anthro e2
CHAPTER 3- Evolution
Evolutionary theory:
Living species change over time and give rise to new species across space
All organisms ultimately share a common ancestry
Explains the patterns of similarities and diversity common to life forms
Material evidence of evolution:
Charles Darwin and Alfred R. Wallace explained the pattern of distribution of living species of organisms by arguing that all variants evolve from a single ancestral species
PRE-DARWIN THEORIES OF EVOLUTION:
Essentialism: Each “natural kind” of living thing is characterized by an unchanging, perfect core of features that separates it from all other natural things. Based on ideas from Plato(ex. The “essence” of cows being cowness(what makes it a cow), cowness cant be from a human)
Great Chain of Being: framework used in the middle ages that linked all living things in an elaborate chain.
Continuity- attributes of one kind of organism always overlap to some degree with the attributes of the organisms closest to it in the classification
Plentitude(fullness)- a world of organisms created by a god can have no gaps but must include all logically conceivable organisms
Unilinear gradation- all organisms can be arranged in a single hierarchy based on various degrees to which they depart from divine perfection(like a ladder of organisms making a chain)
Carolus Linnaeus: developed modern biological taxonomy (classification of living things) based on essentialist ideas.
He used observations of the form and structure of the reproductive organs of organisms to organize then into separate groups known as the genus
Linnaeus considered nature as static and devised his classification merely to get order into existing confusions
Linnaeus described four varieties of man which corresponded to the (then) known four continents of the world (scientific racism)
Scientific racism- a historic pattern of ideology that genterate pseudoscientific racist beliefs that perpetually influences racial bias and discrimination in science and research
Catastrophism: the notion that natural disasters such as floods are responsible for the extinction of species which are then replaced by new species (georges cuvier)
Uniformitarianism: the belief that the natural processes (such as erosion or volcanism) that affect the earth's surface today were at work in the past. We can use current processes to reconstruct the history of the earth (charles lyell)
Transformational evolution: all members of a species transform themselves in identical ways in order to adapt to commonly experienced changes in their environment. They invoked the law of use and disuse, and the inheritance of acquired characteristics (Jean-baptiste de monet de lamarck)
Lamarckian evolution(transformational evolution):
Individual organisms transform directly in response to their changing environment
Organisms and nature have the innate ability to adapt and change
Believed in essentialism because he believed that the environment impacted each individual organism in the exact same way
Natural selection:(Darwin and Wallace) Observations that species varied over time and space.
Similarities between distinct species were explained by a common ancestor
Darwin proposed natural selection, or descent with modification, as a mechanism for evolution (variation, not a unitary essence, is the central condition of life)
Population thinking- seeing a population that make up a species as composed of biological individuals who are different from one another and differences are genuine and important
Darwin’s theory of evolution is based on three principles:
Variation- no two individuals of species are identical, vary in size, color, and so on.
Heredity- offspring resemble their parents
Natural selection- different variants leave different numbers of offspring
Survival of the fittest- the idea that certain people become powerful in society because they are innately better. Social darwinism has been used to justify imperialism. Racism, eugenics, and social inequality at various times over the past century and a half
Aptation- the shaping of any useful feature of an organism, regardless of that feature’s origin
Adaptation- the shaping of a useful feature of an organism by natural selection for the function it now performs
Exaptation- the shaping of a useful feature of an organism by natural selection to perform one function and the later reshaping of that feature by different selection pressures to perform a new function
Mendel’s experiments:
Mendelian inheritance views heredity as based on non-blending, single particle inheritance (discrete)
Based on several experiments where Austrian monk Gregor Mendel bred pea plants
Showed that traits passed on to a child can be
Dominant traits- particles expressed in an organism
Recessive traits- particles not expressed in an organism
Principle of segregation- in which an individual gets one particle (gene) for each trait from each parent
Principle of independent assortment- in which each pair of particles (genes) separates independently of every other pair when germ cells (egg and sperm) are formed
Genes- are the biological unit of heredity.
