Midterm 1 Flashcards
Nacireman Body Rituals
- Ritual, repeated symbolic acts for purpose of crop growth. Many of which were related to the human body, the human body was ugly and naturally debilitating and disease ridden. These people had shrines, and the more shrines an individual had, the more powerful they were. This was usually a box on a wall where charms were placed and disposed.
What is Ablution? How was it used in Nacirema?
Ablution is the ceremonial washing of body using holy water from a temple. This was performed at their shrines, ablution was also performed in the mouths of children as it was thought that it improved moral fibre.
Nacireman people liked magic. What were some of the magicians they favoured and what were their respective places on the hierarchy of magicians?
Medicine men were powerful and revered. They didn’t actually give medicine but would write a code which would be given to a man who needed to be paid in order to “decipher” the code. Lower on the hierarchy were the holy mouth men. It was believed that without mouth rituals, they would lose their teeth, have bloody gums and have friends and lovers leave them. Magic powders and holy hair inserted into the mouth to clean once or twice a year.
What were some of the harsh practices of the Nacirema people?
The Latipso was the medicine man’s imposing temple. They had very harsh practices and very few people actually recovered from the “help” they received there. People were not given entrance unless they provided a substantial gift, this one one of the only places that they would derive. Their excretory functions were ritualized and routinized and relegated to secrecy. There was a listener who was a witch doctor that had the power to exorcise demons.
Provide examples of Nacirema body shaming practices.
As humans were seen as ugly, naturally debilitating and disease ridden, there was also a strive to become something that was unobtainable. This is particularly evident in their breast shape, which always had to be bigger or smaller with the ideal forming outside the range of human variation. There were also ritual fasts and feast to make the fat thin and the thin fat.
Let’s talk about Christmas, Christmas in the Kalihari.
!Kung Bushmens knowledge of Christmas came thirdand from London missionary society who brought the holiday to souther Tswana tribes in the early 19th century. The idea of Christmas is praise of white mans’ god chief. There would be a December congregation at cattle posts for trading, marriage and brokering and several days of trance dance feasting. It was common for fights to commence when distributing meat from a hunt. The people enjoy fooling and belittling others as they value people who are humble and use it as a teaching tool for others to get off their high horse. It’s argued that all acts have an element of calculation, people are not strictly kind or genorous out of the goodness of their hearts, there’s usually something deeper behind it.
Define Anthropology.
Study if gynabjubd Ubc ask tunes and Oakes where evolutionary development of humans as biological variations in species. It seeks to expose fallacies of racial and cultural superiority. This is a relatively new field because it was unlikely to flourish until adequate transportation was available and because Europeans previously viewed everyone else and savage and tended to just slaughter them
Define Colonialism.
One nation dominates another through occupation (colonies), administration (military presence), and control of resources which creates dependency on the home country.
Cultural imperialism.
Promoting ones nations values, beliefs and behaviour as superior to those of others.
Who was Franz Boas and why is he important?
He argued that every culture is unique and neither superior or inferior to any other culture. He rejected racism and promoted cultural relativism as all cultures are equally valid and must be studied on their own terms. He was an empiricist who developed the four field approach.
Who are Edwar Taylor and Louis Henry Morgan?
These people were challenged by empiricists who urged anthropologists to base their theories on actual firsthand observation in the field rather than on an ethnocentric basis and armchair anthropology
Who are A.R. Radcliffe Brown and Bronislaw Malinowski?
These two turned attention to functions of economic, social, religious and political institutions. Brown focused on how culture as a whole functions to maintain itself.
Wh o is Claude Levi Strauss?
Free will and ability to make choices are based on ideas and desires influenced by culture. He took universal pattern of human thinking.
Who was Clifford Geetz?
He studied the uniqueness of each culture and actions that have meaning for them.
Which anthropologists are famous for conducting ethnographic, linguistic and archaeological research into Canadian Aboriginal Cultures?
