umich anthrcul 101 exam 2 (summer)

evolution

transformation of species; new species arise from old ones thru long + gradual process

natural selection

happens when orgs that’re best suited to survive & reprod in a spec pop thrive more than others in the same pop

1. Factors - relationship between traits & enviro; only operates from phenotype

   1. Ex: Alexei had hemophilia as a result of the X linked recessive trait that he got fro his carrier mom

directional selection

selecting traits that’re more favored by nat select to a spec enviro mult times from gen to gen & maladaptive traits will be eliminated → reduces variety in pop

hint: moving down gen to gen

sexual selection

select traits that enhance mating success; certain traits selected bc they confer in rizzing up hoes

stabilizing selection

keeps variety in pop by favoring balanced polymorphism

1. Alleles maintain a constant frequency in a pop over time

   1. ex: sickle-cell anemia & malaria

gene flow

exchange of gene material between pops of same species thru interbreeding

1. Gives variety for nat select to work & prevents speciation

mutation

changes in genetic code of DNA

1. Most import source of variety for nat select to operate on as raw material

random genetic drift

genetic changes bc of chance

1. Rando changes in gene frequencies that happen in small pops but not bc of nat select

2. Doesn’t dep on allele’s beneficial/harmful effects

phenotype

physical characteristics

genotype

genetic facets

species

pop whose members can interbreed → offspring can live & reproduce

• must have 2+ gens of viable offspring

speciation

forming a new species

AAA statement on race

Greater genetic variation w/in racial groups than btwn them

• Modern race concept is modeled after great chain of being

  • Hierarchy of natural categs by God

  • Concept → hierarchizing ppl

• Racial WW view allows some ppl to have perpetual low status & be discriminated against while others have access to power/priv

Reasons for variation in skin color

Corresp to amnt of melanin prod in skin cells

• Vit D absorption + UV radiation screening

• Recent ancestors’ latitude (pop’s dist from equator)

• No assoc btwn character, aptitude,/habits w skin color variation → socially constructed

race

Ethnic group assumed to have biological basis

• As Europeans established colonies in N Amer → US; use of “race” was more interchangeable w Kottak’s def of ethnicity

  • Shared phenotypic characteristics were less import than what counted as markers of race > lang/region/religion

what are the sources of solidarity that forms ethnic identity

focuses on phenotypic characteristics > sources of solidarity

ethnicity

identification w & feeling part of an ethnic group & exclusion from certain other groups bc of this affiliation

Audrey Smedley’s core argument about race

Race is socially constructed & not biological

Race isn’t a cultural universal

Race isn’t ahistorical

Race is socially constructed & not biological

• Social perceptions & meanings determine how we understand it; no biological basis

• Race being a sociocult phenomenon → concept is more powerful

• Real in same way as any other human invention → real tangible effects on ppl

Race isn’t a cultural universal

• We know ab race’s status as cultural construct & social reality → diff from ways race’s conceptualized + determined in various contexts

• Diff meanings assigned to diff geographic contexts

Race isn’t ahistorical

• Deliberately constructed @ a spec point in a spec place

• Today’s race isn’t the same concept that was seen thru-out time

Ethnic Group

1 among several culturally distinct groups in a society/region

• May not b all members of a spec society/all ppl that live in a certain place

Can b narrower ethnic IDs inside broader ones; can be spec regions/religious affiliations

Nation

society that shares lang/religion/territory/ancestry/kinship

Nation-state

autonomous political entity; a country

Ascribed status/social ID

social status based on limited choice; not much agency you have in affecting this status; ex: age

Achieved status

social status based on choices/accomplishments

Intersectionality

framework encompasses IDs intersecting in meaningful ways

Assimilation

absorption of minorities w/in a dominant (more privileged) culture

• A group adopts the patterns & norms of host culture/dominant group + no longer exists as a sep unit

• Requires an abandonment of cultural tradits in favor of those of majority pop

• Ex: assimilation camps in canada/US took kids of indigenous nations & absorbed them into dominant Western culture → abuse + ethnocide

Multiculturalism (“salads” vs. “melting pots”)

view of cultural diversity as valuable + worth maintaining

• Contrasts assimilationist model by encouraging practice of diverse tradits

• Unity not thru sameness but by respect of diff

• US & Canada are more of salads than melting pots- reps diff components w/in unified whole & not attempting to erase diffs

Angela and the Angela Site

Archaeological project in Jamestown that’s meant to study the slave lives there; Angela was one of the names recorded; point was to shift focus on who they’re interested in learning more about; originally focused on leaders’ warehouses/churches.

