APY1501 Flashcards
Humans belong to the genus…. and the species …
Homo … sapiens sapiens
Give information on anthropology and gender
- Gender identity is acquired through socialisation and enculturation, but is also shaped by a person’s lived experiences.
- Anthropology focuses on how sex and gender are expressed in different sociocultural contexts.
An important difference between anthropology and other human sciences is that anthropology
is concerned with the totality of human existence
A kinship diagram of a married couple, their children, and their children’s children would include
Three generations; therefore three rows of kinship figures.
When an anthropologist first arrive in the field to conduct fieldwork, he or she may experience culture shock. Culture shock can be defined as …
a feeling of disorientation and anxiety resulting from being in an unfamiliar environment and among unfamiliar people.
Kinesics …
is the “science” of body language.
The appointment of functionaries who enforce the rules and laws of a community by means of sanctions and penalties to ensure that people live together in an orderly manner gives rise to a community’s …
judicial system.
Contemporary anthropologists generally agree that the concept of race
Cannot be defined biologically and regard perceptions of race as sociocultural constructions.
Sociocultural anthropologists focus on the …
lifestyles of the rich diversity of societies as they are found worldwide.
Initially what distinguished anthropology from sociology was that
Anthropology studied ‘preliterate’ people
The growing global phenomena of female-headed households can be associated
with
- scarcity of work and related outmigration of men.
- the feminisation of poverty and marginalisation of women.
- women seeking control over their lives and resources
- modernisation, globalisation and technological advances.
Based on sound anthropological knowledge of the local people and the natural environment, the effects of the severe draught in 1984 in the Sahel region of Africa could have been minimised if the …
government had included knowledge of the culture and ecology of the people concerned in its planning.
The species … developed speech and language, marriage and family life.
Homo sapiens
Give info regarding erotic kissing
- Erotic kissing may have evolved from “kiss-feeding” done by mothers to pass food to their babies with their mouths and thereby associating affection with lips touching.
- Erotic kissing may have developed as a way to determine potential partners’ genetic compatibility.
- Erotic kissing is NOT practiced in all societies.
- Archaeological evidence suggests that India is the birthplace of the erotic kiss.
Humans belong to the family … and subfamily …
Family: Hominid
Sub family: Hominins.
Ethnographic fieldwork as research methodology in anthropology ..
is used to gather information on the culture of societies by means of the interviewing of informants and participant observation.
Explain female genital mutilation
- Often enforced by older women in an attempt to control the perceived rampant sexual desires of women.
- Genital cutting is not globally condemned as an infringement of universal human rights.
The practice occurs particularly among African Muslims.
Genital cutting is done to deny women sexual pleasure.
Explain the anthropological concept of culture
A society’s system of thought, behaviour, values and material creations that come into being through close interaction with the natural environment
What can you tell me about the concept of race?
- The superficial or external features of humans in particular were initially used to classify them into races.
- The classification of humans according to racial characteristics is unscientific and often based on stereotypes that stem from prejudice.
Explain Sociocultural systems …
- may be used as a means to distinguish people from others and recognise people as belonging to the same self-identified group.
- comprise sets of relationships in a particular sociocultural and natural context that are typical of a significant number of interacting humans in the context.
- are manifestations of humans’ creative responses to the challenge of adapting to the environment and to other humans.
The most important sources of information on a particular sociocultural system are …
people at grassroots level of the society being studied.
The concept of social body expresses …
how the body, as a natural symbol, is used to think about nature, culture and society.
Participant observation means that an anthropologist should …
participate in the sense that he/she should commit his/her thoughts and emotions to the real world fieldwork setting, and record his/her observations in an objective, scientific and systematic manner.
In anthropological literature, modern humans are referred to as … to indicate that they are genetically or anatomically different from archaic (prehistoric) humans.
Homo sapiens sapiens
Anthropologists MAINLY gather information about the people they study by means of …
in-depth interviewing of informants.
For behaviour to be regarded as ‘cultural’, it must be
Considered to be appropriate by a significant number of people in a group
The research technique by means of which anthropologists trace social relations in a wider context than those based on kinship, is known as …
social network analysis.
Archaeology as a subfield of anthropology studies
past living conditions and changes that occurred in human populations during prehistoric times
Anthropology as an independent discipline is distinguished from other disciplines which study human life by the fact that anthropology is concerned with the
entire human condition
The emic approach is …
combined with the etic approach by anthropologists in their ethnographic fieldwork strategies to gain the most objective view of the culture of a society.
Tattooing
Is a means by which humans establish themselves as sociocultural beings
Enculturation …
refers to the process by means of which culture is transmitted or carried over from one generation to the next.
