Anthropology

Chapter 1: Introduction to Anthropology

Introduction to Anthropology

Unique Aspects: Intense fieldwork experience, global and comparative scope.

Anthropological Perspectives

Holistic: Examines all cultural aspects in relation to one another.
Comparative: Studies a wide range of societies to understand human society.
Cultural Relativism: Avoids judging cultures as superior or inferior.

Key Concepts

Ethnocentrism: Belief that one’s culture is superior, leading to intolerance.
Fieldwork: Living in communities to collect cultural data, using local languages.

Subfields of Anthropology

Archaeology = Study of past human societies through material remains (artifacts, structures, and landscapes). Goal: Reconstruct historical lifeways, understand cultural development, and interpret ancient environments.
Biological (Physical) Anthropology = Study of humans as biological beings.
Linguistic Anthropology= Study of human languages and communication.
Cultural Anthropology= Study of contemporary human cultures and societies.
Applied Anthropology = Use of anthropological methods and findings to solve real-world problems.Goal: Apply anthropological knowledge to address societal challenges.

Value of Anthropology

Fosters understanding of cultural differences.
Explains human development over time.
Challenges assumptions about the world.

Culture

Definition (E.B. Tylor): Culture is a complex whole including knowledge, beliefs, arts, morals, customs, and habits acquired by individuals in society.

Key Features:

Learned: Transmitted through social interaction.
Shared: Common within a group.
Diverse: Explains behavioral differences among societies.
Dynamic: Always evolving and unrelated to race or genetics.

Components of Culture

Mental Aspects: Attitudes, beliefs, etiquette, and perceptions.
Cultural Knowledge: Includes norms, values, symbols, classifications, and worldviews.

Cultural Relativism vs. Moral Relativism

Cultural Relativism: An objective research approach to understanding other cultures without imposing external values.
Moral Relativism: Accepting all cultural practices as morally acceptable, which is not the same.

Five elements of cultural knowledge

Norms
Values
Symbols
Classification and construction of reality
worldviews

Chapter 2: The Culture Concept

Finding the Field

Fieldwork: Main method for cultural anthropologists to collect data.
Key Examples:
- Coming of Age in Samoa by Margaret Mead (1925).

Body Ritual Among the Nacirema by Horace Miner (1956).

Ethnography

Definition: In-depth study of people's lives and practices through "thick description" (detailed social analysis).
Main Method: Participant observation.
Perspectives:
- Emic: Insider’s perspective.
- Etic: Outsider’s perspective.

History of Ethnographic Research

Conducted in various settings, including urban areas and multiple sites.
Methods include:
- Inductive: Bottom-up, data-driven research.
- Deductive: Top-down, theory-driven research.
- Mixed Methods: Combining qualitative and quantitative approaches.

Ethnographic Techniques and Perspectives

Cultural Relativism: Understanding beliefs and behaviors from the culture’s own perspective.
Ethnocentrism: Viewing one’s culture as superior and using it as a standard for others.
Activist Anthropology: Focus on advocating and support for communities studied.
Symbolic & Interpretive Anthropology: Culture viewed as texts to be interpreted; no claim to objectivity.

Data Collection Techniques

Participant observation.
Conversations and interviews.
Life histories and genealogies.
Key informants.
Detailed field notes.

Ethical Considerations

American Anthropological Association’s Code of Ethics: Informed consent and accessibility of results.
Tri-Council Policy Statement (TCPS 2, 2018): Ethical conduct for research in social sciences, health, and engineering in Canada.

Writing Ethnography

Data Analysis: Interpreting and organizing collected data.
Challenging Ethnographic Authority: Questioning the anthropologist's singular perspective.
Polyvocality: Including multiple voices and perspectives.
Reflexivity: Being aware of one’s influence on the research.

