Lecture midterm #1 Flashcards
Foraging?
foraging social organisation slides
Collection food that is available in nature by “hunting and gathering”
-main economic strategy for most of human history.
-gets distributed within a group right away
What does high social density mean?
foraging social organisation slides
close social bonds with everyone in the group. spend time with them
What does egalitarian mean?
foraging social organisation slides
-No social classes.
-Everyone has access to resources.
-No difference in status.
-No formal leaders.
-Decision is made by consensus.
What are the 3 parts of economy?
1) Production (subsistence)
2) Distribution (exchange)
3) Consumption (includes more than just food)
Why is foraging considered and “extensive strategy”?
It requires mobility (you need to be able to carry everything you forage)
Large land base
something else aswell but i can remember
Use rights is?
responsible for the caretaking of land and priority access to the land
What is horticulture?
-Farming in tropical regions.
-High rain fall, high temperatures.
-Small scale farming.
-People grow crops with ONLY hand tools.
-Generally root crops (no cereals)
*no fertilizers or pesticides. no animals used to pull plow.
Swidden cultivation/slash and burn is?
Involves: Clearing an area of land (Trees, shrubs) is called “Slash”
“Burn” is burning away the rest so the ash can be used to fertilize the plot of land.
Yields small surplus of foods
Horticulture distribution?
Balanced reciprocity. Exchange of goods with the expectation of the speedy and equal return.
you owe me a dumpling or a dumpling equivalent
Horticulture social organization?
Typically sedentary needing to maintain the crops. Not typically large populations. Your crop is considered private property. This allows for differences in social status.
What is a leavening mechanism?
A mechanism put in place to minimize wealth disparities.
insult the meat keep everyone grounded. minimize differences.
What is re distribution?
There is a central entity (individual or group) who collect a surplus of goods and reallocate them.
(redistributed) (balanced reciprocity too)
(eg) taxes
Pastoralism (herding)
Food producing strategy.
Use of animals for the benefits of humans.
they are adapted to areas where rainfall is limited, cold, steep or rocky.
Dont eat the heard animals.
Also have to trade in order to get by since pastoralism isnt enough
Animals=private property
Rigid sexual division of labour (elders have the power)
nomadic or seminomadic
family groups live/work in tents = unit of production???
Animal husbandry?
breeding and use of animals for human use
Ranching vs pastoralism
Pastoralism an individual moves with its herd whereas ranching the animals stay in the same place.
generalized reciprocity
Found through all civilizations, generally throughout families, foraging cultures however members do not have to be related.
Transhumance migration
refers to when individuals and their herds migrate through grazing corridors, through agricultural communities. (optimal for trade).
Intensive Agriculture
Requires plowing, irrigation and fertilizer on a permanent plot.
Large surplus.
Intensive work required to maintain.
Resource distribution- market economy (supply & demand).
Creation of currency (divisible and portable) Special purpose money.
Commodity money (multi purpose) (spices, salts, sugars, tobacco)
Negative reciprocity (buyer and seller try to get the most out of each other or “best deal”) Typically not a close connection between the buyer and seller of the goods.
Negative reciprocity?
intensive culture
exchange in which buyer or selling is trying to get the best deal. (sell more profit most)
no close social relationship
Agriculturalists social organization
-permanent settlements (cities)
-higher population density
-occupational specialization
-rigid sexual division of labour (mens work is more valued)
-private property (you can own that land bitch)
-class systems (peasants/ land owners) “social stratification”
POLYANDRY?
Marriage of a women and two or more men.
Polygyny?
1 man with multiple women
-most preferred
What is the primary reason for monogamous marriage?
Economics, land, inheritance
Fraternal polyandry
1 woman and 2 or more brothers
-happens in Tibet and Nepal
What is the predominant form of marriage in Tibet and Nepal?
Monogamous
Benefits of Fraternal polyandry?
Diversification of work and land, multiple fathers, more children to help with economic reasons.
What is women to women marriage (Gikuyu, Kenya)
She is able to take a wife after having given her husband multiple wives to help with daily chores/tasks. Found in polygamous structure.