Body language …
Is not about what is said, but how it is said.
Societies world-wide have different norms with regard to the use of personal space.
Full understanding of verbal messages is only possible with the aid of body language.
Give info regarding the construction of identities
- Physical characteristics are important in defining an identity.
- Identity is not a static category but a continuous process.
In all probability, anatomically modern humans eventually displaced other archaic human groups, because they
were able to speak and share information through language which enabled community life
Today, cultural heritage is concerned with the …
- support of communities’ claims for land or resources.
- ways in which people’s heritage is exposed through landscapes and architecture.
- identification of sacred spaces – how ‘space’ is turned into ‘place’.
The scientific study of people’s perception and use of space is called …
proxemics.
An anthropological concern with the relationship between power and the reconstruction of knowledge gave rise to the … approach.
reflexive
If an excessively cultural relativistic approach is followed in anthropology …
cultural practices that have a harmful impact on a society may not be questioned.
Give info on identity
- Groups express their identity through performance, art and material culture.
- Facebook is used to explore identity without the constraints of ‘real life’ boundaries.
- Imagined communities comprises of individuals who ‘imagine’ themselves to live in unity.
Collective initiation for girls in South Africa occur among
Tsonga-speaking communities
Leviratic union example
It is a continuation of a deceased man’s marriage by his brother or close male
relative
Sociocultural anthropologists study the
relations between people in terms of culture
The etic approach …
is a research strategy that gives priority to the interpretations of an anthropologist as researcher.
The anthropological fieldwork methodology is distinguished from the methodologies of other disciplines that study human beings by its
firsthand, direct and intensive contact with people in order to observe and describe their culture
According to the applied anthropologist, John van Willigen, which of the following are fields of application and practical work by anthropologists?
- Conflict resolution
- Wildlife management
- Design and architecture
- Cultural tourism
- Missionary work
An achieved status is based on
Qualities, abilities and choices which are dynamic, unstable and continuously self-changing.
The concept of … refers to the notion that a human body includes its physical, social and emotional aspects.
Embodiment
Paleoanthropologists are mostly interested in learning about …
the fossil record of human evolution.
Give info on ‘households’ and ‘families’
The terms households’ and ‘families’ are often used interchangeably, but are two very different constructs.
A household is a group of related or unrelated people living in the same dwelling space.
A family may include a wider network of kin that are not co-resident.
Humans are set apart from animals on the basis that they, in contrast to animals, …
have the ability to communicate symbolically.
Explain what best illustrates how an application of the concept of cultural relativism influences the work of anthropologists? An anthropologist …
interprets the behaviour of people in terms of the sociocultural context in which the behaviour is found.
According to Joshi (2009) ‘cyberspace’ is a new arena where the idea of identity is playing itself out. Which of the following statements makes ‘cyberspace’ different from other arenas where identity can be studied according to her?
A. Self-identity can be explored without the constraints of ‘real life’ boundaries.
Social networking is an example where the self can be explored in an altered form.
What best describes anthropology as a comprehensive discipline?
A study of human diversity worldwide and throughout time
Linguistic anthropologists do what?
study societies to understand how cultural phenomena are expressed verbally
Define the approach ‘holism’.
In terms of a holistic approach, knowledge from various spheres of activity should be applied to the understanding of any particular aspect on human behaviour.
The holistic approach requires an anthropologist to take the whole context of a particular group of people into account when he/she studies the group.
The term holism is contentious because it carries the implication that people’s lives are interconnected in an almost ideal, balanced and perfectly functional way.
A ritual may be a very complex activity and may include a combination of many features. The following are all features that can be observed in a ritual
objects.
words.
participants.
EXCEPT familiars.
According to Eller (2015), all of the following are sociocultural factors that could contribute to the frequency and intensity of violence
race and ethnic divisions.
strong religious convictions.
gender stereotyping
EXCEPT Physical isolation
A skip-generation household is a household where
children younger than 18 years are in the care of a person, usually a grandparent over the age of 60, with no younger adults in the household.
According to physical anthropologists, which of the following statements regarding ‘human nature’ is /are CORRECT?
A. There are limitations on human behaviour and only specific variations are possible.
B. Despite the huge diversity found among humans, they are remarkably similar.
C. Human nature is unchangeable and characteristic of a specific group of people.
D. The capacity of speech is what distinguishes humans from animals.
A. There are limitations on human behaviour and only specific variations are possible.
B. Despite the huge diversity found among humans, they are remarkably similar.
D. The capacity of speech is what distinguishes humans from animals.
The tendency to judge another society by the values and the standards of one’s own culture is known as …
ethnocentrism.
