anthropology
How long have humans engaged exclusively in foraging as a food getting strategy? What is foraging, what are the general, common features of foraging societies, and how may those features be interrelated? You should be familiar with the terms (including, but not limited to, mobility, carrying capacity, fertility, division of labor, sharing, and material wealth) and ethnographic examples addressed in video- and in-class lectures
Humans have been engaging exclusively in foraging as a food getting strategy 10,000 years ago
Foraging is hunting and gathering from the natural environment.
In foraging societies, mobility allows access to diverse resources while preventing overuse of any one area, thus maintaining carrying capacity. Moderate fertility rates balance the population with available resources. The division of labor optimizes tasks during travel, and sharing resources fosters cooperation. Material wealth is defined by practical items essential for mobility and survival, reflecting the dynamic balance these societies maintain for sustainable living.
Based on archaeological evidence, when did domestication of food occur and where did it take place first in human history?
Domestication of food occurred 10,000-9,000 yrs ago in the old world
How has food-production (domestication) changed the nature of human society? What is pastoralism? What are some features of the environments in which pastoral societies are generally located? How do pastoralists utilize animals?
People established their permanent or semi-permanent settlement, as a consequence a more defined residential group developed, and a stronger concept of property ownership.
Pastoralism is animal husbandry, this is the breeding, care, and use of herd animals
Areas where it is too cold for edible vegetation or too short of a growing season among other weather-related environmental situations would want patoralism
They use them for milk, the blood for protein, and hair, and skin for tents and clothes, and in east Africa cattle us used for marriage ceremonies and rituals
What is horticulture? How do “slash-and-burn” techniques work? What kinds of conditions does this technique need to have to be sustainable?
Horticulture is using human power with simple tools like: pointed sticks, hoes, and other hand tools
Slash-and-burn farming is the act of cutting and burning and planting trees. The ashes act as fertilizer for other plants
Needs to be tropical forest regions with thin soil
How does intensive agriculture differ from horticulture? What is fallow time? What kind of socio-political organization is likely to be associated with it?
Intensive agriculture uses a lot of machines, chemicals, and technology to grow a lot of one crop in a small area. Horticulture is smaller-scale gardening with fewer machines and chemicals, focusing on growing a variety of plants like fruits and vegetables.
Fallow time in anthropology refers to when farmland is left empty after harvesting to let the soil recover. Small-scale societies often decide fallow time together, while larger societies might have rules about it set by leaders or governments.
What are differences between the three types of reciprocity – generalized, balanced, and negative? What are functions of each type of reciprocity? Be familiar with the examples provided in class.
Generalized Reciprocity: Giving freely without expecting anything back right away Balanced Reciprocity: Giving with the expectation of receiving something similar in return. Negative Reciprocity: Trying to get more or give less than what's fair in an exchange.
Generalized Reciprocity: Builds trust and social bonds. Example: Helping a friend move without expecting anything in return Balanced Reciprocity: Maintains fairness and equality in exchanges. Example: Trading items at a flea market or bartering services Negative Reciprocity: Ensures self-interest but can strain relationships. Example: Haggling for a lower price than what's fair.
What is redistribution? Can you provide some examples?
Redistribution in anthropology is when goods or resources are collected from a group and then given out based on social rules or authority. For example, a leader collecting food from villagers during a harvest and distributing it to those in need.
What is a potlatch? Why is such an event held and what are some of its functions?
A potlatch is a ceremonial event held by Indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest. It involves gift-giving, feasting, and performances and serves to display wealth, strengthen social ties, redistribute resources, and honor cultural tradition
How do you define market exchange? What are some of the features?
Market exchange in anthropology refers to buying and selling goods and services based on prices set by supply and demand. It involves voluntary transactions, competition, specialization, private property rights, market infrastructure, and regulation.
What is marriage? What are the functions of marriage and how are they related to human nature?
