ANTHRCUL 101 - Exam 1

5 key primate qualities

1. dexterity (grasping hands)

2. visual acuity (excellent eyesight)

3. big brains

4. infant dependency 

5. social 

Where do primates live?

mostly tropical/subtropical (Africa, Asia, Central and South America)

Where do apes specifically live?

africa and SE Asia

old world monkeys

• live in Asia and Africa 

• usually diurnal - active during the day 

• larger 

• sometimes terrestrial 

• patches to sit on 

new world monkeys 

• live in the Americas

• smaller

• arboreal 

• prehensile tails - ability to grasp using tails

strepsirrhines

• lemurs and lorises 

• smaller body size

• smaller brain-to-body ratio 

• large portion of brain dedicated to smell 

• arboreal - living in the trees 

• nocturnal - active during the nighttime 

haplorrhines

• new world monkeys, old world monkeys, tarsiers 

• larger body size and brain-to-body ratio 

• large portion of the brain dedicated to vision 

• arboreal and terrestrial - living in the trees and on the ground 

nocturnal

active during the nighttime

diurnal 

active during the day

homologous

similar bc of shared ancestry

• ex. grasping hand w/ an opposable thumb in humans and orangutans 

analogous

similar in appearance or function, but independent of shared ancestry

• ex. the wings of a bird and a bat 

convergent evolution

development of similar traits in diff species due to shared selection pressure 

• causes analogies (similar in appearance/function, but independent of shared ancestry)

chimpanzee 

• internal hierarchies 

• males generally hold power 

• gentleness at times 

• territorial 

• violent 

• “warfare” and “conquest”

bonobos

• our closest living relative in the animal kingdom

• peace 

• non-reproductive sex to avoid conflict 

• can be aggressive sometimes

• generally helpful to outsiders 

• females hold power 

differences b/w chimps and bonobos

approach to conflict

• chimps - conflict is approached w/ violence 

• bonobos - conflict is approached w/ sex

brachiation 

arboreal locomotion by swinging from the underside of branches by the arms

knuckle-walking

quadrupedal terrestrial locomotion on all 4 limbs 

• gorillas, chimps, bonobos

bipedalism

upright locomotion, using rear limbs 

• rare

Greek words that make up “anthropology”

• anthropos - humankind 

• logos - word/study 

anthropology 

study of human beings, their biology, their prehistory and histories, and their changing languages, cultures, and social institutions 

• holistic and comparative

familiarization

making the strange familiar 

• to gain knowledge 

• to better understand facets of cultural life, customs, and patterns that are unfamiliar 

• we engage in processes of familiarization all the time

defamiliarization

making the familiar strange 

• helps to look for fresh perspectives on things that might otherwise be taken for granted or seen as a given 

• can be uncomfortable bc it challenges what is thought of as normal or “everyday”

Jaune Quick to See Smith’s painting

State Names

• some of the states are labeled, others are obscured/not there 

• states w/ labels are states w/ names that originate from indigenous origins 

• the boundaries are obscured, showing how Native American “boundaries” were diff from the state boundaries today 

  • there weren’t actually boundaries

• concept - COLONIALISM

4 subfields of anthropology

1. archaeological 

2. biological  

3. linguistic  

4. sociocultural

archaeological anthropology 

studying and interpreting human behavior primarily through materials

• most public-facing subfield 

• interested in human cultural patterns through interpretations of materials 

• reconstructing cultural patterns at sites

biological anthropology 

study of biological and biocultural aspects

• human evolution 

• paleoanthropology (fossils)

• human ancestors

• human genetics

• human anatomy 

• human growth and development 

• non-human primates 

linguistic anthropology 

how language use shapes group membership and identity 

• how we all communicate/have the capacity for language but don’t all speak the same language 

• nonverbal forms of human communication 

sociocultural anthropology 

study of social lives of living communities

• structures of power and equality 

• institutions

• arts and entertainment 

• beliefs and guiding principles

• comparison of cultural contexts 

What makes humans unique?

