ANT 160 Exam 1 Flashcards
What’s anthropology?
The study of humanity
What are the 4 fields needed?
- Biological or physical anthropology
- Archeology or prehistory
- Linguistic anthropology
- Cultural anthropology
What’s biological anthropology?
The study of humans as biological organisms
What’s archaeology?
The study of past human cultures through their material remains
What’s linguistic anthropology?
Study of communication, mainly among humans
What’s cultural anthropology?
The study of lifeways of the world’s living people
What are some examples of cultural anthropology?
.Making a living .Reproduction & life cycle .Health .Marriage & family .Social groups, politics .Language, art, religion . and MORE
What’s culture?
.Learned and shared ways of behaving and thinking
.Shared meaning
What’s cultural materialism?
A type of behavior where people are really interested in material
What’s cultural interpretivism?
Sense of making things matter
Belief/ thought
What’s an example of cultural interpretivism?
Religion
.Praying 5 times a day vs almost praying 5 times a day
What are the characteristics of culture?
.Not the same as nature
.Based on symbols, learned, and interact and change
Examples of characteristics of culture
.Eating
.Drinking.
.Sleeping
.Elimination
What’s are some examples of culture is based on symbols?
.In India, women wear white to mark status
.White signifies purity and sexual inactivity
What do cultures contain?
Micro cultures
What are some examples of micro cultures?
.Class .Ethnicity
.Race .Gender
.Age .Institutions
What has changed in social class?
.Poverty has not declined
.Disparities between the wealthy & poor have increased
What are the 2 guiding concepts of studying culture in the field?
- Cultural relativism
2. Valuing and sustain diversity
What’s cultural relativism?
That cultures must be understood in terms or its own values and beliefs and not by the standards of another culture
What are the 2 types of cultural relativism?
.Absolute
.Critical
What does absolute status mean?
Whatever goes on in a culture must not be questioned or changed by outsiders.
What’s an example of absolute status?
The Holocaust
What does Critical status mean?
Where others pose questions about cultural practices in terms of who is accepting them and why
What can you gain from a critical status?
.Winners & losers
.Oppressors & victims
.A critique
How can one value culture diversity?
By supporting the survival of indigenous peoples and ethnic minorities as equals in interactions with outsiders
.Cultural survival
What’s the history of fieldwork?
.1870s- “Armchair” approach
.Early 1900s- “Verandah” approach
.Today- Participation observation approach
What’s the armchair approach?
An approach to fieldwork where anthropologist sit in a chair and just observe
What’s the verandah approach?
An approach to fieldwork where anthropologist go into field work area and don’t do in debt research
What’s the participant observation approach?
Learning about culture by living in a culture for an extended period, participating in every day life, and learning the language.
Who else used the participation observation approach?
Bronislaw Malinows
What was the early focus of cultural anthropology?
The study of religion
What was the focus of cultural anthropology in the 19th century?
primitive/ non-western religions
What’s the challenge in defining religion?
That it’s broad enough to fit all cultures
What’s the current definition of religion?
Beliefs & behavior related to supernatural beings & forces
Is beliefs always present & visible?
no
Who or what has a religion?
So far, humans
What’s the definition of magic?
People’s attempt to compel supernatural forces & beings to act in certain ways, often to harm enemies
What did 19th century thinkers support as a cultural evolution model?
Magic came first, replaced by religion, replaced by science
What are the main sources of beliefs and supernaturals?
Animatism Zoomorphic supernaturals Anthropomorphic supernaturals Pantheons Ancestors
What are pantheons?
Multiple gods
What are some sacred spaces?
Mountains, streams, & stone outcroppings
What are sacred spaces?
Culturally constructed sites that make a “natural” place sacred
What are some ritual practices?
Life cycle
Pilgrimage
Rituals of inversion
Sacrifice
What are some examples of a life cycle.
Bar Mitzvah
Kinsenyeta
What’s pilgrimage?
A journey that has religious significance
What’s an example of pilgrimage?
“The Hodge”-Muslims
What’s rituals of inversion?
Taking the logic of the ritual and reversing it
What’s an example of rituals of inversion
Mardi gras
What’s a state?
A centralized political unit with a bureaucratic structure & leaders who possess coercive power
What are some things leaders have power over?
Taxes, international relations, maintain standing armies, census, social services, control & manipulate info, monopolize the use of force & maintain law & order, arrest, draft
What’s an empire?
States, but encompass smaller polities such as tribes & ethnic groups
What characteristics do empires have?
May control a vast territory
Seeking to control more territory
Compete with others
Their borders are not fixed
What’s a modern state?
Like empires but control a territory that is fixed
What characteristic do modern states have?
Seeking control of others is not proper behavior by other states
Compete with other states economically
What’s Postcolonialism?
A time period (now) as wall as a posture that rejects domination by others
Postcolonialism quote?
“The sun never set on the British empire” because they empired the entire world.
What took the empires place?
Modern states
Who’s empire colonized most of the Earth and when?
Europeans & over 500 year period
What are some issues often existed between ethnicities?