Bridewealth/bride price?
Gift from the groom (groom’s family) to the brides family.
Economic exchange: Dowry
Payment of a woman’s inheritance at marriage to her of her husband and his family.
**dont ask for it. its insulting and degrading.
*illegal in India
Incest taboo?
Human universal- every society has it
-biological reason=she didnt give one
What is Industrialism?
methods of producing food and goods using highly mechanized machinery and digital information.
Romantic love
Human universal
What is Agriculture?
A farming technique that can support a large population using advanced tools and irrigation, and requiring more preparation and maintenance of the soil.
What is Ideology?
Refers to beliefs and values, including religion.
endogamy
marry within a particular group. same religion same clan same tribe
Exogamy
Marry outside a group
What are Homo Sapiens?
The Genus and Species to which modern humans belong.
Hominoidea
A super family of the infraorder Catarrhini; Includes apes and humans
What is bipedalism?
Moving mostly by using 2 legs
What are the 4 fields of Anthropology?
1) Cultural anthro
2) Archaeology
3) Biological anthro
4) Linguistic anthro
What is ethnographic research?
Studying culture via fieldwork
What is participant observation?
When a ethnographer lives with a group of people and observes their regular activities and behaviors.
What are Ergonomics?
Science of designing things so they create little or no physical stress on the human body
What is a Holistic perspective?
Viewpoint that all aspects of biology and/ or culture are interrelated
What is TEK?
The collective and cumulative knowledge that a group of people has gained over many generations living in a particular ecosystem.
usually indigenous knowledge
What are key elements of the anthropological perspective?
Holistic
Evolutionary
Comparative
Qualitative
Focused on linkages
Focused on change
Based on field work
What is cultural relativism?
The idea that all cultures are equally valid, and that every culture can be understood only in its own context
Unilinear theory?
Evolution model that proposed societies progressed from savagery through barbarianism and then to civilization (now entirely discredited)
Salvage ethnography
Ethnography done with a sense of urgency to record cultures based on the assumption that the cultures are rapidly disappearing.
*recording practices of cultures threatened with extinction.
**Franz Boas (American anthropologist) aimed to record vanishing Native American cultures
Franz Boas
American anthropologist that aimed to recover vanishing Native American cultures
**known for discrediting and calling things racist.
Fossil
Any preserved early human remains, no matter their condition
Taphonomy
The study of what happens to organic remains after death.
(eg) should be able to determine if bone breakage, markings on bones, the distance between bones, and what bones are present were due to specific kinds of NATURAL or CULTURAL causes.
Dental arcade
The shape of tooth rows (parabolic= wider at the back than front) or u-shaped
Fossil record
Assemblage of early human remains or the interpretation of human evolution based on human remains
What is Osteology?
The study of bones (or the study of the human skeleton
Lumper vs Splitter
Lumper beleives over the past 4 million years there have only been 2 genera of humans : Australopithecus and Homo.
Splitter beleives there have been many: Australopithecus, Paranthropus, Kenyanthropus, and Homo.
Diastemas
Gap between teeth
Prognathism
Protruding face
What was a negative consequence of bipedalism for our ancestors?
Made us more vulnerable.
Easier to be seen by predators.
Slower than being on all fours.
Stress on the skeleton
What was the first hominin?
Ardipthicus Ramidus
-4.4 million years old
-Opposable big toes (potentially the only hominin in human lineage with that feature)
Ethnographic research
The process of studying culture via a field work setting.
Ethnography
Written or visual product of ethnographic field research.
Etic
An outsiders view (objective explanation)
Emic
An insiders view (perspective of the subject)
Entomophagy
The practice of eating insects for food.
coolest thing ive learned so far
Community
Group of people who share a physical location (live, work and play together)
Group
Loose term for people who share culture, they often live in the same region.
Society
People who share a large number of social or cultural connections.
Identity markers
Cultural characteristics of a person such as ethnicity, socioeconomic class, religious beliefs and values.