Alleles- several forms of a given gene
Chromosomes- sets of paired bodies in the nucleus of cells that contain the DNA and genes
Genome- the totality of genetic information about an organism
Genotype- the molecular structure of genes
Phenotype- the observable characteristics of an organism (ex. Hair, skin color, eye shape)
Recessive genes- genotypes associated with the same phenotype
Homozygous- a fertilized egg that receives the same particle (or allele) form each parent for a particular trait
Heterozygous- a fertilized egg that receives a different particle (or allele) form each parent for the same trait
Discontinuous variation- a pattern of phenotypic variation in which the phenotype exhibits sharp breaks from one member of the population to the next
Continuous variation- a pattern of variation involving polygeny (many genes respond to a trait) in which phenotypic traits grade imperceptibly from one member of the population to another without sharp breaks
Mutation- the creation of a new allele for a gene when the portion of the DNA molecule to which it corresponds is suddenly altered
Traits- are sharply distinguished from one individual to the next demonstrate discontinuous variation. Traits show continuous gradation from one individual to the next show continuous variation (ex, skin color)
Five fingers of evolution:
Pinkie finger- small population
Ring finger- non-random mating
Middle finger- mutations
Pointer finger- gene flow
Thumb- adaptations
Nature vs. nurture in terms of genetic variations:
Most scientists knew that genes and environment interact. What they didn't know was how they do
A stimulus comes in from the environment which changes signaling in our cells. This, in turn, can lead to new epigenetic modifications being put on to particular genes
Niche construction-when organisms interact with environments in ways that modify the selection pressures experienced by subsequent generations of organisms in each other’s local environment
Take energy and resources from environments
Make micro-macro habitat choices with respect to environments
Construct artifacts
CHAPTER 14- Social groups + Inequality
Naturalizing discourses- involves the representation of particular identities as though they were eternal and unchanging rather than the product of history or culture
Anthropologists are suspicious of NDs for three reasons:
They ignore historical evidence showing how present-day arrangements contrast with earlier social arrangements in society
They ignore variations in social arrangements in other present-day societies
They direct attention from social inequalities
Classes- are hierarchically arranged social groups based on access to sources of wealth
Class consciousness- occurs when members of a class recognize their common interests and develop solidarity
North American Social Classes:
Are defined mainly in terms of income level
Are described as being open and permeable
Allow for equal opportunity and upward class mobility. (upward mobility is restricted for a number of reasons ex. Gender and race)
Castes- ranked groups within a hierarchically stratified society that is closed, prohibiting individuals from moving between castes.
Anthropologists have applied the term caste to describe other societies based on one of two features:
Endogamous occupational groupings whose members are looked down on by other groups
Endogamous ruling elite who set themselves above those they rule
Race- Social groupings that allegedly reflect biological differences
Racialism- belief in the existence of biologically destiny races
Racism- the systemic oppression and discrimination of people based on their membership in racial or ethnic groups that are typically historically marginalized
Racialization- process of assigning people or groups of people to categories of “race” that historically have been oppressed by colonial powers and continue to experience inequality
Colorism- A system of social identities negotiated situationally along a continuum of skin colors between white and black. Racism is based on colorism
Ethnicity- develops as different groups negotiate the constraints they face within the single political structure, as a struggle between:
Self-ascription: insider’s efforts to define their own identity
Other-ascription: outsider’s efforts to define the identity of other groups
Ethnicity vs. race:
Struggles over identity may result in the appearance of new ethnic groups that are not continuous with any previous cultural group
Ethnicity is fluid and malleable:
It can be voluntarily embraced or successfully ignored in different situations
Ambitious individuals can manipulate ethnicity as a resource
People may alternate between different, nested identities
Human rights- powers, privileges, or material resources to, people everywhere are justly entitled to
Multiculturalism- living permanently in settings surrounded by people with cultural backgrounds different from one's own. Struggling to define the degree to which the cultural beliefs and practices of different groups should or should not be accorded respect and recognition by the wider society
Rights vs. culture:
The “culture of human rights” is regarded as the “culture of globalization” and the “global language of social justice”
