Anthro Midterm Flashcards
1
Q
4 sub fields of anthropology
A
Archaeology, Biological/physical, Linguistic, Cultural
2
Q
Archaeology
A
- prehistoric
- historic
- Looking at bones, rocks, fauna, pottery, etc
- Using these things to track early human development and interaction
3
Q
Biological anthropology
A
- Paleoanthropology
- Human Biology
- Primatology
- Focus on human structure and evolution
- Lots of bones
- Primatology is a subset
4
Q
Linguistic Anthropology
A
- Descriptive
- Comparative
- Historical
- Historical language development but also current
- Language shifts due to social media
- Cultural connotations of certain genres of words
5
Q
Cultural Anthropology
A
- Kinship and social organization
- Material life/technology
- Subsistence and economics
- World View
6
Q
Ethnology
A
- Comparative focus
- Focuses on similarity and difference
- Universal comparisons:
- Economics, families, politics, marriage, religion
- can be generalizing
- Perspectives textbook
- Provides an outside perspective for comparison
7
Q
Ethnography
A
- A description
- Specifics through participant observation
- Particulars of one group
- Expressions of the universals at a local level
- Seeks insider knowledge
8
Q
Ethnocentrism
A
The belief that your culture is the superior culture. Everything else is strange, wrong, or weird, and needs to be changed
9
Q
Cultural Relativism
A
- No universal standard to measure cultures by
- All cultures can only be understood within the context of itself
- Cultures can’t be judged by the norms and values of other cultures
10
Q
Culture
A
- A set of beliefs, practices, and symbols that are learned and shared
- Form an all-encompassing whole that binds people together and shapes their worldview and lifestyles
- Beliefs/practices within a shared culture can differ depending on age, gender, social status, etc.
11
Q
Characteristics of Culture
A
- Humans are born with the capacity to learn the culture of any social group
- We learn culture directly and indirectly
- Culture changes in response to internal and external factors
- Humans have the ability to conform or not conform to culture
- Culture is symbolic
- Create and share the meanings of symbols within their group/society
- The degree that we associate with culture distinguishes us from other species
- Our biology, growth, and development and impacted by culture
12
Q
Field and fieldwork in research
A
- How anthropologists conduct research
- Referred to ethnography in cultural anthropology
- Ethno (people) graphy (writing)
- There’s an ethnographic process
- Inductive research is based on day to day observations
- Also the end result of fieldwork
13
Q
Participant observation
A
keeping a field notebooks that documents ideas and reflections as well as what they do and observe when participating in activities with the people they are studying
14
Q
etic perspective
A
the perspective of the observer
15
Q
emic perspective
A
the perspective of the culture being studied
- discovered through observation and participation
16
Q
cultural evolution(ism)??
A
A discredited theory popular in nineteenth century anthropology suggesting that societies evolved through stages from simple to advanced.
17
Q
economic anthropology
A
- a study of livelihoods: how humans work to obtain the material necessities such as food, clothing, and shelter that sustain our lives
- focus on how people produce, exchange, and consume material objects and the role that immaterial things such as labor, services, and knowledge play in our efforts to secure our livelihood
- always in dialogue with the discipline of economics
- encompasses the production, exchange, consumption, meaning, and uses of both material objects and immaterial services, whereas contemporary economics focuses primarily on market exchanges.
18
Q
economic systems
A
- Capitalism
- Communism
19
Q
foraging
A
- characterized by
- the collective ownership of the primary means of production
- lower rates of social domination
- sharing
20
Q
horticulture
A
- Small scale cultivation of crops intended for subsistence
21
Q
pastoralism
A
- Raising herds of domesticated livestock
22
Q
agriculture
A
- The cultivation of domesticated plants and animals using technology
23
Q
industrial capitalism
A
- 3 central features:
- Private property, Labourers, profit/wealth
- workers don’t own the means of production
- you know a lot about capitalism don’t sweat
24
Q
sustainability
A
- how are all the different economic/subsistence systems sustainable?
25
Q
consumption and exchange
A
- consumption:
- the process of buying, eating, or using a resource, food, commodity, or service
- the forms of behavior that connect our economic activity with the cultural symbols that give our lives meaning
- always social
- Exchange:
- the exchange of goods for services, vice versa, or just exhanging stuff for other stuff
- the relationship
26
Q
consumption & its relationships with ecosystems
A
- Capitalism bad for the environment: over consumption, over production, over use
- foraging/horticulture/pastoralism better for the environment: movement allows for areas to regenerate, reasonable use of resources
27
Q
gift exchanges
A
- generally an EXCHANGE
- people are expected to give back
- builds social relations
28
Q
types of exchanges
A
- market exchange:
- a form of trade that today most commonly involves general purpose money, bargaining, and supply and demand price mechanisms
- reciprocity
- involves the exchange of goods and services and is rooted in a mutual sense of obligation and identity
- Redistribution
- occurs when an authority (a temple priest, a chief, or even an institution such as the Internal Revenue Service) collects economic contributions from all community members and then redistributes these back in the form of goods and services
29
Q
types of reciprocity
A
- Generalized
- Balanced
- Negative
30
Q
Generalized reciprocity
A
- When we give a gift without excepting something of equal value.
- Occurs within the closest social relationships
31
Q
Balanced reciprocity
A
- A direct exchange where things of equal value are being exchanged
- Three distinct stages:
- The gift being given
- The gift being received
- An equal gift is returned
- gifts must be returned in a reasonable timeframe
32
Q
Negative reciprocity
A
- getting something for nothing
33
Q
redistribution
A
- the accumulation of goods or labor by a particular person or institution for the purpose of dispersal at a later date (ex. Taxes)
34
Q
market exchange
A
- social institutions with prices or exchange equivalencies
- can move around
- based on transactions
- impersonal
35
Q
pot latch and Moka examples
A
36
Q
kinship
A
- the word used to describe culturally recognized ties between members of a family
- encompasses relationships formed through blood connections (consanguineal)
- relationships created through marriage ties (affinal)
- “chosen kin”
37
Q
patrilineal/matrilineal descent
A
- patrilineal descent: the paternal line of the family, or fathers and their children
- matrilineal descent defines membership in the kinship group through the maternal line of relationships between mothers and their children
- Both kinds of kinship are considered unilineal because they involve descent through only one line or side of the family
38
Q
bilateral descent
A
- means that families are defined by descent from both the father and the mother’s sides of the family
39
Q
ambilineal descent
A
- Allows individuals (the ego) to choose who’s line they want to follow (either the mothers or the fathers)
40
Q
double descent
A
- when a society uses both patrilineal and matrilineal descent depending on the situation
41
Q
mothers brother in matrilineal societies
A
- included in matrilineal descent
- could cause inheritance to be passed to a sister
