Untitled Flashcards Set

·      Holistic perspective/ Holism

o   Considers societies as a whole rather than isolated parts

·      Anthropology

o   The study of human cultures and their development

·      Ethnocentrism

o   Judging other cultures based on my own

·      Four field approach

o   Biological Anthropology

§  Primatology

·      The study of nonhuman primates

o   Archaeology

§  Prehistoric vs. Historic archaeology

·      Before and after written history

o   Linguistic Anthropology

§  Study of language and how it affects cultures

o   Cultural Anthropology

§  Studying culture and societies

·      Globalization

o   Time-space compression

§  Overall increase of connectivity (travel, internet, shipping routes)

o   Flexible accumulation

§  Companies manufacturing things in the cheapest locations (made in china)

o   Uneven development

§  Uneven distribution of wealth

o   Anthropocene

§  The era in which humans have become the dominant force

o   Climate change

§  Climate change

·      Culture

o   The learned set of behaviors humans practice

·      Enculturation vs. Acculturation

o   Enculture is learning your own

o   Acculture is learning a new one

·      Culture as dynamic, symbolic, and material

o   Dynamic is how cultures change over time

o   Symbols is culture

o   Physical objects made or modified by humans

·      Norms

o   Shared expectations and values that guide behavior

·      Values

o   Beliefs and ideals that tell us what is good

·      Symbols

o   symbols

·      Mental maps of reality

o   The ways people organize and understand the world. 

·      Cultural relativism

o   When studying cultures don’t be biased based on your own culture

·      Unilineal cultural evolution

o   The outdated idea that all cultures go from simple to complex through the same stages.

·      Historical particularism

o   Franz Boas

§  Boas said each culture develops in its own way and they each have different paths

·      Interpretivist approach

o   Clifford Geertz

§  A culture is a system of symbols and meanings

o   Thick description

§  Definitions that go beyond the obvious

·      Power

o   The ability to influence or control people

·      Stratification

o   The uneven distribution of resources power and privileges in a society

·      Hegemony

o   Dominance of one group over another

·      Agency

o   The capacity to make choices and take actions

·      Nancy Scheper-Hughes and Death Without Weeping

o   Infant mortality in brazil

·      Ethnographic fieldwork

o   Immersing in the lives of the people they are studying

·      Culture shock

o   Disorientation and discomfort when they encounter a new culture

·      Armchair anthropology

o   Early anthropology before they got involved with the people

·      Franz Boas and salvage ethnography 

o   Focuses recording things that were disappearing like languages or traditions

·      Bronislaw Malinowski and participant observation 

o   In order to truly understand people you must live among them and participate in their activities

·      Margaret Mead and Coming of Age in Samoa

o   Studying how culture changes the way people transition into adulthood

·      Zora Neal Hurston and fieldwork in the American South 

o   She observed the importance of cultural expression and storytelling in the American south

·      Reflexivity 

o   Being aware of how your past and background impacts your anthropological studies on others

·      Literature review

o   Reviewing other sources to find out what has already been studied

·      Qualitative vs. Quantitative data

o   Qualities and quantities

·      Rapport

o   Relationship and trust that a researcher builds

·      Key informant 

o   Someone that has a specialized knowledge that is useful to the researcher

·      Field notes

o   Detailed records of a researchers observations experiences and reflections

·      Mapping

o   The process of creating visual representations of physical spaces or social relationships

·      Zeroes

o   Significant absence of something in a culture

·      Mutual transformation

o   The idea that both the researcher and subjects change over the course of the study

·      Emic (insider) vs etic (outsider)

·      Do no harm

o   Responsibility of researchers

·      Informed consent

o   Making sure subjects fully understand the nature of the study

o   Institutional Review Board (IRB)

·      Multisited fieldwork

o   Fieldwork in multiple locations to get different perspectives

·       Language

o   A system of communication

·       Productivity

o   Formulas in language

·       Displacement 

o   Being able to talk about things that are not present in the immediate environment