Two arguments about the relation of human rights and culture have emerged:
Human rights are opposed to culture
The right to culture is a human right
Nationalism and its dangers:
Ruling groups of some nation-states may go to great lengths to enforce their version of national identity
Ethnocide- is a deliberate attempt to destroy a culture
Genocide- is a deliberate attempt to destroy an entire people
Policies of ethnocide or genocide create migrants and refugees with an anomalous and ambiguous social status
CHAPTER 12- Where do our relatives come from
Relatedness- refers to the socially recognized ties that connect people to one another. Forms of relatedness are always embedded in, and shaped by, politics, economics, and world views(holistic understanding)
Examples includes:
Friendship(connection)
Marriage
Parenthood
Shared links to common ancestor(biological)
Workplace associations. Etc
Imagined communities- are social,cultural, and historical constructions. Institutions operating help to facilitate shared habitual practices and shape symbolic images of common identity. (ex. Who is a Canadian?, newspaper create understanding of social communities, not everyone interprets it the same way)
Kinship - selective interpretation of the common human experiences of mating, birth, and nurturance form a set of coherent principles that allow people to assign on another group membership. Does Not have to be biologically related to have kinship ties, examples include regional, national, or global scale
Subcategories in kinship:
How to carry out the reproduction of legitimate group members (marriage or adoption)
Where group members should live after marriage (residence rules)
How to establish links between generations(descent) and;
How to pass on positions in society (succession) or material goods(inheritance)
Descent- is the cultural principle that defines social categories through culturally recognized parent-child connections
Descent groups:
Are defined by ancestry and so exist through time
Use parent-child links to transmit group identity and to incorporate new members
May control how people mobilize for social or political action
Bilateral Descent- believed to be equally related to father’s and mother’s sides. (ex. cousins= both mother and father side of cousins) no emphasis on which side is which
Bilateral Kindred- a kinship group that consists of relatives of one person or a group of siblings (mother-mother, father-father, other genders inclusive) linked to one individual.
Unilineal Descent- All parent-child links through mother or father (most common) (ex. Matrilineal chart below)(ex, i'm related to my cousins because they are my mom’s brother’s kids)
Lineages- consanguineal (related by blood) members of descent groups– known ancestors.
Patrilineage- a social group formed by people connected by father, child links
Matrilineage- a social group formed by people connected by mother, child links
Clan- is a descent group made up of lineages whose members believe they are related, even if they can no longer specify the links
KINSHIP TERMINOLOGY & CRITERIA
Anthropologists have identified criteria used to define different classes of kin, including:
Generation
Gender
Affinity: connection through marriage
Collaterality: distinguishes kin in direct line from those “off to one side”, ex mother and aunt or father and uncle
Bifurcation: kin terms referring to mother’s side and father’s side differ
Relative age- older or younger then the Ego
Gender of linking relative: distinguishes cross relatives from parallel relatives
Cross cousins- the children of a person’s parents’ opposite-gender siblings (a father’s sister’s children)
Parallel cousins- the children of a person’s parents’ same-gender siblings (a father’s brother’s children)
AFFINITY: kinship connection through marriage
CONSANGUINEAL: kinship connections based on descent
Kinship systems- sometimes appear as rigid sets of rules that place people into social positions with certain rights and obligations. Positions are often viewed as prototypical (examples of ascribed and achieved statuses)
Ascribed status- social positions given to people at birth(gender, sibling)
Achieved status- are those social positions that can be obtained later in life (ex, becoming a spouse or college graduate)
Adoption- people transform achieved status into ascribed status, thus changing a relation of nurturance into one of kinship.
Marriage- embeds human mating within an elaborately constructed social and cultural niche. Creates new relationships between the kin of the spouse, called affinal relationships, in contrast to consanguineal (blood related) relationships, based on descent
Endogamy- marriage within a defined social group (endo=in society)
Exogamy- marriage outside a defined group (exo=out society)
Definitions of marriage: connects wider social groups
Economics
Rite of passage
Spouses-a husband or wife
Monogamy- where a person may be married to only one spouse at a time
Polygamy-marrying multiple spouses at a time
Polyandry-where one woman has multiple husbands or male partners at a time
Polygyny-where one man has multiple wives or female partners at a time
HOW IS MARRIAGE AN ECONOMIC EXCHANGE?