As a subfield of anthropology, … studies the physical adaptation of human populations to their environment.
biological anthropology
Instrumentalists argue that ethnic identity is …
symbolic and can change. It is superficially created as an instrument used and exploited by leaders and others to pursue their own interests.
Homo sapiens
Developed rituals and normative rules such as the incest taboo
Tell me about ethnography and/or ethnographic research
To understand social relations in a community, ethnographic research may include personal network analysis of informants.
Ethnographic research involves first-hand, direct contact with people being studied.
Ethnography is both the process and the product of fieldwork.
A holistic approach to the study of culture means that anthropologists
study all facets of human life including the environmental factors to which people must adapt for survival
The hominid family includes
Australophitecines.
Homo sapiens
Homo habilis
In terms of an evolutionistic viewpoint, heritable changes that occur in a group of the same species that share a specific location and habitat, can be attributed to
natural selection.
mutation.
migration.
genetic drift.
During the early 20th century anthropologists believed that people could be divided into racial groups on the basis of their external features and certain physical defining traits. This race concept
- unscientific and based on stereotypes that stem from prejudice.
- has been unproductive and damaging
The term ____ refers to the interpretation of body language, such as facial expressions, gestures and posture.
Kinesics
Give info about organ donation
- Research on organ donation trends is within the scope of anthropology.
- The demand for body organs stimulates illegal harvesting and trade.
- It is a crime to sell organs for transplantation.
- Poor and marginalised people are viewed as commodities providing spare parts to rich people.
The British anthropologist, Sir Edward Tylor, who formulated one of the first definitions of the concept of culture from an anthropological perspective, defined it as
That complex whole which includes knowledge, beliefs, arts, morals, law, custom and any other capabilities and habits acquired by man as a member of society.
Give a characteristic of culture
The most important symbolic feature of culture is language which enables humans to transmit information
Some academics suggest that the word culture is no longer a valid concept and should not be used in scholarly works. According to Eriksen (2004) the concept of culture should no longer be used in anthropology because
- the use of the plural, cultures, divides human beings in that it emphasises differences between groups of people.
- It has been used to discriminate against others and to justify exclusion by means of aggressive nationalism
- the whole concept of culture is rather vague and general
- Significant differences within a group
The concept of integration of culture refers to
cultural components which are interdependent and form a functional whole
The appointment or recognition of a leader or an authoritative body which makes rules and laws and which is accepted and obeyed gives rise to a community’s
Political system
Name characteristics of identity
- It evolves continuously
- Complex social construct
- It describes who a person is
- It creates ‘us’ and ‘them’ boundaries
Ethnogenesis refers to the
The process that leads to the emergence of a new ethnic identity
In the modern world, kinship
Has become much more complex because of assisted reproductive technologies
Cross-cousins could be described as
MoBrSo
Info concerning exogamy
Rules of exogamy do not necessarily coincide with incest prohibitions.
Members of these descent categories assume that they are related, but cannot
indicate how they are genealogically related. Members are often forbidden to marry
each other because it is regarded as incest. They do not all come together for a
specific purpose.
Descent catergory - Clans
Traditionally, African communities in southern Africa often believed that a person has
A body, life force (soul) and a spiritual element.
Which approach does NOT comprise a theoretical approach that has been put forward to account for the fact of religion?
Fundamentalist approach
A religious faction that has broken away from a larger group to follow their own beliefs and practices, is known as
A sect
James Frazer (1958:58-69) defined religion as
Powers superior to man which are believed to direct and control the course of nature and humans, and he argued that religion developed from magic
Mayer (2013) suggests that religious conflict is complex and involves various contested aspects which flow from specific sociocultural conditions. In the case of ethno-religious conflict, the contested aspects may include
ideology.
power.
identity.
Provide a statement regarding religious phenomena
All religious fundamentalists reject modernity, although they exploit some of its processes and resources.
Sociocultural function of religion?
- Religion is a tool towards group identity and solidarity.
- Religion provides guidelines for acceptable behavior.
- Religion provides an orderly explanation or model of the universe
Religion, as distinguished from magic, is associated with
Personalised spiritual beings and an attitude of dependence.
South African communities who practise ancestor cults generally believe that anscestor spirits
as a category do not include all deceased persons living in the world of ancestors, but only those that are remembered and honoured by their kin.
Christian reconstructionism advocates
a restoration of Old Testament Mosaic laws and a society under the rule of God.
Religious fundamentalisms characteristics
- charismatic, authoritarian and usually male leadership.
- dramatic beliefs about the representations of the end of the current world.
- religious claims as the irreducible basis for communal and personal identity
