Anthropology Flashcards
Social science
Concerned with society and human behaviour
Anthropology
Study of human origins, physical, social and cultural development
Sociology
Study of human social behaviours, individual>group>society
Psychology
Study of the human mind, mental states and behaviour
Physical anthro
Evolution, origins, human uniqueness
Paleontology, primatology, human variation
Culture
Learned pattern of behaviour and shared values passed by socialization
Values, beliefs, norms, morals, laws, mannerisms
Participant observation
Observer takes part in study, becomes a participant
Ethnology
Study the differences and relationships between various people, cultures, races
Patrilineal/matrilineal
Family line traced by males/females
Patriarchal/matriarchal
Society lead by males/females, dominant sex
Objective
Factual, true
Subjective
Individual opinion, bias
Reflexivity
Being able to examine your own feelings, beliefs and reactions and how they might affect or bias you
Ethnocentric
Believing your own culture is superior
Cultural Relativism
You can’t compare two cultures bc they both have their own internal rules and you’re influenced by your own culture
Functionalism
Every belief, action or relationship in a culture functions for the needs of individuals
Stressed importance of interdependence to ensure long-term survival
Charles Darwin
Social Darwinism, natural selection (strongest survive)
Publicized theory of evolution
Raymond Dart
Discovered first evidence of Australopithecus, child’s teeth in South Africa, 1924
Mary Leakey
An almost complete skull of Australopithecus in Tanzania, 1959
Louis Leakey
Discovered first evidence of Homo Habilis, Tanzania, 1964
Donald Johnson
Discovered ‘Lucy’, most complete specimen of Australopithecus in Ethiopia, 1974
Marvin Harris
Developed Cultural Materialism theory (conditions and environment shape culture)
Bronislaw Malinowski
Rejected Cultural Evolutionism but unlike Boas he believed cultures could be measured and compared
Jane Goodall
Primatologist, studied chimpanzees, observed them using tools potentially changing the timeline. Mostly disregarded bc female.
Dian Fossey
Primatologists, studied gorillas, murdered
Margaret Mead
Participant observation to determine if adolescent stresses for girls were caused by society or biology
Noam Chomsky
Theory of universal grammar, all children are born with internal grammar rules
Cultural Materialism
Conditions within the environment influence the development of culture and ideologies
If smt isn’t valued it would disappear
Feminist anthro
Examine gender relationships in different cultures, compare male-dominated to female-dominated
Post-Moderism
Belief that it is impossible to have true knowledge of the world, everything is subjective, created by us.
Australopithecus
Raymond Dart
Mary Leakey
Donald Johnson
Stone tools, apes
Homo Habilis
Handy man, bipedalism
Louis Leakey
Partially in trees
Homo Erectus
Fire, hunting, cannibalism
Migration
Upright man
Homo Neanderthalis
Burying the dead, speech?
Germany
Cromagnon
Cave painting, bone ornaments
Highly developed culture, speech
Homo Sapiens
Wise human kind
Religion, agriculture, complex speech
Bipedalism
Walking upright