Marriage involves the transfer of symbolically important goods
Bridewealth- is the transfer of goods from the family of the groom to the family of the bride and serves to:
Compensate the bride’s family for the loss of her labor and reproductive capacities
Cement affinal relations between the bride’s and the groom’s family
Circulate resources (bridewealth given for women may help fund her brother’s bridewealth)
Dowry- is the transfer of wealth from the parents to the daughter at her marriage, as a contribution to her household
PATTERNS OF RESIDENCE AFTER MARRIAGE
Neolocal |
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Patrilocal |
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Matrilocal |
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Avunculocal (from avuncular= “of uncles”) |
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What is a family?
Family- a group of individuals who can be considered as a single unit based on shared rights and responsibilities
Conjugal family- a family based on marriage; at a minimum, a spousal pair and their children
Non-conjugal family- a woman and her children or a man and his children; the husband/father or wife/mother may be occasionally present or completely absent
Nuclear family- a family group made up of two generations: the parents and their unmarried children
Extended family- a family pattern made up of three generations living together: parents, married children, and grandchildren
Joint family- a family pattern made up of brothers and their wives or sisters and their husbands (along with their children) living together
Blended family- a family created when previously divorced or widowed people marry, bringing with them children from their previous families
CHAPTER 15- Language
Human language’s six design features that makes it distinctive form of communication:
Openness
Arbitrariness
Duality of patterning
Displacement
Semanticity
Prevarication
Openness- refers to the ability of speakers to create and understand new messages.
Call systems:
Both humans and non-human primates have call systems. Call systems seem to have evolved alongside symbolic language, as they integrate with one another. Gestures, changes in rhythm, volume, tonality are called speech prosody
Non-human primate communication is closed because:
They can only emit a call in the appropriate context
They cannot mix calls to create new calls
Closed call systems also lack:
Arbitrariness: the fact that there is no necessary link between linguistic sounds and their meanings
Displacement: the ability to talk about absent or non-existent objects or future and past events
Duality of patterning means:
Sounds of a language (phonemes) are organized into the smallest meaningful units(morphemes)
Morphemes are the organized into larger units (sentences) through the rules of grammar (syntax)
Patterning also includes semantics (meaning) and pragmatics (how language is used)
Prevarication: is the ability to make false, nonsensical, and contradictory statements
What does it mean to “learn” a language?
Languages are associated with real groups of people called speech communities.
All members of a speech community dont have the same knowledge and may not use it in the same way.
Individuals/ subgroups use language in a personal way, causing language patterns to modify through speakers.
Differences between languages are based in different context and/or frequency of occurrence
Context: influences how people use language. (ex. Social media slang compare to formal language)
How are language and culture related?
Anthropologists recognize how people use language provides clues to their understanding of the world and of themselves.
Some theories of culture are based on ideas drawn from linguistics (scientific study of language)
Biocultural phenomenon of language:
The human brain and anatomy of the mouth and throat give humans the capacity for language
Languages are cultural products with embedded meanings and behavioral patterns
LANGUAGe vs. LANGUAGes
Language- is viewed as an abstract property belonging to the human species as a whole
Languages- are the specific ways groups of people communicate. All human groups have languages.
Non-spoken language: includes sign language, writing, and morse code
Human communication- refers to the transformation of information from one to another nonverbally, examples:
Sending messages with the clothes people wear
How they walk or how long they keep other people waiting for them
Semiotics: the study of meaningful signs and their uses
Iconicity(icon): the sign looks like or resembles what it represents (ex. A portrait representing a king)
Indexicality(index): the sign is casually or directly linked to what it signifies (ex. Smoke from a fire= there's a fire)
Symbolic(symbol): the sign bears no intrinsic connection to what it represents (ex. Traffic light being red for you to stop driving)
Can we communicate without language??
