Anthro Exam 1

Basic Characteristics of Culture: The shared beliefs, behaviors, values, customs, and artifacts that members of a society use to live and interact with each other.

Fieldwork: The collection of data through direct observation and participation in the daily lives of people being studied, often used in anthropology and sociology.

Sociolinguistics: The study of how language is used in social contexts, focusing on the relationship between language and social factors like class, gender, and ethnicity.

Heritage/Nonheritage Speaker: A heritage speaker is someone who has been exposed to a language at home but may not speak it fluently. A nonheritage speaker is someone who learns a language as a second language later in life.

Hypodescent: The practice of classifying someone with mixed racial ancestry as belonging to the socially subordinate racial group, commonly known as the “one-drop rule.”

Code Switching: The practice of alternating between two or more languages, dialects, or cultural behaviors, often in a single conversation or context.

Comparative Perspective: An approach in anthropology that examines cultures and societies by comparing them to identify similarities and differences.

Acculturation: The process of cultural exchange and adaptation that occurs when two or more cultures come into contact, often leading to changes in customs, traditions, and language.

Language Revitalization: Efforts to preserve, promote, or restore endangered languages that are at risk of disappearing.

Research Ethics: The moral guidelines and standards that researchers must follow to ensure the safety, privacy, and respect of study participants.

Language Shift: The process in which a community gradually stops using its native language in favor of a more dominant language.

Key Informants: Individuals who provide valuable insights or knowledge about a specific culture or group, often based on their experiences or expertise.

Ethnology: The branch of anthropology that compares and analyzes cultures to understand patterns of human behavior.

Dialect: A variety of language spoken by a particular group of people, often distinguished by regional, social, or cultural differences.

Cultural Relativism: The idea that a person's beliefs, values, and practices should be understood based on that person's own culture, without judgment.

Mechanisms of Power: The ways in which power is distributed and exercised within societies, including systems of control, influence, and authority.

Racial Formation: The social, political, and historical processes by which racial categories are created, shaped, and maintained.

Whiteness: A social and cultural construct used to define and maintain societal privileges for people categorized as "white."

Digital World / Physical World: The distinction between virtual spaces created by digital technologies (such as social media) and the physical, real-world environments we live in.

Enculturation: The process by which individuals learn and adopt the customs, values, and behaviors of their own culture.

Applied Anthropology: The use of anthropological knowledge and methods to address practical, real-world problems, such as in healthcare, education, or environmental conservation.

Rapport: The building of trust and understanding between the researcher and the people being studied, essential for successful fieldwork.

Photoethnography: A research method that combines photography with ethnographic research to capture and analyze cultural practices.

Ethnographic Research Strategy: A research method in anthropology where the researcher immerses themselves in the community they are studying to observe and participate in daily life.

Ethnocentrism: The belief that one's own culture or group is superior to others, often leading to the judgment of other cultures based on one's own cultural norms.

Emic Perspective: The perspective of an insider, or a member of the culture being studied, who understands the world from within that culture.

Folk Taxonomy: The way people in a particular culture classify and categorize the world around them, such as the classification of plants, animals, or people.

Agency: The capacity of individuals or groups to act independently and make choices, especially in the context of social structures or cultural expectations.

Social Construction: The idea that many aspects of society, including race, gender, and class, are created through social processes and interactions rather than being biologically determined.

Etic Perspective: The perspective of an outsider, or someone from a different culture, who seeks to understand a culture from an analytical or objective standpoint.

Uneven Development: The idea that economic, social, and political development is not equally distributed across different regions, groups, or countries, often leading to inequalities.

Armchair Anthropology: Early anthropological research based on second-hand accounts or literature, rather than direct fieldwork.

Historical Particularism: A school of thought in anthropology that argues cultures should be understood in their own historical context, rather than through general theories or comparisons.

Assimilation: The process by which a minority group gradually adopts the customs, values, and behaviors of the dominant culture, often losing distinct cultural traits.

Moral Judgment: The evaluation of actions, behaviors, or cultural practices based on a particular set of ethical or moral standards.

Racism: Prejudice, discrimination, or antagonism directed at individuals or groups based on their race or ethnicity, often rooted in beliefs of racial superiority.

Survivance: A concept referring to the survival and persistence of a culture, identity, or community despite historical trauma or challenges.

Hashtag Activism: The use of social media platforms, particularly hashtags, to raise awareness, mobilize, and advocate for social or political causes.

Cultural Imperialism: The imposition of one culture’s values, beliefs, and practices on another culture, often through media, economic dominance, or political influence.