Subcultures
A group of people within a culture who are connected by similar identity markers
Homogeneous
same views and beliefs. Sharing “similar identity markers”
Heterogeneous
Sharing few identity markers. wtf does this mean.
im going to assume its a group or society that has people of different ethnicity or ages, beliefs that kinda shit.
Ethnocentrism
The belief that our own customs are normal while the customs of others are strange, wrong or even disgusting.
Biological adaptations
A physical adaptation that allows an organism to survive better in its environment.
finally some fucking science
Cultural adaptations
The belief or behavior that allows an organism with culture to better thrive in its environment.
god these definitions are so fucking stupid. can you get anymore dull.
Maladaptive
A cultural practice leading to harm or death (not productive for a cultures survival in the long run)
Random sample
Choosing informants randomly
Judgment sample
A method of choosing informants based o their knowledge of skills
Snowball sample
Method of finding informants through association with previous informants
Ideal vs real behavior
Ideal = How people believe they behave or would like to behave (norms of a society).
Real = How people actually behave (as observed by an ethnographer in the field).
Human Terrain Systems (HTS)
US army program involving anthropologists deployed with military units in active conflict zones.
Economics
How goods and services are produced, distributed and consumed in a society.
Food foragers
Same thing as hunter-gatherers
Hunter-gatherers
People who utilize the food resources available in the environment
Food production
Producing food using farming and or animal husbandry.
Foodways
Methods, knowledge and practices regarding food in a particular society.
Technology
Tools, skills and knowledge used by people to survive.
Foraging
Utilizing food resources available in the environment
Subsistence
Food procurement (basic food needs for survival)
Agriculture
Farming technique that can support a large population using advanced tools and irrigation and requiring more preparation and maintenance of the soil.
Bands
Small egalitarian society of food foragers who live and travel together
Social density
Frequency and intensity of interactions among group members in a society.
Sexual division of labour
Divisions of tasks in a community based on sex
Egalitarian
A society in which every member has the same access to resources and status (non-hierarchical)
Specialization
The development of certain skills that others in the group do not share
Cooperative societies
Bands and other small-scale human groups that rely on sharing resources for survival
Reciprocity
Social rules that govern the specialized sharing of food and other items.
Nomadic
Moving within a large area frequently to access food resources.
Generalized reciprocity
Form of specialized sharing in which the value of a gift is NOT specified at the time of exchange, nor is the time or repayment.
Hey thanks for dinner ill get you back sometime
Horticulturalists
Food producers who cultivate the land in small-scale farms of gardens.
Carrying capacity
of people who can be sustained with the existing resources of a given area.
Balanced reciprocity
Form of exchange in which the value of goods is specifies as is the time frame of repayment.
Potlatch
Pacific Northwest Coast gift-giving ceremony with great cultural significance.
Pastoralism
A way of life that revolves around domesticating animals and herding them to pasture.
Transhumance
Seasonal migration in which pastoralists move back and forth over long distances to productive pastures.
Social distance
Separations between members of different social groups.
Intensive agriculture
Farming technique that can support a large population using advanced tools and irrigation, and requiring more preparation and maintenance of the soil.
Domestication
Shaping the evolution of a species for human use.
Nobles vs peasants
Nobles = High status people of a society where their rank is usually inherited.
Peasants = Low status members of a society that farm for a living.
Redistribution
When money gets funneled into a central entity (government authority/ religious institution ) and then gets sorted back out into the community.
Market economy
Economic system in which prices for goods and services are set by “supply and demand”.
Capitalist system
When a countries industry is controlled by private and corporate ownership in order to make a profit
Special purpose money
Items used only to measure the value of things and otherwise lacking a practical purpose
Multipurpose money
Commodities that can be used for other practical purposes besides “simply as money”
***this sentence is wack but it comes right from the stupid anthro text book
Industrialism
Methods of producing food and goods using high mechanized machinery and digital information
Chemical inputs
Synthetic additives (pesticides/ fertilizers) used to raise the yield of crops in industrial agriculture
Monocultured
Technique used in industrial farming in which a single crop is planted on many acres.
