IB Anthropology š± Flashcards
Ethnography: Learning Capitalist Culture
Author, Year, Location, Historical Context, Groups Studied, AOI, Key Concept, RWI, Modern Example
Author: Douglas Foley
Year: 1970s
Location: North town, Texas
Historical Context: End of the Civil Rights Movement
Groups Studied: Anglos & Mexicanos
AOI: Conflict (Race, gender), The Body (Females, Powder Puff Game)
Key Concept: Social Relations (Dating)(Race,gender), Power (White, Anglos Males, Football Player, Booster Club), Social Relations (Race, gender)
RWI: Inequality (Racism, discrimination) (BLM), Poverty (Class difference) (Poverty gap n the US)
Belief and knowledge
Belief and knowledge is a set of convictions, values and viewpoints regarded as āāthe truthāā and shared by members of a social group. These are underpinned and supported by known cultural experience
Change
Change refers to the alteration or modification of cultural or social elements within a society. Change may be due to internal dynamics within a society, making contact with another culture, or consequence of globalization
Culture
Culture refers to organized systems of symbols, ideas, explanations, beliefs and material production that humans create and manipulate in the coarse of their daily lives. Culture includes the customs by which humans organize their physical world and maintain their social structure
Identity
Identity can refer either to the individualās private and personal view of the self or how an individual is viewed from the perspective of a social group. Identity can also refer to group identity , which is the image of a group held by itās members or of those who are external to the group
Materiality
Objects, resources, and belongings that have cultural meaning are embedded in all kinds of social relations and practices. Some anthropologists seek to understand human experience through the study of material objects
Power
Power is an essential feature pf social relationships and can be considered as a persons or groups capacity to influence, manipulate or control others and resources
Social Relations
Social relations refer to any relationship between two or more individuals in a network of relationships. Social relations involve an element of individual agency as well as group expectations, and form the basis of social organization and social structure. They pervade every aspect of human life and are extensive, complex, and diverse
Society
Society refers to the way in which humans organize themselves in groups and networks. Society is created and sustained by social relationships and institutions. The term āāsocietyāā can also be used to refer to a human group that exhibits some internal coherence and distinguishes itself from other such groups
Symbolism
Symbolism is the study of the significance that people attach to objects, actions, and processes, creating networks of symbols through which they construct a cultureās web of meaning
Ethnography: Shadowed Lives
Author, Year, Location, Historical Context, Groups Studied, AOI, Key Concept, RWI, Modern Example
Author: Leo Chavez
Year: 1980s
Location: US/MEX Border, San Diego County
Historical Context: Immigration Debate
Groups Studied: Documented/Undocumented Workers
AOI: Conflict (Conflict to Migrate)
Key Concept: Change (incorporation into society, jobs, opportunities), Culture (Adaptation, children being raised in US culture), Identity (Docuemnted vs Undocumented workers)
RWI: Globalization (Migration outsourcing) (Illegal Immigration) (COVID) Inequality (Documented vs Undocumented) (BLM)
Ethnography: Selling Sex for Visas
Author, Year, Location, Historical Context, Groups Studied, AOI, Key Concept, RWI, Modern Example
Author: Denise Brennan
Year: 1990s
Location: Sosua, Dominican Republic
Historical Context: Rise of the Internet, Globalization
Groups Studied: Dominican women (female sex workers), European men
AOI: Conflict (Domestic Work vs Sex work, The Body (Sex work)
Key Concept: Social Relations (Dominican women) (European Men), Power (Sex Worker) Men - Visas)
RWI: Globalization (Illegal Immigration) (COVID), Poverty (Living Paycheck to Paycheck) (Poverty gap in the US) (COVID), Human Rights (Sex trafficking)
Ethnography: Because She Looks Like A Child
Author, Year, Location, Historical Context, Groups Studied, AOI, Key Concept, RWI, Modern Example
Author: Kevin Bales
Year: 1990s
Location: Thailand
Historical Context: Modernization of Thailand
Groups Studied: Child Prostitutes, Pimps, Sex trafficking
AOI: The Body (Siri-body as commodity), (Movement, Time, Space)
Key Concept: Power (Pimps), Social relations (Pimps v Sex Workers)
RWI: Globalization, Human Rights, Inequality (Sex trafficking), Violence (Pimps use violence and drugs to control girls) (Gun Violence in the US)
Emic (Insider)
View from the perspective of the native of the culture
Etic (Outsider)
Views of a culture from the perspective of an anthropologist/outsider/someone not from the culture being studied
Ethnography