Chapter 3: Doing Fieldwork

Performance: What It “Does”

Creation and Consolidation
- Helps establish shared meanings and beliefs.
Reinforcement of Social Norms
- Plays a role in maintaining societal expectations and behaviors.
Structuring Interaction and Participation
- Shapes the ways individuals interact and engage with one another.
Reflection of Cultural Dynamism
- Mirrors the fluid and evolving nature of culture.

Types of Performance

Ritual Performance
- Ceremonial acts that hold cultural or symbolic significance.
Theatrical Performance
- Staged or artistic displays meant to entertain, educate, or provoke thought.
Everyday Performance
- Routine, mundane actions that also reflect and sustain cultural norms.

Key Contributions to Performance Studies in Anthropology

Victor Turner

Concepts:
- Communitas: A sense of community and equality during collective experiences.
- Liminality: Transitional phase or state during rituals, often marked by ambiguity.
Social Drama Framework:
- Stages:
  - Breach: Disruption of social norms.
  - Crisis: Escalation of conflict or tension.
  - Redressive Action: Attempts to address or resolve the conflict.
  - Reintegration/Schism: Reestablishment of norms or permanent division.
Examples:
- Tiv (Nigeria), Cuna (Panama), Indigenous sentencing circles.
- Fall of Apartheid in South Africa, #MeToo movement, Environmental movements.

Erving Goffman

Key Ideas:
- Self-Presentation: How individuals manage their image in social contexts.
- Social Life as Theatre:
  - Dramaturgical Approach: Interpreting social interactions as theatrical performances.
  - Front Stage vs. Back Stage:
    - Front Stage: Public actions aligned with societal expectations.
    - Back Stage: Private behaviors and thoughts, often hidden from the public.
- Impression Management: Efforts to control how one is perceived by others.

Clifford Geertz

Balinese Cockfight:
- Explores cultural significance in terms of:
  - Status and Identity: Social hierarchies and personal worth.
  - Social Dynamics: Interpersonal and group relationships.
  - Ritual and Meaning: Symbolism and shared cultural values.
Interpretive Approach:
- Culture-as-Text: Viewing culture as a text that can be read, interpreted, and analyzed.

Chapter 5: Subsistence

General Evolutionist Position

Core Idea: Evolution of culture/society progresses through a single developmental line with set stages; pace varies across societies.

E. B. Tylor

Major Works:
- Researches into the Early History of Mankind (1865):
  - Defined societal stages:
    1. Savagery: Stone tools and wild foods.
    2. Barbarism: Agriculture and metallurgy begin.
    3. Civilization: Writing invented.
- Primitive Culture (1871): Defined culture as a "complex whole" and traced the evolution of religion (animism → polytheism → monotheism).

Lewis Henry Morgan

Major Work:
- Ancient Society (1877):
  - Introduced "Ethnical Periods," each defined by technological and social innovations:
    1. Lower Savagery: Basic subsistence and fire knowledge.
    2. Upper Savagery: Bow and arrow invention.
    3. Lower Barbarism: Pottery development.
    4. Upper Barbarism: Iron smelting.
    5. Civilization: Phonetic alphabet and writing.

Typologies of Political Authority (Elman Service, 1975; Morton Fried, 1967)

Political evolution tied to agriculture, productivity, and stratification.
Inequality Origins:
- Agricultural productivity enables stratification.
- Social hierarchy: rulers → soldiers → religious leaders → merchants → laborers → peasants.
- Tribal societies are a egalitarian but not all tribal societies are fully egalitarian
- Egalitarian definition = one where all people are considered equal and have equal rights, regardless of their race, gender, age, or religion.

Political Leadership Typologies

Bands:
- Small, egalitarian foraging groups (50-100 members).
- Leadership situational; decisions by consensus.
- Bands are Foraging groups : a group of people who survive by hunting and gathering wild plants and animals
Tribes:
- Descendants of a common ancestor, pastoralist/horticulturist.
- Egalitarian with charismatic "Big-man" leadership.
Chiefdoms:
- Alliances under a hereditary chief.
- Features include centralized authority and monumental architecture.
States:
- Centralized governments, class stratification, and organized military.
- Traits include citizenship definition, law/order maintenance, and taxation.