CULTURE (the ability to acquire knowledge from others)

3 features that culture produces

1. language 

2. abstract thought and rep

3. tech innovation 

cosmopolitan distribution 

species with ranges that cover most of the earth

Sarah Blaffer Hrdy’s arguments

intersubjectivity/the ability to identify w/ others is not just culturally learned, but innate 

• humans are often eager to understand, be understood, cooperate w/, and empathize w/ one another (even strangers)

intersubjectivity 

the capacity and eagerness to share in the emotional states and experiences of other individuals

Sarah Blaffer Hrdy’s airplane example 

• if you’re on a plane and a baby starts crying, everyone feels stressed or concerned

• humans are able to sympathize w/ mother of crying children on plane

• shows our heightened sympathy and engagement over other species

• human cooperation and tolerance by contrasting the chaotic situation of a planeload of chimps w/ a typical flight of humans 

ultrasocial behavior

beyond the kind of sociality all primate share, Blaffer Hrdy frames this human quality as an eagerness to collaborate 

• even w/ non-kin and strangers 

• uniquely human capacity for culture

• even though sociality and organized life in groups is something we share w/ many species

importance of ultrasocial behavior

culture interacts w/ human capacity for intersubjectivity to produce features of humanity that differentiate us from animals 

Zhang Qian 

2nd century BCE

• diplomat on behalf of the Han dynasty who traveled extensively through Asia 

• contributed to development of the Silk Road 

• extensive travel reports 

Herodotus

484-425 BCE

• Greek traveler who wrote about gold digging ants 

• recorded history 

• described cultural backgrounds of the places he visited 

  • esp the diff peoples under the control of the Persian Empire 

Ibn Battuta

1304-1369 CE

• Berber scholar and traveler 

• extensively traveled North Africa, Middle East, Central Asia, Eastern Asia 

• memoir and account of his journeys

ethnography

a type of writing about people based on prolonged and intense fieldwork in a particular cultural setting

When did anthropology become a discipline?

in the Age of Enlightenment in Europe (18th century)

• initially focused on finding immutable laws for societies 

colonialism

one power dominating the territory and people of another power for an extended time

colonialism’s relationship to early anthropology

development of anthropology corresponds to industrialization, evolutionary theories, spread of European colonialism

• most early anthropological studies often took place in areas under European colonial domination 

• mutually-defined by processes of extraction

major difference b/w 19th century anthropology and contemporary anthropology

19th century

• very rarely based on direct research or engagement w/ members of a particular society about their experience

• scholars took their own cultural background for granted and believed it to be the correct/right/true one

• led to ethnocentrism

21st century

• more focus on collaboration and ethical engagement 

• direct work w/ communities 

• works to appreciate breadth of human experience, not rank/exploit it

• shift away from classifying people as civilized/uncivilized 

• more driven by principle of cultural relativism 

immutable laws 

unchanging, fundamental principles w/in a specific domain 

• ex. gravity, thermodynamics 

firsthand fieldwork

long-term immersion in a community

• involves firsthand research in a specific study community/research setting where people’s behavior can be observed 

• researcher can have conversations/interviews w/ members of the community 

extraction

resources/data being extracted from the environment that mutually defines colonialism

7 basic elements of culture

1. is learned 

2. uses symbols 

3. is dynamic 

4. is integrated w/ daily experience 

5. shapes everybody’s lives 

6. is shared 

7. gives people a way of doing things they may consider right

example of Señora de Cao 

• her body was well preserved

• dozens of nose rings found in her tomb, which is unusual for women

• buried w/ weapons

• elite indicators that were assumed to be associated w/ males

• found w/ a headdress, which makes her seem masculine

• “power” is masculine - in order to have power as a female, you must adopt masculine attributes

culture is learned

• culture is not biologically inherited 

• we transmit it over time to others 

• we learn culture through observation and direct teaching our entire lives 

• begins in childhood 

• we are constantly being enculturated 

  • all humans beliefs and practices

  • changing one’s cultural context is only one ex of the kinds of enculturation a person can encounter 