Glycemic index
Measure of the rise of blood glucose (sugar) after eating
Nutrition transition
Shift in diet and activity level that accompanies modernization and results in obesity and health problems.
*going from a traditional nutrient-rich diet to a bad western diet
America, land of the dumb and fat
Gender spectrum
Variety of gender identities that exist on a continuum
Marriage
Socially and legally recognized partnerships in society
Families or orientation
Blood-related family members (including parents , siblings, grandparents and other relatives)
Family of procreation
Family unit created by marriage or partnerships (including spouses/ partners and their children)
Monogamy
Single spouse
Serial monogamy
Marriage practice of taking a series of partners one after the other.
Exogamy
Marrying outside ones social or ancestral group
Clans
Social division that separates members of a society into two or more groups
Endogamy
Marrying within ones social or ancestral group
Caste systems
In India a person is born into a hereditary group traditionally linked to certain occupations.
Incest taboo
Prohibition against sexual relations between immediate family members.
Household
Domestic unit of residence in which members contribute to child-rearing, inheritance and production and consumption of goods.
Neolocal
When a couple moves to their OWN household after marriage.
Nuclear family
A family unit consisting of two generations, most often parents and their children.
Extended family
Family unit consisting of blood-related members and their spouses (both affinal and consanguineal)
Affinal kin
Related by marriage
Consanguineal kin
Related by blood
Matrilocal
When the husband moves into his wifes household of orientation.
Patrilocal
When the wife moves into her husbands household of orientation.
Family of choice
originated in the LGBTQ+ community
People who consider themselves to be family members even though they may not be “affinal” or “consanguineal kin”
Marriage compensation
Gifts or services exchanged between the families of a married couple
Bride-price
For of marriage compensation in which the family of the groom is required to present valuable gifts to the brides family
Bride service
Form of marriage compensation in which the groom is required to work for the brides family
Dowry
Form of marriage compensation in which the family of the bride is required to present valuable gifts to the grooms family or to the couple.
Dowry death
Deaths of women in the homes of their in-laws due to unmet dowry demands
Arranged marriage vs forced marriage vs child marriage
Arranged = When parents find a suitable husband/ wife for their child.
Forced = Where parents demand their child marry someone they have not chosen.
Child = When parents marry off their young daughters to older men who offer to provide for them.
Kinship
Family relations, involves a complex set or expectations and responsibilities
lineages
A line of descent from a common ancestor
Fictive kinship
Including non-blood relations in the family with all the expectation of blood-related family members.
so me and your grandma
Nurture kinship
Non-blood relationships based on mutual caring and attachment.
so friends
Descent group
Social group of people who trace their descent from a common ancestor
Bilateral descent
Tracing ones genealogy through BOTH mother and fathers line
Unilineal vs patrilineal vs matrilineal descent
Uni = Tracing ones genealogy through either the mother or fathers line.
Pat = Tracing ones genealogy through the fathers line.
Mat = Tracing ones genealogy through the mothers line.
Sex, sexuality
Sex = biological and physical differences of human beings based on sex chromosomes, hormones, reproductive structures.
Sexuality = Romantic or physical attraction to another person
Intersex
Having a combination of physiologic or morphologic elements of both sexes
Gender roles
The culturally appropriate or expected roles of individuals in a society
Gender queer vs gender fluid
Gender queer = lies on the gender spectrum (umbrella term for “Not cisgender”)
Gender fluid = lies on the gender spectrum (nonbinary or changing)
Third gender
Gender role accepted in some societies as combing elements of both male and female genders
Hijra
A third gender found in India and Pakistan in which male-bodied or intersex individuals adopt female mannerisms and dress.
Sexual orientation
The nature of ones romantic or sexual attractions to another person
Sharia law
Scriptural guidelines for Muslim religious adherents to follow
Androphilia vs gynophilia
Androphilia = Romantic or sexual attraction to males.
Gynophilia = Romantic or sexual attraction to females
Polysexual vs pansexual
Poly = person attracted to people of multiple genders or sexes.
