Cultural Anthropology Flashcards
The study of the full scope of human diversity, past and present, and the application of that knowledge to help people of different backgrounds better understand one another. (page 8)
Anthropology
The belief that one’s own culture or way of life is normal and natural; using one’s own culture to evaluate and judge the practices and ideals of others. (page 9)
ethnocentrism
A primary research strategy in cultural anthropology involving living with a community of people over an extended period to better understand their lives. (page 10, 64)
ethnographic fieldwork
The use of four interrelated disciplines to study humanity: physical anthropology, archaeology, linguistic anthropology, and cultural anthropology. (page 12)
four-field approach
The anthropological commitment to consider the full scope of human life, including culture, biology, history, and language, across space and time. (page 12)
holism
The study of humans from a biological perspective, particularly focused on human evolution. (page 13)
physical anthropology
The study of the history of human evolution through the fossil record. (page 13)
paleoanthropology
The study of living nonhuman primates as well as primate fossils to better understand human evolution and early human behavior. (page 14)
primatology
The investigation of the human past by means of excavating and analyzing artifacts. (page 15)
archaeology
The reconstruction of human behavior in the distant past (before written records) through the examination of artifacts. (page 15)
prehistoric archaeology
The exploration of the more recent past through an examination of physical remains and artifacts as well as written or oral records. (page 16)
historic archaeology
The study of human language in the past and the present. (page 17)
linguistic anthropology
Those who analyze languages and their component parts. (page 17)
descriptive linguists
Those who study how language changes over time within a culture and how languages travel across cultures. (page 17)
historic linguists
Those who study language in its social and cultural contexts. (page 17)
sociolinguists
The study of people’s communities, behaviors, beliefs, and institutions, including how people make meaning as they live, work, and play together. (page 18)
cultural anthropology
A key anthropological research strategy involving both participation in and observation of the daily life of the people being studied. (page 18, 72)
participant observation
The analysis and comparison of ethnographic data across cultures. (page 18, 81)
ethnology
The worldwide intensification of interactions and increased movement of money, people, goods, and ideas within and across national borders. (page 18)
globalization
The rapid innovation of communication and transportation technologies associated with globalization that transforms the way people think about space and time. (page 20)
time-space compression
The increasingly flexible strategies that corporations use to accumulate profits in an era of globalization, enabled by innovative communication and transportation technologies. (page 20)
flexible accumulation
The accelerated movement of people within and between countries. (page 21)
increasing migration
The unequal distribution of the benefits of globalization. (page 21)
uneven development
The dramatic transformations of economics, politics, and culture characteristic of contemporary globalization. (page 22)
rapid change
Changes to Earth’s climate, including global warming produced primarily by increasing concentrations of greenhouse gases created by human activity such as burning fossil fuels and deforestation. (page 24)
climate change
A system of knowledge, beliefs, patterns of behavior, artifacts, and institutions that are created, learned, and shared by a group of people. (page 33)
culture
The process of learning culture. (page 34)
enculturation
Ideas or rules about how people should behave in particular situations or toward certain other people. (page 35)
norms
Fundamental beliefs about what is important, true, or beautiful, and what makes a good life. (page 37)
values
Anything that signifies something else. (page 37)
symbol
Cultural classifications of what kinds of people and things exist, and the assignment of meaning to those classifications. (page 39)
mental maps of reality
The theory proposed by nineteenth-century anthropologists that all cultures naturally evolve through the same sequence of stages from simple to complex. (page 42)
unilineal cultural evolution
The idea, attributed to Franz Boas, that cultures develop in specific ways because of their unique histories. (page 43)
historical particularism
A conceptual framework positing that each element of society serves a particular function to keep the entire system in equilibrium. (page 44)
structural functionalism
A conceptual framework that sees culture primarily as a symbolic system of deep meaning. (page 44)
interpretivist approach
A research strategy that combines detailed description of cultural activity with an analysis of the layers of deep cultural meaning in which those activities are embedded. (page 45)
thick description
The ability or potential to bring about change through action or influence. (page 46)
power
The uneven distribution of resources and privileges among participants in a group or culture. (page 46)
stratification
The ability of a dominant group to create consent and agreement within a population without the use or threat of force. (page 48)
hegemony
The potential power of individuals and groups to contest cultural norms, values, mental maps of reality, symbols, institutions, and structures of power. (page 49)
agency
A global outlook emerging in response to increasing globalization. (page 58)
cosmopolitanism
Fieldwork strategy developed by Franz Boas to rapidly collect cultural, material, linguistic, and biological information about U.S. Native populations being devastated by westward expansion. (page 71)
salvage ethnography
Understanding a group’s beliefs and practices within their own cultural context, without making judgments. (page 71)
