared ideas about the way things ought to be done

Values

shared ideas about what is true, right, and beautiful

Dominant Culture

The culture with the greatest wealth and power in society that consists of many subcultures

Culture uses Symbol

Culture is a shared mental model that people use to classify, organisze, and understand the world. A key example of this symbol is language

Culture is Integrated

Cultures are patterned and integrated, thus, changes in one aspect affect other aspects

Culture is Adaptive and Maladaptive

culture is an adaptive strategy but can also be maladaptive (have a negative impact, like logging and fishinbg)

Agency

actions that individuals take, both alone and in groups, in forming and transforming cultural identities

Diffusion

The spread of cultural elements from one society to another

forced diffusion

one group subjugates another and imposes its customs

direct diffusion

between two cultures that trade with, intermarry among, or wage war on one another

Indirect Diffusion

across one or more intervening cultures without first-hand contact

Globalization

growth to a global or worldwide scale (for example, McDonalds)

Ethnocentricism

The tendency to view ones own culture as superior and to use one's own standards and values in judging outsiders. Basically, It is judging other cultures from the perspective of ones own culture

Cultural Relativism

the practice of judging a culture by its own standards, belief that baggier should be evaluated in the context of the culture in which it occurs

Differential Consequences of ethnocentrism (Veiling)

In the west, the burqa is viewed as a symbol of oppression. It is a symbol of religious piety in the Taliban. The veil does not symbolize just one thing

Language

A communication system based on meaningful signs, sounds, gestures, or marks; the primary means of human communication

Call Systems

the form of communication among nonhuman primates composed of a limited number of sounds that are tied to specific stimuli in the environment

Universal Grammar

We are all born with a blueprint for language. Universal grammar is the basic set of principles, conditions, and rules that form the foundations of all languages.

Productivity

Humans can combine words and sounds into new, meaningful utterances that they have not hear before; the creation of new, comprehensible expressions

Displacement

Human languages can describe things and events that are not happening in the present q

Phonology

the study of speech sounds in language

Phoneme

in language, the smallest distinctive sound unit that is meaningful in any language

Morphology

A system for creating words from sounds; the study of word construction

Morpheme

The smallest unit of language, of a word, that has meaning

Syntax

A System of rules for combining words into sentencers; conventions of sentence structure

Lexicon

the total stock of words in a language

Focal Vocabulary

A set of words describing particular areas of experience that are important to certain groups (Vomit = Yak, Blow Chunks, Hurl, Upchuck, Puke)

semantics

in language, study of meanings of words

Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis

the idea that different languages create different ways of thinking

Kinesics

Body Position, movement, facial expression, gaze, and their meaning

Proxemics

The study of cultural use of interpersonal space

Pidgins

Combine features of multiple languages, but are never a first/primary language

Creoles

Combine elements of multiple languages and are spoken as a first language

Sociolinguistics

The study of the relationship between language and culture and the ways language is used in Varying social contexts

Style Shifts

The switching between languages or speech styles according to social context

SAE

Standard American English

AAVE

African American Vernacular English, Relatively spoken by many black communities, especially in urban areas and casual conversation

Key Film Themes; Talking Black in America

- AAVE is not Random or ungrammatical, just constricted by a different set of rules

- Development through slavery conditions, Aural/oral culture, continued isolation

Nation

a society with shared language, religion, history, territory, ancestry, and kinship suystem

Ethnic Group

Culturally distinct group in a society or region, with shared beliefs, values, habits, customs, norms, homelands, histories, experiences, languages, religions, descent,

Ascribed Status

Social status based on limited choice (race or age)

Achieved Status

Social Status based on choices or Accomplishments

Race In Brazil

More flexible, less exclusionary categories. no hypo-descent rule; less racial aversion

Race

an ethnic group assumed to have a biological basis

Stratification

Differential access to resources; societal divisions in wealth, prestige, power. Constructed on the basis of phenotypic traits

Ethnic Cleansing

Deliberate measures by a dominant culture intended to destroy an ethnic group

Genocide

The Deliberate elimination of a group through mass murder

Refugee

People who have been forced to leave or who fled country to escape persecution or war

Steroetypes

Fixed Ideas, often unfavorable, about what members of a group are like

Prejudice

devaluing a group because of its assumed attributes

Plural Society

A society with economically interdependent ethnic groups

Assimilation

Absorption into the dominant culture by adopting its patterns and norms