  • sometimes, enculturation is explicit

  • sometimes, we can be enculturated implicitly

enculturation

the process of learning the social rules and cultural logic of a society

culture is shared

• there can be no culture of one

• it MUST be shared by a group

• culture links us to other people through shared aspects of culture

  • rules

  • beliefs

  • memories

  • languages

how to break shared cultural rules 

only possible to break cultural rules and expectations bc they are held in common 

• be the outlier 

culture uses symbols

• culture is about associating things w/ other things (there is no obvious connection b/w things)

• we have systems of symbols 

• symbols’ meanings vary by context 

• when we see a symbol, we begin a process of interpretation

What is a symbol? Are symbols arbitrary?

associating things w/ other things

• sometimes arbitrary bc there is no obvious connection b/w things

Do symbols need a connection to what they symbolize?

no

culture is dynamic 

• culture is always w/in dynamic processes of change

• culture is law-like but it isn’t immutable law 

• culture can sometimes be made into formal laws that can be changed 

• bc culture is so ingrained, it can be very hard to change 

Is culture law or law-like?

law-like (not immutable law)

examples of laws changing

• the way we dress our bodies changes

• the way that we speak to each other, linguistically and media-wise, changes

culture shapes everybody’s lives

• there is no one who exists w/o culture 

• culture is not limited to fine arts or sophisticated things (high culture), it is also mundane/everyday things (low culture)

culture gives people a way of doing things they may consider right 

• it gives a sense of correctness and validation to particular behaviors, actions, norms values

• may potentially lead to ethnocentrism

culture is integrated w/ daily experience

• an interrelated set of structures 

• if one aspect of culture changes, other aspects change too

• cultures are interconnected and patterned systems 

• one’s cultural context can set expectation about seemingly unrelated beliefs/practices 

spider web example

if you take a pair of scissors and cut a strand of a spider web, the cut will not greatly affect the web and the way the web is set up

• idea that some things are less integrated than others 

cultural universals

something that exists in every culture

• few

cultural generalities 

cultural patterns/traits that are present in some but not all societies

cultural particularities

distinctive/unique traits

ethnocentrism 

the belief that your way of doing things is natural/correct, and everybody else is wrong

cultural relativism

the moral and intellectual principle that one should withhold judgment about seemingly strange/exotic beliefs and practices 

burial/tomb example 

• show different cultural approaches to death

• what individuals were buried w/ showed power and status

cultural change

1. trade

2. war

3. independent invention

example of cultural change as a result of war/trade

1500s - Hernando Cortez, a Spanish conquistador came in w/ a group of Spaniards and disaffected residents of the Valley of Mexico who opposed the Aztec empire

• they defeated the Aztecs and tore down the main temple of the God of War

• they built a church

• not peaceful cultural exchange

• now, majority of people in live in Mexico are Christian and don’t follow an indigenous Aztec religion

• processes by which small cultural changes happen might not always be peaceful

example of independent invention

the war chariot

• invented in Central Asia around 1900 BCE

• since nobody else had the chariot before and somebody suddenly one day had the chariot

• is diffused when the invention spread to different places

finding your feet 

adjusting during early fieldwork 

culture shock

syndrome precipitated by the anxiety that results from losing all your familiar cues 

• sense of panic and confusion that comes w/ often rapid disorientation 

What does qualitative mean?

a research strategy producing an in-depth and detailed description of social activities and beliefs

fieldwork

long-term immersion in a community 

What makes anthropological fieldwork different?

sociocultural anthropologists tend to rely on participant observation and semi-structured interviews the most

participant observation

getting involved in and observing naturally occurring situations, interactions, everyday activities in a community 