Pan = person not limited in romantic or sesual attraction by sex or gender
What are the three brain systems in place for mating and reproduction according to Helen Fisher?
Sex drive, intense romantic love, a feeling of deep cosmic attachment to a longtime partner.
Describe the distinguishing characteristics of homo habilis?
Cultural characteristic is that they are the first human ancestors to clearly have used tools. This tool technology is known as Oldowan.
Physically they have larger brain capacities than australophithecine species.
What are some of the most prominent features of Homo Habilis
Cultural: They are the first hominid species to exhibit a knowledge and implementation of tools, such as Oldowan, evidence of butchering meat.
Biological: They had a larger brain size than australopithecene species. Still not showing much prognathism.
ETHNOLOGY VS ETHNOGRAPHY
ETHNOLOGY: Cultural Universals and patterns to across many cultures to try and decipher human universals.
ETHNOGRAPHY: First Hand in depth study of a Society or social group
Ethnogropahy vs ethnology?
Ethnography: first hand in depth study of a society. (Living with the community, there for years, participant observation)
Ethnology: Using ethnology to study one top across cultures rather than the
Why does Franz Boas matter?
Worked with James Tate and Charles Hunt. Franz didn’t give them credit.
Discredited the unilateral cultural assimilation model.
Created Cultural relativism.
Fought against racists.
Describe the geological and geographic context of early hominids
Fossil records all report to our origin in Africa, Climate changes over thousands of years shaped more diverse landscapes and environments for early hominids to expand. Dating sediment tells us when these hominids lived.
Geological and geographical context for early hominids?
All humans came from Africa. The fossil records prove this. The majority of it coming from the great riff in Africa. Shrinking of forests and expansions of grasslands.
Modes of subsistence based on economic viability
Foraging, Horticulture, pastoralist, agriculture, industrialism.
What do anthropologists mean when they say kinship is a process?
What are the modes of subsistense?
Foraging: Very sustainable if you have a low population and nomadic.
Horticulture: If done extensively then yes its sustainable.
Pastoraslism: If you can move your heard animals to graze then good but if they’re staying in the same place its not sustainable because its going to make a dessert….
Agriculture: Not sustainable due to pesticides and water runoff.
Industrialism:
Explain the basic methods of paleoanthropology
tophonomy. identify bones and fossils and human ancestors and the conditions that they are in and what caused it.
Osteology: study of the human skeleton
Ardipithecus ramidus
Small head
Solid upright posture
large hands/feet
Opposable big toe
Short thumbs
Lived in an arboreal environment which is significant
Australopithecus afarensis
3 mya to 900 000yrs ago
Ape like face proportions and brain case.
Curved fingers for tree living/ climbing
Bipeds
Lucy 3.3ft tall 60 lbs
Females and males were both anatomically similar
Homo habilis
First undisputed tool maker (Oldowan)
butchered meat, though not clear if it was a hunter or scavenger.
Possible ancestor of Australopithecus afarensis.
2.5-1.4 mya
Rounded skulls instead of flattened.
Homo erectus
1.6 mya - 250 000 years ago.
Most likely an established hunter and food getter.
Brain size about 950cc
first to possess modern human-like body proportions.
possible control of fire?
archaic Homo
sapiens
earliest fossils 800 000 years ago
Brain size and capacity similar to modern human (1250cc)
Homo sapiens (modern human traits)
300 000 years ago in Africa
Last wave left Africa around 60 000 years ago
Greatly reduced browridge
flat face
protruding chin
relatively long limbs
greater cultural developments (evidence of burials and art)
reduced prognathism
advanced technology (atlatl)
Neandertals
Discovered in Neander Valley Germany
400 000- 30 000 years ago.
Europe and Middle East range
1450cc
DNA still exists in modern humans
complex culture.
Oldowan
Oldest homonin tools.
Very simple often mistaken for rocks
Achuelian
Archaeological industry of stone tool manufactures characterized by distinctive oval and pear shaped hand axes associated with HOMO ERECTUS
Bifacial