Characteristics of Early States

Regional control, farming economies, taxation, public buildings, and record-keeping.
Stratified into ruling elites and laboring classes.

Social Control Mechanisms

Non-State Societies:
- Informal: gossip, fear of witchcraft, rituals, supernatural beliefs, blood feuds.
State Societies:
- Formal: legal systems, courts, institutionalized punishments.

Hobbes' Perspective

In the "state of nature" (pre-society): life is "solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short" (Leviathan, 1651).
Emphasized the role of organized governance in overcoming chaos.

Marshall Sahlins’ "The Original Affluent Society" (1968)

Critiqued the capitalistic view of affluence:
- Foragers' "Zen road to affluence": Minimal wants and sustainable means ensure material sufficiency and leisure.

Richard B. Lee's Work on !Kung San

Findings among Kalahari Desert hunter-gatherers:
- Nutritious diets (e.g., mongongo nuts).
- Low labor demands: only 61% engaged in food collection (3-5 hours/day).
- Support ratio: 1 laborer supports 4-5 people.

Chapter 6: Economics

Introduction to Economic Anthropology

Focuses on how humans secure necessities (food, clothing, shelter), produce, exchange, and consume goods.
Explores the role of intangible resources (labor, services, knowledge).
Objective: Describe what people do economically and why.

Modes of Production

Domestic Production (Kin-Ordered):
- Found in foraging and small-scale farming societies.
- Characteristics:
  - Egalitarian structure.
  - Labor organized by kinship.
  - Collective ownership of production means.
  - Emphasis on sharing and low social domination.
Tributary Production:
- Present in societies with class distinctions (rulers and subjects).
- Farmers/herders produce for themselves and pay tributes to rulers.
- Tribute supports the ruling class rather than market exchange.
- Relationships often conflictual; production is politically controlled.
Capitalist Production:
- Emerged in the 17th-18th centuries.
- Features:
  - Private ownership by a capitalist class.
  - Workers sell labor and are separated from production means.
  - Focus on maintaining low wages to generate surplus value.
  - Surplus reinvested for profit.

Key Debate: Formalist-Substantivist

Formalist Perspective:
- Individuals are rational, objective maximizers.
- Economic action is individualistic.
Substantivist Perspective:
- Economic behavior is embedded in social and cultural systems.

Modes of Exchange

Reciprocity:
- Generalized: Value and timing unspecified (e.g., parent-child relationships).
- Balanced: Equal value and timeframe expected (e.g., Kula ring).
- Negative: Attempt to gain something for nothing (e.g., scams, theft).
Redistribution:
- Accumulation of goods/labor by a central body for later dispersal.
- Requires centralized political coordination.
- Examples: Potlatch ceremonies.
Markets:
- Based on supply-demand principles.
- Often impersonal but can involve social connections.
- Examples: Maine lobster markets.

General-Purpose Money

Functions:
- Medium of exchange.
- Tool for storing wealth.
- Assigns interchangeable values.
Enables opportunities for unequal exchange (e.g., Tiv spheres of exchange, Ithaca Hours).

Circulation, Identity, Relationships, and Social Order

Gift-giving reflects social dynamics and obligations, influencing:
- Social identities and relationships.
- Cultural norms of equivalence in reciprocation.
Marcel Mauss' "The Gift":
- Gifts bind individuals through chains of obligation.
- Quotes illustrating gift economies:
  - New Caledonia: Feasts as social "threading."
  - Haida Gwaii: Betrothal payments establish social connections.

Gift Economies

Operate on the principle of total prestations:
- Obligations to give, receive, and repay.
Examples:
- Moka (Melanesia):
  - Competitive reciprocity system led by "big men."
  - Balances social and political relations.
- Kula (Trobriand Islands):
  - Ceremonial exchanges governed by chiefs.
  - Objects are symbolic and non-utilitarian.
  - Accompanied by barter markets (gimwali).

