Exam 1 Flashcards
Feild that uses excavation of sites and analysis of material remains to investigate cultures that existed before the development of writing
Prehistoric Archaology
Field that investigates the past of literate peoples through excavation of sites and analysis of artifacts and other material remains
Historic archaeology
Physical differences among human poplulations; an interest of physical anthropologists
Human Variation
The assumtion that any aspect of a culture is integrated with other aspects, so that no dimension of culture can be understood in isolation
Holistic perspective
Theoretical orientation that rejects attemps to explain culture in general in favor of achieving an empathetic understanding of particulat cultures
Humanistic approach
The attitude or opinion that the morals, values, and customs of one’s own culture are superior to those of other peoples
Ethnocentrism
A written description of the way of life of some human populations
Ethnography
The transmission ( by means of social learning ) of a cultural knowledge to the next generation
Enculturation
Scientific approach emphasizing that humans are animals and so are subject to similar evolutionary forces as other animals; associated with the hypothesis that behavior patterns enhance inclusive fitness.
Evolutionary Psychology
The study of past cultures using witten accounts and other documents
Ethnohistoric research
The study of human cultures from a comparitive perspective; often used as a synonym for cultural anthropology
Ethnology
The idea that biologically (genetically) inherited differences between populations are important influences on cultural differences between them
Biological determinism
The insistence by anthropologists that valid hypotheses and theories about humanity be tested with informtion from a wide range of cultures
Comparitive Perspective
The notion that one should not judge the behavior of other peoples using the standards of one’s own culture.
Cultural relativism
The notion that the beliefs and behaviors of individuals are largely programmed by their culture
Cultural determinism
Ways in which the members of a culture divide up the natural and social world into categories, usually linguistically encoded.
Classifications of reality
Theoretical idea that each culture historically develops its own unique thematic patterns around which beliefs, values, and behavioers are oriented.
Configurationalism
The feeling of uncertainty and anxiety an individual experiences when placed in a strange cultural setting.
Culture Shock
Ethnographic research that involves observing and interviewing the members of a culture to describe their current way of life.
Fieldwork
Shared ideals and/or expectations about how certain people ought to act in given situations
Norms
“New Evolutionism” or the mid-twentieth-century rebirth of evolutionary approaches to the theoretical study of culture.
Neo-Evolutionism
Within a single culture, the behavior most people perform when they are in cerain culturally defined situations
Patterns of Behavior
The specialization of physical anthropology that investigates the biological evolution of the human species
Paleoanthropology
Rights and duties that individuals assume because of their perceived personal identity or membership in a social group. Also, the social and/or economic position a field researcher defines fo him- or herself in the community studied.
Role
The attempt to reconstruct a cultural system at a slightly earlier period by interviewing older individuals who lived during that period.
Recall Ethnography
Cultural differences characteristic of members of various ethnic groups, regions, religions, and so forth within a single society or country.
Subculture
Objects, behaviors, sound combinations, and other phenomena whose culturally defined meanings have no necessary relationship to their inherent physical qualities.
Symbols
Shared ideas or standards about the worthwhileness of goals and lifestyles
Values
Cultural Universals
Every Culture needs these 10 things
1:Division of labor by age, sex, etc
2:Taboos against incest
3:Economic activity
4:Recreational Activists
5:Beliefs in supernatural
6:Decorative Arts
7:Music and singin
8:Customs for death
9:Myths, legends,folklore
10:Rites of passage for life phases
Unilineal Evolution
Savagery -> Barbarism -> Civilization
1: Lewis Henry Morgan - Iriquois = B others S - Tech and agriculture metric
2: E.B. Tylor - Same idea but religion as metric: animal -> polytheistic -> monotheistic
Inherently racist
Historical Particularism
Franz Boaz
1: Contradicts Unilineal, every culture is different, evolve at own rate
2: Professionalized Anthropology - pushed fieldwork and Cultural Relativism
3: Configurationalism - Ruth Benedict -> Cultural thesis: Freedom (USA)
4: Limits - Cannot explain why cultures are similar, dont factor in origin
Define Culture
A: Society- Shared Territory, Language, identity
1: Cultural Identity: Product of shared Collective knowledge; Red Circle = Rising sun in Japan
2: Subculture: Humans culture is large and complex small bubbles form
B: Socially Learned - Enculturation is process of learning culture
C: Knowledge: Process of Enculturation yeilds Cultural Knowledge
D: Patterns of Behavior: Once Have knowledge, can study behavior
EX: Yanomamo vs Semai
E: Roles in society change based on duties, son, brother, friend, Student
Components of Cultural Knowledge
A: Norms - Shared ideas about how should act; Alchohal
B: Values - Belief about a way of life deemed desireable; Freedom of Speech
C: Symbols - arbitrary; Fish -> Cross (Christianity)
D: Classifications of Reality - Human and Natural world Perspective;Eat dog or nah
E: World Views - Relationship to larger Cosmos; Common truths among religion - higher power made world not us
Ethnographic Method
A: Feildwork - Interviews
1. Structured - specific questions with specific answers
2. Unstructured - open ended questions, understand relationships
3. Limits - Not all info may be mentioned
B: Participant Observation - Living a working alongside; Malinowski witness and suicide and learned about a social taboo because of it
C: Recall Ethnography - American study of Indian Culture by asking people on Res who were around. Paul Radin Studied Ho-Chunk this way.
Ethnographic Method Problems
1: stereotyping - Only one source gives you bad or misleading info
2: Developing a role and rapport - Crocker adopted into a family in the culture he studied
3: Identifying and Interviewing Consultants: Crocker found Romando Roberto who told him the truth because spoke many languages
B: Fieldwork as rite of passage - Culture shock - Chagnon didnt get along with Yanomamo
1: Ethnohistory seeks to Reconstruct Dead culture by studying historic data; Powhatan Indians wiped out by English, only Sources written by English
2: Relies on Sources outside of Culture
3: Problems - Can be biased or inaccurate, Never have enough sources, None left to ask
Comparative Method in Anthropology
Comparative Methods - ethnology - Comparative, use data collected by ethnographers
A: Cross-Cultural Comparisons - 3 steps
1: State a Hypothesis - Sorceries and Law systems
2: Choose samples - Check if random cultures have Sorceries and Law systems
3: Classify Data to show correlation - hope for 51% or more
Limitations include exceptions; data shows both
B: Controlled Comparisons
1: Matrilineal and European Contact- Michael Allen
2: He used census data to compare Matrilineal cultures to Patrilineal cultures in the scenerio of British Conquest. Matrilineal weathered better.
3: Issues are data is scarce if any.