·       Historical Linguistics

o   How languages change over time

·       Language continuum 

o   Small changes in languages across a region like dialects

·       Speech community

o   A group of people who use the same language or dialect

·       Phonemes vs. morphemes 

o   Sound units that distinguish words

o   Meaning units that build words

·       Syntax vs. grammar vs. lexicon

o   Sentence structure

o   Language rules

o   Language dictionary

·       Kinesics

o   Body movement and expressions

·       Paralanguage 

o   Nonverbal elements of communication

·       Linguistic relativity 

o   Language also influences how we understand concepts

·       Sapir-Whorf hypothesis

o   Language is not just a tool for communication

·       Keith Basso and Wisdom Sits in Places

o   Landscape holds the wisdom of the community

·       Sociolinguistics

o   The connection between language and society

·       Dialect vs. prestige language 

o   A regional version of a language

o   A form of language seen as the standard, or the right way to speak

·       Codeswitching 

o   Changing how you talk and act around different groups

·       Language ideology 

o   Shapes how people think about language

·       African American English (AAE)

o   The idea that AAE is not wrong just different

·       Mock Spanish

o   El cheapo, making fun of languages

·       Language loss

o   When people stop speaking a language

·       Zhang Alan and sperm donation in China

o   How modern reproductive practices are understood and managed in deeply traditional places

·       Kinship

o   Blood ties, marriage or adoption

·       Nuclear family

o   Two parents and their children living in a house

·       Descent group

o   A group based on common ancestry either patrilineal or matrilineal

·       Lineage vs clan

o   A group with direct traceable common ancestor

o   A larger less traceable group with a common ancestral connection

·       Matrilineal vs patrilineal vs ambilineal descent 

o   Descent traced through the mother

o   Descent traced through the father

o   The individual decided which way they trace their descent

·       Affinal relationships/ affines

o   Relationships formed through marriages

o   In laws

·       Marriage

o   Socially and legally recognized between two individuals

·       Arranged vs companionate marriages 

o   You don’t get to choose your spouse

o   You do get to choose your spouse

·       Monogamy

o   Having one sexual partner at a time

·       Polygamy

o   Polygyny

§  1 man many wives

o   Polyandry

§  1 woman many husbands

·       Incest taboo

o   The disapproval of sexual relations between family

·       Endogamy vs exogamy

o   Marrying in your social group

o   Marrying outside of your social group

·       Dowry vs bridewealth

o   Woman pays man for marriage

o   Man pays woman for marriages

·       Biological vs non-biological kin/ “chosen families” 

o   Blood related kin

o   Chosen families

o   The Langkawi in Malaysia

§  chosen

o   “Cousins” in Southall, England

§  chosen

o   Carol Stack and black urban kinship networks in Chicago

§  chosen

·       Benedict Anderson and imagined communities

o   Nations are socially constructed communities

·       Reproductive technologies and Israel

o   The countries support for reproductive technologies is really helping with the birth rate

·       Family of orientation vs family of procreation

o   The family you are born into

o   The family you create as an adult

·       The American Anthropological Association (AAA) and same-sex partners

o   The AAA supports same sex partners

·      Oral religion

o   Religions that are passed down verbally (indigenous)

·      Textual religions

o   Religion that are written down (sacred texts)

·      Martyr

o   Someone who suffers for their beliefs

·      Saint

o   An individual recognized for their exceptional holiness

·      Émile Durkheim on religion

o   Sacred

§  Things or places that are holy

o   vs profane

§  things or places that are not holy

o   Ritual

§  A set of formalized actions performed for a religious purpose

·      Victor Turner on religion

o   Rites of passage

§  Separation, liminality, reintegration

o   Communitas

§  Equality and togetherness in the liminal phase of a rite of passage

o   Pilgrimage

§  Journey to a religious site

·      Mary Douglas and Jewish dietary codes

o   She thinks they are more than just laws and help maintain distinctions between the sacred and profane

·      Karl Marx on religion

o   He thinks religion is a form of consolation

o   “The opium of the people”

·      Marvin Harris on religion

o   He realized that cows are more useful alive

o   Cultural Materialism and India’s sacred cow

·      Max Weber on religion

o   He came up with charismatic authority

o   The Protestant Ethic

§  Helps promote capitalism

·      Shamans

o   Individuals in some cultures that have special powers from the spirit world

·      Magic

o   The use of rituals symbols or actions to influence events or outcomes

·      E.E. Evans-Pritchard and the Azande

o   He observed the Azande and their magical beliefs like witchcraft and oracles

·      Paul Stoller and In Sorcery’s Shadow

o   He studied sorcery and magic among west africans

·      George Gmelch and baseball magic

o   The guy who had a bunch of pregame rituals

·      Talal Asad and Western conceptions of religion

o   He thinks western religions are shaped by history and are different from how other cultures experience religion

·      David B. Edwards and suicide bombing in Afghanistan

o   It is a way to restore honor after americans took over and humiliated them.