Exam 2 Flashcards
Politics in anthropology
The anthropological approach is global and comparative and includes non-states, while political scientists tend to focus on contemporary nations. Anthropological studies have revealed substantial variation in power, authority, and legal systems in different societies.
Cultural polities: expanding “the political”
Over arching metaphor for the depth of politics in anthropology
Politics as prison
Originally a dry-erase board graphic at the Center for Khmer Studies, this penitentiary model of cultural politics was recently transformed into a labyrinthine prezi presentationx
Bands
-small group size
-flexible composition
-bilateral kinship
-egalitarian ethos & sharing
Ethnographic examples:
-Sans peoples of the Kalahari region
-Inuit of the Arctic
Tribes
Typically have a horticultural or pastoral economy and are organized into villages and/or descent groups
a notional form of human social organization based on a set of smaller groups (known as bands), having temporary or permanent political integration, and defined by traditions of common descent, language, culture, and ideology
NOT: Tribes have no formal government and no reliable means of enforcing political decisions
Pantribal sodalities
A group that developed in situations of warfare with neighboring tribes or nation-states, the Iroquois Confederacy is an example of this kind of political organization
Chiefdoms
Autonomous political unit of communities under permanent control of a paramount cheif.
ex: Kwakiutl, Pacific Northwest coast, Genghis Khan
States
Political and military rule by central government. Based on socioeconomic stratification.
States autonomous political units with social strata and a formal government. States tend to be large and populous, and certain statues, systems, and subsystems with specialized functions are found in all states
The presence of stratification is one of the key distinguishing features of a state
Max Weber
Maximilian “Max” Karl Emil Weber was a German sociologist, historian, jurist and political economist, who is regarded as among the most important theorists of the development of modern Western society. His ideas profoundly influence social theory and research.
had a profound influence on anthropological methodology and theoretical thinking on the relationship between religion and political economy
Weber defines “states” as:
“The state is a human community that (successfully) claims the monopoly of the legitimate use of physical force within a given territory”
Social stratification:
Wealth
Power
Prestige
-Social Stratification (transition from chiefdom to state)
unrelated groups that differ in their access to wealth, prestige, and power/ the creation of separate social strata
-Wealth/economic status -> material assets (income and
property)
-Power/political status -> exercising will over others =
the basis for political status
-Prestige/social status -> the basis of social status =
respect, esteem, and
“cultural capital”
gives people a sense of worth and respect, which they
may often convert into economic advantage
Politics of underground economies
Written by Thai economists, “Guns, Girls, Gambling, and Ganja” describes the vice politics of these
The underground economy involves the exchange of goods and services which are hidden from official view
Illegal food
Shark fin soup, durian, unpasteurized milk, and certain distillations of Absinthe are examples of this category of prohibited edibles
Coercion
The practice of persuading someone to do something by using force or threats
Compelling an individual or group—either intellectually, morally, or physically—to do something; using force or threatening to use force.
The use of physical force. Persuasive Power. A form of power that influences people’s activities or ideas without relying on physical force.
Surveillance
The systematic monitoring of people or groups in order to regulate or govern their behavior
The monitoring of behavior, many activities, or information for the purpose of information gathering, influencing, managing or directing
Social Control
Refers to “those fields of the social system (beliefs, practices and institutions) that are most actively involved in the maintenance of any norms and the regulation of any conflict”
Include various techniques of persuading and managing people and of monitoring and recording their beliefs, activities, and contacts
“Informal” social control such as stigma, shame, and gossip, especially in small-scale societies/ non-western societies
Ju/’hoan Hxaro exchange
This is a Ju/’hoan delayed form of nonequivalent gift exchange
Is a far reaching and ingenious mechanism for circulating goods, lubricating social relations, and maintaining ecological balance. EX: “I’ll give you something today, and you give me something in return six months or a year from now”. What you return does not have to be of precisely equivalent value as long as things balance out in the long run.
Weapons of the Weak
Shame and Gossip can be a powerful social sanction.
Since it has the ability to spoil social reputation/ alienate people from their social networks
People aren’t just citizens of governments; they are members of society, and social sanctions exist alongside governmental ones. Such sanctions (shame and gossip) exemplify other “weapons of the weak” because they often are wielded most effectively by people, such as women or young people, who have limited access to formal authority structure.
Cross-cultural approaches to religion
“In studying religion cross-culturally anthropologist pay attention to religion as a social phenomenon as well as to the meanings of religious doctrines, settings, acts, and events. Verbal manifestations of religious beliefs…purity and pollution, sacrifice, initiation, rites of passage, vision quests, pilgrimages, sprit possession, prophecy, study, devotion, and moral actions”
Sacred and secular/profane
In lecture, the Sensōji Temple in Tokyo built as shrine to Kannon (a feminine form of the Bodhisattava in Japan), including its Thunder Gate, and Nakamise shopping district was used to demonstrate this binary concept
secular rituals include formal invariant, stereotyped, earnest, repetitive behavior and rites of passage that take place in nonreligious settings
For Emile Durkheim, the key distinction was between the sacred and the profane. “sacred” was the domain set off from the ordinary, or the mundane (profane).
It isn’t always easy to distinguish the sacred form the profane and that different societies conceptualize divinity, the sacred, the supernatural and the ultimate realities very differently
Religion
Doctrines, settings, acts, and events…Verbal manifestations of belief..purity and pollution, sacrifice initiation, rites of passage, vision quests, pilgrimages, spirit possession, prophecy, study, devotion, and moral actions,” are cross-cultural aspects of this
Pilgrimage
A religious journey to a sacred place as a sign of devotion in search of transformation and enlightenment
Communitas
Victor Turner’s (1969) concept of “an intense community spirit, a feeling of great social solidarity, equality and togetherness”
Social construciton of reality
According to Michael Lambek, “Good anthropology understands that religious worlds are real, vivid, and significant to those who construct and inhabit them.” This is humanistic concept describes the fundamentally manufactured nature of the social universe.
Religion embedded in politics and economics
Religious belief may help regulate the economy or permeate politics
Ex: the name of the airport being named something sacred, and the religious shrine
In the airport faith meets economy with the stores surrounding the shrine
Revitalization movements
Social movements that occur in times of change, in which religious leaders emerge and undertake to alter or revitalize a society
Like political mobilization, religious energy can be harnessed not just for change but also for revolution. Reacting to conquest or to actual or perceived foreign domination, for instance, religious leaders may seek to alter or revitalize their society.
EX: Christianity originated as a revitalization movement. Jesus was one of several prophets who preached new religious doctrines while the Middle East was under Roman rule. It was a time of social unrest, when a foreign power ruled the land. Jesus inspired a new, enduring and major religion. His contemporaries were not so successful.
Baseball Magic:
Ritual
Taboo
Fetish
-Magic: described as the use of supernatural techniques to accomplish specific aims
Baseball magic reduces psychological stress, creating an illusion of control when real control is lacking
-Ritual: An act or series of acts regularly repeated that embody the beliefs of a group of people
-Taboo: prohibition backed by supernatural sanctions/ actions set apart as sacred and off-limits to ordinary people
-Fetish: the primitive belief that godly powers can inhere in inanimate things/ when somethings, mainly an object, is embodied with supernatural power
Shamans
Religious specialists
This part-times religious practitioner mediates between ordinary people and supernatural beings and forces
Is a general term that encompasses curers (“witch doctors”), mediums, spiritualist, astrologers, palm readers, and other independent diviners. In foraging societies, shamans are usually part-time; that is, they also hunt and gather
Animism
The belief that non-human entities have souls
EX: Melanesian “Mana