Marriage is a culturally sanctioned union between two or more individuals
Sexual access, reproduction, child legitimacy, economic cooperation
What are Consanguine and Affine?
Affines are your in-laws and Consanguine is marrying someone who is blood-related like second cousins or closer
What are endogamy and exogamy, respectively?
Endogamy is when people marry or form relationships within their own social group, such as their own ethnic, cultural, or religious community.
Exogamy is when people marry or form relationships outside of their social group, often with individuals from different ethnic, cultural, or religious backgrounds.
What is incest taboo? How is it related to endogamy or exogamy? Be familiar with theories/explanations related to the incest taboo. What are the advantages of having incest taboo regulations?
The incest taboo is a cultural rule that says close relatives should not have sexual relationships or marry. It's related to endogamy (marrying within a group) and exogamy (marrying outside a group). The rule helps prevent genetic problems, promotes social connections with others, and protects against abuse within families.
What is monogamy? What is serial monogamy?
Monogamy is a type of relationship where an individual has only one partner at a time. It is a commitment to exclusivity.
Serial monogamy is moving from one monogamous relationship to another. It is the practice in which someone may have multiple relationships with different partners but doesn't have multiple relationships at the same time.
What do the terms polygamy, polygyny, and polyandry mean, respectively? What are some of the benefits, advantages, and/or functions associated with polygyny and polyandry, respectively?
Polygamy means having multiple spouses. Polygyny is when a man has multiple wives, and polyandry is when a woman has multiple husbands.
Benefits of polygyny may include social status, economic support, and more children. Benefits of polyandry may include efficient resource sharing, division of labor, and reproductive success strategies.
Be familiar with the ethnographic example of polygyny practiced by the Tiwi discussed in class
The Tiwi people, an Indigenous group from Australia, practice polygyny, where men can have multiple wives. In their culture, polygyny serves social and economic functions. It helps ensure support for women and children, fosters strong family ties, and reinforces cultural traditions related to kinship and marriage.
How may marriage be conceptualized or understood differently in different cultures? How may the general understanding of marriage in the U.S. differ from that in some traditional societies? How do these differences in marriage between the U.S. and some traditional societies affect the nature of marriage customs?
Marriage can be understood differently across cultures. In the U.S., it's often seen as a romantic partnership based on love, companionship, and legal rights. In traditional societies, marriage may also involve economic, social, and cultural considerations like family alliances, inheritance, and status. These differences affect marriage customs by influencing practices such as arranged marriages, dowries, and polygamy.
Can you explain levirate and sororate? How do these customs function? What is bridewealth? What are some of the explanations for why some societies practice this custom as discussed in class?
Levirate is when a man marries his deceased brother's widow, while sororate is when a woman marries her deceased sister's husband. These customs help maintain family ties, inheritance, and social stability.
Bridewealth is a payment or gift given by the groom or his family to the bride's family. It can symbolize respect, compensate for the loss of a daughter's labor, or establish social status.
Some explanations for why societies practice these customs include strengthening family bonds, ensuring continuity of lineage, resolving inheritance issues, and establishing alliances between families or clans.
What is brideservice? How does it differ from brideweath? With what kinds of societies is this custom most likely to be associated, and why?
Brideservice is when a groom provides labor or services to the bride's family as part of the marriage arrangement, instead of giving a payment or gift like bridewealth.
Brideservice is when a groom provides labor or services to the bride's family as part of the marriage arrangement, instead of giving a payment or gift like bridewealth. This custom is often associated with societies that have a subsistence or agricultural economy and value labor contributions over material wealth. It helps foster cooperation between families and ensures that the groom can support the bride and her family.
What is dowry? What are some possible interpretations (functions) of having such a custom?
A dowry is wealth given by the bride's family to the groom's family at marriage.
Possible functions include providing economic security for the bride, enhancing social status, symbolizing marital alliance, serving as compensation, and establishing inheritance.
What are a nuclear family household and an extended family household, respectively?