Depends if the non-verbal language is viewed the same world wide. Non-verbal signals are culturally-specific therefore accurate interpretation requires the receiver to be aware of the communication customs of the sender’s culture (ex. Waving during driving can mean different things in many areas of the world. Think about how people interpret it)
Sociolinguistics: the study of language in relation to social factors, such as differences of regional, class, and occupational dialect, power and gender differences, and bilingualism
Ethnopragmatics: is the study of language that relies on ethnography to see how speech is constituted by, and constitutive of, social interaction
Discourse analysis helps identify both differences and similarities among languages
Linguists and linguistic anthropologists agree that:
All languages have grammar
All spoken languages have consonant and vowel sounds
All languages are complex
All language change over time
Linguistic change over time due to:
Incorporation of new, borrowed words and expressions
Adaptation of the meaning of existing words
Invention of new words
The study of how and why new words enter a language provides insights regarding external influences on the language and new concerns of speakers
What happens when languages come into contact?
Linguistic inequality: refers to the view that certain ways of speaking are standardized while others are deemed (by those in power) as defective and inferior
Indigenous peoples of canada were forced to attend residential boarding schools as part of the government’s assimilation policy:
Forbidden to speak their native languages
Severe punishment for disobeying
Survivors were to traumatized or ashamed to speak or relearn their original language
Language ideology: marks the struggles between social groups with different interests, revealed in what people say and how they say it. Takes one language variety as the standard against which all other varieties are measured positively or negatively
Revitalization (language shift or decay):
Speakers adopt a new language, only using native language in certain contexts
Endangerment:
Stage in language decline when a language has fewer than 10,000 speakers
Extinction:
Language loses function, no longer has competent users
Chapter 13- Sex, Gender, and Sexuality
Feminism- men and women are equally human and so women are entitled to enjoy the same rights and privileges as men
Public/Private divide: women’s place is the private(in charge of the home), domestic sphere, while men’s is the public sphere(working and going out)
Sexism at the institutional level (law and customs) reflected patriarchal ideas
Look at the gender relations in other societies and cultures (its similar in some terms of gender roles in occupation)
Margaret Mead(1935)
“Masculine” and “Feminine” are culturally specific, not universal identities
Arapesh- egalitarian child-rearing, gentleness and non-aggression are praised traits for everyone
Biwat(Mundugumor)- aggression and competition are prized among both sexes (“exaggerated machismo”)
Chambri- women do most of the procurement (hunting,fishing), travel, and control the trade economy; men stay in village and are politicians
Gender binary- a dual gender categorization separating all women from all men
Sherry Ortner’s 1974 Article:”Is female to male as nature is to culture”
Male dominance rooted in a universal form of binary thinking that opposed male to female, males associated with culture and females with nature
While women might be able to mediate between culture and nature, they are always seen as closer to nature
Eleanor Leacock(1983)
Traced the transformation of gender egalitarian societies on four continents into male dominant (unequal) societies through colonization and capitalism
Marilyn Strathern(1988)
Showed how in Papua New Guinean societies, people are seen as composites of their ancestors and kin (both male and female)-- everyone's a little androgynous
Gender stratification- unequal distribution of power and access to group’s resources, opportunities, rights and privileges based on gender
Femininities/ Masculinities
What is considered fem vs. masc varies through time and space
More nuanced than just dominant vs. submissive, active vs. passive, etc
In any society, there are often many differences/variations in how people perform gender (ex, gender reveals and how color is gendered)
Emergent masculinities
Challenging stereotypes about Middle Eastern masculinities
Couples with infertility- conjugal connectivity challenges notions of men’s tendency to divorce
Changing ideas about dating practices, birth control, desire to live in a family unit, attitudes toward women’s education, etc
Similar work by Wentzell on Mexican concept of machismo with men undergoing urological difficulty (erectile dysfunction)
Crenshaw (1989): Race and class have played a key role in how many women experience the world alongside gender
Intersectionality: institutionalized forms of oppression organized in terms of race, class, and gender are interconnected and shape opportunities and constraints available to individuals in any society (ex. Women in Haiti under a patriarchal system)
Standpoint theory:
CASE STUDY OF INTERSECTIONALITY:
Gendered violence:
Missing and murdered indigenous women in canada
2014: Indigenous women 4% of Canada’s female pop, but 6x more likely to be murdered
Colonial legacies and institutional racism, government inaction, racist and gendered stereotypes, and sexualities play a role
Sex- the physical characteristics that distinguish males from females (sex does not predict gender roles)
Primary Characteristics:
Appearance of external genitalia- penis or vagina
Gonadal Sex- ovaries and testes
Chromosomal Sex- patterning of X and Y chromosomes (malle=XY, women=XX)
Secondary Characteristics:
Height
Weight
Hairiness , etc
Gender- culturally constructed roles assigned to males and female which varied considerably from society to society
Supernumerary (more than two) sexes and genders:
Moving away from binary models toward spectrums
HOW DO ANTHROPOLOGISTS STUDY RELATIONS BETWEEN SEX, GENDER, AND SEXUALITY?
