Anthropology Test Flashcards
Definitions
Define Physical Anthropology
A branch of Anthropology that understands the physical and biological nature of human beings.
Archeologist
Studies human history and prehistory through the physical remains
Palaeontologist
Studies Fossils
Primatologist
Studies primates other than humans
Ethnographer
Studies and describes the culture of a particular society or group
Ethnocentric views
View their own cultures as central and normal and reject all other cultures as inferior and morally suspect
Functionalism
Theory that studies how culture and social institutions work together to maintain a society
Structuralism
Analyzes cultures as systems based on the relationships between their elements
Cultural Materialism
Analyzes how material conditions shape societies and cultural characteristics
Cultural Relativism
The ideal that cultures should not be judged by cultural values and beliefs and should not be compared
Linguistics – Structural
how sounds are put together to make meaning
Linguistics - Socio
how people use language within their culture to express status and context.
Australopithecus Afarensis
Name: Lucy’s species
Lived in Eastern Africa
Plant-based diet
Small Brain
Homo Erectus
Discovery Date: 1891
Lived: Northern, Eastern, and Southern Africa
Human-like body proportions (long legs, short arms)
Homo Habilis
Nickname: Handy Man
Discovery Date: 1960
Lived: Eastern and Southern Africa
Larger brain-case, smaller face and teeth
Neanderthals
Nickname: Neanderthal
Discovery Date: 1829
Lived: Europe and southwestern to central Asia
Our closest extinct human relative
Plant-based diet
Homo Sapiens
Modern Humans
User Generated Community
Group of people who actively participate in online conversations and communities through user-generated content
User Generated Filtering
Process or system where users contribute to the filtering, sorting, and moderation of content on a platform.
User Generated Distribution
The process of sharing content created by users or customers on a brand’s channels
Gaming the System
Manipulating or exploiting a system’s rules to gain an advantage over others
Context collapse
When people, information, and norms from different contexts blend together into one
Cultural inversion
Cultural innovation that prioritizes group identity over individualism
Networked Individualism
Describes how people are connecting with each other through personal networks instead of traditional social groups.
Cyborg Anthro
A discipline that studies the interaction between humanity and technology
Kinship
Blood families
Culture
The total system of ideas, values, behaviours, and attitudes of a society, commonly shared by most members of that society
Primatology – diff./similarities with humans etc.
Humans vs Apes - How similar they are
Babies documentary - parental roles, child rearing cultures etc.
How each baby was raised - Namibia, Mongolia, Japan, USA
Michael Wesch
How Youtube affected people - Professor of cultural anthropology
Amber Case
Goes over her research and her opinions on how technology is changing what it means to be human and how we interact with each other
Jane Goodall
Chimpanzee expert, discovered that chimpanzees make and use tools, eat meat, and have complex social behaviours and emotions, much like humans.
Dian Fossey
Studies mountain gorilla groups and advocates for them, Gorillas in the mist
Margaret Mead
Controversial, studied people in Southeast Asia and the South Pacific, including Samoa
Richard Lee
research on hunter-gatherer societies, human rights, indginous peoples, medical anthro
Charles Darwin
Proposed that no two members of a species are exactly alike due to differences / variations caused by biological inheritance and adaptation to the environment. (theory of evolution)
Marvin Harris
Explains cultural phenomena through the lens of material conditions and practical necessities. He argued that many social customs, beliefs, and institutions could be understood as responses to environmental and economic factors.