Description of a particular culture, usually based on the method of participant observation
Acculturation
External culture change resulting from contact between cultures
Assimilation
When one ethnic group absorbs another so that the cultural traits of the assimilated group become indistinguishable
Discrimination
Unjust or prejudicial treatment of different categories of people on the grounds of race, age and sex
Ethnicity
State of belonging to a social group that has a common national or cultural tradition
Ethnocentrism
Judging other cultures by the standards of your own, which you believe to be superior
Impression Management
Conscious or subconscious process in which people attempt to influence the perceptions of other people
Race
Major groupings into which humankind is considered to be divided on the basis of physical characteristics or shared ancestry
Rites of Passage
Ritual ceremonies intended to mark the transition from one phase of life to another
Socialization
The process by which culture is learned. Individuals internalize a cultureās social controls, along with values and norms about rights and wrongs
Gender
The range of characteristics pertaining to femininity and masculinity and differentiating between them
Role
The relation one has with another node in a social network
Status
The position one has in a social network
Sex
Either two man categories (male and female) into which humans and most other living things are divided on the basis of their reproductive functions
Social Structure
Patterned social arrangements in a society that are both emergent from and determinant of the actions of individuals
Religion
A set of attitudes, beliefs, and practices pertaining to supernatural power
Ritual
The viable control of abstract thoughts. Tries to control unpredictable events and the supernatural. Tries to know the unknowable and change the unchangeable.
Secular
Non-religious or spiritual
Power
The ability to influence the actions of others
Globalization
When the world becomes more interconnected and breaks down boundaries. Increases unification of worlds economic order through international trade, migration, etc
Migration
Movement of humans from one area to another
Brain Drain
The emigration of highly trained or intelligent people from a particular country
Care Drain
The emigration of care workers (mainly women) from a particular country
Commodity
An economic good .. something that can be baught/sold
Commodification
Transformation of goods/services into a community (includes things that are normalized as trading goods such as people)
Class Stratification
When members of a society are ranked from higher to lower based on wealth, prestige, position, or education
Division of Labor
The division of tasks in a society between women an men, old and young, ability, knowledge and experience
The Body
Human bodies are the product of both biology and culture
Belonging
Individuals come together to form communities which may include belonging to a social group or class
Conflict
Complexity of power relations and questions of inequality
Inequality
Treating others unequally
Human Rights
Denying peoples freedoms
Poverty
Lack of basic needs and necessities
Violence
Deliberately harming others
Learning Capitalist Culture Details:
Intro: In the ethnography āLearning Capitalist Cultureā by Douglas Foley, the youth lives within a predominately Mexican American society showcased inside North Town, Texas. Foley studied North Town at the height of the 1970s following the end of the Civil Rights Movement where the Mexicanos were challenging the Anglos for equal rights. The racially segregated motions created tension between the Anglos and Mexicanos.
.AOI:
Conflict (Race, gender) The Body (Females, Powder Puff Game)
Key Concept: Social Relations(race and gender, Mexicanos/Anglos)/Culture(Dating, Football and Powderpuff games), Society(Race and Gender relations)- Dating played a big role in representing class status. Who you dated influenced your achieved status: a concept indicating a social position that a person can acquire on the basis of merit; it is a position that is either earned or chosen. For instance, if a Mexicano male dated an Anglo female, it was seen as a political victory since the all Anglos are ranked above Mexicanos in a social status. However, if you were a Mexicano female dating an Anglo male, youād have strong connotations of being frowned upon. The most forbidden couple would be between an Anglo male, who sits at the top of the societal food chain and a female Mexicano who holds the lowest status in the hierarchy. Dating relationships in North Town are a form of hypodescent which rules that the youth who chose to form personal relationships with those in varying racial or gender groups automatically reduce their social status to a lower level. Teenagers didnāt want to lose their reputation or lower their status because of who they were dating. These stereotypes that people already had made it difficult for young people to date.