A nuclear family household consists of parents and their children living together. An extended family household includes parents, children, and other relatives like grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins living together or nearby.
Can you explain all the patterns of post marital residential rules (Neolocal, Patrilocal, Matrilocal, Bilocal, and Avunculocal) and how each pattern works as discussed in class?
Neolocal: The newly married couple lives separately from both sets of parents, establishing their own household.
Patrilocal: The couple lives with or near the husband's family and relatives, often in the husband's ancestral home.
Matrilocal: The couple lives with or near the wife's family and relatives, often in the wife's ancestral home.
Bilocal: The couple alternates between living with or near the husband's and wife's families, depending on the circumstances or seasons.
Avunculocal: The couple lives with or near the husband's maternal uncle (the husband's mother's brother) and his family.
These patterns of post-marital residence are influenced by cultural norms, economic considerations, kinship systems, and social dynamics within specific societies.
Be familiar with the ethnographic example of an avunculocal system practiced by Trobriand Islanders provided in class.
The Trobriand Islanders practice an avunculocal system, where newly married couples live with the husband's maternal uncle and his family. This arrangement strengthens kinship ties and ensures the groom's close relationship with his maternal kin.
What is kinship and what are basic its functions?
Kinship refers to the social relationships and connections based on blood ties, marriage, or adoption. Its basic functions include providing support, organizing social roles, transmitting cultural norms, and establishing identity and belonging within a group or society.
What is descent? What is a descent group? Can you explain the structure of extended family, lineage, and clan, respectively, and the difference among those groups?
Descent refers to the tracing of relationships through ancestry or lineage. A descent group is a social unit based on shared descent, such as a family, lineage, or clan.
An extended family includes multiple generations living together or in close proximity, such as grandparents, parents, and children.
A lineage traces descent through a known ancestor, like a common grandparent, and typically includes several related families.
A clan is a larger descent group tracing ancestry through a mythical or legendary figure, often with shared beliefs, rituals, and responsibilities.
The difference lies in size and depth of ancestry traced, with extended families being smaller and immediate, lineages having a known ancestor, and clans being larger and more mythically connected.
Can you explain patrilineal descent and matrilineal descent? Be sure to know how to draw kinship diagrams as instructed in class.
Patrilineal descent traces kinship and inheritance through the father's line, with children belonging to their father's lineage. In contrast, matrilineal descent traces kinship through the mother's line, with children belonging to their mother's lineage.
Can you explain parallel cousins and cross cousins? Why may such a distinction be important in some societies?
Parallel cousins are the children of siblings of the same gender (e.g., a father's brother's children or a mother's sister's children).
Cross cousins are the children of siblings of opposite genders (e.g., a father's sister's children or a mother's brother's children).
This distinction can be important in some societies for marriage alliances, inheritance patterns, and social relationships within kinship groups.
Is matrilineal descent the opposite of patrilineal descent? Why or why not? What are some features of matrilineal descent discussed in class?
Matrilineal descent is not the opposite of patrilineal descent; they are just different ways of tracing kinship. Matrilineal descent follows the mother's line, while patrilineal descent follows the father's line. In matrilineal descent, inheritance and kinship are traced through the mother's side.
Be familiar with the ethnographic example of matrilineal descent (and matrilocal residence) practiced by the Hopi provided in class. In particular, understand the role of a man as a son, uncle, husband, and father.
In the Hopi matrilineal descent system, a man's role revolves around his relationships as a son, uncle, husband, and father:
Son: He inherits his clan and identity from his mother.
Uncle: He helps raise and guide his sister's children.
Husband: He lives with or near his wife's family after marriage.
Father: He passes down his clan to his children, who are part of their mother's lineage.
What are some of the features of bilateral descent? What is a kindred?
Bilateral descent is when kinship and inheritance are traced through both the mother's and father's sides equally. A kindred refers to a person's network of relatives and extended family members on both sides, including parents, siblings, aunts, uncles, cousins, and grandparents.