Chapter 7: Political Anthropology

Learning Objectives

Understand theories and definitions of religion.
Recognize the importance of supernatural beliefs in human communities.
Identify the four key elements of religion.
Explore rites and their significance.

Early Signs of Religious Thought

Evidence from Prehistory:
- Burials accompanied by stone tools, shells, and animal bones.
- Cave paintings depicting animals and abstract imagery.
- Venus figurine sculptures, possibly symbolizing fertility or spirituality.

Defining Religion

Challenges:
- Numerous diverse forms exist.
- Many societies do not separate religion from daily cultural practices.
Key Concept:
- Religion as “the means by which human society and culture is extended to include the nonhuman.”
Some societies view spiritual beings and forces as integral to the physical world.

Theories of Religion

Religion often linked to social cohesion, moral order, and explanations of the unknown.
Varies across cultures but typically connects the human experience with the supernatural.

Elements of Religion

Belief in the Supernatural:
- Animatism: Belief in an impersonal supernatural force (e.g., mana).
- Animism: Belief in spirits or supernatural beings (e.g., the soul, ancestral spirits).
  - Example: Filial piety in China, Japanese Shintoism.
- Gods: Powerful spirits, either monotheistic (one deity) or polytheistic (many deities).
Rules of Behavior:
- Establish moral guidelines for interacting with the supernatural and other humans.
Rituals:
- Rites of Passage:
  - Mark transitions between life stages (separation → liminality → reincorporation).
- Rites of Intensification:
  - Unite communities through shared actions (e.g., communitas).
- Revitalization Rituals:
  - Aim to solve societal problems via supernatural intervention (e.g., John Frum cargo cults).
Religious Practitioners:
- Priest:
  - Full-time practitioners; may set religious rules and oversee rites.
- Shaman:
  - Part-time practitioners with perceived supernatural abilities, often seen as unique or "abnormal."
- Prophet:
  - Individuals claiming direct communication with the supernatural realm.
  - Example: David Koresh (Branch Davidians, millenarian beliefs).

Chapter 8: Family and Marriage

Culture and Kinship

Culture influences how biological relationships are understood.
Social norms shape roles and responsibilities in familial relationships.

Key Features of Kinship Systems:

Infant Maturation: Requires parental commitment.
Conjugal Bond: Enduring sexual and domestic partnership.
Division of Labor: Often based on sex.
Incest Taboo: Regulates relationships to prevent close-kin marriages.

Rights, Responsibilities, Statuses, and Roles

Terms Indicate Roles: Words like “mother” or “cousin” imply specific rights and duties.
Status: A culturally defined position, e.g., “father.”
Role: Expected behaviors linked to a specific status.

Kinship and Descent

Types of Kinship:

Consanguineal: By blood.
Affinal: By marriage.
Chosen Kin: Culturally designated kinship.

Types of Descent:

Patrilineal: Through the father’s line.
Matrilineal: Through the mother’s line.
Bilateral: Through both lines.

Lineage: Descent from a common ancestor.

Example: Nayar of Southern India - matrilineal descent but no matriarchy.

Marriage and Family

Family Types:

Nuclear Family: Two generations.
Extended Family: At least three generations.
Stem or Joint Family: Multiple generations in one household.

Marriage Types:

Serial Monogamy: Multiple spouses over time, one at a time.
Polygamy: Multiple spouses simultaneously.
- Polygyny: Multiple wives.
- Polyandry: Multiple husbands.

Rules of Marriage

Endogamy: Marriage within a cultural group.
Exogamy: Marriage outside a cultural group.

Arranged Marriages: Historically common.

Spousal Inheritance Rules:

Sororate: Marrying the wife’s sister after her death.
Levirate: Marrying the husband’s brother after his death.

Families, Households, and Domestic Groups

Family: Connected individuals seeing themselves as kin.
Household/Domestic Group: People sharing resources and living arrangements.

Marriage Exchanges

Dowry: Bride’s family gives gifts to the groom or couple.
Bridewealth: Groom’s family gives gifts to the bride’s family.

