Anthropology Terminology Flashcards
Term/Front
Definition/Back
Amalgamation
Interactions between members of distinct ethnic and cultural groups that reduce barriers between the groups over time
World system
a complex economic system through which goods circulate around the globe. The world system for food is characterized by a separation of the producers of goods from the consumers
proxemics
the cultural use of space, including how close people stand to one another
White privilege
denotes the unearned power that society and its institutions bestow upon people with fair skin over those with darker skin (also referred to in the text as simply “ethnic privilege”)
voice qualities
the background characteristics of a person’s voice, including pitch, rhythm, and articulation
vocalizations
intentional sounds humans make to express themselves, but not actually words
utterance
an uninterrupted sequence of spoken or written language
systemic racism
discrimination that exists throughout society and influences people’s decisions, expectations, opportunities, and limitations
syntax
the study of how units of speech are put together to create sentences
Symbolic ethnicity
limited or occasional displays of ethnic pride and identity that are primarily for public display.
symbol
something that stands for something else with little or no natural relationship to its referent; a type of sign
Subsistence system
the set of skills, practices, and technologies used by members of a society
to acquire and distribute food.
Subsistence farmers
people who raise plants and animals for their own consumption, but not
for sale to others
Structural violence
a form of violence in which a social structure or institution harms people
by preventing them from meeting their basic needs
Staple crops
foods that form the backbone of the subsistence system by providing the majority of the calories a society consumes
speech
verbal communication using sounds
speech communities
a group that shares language patterns
Socially constructed
a concept developed by society that is maintained over time through
social interactions that make the idea seem “real.”
Social Density
Measure of these interpersonal conflicts
snowball sample
a method of finding informants through association with previous informants
sign
in communication, something that stands for something else
semantics
the study of how words and phrases are put together in meaningful ways
Reified
the process by which an inaccurate concept or idea is accepted as “truth.”
Redistribution
the accumulation of goods or labor by a particular person or institution for the purpose of dispersal at a later date
racialization
assigning racial identities based on biology to an ethnic or cultural group whose members do not do so
Racial formation
the process of defining and redefining racial categories in a society
race
a term used to describe varieties or subspecies of a species; inaccurately used to refer to human differences in a biological sense.
Quantitative
a form of research that relies on numerical data gathered through surveys and questionnaires
Qualitative
a form of research that captures non-numerical data, such as thoughts, opinions, and feelings
pragmatics
the context within which language occurs
Potlatch
a ceremony in which possessions are given away, or destroyed, to display wealth, generosity and enhance prestige potlatch(page 131):a ceremonial gathering in which Northwest Coast peoples mark importantevents and share food and other valued item
Political economy
an approach in anthropology that investigates the historical evolution of
economic relationships as well as the contemporary political processes and social structures that contribute to differences in income and wealth.
Pigmentocracy
a society characterized by strong correlation between a person’s skin color and his or her social class.
phonetics
the study of the sounds in human speech
phonemics
the study of how sounds convey meaning
phoneme
the smallest unit of sound in communication that conveys meaning
Performative Memories
Enacted through food preparation and rituals, these memories are tied
to physical actions like kneading dough, connecting us to past experiences and communal bonds.
Pastoralism
a subsistence system in which people raise herds of domesticated livestock
participant observation
a research method used in anthropology in which an ethnographer
lives with a group of people and observes their regular activities
paralanguage
the ways we express meaning through sounds beyond words alone; a subset of semantics
Paleoanthropologist
biological anthropologists who study ancient human relatives
Others
a view of a person or category of people as different from, and therefore less than, one’s self; also used as a verb, “to Other a group of people”
One-drop rule
the practice of excluding a person with any non-white ancestry from the white racial category
Nostalgic food
evoke specific memories often linked to childhood experiences
nomadic
moving within a large area frequently in order to access food resources
Neolithic Revolution
a period of rapid innovation in subsistence technologies that began
10,000 years ago and led to the emergence of agriculture. Neolithic means “new stone age,” a name referring to the stone tools produced during this time period.
Negative reciprocity
an attempt to get something for nothing; exchange in which both parties
try to take advantage of the other
Multi-cropping
Growing a mix of different plants in biodiverse gardens
morpheme
the smallest part of a word that conveys meaning
Monocropping
the practice of growing a single crop year after year on the same land
the reliance on a single plant species as a food source. Mono-cropping leads to decreased dietary diversity and carries the risk of malnutrition compared to a more diverse diet.
Modes of subsistence
the techniques used by the members of a society to obtain food.
Anthropologists classify subsistence into four broad categories: foraging, pastoralism, horticulture, and agriculture.
Means of production
the resources used to produce goods in a society such as land for farming or factories
the social relations through which human labor is used to transform energy
from nature using tools, skills, organization, and knowledge
linguistic relativity principle
the idea, studied by Benjamin Whorf, that the language one
speaks shapes the way one sees the world
linguistic determinism
the idea that the language one speaks locks a person into seeing the
world a certain way
linguist
a person who studies language
language registers
different styles of speaking within a single language
kinesics
the cultural use of body movements, including gestures
Key informant
a person with whom the ethnographer spends a great amount of time because of the person’s knowledge, skills, or insight
Intercropping
Combination of different crops (example: beans, corn and squash)
intensive agriculture
a farming technique that can support a large population using advanced
tools and irrigation, and requiring more preparation and maintenance of the soil
Industrialism
methods of producing food and goods using highly mechanized machinery and digital information
Indulgent Comfort
Feelings of guilt when used to cope with negative emotions
Inductive
a type of reasoning that uses specific information to draw general conclusions. In an inductive approach, the researcher seeks to collect evidence without trying to definitively prove or disprove a hypothesis. The researcher usually first spends time in the field to become familiar with the people before identifying a hypothesis or research question. Inductive research usually is not generalizable to other settings
Immediate return system
labor leads directly to food
identity politics
focusing on one’s identity and validating one’s sense of belonging to a
particular group with a particular history
Hypodescent
a racial classification system that assigns a person with mixed racial heritage to the racial category that is considered least privileged
Horticulture
a subsistence system based on the small-scale cultivation of crops intended primarily for the direct consumption of the household or immediate community.
