Exam 1 Flashcards
Anthropology
The study of human nature, human society, and the human past
Holism
Characteristic of Anthro perspective that describes how Anthro tries to integrate all that is known about human beings and activities
Comparison
Characteristic of Anthro perspective that requires anthropologists to consider similarities and differences in a wide range of societies before making generalizations
Evolution
Required anthropologists to place observations about human nature, society, and the past in temporal framework that takes into consideration change over time
Culture
Set of learned behaviors and ideas that humans acquire
Biocultural organisms
Defining features are codetermined by biological and cultural factors
Material culture
Objects created or shaped by humans and given meaning through culture
Races
Social grouping that allegedly reflect biological differences
Racism
Systematic Oppression of a “race” by another “race” that is justified by supposed superiority
Biological anthropology
Specialty of Anthro that looks at human beings as biological organisms and seeks to learn about differing characteristics
Primatology
Study of nonhuman primates
Paleoanthropology
The search for fossilized remains of humanities ancestors
Cultural anthropology
Speciality of Anthro that shows variations in beliefs and behaviors of members that is shaped by culture
Sex
Observable physical characteristics that distinguish two kinds of humans, male and female
Gender
The cultural construction of beliefs and behaviors considered appropriate for each sex
Fieldwork
Extended period of close involvement w/ people whose language or life anthropologists are interested. They collect data
Informants
People who work w/ anthropologists and provide them insight
Ethnography
Written or filmed description of particular culture
Ethnology
Comparative study of two or more cultures
Language
Vocal symbols used to encode experiences
Linguistic anthropology
Speciality of Anthro concerned with study of language
Archaeology
Analysis of material remains left by earlier societies
Applied anthropology
Subfield of Anthro that uses info gather from other anthropological specialties
Medical anthropology
Concerned w/ human health
Socialization
How people living together cope with behavioral rules established by their societies
Enculturation
People living in the same culture coming to terms with ways of thinking/feeling that is considered appropriate to their culture
Symbol
Something that stands for something else
Human agency
The excessive of at least some control over their lives by human beings
Coevolution
Relationship between biological processes and symbolical cultural processes
Ethnocentrism
Belief your way of living is better and correct
Cultural relativism
Understanding another culture in its own terms sympathetically and things have meaning
Participant observation
Method anthropologists use by living as closely as possible to area of study
Positivism
View that there is reality “out there” that can be known through the five senses and a single set of scientific methods for investigating reality
Objective knowledge
Absolute and true knowledge of reality
Intersubjective meanings
Shared, public symbolic systems of a culture
Reflexivity
Critically thinking about the way one thinks. Reflecting
Multisited fieldwork
Research not contained by social,ethnic, or national boundaries
Dialect of fieldwork
Process of building bridge of understanding between anthropologist and informant
Culture shock
Panic in unfamiliar society
Capitalism
Supply-demand price mechanism
Colonialism
Cultural domination with enforced social change
Political economy
Holistic term emphasizing centrality of economy and politics to protect and enhance that interest
Neocolonialism
Persistence of social/economical entanglements linking former colonial territories to formed rulers despite sovereignty
Typology
Classification system based on forms of human society
Uni lineal cultural evolutionism
19th century theory proposing series of stages all society must go through to reach civilization
Social structure
Ensuring aspects of social forms in society, including its political and kinship systems
Band
Characteristic firm of social organization found among foragers, usually 50 or fewer members
Tribe
Larger than band, farm or herd for living, egalitarian
Chiefdom
Social organization when a leader and his relatives are set apart from rest of society and given privileges
State
Stratified society that has territory and defended from enemies with army and has police. Run by elite
Structural functional theory
Position that explores how particular social forms function from day to day in order to reproduce the traditional structure of society
Cultural traits
Particular features or parts of a cultural tradition, such as dance, a ritual, or style of pottery
Cultural area
Limits of borrowing or the diffusion of particular cultural trait
Species
Reproductive communi tutte of population that occupies specific niche in nature
Phenotype
Observable, measurable outward characteristics of organisms
Cline
Gradual intergradation of genetic variation from population to population
Globalization
Reshaping of local conditions by powerful global forces
Cyborg anthropology
Based on notion of organism-machine hybrids, that offers new model for challenging rigid social/political/economic boundaries that have been used to separate people by gender and sex/class proclaimed as natural
Science studies
Explores interconnections among sociocultural, political, economic, and historic conditions that make scientific research possible
