Exam 1 Flashcards
Anthropology
-Study of the full scope of human diversity (past and present)
-Help people of different backgrounds understand each other
-A way to solve problems
-Study human history and origins
-Make strange familiar
Ethnocentrism
-Belief that one’s own culture is normal or natural
-Form how we think, prepare, and understand reality
-Using your culture to judge and evaluate a different culture
Ethnographic Fieldwork
-Primary research strategy
-Living and interacting with a community in an extended period of time
-Put people first
-Focus on details and patterns of human life
Cross-Cultural and Comparative Approach
-Anthropologists compare practices across cultures to explore human similarities, differences, and potential for human cultural expression
-Unlimited diversity of human expression
4-Field Approach
-4 disciplines to study humanity
-Biological, archaeology, linguistic, and cultural
Agency
-Potential power of individuals and groups to contest cultural norms, values, mental maps of reality, symbols, institutions, and structures of power
-Ability to determine ones life
-In relationship to others and institutions
-Power dynamic
Paleoanthropology
-Study of the history of human evolution through fossil record
Biological/ Physical Anthropology
-Study of how humans evolved overtime and adapted to environments
Primatology
-Study of nonhuman primates and primate fossils to better understand human evolution and early human behavior
Archaeology
-Investigation of human past by means of excavation and analyzing artifacts
-Prehistoric: before language
-Historic: material remains, with written oral record
Linguistic Anthropology
-Complex system of symbols to communicate
Sociolinguistics
-Study of language in social and cultural contexts
Cultural Anthropology
-Study of people’s communities, behaviors, beliefs, and institutions (everyday life)
-Search for patterns and meanings
-Participant observation
-Explained/ examine everyday and taken-for-granted (hidden systems of power/ meaning)
Participant Observation
-Participation and observation of the daily life of subjects
Ethnology
-Analysis and comparison of ethnographic data across cultures
-Intense interaction with locals
-Over an extended period of time
-Uncover cultural practices that challenge “natural” or “universal” beliefs
Globalization
-Worldwide intensification of interactions and increased movement of money, people, goods, and ideas within and across national boundaries
Time-Space Compression
-Rapid innovation of communication and transportation technologies associated with globalization that transforms the way people think about space (distances) and time
Flexible Accumulation
-Flexible strategies that corporations use to accumulate profits in an era of globalization, enabled by innovative communication and transportation technologies
Uneven Development
-The unequal distribution of the benefits of globalization
Anthropocene
-Current historical era in which human activity is reshaping the planet in permanent ways
Culture
-System of knowledge, beliefs, patterns of behavior, artifacts, and institutions
-Created, shared, and contested
-Communicate/ establish patterns of behavior
-Constantly changing
-Shared experience/ understanding
-Learned and taught
-Formal/informal
-Enculturation: process of learning culture
-Conscious/ unconscious
-Equally capable
Norms
-Ideas or rules about how people should behave in situations
-Assumed
-Formal/ informal
-Shared experiences
Values
-Fundamental beliefs about what is important
-Clarify goals
-Inform actions
Symbols
-Convey meaning
-Standard for something else
-Verbal/ nonverbal
-Carry greater meaning than physical material
-Changes
Mental Maps of Reality
-Cultural classifications of what kinds of people and things exist and the assignment of meaning to classifications
-Shortcuts to navigate experiences
-Reflect power
-Assume to be universal/ natural/ scientific
-Assign meaning and value
Unilateral Cultural Evolution
-Theory that all cultures naturally evolve through the same sequence of stages from simple to complex
-19th centry anthropologists
Historical Particularism
-Cultures develop in specific ways because of unique histories
-Franz Boas
Structural Functionalism
-Conceptual framework positing that each element of society serves a particular function to keep the entire system equal
Thick Description
-Research strategy that combines detailed descriptions of cultural activity with an analysis of the layers of deep cultural meaning in which those activities are embedded
Interpretivist Approach
-Conceptual framework that sees culture primarily as a symbolic system of deep meaning
Power
-Ability to bring about change through action or influence
-Aspect of all human relations
-Uneven distribution of power fluctuates
-Material power: ability to exert authority through coercion/ brute force
Stratification
-Uneven distribution of resources and privileges among participants in a groups or culture
Hegemony
-The ability of a dominant group to create consent and agreement within a population without the use or threat of force
-Create consent/agreement
-Establish what is normal/ natural/ possible
-Discipline own behavior
Epigenetics
-Explores how environmental factors directly affect the expression of genes in ways that may be inherited between generations
Human Microbiome
-The complete collection of microorganisms in the human body’s ecosystem
Symbol
-Anything that represents something else
Salvage Ethnography
-Fieldwork strategy to collect cultural, material, linguistic, and biological information about Native American populations being devastates by the westward expansion
-Franz Boas
Cultual Relativism
-Understanding a group’s beliefs and practices within their own cultural context, without making judgements
Reflexivity
-Self-examination of the role anthropologists plays and an awareness that one’s identity affects one’s fieldwork and theoretical analysis
Anthropologists Toolkit
-Tools needed to conduct fieldwork
-Key informant/ Cultural consultant: community member who advises on community issues and provides feedback
-Life history: interview that traces the biography of a person over time, examining changes in the person’s life and interlocking network of relationships in the community
-Survey
-Kinship analysis: examining interlocking relationships of power built on marriages and family
-Social network analysis: examines relationships in a community
-Field notes
-Mapping: analysis of physical/ geographic space where fieldwork is conducted
Built Environment
-Intentional designed features of human settlement
-Infrastructure, transportation, and public spaces
Mutual Transformation
-Potential for both members of society and anthropologist to be changed by the interaction of fieldwork
Zeros
-Elements of a story that are not told/ seen and offer key insights into issues that might be too sensitive to discuss or display publicly
Emic
-Approach to gather data that investigates how local people think and how they understand the world
Etic
-Description of local behavior and beliefs from the anthropologists perspective in ways that can be compared across cultures
Polyvocality
-Practice of using many voices in ethnographic writing and research question development
Language
-System of communication organized by rules that use symbols to convey information
-Infinite choices
-Shareable
-Is flexible and inventive
-Reflects ideas and experiences
-Limits and constrains
-Share and learn culture
-Used differently depending on space/ people
-Connected to identity
-Site of power relations
Historical Linguistics
-Study of the development of language over time
Language Continuum
-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
Speech Community
-Group of people who come to share certain norms of language use through living and communicating together
Descriptive Linguistics
-Study the sounds, symbols, and gestures of a language
-Phonemes: smallest unit of sound that makes a different meaning
-Phonology: study of what sound exists and how its used in language
-Morphemes: smallest unit of sound that carries meaning alone
-Morphology: study of patterns and rules of how sounds combine
-Syntax: specific patterns and rules for combining morphemes to make phrases
-Grammar: rules governing phonemes, morphemes, and syntax
Kinesics
-Study of the relationship between body movement and communication
Paralanguage
-Set of noises and tones of voice that convey significant information about the speaker
Linguistic Relativity
-Languages will develop the distinctive categories necessary for those who speak them to deal with realities around them
Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis
-Different languages create different ways of thinking
Lexicon
-All words for names, ideas, and events make up a languages dictionary
Sociolinguistics
-Study of the ways culture shapes language and language shapes culture
Dialect
-Nonstandard variation of a language
Prestige Language
-Language variation that is associated with wealth, success, power and education
Language Ideology
-Beliefs and conceptions about language that often serves to rationalize and justify patterns of stratification and inequity
Code Switching
Switching back and forth between one linguistic variant and another
Language Loss
The extinction of languages that have very few speakers