Homo economicus
a term used to describe a person who would make rational decisions in ways predicted by economic theories
Hominin
Humans (Homo sapiens) and their close relatives and immediate ancestors.
holistic
interconnected and integrated
Historical Ecology
the study of how cultures evolve with their environments
the study of how human cultures have developed over time as a result of
interactions with the environment
haptics
the study of touch
Habitual Memories
Developed through repeated actions (e.g., chopping, baking) that reinforce skills and knowledge.
Generalized reciprocity
giving without expecting a specific thing in return.
General purpose money
a medium of exchange that can be used in all economic transactions.
Foraging
a subsistence system that relies on wild plant and animal food resources. This system is sometimes called “hunting and gathering.”
Foodways
the cultural norms and attitudes surrounding food and eating
fieldwork
the process of doing anthropology; in cultural anthropology, this usually entails living and participating in the study community
etic
an outsider’s view; an objective explanation
ethnography
the written or visual product of ethnographic (field) research; also the process of doing fieldwork (ethnographer is the person who practices it)
Ethnocentrism
the tendency to view one’s own culture as most important and correct and as the stick by which to measure all other cultures.
Ethnicity
a term used to describe the heritage, geographic origin, language, and other features of a person
the degree to which a person identifies with and feels an attachment to a particular ethnic group
Ethnic group
people in a society who claim a distinct identity for themselves based on shared cultural characteristics and ancestry
epigenetics
the study of inherited changes in gene expression without changes to the DNA itself
Enculturation
the process of learning the characteristics and expectations of a culture or group.
Cultural Transmission
the process by which culture is passed from generation to generation
emic
an insider’s view; the perspective of the subject
Domestic economy
the work associated with obtaining food for a family or household.
Descriptive linguistics
branch dedicated to analyzing the structures of language
Delayed return system
techniques for obtaining food that require an investment of work over a
period of time before the food becomes available for consumption. Farming is a delayed return system due to the passage of time between planting and harvest. The opposite is an immediate return system in which the food acquired can be immediately consumed.
Deductive
reasoning from the general to the specific; the inverse of inductive reasoning. Deductive research is more common in the natural sciences than in anthropology. In a deductive approach, the researcher creates a hypothesis and then designs a study to prove or disprove the hypothesis. The results of deductive research can be generalizable to other settings
Decolonize
to undo (as much as is possible) the effects of colonialism through empowering Indigenous people to self-determination economically, politically, culturally, and psychologically
cultural relativism
the idea that all cultures are equally valid, and that every culture can only be understood in its own context
the idea that we should seek to understand another person’s beliefs and
behaviors from the perspective of their own culture and not our own
Cultural Memory
The interplay of cognitive, habitual, and performative memories creates
cultural memory—shared narratives that anchor collective identity
cultural adaptation
a belief or behavior that allows an organism with culture (especially
humans) to better thrive in their environment
Consumption
the process of buying, eating, or using a resource, food, commodity, or service
Consumerism
denotes the logic of consuming within a particular type of social and political system: consumer capitalism
Compulsive buying
a preoccupation with buying and shopping, by frequent buying episodes or by overpowering urges to buy that are experienced as irresistible and senseless
Communication
a process of transmitting a message from a sender to a receiver
Commodity
A good that can be bought, sold or exchanged in a market
Commodity chain
the series of steps a food takes from location where it is produced to the
store where it is sold to consumers
Cognitive Memories
Linked to facts and narratives from recipes and food histories, shaping our experiences with food
Code switching
moving easily between speech styles or languages in a conversation or single utterance
Cline
differences in the traits that occur in populations across a geographical area. In a cline, a trait may be more common in one geographical area than another, but the variation is gradual and continuous, with no sharp breaks
Carrying capacity
a measurement of the number of calories that can be extracted from a
particular unit of land in order to support a human population
Built environment
spaces that are human-made, including cultivated land as well as buildings
Broad spectrum diet
a diet based on a wide range of food resources
Biological adaptation
a physical adaptation that allows an organism to survive better in its
environment
Balanced reciprocity
the exchange of something with the expectation that something of equal
value will be returned within a specific time period
Assimilation
pressure placed on minority groups to adopt the customs and traditions of the dominant culture
Applied anthropology
A field of anthropology in which the researcher uses knowledge of
anthropological methods, theory, and perspectives to solve human problems
Amalgamation
interactions between members of distinct ethnic and cultural groups that reduce barriers between the groups over time
Agriculture
The cultivation of domesticated plants and animals using technologies that allow for intensive use of the land
Affluenza
Unhealthy and unwelcome psychological and social effects of affluence regarded especially as a widespread societal problem.
Acculturation
Loss of a minority group’s cultural distinctiveness in relation to the dominant culture
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