Water
Oil, gas
What causes people to support a cause?
Ethnic identities
What’s social stratification?
Hierarchical relationships among different groups including outright discrimination
What’s a status?
It refers to a person’s position in society
What characteristics does a status have?
There’s a “script” for how to behave, look, consume, & etc.
Society vary in terms of societies
What are some of the terms of society?
Number of positions exist
Marking
Degrees of difference among them of entitlements and life quality
What’s achieved status?
A person’s or group’s position in society, “achieved” by the individual
What are some example of achieved status?
Labor unions, exclusive clubs
Meritocratic individualism
What’s meritocratic individualism?
The expression: I am an individual and I will need to work
What’s ascribed status?
Systems of social stratification based on division of people into unequally ranked groups
What’s an example of ascribed status?
Central & South America: Mestizaje- racial mixture
“race”, ethnicity, & caste
What’s the definition of race?
A recent form of social inequality
Does race exist biologically?
No, but it does socially
What do biologist believe about race?
That color is not the biggest part of us
How could you describe race?
As an unequal meeting of 2 formerly separate groups through colonization, slavers, & other large-group movements
What’s ethnicity?
A sense of group membership based on a shared sense of identitiy
What causes ethnicity?
Shared history Territory Language Religion All of the above
What’s a diaspora population?
A dispersed group living outside their original homeland
What’s the primary reason for distinguishing a culture and human diversity?
Language
What are different forms of communication?
Dance, symbols, tones, & syntax
What can language translate?
Songs and meaning
How long does it take a child to say and understand a language?
2-3 years
Why are there only approximately 6,000 languages?
Because languages are fading away
What does Ethnicity involve?
A claim about decent
What does decent connect with?
Language and sometimes race
What’s medical anthropology?
The cross-cultural study of health and health problems
What does a health system include?
.Perceptions and beliefs about the body
.Classifications of health problems
.Prevention measures
.Healing/healers
How do cultures differ in how they define people’s bodies?
.Perception of what a "body" actually is .Attitudes to death .Attitudes to surgery .Separation of mind and body .Perception of internal and external parts
How do you define and classify health problems?
There’s no universal set of labels applies in all cultures
What’s Culture-specific syndrome?
A health problem with a set of symptoms associated with a particular culture
What is the underlying cause of culture-specific syndrome?
Social factors
Can culture-specific syndrome be fatal?
yes
What is often involved in culture-specific syndrome?
Biophysical symptoms through somatization
Anorexia Nervosa (CSS)
.At: middle and upper class Euro-American girls;; globalizing
.Cause: Unknown
.Difficult to cure
. Description/ symptoms: Body wasting due to food avoidance; feeling of being too fat; death
Retired Husband Syndrome (CSS)
.At: Japan
.Cause: Stress towards women
.Description: Ulcers, slurred speech, rashes around the eyes, & throat polyps
Susto (CSS)
.At: Spain and Portugal; older generation
.Cause: shock
.Description: Lethargic, sleeping problems, and very unhappy
.Die earlier
What’s ethno-etiologies?
Cross-cultural explanations for the causes of health problems and suffering
What are the factors of ethno-etiologies?
.Natural/environmental
.Structural
.Psychological
.Supernatural
What’s structural suffering?
Health problems caused by war, famine, terrorism, forced migration, poverty, & etc.
Syria and Europe
Is an example of structural suffering (refugees)
Suffering from water (CSS)
.At: Mexico
What are the different forms of health protection different cultures have?
.Charms
.Spells
.Hygiene
Example of ritual health protection
Muslim baby in India wears strings after being blessed. (4 limbs and stomach)
What’s the less studied topic than health problems and healing?
Prevention
How do such practices “work”?
the question of efficacy is complicated
What are the 2 approaches to healing?
Community and Humoral
what’s community healing?
Mobilization of community “energy” as key to cure
What’s humoral healing?
Healing based on balance among elements within the body
What’s critical medical anthropology?
The focus on how economic and political power structures and inequality affect health and access to healing
What characteristics does community healing have?
.All night healing dances
.Open to everyone
What characteristics does humoral healing have?
Different foods/ drugs have “heating” or “cooling” affects
Example of community healing
The Ju/’hoansi foragers
Example of humoral healing
Malaysia
Signs of culture shock
Loss of “norms” from own culture
Depressed, anxiety, and emotional distress
What’s the number 1 structural suffering problem?
Clean water
What’s language primary reason?
To distinguish cultures and human diversity
Approximately how many languages are there?
6,000
Approximately how many countries are there?
2,000
What’s animatism?
The belief that all things, even those considered to be inanimate objects, possess consciousness
What’s religious pluralism?
2 different languages
What’s religious syncretism?
Religions mixing
What’s animism?
All things in nature are animated
What are some examples of healers?
.Herbalists
.Shamans or Shamankas
.Bonesetters
.Midwives
What are the building blocks of linguistics?
Phonemes (sounds)
Morpheme (words)
Syntax (relational meaning & grammar)