Indentured servitude

 indentured servants: those w fixed terms of servitude

considered free after

initially many Euros & Afrs were indentured but slavery was preferred by landowners

enslavement

Slavery had no term limits + was hereditary (kids of slaves were also slaves)

bacon’s rebellion

enslaved people from Africa vs landowning "elites" of Jamestown

burn the town to the ground.

race and whiteness developed as a form of social control. privileges and advantages to "white," including those who were poor.

This prevented unification by the working poor

seneca village, nyc ~ black bottom

• Destruction is an act disregard of those living there + destruction of generational wealth; red labeled neighborhood hazardous

I-375: highway built and resulted in the decimation of this walkable downtown area with a predominantly Afr Amer community whose been residing there for years; attempted protest but never succeeded; resulted in a loss of generational wealth thru property

de jure Ozawa and Thind Supreme Court Cases

• Legally reinforce categ of whiteness to show it can b used to exclude & hierarchize

• Social-constructedness of whiteness shifting criteria of what it means to be white

  • Ozawa argued that he is American & industrialized + has white color skin → SCOTUS argued that he’s not from Caucasia

  • Thind argued that he scientifically is from Caucasia race & said that he visually isn’t white/the common man can tell what white is → contradicts previous point against Ozawa

de facto GI bill

• GI bill’s benefits & opportunities low-cost mortgages + low interest were NOT = offered to non-white ppl (often denied loans)

• Happened in spite of lang of bill not excluding POCs

• FHA encouraged housing developers not to sell loans to POCs

blockbusting

when neighborhoods were eventually integrated

• Business practice where developed used fear of racial integration of neighborhoods to convince white residents to sell homes @ below market values

redlining

Based on neighborhood designation, financial services + benefits were w/held from some neighborhoods bc they were economically/socially unstable

• Process of racial discrim

• Red labeled neighborhoods were often majority Afr Amer

• Supports racist ideologies by linking “best” spaces that lack racial diversity

Titus Kaphar’s TED Talk, “Can Art Amend History?”

• why did Kaphar paint in white over certain faces → change focus on a face who haven’t gotten much attention in history

• Tryna do same thing that’s done in Jamestown

• There are areas (slavery) that haven’t gotten that kind of attention

• Amending history bc this is an addition to history to shift gaze/refocus by adding to it; why he used white paint that can fade over time (linseed oil clears over time)

prejudice

devaluing a group bc of its assumed attributes

Prejudice & discrimination used as wedge to cause division

discrimination

policies & practices that harm a group & its members

stereotypes

fixed ideas– often unfavorable –ab what members of a group r like

Alexander, basic overview of chapter

• Mechanisms for maintaining racial hierarchy have changed but animus has endured

A de facto (in fact) racial caste sys still exists in US even after abolition of slavery & dismantling of de jure (of law) Jim Crow laws

concept of race

concept of race is not ahistorical (i.e., it has not been the  same throughout human history), and the concept of race as it is thought  of in the U.S. is a fairly recent development

race continues

Systems of control that relate to race do not end with the abolition of  slavery during the U.S. civil war. Nor do they end after the dismantling  of de jure Jim Crow laws and the Civil Rights Movement. Instead,  Alexander argues that they evolve. 

▪ De facto vs de jure

wedge

Segregations laws were part of deliberate effort to drive a ____ between poor whites & Afr Amers during Populist upheaval of 1890s

• Civil rights mvmnt → dismantling of de jure Jim Crow Laws

Law & Order campaigns in 60s/70s implicitly refer to race as a _____to break up coalitions based on class (ex: poor ppl’s mvmnt) 

mr. prejudice - horace pippin

- Colonial Virginia: Planters used privileges and black slavery to divide poor whites and enslaved Africans (Bacon’s Rebellion).

- 1860s: Abolition of slavery.

- 1890s: Segregation laws introduced to separate poor whites from African Americans during Populist upheaval.

- Civil Rights Movement: Dismantled Jim Crow laws.

- 1960s-70s: "Law and Order" campaigns used race to disrupt class-based coalitions (e.g., Poor People’s Movement).

- Overall Theme: Prejudice and discrimination used to create division and undermine unity.

gender

culturally influenced perception of the roles the range of sexes r expected to play; best conceived of as a continuum rather than a dichotomy in many societies

• Gender as a social construct → categ invested w social meaning

• Associated w diffs in sex but fully cultural & vary depending on context

• Some anthros argue that sex is biological & gender is cultural

  • Fuentes argues that biological sex isn’t simply XY/XX but a broad spectrum of developmental patterns

gender roles

tasks & activities a culture assigns by gender

rosie the riveter in wii

women were treated differently [i.e., paid less, discriminated  against] in the workplace, and how women of color were hired less than  white women).