In Northtown, Football games werenāt just seen as a simple sporting event, but a symbol. A symbol can be defined as an idea that stands for something else and contains no natural connection to the actual meaning of the word. The more popular and rather normalize version of football was known as āā The Powder-Puff Footballāā which was a game designed to reinforce gender roles. It socialized young men to believe they were socially and physically superior to females. Males dressed and acted femininely as some sort of punitive entertainment where they deliberately make fun of girls. The football players had a sense of ethnocentrism: a tendency to view oneās own culture as superior and judge behaviors and beliefs within different cultures under the basis of oneās own standards. Since the society within Northtown appreciates the sport of football, they were automatically favored those who played rather than those who didnāt participate. The Anglo football players were honored to great extend; students that previously graduated, which mainly consisted of Anglos, returned to honor the new generation over an organized bonfire. As a means for valuing and respecting football players, former students pledge and celebrate them to ensure the Anglos of their authority and importance.
Shadowed Lives Details:
In the midst of the Immigration Debate of the 90ās, Leo Chavez conducted over 2000 interviews of Mexican migrants who settled in the San Diego Country. Chavez wrote an informative ethnography discussing the transformation of Mexican migrants across the border and their encounters with documented workers.
Key Concept: Culture (Green Valley/Gloriaās restaurant) - Many migrantsā culture or āāway of lifeāā derived from the Green Valley Camp in which many migrants worked and spent a significant amount of time there. Green valley included manufactured, makeshift homes that are hidden within the hills of El Camino Real. For the most part, Green Valley held a respectable reputation among the community for itās positive impact, cleanliness and crime less atmosphere. Both types of workers were kept in the green Valley and learned to work together. Even children were present and prepped with adventures to keep themselves entertained. Green Valleysā reputation of pleasant conditions spread among the migrant network, especially to women who can be productive there; the community had friendly people and satisfactory living conditions including showers, washing stations, and faucets for drinking water. Itās well deserved reputation allowed for Gloriaās restaurant to open. Gloriaās restaurant was a family friendly restaurant intended to feed migrant workers after a long day of hard work. It had a dirt floor and chickens running all around and was hidden in the brush, contributing to the lifestyle they led and adding an immeasurable amount to the quality of life there. The role of restaurants, particularly instigated by Gloriaās, encouraged social interactions people migrant workers since it was epitomized as the social center of Green Valley. Different groups of immigrants felt comfortable in the presence of restaurants where they could freely share stories and experiences from their lives with one another as well as feed the camps and give them stability without fear or judgment from others.
Big 6 Questions:
What is culture?
What does it mean to be a person?
What does it mean to live in a society?
How are we the same yet different from each other?
Why does anthropology matter?
To what extend is knowing others possible?
Culture is defined as the way of life. Distinct attitudes and behaviors embedded in the characteristics of a particular social group or organization are what make up a culture. Individuals can be seen as homogeneous since we all participate and live with through cultural universals. However, the way in which these universals are constructed varies between each culture. I will further allude to the three different ethnographies to identify their interpretations of cultureā¦
LCC (Football/Powderpuff/Dating)
SL (Green Valley/Gloriaās restaurant)
The state of existing as a social, sentient being. Personhood can be understood as most firmly connected to the mind whereas other individuals can view a person more closer to the body or environment, as opposed to the mind.
A society is developed through humans that are organized into a variation of social groups and networks. Being a part of society means to belong in a cluster of individuals that share the same norms and lifestyle.
Individuals can be seen as homogeneous since we all participate and live with through cultural universals. However, the way in which these universals are constructed varies between each culture. The difference between one another derives from the minor adaptions and way of life we exhibit.
Since anthropology studies human societies and cultures, it evaluates how other individuals operate. Being open to learning about other cultures allows people to understand why others behave and act in a certain way. Thus, people can appreciate other societies cultural differences without any discrimination.
Itās imperative for people to understand that everyone is different; people vary through cultures, societies and feelings. Itās inevitable that people will carry on with their different lives and norms, However, by utilizing the emic approach: viewing from the perspective of the native of the culture, people can immerse themselves into other cultures by putting themselves into the shoes of others.