Anthropologists distinguish sex from gender: the cultural constructions of beliefs and behaviors considered appropriate for each sex
Gender as a “script” to follow:
Individuals learn different skills such as how to perform an act through social interaction and each performance is part of their identity
culture= set of resources
Intersex/ differences of sex development : being born with combination of male-associated and female-associated chromosomes, genitalia, and/or glands
Anne Fausto-Sterling (1993) work discussed male and female sex as not absolute:
Surgical management in north america– usually focus on turning ambiguous genitalia “female”
Increased criticism, transition to patient-centered care– a movement to allow the person to choose later in life
Biopower and biopolitics; disciplining and shaping the body through control of biological sex characteristics
Gender performativity: how we enact our gender identities in our daily lives; gender as something we learn to “do”, not something we “are”.
Two-spirited:
In north america, two-spirited people are considered a third gender, signaled by:
A man taking on “female tasks”
Ritual role or spiritual powers
Gender variation (often breaking taboos associated with gender dress codes)
Anthropologists are more careful in using Eurocentric-assigned terms
Sexuality: how individuals experience and value physical desire and sexual pleasure. Also a cultural sphere in which people debate what behaviors are right, appropriate and natural. In some cultures, the fluidity of sexuality challenges western ideas of categories
Heterosexuality previously referred to sex that was “for pleasure rather than procreation”; for people with “abnormal appetite for sex”
Only in 1930s did heterosexuality reach current usage as a label for an identity and dominant ideal, dividing people into groups
Heteronormativity- this view that heterosexual intercourse is (and should be) the “normal” form that human sexual expression takes
Case study:
Swahili muslims in mombasa, kenya
Gill Shepherd showed how some men and women shifted between “homo” and “hetero” throughout their lives
Sexual practices overlapped with sex-segregated social practices
Even though sexuality was open, the cultural of marriage was still important, the social aspects of marriage was still valued
TYPES OF SEXUALITEIS AND PERSPECTIVES
Hetero- sex relations between a man and a women
Heteronormativity- considering hetero intercourse as ideal or “normal” for of sex relations
Heterosexism- sex bias against all those who are not hetero
Homo- the same-sex sexuality
Gay- self-designated homosexual, especially a man
Lesbian- female same-sex sexuality
Bisexuality- the attraction to both sexes, including transgender and non-binary people. Seen as a spectrum
Pansexuality- attraction of both sexes, including transgender and non-binary people, with no preference toward any particular gender or sex
NEW IDENTITIES
Trangender- a gender identity that is not related to the assigned sex at birth
Non-binary- does not subscribe to a culture’s conventional genders; may be a combination of genders, or beyond gender/no genders; also genderqueer
Queer- a self-identification claimed by some persons whose gender identity or sexual practices fall outside the range defined by “the heterosexual-homohsexual continuum”
(don't need to memorize, think about how it affects peoples lives and the impact to society)
Watch video