What is life course/stage? What are four life stages universally found among human societies?
Life course or life stages refer to the various phases or periods that individuals pass through during their lives, each characterized by distinct roles, responsibilities, and expectations.
Four life stages are: Infancy/childhood, Adolescence, Adulthood, Elderhood/Old age
What is social birth? What kinds of ethnographic examples can you provide of social birth? How are infant mortality rates related to the concept of social birth? How is the concept of social birth related to the abortion debate in the U.S.?
Social birth refers to the cultural recognition of a person as a member of society, which may occur at a different time than biological birth. Ethnographic examples include naming ceremonies or rites of passage marking entry into society. Infant mortality rates can reflect the value placed on social birth, as lower rates often indicate better care and recognition of infants as members of society. The concept of social birth is related to the abortion debate in the U.S. as it touches on when a fetus is considered a legal person with social rights and protections.
What is the function of initiation rites and what kinds of phases do initiates usually go through? Be familiar with the ethnographic example of the Australian Aborigines’ male initiation rite.
The function of initiation rites is to mark a transition from one social status or age group to another and to transmit cultural knowledge and values. Initiates typically go through phases such as separation, liminality, and incorporation. In the Australian Aborigines' male initiation rite, initiates may experience isolation, physical tests, and teachings about cultural traditions and responsibilities
What are some factors that influence how the elderly are treated in society? How has the strong association of old age with the image of death come about?
Factors influencing how the elderly are treated include cultural beliefs, economic resources, family structure, and societal values regarding aging. The association of old age with death has developed due to biological realities, societal attitudes towards aging, and historical experiences with mortality rates among older populations.
What is gender and how does it differ from sex?
Gender is socially culturally constructed categories
Sex is typically defined based on genitalia, chromosomes, gonads
Be familiar with the ethnographic example of the woman-woman marriage from precolonial Tanzania.
In precolonial Tanzania, there were examples of woman-woman marriages among the Nandi people. In this practice, a wealthy or respected woman (who can’t have kids) would marry another woman and have children through a male intermediary. This allowed the woman to maintain her social status and lineage while also fulfilling societal expectations related to marriage and reproduction.
Be familiar with the three perspectives regarding gender/sexual division of labor (physical capabilities, fertility concern, and childcare compatibility) as discussed in class. How does each perspective explain the (nearly) universal patterns of gender division of labor?
Physical Capabilities: Men and women are assigned tasks based on their physical strengths and abilities. Men often do tasks requiring strength, while women focus on activities that fit their abilities.
Fertility Concern: Women's roles in reproduction and childcare shape their tasks. They focus on activities that support family survival and well-being.
Childcare Compatibility: Tasks are assigned based on their compatibility with childcare responsibilities. Women often do tasks that can be done while caring for children.
These perspectives explain why gender roles tend to be similar across societies, as they reflect practical considerations related to physical abilities, reproduction, and childcare.
How do Agta women hunt and what does this example suggest about the three explanations related to the gender division of labor?
Agta women hunt using bows and arrows or nets, often targeting small game like birds and rodents. This example suggests that women's hunting practices challenge the idea that gender division of labor is solely based on physical capabilities, as women in the Agta society demonstrate hunting skills despite not being as physically strong as men. Instead, their participation in hunting reflects a combination of factors, including childcare compatibility and the practical need for additional food sources.
What are some of the factors that can contribute to gender stratification?
Some factors that can contribute to gender stratification include cultural beliefs, societal norms, economic opportunities, access to education, legal rights, and political representation.
What are some of the characteristics of Iroquois society and what kinds of roles and power do Iroquois women have?
In Iroquois society, women often held significant roles and power. They played key roles in decision-making within the family and community, managed agricultural activities, owned and inherited property, and had a say in political matters through their representation in councils. Women also contributed to religious and social ceremonies, passing down cultural knowledge and traditions.