ANT 302 Cultural Anthropology UT Austin 2019 Midterm key terms

Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis

The idea that different languages create different ways of thinking

Symbol

Anything that represents something else

Culture

A system of knowledge, beliefs, patterns of behavior, artifacts, and institutions that are created, learned, shared, and contested by a group of people

Ethnography

The scientific description of the customs of individual peoples and cultures

Participant Observation

A key anthropological research strategy involving both participation in and observation of the daily life of the people being studied

Ethnocentrism

The belief that one's own culture or way of life is normal and natural; using one's own culture to evaluate and judge the practices and ideals of others

Ethnographic Fieldwork

A primary research strategy in cultural anthropology typically involving living and interacting with a community of people over an extended period to better understand their lives

Cultural Relativism

Understanding a group's beliefs and practices within their own cultural context, without making judgements

Globalization

The worldwide intensification of interactions and increased movement of money, people, goods, and ideas within and across national borders

Time-Space Compression

The rapid innovation of communication and transportation technologies associated with globalization that transforms the way people think about space and time

Flexible Accumulation

The increasingly flexible strategies that corporations use to accumulate profits in an era of globalization, enabled by innovative communication and transportation technologies

Uneven Development

The unequal distribution of the benefits of globalization

Enculturation

The process of learning culture

Structural Functionalism

A conceptual framework positing that each element of society serves a particular function to keep the entire system in equilibrium

Interpretivist Approach

A conceptual framework that sees culture primarily as a symbolic system of deep meaning

Holism

The anthropological commitment to look at the whole picture of human life - culture, biology, history, and language - across space and time

Synchronic Approach to Fieldwork

Fieldwork is key; seeking to control experiments by limiting consideration of the larger historical and social context in order to isolate as many variables as possible

Sociolinguistics

The study of the ways culture shapes language and language shapes culture, particularly the intersection of language with cultural categories and systems such as age, race, ethnicity, sexuality, gender, and class

Norms

Ideas or rules about how people should behave in particular situations or toward certain other people

Values

Fundamental beliefs about what is important, what makes a good life, and what is true, right, and beautiful

Mental Maps of Reality

Cultural classifications of what kinds of people and things exist, and the assignment of meaning to those classifications

Field Notes

The anthropologist's written observations and reflections on places, practices, events, and interviews

Engaged Anthropology

Applying the research strategies and analytical perspectives of anthropology to address concrete challenges facing local communities and the world at large

Polyvocality

The practice of using many different voices in ethnographic writing and research question development, allowing the reader to hear more directly from the people in the study

Descriptive Linguistics

The study of the sounds, symbols, and gestures of a language, and their combination into forms that communicate meaning

Code Switching

Switching back and forth between one linguistic variant and another depending on the cultural context

Dialect

A nonstandard variation of a language

Paralanguage

An extensive set of noises (such as laughs, cries, sighs, and yells) and tones of voices that convey significant information about the speaker

Focal Vocabulary

The words and terminology that develop with particular sophistication to describe the unique cultural realities experienced by a group of people

Hegemony

The ability of a dominant group to create consent and agreement within a population without the use or threat of force

Cultural Construction

Social and historical processes through which cultural meanings and practices are created, reproduced, and transformed

Thick Description

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

Four-Field Approach

The use of four interrelated disciplines to study humanity: physical anthropology, archaeology, linguistic anthropology, and cultural anthropology

Historical Particularism

The idea, attributed to Franz Boas, that cultures develop in specific ways because of their unique histories

Kinship

The system of meaning and power that cultures create to determine who is related to whom and to define their mutual expectations, rights, and responsibilities

Descent

A cultural rule that ties together people on the basis of reputed common ancestry

Bilateral Descent

A kinship system in which both sides of a person's family are regarded as equally important

Matrilineal

Constructing the kinship group through female ancestors

Patrilineal

Constructing the kinship group through male ancestors

Consanguinity

Being descended from the same ancestor

Nuclear Family

The kinship unit of mother, father, and children

Polygyny

Marriage between one man and two or more women

Polyandry

Marriage between one woman and two or more men

Monogamy

A relationship between only two partners

Bridewealth

The gift of goods or money from the groom's family to the bride's family as part of the marriage process

Dowry

The gift of goods or money from the bride's family to the groom's family as part of the marriage process

Exogamy

Marriage to someone outside the kinship group

Endogamy

Marriage to someone within the kinship group

Affinal Relationship

A kinship relationship established through marriage and/or alliance, not through biology or common descent

Kindred Exogamy

Avoiding marriage with certain relatives

Incest Taboo

Cultural rules that forbid sexual relations with certain close relatives

Culture Shock

The feeling of disorientation experienced by someone who is suddenly subjected to an unfamiliar culture, way of life, or set of attitudes

Lineage

A type of descent group that traces genealogical connection through generations by linking persons to a founding ancestor

Clan

A type of descent group based on a claim to a founding ancestor but lacking genealogical documentation

Marriage

A socially recognized relationship that may involve physical and emotional intimacy as well as legal rights to property and inheritance

Arranged Marriage

Marriage orchestrated by the families of the involved parties

Family of Orientation

The family group in which one is born, grows up, and develops life skills

Companionate Marriage

Marriage built on love, intimacy, and personal choice rather than social obligation

Family of Procreation

The family group created when one reproduces and within which one rears children

Dimorphic

Occurring in or representing two distinct forms

Salvage Ethnography

Fieldwork strategy developed by Franz Boas to collect cultural, material, linguistic, and biological information about Native American populations being devastated by the westward expansion of European settlers

Fictive Kinship

Condition in which people who are not biologically related behave as if they are relatives of a certain type

Disease

A discrete natural entity that can be clinically identified and treated by a health professional

Health

The absence of disease and infirmity, as well as the presence of physical, mental, and social well-being

Illness

The individual patient's experience of being unwell

Ethnomedicine

Local systems of health and healing rooted in culturally specific norms and values

Biomedicine

A practice, often associated with Western medicine, that seeks to apply the principles of biology and the natural sciences to the practice of diagnosing disease and promoting healing

Medical Migration

The movement of diseases, medical treatments, and entire health care systems, as well as those seeking medical care, across national borders

Ethnopharmacology

The documentation and description of the local use of natural substances in healing remedies and practices

Native Anthropology

Research, specifically ethnography, taken on by a cultural insider (native anthropologist) in a community to which they belong

Anthropology

The study of the full scope of human diversity, past and present, and the application of that knowledge to help people of different backgrounds better understand one another