cultural relativism
A critical self-examination of the role the anthropologist plays and an awareness that one’s identity affects one’s fieldwork and theoretical analyses. (page 75)
reflexivity
The process of reading all the available published material about a research site and/or research issues, usually done before fieldwork begins. (page 76)
literature review
The tools needed to conduct fieldwork, including a notebook, pen, camera, voice recorder, and dictionary. (page 77)
anthropologist’s toolkit
Statistical information about a community that can be measured and compared. (page 77)
quantitative data
Descriptive data drawn from nonstatistical sources, including participant observation, personal stories, interviews, and life histories. (page 77)
qualitative data
The relationships of trust and familiarity developed with members of the community being studied. (page 77)
rapport
A community member who advises the anthropologist on community issues, provides feedback, and warns against cultural miscues. Also called “cultural consultant.” (page 77)
key informant
A research strategy of gathering data through formal or informal conversation with informants. (page 78)
interview
A form of interview that traces the biography of a person over time, examining changes and illuminating the interlocking network of relationships in the community. (page 78)
life history
An information-gathering tool for quantitative data analysis. (page 78)
survey
A traditional strategy of examining genealogies to uncover the relationships built upon structures such as marriage and family ties. (page 78)
kinship analysis
A method for examining relationships in a community, often conducted by identifying who people turn to in times of need. (page 78)
social network analysis
The anthropologist’s written observations and reflections on places, practices, events, and interviews. (page 78)
field notes
The analysis of the physical and/or geographic space where fieldwork is being conducted. (page 78)
mapping
The intentionally designed features of human settlement, including buildings, transportation and public service infrastructure, and public spaces. (page 79)
built environment
Elements of a story or a picture that are not told or seen and yet offer key insights into issues that might be too sensitive to discuss or display publicly. (page 80)
zeros
The potential for both the anthropologist and the members of the community being studied to be transformed by the interactions of fieldwork. (page 80)]
mutual transformation
Involving an approach to gathering data that investigates how local people think and how they understand the world. (page 81)
emic
Involving description of local behavior and beliefs from the anthropologist’s perspective in ways that can be compared across cultures. (page 81)
etic
The practice of using many different voices in ethnographic writing and research question development, allowing the reader to hear more directly from the people in the study. (page 82)
polyvocality
A key strategy for protecting those being studied by ensuring that they are fully informed of the goals of the project and have clearly indicated their consent to participate. (page 85)
informed consent
Protection of the identities of the people involved in a study by changing or omitting their names or other identifying characteristics. (page 86)
anonymity
A system of communication organized by rules that uses symbols such as words, sounds, and gestures to convey information. (page 95)
language
The linguistic ability to use known words to invent new word combinations. (page 97)
productivity
The ability to use words to refer to objects not immediately present or events occurring in the past or future. (page 97)
displacement
The study of the sounds, symbols, and gestures of a language, and their combination into forms that communicate meaning. (page 98)
descriptive linguistics
The smallest units of sound that can make a difference in meaning. (page 98)
phonemes
The study of what sounds exist and which ones are important for a particular language. (page 98)
phonology
The smallest units of sound that carry meaning on their own. (page 98)
morphemes
The study of patterns and rules of how sounds combine to make morphemes. (page 98)
morphology
The specific patterns and rules for constructing phrases and sentences. (page 99)
syntax
The combined set of observations about the rules governing the formation of morphemes and syntax that guide language use. (page 99)
grammar
The study of the relationship between body movements and communication. (page 99)
kinesics
An extensive set of noises (such as cries) and tones of voice that convey significant information about the speaker. (page 99)
paralanguage
The idea that different languages create different ways of thinking. (page 100)
Sapir-Whorf hypothesis
All the words for names, ideas, and events that make up a language’s dictionary. (page 101)
lexicon
The words and terminology that develop with particular sophistication to describe the unique cultural realities experienced by a group of people. (page 101)
focal vocabulary
The study of the ways culture shapes language and language shapes culture, particularly the intersection of language with cultural categories and systems of power such as race, gender, class, and age. (page 102)
sociolinguistics
A nonstandard variation of a language. (page 106)
dialect
A particular way of speaking, or language variation, that is associated with wealth, success, education, and power. (page 106)
prestige language
Switching back and forth between one linguistic variant and another depending on the cultural context. (page 107)
code switching
The study of the development of language over time, including its changes and variations. (page 109)
historical linguistics
The idea that variation in languages appears gradually over distance so that groups of people who live near one another speak in a way that is mutually intelligible. (page 110)
language continuum
The extinction of languages that have very few speakers. (page 112)
language loss