• Men in US leaving country to fight in WWII → women encouraged to give back by working despite being paid 10/15 cents lower than men

• WOC discriminated against

• Evid of gender roles being arbitrarily assigned & changeable

• Advertisements + propaganda around labor played on stereotypes ab women to argue y women would b appropriate workers;; often reversal of same stereotypes to justify women not working (pre-war)

• Post-war - US gov pushed women to leave manufacturing/industrial jobs + “give jobs back” (again reversing/playing on stereotypes)

• Adds cultural meaning to gender categs + stereotypes can shift

gender stereotypes

oversimplified, strongly-held views ab characteristics associated w a spec gender

o Example of gender reveal party decorations 

o Changes in body shapes of superheroes in comics, movies, and action  figures. 

barbie liberation organization (BLO)

Switch out barbie parts to challenge gender roles (e.g.: male army figurine w female voice talking about stereotypically female interests)

gender stratification

un= distrib of rewards among ppl of diff gender– reflecting posits in a social hierarchy

• Division of labor in any society (assignment of diff tasks to diff ppl)

• Stratified societies– social ID can play a role in roles assigned/deemed proper

  • Ex: gender bias bc of tasks/jobs

• Cultural generalities but assignments are arbitrary

• Access to power, wealth, prestige, & authority r often diff based on gender

• Intensity varies by society

• Not natural → product of culture + interconnected w gender roles + stereotypes

patriarchy

political system used by men

matriarchy

political sys used by women/one where women play a more prominent role in sociopolitical orgs than men

guerilla girls

Anonymous groups of women who challenge gender stratification through flyers who wear gorilla masks

Gender identity

one’s innate, personal sense of gender; self-ID + internally felt; may corresp to/be diff from sex assigned @ birth; can be expressed in diff ways

• Differs from + is indep of sexual orientation (who one’s attracted to/wants to have a relationship w)

cisgender

person IDs w gender assigned @ birth

transgender

gender ID differs from sex/gender assigned @ birth; umbrella term

• Just bc Western notions of binary are being challenged in Western culture doesn’t mean they’ve never existed b4 Western nation-state

Suprabinary gender categories (robinson)

outside of man/woman masc/fem; Gender in addition to male + fem; context of indigenous nations across N Amer

• Robinson argues that several categs have existed in many indigenous contexts but suppressed; part of a more encompassing forced assimilation

Two-spirit identity (and its difference from settler dominated LGBTQ  communities)

prioritizes cultural roles w/in one’s indigenous nation > connections w settler-dominated LGBTQ commus

• Perform roles tradit.lly assigned to men & women

• Created + began use in 1990

• Umbrella terms for suprabinary

• Replaces earlier settler-imposed offensive term

• Brings 2geth suprabinary genders in indigenous nations across N Amer (Ihamana, wintke, nadleehi)

Suprabinary gender categ

replaces earlier term berg something something??

Implies sexual orientation

meant to differentiate indigenous 1st nation native american ppl from settler dominant lgbtq identity

why is religion hard to define

• Overlaps sm w many other institutions; is very broad

• Religion’s not a cultural universal (not everyone has religion)

• Religion is difficult to separate from the protestant reformation context in which it was made

 What does religion do?

• Provides explanations + give meaning to events

• Validates decisions ppl make/discourages them from making other decisions

• Gives incentives/rewards/benefits

• Familiarizes ppl w their surroundings via cosmology

• System for imagining + understanding universe; also serves as way of delineating realm of the sacred

• Serves as mechanism of social control

• Mobilizes ppl’s emotions

animism

belief in spiritual beings (deities, ghosts, souls, doubles); spiritual but not religious

communitas

 intense feeling of social solidarity

effervescence

strong emotions of 2getherness, strengthened belief in commonality (Durkheim)

monotheism

1 God

polytheism

mult deities who control diff nature aspects

love has won

New age mvmnt w Christian eschatology (part theology related to death & final state of the soul)

• Heavily uses social media + live streaming

• Selling healing + wellness products

• ~20 ppl living together in Colorado, Hawaii, then back to Colorado

• Followers subjected to sleep & food deprivation, emotional manipulation, being berated/humiliated + called atoms by mother god

Why is it hard to define a cult?

Associations between cult & violence/mind control/brainwashing is relatively recent

• Often used in ways that disparage/attack new/less popular religions motivated by racism/xenophobia

• New religious mvmnt have been labeled as cults to devalue them/actively suppress them

• Scholars must b aware of overlooking/minimizing the real, sometimes horrific damage cults can do

What are some ways to know if you are in a cult?