Edward Sapir, Marius Barbeau, David Boule and Diamond Jenness
Talk about Diamond Jenness
Wrote “the people of the twilight” and “Indians of Canada”. Made progress in understanding Inuit and Indian culture of canada, they undertook studies of copper Inuit around coronation gul and other arctic native people after his “karluk” expedition sunk and was stranded for almost eight months.
Who was Davidson Black?
He discovered a mass of fractured bones of rare remnants of Chinese homo erected. He and his successor Franz Weidenreich used plaster of Paris technique to make casts of rare fossils.
Who is Marius Barbeau?
The founder of Canadian Folklore studies. He has been praised for efforts to understand First Nations world view.
Who is Regina Darnell?
Renowned Canadian anthropologist and linguistic. They shed light on interdependence and dynamics of language and culture.
What are some key points of the origins of Canadian Anthropology?
Developed because of museums, academic departments and applied research. Actively involved in aboriginal issues. They advocated First Nations government, land claims, health and community well being.
What does Eskimo mean?
Eaters of raw meat or he who laces snowshoes. Referred to as Ju/‘Hoansi which means genuine people
What is paleoanthropology?
Study of fossil remains of ancient ancestors?
What is Biological anthropology?
The study of humans as biological organisms?
What is Linguistic anthropology?
The study of human languages both past and present
What is primatology?
The study of closest relatives, non human primates, their biological adaptation and social behaviour. They try to trace ancestry of human species in order to understand how, when and why we became who we are today.
What is Forensic anthropology?
Identification of human skeletal remains for legal purposes.
What is archaeology? Historic archaeology? What is prehistoric/pre contact anthropology?
Study of material remains to reconstruct lives of people who lived in the past. Historic is the study of past culture that possess written records of their history. Prehistoric is the study of ancient culture that did not possess writing systems to record history.
What are linguistics? Historical linguistics? Sociolinguistics?
How people use language to relate to one another and how they develop and transmit culture. Historical linguistics are the study of language origins, language changes and language relationships. Sociolinguistics are the study of language in social settings i.e. vernacular, english.
What does it mean to be culture bound?
Their use based aviation world and reality are based on assumptions and values of ones own culture?
Ethnography, ethnology and ehtnohistory?
Ethnography is a collection of descriptive material on a culture. Ethnology is a comparative study of cultures to explain human behaviour. Ethnohistory is the study of cultures from recent past using oral history, archaeology and written accounts by explorers.
What is mean by participant observation, culture shock and research bias?
Participant observation is a method learning people’s culture through direct observation and participation in everyday life. Culture shock is the difficulty anthropologists have in adapting to culture that differs from their own. It can also be measured in the degree of differences between field anthropologist and their host culture. Erase archer bias is viewing everything from your own perspective to the point that it taints observations.
What is a holistic perspective?
Various parts of culture must be viewed in the broadest context to understand interconnections and interdependence. A wide perspective is key, you must not bring in your own bias into observation.
Who are key informants and respondents?
Members of culture who help and ethnographer interpret what she or he observes. Respondents/subjects is preferred over informants because informants have a negative connotation. This is often done in remote and exotic places.
What is a cross cultural comparison?
Comparing one particular aspect of a culture with the same aspect in another one. This can be used to suggest alternate ways of doing things.
Gender and feminist anthropology.
Gender is the set of standards and behaviours attached to individuals, usually but not always based on biological sex. Feminist anth is a sub field that investigates gender/gender relations and critically analyzes gender roles, positions and experiences
Define androcentrisism.
Male-centredness.
What is Society?
Other than a song by Eddie Vedder, it’s a group of people who live in same region, speak the same language and are interdependent
Define Mulitcultarilism
Descriptor fo society, community etc made up involving relating to several distinct racial or religious cultures.
What is Social Structure?
Relationship of groups within society that hold together.
What is cultural variation?
Different cultures have different views on old gender roles and norms
What is subculture?
Cultural subgroup differentiated by status, ethnic background, residence, religion or other factors that unify the group and collectively on each member. Example: hutterites
What is a pluralistic society? Can you provide an example?
Societies that contain several distinct cultures and subcultures
