KEY CONCEPTS AND TERMS  

ANTHROPOLOGY – the study of humankind, of ancient and modern people and their ways of living  

CULTURE – everything that people collectively do, make, think, and speak  

CULTURAL ANTHROPOLOGY – the study of human cultures  

• Why do people behave the way they do?  

• What causes human diversity?  

• Cultures have much more in common than differences  

ASPECTS OF CULTURE – subsistence systems (survival skills and tactics), kinship and marriage, religion, political and economic systems, art, healthcare systems, and more 

e.g., a culture may hunt and father food themselves vs. In America we go to a grocery store and buy food to take home 

8/28/24 

HOW IS CULTURE TRANSMITTED?  

3 Primary Ways: 

1.  ENCULTURATION – the process by which an individual absorbs the details of their particular culture, starting from birth 

1. Being the core of who you are, your identity 

e.g., Enculturated as an Iranian because she was born and raised there in early life 

2.  ACCULTURATION - the process by which important changes take place within a culture or family as a result of contact with another culture  

e.g., Accultured as an American because she has spent more time here 

3.  ASSIMILATION  – when an individual or family or cultural group is forced to conform to the confines of another culture  

1. Blending in with other people 

2. Forced rejection of your own culture to replace it with the current culture 

3. Often a negative experience  

 ETHNOCENTRISM – the belief that one’s own culture is superior to all others  

4. Pride in your culture is NOT ethnocentrism, but thinking your culture is better than all others IS ethnocentrism  

e.g., when children were put in boarding schools to pose that a certain culture was better than their original culture, undermining their cultural identity 

 CULTURAL RELATIVISM  – the principle that cultural beliefs and activities should be interpreted in terms of one’s OWN cultures, not according to the values of another culture  

OTHER FORMS OF DISCRIMINATION  

• Racism  

• Sexism  

• Ageism  

• Classism  

• Heterosexism  

• Religiocentrism  

• Genoism  

• NELSON MANDELA  

• Lived imprisoned due to fighting against Enculturation and Discrimination 

• Mediterranean culture consists of trying to diffuse the evil eye, even when it may come to peeling a vegetable  

PRINCIPLES OF CULTURAL RELATIVISM 

6 Principles:  

1. Different cultures have different social codes 

2. There is no objective standard that can be used to judge one cultural code better than another 

3. The social code of our own society has no special status; it is merely one among many  

4. There is no “universal truth” that holds for all people 

5. The social code of a society determines what is right within that society; that is, if the moral code of a society says that a certain action is right, then that action IS right, at least within that society  

6. It is ethnocentric for us to judge the conduct of other people; we should adopt an attitude of tolerance and understanding towards the practices of another culture 

“SMOKING THE BABY” IN THE ABORIGINAL AUSTRALIA  

• A purifying ritual, bestowing blessings on the baby and welcoming them into the tribal community, similar to the Christian sacrament of baptism.  

MAORI TATOOS IN NEW ZEALAND: TA MOKO  

• An outward expression of Maori identity, whether family, tribal, or stories of an individual  

• Can tell someone quite a lot about someone’s identity and who you are  

PERSPECTIVE MATTERS  

Viewing the world through our experiences and different lenses  

1. EMIC PERSPECTIVE – when describing culture from a participant’s or native’s point of view, the observer uses concepts and distinctions that are meaningful and appropriate to the participants 

1. What things mean to members within that society 

2. Native point of view  

3. EMIC --> ME IC (describing themselves) 

4. Culturally relative p.o.v. 

2. ETIC PERSPECTIVE – when describing culture from the observer’s point of view, the observer uses concepts and distinctions that are meaningful and appropriate to the observer  

1. The external researcher’s interpretation of the same customs or beliefs 

2. Outsiders point of view 

3. Potentially ethnocentric  

8/30/24 

“OTHER” - concept is used to describe someone unlike yourself 

• Different religion, sexual orientation, gender identity 

• All non-Westernized people of the world  

• “Us” vs. “Them” 

• “Others” are somehow lacking power, legitimacy, validity  

• Usually constructed by people that may think their identity is superior 

• The knowledge of “Others” is dismissed (not caring enough to learn more about whoever fits under that “Other” category) 

• Perspective is everything 

EXONYM - (EXO: outside, NYM: name) outside-given name; a foreign name  

XENONYM - A name for a people, a language, or a city etc. which is not used by the natives themselves  

• Tend to be derogatory 

• Both words are the same thing 

e.g., Esk*mo (Alcaguin term, translates to eaters of raw flesh, defining them as barbaric) -> Inuit (Translates to people) 

Sioux (Translates to little snakes/little enemies) -> Lakota (Translates to people) 

• Xenophobia: fear of others 

ENDONYM – native-given name 

THE NATURE OF CULTURE 

• Culture is learned 

• Not acquired through biology or genetics, but by being raised in a particular culture 

• Enculturation  

• We learn our behaviors, attitudes, and values (happens very organically, parent will not particularly explain that they will be teaching them American culture) 

• Culture is transmitted from generation to generation  

• “How do you peel a fruit or vegetable?” (I-3 starter question from Wednesday) 

• Culture is symbolic 

• Through symbols, people ascribe meanings of their own creation to objects, persons, behaviors, etc.  

SYMBOL – something that stands for something else 

• Some symbols include: power button, religious symbols, etc.  

• Hand Gestures: middle finger example, not used all around the world (American) 

• Palm facing inward with a peace sign -> British way of a middle finger  

• Peace sign -> universal meaning for “peace” 

• Thumbs-up -> in Iran it is the equivalent of the middle finger or backwards peace sign 

• Everything is symbolic 

• Culture is shared  

• This does not mean that all people are the same in a culture 

• It means that our general PRINCIPLES are shared 

• Shared symbols allow a wide range of communication  

• Culture is patterned  

• Customs, beliefs, and institutions are interrelated  

• Core values integrate each culture  

• What are some American core values?  

• High work ethic, individualism, achievement, self-reliance, etc.  

• A pattern is present and a logical connection between these core values 

• Culture is adaptive 

• Humans adapt to our environments (physical, political, social, psychological) to survive and thrive  

• We use culture to manipulate and live in our environments 

• Culture is our chief mechanism of adaptation  

• Humans can survive in many different environments