Post-Marital Residence

Family of Orientation: Family of birth.
Family of Procreation: Family created through marriage.

Residence Patterns:

Neolocal: New household.
Patrilocal: Near the husband’s family.
Matrilocal: Near the wife’s family.
Avunculocal: Near the maternal uncle.

Unilineal Descent Groups (UDGs)

Lineages and Clans: Organize societies in tribal systems.
Segmentary Lineage System: Creates social and political structure based on relatedness.

Example: Evans-Pritchard’s study of the Nuer.

Segmentary Lineage Organization

Structure: Each lineage segment unites in opposition to others when conflict arises.
Example Scenario: A pastoral community conflict involving kinship-based retaliation.

Relevant Works:

Evans-Pritchard, The Nuer (1940)
Charles Lindholm, Generosity and Jealousy (1981)

Tibetan Polyandry

Practice: Multiple brothers marrying one woman.
Reasons: Resource scarcity and environmental hardship.
Location: Limi Valley, NW Nepal.

Chapter 9: Race and Ethnicity

Learning Objectives

Understanding how the concept of race has been reified.
Recognizing that there is no biological basis for race.
Exploring race as a socially constructed concept.
Understanding racial formation, hypodescent, and the one-drop rule.
Examining ethnicity, race, and immigration.
Understanding ethnicity in sports.

1. Is Anthropology the “Science of Race?”

Historical Perspective: 18th and 19th-century anthropologists sought a biological basis for race.
Modern Understanding: Race is not a biological category but a socially and culturally defined one.
Reification of Race: When an inaccurate concept becomes accepted as “truth” through repeated assertion.

2. Race: A Discredited Concept in Human Biology

I. Historical Development:

Linnaeus (1735): Proposed four human races.
Blumenbach (1795): Expanded to five races.
Early 20th Century: Division into three races with subdivisions in Europe.

II. Human Variation:

Continuous Variation: Traits like skin color change gradually across geographic areas (clinal distribution).
Vitamin D and Folate Balance: Biological factors influencing skin color.

III. Genetic Reality:

Nonconcordant Traits: Traits are inherited independently, not bundled into racial groups.
Genetic Diversity: 88-92% of human genetic variation exists within the same continent, showing humans are less diverse genetically than U.S. white-tailed deer.

3. Race as a Social Concept

I. Social Reality:

Race is socially real and affects individuals’ lives despite its lack of biological basis.

II. Racial Formation:

Social, economic, and political forces shape racial categories.

III. Concept of Whiteness:

Historical Exclusion: Irish, Jewish, and Italian immigrants were not initially considered “White.”
Post-WWII Expansion: U.S. veterans’ acts expanded the “White” category, excluding African-American veterans.
White Privilege: Unearned societal advantages associated with being perceived as White.

Race in Different Countries

United States: Rigid racial categories with the “one-drop rule” (hypodescent).
Brazil: Officially recognizes five racial categories, but people use hundreds of descriptive “tipos.”
Japan: Socially stigmatized Burakumin are genetically indistinguishable from other Japanese, akin to Hindu caste discrimination.

Ethnicity and Ethnic Groups

Ethnic Groups: Defined by cultural traits and shared ancestry.
Ethnicity: Identification with a particular ethnic group, which can change over time.
Symbolic Ethnicity: Limited public displays of ethnic pride (e.g., cultural festivals).

Melting Pot or Salad Bowl?

Assimilation: Minorities abandon native cultures to adopt the dominant culture.
Multiculturalism: Encourages respect for cultural diversity.
Amalgamation: Creation of new hybrid identities through cultural mixing.

Sports, Race/Ethnicity, and Diversity

Myth of Natural Ability: The belief in biologically based athletic superiority lacks scientific evidence.
Socio-Economic Factors: Access and opportunities in sports are shaped by economic conditions.
Cultural Values: Different communities assign varying levels of prestige to specific sports.

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