• exists along a continuum, from fly-on-the-wall direct observation of others to fully immersive experiential participation in an activity 

• taking field notes - any info that the anthropologist writes down or transcribes during fieldwork 

rapport

a friendly working relationship based on firsthand contact

• builds in order to remain attached 

best ways to build rapport

• joining in and taking notes 

• not letting your research question cloud your observations too much 

• looking for multiple opportunities to engage

semi-structured interviews 

• give an opportunity for a 1-on-1 conversation w/ an interviewee 

• more structured than a conversation

• intended to gather data 

  • not like a survey w/ a narrow set of answers 

• audio recording and/or taking notes 

  • so you don’t need to perfectly recall everything in your mind 

emic perspective

a strategy you use by focusing your research on local explanations and meanings

etic perspective

a strategy focusing on anthropologists’ explanations, categories, analysis

difference b/w emic and etic perspectives

• etic perspective is more scholarly and objective

• emic is from the POV of a member

• etic is from the POV of an outsider

thick description 

looking for meaning/context and giving as much detail as possible

3 components of thick description

1. relevant detail 

2. cultural context (emic perspective)

3. scholarly analysis (etic perspective)

importance of including relevant detail in a thick description

• anthropologists need thick descriptions that are full of detail 

• that detail gives the kind of context we can use to assign meaning 

• needs to be so rich that others can understand what happened when it is recounted 

wink/twitch example

• a thin description of someone closing one eyelid would be that both people closed their eyelids

• a thick description would be that one person twitched and the other winked in a conspiratorial way

  • inference why

ethics in fieldwork 

moral questions about right and wrong and standards of appropriate behavior

why ethics are important in anthropology

• anthropologists often w/ people who are experiencing marginalization, violence 

• critical that one’s engagement as a researcher ensures

  • doing no harm to one’s interlocutors 

  • taking responsibility for one’s work 

  • sharing one’s findings 

Tuskegee Syphilis Study

• beginning in 1932, US Public Health Service and Tuskegee Institute recruited 600 black men under false pretenses 

• no informed consent or knowledge of risks 

• intended to observe effects of untreated syphilis 

• even though

  • penicillin began to be used for syphilis treatment in 1947

  • effect of untreated syphilis are extremely damaging 

• none of the men were treated 

• unethical fieldwork 

Stanford Prison Experiment

• 2 week psych experiment conducted at Stanford University in 1971 

• simulations of a prison environment w/ test subjects divided into guards and prisoners 

• the psychologically damaging and brutal nature of the study led to more widespread ethical guidelines for work w/ human subjects 

• unethical fieldwork

informed consent 

an agreement to take part in research after having been informed about its purpose, nature, procedures, possible impacts 

evaluating risk and harm

thinking through the kinds of risk interlocutors might experience through participating in the project 

• this can range from reputational risk to threat of bodily harm 

• working w/ experts in research ethics to adopt methods that minimize those risks 

  • ex. protecting interlocutors’ identities

collaborative partnership

• making sure interlocutors can give feedback and input on the process 

• making sure what has been observed/disclosed is accurately rep’d

  • ex. not using AI to make up data 

• making sure the anthropologist doesn’t just extract something and leave 

  • can include making sure interlocutors have access to results

species

a group of individuals that can interbreed and produce offspring which can both live and reproduce

What do members of the same species need to be able to do?

reproduce w/ one another and produce fertile offspring that can also reproduce

population

a cluster of individuals of the same species whose members share a common geographical area and find their mates more in one cluster than in others

great chain of being

all forms of life exist in a ranked and hierarchical order 

• from an ancient Greek idea, modified around European Christianity, moves into the modern period 

• unchanging 

• individual organisms only deviate slightly from a true, ideal, essential form (fixity)

• god → angels → humans → animals → plants → minerals

fixity of species

individual organisms only deviate slightly from a true, ideal, essential form