• Isolating members/not allowing them to leave

• Claiming enlightenment + higher knowl

• Demanding inappropriate amnts of loyalty to a leader w charismatic authority

  • Charismatic authority

  • Applied to a person who’s treated as endowed w supernat/human powers + qualities

  • Routinized when the leader dies

• Devoting to a leader > ideology/belief sys

• Rigid controls on behaviors that leader isn’t subject to

Charismatic authority

authority from leader’s charisma instead of legal/tradit authority

ritual

formal, repetitive, stereotyped behavior; based on liturgical order

• Liturgy implies a sequence that’s been invented prior to ritual happening

• Transmit messages

• Can be indiv but often happen as part of a group

• How we see religion- signals acceptance of common social/moral order (linked to social control); acknowledgement of sumn that transcends the indiv; way to learn & way to teach

ex: coronation

Eleusinian Mysteries

Participants took an oath to not reveal the secrets of mysteries btu we can guess what initiation looked like

• 14 mile procession from Athens to Eleusis

• Wandering around in dark

• Going into Telesterion - also in dark

• Taking a ritual drink that may have been hallucinogenic

• Being shown sacred objs, hearing sacred words, seeing sacred acts

• All culminates w those initiated will learn secrets of Demeter & Persephone

Shanidar 4 : The “flower burial”

Neanderthal supposedly buried w flowers bc of pollen grains from nearby sediments → “intentional” placement of flowers; conclusion has been debated/questioned

• Imagination needed + association between flowers & death

• Supporters of flower burial theory must imagine the possibility

Maya Lintel from Yaxchilan

Piercing body → blood release is in many cultures

• Ex: classic Maya society (elites depicted in sculpture)

• Meaning around ritualistic bloodletting r theorized

  • Cost (pain) associated w bloodletting is a sign of commitment to supernatural beings

  • Reciprocity → human blood sustains gods → gods sustain mortals

Augustin Fuentes’ 3 steps to religion

imagination, meaning-making, belief

imagination

rise of imagination sparked between + feedback loops between creativity, social collab, teaching, learning, & experimenting

meaning-making

using imaging to reshape the world to match their desired perception w imbuing objs w a new shared meaning

1. Changes the way humans perceive ^ exp the world; allows us to do wildly imaginative, creative, & destructive things

2. Could be combo’d into lg-scale belief systems w tools of lang

belief

collective meaning making; thinking beyond present & investing to the extent that such thinking can be someone’s reality

1. Deals w utilizing imagination- seeing/feeling/knowing an idea that’s not present in senses then investing in making that idea a reality

2. Connects dev of belief & of religion more generally to repeated ritualistic behavs

secular ritual

Rituals r usually religious but don’t have 2 b

• Events can b routinized + produce feelings of 2getherness even if they have no association w a religious tradit/realm of the sacred

• Ex: concerts, presidential inaugurations

Cosmology

the study of the social belief systems that different societies and peoples have held about the world, the universe, and themselves in it.

• Part of colonial project is a systemic devaluing of indigenous understandings of history; cosmology’s irrelevant

religion familiarizes ppl w their surrounding thru cosmology

Rites of Passage

separation, liminality, incorporation

separation

• W/drawing from society

• Marks departure from one’s identity/status

• Marking of transition can b highly emotion & invested w meaning

liminality

• In-between phase

• Transitional, so a person has a diff status than that of normal social life

• Most striking/uncomfortable in rite of passage bc you’re between not & not totally out of the old identity but not totally in

• Learning (enculturation) is happening; usually on a constant basis

incorporation

• Re-entering society w a changed status

• Things that rnt the same as they were before

• New identity/skill/exp; you may be treated diff

• Helping other go thru ritual using ur knowl

kinship

exploring relatedness degrees btwn ppl & ways that relatedness maps out

• How humans construct family notions

• Maps descent groups: group based on (belief in) shared ancestry

• Determines parameters of family as culturally & contextually specific institution

circle

woman

square

indiv regardless of sex/gender; can also be nonbinary/nonconforming/genderfluid indiv

triangle

man

slash

deceased

ego

person whom the chart revolves around

spec kin ties fall into spec categs

nuc fam

parents & kids who live in the same house; 2 generations

Fam of orientation: Fam in which one is born & grows up

fam of procreation

nuc fam established when 1 marries + has kids

lineal relative

only ppl whom u have direct descent; ur parents, parents’ parents, ur kids, ur kids’ kids

• Ppl who marry in (even who marries u) rnt included

• Siblings not included

collateral relative

ppl who u have a consanguineal relation w (blood relation); relative outside ego’s direct line

hint: Collateral Consanguineal

affinal

related by marriage

patrilineal

line traced thru men; ppl belong to their father’s room for life

matrilineal

line traced thru women; ppl belong to their mother’s group for life